today i had such a wonderful day. although i am coming to enjoy my work with the kiddies, i still love a good day off to explore, learn, be alone, and be quiet. (this last element being quite important now that i'm a preschool teacher.) highlights from the day:
-i slept in until 9 AM!!! this is huge for me. between jet-lag and work, i haven't slept past 630 yet. so, 9 was awesome. (although it did require me staying up until midnight to do so...)
- i went for a run in the beautiful sunny weather and discovered a new route. i decided i shouldn't try to find new routes during the week, because if i get lost, i'll be late for work. so today, i had a great time exploring. and listening to lupe fiasco while i did it. what more could i ask for?
- after some cleaning/organizing/communicating, i set out for the city art museum. it was a beautiful walk. the museum was very cool, but everything was in japanese, so i really had no context. this included the main exhibit, which was a historical tour through a certain type of narrative art in japan. it was awesome to look at the paintings, but i had little to no idea about timeframe/artist background/etc. there were some modern pieces that were absolutely stunning though.
- i peed in a hole in the ground. i didn't notice the difference between the "japanese style" and regular stalls in the bathroom, and once i was in, i felt really weird going out and back in line (at the museum). so, i went for it. it didn't go well. i won't go into more detail... but seriously, why do they still have those? any country that can use the type of toilet in my apt with more buttons than a remote should have no use for hole-in-the-ground toilets.
- i found a baseball game!!! this was, without a doubt, the top highlight of the day. it could have been high school, but i think it was more like an adult city league or something. they had very nice uniforms, but the game seemed pretty informal. maybe it was just a practice game or something.
- i tried some sweet potato ice cream. well, i think it was. but since it was in japanese, i'm not really sure. it was good, but nothing too amazing or different.
- i sat at a great little cafe, had a beer from a local brewery, and read a book. so lovely.
- i stopped in a shop on the way home called 'kaldi coffee bar.' it was amazing. anybody who's lived abroad knows that when you do so, it is vital to find some places that just make you feel comfortable. i've mentioned starbucks before. this place overtakes that. except it's a store, so i can't just hang out there. but, they have surprisingly inexpensive things from all over the world there, including a lot from latin america. and i think the theme is supposed to be primarily latino, because they were playing salsa and tango music! i was totally salsa dancing in the aisles, hoping someone would ask me (in spanish, ideally) if i'd like to go salsa dancing sometime at some nearby bar! didn't happen, but i won't give up... the store also had--popcorn, cheap wine, chips and salsa, and graham crackers! it was pretty great. oh! and the girl at the register spoke english to me! as someone who really didn't like it when people spoke english to me in latin america, i realllllly appreciate it here. at least for now.
- on the last leg home, as i was walking, totally stoked from an awesome day, a teenaged girl kind of jumped out from her group of friends, in front of me, smiled, and said, "herrow!" (i feel i can make fun of the accent because it's completely legit. and it makes sense, because they don't have a difference between Ls and Rs in japanese.) i was caught off guard but i laughed and said, "hello!" they thought it was pretty funny.
- i went to a department store and found a huge music store, including a room of pianos and many walls of guitars! after a bike, i think a guitar will be coming.
- and now, i'm sitting in my apartment, listening to lauryn hill, drinking red wine, writing, and reading. it's kind of awesome.
one kind of weird thing i really noticed today is that i have a tendency to feel a bit sea-sick in my apartment, because there have been aftershocks almost every day for the past 5 or 6 days. so, i'm constantly thinking that the place is moving, even when it's not. it's really weird. i can't imagine how people live like this all the time. especially if you've been traumatized by an earthquake in the past.
i just bought and read a collection of stories by one of my new favorite authors, haruki murakami, called 'after the quake' that he wrote in the 1990s after the huge kobe earthquake. it's really interesting to read within my current context.
i hope you are all well. please email me updates/anecdotes/pictures/etc.
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