I was accepted to University of Washington in Seattle this week. Anyone want to contribute to the Send Angie to Grad School fund? Fret fret...

What Happens in the Inaka

I survived the office days without beating my head in the wall from boredom. There were a lot of office member changes in staff. No one in my area is different; I am very lucky. We lost seven members and gained five. Two of the changes are nice. One man was a principal at one of my elementary schools and the father of a friend of mine. Another man happens to be a very good English speaker. But I will miss seeing the familiar faces of those who have been here since I arrived in Japan. The one I will miss the most is Mr. Inada. He is a lovely man who has helped me so much. Last summer he gave me the little table and chairs in my kitchen. We talk most often during enkai's when his English comes together. His favorite singer is Enya, so at every karaoke session he requests that I sing "Wild Child." At the office farewell/welcome enkai a week ago, he sang "Wild Child" with me. Afterwards he got teary-eyed, thanking me and saying he will miss me. Ah, such a tender moment. An office member said he will invite Mr. Inada to my farewell enkai in July. I hope that he is there.

Last Friday I was invited to an enkai with the Kikugawa Youth Association. I hadn't seen most of these people since last summer. Very fun time, as you can see. Because I can carry a tune, I feel in a way I redeemed myself with these friends. As the night progressed, I was a one-man show, taking requests that ranged from Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and the Beetles.
Soon after this was taken, the guy who's mouth is wide open told me he loved me. Ha, I took that as an internationalization opportunity to tell him that "love" in English has a much stronger meaning than "dai suki." He felt pretty embarrassed after that, but probably not too embarrassed since he had been drinking so much.





This past Tuesday I went to a party at the nursing home. Some musicians from Mongolia were there doing entertainment for the elderly and afterwards for the staff. They were all very nice and spoke fluent Japanese, much to my chagrin. A good opportunity for Japanese practice, though.

Mr. Nishimura (the Buddhist priest), Mrs. Oka and Dr. Oka. Next weekend the Okas are taking me to a jazz concert. Woo hoo!

Thursday I had Anita, Becky, and Laura to my house for a belated/early birthday celebration. A few more photos to come.

Thanks for coming out!

Sara's Visit Days 1 & 2--Osaka and Hiroshima

On March 24th my dear friend Sara came to visit. I had seven days vacation away from work. It was the most time off I have ever had while physically remaining in Japan. My my my, was that ever nice. I will attempt to capture our experience as best as possible through some photos.

Sara and I have been kindred spirits since we met on the first day of high school. Her last name is Gibson, so all the students whose last names began with F-Ha assembled to meet our guidance counselor. But before the guidance counselor began her little talk, she did an Academic Giants presentation. Any student who was on honor roll from junior high had to come up in front of everyone and receive a writing pen. I was the first student whose name was called and Sara was the second student called. We sat down next to each other and she said, “We are labeled nerds on the first day of school before we ever start classes.” Ever since then, we have been good friend.

I headed to Kansai airport in the rain. Sara’s plane was a bit late, but I had a good chat with an American exchange student waiting on her parents to arrive on the same plane. After Sara arrived we headed to our hostel in Osaka for the night. Unfortunately, we took a wrong exit from the train station and got very lost looking for the hostel. After walking around in the rain for about an hour, I finally stopped for directions and we made it to the hostel.

The next day, we headed to Hiroshima to meet up with Jeff, Laura, and Yukari. The weather was forecasted to be rainy, but luckily things cleared up and the sky was beautiful.

After checking in the hostel, we went to Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb museum. FYI—Hiroshima now has a J-Hoppers hostel. It was conveniently located near Peace Park, and all the rooms were tatami floor so it felt quite Japanese. Facilities were newly renovated and clean. I highly suggest it as a nice, cheap place to sleep if you are in need of such a place.

In the museum, these are some of the tiny paper cranes Sadako folded before she died.

After the museum, we met up with Jeff, ate Subway, and went to Hiroshima Castle.




After a very awkward and abrupt leaving, Jeff went back to Mihara and Laura, Sara, and I went to an international foods shop and had Indian food for dinner. Look at this giant piece of nan bread!

Sara's Visit Day 3--Miyajima

Miyajima is one of my favorite places in Japan. I love how secluded and quiet it feels. We had a gorgeous day of weather and a clear blue sky. Ha, but the sun made us squinty in all of our photos.

Attack of the crazy deer!

How lucky were we to see them so up close!

Sake barrels

A few sakura blossoms

We met a nice man doing artwork inside the temple. If I understood his Japanese correctly, he used to be a salary man, but he somehow acquired shoulder problems about 10 years ago. As his rehabilitation, he started creating artwork in the temples rather than take medicine.

Yeah, super squinty.

Now it's Laura's turn

The final photo on the walk out.

Sara's Visit Day 4--Shimonoseki

After a lazy morning, Sara and I headed to Shimonoseki for souvenirs from Daiso, a bit of sightseeing, and sushi.

Sara's Visit Day 5--Up the West Coast

Spring

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window,into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

--e.e. cummings