HAPPY NEW YEAR! (and decade!)

Image from CNN Go

a.k.a.

Prepare for cheese...

Dear Friends,

I just want you all to know how much you mean to me. Looking back over '09, it has definitely been a year of strengthening friendships with wonderful new people, and simultaneously realising the strength of long-held friendships that I hope will stick for life.

Being here in this new land, where the roads are lit by vending machines and the language is strange and unfamiliar (but where there is so much to learn and experience!) I have realised just how lucky I am to have so many brilliant people already in my life.

I talk all the time about people back home, about crazy things I've done or fun events I've been to. I can't shut up about it half the time. And all of the amazing, fun and crazy things I've had the opportunity to enjoy have only been possible because of all of you – and how amazing, fun and crazy you are.

I'll wrap this up now, as it is partly due to an afternoon New Year's Eve gin (which is packing more of a punch than I'd like to admit!) and also because I don't want to be such a cornball in this oh-so-public forum.

In conclusion: You are all wonderful. And yes, I mean you. Don't forget that, and don't underestimate how much you bring to the lives of the people around you.

Happy New Year!

Love from,
The Girl Who Loves Gin A Little Too Much (but hell, it loves her right back!)

A Less Than Merry Christmas

I don't want this post to turn into The Great Wallow: Christmas '09, but let's just say that the past couple days have, for want of a better term, pretty much sucked.

Since I don't want this blog to be an edited, sunshine-and-roses account of my time in Tokyo, I'll briefly explain why Christmas '09 bit the big one.

For starters, I really missed my family and friends. That's a given. I knew it would be tough, but it was a lot harder than I had prepared myself for. Talking to them and thinking about them both helped and made it worse, too.

Second, life in Tokyo sure ain’t just all-you-can-drink specials, neon lights, ramen noodles and tutu-wearing fashionistas (though I wish it were!).

For example, trains can absolutely suck. Last night, after a long day of feeling lonely and homesick, I was on the train to Omiya when I realised that I felt absolutely horrible. I'm talking ill – dizzy, blurred vision, dancing spots in front of my eyes, cold sweat, really thought I was about to yak, almost at the point of passing out. This was helped by the delightful fact that at the time, I was crammed into the corner of a stuffy, hot and crowded train car – drunk salarymen all around, zero personal space, no fresh air to speak of.

Needless to say, we had to exit the train at the next stop (in the middle of who knows where) before I completely lost it. Naturally, my ailments also put a kibosh on our evening's plans – but we did get to wander around a freezing and almost empty train station and wait 15 minutes for the first of three trains that would get us all the way back home (after travelling about an hour or more to get to where we were).

So yes: Crammed into a corner, feeling queasy and awful and sad... my Christmas Day night wasn't exactly a high point. Plus I felt bad about ruining the evening with my stupid delicate stomach. (And hello, since when?! I can eat an entire pan full of nachos covered in questionable cheese and be fine! Heck, I go grocery shopping so little that sometimes I have to turn a blind eye to expiry dates when I'm really really hungry! But Japan Megan's stomach apparently balks at some goddamn rice covered in frickin' seaweed. Figures.) Coupled with an earlier bout of manic crying on a (very patient) shoulder (a spectacle of epic proportions – I'll admit that all my homesickness sort of came to head at once and next thing I knew I was blubbering like an idiot, with no end in sight) I was worn out, tired, sick, and hatin' on Christmas. And my eyes hurt. Probably from the blubbering.

Anyways, we made the journey all the way back home. It was grand. I had to clutch onto a rail and close my eyes to make it that last 5 or so stops without passing out/yakking/dissolving into more blubbering.

So I'm not quite feeling myself today, or yesterday, or possibly even tomorrow.

But hell, I'm in Tokyo! I know I'm hardly in a position to be complaining too loudly. I know I'll make the most of it (I hope!), it will be amazing, and I'll have so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences. But being here has also made me realise how much awesomeness I am lucky enough to have at home. And right now I really miss that awesomeness.

