He came, he ski’d, he conquered.

Veni Skidi Vici!

Last weekend we went on a ski trip. We being 8 colleagues and me. It’s been a while since I last ski’d, and I’d forgotten most of the basics already. After a while I started to remember again, and I’m happy to say that I’ve improved a bit again ^_^. Stopping and changing direction I can do without problem now. Parallel skiing and zigzagging down a slope is still a bit hard though. Anyway, I’m able to go down a 1700 meter high mountain without falling, so I’m quite happy about that ^_^. I also made some cool movies with my camera on the second day. The first day I didn’t have much chance to take pictures or movies because it was snowing way too hard..

Ok, besides that I need to plan several trips. The trip to Beijing in March, and the bicycle trip in golden week. I said before we were planning to go to Malaysia and Hong Kong, but we changed it to a bicycle trip in Kyushu and Okinawa. The details are still a bit vague but as soon as I know more it will appear here

Shall I stay or shall I go? I’m still wondering about whether or not I should renew my contract. I’m not thinking too hard about it though, since whenever I think too hard about stuff I seem to make the wrong decision. I’ve weighed the pro’s and cons, and this is how I think:

Staying in Japan – Pro’s:
- Money
- I’ll probably never get a chance to work in Japan again for such a long time, and experience the life like this
- I like my job, I can use the skills I possess quite well
- Craziness! I just love doing crazy things in Japan
- Food. How can I possibly miss Sushi, Curry, Ramen and so many other nice things?
- The people. I’m not socializing that much with Japanese people, but I”m meeting a lot of interesting foreigners here

Staying in Japan – Cons:
- No future. I’ll always stay a foreigner in Japan, and I don’t expect to ever integrate. I’ll always be less important than a Japanese employee
- I have to settle down somewhere eventually, and that place will probably not be in Japan, so I shouldn’t linger around here too much
- I’m not learning a lot at work. I’m using the skills I have but not learning many new things.
- Every year in Japan is less interesting and new than the year before. Eventually it will become boring.

I don’t know yet what I want, and every time I think I know I change my mind again in a couple of weeks. I think the best way for me to handle this problem is the way I handle most problems. Leave it alone for a while, and the next time I think about this the answer will be clear in my mind.

Last December, when I went back to Holland, I decided something. I did not decide to go back to Holland as soon as possible. I rather decided that I was a ‘man of the world’ and Holland is like a home base, a place I can always call home, but not necessarily have to return to anytime soon. I still feel this way, but a lot has happened since then. Some things went as expected, some things went much better than expected. Time goes too fast, and I find myself in a situation I could never have expected 6 months ago. I overshot my mark, and I need to readjust my goals.

Shoarmapapa

Ok, dit is totaal niet interresant voor alle buitenlanders, en de Nederlands hebben hem vast al gezien, maar ik wilde hem toch ff delen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIEkZVPgQ5A

Briljant!

I am not a freak! I just like writing!

… so don’t take it too seriously, it’s just random mindramblings

I am twenty two. I am writing a blogpost here, for two reasons. Both of these reasons concern other people’s blogs. One blog talks about people that like reading anything from people they know, even if it is mundane. The other is from a blogger who is not exactly happy being a certain age, and I believe that blogger is looking back to the past a bit too much. So why not make an incredibly mundane and boring post about both? You know you like it

I am twenty two. In my daily life I deal with people that are my age, or people that are older than me. I spent a lot of time around people who are around 30, and I’ve spent time around people that are 20. It only shows me that age really cannot tell you ANYTHING about a person. People get married when they are 20. People travel around the world when they approach 30. Other people are still studying at 25-26. Some people graduate at 24-25 and look for something to do, when they decide to go to another country. Some people decide to do this when they are 25, others decide this at 20. The same goes for marriage. Some people marry at 20, others marry at 35, or 40, or not at all. There’s all kinds of people.

I’m just a guy searching for direction, I guess. I thought I found my direction, but I lost it again, and I’m now at a point where I don’t care much about my future at all. My situation now is in fact very similar to the time when I was just graduated and got the offer for Japan. I decided to do something crazy then. I don’t have that choice any more, since I’m already doing the most crazy thing I can imagine. I can choose to go back to normal life in Holland, or back to normal life here. Because life will become normal if I stay longer. I’ve exhausted the local tourist spots, and even the remote tourist spots. Seeing the same sights twice will mean I have become an inhabitant of this country and no longer a tourist, and that’s where my life will be headed if I stay here. I can get the same thing in Holland, but with a better job and better prospects for the future.

