Monday, October 26, 2009

No longer the shortest on the street.

Konnichiwa!
It's Tuesday already! Where ever did my week go?

Let's see... It went... in the rain, in Asakusa, in Shibuya, in Harajuku, getting lost, getting found, in museums, in temples, and on warm toilet seats. [[I know, that one just has to creep back into everything. I'm so used to them now, I think I'll hate normal toilets back home.]] I'm normally not back until midnight or later, and always late in the morning to NHK. But no one really minds.

I'm late [once again] and going to stop by Shinjuku on my way to Shibuya, before the welfare category is really underway. Today my documentary screens! I'm nervous and excited. After it screens, they will announce the winners for all categories. :0 And then tomorrow night is the awards ceremony. After the awards ceremony, Vika and Bonnie are going to take me out. [Vika is the wonderful person who is letting me stay with her, and Bonnie is her best friend.]

Something that's been on my mind a lot since going to Asakusa, the main Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine in the area, is that I'm not in Japan, I'm in Tokyo. If I were to visit Japan, I would be anywhere but Tokyo- like Kyoto. That's where Japan really is. Tokyo is another thing entirely. It's a metropolis to the extreme. It's gorgeous and big and tall and bright, and certainly gives New York a run for it's money as the city that never sleeps. It feels like day when it's night, and there is never a lull in the amount of people walking around. I'll be headed back to Vika's at 12, and there will be no less or more people than at 6- rush hour. There's no "dead of the night" unless you are in the middle of a residential neighborhood. But it is definitely fun. No doubt about it. Always a place to eat, always something to do. No one cares if you are alone or with someone, everyone is just enjoying themselves.

As am I. But like I said, I'm late, so I'm going to head out.

Arrogato gosaymas!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Only White Girl on the Train

And I keep forgetting it's me.

But enough of that!
Shane and Brukty left me with a sleeping baby, so I have to get this done before Justice wakes up and wants attention.

Remember the warm toilets? Well the water for the bidet is warm too. And you can change the water pressure. The trajectory for the bidet changes depending on if you press the regular bidet or woman bidet button. These toilets are crazy!Shane described using the bidet perfectly: At first, it's a surprised "Oh!" But it soon turns to a pleasant "Ooooohhhh..." Don't get the wrong idea though. It's still weird.

Enough potty talk. On to the real stuff- Last night, when I was headed back to Vika's around 11:30, I got on the wrong train. I wasn't too sleepy then, so it wasn't so bad, but by the time that I had figured it out and got on the right one, the sleep started to hit me. I almost missed my exit, but I woke up jsut in time to get off at Kamagome, though on the far end of the station. Not thinking, I took the nearest exit. Oops. I didn't recognize anything of course, and couldn't for the life of me figure out where I had put Vika's business card. So I wandered until I recognized something, managed to find the part of the station I normally exit, and then proceeded to walk back to Vika's, impressing myself that I could remember where it was. Until I took a wrong turn of course. Now, I got the right street off of the main street, which is still impressive. But I didn't, however, get the right street off of that one. I thought it was the first turn, not the second. And when I couldn't find it, I just kept walking. Until I dead ended at a temple. A temple at night is astounding. It's eerie and beautiful, and I was so tempted to wander the gardens. But I figured Vika was worried. It was pretty late, and I had no phone or way of even telling time. So time to back track! I decided to try the second street, just in case, and lo and behold, there it was. I sure felt silly. I was so exhausted I fell straight to sleep. It was about 12:30 am by then.

And today, in between the documentaries, bidets, and warm toilets, I stumbled upon a market. A market of Japanese rastas, of all things. There was a guy perfoming with a digeridoo right next to this great vegan stand [[ I had the noodle soup- amazing!]] that had tacos and a hemp burger. In fact, I think everything there was made with hemp. Their sign was half Japanese, half English, but they had no idea what I meant when I said "Noodles."

Uh-oh, I hear the groggy snifflings of a young child waking up-
Till nixt time,

The.Ambler.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Ambling Once Again- 日本語の今回。

It's been a while since I've ambled. A long while.

But I figured that there is no better time than now to start again- When I'm ambling through Tokyo.

It's 5 am, and the jetlag just kicked in. I'm exhausted, but I woke up and can easily stay awake. At least it's morning and not 10 at night, which is what I should be doing. I just skipped an entire day of my life and slept 10 hours straight on the plane [which made the flight a thousand times more bearable.]

