Rising Sun Wanderings: Video

I finally finished the little I was working on. 

Here it is if you'd like to see!

Rising Sun Wanderings from Kate Bohan on Vimeo.

xoxo, 

Kate

Simple Pleasures

Last weekend was the first time this year that included happy hour drinks outside, followed by a long leisurely dinner with Sayaka and a shared bottle of wine. Over dinner, I looked at all our food and drink and my good company, and I smiled. 

"This is one of my most favorite things in life," I said. 

"Drinking?!"

"Nooo. Well...yes, but no. Long dinners with good food and a bottle of wine. Love."

Which led to a fun discussion of a few of our most fave things in life. 

Here is what I came up with...

pancake breakfasts
live music

eating outside

a great quote

exploring a new city, ipod plugged in

a new coat of nail polish

buying a plane ticket

a new bathing suit

a cool photograph

going back to bed when you realize you're awake before your alarm

the moment you receive your scoop of ice cream from the man behind the counter

coming back from a run

crawling into bed when it's raining

fresh flowers

a nice candle

a new episode of new girl

checking off something on my todo list

early morning latte with any foam design

an act of kindness

snuggling

wet hair

finishing a book

getting anything in the mail

late night frozen yogurt runs

anything beach related

an empty email inbox

tan lines

Would love to hear what little things in life make you smile!

xoxo, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Gary Winogrand's Photos...The Guardian.

Google Search: David Karp.

Tune: Strawberry Swing By Coldplay. 

Accomplishment: A mini workout before school. 
Obsessions: Heads Up! App.

Yamathon

This past Saturday I completed my greatest physical endurance accomplishment to date. The Tokyo Yamathon. The Yamathon is a charity walk around the Yamanote line, the circular train line that runs around, and around, and around, central Tokyo. 

The goal for this challenge was to walk from station to station, and take a picture in front of every Yamanote station, all 29. We uploaded the pics via instagram so the Yamanote people could monitor our progress. For anyone who is friends with me on instagram, or facebook for that matter, I do apologize for the constant uploading. Though, those 29 pictures really kept our little team going. Half of our conversations were about what pose we were going to do next, and whose turn it was to ask someone to take a picture.

 Our little team of four was made up of Jessica, Kris, Sayaka and me and I must say, as a unit, we did a fabulous job! We covered about 40k (25miles) in 10 hrs 55 minutes, and finished 44th out of 117 teams. We ate on the go, only pausing for bathroom breaks, snacks, and once to tape blisters.

I have attached all 29 pics, and I gotta say, I'd give us an A when it comes to creativity. 

Enjoy!

*All photos and captions by Kris.
**Note the fading smiles throughout the day.

All smiles and genkiness at station 1 of The Yamathon! Harajuku!

Pointers out! Station 2!

Toothless at station 3! Shinjuku!

Starbucks at Shinokubo! Station 4! 

Open wide! Station 5, Takadanobaba! 

Ballet classes in Mejiro! Station 6! 

YMC....M? At station 7, Ikebukuro!
*Let's take a moment and look at this one. Note the two non-American's dropped the ball when it came to the YMCA. Kris claimed that he thought the picture had been taken so he started to put his hands down. And Sayaka? Well...let's just say that, while she's fluent, English wasn't her first language.

Janken* at Otsuka, station 8!
*Rock, paper, scissors; solves every problem imaginable in Japan.

The newly opened zoo at Sugamo, station 9! 

Charlie and his Angels at Komagome, station 10! 

Band practice at Tabata, station 11!

British tea time with UK Kris, at Nishi-Nippori, station 12! 

Japanese customs lesson with the native, Sayaka-san, at Nippori, station 13!

Kate and Jess teach us "The American way", at Uguisudani, station 14!

Old-school sports team photo, Ueno, station 15! (Over half way!!)

P.E class at Okachimachi, station 16!

Amateur acrobatics at Akihabara, station 17! 

Time out at Tokyo, station 19!

Kisses at Kanda, station 18!

Yoga at Yurakucho, station 20!!

Sumo at Shimbashi, station 21!

Gangnam stylin' at Hamamatsucho, station 22! 

Tired at Tamachi, station 23!

Stretching at Shinagawa, station 24

Martial arts training at Osaki, station 25!

頑張ってる (Ganbatteru) in Gotanda, station 26!

Mad at Meguro, station 27!

Eating at Ebisu, station 28! One more left!!

BIG smiles at Shibuya, station 29!!! Final station done! Now back to the starting point!

