It's nice that.

On Saturday, Iain and I took a jaunt to Naoshima, the arty island I visited back in September. I love Naoshima so much; it's dotted with little cafes run by twittering old ladies, arty spaces and good routes for a bicycle ride. Seeing inspiring things makes my head feel funny, I like it. Iain has a lovely new camera, so I've nabbed all of his pictures. For once, I can show you photographs that don't look like I am living in the 70s ee!

It was a sunny day so we rented some bicycles. Look at my purple one,isn't she lovely? Eee :-)


Bath house






We visited the Chichu Art Museum, which is an underground art gallery. The gallery assistants were dressed in such a way that they looked kind of robotic and sterile. It was kind of clinical, but in a curiously amusing way. I saw the most incredible installation by an artist called James Turrell. Ahh, it was truly amazing. James Turrell appropriates light and illusory methods in his work. This particular installation was really nice; Turrell had cut into the wall and flooded the space with a hazy, blue light in such a clever way that at first, I mistook the light for a blue wall. It turned out that you can actually enter the space/'wall'. When I turned around and saw Iain climb out of the hazy blue space and back down the steps, it looked like he was stepping into a picture. Ahh, it was so bizarre. Hmm, that was an awful (and needless?) ramble, but I thought it was so intriguing and intelligent. Ohh I want to know more about James Turrell.

Take a looky:



The other thing that I had been looking forward to seeing were the Art House Projects; six old village houses that have been converted into creative spaces. I saw lots of really nice work here too; photograph floors, bamboo flowers, neon numbers in water, having my senses unsettled in the dark room.

One of the houses had a giant statue of Liberty inside - gaudily beautiful eh?







I love the little tree.



Me, perusing woollen boy



Mm, I love this picture. I loved the cat too. :-)






We took a nice bicycle ride back to the ferry in the evening sunshine and had just enough time for more pictures and a visit to the Kusuma pumpkin. :-)

Hello :-)









On the way home...

Goodbye Sun.



Hello Moon.


Later on, we went to a club here in my Marugame. Lots of people were there and there was dancing!

English ones!





At Axis, I bumped into a guy called Ichiro who I had met a few months back. He is a hairdresser and spent six years living in Bethnal Green. We talked about Brick Lane and The Ten Bells. It made me think of home and all the things I love about London.


Yes,it was a perfect weekend.

Mmm, I don't quite know why the text and pictures are positioned in an odd way...

Other thoughts:
<3 running shoes have finally been purchased, and despite making me recoil every time I put them on, I have gone for a run three times this week. I especially like listening to The Magnetic Fields when I run.
<3 The things that Mitsuru Katsumoto makes are so nice.
<3 I know 100 Kanji now. I have decided to be be ambitious and take the level three (rather than the level below, as I had been intending) Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December.
<3 I want to go to South Korea and Vietnam so much.
<3I sat on the air con remote control and now my room is cold, owh.

bye bye

xo

All that is lovely

I want to share the work of London based photographer Tim Walker with you. I love the pictures he makes oh so very much. He does a lot of of fashion photography but I like his other work more. Tim Walker makes my eyes light up.












This is my favourite one. I never tire of looking at it. I think there is an unusual kind of clarity in its oddness, as with all of the work he makes. Ohh, if only dresses could grow on trees...



This evening, I received the most amazing lesson plan I have ever seen. It read as follows: Theme: Sounds
Isabel: Make some sounds.
JTE: help students understand the sounds Isabel makes.

I don't quite know what to do next. So I suppose I will go to the lesson tomorrow and erm, make some sounds...



xo

Can the weekends please stop going so fast?

Given my penchant for letters, I was so happy to read that something like this exists. Mysterious Letters is a collaboration between two artists, Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe. Last year, they sent a personal, handwritten letter to each of the four hundred and sixty seven households in the small Irish seaside town of Cushendall. No two letters were the same, the only commonality they shared was that they were positive in spirit. The artists hoped that such letters would encourage neighbourly discussion, which in turn would lead to community curiosity. This is the first chapter in an ongoing project; the artists eventual aim is to write a personal handwritten letter to every household in the world.







