Ninja without a clue

Weird dream

2012-02-10T21:21:00.000+09:00

I had an odd dream last night, which I think was caused by a radio show I had been listening to while I ironed (a little snapshot there into my exciting life. The good news? I can now wear that white shirt because the creases are all gone, yay!). They were talking about the upcoming Queen's Jubilee (congrat Ma'am.) and then went on to discuss OBEs and other such goings on.

So, in my dream, I was going to Buckingham Palace to collect my OBE (yes, yes, delusions of grandeur), but I couldn't find the doorbell. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find it. So I missed the ceremony, and didn't get the OBE I'm not even sure women can get. Gutted.

I wonder what it all means.

Step away from the TV

2012-02-06T21:55:00.000+09:00

I've just had to. It was that or have some kind of TV rage incident, which wouldn't do as it's not my TV.

What show made me so cross? Well, they had a panel of women, (smug) marrieds on one side and spinsters on the other, and the purpose of the show seemed to be to analyse what could possibly be wrong with the women who had reached 44 and not got married. I mean, the horror! There MUST be so much wrong with these women, it's good RNB TV are there to help them!

They had that annoying woman who married a baseball player recently, can't remember her name, but she's been on every TV show going, banging on about how happy she is in Fukuoka, with her husband. To be fair, being happy is a good thing, but she could stop going on about it.

Yes, I know I sound like a bitter spinster, but is it really necessary to televise smug married people being smug and making the single people feel rubbish about it? One of the women on this show said she didn't want to get married, she likes having control of the TV remote control, doing what she wants at weekends, and being able to travel whenever she wants (fair enough, there's only so much Match of the Day a girl can tolerate, and there's nothing more annoying than having perky people try to get you active at the weekend, I should know, I'm usually the perky one in this house), and you should have heard the audience "eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh"ing. That level of incredulity is usually reserved for really crazy stuff, like losing weight on one of those diets shows. You know the ones I mean, where overweight women are pointed and laughed at, and people express surprise at them looking OK in a dress after 5 hours in makeup, post diet.

Anyway, at least the TV rage incident got me posting something, it's been a while. Now I've done that, and got the rant off my chest, maybe I'll chance SMAP Bistro. I could be back if they say something that bothers me...

My idea of a fine weekend

2012-01-28T21:05:00.000+09:00

In the interest of fairness, I should point out that I found this here

Volunteer teaching and inappropriate things

2012-01-26T20:31:00.001+09:00

I came across this ad, looking for volunteer teachers to teach junior high and high school kids from Tohoku via Skype, and thought I'd post it. I don't know anything more than it says on the site, so if anyone reading knows more, please let me know. After almost a year of wondering how I could help, other than random donations, this seems like something I could actually do, using my skill set.

Along the same lines, I came across an article about NHK's plans to commemorate the March 11th disaster. After only one year, a lot of healing still needs to be done, with thousands of families still dealing with the most horrific losses. So forgive me for seeming cynical when I find a concert given by AKB48, SMAP and various other J-Pop groups a little inappropriate. I make no secret of not being much of an AKB fan (despite finding myself humming along any time I hear any of their music), but I can't help but feel a concert by a band most known for their short skirts, bikini-clad videos and songs about hairbands (I promise I didn't even make that up) is not the best way to handle the first anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.

To make things even better, the vast majority of the concert will only be shown on a cable channel. Considering many people in Tohoku are still in temporary housing, where I doubt cable TV is a priority, it seems an insensitive choice at best.

In the last year, I have often found myself wondering if I would ever cope with losing everything, even family members in one terrible, destructive wave, and I really have no idea. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like, especially with the continued economic (and therefore employment) problems that seem to have no end. The emotional, physical, and financial trauma these poor people have been through is unimaginable. I feel that perhaps there is a better way of remembering the earthquake and tsunami that caused all this hardship, than a concert most of the people effected can't watch.

Chris and Corinne- I wouldn't say I hate AKB48, becuase I do merrily sing along to their songs, and then feel embarrassed about it, and maybe the people in Tohoku will enjoy the concert, I'd just argue that perhaps the actual anniversary could be marked in a more sensitive way. Anyone's concert would feel wrong for me.
Kathryn- I didn't hear that it is a fundraising concert. That doesn't mean it isn't, obviously. I'd be interested to know.

On aging

2012-01-22T15:41:00.000+09:00

I was chatting with a friend last weekend, and I mentioned that I thought it was very cold this year. To which she replied "no, it's not cold, you're just getting to be an old lady." Yeah, with friends like that...

But it got me thinking, that maybe I was missing the signs that I am no longer a spring chicken.

I get aches I never used to get. Like, achy shoulders, nothing is wrong as such, I just have a random ache from time to time. So much so, I bought some of those heating pads I usually send my Mum in winter. The good news is that they do the trick.
I just don't get why boys these days have such big hair. And would it kill them to put a brush through it?
Actually, young fashion in general baffles me. Why freeze in short shorts when a nice warm pair of tights would keep you warm? Oh, and leggings worn as trousers. We can see more than you think, people.
I get unreasonably irritated when people write "your" instead of "you're". Is an apostrophe so hard to type?
I faff about laundry when I should be getting ready to go out. Should I out it outside? Does it look like rain? If not, outside is better, hanging laundry inside just doesn't get it dry, I find.
I need a good few cups of tea before it's wise to give me bad news. And I'm not really human until after the first cup.

