A break, for my poor finger


I suppose that sounds a bit filthy, maybe not... maybe that is just me. I am in the weekly process of making between 50-90 kanji flashcards. After writing so much, my finger KILLS. My new book is prep for 2kyuu (Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 2), and that is about 1000 kanji if I remember correctly. Remembering the little bastards is one thing, but learning all the vocab that comes along with is the real killer. Wooo 78 this week, all including じ　ず　そ　た　good times. I admit, I am bit concerned about retaining a lot of the vocab, but if I somehow manage to review continuously, there is a chance. It has been done before. Plus, I will have J here to beat me with the old hockey stick if I slack off.



My kiddies had graduation this week. It was tearful at times, but I was more proud than sad. I have some photos to post as soon as I get around to uploading them. I really need to get a new camera, sigh. Mine is being held together with packing tape. No lie.

The Toyama JETs Team Teaching Handbook of doom is finally finished. I went in on Monday to get the damn thing completed, and after pasting 165 tiny numbers onto individual pages (hurrah for numbering the old-fashioned way!) finally filed it in the finished file. Just for clarification, the finished file is a recycled cardboard box. Stay classy GEC.

Rounding out the week was downloading some fantastic music I have been meaning to for a while. I have Caribou's The Milk of Human Kindness on repeat, currently. I could listen to "Pelican Narrows" for 3 days straight and never tire of it.

Last, but not least, I have a few hidden Saipan photos that J posted on Facebook, and I have the privilege of putting up here! (the opening photo, and the one below) I love seeing old photos that I forgot were taken. They always make me happy.

Howl's Malay Moving Castle
(eat your heart out, Baron!)



This is the less than beautiful, yet awesome dive platform that we stayed at for 4 days off the coast of Borneo in Sipadan.

I wanted somewhere with lush reefs, and variety of sea life, but without costing a million dollars. Sipadan has been on my list for a while now, and tickets from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur weren't going to cost me an appendage, so things were looking up. Seaventures used to be an old ocean drill unit. Looks quite a bit like an oil rig. The humor of it is, it's a horrible eyesore on the skyline. If you are staying at the fancypants resort connected to the island, you have this giant rusty multi-colored mess marring the view. But, if you are on the platform, all you can see are beautiful islands, open ocean, and the sweet architecture of the nearby resort. ha ha! It really does remind me of Howl's Moving Castle. What do you think?




Bunny and I left Joshie to fend for himself in Aonang for the day, and headed to the airport on the morning of the 21st. We flew out to Kuala Lumpur and hopped a flight from there to Tawau. I will provide a map for clarification.



Tawau is an intriguing little town. I didn't quite know what to anticipate, because it is considered a "business centre" in Malaysia, but is also in the middle of nowhere Borneo. Many conferences go on there, for some reason. The city was about 20 minutes away from the airport, and kinda reminded me of the seedy outskirts of Miami. Not the kind of place you would want to take a late night stroll alone in. It is famous for it's cocoa, strangely enough, and on the way back through, Bunny and I hit up the factory for a personal tour! More on that momentarily.

The next morning, we headed back to the airport to catch our minivan to Sipadan (bonus: that rhymed). The drive was somewhere around 2 hours long, and we amused ourselves by trying to figure out what all the palm planations were about (palm oil!) and looking for monkeys. We arrived at the coast with a view of this...


(borrowed this picture from picasaweb)

Looks pretty, ne? I only wish you could see the massive amount of garbage floating in the water. It was revolting and quite sad. The trash disappated as we went out in the boat towards the platform, but it's impossible to forget. So, the boat. We were taken out the 30min boatride to the platform by our captain and his two sons. They were gorgeous kids. The youngest had grabbed my rucksack and slung it on his back to help us to the boat. I am never again allowed to bitch about it being heavy. He was about 9 years old and had no problem. We headed into open water with the horrid pollution disappearing behind us. I promised myself, that if I ever have the means, I will attempt to fund a pollution cleanup near Sipadan.

The platform came into site, and I was downright giddy. We hopped onto the lift and were greeted at the top with mango juice and our keys. Mango juice is always exciting, but I couldn't wait to get upstairs to see our digs. It was quaint, comfortable enough, air conditioning, and a mostly functioning toilet (that I managed to break the handle off of, since I am a beast). My only qualm was our "roommates". Seems the platform has fought a war, a nuclear holocaust, if you will... against a plague of roaches. The humans lost. I asked Evie (the happiest divemaster you will ever meet) about it, and she said they bombed multiple times, but the bastards refused to fully die. It took me a day of squeamishness and sleeping with the bathroom light on, to get used to the idea, but the next few days were fine. Like Evie said, "you dive all day and all you do on the platform is sleep and eat, so you don't even notice so much." Also, she hooked us up with a courtesy roachspray!

