Crazy with the craziness
I am all better! No more type A influenza for me! I beat that sucker down >:D And despite the fact that one of my schools decided to have me eat lunch every day for a week straight with the first years who were almost ALL infected with type B influenza (one class had 16 out of 38 kids absent and of course I'm eating off the absent flu kids' desk, talking to the absent flu kids' friends who are probably also infected, breathing the absent flu kids' air...) I have managed to stay flu free :D Go go immune system!
I do, however, have another head cold. D:
But this has nothing at all to do with why I wanted to post, lol. The real reason is...
I posted about it before, but I started surfing sometime around last June. My friend Dani and I both bought boards with the stipulation that if we were going to spend all that money, we'd better use them as often as possible, no matter the weather, no matter the season. So, crazy kids that we are, we've been going every weekend (with a few flu-y exceptions) on the three hour drive to down to the other side of our island to hit up the beaches. There are 4 beaches we go to regularly. Irino, Hirano, Futami and Ohki. Ohki, despite being the farthest away, is my favorite. It's got the nicest waves, the clearest blue water, and when it's warm and sunny out, it feels and looks quite a bit like Hawaii (minus the palm trees). As it's winter, It has not been warm and sunny out for a while. >.>
Ohki on a waveless day in winter. The water turns bright turquoise sometimes in summer.
Sun rising over Ohki
The freezing cold hasn't stopped Dani and I from waking up at 4 am every Sunday, driving three hours, squirming into our wetsuits, wiggling our feet into our booties and jumping in anyways. I'm really glad we kept going. It's not like I've gotten much better at surfing or anything. I can stand, but turning is still a complicated process that is more likely to result in a bruise than success, and the other surfers in the water still have to keep an eye on me to avoid becoming mid-wave roadkill. On the other hand, I have had several memorable experiences I doubt I could have gotten any other way. A few examples can be found below. Some pictures included for reference. Let me just say, the pictures often don't even come close to reality.
BRAIN FREEZE FROM AN EXTERNAL SOURCE.
Ok, there's no picture of this, but you've all had ice cream headaches, right? Not the most pleasant experience. Now imagine this. Instead of shoving the ice cream in your mouth, you shove your whole head into the ice cream. That is exactly what swimming in Japan in midwinter feels like, even when you're wearing a wetsuit. Fun for all.
SNOW SURFING.
Exactly what it sounds like. It's quite an interesting experience to sit on your board in the middle of the ocean and have snowflakes falling on your head. Mind, we did this several times BEFORE we were smart enough to buy booties to keep our feet warm. Did you know your extremities turn completely white when they get too cold? Purple is a better color. It means the blood is coming back. Win.
Dani's white toes. So glad we got booties.
JAPANESE PILGRIM PAPARAZZI
Alright, so my island has these 88 temples that pilgrims like to walk around. The pilgrimage takes 2 months by foot, or you can be a lame fake pilgrim and take a bus in between, which takes 1-2 weeks. You can often see pilgrims walking on the side of the road. Usually they wear funny little round hats and white clothes. They have backpacks and walking sticks. They're cute. They're cuddly. Until you get mobbed by 30 of them with GIANT cameras as you're trying to change out of your wetsuit and put away your board. To be fair, they apparently weren't temple pilgrims. They were photograph pilgrims, walking the wide world of Shikoku in search of photo opportunities, which sadly meant they didn't even have the funny hats.
I am NOT photogenic. I never have been. But I've also never been the type to run away from people with cameras. I'll make funny faces, flail around, chase pigeons, whatever. Many of my crazy moments have been caught on film, and I usually don't complain too loudly. STILL, THERE HAVE TO BE LIMITS. In mid-November, freezing my ass off, hair looking more like seaweed than anything else, covered in goose-bumps and caught halfway out of my wetsuit is NOT the time I want my picture taken. And it's certainly not the time I want 5 BILLION PICTURES TAKEN. So when said little pilgrims started snapping away, I hid behind a car and growled loudly at anyone who came too close. They still got a few shots though. XP
Dani's sense of self preservation didn't kick in quick enough, and they literally took thousands of pictures of her, seaweed hair and all, posing in different places, holding her board, sitting on the ground, standing in front of the ocean, standing in front of our tiny car, etc. My fave was one where they got her to stand behind a pair of guy's underwear hanging on one of the nearby cars XD SEXY. Unfortunately I don't have any of her pictures. But I was brave enough at the end to grab my camera and take a photo of some of the photographers. As you can tell, I wasn't quick enough diving back behind the car, and one of them got another picture of me, lol. Seriously, these people didn't take their fingers off the shutter buttons. They must have gone through several memory cards each. INSANE. But a nice guy sent some of the pictures he took back to Dani which was very friendly of him.