Oh dear, maybe I should stop there. I'm giving you a strange impression of my life. At least I realise these are not all good things.

And now, I'm off to watch Downton Abbey, which doesn't really help with any attempts to make myself look young and cool, does it? Oh well.

The day I met someone who made me look like Einstein

2012-01-17T22:04:00.000+09:00

I've been a bit absent from here for the last while. Nothing major happened, I was just a big ol' lazy bum. No change there then.

I thought of lots of good things to write about, but then never did. Rubbish.

However, finally something happened that I couldn't not write about.

On my way to my friend's place, out in the country, I went to the train station. I can usually con someone into giving me a lift there, but this time no one was biting, and I had to slum it on the little local train. Which, by the way, has manually controlled doors. Yes, on a train. It's to save electricity during the summer and winter months when the air con is using it all. Quite a good idea, actually, just a bit of a surprise when it happened.

Anyhoo, I was at the station, buying my ticket, and I had a choice of two counters ('cos I live in the sticks, innit). Foolishly, I chose the one on the left. I say foolishly, because it turned out that the girl serving me was actually quite thick. There's no nice way to say it. The lights were on, but the party had ended long ago.

To be fair, I didn't help matters by getting the name of the station I wanted wrong.

"A ticket to station A, please." I said, working my phrasebook Japanese to it's limit.

"Yes," she replied, looking at me vacantly. It turned out that station A doesn't exist, and I, in fact, needed station B. I worked this out with the power of the I phone. She was no help, just looking at me with an empty expression.

So, we worked out that I wanted Sation B. I then asked her for the train times, which she wrote on a ticket, which she then threw away when I asked another question. I pointed out that I wanted to take the train times with me, as a reference, which, apparently, is a crazy thing to do in her world, because she seemed quite baffled.

She then wrote the train times out again, but when she gave them to me, it was just numbers, no indication of which direction the tranis were going in, arrival times, platform, nothing.

I gave up, bought cookies, and asked the train driver when I got on the train. He, ironically, had it all written down neatly, with arrival times and everything. Should have asked him in the first place.

The aerobics class

2012-01-04T23:21:00.001+09:00

It was in that lull between Christmas and New Year, you know, the one where you know you've eaten way too much, but you also know that round 2 in the shape of New Year is around the corner. So you make your way to the gym, on the day it closes for New Year in a bid to work off the turkey.

I had done my usual work out and was almost on my way home, when I bumped into an old student. She recommended the next class to me. "It's not hard," she said. And I believed her.

Turned out, she was thinking of the class after that, which isn't hard. This one was was rock hard. Not in terms of physical exhaustion, just in terms of working out which limb was going in which direction at any given time. It wasn't so bad at first, but then the instructor told everyone to turn around and face the back.

"But I'm at the back," I thought, "who will I follow now?" You see, I can't really understand Japanese spoken through a microphone, the sound isn't that clear and I get left and right muddled in English anyway. But, usually, it isn't a problem, I just either copy the teacher, or copy the person in front of me. The one who was no longer there because we were now facing the back. At least I was, everyone else had understood the instruction to turn back around. Oops.

"OK. Left and two and three and what?!" I thought. But I almost had it, if only he would slow down.

"Arms?! You want me to wave my arms around too?! I don't think I can do that. Oops, sorry lady next to me. No need to scowl, you have a whole other foot."

By this time, we were facing the front again. Which was a temporarily relief until I realised the man in front of me had two left feet and no idea what was going on either. I should have felt relieved that I wasn't the only one, but you need to remember that I was the only foreigner in the room, so instantly stand out even without having co ordination issues.

When you look like an idiot in a room full of people who have control over their limbs, what is the best thing to do? I have no idea. All I know is I got the giggles. Because laughing to yourself in an aerobics class you can't do is so much better than just not being able to do the class.　It makes you look pleasantly insane rather than simply stupid. I hope.

I seriously don't know how I got through the class without collapsing in a giggling heap on the floor. But I did. With a stupid smirk on my face. The instructor looked a bit concerned about me. Maybe he was wondering what was wrong with the crazy gaijin. His worried looks in my direction did nothing to stop the giggles, especially when he made a particular point of thanking me for coming to his class. "Sarah san, arigatou gozaimasu." To which he got a ill-concealed laugh in return. Poor guy. He probably thought he had lunch on his face or something.

And then I made a note of what the class is called, so next time, I can double check someone else's recommendation, while also promising myself to stick to what I know.

N.B. the student who recommended the class assures me it was a mistake, and not revenge for all the times I told her English grammar wasn't that hard, it just needed practice.

Resolutions.

2012-01-02T11:00:00.001+09:00

Last year, I decided to do something new every month, which was fine until I ran out of ideas of what to do and sort of forgot about it. I did make some Japanese food, and run (almost) 100km in a month, but it all got forgotten when the marathon training combined with work conspired to make me a bit busy doing other stuff.

