I think that title is appropriately Japan-eque with it's "enjoy" usage, and also serves as a very loose tie to what this blog once was.
I have been living in Antigua, Guatemala for the past 10 days and have about 15 more to go before I head home. I'll just use this post to say the following things that I have learned/thought these past few days:
-Never tell someone (nevermind a woman) what you think he/she is feeling, unless you are either a therapist, or have been asked directly by a close friend.
-Antigua: where either the holes in the sidewalk will take you out or the windows jutting out onto the sidewalk will
and other things, but they are in my other notebook.. so for another time. now it's time to shower while the small amount of hot water coming out of the tap isn't very noticable because it's warm out.
2009年9月24日木曜日
The End (maybe?)
The last of my posts. Unless you want to hear about what I did on the farm, or the progress I'm making on getting my niece and nephews to love me more, I won't have anything good to say. Although compared with the excitement of Russia I'm sure this will pale in comparison. Alas, bear with me? Yes, do, Ireland was still good craic (craic being pronounced crack, and being Irish for fun).
I was in Ireland for 7 days and spent them all with Caoimhe, who is wonderful. We toured an old jail in Dublin, in which I learned a bit about how shit the British were to the Irish and that the jail design system we have now was basically what the Victorian's came up with (minus the orange jumpsuits) with the one person/cell, and the basic architecture. The next day we went on a PaddyWagon tour, as Caoimhe lives just outside of Dublin, on the East coast, which is lovely, but the West coast is the coast to see, and the PaddyWagon tours go there, provide you with a tackily painted van to ride in, Irish guide to tell you trivia and bad jokes, and a hand full of other tourists who, in our case, include loud Americans, one of whom did some Irish step dancing for us! We saw the Cliffs of Moher (which may or may not have been the Cliffs of Iinsanity from the Princess Bride) and the Burren (sp?), which is desolate and unfarmable land which have little walls going through them, made by hungry Irish whom the British decided needed to do something to earn soup during the famine, they weren't just going to give it to them!
The next day we toured the old Jameson distillery, which due to Caoimhe's quick volunteering skills, also included a comparison taste test of Scotch, Jameson Whiskey, and Bourbon, along with a shot of Jameson and whatever mix you wanted. After this rather nice start to the afternoon, we wandered the streets for a while and met up with Paul-- just back from a vacation in Spain and clearly in withdrawal from not spending nearly every waking moment with me. Once Paul had got his fill, he went home and we met up with some of Caoimhe's friends and her sister for dinner at Pizza Stop (a nice restaurant where Caoimhe's sister Niamh had seen U2 once, woooo?) and then to a bar near by. My body still confused about what time it was had me nearly sleeping by 1am, so we called it a night and headed home. The next day Paul had decided to show me around some sights of Dublin, which if I remember correctly were St.Stevens green and a restaurant that used to be run by the Harri Krishnas. Sadly the Harri Krishnas were not to be found at the restaurant, but were found on the street a few blocks away chanting. The best part of the chant being "Dali Llama, Llama Rama". Caoimhe's camogie team was playing the the championship game for Dublin, so the 2 of us headed there to cheer them on while Paul went home to pack for his move to England. The game was great to watch-- fast paced, easy to follow and Caoimhe's old team won! Which lead to going out to celebrate with them afterwards, and having a good number of people ask me if I was her sister. (Which in Japan I understood as all tall blond people must be related, but found surprising in Ireland). and of course stopping at Tamangos, the local club of fame/shame.
On Saturday we got up early and caught a bus to Cork, to meet with Niall. Niall being Maeve's friend who volunteered to show me around town along with his girlfriend Marie. We watched the Gaelic football match at a local pub, ate some great dinner and then pub hopped the night away. We visited Sober Lane, The Castle and The Slate. The highlight being at The Castle, where there was a group of (rather drunk) men singing Irish songs/ballads and "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling". People were surprised to learn that Canadians do not normally sing at bars, hence the novelty of this for me. Wanting to get some more Dublin time in, we left Cork early the next morning, saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts to spend an afternoon wandering Dublin one last time and then a relaxing night at Caoimhe's, mostly spent playing with her kitten named Ziggy.
