whatever happened, happened

and this is what happened:

-I left my homestay
-I went to Hokkaido
-I worked on an organic farm
-I went to Sapporo
-I traveled in Thailand and Cambodia with my brother
-I went to Tokyo
-I returned to Kyoto, my present location

When I was in SEAsia I really missed Japan, a lot. Inexplicably. I have been really enjoying my time in Tokyo and Kyoto, and I cannot even begin to think about what it will be like to go back to the bay on Monday.

Taiwan: touch your heart

Taiwan was excellent. Taiwan was utterly random and marvelous and hot and goofy and languages, and delicious. Taiwan is all about not being part of mainland China. Taiwan is also all about bubble tea, moto scooters, and night markets. Taiwan is also all about superb fresh fruit, some of the friendliest and most generous East Asians I have ever met, and not really speaking English at all. Hannah and I arrived in Taipei on Sunday the 26th and departed on Thursday the 7th. In between then:

Taipei was two great Mexicans, 5 night markets, being surprised at everything, Taipei 101 - the (second) tallest building in the world - being able to read but not speak, new piercings, a visit to the city of Jiufen, and welcoming Jason B. to the country.

The view from the top of the mountain next to Jiufen


Tainan was two great Frenchies, a Peruvian, a super goofy Taiwanese girl, all put in a blender creating a multi-lingual dinner in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, and probably some Taiwanese. Tainan was also hookah smoking, the happiest and most generous man in all of Taiwan, the second most delicious pineapple I have ever eaten (arguably the first, actually), lots of cool old temples, amazing dumplings and noodles.


Then - Kaosiung and Kenting - saying goodbye to Jason, a silly but delicious lunch, the experience of being in Cancun in East Asia but also in Southeast Asia, a Catholic hostel, lots of hilarious Taiwanese schoolchildren, the beach, getting sunburned, reading, swimming, saying hello to Jason and his parents, a delicious meal of Chinese food, and "sleeping" on the beach.

When we woke up on the beach Hannah and I saw our first of three sunrises in four days. Leaving Kenting involved a nap in a hotel lobby, the most terrible of terrible bus rides, deciding to go to Alishan National Forest, a train ride, and getting hassled by some taxi drivers.

Going to and being in Alishan involved an amazing Taiwanese couple that spoke great English, a really beautiful bus ride, looking for the hotel, finding the hotel, delicious vegetables, an amazing Taiwanese man giving us tea, going to bed early, waking up at 3am, a train ride up the mountain to view the sunrise over Yushan (the tallest mountain in East Asia) (and our second sunrise our of three in four days), and a beautiful hike through the forest back to the town. The sunrise was for sure a highlight of the trip.

From there we returned to Taipei, but not before hanging out for a few hours in Taichung, the most boring city in Taiwan, drinking bubble tea and seeing a huge Buddha. Our return to Taipei was met by the Mexicans again, followed by a well-deserved night's sleep, sleeping in, meeting up with Jason K. and his friend Eli, a silly lunch, more bubble tea, the most amazing museum in the world filled with all of China's treasures, probably the best dumplings of my life, another delicious meal with Jason B. and his parents (this time in Shanghai), wandering around the river, things coming full circle, attempting to stay up all night and almost succeeding, problematically going to the airport and getting to the gate (damn swine flu), and returning to Japan.

When we got back to the country we decided to keep the travel going and went to Kobe on our way back to Kyoto. This trip was one of my favorite travel experiences maybe ever. There were some bad points but nearly every day had only great points. Now I have little more than 2 days to completely pack my life in Japan and move to my friend's house before going to the farm. This will probably be my last entry until after my adventures for the next month - working on an organic farm in Hokkaido, hanging out with my brother in 3 SE Asian nations, and three days alone in Tokyo.

Also - if you are reading this and know anything at all about Taiwan's economy, please comment! I wondered a lot about it the whole time I was there.

the end has no end

This week was the last week of AKP. It was also the longest week of the year. My dreams all week long were at least a week in length, but usually one or two months. So much happened day to day, but it was all taking place in my mind. This wasn't helped by me getting sick on Thursday (the very last day) so I slept all day, but it felt more like sleeping for a decade.

Last night was the Farewell Party. It was the first time I had been to the Kyoto Tower Hotel since orientation, and more specificially, the Welcome Party. It was a very strange experience, and simultaneously not as sad as I thought it would be and also considerably sadder than I thought it would be. I had my last taiko practice on Wednesday, which was truly sad, but I played taiko with 8 of my group members at the party, which was pretty great. After the party at least half of AKP went to Kyoto station and sat on the steps and got really drunk. The best part was when we all gave mini speeches to each other. Mine went something like,

"this is where we started and this is where we ended; we've been gone a long time but have been here for a short time; the weather is significantly more pleasant now than it was when we got here."

