Rainpocolypse and Thanksgiving

Whew! After a long absence I'm back! I'll just jump right in to what I've been up these past weeks. Being very much afflicted by the weather these past few weeks, I'll start there. Japan is well known for having a rainy season that pops up roughly around June every year. The exception to this rule seems to be my region which has been perpetually bombarded by rain for the last 2-3 weeks almost nonstop. I've never seen rain go on for this long and it we even had thunder and lightning for about 3-4 days in a row! As much as I love rain and storms, I can't pretend that this is a little much and I am desperately hankering for some solar power soon. 

On the plus side, since all the crappy weather has also made it impossible to do my regular runs and bike rides, I have been forced to get acquainted with Sean T. and have been slowly getting my butt kicked by insanity less and less.

Despite the relentless torrent of rain, the nature and fall scenery in Ishikawa continues to be sublime. Two weekends ago, I got a chance to head down to Kanazawa to do what they call in Japan "Autumn Leaf Hunting." As I coming to realize, Japan really values seasonal activities and foods.  In a conversation with one of my Japanese English teacher, I was told that there are certain times when one should go to certain places and certain foods that should only be eaten during a specific season.

Kenrokuen Garden at Autumn

Kanazawa Road

Train I took to get Kanazawa oh Japan:)

After I finished my fall leaf hunting excursion, some fellow JETs and I went out to eat in Kanazawa and had Japan's version of "Chinese" food. Japanese Chinese food differs significantly from American Chinese food in that they are a lot less meat focused and usually feature ramen, potstickers, and tofu related dishes. It's really interesting how Chinese menus seem to change and adapt to the respective cultures' tastes that they are surrounded by. (Although they all remain pretty greasy and delicious).

Japanese/Chinese Meal

Fried Gyoza

Spicy Tofu Dish

To combat homesickness and to bring a little bit of home to Japan, several JETs and I had a Thanksgiving feast yesterday where we all contributed our own side dishes. I brought a little Norwegian/Minnesota pride by making some lefse by scratch. Although they turned out pretty well in the end, I daresay I shan't be making them again in the near future. The reason is that these suckers evidently need about a metric ton of flour in order to make them less adhesive to one's rolling pin. Flour is also pretty darn expensive in Japan so I ended up having to throw down more than 10 dollars on flour just to make one batch.

Ya sure you betcha it's some lefse doncha know!

 Other goodies that JETs made included some usual staples;  potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. However, we did get some entries that were new to my thanksgiving experience. Some Japanese friends of one of the JETs brought over a bowl of chopped cow tongue, another person made some vietnamese spring rolls. My favorite entry, however, was made by a guy named Jiri, a guy from the Czech Republic who brews beer in a local restaurant made some fabulous Czech beer! As most of the beer in Japan tastes like keystone in my opinion, having a good brew made for a most jovial Thanksgiving indeed.

Jiri

Of course, no Thanksgiving celebration is complete without Turkey and thankfully, one of the JETs was able to deliver! As there are virtually no turkeys in Japan, I'm quite happy they were able to acquire this delectable specimen. 

Turkey!

Overall a very fun night.

All in all, a very fun night that helped fight some of the homesickness. (Still can't make up for the many wonderful friends and family back in the states though).

In other exciting news, I have booked a flight to see my friend of colossal proportions, Colleen O'Connor, in China at the beginning of January! I will be visting her in the city of Kunming, which is in the Yunnan Province in Southern China near the borders of Tibet and Vietnam. It will be weird going to China and not seeing Beijing, the Great Wall or any other famous spots, but I nevertheless expect the adventure of a lifetime.

I am also very glad I was able to book the trip because the process of it was an enormous ordeal! For starters, I had to send money back home in order to put money on my American credit card so I could purchase a ticket (Japan really isn't big on credit cards and almost all financial transactions are done in cash). The process of sending money home was about as pleasant as a rectal exam. For starters, After completing the very very detailed form to send money home, I was told by the post office worker that I had to do the whole thing over because I hadn't put my address in Japanese characters. After meticulously rewriting the whole, much to my horror, I discovered that I had accidentally switched the numbers of my American and Japanese bank accounts and had to start over yet again. So, after two hours of hell, I finally was able to turn in my form.

The next major challenge to my upcoming trip has come in the form of obtaining a Chinese tourist visa. As the Chinese embassy infuriatingly won't accept applications by mail and the closest one to me is 8 hours away in Tokyo, I had to dig in the recesses of the internet to find a Japanese company that could apply for the visa by proxy. After searching the internet high and low, I came across a very badly translated site that says it can do such a thing. As I found the link on A JET forum I really really hope this company will prove able to process my application...I also had to give them my passport as well so I am praying to whatever the patron god of bureaucracy is here that my application and visa will find there way through the system at the moment.   

Anyway, here's hoping it will all work out in the end.