Winding Down

Negligence apparently is a lingering condition for me. I do plan to write about the remainder of my time in Japan, though the further removed I am from the experience, the more I want to just go create new experiences, rather than rehashing the old. But for the time being, I thought it appropriate to finally write again about some Texas things.

I will be leaving Texas tomorrow! My final paid day at Shangri La is today, August 28, and since I rather enjoy earning money so that I can pay bills and such, I won’t be hanging around in Texas too much longer. I spent about eight months of my year waiting for this time to come. Of course, as tends to be the case, I find myself somewhat disappointed now that my tour in Texas is actually coming to a close. After several months of boredom and self-inflicted alone time, I finally really began bonding with some people in the past month or two. Several of those people were our summer scholars, all of whom have already left for college or will be doing so this weekend. But one of the people, Jayne, is filling my shoes as an intern, to remain in Orange for another nine months after I’ve gone. Poor Jayne is losing the scholars, me and Kaleb this summer, so I hope she’s able to find other people to spend time with and not go crazy.

It seems appropriate to briefly reminisce about the time I spent here in Texas, since I’ll soon be leaving this warm, wet blanket for a more accommodating climate. Last year Joe was adamant about us providing three positive points for each negative point we listed, so here are my lists of what I will and won’t miss about Texas, the former being thrice as long as the latter.

I will miss…

…my coworkers in general. In a place like Orange, TX, you don’t expect to find a lot of liberal minds, let alone environmentally-minded people who are determined to be a positive force for change in society. We were not a group of activists, politicians, community organizers or protestors, though at times some individuals would fill those roles in their own subtle ways. But it’s a group of people who recognize that improvements need to be made, and they want to be a part of that process. It’s refreshing to find community like this even in Orange, which isn’t exactly a hippie commune.

…the other interns. When I first arrived, Jonathan Davis and Carrie McAfee were the two interns already at Shangri La, and while Carrie soon left and Jonathan spent most of his time at home 30 minutes away, both were good people with whom I enjoyed spending time. Jonathan was a great balance for me, as he managed to always remain calm and keep things in perspective. He also got me involved in spring soccer when his team suffered a few lost members, and we had a great road trip to the Hill Country for an October conference. Jonathan is now in New Zealand studying sharks, but Allison and Jayne have since come in to take his and my place. I was very unsure about these two new interns at first, but Jayne and I especially are finally starting to become close. She and I both struggled mightily in our opening time here in Orange, so we’ve had that to bond over, and her frank assessments have actually opened my eyes to some things that nobody had really ever told me without tearing me down, so her presence has been a positive one for me. I’m sad now to leave her after only a couple months hanging out, but hopefully we won’t lose that connection wherever I am next year.

Allison, Ellen, Jayne and Maria after my summer camp

…the summer scholars. We brought in four college students to assist us with summer programs and other duties, and they really were a joy to work with. In between Maria singing Broadway tunes, Roni dancing and chewing a pack of gum a day, Nick sharing awkward stories and Emily just taking it all in with a smile and a shake of her head, our summer was more entertaining than I could hope to describe. And after nine months where I really only had one person with whom I could hang out who was single and close to my own age, it was great to have the two new interns around and a few college students who may be a bit younger than I am, but who at least were good to spend time with.

Jayne with Roni, one of the scholars missing from the last picture

I won’t miss…

…Texas cars, drivers and roads. I can safely say this state has the worst overall roads I’ve ever had the misfortune to drive on. I hear Louisiana’s worse (of course, in SE Texas everybody says Louisiana is a worse place in every way), but my car has not been happy with the roads it’s been forced to meander down here. Oh, how I long for semi-smooth roads, where all the roads are a relatively similar height, and every driveway and parking lot isn’t 2 inches above or below the street. As for the vehicles and their drivers…I have never seen such a large proportion of trucks in any state, and I get the impression that these drivers think their large vehicle is an excuse for poor driving. I drove to Home Depot one day, and the closest five empty parking spaces were all blocked because of a grossly double-parked truck. What is up with this state?

I will miss…

…”Don’t Mess With Texas” stickers and signs. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the way this slogan is now used, but it was originally an anti-littering campaign from the organization Keep Texas Beautiful, and I still see some billboards featuring that sentiment. In a state that has such a focus on individualism and private property, I’m actually very surprised that people don’t take better care of the place, but it is nice to see these little reminders that the state does have concerned citizens trying to improve things. I even put a sticker on my guitar case.

…the thunderstorms, when they actually appear. We had a pretty nasty drought through May, June, and a good part of July, and we’re still hurting for rain. But I’m a product of the Midwest, and I love a good thunderstorm. And Texas thunderstorms are good ones, for sure. Hope I haven’t missed out on the best ones by the time I get back to St. Louis.

…knowing where I am. Strange though that sounds, I have become very familiar with Orange, and I really know it like the back of my hand now, as well as much of Beaumont, 30 minutes away. Even if it’s not my favorite place in the world, I like being in a place where I feel comfortable with my surroundings and I know where to go for everything and who to ask if I ever need help or suggestions. Just like breaking up is tough, knowing that if I start another relationship I’ll have to go through all the introductions and “getting to know you” phase again, it’s always difficult to leave a familiar place, especially when I still don’t know what’s next.

I will not miss…

…my living situation. My landlady has been great for the most part, and I know it can be difficult to invite somebody strange into your home for 12 months. But with her college-aged daughter home all summer, I am weary of sharing space with people who have such a vastly different style of communication than I do (i.e. louder and more yelling-based). I’m weary of having to keep most of my things in my room still, because I have no storage except my closet and under the bed (about 4 inches high), and she can’t abide things out in the living room. I want to be able to invite people over without worrying about somebody yelling on the phone ten feet away from us while we try to watch a movie. And if I’m going to share a kitchen in the future, hopefully it’ll be larger than an airplane galley. Considering how little I’m paying, I really can’t complain much. But I’m ready to move on.

One of the very rare calm moments at home

I will miss…

…the orientation of towns down here. I kind of like this setup, living in a small town, having a small city nearby, and a large city close enough for a day trip. If I were going to live in a small town, it would need to be something like this, where I know I’m not cut off entirely from the types of cultural experiences you can only get in larger places. I’m realizing that I don’t particularly enjoy being in a super large city, but I like being close. This definitely satisfies that.

Astros/Cards game - one of those "cultural experiences"

…being five minutes away from almost everybody I hang out with. When does that happen? Definitely not in St. Louis, and I love it. It’ll be tough to be farther from people when I go back home. “What, you want me to pick Maria up before I come over to your place? Okay, I’ll be there in seven minutes.” St. Olaf is the only place where I’ve experienced such wonderful proximity, and I can say it’s quite addictive.

…”the Compound” (or the Homestead, or the Country Club, whatever). Ellen lives on a ~20 acre plot with her parents and brothers. Her two older sisters live in Portland and Dallas, but her parents live in what used to be the clubhouse for a country club back in the day, and Ellen lives in one cottage with her husband, her brothers in the other two cottages. I love hanging out at the Compound, and Ellen’s parents are always more than happy to have visitors, especially since I give their piano a workout it doesn’t normally experience. That house was one of the places where my involvement in Orange began, as I went over to watch a Nebraska football game on their big screen, and Sam Sr. invited me to church with them the next day, where I was recruited to be a part-time organist for the church. Oh, good times at that place. From pool parties and croquet games, to feeding the goats and playing with baby bunnies, to barbeques and Settlers of Catan, it has been a great place to spend time, and I’m definitely sad to be leaving it.

The piano at the big house

Where else can you wrestle a goat while a donkey watches?

