Out with the Old, In with the New

It seems that my time in Japan is all about learning lessons in life, and boy did I learn some important lessons this past week! I learned that you should always make sure that you have your house keys before leaving work (because negotiating a hotel room in limited Japanese/English at 11:00 pm and wearing the same suit for 36+ hours isn't fun). Also, I learned that people remember the strangest things (the nurse at the hospital remembered exactly who I was from my last trip there in February). Lastly, I am slowly learning not to answer my door between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 am. These knocks can only be coming from my monthly Jehovah's Witness visits, where I end up feeling guilty when I tell the nice Japanese grandmother that "Sorry, I not Bible reader".

Also, as the title of this entry reads, Kurt finished his teaching contract this past week, and we got a new foreign teacher, Nick. Here are some pictures from the Farewell/Welcome party that we had this past Saturday. These poor guys were forced to speak English for most of the night, as they trapped me at their table. It was fun though, as three of them are my regular students.

Here is a picture of us outside of the restaurant at the end of the night. I guess Kurt must have been a popular teacher, since we had about 45 or so people at the party. :) Can you pick the three Americans out?

One final picture of me with the troublesome boys (Kurt and Shu). Now that they have both left the school, I've got my work cut out for me. We did have some great times together, and I will never forget them looking up the Kanji for transvestite one night after work (to see if that was what the hostess bar was advertising).

Smarmy Butlers and No Yakuza

Maybe it's a sign that I am getting older or maybe it's a sign that I try not to live in a fantasy world; regardless though, I don't really understand the draw of butler cafes. Butler/Maid cafes are growing in popularity in Tokyo, and their premise is that you go and pay to be treated like a prince/princesses (they also serve food). I went to one of these a week ago and couldn't really get into it. The food was good, but our butler was a bit smarmy for the setting. The one that we went to had foreign butlers (our's was from Wheaton, IL), and you could pay to practice English with them. Maybe that's the draw?

I also went to the Sanja Matsuri festival at Senso-ji in Asakusa this past weekend. This festival honors the three deities of the shrine. Groups carry mikoshi (portable shrines used to carry deities) around the neighborhood, and you can spend the afternoon grazing at the numerous food stalls surrounding the temple. The place was packed, but we didn't see any yakuza (Japanese gangsters) openly displaying their tattoos and missing pinkies as we had hoped to. Here is a picture of one of the three main mikoshi that were paraded around on Sunday.

Finally, my fellow foreign teacher, Kurt, is getting ready to return to the States. His last day of teaching is Wednesday, so some of our staff went out to dinner last night. We ate at an Okinawan restaurant (Okinawa is kind of like Hawaii is to the US). The food was great, and the people at the table next to us (behind in the picture) were playing traditional Okinawan music on the sanshin (three stringed, banjo-like instruments) at their table.

Bad Mom

I thought I was being a good Mom and remembering to bring Bruce to Bangkok with me. Apparently, Bruce didn't like his trip though and tried to leave his pond for bluer waters. Sorry Amy, I don't think I will be able to fix him this time (the fairy wings were easy to glue back on, but this is a bigger mess).

Bruce had enjoyed the flight from Tokyo to Taipei, Taiwan, even with the limited leg room in the economy section. Here we are at the gate in Taipei.

It must have somewhere between Taipei and Bangkok that Bruce got the itch to free himself. I thought he would have been happy with the additional leg room for him and my carry on, but no such luck. This is a picture of him facing his punishment (time in the checked suitcase) before we departed from Bangkok.

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand...a little surreal and at times a complete sensory overload. It was full of beautiful temples, cheap food, and insane amounts of air and noise pollution.

Bangkok was what the guidebooks said, in that as tourists we were preyed upon for scams from taxi drivers to market vendors, and we also had to pay a premium price at attractions. The latter, I won't argue with though, as the 20 baht admission fees (less than $1) were definitely worth the gilded beauty of Bangkok's temples (Wat). Most of the temples were gleaming, mirrored mosaics accents with lots of gold leaf. They were peaceful oases in the noise, dirt, and pollution of Bangkok. This is a photo of the statues around one of the gold-leafed stupas at Wat Phra Kaew, which is part of the Grand Palace compound. This palace is no longer the King's residence but is still used for some State events.

These are statues in the garden at Wat Pho. The two people in the foreground are illustrating a traditional Thai massage. Wat Pho has a traditional Thai massage school attached to it. I indulged in a half-hour massage (for about $8), and it hurt so good! I still don't know how that little woman was able to have that much force. I definitely recommend it if you are ever in the neighborhood!

Many of the temples that we saw were being re-roofed and cleaned up. It wasn't too bad though, because it usually meant that most of the buildings looked all shiny and new, while one building in the compound was covered up. Here is a picture from Wat Arun for you Mom and Dad. I wonder if Buddha's moving days are as fun as moving me? Just a little something to prime you for when I return to the States in fall.

And as for the legendary Bangkok traffic jams, they were present but weren't as bad as everyone seemed to make them out to be. Maybe it was because I was usually sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of a taxi, or maybe it was because I have been stuck in worse traffic by O'hare airport going into Chicago on a Friday night. I tried riding in a legendary tuk-tuk (a kind of motorized pedicab found throughout Bangkok), but between the lung-clogging air pollution and the seedy touts, we opted for cabs to get around Bangkok. Also, after seeing the driving (lanes are painted on the streets but usually not used), I felt a bit more comfortable having a steel frame around me.