Following four long months of laborious labor, our hero finds himself with a week of workless wonderings...a week sans workings...namely, a week off. How shall he spend it? Read on and see.
Sunday, April 27th: My body woke up at around 5:45am. My brain woke up around 5:45am. So, thinking clearly with energy flowing through my veins, I decided that, despite what my physical self was telling me, I did not want to get up at 5:45am. Why? Well, because that time has way to many, 'f' sounds for my comfort. So, I tried to go back to sleep. It didn't work. I ended up lying in bed for an hour more, finally deciding that it was a losing battle, and I had things to do anyway; in other words, I still needed to pack. Don't get me wrong, I had done plenty of packing the night before. The first thing to be packed was my Blankie (read what you will into that, he and I have been together for so long, and I am never going to give it up), followed by the large number of gifts to bring back, followed by my clothing. It should be noted, in terms of gifts, that I had been averaging a box a weekend for the past few weeks. These were simply things that refused to fit/ had not been found in time.
With the necessary things put away, everything else was just going to be whatever and blah. So, I had gone to sleep. Now, there I sat, several hours until I needed to go, and I still needed to pack my fun things. But breakfast came first. This turned out to be an interesting experience, considering that I had spent most of the week eating through my food in the hopes that I wouldn't have anything perishable left. However, I managed to scrounge together a filling meal. Body satisfied, I still needed to pack. However, a shower was more important. That finished, it was now time to pack...but not before I cleaned a little bit. What eventually surfaced was a mad dash to simultaneously pack all of my fun things while also cleaning my apartment. I remembered to pack everything, but dashed out of my door at about 10:00am with my apartment in a less tidy state than I would have liked.
The trip to the airport was fairly nondescript. I met up with a friend in Omiya, and we took the bus to the airport together. It was interesting to see parts of Japan that I don't normally get to see...at least I would say that if I could see those parts of Japan. Large parts of the free way were surrounded by walls so high that I couldn't see over them. I am unsure as to their purpose, but surmise that they are either there for privacy of the nearby residents, to dull the noise of the traffic, to stop any cars from shooting off during an earthquake, or to annoy tourists hoping to get a view of the flipping country from the flipping road. Like I said, I am unsure of their purpose.
The trip through Narita airport went rather quickly. What really made it for me were the people that I met. It really is amazing how friendly people can be if you just start chatting with them. I met an electrical engineer from Detroit who was in Japan on a business trip. He had living in Japan for a year about a year previous. I also met a nice family from Mexico City who had been visiting Japan for eight days. What drew me to them was their Spanish. Not only is the language rare in Japan, but they were using a rather unusual accent and I really wanted to know where it was from. I also met an aeronautics business man from Portland--who had graduated from Linfield--who spent most of his time traveling the world for his business. What a life.
Sadly, my seatmates on the plane weren't as talkative and just ignored me (grrr). Other than a bloody nose during Frozen and a slight stomach ache letting me know that I hadn't eaten right (I'm guessing that I didn't get enough protein) the flight went otherwise fine. One funny story from it, though. So, I don't like sleeping sitting up. Even if I tilt my head to the side, it just feels weird. So, instead, I like to lean over and sleep on my hand, with my arm propped up on my arm rest. I find it comfortable, but it can weird other people out. In this case, it weirded out this little girl sitting across from me, who asked her mom what, "the strange man is doing." Her mother told her that I was probably resting.
I didn't actually get much sleep, though. Anyway, about nine hours later we landed in Portland, and boy did it feel good. Plus, everything was greener than I remembered (I say that in terms of hue and amount of plant life). Oregon had been experiencing some rather heavy rains the past week. The trip through customs went well, and there at the end was my mother, my sister, and my host (?) sister (my father is hosting her in the US right now). My sister had made the most adorable signs welcoming me home. Were I not absolutely exhausted, I would have been touched. As it was, after a nine hour plane ride that had traveled to a place sixteen hours behind, I was nearly dead. My body was telling me that it was about 1:30am, April 28th. My watch was telling me that it was about 9:30am, April 27th. I hadn't left my apartment yet. This was going to be a long day.
