Raindrops on a sunny day

Coffee tastes a little too good recently. It seems like I'm closing in on addiction again. Perhaps I should experiment and try decaf to see if it is the taste or the caffein I'm addicting to.

Life is good nowadays (though it turned a shade of blue just now, but more about that later), I'm back in my beloved uni-town and I study fun stuff with nice people, I've got a bi-weekly part time job where it seems likely I'll get even more hours/shifts soon, and the work environment is really good. People said I did a good job on my first shift and that they liked me because I smile a lot too. (Yay!)

Also, yesterday we celebrated my friend's 25th birthday! We started out with sushi at my favourite japanese restaurant, and then moved on to another favourite spot where we stayed until closing time. We'd hired the pub's lower floor for the party (smallish pub so it was nice and cozy, not as big as it might sound otherwise), and friends and coworkers of the birthday girl came and went throughout the evening, it was great. There was an surprising amount of people I knew from some time back as well, making this evening a journey in elder and more recent social history (other possible translations: "catching up" and "gossip" ;} ), and playing with old friends and new(ish?) people. Funfun! When our pub closed we continued on to our afterpartyplace, where my main group of friends, and me and the birthday girl, stayed until 7am. Our beloved princess was quite drunk at this point and we had to convince her for about. half an hour to walk home with us, even though 85% of the party had already left, with just the creepy weirdos* remaining (Yes I dare call them 'creepy weirdos" as I severely doubt any of them read this blog. And if they do I'm not particularly bothered anyway). As we walked home to the sound of our princess rambling on about how much she loves us for loving her despite her drunken state, the morning skies were gradually lightening to a soft light blue, the streets were deserted but for us.

Life is good.
I was home and went to blissful sleep at 8am, but woke up at 10am and couldn't fall asleep again, and while surfing the net (for lack of ability to occupy myself with other activities) I  found this video: ♥

♥

Thanks to Knut who posted this (or possibly their other video) on facebook! Kawaii deshou!

...

As for the aforementioned shade of blue (the first one mentioned. I accidentlly used it as a poetic expression as well but found it too nice to delete it): I got the message that one of my grandparents died this morning. By a lucky turn I was already planning on heading for my home town tomorrow anyway, but the trip lost its recreational appeal as I got the death news.

It will be nice to be with my family for a couuple of days.

To Bangalore and back again

I haven't blogged (properly) for 2 weeks now. Why? First week I was too busy, so I assembled a picture-post in order to have something to post (see back-dated blog post here)

The next week I spontaneously joined a group going to Bangalore - forgetting to finish and post my blog post in the packing process as we left on my "blogging day".

Bangalore

Journey & Accommodation
I spontaneously joined a group going to Bangalore one evening before departure, ending up hurrying through necessary packing ad wrapping up stuff that needed to be done before departure. We travelled by night bus, a nice one, and arrived early at the guesthouse – 05:00… There had been a slight misunderstanding of when we were to arrive, so when we showed up at 5am our rooms were unprepared and quite dirty… We managed to arrange some mattresses and clean sheets and slept a couple of hours, and then we went into the centre of Bangalore for the day.

When we returned to the guesthouse in the afternoon the moods was much lighter and the experience was considerably better. We got the rooms cleaned, talked some more with the manager (whom turns out to be really nice), and the wonderful staff unexpectedly offered chai (tea) brought up to the room – free of charge!

Happy people!

Downtown Bangalore 
Shopping started in a mall, and then we walked up and down the main streets checking out the stores, ending up in a bookstore searching for useful literature to our group assignments in Pondi. I even managed to find an adapter/converter for my camera recharger (– which has Japanese prongs, and a suitable adapter; back home in Norway…), so now I’m finally able to take pictures again! (Happyhappyhappy!)

We had various experiences with the autos (remember the auto-rickshaws?); teaching us that over-eager drivers accepting low prices right away is not to be trusted. They take detours to stores they are affiliated with (tourist traps) to earn more money. At the shop they tried to sell me a nice pashmina shawl – incidentally an identical one to one I already had – and a quick question of the price revealed it to be 5 times the price of what I bought it for in Pondi.

Other experiences, always agree on the price first, and ask some locals to arrange the auto and the price for you if possible; they get much better prices than us obvious and oblivious tourists are able to arrange for ourselves. It might have a background in the poverty and high levels of competition in all areas in India, most Indians we come across in everyday activities (outside of the Study Center in Pondi) are opportunistic to various degrees. (Yes, this is a generalization and a very broad one at that…)

Safari
The second day in Bangalore we decided to go to a nearby Safari. Our guesthouse staff arranged two autos for us (and haggled the price for us), and off we went. It was almost an hour driving to the Safari (can’t remember the name of it, sorry), and then we arranged with the auto drivers that they would wait for us and take us home after a couple of hours –for the same price. Inside the safari we chose to take the Grand Safari bus ride (1hr) and climbed into the safari bus (not as exciting – nor as cute – as the safari buses in Beppu (Japan)). When we entered the bus the driver’s assistant placed us in the front seats, and while driving he took our cameras and took pictures (good ones) for us – for an expected tipping, of course. (We felt a little uncomfortable with the obvious difference in treatment, but as we –the girls in my group and I– believe everyone else in the bus (all Indian) assumed the assistant to do this for extra profit, the discomfort changed to a feeling of …apathy?) Anyway, the safari was really nice, and we were all relieved to see that the animals in the Zoo/Safari looked hale and healthy.

Bangalore (left) vs. Beppu (right)

 

Safari pictures, mine (left) and the driver assistant's (right)

 

New friends
Later the last night in Bangalore Lina and I went out to dinner with Lina’s friend Rohini and Rohini’s mother. They are the sweetest people on earth!! I fell so in love with the two of them. Even though it was the first time we met they asked if I would come along and visit their family in (some place I can’t pronounce) when Lina is going to, and when we said I would not be coming they asked us why! I hope I will get the opportunity to meet them again some time, they were absolutely lovely.