I will not miss…

…the lack of seasons. In St. Louis and Minnesota, I experienced four legitimate seasons, each noticeably different from the ones that preceded and followed. Here in Texas, we have three seasons: Summer, hurricane season, and January. I miss leaves changing color, life springing up from silent ground, and snow bringing an otherwise bleak landscape to life in a way barely imaginable down south.

I will miss…

…the unspoken open-door policy. Every part of the Midwest has introduced me to a fantastic group of people, from Minnesota all the way down to Texas. But while St. Louis people are friendly without getting too close, and Minnesota people will come help you with anything if you ask, Texas is the first place I’ve lived where I haven’t found a closed door. I have been invited into one home after another, my coworkers and fellow church-goers always excited to help me out as I searched to find my place down here. I love the genuine friendliness. One must be careful about conversation topics, but even after a heated argument, Texans are just as likely to smooth over their differences and cook dinner together as they are to hold a grudge. It’s great!

…crawfish boils. My heart was saddened when I discovered that these crawfish are initially placed in a vat of salt water to force them to expel the contents of their stomach (doesn’t sound terribly humane to me), but crawfish boils are an experience like none other. Imagine standing around a large table (or sitting out by a pool) with upwards of twenty other people, loading plates the size of cafeteria trays with boiled crawfish, then spending the next three hours peeling the shells off the crawfish and eating what little meat is inside, chatting the whole time. Crawfish boils are about company and conversation as much as anything else, because it takes a good ten or twenty seconds to peel each crawfish, and the amount of meat available is about the size of an almond, so it takes several plates full of crawfish to satiate even the most modest appetite. Give me an evening of crawfish and beer and I’ll be a very happy camper.

…state pride. This is not me calling for any other state’s governor to contract a bad case of verbal diarrhea and suggest their state would consider leaving the union because of some imagined travesty involving taxes their state is benefitting from. But I do think it’s a bit unfortunate when people have no sense of identity as it relates to their individual state. The role of states in everyday lives is far too poorly understood (I have very little sense of what my local government even does), so I can appreciate how much Texans love their state, even if I do find it a bit over the top sometimes (your state will do WHAT to mine?….).

I will not miss…

…the thick Texas drawl. What’s that? You pronounced pinch “peench,” and you wonder why I don’t insert “y’all” into every sentence? Yeah, that’s weird.

I will miss…

…the lack of income tax. I can’t express how excited I was to keep more of my paycheck. Of course, that results in less money for the state government and therefore less money for things like education and infrastructure (what? bad roads? hmm…..), but for a guy making not much money and no benefits, this was a great deal.

…swamp rabbits. Really, bunnies always make things better. But when you’re surrounded by a stanky swamp and bayou and suddenly you come face to face with a cute little swamp rabbit, it makes the day so much better.

…being paid to spend time outdoors. This is easily remedied, as I can adjust my current job search as necessary in order to be outside. But right now I walk into a swamp and forest, look around, and remark that I’m still earning money by hanging out in nature. What a deal!

Not a bad location for an office

I will not miss…

…sunblock in February, mosquitoes in early March, and temperatures in the mid-90s by May. ‘Nuff said.

I will miss…

…the Renaissance Festival!!!!! See all those exclamation points? That means it’s awesome. I had never been to a Renaissance festival/fair/whatever before coming down to Texas, and my first experience with them was an unforgettable one. Kaleb, Noelle and I drove 3.5 hours to Plantersville, where we spent the entire day drinking beer and meade, perusing gobs of medieval shops for random costume items and personal effects, and watching period performers entertain us with music, dancing, comedy, crafts and more. I am already thinking about how it would work to come back to Texas in October or November to visit people and go back to the Texas RenFest. It’s kind of a big deal.

Excuse me, good sir knight. Would you know where I could find a turkey leg?

That's more like it!

…being a big deal. Yeah, I still have a problem with this. But it is kind of fun. I sang in a choir at the Methodist church for much of the year, I participated in a theatre production, and I’ve been accompanying a Lutheran church on the organ. Add to that my time at Shangri La and around town, and I made quite a name for myself after just one year. I’ve had an incredible number of opportunities here, and I just hope I can continue to find a way to satisfy all my passions wherever I end up next.

…Kathy Barrios. One of Bonni’s best friends, and our backyard neighbor, Kathy is also one of the part-time teachers at Shangri La. She has been a complete blessing for me this year, keeping me sane when I get stressed, and being a great sounding board and hangout buddy. Kathy’s husband Mike got me involved in a pottery class at the university in Beaumont where he teaches, and I’ve always been welcomed over at their house with open arms. Kathy is currently in Costa Rica. It will be hard to leave Texas while she’s not around to see me off, but I hope to see her again before too long. If things work out just right, maybe I’ll visit her in Costa Rica next summer, since I’m sure she’ll be back there.

I will not miss…

…the drama. I don’t know if this is a small-town thing, a Texas thing, or just an Orange thing, but there’s an immense amount of drama and gossip here, and I’m excited to escape it. That’s all I have to say about that.

I will miss…

…Shangri La. Frustrations have run rampant this year, and I’ve had some pretty rough patches. But all in all, Shangri La’s a pretty great place, and everybody should be able to visit a location like this. I never thought I would have said this, but I actually kind of enjoyed my year in Texas, and having a refuge like Shangri La was a huge part of that.

Now it’s back to St. Louis, hopefully to just spend a couple weeks before I begin my next great adventure.

 

Monday – a bit more exploring

Wow, has it really almost been a month since I wrote about Sunday? Monday in Japan was quite the day. Lisa was still in teaching mode, so I had the morning to explore the Tokyo area on my own before meeting her for lunch (she did manage to take the afternoon off – hooray Risa!). Of course, as large as the city is, by the time I finally left the apartment at 9:30 I could only make it so far before needing to meet Lisa, so I chose to return to the Harajuku station, where Lisa had pointed out the existence of another temple back in a wooded area behind the train station. This temple, the Meiji Jingu shrine, was recommended by Manabu and Chieko the previous night at dinner, so I thought it would be well worth my time to visit the area and walk around.

Of course, as tends to be the case when you’re in a foreign land and don’t know the language, this was easier said than done. The thing about exploring on your own in a new country, is that it’s totally different from exploring with a friend who’s been living there for two years and understands where everything is! It’s quite exhilarating, I must say. Walking around, going between trains, and having to pretend I have some clue what’s going on – there’s a great sense of independence and adventure that I really haven’t been able to get in the States, even when I’ve been out exploring the wilderness of the North Woods. I got a bit of this as well when I had a couple free days in Germany on my class trip there, and I explored the Rhine valley by myself; but I still understood some of the language and I had been there for over a week, so I didn’t feel totally out of place. Japan was a whole new issue though. I may not have been the greatest about paying attention while Lisa was leading me around the previous two days, and this could have gotten me in big trouble. Fortunately it wasn’t a terribly difficult train ride, though I did step off a train a couple times because I thought I had taken the wrong one. So my 30-minute train ride turned into about 45 minutes, but I still got to Harajuku with enough time to get over to Meiji Jingu.

