peach blossoms

I hesitate to say that winter is already on it's way out, though as the third month of 2008 arrives I have to say things do seem to be brightening up. On my walk home from the mini-farmer's market that we just heard about a few days ago (that apparently has existed every weekend, just a seven or eight minute walk from our apartment) I was met with the early harbingers of spring. As I shuffled past, I peeked into the gated residential gardens, sometimes litter-strewn and sometimes impeccably kept, and was rewarded with delicate lines of peach blossoms. It is only when the first tendrils of spring unfold that I realize just how much the winter gray can affect me.

Arguably my best times in Germany came with the spring, which makes me feel a bit sad that perhaps I will be leaving Japan at just the point where I'd be settling in. But I have lamented this enough. Were I to really transplant here, I think I am at the age (and have the disposition?) where I would enjoy living in a bigger city, or at least in a city. Naruto has it's charms, but as far as social activities go, I am kind of limited to my next-door boyfriend, and the occasional jaunt with one of the handful of foreigners I know in the surrounding towns. Most of the hip experiences I've had have been (unsurprisingly) in Tokyo, which on most weekends seems a lot farther away than it really is.

I have been spending most of my free time writing emails that could possibly appeal to a wider audience (though I somehow feel bad about just copying and pasting things to my blog), and continuing research for our Southeast Asia trip. I haven't really made any more concrete decisions than the last time I wrote, even on which route we will take in peninsular SE Asia... I am still trying to figure out border crossing information. It is hard to know what source has the most up to date information, and if that information is really even up to date enough. This is of primary importance with these countries as they are growing up so quickly. Anyway.

Week before last my mom was here, which was very nice, except that I had to go to work every day but the one she came in on (Sunday) and the one she flew out on (Saturday). She was aware of all of this when she bought her tickets back in the fall, but I got daily guilt trips from the coworkers at my school who knew she was here. It was difficult to explain in English why she would want to come here and then not scramble around to see every tourist spot, but this was nearly impossible in Japanese. So with every new teacher's suggestion of Kyoto or Tokyo I would nod politely and promise to look into it.

Though we didn't scurry around the country snapping photos of every famous landmark, Mom did get to see a side of Japan she apparently wasn't already acquainted with. (That is, farming country! Yeehaw) From around 1980 to 1982 my father was stationed at the navy base in Yokosuka, Japan, and my mom lived thereabouts, and in Yokohama (which is almost exactly just across the Boso peninsula and Tokyo Bay from me). My sister was also born here... and living here now I guess I complete the family picture.

I think what might have been the highlight of the visit, apart from the two nights of yakiniku at a neighborhood restaurant we just discovered (... mmhm grilled beef), was on Mom's last night here. One of the three junior high English teachers I work with invited my mom, Hylton and I to her home in Chiba (about 45 minutes to an hour away). I accepted the invitation without ever really figuring out if it was just to look at their newly unpacked display for Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival/Girl's Day, March 3rd), as was described, or if we'd be getting food in the process as well. Another one of the teachers I work with at that school, at whose home Hylton and I have twice dined, was also invited along with his wife.

The teacher picked up Mom, Hylton and I, and drove us through Friday traffic to her house. Once there I quickly realized we would be greeted with characteristic Japanese hospitality--- in other words, lots of food. I basically spent the evening alternating between watching my teacher's husband try to convince Hylton to accompany him to a soccer game, and my mom and my two coworker's quickly polishing off whole bottles of wine, and the expected outcomes thereof. I kind of felt lame, down at the end of the table, but I was able to secure most of the strawberries for myself. The courteous drive home by the other teacher's wife was also a spirited affair, as my (other) teacher was good and drunk. A lot of the evening's (drunken) conversation had centered around my teacher's inebriated antics in college, and how his then-girlfriend, now-wife had had to write all of his papers for him. Interesting confessions from an educator. Very funny, though. The quote Hylton and I keep repeating that isn't really funny unless you were there: "Every day I kiss my wife and put my hand on his waist."

I also just realized that this week I passed the one month mark--- I have now less than one month of teaching left. More intellectual drivel on this subject to come.