music, silence, food

Some things.

On Saturday I walked to Uniqlo (not the closest Uniqlo, turns out -- damn you, Google Maps, for lying to me) to buy some socks, as I have put holes in three pairs since I've gotten here. I went ahead and got two more t-shirts while I was there, since it looks like I will be doing more dressed-down work (cleaning, etc.) and less dressed-up work than I had at first predicted.


I know some folk think Uniqlo's stuff is bland and boring, but you guys: When you are a size FREAKING ENORMOUS by most Japanese standards, and Uniqlo carries most of the basics in sizes up to XL (an American XL, more or less) -- that is a godsend. I love Uniqlo. Also their socks fit unusually well -- they go up just far enough to avoid slipping over the heel and have a good seam at the toe (and come in cute patterns.) I bought three pairs last time I was here, but alas! one half of each pair disappeared into the ether, and I was left with one red, one blue, and one gray striped sock.

On the way park I walked through a large park with a mysterious structure inside a large wall that I could not identify. Upon further investigation, I realized that it was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Durrrr. The current building only dates from 1855 (only!), though there has been an imperial palace near this location since the late 700s. Two recent emperors were crowned here (though not the most recent), but it isn't currently used as a residence. You have to request permission to go inside, but I just walked about and took some picture of the wall and the roofs and stuff. (There's also a bunch of normal park stuff on the grounds, like a baseball diamond and tennis courts.)


VERDANT FOLIAGE on the roof!

oops

I think the picture says it all.

Google maps tells me I walked 8.2 miles round trip . . . it didn't feel like that much, but sure.

critters

Still feeling unready for hardcore sightseeing, so instead I took a walk along the river, probably about 6 miles round trip. There's sort of a boulevard that runs along the Kamo River (鴨川) ("duck river"! how appropriate) for probably five to six miles of its length, though admittedly I did not go upstream much of where my street hits the river.

During said walk I encountered all of the following wildlife:

• Mallard ducks
• Three or four Grey Herons
• Four or five Little Egrets (yup, had to look both of those up)
• A flock of very large crows eating trash out of the river (eep)
• A pile of cats sleeping on a tarp outside a makeshift shelter under one of the many bridges
• A very large Akita also sleeping outside a different shelter (double eep)
• A small pot-bellied pig out for a stroll with its people
• Swarms of gnats
  
• A large dead eel that two people fishing had just caught and pulled in
• At least three dogs riding in bike baskets: A pug, a King Charles Spaniel, and a Shiba Inu
• Many other dogs playing in the water and doing other holiday-type things, including a Dalmation, a Lab, poodles, a Miniature Pinscher, a trio of long-haired Daschunds, several Shiba Inus, and a Whippet
• Some turtles. Ahem. Technically the turtles were not wildlife, as they were made of concrete and functioned as stepping stones so people could cross the (very wide but also very shallow, ~1 foot deep in most places) river. Lots of little kids were playing out on these. There were also boat- and space shuttle-shaped stepping stones.
  

Overall one can tell it is a holiday. Lots of people were biking, walking, reading books, playing guitars and drums and a little triangular flute and also a ukelele, fishing, picnicking, wading in the water, and so forth.

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I was thinking to myself, "Gee! Perhaps I should be a bit more careful. After all, it might have been sheer luck last time I was in Japan that I didn't get into trouble even though I didn't take any precautions." And that might be true, to a certain extent. However, one thing I've noticed is that no one here seems to use bike locks. They just park their bikes and go, something that wouldn't be a very good idea even in Boston. So, mark that up under the "Japan really is an absurdly safe country," column.

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I reiterate: My apartment is awesome. Just. . . awesome. Everything works, everything is clean, and the furnishings even include actual sharp kitchen knives with which it is easy to cut vegetables. If I could find an apartment like this, for this price, in or near central Boston, I would be spinning around screaming in delight. (Of course, I'd need a job too, but . . . housing!) There's air conditioning too, but I'm not sure when I'll need it.

It's tiny, but a tiny, private space is pretty agreeable. (Also the bathroom is one of those that the whole thing -- tub, floor, walls, everything -- is a continuous plastic piece, which I find amusing.)

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I'm re-watching The Lord of the Rings. It makes me feel extra homey, though I should probably watch some Japanese fantasy next so that my mind gets switched back on that grammatical channel.

lies!

I am full of them, chiefly that I wouldn't blog about Japan at all until I'd finished my London posts. I have led you astray!

Ah well.

Some things:

• I have located my apartment.
• I have located my office.
• I have located the grocery store closest to my apartment.
  