I arrived last night at 6:30, had a breeze going through customs, and then got to figure out how to use a Japanese pay phone, and simultaneously, yen. What a weird currency. One of the strongest in the world, and yet the exchange rate is 88 to one US dollar? I bought a pack of mentos [which are called chewy dragees on the label, not chewy mints- what IS a dragee?!] for 105 yen... it seems weird to me- when ever the exchange rate is like that, I'm used to paying really low prices for things. In Ethiopia, the exchange rate was 9 birr to a dollar, and I would pay 6 birr for a snickers bar- That was expensive. But 105 yen is really cheap for Japan. It's confusing. My plan is to put a "." in between the "1" and "05" on everything. Then I can grasp about how much I'm paying, and then actually convert it. So the mentos were 1.05, which is about 1.15USD. But 1.05 is more manageable in my head than 105.

Unfortunately, I arrived at night, so though I got to see the beautiful lights of Tokyo as I flew in last night, I did get to see any more of the city- Just headed straight in by train to meet Vika and get settled.

People always say that in Japan, space is the ultimate commodity- and it is! Vika has a good apartment, she has a toilet room and shower room [I'll get to the logistics about that in a second] and a kitchen living room, and bedroom. there is a thin sliding door separating the room from the living room, and it really is all cramped together, but you barely notice once you are here.

So, to explain the bathrooms. There is a toilet room, with a toilet that confused me to no end, and a restroom. The toilet room is a small closet with a toilet- that's it. No sink, though I have a sneaking suspicion that the little faucet on top on the toilet is open to the air for that purpose. If you know about plumbing, you know that a toilet sends a stream of water into the toilet bowl so that it can flush, and then that it can fill up afterwards. And then the tank has to refill. The stream of water for this toilet seat is above the tank in open air, and designed like a faucet to wash your hands. I guess for conservation of water? But before I even noticed that- I noticed two things weirder. There is a panel beside the toilet that has buttons, and what looks like a visual representation of a baday [a baday is a little fountain-like thing used to clean yourself after using the restroom. It sprays water at you]. But this had two options- regular baday and baday with less force for a woman sitting down. I think. I think you can also control the heat of the seat. Because the seat was nice and warm. Really warm. Like someone had just spent an hour sitting on the john before you sat down. Which no one had. In fact, come to think of it, the toilet seat in the airport was like that too. But I had attributed it that to the girl who went before me. Maybe it's to make you more comfortable? Or possibly to make you go faster and therefore speed up the whole process. Quite ingenious if you ask me.

But enough toilet talk! Tokyo is so safe! Last night, Vika and I just left my bags sitting outside the convenience store, and it was fine. Apparently you can do that and no one ever touches your stuff. For the longest time, the vending machines with alcohol and cigarettes were available to everyone, but barely any one abused them. Now they have ID scanners. But they have vending machines for everything! Like umbrellas. They have vending machines for umbrellas.

Well, the sun is coming up, so I can see Japan in the sunlight for the first time!

Mata atode aimashou!
またあとで会いましょう!

The.Ambler.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Connections.

I've been ambling through my various friendships recently and have realized something:

I don't have to be around someone for very long to form a deep connection of the spirit and heart.

In fact, I usually am not.
I usually have brief encounters in which I instantly fall in love with a soul, form an attachment, and then continue to adore and deepen our love from afar.

What I love is that many of these relationships continue to prosper, despite the distance, and some of my favorite people are of these. Well, all of them.
Of course, because of my natural instinct to love, I have a tendency to consider everyone my favorite person, at least for a moment.

But my top favorites?

The ones that when I think about, make me instantly smile.
The ones that when I have any contact with, bring about a childlike giddiness to my heart.
The ones that I would bend over backwards to visit.
The ones that make my voice change pitch because I am that excited to talk to.
The ones that when I met, I felt an instant connection with.
The ones that I just want to hug.

They are my closest friends, whether I speak with them on a regular basis, or at odd intervals in the passing months.
There is always that sense that they belong in my life; that they have always been there, and always will be.
They are the ones that I met once and knew would be in my life forever.
They are the ones who, though far away, are near all the time.
They are the ones always in my heart.

I don't know if they even know who they are, or the place they have in my heart. But for months now, though not recorded, my ambling has gone out to them.

There’s a miracle of friendship that dwells within the heart
And you don’t know how it happens or where it gets its start
But the happiness it brings you always gives a special lift
And you realize that friendship
is God’s most perfect gift.

.Anonymous.