The end of the year is a time for lists. Sinceee over 90% of my 2005 was spent in Asia, here are the top ten things I miss about Japan; now that I'm separated from it by a hemisphere and a buffer of two weeks, I can idealize it ALL I WANT!

1) The food. mmmm okonomiyaki
2) The convenience stores and the jubilant welcoming irashaimase!
3) Efficient use of space in buildings and city layouts
4) Public Transportation to the max
5) My daily dose of conversations with wealthy housewives
6) My coworkers and apartmentmates and their English-speaking diversity
7) Skinny (willowy?) peoplewatching and fashionwatching
8) Being able to read/ipod/sleep while going to and from work
9) Amazing customer service
10) My vodafone cellular mobile portable wizard

But of course now that I'm back there are plenty of things that are great about the USA:

1) Low Prices . . . hurray!
2) Sleeping in a bed, elevated two feet from ground level. Fantastic.
3) Hot water in the washing machine = clean!
4) A sense of privacy when out running
5) Big Gulps
6) Many English books in one tangible, accessible place
7) Being able to easily communicate my thoughts
8) Wireless internet in public places
9) Lots of motivated people
10) Snow

So there you have it, the good of each hemisphere in an all-knowing nutshell. They're both so great! I'm so TORN! Kind of. But all in all, it's good to be back. IN A BED! Hurray. The end. So, Happy New Year 2006!

I feel that doings here are so midwesternly mundane as to possibly bore my ravenously demanding readership. But I have to write something to keep my dad entertained from the office, so I'll try.

Christmas highlights? Blahhh. Our extended family celebrations were pretty standard. Ahhh, except my uncle and aunt recently had a new baby in September and therefore most proceedings revolved around following the path of Max's unbelievably large and inquisive eyes and watching the curious stylings of Max's dance moves (seriously reminiscent of Andre 3000's in the Hey Ya video). Anyway, having the standard celebrations spiced up with these diversions was cool, it's fun to have a baby around.

I got kinda nostalgic after looking at picture #5 of this slideshow; in late May when Sarah and Elizabeth and I were in Yokohama viewing Tokyo/Kanagawa from that far right building (the Landmark Tower), there was no way we could have seen Fuji; the sky was all hazy and slate grey. This scape, though, is just beautiful. And to think Andy and I climbed that behemoth (recap here)! Oh, the memories.

Merry Christmas,
Eliz

p.s. Apparently this video made the heavy internet rounds a ways back but I still think it's awesome, so if stuck behind a desk and in need of entertainment please dig in wholeheartedly.

Per Lizett's demands, here are four pictures from Amanda&CJ's wedding on Flickr. Enjoy!

Hi, back in the Americas. Hurrah!

Whoever either advertently or inadvertently made this past weekend in Chicago super-fun, thanks one million. Amanda & CJ's wedding was awesome, both the expected and unexpected guests were in full form, we tried really really hard to do the Falto Line Dance to no avail (but the rock'n'roll version of Hey Ya was a close second), SColson and I, perhaps moreso I, were totally duped by the CTA, I was the recipient of some fantastically crooning CPop (thanks Jake), and somehow I failed to meet up with Slobs (Lindsay), despite weeks of planning. Awful. Please still be my friend, Slobs. I'll link to some pictures once my computer's disc space stops overflowing.

The past, mmmm, 96 hours have just been a stream of mental/verbal cultural and visual comparisons. Just ask my parents, they had to listen for something like seven hours during yesterday's car ride home from Chicago: "See, in Japan . . .;" "So when I was in Tokyo . . .' " "Wow, I don't remember this being so . . .;" "In Tokyo they let you . . . " etc. It should stop pretty soon, once I cease being suprised by how -- 1) cold 2) big 3) friendly 4) scary 5) spacious 6) big 7) dirty and 8) big -- things are. mamonaku, or momentarily, I will successfully self-assimilate for the good of all those around me. Let's hope.

And so it is, the last showing of the past week's picture-fest: a bunch of friends and me at home during my last night in Tokyo. This is my living room . . . kyotsukete, please don't zoom in, I look like poop. But everyone else looks good.

Today was awesome; I went snowboarding in Gunma with the left half of the back row and the right quarter of the front row, then came home for some marathon packing and moral support.

I tried to capture Gunma's beauty and the joys of snowboarding in a generic, cellie-phonie, pixellated photograph of the hills of Japan. Funnier photos/videos exist on the others' cameras, but mine died on the bus on the way there, somewhere between the time we were parked to allow the driver and friend to switch over to snow-tires (chain style!) and our arrival at the slizzzopes. Ah well.