Then again, I am only twenty two. And I never did like to do the sensible thing. After all, why do the sensible thing when you can surprise, or perhaps annoy, the whole world by doing something crazy? That’s just me. That’s the thing that I like to do. Stubborn and childish perhaps, or a man showing to the world that you don’t have to do things the sensible way in order to have a great and wonderful life. Or am I just proving it to myself? I had a talk with a friend a couple of nights ago, and he said I would have no trouble finding a job in Holland, and he suggested one of the biggest IT companies in Holland, where surely I could get a job in programming. I thought about it, and I think, sensibly speaking, it’s a very smart decision. Something to build on for the future, and something with long-term prospects.

But that would be the sensible thing. I am not sensible. I am crazy. I still feel the need to do crazy things. Maybe it’s my youth, but I don’t think so. My personality has always been like this, though I have repressed it in some periods. Why go back to Holland now, and be one-of-many? A programming machine used by a company like they use their toilet paper? … Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit too much now, but you get the idea. It’s not much more than an idea in fact, I’m sure in practice I won’t care at all and I’ll be very happy there, but only the ‘idea’ of abandoning Japan for that seems not enough to me. I’m not yet ready to do the sensible thing.

I don’t want to miss Japan. Too many memories. _Hit and run sushi. It’s a special technique, whereby you walk into a sushi bar that’s way too expensive for your taste, order one piece of sushi, pay in only 1 and 5 yen coins and then have a nice meal at the sukiya curry place next door. _Midnight ramen. After a nice movie going to the station for a midnight ramen, which tasted so delicious. _Game nights. Playing MSX and Super Nintendo games all night, and then going to Denny’s (American food) at 6 in the morning for breakfast. _Fishing. Going to the riverside at 1 in the night in a poor attempt to fish without bait, and you end up singing until 5 at a karaoke bar. _Football. Seeing the world cup matches in the middle of the night because the time zone is screwed up, and going to Roppongi to see the Holland vs. Portugal match with some Portugese people. _Parties. So many parties in the commonroom. So many drunk people. So many funny hats, boobs, and vacuum cleaners. _Crazy trips. How can I forget the first of many adventures: the Kyoto trip? It opened a new world for me. It led to the trip with my sister, the Hokkaido trip, and even the Izu trip. Planning things yourself and making your own schedule. The trips are still getting better and better.

_Farewells. Yes, even the farewells are fond memories for me. Maybe I really do like suffering, but I can find joy in saying farewell to my best friends. When people leave you realize how close you actually are to them. Sometimes you realize this earlier, but you only feel it when they actually leave. It’s a part of life, and being able to say ‘Nice to meet you’ and ‘Farewell’ is an important part of that.

I’m ranting on again when I should be planning for my Beijing trip One month! I will go to Beijing on March 20th and come back on the 25th. The sights have been set and the ticket is work in progress, thanks to NN! All that remains is finding a cheap hostel where people speak a language I can understand, and fixing my time table. Woohoo!

-

What do I really want? I wish I knew. I will take what I can get. And I will get that which I think that I want. I am spoiled. So far I always got what I wanted. Always. Maybe I don’t want enough. I believe that if ‘one’ wants something badly enough, he can get it. Because he will work for it, and he will live for it and die for it. I am like that. But I don’t know what I really want.

Boredom

Such a slow weekend. Not much to do at all. I had a great sleep, and for the first in months I finally remembered what I dreamed about, and I’m sure that they were pleasant I found quite a bit of joy in that, strangely enough. Of course, that’s because back in Holland I had a lot of free time, and I slept in a lot. It wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep until noon almost every day during my study years. I would say my life is a lot less relaxed now, but I still can’t complain much. In fact, in some ways my life hasn’t changed much at all from my life in Holland. I’ve changed a lot, but my base personality hasn’t changed at all. I guess I’m happy about that

I slept until 14:00 both Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t do much at all, except watching some movies, doing some laundry and cleaning my room. I’m still planning the trip to China. I’ll book a ticket next week, and I’ll get the visa too. Then I will need to really start doing stuff, like booking a hotel, planning my time there, finding information, getting a Chinese phrasebook :O I will not be able to speak Chinese, but I need to be sure that I’ll survive in China by myself. And I”ll be careful that my stuff will NOT get stolen, even though my Chinese friends keep telling me that I’ll lose everything because I’m not careful enough… I”ll prove them wrong!

