The past month has been absolutely crazy busy! I don’t know what I was thinking, organizing so many things. I am definitely ready for a quiet month of lazy weekends and movie nights now though.
To spare detail overload, I was away every weekend in October (minus this one). I was actually in the same prefecture each time, but I was in a new part every weekend. Absolute insanity. Although Nagano, the prefecture I went to, is quite beautiful, so it really was a great way to spend my weekends out of Tokyo suburbs.
The first place I went was Karuizawa, which is a nice mountain getaway. Apparently, people flock there during the summer to escape the heat, and during the winter, for the gnarly ski slopes man. I went twice, first with Ryouta and his family, and then again with my ALT coworker, several Japanese teachers and the daughters of my Japanese coworkers.
About to go zip-lining with Ryouta and his family
Teachers and kids in Karuizawa
Obviously, fun times were had!
I also made it out to a quite little town called Ina, which is where one of my JET friends, Maya, is living. It’s definitely a tiny town, but it’s charming, and is nestled in a valley between the Japanese Alps mountain ranges.
I was even lucky enough to go to an ALT Canadian Thanksgiving party! All in all, it was really relaxed and nice to experience Japanese smalltown life.
Oh, and Nagano is famous for soba. And my body is always telling me that it’s time for soba!
It’s hard to wrap my mind around 23. It was weird trying to comprehend being 22. I blame the awkward transition of exciting, significant birthdays to…the bleak waiting till I can officially get the senior citizen discount at 55. I think that’s the only other milestone to look forward to. 30 is terrifying. Heck, 25 is terrifying!
Last week, however, was far from terrifying. In fact, it was one of the nicest birthdays I’ve had.
No trip is complete without mouse ears!
Officially, the celebrations began two Fridays ago when I went to Disneyland with Lena. We forgot that it was a national holiday, which meant the park was overwhelmed with people and Fast Passes for every ride had run out before noon. Nonetheless, we still managed to ride everything we wanted. Additionally, we went to guest relations and got a birthday sticker to proudly wear around, which resulted in a bilingual celebration of my entrance to this world from all cast members and, most amazingly, a weird sort of shout out from Roz at the end of the Monsters Inc ride. I’m still trying to figure that out, but I doubt Disney Magic will ever speak.
Ryota and I also went shopping in Ginza- oh la la- before we went to see Beauty and the Beast the musical. I am ridiculously looking forward to my gift when it’s finished being sized but until then…I shan’t say a word more.
Along the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo
Beauty and the Beast was amazing, and I found out it was Ryouta’s first time seeing a professional musical. Considering my family had season passes to the Starlight Theater in San Diego for numerous summers growing up, that boggled my mind. I then decided that I we were going to see the mother of all musicals, The Phantom of the Opera. Cats is also playing but a.) I don’t like furries and b.) I don’t know the story so it’ll be harder for me to follow in Japanese.
And Tuesday, I wanted to curl up and just cuddle with all the warm fuzzy feeling my coworkers endeared upon me. I honestly wasn’t expecting a big hulabaloo-birthdays just aren’t that big of a deal on this side of the pond- but even W-sensei gave me a Free Lunch coupon! And Sabina really outdid herself by making a cake and sewing a ridiculously kawaii skirt that embraces my identity as ‘Mama Duck Teigan’.
Not to mention the Mexican Fiesta themed boxes my family sent, which contained not only chips, salsa, cheese dip, tortillas and taco shells but two-TWO-pairs of new shoes. Thank goodness, because my old pair was falling apart, and unless I want to cut off my toes it’s impossible to find shoes in Japan.
