Monoanimal

change of address, yall.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:50:00 +0000

For the next 3 months or so, we will be cycling around Japan and have moved most blogging activity to cycling.monoanimal.com. I know, I know. Why get another blog if you already have one that you don't use? Who knows! But check it out anyway if you get a chance. It will mostly be a log of our daily rides with intermittent ramblings about weird food. Yay!

poster in the train station.

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:26:00 +0000

Kuching Day 3, Sunday:

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Again I woke up in an ice box, but this time I knew how to turn of the AC and return to sleep. The next time I awoke, I found a watch, read the time, and had the slow realization that we had about 30 minutes to pack everything up (we were being forced to change rooms cause I took to long making reservations and the family room was only available for our first two nights), get ready and meet Lo. I pulled myself out of bed, flicked on the lights, noted yet again that Jude was already up and out, and rebuffed the groans of Betsy and Christophe with a warning about all that needed to be done.

Somehow we managed to pack up everything, shower and get outside only 5 or so minutes after we were supposed to meet Lo. But by now Lo was onto us, and it was another 5 minutes before he showed up. This morning we were off to the Sunday market – a big open air market that had everything from produce to pets to plants to fish to bracelets and clothes - basically everything you can think of in a maze of stalls. Personal favorites of mine are the guys who make these pancakes filled with a cinnamon, sugar and peanut mix, the vibrant colors of the peppers and the pet shop people. Christophe and I discussed the distinct difference between this market and other markets we've seen in that here the live animals were for sale as pets, versus a number of other markets out there where the live animals are sold for slaughter. I wonder if it has to do with the economic situation of Kuching, or if it comes from an aspect of Malay/Chinese culture.

After the market we went to the civic center where one of Lo’s photographer buddies was taking pictures of a Malay wedding. We had known in advance that we were heading to this wedding so we were prepared with slightly nicer clothes and shawls for our shoulders. We showed up before the bride and groom and hung around with Lo, his photography friend, and about 5 other guys with nice cameras waiting for the car to pull up. As we stood there waiting, the security guard of the civic center came over to us and encouraged us to go into the room where the reception was being held, but we declined - preferring to stay close to Lo (our excuse for why we were there). Christophe whipped out his own camera and joined the photography gang, better legitimizing his presence.

The bride and groom’s car arrived flanked by motorcyclists (I guess the groom is in a motorcycle club) and before we knew it Lo had us following them down the center isle of the reception. The reception was huge, maybe 200 people all sitting around round tables. After standing awkwardly at the front of the room, Betsy, Jude and I decided to head to the back of the room since we didn't have cameras to hide behind. There we made small talk with members of the wedding party, awkwardly answering the question of who we knew in the wedding (ummm… see that guy in the Hawaiian shirt taking pictures, his name is Lo. We know him). All of the sudden one of the woman who we had been talking to appeared and told us she had found us a table. We were ushered to the table, sat down, and given the gift fans all the guests had received. I found this totally amazing. These people didn't know us, they didn't even really know Lo, but here they were adding us to the wedding reception like we were family who forgot to RSVP. But what blew our minds even more, is that we weren’t the only ones. Not too far from our table we saw another couple who were clearly tourists. Considering she was in jeans snapping pictures of everything and he was sporting a very uncomfortable look on his face, we concluded they were probably just visiting the civic center when they got kidnapped into this wedding! We slipped out with Lo just before the food was served, despite the protests of our tablemates (“but you haven’t eaten yet!”).

Once we all had regrouped outside the wedding – where we chatted with other members of the wedding who busily encouraged us to return to the reception and enjoy the food – we went to the roof of the civic center to get a view of the town. From there we could see the old clubhouse where I once split my chin open and my brother once split his thigh open (my mother jokes they opened the new hospital in Kuching for Jimmy and I), my brother’s old school and other places of my childhood. Then Lo pointed directly below us.

“They come to the weddings only for the food,” Lo told us. “As soon as they finish eating they leave. Look, la”. Below us we could see a stream of people leaving the reception hall heading for the parking lot. But then again it was a Malay wedding, so no booze or dancing. Not much to do after the food.

From the civic center we headed back toward our hostel, stopping at a coffee shop a short walk away. There, sitting around a big round table in plastic chairs, sipping on coffee or tea and snacking on eggs and nuts, were my uncles. The same guys we had been out drinking with the night before, the same guys who had been at Laksa Lim’s every Sunday, were now here doing the same thing. So we plopped down with them, ordered some tea and noodles, and did it too – relaxed and relived the night before.

Fabien, a wonderful man who is always smiling and always has a red nose whether or not drunk, came up and handed me a magazine.

“Your father asked me to mail this to him, but that’s a lot of trouble. So I just figured I would wait until one of you guys showed up.”
“But Fabien, we usually only show up once every 5 to 10 years, its pure chance that I’m here, we weren’t planning on it at all.”
“Well you're here aren’t you?” and he handed me the HASH magazine to deliver to my father.

Flipping through it I found pictures of last year when we had visited with Christophe’s and my family. And at the back there was a photo of my brother and I, 20 years ago, doing down downs of orange juice at the kid's hash. I marveled at the situation. Here I had very randomly decided to surprise two girlfriends by meeting up with them while they happened to be passing through Kuching. The chances that I would be there were slim – the girls almost didn't go to Kuching, we almost didn't have the vacation days or cash to get down there. And yet, one of my uncle's had been expecting us and so had hung onto a magazine full of pictures of both our families and a photo of my brother and I from 20 years ago. And despite how unlikely it was for all of these things to coincide, I was there wasn’t I?

Several teas, three bowls of kolo mee and some peanuts later we decided we wanted to go to the beach for a bit, so we changed at the hostel and piled back into the car to head for Damai Beach. We showed up at the nicer resort first, parked directly in front of a no parking sign, Lo told the staff we were researching hotels in the area, and we wandered around for 15 minutes. Then we went over to the Holiday Inn resort, where we simply walked in and set up on lounge chair (“no worries, la”). The Holiday Inn resort caused massive flash backs for me of playing in the “kid's area” where I believe there was an original Nintendo we used to stay glued to when we’d had too much sun, and of the pool bar where I would order Shirley temples, my favorite drink in those days. Funny the stuff that comes back to you.

A while later, crisped nicely from the sun, we found ourselves sitting on drift wood over looking a section of sea that had pulled out at least a kilometer. We were in a small Muslim fishing village, where Lo told us he loved to come and photograph the sunset. I could see why. From the beach the sky looked huge and the sun reflected beautifully on the muddy waterless beach. Out in the distance, a fisherman parked his boat and began the slow trek back toward us, knee deep in the mud. As the sun turned from yellow to orange, a cat came out to toy with the mud skippers. And just as the sun turned to a deep reddish purple, the call to prayer began to echo through the cove. There, sitting on driftwood watching the sun fill the sky with color and listening to the rhythmic song of the call to prayer, I felt totally at peace. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day.

Of course it wasn't the end. No night in Kuching was complete without meeting up with friends for dinner, tonight the HASH boys again, and drinking a few beers. We did so happily and, at the end of the night, once again crawled into beds ready to sleep.

Kuching Day 2, Saturday:

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:54:00 +0000

I awoke in the morning freezing, which made me a little confused about where I was. My brain was telling me Kuching, but my body said we were back in cold Hokkaido. As my thoughts focused through my cold and beer fogged mind, I realized the AC had been going all night and our all cement room with no windows had turned into a refrigerator. I also realized I had no idea how one turned the AC on or off, so I stole the covers back from christophe and fell back asleep.
The second time I woke up, again freezing and missing the covers, I decided to reach out for a clock. This woke me up properly, as I realized we were meeting Lo for laksa in a scant 20 minutes. I jumped from the bed, turned on the lights to protests from Betsy and Christophe, noted that Jude had already gotten up and was no longer in the room, and announced our time limit.

Laksa is what you eat when you visit Kuching. It's a very spicy soup with a water and coconut milk base, filled with thin noodles, prawns, fish cake, bean sprouts, and whatever else the vendor you go to decides to put in it. There are many kinds of laksa all over Malaysia, Singapore and I believe Indonesia. Each area does their version a little bit differently, and naturally proclaims their version to be the best. You eat it in the morning as a breakfast, the spiciness both preparing you to sweat all day in the heat, and clearing away your hangover from the night before.

Laksa, like most foods in Kuching, can be found in “coffee shops”. These are large open rooms, resembling really big garages, filled with round plastic tables and chairs. At the entrance and along the perimeter there are various hawkers who sell different foods. There is one who does fried rice, one who does laksa, one who does kolo mee. In the larger establishments (actually called food courts) there can be as many as 20 different stands, with one for drinks, and two or three for every kind of food. In smaller places there are maybe only two or three, and the “room” sells the drinks (I have inferred this is why they are referred to them as coffee shops). Different hawkers are open at different times and on different days of the week, so depending on when you go you will have a chance at something totally different. I have distinct memories of the coffee shop my family went to when I was young; the blue tile floors, the plastic chairs, the tables I would be stood on to sing a song. I never ate laksa with them then. Rather, the food I remember was the candy I would buy from the cashier's station. My parents and their friends, men and women who were in many ways my aunts and uncles, would gather there in the morning - it must have been on Sundays - and my brother and I would play with all of the other children in the room. Back then they went to see Laksa Lim, who made laksa for everyone in the morning. Today Laksa Lim drives a taxi cab, the children have all grown up and are scattered across the world, but my uncles still meet at a coffee shop on Sunday mornings.

Lo showed up at the hostel while we were still running around trying to get ready, but soon we were in the car on the way to a laksa place he told us he often goes to in the morning before work.

“Why eat breakfast at home when it is cheaper and easier here” he proclaimed. I saw his point. At less the a dollar a bowl it was a tough bargain to beat, not that I ever got a chance to pay for a bowl - Lo had it all paid for before we could even find our wallets.
From breakfast we drove to the Cat Museum. Kuching means “Cat City” in some native language, so the city is littered with cat statues - and, naturally, there is a Cat Museum. The Museum looks like what would happen if you just started buying every single poster, statue, figurine, anything that you saw that looked like a cat, said cat, or even rhymed with cat and then put it all in one room together. Posters from Alice in Wonderland (Cheshire cat) to the Cat Burgler hung together with inspirational kitten posters reading things like “hang in there” and over looked statues of hello kitty. The museum was free, but you had to pay about $2 to take pictures - although I don't even know where you would begin with the photos.

After leaving the Cat Museum, Lo just started driving us around. He always tried to take us different routes to things so we could see as much as possible, but this also meant I was never really able to get my bearings. Along our drive we passed a mosque that Betsy exclaimed to be beautiful. So the car turned into the parking lot and we headed toward the mosque. Betsy and I both protested that we could not go in as we were in sleeveless dresses, but Lo insisted we would just “walk around the outside”.

The outside, it seemed, was the open air section of the mosque (about 70% of the building), and the guards seemed to have no problem with us as long as we didn't go into the enclosed part. Should we want to, they told us, they had robes we could put on over our dresses. But we said it was no problem, and simply enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the outside area and peeped the inside through the open doors.

