I am currently getting ready to go back to the US to spend time with family and friends, and re-learn English in preparation for my next big journey. All those in the US, let's try to get together!! Starting in November, I will be travelling onboard the Peace Boat as an English teacher for a voyage around the world! Many of my childhood dreams will come true and I am sure new ones will be fostered! I will make a complete circle around the world! I will see many countries for the first time, and go back to others that I have loved. I will have my first experiences in South America. I will have some great chances to learn/ practice some Spanish. I hope to meet up with some friends along the way as well!! I look forward to learning and growing so much! If you are interested in details, check out the site http://www.peaceboat.org/english/index.html Keep checking hear for updates as I prepare and go! And keep in touch!!

Can't believe I didn't blog this... I was invited to a barbecue on the beach with lots of Tahara residents and... a whole group of sumo wrestlers!! Wow! It was fun, it was crazy, and the sumo boys did the cooking! :) It was fun to see lots of my students, to play in the ocean, and just to mingle with sumos! Never thought I would have had an opportunity!! One of them [the leader] was a retired former champion! He'd slimmed down and was just REALLY BUILT. Well it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately I did not take enough pictures. :)

Wow! Time keeps ticking and the day that I leave my home in Tahara is coming closer and closer! I have been spending a lot of time packing and sorting. Sorting is kind of fun, because I run across so many things that bring back memories and help me to relive the time I've spent here, and to see how much I have learned and changed. What a great experience it has been to live in Tahara for three years! I am happy to have a Japanese home town now!

Another thing that makes packing a bearable experience is the help I've received from friends. Last night two of my favorites came over and were looking through my clothes that I decided not to take on with me to the next phase of my life. It was fun watching them look through together and decide what suited which better, and how they could use each item. They left with some nice "new" pieces for their wardrobes, and select items to share with other friends. It is nice to know that people I love will get use from my things, and hopefully they can remember me as they wear it! :) We had lots of fun eating dinner together and talking. After they left my upstairs neighbor wanted me to come up and look at something [she is packing to leave as well]. Well I went up and we started talking and ended up talking 'til the sun came up... Wow! We also did a bit of relaxation yoga to chase away the stress of moving. Then it was back downstairs to catch a bit of sleep before it got too noisy...

I woke up this morning to a call from my boyfriend, and that is always a nice way to start my day! :) Then I cleaned, did more packing, and talked with a friend who came by. She took some of my kitchen things, like cornmeal and some spring-form pans. While she was here I got a call saying that I was accepted to join Peace Boat as an English teacher! Hooray! I was so happy and relieved to have the question securely answered of what I am going to do next! I am really excited for the possiblities that this "job" holds. I am overflowing with ideas and questions. Most of all, I am happy to know that I will be coming back to Japan soon to start the voyage around the world. This way, as I pack up and leave I know it is not really goodbye. It is just "see you in a few months!" And THAT is the kind of goodbye that I like!!!! :)

I had a fantastic weekend!! I went to Tokyo early on Friday morning for an interview with Peace Boat. It was a fun day of being with really nice people, learning more about the organization, and ...well... interviewing! I particularly enjoyed talking with one of the applicants who had flown to Tokyo from Oregon just for the interview process! She was really nice and enthusiastic, and it would be fun to be with her on the voyage. We had lunch together at a "Cambodian" restaurant nearby, and kind of made friends with the Vietnamese lady who was running the place. She was really sweet and cute, and she gave us free coffee! She had been to Texas and was happy when I recognized a Hanoi temple in a piece of artwork on the wall. People are really happy when you know something about their homeland! :)

After the interviews were finished we went to the Harajuku area and walked down Takeshita Dori. Lots of cute and interesting and crazy shops. A little bit of everything! Then we went to a shrine and walked through the woods that surrounded it. It was beautiful!! So peaceful! It did not feel like Tokyo at all! Nice break.

