Well, it has happened despite my best efforts to Jedi mind-trick or deny its existence. I am sick.
I tried my best to positive energy it away and perhaps it is not as bad as past illnesses have been because of this, but there’s no denying it. I. am. sick.
I hate being sick.
I hate feeling less than 100 percent.
I hate having limitations on my energy, activities, capacities.
I hate being sick.
Yet, I am sick.
So, nothing to do but to acknowledge and roll with it. I went to Florence anyway with hubby and friends. I walked around the beautiful city as my fever raged helping me to endure the falling winter temperatures.
The plus is that I didn’t drink much to create a different kind of reason for feeling less than 100 percent or having limitations on my energy, activities, capacities.
Still. I hate being sick.
Today, I had things planned. A yoga class. A dinner out with friends.
Nope, I am sick. I am tired. I am still busy working on my lesson planning for the final two online yoga lessons I have left in a course I have done for the past three months. I am still busy having just sent off my second book manuscript for my Umbria on a Whim series. I am still busy taking care of admin and preparations before we head to sunny skies and warm temperatures for a while.
With the help of my chef’s chicken noodle soup, lots of warm tea, and pet snuggles, I’ll soon not be sick.
Well, the remaining days in Japan flew by so that I ended up not taking as many photos since we were busy socializing and enjoying our time. I put together a quick montage of images in video format here, so you can have a look at the whole trip in quick images.
We are back in Japan for a visit. It’s been just over three years since we left during the early pandemic/shutdown days.
When we left, we didn’t quite know what we were doing but the timing seemed right to try to move with the freedom of online work. Turns out we rode the wave well – thank you Universe. 🙏🏽
Since it was a somewhat unplanned decision and M was still working in his job, he didn’t get to say a proper “cya later” to people. Also, I have never gone longer than a year or two between visits, so it was time to come back.
This time, we stayed in Ginza for the first part. I took a girls’ trip to Kyoto with my BFF and are going to spend the rest of our time with her and family.
It’s been fun to refresh our tastebuds with Japanese cuisine and revisit old haunts for nostalgic purposes. Also, we have done some shopping given the euro-friendly exchange rate.
So, more on everything next week when we are back in Italy for a bit before we continue our winter travels. ❤️
Although I tend to prefer smaller group gatherings for catching up with people, I do enjoy bringing people together and seeing what sort of social interactions will arise to give me food for thought. M loves a large party to play host and to flit to and fro. So, it’s a good combined activity for us to organize and put on. Luckily, it seems we aren’t bad at it as everyone seemed to have had a great time.
Our last big gathering was a sit-down potluck-style meal of 35 around our big tables for Easter. So, this time, we did a stand-up event with catering and a live reggae (Bob Marley cover) band. It was mostly inside, which drove some people outside when the music was playing. If we could have trusted the weather, we would have set up the band outside instead, but it was our first go at it and now we know.
The event was without a specific purpose, but we combined a bit of Halloween fun with a pumpkin design contest, celebrated a birthday, and mixed lamentations and relief at the changing season. Overall, it was a great night that took a couple of days to recover from the late night (for me) and the alcohol consumption (for M). 😅
Ladies’ trip with the fabulous A.N. in Palma Majorca (Mallorca) is a wrap with wonderful memories, lots of laughs, much chit-chat, and as an overall amazing experience.
First, about Palma – the Spanish capital of the Balearic island of Mallorca (Majorca in English spelling). It’s an interesting city with a mix of flavors in architect and dishes that come from European and Moorish influences. Even good ol’ Gaudi has had his hand on some of the sights. It’s a smallish town that can be walked around in about an hour, but there’s enough to entertain for a short holiday whether a sightseeing history buff or one in need of some retail therapy.
A and I were keen to catch up and decided a little trip might be just the ideal opportunity to do just that with a bit of travel as well. The four days flew by really and we had a great time seeing Palma, taking the train and tram through the mountains to the northwest side where Soller (soyer) and the port are located, doing a bit of pampering at the Hammam and eating some delicious food – some local and some not.