The Pilgrim Paparazzi
TOILET OF DOOM
There's nothing to wake you up on a cold morning like hanging your naked bum in the frigid air over a hole in the ground to go pee. (Japan for the win!) Even better, hanging your naked bum over a hole in the ground, peeing, and then discovering exactly what was INCHES FROM YOUR FLESHY BEHIND as you were taking care of business.
My little spider friend
And another angle
I like spiders. I really do. My preschool teacher had a tarantula that we used to pet. I had no problems in biology when Mr. Torretto had us hold the tarantula. I even usually use the cup method instead of the toilet paper method on the spiders that make it into my room. BUT I MEAN SERIOUSLY. When I caught sight of this one, I screamed and flew at the door and couldn't get myself out of the bathroom stall cuz I was shoving out when I was supposed to pull :| Dani kept asking what was wrong and it took me almost a minute (still stuck in the bathroom) to finally respond "I JUST PEED ON A FUCKING SPIDER!"
The scale may be a little hard to judge, but that spider has about a 5 inch leg span. It's definitely not the biggest of its kind I've ever seen, but it IS the biggest that's been that close to my unprotected ass. Plus, what the hell is it doing being alive in midwinter? That is so not acceptable. And these suckers are FAST. If you want to watch one run, click HERE. They're actually not dangerous, They eat cockroaches and other gross bugs, and they're afraid of people, so they usually run away from you. But I definitely wasn't thinking about that at the time.
After physically clawing my way free of the bathroom, I calmed down a little, and Dani had the presence of mind to suggest getting the camera out of the car. Apparently in shock after seeing my beautiful behind, the spider obligingly stayed put long enough for me to snap a picture, so there is photographic evidence. Unfortunately for little spider-kun, I had to flush the toilet, and he got sucked down too. All in all, the spider definitely got the shorter end of the stick. I can't imagine my huge white butt was a great last memory of this world. D:
And finally, what prompted this post to begin with:
BLOODY WAVES:
Yesterday was Sunday, so, as per usual, I hauled myself out of bed way before the crack of dawn, chucked my stuff in Dani's car, tied our surfboards to the top and headed south towards Kochi. We decided to try for Ohki since the wave reports had been good but when we got there, it was the weirdest thing. A huge patch of the ocean, including the shore line, was literally blood red. We stared at it from the parking area wondering if there'd been some kind of shark attack or disembowelment or something, but there were other people in the water, and we'd just driven three hours, so we walked down too look.
It was seriously like someone had stood on shore and dumped a giant pouch of cherry Kool Aid straight into the ocean. About a hundred meters out, the water was a normal blue, but in a big pool around the shoreline, there was this huge red stain. Turns out it was a bunch of tiny red plant things floating around in a huge swarm. There were so many of them that the water was kind of weirdly thick, and once we got in, I couldn't see my hand if I put it two inches under the surface. CRAZY. The waves were deep red too, and it looked like a wall of blood coming at you. Surfing on it was something else.
By the time I got my camera out, we were both pretty exhausted, so there aren't any actually good surfing pictures, but look at the colors … (@_@) And this isn't nearly as bright as it was in real life.
Dani in front of a wave
Dani and another wave, half red, half blue
Me failing to stand up on a red wave
Plus, once we got out of the water, we kept discovering tiny red things everywhere. Inside our wetsuits, in our hair, between our toes, up our noses…I kept coughing for a while cuz it felt like some was stuck in my throat. No rashes yet, but if flowers start blooming out of my butt, I'm going to be upset.
Dani's now a redhead
Attack of the red plants! Dani's arm may never be the same
They totally invaded our wetsuits D:
It took ages to get it off everything, and I still found some in my hair this morning. But it was totally worth it :D Red Oceans. The world is such a funny place.