Sadly my time in Ireland had come to and end, and after an early morning to get to the airport, 3 movies to get to JFK, 2 1/2 hours in JFK, and then another hour to Toronto, plus driving home, I finally made it back to my home sweet home. It feels good/strange/sad/exciting/everything to be back, and no one really believes that I'm here for good. It's the first time I've been in Ontario for the fall in 6 years (!) and I'm really looking forward to it. To pumpkin pie, fall fairs, changing leaves, Canadian Thanksgiving, working on the farm, just being with my family and so much more. And that's it. I have plans to see Metric in concert, a Margaret Atwood book reading and a film festival movie along with babysitting in the near future, but the late future remains a mystery. If anything good happens I'll let you know. Otherwise, so ends the blog of Joy in Japan.
I was in Ireland for 7 days and spent them all with Caoimhe, who is wonderful. We toured an old jail in Dublin, in which I learned a bit about how shit the British were to the Irish and that the jail design system we have now was basically what the Victorian's came up with (minus the orange jumpsuits) with the one person/cell, and the basic architecture. The next day we went on a PaddyWagon tour, as Caoimhe lives just outside of Dublin, on the East coast, which is lovely, but the West coast is the coast to see, and the PaddyWagon tours go there, provide you with a tackily painted van to ride in, Irish guide to tell you trivia and bad jokes, and a hand full of other tourists who, in our case, include loud Americans, one of whom did some Irish step dancing for us! We saw the Cliffs of Moher (which may or may not have been the Cliffs of Iinsanity from the Princess Bride) and the Burren (sp?), which is desolate and unfarmable land which have little walls going through them, made by hungry Irish whom the British decided needed to do something to earn soup during the famine, they weren't just going to give it to them!
The next day we toured the old Jameson distillery, which due to Caoimhe's quick volunteering skills, also included a comparison taste test of Scotch, Jameson Whiskey, and Bourbon, along with a shot of Jameson and whatever mix you wanted. After this rather nice start to the afternoon, we wandered the streets for a while and met up with Paul-- just back from a vacation in Spain and clearly in withdrawal from not spending nearly every waking moment with me. Once Paul had got his fill, he went home and we met up with some of Caoimhe's friends and her sister for dinner at Pizza Stop (a nice restaurant where Caoimhe's sister Niamh had seen U2 once, woooo?) and then to a bar near by. My body still confused about what time it was had me nearly sleeping by 1am, so we called it a night and headed home. The next day Paul had decided to show me around some sights of Dublin, which if I remember correctly were St.Stevens green and a restaurant that used to be run by the Harri Krishnas. Sadly the Harri Krishnas were not to be found at the restaurant, but were found on the street a few blocks away chanting. The best part of the chant being "Dali Llama, Llama Rama". Caoimhe's camogie team was playing the the championship game for Dublin, so the 2 of us headed there to cheer them on while Paul went home to pack for his move to England. The game was great to watch-- fast paced, easy to follow and Caoimhe's old team won! Which lead to going out to celebrate with them afterwards, and having a good number of people ask me if I was her sister. (Which in Japan I understood as all tall blond people must be related, but found surprising in Ireland). and of course stopping at Tamangos, the local club of fame/shame.
On Saturday we got up early and caught a bus to Cork, to meet with Niall. Niall being Maeve's friend who volunteered to show me around town along with his girlfriend Marie. We watched the Gaelic football match at a local pub, ate some great dinner and then pub hopped the night away. We visited Sober Lane, The Castle and The Slate. The highlight being at The Castle, where there was a group of (rather drunk) men singing Irish songs/ballads and "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling". People were surprised to learn that Canadians do not normally sing at bars, hence the novelty of this for me. Wanting to get some more Dublin time in, we left Cork early the next morning, saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts to spend an afternoon wandering Dublin one last time and then a relaxing night at Caoimhe's, mostly spent playing with her kitten named Ziggy.
