You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2008.
I’ve now recovered from the cold but still suffer from blog slackeritus.
Regardless, it’s been a big week here at casa de gremlin as T’s parents have just arrived and we found out that we are going to Beijing! It turns out we’ll be able to manage both Beijing and Hong Kong in the same week as we were able to figure out a flight combination that works nicely. Needless to say, I can’t wait!
We’re actually now heading off to Kyoto for the weekend. I promise to return a time, rehabilitated-from-slacking blogger.
In the meantime, feel free to reflect on our last trip to Kyoto.
This would be the best summary of my current status.
Sadly, it seems that after much sniffling my sneezing co-worker decided to share his germs last week. You’ll note the amount of sniffling was excessive as blowing ones nose is viewed as massively in proper.
Blowing of the nose: Massive cultural no-no
Driving the person next to you nuts with sniffling every 2 to 3 seconds: Evidently, totally cool.
Alas, I suffer. What’s that you say? You don’t really care? Would you care more if I told you that cold medicine in Japan is much like taking Pez? Seriously, I offered someone some advil once and after reading dosage on the label they acted like I was handing the cocaine or something.
I will return tomorrow, bright eyed and bushy tailed…or whatever.
And no, I am not rocking the surgical masks people wear here when they get sick. That freaks me out entirely.
The passport has returned to me, with a new one enclosed.
I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this new passport as the quotes and photos on the pages make it a little over the top (in my opinion). I mean, why are there so many bison and eagles? The pioneers and all are also a little bit much. I guess it’s just added incentive to keep the travels rolling. As my husband so lovingly put it, ”but dear, there are no communist country stamps in this one. I like the old one better.”
Thus, I’m going to get straight to work as without the stamps I may not get the same warm reception as last christmas when we arrived in customs. Those gentlemen were so kind they even were nice enough to repack our suitcases after dismantling all of our packing without so much as a reason for search. It’s nice to be so welcomed by your own country after a year away. (For the record, yes, I know they can search without giving a reason, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it.)
That said, we are off to Hong Kong next month but there’s a good chance we might have to cancel that trip in lieu of a work trip to one of my favorite places in the world. 
Beijing! or Peking as they still refer to it around here..
We shall see this week.
It would be a nice day out if I were this guy.
Alas, I am not. Thus, the water currently dumping on us is less than pleasant and fun.
Perhaps if I had some rain boots I could go puddle jumping like my father and I used to. Granted, that would probably freak quite a few people out as the sight of a blonde girl jumping into the puddles is a touch unusual here…so perhaps I’ll just stick to going home and trying to prepare for our visitors who are set to arrive late next week. As said guests have mentioned they are a bit cautious about the food situation here, we’re going to be trying our best to be prepared. That said, I really do recommend they at least try.
While it’s not all quite my taste (I don’t eat meat and that isn’t quite a concept grasped/embraced here) food in Japan is really quite good and it’s rare to be served anything less than perfectly prepared. The quality of the food alone is superb and the rigorous training that chefs and cooks go through here mean it is really difficult to find something that isn’t a good meal…so long as one enjoys the genre they are ordering from. Sure, it can get a little uncomfortable when you are in a restaurant watching the shrimp swimming around the tank doing whatever it is shrimp do and the next moment it’s coming towards you on a small plate on the conveyer belt but that’s part of the experience.
Right, T?
One also has to account for the fact that the Japanese have one of the longest life expectancies in the world. With the amount of cigarrettes smoked, this fact still rather surprises me but perhaps the effects of green tea offset that?
Regardless, Japanese food does offer something for everyone (except maybe vegans, I’d imagine that would be rough here). Though we no longer eat meat, we do still eat fish and thus continue our search for the best sushi in town and along the way have found some amazing fish. One of the places we tend to frequent has tuna that will melt in your mother and eel that tastes a bit like peanut butter which is nothing short of delicious.
Also very good? The tofu.
(Above is a traditional Japanese breakfast as was served to us in Kyoto. You’ll note that the plain yogurt combined with Blueberries and Yogurt is quite tasty.)
T in particular has found that he enjoys tofu and now tries to put it in everything. This is why he’s not really allowed to cook. Tofu is very good…but I’m still not convinced it needs to be in each meal.
Another good thing? The portions are always perfect. Exactly what you need to feel satisfied without feeling like you are going to explode. I’m not sure we really noticed this until the first christmas we returned home. It wasn’t until we went to a restaurant and faced an enormous plate of food that we realized how large portions are outside of Japan.
What does all of this translate to? A much healthier lifestyle.
Surely it’s not perfect? No, it isn’t.