So much stuff to do still in Japan. Don’t know when I’m leaving yet. But to be honest, all the things I really wanted to see I have seen already. Hokkaido. Matsushima. Kyoto. Hiroshima. Okinawa. All other trips from now are just side trips I guess. The main attractions I’ve seen already. Although I could go to Okinawa again, and I haven’t visited the two south islands of Japan. Also, I want to go to Sado, an island on the north coast of Japan.

And now for something completely unrelated: here’s some anime recommendations:

Black Lagoon! Violent, funny, and very similar to your average US action movie. But very much over the top, and the series is as much an action series as it is a parody on action series. It’s a great watch if you don’t want too much to think about.

Uninhabited Planet Survive (or Mujin Wakusei Survive in Japanese). A children’s show about a group of children getting stuck on an uninhabited island on an uninhabited planet. Very light story, great for studying Japanese and a lot of fun to watch. A bit childish, but overall very feel-good. Has some unexpected plot twists, but not that much.

Kino’s travels (Kino no Tabi). This one’s great. It’s like a series of short fairytales, told by Kino, a traveler who travels around in a great fictional world with very strange countries inside. Each country has a different story. It’s great to discover how each countries story unravels, and how it’s related to other countries. This is an anime for adults. It does not contain much action, but will present your mind with interesting things to think about. I highly recommend this, and it’s one of my absolute favorites.

Japanese traffic

I really like Japan. I love the scenery, the coastline, the sea, the mountains, the cities, the high-techness and hugeness of Tokyo, the half-city half-close-to-nature city that is Atsugi, and I absolutely love the train system, because it never fails and the trains are never late. However, Japan does have it’s bad points, and the traffic system is one of them.

You will probably expect that the main reason for this rant is our trip to Izu from last weekend, when we rented a car and got stuck in traffic jams for hours and hours. But no. Besides the annoying fact that there’s just too many cars and not enough roads in Japan, the traffic is actually quite pleasant. Similar to Holland, and people are quite nice to you. The driving etiquette is quite similar to Holland. People are probably more polite even. In cars that is.

But the trouble starts when they get out of the car, both on foot and on bicycle. Anybody who’s been to Tokyo knows that there is really no system for walking. People are traditionally supposed to walk on the left, and then in some area’s and station’s you’re supposed to keep to the right, which results in everybody walking in the middle. The same goes for public squares, malls, and open places inside stations. I don’t know if it’s just me or if it happens to everyone, but Japanse people have an incredible knack of finding the path that makes that crosses my path exactly when I am there, and I need to change my path or slow down in order to avoid bumping into the annoying Japanese person. Not to mention the annoying Japanese girls that decide to stop at the exit of an escalator or in the middle of the stairs to send a text message on their phone… It’s a problem inherent to Japan, and quite easily explained: there’s just too many people!

But it gets worse. Driving your bike in any city center is a truly horrible experience if you are trying to get somewhere fast. I would consider myself a tolerant person. Maybe even a nice person. But the Japanese people never cease to piss me off completely when I am driving my bike. You can ring your bell all you like but they won’t go out of the way. Of course, a large part of this problem is that Japan does not have separate roads for bicycles. You can choose the pedestrian path and kill all the old ladies, or take the car road and get run over. Nice. Sometimes people do get out of the way, though. They get out of the way while you are still far away, and then decide to go to the other side of the path just before you arrive, which forces you to make an emergency maneuver which will either let you fall in a ditch or die a horrible death in front of a truck.

So no, I’m not very frustrated by Japanese car traffic. Walking and driving a bicycle could be more enjoyable though. Having said that, I am thinking about a bicycle trip through Japan before I leave. Since I have an unlimited amount of time after my contract ends I can go anywhere without time restrictions ^_^ I’m considering buying a nice bicycle and doing a random drive all through Japan, taking with me only the bare necessities. But I still haven’t decided if I’m staying or not in August. I’m going to relax, and look at my life calmly until August. Let’s see where my life will take me.

