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Published: March 15th 2009
Visitors from the South
Stopped by Sarah's to see she and Emma for New Years.. and they were not so pleased about having their picture takenThe past few months have indeed flown by very quickly for me, due mostly in part to how much I’ve been working. But along the way I’ve had some wonderful adventures with people I love and appreciate that break up the madness that is “bake, rinse, repeat” on a daily basis. It’s hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks it will already be April—it feels like only yesterday I was celebrating New Years with Sarah and Emma, and here I am now preparing for Hanami and a trip to Sweden. For the first three months of this year a lot has already happened, and it has definitely been a whirlwind ride!
At the start of January my friend Trevor from Kansai Gaidai came down for a weekend visit. We actually spent most of our time in bookstores and coffee shops (and playing a very hilarious round of king’s cup with Karl) off of Federal Triangle and the Smithsonian museums catching up on our lives since last May and reminiscing about our experiences in Japan. Again and again we couldn’t help but laugh and talk endlessly about the one thing we missed most - Running. While in Japan
Ramen
We found the strangest book while Trevor was here, with pages upon pages filled with things that made no sense. This was our favorite both Trevor and I actively participated in the informal Running Club, headed by Mark Tracy.. and I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss my morning conversations with Tracy-sensei as we ran along the river trail to Makino. He designated me as his “pacer” - in other words, when he began to slow down it was my job to speed up and make him keep going. We did these treks four days a week in the mornings, but Saturday runs were always the most populated and eventful (since most days during the week it was usually only Tracy-sensei, Merriweather-san, Dennis and I for the beginning group). There was one Saturday in particular though where Tracy-sensei planned a run out past Kuzuha and into Kyoto prefecture for all ranks of the club. I remember the day very, very vividly (no doubt do to the amount of excruciating pain and sunburns it left us with): it was hot, it was long, and we all agreed that we were going to die along the highway. But Tracy-sensei remained optimistic and promised that on the way back he’d treat us to cheese bread from this bakery in Kuzuha Mall. So we made
The troublemaker
Armed with the most insane book in the world, Trevor can do anything! the one way trek of seven miles with amazing valor (and only a few complaints) and on the way back Brittany and I got ahead of the rest of the group and stopped when we reached the mall to look back for everyone. Not even a few seconds later there came Tracy-sensei, a big smile on his face as he screamed “Cheese Bread!!” in a battle cry. Even now that memory makes me laugh just as much as the first time I heard it, not to mention the idea that red bull could be the cure for a morning hangover.
But for me, running while I was in Japan was such a profound and memorable experience. I felt like the faster I went, the further down the sidewalks I hadn’t explored I went, that I might just grow wings. Every day was an adventure and guessing game - would I see the same people? Would the ojiichan with the polar bear dog be out in Beer Park? Which bathtub would be sitting in the river today? I met so many interesting and friendly people through my runs whose faces I might forget but their words will always stick with
Bonnie and Clyde
Up to no good, as usual me. I miss the freedom of passing scenery that was always changing, that feeling of choking on a swarm of gnats and bugs that hovered in thick clouds along the river, and having to avoid both bicycles and the barks of small dogs wanting to play. I think definitely if I could go back in time it would be to one of those morning conversations with Sensei over a red bull as we ran, discussing politics, our favorite pancake toppings, and which were the best bars in Shinsaibashi.