So, this year, I'm going to take it easy. Sort of. Of course, I'm planning some unfeasible feats of amazingness (just as soon as I get around to it) but in terms of resolutions, I'm not going to set myself up for failure. I've decided to do something nice and simple, and yet life improving. Yes folks, I'm going to wear sunscreen every day!

OK, so maybe you feel a little underwhelmed but my resolution, but you've got to admit, it's a good one. For someone as pale as me, I have a reckless abandon for sunscreen, especially in winter, despite living in quite a sunny place (except, funnily enough, today, it's raining). Wearing sunscreen is universally accepted as a good thing, so that's what I'm going to do.

What have you guys decided as your New Year's resolutions?

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T16:28:00.000+09:00

I just got back from watching the movie "New Year's Eve", because watching a smaltzy movie about NYE would be pointless on any other day, especially when you're a big ol' sap like me. (They've also limited their DVD options by focusing a lot on the fact that it's about 2011 NYE, but I digress.) The whole premise of the movie is the magic of New Year's, and why it is such an important day for pretty much everyone. One of the characters (I forget which one, maybe Josh Duhamel?) says something about how it is exciting because we have a whole year stretched out before us with endless possibilities.

I'd say that 's about right. I had a ~~pretty~~ very good 2011. I got a new job, that even now I still enjoy every day. I had a crazy long summer holiday that meant I could go to a family wedding, celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary and just generally have a whole lot of family time. I even had a bash at running a marathon; I didn't make it, but considering I couldn't run even 1km a few years back, 31k isn't a total disaster. It also means I have an in built resolution to give it another go at some stage. Yet despite having a good year, I can't help but feel excited about the next one. It's the anticipation of all that 12 months could bring.

I already know that 2012 will see me running a half marathon in February. My brother will be here for a visit in March. It will also see my hometown hosting the Olympics in the summer, which is pretty cool all by itself. But the rest is unknown and I'm looking forward to it.

Whatever 2012 has in store for you, I hope it's wonderful.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Christmas, it came and went.

2011-12-28T15:16:00.000+09:00

It may not be most people's idea of fun, but Christmas morning saw me up and out and running a 10k with friends. Followed by a barbeque with mulled wine and proper sausages from The Meat Guy. Yes, it was toe-curlingly cold, but surprisingly fun, despite me getting lost in the side streets and having to retrace my steps back to the finish line. The upside being that I skipped out the killer hill. Heh heh.

About 30 odd people joined us, proving that Japan is, as suspected, full of crazies. In fact, after I came home to defrost in time to Skype with my brother, a good few people stayed for a while learning how to tighrope walk. No, I don't know why either, but I've heard it's quite hard and a bit like doing yoga.

Never fear, I returned to a more traditional mode by stuffing my belly full of turkey at a friend's house in the evening. Trust an Australian to do it right, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, even home made pudding. Not to mention a lot of wine, and a game involving sticking plasters to people's legs and ripping them off, courtesy of the resident 8 year old (he'd seen it on TV and wanted to try it, his Dad said no, so he waited for unsuspecting guests. It was funnier than I'm making it sound.).

I have said often and loudly that Japanese Christmas is rubbish, KFC and a cream cake doth not a Christmas make, after all. So, it seems, ignoring all Japanese tradition and sticking to the home made stuff is the way to go. I had an awesome Christmas, made more awesome by lovely parcels from home, and more chocolate than anyone could ever need. So now, in our little international home, we will look towards New Year, which is Japanese style. Trip to the temple, some noodles and a lot of oranges seem to be the way to go. I can' wait.

A healthy Christmas?!?!

2011-12-12T22:13:00.000+09:00

Am I the only person baffled by any article saying it will help you not to gain weight this Christmas? I mean, doesn't that go against the natural order of things? Christmas= eat and drink so much you feel vaguely unwell, and then eat a bit more. January= brave the scales, weep, vow never to eat chocolate again, and then commence diet which lasts about 3 hours before you cave and have a Kit Kat. I can't be alone in this, surely?

OK, so I live in Japan, where Christmas involves a cake and some KFC (it's best not to get me started on this, it's more irritating than Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" played on a loop, continously, but honestly KFC!?! Fried Chicken?!?!? Ugh), but surely the " go on I'll have a Bailey's, make it a double , it's Christmas, after all" spirit knows no borders (unless you live in country that actively celebrates other festivals rather than Christmas, in which case you might not know what I'm on about, but, trust me, Christmas is mostly about the food. A bit about goodwill to all men and stuff, but mostly about the food).

I really can't compute the idea of declining a lovely mince pie (the chance would be a fine thing, can't find them for love nor money here) in case you gain a kilo or two. Admitedly, eating an entire tin of Roses, single handedly, while watching "Home Alone, may not be medically advisable, but, my gosh, isn't it fun?

So, now that we are less than 2 weeks aways from Christmas, I'm stocking up on choccies and mentally preparing myself for the challenge ahead.

