It is pretty much too hot to live. Since last week, temperatures have been in the 30s during the day... tonight, it's 31 degrees Celcius despite it being 10:40pm. I have the odds stacked against me: I have sensitive skin, poor circulation (and thus a poor body heating-cooling system), and I am from Canada, where it generally doesn't get this hot for so long and with such humidity. Because of that, my skin has been itching, like it's swelling and getting too tight for me; I absentmindedly scratch it and cause a rash of small bumps to appear on my arms. I've also lost my appetite due to heatsickness. I no longer have any desire whatsoever to live in a country that lacks a decent winter.
In recent news, I went to Shiga prefecture and Kyoto with two of my friends. It's my last trip in Japan, as I only have two weekends left, during which I have to finish packing, cleaning my apartment, and getting rid of the stuff I can't or have no desire to take with me to Canada. I have taught most of my coworkers (including the other foreign teacher, heh) the word "penultimate", because that's what this week is.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tales of Takabata
Accidentally posted this in Chotto... a few days ago. Here it is now :P
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Actually not really. I haven't updated this in like forever, but hey, I went to Koyasan! It's a place in the mountains in Wakayama prefecture - the mountains surrounding this plateau are like the leaves of the lotus, which is why Kukai (Kobo Daishi), the founder of Shingon Buddhism, chose it as the base for his new practice.
We stayed overnight in a shukubo, or temple lodging, ate shojin-ryori (traditional vegan Buddhist monk food) and hiked around. It was fantastic, and I super recommend it to anyone in Japan.
~~
Actually not really. I haven't updated this in like forever, but hey, I went to Koyasan! It's a place in the mountains in Wakayama prefecture - the mountains surrounding this plateau are like the leaves of the lotus, which is why Kukai (Kobo Daishi), the founder of Shingon Buddhism, chose it as the base for his new practice.
We stayed overnight in a shukubo, or temple lodging, ate shojin-ryori (traditional vegan Buddhist monk food) and hiked around. It was fantastic, and I super recommend it to anyone in Japan.
Somebody turned the humidity up to eleven today, plus it's raining. I've my laundry drying in my shower room (which actually can blow air into it to dry things) - but slowly - and my dehumidifier on in an attempt not to be soggy all day.
I had to go out earlier to do a few errands - the paperwork for leaving Japan is seemingly endless, what with pension refunds and tax withheld, but I managed to pay a bill, send off some forms, and then - in my pride - I tackled going to the ward office to ask for a new pension booklet, as I seem to have misplaced mine. The guy helping me didn't seem to understand that I didn't understand Japanese, was extremely unhelpful, and was staring at my chest the entire time. Add to that his incredibly foul breath, and I left the ward office five minutes after I came in, extremely put out. I am still on square one, as the guy did not even TRY to communicate to me, so I have no idea what to do next. I'll be phoning the international centre to see what advice they have to give.
My mood was mollified by the fact that afterward, I went to pick up my dry cleaning from the little old lady who does it, and she gave me a cob of sweet corn to munch on, so... yes. Now to plot my next steps.
I'm leaving Japan on July 15, and so I'm in what seems like an eternal process of wrapping things up and getting through red tape - made more difficult by the fact that my Japanese is still quite infantile. Ah well.
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| You said it, recycling-shop t-shirt. |
I had to go out earlier to do a few errands - the paperwork for leaving Japan is seemingly endless, what with pension refunds and tax withheld, but I managed to pay a bill, send off some forms, and then - in my pride - I tackled going to the ward office to ask for a new pension booklet, as I seem to have misplaced mine. The guy helping me didn't seem to understand that I didn't understand Japanese, was extremely unhelpful, and was staring at my chest the entire time. Add to that his incredibly foul breath, and I left the ward office five minutes after I came in, extremely put out. I am still on square one, as the guy did not even TRY to communicate to me, so I have no idea what to do next. I'll be phoning the international centre to see what advice they have to give.
My mood was mollified by the fact that afterward, I went to pick up my dry cleaning from the little old lady who does it, and she gave me a cob of sweet corn to munch on, so... yes. Now to plot my next steps.
I'm leaving Japan on July 15, and so I'm in what seems like an eternal process of wrapping things up and getting through red tape - made more difficult by the fact that my Japanese is still quite infantile. Ah well.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Kimonomono!
In Japanese, "mono" means "thing(s)". Hence the terrible joke that is this post's title.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
I live!
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| Pondside Buddha in Hirabari |
Sorry for the silence on the eastern front, folks - Google Blogs has this tendency to not allow me to sign in for weeks at a time, though I try every permutation of password I have ever used. Doesn't help that I get all my error messages in Japanese, because Google "helpfully" senses my location and regionalizes the page.
What I've been doing for the past month: surviving.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
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