English Summer

Mood: Neutral
Theme Song: "Roger That" - Young Money (Lil' Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Tyga)

Let's see... what exciting things have happened to me this summer?

• I miss windowscreens. English houses do not have them. Therefore, I now have flies in my house. Granted, not huge Biblical swarms of them or anything - but enough to be annoying. Enough to wonder why English people don't use &^$£! screens in their windows.

• I actually like the weather over here (well at least this summer). It has only gotten up to about 30C - which is just under 90F. But there is no humidity! I don't know if it is because I live closer to the "sea" (aka English Channel), but my hair has not once gone full-force Afro Puffs on me, which has been a real blessing. There were only 2-3 nights where I really wished I had a fan, or air conditioning. 

• I studied for - and passed! - my driving theory test. I can't say that people over here are better drivers, but the test is certainly MUCH harder than I remember from the U.S. Of course the last test I took was way back in 1999 in Kentucky, but it didn't necessitate any kind of studying. I think I didn't study at all in fact. For this test, I bought a CD-Rom and basically went through every possible question that could be on the test, and learned the answer. I now know random, esoteric facts about the English Highway Code - which could come in handy if I am ever on some kind of weird English game show.

• I am getting used to English grocery stores, and a different way of shopping. I no longer do a big massive shopping trip, spending way too much money on food I will inevitably waste. I go 2-3 times a week, as needed. This means I eat healthier and fresher. They also sell milk over here in tiny little pints - they look like miniature big milks. I love them!! :) Sample daily menu? Greek yoghurt with honey and blueberries for breakfast, either leftovers for lunch (or a can of soup/sandwich from the sandwich shop across the street), and then something fresh and healthy for dinner. Like scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and wheat toast. (yum!) Or roasted gammon, mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. Or roasted turkey/chicken, bean cassoulet and steamed broccoli. I don't eat that way EVERY day as there are plenty of times when I come home and am too tired to make anything but a PB&J sandwich. But most of the time I'm eating healthy fresh food - and I feel so much better. On that note, I also haven't eaten very much junk food since moving here. The worst things I eat are the occasional crisps (Walker's Ready Salted! Cheese-n-Onion Pringles!) and chocolate bar (Galaxy is mmmmmmm). I don't really drink that much soda - but when I do, I drink regular Coke. It's still made with sugar over here and so I don't get the weird aspartame after-shakes I was getting in the U.S. And since its full-flavour, I also tend to drink much less. I can hardly finish an 8 oz can of it these days.

• I am (gasp) beginning to understand the English ways of doing some things. Like, for example, why they have washer/dryers and not the full size machines we have in America. Not only are places much smaller here, but utilities are EXPENSIVE.  So many of the "why do they do that?" moments are being explained as I am here longer. It really is a different way of living, existing, etc. I still don't understand the need for roundabouts (other than to piss me off) - well, okay from a traffic engineering standpoint, yes I do understand them. And they make some sense. I just don't like the one by my house because it is a free-for-all. No one uses their signals and they change lanes like they're being chased by the police. 

I'm going to digress a bit to speak a bit about how weird it is to see America from outside the country. I have always known that my country is new and young, blahblahblah. But I don't think I have ever appreciated it - truly understood or appreciated that difference. Things are what I call "easier" in America because the country is newer. Its like the difference between a really old building and a new one. The new one is easier to navigate - cleaner, shinier, has more amenities. But it lacks the character and depth of the old one. That's the best way I know to describe it. Our roads are better - because they are newer. Our infrastructure works better (I think) because its newer. I'm not sure yet why our customer service is better - but it is. I never thought I'd say that, but since moving to England, I actually miss those sunny people at the DMV!!

Most of the news I read/see is from the UK or Europe - and its really interesting to see how differently stories are covered. I can go to BBC and the switch to CNN or even a local website from Ohio and Seattle - and the way things are presented are very different. I always feel like some of the big stories in the U.S. are viewed very tongue-and-cheek over here. Like "Awww, look, little America is upset again. How cute!"

And now I have my topic for my next blog entry.... :P

*Federman out.

Japan - pt. 2

Mood: Undecided
Theme Music: "Big Empty"- Stone Temple Pilots

Now that I've started, its like a veritable fountain of words - all these things that I want to share about Japan!  I could write for days and days, but a good writer knows her audience (and their attention spans ha!) so for the sake of brevity, I will bullet-point:

• Everything is in Yen. And Yen are in ridiculous amounts. Like a bottle of water could be 130 Yen. My brain is already addled from trying to constantly convert from £ to $. I was then spending my time trying to convert from Y to $ then back to £ or the other away around. It really messed with me because I lost track of the value of things. It wasn't fair to compare to dollars, because I get paid in pounds. But it was easier for me to translate things into my head as dollars - as in "Is that T-shirt really worth 1,700 Yen - oops I mean $20?". I quickly figured out that 130 Yen = 1 GBP, which made doing quick calculations a bit easier.

