Archive for Travels
October 31, 2007 at 1:06 am · Filed under Experiences, Travels
To finally get to the tournament…Sunday in Campbell River at a highschool gym. I was registered to compete in women’s kata, white belt, over 18. “Kata” is a choreographed pattern of movements. In competitions you can choose to do any kata that you would like, and there are many, but I chose “kihon kata go” or “basic kata #5″. Keeping it simple for the first time. What I didn’t muster up the courage to compete in was “kumite” or sparring. Maybe next time.
Anyway, I was nervous enough already. Not so much because of concern over high scores but more because I knew there would be many formalities and this being my first time competing, I knew little. Indeed, to jump ahead, I was like that little kid who starts walking off the stage in the middle of her line. Her parents are standing at the side of the stage mouthing her next words and waving their hands “get back there!”. Well, not completely like that but, I had some things to learn and this was the chance to learn them.
And I got second place!….in a two person division : P (How can I not use that statement ordering to joke about my second place-ness?) Only competing with another girl (and a friend) from my club helped cure the nervousness but…I hope I get the chance to compete with people outside of the club soon. I imagine you can learn a lot from it.
On a note not completely related to the tournament - it was so interesting to travel in BC. I guess I have not done that so much. It’s easy to stay inside the big city walls and start to think that IT represents the province. But there is so much else around and strikingly different too. I do need to get out more.
October 30, 2007 at 1:44 pm · Filed under Travels
On the way to Nanaimo - there is a little village with pubs and coffee and giftshops called…”the village”. You park your car in line for the ferry and while waiting, can leave and go to the village.
October 15, 2007 at 2:36 pm · Filed under In the Kitchen and Foodstuff, In the News, Movies&Film, Travels, 日本語
The strike is finally over and garbage collection resumes this week. We were just starting to consider alternatives to get rid of waste piled up over the three months. Hopefully this experience will lead to better recycling practices for all.
travel
I read about a place in Chile called Punta Pite and it has finally given me an definite answer to the question I always ask others: “if you could leave on a trip tomorrow anywhere in the world, where would it be?” It’s likely my next big trip will not be for another year or so but in the meantime, I will read up on Chile with a possible side of Easter Island salad.
news
日本語
From my Japanese language exchange over an ever-delicious Elysian cappuccino on Saturday: you know how we say that we want to “brush up on …”, for example, brush up on my Japanese? You can use the same expression in Japanese: 日本語を磨く (nihongo o migaku) - brush my japanese. The same verb (and kanji) is used for brushing ones teeth brushing. We also discussed 不器用 (bukiyoh) and a translation - clumsy; both the physical and mental uses of the word. Then I inquired into a Japanese version of quote / unquote fingers but my conclusion for the night was that it doesn’t quite exist. If you know other please let me know.
food
On Friday after drinks at Koerner’s a few of us went to Topanga Cafe on W 4th for some dinner. I had been inhaling cider for the few hours previous thus this was the most incredible thing to eat:
the chicken burrito. On reflection, I might have preferred beef or bean but…it was good. Can you believe that cheese and the sauce…? On further reflection, or after getting this picture of my camera, I realized that I had eaten something that spent half its plate-life staring at me.
pets
I was also cat sitting this weekend which was good given my limited interaction with pets. Seven months old, she was quite the active cat and I played with her; tossing mice around and animating string. I wondered if I was entertaining her and then I wondered how much she perceived these things in motion as being moved by my hand. Was I creating an illusion or did she need to use her own imagination? How do cats play?
movies
I saw The Darjeeling Limited last night and while it may disappoint those expecting a new favourite Wes Anderson movie, I enjoyed the faces and expressions of all the actors, with all their flaws, made beautiful.
mobile phone
I am still without mobile phone but it’s hard to want to spend the money on the ones available here when I had Orange Juice in Japan. I sort of want to wait until I have a (more) highly paying job and then I can invest in one of them fancy phones. But moments like coordinating meeting at a movie theatre and saving seats could have been made easier if I was connected. We could have made the balcony!
September 19, 2007 at 3:37 am · Filed under Travels
In case it was not apparent from the last post, I arrived safely in Vancouver yesterday. I came to my new home, die kommune, where I will live with Eric, Hendrik, and another new kommunist, Tom. After putting down my bags and sitting on the couch I realized that I really did not know what I would do next. I was so tired, so out of it. In the end I took a long walk in the afternoon, bought some towels, sat in a cafe for a bit, picked up some groceries, had some supper, and went to bed at 8pm. Figured that would be late enough to help get passed the jet lag but no. It is 3:30am and I have been up since 1:30.
Tomorrow I get back to my thesis. I want to finish it (the draft, all content is there part) before going home for thanksgiving. I don’t know if that is possible, but I will try. I might also buy a rice cooker, was reading that Forum Home Appliances downtown sells good ones….oh it is so weird to be starting life over again (in some way).