Next Lo drove us by the new city library (which seemed terribly far outside the city, but I didn't point that out), where he noticed there was a wedding going on. Naturally he beckoned us inside to see, again ignoring our bare shoulders, again no one really seeming to mind. However the naked shoulders finally stopped us when he attempted to take us into the book section of the library where we were informed you had to be covered up. Considering the amount of AC in the room, I wouldn't have minded a shawl, but I also wasn't dying to check out the inside of the library so we told the security guard it was no problem and wondered around other parts of the building. About 5 minutes later, the security guard came up behind us, apologized and said never mind the rules, we could go inside the library. He looked genuinely upset at the fact that he had had to turn us away, and we assured him it was really no problem and we really didn't need to go in. This was probably the first time Jude, or maybe it was Betsy, turned to me and commented on how amazingly inviting everyone in Kuching was. I just nodded; we hadn’t even been there 24 hours yet.

After visiting the new golden parliament building and the palace of the governor of Sarawak, Lo dropped us back at our hostel. We ran across the street for a quick meal of kolo mee (one of my favorite dishes of crinkled egg noodles tossed with a garlicky oil and consommé blend topped with some veggies and sweet pork - so simple and so good). We got dressed in shorts, tees and tall socks, packed changes of clothes, and got out only about 5 minutes after Lo showed up for us. We were off to the HASH.

The HASH is a running group that was founded in the 1960s in Kuala Lumpur by a group of British expats who played Rugby on Sundays, but needed something to do on Saturdays. Two guys, the hare and the co-hare, head out into the jungle and lay down a path of squares of white paper. Everyone else heads out an hour or two later and follows the trail, in theory attempting to catch up with the hare and catch him. But the path can be tricky, sometimes heading in two directions with one being a dead end, sometimes ending and not starting back up for 50 meters. And so the people run constantly, stopping and searching, calling out to one another when they find the train (On On) or lose the trail (Checking). In Kuching there are 5 HASH groups: the City Hash on Saturdays, the Men’s Hash on Tuesdays, The Women’s Hash on Wednesdays, The Hazards (a very hard core group) on Thursdays and the kids hash once a month on a Sunday. Oh and there’s also a bike hash that does the same craziness on bikes once a month. When we visit we always go to the city hash, as it is for everyone and not too difficult (there is usually a long and a short option).

Since there hadn’t been much rain recently this run was not nearly as muddy as most, but I still came out of it pretty dirty from sliding down a hill (or should I say cliff) on my butt and tripping on my fair share of branches. Betsy, Christophe and I did the medium run (this time there were three), which had a stop in the middle for watermelon and water (key). The run went through the jungle, out into a pepper field, back into the jungle, through another farmer's field, back into the jungle and finally spit us out on the far side of the village we started from. Just a quick note, when I say “field” I mean a space where things are grown purposefully - but don't think you can picture a manicured farm. These fields are literally surrounded by rain forest, and totally overgrown minus the trees. There are little huts set up by them where the farmer can come and rest when he is needed by them, but if it wasn't for these huts you might think pepper plants just naturally grow in rows.

After the run, we showered with buckets of water, changed into our cleaner clothes, and joined the group to do our obligatory “down downs”. In other words, we went and chugged beers for being new to the run. Once about 15 people had been made to down down (newbies, someone for running the short run, the owner of the hash computer for the fact that the battery died, etc) we all piled into cars and headed to the “On On” - or post running eating and drinking party.

I won't go into too much detail, but there was lots of good food, beer constantly flowing, many more down downs, several songs sung and even karaoke in a big outdoor space. The songs were naturally quite vulgar (me no likey british sailors, yankee pay 5 dollars more) but so much fun with everyone belting them out together. They are all set to the tunes of old Rugby drinking songs, so perfect for group belting. In honor of father’s day all of the single guys had to do down downs, so Christophe was on the hot seat. They sang a special song for all these guys that went like this:

If I were a bachelor,

If I were to marry,
I would marry a Mechanic’s daughter,
More then any lassie…
She would screw, and I would screw,
And we would screw together,
Wake up in the middle of the night screwing one another.

Each person doing a down down had a different kind of daughter, and Christophe actually got two. First he had “Jim Ball’s daughter”, cause “she’d squish balls” and after that came “Obama’s daughter” to which Betsy and I heartily sang out “she would change” only to be drowned out by everyone else singing “she would bomb”. It was a nice little reminder that for all the change we hope to see, it sure hasn't changed yet.

So the night went on from there and we somehow were gotten back home and crawled happily into our beds.

A Gorgeous Trip to Kuching

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Well we just got back from an amazing week of running around Kuching. But as we made no posts about it the whole time we were there, I figure I will slowly type up each day over the course of the next week. That way I dont have to type it all at once, and you dont have to read it all at once! Everybody wins (^ v ^ !!)

Day 1, Friday: We arrived in Kuching after having spent the night in Singapore Airport. This was not the worse night sleep I have ever had, but it wasn't the best either. Still, we awoke only somewhat stiff from the chairs we laid down on and spent the morning at the Singapore Museum- a very impressive museum. The price was a bit steep ($13), but by flashing my Japanese Teacher’s ID card and saying it was a student card, I got a student ticket at a much more reasonable $5. We saw a really cool exhibit about Singaporean food, as well as the special exhibit on Verner Panton, the designer from the 60s/70s who made the first single mold plastic chairs among other things. Around 1pm we were back at the airport, and from the Budget terminal made our way to Kuching on the 3pm Tiger Airways flight.
Lo picked us up at the airport in Kuching and drove us to the hostel we were staying at. We got checked in, grabbed a quick shower, then got picked back up by Lo to go back to the airport to meet Betsy and Jude, who did not know we were in Kuching. On the way to the airport Lo mentioned that he wanted to stop off at a bar he had been at last week to pick up something he left there. We dutifully followed Lo into the empty bar, filled with laser lights and blasting music. Before we knew what had happened Lo had ordered a bucket full of Heinekens as a “quick drink” before heading to the airport. It was then that we knew we were back in Kuching.
Amazingly we beat the girls to the airport and Lo headed inside to get them while Christophe and I hid outside. Hiding at an airport is a little weird these days and we got a few suspicious stares as we peered at the entrance from behind pillars, but no one arrested us as terrorists, so it was fine. Finally the girls emerged, trailing behind Lo on their way to the car. We fell in step behind them and Christophe began loudly clearing his throat. As it became clear that they were not responding to this, I let out a high pitched “sumimasen!” (Japanese for excuse me) and both the girls stopped in their tracks. Slowly they rotated around and stared at us. It took 3-5 seconds for our presence to sink in, upon which time Judy let out a little scream and Betsy began repeating, “shut up, no way” over and over again.
From the airport we went straight to dinner at this fabulous outdoor place where there are a bunch of different venders. We dined on some red snapper that Lo had gotten from fishermen that morning and dropped off to be cooked by one of the stands. It was divine. We also had tempura seafood with a chili sauce, some stewed veggies, and something else that I can picture, but cant name. Needless to say, it was all delicious, and went wonderfully with all the beer we were drinking.
After dinner we headed over to a coffee shop where Lo’s photography club meets on Friday nights to drink. We pulled up chairs at the big round table, and continued consuming beers- all the while chatting with the photography guys. Eventually Jude even got them to start pulling out cameras for her to admire and envy.
Finally around 2am Lo dropped us back off at the hostel and we stumbled to our room. There Jude and I promptly crawled into bed, while Christophe and Betsy headed to the top floor bar for a few more brews. At the bar they met a bunch of Australian High School kids who they told Christophe’s name is “Freedom”- the name by which they kids would refer to him for the rest of the time they were there.

feeling better and still amazed by Japan

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:06:00 +0000

A lot has changed since my last post, although the appearance of my house would beg to differ. While nothing has yet gone inside a box, I have indeed bought boxes. I am also halfway through the process of securing a shipping company and the time table for sending those boxes home. But perhaps the most significant change is an email sitting stared in my inbox, which states that I am now the proud owner of two e-tickets leaving Tokyo on November 2 at 4:30pm, arriving in Washington DC at 2:39pm the same day. Now that my ability to travel through space and time has been guaranteed, I feel calm.

It’s amazing, buying that plane ticket instantly relaxed muscles that had been tense since April 1st. And having that ticket seems to have set everything else in motion. I have found someone to take care of Inu-chan for the three months we are riding, and am able to tell them exactly when we would love them to bring him down to Tokyo. I have gotten in contact with the shippers, which I really didn't need to get a ticket to do, but somehow it was the catalyst for that action. Christophe started his application process for changing over to a visitors visa for our last three months of riding. We talked to the gas man, internet people, phone people and landlady all about the fact that we are leaving. Oh, and I reserved a spot for Inu-chan in the cabin of the plane we will be taking home. So while my house looks much the same (nothing is actually “in” those new boxes) my mind is in a whole new place. I think it was really one of those, “I don't know where to begin” moments that I was having, but now I have begun and things are rolling.

On a totally different note, Japan continues to produce things that shock, amuse and please me. Today we will discuss two of them.

Item number 1: Gatcha-pon tiny Obama Figurine.

Before I begin this, you should know, Japan loves the idea of Obama, and is obsessed with the catch phrase “Yes, we can”. I don't know if this happens in America, I don't live there, but here in Japan “Yes, we can” has become a universal catch phrase that may be applied to anything. I am in no way exaggerating nor joking when I tell you I have seen “Yes we can” on tissue boxes, house sale ads, cell phone ads, hardcore conservative political ads and pencil cases. Today, though, was my favorite.

Another thing you may not know about is Japan’s obsession with tiny figurines on strings that can be attached to cell phones, ipods, keys, DSs, etc. They come from "gatcha-pon" machines- you put in 100-300 yen depending, turn the dial, and out comes a little figurine. We have these in America, they are amazing in Japan. So today we were looking at the machine and noticed one made up of tiny uni-sex humans of different colors with various symbols on their heads and phrases on their chests. And there was a brown one in a black suit with the phrase “Yes We Can”- it was Obama. So we tried.

First we won the purple guy shedding a tear with a graph on the back of his head that shows a line heading down. His chest reads (roughly translated): “approval rate decline”. We will investigate this meaning more in the future.

Next we got the yellow guy who has a sign tacked to the back of his head. His chest reads (our translation): “Always depending on others” . While the sign on the back of his head reads (and we're really not sure about this one): “like an answer” (I don't get it...)

With my last 100 yen I crossed my fingers, turned the knob, and out came the white one, With hearts for eyes, her chest reads: “doting parent” and on her back is a pink heart that says: “Our kid is number one!”

Defeated I turned away, but Christophe was not ready to give up. He pulled out his wallet and found 100 yen. In the coin went, the knob turned, and who was there: OBAMA!! His chest reads: “Change” written in katakana, so it would be pronounced “che-nji” in Japanese. On his back, in English letters it says “Yes, we can!” And he's 130% taller then the other ones, so take that other tiny Japanese characters.

