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It’s not easy being a snow monkey.
Nor is it easy to not have time to write out a whole post…perhaps more on the monkeys tomorrow as there needs to be a few extra hours in the day to get everything done
Since we kicked off our travels, I’ve learned many things about marriage. One of the most important of these things: If you don’t give your husband time to contemplate doing something he considers awkward or embarrassing, he’s more likely to do it.
It was with this in mind I told him of our most recent trip to Yudanaka. I went on for weeks about the monkeys. It was all monkeys all the time. Oh how many we would see! How fun it would be! In the midst of this celebrating I may have forgotten to mention the detail about getting naked with strangers in a large outdoor bathhouse.
I figured he’d be less likely to put up a fight if I only gave him a few minutes notice. With this in mind, we packed the beagle off to camp and headed north. A few hours later we found ourselves in the charming streets of the Shibu Spa.
It was only once we checked in to the ryokan that he found out that it was known for having six different types of hot springs available for it’s guests to bath in. Granted, at this point he didn’t realize that it was the only option to achieve optimal weekend cleanliness as there are no in room showers…but that didn’t occur to him as we skipped around town to see the various sites.
Somewhere along our walk we came across a sign promising something that in all of our travels, we’d never seen.
In all fairness to the Tobacco Diety, he’s not exactly very well named as he’s actually supposed to help one quit smoking.
What he also was? Very lonely.
Placed in a small box next to a family washing machine, the Tobacco Deity is clearly not a very popular one. I could have told you this without having to see the poor Deity’s conditions as each floor of our office building has a sealed smoking room and that as recently as five years ago, everyone just smoked that their desks. Actually, some still do after most people leave.
Fair to say, this is not a very popular Deity.
Other things we saw along our way?
Buddha
Dressed with protection from the cold.
More Buddha
Unfortunately for T, we’d decided to see the snow Monkey’s on Sunday as they don’t have a predictable schedule and “come and go as they please. sometimes, they come early and leave early.” Having travelled through a lot of Asia with many empty promises of Monkeys before, I was determined to have plenty of time for the critters to show up. This did however, leave plenty of time for a dip in the onsen.
So. The onsen.
Trips to the onsen are quite popular in these parts with people traveling far and wide and to onsen amusement parks, it seemed that we might at least see what all of the fuss was about.
Coming from an increasingly modest country however, the idea of stripping down with a bunch of strangers made T a bit…nervous. You see, there are several rules to the onsen.
1) Single sex groupings only.
2) To enter the onsen you must first shower and scrub. Scrub well. And as I’ve been told, scrub again once you think you are scrubbed.
3) The towel, it stays with your all of your clothes in the basket in the changing area.
4) A bathing suit counts as clothing.
Needless to say, T wasn’t thrilled as I handed him his robe, told him that no one looks, pointed him in the direction of the men’s baths and trotted in the direction of my promised soak. Perhaps not the kindest thing to do to the person that you are going to make stand in the snow for hours the following day but neither telling your wife she’s “an adventure.”
Good News – He lived and he liked it.
Bad News – He liked it so much sat in the extremely hot bath a little to long and came out a bit green.
It’s fair to say though, that if you should ever visit Japan, the onsen is a must try. Don’t worry no one looks and really, niether should you.
Tomorrow…The Monkeys! As many of the troop of 200 or so that I could get on camera.
Naked with strangers in an onsen that is.
Most of all, we had an amazing weekend. One that has left us exhausted.
Tons of monkey pictures on flickr. Probably some of my favorites that I have ever taken so enjoy!
More tomorrow.
He’d be just like this if we let him…
Bangkok – October 2007
Being an expat in Japan means many things. You get to marvel at the efficiency of it all. You get to marvel at the inefficiency of it all. The eel is plentiful and so are the working hours. Most of all though, it means you need to have some sort of patented answer to the most popular question of them all:
“How did you end up in JAPAN?”
Really people, it’s not like we moved to Siberia. That said, I am asked at least once a week how I found myself here and have grown used to the confused tonality in which the question is normally delivered.
Granted, it wasn’t the most romantic of decisions. Growing up I’d long dreamed of the cobblestone pathways of Italy, the sidewalk cafe’s of Paris and the double deckers of London…certainly that would be the glamorous fairytale I’d grow up to live, no?
Well, no. (Not yet at least)
That fairytale all turned into a more Alice in Wonderland type tale the minute my boss responded to my inquiry about working abroad with, “I think it would be a great experience for you but I won’t transfer you to Europe, that’s where everyone goes.”
Not really the response I wanted and as “but, um, I want to move to London” would have only sounded like a whine at that moment, I bit my tongue. I followed up with the obligatory questions about the next steps and we began to plot my future.
At first I thought I would just wait a day or two to go back in and announce that actually, “Who needs to think independently, London would be just fine thanks!”
That day never came.