Anyways, this has gotten way longer than originally planned. If you've managed to read through it all, I'm thoroughtly impressed. Props to you! :D
Have to get this posted and get ready to watch DBSK on SMAPxSMAP tonight! I hated boy bands in America, and now I'm excited about watching two of them sing together. Japan has definitely changed me. Or the plants have taken root in my brain. (>.<)
Love you and miss you all!
I do, however, have another head cold. D:
But this has nothing at all to do with why I wanted to post, lol. The real reason is...
I posted about it before, but I started surfing sometime around last June. My friend Dani and I both bought boards with the stipulation that if we were going to spend all that money, we'd better use them as often as possible, no matter the weather, no matter the season. So, crazy kids that we are, we've been going every weekend (with a few flu-y exceptions) on the three hour drive to down to the other side of our island to hit up the beaches. There are 4 beaches we go to regularly. Irino, Hirano, Futami and Ohki. Ohki, despite being the farthest away, is my favorite. It's got the nicest waves, the clearest blue water, and when it's warm and sunny out, it feels and looks quite a bit like Hawaii (minus the palm trees). As it's winter, It has not been warm and sunny out for a while. >.>
Ohki on a waveless day in winter. The water turns bright turquoise sometimes in summer.
Sun rising over Ohki
The freezing cold hasn't stopped Dani and I from waking up at 4 am every Sunday, driving three hours, squirming into our wetsuits, wiggling our feet into our booties and jumping in anyways. I'm really glad we kept going. It's not like I've gotten much better at surfing or anything. I can stand, but turning is still a complicated process that is more likely to result in a bruise than success, and the other surfers in the water still have to keep an eye on me to avoid becoming mid-wave roadkill. On the other hand, I have had several memorable experiences I doubt I could have gotten any other way. A few examples can be found below. Some pictures included for reference. Let me just say, the pictures often don't even come close to reality.
BRAIN FREEZE FROM AN EXTERNAL SOURCE.
Ok, there's no picture of this, but you've all had ice cream headaches, right? Not the most pleasant experience. Now imagine this. Instead of shoving the ice cream in your mouth, you shove your whole head into the ice cream. That is exactly what swimming in Japan in midwinter feels like, even when you're wearing a wetsuit. Fun for all.
SNOW SURFING.
Exactly what it sounds like. It's quite an interesting experience to sit on your board in the middle of the ocean and have snowflakes falling on your head. Mind, we did this several times BEFORE we were smart enough to buy booties to keep our feet warm. Did you know your extremities turn completely white when they get too cold? Purple is a better color. It means the blood is coming back. Win.
Dani's white toes. So glad we got booties.
JAPANESE PILGRIM PAPARAZZI
Alright, so my island has these 88 temples that pilgrims like to walk around. The pilgrimage takes 2 months by foot, or you can be a lame fake pilgrim and take a bus in between, which takes 1-2 weeks. You can often see pilgrims walking on the side of the road. Usually they wear funny little round hats and white clothes. They have backpacks and walking sticks. They're cute. They're cuddly. Until you get mobbed by 30 of them with GIANT cameras as you're trying to change out of your wetsuit and put away your board. To be fair, they apparently weren't temple pilgrims. They were photograph pilgrims, walking the wide world of Shikoku in search of photo opportunities, which sadly meant they didn't even have the funny hats.
I am NOT photogenic. I never have been. But I've also never been the type to run away from people with cameras. I'll make funny faces, flail around, chase pigeons, whatever. Many of my crazy moments have been caught on film, and I usually don't complain too loudly. STILL, THERE HAVE TO BE LIMITS. In mid-November, freezing my ass off, hair looking more like seaweed than anything else, covered in goose-bumps and caught halfway out of my wetsuit is NOT the time I want my picture taken. And it's certainly not the time I want 5 BILLION PICTURES TAKEN. So when said little pilgrims started snapping away, I hid behind a car and growled loudly at anyone who came too close. They still got a few shots though. XP
Dani's sense of self preservation didn't kick in quick enough, and they literally took thousands of pictures of her, seaweed hair and all, posing in different places, holding her board, sitting on the ground, standing in front of the ocean, standing in front of our tiny car, etc. My fave was one where they got her to stand behind a pair of guy's underwear hanging on one of the nearby cars XD SEXY. Unfortunately I don't have any of her pictures. But I was brave enough at the end to grab my camera and take a photo of some of the photographers. As you can tell, I wasn't quick enough diving back behind the car, and one of them got another picture of me, lol. Seriously, these people didn't take their fingers off the shutter buttons. They must have gone through several memory cards each. INSANE. But a nice guy sent some of the pictures he took back to Dani which was very friendly of him.
