I cut my hair today.

It's Sunday. I'm 30 now. It's official that I passed through my 20s and have moved to the next decade.

Today was nice because I made kabocha curry again. It was nice because I took a nap. I am reading James Clavell's Tai-pan at the moment and quite enjoying it. That man writes as if he is scripting a BBC period drama and boy does this girl love period dramas.

I also finally cut my bangs. My students had all begun to remark on the fact that my bangs were just long enough to reach the top of my face mask and so no one could see my face anymore. This is what happens when I have too much work. No haircuts since July. I fixed that with 45 minutes and a pair of slightly dull scissors. I think I did a fairly smashing job, but I will let you be the judge...someday when I upload my photos.

Okay...so I went to Thailand and Cambodia in July. Then I climbed Fuji in August. I'm not sure what I accomplished in September, we were pretty much preparing for ManInCharge's BIG TEST. In October I was busy, but you know that. I really should get over how busy it was and move onto feeling rested and recuperated once more. I think dwelling on the craziness is postponing my equilibrium.

Back to the equilibrium. Yes. I am restoring it slowly. Healthy home cooked meals. Long pampering baths. Trimming the bangs. Moisturizing the skin. Napping. Oh yes. I was really relaxed. And then my toenail popped off. How gross. I think it has been barely hanging on since Fuji. Then I tortured it a bit more with the marathons. Oh well. I suppose I am a runner now. I will never forget the day that I first heard about this phenomenon. My oh so fit and amazing older sister lost her toenail while training for some sort of endurance race. I thought 'Holy Mackerel! I will never exercise to the point that I lose toenails!' I am kind of proud that I have. I am happy to join my sister in that crew of crazies. I love following in her footsteps. She's usually going a great direction. Now, when the skin heals I will follow her once more and paint my nail-less toe and rock on putting the miles behind me.

Pure Heaven. Pure Chaos. A life to be lived.

I made it. October is rough man. I didn't have time to think most days and as quickly as it was upon us, October has passed me by. It started out sunny and warm. It was nashi (asian pear) season and the rice was harvested. Then came the grapes, the big, thick skinned wine-flavored, full-bodied grapes. It started to rain. There was a typhoon, Melor, that cancelled classes and gave me a moment to catch my breath. Then the Autumn came and with it the month spiralled into frenetic chaos.

There were trips to the farmers market.
There was delicious soft cream consumed.

There were two long-distance races run.

There were pumpkins carved.

There were too many days worked in the month, and yet there was still time for skinned knees from too much competitive badminton. There was the cancelling of school due to the influ (H1N1). There was even a debate contest, a speech contest, and an English Camp. On Halloween I sank to a new low and had a student *steal* a pumpkin for me, in order to carve it with my English club on the following Monday. {*We had permission to requisition the pumpkin from a Halloween fair in the next town over, said student lives in the town and was on the event committee...I really just put her in charge because I knew she'd find me the best pumpkin left, and she did an amazing job.*}

And now...my twenties are in their waning moments. I am tired. I look tired. But tomorrow I wake up 30. One of my dearest friends here decided that the appropriate monument to this milestone was this:

A Hello Kitty shaped cream puff of ginormous proportions. In Japan this work of art has lovingly been christened Kitty-chan Pan. (Hello Kitty Bread) Can I eat her yet?

Happy Birthday everyone, come over and help me with this 3 million calorie present.

**And Terri..I have not forgotten, my chicken and kabocha curry recipe will follow shortly...I bought a pumpkin this week in order to make it once more for the photos.**

Sports Day!

It's Thursday and this girl is done with classes for the week.

Today is Field Day at my twice a week school. The sky was heavy with clouds so I dressed in jeans and a comfy shirt instead of my planned sports clothes. {I didn't want to be teaching in yoga pants if the day was called due to weather.} Either way I am glad that the rain has lifted. Field Day means that I get to spend the day cheering on my students and probably playing badminton in my socks. The lack of rain also will hopefully lift the dreary atmosphere that has been hanging around since Sunday night.

Tomorrow we have a professional development meeting in one of my favorite cities. I am excited because I will be on a panel. I am also excited because I will be wearing a 'new to you' pair of pants. The suit that I am going to wear tomorrow was purchased in the Fall of 2004. I have NEVER worn it. Well, maybe twice, but even then I had a pair of Spanx on. Tomorrow will be the first time I really feel comfortable in it. {Even if I don't have a pair of shoes to match the suit, but this is Japan...coordinating clothes are optional.} Another reason why I am excited to wear it is that it is one of the last times I will wear it. Well, before taking it to the tailor for alteration. Even now it is approaching the too loose to wear end of the spectrum. {This makes me really happy.}

PS - ManInCharge drove me to school today. It was nice. We were babbling in our last minutes in the house together because we usually have to get a lot in before we get on our bikes or go our separate ways. Both of us started to laugh when we realized that we had another 30 minutes together.