Anyway, that's the end of Japan for now! Sayonara!

I had a photo of me and the most amazing child ever invented -- my genius, idiom-using seven year old student Mayuko -- but I deleted it, too much me. But the child, she's amazing. Today she brought baskin robbins, we had an ice cream picnic and then played some ridiculous games. SO LOVEABLE. It's hard not to explode from her bursting savant cuteness.

Anyway, today was my last work day and I was a confused, quasi-English-speaking mess. But it's over now, all over. Illustrated by the lack of sanity in the photo to your left; ono of me and a fellow teacher (Jon) and a favorite, freqently attending student (Rei), all caught up in the frenzy of puricura.

Lastly, Dave is gone but we had a great night last night making okonomiyaki and eating questionable yakitori and I'm going snowboarding tomorrow and I haven't really packed yet. AWESOME.

This is another archive from last Friday. It's me! Looking white! Eating mushroom soup and preparing to enjoy some free candy from the elderly top-of-the-mountain friend that Dave and I made.

Dave leaves tomorrow. Short visit! Wow!

It's good to feel my nearly former students will miss me. I've had lots of heartwarming goodbyes today. The love. The warmth. I miss it already!

As my departure nears I become more emotional and inarticulate than usual. You've been forewarned.

This is Yasukuni from three? four? days ago. Today Dave and I and my camera all went separate ways again; ergo, no new pictures (which is a shame, he karaoke'd with a couple friends of mine -- probably lots of charming moments).

About Yasukuni, it's frequently in the Asian spotlight. Though my shrine knoweledge is not deep, I can safely say that it has atmosphere - much like other shrines' atmosphere + a little limelight.

We took no pictures today. I worked and got all sappy saying goodbyes, and apparently Dave walked all over the inner Yamanote. Crazy. Other than that, all is well in paradise.

This is a sign we saw yesterday climbing Takao. Interpret it as you will (suggestions: 1) yellow-clad mice roam these forests, run for your lives or 2) Stick-men roam these forests hunting yellow-clad mice, run for your lives). I'm gonna miss this crazy place.

Dave in front of Mt. Fuji! Super Nature Hiking Day! He likes C.C. Lemon!
[MORNING EDIT] We hiked about 13 or 14 kilometers across a "mountain" range from Tokyo to Kanagawa. Highlights included many encounters with elderly natives, including free coffee and candy and many many directions.

Well, today was defined mostly by Dave's melatonin imbalance. And that's cool. We wandered around Shinjuku Gyoen (pictures here) for the prettier and better portion of the afternoon, reading plant names and marveling at all the middle+higher aged photographers with tripods. I couldn't decide what was better for today, nature or humor, so I chose a combination of both. Were I Jerry Seinfeld I would have defaulted to humor (WWJSD?) . . but I am neither as strong nor as noble nor as funny as he. And, ergo, to our left: a nowhere-leading boulevard in the Gyoen under heavy photographic assault.

1) Dave took today's picture in Harajuku (of Gwen Stefani+posse fame). It's of the Tod's building and the architecture is apparently internationally famous. You, like I, can don your architecture hats and decide for yourselves whether or not it's rightfully commended.

My brother Dave's in Tokyo. Yesterday he was initiated into Asiatic bliss with some meat on a stick and an epic commute.

I had to work today but afterward we toured Kichijoji on foot before meeting a buddy and filling our respective bellies with conveyor-belt-provided sushi. Part of our pre-sushi stroll took us through Inokashira Park and its vicinity, an area that boasts many delightful cafes. As I've grown relatively immune to the sensory barrage that is everything Toyko, so have I grown immune to Japan's charmingly faulty adaptation of foreign phrases. Until today. Because now I have Dave's fresh outside perspective to draw my attention to all things wonky like, for example, the Noodle Chafe. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I have eight full days in Tokyo left, and four at work. In honor I might do a picture a day, or something. Brace yourselves!

Yesterday a lowish-level student asked how much my watch cost and then proceeded to tell me that "Japanese businessman buy high price watch to . . . to . . . catch women." I wrote down superficial on a piece of paper. After looking at the word for a few seconds he asked me, "You are . . . . super . . . woman?" Indeed, indeed I am. Especially in this country. I'm gonna miss the feeling of invincibility I experience every time I walk down a dark alley at night, knowing that my livlihood is pretty safe. Sigh. Oh Japan, you've coddled me and kept me close, and I appreciate that.