All that aside, I did get an unexpected Christmas present (of sorts), and discover that gin, orange juice and tonic water is a delicious drink. So the day wasn't all bad. And hey, tomorrow is a new one...

'A Place Called Home'

a.k.a.
A little bit of Tokyo all my own!
a.k.a.
Merry Christmas Eve!

After four weeks of listening to the same damn pan flute tune every night, of trekking down two flights of stairs to get to the shower/decent toilet, of sharing facilities with 70 strangers, of hitting my head on the top bunk, of the girl down the hall practising opera really loudly every morning, of people vacuuming at 2am, of listening to my French neighbour snore through my wall or my other neighbours stomp down the hallway… I have moved to my own apartment!

I love it. It is more space solely my own than I have ever had. I could put up shitloads of naked Harry Potter fan art if I wanted. (I won’t, though…) I could pick a character and cover every single surface with its face – Snoopy, Rilakkuma, Care Bears, Anpanman, or of course the ubiquitous Hello Kitty. (Doubt I’ll be doing that, either.) I could walk around naked for days on end, eat a bunch of peanuts and throw the shells on the ground, or sing show tunes at the top of my lungs. Point is – I’ve never had a place of my own before. I’ve never had a mailbox for just my mail, or a kitchen where all the food in the cupboard is mine (or rather, where the lack of food in the cupboard is solely my fault). Not that I don’t like shared living, I love it – but this is something totally new and exhilarating for me.

My toilet has a button that puts the seat up/down for you. There is also the bidet and seat-warming functions, although I’m yet to brave the former. My lights are remote controlled. With fancy dimmer functions for mood lighting. And I thought I’d need to buy a lamp – ha! Just press a button and BAM! Romantic lighting. Fluorescent lighting. No lighting. Awesome.

I’m glad I moved before Christmas. Actually, I’m glad about a lot of things.

***
It’s Christmas Eve. Christmas spirit is rampant here. I’ve seen about twenty different people in Santa-themed costumes today (as well as a cow and a Pikachu) and have heard almost every carol known to man. All day I’ve seen crowds lined up to buy tiny roast chickens, or gorgeous cakes with holly and strawberries on top.

On the way home tonight, I bought two pieces of fried chicken from two girls dressed as Mrs Claus. They were camped outside the Family Mart near where I live, and they had a little set-up complete with carols, a selection of Christmas cakes, and colourful signs. I wasn’t planning to buy any, but they were just so damn enthusiastic – waving their little sign by the side of the road, yelling and jumping around. How could I not buy some greasy deliciousness from them? I had managed to successfully breeze past every other vendor selling chicken/Christmas cakes/confectionery of the holiday kind/general cheer up to that point, too. Even the two girls outside CoCo, who instead of playing Christmas carols were playing the soundtrack to High School Musical 3 (do not even ask why I can recognise it). But these two girls… they were clearly having a great time, and didn’t care that they had to dress up as Mrs Claus and scream at the top of their lungs for several hours. It kinda made me smile. And it kinda made me want chicken.

Christmas in Japan is such a funny thing… but more on that another time.

***
All I want for Christmas is:

• Lomo camera
• Awesome sneakers I saw the other day
• Jalapeno poppers (Um, how have I never had these before?! Jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and then deep-fried? Shit yes!)
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• Japanese ability
• Hugs from my friends and family
• Really, really cheesy lasagne
• A really, really cheesy Christmas movie
• Pie of any kind – I’m thinking apple, or a really good pumpkin
• Direction in life
• A sense of direction

***

Merry Christmas!

‘All My Friends’

a.k.a.
Christmas approaches… like a kitschy, glittery ball of nostalgia

You know what? It’s the small victories that matter.

It’s realising that the large building near your train station, the one you haven’t really noticed before, is actually a mother of a department store with all wonder of food stalls and import stores in its basement – not to mention a supermarket and a 100 yen store.

Needless to say, as both a cheapskate and food lover, I was filled with joy when I made this discovery. Two-minute noodles! Slippers for 100 yen! Over-priced comfort foods imported from home!

