anatomy of a concert
nosaj thing, chicago il
(i want to do this for the rest of my life)
konaida (or, what’s been going on recently)
charity event @ the shrine, chicago il
a bat mitzvah, lincolnwood, il
around the city, september 2009the week in review 8/31-9/2
- from my best friend’s balcony
- fog near the shedd aquarium
- esperanza spalding @ chicago jazz fest
Busy doesn’t even begin to describe today. I’ve been at the office since about nine thirty; it’s nine oh four in the pm and I’m still here. I LOVE MY JOB!!
jetlagged, part 2: a whole effing year later
End of the Day; Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan.
Today is the one year anniversary of Operation What the Hades am I doing in Tokyo. Now that I’m a whole year removed from it I can actually answer that question. The explanation will be a bit lengthy and terribly existential, but that’s because those mere five months I spent in Tokyo have proven to be far more than “just” a semester vacation from America and it took me these last nine months to figure that out. To be completely fair, I spent a good deal of my time back in the United States recovering from those five months abroad. Jet lag lasted a full three weeks so my schedule was waking up at three in the morning, falling asleep at six in the evening, press repeat. FOR THREE WEEKS.
Outside of Harold's, Chicago, IL January 2009
Then, I was back on a plane to Chicago and that’s when the real adventure began. Suddenly, I had no sense of my home. I was either scared or tired of riding the trains (or both to be honest) after having spent twenty hours a week for twenty weeks commuting twice a day. I had no sense of direction. Nothing felt safe or familiar. I was completely and utterly confused a majority of the time I was in Chicago. Reverse culture shock hit me worse than I imagined it would, especially since I was so sure it wouldn’t hit me at all. On top of that, I also had to get used to two things, namely being without a job and subsequently, without money. Classes were going terribly — and that’s putting it mildly. I didn’t like the rules that came along with them, rules like having to make photographs when told to, when I’d previously spent five months freely creating photographs when and, most importantly, how I wanted to. Oh yeah, did I mention how COLD it was upon my return? It was disgustingly freezing and my dorm barely had working heat, among a laundry list of problems. Things were sort of grim, I missed Japan and my host family painfully. I decided had to get myself out of Chicago, so with the little cash I did have, I visited friends in New York City which was much warmer than Chicago at the time and proved to be a nice adventure that included eating food and spending time talking with friends I’d missed so much for years.
Staten Island Ferry, Window #2, New York City, March 2009.
Spring took forever to arrive and somehow that transition made it harder for me to thaw out too but once the first bits of green started to poke out from beneath the snow, all the things that came with Spring started arriving in my life: newness, optimism, love. And it was around that time Chicago began feeling like home again. Of course, the Universe likes depositing grains of sand in my eye to see if I’ll cry or wait it out silently… I did a lot of crying and pitying and being upset about how things started working and then suddenly ground to a halt. I know you’re wondering, really, what does any of this have to do with Tokyo? Well, summer has pretty much come and gone and thankfully, I have come full circle, just in time for this anniversary of sorts. It’s easy to be brave and curious and fearless when you know you’re living a once in a lifetime dream but it isn’t so easy to do when everything around you is familiar and you have so many expectations for where you are in life. Tokyo taught me to not have any expectations, to just jump head first into everything and be happy no matter the outcome. Coming back home I forgot I could apply these lessons to my daily life, thought I didn’t need them cause I was home.
I hadn’t taken any real steps to make Chicago home when I arrived, but that’s a different story now. I’ve also turned twenty-one which, if you didn’t know, is a major existential mess of epiphanies, one after the other. And with that, begins this adventure of being on my own seriously (yeah, that’s right, no more money from mom and dad), working like everyone else, and graduating college. I’m slowly being introduced to “the real world”. I get paid to take photographs and read the news. I get paid to make funny faces at drooling babies. I get a diploma. I’m moving into my first real home. I’m legal. I will applying for graduate school.When all is said and done, I’ll be back in Tokyo next summer to tie up some loose ends (mainly, a shopping spree in Shibuya and consuming disgusting amounts of ramen)
I will have stories to tell and they will be told, so follow me on this journey. Next stop, how to find and move into an apartment in a week!
jetlagged, trip in review pt. 1
Riding the Narita Express
An excerpt actual letter I wrote to a friend while we were flying somewhere over Canada
It’s still Saturday. That’s weird because it’s totally Sunday in Japan. I cried, of course. I honestly thought I wouldn’t until I got on the plane but saying goodbye was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Megumi, my host mom, got me a cute belt her friend made for me. She wrote me a nice letter in her best English. She signed it: “We love you. See you again.” My heart just about broke in two complete halves. I realized being here has given me my emotions back, or rather, the rich complexity of my emotions. I’m usually a very hyper sensitive person which is really annoying and a pain in the ass but somewhere along this trip, I learned to be in control of my emotions and not have them control me but I also re-learned how things feels: happiness, elation, fustration, confusion, excitment. A lot of it still doesn’t make sense but after spending much of last Winter completely numb, thie idea of feeling, of being aware of it, is so awesome.