• The Japanese subway system is - like most I've encountered - amazing. What was not so amazing was that everything was in... yes, Japanese. I was going from Akasaka to Ginza and I needed to buy a round-trip ticket. All the signs were in Japanese. The place names were in English, but nothing else. I finally found a ticket machine with a very small "English" button to push on the screen. So I was able to buy my ticket. Of course, I did not get real English... or even British English. Nope, I got that special brand of our language known as "Engrish". I don't remember the exact phrasing, but had I not been so weirded out and stressed out (the subway tunnel was packed, people running everywhere, a constant background stream of spoken Japanese, a growing line of inpatient Japanese people behind me at the machine...), I would have taken a photo to preserve it for posterity. If you want to get an idea of what it was sort of like, visit http://engrish.com/

• Japan is the place for my feet. Let me explain. I have very small, somewhat wide feet. These feet have, at various times, been referred to as "midget feet", "Flintstone feet" and "my 8 year old has bigger feet than you" (yeah Angela, I'm talking to YOU!). In the U.S., I wear a size 6. In Europe, this is a size 36. In the UK, for some reason I am now a 3.5 or 4. I don't remember what my size was in Japan - except that EVERY store I walked into had the most gorgeous shoes... in my size!!! And no one scoffed at my tiny feet. I was normal. It was fan-freaking-tastic. I can't wait to save up a bunch of money and then go back and go on a shoe extravaganza. Imelda Marcos has nothing on me when it comes to an unnatural love of footwear.

• Uniqlo. Check it out here - http://www.uniqlo.co.uk/. I think its in the U.S. - but only in the major coastal cities (LA, New York). Amazing store - there were 5 floors, and each one had its own "personality". What was really entertaining is that I heard better music inside this store than I have during my whole time living in England. They played some excellent hip-hop and it was all totally uncensored. I guess when 90% of the population doesn't understand the words anyway, it really doesn't matter... but it was amusing to see little Japanese schoolgirls shopping for clothes and singing along to things like "Bitch, please". LOL.
  I bought a dress of the most amazing material - like cotton/nylon/rayon... you can jump all over it and it doesn't wrinkle, but it holds it shape - and although it makes me look like I'm wearing a potato sack, I love it. I will never wear this dress in public, but I will rock it out hardcore at home. It's the perfect "I feel fat" dress. ;) Here's the link - not sure how long this link will work, though. http://www.uniqlo.co.uk/catalogue/women/dresses/421146-black-j-wide-strap-sleeveless-dress

• Rock, paper, scissors. This is a huge game in Japan. When you play, you say "Jan-ken-pon!" and then depending on who wins, there's a second part of the game. I have stolen this description (see below) from Wikipedia because they explain it better than I could. But it was tons of fun to play - we played it everywhere - on the fast train, on the subway, at lunch... my Japanese colleagues were much amused by my love of this game.

In some versions of the game, a second round of play is used. After one player has won the paper/scissors/stone game, another count of three is conducted with the phrase "acchi muite hoi!" (あっち向いてホイ！, "acchi muite hoi!"?) ("hey, look [turn] over there!"). On "hoi!", the player who won previously points in one of four directions (up, down, left, or right), and the player who lost previously tilts their head to look in one of those directions. If both directions are the same, the game is over, and the player pointing is declared the final winner; if the directions are not the same, the game reverts back to the original "jan ken pon" and the original winner's win is canceled.

• Fast trains. The train system in Japan is very well organized. Granted we had to go through a labyrinthine ticketing process that I don't think I would have fully understood if Taka hadn't been there to help us (actual sign on the platform below). We took the fast train from Tokyo to Osaka, and both myself and my work colleague (British) were amazed at how clean the trains were. There were actual cleaning ladies (in the cutest uniforms) who went on between runs to clean the trains. They were so fast that we took to each picking one and then betting on who would finish first. (Yeah, what can I say, I'm easily amused). The ticket collector was also extremely well dressed. In fact, that's something I noticed - service personnel (waiters, ticket collectors, taxi drivers, even people cleaning up the trash on the sidewalks) were all impeccably attired and seemed to take real pride in both their appearance and their work.

I'm sure there are other things that will occur to me as time goes on. I have tons of photos on my FB page... including my favorite which is one of a BIG BOY. And yes, we ate there! (It was *nothing* like a U.S. Big Boy!)

I definitely look forward to going back to Japan as soon as I can, hopefully for fun the next time.There are so many things that I want to see that I didn't get a chance to - like the Buddhist Temples, and the rice fields and just normal Japanese countryside life. And of course, shoe stores a-plenty ;)

Japan (better late than never!)

Mood: Tired
Theme Song: "Little Razorblade" - Pink Spiders

Well, friends and neighbors - last time I wrote, I promised to dish all about Japan. And then I got busy and forgot all about it. (*typical*) It's been awhile, but I'll do my best to share my recollections.

I really enjoyed my trip there and, like most of my travels, I highly recommend it. Not just because Japan is *cool* but also because I think everyone needs to push out of their comfort zone at least once in their lives. Traveling to Asia - Singapore and Japan - was one of those "push" moments for me, and I will always be grateful for the experience.

