Departure from Japan

Below is Mark's final post from Japan...

There hasn't been much down time available during my trip in which to post. With most of the day spent in factories and shops all over Osaka and Tokushima usually until dinner time, all of my free time is spent compiling data and working on reports. Oh and sleeping. However last night and the night before there was little time for even sleep. At work until 11pm Thursday and until 1:30am Friday! Work must happen.

But today is departure from Japan. I'm still trying to think in normal, native-speaker English again. the past week has been entirely broken English (sometimes referred to as "jinglish") there's a certain cadence to this type of speaking too. It seems to be understood more easily by the Japanese that way. It's a difficult thing to describe. Fortunately my host (and taxi driver, haha) does fairly well with English. He says my Japanese is better than his English, but I know he's just being modest. I've learned maybe 3 or 4 phrases...

So one more trip to get ramen then on to Kansai Airport to work my way through security and spend the next 40 hours or so traveling back home. Of course because of the time change only 6 hours will have passed on the clock.

I've got about 1,800 pictures total. 700 are work related and the rest are scenic trips, from the back seat of the car on the daily commute, and every meal, food or beverage I've had during the entire trip. Pretty awesome right? The network here is awful slow which is why I haven't been uploading much to the web. I'll be doing some trip reflection and postings over the following days with pictures included. I hope you look forward to that as much as I do.

Mark's Trip Journal

Mark left for Japan very early yesterday.  I had a friend and her daughter visit a few hours later and spend the night.  It was a great distraction.  They left this morning and I have been trying to keep myself busy since.  I have realized a few things:  when you live by yourself, once you do the dishes, clean the house and wash every piece of laundry... things typically stay that way and the end of the to-do list arrives pretty quickly.  Mark is not messy by any means but I guess I am just really used to constantly picking up a stray water glass or shoes that were left by the door.  I miss tripping over shoes.

Anyway, sorry about being so melancholy.  I'm more or less just bored without him.  I plan on establishing a new routine over the next few days and that will help me adjust and feel productive.

On a much brighter note:  Mark is going to try to keep a daily journal of his trip.  I will guest post it here as soon as I get it so check back for updates!  Here is his recap of the first day turned beer review, natch :)  Enjoy!

Land of the Rising Sun: Boy is it Eager to Rise!

I'm pretty sure that sunlight began coming through my window at 4:30 this morning. I was able to ignore it for an hour or so. so I'm up now, may as well recap the past day of travel and arrival in Osaka.

...traveled all day, over 20 hours total travel time. I've got some hand-written things to add in later. things like the taproom in the Seattle airport, how terrible the first in-flight movie was, and a little about the flights (3). when I arrived at the Kansai airport, I stopped for the bathroom on the way to where ever the rest of the people from my flight were being toted- "security check and baggage claim" said all of the signs. when I came back out of the bathroom everyone was gone. I followed the sign and made it to the passport/security check. I recognized a few folks from the plane so I knew I had made it to the right place. Really there was only one place to make a mistake- taking the tram to the wrong location. made it through security check and on to customs. down a few more escalators to the baggage claim area. after walking the length and back without finding my flight, I got back to the first claim conveyor and saw my flight number! It then quickly flashed and disappeared. oops! no luggage left on the conveyor! a security guard called to me and directed me to a service desk where they had been holding my luggage. I guess for the purpose of keeping the claim conveyor clear... don't know, but I've never had the time of a normal bathroom break use enough time to completely miss baggage claim.

Josh and Morita- san were waiting at the pick-up area just beyond customs, at the bottom of more escalators. I exchanged some currency and then we took Morita's Mazda 3 (almost every time I travel I end up in one of these..) on a 45 minute ride down up(?) the interstate to Yao. Yao City is Northwest of the airport, and south of city center.



After checking in to the Yao Terminal Hotel (above) and dropping the bags off in the room, we went to dinner at a conveyor sushi restaurant. Great idea! we need these in the US. Here are some pictures.





I'll talk more about food and dining later.

So then, Morita- san dropped us off back at the hotel. I got to speak with Jessie on the phone :D which involves 14 digits total. Then Josh and I walked to the Ario mall, about two blocks away. Nothing particularly special about it- it's a mall like any mall, with the exception of everything being written in Japanese and all the people being Japanese. The big news, we found Guinness Draught in cans!



There was also Asahi Dry Black and we agreed that a taste comparison was in order. Strolled back to my hotel room to hang out for a bit, get the laptop set up and taste the two brews. I think what I've heard is true, the further you get from Dublin, the less fresh the Guinness tastes. I noticed, but it wasn't enough to bother me. the Asahi Dry Black was a decent dry stout in it's own right. No smooth, creaminess like the Guinness, but they can't all be I suppose. The flavor profile was quite similar to Guinness, pleasant, roasty malt flavor; yeasty on the nose; light-medium mouthfeel; clean, dry finish. Guinness of course was Guinness, no need to go on too much about it. Not as fresh tasting as normal, but otherwise typical.