It kind of was. We went out to lunch as a group, and met my dad and step mom at the restaurant. I had onion rings and a veggie burger. Neither of these things are common in Japan. I was a little territorial. No, scratch that. That's a lie. I was very territorial. My dad asked for an onion ring. I told him that I would pry it from his cold, dead fingers. By that point I had been awake for almost 24 hours. I was exhausted and eating food that I would only be able to get for a week. Truth be told, I was probably quite restrained at the time. I just wanted my onion rings.
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| Family at the restaurant. |
The rest of the day passed in a kind of blase blur. By the time bed time rolled around, I was completely numb, and had found a second wind. Quickly, though, I rolled into blessed oblivion.
****/// My mom's house.
My mother rents a town house. As such, it is not that large. By American standards, it's rather nice for two people, but a tad on the smaller size for what it offers. Compared to my apartment in Japan, it is a palace. I never realized before just how big that thing is. I could probably fit the entirety of my living space--including my loft--into my bedroom and still have room left over. And don't even get me started on my bathroom over there. The entire experience has allowed me to realize just how tiny my apartment really is. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind living in such a small space. However, I am starting to realize that, whatever I eventually move into over in the US will seem like an upgrade to whatever I have here in terms of size. And yes, that does mean that I will eventually move back to the US. When will that be exactly? I am unsure as of now.
****///
Monday, April 28th: Monday was my rest day. We took the dogs for a walk. It was fun. I took a trip to the nearby mall and nearly felt myself getting overwhelmed by it all. Talking to any sales person in Japan is a nightmare because my Japanese is limited. Even if I know the words enough to ask a question (and I usually know everything except the object that I want), I usually don't understand what is said back to me. Oh, I'll get parts, but I don't know enough to really get it. As such, anyone talking to me has turned into a nerve wrecking experience. However, in the US, the language barrier doesn't exist. My fear of it still does, though. As such, any time that I entered a store I inevitably looked a little strange and was followed by people trying to help. Ah well, such is life. I didn't really do much on Monday, so I will leave it at that.
Tuesday, April 29th:
This was the day that I visited OES. It was supposed to be a quick, whirlwind visit of lots of people. I did see lots of people. There was nothing quick about it. Now, I love that place. A lot. It's where I have a ton of good memories, and it's where I met a lot of good friends. However, I was still quite jet lagged an exhausted. They had the teddy bear chapel that day, and one of my good friends had brought in something that I had given him. He told me this. I felt deeply moved and was so thankful that he had chosen something that I had given him. The response that I wanted to give was a tearful thanks. The response that I did give was a halfhearted, barely verbal, "cool." I am still deeply touched, but that's jet lag for you.
Probably the biggest problem was visiting OES was that I was on a fairly tight schedule; and every time that I was about to leave, I would inevitably see someone else to talk to. I love that place, don't get me wrong, but it's impossible to give everyone that I know the time that I want to give. Yes, it did help that multiple people fed me.
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| Example A of who fed me |
But I was still on a tight schedule because...
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| Ta da |
I was going to my dad's house for the night. The trip up was fun and quick. For those who don't know, my parents are divorced, and have been since I was in lower school. As such, the drive up to my dad's house in Hood River was one that I had done many many many many many many times over the years. And it is a nice drive. I could see many mountains and Multnoma falls.
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| Multnoma Falls |
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| Mountain A, Mount Hood. |
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| Mountain B, St. Helens |
Try as I might, I couldn't get a good picture of either Mount Raineer or Mount Franklin. Still, it was a lovely drive. And I did have a good time. We went for a nice walk around his house. We had a lovely dinner of tacos. I got to watch, "Jeopardy" and read a book. We did not get to go to the local ice cream place, but we had fun anyway.
Wednesday, April 30th:
We had blueberry pancakes at my dad's house. They were, as usual, delicious. We have a butter milk pancake starter that's well over a generation old (I think it's older than my dad). In other words, it is so delicious that we must all bow down and worship it in all its glory. I don't really remember this day very well. Oh well.
//***
One of the problems with writing these things down after the fact is that I forget on which day I did some things (I'm still a little tired and jetlagged). Here are some things that I think I did on one of the aforementioned days.