Not much later in January was the Inauguration of now President Barack Obama - a huge event for America as a whole, and a nightmare for Washington D.C. and the surrounding cities in Maryland and Virginia. On the day of the Inauguration all roads going into D.C. were shut down; consequently, some of the metro rail stops were closed, made into exit or entrance only stations, or virtually inaccessible due to the sheer amount of people that descended upon the capital. The estimated amount of attendees for the inauguration as I last heard was around two million people: which is not a lot for a larger American city to handle, but
Obama mania
Orange YOU glad for change? D.C. was not built to house and home such a great density. I remember the night before the actual events I was talking to Debbie and Peter on skype, and just when Debbie had left Peter and I to our own devices—Bam! The power went out! I looked outside and the lights in our intersection as well as on the metro rail outside my apartment had gone completely black, cars were all in a frenzy in the darkened intersection, people were jumping out of their vehicles or standing on the sides of the road just screaming at each other. We later found out that the power was drained by a few local hotels housing guests for the Inauguration, and that with a few added extra generators the problem wouldn’t happen again. I watched the actual Inauguration on television since it was impossible to get into D.C. that day, and it was a really nice procession of events. But I think the sociocultural thing that I noticed and found really interesting was the amount of Obama propaganda and souvenirs/merchandise that became available for the event, and still remain in stores. My local grocery store actually had it’s own Barack Obama aisle,
King's Cup
I think they are going the fusion dance? Maybe? features Obama shirts, hats, posters, candy, cereal, soda, cookies, chips—you name it, they had it. My favorite was this brand of soda called Jones Soda, who had made a special “Orange You Glad For Change” soda with Obama’s picture on it.
February brought two very exciting “trips” - On Valentine’s Day my best friend from university was married, and I was the one to make the wedding cake! I promised him after my friend Sora’s wedding that whenever he got married I would do his cake for him.. never expecting that to be just a few months down the road. But it was definitely a lot of fun making the cake and an experience I learned and grew from in a lot of ways. It was my first time making a wedding cake, and it allowed me to put all the things I’ve been observing and learning at the bakery to good use. The hardest part of all, surprisingly enough, was transportation of the cake - It was me, Karl, and this beast of a cake shoved inside a two-seater Saturn, driving from Silver Spring, Maryland to Sanford, North Carolina. All in all the trip was six hours one
Wedding Cake I
Final outcome of Patrick's wedding cake. Took about a week all together to make way: and since at the time I only had one day (that being Saturdays) off from work.. well, we drove down, attended the wedding, and drove back all in the same day. Each bump we hit on the highway was absolutely nerve-wracking and terrible; especially since North Carolina, Virginia, and America in general is not known for having the best highways on the face of the planet. Karl and I took turns babysitting the monstrosity and making sure it didn’t fall, tilt, tip, jiggle, or otherwise die in my car. The cake did survive the journey though, and only with minor repairs when we arrived! My biggest concern aside from the cake itself was the cake topper - it was made from porcelain, and not even thirty minutes after I had the thing in my apartment I had already dropped it on the floor and broken the bride’s head off (to answer a skype conversation ironically enough). Thank God for hot glue guns!
To ring in the month of March my friend Molly flew in for a visit and it was actually our first time meeting in person. Around four years ago Molly and I were introduced through a
mutual friend on the blogging website LiveJournal, and we hit it off very well. We both shared a love for travel, Japan, Japanese, J-dramas, the Hanshin Tigers, and the band Arashi - which sparked our nicknames for each other, Nino and Ohno, from our favorite members of the band Ninomiyo Kazuhiro and Ohno Satoshi. For the past several years we’ve kept in touch through LJ, email, AIM, phone, and now skype, but could never meet in person due to location—Molly living on the west coast, and me living on the east coast. But while Molly was abroad this past school semester we decided that she should come for a visit, and at the end of February the adventures of “Ohno” and “Nino” had finally begun. Her flights were delayed on the trip over which led for a very late night pick up from Baltimore-Washington Airport, and the even crazier making dinner at 2 am and talking until I only had two hours before work in the morning about life, Arashi, random names for different alcohol shots, and other sorts of things.
