Wedding(s)!

Well, after LOTS of planning, hotel booking, plane coordinating and a couple of slightly unhinged emails to Chiang Mai, Ryan and I offically tied the knot (litteraly) on March 27, 2007. It was a fantastic day, mostly due to the increadible coordination skills of JIT, a local gal who put together a formal, and authentic, Buddhist wedding for Ryan and I.

For our 22 guests, the cat's out of the bag, but I'll share a secret with the rest of you. Ryan and I have been legally married since August 25, 2006. Basically, it happened out of laziness. It took less paperwork to get married at City Hall before we left Japan than to go through all the red tape (miles and miles of it) and get Ryan a working Visa in Japan. And, since Japan doesn't awk. common law relationships, we had to get married on paper to get him here on a dependant visa. Thank you Cam and Ann for standing up for us on very short notice, and for seeing the sillyness of it all! :)

But, paperwork aside, March 27 was our REAL wedding day, and it was the only time we actually said 'real' vows (that is, vows that WERE NOT to the effect of "we are not related, nor are we practicing polygamists"), and had our families with us!

We were in Thailand for 18 days this time--our longest trip yet--and I just like it better and better each time. It had its ups and downs (I guess you can't go somewhere three times without some sort of mishap, keep reading!), but it's really such a fab country.

Everyone is so wonderful, and we were treated extra speciall all along the way becuase of the wedding. On our flight there we recieved a card from the entire cabin crew of Thai Airways, along with a goodie bag including a bouquet of orchids, a bottle of champagne, and the first class goodies!

We started the vacation with 9 days on Koh Samui, a lovely beach island south of Bang Kok. I'd been there five years ago, and it's really changed a lot. More and more development. You always know it's time to find a new "paradise" when starbucks and premium outlets start popping up!

That said, it was still a great trip. The Paradise Samui Chaweng was nice, we got upgraded to a large bungalow, again because of the wedding. We didn't do a whole lot but relax during this time. Managed an elephant ride and monkey show (it's almost mandatory to do something this cheesy while there....we decided to skip the gaters this time!), some Thai kick boxing, and a fantastic boating trip to the national marine park for some snorkling and hiking up to a beautiful salt water lagoon (actually, it wasn't quite hiking, but rather scalling a series of ladders masked as "stairs". I made Ryan go before or after me, depending on the direction. At least if I fell, I'd bounce off of him!). Ryan had a particularly good time meeting the Thai "Lady Boys", who gave him...a.......special hug....while taking their photos together! Almost the entire wedding group met us on Samui too, which was fantastic. Got to spend a lot of quality time with both family and friends.

After Samui, we bopped off to Bangkok for a night to meet Ryan's mom, dad, sister, and her husband. We had dinner at the famed Mandarian Oriental Hotel (where Joseph Conrad--of Heart of Darkness fame--used to stay back in the late 19th century. It was pretty chic...to put it mildly. Some day, if we win the lottery, we'll stay there......superior rooms are ONLY $350 a night, afterall.

After our quick stay in Bangkok, it was off to Chiang Mai for the main event. We'd been a little worried before arrival, as we'd been told over and over again on Samui that Chiang Mai was "on fire" and that the air quality was terrible. Apparently, they haven't had rain since November! But, after only a slightly frantic email to Jit, we found out that no, Chiang Mai wasn't on fire, it was Burma, but the smoke was affecting the city. But, by the time we got there, things were much clearer, and all was calm!

The pace of our holiday picked up this time, as we had some last minute fittings and meetings with planner extraordinare, Jit, and also had fittings for our Vancouver wedding gear (who gets a white raw silk wedding dress for $250? I do! I do!). Ryan and I had been to Chiang Mai before, but I think we really fell in love with it this time. We stayed at the Tamarind Village hotel, which was so increadible. It was a modern minimalist, mixed with northern Thai traditional boutique hotel. The service was unbelievable, and after a hot day touring ancient Wats and shopping up a storm (Ryan and I had to buy not one, not two, but THREE extra bags thanks to our "cheap cheap same same" excesses) it was the perfect oasis to relax. And again, Ryan and I were upgraded. We think we're going to be "on our honeymoon" for the next few years!

The wedding day started EARLY. Ryan and I were up at 4:15 for Jit to pick us up at 5am for our "merit making" morning. Using her home as our base, we went to the market to buy 9 meals, 9 specially arranged lotus flowers, and 9 bundles of insence to give to monks as they went from house to house to collect alms before dawn. The number 9 means going on and on forever in Thai, which is why we donated to 9 monks.

Ryan and I had to arrange all the food and flowers ourselves, and stand outside Jit's door as the monks came past. First, we bowed to the monks, then together (I, as a woman, can't give to the monk myself--Theravada Buddhism is rather strict regarding women, no touching the monks) we would give a baggie of curry, a baggie of rice, some sweets, then the flower and incence. Next, we'd get on the ground and bow, while each monk blessed us and wished us a long life together. We did this 9 times until around 6:30 am, when all the monks had to get back to the temples. Apparently, the monks only eat once a day--between 11 and 12--and the food they collect in the morning is shared among all of them at that time. We were blessed by monks young and old, and one even had a very well behaved fluffy dog with him!