Shoes

2011-12-07T17:35:00.000+09:00

You wouldn't think a simple shoe would cause such a kerfuffle. Well, unless you live in Japan in which case your shoes may well dictate a worrying proprtion of your life.

It's famous that you have to take your shoes off when you go into someone's house in Japan. Contrary to popular Japanese belief, this is not unique, is it, really? I can't have been the only child who was told that under no circumstances should I wear my shoes on the living room carpet under pain of death. Well, maybe not death, but definitely something bad was supposed to happen. So, in our house, we always took our shoes off in the hall (and then got yelled at for leaving them in the middle of the floor, where someone could break their neck, but I digress), much like in Japan, only without the need to balance like a tightrope walker to avoid your feet, shock!, touching the floor where you've left you shoes, which is, technically, outside(A Japanese genkan has a very large step up, and you have to leave your shoes on the "outside" portion at the bottom of the step, and step up into the house with your "clean" feet).

Now, I think I might have complained about this bizarre balancing act before. I get that it's cleaner and nicer and better for the flooring and less likely to irritate whoever cleans said flooring in your house to take your shoes off on the way into the house. I just feel like the "ahhhhhhhhh my shoes touched the indoor of my hosue, we're all going to catch that illness that lurks on the soles of our shoes and DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" reaction that people seem to have is slightly over the top. I mean, calm down dears, it's a mere graze of a shoe, not a biological attack.

At the gym, they're even pickier. Not only do I have to take my outdoor shoes off at the designated place (complete with large sign, with pictures), and lock them in a shoe locker, I also have to make sure that my indoor shoes don't touch the fake, plastic tatami in the locker room, because that's bad, apparently. I wouldn't mind as much, but some the of staff have filthy shoes on, clearly not observing their own rules, and basically confirming to me that said shoe based rules are ridiculous and only the annoying people with nothing better to do care about them.

All of this taking the shoes on and off gets, unsurprisingly, more than a bit irritating, especially if you ahve to keep tieing and untieing your shoe laces. Which explains why Japanese people just don't seem to. Tie their shoe laces anyway. They just slip them on and off, like I used to do when I was a kid and in a big hurry to get to the ice cream van or whatever. Except, whenever I tried to squeeze my feet into my shoes like that, I used to get told off, because I was always told,"You're going to break those shoes and you're not getting another pair. I'm not made of money." Now I buy my own shoes, I get it. I get it to the point where it's really starting to bother me, seeing people ruin their shoes to avoid imaginary germs. OK, not imaginary germs, but not killer ones either.

If only I had the guts to march into my gym, outdoor shoes on and ignore all the signs, just to see what would happen.

It wasn't like that in my day

2011-12-02T22:53:00.000+09:00

It's been business as usual here in Shikoku of late. Working, marking tests, going to the gym, running (yes, I've got back in the running shoes, next half marathon is on Feb 5th) and being quite absorbed in the book my brother sent me, John Le Carre's "The honourable Schoolboy". It's the sequel to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", which I loved (the film was awesome too), so I'm really loving being engrossed in a good story. The only problem is that, by the time I get around to settling down to read, I get sleepy and end up dozing off, which is always annoying.

Talking of annoying, I've been thinking recently about the "it wasn't like that in my day" phenomenon that seems to begin when people turn 30 or so. You know what I mean. You're with a friend and pass some noisy high school girls giggling and generally letting the world know they're there in their own inimitable, high-pitched fashion. Your friend goes into a rant about how annoying schoolkids are when they're really loud. You agree but point out that you were probably just as loud at the same age. "Well, I wasn't," your friend huffs, "I would never have carried on like that when I was a kid."

Oh really? You were a regular "seen and not heard" little angel, were you? Now, I was a good kid. Maybe a bit whiny and spoilt (I blame the parents ;P), but, basically a good kid. Not a hoodie, or a ruffian, or even a rioter. Just a normal teenage girl, with ahir like Hermoine in Harry Potter. And I can tell you for a fact that my friends and I, when we got together, were exceedingly noisy, and giggly, and probably irritated the living daylights out of anyone over the age of 17, and even some younger. We were teenage girls, being giggly and high-pitched is what teenage girls do (although, I will say that Japanese teenage girls take top world ranking in high pitched-ness). Although, to talk with people my age now, you'd think everyone was totally silent until the age of 20, and then only spoke in a library-appropriate whisper.

Mind you, as this has clearly been going on for generations, I'm pretty sure someone once told my parents that the world was doomed if their generation was in charge, it's unlikely to stop. So the next time someone who has the audacity to be younger than me does something I consider bad form, I'm going to tut in a nice loud voice and tell the world, "It wasn't like that in my day. We had manners". Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

The aftermath

2011-11-22T22:32:00.000+09:00

Well, the Marathon was last Sunday. It was an amzing event, 2300 people at various stages of running ability.

From the beginning, I was having trouble, I couldn't get into a good pace, I was cold, hot, tired, running too fast, too slow and overwhelmed by the crowds. I got to 31kms, and the course was closed. I was too slow, and they needed to reopen the roads of Kobe to cars.

I was quickly relieved of my runner's chip, handed a cheap as chips towel and hearded on to what I christened the "loser bus" to the finish to collect my luggage.

