Week 12: Photo Essay Update

You Never Know Where You'll Be in Four Years Time
UCSD ID circa 2010 - Alien Registration Card circa 2014

Hi Folks! I apologize I have fallen behind on blogging. With few excuses and lots of requests, I owe you all a detailed update. Below I have several series of photo (admittedly, more from my iPhone than my camera) essays that will hopefully make up for this past month.

Outland Welcome Party in Tokamachi - Selfies Credit to Brian Iwama
Fall Inaka Basketball Tournament in Matsunoyama - Bottom Photo Credit to Mallu

Miscellaneous JET Events

New and old ALTs gathered for a few events the past couple weekends. Notably our Welcome Party held at Outland Camp Grounds in the outskirts of Tokamachi. Outland is unlike most campgrounds, since the owner built all of the cabins at an elevated level, and has secluded patches of grass for miscellaneous tents. Additionally, it is probably one of the few places out here where us noisy Gaijin could be as loud and rambunctious as we wanted, without getting scolded by Japanese folk.

The Fall Inaka Basketball Tournment was organized a couple of weekends ago. It was a two day charity basketball tournament to raise money for Eyes for Fukushima. Teams from Fukui and Gunma joined the handful from Niigata for two days of semi-competitive basketball. Although my team lost every game, we probably had the most supporters out cheering for us, "Men in Black," and still had a blast. My highlight was scoring a basket against a really good team on Day Two. Not to mention there was lots of really good Japanese food served. The latter was probably more significant in my books. :)

Adventures in Niigata-Shi - Selfie Credit to Brian Iwama

Murakami Bamboo Light Festival

Excursions Outside of Inaka

Unfortunately (and maybe surprisingly), I have not taken the time to travel much outside of the countryside. Primarily due to time and a limited budget. However, I am starting to make changes in my lifestyle choices, one of which is to follow the philosphy, "That I can always make time for things I want or need to do." One of which is travel. Although extremely delayed, I spent the past three day weekend visiting Brian. We spent part of the weekend in Niigata-Shi where we ran into a large number of ALTs, and then headed up to his neck of the woods in the northern part of the prefecture, in Nakajo/Murakami area where we attended a Bamboo Light festival.

Rice Cooker Chocolate Cake; Yummy Green Tea Gelato; Shoyu Rame; Baked Blueberry Oats

 Indian Food in Nagaoka; Sweet Potato Flavored Haagan Daz Sandwich; Inoya Ramen

Food

With trips and excursions, comes really good Japanese food. In turn, I have spent a large amount of my free time in the kitchen either baking or cooking up new recipes. Recently, I invested in an oven and blender and have produced satisfying results that are both appetizing and helping me maintain a healthy lifestyle. - At least during the weekdays where I am not tempted by delicious fatty Ramen .

Bed!; Photo Collage; Oven; Couch!

Making Changes in Japan

If you have been reading closely, I have openly expressed my distress and feelings of discouragement in Japan. I definitely had a hard first month, and was smacked countless times with culture shock as can be read in my previous post. However, I had a mini-revelation about three weeks ago that has significanlty brought me back to a similar former self. I realize that I control my own happiness. A great quote I read is, "The feeling of control is an essential element of happiness." -Gretchen Rubin. I plan on writing a more detailed post about this topic in the future, but in the meantime you can see at least the materialistic purchases and changes I have made to my home that have helped boost my mood and energy.

The bed, is the winner in change making. Not only do I usually go to sleep at a decent hour (my earliest is 9:30 p.m. but usually 10-10:30 p.m. now!), I sleep well and deeply. My oven is my favorite kitchen appliance and allows me to make healthier meals (as well as yummy desserts for friends). And I am continuing to add more personal decorations of great memories to my new home.

I hope to actually keep my promise and post apartment photos in the future. In the meantime my Mom and Aunt Trace are visiting this weekend! They will get to experience a snapshot of my surroundings and daily life, and I am sure if you are in contact with either of them they will be able to give a live report Stateside in the near future.

Yoi Ichinichi Wo!
(Have a good day!)