Monday, June 22, 2009

Damp, Drugged and Dealing with Bugs

The rainy season. This stretch of time where the air is so literally thick it feels like slight resistance when moving. Like a perpetual fog that infiltrates all of this island...just one big sauna for your sweating pleasure.

What good does it do to even take showers in the morning, since you just become sweaty as soon as you walk out the door. I fear my every-other-day hair washing routine may come to an end quite quickly. We won't even talk about humidity and acne.

Does it rain every day? Of course not. Although one would probably assume that. I certainly did. Many pleasant, sunny days abound, albeit hot and humid. In fact, just this past weekend was one of those hot, miserably humid pleasant, sunny days. My dashing husband and I decided to take a trip to our new home come the end of July - Shimada, Shizuoka. David had visited his school there the day before, whilst I was laying in a miserable heap in my equally miserable apartment, taking my first ever sick day from work. Yes, alas, I came down with some cold, trying to convince me it wanted to be a flu, and though I wasn't going to go with David friday anyway, becoming sick on the weekend of his visit did not put me in a very happy mood (on top of a sore throat, hacking out my lungs, etc).

So back to our visit. On our way we stopped to purchase some drugs that I was in desparate need of. My nose took a turn for the worse Saturday and thus left me exclaiming at 10 minute intervals: "DRUGS! I need DRUGS!" Usually, I try to go the natural way as much as possible, but I do have a couple weaknesses, my nose and "that time of the month." Back to the drug store: David, the fluent one, asks for what I need, and then tells me they have no non-drowsy kind. Apparently those are prescription only. Ok, well, something is better than nothing right? My reasoning somewhat far-fetched, especially since drowsy meds in the U.S. act like some kind of tranquilizer for me. We won't even talk about the effects of Benadryl. So I tend to stay far away from drowsy medication unless I just want to be put out at night. David reassures me that he has taken the same kind and he did not get drowsy. Again, my reasoning believes this must all be true, even for my particular body, and pop one of the sugary, M&M looking pills.

Shimada was quite lovely, seemingly quaint, and reminding us very much of Bellingham. We explored some and then went looking for a cell phone store (my provider) to ask some questions. Not long after this, walking back towards the main city area in the heat, I started getting a little dizzy. Not long after that, I started experiencing all kinds of strange symptoms, very akin to that high feeling I got after running in high school... It wasn't long until I was stumbling around and laughing hysterically at things that probably were not that funny. David speculated, out loud, if I would be similar drunk. That concluded our Shimada excursion, since I was too "high" to do anything... I resolved never to take any of these droswy meds during the day again. Unless I want to sleep.

The rainy season also seems to be forcing bugs to find shelter. That shelter seems to be my apartment. Oh yes of course, large spiders, centipedes, mosquitoes, etc. However, just this morning a large wasp was sitting on my living room ceiling. Probably one of the scariest things ever. I nearly had a heart attack trying to suck it up the vacuum. It did not go up the vacuum.... it kept flying out and I kept trying to suck it back up. Finally I got some wide tape, got the wasp just in the vacuum hose and pressed it to the tape. Then I shoved the end of the hose out the door and ripped off the tape so it could fly away. That is when I discovered a wasp nest under my kitchen fan vent overhang. So I then poked my mop handle out the vent and knocked it down. Of course now I keep walking around my apartment like a bear or something is going to attack me at any moment. Oh how much nicer it was to have a guy here this weekend to take care of these silly bugs...

Finally, I thought I might touch on the "uniqueness" of Japanese candy. From my perspective, it appears to be a reflection of the constant "want something new" trend in modern Japan. They come out with special seasonal flavors for so many things and they aren't just things like "mint" for Christmas or "berry" for the 4th of July or things like that in the States (though of course the past few years in the States some candy did seem to go overboard some... like M&Ms and Peeps...

Yet just today at a konbini (convenience store), I kid you not, but there were Apple Vinegar Kit Kats. Yes, Apple Vinegar. Did I buy them? I heavily considered it, but then decided I would probably deeply reject my actions. I now what Apple Vinegar tastes like... would I want to taste it in candy? A Kit Kat? I've tasted watermelon and grape Kit Kats (the former tastes delicious but the grape just tastes like Pepto-bismal) and various kinds of additional textures (of course haven't seen my favorites, mint and dark chocolate *Wikipedia says otherwise*, anywhere here in Japan). They also had ramune, which is the same flavor as that horrible soft cream I had awhile back... the one that tasted like toothpaste or something. So I did not try for any of these odd-flavored Kit Kats this time around. It just made me think about the Japanese obsession with new and different, on a very regular and very constant basis... because once something gets old, it either becomes classic (or tradition) or it just is, old. No longer favored, no longer interesting, just... old. Of course, the U.S. also does this in various settings and ways, but it seems that fads tend to last a little bit longer than they do here... of course, I may be slightly wrong, and again this is just my perception.

