Christmas in London with the Parkers 2009

Well, as always it has been months since I've updated my blog so I am going to try to capture a bit of what has been going on since December! YIKES!

Christmas was lovely and a majority of it was spent in the little area of Chelsea where my sister, Kathryn, lives. She is a graduated student at Christie's. The entire Parker family flew from both ends of the globe and met in London! I flew from Tokyo while mom and dad flew from Nashville! One flight and many hours later I found myself in the London Heathrow airport! I was greeted by my family with big smiles and hugs!

We spent the chilly days walking the streets of London enjoying market places, fantastic pubs, drinking wine and beer along with coffee and tea and a mulled wine too, and the special less well know areas of London like Notting Hill and Primrose Hill! We laughed and watched movies and even enjoyed the snow three times!

Christmas was spent in Kathryn's apartment snuggling by our lovely pointsetta "tree". We placed all of the presents under our beautiful tree and enjoyed a delicious meal provided by Whole Foods. We ate turkey, stuffing, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, sweet potatoes, and delicious bread! We listened to Christmas music and enjoy staying curled up in our pajamas :)

I spent a total of almost three weeks in London. I enjoyed meeting Kathryn's friends, nights out dancing, nights in snuggling with sissy and watching movies, eating out, drinking Starbucks, going to small pubs, riding in taxis, walking around, going to Kensington High Street, eating at Whole Foods (Lord, I miss that STORE!) and really just enjoying the life of a "Londoner" not a "tourist".

To check out all the photos click on the links below!:

• http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036254&id=54500082&l=cb4f1270d1
  
• http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036548&id=54500082&l=a6ea6d73c2

Traveling Play

I was brought back to my elementary and junior high school days when I was told the afternoon was free because of entertainment.

A play was being brought to our school. To my amazement when I reached the gymnasium the entire stage had been transformed into an unrecognizable Itako 2nd JHS stage. It was incredible. I was quite excited that the next two hours of my afternoon were going to be spent being entertained by Japanese actors. You would think this would be quite the headache but it ended up being rather pleasurable. I knew that some of my students were involved because in 3rd period they said they needed to go to "dance practice".

The play was called Asian Paradise. It was a perfect little play in which I was able to kind of follow. That is the lovely thing with expressions, music, and setting you can usually figure out what it is about when you are unable to comprehend the language. It was a nice play because it was so cold outside (who am I kidding it was freezing inside too...I was bundled up to my nose in my scarf and jacket) but they did a great job of depicting a very hot atmosphere.

The gist of the play was there was this hostel which the old woman ran it included all the relationships and interactions that people would perhaps have on a day to day basis. It included conflict and love. The hostel housed people from all over the world. The acting was good from what I could see and understand and I was honestly very happy to have spent my afternoon watching it!

Here are a few pictures from the play! My students were even involved at the very end!! Really fun! :)

A Weekend With the US NAVY in Yokosuka, Japan

Well it was my turn to finally make the adventurous 2.5 hour trip down to Yokosuka-Chuo to visit Josh and his friends! You may be asking yourself where in the heck is that...

Yokosuka is approximately an hour south of Tokyo and 25 minutes south of Yokohama. It houses the US NAVY base and is actually a quaint little area!

The weekend was lovely and so relaxed! I woke up early on Saturday morning and made the trek down. Josh had just moved into his new apartment after 96 days on the ship. He had a friend help him move a few things into his new place as I was on my way down. When I arrived we hung out for a bit before going onto base.

As an American living in the rice fields of Japan going to base is actually quite overwhelming. We walked down the street passing Japanese and all sorts of foreign shops and cafes. We walked over a bridge and before I knew it we were at the gates of base. I needed to get a visitor pass...a few hoops later we were on our way.

We hoped in a base cab and headed over to chili's. It was a delicious and overwhelming experience! We enjoyed a salad and fajitas and beautiful views of the ocean. We talked and had what seemed to be 5 refills and made a little list for things that Josh needed in his apartment.

We walked around base looking in stores, renting movies, and enjoying a people watching Starbucks date. It was really quite the experience to be on base as I have not seen anything THAT American since America itself. The military personnel are clearly very comfortable and potentially could never leave the base if they wanted to.

After a day of shopping for the apartment and enjoying the little America we went back to Josh's apartment. We were both pretty tired and were going to go out to eat until Josh joking proposed eating chili, salad, and honey bunches of oats for dinner. To his surprise I took him up on this little proposal, we popped open a bottle of wine, put on the ipod, lit a candle, and enjoyed our meal of chili, salad, and honey bunches of oats :) It was a fun night!