Return 
Even though we didn’t want to leave after meeting with Rohini and her mother, after only such a brief time, it felt good to be on the night bus back to Pondi when we finally settled in our bunks. We arrived home at 5am, good and tired, and slept away most of the day. 

Concert review and related stories – Part 1: Prologue

Alternative title: “2 obvious aliens, a circus worth of Goth Rocker fangirls, Jelly Fishes – and Plastic Tree”; a concert review of Plastic Tree’s “Alone Again – Wonderful World” tour concert in Osaka Namba Hatch, April 10th 2008, and related stories.

The decision of going to Osaka was made on impulse upon learning about Plastic Tree’s concert 3 days later.

Wednesday, arrival in Osaka, the day before the concert. Main Activity; Handshaking Event.

Tickets for the handshaking event were sold at a record store morning the same day as the event.

We were early and the store hadn’t opened (calculated, on our part), so we decided it would be more comfortable to wait in the nearby park.

Rounding the corner we saw, not a group, but a row, of people in unordinary clothes standing side by side. This neat, but apparently unorganized (and perhaps spontaneous?) line was to us a very puzzling phenomenon. There were no signs or markings and no apparent people “in charge” to organize the line, and the people waiting were all an interesting contrast to the regular park visitors. They were just hanging about, either reading, staring into the air, talking in small groups of two or three – but still clearly in line, even within their small groups – and they were all girls. (Ok, perhaps some guys too, they’re not that visible (or discernible) among the girls here, but the guys were certainly underrepresented.)

Since we weren’t 100% sure if it was an actual (or official) line for the ticket sale, we sat down on a bench a little distance away and observed the whole phenomenon. At 11 (when the store opened) the line started moving so we got up too, and timed so we “accidentally” fell into pace behind the back of the line.

CD singles and tickets were bought, and then we just had to fill time until the actual event 7 hours later.

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The handshaking event itself

The queue was back in the park again, but bigger and flashier. There were girls of all kinds of (at least slightly gothic or rocked up) styles; Punk girls (modern & moderate ones), Rocker girls, Goth, and a surprising number of Lolitas of different kinds (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Fashion). We felt really out of place – even with heavy make-up.

We had early numbers on our tickets so we got in with the first batch of people even though we came only just in time for the opening.

We were ushered into a room about half the size of an average classroom, into a new queue waiting for the band. Surrounded by nervous whisperings high expectations and giddiness from the crowd in general, I got caught in the mood too. I didn’t really care if I met them or not; I was there for the music, and to them I’d only become a fleeting impression at best – one of hundreds of fans they’ve met. (Nika cared though.) Still, since we were there and all, it was kind of fun being the only westerners/white people there. Especially when it was out turn to greet the band (well, the vocalist and the bandleader); to most of the fans they shook their hands and thanked them (for their support I assume – they said mostly just “arigatou gozaimasu” - meaning "thank you"), but Nika and I received longer handshakes and a “thank you very much, please continue to listen to our music”. I have to rely on Nika for the translation; because I didn’t expect them to say more than “thank you” I was quite baffled when the vocalist kept holding my hand while saying stuff in Japanese…

And then it was finished. The girls were so happy, one couldn’t stop smiling, and the other had to dry away a few tears. Segments of the line was still waiting in the park, waiting for their turn, new people were ushered inside in small groups, and the people coming out from the event was asked to move away to avoid crowds (everything was nicely organized, very Japanese).

Afterwards we went to the Dotonburi in Namba and ate Okomiyaki, and talked and talked and talked about the evening’s experiences, and how they were perceived, or possibly perceived, by us and all other people possibly present, etc. before heading back to our hotels.

Part 2 coming soon (hopefully).

Back in Beppu

Back in Beppu, back on campus, 45 days after start.

Writing this blogpost took me longer than I expected. It was harder than I thought it would be too. The last week has featured exhaustion, emotional turbulence, strong impressions, stress, and then I caught a cold – which escalated when I finally had time to sit down to breathe. I guess I'm lucky I mostly get sick at times when it's most convenient (or least inconvenient)... I think I’ll be able to throw it off quite soon though, thanks to Shannon's cough syrup – it was a relief to realize I could breathe normally again this afternoon.

Since Kyoto, the Family and I had 2 half days and a night in Hiroshima & Miyajima. We stayed at a really nice Ryokan on Miyjima, which wonderful cedar tree bath. Shame I was the only one that actually used it. We had ordered the stay at this Ryokan to experience a traditional Japanese accommodation, but the only Japanese thing we did was eat... But the food was just as wonderful as the cedar bath. Oh, and we slept on futons in tatami rooms, but... I'm kind of used to futons by now, so that experience wasn’t that big a deal for me…

In our 2 half days (one half day on either side of our stay at the Ryokan) we split up and did our preferred activities. The first day I took Mom & M to what I think is the most important sight in Hiroshima; the A-bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum. The 2^nd day we had planed to take a stroll around the nearby sights of Miyajima before we left, but that morning it was raining so hard that we decided against it. We headed directly for the station where we hung out at Starbucks until it was time to get our luggage and get onto the train.

Arriving in Beppu with my family was the most tiring part of my whole journey. I had mixed feelings about going home at all in the first place. I had a good time travelling, and would have liked Beppu to just another stop on the way to somewhere else, and at the same time it would be nice to be back with my friends again (and to study again, to actually look up and re-learn all the Japanese I’ve noted I lacked along the way). And then, upon arriving in Beppu I was "home", but not "home enough" to be allowed to relax. Add the general tiredness & impatience in the group and you get a good portion of emotional turbulence, but in the end we had a nice last day together in Beppu when I took them to the Jigoku Meguri (or in English "The Hells' Tour").

Accepting the fact that I was going home; it was really nice to come back to campus, to all the people that had begun to drift back into the dorms from where ever they have spent their break.