I thought I’d have a lot of trouble finding Meiji Jingu, since Lisa had only pointed a general direction and I had no map. Nothing to worry about, because as soon as I left the train station and crossed a bridge in what I assume was the right direction, the torii of Meiji Jingu was staring me right in the face. Alright…

Meiji Jingu gate

So I walked into Meiji Jingu, which began as simply a long, paved road wide enough for two lanes of traffic, though I assume they typically keep motorized vehicles out of the area. I picked up a brochure, which fortunately had a section in English, and read a lot about the gardens. Apparently they are a tribute to Emperor Meiji (the great-grandfather of the current emperor), who did a lot to promote the acceptance of many Western ideas, while still preserving many of Japan’s most important traditions. He died sometime around 1914, and when this gardens and shrine was designed, over 100,000 trees were donated by the people of Tokyo. And it is oh-so nice. The whole time I was in Meiji Jingu, it felt as though I had left Tokyo entirely and found a magical, totally distant place to which I had escaped. The trees were tall, old and powerful; the wind was cool and uplifting; the pools were serene, deep and mystical; and the irises….wow. I initially paid 500¥ (just over $5) to get into the gardens, thinking I was paying for entrance to the shrine. It was one of the best mistakes I made in Japan. Meiji Jingu gardens had an immense iris garden that either is in constant bloom, or else I happened to hit the timing just right. The iris garden was at least 50 yards long, and while I couldn’t read any of the labels to see if they told me the type of irises these were, I knew I didn’t have to be a horticulturalist to appreciate this sight.

Irises

By the time I got through the gardens, I was so calm and content that I’m sure just about any old building would have pleased me. But the Meiji Jingu shrine, while not as magnificent as Hachimangu or the Enoshima shrines, was still quite lovely in its own right.

Meiji Jingu

I spent a little while at the shrine, before realizing I was about to be late for my meeting with Lisa. So I quickly rushed back to the train station, hopped on the quickest train I could find (read: the one that I knew its destination), and went out to Shibuya to meet Lisa for lunch. We decided to meet at the statue of Hachiko, a dog who was famous for waiting at the Shibuya for his owner every day for years, even long after his owner had died. They placed a statue of the dog outside the station, as a tribute to the dog’s undying loyalty, and it has become one of the most popular meeting places in all of Tokyo.

Hachiko at Shibuya station

The thing about meeting somebody in a foreign country is, all you can do is trust that things will go well. I had no cell phone service in Tokyo, and I didn’t know a single phrase that would really help me if I got lost, except for “sumimasen! Eigo wo hanasemasu ka?” (excuse me! Do you speak English?)  If that failed, then I was in big trouble. Monday was the first time I experienced that dread of being totally out of place in a strange location. I got to Hachiko about fifteen minutes after the allotted time, and I didn’t see Lisa. Assuming she was just running a bit late from school, I proceeded to take a look around and snap some photos while I waited. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Fifteen. I began to worry, and I wondered if perhaps she had decided to go looking for me when I didn’t show up on time. I had no choice but to wait there at the designated meeting place, because if I started to wander around, the situation could become so much worse. Fortunately Lisa had just been unable to get away from school, and she eventually showed up. That was one of the greatest senses of relief I had the whole trip, going from being totally lost to finally having my host and safety net back by my side.

After meeting, Lisa and I walked around Shibuya, which is one of the more fashionable districts in Tokyo for young people, if I understand it correctly. We visited a two-floor Starbucks to watch crowds coalesce and then disperse along the crosswalks of a busy intersection, which was quite fun, but the real treat of our Shibuya trip was the four-floor Disney store, which I figured would be practically Mecca for my sister-in-law Molly. I got some pictures for her, but I had to forgo any kind of purchases, since even handkerchiefs seemed to cost $20.

Lisa and I went back to Harajuku to hang out a bit more and grab some lunch, and we then met Charity Hall, another St. Olaf grad, at Oriental Market, that wonderful shop Lisa introduced me to the previous day. Charity is working in Japan with the Lutheran Church, in a similar program to the one my parents did after college, if I understood her correctly. After shopping a bit, Charity, Lisa and I went to get some purikura taken. This is one of the most entertaining parts ofTokyo that I was able to witness. Imagine if you will, a photo booth that allows you to not just take photographs, but to set some incredibly strange backgrounds, such as oversized pianos, giant hamsters, or even a city that makes you feel like Godzilla. I suppose this may be somewhat similar to some booths in America, but what really sets purikura apart is the ability to then put digital stamps, pictures, words and borders all around the pictures you’ve just taken, using a computer that gives you several minutes to “touch up” your pictures before spitting out the photo stickers. They are…..quite entertaining. This is a huge part of youth culture in Japan, from what I gather, and I can see why it’s so popular, but I couldn’t help feeling just a little more like a teenage girl after going through the process twice, once with Lisa and then on Monday with both Lisa and Charity =)

Lisa and Charity with a random car

a purikura booth

We followed up our purikura adventure with a trip to Shinjuku, which is a major commercial district in Tokyo. We grabbed a quick dinner at a kabob place, and then went to a karaoke bar to finish off the evening. Japanese karaoke….oh my gosh, it was everything I dreamed it could be, and MORE! We paid to use a room for a couple hours, and headed upstairs to what looked like a dorm hallway, with just a bunch of doors leading to dozens of karaoke rooms on every floor. Our particular room had no windows, but it had a great feature where the walls lit up every time we started singing into the microphone, with black lights on the ceiling and odd images of killer whales descending on a futuristic Tokyo or flying into a supernova. It was quite the atmosphere! The room also had the thickest karaoke song selection book I have ever seen, though I suppose it makes sense since they had it printed in both English and Japanese. I’ve tried creating a playlist of all the songs sung by Charity, Lisa and myself that fateful night at the karaoke place, but while some are already on my list (Yellow Submarine, Come On Eileen, Mrs. Robinson, Viva La Vida), others either require a purchase (Spice Up Your Life, Put A Ring On It, Love Shack), or else are totally unfamiliar due to the fact that Charity sang at least one Japanese song. But it was still a terribly exciting and entertaining evening. I laughed more that night than I can remember laughing all at once in quite a while. And I tried a couple new Japanese snacks that Lisa and Charity thought I just had to have. Of course, I loved them, but true to form, I can’t remember them at all six weeks later.

Lisa in the karaoke room

The karaoke was one of the most “Japanese” things I did in almost a week full of Japanese experiences, and I’m so happy we did it. I don’t know that it would have been any more fun with a room full of people, whether I knew them or not. These two other Oles made it an experience to remember, and it was the perfect way to wrap up my exciting Monday.

 

Sunday – a little more culture

Sunday was a bit rainier than we expected, with light sprinkles and gloomy clouds much of the afternoon, though that didn’t stop us from having a great time. That afternoon we ventured into Harajuku, one of the main hangouts for Tokyo teens, hoping that we might be able to see massive crowds of strangely-dressed teenagers (apparently every Sunday in Harajuku is like Halloween, though the current popular themes for girls are goth and Lolita…..yeah….), as well as the Japanese mafia (Yazuka) dressed like greasers and dancing around. The light rain did put a damper on both of those things, but we still had a great time walking through the shopping parts of Harajuku, beginning with some of the more upscale shops like Oriental Bazaar and Kiddie Land. Oriental Bazaar, as it turns out, was one of my parents’ favorite places to shop when they lived in Tokyo, as it has many traditional Japanese items such as hashi (chopsticks), kimonos, dishes, and home decorations, but it’s definitely geared towards international travelers. Kiddie Land is quite possibly one of the most outlandish stores I have ever come across, but Lisa was right that it’s frighteningly addictive as well. The whole store is based around “cute” things, as you might see littering a child’s bedroom. The third floor is dedicated almost entirely to “Hello Kitty,” though there’s also plenty of space for Tatoro and other animated features by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, etc…..Lisa, I apologize for having never heard of him, but I’ll try to watch something soon!). They have tables and tables full of Kapibara-san, a stuffed capybara who apparently resembles a hamster, and Pickles the Frog, an adorable little frog who comes in multiple colors and often sports a nifty mushroom with his name on it. This store is five floors of cute, and Lisa and I didn’t even make it to the top before I felt it necessary to seek sanctuary in a slightly less pocketbook-threatening location. Like a casino….. The other great source of entertainment in Harajuku was Takeshita Street, where most local teenagers hang out and go shopping. This road was filled with such bastions of style as “Store My Ducks” and “Sweets Paradise,” where (if I understood Lisa correctly) you can order all-you-can-eat desserts and other sweets.

well okay, but it's gonna cost you

Most amusing for myself and Lisa was a shop full of shirts sporting what is commonly referred to as “Engrish,” an amusing attempt at translations from Japanese into English. One classic Engrish t-shirt says, “I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smell.” I fell in love with a shirt that had a fuzzy panda face on the front, with the text “it’s not satisfactory” above the panda, and “laughing got tired” below. For her part, Lisa was a big fan of a cupcake shirt that said, “Cause of fat……crime……It is delicious though” (or some such thing). This is accompanied by street signs warning us against the dangers of “tout” and “smorking.” It becomes a game, trying to see who can spot the most ridiculous English translation, and really you can find something new almost every day. “Indian Restrant,” advertises one poster, while another begs the customer to “please trust us!”