The next day we were going to go to the Officer's Brunch. Long story short we were unable to attend that brunch due to one of the girls (civilian) not being able to get a pass to go on base. Josh being the sweet guy that he is suggested we all just eat brunch off base :)

We walked towards the train station where there are several restaurants. We went to an Italian restaurant and ate salad, pizza, and tiramisu! We had fantastic views of the ocean as we were up high and after brunch we had another Starbucks date :)

The rest of the day was relaxing. We napped, ran a few errands, ate subway for dinner, and watched the modern day Romeo and Juliet. Then it was back to my Japanese life style in the rice fields of Japan :)

I had a great weekend in little America and can't wait for my next visit! :)

After brunch I got everyone to strike a silly pose :) Josh seems to be the only "normal" pose of everyone =D

Nate and Delia

Jordan :)

Thanksgiving in Tokyo: November 26, 2009 <3

*gooble, gobble*

Thanksgiving is always a fun time of the year to join with friends and family and enjoy a spectacular meal followed by hours of football, food comas, and the potential outing for a movie. That is if you can haul yourself out of the recliner and head for the show on time but...

...if you live in Japan Thanksgiving is a little different. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday it is celebrated in America NOT Thanksgiving. It is hilarious to me when friends and family back home ask me if I have Thanksgiving and Christmas off. It is sad and somewhat humorous to say that I don't. It makes since Japan does not celebrate giving thanks for the harvest season nor is it a Christan country both of these resulting in the 4th Thursday of November and the 25th of December as official work days.

I however took the afternoon of the 26th off to spend with my new and awesome guy, Josh :) We had a wonderful evening set up in Tokyo. We got dressed up and enjoyed a fantastic meal over looking Tokyo at a Hawaiian restaurant called Roy's. Roy's is on the 5th Floor in the West Walk of Roppongi Hills. We were filled with happiness over the food and wine selection. We feasted on vegetables, bread, mashed potatoes, and turkey as we gave thanks for our friends, family, and our new relationship. We had fun and did a wine pairing with our meal. We drank four different wines. We started the night with bubbly intermixed with red and white and ended one sweet note with a delicious deep port wine accompanied with a pumpkin pie and a chocolate torte.

The evening was incredible. Tokyo was illuminated for Christmas which made the evening even more magical. It certainly was a Thanksgiving never to forget. I am sad I was unable to be with friends and family from home but know that we gave a toast to you on Thanksgiving night!

Cheers, I miss you all!!

Aunt Cyd & Uncle D Show Up in Itako! What are the chances?!

It all started a year and four almost five months ago when I decided to leave on this adventure to Japan...

Aunt Cydney and Uncle David (my cool California aunt and uncle...my mom's brother and his wife) had been making threats for a very loooong time to come visit :) I kept encouraging these threats until one day it became true.

My aunt and uncle had retired from their many years of teaching in California. They decided to take an around the world tour for a little over a month...they started in London with my sister and worked their way around the world to facinating places like Finland, Turkey, Jordan, UAE, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and wound up in little WEEEEE ole ITAKO!

They told me they were sorry for seeing Kathryn first as she had only been gone from America for merely a MONTH! Uncle David's reasoning is that they have always liked her more because she is well, taller. :) His compensation on their disappointment on my end is rent at a very discounted rate at their condo that they own for the next 5 years. I think I may take up the offer! :)

I had a meeting the day they arrived in Japan. I had them take the bus from Narita to Itako. When I got home from my meeting they were at Itako Hotel and I picked them up and brought them back to my apartment. We hung out a bit while we waited for Hitomi to come pick us up! We wasted no time getting the party started! It was my JTE's 26th birthday! We were invited to her birthday party! Needless to say much food and many beers later we were all very happy and really enjoyed our time together.

The next few days consisted of showing them my town and taking them to all the neat little ins and outs of my area. We enjoyed a home cooked meal, sitting on the floor, enjoying chocolate croissants, the water front, drinking, eating, laughing, and just enjoying being with each other. I had a blast taking picture club pictures with them and really enjoying this time with them.

The older I get the more and more I am appreciating my family. I am learning the quirks and that not everyone is perfect. I have found out more information about my family and am just simply growing to love my family more and more. It is fun getting older because your understanding of life and your perspetion is always changing. It is really a joy :)

I really hope they come back for another visit! I need to upload some more photos but they are on another memory card. I am writing this blog actually from London so when I return to Japan I will upload more photos. I will leave you with one photo from the subway in Tokyo!

