Adventures in Japan!

12:03:45 PM EDT

i have been pick-pocketed. i can't beleive it. my phone that has th last two years worth of funny pictures, phone numbers, and random emails from friends is gone. gone. gone. gone. i was so upset. it happened in a museum! what?! i went to the bathroom to wash my face, and ended up shoving my nose stud into the opposite wall of my nose, producing intense pain and more blood than i could deal with standing up. i ended up on the ground with this nice european lady trying to talk to me in a variety of languages as all i could produce was "ungh!" BUT! my wallet, passport, tickets, and all that are safe. i just HATE having things stolen. stupid phone thief. i hope he loses a toe.

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4:33:34 PM EDT
i'm on the bus from okayama to yokohama. i am so sad. i left last night, and i almost made it to the bus without crying like a baby. after my last day at work on saturday, i went out to dinner at a balinesian place with some work people, and a couple friends came up from hiroshima. i was expecting two of my girlfriends, and i was surprised when a few of the guys decided to come up too! there were six of us in all, and we had a blast. after dinner, me, the other foreign teacher, and my friends from hiroshima went out to an aussie bar and karaoke until 5 AM. it was so much fun, and i took a lot of pictures. it was a night of randomness. two of the guys are always picking at each other like an old married couple. when we left the aussie bar, one took the other's umbrella and then was too proud (drunk) to realize his mistake. they argued about it all the way down the street, then back down the street to the bar to get the right umbrellas, then back up the street when they did the right ones.  all the way to karaoke, it was like
"well, no one leave your umbrella lying about!"
"shut up, they look the same in dark"
"right, your has a hook on the end, and looks exactly the SAME as my straight one"
"no one cares about your umbrella!"
"at least i'm not a thief!"
and then some one started in on last names.
"well, what can you expect from someone with a german surname..."
"what sort of surname is THERMAL, anyway?!"
". . . have you never heard of the THERMAL vest? we're very proud of the warmth we"ve given to to others over the years..."
and it went all the way to karaoke
"right, there will be NO GERMAN SONGS at karaoke!"
there were no german songs, but there were a few japanese ones.
the next morning at 8, my friend from izumo came over and, after traveling all night, passed out on the floor like the rest of us. thank goodness i have a bigger apartment and extra futon, because there were 7 of us that morning. one of the guys brought his own sleeping bag, which was pretty amusing. the next morning, after seeing a little bit more of one of the guys than i needed to (loose boxer shorts, kicked off covers, morning....yeah....) i had to get up and let let the electricity lady give me my last bill. thankfully, she didn't cut the power, but i'll have a little extra to pay by mail. that morning, the ex who stood me up in tokyo called to say goodbye. i was surprised because he never responded to my email. i only wish i had been more alert, because it's a bit of a haze now. it was a nice chat, he explained a bit of why he'd been such a jerk. i just can't believe i'll never see him again. after so many months of saying, yeah we'll definately visit before june, now here it is. and here he isn't.
after everyone got up around noon, we took showers, and headed out for lunch. i threw a towel to one of my friends in the morning, and it landed near another sleeping guy's head, at which he woke up with a start going "AAUGH!" the rest of us had a good laugh. after lunch, i said goodbye to some of the guys, they were heading to a park adn then off to shikoku, i had to stay and clean my apartment with my friend from izumo who helped a lot. the girls came back after the park, and we hung out a bit before seeing them off at the bus station.
then, while sitting in my empty aprartment, after cleaning, packing, and week's worth of running around finishing paperwork, student reports, and filing, i realized i had nothing left to do.
i was packed.
i had to leave japan.
i started crying.
my friend from izumo was very sweet and tried to make me feel better and excited about china. i AM excited for china, but i'm just so sad that i'm leaving japan! all the way to bus station, i was going "good bye apartment! good bye bali place, you had good food!"
then we stopped at internet place so i could print some e-tickets and such, and i had to get on the bus. he saw me off and went back to my empty apartment to spend the night before heading off in the morning. he texted me to say that it was much more depressing than he had aniticipated to go back to the empty apartment. it was depressing to leave it.