We do miss sweets. As the sweet beans are not quite as sweet as we’d like, I do make the occasional trip across town to the dreaded expat neighborhood (again, a totally different post on why I hate this area will eventually be written) to pick up some chocolate chips to make something from home. We also have found that we can pull together the ingredients for nachos very easily and have thus dubbed the dish our “tasty tasty crutch.” A reference to the fact sometimes you just need something a bit more on the familiar side.
Also sad? The lack of an oven. Seriously. I didn’t realize until I moved in that there was no oven. There’s a six inch little thing that resembles an oven…but it involves flames that burn food in about 30 seconds flat. Thus, I bake my breads and such in a small delongi oven (a lifesaver) but have learned to deal.
Overall though, we’ve learned to make it work. The single lesson I can offer to those traveling to Japan? At least try.
Keeping with the topic of lots of people in small spaces and offering travel suggestions, I offer you part of our latest adventures:
The Catacombs of Paris.
-I guess I’ll warn you now there will be pictures of skulls and bones, it might make you squirm but Halloween is coming so it seemed moderately appropriate timing.-
(My second warning in a week, look at me being all risque!)
As we were in Paris and had seen all of the main sights during our week in the city of lights, T and I decided to go a bit off of the beaten path to the Montparnasse area to see the catacombs of Paris. The simple concept of the catacombs alone is enough to elict a Halloween like feel alone so feel free to be rather surprised that chickens #1 and #2 were so excited to see them.
After many stairs and dark corridors, we made it to the underground resting place for an estimated six million people.
Perhaps a little background?
The Catacombs gather the remainders of approximately six million Parisian, transferred between the end from 18e century and the middle from the 19e century, progressively of the closing of the cemeteries for reason of insalubrity. Along a labyrinth of obscure galleries and narrow corridors , the visitor discovers the bones laid out in a “romantico-macabre” decoration. Pillars, bells of subsidence or bath of feet of the quarrymen evoke the origin of the places, the limestone quarries, while sharpening the curiosity of the visitor. This underground museum restores the history of Parisian and invites to a voyage out of time.
Walking through stacks of bones as tall, if not taller than myself certainly was an eery experience though it mostly make me wonder who I was looking at. Perhaps to find a bit of humanity in the dark piles of bones that wound on for what seemed like forever?
Anyways..it was creepy but an interesting experience.
Oh and there were these odd sculptures that seemed a bit random (perhaps to spruce up the joint?)
Ok, so not the most upbeat post. But still if you find yourself in Paris and want to see something a bit different, it is worth the few euros to go.
Still a bit skeeved? Would a dog dressed as a lobster for Halloween cheer you up? You’ll note he’s trying to eat the costume while still wearing it.
…in small spaces.
As I was pondering yesterday’s awkwardness, I realized that the concept of personal space is another important thing to note as it represents perhaps one of the hardest things to get used to about Japan.
When we moved here (two years ago this week actually for T), I had heard of the infamous capsule hotels, the efficiency of it all and well, it is all very true. What I did not really comprehend fully was how this efficiency would translate to transportation.
Case in point:
That is basically our morning commute and I’m still not used to it.
It’s actually become a bit of a sport as T and I work to outsmart the “herd.” After years of working in New York, we’d learned the herd mentality of the office commuters well and had mastered the fine art of knowing how to gauge and work the crowd.
When we moved here and discovered that the trains run roughly two to three minutes apart (on our line) we figured it would all be peachy. There’s even a screen displaying when the next train is slated to arrive as well as the one after that – so convenient!
This is nothing like the MTA and neither is the crowd.
First of all, regardless of the next train that is slated to arrive in two more minutes the entire group will work to get on this train. Well, everyone but us. Depending on how bad the crush gets, T and I have a habit of waving to the people on the train as the last six people use the door frames to wedge themselves in.
Why not just (literally) suck it up you ask?
New Yorkers will squeeze in and manage to never come into physical contact with anyone.
Tokyo dwellers…will actually come into contact with you. They will fully squish you up against another human being you probably don’t know and then press themselves up against you. After that 50 people will do the same to them. Trust me when I say it’s lovely in the summer…oh have I never mentioned that deodorant is more of a social suggestion than a guideline here?
That said, this is the norm here and the five year old boy i saw unable to breathe in a crushed train seemed totally fine with it. It’s a good thing it’s only a three minute ride between stations (that’s the average and there is a screen in the train which actually shows you your time to destination).
In order to maintain some sort of order for the herd, there are some unspoken rules to the trains here. They are as follows and please, for the love of all things holy, follow them.