Sadly my time in Ireland had come to and end, and after an early morning to get to the airport, 3 movies to get to JFK, 2 1/2 hours in JFK, and then another hour to Toronto, plus driving home, I finally made it back to my home sweet home. It feels good/strange/sad/exciting/everything to be back, and no one really believes that I'm here for good. It's the first time I've been in Ontario for the fall in 6 years (!) and I'm really looking forward to it. To pumpkin pie, fall fairs, changing leaves, Canadian Thanksgiving, working on the farm, just being with my family and so much more. And that's it. I have plans to see Metric in concert, a Margaret Atwood book reading and a film festival movie along with babysitting in the near future, but the late future remains a mystery. If anything good happens I'll let you know. Otherwise, so ends the blog of Joy in Japan.
2009年9月16日水曜日
Further Adventures
So this blog is no longer about Joy in Japan, and yet I keep posting. I'll stop, I promise as I will have no more exciting things to share because I am now in my last stop, Ireland. (maybe one more about Ireland though). I spent 6 days in Holland visiting some family and friends, after spending 7 hours wandering Copenhagen on my layover from St. Petersburg. I feel as though I've gone through a careful process of leaving Japan. I went to Russia, a country where I didn't stand out as much, but still couldn't read or speak. Then I went to Holland where I blended in perfectly, could read, but couldn't speak. And now I'm in a country where I can read and speak! Instead of working through all the details since I last wrote you, here is a short list of the highlights! (which is sure to be as verbose as always).
Copenhagen: It's full of beautiful people, Scandinavia lives up to its reputation. A place I think I'd like to live (if I had money).
Holland: Arrived on my 2nd cousin Rob's birthday, so went out all night, the next day went to a Coldplay concert. Spent 1 day touring around the city on bikes (of course!) and I think part of my brain was just confused about the amount of English I heard (so many tourists!). Spent one day up in Massdijke, where my mom's cousin lives (Rob's mom), walked along the shore of the North Sea and spent a relaxing evening playing rumikub. Sunday went to an Ajax game, where they destroyed the other team 6-0, and then went to Utrecht to visit my friend Sara-- a Canadian. 2 nights in Utrecht, enjoying cobblestone roads and canals, shopping and a few Heineken of course. I got mistaken for being Dutch twice by Rob's friends which was fun.
Ireland:Just arrived-- got picked up by my wonderful friend Caoimhe and her mother, had a cup of tea and some brown bread, went for a walk along the shore and am about to have dinner shortly. Looking forward to doing some sightseeing and enjoying great company.
And for good measure, more Russian details: roller-blades! Everywhere! Memo to Russia, it's not 1993 anymore. Also, at zebra crosswalks, cars would actually stop! Not fly by ignoring you. A further detail about Ana, who helped us out in Moscow-- she seemed like an average girl, but once we got near to Moscow she got out of her train clothes (a t-shirt and pair of track pants) and into super tight jeans, a belt buckle that read "open for business" (Paul and I debated if she knew what this mean, we think not?) and tight white tank top... with no bra. Still as lovely and wonderful, but quite the transformation!
Copenhagen: It's full of beautiful people, Scandinavia lives up to its reputation. A place I think I'd like to live (if I had money).
Holland: Arrived on my 2nd cousin Rob's birthday, so went out all night, the next day went to a Coldplay concert. Spent 1 day touring around the city on bikes (of course!) and I think part of my brain was just confused about the amount of English I heard (so many tourists!). Spent one day up in Massdijke, where my mom's cousin lives (Rob's mom), walked along the shore of the North Sea and spent a relaxing evening playing rumikub. Sunday went to an Ajax game, where they destroyed the other team 6-0, and then went to Utrecht to visit my friend Sara-- a Canadian. 2 nights in Utrecht, enjoying cobblestone roads and canals, shopping and a few Heineken of course. I got mistaken for being Dutch twice by Rob's friends which was fun.
Ireland:Just arrived-- got picked up by my wonderful friend Caoimhe and her mother, had a cup of tea and some brown bread, went for a walk along the shore and am about to have dinner shortly. Looking forward to doing some sightseeing and enjoying great company.