The most mind-blowing part of our time together was our encounter with Japanese tourists at the Lincoln Memorial,
No evil here
The groom's sister, the groom, and his best man though. Karl overheard these two girls speaking in Japanese and no more than a few seconds later he was over and introducing himself. We spoke with Miki and Yuka for nearly four hours on the steps of the Memorial, and the next day met up with them at the Air and Space Museum to show them around and explain what the different bits of memorabilia were. Spending time with them made me realize how much of my Japanese I still remember, that I will forever play the “kawaii” “kawaikunai!” game with any Japanese girl I meet, and that Karl is the best person at gaijin smashing I have ever met. When we were with them he did most of the talking since he has been studying very hard these past few months to get ready for working in Japan in April, and when we were all done he asked Molly and I how much of the conversation we understood. The two of us agreed on around 90 percent, and then told Karl how surprised we were at his fluency. “Oh, actually I only understood around 30 to 40 percent of what was going on”, he said. “Whenever they said a
Where?
This.. was how I found where to put the wedding cake. Thank you, Destinie ;P word I recognized I’d stick to it like glue and ask them questions about that, nod my head, pretend I understood. And it worked!”.
The weeks following Molly’s visit have been busy again, mostly with work, but then also with spending time on the weekends with friends since this past weekend was Karl’s last in America. He took a job through a company sponsor teaching English in Japan, and was stationed in Futtsu in Chiba prefecture for a term of one to two years, or however long he’d like to stay actually. Last weekend we went on a picnic and fell into the trap of playing Street Fighter 4 at Kyle’s, playing old Dragonball Z games for Super Nintendo, and taking silly pictures with all the strange hats that Kyle owns for some reason or other. On Friday night a group of us all went out to celebrate his final night in Maryland with burgers, beer, a good old fashioned game of flip cup, and having my fedora stolen and worn by almost every single person at the party. Not to mention a very special visit from.. Hannah Montana. Karl and I had a running joke about the pop
Embassy hopping
The Japanese Embassy in Washington DC idol since he’d always say “It’s Miley!” when he’d see some sort of her merchandise in a store or out on our adventures. So for his going away present I got him a Hannah Montana pencil box, and a holographic button of Hannah Montana to go along with a card. He wore it the whole night and would run up to people, pointing at his button and flashing it to make Hannah Montana dance for them. I have never been more glad that I bought something in a long, long time.
Oh yeah! I posted this on Facebook but.. definitely worth being mentioned: many of you know that I am a diehard Hanshin Tigers fan. I've been watching their games and following them for years now, and generally I'm not a sports fanatic at all, but with the Tigers I make a special exception. Twenty-four years ago though, following a game with a Tokyo team, the fans of the Tigers found a statue of Colonel Sanders who they said resembled an American player on their team and threw it into the Dotonburi River. Ever since that day the Tigers will play their best and win games left and right,
Danger!
You could die in real life! but when it comes to the National Championship they have not won a single time. This is "the curse" of Colonel Sanders: Until the day Colonel Sanders is found in the Dotonburi the Hanshin Tigers will never win the National Championship, or so the story goes.. and just this week a construction crew found him! He was missing his hands and feet, his glasses had disintegrated, but this is supposed to mean that the curse has finally ended. So good luck to the Tigers! I had the best experience ever when I finally went to one of the games last year. We even met up with a Tigers fan who was shocked that we all knew how to sing Rokko Oroshi and do the chants along with the crowd, and he ended up wanting to take pictures with us all. I think we ended up nicknaming him "our Chotto Drunk Kansai Buddy". But as Lauren said it, "we are now the generation that can say 'I remember when Colonel Sanders was at the bottom of the river'".
But now that I actually have two day weekends with work I’m planning to do a lot more travelling, even if its
What are you thinking about?
This was an odd moment. Molly and I were waiting for Karl, and we both had our hands in our pockets.. come to find out we were both playing with buttons at the same time. just between Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Next weekend Keely is coming down for an early Hanami and so we can celebrate our birthdays, and the following weekend my sister is coming for the Hanami events we have here in Washington D.C. And then I’ll be off for a ten day journey to Göteborg to visit friends and see Aniki, and do some whirlwind job hunting! So, expect more in the coming weeks!
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