I love my family =D

Yokohama Oktoberfest - October 17, 2009

Yay! Oktoberfest 2009!

The weekend started at my new friend Stephanie's apartment in Hiro-o. I went down to Tokyo on Friday night and met her there. Stephanie is an ex-JET. We met at an art show last spring. We had not had the opportunity to hang out and we decided this particular weekend would be it! I left my apt. right after school and headed into town! I got there right around dinner time. I dropped my bag at her apartment and we instantly reconnected! It was a lovely night!

We were going to stay in and have a quiet night. We walked around Roppongi Hills and even played in a toy pet shop =D Literally the cutest, smallest pets you will ever see! I held a $3,000 Yorkie and Steph fell in love with a bull dog :) We continued down the street convinced we knew where Gonpachi was. Gonpachi is an izakaya that we both wanted to go to...one moment led to the next and we found ourselves meandering around Akasuka =D We landed upon all these really need streets and found an amazing Vietnamese restaurant. We split dinner and enjoyed drinks :)

We continued our walk around the city...My night ended with a sunrise =D

I slept in on Saturday morning. What I didn't mention was Steph's boyfriend had a friend from France visiting. It is not a hot french guy but rather a french (very french) girl. Stephanie currently works for a contemporary art gallery in Yokohama. She is an intern there. Saturday was our day to go and enjoy art and then head to the Oktoberfest celebration in Yokohama! So, Stephanie went on ahead and I went down with Aurelia a little bit later. We enjoyed the contemporary art presentations. Around 4:30 we left and headed to the festival. We met up with a few friends that we somehow mutually know :) Its amazing how big yet how small the Tokyo circuit actually is!

Stephanie enjoying her beer!

Me, Stephanie, & Brita @ Oktoberfest 2009!!!
All the people at the Party! So Many!!
I thought this was too cute!!
We got into the gates of Oktoberfest and found Brita and Anna with a few of their friends! It was already a "sh*t" show to say the least relatively early on! We headed for the beer tents and got our beer! I started with a delicious Oktoberfest pilsner and an eins, zwei, drei PROST (cheers) :) Stephanie and I walked around the grounds and were talking and laughing. It is an interesting feeling never seeing foreigners but then being completely surrounded by them.

We were ready for round two and it began to rain. We were standing inside talking about how many people in this world lack common sense. We turned around and laughed at the same time because we saw these three guys behind us. One of which looked like he was lacking in the common sense department. We slyly turned around and then the three guy approached us. We were soon talking with Jordon, Josh, & Shane. All three naval officers in Yokosuka and from the continental USA! It turned into a very entertaining night full of cheers, fun, COMMON SENSE and friends!

The rain continued and so did the conversations and beer. It was one of the most fun nights of my life. Soon I found myself with Josh. Stephanie had headed back to Tokyo and Josh and I were left talking and enjoying each others company. Then after a long while of smiling, laughing, drinking, and talking...we too headed back into Tokyo. Josh didn't need to come into Tokyo but he wanted to make sure I made it back safe and sound =D

Josh and I after a long night of fun!! =D We are gettin' tired and loopy at this point! I realize this is a pretty unflattering picture of the two of us BUT it's the only one I've got from the evening!

Before we knew it the trains had closed down and we found ourselves drinking (accidentally) white hot chocolate in the Starbucks at the very busy Hachiko exit crossing in Shibuya. I wanted plain Hot Cocoa. We stayed there in Shibuya talking for what seemed hours. We stayed warm inside and then ventured outside to get some food. We walked and talked and even tried to find a karaoke bar or Internet cafe to go relax in while we waited for the trains to open. We were out of luck and found another cafe to go hang out in. We had stayed up all night talking and laughing.

At 5:30 AM the trains opened...we still had to wait a little bit more. At that point we said good-bye and had already exchanged numbers and such. I thought he would be a fun one to keep around so why not ;) With a hug and a smile we walked on opposite sides of the tracks and laughed at each other from across the tracks while waiting for our trains. My train came first and then I rode off into the distance with a smile and a wave...

This is Josh and I at Bay's Quarter in Yokohama =D We enjoyed a Hawaiian meal over looking Yokohama! It was so much fun! =D

...we are still talking =D

I have to say Oktoberfest was completely unexpected! It was such a fun night and I am so happy that I went! I will definitely be going back next year!!