A few tears later, and I had a good think.

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. All that training, planning, not to mention the compression tights (which got easier to get in and out of after the first wash), and nothing to show for it. Except for a great weekend, the chance to participate in a big marathon event (I've only ever run in Shikoku before, and we are the small island, after all), and a list of things to do differently next time.

I've realised I need to watch my pace. If I'd have been keeping an eye of the time, I would probably have been able to get through 31kms before they closed it (I missed it by literally a minute and a half).

I've realised I need to be a bit stronger and maybe take my time training up. At least one more half marathon would be a good plan.

I've realised I need to work on my diet, not because I'm a huge fat blimp (although, I would be if I ever stopped running), but because nutrition helps you to be stronger, which is good when you decide to run for a really long time.

I've also realised that I need to ignore the crowds who come out to cheer, even though it's lovely that they did. I felt the need to high five every kid that asked (even though the only toilets on the route were portaloos, with nowhere to wash your hands, which made me not really want to high five people for obvious reasons...), and to say thank you to the old dears that told me to "fighto". Stopping for all of that plays havoc with your pace, as it turns out.

But, never fear. I've not given up. I've decided I'm going to run a marathon, and I'm very much going to. Just not this year. Maybe next year. Maybe not. But one day. And it will be even more amazing because of all the times I haven't managed it.

Oh, one good thing, no robot walking. All the stretching did the trick and I was only a bit stiff the next day (unless I sat down for any length of time, in which case I needed help to get up).

One week and counting...

2011-11-13T23:05:00.000+09:00

This time next week, I will have got back from running my first ever full marathon. I may not be walking very well. In fact, I think I may regret living on the 3rd floor in a building with no lift when I stand at the bottom of the stairs, on legs that will have carried me 42.whatever kilometres (I refuse to count 0.whatever kilometres, it's the 42 that count), knowing that the only way I'm going to get a bath and some food is if I make it to the top of said stairs.

Today, I spent some time getting my stuff together for the race. I've got some of them there compression tights that are supposed to support your muscles as you run. They have been strongly recommended by almost everyone I know who runs or does triathlons (yep, I know some crazy folks) and I figured I should get as much on my side as I can. What they don't tell you is that compression tights are a bugger to get into. Obviously, to allow them to support your muscles, they have to have only a little stretch in them. Cue a quite stressful moment in the changing room, when I seriously doubted I would ever get back out of them, and wondered if I could get away with wearing them non-stop for a full week, and then cutting them off after the marathon. Luckily, I didn't have to abandon personal hygiene and they are actually not so hard to get back out of. Thankfully, I have no idea how I would have had that conversation in the store.

I also started on the carb loading. I've been told to eat plenty of pasta in the week before the race, to build up the energy in my body. I have no idea if it's actually true, but, meh, any excuse for a bowl of carbonara, that's what I say.

I followed that up with a stroll around town, a quick gawp at the new I-Phone, which I suspect I would have trouble using, but would look cool while I didn't use it, which is part of the battle.

So, all that's left to do is to convince myself I can do this. Mental attitude is part of the battle. Oh, and I also need to make a decent I-Tunes list to help me along the way, the more I can sing along to, the better. Suggestions anyone?

I just don't get it

2011-11-08T20:59:00.001+09:00

I've been spending a lot of time in the gym lately, so much so my life is now pretty much run, work, gym, eat, sleep, run, work, eat, sleep, and repeat, and repeat and repeat. OK, it's not that bad, I have been out to do something other than work, run or gym, but, "I've been at the gym a lot" didn't seem dramatic enough.

Anyway, the gym. Funny place. So many people, so many odd things to do. What is it with woman parading around the changing room with not so much as a fig leaf? I thought Japanese people were supposed to be shy? Seriously, there I was, drying my hair, when a woman wanders up to the mirror to dry her hair, with just a very small (but quite pretty, it has to be said) pair of underwear, knickers, panties, whatever you want to call them, oh, and, randomly, a towel around her shoulders that covered absolutely nothing. I know that might be some peoples idea of heaven, but if I wanted to look at a naked woman, I look in the mirror. At home, obviously, where the sight didn't traumatise other people. I'm all in favour of a bit of body confidence, but can't these women be confident with a bra on? It's not like getting dressed will make hair drying so much more difficult.

And then there are the old dears, who insist on using the best equipment, even though they are barely moving anything other than their mouths, which they use to discuss everyone they know and a few they don't. Why can't they just take a seat on the handily provided sofas and natter there? My trip to the gym would take less time then, because I wouldn't have to factor in "old lady annoyance"time.

There was also the instructor, who seems to be a bit baffled by the fact that, despite being a bit fat (certainly compared to him, he'd blow away in a strong wind), I'm not a total wimp. In fact, he was quite affronted when I turned out to be better at one of the exercises he was teaching me than he was. It was really only one exercise, and he's obviously stronger than me at most stuff, but I felt understandably smug about that one, even if it doesn't make me sound very feminine.

So, what strange gym behaviour drives you bonkers?

Oh dear...