But part of me does not feel like settling down. I walked by a travel agency yesterday and saw packages for vacations in Turkey and some other places. It seemed really really appealing to me. Maybe because I haven’t arrived in Vancouver and felt “oh this is home”. There is disconnection to here and disconnection to Japan and I feel like, while I am disconnected from everywhere, I might as well let myself get lost anywhere.
So I could buy a rice cooker. I could take my things from storage and make my new room a cozy home. Or I could keep my backpack and suitcase in a visible place, a reminder that in six or eight months from now I might pick things up and go. But then there is the money factor. Right now I can afford a rice cooker but not another plane ticket. Probably job first, travel later.
Oh choices…
September 18, 2007 at 8:36 am · Filed under Mundane, Travels
Moving involves a series of things that are done for the last time. These are everyday things that will obtain new context and method in their transfer to the new place.
I notice myself ignoring the last minutes of things I enjoy. I focus on noting the last time I must do a less enjoyable task such as cleaning the floor drain in my washroom or wiping up water trapped in the tight space between my kitchen sink faucet and the wall.
They will come and take my Internet soon. I might write before leaving Japan. I might not. So if not - goodbye for now.
August 18, 2007 at 12:11 am · Filed under Games, Travels
We went to a really old pachinko parlour and I thought that that night could have been the night but no, I am still a pachinko virgin. Five hundred yen each bought us saucers of small corks and time with the rifles, trying to shoot things off of these shelves:
I figured out that if I aimed for one of the bottom guys I could always hit a block from the middle shelf. Some of the blocks had cheesy 1970s portraits glued to them - kept going for this kid with a green shirt and shiny side-parted blond hair. Walked out of there with two trophies: a blue honey-dew melon-sized bouncy ball and a small hello kitty cloth bag.
August 17, 2007 at 7:43 am · Filed under Travels
The street ahead of us curved and as we walked past the curve I spotted this:
and my body jumped a little. It was “kaonashi” or “noface” from Spirited Away. That moment was so surreal. Then I looked at the surroundings. The statue was placed in front of a very large ryokan hidden by its front wings and trees:
It did remind me a lot of the bathhouse in Spirited Away. Was there a connection? With some Internet searching later I found that several people had similar opinion and it is said that this is one of the ryokan that inspired Miyazaki.
August 15, 2007 at 8:31 pm · Filed under Travels
The village is an onsen village - it is filled with many hot springs and baths (onsen=hot spring). There is a set of 10 (I think) public baths all within walking distance of each other. They are locked but public and if you stay at a ryokan you can get a key to enter. Inside there is a small entrance way with shelves to place your belongings and then you can enter the bath room, also quite small. I would say that maybe a maximum of 6 people can comfortable use the bath at the same time. A few baths we didn’t enter because people were occupying them already but the ones we did go into, we had to ourselves.
You can also buy this cloth listing the names of the 10 baths then at each one, there is a stamp for you to mark it off of your list. I didn’t get them all. I think I missed 6 and 7, 3 there were people inside and it didn’t look like they were going anywhere and 2 was insanely hot. We tried but it just wouldn’t cool down.
August 14, 2007 at 11:29 pm · Filed under Travels
Sunday afternoon after band practice me and 3 women from work took the train to Shibu Onsen in Nagano prefecture. We arrived in time for supper, ate, and then geared up to do what you do in this small mountain village - hit the baths. The ryokans (inns) supply the yukatas (bathrobe style) and geta (wooden sandals)…
…which you can wear outside, all day, as you wander around narrow streets which, at night time, are free of cars.
We were lucky that there was a small summer festival going on. Wooden games for children and adults were stationed under street lamps casting a warm glow on everything. People were eating cotton candy and the most prominent sound was that of wooden geta clacking against the road. I love that sound.
Well, I will admit, the next day at 6am I was not in the mood for geta clacking but I did manage to mostly get back to sleep and in my dreams the noise turned into mystical nighttime geta clacking sound.
July 16, 2007 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Experiences, Travels
This weekend I got out of the city, past the vast city, through the mega city, across some not quite in the city but I bet a lot of people living around here work in the city, into some mountains and finally, we landed in a quiet ski resort village in Niigata prefecture.
Wonder Three boards skiers in the winter and in the summer it invites musicians to stay and practice in their three studios. We arrived around 1:30pm and were in the studios by 2:30ish to start practicing yet unpracticed songs.
After practiced we restored our energy with an awesomely delicious homemade tasting meal then went out into quiet wet streets to get supplies for the night.
Well equipped with food and drink we kicked off the first night of “band camp”. A highlight for me: getting a chance trying to play the sanshin, an Okinawan 3-strings instrument.