Since coming back to campus I've intensely socialized with a lot of people, got up at 5:45 to help Shan with her luggage down to the waiting car and to see her off, done my course reg., paid my bills and arranged my post re-delivered, eaten at a tabehoudai (all you can eat) with new and semi-new people, and spent a day and a half in bed after fixing everything important that had to be done. *phew*

Projects for the next week or so is to e-mail all the wonderful people I won't be seeing for a while (regardless of where I know them from), updating the blog (post pictures to previous posts etc.), start reading Peace & Conflict Studies and sort through misc. related administrative info (autumn sem. prep.), review kanji (spring sem. prep.), write my travel report to my sponsor foundation, etc. etc.

There are plenty of things to do, but foremost of them all is recuperation.

Kyoto in the Rain

I’m at our hotel room in Kyoto, airing feet and drying socks and trousers and jackets etc. I’m looking forward to posting a bigger update and post a direct blog-post for once, since there’s free internet connection on my own pc with the hotel room’s LAN cord. Yay! The only downside is that I’m exhausted after today’s excursions; we’ve been on a one-day bus tour of Kyoto, having about 40 minutes at each stop – most of them places where I could’ve spend hours on my own.

It’s nice to travel with my family, even though there are some challenges. Having spent a month practicing independency and travelling in my own pace it’s a big change to suddenly travel with 4 companions with different needs, wishes, desires, ways of thinking and different ways of communicating.

We arrived in Kyoto yesterday afternoon, but didn’t do much except relax at the hotel, and then go out to eat in the evening. Aunt and Uncle went out to dinner earlier, so Mom, M and I grabbed the opportunity to go to a sushi restaurant (A&U can’t/won’t eat raw food), and explored the local area around the hotel on our way home.

Today we had vouchers for a tour bus tour of Kyoto, like the one we had in Tokyo on Sunday. We’ve seen a lot, but we have no understanding of half of it or less because we had to rush through each stop and then from one stop to the next, rinse and repeat. I have no real sense of where the places where we went are, I’m not used to navigate from a bus seat, especially when I didn’t need to research ‘where from, where to, and where to stop’. Everything came sort of out of sequence since I just followed the flow of the tour bus program without knowing anything of it in advance. We saw Nijo Samurai Quarters (or something), the Golden Pavilion, the Imperial Palace (disappointing, so much stress & security for such a desolate place), had lunch at Kyoto Handy Crafts Centre, and then continued to Heian jingu, Sanjusangendou (with a 1001 kannon statues), and Kiyomizu-dera where Mom, M (my brother) and I dodged umbrellas while jogging through the temple area’s paths – three people, one umbrella and one very wet jacket.

It still ended up being a nice day, despite the rain. The rain (and following wet shoes, jackets, trousers etc.) wasn’t nice, but it definitely gave the tour a different character.

I won’t write that much more now, we’re soon heading out for dinner/supper, and then I’m updating some missing blogposts, and pictures will come later.

Sendai & Matsushima

(Wohooo! I’ve reached the opposite side! Well, I’m not all the way north, but at least I’m on the east coast now! Yay! )

A traveller’s work is never done. You have to get early up for the breakfast you’ve paid for, and be early out in order to get time enough to cover all the sightseeing, and then there are restaurants to be found and food to be eaten, and they you go out and see whatever you haven’t seen already or research the next stop; how and when to get there, what to see, contact friends in the area, find maps, find accommodation, actually get there, unpack necessities, update maps and sightseeing/travel plans, get to sleep, get early up for breakfast – rinse and repeat. Phew. And then there is the problem of finding time to describe everything; all the impressions, all the interesting and otherwise remarkable people, the funny food, what sights were seen and which weird areas was visited. And so on and so forth.

I have developed a lot of small projects while travelling; I’m marking my travel routes on the maps in my Lonely Planet and on my small (youth hostels in -) Japan map, and I’m drawing in my walking routes on the tourist maps I get (if they are suitable at least) after each day, I’m keeping track of my daily expenses (I’m cutting a little slack on my temple offerings since I don’t bother keeping track of every 1-yen I’m using) in a little book and making regular summaries and average use pr/ (day, week, month, total). And of course I’m trying to write about my travel experiences regularly too, but it is a bit more difficult to manage because it takes a little more preparations to get started, and when I first start I usually keep on writing for a while. It would be ideal to type while I’m on the train – if my pc wasn’t buried in my backpack. It’s easy enough to get it out, but to put it back in without re-packing the whole backpack is quite impossible. Imagine trying to do that while you’re on a train announcing that next stop is your stop, and you have to get off here and catch the train leaving on an unknown platform 5 minutes after your arrival. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Another ideal “spending train time” –activity would be to study. Except that the studying I need to do is writing kanji, but writing is not easy on trains in motion, and practicing (i.e. writing) kanji is more or less impossible. Zannen desu ne.

I don’t know how many times I’ve written “today (or yesterday) I was planning to get early back and write…”, but it proves that there’s never time enough for everything. And although I want to write about as much as possible, I’ll gladly admit there’s times when I’ve prioritized not writing. At those times I’ve usually spent the time being with other people, like playing Chinese checkers with the girls in my dormitory room in Nagoya, or I’ve stayed out longer to socialize or just go People Watching. Usually the time has been spent on more experiences, rather than ignoring life in just to describe places that I just as well can show you my pictures of.

Today has been such a day. The plan was to go sightseeing in Matsushima, and then return to the YH to relax, write and go early to bed.

I LOVED Matsushima (well, Matsushima-Kaigan anyway, I wasn’t in Matsushima proper). I’ve explored two small, but extremely beautiful, islands in Matsushima Bay; Oshima and Fukuurashima. I had a great time walking in the sunlight and perfect temperatures; around 5-8 degrees, warm in the sunlight and a bit chilly in the shadows, but for walking around it was perfect. (I would love to describe these places, but I think I would spend too much time and would do a much better job of it showing pictures simultaneously, so I’ll move on.)