It was a good day followed by a good night! I'll be catching the train in about an hour (7:50am) to arrive in Kokubu station then ride the company bus the rest of the way to catch our Japanese counterparts and their (key cards) to get into the office. Checking one or two machines in the morning (hopefully) then a plant tour in the afternoon. This should be an easy first day, though I'm eager to get into the swing.

Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Creamy Lemon-Yogurt Sauce

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I made it for dinner last night.  It is adapted from Jillian Michaels’ “The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook”.  This was so suprisingly good that I had to share. The lemon-yogurt sauce gave me pause at first but it turned out to be the best part!! Although it is perfect without it, you could easily add grilled shrimp or chicken to this for a non-veggie version. 



Ingredients:
8 ounces whole wheat linguine (or your pasta of choice)
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium zucchini, cut into thin strips (3 inches long and 3/4 inch wide, like a big stick of gum)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise


Directions:
1.   Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook about 9 minutes, or according to the package directions. Remove 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and set it aside. Drain the pasta. Set aside.
2.   Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, Parmesan, lemon zest, and salt and pepper. Set aside.
3.   In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, and cook just until wilted, flipping them over occasionally with a spatula. (The zucchini will be soft and somewhat see-through.)
4.   Use a spoon or spatula to push the zucchini aside so a space on the bottom of the pan is clear. Add the garlic, and cook for 15 to 30 seconds, until golden but not really brown.
5.   Mix the garlic into the zucchini.
6.   Stir in the tomatoes and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.
7.   Transfer the zucchini mixture to the yogurt mixture, and stir to combine. Add the drained linguine, and toss gently to combine. Add the reserved pasta cooking water a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to thin it. Divide among four bowls and serve.

67 days later...

It’s been 67 days since my last post.


On one hand, I can’t believe it’s been so long! On the other hand, so many things have happened in such a short amount of time that it seems like it should have been months and months longer…

I couldn’t possibly go back and cover all the things that happened but I will hit some highlights of each month:


APRIL
     I started my hiatus at the end of April. That month seemed to be dragging along and I was getting bored with my own posts. (How bad is that!?) I figured it was time to lay low and stop forcing posts for the sake of it. It wasn’t all humdrum though. Mark and I finally made a really big decision … we decided to start a family. We had been hovering on the outskirts of that decision for a while but it became “official”. This was the news I couldn’t discuss. The reason for this is because it affects Mark too.
     I knew going into it that it most likely wasn’t going to be a quick process and so to protect ourselves from a barrage of “are you pregnant yet!?” questions .. I chose to keep it mum. It’s been a couple months now and I think we’ve really come to terms with the fact that it will happen in God’s timing and that’s ok. You will hear more details about this in the future.

MAY
     May kicked off with a weekend trip to Georgia for Mark’s cousin’s wedding. It was a fun weekend for two reasons; one, it ended up being a giant family reunion and, secondly, I FINALLY got to meet my gorgeous and amazing niece.
     Unfortunately the good times came to an end for a while. A week later my mom was admitted to the hospital with some severe health issues. She stayed for about a week and was released. What made it so much worse though was that since she was given so much medicine so quickly, she actually went into acute kidney failure BEFORE she left the hospital and the doctors didn’t catch it and they released her anyways. Luckily her family physician happened to check her chart to follow up after she was home and caught it. She called my mom and told her to immediately go back. My mom was then sent back to the hospital for another week .. only to get bronchitis. Needless to say it was very stressful and terrifying.
     A few days before my mom was released (the second time) my dad experienced numbness and paralysis in one of his arms. It turned out to be due to upper spinal stenosis. Basically the openings in a couple vertebrae were narrowing and pinching the nerves. He went in for spinal surgery a week later. He is now doing better but it will be a long recovery.

JUNE
     I was so exhausted by the time June came around. Mentally and physically I was drained. Luckily, halfway through the month, Mark and I took a week off work and went to the beach on vacation. We went with Mark’s brother, his wife, her family, and our adorable niece. We had a blast and it was MUCH needed.
     June also brought a lot of changes. I started taking small day trips with work to some of our different branches so that was fun. Babies are a hot topic amongst my friends because there were births, pregnancy announcements and a couple showers during the month. Finally, because of course there could be no stone left unturned … even my church underwent some changes.

JULY
     Even though it is only the 2nd, this month may prove itself to be hectic as well. Mark is traveling to Japan for a couple weeks for work so that is new ground for us. Some of our close friends are moving back to the area (yay!) and I will be taking more day trips both for work and for pleasure.


Needless to say, I will never call my life boring or mundane again because look what happened the last time I did……