Why you SHOULD talk to strangers...

This is a week old story but I didn't have time to post it yet, hehe, so let me set the scene. I'm in one of my favorite stores, staring intently at a display of fabulous goodies. My mp3 player is soothing me with the warm, beautiful songs from the Once soundtrack. I know I sporadically join in to the melodious crooning of that cute Irish guy whose name presently escapes me. At some point I realize that I'm not alone. A Japanese woman and her daughter are trying to look at the same aisle display. I step back with a smile and a "sumimasen" (pardon me) so we all can look. They pick up some of the boxes and, adding them to their basket, leave after five minutes or so and come back after ten. I'm still there. I smile at them and return to my intent staring at the little treasures I enjoy so much. They come back over and switch one of their boxes for a different box before leaving again.

They return after another five minutes and again, I'm still there, comparing packages and softly singing along to something only I can hear. I have no sense of embarassment though, I think we all know that. =D
This last time the Mother is openly laughing at me. I smile and say that I can't decide what to do. Unexpectedly, she answers me in English! We chat for a few minutes and after I explain my dilemma (which is that I'm not buying anything even a little bit big because of the cost to ship it home) she suggests buying things from a recycle shop (I think she only understood the word "cost" and probably thought I was complaining about the store's prices). But since I love a bargain I asked her if she knew a nearby recycle shop. She offers to show me the way but the next thing I know I'm getting into her car.

I should interject here that Japan in a lot like America in the 50s. It's extremely safe and lots of people still leave their doors unlocked and their bikes unguarded and nothing really happens to them. That's one of the biggest things I like about Japan. I feel insanely safe in all aspects. Most people are honest and everyone goes out of their way to help you or take care of you (and if they don't, they are considered extremely rude!). Plus, she was a sweet woman with an adorable daughter. I didn't see them as a threat.

"Nearby" is a ten minute drive but I'm thrilled and amazed by what I find. These Recycle Shops (リサイクルショップ) are nothing like what I was expecting, which was a Salvation Army. Apparently people have to pay to donate their things here and it's cheaper than paying to dispose of them. The crazy thing is that almost everything I saw was brand new, with tags, and in boxes. It was basically a discount store with anything and everything you could imagine. Sweet!

Etsuko brought me back to Hamamatsu (浜松) after a little while and I gave her my e-mail address. She e-mailed me this week to see if I would like to get together and so naturally I agreed. Her daughter had the day off from school so she would be joining us again (she is adorable and such a sweet, shy little thing!). As a special treat she took us to a "confectionery." In my head I was thinking of a sweets shop she liked, and assumed that it was chocolate that was made around us in Hamamatsu. Instead, we drive for 30 minutes (I have no idea what town we were in, LOL) and we stop at a giant factory. Flashes of I Love Lucy's "Job Switching" episode and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory race through me head! I always thought of myself as Veruca Salt, but I was secretly hoping to see a ChocaRiver!!

From the outside, the factory looks like the newer version of Charlie (with Johnny Depp) so it looks a bit like a modern prison but I'm remaining optimistic. As we walk in, I can smell sweet butter and something cooking in the oven. We're at the Unagi Pie factory!!!!!!! SWEEEET!!!! (Unagi Pie: a cookie like biscuit made from ground up eel bones. Sounds creepy, but it's GREAT!!!) We receive a free one (I'm hoarding mine!) and a pamphlet to start our self-guided tour around the factory! I watch as the dough goes into the oven in one window and how it gets coated in melted butter in the next! YUM! This is a fabulous surprise, a FUN DAY and the reason you should always talk to strangers. You know, the ones who aren't visibly insane or smell of urine.

If you're interested in seeing some more pictures (not from my cell phone!), the company's website is:
http://shunkado.co.jp/
ENJOY!!

The Unagi Pie is on the right, the pamphlet is on the left.

Posing in front of a giant unagi pie!

I was mesmerized by how quickly the cookies were flying out of the machines!

Dressed all in white, just like the Mike TV segment.
You know what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Etsuko posing with her daughter. Her daughter isn't nervous, LOL, she's being distracted at that moment by a huge group of women who were climbing off a tour bus. You heard me right, people take tour buses to come to the Unagi Pie factory! Party!

No matter how you say it, it's true!

I was wandering through the underground tunnels (you know, for funsies!) and came across this poster which I loveeee! It actually makes me think of Lydia and the Beetles or something but it gave me a warm feeling around my heart!