I walked around these two wonderful nature spots for about three hours (choosing al the small paths, taking me through brambles or pools of dry leaves to interesting views that only the most interested will be able see) before deciding to move on to the other sights, and then walked around Matsushima-Kaigan. I walked to all the other sights but decided they were too expensive this time around. My map obviously wanted me to enter into the Zuiganji temple; flying out of my hand and whirling playfully in the air just outside human reach, for a long time and to many people’s amusement (my own included, it was pretty AND hilarious even though I was in the centre of it…), before it finally landed just inside of the entrance/exit area – and still out of reach. Divine intervention as good as I’ve ever seen, but I decided that paying 700yen to see a temple is something I’ll have to save for next time I’m in the area. Some youths retrieved the map for me on their way out.

I decided I was finished for today and headed for the station even though I had half an hour before the next train. I ordered Oyster soup at a small street-side …kitchen/shop and was sat down on a bench on the sidewalk (yes the girl told me to sit there) where I ate my soup. How many places can you find Oyster soup for 200 yen? (200 yen = 2 USD / 10 NOK) It wasn’t big, but it was oysters in it. Oishiiiii!

While eating the other people on the bench moved on and was replaced by a guy chatting with the shop girl for a sec before cautiously starting a conversation with me. Turned out that the guy had sat next to me while waiting for the Matsushima train at Sendai Station, him noticing the obvious Westerner, and me being not noticing him at all – him being Japanese looking, but Korean. We didn’t talk at the station in Sendai, but he, upon recognising me in Matsushima, decided to make contact. Being able to answer in Japanese led to conversation on the train, and then we went to dinner; which he treated me to since Korean guys are supposed pay for girls. That would never happen to me in Norway.

Youngho (youn-gho) laughed a lot, and laughed hard, at a lot of things I said, but I have no idea what was so funny about it… I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’ve said similar things to other people before, and none of them laughed…Nor was it meant to be funny. Now I wonder if that’s because they were too polite to laugh, or if it just wasn’t funny.

He laughed really hard when he asked me to read kanji, and I demonstrated exactly how much I could read of the kanji combinations he chose. Mostly I went like this; “sound/reading, meaning, no idea, no idea, meaning, no idea, no idea, still no idea, sound”, resulting in a guessed meaning, that may or may not be close to the correct answer.

Youngho chose kanji from warning signs and other official looking things too, which are always difficult to read. Usually I don’t even try to read them; I know the kanji are too difficult for me. Perhaps I should be able to recognise one or two, but… I suck at kanji (I know this and I admit it readily), and I haven’t been studying the last 4 weeks.

I played along with this game of his although it was annoying. It grated on me later though. It wasn’t really embarrassing, because I know approximately what kanji I should be able to know, and I know I can’t read all those I should be able to read etc., but the way he chose difficult kanji without regard for what Japanese level I might have learned, and how he laughed… It became humiliating, and it grated on me as I made my way back to the YH. Being able to have short basic conversations doesn’t automatically enable me to read difficult kanji. (Reading this again I realise it seems like my pride got a punch, but that's not the case. My pride would have been hurt if I thought I was better than I really am. I felt more ridiculed, really.)

After dinner we exchanged e-mails (although a bit annoying with the whole kanji thing, he was otherwise nice and seemingly harmless), and then I made my excuses being tired, returning to the YH glad to have wriggled my way out of his invitation to go sightseeing together tomorrow.

….And then there was time to get to the showers before they close them for the night….
Oyasumi!

At arrival in Kanazawa

At arrival in Kanazawa – Seishun 18 (juuhachi) kippu day 1

I’m bone tired. I’ve spent about 9 hours on stations, trains, changing trains, waiting for trains, and at the end; waiting for bus and taking the bus the final stretch (read: “hill”; roads Norwegian-style – small and winding!) up to Kanazawa YH.

I got up at 7 am, checked out from Nagoya YH a little before 8, and walked 10 min to the nearest subway station. I took the subway 1 stop to Nagoya Eki, where I took an earlier train than I’d planned – which only bought me an extra change-over before my original plan caught up to me with the 11:03 train from Maibara to Omishiotsu. I’ve been on 8 different trains today (including the subway), had 7 transfers, taken 6 trains to their “end station”, and waited about 4 hours (239 min or 3.98 hrs) in total – spread over different places.

I wish I could say I had seen a lot of the Japanese countryside, or many interesting locals travelling on their own schedules, but for some reason I wasn’t really interested today. I spent most of the time letting my mind wander and/or dozing off. Having mostly 30 minute intervals I didn’t bother to get out my mp3 player; I’d rather be sure I got the right message from the station speakers, and they are difficult enough to understand at times.

Ofuro. More later. (…)

I’m in a Western-style dormitory room, with my laptop at the small floor table in its Japanese-style “corner”. I haven’t seen any rooms like this before, combined Western and Japanese in this fashion. This must have been a Japanese style room originally, refurnished with western bunk beds to add to the YH’s accommodation capacity. Most of the YH seems to be Japanese style, and I must say I absolutely LOVED the ofuro.

There are ofuros and ofuros, not all the same. They all have the same basics, many (ok, some) variants and varying degrees of quality and cleanness. This one was big, easily adjustable shower (engelsk for kran flertall?), and the bath itself was big, nicely temperatured (meaning HOT but not scalding), and last but not least; it had a massage current (or what else you may call it) placed to hit the middle of your back if you sit directly in front of it - which I found absolutely wonderful after 9 hours on (mostly) hard seats.

Feeling refreshed and listening to western music (daft punk & smashing pumpkins at the moment) I feel a lot better. Bathing in the evening is one of the Japanese things I’ve gotten used to while travelling. Many places (Ryokans & YHs etc.) only have bathing & shower hours in the afternoon and/or evening. This turned out to suit me perfectly, while travelling at least; you can take your time washing off after travelling, and feel a lot better and a lot more relaxed when going to bed, and in the morning you can sleep half an hour longer ‘cos you don’t have to jump through the shower before trotting off sightseeing.