PPS - Gotta scoot. I can hear the opening ceremony tanoy going. MUST GET IN ON THE ACTION!

Mail Forwarding...

Mail forwarding is an extremely stressful reality for this girl. Since April of 2008 ManInCharge and I have maintained a single US address for residency and mail purposes. We have our mail on automatic forward every two months.

About two months in I noticed that no mail was arriving. I called the store and checked to make sure that all the systems were in place. They were. The shop just forgot. I suppose a 6 times a year mail forward is small potatoes.

In fairness, usually there is nothing to be forwarded. In fact that cost of the box sometimes feels like a slight waste of money.

This pattern repeated itself until April of 2009, when I woke early and called the shop and asked for a box renewal. I then had a receipt international express mailed to me. That was awesome. Nothing like paying $50.00 for a receipt.

I have heard nothing from them since this time. It's October {almost} and I have received no forwarded mail...not international express, not express mail...nothing. And yet, I know I have mail in my box...

So this morning I woke up early from a fairly disturbing dream in which I was living with my older sister and we were computer programmers locked away by our evil parents who forced us to program for...of all things...our little sister's textile business...

Weird huh?

Though I wouldn't mind living closer to my family...that was a really odd dream. Anyways, the alarm roused me from my befuddled dream world and I got up to call Mr. Mail Forwarding Man. All good so far.

I dialed. He put me on hold for 14 minutes. In fairness, he did pick the phone back up and apologize, but man I didn't wake up early on a rainy fall day for this. So I explained what I needed. He couldn't find my records in the system. {No real shock there.} I gave him my address, as I do every time that I call. This is really disconcerting. They should have my address. It is in my file. With my credit card. I would like to mention, that they have NO problem locating my credit card information in my file.

Giving my address over the phone is disconcerting because it is long and confusing in romanji. If one letter is off, the post man will return to sender instead of delivering it to me. I am not 100% confident that Mr. Mail Forwarding Man got it right. I suppose time will tell. My much anticipated 4 pieces of important mail will arrive, or it won't.

At least this time he took my phone number and said he'd call with any problems.

and we're back...

This SillyGirl was not as conventionally successful as she planned to be. She did manage to escort ManInCharge to his task at hand and arrive back at the assigned meet-up spot 20 minutes early! {MIC was already there...he had finished up the TAH 20 minutes before SGT got on scene...phew good thing she was early...}

Items acquired:
1 month of coffee at a bargin basement price
2 months of the BEST GRANOLA EVER at a reasonable price {Dorset Cereals...please eat}
2 new tank tops at less than stellar but decent price
1 new sweater for 1798 yen ...cheap as chips YAY!
six bagel pizzas of questionable goodness...this is what happens when ManInCharge comes shopping...
soap! YAY!
solid shampoo! YAY!
free bath bomb <3 LUSH
indigestion...from eating at Hard Rock...whoops...American food, you are too fatty and the portions are way too big...
gourmet dog treats for a coworker {her dog...geez}
VITAMIN WATER...impulse buy since I hadn't seen it in 14 months...
beef jerky...ManInCharge again...
black feet from walking across Tokyo in flip flops
awesome sauce hair elastics in awesome sauce colors for cheep

...

I did not accomplish my list, but I busied myself with the dual goal of enjoying myself and going on my necessaries scavenger hunt and I am satisfied. I also went into a Dean & Deluca for the first time ever... got a coffee and a choco chip cookie as a treat while I people watched in Tokyo Midtown. I also had the great pleasure of meeting the one and only Hello Kitty! or Kitty-chan and Mr. Picichu.

...

I have also decided that I want to live in Tokyo when I grow up. ManInCharge was a little discouraged by my new found, albeit belated love for Tokyo, but I'm going to keep working on him.

...

Oh, I almost forgot...ManInCharge showed up, performed the necessary task and I am very proud of him. {He also had indigestion ala a full rack of Hard Rock ribs along with a wicked thirst due to all the salt in the food...ya ManInCharge for surviving a 5 hour test with one 20 oz bottle of water.}

...

In closing...remind me to tell you all about blindness in Japan. If I were to go blind due to accident or illness I would insist on never leaving this country. For now I will leave it at that.

tomorrow is the big day!

Wish us luck...we're moments from heading down to Tokyo. All that is stopping us is this blog post. From 8:00 AM until 1:00 PM ManInCharge will be holding our future in the palm of his hands. Send prayers and well wishes his way. During this same period SillyGirlTree will be SHOPPING! Now that her skinny jeans are a little too baggy for wear and she can actually wear Japanese clothes this lady is planning on using test time as a golden opportunity to finally have an uninhibited day of girl spending. Worry not fearful readers. SGT has mapped, plotted and planned. She will be planning her campaign for mainly around Harijuku and Shibuya.