FINISHED!!!! お疲れ everyone!!! We finished 44 out of 117 with a time of 10 hours and 55 minutes, at 6pm! The goal was under 12 hours! First team finished in 5 hours and 35 minutes and ran the whole way! Good job everyone! Yamathon 2013!

Well done Team Sasuga, and everyone who participated in the Yamathon!

Yamathoned,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Earth Houses Give Pupils Refuge From Heathrow Noise...Guardian.

Google Search: Blood Pressure Chart.

Tune: Best Day of My Life By American Authors. 

Accomplishment: Getting my imovie to work.

Obsessions: Shortbread Lavender cookies. 

I got this clip from thought catalog, and read the entire thing with my jaw dropped. 

It was just so accurate. 

So from one ex-pat to any others that may be reading, know you're not alone when you feel like you are in two places at once.

                              What Happens When You Live Abroad

                                                   By CHELSEA FAGAN

A very dependable feature of people who live abroad is finding them huddled together in bars and restaurants, talking not just about their homelands, but about the experience of leaving. And strangely enough, these groups of ex-pats aren’t necessarily all from the same home countries, often the mere experience of trading lands and cultures is enough to link them together and build the foundations of a friendship. I knew a decent amount of ex pats — of varying lengths of stay — back in America, and it’s reassuring to see that here in Europe, the “foreigner” bars are just as prevalent and filled with the same warm, nostalgic chatter.

But one thing that undoubtedly exists between all of us, something that lingers unspoken at all of our gatherings, is fear. There is a palpable fear to living in a new country, and though it is more acute in the first months, even year, of your stay, it never completely evaporates as time goes on. It simply changes. The anxiousness that was once concentrated on how you’re going to make new friends, adjust, and master the nuances of the language has become the repeated question “What am I missing?” As you settle into your new life and country, as time passes and becomes less a question of how long you’ve been here and more one of how long you’ve been gone, you realize that life back home has gone on without you. People have grown up, they’ve moved, they’ve married, they’ve become completely different people — and so have you.

It’s hard to deny that the act of living in another country, in another language, fundamentally changes you. Different parts of your personality sort of float to the top, and you take on qualities, mannerisms, and opinions that define the new people around you. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s often part of the reason you left in the first place. You wanted to evolve, to change something, to put yourself in an uncomfortable new situation that would force you to into a new phase of your life.

So many of us, when we leave our home countries, want to escape ourselves. We build up enormous webs of people, of bars and coffee shops, of arguments and exes and the same five places over and over again, from which we feel we can’t break free. There are just too many bridges that have been burned, or love that has turned sour and ugly, or restaurants at which you’ve eaten everything on the menu at least ten times — the only way to escape and to wipe your slate clean is to go somewhere where no one knows who you were, and no one is going to ask. And while it’s enormously refreshing and exhilarating to feel like you can be anyone you want to be and come without the baggage of your past, you realize just how much of “you” was based more on geographic location than anything else.

Walking streets alone and eating dinner at tables for one — maybe with a book, maybe not — you’re left alone for hours, days on end with nothing but your own thoughts. You start talking to yourself, asking yourself questions and answering them, and taking in the day’s activities with a slowness and an appreciation that you’ve never before even attempted. Even just going to the grocery store — when in an exciting new place, when all by yourself, when in a new language — is a thrilling activity. And having to start from zero and rebuild everything, having to re-learn how to live and carry out every day activities like a child, fundamentally alters you. Yes, the country and its people will have their own effect on who you are and what you think, but few things are more profound than just starting over with the basics and relying on yourself to build a life again. I have yet to meet a person who I didn’t find calmed by the experience. There is a certain amount of comfort and confidence that you gain with yourself when you go to this new place and start all over again, and a knowledge that — come what may in the rest of your life — you were capable of taking that leap and landing softly at least once.

But there are the fears. And yes, life has gone on without you. And the longer you stay in your new home, the more profound those changes will become. Holidays, birthdays, weddings — every event that you miss suddenly becomes a tick mark on an endless ream of paper. One day, you simply look back and realize that so much has happened in your absence, that so much has changed. You find it harder and harder to start conversations with people who used to be some of your best friends, and in-jokes become increasingly foreign — you have become an outsider. There are those who stay so long that they can never go back. We all meet the ex-pat who has been in his new home for 30 years and who seems to have almost replaced the missed years spent back in his homeland with full, passionate immersion into his new country. Yes, technically they are immigrants. Technically their birth certificate would place them in a different part of the world. But it’s undeniable that whatever life they left back home, they could never pick up all the pieces to. That old person is gone, and you realize that every day, you come a tiny bit closer to becoming that person yourself — even if you don’t want to.