In the end, the option I’d never considered became the option that seemed like the best path forward. Having never considered even travelling in Asia, the idea of moving there seemed strangely natural. Sure, the hours would be long but the career track would certainly accelerate. There would be new adventures, new experiences that wouldn’t be available any where else and it quickly shaped up to be the chance of a lifetime.
Yes, there have been ups and downs but we’ve been places we never thought we’d see. We’ve done things we’d never considered before (hitchhiking in Thailand, climbing mountains, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef) and have had so many adventures that couldn’t happen anywhere else.
Has it been easy? No, not at all really. It’s actually probably one of the most challenging things we’ve been through.
Has it been worth it? Absolutely.
What’s next? Who knows. If the economy would do something productive for a change, I might have a better answer.
For now, I just plan our next adventure, another we never thought we’d get to do in another place we never thought we’d see: Nepal. After hours spent casing my usual haunts (orbitz, expedia, tripadvisor) I’ve got plane tickets in my grubby little hands and can’t wait!
Sometimes life takes unexpected twists and turns. My only advice that when this twists and turns come up: Go with it. You never know, it might just turn out to be the adventure of a lifetime.
The scene: The elevator currently moving downward approx. 30 floors.
Bossman: It’s been a while since we’ve had an earthquake. Hasn’t it?
T: Um. Is now really the time to mention this!?!
Bossman: Yeah, I guess an elevator wouldn’t be an ideal place to have the happen. But when is earthquake season?
T: I don’t think plate tectonics work that way…
Dear Parents. In the off shot that you are reading this, please don’t read this entry as it won’t please you. No! It’s not about THAT! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER MOTHER!
In the days following college, I did what most people my age did: I moved to the city, found myself a shoe box apartment and proceeded to survive off of oatmeal for years on end.
Please note before you start pitying me: I will admit to living a bizarre double life during these years as I survived off oatmeal and yet was regularly treated to spa trips, broadway tickets and baseball games through my job. NO! I am not a hooker.
I will always look back on the oatmeal years fondly as the time I learned how to survive on $25 a week for food and lived in the ghetto. But hey, it was MY shoebox, my own little piece of New York. Sure, my upstairs neighbor was a little strange and there was that one time there was a dead body was found upstairs which lead to the awesome exchange as follows:
Detective: So. There’s a body upstairs on the landing. We think it was natural causes.
Me: Oh. um. really?
Detective: Yes ma’am. But don’t worry we think it was natural causes. You didn’t happen to hear any gun shots, did you?
You’ll note this all went down the ONE DAY IN THREE YEARS MY FATHER VISITED ME IN NEW YORK.
Regardless, my time in New York was a fun one. I managed to come and go as I pleased and never had a single issue as a single female living in a perhaps questionable neighborhood in New York. Only once did someone look at me in a manner that was off and even then a male neighbor from the dog park made sure I was home safely before heading his own way.
So, of course it is when I move to one of the safest cities in the world I end up with a stalker.
(oh hi mom! did i forget to mention this on our weekly skype call? whoops!)
I’ve named him creepy man.
I first came into contact with creepy man some weeks back on an evening where T and I were headed out somewhere. He was acting strangely as we walked passed him but didn’t really think much of it as there are plenty of strange people in the world and we happen to be two of them. It wasn’t until he kept turning around to watch us and began following us that we grew a bit concerned.
In the weeks following, creepy man has stepped up his game.
He’s followed us around the neighborhood on his bike, on foot and generally lurks. Yesterday he went as far as to get off his bike to watch me walk into my building. He never says anything but manages to retain all sorts of creepy in his fur lined purple jacket.
Yes, we’re playing it safe. Doors are locked at all times, T walks with me whenever I need to leave the house these days and we’ve even begun considering the idea of switching apartments.
No, I’m no longer allowed to walk home or the dog at night. Which is sad as I enjoyed the 20 minutes a day where I was allowed to blast my eardrums out with the latest awful music just added from Itunes. Oh well, I guess this is good news for my hearing.
Needless to say, creepy man sucks.
Am hoping he gets a life soon as asking our boss if T can walk me home every night was a touch embarrassing. Have also asked a few Japanese people how to handle the situation…suggestions welcome.
As M has stated many times before we are two of the most boring people you’ll ever meet.
We don’t drink, smoke, gamble, and probably swear just enough to break up the monotony. I will confess that I really like gummi bears, but aside from that, nothing major.
Or so I thought?
It all started innocently enough about ten years ago as a college senior while surfing online. No, not that although I’d be lying if I told you I never looked.
No, I’m talking about eBay or as I more intimately call it, “The World’s Biggest Garage Sale.” I started looking for baseball cards of my grandfather and haven’t really stopped since. Until I met M, I would scan for hours on end in search of anything and everything while buying a good deal of the following:
- Baseball, football, basketball and even hockey cards
- Matchbox cars
- Baseball jerseys and t-shirts
- Miniature plastic football helmets
- Pez dispensers
- Jazz cds
- Foosball table
- Trumpet
AND perhaps my favorite…a cowboy hat.