Letters are my pleasure treasure. I like so many things about them; I like the friendliness of letters. I think that there is something quite beautiful about seeing one's handwriting for the first time. It feels quite intimate these days to be able to recognize somebody's handwriting. Yes, I like this project so much. <3 You can have a peek at the rest of the letters here
It even made the national news. Lookie
Some peoples' reactions did sadden me a bit though. Surely there is nothing more lovely than a letter in the post? I think I would feel more intrigued than frightened.

xo

Home, I am home.

I am back in Marugame after having had the best Christmas with my family. I have such lovely memories of our time together; meeting in Hiroshima station,Christmas Day on Miyajima, green tea icecream,the useless taxi drivers of Tokyo, green lycra wearing 'sexy beasts' in Yoyogi Park, taking hours to find a way out of Tokyo subway stations,coffee,more coffee,getting lost, laughing until my stomach hurt,long train journies,teasing Dad,lots of good food,being together. I love you so much Mum, Dad and Oliver! You mean everything to me! I will write about our travels and put up some pictures very soon but for now, look at our family portrait aaahhhh!



I was a little apprehensive about returning to Marugame after travelling so much during the Christmas holiday. I find such happiness through travelling and I can't wait to do more with the people I care about here in Kagawa. After spending a couple of days on my own in Tokyo after my family went home, I felt a strange kind of feeling that really confirmed that I am beginning to feel at home here; I wanted to go back to Marugame. To see my little blue bicycle,my tiny apartment, and my friends here in my town. I cut my Tokyo jaunt a little short and took the nicest journey home on the Shinkansen. I listened to an album called World of Echo by Arthur Russell (which is full of amazing sounds) and stared out of the window for the whole time as the train passed by rugged coastlines, little towns and large mountains covered with snow, and beautiful forests.I want to do it again sometime. With somebody else. I wanted to talk to someone about what I was seeing but alas, there were no English speakers anywhere in sight and the man sitting beside me seemed to be more taken by the games on his phone rather than what was outside...incidentally, he did not lift his eyes from the phone for the entire five hour train journey. What a shame.

I am so happy to be back. My heart belongs to the city but I am probably never going to have the opportunity to live in such a community as this again.I have turned over a new leaf and I am going to learn to love my little town and its accompanying community. When I first came here, I made the mistake of comparing my life here to the life I lived back in London. I realise that I can find happiness (albeit different kinds) in both. The first thing I did on my return was go on a long bike ride and take a walk to the top of the castle. Later I met some of my friends for ramen and we talked about dinner parties,cycle rides to sweet shops and having all night parties across the bridge in Okayama. I feel so content to be here now and excited about all the happy memories I will make this year.

I saw lots of art in Tokyo when I did the Harajuku art walk. This man's life and work intrigues me; there was an exhibition of his work at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art. Kiyoshi Yamashita 山下清 was famous for being both an artist and a wanderer. He used the "chigiri-e" method of sticking torn pieces of coloured paper together to depict scenery he saw on his travels, both in Japan and Europe . I like his work; it is warm and clear. I want to know more about Kiyoshi Yamashita and Japanese art and design.

Sakurajima



Nagaoka no hanabi



Fishing at Kanamachi






Other things; I have become quite taken with the idea of eggs for breakfast. Eggs for breakfast with jasmine tea.
I like the click, click, clicking of knitting with bamboo needles.
I have been reunited with my shoes of joy(or rather shoe, the left got separated from the right somewhere between London and Asia four very long months ago). I am looking forward to wearing them in the summer time - they are silly and lovely.



Other stuffs:
<3I have been listening to lots of music by a Japanese folky group from the 1970s called Happy End, Glaciers, and having a Magnetic Fields epiphany.
<3 I can't stop reading the Lonely Planet Japan...