…

Japan has too many people! If only they had half as many people and twice as many roads…

Wereldreis

Voordat jullie het vergeten: de foto’s van Hokkaido staan hier nog steeds! Kijk er ff naar voordat ik ze weghaal, want mijn webruimte is niet oneindig!

http://members.home.nl/rheide/Hokkaido

En hier zijn de foto’s van de trip die we dit weekend gemaakt hebben. Izu!

http://members.home.nl/rheide/Izu/

Een reisverslagje! Daar is het wel weer eens tijd voor. Het afgelopen weekend hebben Kamil, Martin, Amyko en ik een auto gehuurd en we zijn naar Izu gereden. We vertrokken op zondag, en maandag was een nationale feestdag, dus iedereen was vrij ^_^.

We hadden aardig wat in de planning voor de eerste dag, maar uiteindelijk hebben we een paar uur in de file gestaan. Izu zelf is tussen de 50 en 100 kilometer weg, maar het duurt dik 4 uur om er te komen..

Izu staat bekend als toeristische trekpleister voor heel Japan, en voornamelijk de mensen die van Tokyo komen, omdat het net in het bereik ligt voor Tokyonezen als weekendtripje. De reden waarom mensen erheen gaan moge duidelijk zijn na het zien van de foto’s: het is een haast tropisch gezicht, zelfs in februari. De kustlijn is prachtig, de bergen zijn prachtig, en bovendien zit het vol met onsens, oftewel publieke heetwaterbaden die opgewarmd worden met vulkaanwater.

We hebben het rustig aan gedaan de eerste dag. Lunch en rondkijken in Atami, waarna we weer op pad zijn gegaan naar Shimoda, waar ons hotel zich bevond. Uiteindelijk was het al donker toen we arriveerden. Dat was overigens niet zo gek laat, maar het is gewoon zo vroeg donker in Japan…

Het hotel vinden was nog interresant overigens. De GPS navigatie gaf aan dat we er al waren, maar het enige dat we konden vinden was een amerikaans restaurant.. We hebben wat rondgelopen op zoek naar het juiste huisnummer, maar helaas zijn de Japanners niet zo snugger om bijvoorbeeld zoiets als straten en huisnummers te hebben. In plaats daarvan hebben we een buurtnummer, en een huisnummer dat ergens in die buurt zit, maar niet op een logische volgorde. Uiteindelijk hebben we het maar in het restaurant gevraagd, en daar was iemand die ons de goede kant op kon wijzen.

Het hotel. Interresant. Kamil en ik waren lopend op zoek gegaan naar het hotel terwijl Amyko en Martin in de auto wachtten op ons. Het hotel leek meer op een groot Japans huis dan op een hotel. We liepen binnen, en het duurde even voordat de obaa-san (oude vrouw) ons begroette. Ze liet ons onze kamer zien, dat niet veel meer was dan een grote kamer met tatami matten en verder niks. Er was een TV, een kapotte airco en een minigaskacheltje die we alleen maar mochten aandoen als we in de kamer waren, en niet ’s nachts. ’s nachts vroor het overigens, en dit huis had houten muren..

Die avond hebben we gedineerd in het amerikaanse restaurant in de buurt, dat een behoorlijk goede hamburger serveerde. Met Goudse kaas :O Voor het slapengaan zijn we nog naar het strand gelopen. Het was pikkedonker en er was helemaal niemand, maar het was absoluut de moeite waard. Er ligt niks ten zuiden van Izu. Alleen de oceaan. De sterren waren zo helder! Zo helder heb ik ze nog nooit gezien. Ik wou dat ik daar foto’s van kon maken, maar helaas is mijn camera niet zo goed. Ik kan alleen maar zeggen dat het wel twee keer helderder was dan de sterren in Nederland. Erg mooi.