** if anyone reading this post really wants one of the non-obama's let me know and I will send it your way. Obama is going on the ipod.

Item number 2: Green Tea Flavored Diet Coke

Haven’t tried it yet and not really in the mood for coke right now, so I will write a proper post about this after trying it. Just though you should know.

Panic Attack

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:56:00 +0000

This morning I woke up at 4am. I didn't hear something, nothing happened to me, I just woke up and my body told me I was to have no more sleep. I was unsurprised by this, it had been a restless night, although I feel I can hardly call it a night considering I went to bed at midnight, more like a longish nap. But at 4 am I woke up and attempting to fall back asleep did no good. The muscles in my shoulders were all on pins and needles- there was no comfortable position and I couldn't seem to stretch enough to release the strange, almost tickling, feeling. Adding to this bizarre feeling, my heart seemed to have traded in regular solid beats for a general fluttering. It was like in steam of beating, my heart was lightly strumming. So after 20 minutes of attempting to get back to asleep I accepted that I was awake and got up. Once awake I made salads for Christophe and I to take in our Bento, got ready to do the dishes, realized we were out of dish soap, and set off on a jog to the convenience store (which is indeed open at 4:30am and does sell dish soap).

During this jog I reflected on my day yesterday trying to figure out what had led to my only sleeping 4 hours last night. The more I went through my day, the more I realized that over the course of the day yesterday, I had one long panic attack. That panic attack was soft and under the surface of my entire day and only came to full bloom when I fell asleep, let down my guard and slipped into a complete panic attack.

Yesterday morning I started the day by calling home and chatting with my parents and christophe’s parents. They were all together for Memorial Day Monday for a wonderful sounding dinner. Talking with family at moments like that makes me the most homesick. As they tell me about the food they made, the drinks they are drinking and as I listen to the usual chatter in the background I can perfectly picture the scene- and I always feel my heart strings tug as I wish I was standing at that counter too, sipping on champagne or helping mommy prep the chicken. I miss my kitchen counter, as that is the space where everyone I love will at some point come to, rest their glass, reach out for some hors d’oeuvre or another, and talk about their day. It is the physical space that represents home to me.

So as Christophe left for work I was feeling a touch homesick and decided to actually start researching shipping things back to America. This will be no small feet- my research has left me with the belief that the best deal we are going to get is about $1000 for shipping all our stuff unless we decide to leave the kotatsu behind (which I don't really want to do, but am not considering). For some reason doing all that research was leaving me even more antsy then I had been before. I didn't make it out for my morning jog, in fact I barely noticed about an hour and a half go by. So I jumped in and out of the shower, threw on some clothes, and hopped on my bike to go to a girlfriend’s house for a cooking lunch date we had.

Down at Masako’s house I had a great time making some Korean food with her and another Japanese friend, who doesn't speak English so I got to flex my Japanese muscles a good bit. We enjoyed our lunch on the back porch, chatting and relaxing in the sun. I felt totally content and at peace at that point. Then at two I hopped back on my bike and raced over to the city gym to watch my school’s basketball teams (girls and boys) in a tournament there. A bunch of students were in the stands and they quickly called me over to sit and chat with them. The games were fun, our teams both destroyed their opponents, and I got a chance to chat with a lot of students I don't see as much anymore because they are 3rd years. Towards the end of the second game, with our team winning 132 to 22 and the students in the stands all chatting different lines I suddenly felt the same tug at my heart that I had felt in the morning. Except this time I was being flooded with thoughts of my leaving, my goodbye speech, and the fact that I very well may never see any of these kids again. I found myself fighting back tears as I clapped along to the chants.

By the time the second game had ended it was already 5:30, so I headed straight over to Saiko’s house, another girlfriend, where we were going to have a “Korean Dinner Party”. At the “cooking lunch” that morning we had made a Korean pork dish that had been ridding around in my bag since (for lunch we had sashimi rice bowls and shiroko for dessert), so I was able to go straight to the potluck. Before I could even put my bag down Sakiko was handing me a glass of some crazy flower liquor and soon we were prepping the food and chatting. Naomi (another Japanese girlfriend), Christophe and Evan (saki’s husband) all showed up within the hour and the dinner party began (very delicious I might add). Saki’s dad owns a booze and rice shop and he donated a little 1/4 keg to our party- a nice addition. A little later two more friends showed up and we ended up staying at Evan and Saki’s until about 11:30. Then we biked home full of good cheer and good food.

Yet when I went to bed I had an uneasy feeling and as you know, at 4am I was up with a fluttering heart and spasming shoulder muscles. But as I unpack my day yesterday, I can start to see why. In the morning I got homesick, ready to leave Japan. But then as I started to look into it, I was overcome by what an expensive and complicated process it is going to be to actually pack up my life and move back to America. Then I had a great day with friends, my school and more friends. I biked around town on a beautiful spring day and was totally at peace with my life here. So why, my subconscious began to ask, why on earth am I leaving this comfortable life to go to one I have no ideas about? What am I thinking?

Of course there are a thousand reasons why now is the time to go, something I very much know. But the point still remains, that I am leaving a comfortable and at this point easy life, to completely start over in a new place- something that both excites and terrifies me. So here I am: homesick, overwhelmed, happy, sad, excited and scared. And the worst part, for all the girl friends I have in Japan, the two girls I could actually to relate with about this stuff are currently trekking around Asia. All the girls who are left here are my Japanese girlfriends, who are great friends but who cant possibly relate to me on the issues of living in Japan for three years and facing the end of my time here.

So I spent my morning doing dishes, laundry, jogging, and making lunch- all while listening to Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, which I swear was written for my mental strife right now. I was hoping writing this would help calm my nerves, but actually unpacking all my emotions seems to have brought back my heart flutter. But it has also reminded me of something, there is one other person in this house who has been listening to an awful lot of Sky Blue Sky recently and who might be good to talk to about all this baggage I’m carrying around.

To bad he doesn't even wake up for an earthquake…

Sumo 2009

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:39:00 +0000

As those who popped over to the cycling blog know, the week/weekend before last tophe and I were happily enjoying a 4 day ride down to Hakodate, followed by 2 days in Hakodate, followed by an easy 2 hour train ride home. Deciding that doing that route only by bicycle and train was not enough, this past weekend we drove it.

Actually we drove down so that I could participate in the Fukushima Women’s Sumo competition. Assuming I was a good person last year, I posted about doing this last year too. Last year there was around 17 foreign gals who joined in the fight, and we all had a blast. This year there was only four of us, but it was just as fun. And there was still lots of foreign support in the audience.

We went down by car with two other good friends, Blaz and Brent. Originally the plan had been to get up early Saturday morning and rocket down to the southern most tip of Hokkaido for some cherry blossom tree action (ie grilling and drinking beers under the trees). But this year a group of birds called uso bird-o (translates as liar birds) apparently ate all the cherry blossom buds at the park we were aiming for, so we rethought the plan.

** A quick side note: I first learned of the uso birds and their cherry blossom eating ways while we were in Hakodate enjoying beer under some trees there. Chatting with a very drunk Japanese man in Japanese, I learned from him that a bunch of liar birds ate all the flowers at one of the other parks in Hakodate. “Liar?” I asked him, “are you lying”. “Yes,” he said “they lie.”. “Oh so they didn't eat the flowers, just they are lying about it”. “No, the cherry blossoms were eaten, liar”. – keep in mind this conversation was all in drunk Japanese, so it went on for some time before I figured out that I was not being lied to, the birds were called liar birds, and the flowers were in fact eaten (picture who’s on first drunk and in Japanese). **

So we took our time heading down South, bringing along a picnic of salsa, veggie wraps, pita bread, hummus and chocolate chip cookies. Along the way we stopped in Aputa for guru-maki sausages, in Yakumo for ice creams, in Mori for picnicking, and ate in the car too!! It was a day of food. Finally making it to Fukushima, we parked the car, met up with some friends, and walked to a restaurant for dinner ** ^ v ^ !!**

So we walk into the restaurant, this cool little fisherman’s izakaya (Japanese tapas and beer restaurant) and I am digging on the various decorations. As people are figuring out the tables and such I notice the poster for this year’s sumo competition. There is a big picture of a girl sumo-ing in the middle of the poster. “hmmm…” I think, “is that… no… is that…?”. I tug on Christophe’s sleeve and point at the poster. “Oh my god, Meghan is on the poster!” he exclaimed. “It is, it is me! Im on the poster! Im the sumo poster girl!!” This was what ran through my head for the rest of the night- I even autographed one poster I passed later in the evening. Of course no one ever asked me if they could use my photo on this poster that was all over Fukushima and Hakodate- but luckily for them I have no idea how to get upset in a legal way in Japan and I really don't care anyway.

I fought in three sumo matches on Sunday. My first match was during the practice round- and I fought against a girl who we later found out is the Judo Junior Champion of Japan. She won. My first real match was against a little Japanese girl who more or less stepped back as I stepped forward until she was no longer in the ring and I had won. My third match was a pretty decent struggle where she almost won, then I almost won, then she flipped me over and out of the ring- although I did keep a hold of her belt making her tumble right down next to me. Sadly, that loss took me out of the running. But still its so much fun to watch and cheer, oh and ah, and generally yell and scream during the matches. At the end this nice old man gave me a bunch of dried fish which I passed around to the other winners- cause I really don't need that much dried fish. But the dried scallops were really yummy, excellent with beer. The dried fish skin I went ahead and “passed” and the dried salmon was pretty good so I took a bunch of it into school on Monday to share with teachers.

The ride home was a lot quicker with only one food stop- a great chicken place about halfway home. We got back, played a bit of Zelda, and decided not to go anywhere for a while.

Oh and at the end of the competition I asked a dude for a poster or two since “IT’S ME!!”. He said he would mail me some so I gave him my address. They came this morning in the mail. Get this, he rolled three posters, wrapped a little piece of paper around the middle with my address, and mailed them. That’s all, no poster tube. And you know what- they came through perfect, totally unharmed. Can’t even imagine what they would look like if I tried to pull that in America.

to hakodate and back: The Plan

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:14:00 +0000

It’s crazy to think that Golden Week, that (usually) glorious set of consecutive holidays that happens but once a year in the Japanese calendar, is almost upon us. Last year, Meghan and I ferried over to Tohoku and toured the area on our then newly purchased bicycles. This year we will be doing some touring, though much closer to home – and with a significantly larger amount of gear. At this point we are about 80% ready, gear-wise, for our “Goodbye Japan” bicycle tour of Japan beginning in early August. In order to get a head start, we ordered all of our equipment while it was still too cold to tour (yes, we’re the tender kind of cycle tourists that don’t go out if it looks like it’ll be less than 50 Fahrenheit). In order to try out all of our new fancy equipment, we decided to take a trip in a southwardly (see potentially warmer) direction. The last time we were in Hakodate, we barely saw any of the city – spending most of our time in the onsen hotel we were staying at or in the car. This trip will most likely prove to be the exact opposite. Instead of a weekend, we are giving ourselves a week. Instead of a car, bikes. Instead of an onsen hotel, our (hopefully) trusty Big Agnes Gore Pass 3.