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3:18:40 PM EDT

things ***seem*** to be looking up. after a panic inducing email from travel agent saying that my passport would be SENT BACK on friday (i leave sunday,) i called her and she said she meant to write that she would RECEIVE it on friday. so, it should all be good. as long as i get my camera back this week (surprise! it's still broken!) i'll be a happy girl. i also decided to move to chicago. i'm tired of not knowing anyone in the city i live in. . . . of course this could change if i feel like it tomorrow.
in other news, this is my last week as an english teacher in japan. after two years, i'm heading back to the states. i can't believe it! i am so sad. :(

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2:39:08 AM EDT
Feeling Angry
so, i've had some bad luck. when i went to okinawa, it rained. well- i had one sunny day-the day before i left. at least i got to see some sunny okinawa beaches. and, honestly, the coral so wonderful. the beaches are all rocky and gross on the big island, but an hour's ferry ride away are some great smaller islands. the beaches there have coral reefs all over, but the sand is really soft! you can walk into the water without worrying about getting cut, and just go swim over to see the fishies playing in the coral! it was amazing; i wish i'd had more time! so-ok, partly that was good.
i'm trying to get my china trip worked out, but last week, my travel agen said that the return day i needed wasn't available. which is bad because i already have a flight lined up to florida when i was supposed to get back from china. so, fortunately, it worked out that i could come back a day earlier than i wanted, so i can still catch the flight to florida. i thought it was all worked out and hooray time. i picked up a form at city hall and filled out all my stuff for a visa, brought the cash for the ticket, and she tells me "you need TWO completely blank pages in your passport, not just one, for the visa." argh! she called the embassy and it's supposed to be ok. i'll find out this week. if i can't get a visa, i'll be spending 3 weeks in hong kong-which i'm sure is lovely, but not quite the same. so, i'm worried about that.
this weekend, i took off my 3 days i had left of paid time off and went up to tokyo. the plan was:spend 2 days in my old city with my old friend (and ex-boyfriend) then 2 days in tokyo with my other friend and another would come into tokyo for the weekend from niigata. well, the ex told me last monday night (i left thursday night) that he was canceling. and turned off his phone so i couldn't call him. and was rude me online. grrr. then my niigata buddy got sick and couldn't come. my friend in tokyo had to come pick me up at the station before work-which is a huge pain, and then i stayed with him for FOUR days. it was allright, i went around yokohama and tokyo, which was fun. my friend recommended i go see a bookstore street that i'd never been to, and it was a lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon. then we saw kabuki and my friend from utsunomiya came into town for dessert. we also went to kamakura, which was very nice. i saw a bunch of kooky little temples and a really crappy beach.
BUT, when i tried to go home, the bad luck continued. i missed my bus back home by literally 5 minutes because it left from the airport shuttle terminal, not the highway bus terminal. i had run all over the building, platform to platform, trying to find my bus. there was no office, so i was asking passengers, bus drivers, people at the convenience store, nobody knew anything, they just kept telling me that i was at the right place for highway busses. i finally asked another highway bus driver when they pulled up and he ran around, finally ending up at the airport bus platform, which is down the hall from the highway bus. when i had asked at the convenience store, i was actually up the stairs from the platform i needed. they refused to call it back, even though i ran in at 10:29, and it had left at 10:25, so i had to spend $120(! the trip was only 30 minutes!) on a cab to take me to the service area where the bus would wait for me. my ticket round trip only cost $160! i was willing to just go the next night, but they refused to change my ticket, so a new one would have cost $100. here's the pisser, they refused to call it back, b/c of the schedule, but apparently it could just wait around for me later, since i left in a taxi 20 minutes after the bus left. what a bunch of morons. it least it took my mind off being mad at the guy in fukushima.
i am so pissed off.