De volgende morgen werden we heel vroeg wakker, tegen 6:30, en tegen 7:30 waren we weer op pad. We zijn weer naar hetzelfde strand gegaan, en in de morgen kan je er wel goede foto’s maken Daarna zijn we doorgereden langs de kust naar Irozaki, het meest zuidelijke punt van Izu, met een paar hele mooie rotsformaties. Tegen de tijd dat we daar aankwamen was het nog erg vroeg. Helemaal aan het meest zuidelijke puntje was een soort van ‘attractiepark’, maar dan zonder attracties. En zonder een park. Er was wel een vuurtoren. Er was helemaal niemand, en zelfs de parkeerplaats was nog gesloten. We hebben de auto voor de ingang van de parkeerplaats gezet en we zijn gaan lopen. We waren aardig hoog in de bergen/heuvels, en we konden eigenlijk geen kustlijn zien. Dat veranderde nadat we om de heuvel heen waren gelopen, en getrakteerd werden op een werkelijk prachtig uitzicht op de kust van Izu. Ik laat de foto’s wederom hun werk doen en ik houd me hier verder stil Dit was absoluut het hoogtepunt van de hele reis.

Daarna zijn we doorgereden naar de Kawazu Nanadaru, oftewel de zeven watervallen van Kawazu. We hebben een route dwars door de bergen genomen, en ik moet zeggen dat het me behoorlijk beviel om door de bergen te rijden. Lekker actief bezig en een stuk leuker dan filerijden. Niks te klagen over de auto trouwens, een Honda Fit. Een automaat, maar met een leuk knopje op het stuur die er een lekkere semi-automaat van maakt, die je met flippers achter het stuur bedient. Na een tijdje raak je helemaal gewend aan het ritme van de auto en de bergweg, en gaat het allemaal lekker vlot Jammer dat we alleen geen bergen hebben in Nederland…

De zeven watervallen bleken niet helemaal wat we verwacht hadden. We (ik tenminste) verwachtten een plek midden in de bergen, met weinig mensen, met een mooi lang pad waar je een flinke wandeling langs moest maken om alle watervallen te bezoeken. Helaas, het bleek een toeristische trekpleister vol met oude Japanse mensen die daar het publieke bad bezochten en fotootjes maakten van de watervallen. Het lange wandelpad bleek te bestaan uit een vlak pad, en alle watervallen waren binnen een half uurtje loopafstand. Magoed, het zijn nog steeds watervallen, en de natuur daar is prachtig, dus veel hadden we ook niet te klagen. Behalve dan dat alle Japanners daar in casual kleren rondliepen en wij in volledige bergbeklimbepakking aankwamen.. We hebben in ieder geval mooie watervallen gezien en mooie foto’s gemaakt

En dan de lange weg terug. De zeven watervallen zitten ongeveer in het midden van Izu, en we moesten helemaal terug naar Atsugi. We hebben een route door de bergen terug genomen, die helaas niet filevrij was. Gelukkig is Kamil soms slimmer dan het navigatiesysteem, en hij adviseerde alternatieve routes om het verkeer te omzeilen. De helft van de tijd lukte het, en de andere helft niet. Maar we hebben in ieder geval interresante wegen gezien. Er was een vrij brede weg door de bergen, waar opeens een file begon. We zagen een bordje genaamd ‘old road’ en Kamil zei dat we die ook konden volgen. Zo gezegd zo gedaan. De ‘old road’ ging na 1 bochtje opeens megasteil de berg op, en na de volgende bocht veranderde die van tweebaans asfalt naar een grintpad waar nauwelijks 1 auto op kon rijden :O We hebben stug doorgereden op de ‘old road’ (van het jaar 1700 ofzo? WTF!) totdat we weer bij de grote weg aankwamen. En zo hadden we nog meer van dit soort detours onderweg. Het houdt je bezig in ieder geval, wat een welkome afwisseling is, aangezien ik de enige was met een internationaal rijbewijs en dus de hele tijd moest rijden. Ik ben in ieder geval gewend aan het links rijden nu. Nog steeds maf dat het stuur aan de rechterkant zit :X

Het was in het begin van de avond dat we terug in Atsugi aankwamen, waar we een benzinepomp moesten opzoeken. De eerste mislukte, omdat het navigatiesysteem aangaf dat het een pomp was, maar het was een conbini. De tweede was gesloten, en de derde was een flink eind weg.. Naja, allemaal gelukt en we hebben de reis perfect afgesloten met een lekkere portie sushi. Japan is gaaf!