A classic "Engrish" sign . . . darn those "smorking" rules!

For the evening, we had a very special treat in store. As soon as they found out I was going to Japan for sure, my parents e-mailed Manabu and Chieko Mochizuki, two of my dad’s private English students when they were in Japan teaching. My parents became rather close with the Mochizukis while in Tokyo, and I believe they still keep in fairly regular contact. So Lisa and I were invited by Manbu-san to a dinner in Roppongi Hills, a rather nice little building megaplex. We ate at Gonpachi, a rather famous restaurant in Roppongi that served as the model for a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also ate there while in Tokyo, and it was a rather nice location, although I didn’t get any pictures, since the lighting was low and I didn’t want to cause a scene.

Lisa and I were a few minutes late to dinner, since we weren’t really sure which direction to walk from the train station. Fortunately a nearby taxi cab driver was kind enough to point the right direction, and after a few minutes in the rain we walked into Gonpachi and met Masayo Mochizuki, the daughter of Manabu and Chieko. Manabu had gone out to meet us, but the confusion was soon ended and we all sat down, to be joined a short while later by Chieko. I’m not sure how many times I heard that my appearance and demeanor (and about everything else!) were reminiscent of my dad, but we had a good long conversation about everything from current news to old stories and everything in between. The meal was fantastic, although Lisa and I filled up by the middle, but of course we couldn’t turn away anything else that came – it was far too delicious!

Dinner with the Mochizukis

 

Saturday – Architecture, Botany and Cats

Lisa had big plans for us Saturday. I missed the cherry blossom season, unfortunately. I wasn’t quick enough to make a decision, and she spent her spring break down in India building houses (is that right?), so I had to delay my trip. But the weekend I was in Tokyo, there happened to be a vast array of hydrangeas (“asaji,” I think they’re called) in bloom, so she talked to another Ole grad she had just met a couple weeks earlier and scheduled a day trip to a town chock-full of shrines and flowers. Kenneth Johnson (c/o ’86) met us way down in Kamakura, near the ocean about 2.5 hours by train from Lisa’s apartment. He started us off at the Hase-Dera shrine, which was perhaps the best introduction to Japan I could have imagined for this trip.

Walking towards Hase-Dera in Kamakura

Hase-Dera sits slightly on a hill overlooking the city of Kamakura, giving a gorgeous view of the city, the distant forests, and the ocean beyond the city. Black kites (accipiters, closely related to sharp-shinned hawks and cooper’s hawks) circle above, waiting for some visitor to carelessly leave their food unattended so they can swoop down for an easy meal. And the hydrangeas—oh, the hydrangeas. I claim ignorance on this one; I wouldn’t know a hydrangea if it came up and said hello, but still I couldn’t imagine so many varieties of the flower in one place. Try to picture the first time you ever walked into a candy shop as a small child. If your experience was anything like mine, as soon as you walked in the door your senses were completely overwhelmed, as you were bombarded from all sides by every color you could ever imagine, the most wonderful smells in the world, and of course, that strange feeling that this little slice of heaven was placed here just for you. Now take away the candy coating and cavities, add some sunshine, zen and Japanese people with cameras, and you should have a vague idea of what the Hase-Dera hydrangea walk was like.

The hydrangea walk at Hase-Dera

Winding up a hill and through a beautiful, lush forest so characteristic of the area, the trail behind the Hase-Dera shrine was filled with hydrangeas of every color, shape and size. Well, mostly just one size, but lots of shapes, textures and colors! It was as if millions upon millions of butterflies had suddenly descended on this quiet little hill and lighted upon the bushes in the hopes that some passers by might notice them and appreciate the great pains to which they went to create such a colorful, ornate display.

....and more hydrangeas

Hydrangeas!

Having satiated our thirst for botany at Hase-Dera, we then moved on to Daibutsu, the largest seated Buddha in the world. Reaching just over 13 meters and weighing approximately 121 tons, this was a big, big Buddha. And best of all, we were able to go through a door in the back and walk into his big, big belly. The watermelon sitting in front of Buddha was untouched, and I couldn’t tell if the look on his face was that of serene meditation, or if perhaps he was displeased with the meager rations afforded him and his big, big appetite.

Daibutsu, the Big, Big Buddha

After the Daibutsu, Lisa and I headed to the shopping district of Kamakura, an amazingly crowded street with a wide variety of shops lining both sides – restaurants, clothing, wares, souvenirs and more. Our eventual destination though, was the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, probably the most well-known shrine in Kamakura. Hachimangu is a Shinto shrine constructed in the 11th century, and it may have been the most beautiful building I saw in all of Japan. Sitting atop a hill reached by a stairway of 61 steps, Hachimangu is a thoroughly impressive structure, still featuring the same colors that were originally used almost a thousand years ago (though they have been retouched over time, always following the original style and color).

Hachimangu Shrine

While leaving Hachimangu, Lisa approached a group of five girls having their pictures taken in front of the site, and asked if they would mind having a photo taken with a tall, awkward American (I paraphrase, of course). So I now have what will probably be my most memorable photograph from my Japan trip, which I had to be convinced to take in the first place. Thanks, Lisa =)

Me and....well, them

Saturday evening was one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip to Japan. Lisa and I took a train to Enoshima, right on the coastline, and we walked out on a bridge to Enoshima Island, home to many beautiful shrines and vantage point for supposedly beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, though the fog still kept that peak hidden from view. The thing about these shrines in Japan, is they are beautiful, ornate structures, normally featuring vivid colors and striking angles and geometric proportions. Though many shrines have undergone repairs and “freshening” over the years, every effort has been made to preserve the original look and structure of the shrines, so for many of the shrines you can feel as though you’ve been taken several centuries back in time. Some of the shrines on Enoshima, in fact, were built as early at 853 AD, which would make them 1,156 years old!

A "torii" (gate) framing a much fancier gate on Enoshima

Just 4 km in circumference, Enoshima rises nearly a hundred feet out of the ocean, and the island is dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten, who is said to have made the island rise from the sea in the 6th century AD. As you approach the island, you are greeted by a green “torii,” or gate, which is fairly standard at the entrances to shrines all around the country. This gate marks the entrance to a road ascending the front side of the island; the road is lined with shops, restaurants, and the vending machines that litter Tokyo, and suddenly after one or two hundred meters, the shops abruptly give way to a long staircase leading through another torii (this one bright red) to the first shrine you encounter on Enoshima. The shrines of Enoshima, just like those others I visited in Tokyo, are constructed with a very pleasing sense of angularity, they are nearly always perfectly symmetrical in design (save the figurines or scenic/figure depictions that may be present), and they are very ornately designed and painted, usually using a bright red and dull green or a myriad of various shades of brown, nearly always combined with a yellow-gold that imparts the awe and reverence owed the shrines. As opposed to much of the over-the-top, self-important architecture found in many other places I have been, these shrines and temples in Tokyo seem to have not a bit of superfluity to them. Each scrap of wood, each dot of paint, has the impression of being intensely purposeful, as if the deity honored by a particular shrine may be offended or blocked by anything other than exactly what was constructed.

