Long Hair, Leather Chairs, and Magical Hands in Iwaki

This post is a little bit about the small daily obstacles I face as a foreigner in Japan, a little bit about the comfort of being in the hands of a trusted friend in a foreign home-away-from-home, but mostly about a posh, soothing, sensual hair experience.

A year and a half after living in Iwaki, I’ve somewhat gotten used to the cozy half-anonymity that comes with being an ex-pat in a small city. Despite this, I still have moments of self-consciousness for not quite knowing how to do the simplest grown-up tasks to take care of myself. Included in that (very long) list is knowing how to call in a for a hair appointment. For the past several months, I let my hair grow out into a shapeless tangled mess to put off stumbling through phone conversation with a complete stranger in my broken Japanese and mumbling, American-accented babble.

Monday Chilly Blues, Japanese Lessons, and Indian Curry

Sakurako and Momoko passed out after a long day of school, dinner, language lessons, and entertaining Brian and me.

I've somehow neglected to update on my day-to-day in Japan, so here's an attempt at it.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014. I'm bundled up in a heat-tech long-sleeved shirt, a fleece sweater, and a fleece blanket-hybrid-poncho, pajama (or pyjama) pants, and wooly socks. I'm sitting in mine and Brian's cluttered living room, soaking in the winter sunlight. I'm home because I'm sick--some classes at some of my school were actually shut down because the flu and noro virus is going around. No signs of diarrhea for me yet--I may have lucked out and only have the flu instead of the notorious 'noro'.

Today's not a very typical day, so I'll write about yesterday.

2013: The Year of "Do"

What I Did:

1. My sisters came to Tokyo for the first time in over a decade.

...we visited a shrine for New Year along with what I can only assume is about half the population of Japan.

Palawan, Philippines: A Long, Bumpy Road and Smooth, Crystal Seas

This past January, I found round trip tickets from Manila to Puerto Princessa, Palawan for only $50 USD on Kayak.com -- pretty sweet deal, especially considering that the trip was from January 1 - 4, peak travel time in the Philippines. Family time and a gorgeous beaches -- a girl could do worse.

The deals only got sweeter from there. My tita (auntie) who lives in the Philippines booked a tour package deal through a friend of a friend (something like that). Here's what we got: