No wonder my family has been asking when I'm going to write another blog post. I didn't realize that it has been two weeks. Of course, I have been occupied. Today I am in Hiroshima. About two minutes after my train pulled in to the station, it started pouring rain. So I'm spending my time in an internet cafe this morning. It's actually a really nice one. Most internet cafes here have free pop and "coffee", but this one has free soft serve ice cream and free espresso drinks. Awesome.
I'm about ten days into my western Honshu/Kyushu trip. I spent the past week in the Kansai region, which includes the historic capitals of Kyoto and Nara. I saw more shrines and temples in one week than I think I have my entire life. Eventually I gave up. I did stay one night on Mt. Koya, one of the most sacred mountains in Japan. There is an enormous graveyard and dozens of Buddhist temples on the mountain. I stayed in a shukubo, which is lodging at a temple. They served the guests dinner and breakfast of traditional vegetarian food, called shÅjin ryori. It was very good, although they did serve some soup that seemed to have moss in it. I decided not to eat that. At 6:00 AM, I attended the morning prayer ceremony, in which four monks recited/sang what I think was excerpts from a sutra. I'm not sure, because the monks didn't really speak English.
So, I got my fill of Japanese religion. The rest of my trip will mostly be focused around outdoor activities. I'm going to Kyushu in a couple of days. That reminds me... I need to book hotels.
I'm really eager to go home. I'm tired of living out of a backpack. And tourism has taken a toll on my feet--I need a pedicure real bad. Traveling has made me realize that I really love Minnesota. And I don't feel bad anymore that I haven't lived anywhere else. This trip has made me realize that I want to travel a lot more, but I always want to return to the home I love.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
I'm coming home October 17.
I have a blog post sketched out, and partially written, entitled Learning to Read. In a nutshell, it's about being illiterate and unable to communicate with other human beings here in Japan.
I have wanted to write a lot more here. But it's really exhausting. I refuse to post anything that's unfinished, and I don't want this blog to be an online public diary ("Dear diary, today I got up and ate Special K for breakfast. Then I took a shower. Then I had to decide whether to wear my blue skirt..."). If I sit down to write, I might have a finished piece in two hours. Longer if I have to deal with pictures.
I have been doing a lot of cooking in Derek's apartment. Pushing his "kitchen" to its maximum culinary capacity. He has a sink, one gas burner, a toaster oven, and microwave-shaped appliance that functions both as a microwave, an oven, and a broiler. I didn't believe it until I baked in it. I'm on a bread kick. So far I've made pizza dough and bagels. The pizza was good, but I think I can tinker a bit with the recipe and make it better next time. The bagels were a failure, unfortunately. I also made homemade ricotta cheese, and used it in lasagna. With Barilla no-boil noodles. But I did make a homemade bechamel sauce for it. I learned how to make okonomiyaki, which is a sort of cabbage pancake with bits and pieces thrown in and topped with a barbecue-type sauce. And this morning I tried my hand at making tamagoyaki, a sweet rolled omelet. It was delicious. I'm going to have to perfect that one, too.
The big news though, that maybe I should have started with, is that I'm coming home on October 17. (Oh fine, I'll make that the blog title. Done.) The topic of cooking is directly relevant to this decision though. I have been away from home for nearly four months. And traveling the world is amazing. It really is. But the thing that I'm learning about myself is that the more I travel, the more strongly I feel the need to have a home. "Nomadic world traveler" is someone else's dream job, not mine. I'm certainly not yet ready to settle down with a job and a mortgage, but I need a break, and I need to go home.
I have wanted to write a lot more here. But it's really exhausting. I refuse to post anything that's unfinished, and I don't want this blog to be an online public diary ("Dear diary, today I got up and ate Special K for breakfast. Then I took a shower. Then I had to decide whether to wear my blue skirt..."). If I sit down to write, I might have a finished piece in two hours. Longer if I have to deal with pictures.
I have been doing a lot of cooking in Derek's apartment. Pushing his "kitchen" to its maximum culinary capacity. He has a sink, one gas burner, a toaster oven, and microwave-shaped appliance that functions both as a microwave, an oven, and a broiler. I didn't believe it until I baked in it. I'm on a bread kick. So far I've made pizza dough and bagels. The pizza was good, but I think I can tinker a bit with the recipe and make it better next time. The bagels were a failure, unfortunately. I also made homemade ricotta cheese, and used it in lasagna. With Barilla no-boil noodles. But I did make a homemade bechamel sauce for it. I learned how to make okonomiyaki, which is a sort of cabbage pancake with bits and pieces thrown in and topped with a barbecue-type sauce. And this morning I tried my hand at making tamagoyaki, a sweet rolled omelet. It was delicious. I'm going to have to perfect that one, too.
The big news though, that maybe I should have started with, is that I'm coming home on October 17. (Oh fine, I'll make that the blog title. Done.) The topic of cooking is directly relevant to this decision though. I have been away from home for nearly four months. And traveling the world is amazing. It really is. But the thing that I'm learning about myself is that the more I travel, the more strongly I feel the need to have a home. "Nomadic world traveler" is someone else's dream job, not mine. I'm certainly not yet ready to settle down with a job and a mortgage, but I need a break, and I need to go home.
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