Happy New Year :-)

xo

Hello Holidays

Today was my last day of 2009 at Maruko. I played the Mariah Carey Christmas song for the 10000th and final time...I never want to hear that song again. Ohmiya-sensei was only too happy to take said CD home with him for the Christmas season; in our classes, not only did he insist on repeating the song five times for the 'fill in the blanks activity' (no one needs to listen to Mariah five times) but he would press the play button at sporadic points in the lesson, including the parts at which I was trying to explain things to the students...

Here are my favourite students from class 2-3;





They made me Christmas cards with the loveliest, sweetest, most heartfelt messages inside.




And so begins the task of making ones in return. I'll drop them off on my way to Josei on Thursday morning.



Today's thoughts and happenings; I really want to start exercising in the New Year. I'm going to pluck up the courage to buy aesthetically ugly 'sporty' clothes and go running or join the gym.
I want to become a better teacher.
I missed someone;we made lovely January plans. I received a really lovely message from a friend.
I really like persimmons but I think I eat too many of them. Is it bad to eat five a day?
Sushi is possibly one of my favourite things to eat.
Why do I stay up late into the midnight hours despite the fact that I am always tired in the mornings?
I am bursting with happiness at the thought of having a new girl friend in Marugame.
I am craving new reading material.
I can't wait to see my family.


xo

Why I should stay...

Winter is here in my little town; I love wrapping up warm in lovely winter clothes. My morning cycles have become increasingly quicker as I pedal twice as hard against the sharp winds to get into the warmth. I am becoming quite accustomed to the purplish/red colour my cold hands assume in the mornings due to being gloveless on my bike - ah,I am missing those beautifully chic gloves adorned with little red buttons to match my coat (what a pity these gloves only exist in my mind...)

I haven't written in a long time. Things have changed...wonderfully so. So wonderfully in fact, that I have had a complete change of heart about the future. I think that I want to stay here for longer. I have a funny feeling in my heart telling me that to leave in March is just too soon.

I can't put into words this feeling I have so I am going to talk about the things that have made me blissfully happy lately...



Here I am with my colleagues from Josei; Matsamura-sensei, Suzuki-sensei and Kishikawa-sensei. (I think I look a bit manic in this photograph, it makes me laugh)A few weeks ago, they invited me for a girly night out. Only Suzuki-sensei can speak English so I left my apartment with a Japanese/English dictionary and a fresh pad of paper so that I could try to express myself with silly doodles, I had the loveliest night; I was silly and girly and had a fun time.I felt like I was out with my girl friends. It was the nicest feeling.




Last Saturday morning, I taught an unusual class at Maruko



Apologies for the slightly crumpled looking poster!

I taught a baking class, in English, to a group of thirty students and a handful of colleagues. If someone suggested this to me three months ago, I would never have thought it within my capabilities. I am still a little awkward and bumbling in my lessons but I am becoming more and more confident as I get to know my students better each day. I was so proud of myself that Saturday; we baked some beautiful things and spending time outside of a classroom context, with a small cross section of this tiny community I live in made me glow with happiness. I have so much love for my students and colleagues. I will never ever forget this day.



I turned 23 on Monday and was made a real fuss of at school. I was given a plant from my colleagues at Maruko (which I am determined to care for well, though its beauty is somewhat questionable...) and all kinds of trinkets and treasures from the students; handmade cards, CDs, photographs, sweets. Incidentally, lots of fruit from various students' grandmothers' - persimmons are always welcome :-)





One of my students, Yuki made me this card to tell me about her favourite band, Arashii. Look at how much thought has gone into it. I couldn't get a clear photograph of it, but some of the descriptions of the band memebers are very funny, my favourite being the description of Matsumoto Jun; "Matsumoto Jun - Isabel, you must know, he is sobriety itself!"

On Wednesday, the girls at Josei threw me a belated birthday party...I have eaten so much cake this week.