2011-11-02T22:19:00.000+09:00

I've been slightly MIA of late, haven't I? Sorry about that, I genuinely have no idea where the time goes. Actually,　yes I do, it goes into running, working and helping friends with things I don't really want to help them with. Yeah, that old busy excuse. But, in the way of bad bloggers, I will give you some bullet points to make stopping by worth your while.

Last Sunday, I went on a training run with some friends, ran 22 or so kilometres. In the rain. Yup, let's review that. I ran 22 kms in.the.rain. That's, like, a million kilometres in dry day kilometres, so I have been patting myself on the back ever since.
My main way to pat myself on the back is to treat myself to a Kit Kat. My Kit Kat consumption has now reached rehab-worthy levels. And that's pretending I didn't eat Happy Halloween pudding for no other reason than a festival I have never celebrated in my life, except for parties at work (it wasn't a big thing in 80s London, when I grew up, so I just saved myself for Christmas).
My runner's number for Kobe marathon still hasn't appeared, even though my friend (the one running with me, who turns 71 tomorrow, do keep up) got his last Friday. I now have to try and work out how to contact the marathon people and find out where it's gone. Sigh.
I've started to worry about Mana-chan, the world's busiest child star. Seriously, she's 6, and she's on TV all the time. She was being interviewed about her first year in school (she started this past April) and I couldn't help but wonder how often she went there, seeings as she's always working.
My colleague joined the gym, and I went along to help with the paperwork (you know your Japanese is bad when you're relying on my help, but I had filled in the similar forms when I got back from England). A few days later, the staff asked after my husband. They meant him. Seeings as we have different names, neither of us wear a wedding ring, and he arrives at the gym about the same time I'm leaving, we couldn't help wonder what that said about Japanese marriage.
I have a day off tomorrow, for culture day, so I'm off to Miyajima to look at autumn leaves. And eat food I probably shouldn't. Well, why change the habit of a lifetime.

So, that's my recent life in a few bullet points. Not so exciting really.

One month to go

2011-10-23T18:18:00.000+09:00

Itis now less than one month until Kobe marathon and a few things are bothering me.

Will be able to get a Kobe beef bento at the train station on my way home? This is vital for motivation. I know they sell cheese cake and normal bentos but I feel like if I'm in Kobe I ought to take advantage and get some of their famous (and undoutedly overpriced but still pretty good) beef.
What should I wear? This may sound like a stupid, girly thing to worry about, but I'm also thinking about temperatures and whether I will need long/ short sleeves. 7 hours is a long time running even if you're not either too hot or too cold.
Will there be lots of people in costumes? I can't have a repeat of our local marathon where I get overtaken by two men in penguin costumes every year, despite telling everyone I won't let it happen this time.
Will there be anyone cheering me on? If there is, will I be embarrassed at how "un-marathony" I look? My roommates have mentioned coming, but it is a pretty long way just to see me bob by srrounded by a bunch of other people running along.
Will I be justified in using the lift at work the next day, even for one floor? I just know stairs will make me weep, and that's not the best way to start lessons, I find.
Will they remember to bring my kit bag from the start to the finish? That's usual protocol for a big marathon, especially when the start point is pretty far from the finish, but I worry my stuff will somehow go missing. I have the same irrational fear about my luggage every time I fly, so why would I be any different at marathon events?
Obviously, my biggest fear is that I won't finish and will end up being driven to the end by nurses when the roads reopen and trucks start zooming by. Or even worse, I'll do what one of the university students did today in the Sendai relay race and collapse at the side of the road (It was pretty dramatic, I hope she's alright.).

So, all in all, it'd be fair to say the nerves have kicked in and I'm starting to dread it. I can feel myself getting stronger each time I run, but I'm worried that I won't be strong enough in time. I'm due to go on a last long run next Sunday with friends, so we'll see how that goes.
On the plus side, I get to eat loads of good stuff in the name of energy, so I'm off to make tacos. Om nom nom.

Oh, you mean have to work tomorrow?

2011-10-20T22:06:00.000+09:00

It's Thursday today. Did you know? I didn't.

No, I'm serious, I was on my way to the gym and I seriously thought it was Friday. The thought process went something like, "tomorrow's Saturday, I can have a nice little lie in. Except, that's odd. Isn't the gym closed on Fridays? So why am I going there? Oh, that's right, it's been Thursday all day. I knew that. That means I have to get up early tomorrow. And I wouldn't have slept in on Saturday anyway, because I have to run. Stupid marathon. I can have a lie in at the end of November. Wow, the end of November. That's far. It's practically Christmas. I need to get a Christmas cake. Ooh, what kind should I get? We're not having KFC this year, gotta put my foot down, we can at least make a nice nabe.... Why do I always end up thinking about cake? Am I a cakeaholic? Is there even such a thing? Maybe I could go to cake rehab. They probably have that in Hollywood..."

Sometimes, my thought process alarms me.

As does the fact that I've been hearing singing all day. Choirs were following me everywhere. I was starting to get a bit concerned, maybe I needed more sleep and/or serious therapy. Then, someone told me the students are beginning to practice for the festival that's held in November. Phew! That's a relief! I'm not crazy.

Not yet anyway...

