life, in boxes.

Hi Team! Michelle here, livin the hobo’s life – sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the floor, living out of boxes. Eating expired food.

What?

It turns out that a lot of our food is expired. Nearly everything that jon brought to the relationship, actually.
See, when we moved in to the house in Seattle together, he had a pantry full of things. Things, I am finding out this week, that expired two (sometimes three) years ago.

oh-seven? really jon? does that box really say “best before oh seven?!”. Jon, as nonchalant as ever just shrugs it off. “It’s a guideline, you see. I’m sure it’s still fine.“.

And THAT friends, is why we have stomachs of steel and can eat whatever we want in Japan. I’ve been in training since jon started going to the supermarket in college.

Meanwhile, I’ve got 7 short days left until I join jon in j-town. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to plan social-fun-things on 4 of those night. There are still people I want to see once more before we head out! There’s not enough time in the day! (Enter in Michelle’s addiction to Coffee and her opinion that we would certainly have saved the world by now if more people were as caffeinated as she is.)

Well kids, the Windex calls.

Fall in the city

I’ve been going through my half-written blog posts this week, and thought I’d clean house a little before we embark on Crazy Japanese Adventures Part 2. Because of that, there are a few things that may feel like they end mid-thought.  I’m… a bit scattered on a normal day, so sometimes it’s tough to pick up where I left off.

***

Today was a lovely day. Full of sunshine (not really) and cellos.

As usual, I woke up hours before Jon and helped myself to a remake of yesterday’s breakfast: oatmeal with dried fruit, brown sugar, and maple bacon ice cream. Now if only I knew how to candy bacon bits to use as sprinkles, I’d never have to leave my house. Oh, wait.

At 11, I walked down to the market and picked up some *beautiful* candy-cane beets, a quince, and some purple kale. The beats were so beautiful – I’m so excited to do *something* with them.

Our post-market plans for the day included lunch at the chowda house, and a Tchaikovsky symphony in the afternoon. For some reason, I had it in my head that all russians are terrible composers. I was totally wrong. it’s all *modern* russians that are terrible composers. While the Tchaikovsky was really fantastic (it was really sweet. The first act reminded me of kids frolicking in the hills and their parents tucking them into bed at night. no, seriously.) – the second half of the show was just shy of terrrible. seriously. after the 3rd piece (non-tchaikovsky and composed in 1971) the old guy next to me leaned to his partner and said “what the hell!”. seriously. i feel like i was cheated out of an hour of my life. I can’t unhear that!!

Ahem.

Jon and i have such a fantastic life together. Pre-symphony, we gave away donuts to people in coffee shops, and I tried really hard to give a hobo jon’s latte. (it wasn’t very good. it tasted like dirt.)

Wednesday w/ E.

Boy, this week flew by. I’m having one of those climactic-Fridays at work where instead of being grateful for the approaching weekend, I’m panicking at how I didn’t get enough done. Deadlines! Corporate Crises! Angry Doctors! (you know, the usual.)

What I *should* be focusing on is Elizabeth being here! I’m glad she came towards the end of our trip, so I have some wisdom to lend. While I can’t quite say that I’ve found all the zen there is to find, I am a bit less high-strung that I was when we got here. Deep, calming breathes. I am the Eggman.

On Wednesday, we headed down to Motomachi. I just love this neighborhood’s vibe. After lunch…

…We went to the donut shop that I found last time I was here. Upstairs there’s a little cafe, and it’s all very stark white and french-countryside. Very lovely. It was great to sit down and just chat for a while.

While our adventures and travels have been great to us, I think jon and I often lament the fact that we’re not closer to all of you. Well, that all of you aren’t closer to all of you. Our friends and family are very scattered around the country. It’s great to see friends that you just… know. And you don’t have to spend time “catching up” because the essence of your relationship is such that, even though you don’t know the details, you already have a pretty good sense of what’s going on in their lives.

After coffee, I met a rooster!

And stopped in to the shrine…

…where it was just incredible. It was “snowing” cherry blossom leaves. Sakura season is drawing to a close, but it’s beautiful all the way to the end.

Yokohama Wifi

This is a message to the future-Michelle and all other hopeful, displaced technophiles living in Yokohama.  You may be wondering … “where’s the wireless internet in yokohama?”  “Why are there no cafes with wifi in yokohama?”

I, myself, asked those questions.  I twittered. I googled.  I despaired.

But then, there was hope.  There’s actually a whole lot of free wifi in Yokohama!

After Jill discovered Cafe Creo (behind SOGO), I had started hanging around Cafe Hula (in the Bay Quarter), whose hot malasadas are to die for.  They also have Hawaiian lunch bowls for around  $8.  Though the music left something to be desired, it was a pretty good spot.  It even has power outlets. (The outlets at Cafe Creo were sparse).

Feeling confident with my new found wifi, the streets of Yokohama opened up to me.  Yesterday I visited Cafe Flower. With its English menu (see crazy english above), power outlets, little dogs, and booze, it may just be the best place in yokohama to work remotely.

For $6 I had “Okinawan Taco Rice” which seems to be the Japanese take on Mexican food. I tell you, these “Hamakkos” (that’s a yokohama person, in japanese!) are on to something! I think I’ll have to recreate this at home.

So. Future self. There IS wifi in yokohama. In fact, there’s wireless internet in tokyo all over! Check out the semi-english map on freespot for a full list.

Hanami

One of the more base reasons that I love the japanese is how fully they embrace drinking in public. This is a culture that has a specific word for drinking in the park under the cherry tree blossoms. (hanami)

While we weren’t *sitting* in the park (we were walking along a canal), we did partake in the drinking and the sakura-oggling. I believe this was my first Hanami experience.

Also, I think I’m back to drinking an unhealthy amount of coffee. I must have 36oz / day. And I don’t even get a rush off of it any more, that’s just the minimum amount required to function properly. Man. I’m a junkie.

Nathan (a new friend), Jon and I wandered along the canal of Meguro for a few hours. Lined with cafes and shops on either side, Meguro was a lovely place to stroll. I’ll definitely come back to this area – I think Elizabeth would really enjoy it as well. (That’s me on the right and Nathan on the left)

They set up these lanterns all over under the cherry trees. I’ve seen them in other areas, so the practice must be fairly common. I didn’t realize that they were ads until this evening! The words on the front correspond to businesses in the area. (We saw an English one in front of the restaurant in which it belonged) Really cool advertising idea!

I also didn’t realize that they were lanterns until this evening. The cherry trees illuminated at night are pretty incredible.