Overall, I would go back again as we did skip going into some of the attractions as we weren’t so into hopping on or off, but if I never went back I wouldn’t feel as if I missed anything major either. It might be a nice little Spanish getaway for a long weekend and worth exploring the other side of the island another time, but … I’m glad I went and I enjoyed it fully, but don’t necessarily need to go again. 🤪
There is a mixed feeling of awe and sadness when I look out the window of a plane as it takes off into the air leaving behind the ground below.
The awe is amazement for the technology that makes flight possible in a big chunk of metal and a mass weighing hundreds of pounds somehow soaring in the atmosphere above.
Thanks to this technological advancement that we often take for granted in today’s world, we are able to see different lands, experience new cultures and share in humanity with those we may never have known existed before. The expansion of our world views is awe-spiring.
Then, there is the sadness. The land and constant world below continues to move and function even after I am no longer in amongst it. It is a reminder of my insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe. It is a realization that the connection of the moments and experiences in the space below is either cut or temporarily suspended.
Somewhere deep inside is a well of sadness and confusion in this mix of emotions.
Many years ago a similar chunk of metal lifted me into the skies and severed the unknown ties I had in an eventually forgotten world below. It would be twenty or more years before I would touch upon my native soil again. Yet, I will have taken many more flights that transported me from one place to another in those years increasing my awe and further burying the sadness within.
It is the understanding that I am able to return someday and a willful naivety that allows me to say that I will be back again – but probably won’t.
Emotions swirl between excitement for a possible return and a sad knowledge that the likelihood is slim.
Yet, there are some places that do draw me back.
Despite having seen a significant amount of Japan, I keep returning. Even with a mixed relationship with my birth country, I go back as a visitor but never as a countrywoman. Obviously, I see my loved ones in the country that I identify most with although I have no intention of ever returning to it full time.
In these cases, familiarity does not breed complacency, but complexity.
Perhaps this is the way of life – finding acceptance in the in-between of these conflicting emotions that remind us of our insignificant humanity in an amazing world.
It’s been less than a week since being back on American soil and visiting home.
It is so nice to be amongst those with whom I am most comfortable and those who know me best. Even though I have not been home to visit for five years, it has felt as if I haven’t been gone that long. At the same time, I feel as if I have always been gone. I know… confusing, eh? I’ll address more on that at a later date.
Consumerism is my measurement of happiness since being back. It is not that I necessarily need anything, but it is somehow joyful to have the ability to find varieties of spices, clothes, electronics, etc. etc. with little-to-no stress in wondering where such things could be obtained or understanding the details of such products.
One of the most amazing things I have found is the size and quantity of products for low prices. For example, in Italy (and most European countries) over-the-counter drugs are only available at a pharmacy, which sort of contradicts the whole OTC concept, and they are not necessarily very cheap. So, when I found a bottle of 500 capsules of ibuprofen for a mere $7.99, I was gleeful to know I won’t have to make a trip to a pharmacy, where it costs about $5 for 10 capsules, for a while.
Also, it is no wonder that many/most Americans are overweight with so much super-plus sized food items like potato chips bags, sweets, etc. at a fairly low price.
Still, the convenience of finding everything both within and beyond the imagination is a dream when coming from a place where products are limited, more challenging to find, and all in a foreign language space. So, the symbol of Americanism in the consumption of products is well-appreciated right now.
Before you shake your head at my encouragement of globalization, greed, and the like, I have not just been focusing on the things I can buy. I also have taken in the scenes of beautiful evergreen trees and farm fields with animals or agricultural plants. It is nice to see wide open spaces and a different kind of green than what I normally see.
While Italy does have luscious green hills, it is that of new grass fields. Trees surround our house, but they do not have the same height and stature. Although Italy is a much older country, there is still something aged and wise in the trees that fill the neighborhood where I have been doing my run-walks.
So, while there is craziness in politics or society’s trajectory that does not make America so beautiful, there is much for this visiting citizen to find wonderful so far. 🤪
Every now and then, I return to previous thoughts. This one is one of them, but perhaps from a different perspective point.
There is a line in one of my favorite movies that I often consider relatable on many levels to my own way of thinking and place in this world.
Jo says “I love our home, but I’m just so fitful and I can’t stand being here! … There’s just something really wrong with me.”
Her wise mother replies with “Oh, Jo. Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You’re ready to go out and – and find a good use for your talent. Tho’ I don’t know what I shall do without my Jo. Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it.”