Well, my second sick day is almost over, and I need to shower (again), even if it is futile. Till next time... which may or may not be until after we move the end of July and then disappear for a couple weeks...

Friday, June 12, 2009

Time & Ironies

I realize there has been an inordinate amount of silence from me since my last update. There are probably a few reasons for this, or what some might consider excuses.

The first reason, is that the longer I am in Japan, the more detached I feel from my home in Washington. Not in a geographical sense, since Washington will always be considered "home" to me, but in a relational sense. The world continues both here and there, and I am in this one, not that one. So that one exists without me in it, and moves forward, leaving me feeling that I don't fit there anymore. I figured this could happen, but how odd the sense is that your world is essentially no longer your world. So, in sum, this sense of detachment has left me less motivated to update... not that I don't want to share the goings-on with everyone, but simply that is asserts itself as less important... due to its normalcy.

Secondly, there was a wedding. Yes, my wedding. I don't care to write about the details on this blog, but this May wedding, around my birthday, was another distraction from writing and so has been the subsequent transition.

What else? Perhaps the feeling of normalcy. Things aren't new anymore. Not like they were anyway... the sparkle and dazzle has faded into somewhat of a matte. Things just are what they are. This doesn't mean I don't question things or wonder about them, but for the most part, things just are.

Lastly, it is time to say goodbye again. Not to Japan, but to Fukuroi. I just found out that I will be transferred to Shimada High School, in Shimada, Shizuoka. David will be going to Shimada Technical High School (also in Shimada). So, we're definitely happy we are placed close together and also excited about our new surroundings and starting a completely new life together. Just in these moments I'm also quite sad to say goodbye to some of the students and teachers and others I have met and built relationships with, despite the language barrier. Yet, it is time.

And moving. Again. It seems that, moving once a year has become a tradition for me. Every year, I pack up and move everything to a completely new apartment. In some ways, this probably helps me not to accumulate too much stuff, in other ways, it doesn't give me a sense of home yet. I'm hoping eventually, David and I will be able to develop that somewhere... and I'm sure we will. Then I can get a cat.

Things in Japan - the bugs are back in full force, and more so then the last time I said this. I kill about 2-4 mosquitoes (in my apartment) a day. I have bug bites that continue to appear. There are tiny little bugs crawling around. A few weeks ago a giant centipede suddenly appeared, sitting on a pair of pants. I screamed, grabbed the vacuum, and kept screaming as it kept maneuvering away. Then, as I was grabbing my trash bags to put out for collection, a giant spider suddenly started scampering out from beneath them. Again, I screamed, dropped the garbage bags, grabbed one of my shoes and kept trying to throw it at the spider (while screaming). Eventually I got it. Now I always pick up the garbage bags with caution.

I've also had two wasps try to build nests around my apartment. They are dead now.

I don't know what it is about me that the bugs love so much. Dirty little pests.

I've also been noticing various ironies in this dear country. For one, modesty here is an irony. Japan doesn't really have a taboo on nudity like Western countries do (although that continually changes). Yet, they are quite stringent about things like women ALWAYS wearing panty hose with skirts, especially to work. Even if they aren't going to work though, they still wear them. No one ever goes out without them. Or, the fact that in the U.S. at least, women tend to err on the side of caution, by wearing underwear with panty lines with dress pants and such. Japan however, seems to not even know what a thong is, or invisible panty-line underwear, because you can always see it. Same with bra lines or wearing a bra under a white shirt. There seems to be some strange misunderstanding about white shirts - do people really think it is fine to just wear a bra under that? Everyone else can see it. It makes little sense... why where panty-hose when you're showing off your underwear? And that... is a Japanese irony.

Or the fact that, they are so meticulous about sorting trash and yet, in my city at least (I believe it is different among different cities) everyone throws their paper and cardboard into regular burnable trash, instead of recycling it. I think Shimada has a stricter sorting policy than Fukuroi though. We shall see.

Of course, every culture has its list of ironies... it just seems that Japan's are almost too ironic in some ways - and also given it is not so much a diverse nation as places like the U.S. are. Needless to say, it keeps things comically interesting.

Well, I must go for now. My short break of iphone games seems to have left me with 6 mosquito bites on my leg... I don't know how it got that many so fast, but I need to go put something on these... Sigh.

More to say another day.