We’ll leave Muroran the morning of April 30th and hopefully get as far as Yakumo (about 110km or 70miles west) but if we aren’t up to a tough first day, we may stop earlier. Either way, the plan so far is Yakumo – home of Harvester chicken. Their claim to fame is that they were once the “testing facility” (not sure what that really means) for Kentucky Fried Chicken recipes until either their contract ended or things fell apart. Apparently the farm fell into a state of disrepair or stayed private for a while until they decided to reopen with new facilities including a wonderfully open dining room and a camp site. And their chicken is nowhere near what KFC claims chicken to be. It’s actually food. And tasty, at that.

From Yakumo, we’ll make our way straight to Hakodate (a 70km or 50mile ride) and hopefully spend the night in a “rider house”. Not sure about the US but Japan has “rider houses” that are essentially hostels aimed at motorcycle and bicycle tourists. They provide basic, cheap, short term stays with warm showers and, sometimes, a dinner involved. We’re pretty excited about making the most of rider houses throughout this trip and on our ”big” trip in August as they will most likely be the best places to meet other people doing precisely what we will be doing. Camping is fun, and Meghan and I have no problems just enjoying each other’s company but sometimes you want to just chat up some other tourists, ask about some good restaurants in the area and maybe get some tasty, secret info about things that shouldn’t be missed.

We’ll most likely spend a full day in Hakodate enjoying the historical buildings, checking out the morning market and heading to the famous star-shaped lake Goryokaku Park. There’s plenty to see in Hakodate but that kind of information can be found with a simple google search so I won’t bore you with it here.

From Hakodate we are going to head toward Cape Esan – the very natural and hotspringy peninsula to the east of Hakodate. I’m a bit worried about this part of the trip as there are a good number of tunnels along the one road that lines the coast, Golden Week is when the notoriously bad drivers come out of the woodwork, and anybody who has seen tunnels in the more rural parts of Japan can tell you that they are anything but wide. We’ll have lots of reflecties, flashing lights and helmets but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t worry about things like that. Danger aside, I think it’s going to be a really beautiful ride. At the tip of the cape we will hopefully get a chance to hit the tidal onsen - a hotspring that is only accessible during (high tide? low tide?) one of the tides. From there, we will continue around the cape and make it to Shikabe – a town with a (as it was described to me) like Yellowstone natural geyser. From there, we will continue to Lake Onuma and set up camp. Whether or not we can do the whole cape in one day is still in question. I’m not sure exactly how far it all is as Google Maps is terribly unhelpful sometimes but I’m hoping we can do it in a day – taking a second look, it might be about 90 or 110 km. Either way, we’ll see how it goes and should we get a bit tired, there are plenty of campsites along the way (which will most likely still be “closed”) where we can plop down the tent and cook up some dinner.

Once we’ve arrived at Onuma, and assuming we have enough energy, I’m hoping to hike Mt. Komagatake – a mountain that I’ve seen practically every work day that wasn’t too foggy. Crossing the bridge to work in the morning, Komagatake is often clearly visible from across Funkan Bay. I’ve often thought about how the people in Mori, the closest town to Mt. Komagatake, see our end of the bay on their ways to work. Depending on whether that hike kills us or not (we’re not big hikers), we’ll either pack up camp and head out or camp one more night at Lake Onuma and head out early the next morning.

The rest of the trip will most likely be a bit of repetitious backtracking along the road we came in on. Luckily the road is mostly smooth, straight and nested between mountains and the bay so there shouldn’t be any big hiccups and the scenery should be nice. We’ll also be able to try all the restaurants that we saw but didn’t stop at on the way down.

And that’s it, if all goes according to plan, we should arrive back in Muroran on the 5th or 6th – most likely the 6th. I’ll have work on the 7th and 8th but early Saturday morning, we will re-trace our cycle treads via Subaru tire tracks as we head down to the Women Only Sumo competition that happens once a year in Fukushima – no more than 10 or 20kms from Hakodate! Meghan competed last year (I’m sure some of you saw the photos) and she will hopefully be competing this year (as long as she gets the registration form in on time. ahem.) We’ll hopefully be able let you know how the trip is going from the road and we’ll see how close we stay to the plan.

And eating food again - IS GREAT.

the master cleanse. days 11 , 12 and 13. ease out.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:32:00 +0000

Day 11
Thoughts from Note
In the morning, we each made liter containers of delicious, pulpy orange juice and went off to our respective works. I had prepared myself for a really tough day of being extraordinarily hungry but, the hunger never came. The orange juice, apart from being amazingly delicious, kept me quite full. A little after 1pm, I went and bought myself a V8-similar beverage and nursed it for a couple hours - making sure not to jolt my stomach into revolt. All went well. For dinner we had some simply yet (again) remarkably delicious vegetable consomme soups. Everything is delicious after 10 days of lemon and cayenne. All in all, the first day of ease out was a cinch.
Thoughts from Meghan
As Christophe said, OJ is delicious. I greatly enjoyed drinking it, and munching on the pulp- you'll chew anything when you've had nothing to chew for 10 days. I actually had a really busy day of play rehearsals, so I didnt drink all that much of my OJ until I got home around 3:45. Then I cut it with some water and drank it up. Followed it with a little apple juice and water which was amazing. I think the most exciting part of the day though was realizing at 7pm that it was time to "make dinner" something we hadnt done in a while. While I boiled water and mixed it with a boullion cube, Tophe cleared the table and set it for our dinner. As silly and simple as a bowl of bullion is, it felt so nice to "sit down to dinner" for the first time in 10 days. I think that is one of the things I missed most.

Day 12
Thoughts from Note
We started day twelve with a breakfast of okayuu, a sort of heavily watered down rice porridge normally made for those with intestinal problems. We added a bit of maple syrup and it was, yes again, remarkably delicious. For lunch, Meghan made a simple vegetable soup with carrots, onions and shiitake mushrooms that we ate cautiously. All went well again. While shopping for veggies, we picked up a baguette from the bakery. While finishing up the soup, we decided to try out our first carbs (a little earlier than planned). No prob. For dinner we had some fabulous raw food wraps (pitas, hummus, peppers, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, broccoli sprouts, fried tofu and black beans). Probably ate too many of those. The only effect that solid foods had on me was the feeling of weight. After having essentially nothing in your stomach for about a week, the addition of any sort of solid food really feels a bit funny. Oh, and due to visitors and peer pressure, Meghan and I cracked into a nice, crisp New Zealand Marlborough that we had purchased the week prior.
Thoughts from Meghan
To expound on the phrase "visitors"- tophe and I had 15 people sleeping at our house Saturday night. Each year a group of English Teachers from all over Hokkaido get together and put together a musical to be preformed at three different locations in Hokkaido. This year I was asked to host the musical at Kaisei, and so arranged for them to use our big ol' stage. It was a bit stressful trying to manage a crew of foreigners in my school, but the musical went well and they held a workshop with my students in the morning, so all was happy. After the show the whole crew went out to an after party which tophe and I skipped due to our fairly strict dietary restrictions. But joined by one of our lovely Hokkaido friends we stayed in and had delicious veggie wraps and some well deserved wine. Actually while the bread and soup sat pretty heavy in my tum earlier in the day, the wine was no problem at all in the eve. I think the tum is back to normal.

Day 13
Thoughts from Note
I write to you now sipping on my second Chimay and enjoying every sip. We had okayuu for breakfast again this morning. I again added some maple syrup but thought I would also through a bit of butter in there to round out the flavor. I've been worried about reintroducing dairy into my diet - mainly because I hear that if you dive into the milks, cheeses and eggs too soon, you can expect serious stomach pains. All was good. And tasty. Lunch was very basic - some fruit and a salad consisting of hearts of palm, cheery tomatoes and button mushrooms (known simply as mashyuruum), and black olives. Dinner was again raw food wraps (so, so good) with the added Chimays. For the record, I've had no serious bathroom issues as some claim can happen if you rush the ease out process. No constipation here.

The ease-out has been nothing but glorious and fairly easy. It's been such a joy to get back to different flavors and textures. I'll write more later but the Chimay is is impeding my thoughts. All's good on the ease-out front.
Thoughts from Meghan
The Chimays are lovely, I have been greatly enjoying every sip. Unlike my amazing pooing boy, I have not yet passed out any of the food I have taken in since eating again. But honestly this comes as no great surprise, as you have surely learned by now, Im not a big poo-er.
Getting back to food has been lovely and I am excited about cooking all this week. Ive got a new plan to write meal plans for the week on Sundays so that I can plan out the menu to take advantage of leftovers. For example this week will be Nabe (a Japanese style soup) on Monday (using up the left over shitake and carrots from the weekend), Scallop salad on Tuesday (using up what will be left over green onions from Monday) and vegetarian chili' on Thursday (using up whatever veggies are left). Still planning to keep away from meat this week, but I dont think we can stay away from fish. Wednesday, in case your curious, will either be sushi or soup curry, we havent decided which we miss more yet. Along with the healthier and better planned eating I plan to keep up the exercise. The pool wont open until May, so I am going to try to go for at least 30 minute jogs each day, along with my Wii Fit time, for the rest of this month.

the master cleanse. DAY 10!!!

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:50:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
And that’s it. The end. Finished. We’ll, kinda. We still have the ease-out to do but damn am I happy not have to have that lemony-spicy yet maple syrupy taste in my mouth any more.

The last couple days have actually been the hardest for me. A sharp pain has been developing in the left side of my abdomen. I first thought it was just a stomach ache brought on by the cleanse but the sharpness and persistence of it is making me think otherwise. If it’s still there after we’ve finished the ease-out and returned to a normal diet, I may head to doctor just to be safe.

All in all, I have to say that the fast was pretty easy – boring – but pretty easy and I feel good about having actually completed it. My weight shifted a bit (I weighed myself this morning and the final number is 138 – I was a little over 145 when I started) but more importantly, I feel much healthier overall. I haven’t drunk coffee in 10 days and I don’t get the dragging sleepiness that I used to. Makes me think I shouldn’t drink coffee as it most likely brings on a fair bit of the sleepiness. It’s too bad that I simply love the taste of coffee. I guess intermittent sleepiness is, interestingly enough, the tax for loving coffee.

I’m happy to be done. I’m very happy I did it. And I’m happy to be able to eat real food again very soon. We’ll continue these (mostly) regular posts until at least the end of the ease-out and we’ll try our best to keep up more regularly afterwards. Actually, there will be plenty to write about considering our big trip is coming up so expect a little more regularity from us.

Trip news! I picked up my OCR3 from K-style bicycle shop today. I had fears of running front panniers on a carbon fork so I had them swap out my stock carbon fork for a relatively inexpensive cromoly fork that I’ll use exclusively for touring and hauling – something I can beat up a bit.