But once I met M, this all became, ummm…CRAP.
In fact right before our first date, she found me at my desk at work sealing an envelope filled with coins taped to a letter to pay for a basketball card. Little did she know.
Within short time M “suggested” I channel my resources in a more responsible fashion to which I agreed in principle, but have always had difficulty adhering to.
Basically I’ve been feeding her the following excuses for the past three years:
- “I’ll cut back.”
- “I’m only looking.”
- “I’ll give it up for Lent.”
- My Dad sent me this link.”
- Maybe I can look during X number of days per year?”
- I’m only buying stuff I really want.”
I even went as far to figure out how to use Yahoo! Japan’s auction site which is all in Japanese!
But last weekend I realized that I needed to take a break as I was spending hours looking for football cards instead enjoying this time with my wife or playing with my puppy. My priorities were clearly out of whack so I had M change my password to login.
So far so good as I’ve actually managed to channel my energy in more creative ways by writing a few entries.
Maybe some day I’ll be back, but only with a watchful eye over my shoulder. Because I’ll only end up buying another cowboy hat to replace the one that M may have “lost” in the move to Japan.
So we stuck around because I really thought we won, but as M soon pointed out that the whole Finance team was feverishly calculating the numbers in the corner, I knew my team wasn’t going to win. But we decided to wait till we had the official word.
In the meantime food and drinks started to come around and I began to wonder what we would be able to eat. As vegetarians, finding yourself in a place like TGIFridays is less than ideal, yet the early servings of bruschetta and salad were a decent start given we hadn’t eaten in hours. Then things got tricky as the potato skins came out covered in bacon. I found myself tempted to pick off the bacon, but felt it would be too much of a spectacle. Making matters worse were the plates upon plates of chicken fingers coming in by the minute.
I was having trouble coping and with few options before me I began to get a little agitated. Then the big announcement came from the leader of the Finance team.
Yup, as if you didn’t see this coming…we didn’t win, in fact we came in 3rd.
At this point I was outraged as M tried to calm me down, but I was having none of it. Even after we were offered fried macaroni and cheese balls, I couldn’t bring myself to pick at the bottom of the plate with the final three balls looking like sad greasy globs of starch.
As a reformed carnivore I needed to leave. I had become the person I once ridiculed. It’s hard to explain the life of a vegetarian to those who eat meat as it’s a completely foreign concept to many.
Do I miss meat?
Not as much as I thought I would a year on. I do it for a better future for myself and for the ones I love. I’m not looking to convert anyone, but I guess all I’m asking for is a little understanding of us in the minority because nights like this make it difficult.
Fortunately my partner in crime knew I was ready to leave and offered no objection to us heading home to take care of Gizmo. Naturally M helped me feel better as we walked home…
T: (Pouting)
M: “Sweetie, it’s okay. Meanwhile you do know that the money isn’t for everyone to spend, it has to be put towards a company event, right?”
T: “Really? I was thinking it could go towards Valentines or something.”
M: “So it’s not really their money.”
T: “Hmmm, thanks honey I feel better already.”
M: “So, what do you want for dinner?”
T: “Chicken fing…ummm… cereal.”
Friday night as a change of pace M & I actually got to leave work early to go bowling with forty of our closest colleagues. Granted we spend enough time with our fellow coworkers, but any time away from our desks is welcomed, even more so with $500 at stake for the winning team.
Historically I’ve been a pretty mediocre bowler, the type who is equally capable of throwing a gutterball and/or a strike in the same frame. M, meanwhile has refused to contribute to this part of the story…but I think she’s fun to watch!
At any rate I had pretty low expectations for our team, especially after the two ladies from Finance managed to Foul on each of their first two attempts. So I sat back and simply made it my goal to get 7 or better each time up while enjoying the evening. But before long the ladies found their form and if anything carried me and my other male colleague by hitting an array of strikes and spares as we merely put up pedestrian scores.
It was kind of funny because as this was happening I kept eye on the other scores and soon realized if we kept this pace we’d actually have a solid chance of winning. Amazingly enough we did and once one of the girls caught fire we all began picking up strikes and spares. Nevertheless I was skeptical that we would win even as we took the lead on the scoreboard. Somehow the math in Japan always gets messed up as, “this is how we calculate it.”
After an hour and a half of solid bowling everyone packed up and headed to TGIFriday’s across the way for food and drinks for the afterparty. Immediately upon entering the restaurant M and I began to wonder how we would be able to excuse ourselves early. Gizmo is always a fallback, but people knew I walked him earlier, so it wasn’t our strongest case. You see, M and I are wallflowers by nature, it’s what brought us together in dealing with our company back in New York. I often think of us along the lines of these two as we usually hang towards the door cracking jokes before leaving in advance of anyone making a complete ass of themselves.
But we stuck around, simply because I wanted to find out if my team had won and perhaps to get a bite or two to eat. Little did I know how wrong I would be…