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12:44:38 PM EDT

i'm going to okinawa tomorra'! sooooo excited!!!!

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9:19:14 AM EDT
Feeling Sad
i am getting really depressed. i can't believe my time is almost up in japan! two years, and it went by so fast. it's difficult to imagine that i applied for this job when i was 23, in a good (ish) job, looking at houses back in tampa. i'll be going back 26 and without a plan.
i am excited about going to okinawa, and i'm going to visit some friends in fukushima after that. i have to get to the travel agent tomorrow and get my summer trip set and good to go. then i have to book my ticket home! yikes.
i've been trying to take in as much japan as i can. a few weeks ago, my friend and i cruised around shikoku taking in some temples and the Dogo Onsen. it was awesome! we took a bus down to matsuyama and strolled around the gardens and castle. matsuyama has a fantastic castle. then we soaked and ate bean cakes in a leisurely manner, lazing at the dogo onsen. did i already tell this story? maybe? anyway, it was nice. totally japanese. we also checked out takamatsu. i can't remember which city it was, but we tried to go see this mountaintop city where an epic battle took place, but when we got to the cable car station, it was shut down! utterly and completely. like, dusty, dirty, ceiling falling down, chained and locked shut down. we didn't feel like an hour's hike up in the inclimate weather, so we went to a big forest/park instead. it had all these old houses shipped in from all over japan.  it was very nice to see all these different styles from different times and places. then, we ate soba. nice.

so, what should i do with the rest of my life?

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11:16:39 AM EDT

just do you know, i got a package from my daddy and i now have MACAROONS! he sent me SIX cans! that's really nice, but i've been so healthy all holiday, lots of salads, egg white omelets and such. now, i went through almost one whole can in a day. i think it was the excitement of a care package. they are tasty little devils!

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11:01:05 AM EDT
Feeling Silly
well, i cleaned my kitchen for passover, but i totally miss all this stuff: http://www.manischewitz.com/products/index.php   i washed down my sink, stove, and fridge. i'm all stocked up with fruits, veggies, and tofu. i realized after i got home that i couldn't make a salad because i don't have a new knife or bowl, but at least i remembered to get a new set of plate/cup/bowl and plasticware. the 100 yen store is fabulous!
   as for the headache, it's pretty much gone! i went to the doctor and got some drugs. hooray! the first place i went to was a university hospital that a friend of a friend works at. i forgot how annoying those places are. first, i was in a room with my friend's friend, the doctor, and two students who asked me medically probing questions such as "how long have you been japan? do you like japanese food? what kind music you like?"  they then told me that it would be $50 extra as a basic fee to use the university hospital and that they wanted to run some eye exams which i would have to wait around for and would also not be covered by insurance. this was after she told me that i really just needed to take some ibuprofin. she said i could  wait around at that hospital, or go to a different hospital down the road, and she gave me a map. i wasn't really keen on running around the hospital with two students after me, so i decided to go to the other hospital. BUT, it was raining! torrential downpour!!! i went home. luckily, my manager told me about another doctor near me, so i called him. it turns out the office is only a 5 minute walk from my house! so, i went there in the afternoon and it was super fast! the staff was really nice, spoke a good amount of english, and were incredibly relieved to see my national insurance card. i don't think they would have known how to use the traveler's insurance!  
   the doctor said i had a migraine, and all the aches and pains are related to that. then he gave me some migraine medicine (which called "imigraine medicine") and said i should take it right away if i see spots again. he was very annoyed to hear that i took ibuprofin for the headache because, apparently, "ibroprofin breaks your stomach!" it's kind of sad that he has the best english of any doctor i've seen. but, all's well that ends well, and i feel a lot better now. hooray!

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10:46:23 AM EDT

i still have a headache. ow.

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12:43:35 PM EDT

how do you know when a headache means your brain is about to explode? i've had a headache for about a week now and i keep getting this stabbing pain in my left temple and, now, behind my left eye area. that can't be good, right?

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