I’ve tried to turn my day rhythm around, and to some degree succeeding, but I’m still an obvious evening person. It’s only 21:02 now, but it feels like I’m staying up late because my elderly Japanese roommate has gone to sleep already.

Last night I stayed up to 1 am, partly because I was packing my space challenged backpack, and partly because I’d spent parts of the evening playing Chinese checkers (with Chinese rules, which turns out to be a little different, but more challenging) with my 3 roommates. We were the same 4 girls for two consecutive nights, and being curious and about the same age we slowly tried to get to know each other, communicating with our very varying levels of English and Japanese skills. Skills ranging from Maggie (native Briton) who just started learning “hajimemashite – yoroshiku onegeishimasu” (VERY basic Japanese), to me (Norwegian) who tried as best I could to translate between English and Japanese (I was in an Intermediate class last semester), to Boa (Korean) who understood only a few words in English but is almost fluent in Japanese, to Tommi who is native Japanese and understands a few words but not longer sentences. We had a lot of fun learning Chinese checkers anew, this time with language barriers and hand gestures. (Maggie! I'll send you the pictures when I get to a stable internet connection!)

I don’t have much more to add at the moment.

Dewa, mata.
-Seshirie

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Back to Kanazawa recountations:
My roomate, an elderly japanese lady, keeps calling me Neesan (big sister), which, I have come to understand, is usually used by younger people to address older (but still young) people. It sounds different when it is coming from her, more like the grandmother recognising that I am someone else’s big sister (I did tell her that my brother – who is younger than me – is coming to visit).

I find her a bit weird. She is a sweet elderly woman, chatting with me etc, but she’s a little odd too… She mumbles and talks to herself, and has a horrible cough that I don’t want to catch. She talks about random stuff too, at least to me –what she says when talking to herself I have no clue – I don’t know exactly what to make of it, it can be just random, or it can be…weird… So far I’ve decided she’s harmless, if a bit bothersome. (Edit: the weirdness of that woman started to get to me, in the end she was just majorly creepy!)

Writings from Nagoya

Planen har lenge vært å oppdatere på skrivefronten, men det har bare ikke skjedd..

I’ve been too busy! Last I updated I took a huge bulk update, and it looks like I’m about to do the same once again, but this time I have to write everything at once too.

The plan yesterday was to walk around in random areas of Nagoya (which I still keep calling Nara without meaning to), spending time and not money, and return early to the hostel in order to relax and update my writings.

I don’t really know how to best get up to date on the writing, so I’ll write it from the beginning I think. It feels like I’m supposed to start with Nara, but looking at my previous texts I see I haven’t written much since Tottori – meaning I have to start with Okayama.

Writings:
*Okayama – Feb. 24th & 25th
During my first day in Okayama I went for a daytrip to Kurashiki and tried to go to as many museums as possible. I didn’t find the cool ones though…. Like the toy museum and the piggy bank museum that Lonely Planet mentions.

My second day in Okayama I walked around the Korakuen (big famous garden in Okayama) and the Castle area. I wanted to go to the museums, but they were all closed since it was either Monday or outside the tourist season.

Himeji-jo – Nara – Feb. 26th
I decided to stop in Himeji, on my way to Nara, and see the famous Himeji-jo (Himeji Castle). It was cold and raining, and I was tired, hungry and had a 3hr time limit for sightseeing, so I kind of rushed it all. I spent only 1 hr on the entire castle and its gardens, which was way too short, but I didn’t feel like lingering. Beautiful place, but I’d rather return on a warm, sunny day. Preferably with company.

Not really anything to add to this. I spent more time at Starbucks than at the main goal of sightseeing – at a place I had stopped at specifically to go sightseeing. Sad, isn’t it?


*Arriving in Nara– Feb. 26th
Shared a room with a jap girl called Tomomi, Tommi for short. We walked to the supermarket and then had dinner (obento-) together at the YH, and ended up chatting through the evening.

Nara Day one – Feb. 27th
Nara-koen (Nara Park), adopted by elderly volunteer guide (man in his 60’s, mumbled a lot – my most used reply became “ah, soudesu ka?”), trudged around Nara-koen through mysterious shortcuts – I think I saw most of the sights, but I have no idea where we actually went, but he left me outside the Daibutsuden (big Buddha hall) where there was a 500yen entrance fee. Right inside, however, I ran into Tommi, roommate from the night before, and ended up walking together a while in the Daibutsuden. Walking out from the Daibutsuden I was telling her about how I’d come to recognise more and more of the other tourists, when someone yells “CECILIE!” Turns out that 4 of my friends from APU (Bart, Nikka, Even and Julia) had decided to go sightseeing Nara-koen the same day I had. We chatted for a short while, I introduced them to Tommi and we took some pictures, and then their guide (that had adopted them) urged them to continue their on their tour, so we split up again. Tommi and I split company a short while after that again, heading separate ways. I was at the Nara Prefectural Art Museum when Bart called me, and met them at the Nara National Museum 30 min later. We toured the museum and then went out for dinner and Starbucks before going back “home” – Me to my YH, and they back to Osaka.

*Nara Day two – Feb. 28th
Former site of castle, lots of walking, free museums, lunch in the green, more walking, ticket research and Starbucks, back to YH, hanging out with Adam from England.

*Ise Jingu – Feb. 29th
Shrine-hopping on the way “from” Nara to Nagoya. Info-lady in Nara said sth about not having time for both shrines, but I made it in good time… Or maybe I misunderstood her and she was saying I could do both and then still would have time… Not sure, but thinking of what she said, I think the first option is more plausible.

Nagoya – Feb. 29th
I arrived at Nagoya YH just in time before check-in closed. I walked longer than I needed to, due to not having a decent map.

