Ode to my kitchen

"Do you fall in love often?" 
"Yes often. With a view, with a book, with a dog, a cat, with numbers, with friends, with complete strangers, with nothing at all."
-Jeanette Winterson (British Novelist)

Because really, how can you not!

I fell in love with my new kitchen yesterday.

So what if it doesn't have any electricity (yet), 

or even a fridge/stove or welcome mat 

(*adds Welcome Mat to shopping list*)

and that the waste disposal system leaks.

I love its space,

I love its tiled counter tops

the cupboards (even with its hint of white ants)

and the ceiling fan that is built too close to the tubelight.

I love lying on my $20 rug from Rups,

in the middle of the kitchen floor,

and loving it even more.

(and I love telling people how my entire Tokyo apartment could fit into this new kitchen)

Object of my affection.

New Dashboard

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw

So instead of scribbling down quotes/words/phrases etc I like on the inside cover of my books, on scraps of paper that end up on the fridge, walls or floor (>_<) ...or copy/pasting them onto my dashboard (computer, not car) I will just post them up on the blog.
That will also take care of my lack of regular updates. That's what I call sneaky efficiency.

Also, its the 20th day of Jan and I have been almost completely substance-free.

I say almost because so far this year I have had one bowl of grog, 2 shots of frangelico and a glass of vodka&orange.

Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. (I don't know who said this one...might be from Buddhism)

- Smoke-free since January (I wish it were 3 for the sake of rhyme, but it's actually Jan 1) -

Moderate revelations

I like words
spoken or written
by and at me or you
I continue to learn their worth
to be conscious of their feel, their reach, their bleed.
their power.
and to not be embarrassed and apologise for them.
to know which to take with a bucket of salt,
some with a red balloon
throwing caution to the wind,
but keeping sight of the (Savusavu) harbour.
Ironic. and yet iconic.

I might have caught a cold, from the ice inside your soul.
and then realised, it was mine all along.

Full Circle

So this rather miscellaneous blog was started as a way to plot random adventures (and mundane occurrences) during my stay in Japan.

Now three years and one month later, I am back in Fiji. The adventures will continue though, of whatever nature they may be...so I will keep posting, hopefully a little more regularly!

September was a bit of a whirlwind:

First there was: a week up north in Tohoku (area hit by tsunami in March) with 20 other young people who taught me a lot about myself, and Japan.

We spent a week camping at a volunteer centre with 200 or so other people in trying to help, in our little way possible, with recovery efforts in the towns that had been almost completely wiped out by the disaster. No amount of youtube videos or images of the destruction could have prepared me for that.

Met some amazing people at the centre, some who dropped by for short periods of time, some who gave up their comfy jobs after March 11 and moved to set up the volunteer centre and help the people of Tohoku. /deep bow.

Then there was: graduation! ...which means that I am no longer a student, which also means I am jobless! After graduation of the academic kind...there was Batizado (baptism) in Capoeira and the cordao (belt/cord) ceremony  (GO FOR GREEN!) ...a happy/sad end to the one year stint...which I can hopefully continue practising (somehow) back in Fiji.

And then there was: a somewhat mad dash through Vietnam over to Cambodia with two girlfriends (a first for me...have never travelled with company), two nights with Max in Phnom Penh and then a long bus ride up to Siem Reap which then proceeded to flood while we were there. Nothing tests character (of the country and the traveller) like flooded foreign streets.

Angkor Wat- Check. The trip ended with a short flight back to Ho Chi Minh, a lovely day/night spent marvelling at Vietnam's amazing bike culture. Another highlight of the week was the great (and very cheap) food that was devoured in great amounts. We had no shame in discussing what we should eat for dinner...while we were having lunch!

Final week - Back in Tokyo: on Monday morning...there were rushed goodbyes over 3 days, a final capoeira roda and Thursday morning -sleep-deprived, heart-heavy, mixed emotions- final train ride to Narita with my berimbau in tow.

Friday morning... I was sitting on a beach with Tiza (a classmate from high school who I have known since I was 13 or so) breaking chunks of long-loaf and dipping it into Rewa Butter.

My brain will take some time to digest this month. Luckily I have a lot of time on hand... back living with the folks and job-hunting... and catching up on the three years.

Here's to the next Chapter...wherever that may take me.

detours...is how I roll.

Posting the same map again, if anyone noticed.

Japan is probably the worst place to backpack 'my way' (without a proper plan) but I managed somehow anyway.

So I did make it to Shikoku, but not through Wakayama,
ended up going up to Okayama and then taking my first over-the-sea train to Takamatsu,
spending a night at a manga (comic/internet) cafe and then taking a beautiful slow train down to Kochi and camping out on the beach for a few days. *bliss*

Pics and anecdotes later. Currently trying to get my groove back in Tokyo after being in quarantine/on antibiotics for a week. It was a long time coming.

Let me at it!

here's the map again...for reference ;)

And yes, it does say 'Kinki' region...for the observant ones out there.