Our 23lbs. worth or REI purchased swag will arrive on Monday!!1! (And my Cannondale cycling shorts won’t be far behind.) Very exciting. Meghan and I are also planning our first trip to break in all the new gear and work out the kinks of packing it all up. We’ll most likely be taking our time cycling from Muroran to Hakodate over Golden Week. We haven’t spent much time in Hakodate (only once before where we didn’t actually see much of the city since we we’re there only for an onsen hotel) so this time we will be taking it slow. The cherry blossoms should be out by then, we’ll hit a couple onsen (one very famous TIDAL onsen), eat some delicious food (Lucky Pierot burgers and Harvester chicken!) and hopefully do a bit of hiking up Komagatake. We’ll be sure to post pictures and thoughts, maybe even while on the trip!

But for now, good by master cleanse and let the ease-out begin.

thoughts from Meghan
Day 10 felt like any other day of the fast. I didn't even really think all that much about the fact that it was the last day. Well that’s not totally true. While I was doing the salt water rinse this morning I just kept telling myself, this is it, the last time I will have to do this. It ran through my system as usual, interrupting my daily hour of Wii Fit. I am going to try to keep up this ritual of an hour of Wii Fit each morning after the fast as well. I usually do a little bit of Aerobic, followed by a combination of yoga and strengthening. I strap weights onto my wrists or ankles to up the power of the exercises also. I have noticed that my back has stopped giving me issues since I started doing this, I think because of the yoga. Plus they always say stronger stomach muscles are good for your back. So for the sake of not waking up in pain every morning alone, I am going to try to stick with it.

Today we had a four hour rehearsal in a very cold auditorium (it costs like $70 an hour to heat the room, so its never heated for rehearsals) and I was not the happiest of campers. My students were pulling some mind blowingly idiotic moves, and my patience was at an all time low (period, no food for 10 days, very cold)- so I did a lot of yelling. Sometimes this can be a good thing though, because by the end of the day people were searching for ways to please me and things were moving a lot smoother. Today we have two short one hour runs, so I am hoping they go well. I can’t believe this show will go up in just over a week, but I do in the end have a lot of faith in my students to make it look good.

In the afternoon I went to my Ikebana class, where I am still preparing for the show on Sunday. I did another version of the piece, using the same flowers but a different arrangement (I am using yellow and white freesia and Eucalyptus). I told christophe to pick me up in an hour, but when he called to say he was there I had just finished. So I told him to hang tight for 10 minutes while my teacher critiqued it. Five minutes later I called him to tell him to go home and come back in an hour, because the critic had resulted in her pulling all but two Eucalyptus branches out. My second version she liked, and I did one more quick version before Christophe showed up. I am really really nervous about Sunday, but I have like four hours to put my piece together, so she can rip it apart three times before I will run out of time!

As for the fast, I barely drank a sip of anything while I was doing play rehearsal, so when I got home I downed my whole first liter. Then I made a fresh 500ml to take to Ikebana, but again didn't drink much of anything while I was there. When I got home I drank it up pretty quickly. We did some straightening up around the house, then settled into some TV shows to relax and drink Senna Tea (Christophe had peppermint). Went to bed and passed right out, almost forgetting that I would get OJ in the morning.

the master cleanse. days 8 and 9.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:22:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Day 8: Day eight was particularly tough. Both Meghan and I had some serious hunger issues. I attribute mine entirely to the fact that, with classes having started again, I had to give several self introductions to several different classes. During the question time of my self intro, someone always asks about my favorite food or favorite Japanese food and that always devolves into a huge messy discussion about all sorts of different food related topics. This is not good for someone subsisting solely on 1.5 liters of lemonade a day. My stomach was loud and angry. Pretty embarrassing. Other than that, the back pains persisted. Did a salt water wash and it went as usual. We've been skipping the senna tea lately. It gives me serious stomach pains but definitely works.

Day 9: Today was easier than day eight. I didn't have many hunger issues (didn't have any self intros). I attribute this to the fact that I was able to vary my work diet a bit. I bought myself a variety pack of herbal teas and had a couple of those during the day instead of choking down more cayenne-lemon awful. I'm really tired of it. Lemons in general. I mean, it's not really gross, just very, very boring after 9 days.

The back pains persisted. I'm drinking plenty of water so I don't think it's dehydration. It could be somehow linked to the fast but I kinda doubt it. Then again, the timing is uncanny. We'll see if it continues past the fast. Maybe I'll go for a massage this weekend.

The ease-out meals are planned and ready to go. I think we may be easing out a little faster than suggested but I'm not too worried. The important part is simply to listen to your body and not push yourself. BUT PIZZA AND BEER IS CALLING (shhhhh. only a few more days. you can do it.)

Tomorrow is the final day of the cleanse. Christ-in-space it feels good to write that. In all, it hasn't been even remotely as difficult as I thought it would be. Just boring. But still a challenge. And I can still fail that challenge (although it's doubtful at this point). I think the real challenge will be the ease-out but we'll keep posting through it so if it's hell, you'll know.

See y'all at the end of day 10.

Thoughts from Meghan
Day 8 was hungry. Well the day wasn't hungry, but I was. I had a pretty full load of classes, and by the time I got home I was dying to eat something. I had to be in school first thing, so I didn't get to do a salt water cleanse in the morning. And I was so tired from the day at school and hungry that I decided to skip it in the afternoon too. For the first time ever I ended up making myself a full second liter to drink in the afternoon. I’m not sure what got me so hungry. Could be a result of talking so much about what we are going to eat when its over. I’ve been thinking a lot about food, so that probably got my stomach thinking about it too. All I know is that I was hungry, even with that liter, and it was the first time I have really felt that way.

In the evening Kate, the new GEOs (local English Language Conversation school) came over for some herbal tea. It was the first time we have really hung out with her, so it was mostly a getting to know you style of conversation. A nice break from tophe and my nightly ritual of beating a temple in Zelda, watching 2 TV shows and going to bed. But by the time she left (about midnight) we were both pretty tired and just passed out.

Day 9 was alright. My period started this morning, which also might have accounted for my stomach rumblings last night. I have to admit I am of two minds about having my period while fasting. Part of me feels like it makes for a more complete cleanse, and maybe I should keep fasting until both are done, while another part of me worries about not taking in any protein during menstruation (as I lose so much). I’ve decided to just stick to the original plan and end on day 10, but I am also watching myself closely to see how it affects me. All things told however, today was fine.

This morning when I woke up it was raining. I decided that considering I hadn’t eaten in 9 day, my period had just started and it was raining, I was totally justified in taking a taxi to school. So I called one, it was the right choice. School was super busy again. My 2nd year students will be performing their English Play at the end of the month, so I meet with them 2 to 3 hours a day, every day, to rehearse. This is extra exhausting because the play (which they wrote!!) is composed of three stories and a narration group. This means that rehearsals are simultaneously taking place in four rooms scattered about the school- so I have to run back and forth between them to see how things are developing. It’s going well, but I look forward to the end of this crazy schedule.

This evening we had tea ceremony, which is more then a little sad when you get cold water instead of warm frothy green tea. But its always nice to relax and meditate on life while there. Just got home a little bit ago and I am thinking about taking a warm bath. I’ve been getting cold a lot easier (probably because there is no food in me) and tonight is no exception. The days have been warming up here, but the nights are still pretty cold.

Tomorrow is day 10- I can’t believe I’ve been able to maintain this for so long!
meghan

the master cleanse. days 6 and 7.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Day 6: Very standard and laid back Sunday. Did the salt water wash. Did some Wii Fit. Felt good. Nothing much to report except that I was clearly too tired to write about it.

Day 7: Today, I had a very good amount of energy. It probably helps that it was a beautiful day. I find myself eating (I mean drinking) less and less each day. I started by taking in 2 liters each day but quickly found it too much. I cut it down to 1.5 liters of the drink each day and I sometimes find myself struggling to finish the last bit.

Classes started again today. I was worried that with very little time between classes and increased activity/standing for 50 minutes at a time, that I would get both hungry and cranky. Not so. I found myself with a great amount of energy and never really got hungry. My back pains were more intense than usual at the end of the day. I don't know if this is brought on by my increase in standing or the end of being hunched over my desk for 8 hours at a time. Either way, it's still very pinpointed and kinda sucks.

The only other thing to mention is that I've noticed that the senna tea is linked to the intense stomach aches that wake me up at 5 o'clock each (about) morning. If I drink the tea the night before, I pretty much always am rudely awoken. Quick trip to the bathroom fixes that though. Oh, for the record, I skipped the salt water rinse today. I use the bathroom whether or not I do the rinse so I feel like every other day is all the torture I should put my stomach through. She's a gentle flower and the salt water rinse is simply too violent a procedure. And I don't like all that salt inside me.

Day 7 is over. We're in the homestretch and I'm getting pretty excited for it to be over. I miss food. I miss flavors. I'm done with lemons. We started planning our ease-out 'cause were so excited to be almost finished. We also may or may not have spent about a hundred bucks at the wine and beer store to stock up on celebratory beverages. Day 8 here we come!

Thoughts from Meghan
Day 6 was Sunday, and a lazy Sunday at that. We hung around the house, went for a walk, did some cleaning up, played some Zelda and watched some TV. It felt nice to just totally chill out and not do anything with our day. Did the cleanse (at different times) and drank a big glass of Senna tea at night. I had been making a pot of it to split with Christophe- using one bag. But while this got him to the toilet it had minimal effect on me. So last night I made a strong glass just for me, and this morning it had its desired effect.

Day 7 was the first day of classes at my school. I didn’t have to be in until 12pm, so I woke, did the salt water rinse, and then did a solid hour of Wii Fit. We have a pair of strap on weights that I attach to my wrists or ankles to up the level of the exercises. After I did a bit of gardening then biked into work. This evening we decided to go to an onsen and splurge on the deluxe family- a private bath with privet mini sauna ($18 for the hour). It felt nice to soak in the hot tube and hang out in the Sauna, but it definitely made me light headed faster then usual, as I had expected it would. Then we went to the wine shop and bought some really nice wines and beers to slowly enjoy over the next couple weeks.

Thought I would take a minute to talk about three interesting things happening to my head during this cleanse- namely to my face, hair and nose.

First my face. I mentioned before that people talk about the cleanse clearing their skin, but my face has broken out in hives. You cant see them from looking at me, but run a finger down my face and neck and you will feel tons of little bumps. I’m pretty bummed about this, and every time I touch my face I get a little sad. I’ve always had very smooth skin on my face, so I really hope it settles back down when I am back to normal food. The bumps work their way down my neck and around my ears, so Christophe has dubbed them hives. I’ve look around online but seen no mention of a reaction like this. Either my body is freaking out via my face, or it is in fact detoxing and the bumpies are because things are getting pushed out of my pores (I keep telling myself it's the latter).

My hair. I have notices that my head is producing significantly less oil then it was, meaning my hair is not getting oily. I recently cut my hair shorter, and shorter hair tends to get oily and gross a lot faster. But I noticed for example this morning, that after going all weekend without washing it, it felt dry and clean when I woke up (I washed it anyway out of principle). I wonder if the cut in fats and oils from my diet is causing a cut in oils coming out of me.