- No chatting on the cell phone. Texts and silent gaming are fine but please, no talking. There’s little more intimidating than watching and entire train of people physically shift to turn and glare at someone talking on the phone.
- No eating. People may actually work up themselves up to say something to you on this subject. That alone speaks volumes about how much of an offense this is.
- No loud talking. Again the glare bears will come after you in force.
- No touching on purpose! I don’t care if you are married – No hand holding! Hugging is even worse. PDAs of any sort are strictly forbidden.
That said, there are some perfectly acceptable behaviors on the train.
- Taking a running start to throw yourself into a crowd of people just as the doors close. Hey, without the running start you’d never be able to actually physically fit into the car. Even with it, your feet won’t actually touch the ground until the next stop because you are literally pressed between a body or two and the door…suspended in mid leap.
-Sleeping! Feel free to lean against your fellow passengers. This is a favorite pastime for salarymen.
-Being wasted drunk. Being drunk on the train is fine just please reserve actual drunken bodily functions until you reach a platform of some sort.
-Porn! Have as much porn as you’d like with you and read it openly! Porn newspaper with a naked woman spread eagle on the front page? Make sure your fellow passengers can see as well, they’d appreciate it your sharing.
For the record, we were properly warned before ever setting foot on a train and have never really broken the above rules. That should make up for the 5,000 other unspoken rules we’ve unknowingly violated.
-A warning to those of delicate minds, this is a bit of a departure from our normal fodder-
As if life in a Japanese office doesn’t require enough cultural maneuvering, the mail lady just handed me an anal swab.
Feel free to take a moment to ponder that one.
Sufficiently disturbed yet?
If yes – continue. If no – um, read that again.
So yes, it’s that lovely time of the year…company health check time!
Today health packets with swabs and a green mystery gel were handed out to everyone in anticipation of the supreme awkwardness of free health checks. Granted, as I’ve received e-mails from people claiming they are too ill to come to work because “i have a heavy flow” and “i can’t get off the toilet” so perhaps these types of things are not as private here? (Hello? TMI! I’ve actually had to sit people down and explain that ‘i am sick and can not come to work’ is all I need to know. I mean really, why in the world would I need to know those types of details?)
But I digress…
Each and every year a small medical clinic opens up in our conference room for three days. They haul in a set of Doctors, Nurses and X-Ray machines and set up shop and everyone lines up to be poked, prodded and to hand in various containers of various things. I’m not exactly sure what you are supposed to do with the green gel though, maybe it makes your insides glow for some alien probe test? I believe it’s sponsored by our health insurance but can’t really be sure as no one seems to know.
I think it’s safe to mention that nary an expat can be found in said line.
Personally, I’d like to think there are just some things that are not to be shared with co-workers. While no one else seems to take issue with having a chest x-ray in your office, I just can’t seem to bring myself to be at all comfortable with the concept. Instead I’m left to politely smile as I take the packet in question from the mail lady and swiftly toss it in a deep, dark drawer never to be spoken of again. Somethings are best handled on an independent basis in the privacy of a one on one environment, no?
I guess the good news is that everyone is looking after their health?
Needless to say, it’s a little odd to know what’s about to go on in the conference room.
T says: After asking colleagues to describe the process, I’d liken it to a self-imposed an alien abduction . Me thinks I’ ll pass…
Did you know you can track the status of your passport online?
or perhaps I’m the last to know?
For a guy who was only 5′2 at the time of his death…was this really necessary?
You’ll note T waving for the sake of scale.
That said, the grounds of Les Invalides are beautiful.
As it was a lovely day out, we decided that it was time for the best hot chocolate that Paris (all of France?) has to offer…Angelina’s. Located across from the Louvre on the Rue Rivoli, Angelina’s has some of the best desserts we’ve ever had; meanwhile the hot chocolate is to die for and perhaps a dessert in itself. We really enjoyed our time with Mum and Dad
Tomorrow’s show and tell (our final full day in Paris) will be our visit to the Catacombs.
Setting: The Living Room
Time: Last Night
Scene: T emerges from the kitchen with a graham cracker.
M: Hey, can I have one?
T: This is the last one.
M: Wait, what?
T: This is the last cracker.
M: You ate the entire box? Without me getting one?
T: *Looks Guilty*
M: But…but…that one box cost $10.50!!!! (an import good bought at the special expat store in the special expat neighborhood I hate going to, but that is a different story) and I didn’t get a single cracker?
T: *Breaks half the cracker off* well, here is $.25 worth?
- Gizmo jumps into M’s lap and promptly swipes half of her half a cracker-
T: um…well, now it’s about $.10 worth.