I feel as if this exchange of feelings gave me permission to embrace the life path that I have chosen.
As I am on the way home again after five years of complete absence due to C19 and moving countries. Strangely enough I still call the place of my family as “home”. I also call the house with my partner as home.
Still, even with both, I often find myself with that sentiment of not fully wanting/needing to be there.
So I am both excited and curious as to how I will feel being back in the US of A. A place that has been the source of news, drama, division, and derision around the world over the past few years. Yet, like anywhere, when on the ground and in the life everything else seems distant and over-hyped.
Mostly, I hope that I have made the most of my liberty though I’m not yet sure I’ve found a use – or even identified – my talent(s), but I most definitely am embracing the journey.
**This is the original part of the post that somehow didn’t get published…**
Since the finalization of the election results (before the January 6th formalities), I have had this countdown on my home tab of my browser. Each day there is a saying to consider philosophically along with a beautiful picture.
Most of the time, I take for granted the phrases and just pause to take in the image as I go about my online activities for the day.
However, today seemed rather fitting “Find your joy” on the day that He’s OUT! 👏🏽
It has been four long dark years in the world of politics. 🌑 Darker than usual since politics can be generally irritating and dark on the best of days. However, from the disbelief of his election win that followed the disbelief of Brexit, the world has continued to spiral into chaos. 🌪💥 Although the world probably needed this shake up to bring to light many of the issues that we had been happily turning a blind eye to such as systemic racism, immigration problems, and international dependence on the US to lead in many aspects of the global concerns, it has come at a great price.
My hope is that now the blinders are off and we will use our new awakening to focus on the good and humane; that we will do what humans do best and unite to build an even better and stronger world than before the dark four years. 🤞🏽
I suppose only history will tell us what has been gained or lost with a more certain objective view. However, in the moment of today, I am sighing in relief 😥 and smiling with hope 😅 of a much brighter future. My patriotism still stands firm, 🇺🇸 whether misguided or not, but it is not at all costs. There is a lot riding on what comes out of the burning ashes that have been aflame the last 1,827 days. But, I choose to believe that, like the mythical phoenix, 🎉 the nation will rise to be even stronger and better than before.
So, today, I find joy in the fact that we are about to see the first person of color and female Vice-President 🙌🏽 and plans are already in motion to rebuild with a sense of humanity and goodness. 🙏🏽 Welcome to President Biden and Vice-President Harris! 💞
**New part of the post… TODAY November 1, 2022**
I’m beginning the process of “cleaning house” as I prepare to take stock for the year and get affairs in order. Sometimes when I consider what to share on this blog, I start pieces to help guide me later. There are also times when I start a post on another device and then forget to publish them or something or other. This one seems to be an example of one that got lost in the files – and quite a long time ago.
Yet, I felt that it was reasonably good timing to bring it back out and finally hit “publish” on it since I am mentally preparing to return to the US for three weeks. Also, the little that I do keep up with politics and news has revealed that in the coming weeks while I am visiting my family, the good ol’ former P will be back on the TV screen with his potential subpoena to Congress regarding his involvement with the Jan 6 incident. 😬
Despite many in and out of the US who keep up with the domestic drama saying how much of a sh*t show it is 😵💫, I have done my best to stay away from knowing too much or engaging in what I deem to be pointless conversation around it. However, it has also been very easy for me to sort of bury my head in the sand because I live away from just about everything. So, it is with a little bit of anxiety that I prepare to return to the US again post-pandemic, post-beginning of hate crimes, post-expression of anti-Asian sentiments, etc. While I want to hope for the best, I somewhat expect the worst even though Portland, Oregon is fairly liberal in the city, the more rural areas are not so much.
I consider myself pretty open-minded and though I would say I am liberal thinking, I have some pretty conservative opinions on certain topics. Still, I am Asian. I am anti-establishment. I am anti-authority/power at my personal expense. I am anti-coercion/bullying. I am pro-choice. I am pro-freedom of expression, thought, orientation, and individuality. How will this all play in and out when I am in mixed crowds? 🤔 I do not know. 🤷🏽♀️
So, I am focusing on the excitement and love for seeing family and friends. 🙏🏽 Hopefully, there’ll be nothing else to report back here to the contrary. 😜