Do I look dumb?

2011-10-15T15:17:00.000+09:00

Hum, it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't been crazy busy, but just busy enough to get a bit lazy in the evenings. The whole "two months off work" thing is fun when it happens, but it doesn't half hit you when you have to start working again.

While I've been not blogging, I've been noticing that a few people I know undersetimate my intelligence. Not that I'm a astrophysicist or anything, but my basic abilities seem surprising to them.

I took a friend to my favourite restaurant the other day, we went from my house, and she was genuinely baffled by the fact I knew my way there. Um, what? I know the way from my house to my favourite restaurant, and that surprises you? I even felt the need to explain why I knew the way (I'm a people pleaser, so sue me) and told her it was on my way to work. Even that seemed impressive to this lady. Seriously, how did she think I got home from work if she thought I didn't know the way? That could be problematic.

And then I went out with an old student. Obviously, when I was his teacher, I spoke to him in English, that was what I was being paid for, so a little surprise at the fact I do actually speak Japanese might have been understandable. But, seriously, he must have mentioned it about 30 times, each time with total shock. Um, I live in Japan, work in a bilingual workplace, and deal with my roommate's bonkers dog in Japanese (he only knows "sit", but I think he's just worked out that if I have food in my hand he should sit down if he wants to get it), learning Japanese kind of makes sense. More than many of my students who live in Japan, live with Japanese speakers and work in a Japanese environment, and yet spend a fortune on English classes, learning to speak a language they will only use in class. And I'm not so dumb I can't learn your language, you learned mine, why shouldn't I learn yours?

Grrr. For the record, I am of average intelligence, I can't do really smart stuff, like read texts in their original Latin, but I can tie my own shoelaces, so I don't really get why people are so shocked when I do normal stuff. Maybe one day, I will shock everyone by writing a whole sentence in Japanese.

Kinda geeky, but I love it!

2011-10-04T08:54:00.001+09:00

I bumped into my Japanese teacher yesterday,　and she asked me if I'd like to join a speech contest. My geeky little inner nerd leaped with joy. Finally! A chance to use the Japanese that I do know! Rather than constantly trying to learn to read, which isn't going to happen any time soon. But, speaking? Oh yes, I can do that!

The problem is, what should I speak about?

Any ideas?

OK, so Blogger won't let me comment on my own blog (thanks Blogger!) so I found this new ingenious way of responding to comments!
I'm loving the idea of homeopathic medicine and it's effects on menstrual cycles as suggested by Chris, definitely original, but sadly, I know nothing about it. As any sensible woman knows, the only true way to deal with your menstrual cycle is to wait for "that time" to come around, eat lots of chocolate, drink wine and yell at anyone within earshot.
My trip to the UK, with accompanying slide show would make amazing viewing for me,　because I find myself endlessly fascinating, but I'm not sure how long I could hold other peoples' interest for when I talk about my nice, peaceful summer with my nice, peaceful family.
As for why I came here, I don't even know the answer to that, so I couldn't make a speech on it. I'm not sure how impressed the judges would be wwith "meh, I didn't know what else to do with my life".
Even more sadly, I don't know anything about shochu. I could probably do something about sushi, which I know a lot about on account of eating sushi being my idea of a good night out.
So, it's a toss up between takling about sushi, or talking about my dream.
I have 3 days to make up my mind, so I'll mull it over and get back to you.

Back to normal life

2011-09-29T20:32:00.000+09:00

Sigh
Summer's over. As much as I'm glad that it is no longer the crazy hot that personifies Japanese summer, it is always a little deflating to realise that I have to go back to normal life.

And yes, I do like my job, and, once I get there, I usually have a lovely time, but that bit in the morning when I have to make myself get up, get washed and get to work is still not so fun. Especially after a lovely long, lazy summer holiday.

I went to the gym to sort my membership out today, and I will start back there at the weekend. I've convinced myself a few trips to the gym will get me marathon ready, just by virtue of going in the door. I went to my first running club since the beginning of August too, and, oh boy, that was 10kms well earned. I was shattered when I got home.

So, normal life is back, summer's over and it's all systems go until, um, next week, when we have a 3 day weekend. Heh heh

The new washing machine (because that's what passes as fun around here)

2011-09-28T09:13:00.000+09:00

You can imagine my delight when I arrived back from a long stint at home to find the washing machine broken. That's always a good welcome home. Luckily, I had done my washing (OK, I admit, Mum helped) before I left England thanks to my weird "thing" about carting dirty laundry thousands of miles around the world, but there was still the problem of what to do when the clean clothes ran out.

So, Michan was sent to the electrical store (not by me, I'd have gone myself, but Kaori has a bad back and couldn't be bothered) to collect some brochures. I was pretty pleased with that, because I wasn't sure how long it was going to take for the roomies to get around to looking into a new one (they tend to take a while to get around to things). I had thought I was going to have to do it, and make them live with my choice. So hooray for that, I know nothing about washing machines.