Enoshima shrine detail

The island offers a number of gorgeous views of both ocean and mainland, and I am told Mt. Fuji can be seen in all its glory on a clear day, although the fog never lifted enough for me to steal a peek. Enoshima is also nearly overrun by cats, which can be seen walking along every path, napping on walls, sitting in shops, even lurking atop trash cans as if to coax out the scraps of food so carelessly tossed aside by visitors to the island. Just about every cat managed to attract the attention of myself and Lisa, though the serenity of the island seemed to rub off on the cats, as only one poor little skinny cat with a Charlie Chaplin mustache marking seemed anything other than oblivious to the world around them. Of course, that one skinny cat was one of the saddest sights I’ve seen in a while, hunched over on top of a trash can, hoping that some passer by might notice its plight and “accidentally” toss their food scraps just wide of the wide trash can opening.

This kitty knows "zen"

 

Thursday and Friday – traveling to Japan

I left Houston on Thursday the 18th, but thanks to that crazy International Date Line, I lost a full day on the flight west. So a 14-hour trip cost me about 28 hours, adjusted for local times. The trip was mostly uneventful, aside from the fact that I was able to sit in business class for the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo. I had never sat in business class before, and if you haven’t either, I can assure you it is quite a treat! It took me all of about fifteen minutes to start feeling guilty about how well I was being treated. Within a minute of sitting down in my seat, I was offered my choice of orange juice, water or champagne, and things were only better from there. I always wondered what made first and business class so special…..This was the first plane ride I’ve had where I could actually stretch my legs out!

I love business class now

My seat featured automatic reclining for both the back and the legs, as well as a foot rest (rendered useless by my go-go-gadget legs), and even an adjustable lower back support. Apart from the significantly more impressive food selection, flight attendants came by every ten or fifteen minutes to ask if I needed anything else to eat or drink, as long as I was awake. And I was awake most of the time. After all, how many chances do I get to fly over the entire West Coast, southern Alaska, the Bering Strait and the Iberian Peninsula [and yes, it was actually the Kamchatka Peninsula, though I'll save face by saying I was thinking "Siberian"]? Needless to say, it was without a doubt one of the most enjoyable flights I could imagine (I say “one of,” because I still prefer flying with somebody I know to flying alone). The whole time, I couldn’t help thinking that there is no reason for anybody to be spoiled this much on a plane flight. It was so excessive, and as much as I enjoyed it, it made me feel bad for those in economy class who didn’t enjoy the same posh conditions.

It's Bristol Bay!

My magical map

As we approached Japan, my first view was of a thick, almost impenetrable cloud cover. I was warned that my trip happened to coincide with the beginning of Japan’s rainy season, but somehow I still expected that I’d be able to catch a glorious view of the Japan coast and Mt. Fuji. This fantasy was quickly put to rest, but once we broke through the clouds I did see some beautiful hills and fields, since I flew into Narita Airport, about 90 minutes east of Tokyo. Japanese farms are actually quite different than American farms when seen from above. The rice paddies, at least, are significantly smaller than our expansive fields of corn and other grains, and they are so green! I didn’t get much chance to enjoy the fertile lands of Narita before I had to start practicing my Japanese on an unsuspecting ticket seller. I took the easy way out, asking if she spoke English: “Sumimasen; eigo wo hanasemasu ka?” It’s always much easier when they respond in the affirmative =)

I took a bus to Saitama province to meet Lisa, since she had lots of things to take care of before leaving work. She will be heading back to the States at the end of the summer, and she still has to figure out travel and other details, as well as continuing to explain to her students when she’s leaving and why. My first introduction to the Japanese people was the two people helping those of us who were in line waiting for a bus. These two people didn’t speak a word of English, but they were still incredibly polite and helpful, and did what they could to make sure I was in the right place, getting on the right bus. And to top it all off, when our bus finally departed for Tokyo, they gave a very graceful bow to the driver and his cargo. At that moment, I thought, “I could get used to this place.” It wouldn’t be the last time I would entertain such an idea.

From the bus ride to Saitama

As the large charter bus drove through the impressively crowded streets of downtown Tokyo and the surrounding areas, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was in the magic bus from Harry Potter (the third one?), watching helplessly as the bus driver somehow managed to squeeze our oversized vehicle through lanes and around corners that shouldn’t have been navigable for anything larger than a scooter. But we finally arrived at my destination, after two hours napping and watching the scenery fly by. And finally, just 21 hours after flying out of Houston, I exited the bus and saw Lisa for the first time in almost twelve months.

 

Japan, here comes this guy!

I have wanted to visit Japan ever since I was about 5 or 6 years old, whenever it was that I was first able to appreciate the fact that my parents lived there for three years after college. Our house back in St. Louis is graced with many items from Japan, including sayonara dolls; kids’ games; hashi and their rests; artwork by Sadao Watanabe; and the many Japanese dishes my mom has been cooking for as long as I can remember, such as tonkatsu, gyoza, yaki soba and yaki tori.

So imagine my jealousy when I found out that a good friend from college was going to be working in Japan with the JET Program, teaching English in Japanese schools. I kept in touch with Lisa Ruas throughout her first year while I was at Wolf Ridge, and we had long discussions about trading places for a month, so I could experience Japan and she could explore the North Woods of Minnesota. Lisa extended her contract for a second year, but unfortunately I missed the application deadline to begin the JET Program at that time, so I lost hope that I’d be able to wander Japan with her still there. And then this year came, and way down in Texas I ended up renting space in the house of a United Airlines flight attendant.

Long story short, I spent seven months debating whether I should use one of her buddy passes to fly to Japan and visit Lisa. The arguments in favor were many, not least of all that it’s the cheapest such flight I’d ever take, I’d have a place to stay, and a tour guide/translator/exploring buddy, who is by far my best friend currently in Japan =)   The arguments against…..well, there’s the fact that I hate spending money. That was kind of a big one. Finally about five weeks ago, I got over my cold feet and got a flight booked to Japan for five days. It would have been great to get two weeks, but I don’t know that I could have taken much more time away from my commitments in Texas, not to mention the increased cost (food, parking my car near the Houston airport) of each additional day in Japan.

So here I find myself, sitting alternately in a plane and in airports, typing an e-mail about the trip I just completed. There is no possible way I could do justice to the four-plus days I just spent in Tokyo; it was really one of the greatest trips I’ve ever taken anywhere, and I could probably fill twenty pages before I even had to start searching for words to continue. But I’ll do my best to cover the highlights here, writing in installments likely over several days, and maybe it’ll be enough to satiate even the most desperately curious readers.

 

Three months in thirty minutes

I’m taking my lunch break today to finally update my blog again for the first time since March. But knowing how much attention I love to pay to my food, as well as the perpetual call of fantasy baseball news, I’m guessing I can devote about half of my hour-long break to actually composing this post. Thinking about everything that’s happened in the past three months, I don’t know that there’s any way I can do it justice in half an hour of typing, at least not in my typical grandiloquent, run-on style. So perhaps the most efficient way to share my last quarter-year would be a top-ten list of sorts. The ten most exciting/interesting/important things since my last blog? Sure, why not?

