Spa Day...well, sort of. OK...not really.

Today (and I do mean August 29th today as my blog posts are a trifle out of sync) I had my first massage in Japan. More than anything, this made me miss my girls at Jolie the Day Spa in Atlanta…was that a shameless plug? Nope…wait for it…Jolie has the best technicians in ALL of Atlanta. If you want to be treated like royalty and get the best services in the Atlanta area, you MUST visit this spa. Give 'em a ring (if I add the # is it too much? I am not ashamed - 404.266.0060). PLUS…the girls at the front desk are HOT :) ( and not just because I used to be one).
As most of you know, I am a spa rat. I am spoiled from my days at Jolie and I have been (quietly) complaining about not having that privilege (a deep, deep privilege for which I am eternally grateful) anymore. So when my friend told me her friend managed a massage spot not too far from me, I jumped…leaped at the opportunity to get a massage (at a ridiculously reasonable rate).
It was insanely clinical. It felt like a luxurious visit to the chiropractor. I really enjoyed the service, and I have another appointment in 4 weeks…but it was so far from what I am used to and what I expected. It was like having physical therapy in a mall. The therapist definitely had some Japanese science in his fingertips because when I got up from the massage table I was loopy, but erect. I was literally standing up too straight to fall over. I really loved that he assessed me before my treatment (and also pointed out all the things that were wrong with me). He told me my pelvis was unbalanced, (and I can think up several reasons for this but…) my spine was curved and I had an incredible amount of tension in my neck, back and shoulders. I knew most of this, but it was nice to know that he knew and that he wouldn't just be poking around for the next hour.
After our massages we had a nice little lunch at this place in Tsujido called Pacific Deli. The food was really good and I really enjoyed the company. We ate ourselves into laziness and then hopped on the train heading back to our side of town. I decided to do some walking around Odawara and found a couple of really cool places. I went looking for a scrapbook and found a really cool, tiny art supply store. On the way there, I found a hip-hop dance studio. I decided next Sunday I will go hurt myself and have some fun while I do it. I also found a neat fabric store, which was right on time because I needed some fabric for this vision board (I guess it is more like a vision "cloth") that I am making. So presently we have quite a few irons in the creative fire, so to speak…but that is exactly how I like it.
I think this was one my most productive days off to date. Stay tuned.

Love,
The Gypsy

Mineko's Food


My Food

Big Bang.

Suwa.
The perfect way to end Obon and celebrate Oli's birthday. Suwa. Fireworks. Festival. We took the night bus from Tokyo last night to Suwa and got here around 11. I passed out so hard on that bus ride. It seemed to last 20 minutes and not the three hours it really was. We got to Oli, hopped on our bikes and headed home. My feet felt like two baby elephants and I was exhausted.
We got home and I showered... and then everything else was a blur until I opened my eyes the next morning. This day was big. It was Oli's birthday (yataaaa!) AND her student offered to dress us in yukatas (casual summer kimonos) AND it was the highly anticipated Suwa Fireworks Festival (one of the biggest fireworks festival in Japan). This promised to be an awesome day.
We got on our bikes, got some breakfast and went to Mitsuko's house to get the day started. Breakfast was a mistake. We got to her house and she had cake, tempura, sushi, Japanese fried chicken, tea, coffee...the eating was unceasing, seriously. Mitsuko was super generous and really gracious. Her family was so kind. She took us to a temple very close to her house and the resident at the temple treated us so kindly. More eating, of course. He so took us through the temple and explained everything - in Japanese of course- and then he busted out the green tea and sweets and we sat in the temple with a beautiful Japanese garden as our backdrop.
Breathtaking experience.
Yukatas time! We walked back to the house to get dressed for the festival. Putting on a yukata is work. Not for the wearer, but for the poor person who has to do all that science with the tying and the obi and the bow and aaaah! Insane. 30 minutes later we were dressed and feeling beautiful.
Festival time! Another one of Oli's students gave her some super buck seats for the festival, I'm talking center stage, first row-buck!  So we walked through an intense crowd of people, passing hundreds of street vendors on the way and made our way to our seats. This was the most incredible display of fireworks I have ever seen I my life. 36 sets, each one bigger than the last. The finale was a 2km replica of Niagara Falls with all kinds of other craziness going on around it. I was floored. It was thorough. There were so many people here, it trumped a Tokyo crowd on it's busiest day.  I think we had a bossy day. A super bossy vacation and now it's back to life, back to reality. So here I am on the 6am bus headed back to Kanagawa. Dying inside. I feel like a kid at the end of summer vacation without the joy of back to school shopping. "It's over, it's over. But it's far from over."
Talk to you soon.