I only had a print put map of the way from Nagoya station to the YH, but the map only showed the BIG streets, so what looked like 3 blocks “and then turn right”, turned out to be 3x 3-4 blocks, and THEN turn right, for another 6-7 blocks or so. Arriving in Nagoya around 19:00 I thought I had plenty of time before check-in closed at 20:00, but realising the map’s dimensions did not represent the reality; straight lines being slightly curved roads, and not showing smaller (but still “both-direction-”) roads I had to hurry on. In general, it turned out to be “1 block = 1 major light crossing”. But never trust internet maps; they are inconsistent. When I figured that “1 block = 1 light crossing” I ended up going too far, and passed the YH on the opposite side of the block it is on, and continuing 3 blocks down before getting directions sending me another 4 blocks back – but to the right place (believe it or not, I’ve drawn the route on my Nagoya city map). It took me about 45 min to walk from the station to the YH, so was good and tired by the time I got to my room.

*Nagoya – March 1st
Walked around the Osu and Sakae areas most of the day, spent some time at the Design Centre (cool Trident Design Academy graduate exhibition), then spent some more time at Starbucks, and then 1hr at an internet café before spending 1hr walking back home enjoying the nightlife cityscape and atmosphere even though it was only 6-7 o’clock.

I managed to get back to the YH by 7pm, and had planed to spend the evening writing, but the dormitory room was getting crowded and social so I ended up turning on my pc, but not using it. When Boa (Korean, Boa utt.: Båa,) entered and didn’t speak English of course it sparked the usual conversations in Japanese. Perhaps speaking Japanese is more of a conversation starter than English…Conversations in English are usually done and over with in just a few minutes, while conversations in Japanese lasts for entire evenings –perhaps due to language barriers & communication trouble, but they still last if you show yourself wiling to try finding a way to communicate your message –whatever that may be.

I was chatting with Maggie (came night before me and is staying here for 2 weeks), and Boa (from Korea, speaks Jap not English, left this morning) was in the showers, when the door opened and Tommi (my friend from Nara YH!) came in.

More to be written, I think, but what I have now is mostly fragments to be digested a little more first. Conversations, eating and sharing candy together, travel planning, internet on Tommi’s pc, info-exchange with Boa, possibly staying with Tommi’s sister in Tokyo (if it’s not trouble for her…?) and then Sleep.

*Nagoya today (march 2nd)
Planning on walking to the castle and surrounding area, and if time & energy exploring the Nagoya Eki (which is HUGE!), and perhaps finding another Starbucks, return in decent time, re-pack my bags, write a little (?) and get sleep. Early up tomorrow; leaving for Kanazawa.

Wednesday, February 6th 2008

There’s a faint drizzle of snow in the air, but no snow on the ground. Downtown it was raining. the dormitories are empty, except for the scarce few that will be leaving soon – me among them. Many are travelling, more are moving out before the new batch of students arrives in March, and some are leaving for good. I have said goodbye to friends I might never see again, I’ve said goodbye to friends I’m going to miss sorely for two months before I’ll see them again, and I’ve introduced, and been introduced to, people only days before they left this place. I helped a friend moving her things to her new place downtown. “I can’t believe I’m moving downtown!” she said. “I can’t wait to get off this mountain!” said another. “I can’t wait to get home!” said someone else.

The wind is picking up again, hurling the frail snow crystals around in the air. I can’t wait to get off this mountain. I’m stuck here on campus another semester, but during the vacation I’m taking the opportunity to get off this mountain. I’m backpacking, through Japan, alone. I’m not too worried. I’m a quiet, but sociable girl with touristy interests, and my expected behaviour is not likely to attract trouble. The scariest part is walking out the door.

The plan is to travel in my own pace, and go where I feel like, when it suits my pace and my mood. I haven’t planned a thing. Not quite true, but close enough. This is an exercise in traversing the unknown, me allowing myself to be spontaneous, figuring out how to get around and how to find what I need and improvising when necessary. Improvising isn’t a new thing for me, but I’ve usually had a framework around it all. Now I don’t have that framework. My journey has a beginning and an end, but I have to fill in the blanks in between. That’s about a months worth of blanks.

I’m starting from Beppu early morning the day after tomorrow, taking the train to Oita to get my bus to Kumamoto. I plan to stay there a day or two, and then move on to Fukuoka, probably by bus again. From Fukuoka I want to go to Yamaguchi, making my way north-east from Kyushu to Honshu. After Yamaguchi I’m going by random until I have to be in Tokyo in the middle of March, meeting up with my family before travelling around Japan with them. They already have a set plan, so to avoid seeing the same places twice I’m seeing them with my family.

Doing all this, on my own and as much as possible in Japanese, will be fun, tiring, embarrassing and scary, perhaps alternating, perhaps all at once. But I’m looking forward to it. Japan has changed me a little already, but maybe this will change me even more. I don’t think I’ll be much different when I come back, but perhaps there will be more “me” in the person you thought you knew. Or maybe I’m deceiving myself and you’re the ones that knew me all along while I was wandering in the unknown.

It’s time to get out in the wind again, and through the whirling snowflakes and pick up the first ticket. The journey starts today, here and now. Perhaps I should start packing…

---

We're celebrating Chinese New Year tonight. I hope this will be a merrier goodbye than most.

Welcome to 2008

Happy New Year!
I might be a little late, but it's still my first blog post of the new year. It seems I might have more English speaking (reading) audience so I'll try to write more in English to reach everyone. The occasional Norwegian post will occur, of course.

Last post left of evening December 30th, so I'll recount the rest of my New Year trip from New Years Eve, hopefully in shorter terms.

December 31st
Went shopping as planned, explored the popular shopping area Tenjin all day. No time or energy for touristy activities in between. In the evening we were hanging out at McD's (since everything else closed at 6pm), passing time until we thought it would be a good time to find a restaurant. We turned out to be wrong, the few restaurants that weren't closed already were full. So we ended up at another McD's.