Then we had a quick bit of mango and sticky rice (along with a lot of coffee!) and then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the temple. The temple was probably the coolest thing we've ever done. We had a 9 monk panel bless us for about one hour. The head monk (the Abbott's assistant) was a friendly old guy who chatted with us about the temple (the central buddha image was brought from Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai about 500 years ago), asked us to come back for the Thai new year (in about two weeks from now!), told Ryan grooms should develop their patience becuase brides are often "firey" in nature (what? ME firey? :P), and had his cell phone go off at the beginning of the blessing/chant. It was awsome. I think he even got a bit of texting in before he turned it off. By the end of the blessing, Ryan and I had our wrists tied up with sacred string that was attached to the central Buddha, we had had our foreheads dotted with three dots of wax, our heads sprinkeled with holy water, and our photo taken many, many, many times.

Then, outside the temple we released a basket of birds, and at the Chiang Mai moat, we released fish and turtles.

Afterwards, we hit the hotel again for a nap, before we went to the most beautiful place in the world for the "real" wedding ceremony. Jit has built a traditional teak house built out near Doi Saket, AKA the middle of nowhere. We drove for about 45 minutes on a very very narrow road, passing dry dirt country, until suddenly we arrived at a lush, green, increadible acerage where the wedding was to take place. It was wonderful.

It was there we had the knot-tying ceremony where each of our guests tied a knot around our left wrists, and wished us the best for the future. It was a great way for Ryan and I to make our committement to eachother, and again, was all in traditional Thai style. We also had to view the "nuptial" bedroom with our parents, whom Jit asked if they'd like to give us any "bedroom advice" for our wedding night. Ryan immediatly put his head in his hands, and started rocking back and forth. Ryan's Dad then pointed out that people had been doing it for years without any help, so we were on our own. Thank you Mr. Hong! The rest of the night was eating, watching Thai dancing, lighting fire lanterns, and heading home.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and both Ryan and I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Enjoy the photos!

Let's party like it's 1999.....

And we really did. I can't remember the last time I was out that late! :)

After a long couple of days at a conference, we decided to whoop it up at one of the local "gaijin bars".

It was the longest period of time I've spent in a bar in years--the highlight of the evening was Ryan and I winning a POCKY eating contest, and getting special access to the VIP (and in Japan you say it as a word, not as individual letters!) room. It was the "valentine" night at the bar, so they gave us a big bottle of MOET and a couple of bouquets of flowers.

I gave one of the bouquets to Alisha who put it down on a table when she went to dance. Unbeknownst to her, some crazy Russian guy had picked them up and told his equally crazy Japanese girlfriend that he had bought them for her. They then put them on the table, and when Alisha came back from the dancefloor she picked them up and took them with her into the VIP room.

Suddenly the room was full of a lot of Japanese and Russian swearing, and Alisha and the girl were getting into a tug of war over the bloody flowers. I, of course, thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen (I think the 1/2 bottle of MOET helped me along there).

With a little help from our new best friend the bartender we sent the coo-coo couple on their way, and finally dragged oursevles out at 4am.

We then hit up a Yoshinoya (cheap, mystery style meat dishes) and tried to get into a cab home, although the Australian we were with (he had been one of the speakers at the confrence) tried to convince us he needed to hit a Karaoke bar before his flight at 8:30 AM.

It was quite the night. I think I'm set for a while now!

na na na na na na....

it's 17 degress C and sunny today.

Na na na na boo boo......

Happy 29th Ryan!

Well, Ryan's getting on in years (!) so we decided to skip the typical party this year and opted for a low-key event to celebrate his last year as a 20-something.

So, we went to COSTO, ordered a whole bunch of gross US-style mega food, and tucked into a dinner of "bake" (whatever that is), a combo pizza, and cake courtsey of moi. Probabaly the first time Costco has celebrated a birthday ever. Don't think their caffeteria is usually such a hot spot!

YOU CAN PUSAN...

Alright, the title didn't make much sence, but it's late... Right after Christmas Dave (down from Waseda Uni in Tokyo), Ry and I hopped on the ferry from Fukuoka to Pusan. Not a bad ride. For 150 bucks (or thereabouts) we got a mat on the floor (better than it sounds) and a kick ass sento (Japanese public bath, boiling hot water just to sit and chill in, so relaxing!) and arrived in Korea 12 hours later. Pusan was as it always is--lots of counterfit CDs and purses, (I swear, I was doing field work!), taxi drivers that drive at break kneck speeds (especially when they're pissed off at you for hopping in for only a 10 minute drive), and tons of people. It was also FREAKING cold. Haven't been that cold since Niigata, and we were totally unprepared for it. Thankfully our porno hotel (I'm not joking, it really was a porn hotel) was nice and toasty warm! Overall, you can't beat Korea. More ways to eat a cow than anywhere, porn hotels that cost mere dollars if you can stand looking at yourself from all angles in the many, many mirrors, and GREAT shopping. Even Ryan had fun in the markets!