–
Now, I’m actually back in the States. And it feels weird. Sleeping is an interesting thing because I do it in weird intervals, at weird times. I’ve been out at around 8pm, eastern time, only to wake up between three-thirty and four, stay up, crash around three in the afternoon and do it all over again. I’m going to try to reset my brain by not going to bed at eight and hopefully I will sleep solidly through the night but this remains to be seen. I really, really miss my host family. And my Japanese routine but I am very happy to be home. I have a feeling I’ll be very natsukashii for Japan within the next few weeks.
I’ve got a handful of more photographs to share and some questions about Study Abroad I’ve been meaning to answer, so please, stay tuned! Until then, have a happy holidays 
A Taste of Fall in Tokyo
I’m down to my last three days in Tokyo. On the one hand, I’m stupid excited to come home, but, on the other hand, my everyday rituals are starting to bring tears to my eyes. Looking back on the rough patch I had here a few months ago, it’s hard for any of those feelings to register anymore. I didn’t realize just how much I really love it here until, of course, it’s time for me to leave; but I think most experiences (of this sort) can do that to you.
Last Sunday, my host mom and I went out, just us two, to hang out in Harajuku. We caught a glimpse of Togo Shrine Flea Market and walked around Yoyogi Park on what seemed to be one of the colder days in Tokyo. It was really an awesome day.
I’m going to miss her so much…
Togo Shrine Antique Market happens once a month, every first Sunday of the month at Togo Shrine in Harajuku. It's well worth it too; so many treasures to find.
This guy was loads of fun. And very drunk. Just look at that smile!
Vendor's table filled with rare knick knacks and whatnots.
More goodies!
I didn't ask how much those advertisements were but I really feel like I should have bought them >_<!
Togo-jinja. The shrine is located near the intersection of Takeshita Street and Meiji Avenue, and is accessible from Harajuku Station. Besides the Antique market, Togo was really quiet but that's probably because most people were at Meiji-jinju.
Me and Megu-chan, myspacing it up :p
The pond area in Togo was really beautiful
We were feeding the koi, which I'm sure wasn't allowed, but you know. They were hungry!
Golden ginkgo trees! The leaves fall on the pavement, people walk all over it, and suddenly you've got fairy dust all over Tokyo. It's gorgegous!
Yoyogi Park! Despite the fact that visiting Harajuku on an almost daily basis for a month was my favorite thing to do, last Sunday was the first time I was actually inside of Yoyogi
People watching the Rockabillies perform and dance. They've been gathering on sundays at Yoyogi for years...
Totally posing for the camera~
Rockabilly "gang"?
Creepy, but they were nice. They did, however, scare the crap out of some small child. KAWAI SO~
See, they really were nice! Very well mannered and polite
Mama <3
Me!
Yoyogi-koen is MASSIVE huge.
That "little" hump in the background is Fuji-san, or Mt. Fuji. It was such a clear day, we could see Fuji-san as we rode the train into Saitama
Kimonos at the Japanese Garden
Hayleigh and her new amazing DS that takes pictures!
Red Japanese maple leaves
My close friend Hayleigh, with her host sisters. Her host mother invited me to dress up in kimono and take pictures at a Japanese garden in Koshigaya.
Cheesu!~
More leaves! I gathered a bunch of them to dry in my travel journal
Hayleigh-chan~
Hayleigh's host family being adoreable
YELLOW!
Kimono covered bottoms.
the Garden was just gorgeous
Me.
I just finished a ten page history paper. Tomorrow is my last day of work and of school. Two weeks from now, Ieave Japan. To go home, that is. Crazy.
Kamakura in a Day
It was so refreshing to see the ocean again. I've missed it...
Small pond on the grounds of Hase-dera, a temple dedicated to the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Kannon (from which the Canon brand derives it's name), who is actually neither male nor female contrary to the widely held notion that Kannon is a Goddess, but does in fact represent compassion, love, and mercy.
Japanese maple leaves are gorgeous in the fall.
Figurines inside of benten-kutsu cave at Hase-dera.
Reading the wishes and prayers of visitors.
Happy smiles after seeing Kannon in Kannon-do hall.
A smaller representation of Kannon at Hase-dera.
A little friend at the site of the Great Buddha, or Daibatsu.
Daibatsu of Kamakura. This buddha used to be enclosed in a temple but it was destroyed by either very strong winds or a tsunami, and only the Daibutsu was left standing. It is MASSIVE.
Shopping on Komachi-dori. It started to rain by the time we got to the Kamakura stop on the Enoden line.
Rain and pokadots.
We took the Romance Car into Fujisawa and got on the local back to Shinjuku where we departed. We got the Enoshima-Kamakura Free Pass but the rain made it very difficult to explore Enoshima. It’s actually a much shorter trip than I had anticpated and much cheaper too. I’d like to go to Enoshima and see a beach before I leave but I may have to wait for my next journey here. I’ve got exactly seventeen days to go and it just doesn’t feel like enough time for anything.