Back at the hostel V* disappeared off to Skype* with her BF* and I was left alone for the saddest New Years Eve ever; Feeling a little lonely at midnight I logged onto MSN to say Happy New Year to whomever was online. Welcome to 2008.
(* V = Vanessa, Skype = Internet chat and/or telephone, BF = Boyfriend)

January 1st
Rose early to go shopping with V and her friend Tammy -both eager to get the popular New Year -surprise bags from the mall. I was mainly tagging along with them, observing the shopping frenzy of the New Year Sales, while the girls were shopping more seriously. Tammy even bought another suitcase for her shoppings. Throughout the day the girls started talking more and more in Chinese (they are both Chinese-Australian). I didn't mind at first, until they started making decisions, of where to go and what to do and such, in Chinese and then announce it to me in English, then continue in Chinese and changing their minds -not announcing the change of heart to me. When we split up that afternoon I was relieved to be on my own, not needing to guess what our next actions might be. (V had to return earlier than planned due to an unexpected HW*-deadline.) I returned to the hostel, slept, went out to get food, and then sat in the common room and chatted with random people (= random American, David or Adam...) before heading back to bed. (*HW = homework)

January 2nd
Slept in, slept off 3 days' worth of travel & shopping exhaustion. Finally managed to get out of the hostel at noon, heading for Dazaifu, not really knowing where it was, how to get there or how long it would take. A small map in my Lonely Planet revealed that I could get there via Tenjin station, so I went there first, and then followed the signs that took me to the right ticket counter and train platform. I had to transfer trains once, but the stations were clearly marked an announced. Met a lovely family on the packed trains, spent 10 min talking to the wife (in Japanese!) before we arrived in Dazaifu. Lost the nice family less than 30 sec after the train stopped because of the crowds -which were massive! People everywhere.

I decided to only take a short route through a small part of Dazaifu, seeing the closest temples/shrines and the Kyushu National Museum. At one point the crowd slowed to a syrupy pace, and when it slowly moved through the torii (temple/shrine gate) I realized that the crowd had become the queue to enter the shrine. I don't know if it really was to enter the shrine, because I left the queue as soon as I was able to and took a detour to the less crowded museum. Really good museum, spent a couple of hours there before heading back to the station and to Fukuoka. Passing the temple again (from the other side) on my way to the station I snapped a few pictures of the queue, which was still as long as when I'd passed there earlier.

Back in Hakata I decided to chill out at Starbucks with a coffee and writing travel notes for a few hours before returning to the hostel. In the common room I sat down in the couch to write, but ended up chatting with Kate from Australia for 2 1/2 hrs instead. I love meeting people this way.


January 3rd
Walked around Hakata and Canal City exploring the side streets (i.e. not the shopping malls)
and minor tourist spots. Ended up in an almost secret Japanese style garden and then in a Tea Ceremony house. I totally loved the garden and the tea ceremony-people, they were lovely, and apparently they adored me for stuttering as best I could in Japanese. Moving on, I passed by Canal City (the mall) again, walked by and through a temple area (and got a new calligraphy for my jinja-book! Ureshii!) and then I found Fukuoka Museum of Modern Asian art. Lucky for me they had huge posters, or I would never have found it; it's located on the 7th floor of a (random?) building. Having satisfied my culture-quota I returned to Hakata to find my bus back to Beppu.

It was nice and interesting to travel with Vanessa, and I had a few wonderful days on my own, but finally back at campus, I entered my room thinking "I can't remember it being this nice!".



...and then I'm almost up to date on my blogging. (^_^)v

(Pictures will be up shortly, both for this post and the previous one!)

Møtet med APU og AP House – Del 2

Ser ut til at søndager blir den store bloggdagen… Det er akkurat en uke siden sist jeg hadde tid til å blogge. Den siste uka har vært skikkelig travel, men mer om det når jeg får det litt på avstand og får sett på det med litt perspektiv. Flere blogposter er under planlegging, men jeg må finne tid til å faktisk få skrevet dem. Anyway, her er denne ukens:

Del 2: Det sosiale i og utenfor campus

I forrige post beskrev jeg en del av programmet APU hadde laget for oss i våre to uker før semesterstart. En del av dette programmet var byråkratisk, en annen del var praktisk rettet, og en tredje del var sosial. Innimellom dette programmet hadde vi også en del ”dødtid” som vi fylte etter beste evne, og når man er 50++ nye, fremmede og nysgjerrige studenter på ett sted er det ikke så vanskelig å finne på ting.

Nye venner i hopetall, her representert ved noen få:

Den første uken på APU var mest ”flytt inn og bli kjent”. Mye av fritiden gikk med på bli kjent med mennesker man traff i tilfeldige sammenhenger i APU-programmet. Etter hvert ble vi en gjeng på ca 20 som hang en del sammen, enten alle på en gang eller i mindre grupper. Tiden ble brukt til mangt, shopping i Beppu, sosialisering med nye og forskjellige mennesker i kantina mellom postene i APU-programmet, generell sosialisering i AP2-lobbyen*, vandringer og utforsking av campusområdet og de nærliggende utsiktpunktene, og mer shopping i Beppu. Innimellom ble det så mange hektiske dager og så mye folk og inntrykk at jeg la inn hjemmedager i kalenderen min.

* (AP House lobbyene har pingpongbord, biljard, piano m/headset, og et ”tatami room” til generell sosialisering i tillegg til noen lett tilgjengelige sittegrupper. Rett på baksiden av AP2 er det også en liten basketbane. AP2-bilde kommer så snart jeg får tatt et!)

APU og Beppu og Mt. Takasaki sett fra utsiktspunktet over skolen:

Matlagning er også en populær aktivitet, for noen et avbrekk fra kantinematen de spiser hver dag, for andre en anledning til å vise litt av sin hjemkultur, og for andre igjen en nødvendig (men sosial) aktivitet. (Mat er i grunnen et interessant tema som kan omtales i det vide og det brede, så jeg forholder meg til det sosiale nå, og tar en egen blogpost til mat, og andre spiselige ting, ved en senere anledning.)