My nose, or more to the point my allergies. As you know my Spring allergies picked up about 5 days before we started the cleanse- very bad timing. And at first they were really messing with me. But over the last two days they seem to have mostly gone away. My nose is not running nearly like it was and I feel a lot less congested. My throat is still a little off, but I am hoping this will pass too. I don't think that the time of my allergy season is over, I feel like that was too short, so maybe a result of the cleanse? All I know is I no longer wake up feeling like I downed a bottle of night quil the night before.

Okay, that’s all to report for now. We are happily entering the home stretch. It isn’t difficult to not eat, but I am starting to get very excited about cooking and eating delicious things again. Frankly, Im just starting to get bored with lemonade every day! I’ve already started planning out ease-out menu, and look forward to putting together some delicious, easily digestible meals.
-meghan

the master cleanse. day 5.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Sorry about the late post. Pretty tired last night. Anyway, yesterday was, again, pretty uneventful. I spent most of the day at home organizing the items for our massive moving sale. Again, I had some energy in the morning but after that, it came in waves. I feel a bit groggy this morning but then again, it is the morning.

My mouth still feels a bit like hell. I've started adding more herbal teas in the mix to try and make my taste buds happy - some dandelion tea, some chamomile tea. Anything to calm them down. Physically, I feel really good. I feel lighter and more flexible (WiiFit?) and generally much better. Meghan and I both skipped the salt water cleanse yesterday since it was a lazy Saturday but we'll most likely do one today. I don't know though, the senna tea seems to work wonders for me. Not sure if the salt water rinse is really necessary. I just get worried that if my body doesn't expel all that salt water (which it often doesn't), all I'm doing is adding a stupid amount of salt to my diet, possibly dehydrating me and adding more stress to an already stressed out digestive system. But I know nothing about biology so I'll stop there.

So Day 5, good going. Half way there. Not craving food, but getting excited about eating again. Getting tired of the lemon drink. See you tonight.

Thoughts from Meghan
Sorry we forgot to post last night, but its first thing this morning and still yesterday in America, so Im sure this is fine. Day 5 was similar to all the other days. I skipped the salt water cleanse in the morning because I had to get to school a little earlier for the commencement ceremony. I still didnt have to go in at the same time as the other teachers, which was nice, skipping the morning meeting and rehearsal with the 2nd and 3rd year students (note: Japanese High School is only three years- 6 in elementary school, 3 in Jr. High School) where the apparently told everyone that I will be leaving in August. Too bad I didnt know they were going to make that announcement, because I would have liked to be there, but such is life. I had a few students attack me when I came into school, but after I told them I missed my family and they should come visit me in America they understood and began scheming about going to America.

The ceremony went off fine- lots of Japanese speeches- then Christophe picked me up and we went to buy some gardening things (im going to put pansies in the front). After that we came home, hung out a bit, went for a walk, watched the latest 30 rock, played a bunch of Zelda and went to bed. Not an overly eventful day, but hey it's Saturday.

I've started thinking a lot about how many of our social interactions are centered around food. Not entirely on purpose, Chirstophe and I have more or less cut ourselves off from the people we normally hang out with. Aside from work and classes (ballet, Ikebana, privet english lessons) I dont see anyone but Christophe. And that's mostly because I have lost the ability to say "let's do lunch" or "do you want to come over for dinner". I have been invited out to one party, which I turned down because I think going to Ippei (our fabulous pork on a stick restaurant) would be torture if not allowed food. And I also said no to an invitation to Karaoke, because I will admit that is one of those few activities out there that for me are really truly only fun when a bit drunk. So by rejecting all gatherings related to eating or drinking, I am in some ways rejecting most all gatherings. When I mentioned this to Christophe the other day, he said he thought it was mostly because in Japan all get-togethers involve food. But I feel like it is true in America too. When was the last time you "got together" with someone just to talk. Its always, lets go for coffee, or lunch, or tea, or dinner, or drinks. We seem to bond with people best when sharing a time of nourishment, I wonder why that is.

Right now I am reading The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin, which is considered by some to be the first book to raise gastronomy to an art form, a subject worthy of study and respect. This might seem like a cruel book to read when fasting, but luckily it was written in 1825, and so most of the descriptions fall on the meatier side (suckling pig, shooting wild turkeys...) and at this point my stomach rejects all thoughts of meat, it is no longer at all appealing to me (pancakes on the other hand... I could definitely eat some pancakes right now).I tell you this because I would like to include a quote from the book that pertains to my above comment:

"Read the historians, from Herodotus down to our own day, and you will see that there has never been a great event, not even excepting conspiracies, which was not conceived, worked out, and organized over a meal."

I think it would be a very interesting study to look at that in terms of the great meetings of the modern day. What food did they serve at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, or the Yalta Conference in 1945, or more recently at the G20 meeting? What do those food choices represent?

Anyway, about the fast, yesterday was fine, skipped the salt water but did double the senna tea. Woke up this morning feeling better then I have recently, and happy to be moving into the second half of the fast.
-meghan

the master cleanse. day 4.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Pretty tired so I'm not gonna write much. Today went well. Had a fair amount of energy throughout the day. Not so much now but it's 11pm so it's acceptable. Did the salt rinse today after skipping yesterday. It's getting scarily easy to put down 32oz of salt water in a couple minutes. Back pains were gone today. I made sure to drink a lot more water. My stomach hasn't really gotten much better. It's ok during the day but in the evenings it just doesn't feel settled. My tongue and mouth are in kind of a state of disarray. When all you consume is lemons and cayenne pepper, too very strong tastes, your tongue gets a bit worn out and that's where I'm at now. No real cravings today but I'll be happy when I can put a different flavor in my mouth.

Trash thought - it's simply shocking how much of your daily trash comes from food and food wrappings. When you don't eat much, there's simply no trash. I'm realizing that this is probably one of the most important gifts of the master cleanse. By minimizing packaging and composting your leftovers, we can reduce our trash by really significant amounts. Here's to hoping I maintain this awareness when I'm back to drinking Chimay bi-weekly and making delicious tuna melts. Ok. Now I'm getting hungry. Better go to bed.

Thoughts from Meghan
Okay, what happened today. Woke up, did the salt water cleanse, did wii fit and hung around the toilet. Talked to the parents, comforted mom that I will not die while fasting, and looked up shipping prices for packages from the US. Then I biked around to all the local Jr. High Schools to deliver posters for the Musical coming to Muroran. It's a musical put on by ALTs (assistant language teachers) from all over Hokkaido. It happens every year, and this year my school has offered up its stage almost free of charge (they are asking for 1/2 the heating costs). By then I was feeling a bit tired so I headed home and chugged a bit of lemonade. After that I scrubbed down the floor in our bathroom area, drank some more lemonade, took some stuff down to the used shop to sell and came home for good. Tonight I was feeling really tired, but then I curled up with about 500ml of lemonade and drinking it made me feel a lot better.

I think what I learned from today is that I need to be aware of how much I am drinking. I ended up not having any for a big chunk of the day and I think it was the equivalent of skipping lunch. I felt really tired and grumpy this afternoon until I sat down and drank a whole bunch, then I felt much better. Thus far I have been drinking a big glass in the morning, then sipping through the day, then a big glass at night. I think I need to toss in one or two more big glasses around the middle of the day, with sips in between. Having a bigger chunk at once seems to energize me better then just little sips as I go.

It was a fairly busy day, which is good because I think I would start to get hungry if I had nothing to do. I am still amazed by the fact that I haven’t had any major hunger pains or tummy rumbles. I did swing by the grocery store to get more garbage bags and caught a whiff of some amazing smelling tacoyaki, but that was the only serious food craving I had. They seem to be diminishing. The longer I go without food, the less I crave it. Maybe because at this point my stomach couldn't handle real food right away.

Oh one other little thing. Everyone says doing this makes your skin a lot clearer, because toxins are being eaten up by your body. My skin has gone the other way. Not like Im breaking out all over my face, but instead of a smooth face, its all bumpy. Im hoping its a has to get worse before it gets better kind of a thing.

Alright, gonna climb into bed now. We have opening ceremony at school tomorrow, so Ill have to be up fairly early.
-meghan

the master cleanse. day 3.

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:31:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Today I woke up with a surprising amount of energy and very chipper. I didn't drink a senna tea last night because I did the salt water cleanse at about 9pm and thought it would be a bit redundant. I did, however, take a travel mug of senna tea to work and it did its thing by mid-day. While I had a good amount of energy this morning, by noon it was totally gone and I had seriously heavy eyelids. The rest of the day, I was pretty beat. But this might have been because I did practically nothing at work today. We're in between school years and classes won't kick back in until Monday.

So far, the first three days (supposedly the most difficult days of the cleanse) have been remarkably easy. No real hunger pains or strong urges to eat. I have occasionally felt a little off from time to time - lightheaded or whatever - but never anything that would stop me from living life, driving a car, operating heavy machinery (the method which we use to teach English involves a wrecking ball and a power saw in case you're curious). The occasional soreness and pin-point back pains have persisted but they don't bother me too much.

The only downer of the past day or two has been my stomach since the last salt water rinse. Despite having done its thing, my stomach has been off. All day today, it's been a bit achy so I decided not to do the rinse tonight and hope it gets better by morning. I will be drinking some senna tea tonight so if something inside me is causing the discomfort, it will most likely be gone by tomorrow morning. Here's to hoping. Might just be the constant diet of lemonade though.

Other than that, not much to report. I feel pretty good and am ready for day 4.

Thoughts from Meghan
This morning was hard. I woke up feeling like I had drunk half a bottle of Nyquil the night before. I was crazy groggy, bumping into walls and knocking things over, all the while yelling at Christophe for not having allergies- I have since apologized for the tantrum I threw this morning, after coherent thought returned to me. The mornings are always tough for me during allergy time, as phlem and such has time to build up during the night. I am doing alright by day, a constant slightly sore through, an off and on runny nose and plugged up ears. As long as I don't revert over to plugged up nose- which instantly leads to sinus infection if you are me- I will be fine. Not sure if the fasting is helping, hurting, or have zero effect. The only real effect I can cite is that I cannot take any kind of decongestant or allergy medicine. This is because even with a stomach filled with 5 loaves of bread and a three turkeys I get loopy off those meds- with zero food inside me I might jump off the roof with cat strapped to my back in the belief I will be saved by him landing on his feet.

After tophe left I did the salt water cleanse, which cleared up my head a bit, and then… WENT TO BALLET!!! This is very exciting because I haven’t been to ballet in a year. When I started the full time day job at Kaisei High School I had to give up a lot of my daytime activites, like ballet. One might in fact argue that the desicive factor in my deciding to go part time for the last four months was my desire to return to my ballet classes. It was fun and wonderful and happy and great. I love ballet. Being in a ballet class brings me great happiness, like when I first fell in love with ballet. Sadly my high school years of ballet soured me to it, as they were marked by intense competition with everyone I was dancing with, and a feeling that if I wasn't ready to commit my life to dancing I was just wasting time and money. But now that I take classes as an adult I feel no pressure to be perfect, just to have fun and enjoy dancing. Although I still have that competitive world lurking in my head- and often find myself rating myself against the other students in the class (today I was 2nd or maybe 3rd in technique, but last or next to last in flexibility) and I can always tell right off others who have danced since they were younger and were always very good by the air of superiority over the others they hold (today it was a youngish woman in a blue leotard, who was in fact better then the rest of us, but for the first half of the class was waaay to snooty about it). I know this ballet rant has nothing to do with fasting, but I love ballet and I am really happy to be taking classes again.