And for good measure, more Russian details: roller-blades! Everywhere! Memo to Russia, it's not 1993 anymore. Also, at zebra crosswalks, cars would actually stop! Not fly by ignoring you. A further detail about Ana, who helped us out in Moscow-- she seemed like an average girl, but once we got near to Moscow she got out of her train clothes (a t-shirt and pair of track pants) and into super tight jeans, a belt buckle that read "open for business" (Paul and I debated if she knew what this mean, we think not?) and tight white tank top... with no bra. Still as lovely and wonderful, but quite the transformation!
2009年9月9日水曜日
Ra Ra Rasputin
Russian thoughts, the final chapter.
Russia has also proved to evoke "Oh Russia" moments from me (similar to the Oh Japan, usually said at moments of the good and bad kinds of awesome). Some examples of this would be: the massive popularity of the mullet. the trend of wearing see-through clothing, the closing of Red Square for a week, the incredible Stalin Skyscrapers, the beautifully decorated --think chandeliers, and mosaics-- subway system of Moscow, the Orthodox Churches with the floor to top of dome images and icons, a woman singing opera outside a church (she was there at 1pm and still going when we came back that way at 4pm), drinking on the street, high heels galore, and more.
On our first day in St. Petersburg we walked and walked and walked some more. In the rain no less. It was soggy and cold, and it felt very good to finally sit down, once we found our hostel again. (Russia is better than Japan which abhors street signs, but the Russian ones are tiny and hidden, not ideal when ones shoes are pinching and the rain keeps coming down). St.Petersburg has proven to be a beautiful city-- it's fully of old buildings and wonderful architecture. I can easily picture my book characters hopping in carriages and rushing off to see their lovers-- it's great.
Our hostel here is nice-- it's what would happen if an old Russia apartment and Ikea had children. Crazy high ceilings, strange rooms, an old fashioned key, and more ikea furniture and housewares than you can shake a stick at. It just opened this past May, which makes it the 4th place we stayed at that has been open a year or less (Vladivostok was maybe 6 months, Omsk 2 weeks and Moscow maybe a year). Not sure if there is a sudden tourist boom or what, but it's working in our favour. The overnight trip here from Moscow was in itself a lesson in appreciating how lucky we were the rest of our journey. We were in a kupe with a young-ish couple and their 2 year old daughter. Their daughter who had a cough/infection of some manner, and who used her potty in the middle of the room. Crying, coughing, pooing, and a father figure who certainly didn't enjoy having to share the kupe made us quite happy to get off the train in the morning, and appreciative of kupe mates who could take themselves to the bathroom. And it sits in stark contrast to this morning, when I woke up to 6 boys sleeping in their underwear.
Yesterday we went to the old fort, in the rain, a pretty old cathedral, and enjoyed nice views of the city and met an Albertan and his family. First Canadians on the trip yet! Today was a visit to the Hermitage, one of the biggest/best(?) art museums/examples of why the Russians revolted against the aristocracy. Catherine the Great may have gotten her name from her great expenses rather than her love of the peasants. And more walking, some souvenir shopping and then a very nice Russian dinner at a restaurant we found while walking towards the famous theatres. Sadly they were closed by the time we made it there, so I guess next time I go to Russia I will have to get ballet tickets to appreciate the wonders that I hear the theatres are.
I can't quite believe my time in Russia is over, 19 days, gone! but it's been great and I'd love to come back and take my time in the cities I feel I rushed through. Tomorrow to the Netherlands and then to Ireland and then home. So I think this is my last mass email. I would heartily recommends the trans Siberian to anyone. While most Russian people have responded with shock about our taking it without speaking Russian, it is more or less hopping on public transport and carrying on. I certainly appreciated having Paul on this trip with me, for the conversation, and the male presence of protection and hope to one day do it all again but in the winter.
Russia has also proved to evoke "Oh Russia" moments from me (similar to the Oh Japan, usually said at moments of the good and bad kinds of awesome). Some examples of this would be: the massive popularity of the mullet. the trend of wearing see-through clothing, the closing of Red Square for a week, the incredible Stalin Skyscrapers, the beautifully decorated --think chandeliers, and mosaics-- subway system of Moscow, the Orthodox Churches with the floor to top of dome images and icons, a woman singing opera outside a church (she was there at 1pm and still going when we came back that way at 4pm), drinking on the street, high heels galore, and more.
