28 May, 2008

Good Things

I'm slacking! I've only been writing blog entries when catastrophe occurs (of course, that seems to be surprisingly often, but still). So I'm going to start writing about the things that have gone RIGHT.

Starting with... cool non-tourist experiences!

In Taiwan, as well as fabulous touristing organized by Inky and Victor, I really enjoyed food from dodgy-looking little restaurants which I suspect many tourists wouldn't touch. And I couldn't have gone there either, without being in the company of Mandarin/Taiwanese-speakers! One great food experience was near the beginning of my trip. We'd gone to a park a ways outside of Taipei, and we stopped in at a temple to have lunch. Yep--a temple.
(Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera when we got out of the car to eat that day, or I'd have a picture to link to here.) Food is cooked and served in a temple, and there are open-air chair and table areas nearby to eat in. Inky, Victor and I chose five HUGE platters of food: duck, shrimp, squid-and-tasty-green-vegetable, fried noodles, and bamboo. We actually managed to eat almost all of it, and it was really really fantastic. (There's a picture on Inky's camera--I'll post it when i get a copy.) I also had a lot of fun just meandering around parks in Taipei. It was really relaxing and pleasant.

Ayumi's place is in a suburb of Ino town, which is about fifteen minutes from Kochi. The area's population is 90% over 60. It's really tiny, and kindof nestled in between a river and the region's hills. There's a lot of farm-land--small sized rice fields in particular--in the area. So it was cool to see a really rural place. Also, I played ping-pong with Ayumi's grandmother, which was really fun.

And when I stayed in Maebashi with Aya's family, we barbecued (yakiniku) and had a takoyaki party (fried octopus pastryish thing)--fun home stuff. I had my very first kotatsu experience. I think Canadians need to pick up the habit of putting a heater under a table and enjoying the results. Oh, and I also played ping-pong. I'm getting almost able to actually hit the ball sometimes!

In Seoul I stayed overnight with the family of a friend of a friend (yes, you read that right) and had fun playing with her (the friend's friend's) terribly cute little nephews. It was also cool to see a traditional-style Korean house! Also in Seoul (and this is something I think few people would care about, but I got a kick out of it) I, a Canadian, ate Nagasaki-style pho in a "Californian Pho Restaurant". In Seoul. It doesn't get much more international than that.

See? Good things have also been happening to me! And from now on, I'm going to try to write about them more.

23 May, 2008

Look, pretty flowers!

Photo from my flickr account

Distracting you from the tales of my folly that lie below with this pretty flower. I saw it in Maebashi, Gunma-ken, Japan, with Aya and her grandmother.

21 May, 2008

Overseas Flight Mistakes: Episode 2

Why is there always an episode 2?!????

I thought my ticket to Korea was for the 21st. Somehow--whether through misunderstanding or divine intervention--it was for the 20th. I didn't read the e-ticket closely enough when I looked at it in advance, so I didn't realize that I was a day late until the 21st.

Fortunately, I got a partial refund and found another cheap ticket for tomorrow--a last minute surprise type of ticket--so I can still go. But really. AGAIN.

There must have been a mistake on the assembly line somewhere. I seem to be missing critical parts. When does the warranty expire? Can I be returned and replaced with a new model?

20 May, 2008

Travel Horror Stories: Epsiode 2

Episode 1 was riding on the back of a motorcycle. You probably weren't scared, but god damn it I was.

Anyway, the moment at hand. There's a bit of background involved, so bear with me. This last week I have been unlucky enough to end up with a bizarre medical problem. I got a cold while working on the play in Kochi, and circumstances lead yeast to grow in my mouth. That sounds gross, and it is gross. It looks like a B-movie monster. It also took me a couple of days to figure out what the gross white stuff taking over my hard palate was.

The day I realized it was there, I had just arrived in Tokyo with Aya. She thought it looked like strep. I was a little bit skeptical because it didn't hurt, but I got some hardcore cold medication from a random pharmacy. That night, we met up with Paul and Renee in Shibuya for dinner and beer.

As we were about to leave the restaurant, I went to the washroom. I happened to look into my mouth. The B-movie monster was growing. It was freaking me out. I decided to take another packet of cold medication. This should fix my possibly-strep, right?

(I have to interject here for a moment to mention that Japanese cold medication is hardcore, and the medication I bought is extra hardcore. It is a cocktail of ibuprofen, some kind of ephedrine, some things that are too hard to read in katakana, and codiene. And remember, I took this when I had just had a beer. I swear, I didn't know what was in there at the time.)

So we all left the restaurant, planning to go to a karaoke box somewhere or maybe to explore Shinjuku nichome. We boarded a nice crowded JR train to Shinjuku. I was being polite and wearing a sicko-mask, because maybe I had strep. I started to feel a bit hot. Then we got off the train. It was crowded, and I think I tripped or something, because Paul and Renee grabbed my arms.

Good thing too, because just at that moment, surrounded by the river of people pouring out of the train against the current of the river of people pouring into it, I proceeded to faint in the middle of Shinjuku station. Apparently the expressions on the faces of the suits around us were pretty priceless, but unfortunately I missed out, because I didn't return to the present until my head hit the pavement. (Don't worry, I didn't even get a bruise.)

Anyway, Paul and Renee escorted Aya and I back to our hotel instead of out on the town. The next day I found an English-speaking doctor, who told me that the stuff in my mouth was probably herpes simplex but maybe not, and then the next next day I talked to my mother, who suggested it was more likely yeast, which is what it is acting like, so I'm going with that. Half a bottle of iodine rinse later, it seems to be going away. Of course, the yeast really has nothing to do with my incident in Shinjuku--it just made me worried enough to take medication when I shouldn't have.

The real lesson here is: don't mix beer, codiene, and subways.

17 May, 2008

Best Engrish So Far

Photo from my flickr account

Spotted April 29 in Ino-cho, Kochi-ken.

15 May, 2008

Stuff I Did in Kochi

I'm in Tokyo right now, with Aya on the way to visit her grandmother. I'll be with them in Gunma until the 21st, and then take off for Korea.

But since I've been remiss (busy and away from internet connections, really), an update on the last couple of weeks is in order. Here's an incomplete list of what I did in Kochi, in no particular order:

- went to awesome caves
- ate sea snake
- directed a play (The Face of Jizo, two locations)
- helped to re-paper rice paper walls
- got naked in public several times (onsen!)
- ate whale (tasty!)
- asked a lot of stupid questions
- saw another mukade and killed it
- saw Polysics and didn't kill them
- saw some local punk bands and really enjoyed it
- sang karaoke
- walked around outside in a typhoon (not as exciting as it sounds, just a serious rainstorm)
- went fly fishing, and broke the rod after about 10 minutes (it was a very old rod)
- got a job in Kochi, so I'll be going back there to do more rad stuff from June forwards!

02 May, 2008

Mukade!


Last night I got a scary surprise. It was about 12:30 and I was just about to drift off to sleep. I heard a scratching kind of noise near my head, and thought perhaps a spider was crawling onto the futon or something, so I got up and turned on a light. To my shock and horror, there was no friendly palm-sized spider creeping around on the floor, or a geji-geji, which I had seen before... there was a mukade, a giant centipede, on my pillow, crawling around just where my head had been only a moment before!

Unfortunately I didn't quite have the presence of mind to take a photo, so the one you see here is from the web. This morning I learned that those things BITE, so I'm glad I ran away to sleep somewhere else instead of sticking around to observe the beast.

And now, heading back to my regularly scheduled giant insect safari...