Love,
The Gypsy

I Love Africa.

Oh my emgee…FUNNY story. I forgot to tell you guys what happened to me a couple of weeks ago! So during the summer break, I went to Osaka, Kyoto and Nagano. The trip to Nagano was great and there was a huge fireworks festival on Lake Suwa. Lake Suwa is ginormous! It was Oli's birthday so her students gave her these bossy tickets to these amazing seats near the water. Another one of her students also dressed us in Yukatas (summer kimonos)…I also forgot to upload the blog I wrote about this so I'll do that next (I ask you in advance to overlook the redundancy that comes as a repercussion of my forgetfulness)…sidetracked…anyway. There was this Indian man walking around with this Japanese family. The woman walked past us once and stared (awkwardly) and smiled at me and went back to her seat. A beer run or two later, she passes and tells me I look beautiful. I thank her. The strange exchange to follow is better exhibited in dialogue.

Lady: "Are you from India?"
Me: ( with a slightly raised brow and a smile) "No. I'm from Jamaica."
Lady: "Oh. I am hosting a guest from India. I thought if you were Indian I could
introduce you."
Me: (chuckles) "Ohhh…no, I'm not."
Lady: "Oh, okay. I love Africa."
Me: (blank stare)

I can't tell you how many times people ask me where I'm from and I say (the response varies based on their level of English), "I was born in Jamaica but I have lived in America for a long time." And they follow with, "…Jamaica…is that in Africa?"
Take that as you will. I think it is kind of funny, and by no means any less ignorant than the notions a lot of people (in the West) have about Asia. So…iLaugh.

Love,
The Gypsy

Sumo Big.

Let me just take a small break from the business of loquacious vacation updates to share what happened to me this morning on my way to work. So I'm gleefully strolling through my mountain town headed for the station, and coming toward me is the biggest Japanese man I have ever seen in my life. I am talking sumo big. He passes and I smile at him, which I often do to passer-by, and he smiles back and stops short. He was staring at me like a sushi platter when I looked back but I just  laughed and kept it pushing. A few seconds later, I noticed him following me, and quite quickly I might add. So I slow down and say hello. He says hi and tells me im really beautiful and then hits me with the usual series of introductory questions to a foreigner here-in Japanese...Where are you from? Where are you going? Do you live here? What are you doing in Japan. I answer all his questions in English and he tells me I'm pretty again. He then said I have a nice body and do I have a boyfriend - in English. I say yes (fallacy) in America. He then says hot sex or hard sex...not really sure which one and I start to shake my head in a very ambiguous manner. I honestly had no idea how to respond I was so shocked. He said something to this effect "...please meet one more time with me. Hot sex. Nice body. Hot! " I said thank you and politely excused myself telling him I needed to catch my train. I couldn't get it out of my mouth fast enough before I realized I was running. There was no fear attached to the idea in my body...only awkward discomfort and avoidance. 

Laughing,
Gypsy

Last night...

Sweet Osaka...how you rocked me last night.
So we took it easy today. We actually did a bit of sightseeing in Osaka. We went to Osakajo (castle) today. Let me pause for the cause and tell you how blasted hot it is down here. Oh man, it is not right. So we sweat our way to Osakajo, did some running on the way and took some beautiful pictures. This castle is quite magnificent. It has a double moat and sits in the center of this enormous park. It was quite a sight to see, and the view from the top was sick. You can see all of Osaka.
We also went to the Floating Garden Observatory in the Umeda Sky Building. This was probably one of my favorite experiences. We went at night so the night view of the city from maybe 50 stories was insane. It was easily the most beautiful thing I saw in Osaka. We had a difficult time leaving this building. As we were leaving we saw these waterfalls from big metal cylindrical figures that were changing colors. That coupled with the actual design of the Umeda Sky Building against the night sky blew my mind. So we stopped and took more pictures.
We decided tonight would be an early night..it wasn't so much...but relatively speaking it was early. We ended up in America-Mura at a shisha (hookah) bar called L&L. The owner was this really cool guy from Israel and we chatted, had a couple drinks and headed home.
I love Osaka. It made me wonder how my experience would differ if I lived here.
Certainly something to think about...