1) Powels Books: Powels is an independent bookstore in Portland. It is the church for every bibliophile within an hours radius, and will be defended at every turn. I visited. I bought many books. I wanted to cry. Many times. Enough said.
2) Dominos: I got a Dominos pizza, because I wanted to eat something revoltingly American. It was simultaneously amazing and horrific. They just don't have the grease like it in Japan. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing.
3) My mom's boyfriend: I got to see him as well. We all played cribbage together. We're both a tad socially awkward, but we get alone pretty well.
4) Birthday things: With my birthday so close to Golden Week, both sets of parents decided to wait until I got home. Both parental unit groups got me gifts that were very well thought of with really good intent behind them. I am very happy to be so loved.
//***
Thursday, May 1st:
I have not mentioned this before, but it is important to note that I told very few people that I was coming back to Portland for the week. Why? Because I love surprises.
Last year, I made a promise to some friends that they would see me again in person before graduation. That promise looked like was that I was going to need to break because, a) Japan is really far away, b) flights are expensive and, c) going back to Oregon and then coming back was probably going to be (and really really was) hard for me to do. As such, getting people to think that I was still in Japan was easy.
I had two main plots running. The first was a scheme to get two friends into a restaurant for breakfast--where I would then surprise them. The second was to have the rest of my friends throw a party where I would surprise them. To help, I had two elves. That was it.
That morning, I sent a message to one of my friends to re-write and put under the door of the two friends that I was going to meet. This apparently elicited the same response as usual, which was, "we got a note from Austin!" "Austin's in Japan." "Oh, right..."
So, my mom and I get to Willamette, and walk into the restaurant. At this point, I don't know where my friends are, but I quickly spot one of them as she spots me. She looks utterly shocked, her mind trying to understand what it is seeing. I walk around the counter (I'm tearing up as I remember this, by the way) and all of my friends see me.
Like many people, I have seen many videos of the surprise proposal, both extravagant and simple. I know that it's hard to tell in this picture, but they were both acting as though it were one of those proposals. Both are crying a little right now, and neither one can believe what she is seeing. Heck, even the friend who was in on it was feeling the same way. There was a moment of, "oh my god"s and, "how"s. And then...
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| Catharsis |
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| Together again |
The breakfast was divine. We all had a great time together, and my mom was really glad that she had been there for it. We ate at a place called the, "Sassy Onion," which serves the best french toast ever. We all talked together and enjoyed being in the same company again. However, the morning was still young, and we had many friends yet to surprise.
//***
My mother had posted a picture of the two of us on Facebook and had tagged me. As such, two more of my Willamette friends knew in advance of my coming.
//***
We first journeyed to Baxter, my old dorm. I was greeted with a thousand sounds and smells, all familiar from my past. We made it up to the third floor without meeting up with anyone that I knew, but when we got up to third a door was open. My old room, now in the hands of two of my friends. The one who was awake knew that I was coming, and greeted me. The one waking up had no idea that I was coming. She was still lying in bed, but the look of confusion on her face was priceless. When she realized who I was, she started to thrash about underneath her covers, trying to get out to give me a hug. It was good to see them both again.
Our next destination were the apartments on the other side of campus. Everything was green and gorgeous, with an enormous tent on the quad as they prepared for graduation. In the apartments, I saw my friends apartment (so enormously huge), and then visited two more friends. Both were very surprised. One was already awake, and had started to get ready for the day. The other was just waking up when we knocked. The one still waking up was my former room mate.
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| Roomy's gift, finally delivered. |
The one who had already been awake was my friend, Jenny, and it was at her apartment that the party was going to be at later. The party was supposed to start at five, but since I was leaving at four, she quickly changed the time to start at one. No one guessed anything was amiss. My plot was going perfectly.
We then headed back to Baxter, both to see people and to have a little fun with ourselves. Sure enough, we saw many people, all of whom were surprised to see me.
This is Ben. He said that he didn't believe his eyes.
This is Ben's CM (RA for non-Willamette folks), coming to tell us to be a tad quieter. He was also very surprised.