So you look at your life, and the two countries that hold it, and realize that you are now two distinct people. As much as your countries represent and fulfill different parts of you and what you enjoy about life, as much as you have formed unbreakable bonds with people you love in both places, as much as you feel truly at home in either one, so you are divided in two. For the rest of your life, or at least it feels this way, you will spend your time in one naggingly longing for the other, and waiting until you can get back for at least a few weeks and dive back into the person you were back there. It takes so much to carve out a new life for yourself somewhere new, and it can’t die simply because you’ve moved over a few time zones. The people that took you into their country and became your new family, they aren’t going to mean any less to you when you’re far away.

When you live abroad, you realize that, no matter where you are, you will always be an ex-pat. There will always be a part of you that is far away from its home and is lying dormant until it can breathe and live in full color back in the country where it belongs. To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want — on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement. But to start over, to get on that plane, doesn’t come without a price. You cannot be in two places at once, and from now on, you will always lay awake on certain nights and think of all the things you’re missing out on back home. 

East and West,

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: World's Best Airport...CNN

Google Search: 1040

Tune: Home By Edward Sharpe. 

Accomplishment: A productive planning session this morning.

Obsessions: My new planner.

KateKate

This year, I am thrilled to announce, I will be walking in not one, but two! St. Patrick's Day parades here in Japan as the Parade Queen! More on that later. The other night I met up for drinks with the Grand Marshal of the Tokyo parade, so we could get to know each other before parade day. We met at an Irish pub, because it's only appropriate, in Shimbashi and chatted and drank well into the night. Dermot, who is also a photographer, happened to have his camera with him and took a few shots of me. 

He emailed me later with this little gem. I laughed right out loud when I saw it in my email. 

My very own gif. 

Thanks again Dermot, I love it!

Doubled Up, 

Kate 

                                                                          [The Latest]

Must Read: Disease and Death Around the World Visualized...The Guardian. SO COOL!

Google Search: Osaka Hotels.

Tune: Safe and Sound By Capital Cities. Again.

Accomplishment: Getting rid of some old clothes.

Obsessions: Greek yogurt and honey.

Life In A Page

I told myself that I would finish updating my resume by the end of January. 

Well, it is January 31st over here, and I am just now starting to really get to work on it. I had made little corrections, but not enough to really make a dent in things. I just kept reading my resume over and over, not willing to part with anything I'd done over the years. Every internship, every student teaching position, every fundraiser I'd been a part of. It all seemed so very important. Defining even.  

After a few reads and a chat with a friend, I sent it to him to look over. He immediately ripped it apart and sent back orders, "cut this, cut that"  When I protested one of his "cuts," he responded with a,"Ya, they don't care. Your resume is too long, at this age there is no reason it should be two pages. And cut the white space. If you get rid of that you could probably fit a few more things." It was exactly what I needed to hear. And even though I responded with a very mature, "FINE," I knew he was right. 

As I did as I was told, cutting and pasting, deleting and italicizing, I started to realize how much this little resume represented. Up until now, I thought everything I had ever done was the most important thing in the whole wide world. Seeing it written in black surrounded by white, trying to make it stand out that much more. When I was living it, not even once did I think to the future and consider that one day I would potentially, hopefully, most definitely be doing bigger and better things. 

Things that get bolded and go right to the top of my little one-pager.  

Can barely wait to see what they will be.

 

More to come, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: China Hacked the NY Times...The Guardian.

Google Search: Etsy.

Tune: The A Team By Ed Sheeran

Accomplishment: Cutting some things on my resume. 

Obsessions: New nail polish coat, glitter and all!

Skylines

It is no secret that I love to travel. I love to meet all different types of people and see all different types of places. But my all time favorite thing, is when they all come together to create one, big ball of international-ness. I stumbled across this on Pinterest and fell in love.

City Livin, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: The Island Where People Forget to Die...NY Times.

Google Search: Kristin Wiig

Tune: I Cry By Flo RIda.

Accomplishment: Some great Halloween lessons at school.

Obsessions: Blendy Coffee.

US Embassy BBQ

Friday night, the US Embassy kindly invited the JETs in the surrounding Tokyo area over for a BBQ. About 30 JETs and 15 Embassy employees mingled, bonding over where in the US we were from and how long we have all been in Japan. Then we feasted on Mexican food (I couldn't have been happier!) with Coronas and margaritas, chips, salsa, AND guacamole. It was the best meal I have had in a long time. Dessert was complete with a "candy bar," full of candy brought back from the States.