Love,
Gypsy

OH!saka

Osaka!!! Whattup?! Love this city already :) What a day. So we got to Osaka at around 7:30 am and started our vacation super early. We went to this little cafe that was so close to the station that the tables shook when a train went by. It was really quaint and adorable though. We had some breakfast and chatted (like Oli and I always do) and then set out on a mini adventure to charge our phones and get cleaned up while waiting for Charlie. That was an excursion too because His phone died and we searched for 2 solid hours to find him until he showed up at the Krispy Kreme window like a kid who got left at school by his irresponsible parents. At least that was how his face looked LOL.
So with donuts in hand, we decided to ride a ferris wheel in the heart of downtown Osaka, (which was decked out with an iPod dock so I dj'd that 15 minute ride) eat donuts and see what the city was like from the top. After that, we went to our hostel, showered, and then hit the streets again looking for takoyaki and okomomiyaki (grilled octopus balls-that sounds sus but at some point I'll explain what it is, and a Japanese pancake). We walked around the city until nightfall and took photos, got accustomed to the area and passed through different parts of Osaka like, America-Mura, Dotombori, and Shinsaibashi.
Our other friends, Lyndsey and Arjun, arrived later that night and we hit the hood again. This time, with muddy intentions. We wanted to get loose and party, and that we did. Not before eating, again...ramen this go round, and grabbing a couple road beers.
We ended up at a hip hop club and we danced SO hard. We danced so hard that after we left, we went to another club and danced even harder. When we stepped outside it was daylight and so many people were in the street. We got some food (onigiri and coffee, of course) and dragged ourselves to our temporary home to get some shut eye (a nap really) so that we could do it all again tomorrow. And by tomorrow, I guess I mean today.


Love,
Gypsy

The Hawk

Aaah...beach day. Today I spent the day in Hayama at a beautiful beach. It was a perfect day for the beach...sweltering and sunny. I have been going since I got off of work on Saturday with no intention of slowing down. So let's see...saw some beautiful people, had some drinks and soaked up some sun today. While we were at the beach, Oli and I were casually enjoying our tuna onigiri when a huge hawk swooped swiftly between our heads and snatched my onigiri out of my hand. It happened so fast and Oli and I were so shocked we just stared at this hawk flying off into the distance. It was a cool minute before either one of us said anything. At hat point we were both trying to figure out what just happened. Traumatized.
After leaving the beach, we raced home to get packed and ready to get to Tokyo to catch our bus to Osaka. We got on the bus and we are sitting on the top tier of a two tier bus in the first row with the roomiest seats.  I am super excited about going to Osaka. It's supposed to be a fun city with tons to do. So we will do some sightseeing and some partying and have a few stories to tell... I'll keep you posted. Right now, I'm about to black out on this overnight bus. Until tomorrow!

I'm Baaaack!

It has been a really long time since I have blogged and I must say it felt like something was missing. So many things have been going on that I have not been able to sit and write about. This week however, I am on vacation. I can already tell it is going to be one of those vacations that you need a vacation from. We are going to four or five different cities in 7 days. I started it off pretty big yesterday. 
I climbed Mt. Fuji. Let me just tell you, it is a beast. That mountain made me cry and laugh and want to give up once or twice (let's be real, more than once or twice) but I am so glad I did it. I actually went with Oli and a few of her students, one of them was climbing for the 30-somethingth time, and we did it together! It was miserable and amazing and excruciating and beautiful. I would probably never do it again and it was easily the most challenging thing I have ever done to date. My legs and knees are killing me but the experience was worth it. 
My goal this week is to do a ton of writing so I can share my experiences with you. Then when I get home and back to work I will put together a photo album (like that one over there <<<) so that you can see what I saw. I promise to make better use of my notepad on my iphone and never to stay away so long.