A brief sampling of the sundries she hopes to pick up:
socks
coffee
pants
Harry Potter jelly bellies
tights
Halloween supplies
shampoo
underpants
granola
cheese
salsa
costume jewelry

Dinner tonight will be Hard Rock Roppongi. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to snag lunch at Pita the Great...the most excellent vegan pita restaurant in the world run by the grouchiest gajin in the world. Keep this family in your prayers, tomorrow is a big day for each of us. Some of us are more excited than others...but either way...big things to come from Japan.

See you tomorrow night...this girl needs to make like a tree and leaf...trains and the future wait for no woman!

ps - she realizes her sundries list is not so exciting...but these are needs, not wants...and getting excited about needs stems the desire for wants...

pps - wish us luck!

ppps - ManInCharge will kill me if I don't leave now...so byyeeeee! {waving as she dashes out the door}

Less is More? Addressing my Coffee Dilemma...

About a week ago I flew into a tirade against commercialism. I do this. At least once a week. Probably more like once a day.

Usually this is a private moment, but last week I had simply heard too many female voices talking about wants as needs and I rashly struck out here.

I could wax poetic about the destructive nature of our national greed. I could share with you a little about the burden I carry as an expat, the constant Americanization of all things not of the USA. To be honest, all of that would be rather preachy of me, and not entirely honest.

My big problem with the buy more, buy now culture is that it is so hard to avoid getting swept up in its wake. Almost daily I have to stop my thoughts and retrain my brain to look at reality and not what I have been marketed to want.

I am going to illustrate this dilemma using my coffee model.

I love coffee. We all know this by now. While for some coffee is a want, for this silly tree it is in fact a need. So, how do I deal with societal marketing pressures in the coffee industry? Sometimes not very well.

Here is a little window into my internal struggle.

This summer I received thrilling news: a Starbucks has opened in my town. Sort of. The coffee shop is on a toll road above my town. Why, having proclaimed my hatred for all things wasteful and indulgent would I celebrate toll-Starbucks?

Let me tell you.

Japanese coffee roasters do something to their beans. Whatever it is, it is very very wrong. Japan is a nation that LOVES coffee, and even thumbs its nose at what American coffee is perceived to be.

{Oh cultural misunderstandings make me so sad sometimes.}

In Japan the espresso drink 'Americano' - espresso with hot water added to increase volume has been misinterpreted to a egregious level. Japanese coffee houses and well meaning friends often serve me 'American' coffee due to my hailing from the USA. 'American' coffee is Japanese drip coffee {which is made weaker than I find acceptable} with tap water added to produce a light, watery horrible coffee.

To add to my coffee stress, java is served in tea cups - not mugs. A typical cup of joe is a half-filled 6 oz tea cup {of diluted coffee}.

Oh! Plenty of space for milk you might say. Oh No! Say the Japanese. All you will be getting is a single container of the worst fake creamer ever - in fact it is marketed as whitener because there is no creaminess to be gained through its use, only color change.

Goodness when I start thinking about Japanese interpretations of my beloved morning beverage, I can really get distracted.

Yeah.

Just a bit.

For the benefit of those of you that have hung in there I will attempt to get to my point...

I was temporarily over the moon when a large multinational coffee consortium arrived above me. Why? Starbucks was my first Japanese caffeine solution. In our early days of life in Japan these were the first beans that I could accept as reasonable...

even though I think they intentionally 'over-roast' {read burns} their beans; even though I think charging what they do for a bag of beans {￥1500 for a 190g bag} is highway murder; even though I am attempting to live a life that does not require a $50.00+ a month coffee habit {don't be shocked...do the math yourself and see how much you spend at coffee shops and on coffee for home.}...there is a seemingly endless list of even thoughs...

And so, I have on some level become endeared to an over-branded, over-priced and below-quality product. Ahhh!

However, my coffee quest was not completed once I began buying those burnt beans. As the caffeine cleared my head I continued to try and source a decent roaster and I have had success. {Sort of} I buy yummy, cheap coffee. My coffee roaster lives in Hawaii. I don't know him, and wish I had the option to buy locally roasted beans, but where I am now, that is simply not possible. I feel better about locally sourcing this by telling myself that Hawaii is really just an extension of this archipelago. I'm not sure that this is geographically accurate, but for me...it works.

I am happy to report that instead of paying tolls to get expensive burnt beans, I pick up 190g bags of beautiful coffee for around 7-12 bucks a bag.

I usually pack my own travel mug or thermos when I am mobile since nothing tastes as good as my home brew. In the rare event that I do grab a cup of joe on the road I no longer ramble off a ridiculously long name of some over sugared espresso drink. I simply get a medium cafe au lait {the only way to get milk in percolated coffee in Japan}.

Making these changes has brought down my monthly coffee costs and makes me feel less guilty about my role in following along with the Joneses...or Itos...or Nakamuras...