Saying goodbye at the end of the station part of the night was the saddest part, because so many things need to happen before I see most of those people again. SO many things.

Tomorrow I head out to Taiwan. Hannah and I are going together and will have our own adventures before meeting up with Jason B. and his parents, and Jason K. and his brother and his friend. The AKP journey ended yesterday, today it is raining, and tomorrow is something entirely different.

Run Into Flowers

Spring has finally arrived! The season I have been waiting for all along, and now it is nearly over. I have been doing lots of "hanami", literally "flower viewing." This is a huge tradition in Japan during the cherry blossom season - to go and look at the flowers. Usually people bring a picnic and make a whole day out of it, which I have done a few times, but usually we just bring some drinks and a frisbee and we're good to go. There is a saying: "hana yori sake" which translates to be, "flowers are not as important as sake."

FLOWERS:









This is the last week of class. Finally. But also a little sad. The cherry blossoms have already passed their peak, and now there is "sakura yuki" or cherry blossom petal snow everywhere. Ah! the fleetingness of the seasons!

some themes from the year so far

i would say more about these if I was in the presence of mind to write anything beyond the list...but writing the list is itself important

portals vs. monsters
TIME
-past, present, future
-the clock and the calendar
-series of events in a causal chain
-moments and memories
PLACE
-the scope of a city
-riding a bike vs. taking the train
-how scenery changes
time+place
-weather
-seasons
-trees
-photographs
The Island
-sitting on rocks and under trees
-mountains emerging from water
-continents are islands, too
Having hobbies and being skillful
Many Lives
tangling and untangling
Bumbling
Bodies
-faces
-hands
-feet
-eyes
-ears
-mouths
-stomachs
-Open up your throat!

Everything Is
-crazy
-the same
-different
-layers
-patterns
-rhythms
-flowers
-the ocean

South Korea's got Seoul, South Korea likes to rock n roll

I just got back from a lovely little jaunt to South Korea. Korea Sparkling! I went to Seoul and stayed with my cousin Michael, who has been teaching English there for about three years. I didn't do too much sightseeing, mostly I wandered all around Seoul and ate incredibly delicious and cheap things. The best (and wildest, perhaps) was live octopus.

(just watch it squirm for a little bit)

We also ate raw beef, a few different kinds of Korean bbq, a delicious fried meat thing in a huge rectangle, lots and lots of kimchi, and a ton of really good street food. The best street food came in a tent with lots of old Korean people (who started a fight with each other).

Michael and me and a crazy Korean man. I'll let you figure out who is who.

Aside from eating, I was mostly just in shock the whole time at how Korea is totally not Japan. Compared to Japan, Koreans are real people! They are not robots or ants like Kyoto residents, they look around on the subway and talk on their cell phones on the bus and are loud and gregarious and SO friendly. Also I was in a pretty big shock at the sprawl and magnitude of the city of Seoul.

The north-west expanse of the city from the top of the 63 Building


Seoul is really the city from Blade Runner, the city of the future

One friend asked me, what will I expect from Japan after being in Korea? I realized a few important things. One is, my thoughts are almost completely in Japanese, which I hadn't really realized until being in a place where both the language's sounds and written alphabet are utterly unlike either of the two languages I can speak. Yeah, languages are SO crazy. I also realized, it is really nice to be with your family. I also realized, for the next month, I need to enjoy Japan as much as possible. Spring has pretty much arrived, and springtime is the season! The good things don't last, and there is no use complaining when I have it so easy.

spring field trip

Well, the spring field trip turned out to be more fun than I thought it would. I knew the things we would be doing would be fun, such as:
-a castle
-a cool old shrine
-a great forest
-the Ocean
-some onsen
-a river boat ride
-an amazing waterfall
-a cooler but more anticlimactic old shrine
-some rocks

But the missing thread was the bus. My friends and I (Jason, Jason, Richard, Hannah, Kendall, and Ben) discovered that the back of the bus we were on could turn from normal back of the bus into a really sweet limousine-like circle. So there were 6 of us (Kendall would come and go) in a circle of 12 seats. We had tons of room, we spread out, we allowed each other naps and music listening time, but it was mostly a lot of good conversation and a lot of alcohol. We wanted curtains to really make it a room, even though we referred to it as a room. We spent an obscene amount of time on the bus throughout the three days, so being in such a comfortable arrangement was highly satisfying.

Here are some photos.

it's the same ocean....


I built a rock pile.


These rocks are married.










The next big adventure: Korea.