• I have located the infamous デニシュブレド ("Danish bread"), a deadly buttery concoction that was the primary reason that I gained weight in Japan last time despite walking 6 miles daily.
• According to Google Maps (which is not the most reliable source for Japan, admittedly) I walked about 7 miles this morning. Here is a somewhat loose representation of my route:

  

This is ignoring all the times I got lost.

not the most boring walk ever

But in February, with no wildflowers and no crops and no dive-bombing sparrow, it's up there. The upside of this walk is that it's flat (the downside being, I am reminded that either my feet are not the same shape or that the arch support in one of my shoes is failing???) Google maps says 4.3 miles.

the mist rolled in

Sadly I forgot my camera on my epic 3.5+ mile walk today. I learned the literal meaning of "the mist rolled in," because it did so as I was walking through the Missouri Valley cemetery on top of the hill. I walked by a World War I memorial (Missouri Valley has a World War I memorial??) in the cemetery, as well as the grave of the father of a guy who was two years ahead of me in school. It was windy and cloudy and weirdly refreshing to be out. I realized that, despite living in Missouri Valley for most of my life, my family is still "Magnolia folk" -- at least, judging by where we have people in the ground.

Epic walk shown below:

However, THAT map leaves out the MOST EPIC part of my walk, which it was necessary to go into Google Earth to depict. OBSERVE:

I climbed up the Primary Hill! My path is shown in white; the highest point (more or less) is shown with a red arrow on the perspective view and a vertical black line on the graph. The school has since moved, and now the kindergarteners and first graders are all over on 9th Street with all the other elementary school goers, but once upon a time (i.e. when I was a 5- and 6-year-old) Primary School was on 1st Street. There was a path leading up the side of the hill, and it was my fondest desire as a 5-year-old to climb it. However! It was not to be! The recess monitors yelled at us, barred us from even setting foot on the lower part of the hill, and otherwise seemed unenchanted with the idea of a lot of tiny gradeschoolers clinging to the side of an extremely steep hill!

BUT TODAY, THERE WERE NO RECESS MONITORS TO STAND IN MY WAY.

I climbed (as you can see from the awesome altitude chart generated by Google Earth) right about 50 m, or 164 feet. The prairie grass and sumac stood me well: Without those sturdy handholds I would have doubtless fallen a great deal more than I did. As it was, after I had circled the crown of the hill and determined I couldn't come down the opposite side without trespassing in some people's yards, I ended up sliding down a path that may have actually been the remnants of a small mudslide on my butt and getting pretty well covered in clay.

Epic, I tell you. Epic.

and fun times were had by all

My thesis presentation was yesterday done and went reasonably well. Now I merely have to write the actual thesis. Ha! (Yes, I do have a good bit of it written, but I have a long ways to go before Tuesday.) After that I one final; the next week I go to New York for two days; the week after that I graduate.

Last night I went out with a friend to celebrate at Piattini's, an Italian restaurant on Newbury Street. I even had a glass of wine with dinner -- pinot grigio something something. It was a white wine, not terribly sweet but very pleasant. I fear I am dreadfully ignorant when it comes to alcohol in general.

Today I started making good on my self-promise to do a lot of walking.



This route is about 7.5 miles, according to Google Maps.

Good times. Now I'm trying to iron out my flight to Madrid this summer. Oh boy. . .

thoughts of the week

In all honesty, this week hasn't brought too many thoughts besides the following: "UNNNNNNNGGGGHGHH AARRRRRRGGGGHHHH PANIC" and "I'm tired. enh. Why am I so tired. . . ? The fact that I am tired worries me."

But. . .

But this weekend. . . yesterday and today I wore a skirt or shorts; it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and pretty damn gorgeous. Life seems better, even though nothing has changed. (I also took an 8.8 mile walk yesterday, which was the turning point between "I feel miserable" to "gee, I feel pretty good.") I have already walked four or five miles today, and I am planning on going out again.

Now I smell like sweat. This should be horrible. I should be embarrassed. But I realized that I smell different in warm weather than in cold weather, and I have not smelled like warm-weather sweat for seven months. It is novel, in fact. [EDIT: I forgot this is what I smell like when I burn, even slightly. Ain't life bizarre?]

[Edit #2: Walked a total of 24 miles this weekend. Boo-yah me. The longest portion walked consecutively of that -- 9.3 miles -- is pictured above. . . man I love Boston.]

Thanks to my blog binge on swissmiss this weekend, I found a number of things to think about, which perhaps will follow in a different blog post.

But from the week, sort of: