Hey people,
This is more of a catch-up post. It's Thursday afternoon and I'm sitting with a cold drink and a cold fan and a sweat cloth. BUT I think it's really cooling down. I mean, the only part of me sweating is my bum, where it touches the chair. And my hands, where they touch the keyboard. And trust me, that's a big improvement!
Actually, I think it also helps heaps that I went for a run this morning. Crazy, yes, to go for a run in 30 degree heat, but I get SO hot that the rest of the day can't help but feel cool by comparison!!
My runs are really really hard though. Not just because of the heat and not just because I have no fitness atm, but also because the whole time I'm out I am aware of how freakish I am and how stared at I am. Not only am I the tallest woman in the town, I am the only blonde, the only foreign female, the only one in a hot pink singlet (I figure it minimises my chances of getting hit by any of the crazy inaka - country - drivers), the only person with a face that matches their hot pink singlet (it's really really hot, ok!!! I got a toot from a truck driver, but I think it no coincidence that he was behind me and hadn't seen my face lol) and, I believe, the only adult that gets any intentional exercise!! Watching the little old ladies hobbling out to work in the rice paddies I can understand that going for a jog isn't high on their adgenda, but I feel like I should be carrying a sign 'I don't have a rice field so I have to run, ok??'
Oh, I am also freakish because the Japanese women go to any extent to avoid the sun. They wear long-sleeved tops even in this heat, and if they are wearing tshirts, they wear long gloves that meet their tshirt sleeves. Then they wear long pants, a hat, sunscreen and carry a parasol. There are whole stores dedicated just to parasols here. So for a woman to go for a run in the sun wearing shorts and a sleeveless top is an unheard-of (and before you say anything Mum, it was 8:30am, so I didn't get sunburnt!).
Luc, Jeff's Canadian co-worker and the only other non-Japanese in the town, told us only tramps get a tan in Japan. I thought that sounded pretty harsh until, in town, we saw the girls he was talking about. Heavy makeup, sky-high strappy heels, very little clothing and a beautiful tan. I'm not sure how to explain them because, in all honesty, my description doesn't really explain the difference between the trashy Japanese and the stylish Japanese (except for the tan), but the trashy girls here look like NZ hookers. That kind of over-done. Also, these women are so thin its unbelievable. Some of them make me very envious. Many of them freak me out and make me want to get them some KFC.
Ok, that's my wee moan about being the town weirdo. Hopefully if I keep up my new exercise regime (two days so far, lol) they will get used to me and stop staring... In the meantime I'm getting my head round being four times the size of the locals (maybe I exaggerate... five times!). Sometimes they make me feel bad for being so much bigger, but I'm also so much taller it's like comparing a St Bernard and a Chihuahua. So I just don't (much...).
Hope y'all are doing good at the bottom of the world...
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