Thank you to everyone from back home, Ireland and America who sent me gifts and birthday wishes - thank you cards coming soon <3

This evening, I went to Maruko's Bonenkai. A bonenkai is a special party that takes place at the end of the year to forget about (the bad things that have happened in) the year and to welcome in a new year. Here I am with Kishishita-sensei, Taoka-sensei and O-Hira-sensei. Everyone at the party got presents; I wanted O-Hira-sensei's present so that I can make lovely warm comfort food for the winter time but I had to make do with something uselessly ridiculous!



I've been teaching Christmas lessons at school for the past couple of weeks. One of the activities we do is to listen to Christmas songs and do a 'fill in the blanks' game. I am too sentimental; the first Christmas lesson I taught made me get tears in my eyes. Seeing forty studious kids, most wearing the facemasks (that I find oh so sinister),bobbing their heads,tapping their feet and mouthing the words was the most endearing thing ever to see.

Even though I mentioned the beginnings of my happiness a few entries ago, I truly feel myself now. I feel like I am living here rather than simply existing. I have friends here; I can pick up my phone, drop someone an e-mail and a cycle ride/train ride later, be in company over a cup of coffee or a cosy dinner. I love my students; I know names and personalities, I have a favourite class. I am so lucky to have such wonderful and caring colleagues; they are my Japan parents as well as people I work with. I feel that there is so much yet to see, do and experience that to leave in March would really be cutting it short. I wish I could put into words exactly what I experienced in my first few months of being here. As dramatic as it seems, I felt like I was losing part of myself; like I was living in some kind of bubble. I felt tentative, unsettled,kind of empty and aimless. I feel that though it has been a painfully slow process,I have come a long way since August.

I am going to turn over a new leaf next year. Now that I am settled, I want to start my adventure anew;
<3 I am going to apply myself to studying Japanese with more enthusiasm. Being unable to speak Japanese is a source of frustration every day. It makes me feel powerless. I have started learning ten Kanji each day; Kanji is a logographic writing system - Kanji are symbols that represent words and I find them both beautiful and fascinating. The Kanji for bengoshi (lawyer) is an interesting one;it is made up of three Kanji; eloquence, protection and expert. Nice eh?
<3 I want to read more; I miss the comforting feeling of curling up with a good book. I haven't read much since I arrived which has made me kind of sad as back home, I devoured books.
<3 I am going to eat more healthily; I will put more thought into cooking. I will buy nice cooking things.
<3 Take more pictures
<3 Be more adventurous
<3 Make more friends
<3 I am going to make my apartment a home.
<3 I am going to make more things.
<3 I am going to explore Marugame more.

Oh, a really strange thing has happened which is too strange to go unmentioned. When Nicolas lived in Montreal, he had two friends called Aaron and Vivian who I met when I visited him. Vivian is now living here in Marugame, teaching English too! It's such a small world. I am so happy for a girly friend here in this town. I can't wait for cafe and cake trips :-)



xo

Let's enjoy Osaka!

At the weekend I went to Osaka with Ed and Sean. I'm really glad that I managed to see Kyoto and Osaka on two consecutive weekends; the contrasts between the two cities were even more apparent to me. I think that Osaka lacks the sophistication of Kyoto yet more than makes up for this in other ways. One of the first things that struck me about Osaka was how friendly the people were. If I could choose a word to describe my brief encounter with Osakans, it would perhaps be 'earthy'. Yes, earthy is the word I am looking for. So many people were not only willing, but eager to help me out with directions and the like. It was a strange but heart warming feeling to be approached like that.

Lots of Osakans...




We went to see a Kabuki play in Osaka. Kabuki is one of the oldest traditional Japanese theatre forms. I'm glad that I went to see one but after about two hours, I wanted to leave the theatre. I kept thinking about all the art and interesting areas to explore. I spent the rest of the time nodding off and impatiently waiting for the protagonist to commit seppuku (a horrible Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment). Oh dear, how uncultured I sound...