Here’s my ten significant notes since March 17:

1. Way up north where there’s ice and snow….kinda….

Last month I took a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin for the first time since the end of Lutheran Summer Music last July. I spent a week up there, visiting and working towards my future. I first auditioned for the second time with the Rose Ensemble, an incredible group of early music singers, who turned me down last year when they felt I still needed to work on my range of dynamics and my comfort singing in the upper register. It was another awesome experience, singing in a modest Episcopal chapel with a group that good, but again I came away without a position in the ensemble to show for it. While it’s disappointing to strike out again, I can’t say I’m crushed by their decision, and any opportunity to sing with them is much appreciated, so that alone was well worth the trip.

But I also visited St. Olaf, where I managed to find almost every student and professor I had hoped to spend time with, catching up with many of my good friends from my year as a JC in a freshman dorm, and spending time with Becca, who I hadn’t seen since Christmas in St. Louis. The new St. Olaf science building is quite impressive, and I wonder if I would have been a bit more studious had I been able to benefit from the new small cafe in the science building. That may have gotten me out of my dorm room!

I also had lots of quality time with some friends from my class, including Mattia, Michelle, K-ris, Jose and Kevin. I now wonder whether I could find a way to return to the upper Midwest next year so that I’d be closer to so many people I miss.

Oh, Olaf, I miss you so

And of course, there were the two days I spent in Madison, WI, with Dan and Molly. I had a chance to meet with a couple professors at the University of Wisconsin, where I learned quite a bit about their graduate program in Environment & Resources, a program in which I’m quite interested (particularly if I could do a dual degree with their law school). The school looks to have everything I’m seeking in a graduate program, and while I know I need more than one option, it’s a VERY good one option for the time being. And for the first time, I was the first Grupe to see one of my sibling’s places of residence; I don’t feel quite so neglectful anymore.

2. All the world’s a stage, and the stage is once again my world.

For the first time since high school, I’m getting back into theatre. I had one failed attempt at theatre while at St. Olaf, when I was cast in Pippin but then backed out due to fears of vocal exhaustion as the Limestones prepared to record an album. Silly me. I spent the past three weeks working with the Orange Community Players (a.k.a. First United Methodist Church theatre?), performing in last weekend’s 6th annual Broadway revue. Oh, how I have missed the stage. We had a group of close to 50 people involved in the production, but I was able to sing two solos (“Shiksa Goddess” from The Last 5 Years and “Pity the Child” from Chess) and a duet (“All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera), as well as several group numbers.

I enjoyed myself enough that I decided to keep my promise to audition for the first production of the fall season, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. When I was in FUMC’s R&H dinner theatre a few months ago, the choir accompanist (and director’s wife), Donna, asked me to do that performance in the fall, as hoped to cast my duet partner for the dinner theatre as Cinderella, and me as the Prince. I officially have been cast in the least manly role I may ever hold (I’m afraid any jocks in the audience will come to steal my lunch money after watching this show), but at least it’s still a fun group of people, and directing issues aside, it should be a fun way to spend half of my evenings this summer. I’m still wondering how to deal with the fact that, despite her quite impressive singing voice, our Cinderella is 16 (15?) years old. One of these years hopefully I’ll be in a community large enough that the most talented actors aren’t all younger than 25.

Chris and Jenny, two of the older ones.....yeah....

3. Don’t let the man get you down

Oh, work. Work, work, work.

I’m done for the school year. Yay! I can’t express how I excited I am to be finished teaching the same lesson plans over and over and over and over and over again for a month, to groups of students who eventually are only distinguished by the fact that they feature new names. I appreciate the fact that we repeat lessons more than once every few months, because I had some difficulties last year at Wolf Ridge when I wouldn’t teach weather class for two months and I felt like I had to relearn the whole lesson. But thirty consecutive birds classes is a bit monotonous, so the arrival of summer is much appreciated.

a couple twitterpated king snakes in the brush

Of course, what I’m really excited about is that I have less than three months left at Shangri La. I’ve had some great experiences here, and some of them are not only great for my resume, but hopefully will be things I can build on in the future. But I don’t do well in a nature center that’s so intentional and off-limits; if I’m going to work in the outdoors, it needs to truly retain some semblance of wilderness, rather than this carefully manicured area designed to retain some characteristics typical of an untrammeled landscape.

Also, “pinch” is not supposed to be pronounced “peench,” and “y’all” is beginning to scare me.

4. Phil’s future in flux

Really, this is old news. I guess some things never change. I suppose my quest for a new adventure after Shangri La really began when I made my journey back up to Scandanavian territoty last month. But not getting into the Rose Ensemble and still feeling a touch too uncertain to enter grad school, I’m still in limbo about next year. Fortunately I still have three months to decide what’s next. Unfortunately, many of the positions for which I’m qualified are already filling up, since every place on a school schedule (starting in September) tends to figure out hiring by the end of the previous school year.

So as I look at options for next year, a few things keep popping up. I’m about halfway through an application for Peace Corps, though of course it’s still somewhat intimidating and I haven’t quite gotten as far as I would like. Teaching English in Japan with the JET Program would be great as well, and hopefully I’ll soon have a better idea of whether that’s a legitimate candidate for me (more bel0w). Otherwise, I’m looking at environmental education positions on Catalina Island and with the Olympic Park Institute, just to fill some months while I’m waiting for something like Peace Corps or grad school to require my attention full time.

I will hopefully be taking the GRE this summer, so that I can at least take the idea of graduate school seriously instead of just wondering whether it will ever happen. Perhaps my evenings that aren’t taken up with rehearsals will have to feature lots of GRE studying at home.

5. Hajimemasihte. Watashi wa Philip desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

I’m going to Japan!

Really though, I am. On Thursday, June 18, I will be flying to Japan to spend five days with Lisa Ruas, who has been doing the JET Program over there for the past two years. She keeps telling me it would be perfect for me, so I thought what better time to visit the country I’ve always admired from a distance, than to actually visit it while I know somebody there who can introduce me to the program I may apply for this November. I’ve been wanting to visit Japan ever since I was five or six and first really understood where my parents had spent their first three years out of college, so this is a very exciting prospect indeed.

I’ll have a weekend to see some other parts of the country with Lisa, but during the week she’ll still be teaching, so I’ll be able to visit her school once or twice to see what the job is like, and maybe I’ll just walk around Tokyo a bit on my own to explore and try picking up as much as I can in less than a week of total immersion =)

Whatever happens, it should be an awesome trip, and I just have to figure out how to keep from spending about $10,000 while I’m there. How much clothing and food can I make room for when I drive back to St. Louis, I wonder…..

6. Fantasies come true…

My life is being sucked up by fantasy baseball again, so feel free at any point to remind me that it’s not so important and I can spend more time journaling, studying for the GRE, practicing piano, etc.

Of course, my teams are modestly successful, so I don’t mind spending the time. If I sink to the bottom of the pile, I’ll just let the teams coast from here on out, but for the time being it sure is fun to compete.

7. Baby kittens. That’s right, I said it. Baby kittens.

Our two new interns arrived just as Jonathan (the other intern with me) was finishing up his time here. Noelle decided to have both come in June now instead of the weird overlap, so I’ll be here all summer with my replacement, which hopefully will mean a bit less work for me. The new interns are going to be fun, I think, but they’re both fresh out of college, so it’s not quite the same as hanging out with my brothers or the others down here with whom I’ve been spending time.