Back to fasting. Ballet class was broken into three sections (I swear this will pertain to fasting); the first 45 minutes were filled with yoga style streaching, the next 30 minutes were bar work (strengthening) and the last 15 minutes were floor work (aerobic). I was fine for the stretching, got some rumbles during the bar work, and felt a touch woozy with this floor work. This might have been because I haven’t eaten for three days, or it might be because I haven’t been to a ballet class in a year.

Then I biked to school (slowly) for an English department meeting (classes will start Monday) then biked home. My tummy started to get hungry grumbley when I got home, so I chugged a bit of lemonade, but the feeling of hunger stayed with me until I got to my Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) class. Diving into something like a flower arrangement distracts you from the fact that you are not eating. The Sunday after next I will have one of my pieces in a flower exhibit, so I am very nervous and trying to up my practice time. Now I am back home, the grumble has returned and tiredness from my long day is starting to set in. I think I will finish up my lemonade (today I only made 1.5 liters, still have about .5 left at 8:24pm… I wonder if I always just conserve as the day goes so no matter how much I make there will be .5 left in the eve) and then curl up on the couch with Senna Tea and watch some enterprise with tophe.

Hoping tomorrow morning will be better then today’s!
meghan

the master cleanse. day 2.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
Today was not so bad. Similar to yesterday with the only exception being that I was a little hungrier in the afternoon and actually had my stomach gurgle a couple times. I had opening ceremony for the school year today and I was a bit worried that it would be so long that I would get hungry but, no trouble. Hunger was not had.

This morning however, I was woken up by seriously lame stomach pains at 5am. Quick run to the bathroom and all was well and asleep minutes later.

Other than that, I've been experiencing odd back pains but they don't last very long. I think it's because I'm not drinking enough water.

The salt rinse went down a lot easier this time. Couple tricks: Warm is good. If the salt rinse is warm, I just keep telling myself it's chicken stock or consomme or something and it goes down much easier. Still, 32oz of consomme in 5 minutes would still be a task. The other trick I've found, is to rub a lemon rind on the mouth of the container you are drinking out of between every "gulping session". It helps to cut the salty/lame taste on your lips which reminds you that you are drinking salt water.

I only drank about 45oz. of lemon drink today. Should drink more but we had tea ceremony class. That was tough. Sitting there with only your thoughts is a dangerous thing. I haven't often daydreamed about food these past two days but sitting there silently today, I had a major daydream session. All I could think about were Reuben sandwiches - which is strange because I haven't had a Reuben in about 2 years. Oh, and beer. God I can't wait to drink a beer.

Stop.

Ok. Verdict: Day 2 goes fine. Hoping Day 3 goes just as well. I'm told it's mostly down hill from Day 4. The cleanse continues.

By the way, Meghan bought cat a bow tie. He looks ridiculous.

Thoughts from Meghan
Today was not so bad. This morning I did the salt water rinse with the correct amount of salt and I managed to chug the thing in 5 minutes or so. Christophe figured out a little trick, which is to keep a wedge of lemon handy while you chug. He rubbed it on the lip of the Nalgene, but I did this plus rubbed it on my tongue when I felt like I might lose it. That plus giving myself time to burp got me through. I chugged salt water from 8:10 to 8:15, and was not done with my toilet time until 10:15- they say its only supposed to take an hour to go through you, but my body was expelling all liquids for a solid two hours!

My one weak moment today was at school when everyone started eating lunch. This was a bad decision on my part to stay in the room, because I was kind of starting to go nuts from the scent. Then a teacher who just got back from his honeymoon in Guam set out two huge buckets of caramel corn for everyone. CARAMEL POPCORN!! I managed to look away from all these distractions and focus on my work when the sound of the teacher next to me crunching away on sembei began to dominate my mind. I no longer saw the computer screen, completely forgot about the letter I was writing. All I could hear was the crunch crunch crunch, all I could see was sembei. It was at this point that I thrust headphones in, blasted NPR into my ears, and started writing up some worksheets for the new students.

This evening we had tea ceremony class, but without the tea. It was really sad to do without the warm powdered green tea reward, and I found it hard to focus. I think I am not ready to be alone with my thoughts in the meditative way tea ceremony encourages- my thoughts are still to focused around food. The onigiri image keeps coming back to me, and that of the teacher crunching on sembei. These are the two big ones from today.

Post tea ceremony we have just been home relaxing. I have been reading and am feeling pretty tired. It is a little early for me (just 10pm) but I think I will give in to my desire for sleep. Again I have only drunk about 1.5 liters of the drink- I hope this alright and wont prevent the cleanse from working well. I am unsure as to if the drink is to keep you active (ie give you the calories and vitamins you need) or to actually help cleansing- probably both. So I am hoping drinking less wont mean a less effective cleanse. I might be tired from the lack of food, or I am thinking it might be because of my spring-time allergies, which kicked in about 3 days before we started. I am hoping that not eating will somehow magically cure me of allergies, but this is probably nothing more then a pipedream.

Going to ballet tomorrow morning- my first time back in a year (I had to quit when I started working at the high school, but now that I am part time I can have that part of the day free!). Hopefully I will be able to make it through the class on lemon and maple energy alone. Ill let you know how it goes tomorrow night,
-meghan

the master cleanse. day 1.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Thoughts from Note
I'm sitting here drinking my senna tea at the end of the end of the first day. I read the first day isn't so bad and I agree. The lemonade drink was a lot better than I was expecting. I actually kinda enjoy the kick of the cayenne pepper. I wasn't actually hungry at all today - except for right now, oddly enough, my stomach's grumbling a bit but maybe it's because of the tea and not from hunger. The senna tea, despite what I've read of it's lack of deliciousness, is actually quite good, in my opinion. It's a nice contrast to the overly sweet lemonade concoction you are drinking all day. It's almost savory.

The salt drink, however, is a different story. Not as bad as I was expecting, but still awful. 32oz of salt water, no matter how much you pretend is chicken stock, just doesn't go down well. Hell, 32oz of ANYTHING has a hard time going down. But I got it down and it, mostly, seemed to do its thing.

I feel fine. A little spacey at times during the day but nothing off. It is, after all, only the end of the first day. I expect far worse from the following 9 (or at least the following three or four).

Meghan and I are tracking ourselves via WiiFit. First time I've used it in a while. But now we have it in English so perhaps being able to understand full what the silly animated balance board is saying will motivate me.

See you tomorrow night. --note

Thoughts from Megumi
Day one of the master cleanse has gone pretty much without incident. Last night we had only salads and consomme for dinner- our last meal of solid foods for the next 11-12 days (10 days of fast and then the slow move back to real food). To “wind down” into the cleanse I put christophe and I on a vegetarian diet for about a week, moving steadily toward no carb inclusions. Maybe because of that, today was really not so bad.

warning- lots of poo talk in the following paragraph
Woke up around 8 (schools are still in spring break so we didn't have to be into work until later) and mixed up my first salt water drink. Your supposed to mix two teaspoons (or tablespoons depending on who you talk to) with warm water, chug it in two minutes, then 30 minutes later poo it out. Well I messed up and used the wrong spoon, only putting a total of 1 teaspoon in. I am also incapable of chugging- it took me about 20 minutes to get the whole liter down and about the last 300 ml came straight back out- I wouldn't even call it throwing up since it was just salt water refusing to go down really. And still no poos, but then again I don't really ever poo, so that's not a big surprise for me. I suppose we are getting into details about Meghan the internet doesn't need to know- but just to put things in perspective I poo a grand total of two to three times a week if I am lucky. Really 3 times a week is a really good week for me. Not sure why, not constipated, just don't feel any need to poo. It’s kind of an issue I think, and its part of why I wanted to do this cleanse in the first place. I feel like a lot of stuff must be getting backed up in me and I figure it’ll be good to really get it all out. So tomorrow I will try again with more salt and hopefully faster drinking.

As for hunger, I wouldn't say I have been hungry at any point today. I have craved food, I crave the feeling of biting into a loaf of bread or an onigiri (rice ball wrapped in seaweed). I find that it is the textures of food that have been enticing me. A moment ago I found myself day dreaming about the texture of couscous. I read somewhere about how the hardest part is breaking your addition to food. And I think that is really accurate for me- I don't feel a pain in my stomach, just a yearning in my mouth. So I think breaking that addiction, not wanting to be eating things all the time, will be good. Then again, I might just develop a long list of the foods I crave most then eat them like crazy after this.

I am thinking I will start to feel pangs of hunger tomorrow morning, after a full 24 hours of no food. Oh and one other thing, I didn't actually end up drinking the full 2 liters of lemonade we get each day. About half way through the 2nd liter I realized it was 9pm and figured I better switch to herbal tea, cause the maple syrup will keep me up (I know, I’m ridiculous, but it really will). I thought it was interesting after reading all these people talk about how you have to savor every drop and ration carefully. Maybe it will be a different story in a few days.

That’s all for now. Ill check back in tomorrow.
-meghan

tomorrow, it begins

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:47:00 +0000

clean and purge and cleanse

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:16:00 +0000

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the downer of a previous post. Better now, not so down. More excited about the next 4 months than dreading. Still, each day I get more and more excited about the prospects of wrapping up our time in Muroran but by doing it justice – eating as much curry ramen and yakitori as I can, surfing when I have the chance, spending time with good people.

Meghan and I decided that starting our final chapter in Muroran required a fresh start. The last week or so has been spent not only cleaning and tidying and organizing but also purging the house and our lives of all those things that we don’t need and won’t bring back. At first I thought it might be difficult to get rid of many of the things we’ve acquired while here. Some have nostalgic value while others were useful, are no longer, but might prove to be useful in the future. Well, it’s not difficult. With everything I get rid of or sell, I find myself feeling lighter and more ready to move on. I feel like I’m getting rid of clutter but at the same time, I’m renewing a sense of value. I have a nasty tendency to hang on to shit jus’ ‘cause. But when I’m thinking about an object in terms of, “Do I want to pay stupid amounts of money to have this shipped back to the states?” or “Will this fit on my bike and still allowing me to do more than .o2mph on uphills?” it puts things in a new perspective for me.