I flew from Singapore to Fukuoka, which is is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyūshū. You can read more about Fukuoka here - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2161.html. I attended the annual meeting of Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists which was held on the island. I took an overnight flight from Singapore - it was either that or lose a day hanging around in Tokyo Airport - and so when I arrived, I was both jet-lagged and disoriented. My co-worker met me at the airport. What is funny is that I had protested that it was unnecessary and that I am perfectly capable of finding my way around. I mean I've done it in other foreign countries where I don't speak the language - Italy, Germany, Cyprus. However, I was unprepared for the complete and utter *foreignness* of Japan. I really wish I had been more diligent with this blog, and had captured my impressions right away because its difficult now to try to articulate the way I felt.

I stepped off the plane, and of course everything was in Japanese. That didn't throw me so much as that fact that nothing was in English. And also that, stupidly, it just hit me that I cannot read Japanese! In Europe, everything is in the Roman alphabet, so even if I don't know the language, I can sound it out and make an educated guess. You could even drop me in to Russia and because I can sound out Cyrillic letters, I can usually figure out (sort of) what is going on. Even Turkish doesn't scare me! But it was so strange to see signs, and know they were telling me something, and not even be able to make heads or tails of it. It was also odd not to see English paired up with everything. Oh, there were a few English signs or icons, but nothing compared to what I am used to. I think, in all my years of travel, that was the first moment when I truly felt like a "foreigner".

So it ended up being a very good thing that my co-worker, Taka, met me at the airport. I had read that most people in Japan do not speak English, but I wasn't sure if I fully believed that. It's true (or at least that's what I experienced). We went to my hotel, where Taka was able to get me checked in and before he left he wrote down directions to the convention center on a piece of paper, so all I had to do was get in the cab and hand over the piece of paper. I went to my room which was very small, even by European standards. (I later found out that they had put me at the "fancy" hotel). I realised I needed an iron - and so I quickly logged on to find out how to say "I need an iron and ironing board please" in Japanese. If you're curious, its - 私はボード、してください。アイロンとアイロン台を必要があります。(How you pronounce that is beyond me!) All I could figure out is that "ironing board" = "Airon dai". So I called down front and asked for "Airon dai  tetsu okudasai" (basically "I would like iron ironing board please"). I had to repeat myself several times. About 20 minutes later there was a knock at my door - and a very nice woman showed up with.... an ironing board. No iron. It took a great deal of pantomime to explain that I also needed the iron. I felt so incompetent!!!


What was also really funny was in the room there was this sign - 

Yes, I'm confirming all kinds of cultural stereotypes here - but come on - its funny, right? ;)


So I managed to get a few hours of sleep and then off to the convention center for the afternoon. I was so proud that I was able to use my few bits of Japanese with the taxi driver. Did you know they all wear white gloves, and the insides of the taxi are immaculate?

You haven't lived until you've been in a Japanese taxi, listening to Japanese radio! Something else I learned was that at Japanese conventions, when its the end of the day, the music they play to shut everything down is "Auld Lang Syne". Of course, they don't call it that - nor do most of them know that we associate it with the New Year. It's just, as I was told "store closing song". 


That night, they took me to dinner at a fantastic sushi restaurant in town. It was true Japanese style - shoes off, sitting down under the table, everything. I loved it. I let them order for me, and I ate everything put in front of me. My promise with myself on this trip was that I would try everything, and not let my normal "ewwww" factor affect my decisions. I am so glad I did that - it has forever changed the way I will approach new foods and cultures.


The following day I flew to Tokyo. Again, I had an escort (chaperone?). And again, my natural independence rebelled against this. I have flown over 150,000 air miles by myself! And yet... the Fukuoka airport was mind-bogglingly confusing. EVERYTHING was in Japanese. Japanese people running everywhere. I'm sure I could have navigated it eventually, but it would have definitely been a challenge. By the time we got on the plane, I was so glad to have Miho with me. At one point, while we were waiting at the gate (where all the announcements were in Japanese only - probably because I was on an internal flight), she went to the store and left me sitting by myself. I spent the 10 minutes or so just looking around, people-watching. And yet I felt so out of place. Little kids were staring at me like I was some sort of oddity on display. (Well, to be fair people stare at me like that lots of times so maybe it wasn't being in Japan that did it... LOL)


We arrived in Tokyo where Miho helped me hail a taxi and off I went to the hotel. I stayed in the Akasaka Region of Tokyo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akasaka,_Tokyo, at the Akasaka Grand Prince Hotel - http://www.princehotels.com/en/akasaka/. That night I had an AMAZING sushi dinner in the hotel - and I was so proud of myself because I ordered everything in Japanese. (I carried around a piece of paper with all kinds of relevant Japanese phrases written out how they sound to me (i.e. Toire-wa desku? means "Where is the toilet")). From all my extensive sushi bar experience in Seattle, I know the names of the fish and dishes I like, so that part was easy. What was fun was learning about sake. I am now a convert - love the stuff! I haven't tried it hot, but I fully intend to!