It truly was a great time, thanks to everyone who hosted us!

American foreground, Japanese background.

 US Ambassador, and fellow Californian, John Roos.

USA in JPN,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Promo for New James Bond Movie...it's so clever! I can't get enough!

Google Search: Substitutes for cilantro.  

Tune: The Writer By Ellie Goulding.

Accomplishment: Continuing to read my book, despite some slow spots.

Obsessions: Glamour Magazine from Jessica.

How English Sounds to Foreigners

Sometimes I forget that I live in a land where I don't speak the language. 

That is until I go back to the states. 

I remember going back to the US for the first time after living in Japan for almost a year, and within the first few days I was purely exhausted. Being able to eaves drop on every conversation was too much for my little brain. With Japanese I can pretty much pick and choose if I want to listen in on someone's conversation, but with English I can't help it. I can't not listen. It is quite an interesting phenomenon and it came up in conversation the other day.

We started talking about other languages, and how without any understanding, languages really are just sounds put together. Which led us to wonder what English sounds like to non-native speakers. I had heard someone mention that there was a short film demonstrating just that. 

I came across it the other day and wanted to share.  

It's pretty amazing.

Enjoy!

From Love Kate With,

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: 10 Travel Website Worth Booking...NY Times. 

Google Search: Songs for ELL Students.  

Tune: Upside Down By Tori Kelly.

Accomplishment: A great adult conversation class last night with the help of some fellow ALTs. Thanks guys!

Obsessions: A new candle.

No Hair

One of my students is losing her hair.
I first noticed when I returned from my trip last month, and her condition has since gotten increasingly more obvious. Every week her ponytail is noticeably thinner and her bangs are cut into a deeper V to cover as much of her forehead as possible. As of recently, 14 year old Anri has completely lost all her eyebrows and eyelashes. 

In the beginning stages of her hair loss, I asked a fellow teacher if in fact something was going on. The teachers told me they too had noticed, but were not quite sure what the problem was. I didn't press, and that was the extent of the conversation. I noticed last Saturday that Anri didn't participate in the school-wide, Sports Day. Instead, she stayed sidelined, helping out with time keeping and other tasks. By now it was clear that her condition was a known fact, and the teachers were handling it in the best way they knew how, though I had never heard it discussed or acknowledged.

Until yesterday.

Another girl from Anri's homeroom class, Kasumi, one of my favorite students, came into the teacher's room. Kasumi and the other third year students and I have an unsaid, special relationship. They were little first years when I arrived 2 years ago. We were both newbies at the time and over the years have developed a bond. Though the language barrier is still very prevalent, I know these kids and they know me. I am always blown away at their willingness and determination to get across something they feel is very important.

Even if is something as "important" as the fact that they listened to a Justin Beiber song, went to a Lady Gaga concert, saw another American, or got a haircut.

When Kasumi walked into the teacher's room yesterday, it was clear this was going to be one of those moments. She saw me and lit up, "Keito!"

Then she told me to hold on, while she fished a post card out of her bag and walked over and handed it to me.

"What's this?!" I asked.

"Read." Sir, yes sir.

She handed over this...

I started to read the post card to myself, until she gestured that she wanted to hear it too. I held it so we could both see, and read it in the tone of a bedtime story. She was all smiles and I was surprised to see that the more I read, the more I was welling up.

She had cut and mailed her hair all the way to America (which she was THRILLED about) all to show Anri her support. I told her in English and Japanese how proud of her I was, and she took the bilingual compliments with beaming smiles. Then we felt the ends of her freshly snipped pigtails and giggled. After all, we are both girls.

Throughout this whole exchange, Anri's name never came up but it was clear she was the reason behind all this. 

When the teacher I work with came over, I turned to him,

"Did you hear what she did?!"

"Un," he said with Japanese confidence, "friendship."  

Friendship the world over,

Kate

*Through some researching and google translate, it has been confirmed that Anri has alopecia. Despite the fact that she is only 14, and starting high school in the Spring, this amazing little girl has never let her personality slip. She is just as confident, giggly and bright as she was prior to this diagnosis. がんばれあんりちゃん！ I am so proud of you!

[The Latest]

Must Read: A History of the Little Black Dress...CNN. 

Google Search: Below vs Under.  

Tune: Try a Little Tenderness By Otis Redding.

Accomplishment: Spending less time in front of the computer.