We stayed the 22nd-26th, and got about 8 dives in. Nothing the first day, because we didn't arrive in time to catch the afternoon boat, nor did we have our equipment sorted out. So, our first morning, we woke up early and headed out to Sipadan for 2 dives. The first one was as Barracuda Point. Hell of a way to start us off. The barracuda formed a massive school and were practically a wall of shining teeth. It was amazing to see. We also came across a fair number of white tip reef sharks, and hawksbill turtles lazing about. Visibility was magnificent, and it was easily one of the best dives of the trip.


(another borrowed image, sorry I didn't have a camera for these dives!)

The 2nd dive was Turtle Tomb. Disturbing name, I know. It's a cave system, that many a turtle has headed into to rest, and then when it was time to surface for air, they had managed to get too deep into the cave, attempted to go up, and hit the ceiling instead. The floor is littered with bones from many a pineapppular turtle. We didn't go any further than the entrance, because we didn't have the gear, some of us didn't have the experience, and a few diver's have gotten lost in there before. Nice. Evie was great at pointing out the microlife along the walls, for the rest of that dive. Many tiny shrimp, nudibranch, and crazy looking creatures that the untrained eye would have mistaken for coral or seaplants. We turned a corner and entered a small cove where jackfish had formed a spiral stemming from the ocean floor, nearly to the surface of the water. They just coned continuously, as we swam around them.



We headed back to the platform that afternoon, feeling pretty damn accomplished, and (at least I was, as you can see above, me looking smug) overwhelmed by the sheer number of turtles we saw. We were just about within site of our monstrous base, when one of our divemasters spotted a whale. He dove off the side of the boat and within minutes had surfaced again, was climbing back in, and gushing about the humpback he had just seen underwater. Our boat ambled around for 1/2 an hour or more trying to get close enough that we could swim near the whale, but it wasn't to be. Several of us were 1/2 geared up, perched on the prow of the boat, which you could see below on one of my previous posts. (all photos of me are stolen from Bunny)

Ok, that was rather long... so I will save the next day's dives for another post. Preferably when I have access at home to my own stash of photos. I am going to go back to studying kanji and staring out the window at the pretty snow.

Less Artsy, more well... you know

More pictures from Oz on demand. Enjoy. Above, is me looking like a hillbillie. Gotta love wifebeaters!

After Sat-chan's friend's party. Hooched and waiting on the bus.



Tree-huggers.



We headed into New South Wales to go to the beach. It was pretty fabulous. Here is Steveo soaking in the sun.


We walked a bit and generally chilled out. I also got to break in my new diving knife, albeit to cut an avocado for lunch.


Couldn't help myself from taking some footprint and shadow shots, sorry.



At sunset, the shore was amazing. Check out the way the light, sand, and water look in the background of this shot. Oh, and of course, the photo is 100% more saucy with the addition of a wombat.



After the long windy road through the mountains, and a closecall with a certain lady in the backseat, we arrived in the middle of the rainforest!


Where there was the waterfall...


And the ridiculously cold rockpool. Notice me, in the background clutching my towel for warmth.


Along the newly named, Steve Irwin Highway, we stopped to check out the Glass House Mountains.

Hell of a view! The Sauce was telling me the legend of the mountains. Thanks to wikipedia for this synopsis:

In the Aboriginal legend the mountains are members of a family with the father being Mount Tibrogargan and the mother Mount Beerwah. All of the other mountains are sons and daughters with the eldest being Mount Coonowrin.

Tibrogargan, the father, observes that the sea is rising and asks that Conowrin the eldest son help their pregnant mother to safety. Terrified, Coonowrin instead flees. Infuriated by his sons cowardice Tibrogargan pursues him and strikes him so hard that he dislocates Coonowrin's neck.

Once the danger passes Coonowrin feels tremendous guilt for his actions and asks his father, brothers and sisters for forgiveness but all wept with shame. This is said to explain the many small streams that flow through the area. Tibrogargan turned his back on Coonowrin and gazes out to sea refusing to look at his son Coonowrin who continues to hang his head in shame and cry.

We drove to the town of 1770 for a camping and diving adventure on the 28th. Here is the sunset we missed the closing of the campsite for. A great mistake on our part! We ended up driving through 18km of bush, past numerous kangaroo and cows, to a hidden awesome campsite, where I proceded to get us stuck in the sand, we made friends with some dirty hippies from Brisbane, and we spent the night in our lowly tent, listening to forest critters. Good times.