June 21, 2007 at 6:25 pm · Filed under Experiences, Travels
Last Saturday I rented a rowboat for half an hour (800円) and floated around a pond in Nara park. I found it amusing how I always end up in the cliche romantic scenarios/scenes/places by myself but…it was really relaxing. Imagine having to take a rowboat to work everyday? Why don’t we have more of these?
June 19, 2007 at 2:25 pm · Filed under Travels
..there are deer in Nara. A lot and they are very used to the masses of people wandering the park. They hand around vendors of rice crackers sold to feed the deer and if you buy the crackers, prepare to have friends. I think this one wants a coke.
December 22, 2006 at 2:55 am · Filed under Travels
I love it. My first step into YVR and what do I smell? Cinnamon buns. Of course. Then I recheck my bags for my later flight to Regina. Then I exchange money and wow there are new 50s and 100s. Actually I think they may have changed before I left Canada but at that time I was not in the financial position to encounter a 50 or 100. Then to the bathroom to check the damage. Because of reasons which I will talk about later, I had little in the manner of beauty tools at my disposal during the flight. A check in the mirror revealed quite the sick looking Meg (or is it the bright lights in Canadian bathrooms because they don’t use the ugly lights in Japan. Japan bathrooms have soft lighting.) I went around the corner to find a stall and took a step back when I saw walls and doors that seemed to be…hovering…from the ground. Oh yeah, they don’t go to the floor like in Japan. I sat down on an icy cold seat with some apprehension because…is it clean like in Japan? I keep wanting to say すみません and ありがとうございます. But no that will get weird looks here. From most people. That’s the other thing. The people…everyone is so different. So many backgrounds. The majority speaking English but varying accents. Oh and this sweet sweet hotspot. I will call the T man soon and he will pick me up and then we will go to UBC but before then I have to bask in this wireless goodness. And write because I feel so stimulated. So many contrasts running through my head and I can’t say I am comparing things - thinking that oh this is better here or there. Just…seeing the differences. I will admit…already missing Japan a little. The first 1/3rd of my flight I thought about that - how hard it will be to leave for good when I do. I have a pre-flight story to tell, and some commentary on the in-flight movies. But I think I will make my phone calls now and write while I wait.
Just one more thought: I just imagined waffles’ apple logo also containing red and green lights that only come on in the two weeks before Christmas and maybe…4 days after. Probably because there is a Starbucks right across from me and I think that Starbucks thinks it is Christmas.
December 8, 2006 at 9:05 am · Filed under Experiences, Travels
So much comment these days and having no medicine but manual moderation, I go through the emails and delete delete delete as they come. Most of the time it is the same posted that get spammed over and over again. Why were those posts chosen? Thought the other day I took a second glance at what I thought was spam:
Comment:
ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
and then
Comment:
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmmmmmm
possibly a small child or a dog or better yet - a rabbit!?
A mystery to solve…but instead…I went to Hakone last weekend! Yes, the trip deserves an exclamation mark (!)
Sunday morning 4 girls from work and I met up at Yokohama station and took the hour and some train ride to Hakone, a somewhat touristy (but not horribly so) mountain town in the Kanagawa prefecture. Definitely a scenic place but unfortunately I have no pictures to express that : ( You’ll just have to trust me.
Our first activity was to go to the Craft House and get crafty. We chose to blow some glass. The setup there was ideal for getting the inexperienced in, safe, and out with a smile on their face. Before starting, we were shown shapes, colours, and patterns to select for our creations. Then it was a one-on-one experience in the glassblowing studio. The experts guided us along step-by-step, letting us touch enough things so that in the end, we could take our products home and say “look ma, look what I made!” Actually, it was a really good experience. I am surprised that I had the opportunity because when glassblowing…you’re dealing with some hot stuff there! Very sensitive too. We got to blow the glass (of course) and on my first try I, thinking that you needed to blow really hard, blew too hard and my glass bubble(?) popped. Fun : )
To conclude that part, here is what I made:
After the glassblowing, we attempted to go to a hot springs area at the top of a ropeway in order to find and eat kurotamago (black tamago…black egg….onsen egg…egg boiled in hot spring) but the ropeway was closed : ( So we headed back to the ryokan for a huuuuuge and yummy meal (I think it was the largest # of items meal that I have had here so far), followed by board games and then onsen. We had reserved a private outdoor onsen room. It was cold outside and a little hard to muster up the genkiness needed to handle the cold outside before getting into the warm bath, but the chill was worth it.
Monday morning, smooth from soaking in bath, we headed straight to work from Hakone.
November 28, 2006 at 9:49 am · Filed under Sweet Finds, Travels
I found honey from Alberta in a Nikko gift shop a few weeks ago.
The Safeway shelf does not make it look 15$ good but I guess it is a special thing. I shall buy some when I return to Canada and apply it in globs to peanut-buttered whole wheat toast. Ooo…that just made my stomach cramp.
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