On our first day in St. Petersburg we walked and walked and walked some more. In the rain no less. It was soggy and cold, and it felt very good to finally sit down, once we found our hostel again. (Russia is better than Japan which abhors street signs, but the Russian ones are tiny and hidden, not ideal when ones shoes are pinching and the rain keeps coming down). St.Petersburg has proven to be a beautiful city-- it's fully of old buildings and wonderful architecture. I can easily picture my book characters hopping in carriages and rushing off to see their lovers-- it's great.
Our hostel here is nice-- it's what would happen if an old Russia apartment and Ikea had children. Crazy high ceilings, strange rooms, an old fashioned key, and more ikea furniture and housewares than you can shake a stick at. It just opened this past May, which makes it the 4th place we stayed at that has been open a year or less (Vladivostok was maybe 6 months, Omsk 2 weeks and Moscow maybe a year). Not sure if there is a sudden tourist boom or what, but it's working in our favour. The overnight trip here from Moscow was in itself a lesson in appreciating how lucky we were the rest of our journey. We were in a kupe with a young-ish couple and their 2 year old daughter. Their daughter who had a cough/infection of some manner, and who used her potty in the middle of the room. Crying, coughing, pooing, and a father figure who certainly didn't enjoy having to share the kupe made us quite happy to get off the train in the morning, and appreciative of kupe mates who could take themselves to the bathroom. And it sits in stark contrast to this morning, when I woke up to 6 boys sleeping in their underwear.
Yesterday we went to the old fort, in the rain, a pretty old cathedral, and enjoyed nice views of the city and met an Albertan and his family. First Canadians on the trip yet! Today was a visit to the Hermitage, one of the biggest/best(?) art museums/examples of why the Russians revolted against the aristocracy. Catherine the Great may have gotten her name from her great expenses rather than her love of the peasants. And more walking, some souvenir shopping and then a very nice Russian dinner at a restaurant we found while walking towards the famous theatres. Sadly they were closed by the time we made it there, so I guess next time I go to Russia I will have to get ballet tickets to appreciate the wonders that I hear the theatres are.
I can't quite believe my time in Russia is over, 19 days, gone! but it's been great and I'd love to come back and take my time in the cities I feel I rushed through. Tomorrow to the Netherlands and then to Ireland and then home. So I think this is my last mass email. I would heartily recommends the trans Siberian to anyone. While most Russian people have responded with shock about our taking it without speaking Russian, it is more or less hopping on public transport and carrying on. I certainly appreciated having Paul on this trip with me, for the conversation, and the male presence of protection and hope to one day do it all again but in the winter.
2009年9月6日日曜日
Mosc-woot
It is Saturday night here in Moscow, although my body isnt really sure where it is or what time it is there. I suppose I am suffering from train lag, but hopefully once I stay in the same one for longer than 3 days my body can adjust.
Getting to Moscow from Omsk worked out well, as our kupe mate, a 26 year old girl named Ana, proved to not only not be a smelly big Russian man, but also drank vodka with us, used her basic English readily, helped us book tickets to St.Petersburg from Moscow and put us on the right subway to get to our hostel. She was incredibly kind and we felt lucky to have met her. We got to the hostel, showered and wandered the streets, realizing that our hostel is in a nice and wealthy neighbourhood, making Moscow seem much safer than we thought it would be. The next day we went to a park full of old soviet statues (hello many Lennins, a Stalin (!) and a Marx to an art museum that had and exhibit of Soviet art, and then through Gorky Park and wandered around the riverside, till we went up to Moscow University (which is an incredibly impressive and imposing building, google it!) for a great view of the city. Spent the night wandering the streets trying to not get too lost and enjoying the nice drinking in public laws of Russia.
Today was our 2nd full day in Moscow, and we hoped to gaze upon Lenin's corpse. Once we got ourselves organized we realized it was getting late (viewing hours are only between 10am and 1pm) so we rushed down to the main street, only to find out that it is student day, and the streets were PACKED with university students, soldiers, and with various gates and metal detectors. No good side street in sight, we steadily worked our way to the mausoleum via metro only to find out that Red Square and it's accouterments are all closed to the public, for about a week. And that it's Moscow's birthday so the whole main street would be blocked off all day, and in fact, all weekend. Meaning to get around it or just wander around meant being gated off from other streets, and needing to walk through a metal detector everytime we wanted to go back to a main street. Safety and soldiers first.