We dove off of Lady Musgrave Island, and this is a shot from the boat. The water was gorgeous. And well worth the vomit-frenzied 2 hour plus 3ft chop boat ride out there! There was a point where we were literally surrounded by our fellow passengers spewing up their toenails. The crew was running around laughing and joking about how the guy behind us needed to be sick more to catch up to some other dude. "Oh man, 1 liter?! You will never beat the record with that little!" Nice... Note: Steveo and I were one of the few of the 150 people aboard who DID NOT vom. Go us!


Here is a pic on the S.S. Vom-a-thon. Note the look of abject terror.


Steveo did his first dive ever! Yeah! I had two dives and saw many sea turtles. The variety of coral was staggering as well. I didn't know what to expect from the Great Barrier Reef, but besides a meager 15-20m visibility, they were great dives. Oh, and I found a spoon. Yup. A Great Barrier Reef spoon. I win so hard! There I be on a boat!


And one final shot of us looking so good in our dive gear.

drowning in neutral

Dreams freak me out.

I was on a beach, in a very desolate area, almost everything is of a neutral tone. The sand looks grey, the water a pale foamy nondescript color. I enter the water wearing scuba gear, and am pulled out from the shore. We are off the shore of an island, and I have trouble submerging. The water is a bit choppy, and I try to go under with my snorkel, but end up coughing and choking a bit on the sea water. It tastes thicker in my mouth, almost a bloodlike viscosity. I spit it out, and remember to clear it with my regulator, as I switch to breath through it. I have about 3 breaths of air before I am sucking at nothing. I remember how cold the water was, and the feel of the rubber against my lips. I keep trying to clear my mask, and I can't see anything. I open the bottom to let the cold water in, hoping that will de-fog it, but to no avail. I realize that my tank had been prepped, and then the air valve had been closed again. I noticed that all the people around me (maybe 4) had their heads in the water, and seemed to be heading in the same direction. I blindly followed, but was concerned, because I didn't think we were heading the right way and I couldn't breathe. I finally caught up to a girl, her hair was short and blonde, and her ear was half-covered with water. I began calling to her, to help open my valve. I thought about doing it myself, but would have had to take the vest off. Plus, I was already having difficulty keeping bouyant, with no air in my vest and fighting the current that was pulling us further out. I watched her ear the entire time I called to her, mesmerized and terrified by the water, which was keeping me from breathing, as it covered her ear with each wave. She didn't hear me until the third call for help, and when the valve opened, I immediately lifted a bit out of the water as my vest filled. I had this calm over me throughout the whole experience. I was really scared, but its like my body refused to convey it. I was moving mechanically, felt out of myself.

The dive was over, I had spent all my time trying to breathe/etc. Everyone still seemed to be heading the wrong way, though. I began to panic, and finally got oriented. I walked out of the water with some difficulty, and dropped my gear on the shore. There was still no color anywhere. I felt drained. I felt like the landscape around me had lost all its life, and felt like the air I so desperately needed in the water was taken away from me again. On dry land, I couldn't breathe. No sun, no color, no life, no air. I felt the sand, I could still feel, but it just felt empty running through my fingers.

Saipan, here we come!

For the past few weeks, I have been attempting to plan a trip to visit the infamous Emma and Angelo in Saipan. I say trying because the Japanese airlines are fighting me every step of the way.

All that aside, I am really excited to see my bestie and my replacement boyfriend. Its only been a few months, but I miss your attendance at my yoga classes, our random coffee and beer guzzling, and scrabble is never the same without you! J and Keddie will be joining me, and Adam at a later date. Keddles and I will will be diving everywhere we can, while J gets his certification and then joins the madness.

Here is a new little segment I would like to call

Mindless Drivel (currently...)


reading: the wind-up bird chronicle


on repeat: amelie soundtrack


playing: Some kanji learning game that Bunny gave me slime forest


craving: Santoshi curry (droooool)


happening in the office: office dude is cleaning the ceiling vents again!


weather: surprisingly nice for Toyama, kinda sunny (through the clouds)


downloading: samurai champloo


watching: mahou sensei negima

Tulamben's Nyepi Festival



Laurac and I ventured to the stunning island of Bali at the end of March and stayed there for about 5 days. While there, we stayed at the Scuba Seraya Resort and took the PADI diving course with our kick ass instructor Renaud and his wife Marielle. The owner of the resort is Patrick, a really sweet Swiss man. He is very laid back and took care of us as if we were family. The bungalows were in Tulamben, which was about a 2-3 hour drive from Denpasar, the main airport.