After the play had finished, I wandered around Amerika-mura which is said to be Osaka's equivalent to Tokyo's Harajuku. It was the incredible. I have (sadly) become quite accustomed to clothes shops that cater for the over ninety fives in my town, so they made my heart glow.

some satisfactory America-mura shop assistants.


Ed and I found another thing which made me nostalgic for London. Oh, how I wish to ride the tube again!



That evening, we met up with some ALTs who live in Osaka, three of whom are Londoners.Here are some lovely British people; Roland and Dave. I want to make friends in every place as I visit;experiences are always more fulfilling when you know people in far flung places.



Ohh I must tell you about the hostel I stayed in. I left hostel booking to the very last minute and consequently, had very little choice left by Thursday evening. I ended up finding a really cheap place, just two stops away from Namba (where all the interesting things happen). Hotel Mikado was awful. My room smelt like the door hadn't been opened in thirty years and there were suspicious looking stains everywhere. There seemed to be a string of similar looking hotels along the road - I dare you to try one of them! How about Hotel Sweet? It's right next door to Mikado! Here is a picture of my luxurious Osakan abode...bleak...



Despite the uninviting atmosphere, I met a lovely man from Syria called Aladdin (ace!) who is travelling the world. He told me that I looked like a cabin crew member in my hat and coat. I have been compared to several things whilst wearing my hat and coat; Paddington bear and Madaleine. What do you think?

The next day, I woke up really early due to the pervasive desire to get out of the hostel. I went to see Osaka castle first, which was very beautiful, but I parted company with Ed and Sean to heaad back to America-mura. It was here that I met these three lovely ladies. They work for a street fashion magazine and asked if they could take some pictures of me for it. When this happens in London,a camera is thrust in your face, usually at the people crushing bend by Topshop (though I hear that the recently constructed Shibuya style crossing will dispel this, hooray!) and it makes for an unpleasant experience. Not in Osaka....the girls took me to a small studio, tucked at the very top of a building along America-mura and snapped away, it was lovely :-)



It just so happened that on the floor below the studio was Neko no Jikan; the cat cafe. I was so happy. I had planned on visiting the cafe but the directions I had were so vague that I didn't think I would ever find it. Ahh, I had the best time! I paid a very modest amount of money for one hour cat time, tea and cake. It was amazing and quelled the pangs of sadness I have been having at being without my Alfie. There were lots of couples there on romantic dates so at the end of my hour's cat time, I did feel very much like a spinster...amplified by the fact that I was covered in cat hair, and probably smelt a bit catty too. Owh, I hope this is not a sign of what awaits me later in life!





feeding time...



In Japan, each prefecture/city has a regional delicacy and I have made it my aim to try the culinary delight of each place I visit. Osaka is famous for takoyaki. Takoyaki is a dumpling made of batter,diced baby octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. Osakans love food and are not precious about it, so there were lots of stalls dotted around selling takoyaki. I found it disappointing,it made me feel a bit sick. :-(

On the other hand, I have discovered what I think is my new favourite fruit; persimmons. They are only in season for a very brief window so I am making the most of them by eating several every day. I adore them. If you can try one, please do; they are truly sweets of nature! I am also enjoying pumpkin too. It seems that I like orange fruits and vegetables.


.

Recently, my colleagues have been asking me to spend time with them at the weekends which makes me feel happy. In a few weekends' time, Williams-sensei has invited me to her home for dinner and in the first weekend of December,I am going to go to a tea ceremony festival with Taoka-sensei and eat lots of Japanese sweets. I want to have deeper friendships with my colleagues, but I want to travel so much; it is through travel that I feel I can find the most happiness.

It is only four days until I go on my next trip to Beppu. Beppu is on Kyushu, the most southerly of the four main islands and is famous for its hot springs. I am going with eleven other people. I know a couple of people, Lorianne and Iain who I would like to spend more time with, but I only know Ciaran well so I am looking forward to making some new friends :-)


xo