My 24th Birthday BASH!

My 24th birthday was fantastic! It was filled with tons of friends, food, singing, and dancing. The weekend started in Itako with a wonderful dinner at Allison's House. John, Andrew, Erin, Kate and I went and enjoyed various food! I shared the steak dinner with Erin! It was amazing! Nice and tender! Great! Then Venecia and Nobuko surprised me with a present and a presentation from Venecia on the trumpet. She played Happy Birthday to You on the trumpet! It was a wonderful birthday surprise!

After dinner we went to Jelly Bean for a few hours of karaoke! We sang, drank, and ate our way through the next two or three hours! It was time to go home and relax and prepare for a weekend in Tokyo!

Saturday morning I relaxed at home and then got ready for a big night out in Tokyo with my friends!! I met Kate and Erin on the bus to Tokyo. We took about a 5:30 PM bus into Tokyo. I was wearing a bright red dress and was ready for a night of anything! Dinner was around 8:00 in Hiro-o, a wealthy neighborhood near where we would spend an evening of dancing. We ate dinner at Salsita, a cozy little mexican restaurant in which 18 of my friends came out for an amazing dinner! I enjoyed two enchiladas and chips and salsa! I also brought a coupon for everyone to receive a free glass of wine!! We all enjoyed this dinner and then went on to Daikanyama!

We partied at Club Air. It was an anniversary party for the club! Clubbing in Japan is definitely an interesting experience! Many of my friends did not enjoy the club but its always a situation in which you have to just go with the flow. It is completely different from the western world. I drank Moet & Chandon champagne all night :) I danced until the wee hours of the morning with my friends. I even made a new hilarious friend! The sun was out when we came out of the club. At that point, I came back to Itako and slept all day. It was a blast of a weekend!!!

This 24th year of my life so far has been incredible, unexpected, and lovely! I can't wait to see what else it has in store!!! =D

My golden birthday is next! 25 on the 25th! Lord knows what I'm going to do for that!!

Stay tuned! More to come =D

Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kobe, Nara, & Kyoto - Kansai - OH My!

Aki and I had been talking for a really long time about enjoying a drip together. We wanted to go somewhere new and exciting. Bali was #1 on our list but by the time we wanted to buy tickets it was too expensive, too far, and too everything we weren't wanting right then and there. We looked at Okinawa. Again, too expensive. It was then I decided we should make a trip over to Kansai! We made plans to visit Kobe with a side trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima =D It was at that point plans were made, a hotel was reserved, and we were on our way on September 19th to the lovely Hiroshima & Miyajima. We made plans to stay until Tuesday September 22 but my plans later changed with a return trip to Kyoto and a new trip to Nara and a new leaving date of September 23rd! It was by far one of the most enjoyable trips I've made in Japan! Well worth the visit but don't expect to come back to Kanto with money. It was quite expensive but worth every yen! Again, like my other posts, I will post pictures with captions. I want to give you details but because of time and trying to catch up I will provide photos to walk you through my adventure. It was so memorable and I simply can't wait to get back to Kansai! The food, the people, the culture, the pace of life, everything is different and has a bit of sparkle in Kansai. I love it!

The Parker Family United At Last!

I suppose this is better late than never...I am finally reporting and catching up on my blog from the summer! I realize it is ALMOST Christmas and I am hoping to see my family in LONDON!! But here goes...

My family arrived in Narita in mid July and we shared such an amazing time together. We were able to experience so much in my town, Tokyo, and with our trip to Nagano-ken. We enjoyed incredible food and happy memories. We went to the beach and reflected at shrines :). We shared so many laughs and simply enjoyed each others company. They met so many of my friends and "family" here in Japan. My family has a much better understanding now as to why I love Japan so much. They were able to meet almost everyone that has had an effect on me while I've been in Japan. They understand why I am having a difficult time decided if I will stay a third year or not. I don't have just a temporary situation here. I am building a life. A life that has made me so happy. I of course miss my family and am so entirely lucky to have a family that as the will and the funds to come visit for three weeks! I am going to include pictures of our trip with captions for each picture. I will also include the facebook link so you can enjoy all the pictures from our trip! I am sorry this is a short update but I need to update so much! The trip was one of a life time and I am so happy that my family is well, healthy, and wanting to see the world! Dad said he was surprised that he liked it SO much and is already wanting to come back to visit me again!

*captions to come*