Next, we went up to third floor and surprised a few more people. Then, a few of us had a small improv meeting. This was not new improv, this was not the improv of this year or even last year. This was old improv, and that meant that we were like, "Whose Line is it Anyway," except without the talent.
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| Behold: Evidence |
This is the only picture of this meeting that will ever go on my blog, because the others are...well, while they are not bad, they can be a bit confusing--and possibly horrific--if taken out of context...and by context, I mean outside of the room where we took them. Since I want to keep a modicum of self dignity on this blog, they shall remain safely away from here. That is also why there are no quotes. See, this is called the, "ask/ tell" approach. Even if you ask, I will never tell. And now, moving on.
Following improv (and meeting a new friend in person), we went to lunch, where I made a startlingly scintillating discovery: American ketchup is tangier than Japanese ketchup. Mind blowing, I know. Anyway, at Goudy (the food hall) we ran into a few more friends.
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| More friends = More Tears |
This would turn out the be fortuitous later, because they helped to get some friends to the party. Anyway, one face that I didn't get was a friend who worked there. She saw us from across the room, and then did a double take as her jaw dropped. She rushed off to the kitchen, but we had to go rather quickly, which I feel terrible about still because she was actually rushing in to go on break to see me...yeah...
Anyway, more walking, more friends. I saw the area boss for the CM's--a friend from a few years ago--and had a nice chat. I also saw another couple of happy and surprised faces.
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| I could start a gallery |
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| Oh, very flattering |
We finally got to the party to find...
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| Ta-Dah! |
Almost no one there. The only people there were two friends and a freshman who I didn't know. The people arriving were myself and my chauffeur
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| Hello chauffeur |
"Oh my god! You're Austin!" she said. Now this actually happens to me at a surprisingly frequent rate. Keep in mind that I had no idea who this person was--I still don't know that much about her--and that we had met maybe once or twice via skype. Since I didn't really know her, I gave my usual response of, "yes I am. What's your name?" This sequence of events happened three more times that week. Many people that I know are afraid of being forgotten; sometimes I wonder if I should be afraid of the opposite.
After a bit of waiting, we got a text from another friend. She was back on campus, and wanted to know what the big surprise was. So, we rushed over and, as was the norm for the day, more surprise.
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| My baby is growing up... |
While meeting her, we get a text that others we had been waiting for had arrived at the part. With a voom, we raced back to the party where I finally got to do what I had been planning for months. I could greet my friends, and indeed I did. But not just any way. No, I did something fun. I borrowed a phone, and started up the music. And then (because he was the only one there who I hadn't greeted yet) I started to sing..."Hello, ______, well hello ______." I went through the entire first verse. It was wonderful.
The next half hour was a frantic attempt to get people to get to the party ASAP. The one pictured above called another friend and had me speak to her. She got to the party ASAP.
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| I ran from the library. |
I was going to leave soon when we got a text that some more friends were on their way. I hid in the kitchen. The first of the new people who notice me was a freshmen that, once again, I had talked to once. When she recognized me, she started to freak out.
She was then joined by someone else that I knew.
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| Cue arm flail. |
They followed me to the train station, where we then got this picture:
And this one:
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And waited around until I boarded the bus. To be honest, I slept most of the way home, waking up once we got to Portland with enough time to get a nice picture of the train station:
And most people would call that a day. But not me. My sister picked me up from the train station, and for the first time all week we had a nice, long conversation together, and boy have I missed those. There are some things that only a sibling can relate to, even if we don't want to admit it.
After that, we went to a play at my old High School, the tenth anniversary of the student written plays. I was really impressed. The writing was good, the acting was good, it all went together really well. That's not to say that I didn't seem room for improvement in some, but overall I was quite pleased.
//***
I have been writing for almost three hours now. I am getting tired, and I have laundry still to hang up. I shall finish this tomorrow (there's not too much left anyway, minus a hug load of pictures) or when I get around to it.
//***
Friday, May 2nd:
Saturday, May 3rd:
Sunday, May the 4th be with you:
Monday, May 5th:
Tuesday, May 6th:
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