Hvert rom er utstyrt med skap og kjøleskap, og hver etasje er utstyrt med et felleskjøkken der folk kan lage mat. Det er åpent for alle, men har kun stekeplater (vanligvis 4 doble ”komfyrer”), en brødrister, en micro-ovn og en vannkoker. Alt annet nødvendig utstyr må enhver anskaffe selv og oppbevare på rommet sitt. Og selvfølgelig skal man rydde og vaske kjøkkenet etter seg når en er ferdig.

Det hender jeg lager mat i L5-kjøkkenet (heretter L5K), men ikke så ofte. For meg er det billig å spise i kantina, men jeg liker å lage mat selv innimellom også. De hender jeg inviterer andre til å lage mat sammen med meg, men hvis jeg ikke spiser i kantina lager jeg som oftest noe enkelt og spiser alene.

Jeg laget pannekaker!

For andre, for eksempel Thai-jentene, vietnameserne og myanmarerne (burmeserne) m.fl., er det dyrt å spise i kantina, så de lager nesten alltid mat på kjøkkenene sine. I alle fall de jeg bor med i L5. De samles gjerne i store grupper og lager mat sammen.

Jeg gjør for øvrig et poeng utav at jeg spiser ute i kjøkkenet når jeg lager mat der, slik at jeg er synlig, og hvis folk er nysgjerrige på meg så er det enklere å ta kontakt hvis de har noe å spørre om eller kommentere. (Men fordi de store gruppene som lager mat i L5K snakker på sine egne morsmål er det lettere for meg å la dem ta kontakt enn å ta kontakt selv.) Mat er en fin brobygger. Jeg benytter også enhver anledning til å distribuere og dele det norske godteriet jeg fikk tilsendt hjemmefra, så har vi enda mer å snakke om:)

Vi hadde en litt større samling i en av de andre etasjene forrige uke, Rina (Japan) inviterte oss på besøk og laget japansk mat til oss. Det begynte som en liten greie mellom meg, Rina og Jenna (US), men så vokste det enormt fort til et middagsparty. Vi endte opp ca 10-12 stk., og masse god mat.

Matparty hos Rina:

1) Matlaging

2) Folk og mat

Ved andre anledninger har jeg laget norske pannekaker (se bilde tidligere i teksten) i selskap med Fiona (Hong Kong), spist nevnte pannekaker med Shannon (US) og laget pasta med Shannon og Vanessa (Australia). I Khyas (US) bursdagsselskap spiste vi pizza – hentet i Beppu siden de ikke kjører pizza helt opp til APU…

Vi har gjort mye annet gøy også, men spesifikke utflukter får sin egen post siden jeg har allerede har skrevet masse for i dag....

Until next time; matta ne!

Japan! (med bilder!)

Nå har jeg vært her 11 dager, og det er innmari mye som skal komprimeres ned til noen få ord. Jeg kunne skrevet milevis om det jeg har opplevd til nå, men på grunn av manglende skrivematerialer har jeg ikke fått skrevet ned så mye av det jeg har sett og opplevd. Det merkes godt at det er mye som må sorteres for å få det ned i ord...

Jeg dro hjemmefra onsdag formiddag, tilbrakte noen timer hos Tante U. som så kjørte reisende og bagasje til flyplassen kl.04 om morgenen. Etter mange, mange timer på fly og flyplasser landet vi på Kansai International Airport, Osaka, fredag morgen kl.08 japansk tid.

Avgangshallen på CDG

Bortsett fra noen timer på Charles De Gaulle gikk reisen overraskende lett og raskt, og vi fant greit ut hvor vi skulle og hvor vi måtte gå for å komme frem til hotellet. Men vi fikk litt av et temperatursjokk. Vi visste det kom til å være varmt, men realiteten av det kom ikke før vi gikk ut av flyet... Aner ikke hva temperaturen var den dagen, men dagene etterpå lå temperaturen på ca. 30 celsius, og kanskje 65-70% luftfuktighet!

I Osaka var jeg og Karsten (med-reisende fra japankklassen i Bergen) tre dager. Første dagen ruslet vi rundt og utforsket området rundt hotellet, og spiste vårt første måltid på Japansk jord på Mister Donut. Lørdagen våget vi oss ut i kollektivtrafikken (tog/t-banenettet), og utforsket Umeda-området i Osaka sentrum. Der fikk vi testet både manga- og internettkafé, og den meget spesielle japanske kuriimu soda (fra "ice cream soda"), som er melonbrus med en kule vaniljeis oppi.

Kuriimusoda, og Mikkusujuusu:

På ettermiddagen møtte vi Erlend og Joachim som kom fra Kyoto for å henge med oss en dag, og så dro vi til Osaka akvarium før de dro tilbake til Kyoto.

Gutta boys:

Joachim, Karsten og Erlend

The fish:

Søndagen dro jeg og Karsten til Osaka Castle. Slottets eksteriør var flott, men innvendig hadde de renovert hele bygningen og gjort det om til et fullstendig moderne museum. Etter museumsrunden spiste vi is; vanilje/grønn te-softis og slush.

Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle, komplett med moderne elementer

Mandag 17.sept var reisedag og ankomst Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (herved APU). Reisen gikk overraskende lett, vi kom tidlig til flyplassen, Osaka Itami, og fikk tilbud om en tidligere flight til Oita. Fremme på Oita-flyplassen fikk vi god hjelp til å finne riktig buss, og de bestilte taxi til oss som tok oss fra busstoppet vårt og opp til APU. Opp ja, vi bor på toppen av et lite fjell!

Utsikt fra APU ned mot Beppu City

Mer om APU kommer senere, det er et kapittel for seg selv.
Og hvis jeg får tid nok, kanskje det kommer en egen post kun om mat.

Matta ne!