But in awesome news, they have adopted two six-week old kittens who were found in a cardboard box on the side of the street. The kittens have been named Finnigan and Georgia, and they are quite adorable. Hopefully Allison and Jayne are able to keep them at the apartment; I’m not sure what the rules are about pets, but they’re quiet enough right now that they’ll fly under the radar for a while.

it's a Georgia kitty

this is Flannigan

8. We’re kind of a big deal. People know us.

Shangri La was already impressive enough, as the first LEED Platinum facility in all of Texas, and one of only about 150 in the world right now. But the American Institute of Architecture just named Shangri La one of the top 10 green projects in the world. It’s pretty cool. This place is getting on the map rather quickly, so hopefully it’ll be a national attraction in no time at all.

To help us out with that, Ed Begley Jr. came to give a speech for us on Earth Day, and he raved about Shangri La for about ten minutes. Maybe he’ll tell all his Hollywood friends about how much he loved this place, and soon we’ll see Tom Hanks, Bono and Jackson Browne coming through our gates.

This is what people see when they visit Shangri La

Hmm….maybe my ten things only turned into eight. Well I’m okay with that. And it does mean less reading for all y’all.

I suppose more could come later, but my “thirty minutes” became a couple hours, spaced out with my free time after work. I think I’m done for now. It’s time to get home, get some food, and go rehearse my role as Prince Wusstopher Rupert, Windmehr Lademehr, Carl Alexander, Francois Reginal, Lansalot Herman………

 

So many options, so little Phil

It has actually been quite nice, being somewhat removed from the constant temptation of having internet access at home. For once I’m finding myself with time to do those little things I have so successfully evaded the past several years. I’m playing guitar again, as well as practicing piano and learning the organ; I’m reading books at a rate not seen since I was home schooled (and no more comic books!); I found a nice yoga mat at a flea market and am finally making time to relax and stretch my body and mind (as long as the landlady’s not home to make smart comments and generally serve as a distraction); and perhaps best of all, I’m finding myself detached from this great technological terror for an additional several hours every day. When I’m already sitting at a desk for anywhere from two to six hours on a given day at Shangri La, I can certainly use the help in breaking away from this pervasive, global network.

Mardi Gras Louie says, "don't go online - it gives you brain disease!"

Unfortunately, being somewhat removed from the addiction of the internet means I’m also somewhat removed from the glorious, instantaneous connectivity of the internet. Today is yet another day when I’ve stayed an extra hour at the office just to take care of personal e-mails and other things, such as this blog, fantasy baseball, and my job search for next year.

Speaking of the job search, it must be spring, because I’m starting to get the next-job-itch once again. And just as in the past two years, I have set myself up with several attractive options already, of course finding a wide variety of experiences that are difficult to compare, with application timelines spread out over several months.

The earliest application deadline may have already passed, though I’m waiting to hear back from the school. The Cloud Forest School in Monteverde, Costa Rica, is seeking educators for a two-year (minimum) commitment, educating students in the mountainous rain forests of that beautiful country. It’s an experiential education for the students, and they try to intergrate environmental education and awareness into all aspects of the learning experience, but of course they seek bilingual teachers (umm…como estas?….donde esta el cuarto de bano?), and I’m not sure if my environmental education graduate certificate qualifies as a teaching certificate. So that may be out of my league.

Deep Creek Middle School

But the next, somewhat similar position, is a science teacher opening in the Bahamas. Two openings, in fact, one each at Deep Creek Middle School and The Island School (high school), on Eleuthera Island, just east of the main island of the Bahamas. Again looking for a multi-year commitment, I believe these schools are looking for something I can more likely provide, although my lack of classroom experience may once again prove difficult to overcome, depending on what exactly they desire from their incoming teachers. But these two schools are experiential as well, spending lots of time outside (kayaking, SCUBA diving, sailing….) and working to educate the next generation of The Bahamas’ leaders. This one has an application deadline at the end of this month, so I should just be able to get that in soon enough.

And while I’m waiting to hear from them, I can decide about my other four or five (so far) interests. I have been considering the Peace Corps for many years now, and for the first time I feel I’ve finally matured enough that I would be prepared for the experience. So I began an application for the Peace Corps, pausing when they gave me the option to include my PC experience as part of a larger graduate study. Not knowing my exact field of interest though, I may be better off just working for the PC and evaluating my interests later. The typical 6-9 month application process means I may still want to find some temporary work between Shangri La and Peace Corps.

I am also thinking about the JET Program, which is essentially a teaching exchange program, bringing teachers to Japan to instruct students in English. I have several friends who have done this (in fact, my parents were part of a similar, church-run program for the first three years after they graduated), and I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews of the program and the entire experience. Lisa Ruas is pushing pretty heavily for me to pursue this one I would love to spend time in Japan, and this would give me some amazing classroom experience, not to mention a real opportunity to study a totally different language in a very new culture. But the application deadline is November, with official acceptance and departure the next summer, so I’d be waiting around for quite a while, just to find out if they wanted me.

Then there’s the Rose Ensemble, an incredible professional group of 13-15 singers, who focus on ancient sacred music in a host of languages spanning the globe. I first wanted to join this choir in 2002 when they came to perform for Lutheran Summer Music, and the two concerts I’ve attended since then have only made me more impressed with the group. I had the honor of singing with them last summer for an all-too brief audition, and they gave me two things to fix before trying again. I believe I’ve made enough progress to justify another audition (they still need another tenor), and Jordan has asked me to schedule a time when I can make it to Minneapolis to sing with them again. I’ve certainly realized this year just how important music is in my life, and having the opportunity to spend 25+ hours a week singing with professional musicians….well, let’s just say I didn’t expect to have a chance like this when I passed on the music degree at St. Olaf. This would also give me Minnesota residency after a year, which could be a big perk, since one of my other interests is…..

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Graduate school in Madison, WI. The University of WI has an Environmental Studies school among the best in the country, with such notable connections as Aldo Leopold (author of Sand County Almanac) and John Muir (founder of the Sierra Club). Madison offers graduate degrees in “Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development,” as well as “Environment and Resources,” two highly interdisciplinary programs that appeal to all my academic interests and seem a rather excellent fit for me. Unfortunately, I have not taken the GRE and am too late to apply for this coming school year, so this would be yet another option that wouldn’t begin immediately after I left Southeast Texas.

Catalina Island - Toyon Bay

Of course, since three options give me a bit of a hiatus after Shangri La, that could be the perfect opportunity for me to explore Guided Discoveries, an environmental education facility (or set of facilities) on Catalina Island, home to one of the greatest periods of ten days I’ve ever experienced. Having spend a week and-a-half on that island in the summer of 2005, I’ve been longing to find a way to return to that little paradise off the coast of Los Angeles, and an environmental education position that hires workers in increments of three months may be just what I’m looking for to fulfill that desire, as well as to fill some time and earn more money between Shangri La and whatever comes next. It’s not exactly a step forward, career-wise, after Wolf Ridge and Shangri La, but sometimes it’s okay to step sideways for an opportunity like this one.

Perhaps you can see why I always have such difficulty making big decisions (or little decisions, or medium-sized ones). I’ve already identified so many attractive options for my next adventure (I didn’t even include the Master’s Degree with Erasmus Mundus in Europe!), that it becomes quite difficult to think about them all and decide which one I really want to pursue. Especially when the applications are spread out over a six-to-nine-month period. I suppose many people would do anything to have such a range of possibilities, but sometimes I do wonder if life would be simpler, were I one of those individuals who knew exactly what he wanted and was already on a linear path to get there.

But would I find life interesting enough that way?

 

neglect, detachment, and return to paradise

Once again, it’s been about five years since I last came on this site to post. I apologize. Very likely, by now only one or two people visit here to try keeping up with me, so perhaps an e-mail will be in order in the not-too-distant future, just to remind people I’m still alive. I am finally beginning to discover why it’s been so difficult to keep updates coming at the same pace I did last year while I was up in the North Woods.

