Right Hand Drawn by Miki Huynh

What is it about sunny warm weather that brings about right-mindedness? Oh, sunshiny day of possibilities! I feel the freedom to move around and revel in the rootless life again. The here and now is mine all mine, and I can throw myself about in it as I choose.

Nearby the apartment.

If only feelings of being alive could be bottled and consumed on the days when it’d be entirely easier to fade away from the world. Not to forget that I’m slowly counting down the months till I have to return to whatever unpredictability awaits on the other side of the Pacific and trying to prepare for the future as best I can. But if warm temperatures be the trigger for positive thought process, there’s room for optimism… and a bit of childish wandering off.

Check out the sakura and other countryside views of the season (taken on a less warm and sunny day a week before, but still in the spirit of things):

Ye olde cherry blossom.

Down by the riverside in Misumi.

Close up of a different type of blossom (any botanists?)

Here stands, prepped on crutches, the oldest living tree in Misumi. Maybe even in Shimane prefecture.

Old folks under the old tree.

A river overgrown with yellow flowers.

Also over spring break, despite all the “satellite” launch warnings, I got to do one week of traveling in South Korea. We arrived via an overnight ferry from the city of Shimonoseki, about 3 hours drive southwest from Hamada.

The bullfighting festival in Cheongdo. The bullmasters(?) get their bulls to lock horns by stringing rope through the bull’s noses and then pulling the animals’ heads close together.

Other countryside sights in Cheongdo.

Street market eats in Daegu.

A coffee shop/spa with fish that like to eat the dead skin off your feet. It’s as ticklish as it sounds.

Having a blast with a Glock at a nearby shooting range.

Oh, the drama.

From a pizzeria devoted to women. Nothing says love like a box of pizza.

Guards stand stiff and halfway concealed at the demilitarization zone.

Dedicated to my cousin Quyen. Seems Pooh’s known to do a little unwinding in Seoul.

Thoughts for the day… hmm.

Yeah, the milk’s been drying up of late, as my pal Kim has summed it up quite effectively, and that’s partly the persistent cold weather stiffening up my hands so that I can’t type, and mainly a lack of exciting things happening in the oh-so-bustling city of Hamada. Most of the school events this year have been variations on all the stuff from the previous years, though things always shift around a little bit depending on the combination of personalities involved. The ripples of novelty are becoming smaller and smaller, though, and the two-year cap on my Nihon no incubation period has been feeling undeniably the right choice.

Eigo Boost

Well, now that the YES-WE-CANaanites have simmered down (though their words still waft around the hallway only to be caught on occasion like the faint smell of bathroom air… you can’t can the CAN, i guess… sorry), one student has emerged out of the catchphrase cloud displaying in proud colors a remarkable interest in practicing her English conversation skills with me… and only me! Well, because there really is only me with that kind of free time. Anyhow, I have this policy in my head to not show favoritism towards any one student simply because they’re smart or cute or strange in the right ways because that’s too easy to do and just not cool, but this particular second grader has diligently shown up at my desk almost everyday during the lunch break with dictionary in hand and a whole lot of enthusiasm. Despite us being equally broken in the other’s native tongue, the conversations flow quite naturally. It’s awesome. It’s a wonderful addition to my work day, and requires such minimal effort on my part that I can’t help but wonder if this might be karmic rebound for all the previous year’s shoot-downs. It could also be that she’s just a real cool kid. I’m thinking that might be more the reason.

Blast Off

To be honest, if it weren’t for the bit of newness like that here and there, the daily stuff would probably be unbearable. I’ve recently felt my already small world cave in a bit too close for comfort, pushing some nasty sensations too near to the heart, and all I could do for the long run was straighten my back, readjust my face, and learn how to breathe properly again. Changes are happening, though, and just as before, it involves a few old friends leaving by the end of the month. Yet this time, I’m not moved to feel sad as much as relieved and glad, knowing that their going away allows for their world to expand as much as it literally stretches the latitudes and longitudes of the friend circle, forcing everyone to grow.

Maybe that just sounds stupid, but the secretive and suffocating nature of the city I live in creates a perfect launchpad for departure. Saying farewell and letting go means someone gets to escape the petri dish and can live their life and make mistakes without so many of the witnesses or evidences of the past always in view. Soon it will be time to buy my own ticket out of here. Inward breath…