That night I went to an internet cafe to work out Saturday's plans, had dinner, and then went to Shiespa for the night. [see http://brave-design.com/works/siespa.html] Shiespa is a great oasis in the middle of Shibuya, one of the busiest parts of Tokyo. It is a women's only spa, and it is 9 floors high! The ground floor is check-in, where you can leave your shoes and pick up a bag of spa lounge clothes and towels. You can pay just to use the facilities during the day, or pay an extra overnight fee to spend the night. With the overnight fee, for just an extra 315 yen [$3] you can get a personal ...pod... for sleeping. It is a reclining chair encased in tinted glass, with a TV and blanket and a little extra space for keeping your things. It doesn't sound so attractive, but the surrounding ambiance is great, and with well-placed curtains and Asian-style lamps around the room, it is quite nice. I slept just as well there as I could have in a hotel, plus I had access to some great onsen baths and saunas!! And I would have spent more on a hotel!

Anyway, the basement floor of Shiespa has a small shop, the locker areas and "powder room" areas. From there you take an elevator or the stairs to reach other floors. On the first floor there is a hand and foot therapy area, the second floor had some restaurants, the third and fourth floors are "relaxation areas" where you can sleep in chairs or in the personal pod areas day or night. The 5th floor had more therapy areas and an open space, the 6th floor had an open space/ cafe and a sauna type room with hot floors. I don't remember what it was called. It also had a small room with 6 waterbeds and a videoscreen of splashing water, with quiet water sounds projected through the speakers. Very relaxing area! The 7th floor... I think had more therapy stuff/ massage area, something like that. The 8th floor had onsen/ public baths and a shower area, as well as an aromatherapy sauna. The 9th floor had an outdoor bath on the roof with a garden area, a footbath with a great view of the city, a cold-water bath and a traditional sauna. It was fun moving between the areas, all of which were very different and relaxing in their own way. It is a very popular place it seems, as it was pretty crowded everywhere. When I crawled into my personal bed-pod at midnight I was the only one in the room. When I woke up in the morning, though, it was all full! It is a great alternative place for women to stay after a night out in Shibuya, Tokyo!

Saturday morning I was up early, ready to meet my boyfriend for a fun day together! I had a few last soaks in the baths, and a last little session in the water-room. Then it was down to the locker room to get ready for check-out [by 9 am]. From there I went for breakfast, back to the internet cafe for checking mail and drinking some free beverages, and on to the station to put my bags in a locker. Next step was walking/ timing the paths between the station, the Indian restaurant, and "BunkaMura" where the show was going to be held. Luckily it was all pretty close, and very near Shiespa.

Then all I had to do was wait. I went to the Hachiko statue outside of Shibuya station. [Hachiko is a legendary dog who waited for his master outside the station every day, even after his master died... Hence he is the perfect symbol for people waiting for their friends, families, dates, business partners...] I was there awhile, because I always like to be early, JUST IN CASE he is early... I don't want to waste a minute! :) Anyway, he found me before I found him so he came up behind me. Nice surprise hug! :) Then we went to put his stuff in the locker, then on to the Indian buffet. Well we have not spent a ton of time together in Tokyo, but the times that we have spent, this place has become a bit of a tradition. The food is quite good, and not too expensive, just 1000 yen for lunch buffet! We walked away, satisfied once again... :)

Next stop, Bunka Mura [culture village] for the Chinese acrobatics version of Swan Lake. [see http://www.iht.com/slideshows/2006/01/03/arts/web.0301swan.php]. It was AMAZING! I am so happy to have a boyfriend with an eye for an interesting show, and the ability to plan a great date, even if he has to do it in Japanese! :) Well we got there and there were HUGE lines of people waiting to get in. It was a huge auditorium and the show was sold out. :) The show itself was really amazing and so cool! It included some of the most amazing things I've seen. I am sure my jaw was hanging open at times, and my palms were sweaty from being nervous for the acrobats. Never before had I seen people jumping and flipping from the top of one pole to another... Never again am I likely to see a woman doing ballet on a man's shoulder or head. Men in frog suits dancing on their hands, fabulous juggling tricks, unicycle riding, roller-skating swans, so many eye-catching mind-boggling tricks that I almost started to feel like it must be normal... I certainly wanted to try some of those things at home... At any rate, it was the best date EVER! Nice guy, great entertainment, got dressed up, nice food, good atmosphere, and just so nice to be together again!!! :) I am a happy girl!!