In Japan, every year is assigned an animal (with a 12 year cycle). This year is the year of the cow and one of my students brought me this great picture! Apparently near Nagoya, in an open field, people build the year's animal out of some very sturdy wood and straw. You can sit on top of it for the picture but Kentaro wasn't willing. If I'd been there I'd have made him do it, lol. Heck, I would have been the first one up on the beast! I really want to go visit the statue but it's too far for me to journey, being carless and all, so I wanted to keep the picture and show it to everyone. =D Next year is the year of the Tiger. Now THAT will be a cool statue!!

This is a horrible picture (I know) but it's hard taking pictures of pictures, LOL! This is Gary's going away party. You'll probably recognize my friend Miharu (center with pink skirt) from the Kachoen (bird and flower park) blog entry pictures and Ai Sensei is on the far right. The others are Gary's students (and one is actually a student's Mom who didn't bring her daughter. Nice, huh? I'll let you guess which woman that could be, LOL. She kind of sticks out in a crowd!) That was a fun night but I got a raging headache and couldn't go with them to the karaoke afterwards. I heard everyone had a blast though! =D I don't think an evening off of karaoke will hurt me, lol.

Ai playing with Elliot. It's funny, she always brings Miranda over to play but somehow winds up with Elliot every time! ;-)

I told some of you how I found some Disney DVDs (badly) dubbed into Japanese and how I thought they were bootlegs, right? (Because they were only $5 each). Turns out, they were originally $21 each and just didn't sell! I bought Alice (my fave) thinking it was a great, funny souvenir to have it in Japanese but then I found out that each DVD also has the original English track as well! Soooo Disney movies on DVD for $5? SOLD! I went back for more (of course!)! I still behaved and didn't buy all of them, only the ones I thought I couldn't live without. (I know, I'm still silly!) Here's Bambi and Alice!

Snow White and Peter Pan (do you guys seriously need me to tell you these??) =D

Fantasia and Cinderella! Fantasia isn't on DVD at all, to my knowledge, so this was a huge find for me (and Fozz, ey, Steph?)!

Shameless, I know.
Daryn and I found this necklace in Harajuku and I LOVE it! You can't see the long tail because it's in my shirt, lol, but it's so beautiful! It reminds me of a phoenix or a Fairy Tale bird (an old friend of My Little Pony, LOL!)! I had been rocking a huge flower in my hair and some great 1940s Victory rolls but took them down. Very Betty Pagesque!

That's all for now, LOL. I know it's been a while since I've posted but I've mostly been working hard and behaving (which is boring, I know!!)! Next weekend we're having a little send off for Kash, who will be leaving us in just a couple of weeks. The new teacher, Wendell, comes in during the first week in February. We just received his poster. He's from Baton Rouge, LA and was a theater major there. We're all looking forward to meeting him but I must admit I will be very sad to see Kashima go!

Speaking of 'going,' I realized a little late that it's unclear when I'm coming home, LOL. I am coming home from approx. April 28th-May 5th. (My flight actually leaves at 6am. I guess I won't be sleeping the night before considering traveling time, ey??) =D It will take 25 hours to get from my apartment to my house in Mass., and 25 hours to get back. Gooood times! Good thing companies make emergency chargers for mp3 players and DS's, huh? Otherwise, what would I do with all that time?? =D

Anyhoo, I hope everyone is having a great start to the week and enjoying themselves! I think of you all often and miss you very much! See you soon!!

Mama, I want to come home!!

So I am!!

That's right, I'm coming home!!

My friend Kash showed me how to phenagle my schedule for Golden Week so I can come home for eight days in May! And the best part? I'm doing it all only by taking ONE day of paid holiday!! Party!!

I lied, the BEST part is that I found a ridiculously cheap airline ticket!!

I lied again, the BESTEST BEST part is that I'll be home for Marci's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PARTY!!!!! =D

I'm really looking forward to coming home to see everyone! Less than four months away!! I've already been here three months so our wait will go by in a blink, too, I'm sure!

Well, I'm off to see some sunshine for the first time in forever!! Have a great day and I'LL SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!!

Love and Hugs,
Sarah

An entry about toilets...

I've wanted to blog about this for a long time but never could remember to take my camera to work with me! But today on Facebook I was introduced to a new app (Thanks Nick!!) called Japanese Stuff! One of the gifts? One of Japan's awesomely high-tech toilets.

So this is an entry about toilets. Trust me though, you may be jealous by the end of it, LOL!