I was quite keen on the idea of an Arashi (Japanese boy band) washing machine, at least the brand that they advertise, because in the brochure they were doing the laundry. The thought of Arashi sorting out my washing, and possibly the ironing, made me pretty happy. Especially the ironing, I hate ironing. Turned out the boy band didn't come free with the washers and those ones use loads of water. So, we settled on a different one, with a blue lid. I liked the green lid, but that was smaller, which is bad, apparently.

So here I am, with a load in the washing machine, hoping I've pressed the right button, because the instructions are in Japanese and I've given up trying to read. Fingers crossed the clothes makes it out in one piece.

Never rely on Japanese TV to entertain you

2011-09-25T00:03:00.000+09:00

Why? I hear you ask.

Well, it's just that it's, um, bad. The vast majority of what is broadcast is utter pap.

And yes, it's not as if we don't have bad TV in England, we really do, and I've wasted many an hour on it. I mean, I'm a person who voluntarily watched the Real Housewives, and liked it. It's just that when I watch Japanese TV, I expend so much energy trying to work out what they're saying that I can't help but feel somehow cheated when it turns out they weren't actually saying anything of any value whatsoever. Obviously, if it is a show with comedians dressed in "comedy" Lycra suits and/or some other "hilarious" costume, I don't even try to understand, even I can sense that that won't be intellectual debate.

Tonight, I decided to give Japanese TV just a little break and watch a variety show, there seriously wasn't anything else on. Variety shows in Japan are more like panel shows in the UK, a bunch of comedians commenting on stuff, only not funny. I settled on a program about dramatic weight loss.

These types of shows are really common, take an extremely large lady, put her on a diet and then weigh her on national TV. Obviously there are before and after pictures, the before ones taken in a bikini for maximum humiliation, the after ones taken in a gorgeous dress with professional hair and make up.

Now, I know we have this type of thing in magazines in England, and the before and after pictures do pretty much the same thing. God forbid we should allow a fat woman to wear a nice dress and make up, just in case the 5 stone she will lose doesn't show in the after pictures.

Tonight's show went a little further. They showed these poor women in the compulsory unflattering bikini, and then zoomed the camera in to make sure we all could see how fat she was. Some poor woman jiggling her thigh fat on TV is not really helping anyone. We then were treated to watching these women get lymph massages, watching the "talento" in the studio have a good laugh at how painful it was. Then, the women were shown walking in the pool, again with close ups of the jiggling bits, just in case we hadn't got the message that these were some fat women.

Of course, the show dealt with diet. Look! This fatty has never eaten yogurt! Egads! This chubber doesn't know how to cook tofu! Watch as this extremely large lady drinks lots of beers, eats fried chicken and, shock!, two days later eats a bowl of ramen! No mention of the diets these ladies followed to reach their weight goals, no advice, just a chance to gawp at the fat people.

They showed a mother in the park with her son, and made a huge deal out of the fact that she couldn't go through the tunnel made for children. Of course she couldn't, it was made for children! They went on and on about how she couldn't run in the park with her son. My Mum never ran in the park with us, and I'm not scarred. I'd have been more scarred if she had run in the park with us, to be honest.

In the end, they brought the women to the studio, got them dressed up and weighed them, while the "talento" gasped and made patronising high pitched squeals. They kept saying how the women had become beautiful, because, of course, you can't be big and beautiful. Big is bad, remember.

Now, all of these women looked fab, and they'd all done really well, they had every reason to be proud of themselves. But, if I had lost a stack of weight and some skinny "talento", who clearly needed a bite of my sandwich, squealed at me and asked if I thought I would keep it up, I would have used my new found agility and high kicked her in the face.

I don't know what the point of this program was, other than to make fat people look like freaks. They gave no advice to anyone watching who might be trying to lose weight without the "help" of a diet coach to show them pictures of when they were 15 and telling them that was their weight goal. There was no attempt to explain a healthy diet or how to avoid getting up to 100kg in the first place. Just a chance to pretend to be helping people while really making them look ridiculous.

I could go on to a rant about skinny being the only size in Japan, and "the one shape suits all" mentality of the shops, but I'll save that for another day, just to give me something to do when I need to avoid watching TV.

My summer in pictures

2011-09-23T11:16:00.002+09:00

I went to a lovely wedding. These are my cousins, mu uncle and his lovely new wife. Don't they all look lovely.

We celebrated Mum and Dad's 40th Wedding anniversary. Well, any excuse for a bit of a drink!

Did some London stuff. This is the Imperial War Museum.

More London stuff. The back of the Albert memorial, because I was too lazy to walk round the front.

This deer was less friendly when he realised we had no food. I've spared the picture of his back view. This park isn't so far from our house, but we never knew it was there. We aren't very observant.

More London stuff. The Geffrye museum is one of Mum's favourites, but I only went there for the first time this summer. I learned a good lesson about listening to Mum, but don't tell her I said that.

More spending time with the fam. It was lovely to have my brother home for a few weeks.

There was other stuff too, of course, but I didn't take many pictures. Mostly, I caught up with friends and family. I always think the friends I have stayed in touch with after more than 5 years in Japan are all the more precious, and therefore more worth taking time out for.

So, there you have it, my summer in (a few) pictures. Frankly, I would have thought there'd be more after almost 2 months, but there you have it.