We tried to do some cultural things, but the cold kept us away. It's hard to admire ancient temple architecture and listen to the monk's chanting when the chattering of your teeth and knocking of your knees is drowining it all out! We did manage to hit up Asia's largest hot spring resort (room for 2000!), which was a wonderful way to escape the cold. A gynormous indoor/outdoor spa where you can let it all hang loose with a whole bunch of other naked people for as long as you want. Lavender baths, pepper baths, ginger baths, cold baths, scalding baths, mud saunas, steam rooms, and for the unadventureous, plain old hotsprings.

It was a pretty unique experience standing butt-naked in a queue to purchase a strawberry juice from the snack bar.

I think my favourite part was the waterfall therapy--you get to sit on some rocks under a POUNDING stream of water for 15 minutes, maneuvering so that you hit different muscles. It feels SO good. The only thing was that it was more or less under the control of the granny mafia. It looked so good I watied in line for 20 minutes while all these little Harmonys (granny in Korean) cut in front of me. finally, I got a space, sat down, and closed my eyes. After about 4 blissful minutes I opened my eyes to see a pair of wrinkly knees in front of me. To the left, another. And behind? Yet another. I got too freaked out to sit out my 15 minutes and gave up after 5. Talk about pressure!

We lasted in Korea for about 4 days, and then made our way back to Japan on the ferry again. The trip home was a little more eventful, the boat was a rocking! Ryan and I were sitting in the lounge around 11 pm (they had cut the power to our room and played good night music--nazis!), and witnessed an orchestra of crashes as the caffeteria and shop fell apart. It was pretty wild, I wish I had the camera with me to get photos of Ryan standing at crazy angles.

Arrived back in Fukuoka early morning on the 31st, just in time to have a nap and get set for New Years. Like just about EVERYONE in the city, we hit up a Shinto Shrine to ring in the new year and pray for luck and happiness. It was neat. No count-down, just the amaizing deep rumbling sound of a TAIKO drum beating from deep within the shrine at the stroke of midnight. Then the doors suddenly opened and at least two thousand people streamed in to throw a coin at the alter, clap their hands together, and make a wish. People had been lining up for hours. Of course we got in right away by cutting in the line.

After the alter we decided to have a more decidedly Canadian new year and hit up a decent house club for some dancing. Lasted about 1.5 hours before Ryan and I began to deam of our new fuzzy jammies (no heating in our apartment and the kerosine heater has to be turned off at night lest we die of CO2!), so we headed home, tucked in to bed, and said good bye to 2006.

Now it's 2007, I'm back at school, and the Thailand wedding planning has begun in earnest. We can't believe how many friends are joining us--it's going to be fantastic.

Happy 2007!

CHRISTMAS

So, it was Christmas and I'm totally behind in my updates. I wish I could say I was busy working away on the thesis, but alas, I was comatose infront of about a zillion episodes of the Family Guy. My first Christmas away from My and Ry's fam was a little weird. We did our best to make it "real"--avoiding Kentucky Fried Chicken and Kurisumasu Cake at all cost--but it just wasn't the same. Funny, you'd think that the halal turkey I ordered over the internet and the Chingus (AKA Ghangis) Khan Vodka our friend brought us from Mongolia would have done it! That said, we had a fun Christmas Eve party, and Dave and Ry really enjoyed their transformers. I can now cook a turkey in about anything (I am the tinfoil origami champion) and can sing along with laotion pop music--I guess the holiday wasn't a complete loss!

Tokyo

At the beginning of the month (and after a month of preparation) my classmates and I flew to Tokyo for an international negotiation and arbitration competition at Sophia University. We were judged on everything--the type of souvineers we brought for the oposing team, the quality of our business cards, the song we had to perform for our fictional company, how nice we were during the competition....but not on the quality of our work it seems.

That's all I'll say about that, but at least we got to spend a little time in Toyko. Hit up the Meji Shrine for the zillionth time (have never been there when the leaves are changing before...I think I've hit every season now), did some shopping in harajuku, bought some way to cute but way to expensive shoes in the Seibu department store at Ikebukuro, and did some serious party-ing in kabukicho (Tokyo's red light district).

All in all, it was a good trip, but after all the build up and all the work there, I've been a mess for the past two weeks. Thank goodness the winter holiday starts on December 22 and I have two weeks off to sleep, eat, and write papers :(.

The apato's almost totally decorated for the holidays (I'm trying to pretend that I'm not really in Japan, but it's awfully hard when your tree is decorated with evil nutcrackers), I'll post some photos of our fun soon. Feeling a little homesick these days--threw a hissy fit when they ran out of Turkeys at COSTCO--but I supose I'll get over it. CHEERS!


Meiji Shrine...weddings, carvings, and priestly activity









THE COMPETITION (maybe we would have won if we had worn Mexican Wrestling masks to sing our corporate song....)





HARAJUKU FASHION!