In addition to our house/life purge, Meghan has convinced me (well, she didn’t have to do much convincing as I’d been kinda on the fence since she mentioned it to me) to join her with this crazy Master Cleanse/Lemonade Fast thing. To be honest, doing something like this is highly uncharacteristic of me but I like to keep myself on my toes. SO THERE SELF. Anyway, starting Tuesday, Meghan and I will switch to a diet of nothing but a special lemonade cocktail thing, salt water, and assorted herbal teas. We're allowed 6-10 10oz. glasses of the mixture (lemon juice, water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper) each day and once a day (we’ll see about this one since I can barely stomach the salt water found in an oyster) one’s supposed to glug down 32oz. of salt water which will be followed by the “main attraction” in the bathroom. Not looking forward to that salt water beverage, y’all. It’s gonna be tough. Anyway, they say the first three days are the toughest so if we quit before the fourth day, you can call us loozers (oooh burn).

I’m planning to give daily updates if I think of it (Meghan may also) so you can watch our slow destruction for ten days.

It should be good though. I’m interested to see how I do since I rarely ever deprive myself of anything that I want. Chocolate bar for breakfast? Why not! Five hasbrowns and stick of cream cheese at 2:30 in the morning? Do it! I’ve already been about a week without beer, coffee or meat so I don’t think it’ll be too bad other than the salt water and the EXTREME HUNGER. Anyway, starting Tuesday keep an eye on us and we’ll surely entertain you (a la all-caps-hunger-rants).

Hasta la Pasta, Bets and Jude

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I'm a horribly sentimental douche.

Yesterday, Meghan and I saw off two of our very best friends. Jude and Betsy hopped on a ferry bound for Akita and will continue their travels for quite a while – Jude ending up in America and Betsy eventually in Nigeria. While it was difficult to see them off, the crazy anxiety that I felt while sitting there in the ferry terminal was not so much caused by the temporary loss of good friends, but more by the presence of the first manifest sign that our time in Japan is coming to an end – and that we are returning to the U.S. with plans that are hazy at best (Grad school? Peace Corps? Professional homelessness?) Well, the anxiety is probably more than that. Judy and Betsy were some of the last remaining (excluding us) of a group of expats here in Muroran that spent a silly amount of time together. Excluding those who are married and will presumably never leave, the last of that group left on the ferry to Akita. But that just gives us the chance to meet new people, right? Although their departure marked the beginning of our final time in Muroran, it’s all still quite far off. Four months off. Four months. Ugh.

The last three to four weeks has seen our house as a kind of planning headquarters for Betsy and Jude’s adventures. There have been constant piles of travel books, requests to print applications and information, talks of planes, ferries, hotels, bank accounts and insurance (or lack thereof). During these preparations, Meghan and I have been making our own plans for our trip – ordering camping supplies, preparing the bikes, talking about routes. So the preparations took on a sort of separate, yet group oriented feel. But then Jude and Betsy left. And Meghan and I are still here. For four more months. Granted, I understand that I’m still in the fallout of a two weeklong goodbye and the jealousy of an adventure begun but I have this nagging pain that keeps telling me that these next four months will be tough. I’ve just got to relax and take it as it comes. And hell, if we get on the packing and selling off unnecessary crap a bit early, that can’t hurt right?

I suppose that looking at the next four months as sort of an extended purgatory is not really the best way of going about staying sane. There is still plenty in Hokkaido that I haven’t seen and we still have a good number of friends here. There are still (many) places in Asia that I haven’t visited and we have four months to as much of that as we can. We’ll see. Maybe four months will go by faster than I realize.

Oh, and Jude will be keeping a blog of her travels so be sure to check it out here if you wanna follow an English gal with an affinity for beer as she travels South East Asia and the United States. Betsy, on the other hand, doesn’t know how to internet so she’s as good as gone.

In other news, Meghan and I have a purchased practically all of our gear for the upcoming trip. I’ll give a more detailed list at a later date when I give the trip its first, dedicated and official post. In short, we decided to go with a Big Agnes tent (Gore Pass 3 - not a super-light but that’s not so much of an issue on bikes. Ooh and it has a fancy place to store bikes), a nice stove (MSR Superfly) and cookset (GSI Bugaboo), and some fairly standard sleeping bags and pads. With a tiny amount of luck, most of it will be able to fit in our Ortliebs. The only things left to buy are mostly cycling clothes (Meghan’s got padded pants but I’m still hunting for the right pair of shorts) and the solar panel (for all our horribly unnecessary but totally necessary rechargeable gadgets). Oh, and we’ve ordered our front racks and fenders but haven’t been by to pick them up yet. My new front fork, on the other hand, is a different story. It may be a while coming. Still, I’ll wait as long as I need – don’t think the carbon fork I have now would deal well with two full, front panniers.

Four months. Just four months.

Meghan's Not In Australia Anymore.

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:26:00 +0000

It's been a while, hasn't it? There's been a lot going on (read: we've been doing a lot of watching Angel/Buffy/Enterprise/Bones with occasional bursts of snowboarding). A couple things have gone down since we last spoke: apparently someone named Barack Obama has become president of the US, Meghan turned 25 and both her and I offialized our decisions to return to the mother country - despite the looming specter of joblessness in a sad economy. It's simply time to move on. So July will mark the end of a time. Well not quite July. We're in the early stages of planning a 2 month cycling trip from Hokkaido to Kyuushuu. I'll go into this more later but if any of you out there in the internet have suggestions as to things we should/must see in Japan before we leave, please let us know.

But the bike trip will be another post for another time. Instead, I came to regale you with a tale of admiration, jealousy and impossibility - observing how a friend of mine viewed the American political process and the election of Barack H. Obama.

The conversation started on the topic of national anthems. After a school event recently, I casually mentioned that I thought the Japanese national anthem sounded very dramatic and sad when compared to the bouncy, militaristic, national drinking anthems of most other countries. He returned with something along the lines of, "Well, we've never had a revolution." And I thought to myself, "Huh, I guess that makes sense. No people's revolution. No angry, drunken marches. No "rally-the-people-to-stick-it-to-the-man" marching anthems."

We quietly went back to work.

The next day, Inauguration Day in the US, he greeted me with congratulations and went on about how amazed he was by Mr. Obama's speech on the news that morning; about the power of the words and about the number of people in the audience and the process. (As an aside, it's important to know that Japan has recently been going through it's own changes - mainly in the shape of Prime Ministers every three to sixth months.) He mentioned that he wished Japan could have someone like Obama and that he wished Japanese citizens were more engaged in government but that sadly, it could never happen. Naturally, I jumped into a mini-lecture about "bring the power to the people" and getting citizens to understand that "they can make a change" and "yes, you can" and "every sperm is sacred". I finished my speech, wiped a tear from my eye and waited for his response only to receive a "Yes, but..." and he explained to me something that made three years of Japanese History class far more relevant. It went something along the lines of (excuse my paraphrasing):

Most western countries know why their government is there. They know how it came to be and for what purpose - either through revolution or coup or whatever. Japan has never had a real, revolution (by the people) so many don't know how it came to be and for what purpose other than to keep order. There is no "liberty for all" or "liberte, fraternite, etc." Because of that, the people are not invested in the government and the way it works. They are not involved (this is only bolstered by the fact that the majority of the electoral process is far removed from your average Joe-chan). He went on to explain that although most people he's spoken to admire Obama and the fire he has sparked in American people, he doesn't see how that could ever happen in Japan, not only because of the disinterest in the government's functionality and their lack of mandate, but because they had leaders like Obama at one time and it went very poorly. While a figure like Obama can do amazing things for a citizen's sense of purpose and interest in their government, that figure in a Japanese context brings back vivid images of a government that abused the citizenry to a point that will most likely never be forgiven.

So, Japan seems to find itself in quite a pickle indeed. A jealousy of the American political process yet an understanding that it can't happen in their context until distrust of the government and those who make decisions fades. His solution, although he seems to think it can never happen, is to give each citizen a greater responsibility in electing their officials. Then, should a motivating character ever reach the position of power and should he (or she? nah, never) abuse that power, they would only have themselves to hold accountable as opposed to placing the blame on the "gub'ment".

Perhaps the buffer between the government and the people is by choice. Maybe most citizens like the idea of absolving themselves when it comes to political decisions.

Anyway, I've rambled and made enough generalizations for now. And perhaps I've fallen to much for the "AMERIKUH IZ THU BESTZ - FREEEEEDUUUMM!!" idea. More later. Thoughts?

So im in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (megumi) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:01:00 +0000

Hello all,

Its been well to long since I last posted so I thought I would squeeze a quick one out while I wait here for my kids to get out of class. A quick recap. My school sends students each year down to Australia to do a month long "Study and live English" program. The students are each put in individual home stays. They attend an English Language school in Brisbane (where we are) Monday-Friday from 830 am - 330 pm. They have free time to roam and shop until 6 when they are expected to be back at their homestays. On the weekend they are free to spend time with their families of each other, except for two field trips- one to the Koala wildlife refuge and one to an amusment park on the gold coast. This year it was decided that I would be the teacher to accompany the students- big win. So here I am in brisbane with 10 students. I hang out around the school during the day, we have an official meeting at the start of school and end of school, but I make a point of being around for the breaks and such also. Otherwise I am pretty free to roam around. But never too far, as I get the emergency phone calls- which they have been quite a few.

So now that your caught up, a few fun antidotes from my time in brisbane so far.

1. So I make the kids keep diaries in English that I check everyday. The diaries are pretty usual, but its good practice for the kids and a good way for me to know whats going on with them. They can also be pretty funny from time to time. Here is an excerpt from my favorite one so far:

"And, when I went to the toilet, I saw Ann go to bed with Rod.

I wondered if Ann and Rod are a couple.

I asked her. But answer was "No"

I suspect that Ann and Rod are a couple without consulting anyone."

2. The other day I wore my "Lost Dog, reward $2.4 million" shirt with a picture of a poodle on it. For the first time in 2 years of wearing this shirt, someone commented on it. Two people commented on it- saying they had seen the dog, and would go get it if I would just find the money. I was so startled and confused, it took me almost a full minute to understand what was going on. Two years in a land without English, amazing how bad you get at speaking to strangers.

3. Oh, another one on that note. I had a guy come sit next to me on a park bench where I was reading and interupt me from my reading to ask "Do you have a boyfriend". I had no idea what was going on, so I just started at him and said, What? He repeated the question, completely honestly, which caused me to burst out laughing, say yes I do, then go back to my book. He left shortly there after- but really, is this how boys pick up girls these days?

confusing thing being in a world of english speakers, very very confusing.

going to a chip tunes concert tonight set in an exhibit about the history of video games. yes, im a huugggeee dork, but im totally pumped. ill tell ya about it later.

-meghan

SUPA SPEED Thanksgiving in the 'Ran

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:11:00 +0000

Some Music By Yours Truly

noreply@blogger.com (note) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:26:00 +0000

An EP of some random music I've made since coming to Japan. Just released a short EP through TTB Studio via iTunes (released earlier on the Japanese music site King-Beat). It's short and moody but shows the direction I've been going in since I've come to Muroran. The EP focuses on the use of circuit bent instruments and analog synthesis in contrast with acoustic elements.

Click on the cover art for an iTunes link ($3.96 - what a bargain!). Let me know what you think! Your thoughts would be much appreciated and whatnot. But be nice :)