Russell's Teapot

Because there is no evidence of us, we must exist. Now that you are reading this it is the time to start worrying.


Things that have been happening.

we got skype so international calling is cheap, email us your phonenumber or skype account info.

we bought plane tickets to India and then the USA, and will be leaving Japan at the end of March.

we have been trying to work out what it is we want from the future (and where we hid the time machine)


Things that have not been happening

The flying spagetti monster effecting events with his noodley apendage

Xenu sending bodily thetans to cling to every lifeform on the planet earth

A china teapot orbiting the sun between the planets earth and mars

An invisible pink unicorn (just existing, you know)



more to follow. P

feeding seagulls

small shrine in Funabashi Higashi

Pointless old video in the olde style

as above... we spent Christmas outside. We found a weird path through some fields surrounded by the city of Funabashi-higashi.

Hello Hillary

Ode to Hill

In order of appearance:
Phil
Jude
Ethan
Jason
Tomo
Keri
Sarah's finger

Also, Phil and I had the exact same score at the end of that game...

Paella/Tequilla

So passed our first day of what has been come to be known as 'Christmas Week.' A day filled with cardmaking and clockwatching, a desperate countdown to the start of our winter break beginning in less than a week. Which brings us to the paella/tequilla aspect of this entry. Uhmm. I decided to be reminiscent (sp.) and try to make paella like I had in Spain not too long ago (maybe....5 years?) Well, sans the seafood so Phil would partake, of course. I had a lot of fun cooking it but the process was most definately lubricated by a few shots of Tequila. Those who know me well are aware that I'm not what we call in Belize a 'rum-soak' aka a drinker. Phil and I are such cheap dates now that one tiny bottle of tequila reposada is way enough to make us forget the terrible and truelly scarring effects of the christmas songs we've been forced to listen to.

In other news, I got locked out of the apartment last night, mostly my fault. I always lose my keys anyway. Phil and I went different ways after Aikido. He went to play shogi and I studied at the coffee shop and then headed home. I realized I was locked out once I got back to our front door...promptly tried all the windows, jumped the fence in our backyard, jiggled locks, etc., to no avail. I ended up just hanging with another teacher, Ethan, who lives across the way - until Phil came back. I studied more Japanese there. I finally figured out what 'hentai' literally means. hen= strange and the suffix -tai means to want something. So, literally, 'to want the strange' makes sense I guess...

Okay, 'Ima, netai deshyo!' Now I wanna go to sleep. Oyasumi nasai....goodnight

Post Aikido, Post Indian Food, Post Coffee Shop

Phil and have been spending almost all our free time together. Our 'dayoff' schedules have been super synched since we got to Japan. Recently though, we've been spending a lot more 'not attached at the hip' time apart. For example, on Sunday night we have our regular Aikido practice together. Afterwards, instead of padding back to the train station together, heading home and watching a movie afterwards we've been going our own ways. Phil has been meeting up with his friend Masato to play Shogi and other such games of exotic endeavor, while I have been cramming some Japanese vocab in a coffee shop.

Last night, after Phil took off to meet with Masato, I decided to eat some Indian food at our usual restuarant before I hit the coffee shop. Business was slow that night, so I was one of three lone diners. The restaurant is run by a big Indian family: the uncle makes the naan, the father makes the curries, the niece is the waitress, the nephew is the cashier - you get the picture. The restaurant is called 'Gandhi' after you-know-who. There was a map of India, so I was inspired to strike up a conversation with the young girl who was gathering up my dishes after an yummyforthetummy bowl of saag paneer. Her English was very low level, her Japanese was a bit higher so we ended up having a short conversation about India in a combo of English/Japanese/Hindi - mostly her speaking the Hindi of course and me guessing and asking follow up questions in Japanese or English. She was a really nice girl but pretty shy. As I was paying up, the nephew asked me if I had ever been to India. We started talking and before I knew it, people started to come out of the woodwork of the little establishment. Phil and I had been there quiet a few times in the past to eat a delicious but eneventful meal. I had never seen any of these people. There were kids and mothers and well...the whole family came out to talk to me. We talked for about 30 minutes just standing around the tables, still using our potluck of languages. I asked them about India and what life in Japan is like for them. They are having a very hard time adjusting to the culture here since it is such a huge contrast with life in India. Japanese people are very friendly, wonderful people but are notoriously shy - even to the point of running away from foreigners(I've heard). So they miss their talkative neighbors and neighborhood gossip and feeling like a part of something they belong to. I guess you can say I could at least relate to them a little. I was most impressed by their kids who where being raised trilingual. Hindi, Japanese and English is a brainful for a five year old kid.

I think I'll be heading back there next week since they said they would be happy to teach me a little Hindi - which I have the distinct impression will be useful to me...plus the food is oh sooooo good.

I jaunted off to the coffee shop feeling quiet high spirited as it were. (that sentence makes me feel like I'm writing a British romance novel or something.) My usual squishy couch seat was taken, so I sat at one of the long bars to hunker down and soak in some hirigana. There were five seats and I sat in the one second from the end. A family of four came in looking for a spot. I obliged them by scooting over to the end seat which I was avoiding because it had a burntout overhead light and made for some difficult reading. Right away, they started chatting to me - the grandmother and mother cooing at me because I was apparently so darn 'kawai' (cute). Once I overcame my fear that they would tie me to their cellphones and force me into dangly servitude, I had a fabulous conversation with them. (people here are crazzzzy about little cellphone decorations) Mostly with the daughter 'Kina' but with many interjections from Grandpa, Grandma and Mother. I had so much fun chatting it up with them and practicing my Japanese. I was pretty surprised that I didn't really need to resort to English...I can't say my grammar was GREAT but...I had a great time.

So, maybe this is a really boring post? I'm not sure but I had a really exciting night so here it is. After so much struggle communicating for so long, feeling like I was getting nowhere - last night is really what I needed. If there is any moral to this tale then it might be that if you think you are lonely in a sea of people it's only because it's the way you want to be.

Ja matta,
sarah.