A bit frustrated by this information, we learned that we could get into Red Square, if we bought tickets to an international military marching band concert/competition. So we did. Yes, I know you're jealous-- 2 hours of marching bands! but in fairness China didn't send their band, just their special dance/tai-chi/faux fighting team they had perform at the Olympics. And there was a Russian dance troupe that did all the cool Russian dances with the spinning and the whatnot. I'd say just wait for the photos, but alas, I read "no cameras" on the English sign for the concert and didn't bring mine, only to realize that this is Russia and that means nothing. So use your imagination? youtube? Sorry. It was amazing and a bit surreal. (In case you are wondering, the competing bands were: Russia, the UK, France, India, Finland, China, Kazikstan, Israel and Italy. Israel played "if I were a rich man" and Kazikstan was a close 2nd to Russia with the size and marching, the rest were clearly in a lower league).
Tomorrow we will go the Arabat and wander around the armory, maybe stopping at a small town outside the city with a nice old feel to it and a monestary, and then get on a night train to St. Petersburg. Good times await I'm sure.
It's now much later than I hoped to go to bed, so I shall stop typing and get some sleep, hopefully not waking up in a few hours due to a confused body clock.
Getting to Moscow from Omsk worked out well, as our kupe mate, a 26 year old girl named Ana, proved to not only not be a smelly big Russian man, but also drank vodka with us, used her basic English readily, helped us book tickets to St.Petersburg from Moscow and put us on the right subway to get to our hostel. She was incredibly kind and we felt lucky to have met her. We got to the hostel, showered and wandered the streets, realizing that our hostel is in a nice and wealthy neighbourhood, making Moscow seem much safer than we thought it would be. The next day we went to a park full of old soviet statues (hello many Lennins, a Stalin (!) and a Marx to an art museum that had and exhibit of Soviet art, and then through Gorky Park and wandered around the riverside, till we went up to Moscow University (which is an incredibly impressive and imposing building, google it!) for a great view of the city. Spent the night wandering the streets trying to not get too lost and enjoying the nice drinking in public laws of Russia.
Today was our 2nd full day in Moscow, and we hoped to gaze upon Lenin's corpse. Once we got ourselves organized we realized it was getting late (viewing hours are only between 10am and 1pm) so we rushed down to the main street, only to find out that it is student day, and the streets were PACKED with university students, soldiers, and with various gates and metal detectors. No good side street in sight, we steadily worked our way to the mausoleum via metro only to find out that Red Square and it's accouterments are all closed to the public, for about a week. And that it's Moscow's birthday so the whole main street would be blocked off all day, and in fact, all weekend. Meaning to get around it or just wander around meant being gated off from other streets, and needing to walk through a metal detector everytime we wanted to go back to a main street. Safety and soldiers first.
A bit frustrated by this information, we learned that we could get into Red Square, if we bought tickets to an international military marching band concert/competition. So we did. Yes, I know you're jealous-- 2 hours of marching bands! but in fairness China didn't send their band, just their special dance/tai-chi/faux fighting team they had perform at the Olympics. And there was a Russian dance troupe that did all the cool Russian dances with the spinning and the whatnot. I'd say just wait for the photos, but alas, I read "no cameras" on the English sign for the concert and didn't bring mine, only to realize that this is Russia and that means nothing. So use your imagination? youtube? Sorry. It was amazing and a bit surreal. (In case you are wondering, the competing bands were: Russia, the UK, France, India, Finland, China, Kazikstan, Israel and Italy. Israel played "if I were a rich man" and Kazikstan was a close 2nd to Russia with the size and marching, the rest were clearly in a lower league).
Tomorrow we will go the Arabat and wander around the armory, maybe stopping at a small town outside the city with a nice old feel to it and a monestary, and then get on a night train to St. Petersburg. Good times await I'm sure.
It's now much later than I hoped to go to bed, so I shall stop typing and get some sleep, hopefully not waking up in a few hours due to a confused body clock.
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