However, upon wandering into the supermarket, my happy wonderment was soon replaced with a homesick melancholy, complete with forlorn frown. The supermarket, lavishly decked out in full Christmas garb, was playing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ – my favourite Christmas carol. I’ve always liked it, ever since I first heard it (which was probably in Home Alone or something), even though to be honest it’s been overused in every single corny American Christmas movie ever made.

Anyway, this was just another unhappy reminder that Christmas is just around the corner.

(Sigh. Here comes the unwelcome I-do-wish-I-was-having-Christmas-at-home rant.)

I mean, it’s just… I like Christmas shit. And I don’t want to end up sitting in my room by myself, in a Christmas hat, clutching a turkey bone and weeping on Christmas day this year. Scratch that – I’ll probably be clutching an empty bag of Doritos that I bought myself as a Christmas treat. Totally pathetic. I mean, you can’t even really pull a bon bon by yourself. Instead of feasting on prawns and consumerism in the sunshine back home, I’ll probably just end up reading the Christmas Day portions of all the Harry Potter books and eating a block of over-priced cheese.

(Actually, that said, one thing I will definitely be doing this year is watching corny Christmas movies – such as It’s a Wonderful Life – since there’s no one around to judge me.)

[I heart you, Jimmy Stewart]

Anyways, this is what I was thinking about when I did my first Tokyo grocery shop. I bought mandarins, orange juice and peanut butter, stopped myself from getting all misty-eyed in the vegetable section, almost tripped an elderly lady with a walking frame, managed to pay for my goods without insulting the cashier, and made it home before the wallowing truly kicked in. Like I said, small victories.

***
Back home, my friends and I used to have a big Thanksgiving dinner every year. It was mainly a chance to get together, eat delicious food, have pumpkin pie contests, talk for hours, and have long corny conversations about all the things we were thankful for. I have the best memories of those dinners – chowing down on sweet potato mash with marshmallows on top, sitting outside under the stars, feeling as though dinners just like these were some of the best times of my whole life.

Each year, my contribution would be a ridiculous sculpture made out of bread (that, and a bowl of frozen peas) – mainly because cooking and I don’t always get along, but also because I like doing weird shit like make ridiculous sculptures out of bread. My first (and most successful) bread sculpture was a big bread turkey, made out of baguettes, whole loaves, white bread slices and rolls, and held together with damp skewers and a whole lotta love.

Needless to say, Thanksgiving this year was a tough reminder of just how homesick I am. Many cafes and restaurants here hold special Thanksgiving dinners, complete with turkey and pumpkin pie, mainly for the benefit of expats. I was sitting at one such café eating a salmon bagel as they were preparing for a Thanksgiving feast of their own - and on a whim I signed myself up for the 8pm sitting.

The thought of sitting by myself, eating turkey slices and mashed potato, wishing I had one of my friends with me, was a little depressing - but the lure of a hearty roast dinner was too much for me.

Thankfully (pun intended) I ended up having a lovely time. The staff were friendly, and the woman who seemed to be in charge gave me a little bunch of carnations wrapped in foil. There was one point where I nearly started bawling into my pumpkin pie, but I held it together. On the way home, I bought a Harry Potter book for 500 yen, got a ‘free hug’, and made it home without dropping my bag of leftovers or falling over on the train. I was still a bit sad, and still really missed my friends, but I also realised that even though I’m still r e a l l y far from being a true Tokyo-ite, every day the city feels a little bit less like a stranger.

***
Things I have learned about myself since moving here, #23

I suck at riding a bike. Is it me? The bikes? I suspect the former, as everyone else has no trouble riding their bike while holding an umbrella/texting on their phone/looking around smugly. I however am lucky if I don’t run up the back of someone or wobble off the footpath and into the gutter. It is an utter disgrace.

***
In conclusion: I want this pizza. Premium Cheese Fantasy Super Rich Quatro, from Dominos Japan. This baby is appetizer, entrée, main and dessert, with a tasty cheese-filled crust. Hells yes.





“You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan
And the next five years trying to be with your friends again…”
‘All My Friends’, LCD Soundsystem