No jetlag

After yoga, mama and I came back home to find something for lunch. After much thought, mama decided to take me to one of her favorite sushi places in kawagoe a city north of shiki. After a nice walk through kawagoe and seeing people all around enjoy the tiny beginnings of cherry blossoms opening with barbecues everywhere and food stalls along the river banks, we found the sushi place. We sat down an had a nice lunch. After lunch we headed ban home to get mamas things for a meeing she has this evening in shinjuku. Together we took the train to ikebukuro so I could exchange my japan rail pass in or the ticket. I then went alone around ikebukuro for some shopping– mainly to see what’s new in the electronic stores and stores I used frequent when living here. After a couple if hours, I’m now on the train back home to meet up with papa for yakitori :).

Yoga

This morning, mama and I went to yoga after a great breakfast and eating my itty bitty birthday cake. I sat in the yoga class with about 10 other older women and did various yoga poses! Needless to say, it was a fun experience and really great to stretch after my long journey yesterday.

Landed in tokyo!

After a long flight with probably the best seats shirt of business class, we arrived on time. I rushes through immigration and customs so I could make my bus departing at 4:30. Everything went smoothly and I was quite surprised that immigration now does two fingerprints and face scan. My how times have changed! It’s a little rainy an overcast and definitely the ride to shiki will put me to sleep.

Off to japan!

This morning I woke up early to get all my stuff together for my trip. Last night I got a beautiful birthday cake that I wasn’t able to eat so it just got a free trip to Tokyo:) I got my iPhone loaded with lost, survivor and desperate housewives so I hope to see a decent charge on the phone to let me watch them all. As I joked yesterday I may have to go to the lavatory and plug into the charger there ;) these past few months have been extremely busy-perhaps the busiest ever. I’m so excited for my break and to visit my childhood dream of japan for cherry blossom season is the beat rejuvination I can imagine for my new decade of life. Stay tuned as my adventure unfolds!

Scary Realization of the ‘Grand Public’

Today I was waiting in line at the post office and something completely absurd and scary happened. I was annoyed when I came in because there were only two open registers, and a line of about 10 of us–all I needed to do was pick up a package.

When the cashier at one window finished the last customer, she looked at the first person waiting and said, ‘Using credit or debit?’ The customer said no, cash. So she said back sorry I don’t have any cash, and then yelled out, anyone using Credit or debit? So the next person in line went up to the window saying I’d like to buy one stamp. She said, are you using credit or debit? The customer says, no, cash. So she sends him back in line.

This cashier did this all the way back to me, and I’m just laughing appalled at the ignorance and lack of hearing comprehension of this whole spectacle. Every single person ignored what the cashier asked, and went up anyway thinking they could use cash. How does this happen? The woman behind me must have had a functioning brain as well, be we were just laughing at the absurdity of it all.

This is why we have to ensure that our voting ballots are crystal clear and error resistant, and put those bizarre warnings on things like ‘microwaves are not meant for drying clothes or live animals.’  If the government is ever looking for a ‘test group’ to see if something is fool proof, please visit the Post Office of 94109 in San Francisco.

The year of 30.

2009 has started off to be a great year so far. For the first time in long while, I finally feel settled, and ‘at home’ with my life in San Francisco. It’s taken a couple of years, a rocky employment situation, and a consistency with people to finally feel situated, but it’s great to feel there are things that I can depend on again.

It’s strange to think how fast time went by last year. Usually my life has been punctuated by big events of travel, excursions, an ambition of doing something new, but this year, despite doing most of those things, it seems that those punctuations aren’t as loud. I guess I’m finally in a routine now, and with routine, time flies. I am happy that I was able to go to Russia last year, and I even made it back to Chattanooga. I also did a quick trip to New York as well, and an even quicker trip to Hawaii. All in all, the year flew past, and I’m excited to see what this year brings.

For all of those born in the year of the Sheep (羊) or 1979, you know this is our year of turning 30. There are scary things about moving to another decade of life, but with turning 30, I feel like I’m reflecting on everything that I did in my 20s. Unlike when I turned 20, I hardly thought about what I did when I was 10.

It has been 10 years since I moved to Tokyo to go to school. Japan has always been a dream of mine and that year was one of the best years I’ll ever remember. The excitement, the youth, the freedom of being a student, the soaking of information was all just more than I could dream about. To celebrate 10 years of ‘relative absence’ in Japan, I’ve decided to go back to Japan to celebrate my 30th birthday. I can’t think of a better destination for this special occasion, and I’m already planning meeting up with old friends, seeing my old school and apartment, and creating itineraries for discovering new friends, new places, and new experiences.

Be sure to visit Globetrotter.us during my trip this spring to watch as my journey unfolds of visiting Japan during it’s most culturally significant time of year, the Cherry Blossom Season–the time of new beginning.