I should start by saying a lotttttt of places still only have squatters (including the gaijin bar I went to for New Years) and they're not super fun but many Japanese people think they are the safest/healthiest since you're not sitting on a seat with a bunch of strangers. My apartment has a western-style toilet, yay!! And the MALL has these amazing high tech toilets! Look at these suckers:


So what are allll the buttons on the left? Allow me to explain: The seats at the mall are very cushy and they have heaters in them (not pictured here). This may sound weird but my tush was lovin' the cush of the tush! There are buttons for two different styles of "bidet" features (including pressure of the water), a MUSIC button for people with shy bladders, and then my favorite: a fake flushing sound button that sounds NOTHING like real flushing. Hysterical!! I've only heard people with shy bladders use this button to cover the sounds they make, never the music button. It's too bad really, I'd like to hear it but am afraid I would pass out laughing. I already laugh every time I heard the fake flush because it sounds sooooo bad! =D

I think I covered everything... Did I miss anything, guys?

With that interesting peek into some Japanese technology, I bid you a "good day!" =D

New Years!

Haha, I know a lot of people are interested in my New Years plans and I hate to disappoint, LOL, but they were pretty quiet on the big scale of life! All of my friends had to return to their hometowns (New Years is huge here, a time to spend with family... not so much go out and get blasted with your friends!) but Miharu lives in Hamamtsu so she asked Gary and me to go to the Gaijin bar after she had dinner with her family.

I actually met two hysterical Australians (just visiting, darn it!) so I spent most of the night with them! We were given poppers for midnight and that was fun! Then there was a bar rat (52, hair dyed red, spoke little to no English) who wouldn't leave me alone, LOL, but I finally got rid of him. Side note: the only two times I've been to this bar, it's been easy to stop drinking *early* because I watch everyone else drink to excess (earlier and quicker) and make complete fools of themselves! I just don't understand the whole "enjoying blacking out" thing!

I had a really fun time and actually met a guy from UMass Amherst! Small world! (Don't get any ideas ladies, like all other American men here, he has a *gorgeous* girlfriend, LOL!) I just enjoy meeting new friends so much and when we're from the same neck of the woods and share the same points of view, it's very nice! Jeff's here on the JET programme and is apparently a regular at the bar and completely "the guy to know!" I feel like being his friend will open many doors for me socially! Hooray!!

And I met another girl on the JET named Gillian who gave me some AWESOME news: cell phones in Japan have payment plans! (Daryn told me this about her phone, but I didn't realize it applied to Apple phones, too!!) So I'm totally *thinking* of getting an iPhone (I know guys, I'm so sorry, but ever since I played with one when Marci and I went to the cell phone store I've been a little bit in love!) and it should only cost about $15 per month to pay it off! How can I go wrong? I just love Japan, LOL!

Alright, so I went to a bar on New Years (and a McDonalds around 3a.m.). Not terribly exciting but I hate crowds and there was plenty of room at the bar! Plus, it felt so nice to go out and speak with native English speakers! I can't tell you what a difference it makes!!! Good times!! I hope everyone else's night/day was/is just as nice as mine was!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Christmas comes to us but once a year...

... as does every other day on the calendar when you think about it.
My Mom sent me a pretty great Christmas tree (four, actually!) and it's an unspoken tradition that we take a picture of the tree every year, with the lights all lit and the ornaments glowing, so I thought I'd do it, too! Of course, it doesn't have the same effect, does it? LOL!

This year I thought I did really well being away from home (not my first Christmas this way, remember) until I opened a package from my Mom on Christmas Eve. (I was allowed to open this one as it had decorations and actually, I should have received it a few weeks before! Getting that package to the house is a very long, hard, *different* story though!) =D But as part of my decorations, my Mom had prepared EIGHT gorgeous scrapbook-style memory picture pages! They were thick and reinforced and had ribbons attached to be hung like paintings and they are so so soooooo beautiful!!

I purposely didn't bring any physical pictures with me to Japan (since they're all on my computer and I thought that would be enough to make me happy) but there really is something about having them around the room and being able to glance at them at any moment, especially in such beautiful settings! But when I opened the package it hit me pretty hard and I cried so forcefully that I was making funny noises and on the verge of hyperventilating, LOL! Emma's pictures were on top and I really miss having my baby here to play with. Sometimes in my apartment I can hear little sounds and I always think it's her.

By the time I was at the eighth poster though, I was laughing my butt off! Mom had included the one of me and Steph for Halloween, so I'm Elpheba and she's gothic girl in a cloak (did we ever have a name for you that day, Steph??) and we look hysterical! Yay for Mickey's Not-so-Scary Halloween Party!!! I can't wait to go to the one in Japan next year! Grr, sorry, I got distracted yet again, lol!

Steph and I posing with some Princesses at Disney World!

Left: top: Emma and I cuddling after a hangover nap! bottom: Emma looking forelorn on the stairs.
That one killed me, of course!
Right: Mom, Dad, and I at the Spirit of Aloha dinner show at Disney World! This was so great!!