The Pilgrim Paparazzi
TOILET OF DOOM
There's nothing to wake you up on a cold morning like hanging your naked bum in the frigid air over a hole in the ground to go pee. (Japan for the win!) Even better, hanging your naked bum over a hole in the ground, peeing, and then discovering exactly what was INCHES FROM YOUR FLESHY BEHIND as you were taking care of business.
My little spider friend
And another angle
I like spiders. I really do. My preschool teacher had a tarantula that we used to pet. I had no problems in biology when Mr. Torretto had us hold the tarantula. I even usually use the cup method instead of the toilet paper method on the spiders that make it into my room. BUT I MEAN SERIOUSLY. When I caught sight of this one, I screamed and flew at the door and couldn't get myself out of the bathroom stall cuz I was shoving out when I was supposed to pull :| Dani kept asking what was wrong and it took me almost a minute (still stuck in the bathroom) to finally respond "I JUST PEED ON A FUCKING SPIDER!"
The scale may be a little hard to judge, but that spider has about a 5 inch leg span. It's definitely not the biggest of its kind I've ever seen, but it IS the biggest that's been that close to my unprotected ass. Plus, what the hell is it doing being alive in midwinter? That is so not acceptable. And these suckers are FAST. If you want to watch one run, click HERE. They're actually not dangerous, They eat cockroaches and other gross bugs, and they're afraid of people, so they usually run away from you. But I definitely wasn't thinking about that at the time.
After physically clawing my way free of the bathroom, I calmed down a little, and Dani had the presence of mind to suggest getting the camera out of the car. Apparently in shock after seeing my beautiful behind, the spider obligingly stayed put long enough for me to snap a picture, so there is photographic evidence. Unfortunately for little spider-kun, I had to flush the toilet, and he got sucked down too. All in all, the spider definitely got the shorter end of the stick. I can't imagine my huge white butt was a great last memory of this world. D:
And finally, what prompted this post to begin with:
BLOODY WAVES:
Yesterday was Sunday, so, as per usual, I hauled myself out of bed way before the crack of dawn, chucked my stuff in Dani's car, tied our surfboards to the top and headed south towards Kochi. We decided to try for Ohki since the wave reports had been good but when we got there, it was the weirdest thing. A huge patch of the ocean, including the shore line, was literally blood red. We stared at it from the parking area wondering if there'd been some kind of shark attack or disembowelment or something, but there were other people in the water, and we'd just driven three hours, so we walked down too look.
It was seriously like someone had stood on shore and dumped a giant pouch of cherry Kool Aid straight into the ocean. About a hundred meters out, the water was a normal blue, but in a big pool around the shoreline, there was this huge red stain. Turns out it was a bunch of tiny red plant things floating around in a huge swarm. There were so many of them that the water was kind of weirdly thick, and once we got in, I couldn't see my hand if I put it two inches under the surface. CRAZY. The waves were deep red too, and it looked like a wall of blood coming at you. Surfing on it was something else.
By the time I got my camera out, we were both pretty exhausted, so there aren't any actually good surfing pictures, but look at the colors … (@_@) And this isn't nearly as bright as it was in real life.
Dani in front of a wave
Dani and another wave, half red, half blue
Me failing to stand up on a red wave
Plus, once we got out of the water, we kept discovering tiny red things everywhere. Inside our wetsuits, in our hair, between our toes, up our noses…I kept coughing for a while cuz it felt like some was stuck in my throat. No rashes yet, but if flowers start blooming out of my butt, I'm going to be upset.
Dani's now a redhead
Attack of the red plants! Dani's arm may never be the same
They totally invaded our wetsuits D:
It took ages to get it off everything, and I still found some in my hair this morning. But it was totally worth it :D Red Oceans. The world is such a funny place.
Anyways, this has gotten way longer than originally planned. If you've managed to read through it all, I'm thoroughtly impressed. Props to you! :D
Have to get this posted and get ready to watch DBSK on SMAPxSMAP tonight! I hated boy bands in America, and now I'm excited about watching two of them sing together. Japan has definitely changed me. Or the plants have taken root in my brain. (>.<)
Love you and miss you all!