Obsessions: New tea bag selection.

SEA: Thai Moment

when kris and i were planning this trip, we knew we wanted to incorporate elephants somehow, and we knew thailand was the place to do that. kris and i both agreed that we wanted a place that was legit, less touristy (if that was at all possible), and above all, really took care of the elephants. after a bit of research and talking to others, we settled on patara elephant farm in chiang mai. (thanks josh!) we had been warned that it would be one of the more expensive things we would do, which it was, but would be completely worth it, which it was.

the patara people arrived early at our hostel to pick us up for a day of elephant fun. kris and i had been up for hours, ready with excitement. it was christmas in august...in thailand. we drove for an hour or so up into the hills of chiang mai. we met with the others in our group, it was a small group of 12, which was lovely. we were led on a 20 minute walk up the mountain, and paused half way up where a family of elephants was having breakfast. we instantly got out our cameras and took an obscene about of pictures. the guides brought over bananas and bamboo shoots for us to feed to the elephants, and encouraged us to pet and touch them.

we were all so giddy about being so close to them. but this was just the tip of the ice berg in terms of how much experience we were going to get throughout the day.

elephant butts.

ear kisses.

view from the bathroom.

after another 10 min walk further up the hill, we were given a bathroom break and bottles of water. patara did an awesome job of making sure we stayed hydrated. we then received a short orientation about how the day was going to go. 

we had signed up to be "elephant owners for a day". so after orientation we were all paired up with an elephant and a trainer to begin our day of caring for these gentle giants. we learned how to do a health check on the massive mammals, as well as how to feed, walk, bathe and command the elephants.

elephant commands in thai...

good-deedee, and pat below the eye

go-bye, talk about counter intuitive

stop-how

down-nalong

up-look

head down-damlong

come-ma

trunk up-bon

and now you speak as much thai as these elephants.

"never meet and elephant empty handed."
upon meeting our elephant and trainer, we fed each elephant a basket of fruit.
i think that solidified our friendship.

it takes a village.
patara explained how the elephants really look after each other.
these two are not related.

ti lo su.
meet my elephant! this is 7 year old, male, ti lo su.
ti lo su is thialand's largest waterfall, and this little guy loved to swim.
hence his name.

shower prep.
dusting off ti lo su before his shower. 

handshake.
this is how you meet an elephant.

shower toys.
we gave him sticks to play with during his shower.

peek-a-boo.

tip and ti lo su.

every elephant had a trainer. ti lo su's trainer was 24 year old tip. tip was quite a character. he spoke more english than any of the other trainers, which had its pros and cons. upon first meeting him, i asked some polite question like, "how long have you worked here?" he responded with, "4 years. do you have a boyfriend? do you have facebook?" so it's gonna be like that, is it? but he was darling, extremely helpful, and really sweet. he offered to hold my camera and i told him to take pictures of whatever he wanted. which he took to mean, take a picture every time kate (or keet at he called me) blinks. i kid you not i have over 400 pictures of me from that day. and here i was worried that i wouldn't get as many as i wanted. thank you tip!

tip preparing ti lo su for my mount.

"keet keet smile! so beautiful keet!"

"keet down! lay down!"

"hand up keet! and kree!"

"sa-wa-ti-ka"

"keet no hands!!"

elephant sweat.

come. come.

we rode the elephants for about an hour, then walked the last bit. they're not the quickest movers but i'm convinced part of that was because they kept pausing to eat. all. the. time. their little trunks were all over the place constantly lookin for a snack. those little trunks are like vacuums that've gone rogue.

tusk scrub down.

"harder keet!"
i was always in trouble because i was too gentle.

group rinse.

lunch break.

amazing lunch. 

family photo.

after bath time baby elephant video!

and then it was time to say goodbye. i patted ti lo su. he exhaled. i gave tip a hug. he gave me his phone number. i compensated and said we'd be facebook friends. he was satisfied with that. then patara drove us back to our hostel where we proceeded to tell everyone and anyone, who would listen, about what we had done that day. we were on a definite elephant high.

i cannot express enough how amazing patara was. they were completely legit, and did amazing work caring for these elephants. as elephants are dying out, patara's goal was to do what they could to help that situation. they work hard to keep the elephants healthy and happy. in the past 18 years they have had no deaths. they have also had a quite a few births, and just while we were there 5 elephants were pregnant. id say that's pretty impressive.

i miss you ti lo su, 

kate

[up next...]

monks

p.s. a baby tiger video in case you're interested!