As I mentioned, Bali is gorgeous. It's is the first place I have ever visited with black sand, and such deeply dark volcanic soil. Because the vegetation is so lush, and the backdrop is so deep, the green on black color of the whole island is beyond amazing. I loved it, even though it was raining the whole time we were there. And, I managed to get food poisoning from my very first meal! hurrah! We arrived on the 28th and two glorious days later was Nyepi, the day of silence.

The night before Nyepi was the best part.

Tawur Kesanga (the day before Nyepi)
Exactly one day before Nyepi, all villages in Bali hold a large exorcism ceremony at the main village cross road, the meeting place of demons. They usually make Ogoh-ogoh (the fantastic monsters or evil spirits or the Butha Kala made of bamboo) for carnival purposes. The Ogoh-ogoh monsters symbolize the evil spirits surrounding our environment which have to be got rid of from our lives . The carnivals themselves are held all over Bali following sunset. Bleganjur, a Balinese gamelan music accompanies the procession. Some are giants taken from classical Balinese lore. All have fangs, bulging eyes and scary hair and are illuminated by torches.The procession is usually organised by the Seka Teruna, the youth organisation of Banjar. When Ogoh-ogoh is being played by the Seka Teruna, everyone enjoys the carnival. In order to make a harmonic relation between human being and God, human and human, and human and their environments, Tawur Kesanga is performed in every level of society, from the people's house. In the evening, the Hindus celebrating Ngerupuk, start making noises and light burning torches and set fire to the Ogoh-ogoh in order to get the Bhuta Kala, evil spirits, out of our lives.


I was lying in the back of the resort van for a good portion of the celebrations, but when we were wandering the streets, what we saw was amazing. The young men of the village would lift a brightly painted demon effigy over their heads on a bamboo float of sorts, and run around in circles. They fell into the gutters a few times, and looked like they were going to get dizzy and keel over. The little boys of the village all had torches and walked on the sides of the road illuminating the madness. After they parade through the streets for a few hours, they take the effigies, set them on fire, and hurl them off a cliff into the sea. We saw some remains the next morning when we were diving near the cliff.

The next day was actually Nyepi, and we finished all our book work for the license, since we couldn't dive. The 31st was three dives and completion. In our four dives, we saw lionfish, sea turtles, parrotfish, garden eels, scorpion fish, sea cucumber, spotted rays, etc. The diving is supposed to be phenomenal, I can't wait to compare it with other dive sites.

Bali and Western Honshu... check!

I left for Bali 2 weeks ago today (I think). Laurac and I got our PADI diving certification and saw numerous pretty fishies. More on that later. Less than 24 hours upon my return, J and I set off on a 5 day roadtrip. We saw nearly all of Western Honshu, and hit 13 ken. If you look at the lovely map I have provided, you can see we started just north of Fukui and hit the following:

Miyazu (Amanohashidate, one of the 3 great views of Japan)
Tottori (Tottori-sakyu, famous sand dunes)
Izumo (Izumo Taisha, the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan)
Tsuwano (Taiko-Inari-jinja, fox shrine on top a hill on which you have to walk through 1100 red torii (gates))
Fukuoka (Tocho-ji where the biggest wooden buddha presides, and Shofuku-ji the oldest Zen temple in Japan)
Iwakuni (Kintai-kyo the 5 arched Brocade Sash Bridge, and happened to be having a festival when we came)
Kurashiki (old black-tiled district that serves as a craft centre and lies along a stretch of moat, and where we finally found birthday presents for each other)
Okayama (U-jo (crow castle) we got to see it at night and in the daytime, and Kouraku-en, one of Japan's 3 finest gardens)
Bizen/Imeda (town known for its distinct pottery)
Himeji (white egret castle, most famous in Japan (I had seen it before, but Josh never had, so we took a quick detour), and wicked falafel at an Iranian restaurant I found last time I was there)
Eihei-ji (one of the two head temples of the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism founded in 1244 the surrounding town was also having a festival when we came, mmm... chocolate dipped banana!)
Tojinbo and Ojima (rock formations similar to Giant’s Causeway in N. Ireland, and a grilled squid on a stick!)

I crashed in Toyama on Sunday because I am a lazy bastard and J is a saint. More details and pictures when I get my camera back from the blackhole of Sunshine 88.

Coming to school on Monday was like walking out of the calm eye of the hurricane into the chaotic debris flinging madness.