For one, I’m much less inspired by this job and this “wilderness” than I was while at Wolf Ridge. This doesn’t necessarily say much about this location, because Wolf Ridge was practically perfect in every way, from what I can remember. It seemed like every day I had an experience I wished to share with the world, so of course, I made time to write those notes. Of course, I also had more time, because even with 20 hours of teaching each week, I wasn’t putting in the 40 regular hours I’m stuck with down here in Texas. So I definitely was more available to write those notes. I also had a window overlooking a forested expanse, and with the sun setting out of my window, inspiration came easily. Sitting in a living room or bedroom (or a coffeehouse, like this evening), it’s a bit more difficult to find the words to describe the events that occurred in Shangri La, a world totally separate from the rest of Southeast Texas.

And most recently, I’ve suffered an internet outage, which I suppose has been good for me, but it means I need to come up with a new way to get online outside of work hours. Suffice to say internet no longer exists in the house, and my landlady’s just buying a wireless card to take with her on her trips, so I choose whether to pay for cable internet (convenient, and perhaps $40/month), mooch off my friends (less convenient for all involved, but free), or just take an extended hiatus from my addiction to the world-wide web (initially inconvenient, but soothing in time, and very free). Perhaps some freedom from my insatiable urge to hook up a laptop IV to my arm could be nice. At the very least, I’m learning to rest my eyes from their constant 2.5-foot stare, and they’re thanking me for it. As for what’s going on down here that is worthy of mention….

The Community Trash-Off was a rousing success, I’m proud to say. After all those months of driving around and making phone calls for prize donations, and figuring out one bit of logistics after another, everything came together on Saturday, February 7th, and we managed to assemble 450 community volunteers, some from as far away as 100 miles! And not only did we unite that large coterie of accented southerners, and provide t-shirts for all of them, but that crew filled two 80-square yard dumpsters to overflowing, picking up as much as 20 tons of trash! It was a pretty exciting day. Of cousre, that was just a dent in what had accumulated over the previous year, especially with the craziness from Hurricane Ike, but it was a very good dent, and we were quite proud of ourselves. So at the very least, it was a great experience, organizing all that, and it’s a good feather in my cap.

Shangri La is finally about to open again! We moved back into our offices last week…kind of. Our office is connected to the nature center lab, and while our offices have no furniture, we do have folding tables set up in the lab for the time being, which allows us to stretch a bit before we get crammed back into an office built for two….with four of us. But everything is really coming together, and next Saturday guests will finally, for the first time in six months, be able to wander through the gardens and take in the beauty that so inspired William Henry Stark 80 years ago when he first opened Shangri La to the public. The gardens have been improved, the buildings restored, the salt washed away or soaked into the soil, and the employees driven crazy by six months of perceived superfluity. But finally we have a purpose again (well, apart from brainwashing little kids with cute skits and catchy songs about alligators, birds and water)!

And that purpose has brought me out of the “wilderness” of a makeshift downtown office with sickly yellow lights and no windows, back to the “promised land” of Shangri La, replete with floor-to-ceiling windows in my office, trees surrounding me as soon as I enter the gate, swamp creatures traipsing about the premises, and adorable anoles scurrying away if you get too close. Yes, I’m finally back where I was supposed to be this whole time, and it has definitely improved my perceived situation. For the first time since before the hurricanes, I can walk to work, and when I get there I think, “I actually get paid to spend my day here.” Everybody should have that feeling, if only for a short time each day. Perhaps soon I’ll post pictures (how often do I say that?), if I get a decent internet connection again in the next couple weeks. But for now, I should get back home and get some sleep, before my next episode of “Phil pretends to be Methodist so he can stay vocally active at least once every couple weeks.” Ooh, what fun.

Happy March!

 

New Perspective?

Today was a good day.

I’ve had a number of good days since getting down here to Texas. If you’ve talked to me a lot, you might have gotten the impression that, due to my disappointment with the job, and perhaps because of all the strange new cultural things I have to adjust to, I might be having an absolutely miserable year; but that’s far from being the case. But still, today was an especially good day.

This was also a very good day

First of all, I finally got tired of being disappointed with the duties I’ve been asked to perform over the past couple months. It’s bad enough that we’re teaching the same class day in and day out (three different lessons in four months!), but then when I’m not even allowed to work on the projects I thought I would, it just adds to the frustration. So this afternoon, acting on a decision from yesterday, I arranged with Noelle to meet after the completion of the Trash-Off (I’ll finally be able to work on something else when it’s done!). At that time, we’ll discuss my list of projects/expectations, and plot a course for the next few months leading up to the summer. Partially this is a chance for me to explain that all of the things I thought I’d be working on this year (recycling, a lecture series, learning the local flora and fauna) have taken a backseat to new assignments that weren’t in the contract that Noelle and I signed in the first couple weeks. But I also understand that Hurricane Ike and some other factors have thrown a wrench in things, so mostly this is just a chance for me to finally hammer out what I’m supposed to be doing, and to have some input on how I’m budgeting my time for the next few months.

Secondly, I realized that perhaps environmental education isn’t such a bad field for me. Partially because of the fallout from Hurricane Ike (the three lessons in four months gets a bit monotonous), I’ve been very pessimistic about the field in which I’ve placed myself, and wondering whether I should drastically change course as soon as possible. Well today we finally did something different. Today was the first day of our presentations at JASON, a week of workshops for 4th-6th graders in Beaumont, held at the university there, where schools come for a few hours at a time, participating in sessions with as many as ten different local environmentally-related organizations (TX Commission on Environmental Quality, Nat’l Geographic, Big Thicket, Shangri La, and more). The program began after Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic with his submersible JASON, and has become a fantastic way for students to interact with professional scientists in an interactive, educational atmosphere.

Shangri La will be at this event for six total days, but I just get today and next Monday. And today was one of the best days of teaching I’ve had since being at Wolf Ridge last year. Our topic is rather inconsequential (shark adaptations in the Texas Flower Gardens), but what is important is that I actually really enjoyed the teaching today. Maybe it was the fact that we were doing a nifty experiment with the groups, or that we only had each group for about ten minutes so it was condensed fun, or perhaps that this models outreach education, which can be quite exciting sometimes. But for the first time since the TAEE conference, I’m seriously thinking again about completing that M.Ed at UMD starting this fall. Maybe I could even accomplish all of my goals, by following up that Master’s Degree with a Ph.D in Environment and Resources at UW-Madison (dual degree with law school?). And then the Peace Corps! Oh, if only my 20s lasted for an additional ten years.

teaching the students how to race their clay sharks

Ironically enough, the possibility of going back to MN for that M.Ed was going to be an excuse to leave Shangri La early (so I could do summer work in the Superior National Forest and earn more money in those three months), but today also made me think that perhaps I don’t need to leave Orange so soon. Not only did I have my first enjoyable day of teaching in quite some time, but we drove by an attractive little wetlands area to which I plan to return for amateur photography tomorrow, I talked seriously with some people about the possibility of outdoor recreation this spring and summer (which has been seriously lacking so far down here), and finally the re-opening of Shangri La seems almost palpable. I really do think that once we’ve re-entered Shangri La, many of my concerns will disappear, as the part-time teachers will take some of my teaching load, allowing me to pursue a greater variety of responsibilities, and I will once again have a windowed office in a swamp, instead of a musty box in the middle of downtown (which wouldn’t be so bad if we at least had one window that could see some of the attractive architecture).

Kaleb wrestling Russo the goat

So I’m not really sure what the future holds for me here, but for the first time since coming back from Christmas break (and who knows how long before that), I’m not too unhappy to be down here. That’s a big deal.

I needed today to happen.