Left: Mom and Dad at the fountain in Morocco at Epcot!
Right: top: The 5 College Program kids posing in uniforms!
bottom: Some roommates posing with Pluto!

The 7th picture (not shown) is above my bed and has Krista, Heather, and I in a group hug in Orlando! The 8th is of me and Emma cuddling and I put it in the kitchen to look at when I cook (hahahaha, "cook!" I know!)


Probably the best book ever written, this is hysterical and very naughty! I found some articles online that said a LOT of people thought the "lost manuscripts" were REAL!! (Clearly not history majors, LOL!) I still get such a kick out of reading them!


So I decorated my home with all the posters, some Christmas lights (thanks Mom!), and a bunch of Christmas cards I had received (Thank You everybody!!!)! Then I went to the 100yen store ($1) and bought a few Christmasey things to spruce up the table and the grocery store to buy some goodies so we could overindulge (since I didn't get to on Thanksgiving!)!

I invited my co-workers over to enjoy the evening with me and watch Christmas movies! (I brought a plethora from America for this very purpose!) After a couple of false starts (closer friends know who I'm referring to), we were able to get under way and have a really fun time!! You'll notice some poppers in the picture as well as some yummy HERSHEY KISSES, sent all the way from America by the wonderful Canton Family!! I decided to be a good girl and share, LOL, as there were plenty to go around! And they were DELICIOUS!!! THANK YOU!!! I really miss Hershey's chocolate, LOL! I understand that the Swiss chocolate around here is better quality, etc., but it just doesn't taste the same to me!! THANK YOU again Kris and Marci, you're wonderful!!!!!


There's more food warming in the microwave! We had chicken, too, but since we'd already had dinner we were mostly thinking of desserts! I actually splurged on a box of Ritz crackers but then couldn't find anything to put ON them!! I wish Mom was here to make one of her yummy cheese balls (especially the spicy one with the pineapple chunks! YUMMY!!!!!)

My Mom always makes beautiful presentations with her food!! I think I get that from her! Make it pretty before you eat it!! =D

These are the infamous (holidays only) Honey Roast Chicken flavored Pringles!! They taste like honey roasted peanuts (err, potato chips) and they are DELICIOUS!! We cracked into these at some point during the night, too! =D

When Ai comes over she is always cuddling with my Duke Elliot bear, so I thought I'd get her one of her own! Notice that hers (Princess Miranda) is wearing a removeable towel around her belly because she's used as a pillow generally, and this way you can remove the towel and wash it. I think it looks like she just stepped out of the shower though, LOL! I made a collar and bow for her out of wrapping paper, and I just love seeing her posing with her uncle Elliot! They looked so sweet together!
The wrapping paper that Marci used looks JUST LIKE Elliot and Miranda!!! Marci and I are totally psychic with each other!! For instance, I can read her thoughts at this very moment and she's thinking... "it's time for sushi!" Come on, how well do I know you?? =D

My beautiful pictures and some Christmas cards!!

Ai aiming a popper! This could end badly... ;)

WELL DONE!! (This was not posed, either Gary or Ai definitely hit the light, LOL!)

Mom sent some battery operated candles but I had no idea what setting to put the camera on to capture the warm glow!!

I'm useless with this camera! But look how pretty!! =D

Ai and Miranda giving Gary a new look!

Love and cuddles!!

This is from the Kamakura trip, but it was so funny I didn't want to rob you of it! On the brink of exhaustion and sickness, I was feeling a little loopy... though, let's face it, I hardly need an excuse to do my Walrus impersonation!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

I just remembered something that I wanted to share with everyone, LOL!

There's a store in our mall that sells some really unusual and funny things (think Spencer's Gifts WITHOUT all the "adult" things!) and a few days ago I made a hilarious discovery there!

Alice in Wonderland was playing on a small tv near the back of the store and so (naturally) it caught my eye.
As I got closer (the sound was turned way down) I realized that it had been dubbed into Japanese. How interesting...

As I moved closer still, I see that there are several Disney movies to choose from in this fashion, but there's something strange about the cases...

They look very cheap, like color copies from Kinko's or something...

Then I look at the price tag...

525 yen each. That's about $5.00 in U.S. funds.

Sooooo, it all clicks into place that these DVDs are perhaps bootlegs but I'm perplexed as to why they're being sold in a retail store in the mall, where everything else is genuine??

And I'm also wrestling with the idea of buying the Alice one, LOL, since I'm such a huge fan of the movie! =D

I know no one will think that's half as interesting as my previous post, lol, but I couldn't resist!! =D
Have a beautiful day!