Welcome To Vacations

Happy year of the horse! Yep it’s the year of the horse! I spent New Year’s with my Japanese family in North Carolina. It was pretty awesome. They have a lot of different traditions that I don’t get to experience every year. My favorite part is the food. On New Year’s Eve we all eat soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) for longevity. There are also tons of other foods you eat on New Year’s Day. Unfortunately I had to leave on the 1^st of January to be back at work on the 2^nd. I ate a traditional New Year’s breakfast and then hit the road with a bento box of food you were supposed to eat during the day. It was a wonderful vacation and celebration. 

In fact, this was my first vacation since I had started work and it was the first vacation that I drove by myself further than two hours. The trip is roughly six and a half hours for me to do. This is including any pit stops I might make (except if I stop at my parent’s house for an hour that time is omitted). To be honest I was a little worried about pulling it off. There are lots of horror stories about young women disappearing while driving by themselves (alright I exaggerate, but you always hear about them). So I armed myself with my Kenyan war club (got it from my dad when I was sixteen, it is solid hard wood) and a GPS incase I take a wrong turn. For the most part I felt safe. 

My mom also made sure that I knew the facts of highway driving by myself. She said that if anyone (particularly an older male) starts madly signaling you and pointing at your car, it can mean that there is something wrong that you can’t see. If this happens you put on your hazards and either call Triple A (if you have it) or the local cops. If the person signaling you also tries to pull over and help, don’t get out of your car. Instead tell them you are calling the local dispatch for assistance and that they should leave. Never ever leave your car or unlock it if you think the person is a threat. I would also add to check to make sure that it is a cop approaching you and if you have any bad feelings to ask to call and verify who they are. It is sometimes worth it to be paranoid. 

My trip went smoothly. I made good time and was only startled once by a cop zooming past me to catch someone seriously speeding (or drunk driving I couldn’t really tell). My time in North Carolina was fun. I learned to do a lot more Japanese cooking and where to buy the ingredients I need. I was able to work on my (barely passable) Japanese. My family is trying to teach my baby cousin to be bilingual, so far it is working. I got to see family that I hadn’t in a very long time and I watched so much NHK (the Tokyo public TV station) that I already miss it. 

It feels weird to be home. I went to work on the 2^nd and then got snowed in on the 3^rd which only means that I work from my house instead of driving to my office. I finally figured out how to program my thermostat. That was important since my energy bill nearly doubled this past month (that was sticker shock if there ever was). 

I hope everyone else had lovely vacations if they were able to. It was nice to not have to worry about anything for a few days. I can’t wait to get back into the swing of work. I honestly do not do well with nothing to do (hence the cooking). Good luck to all my readers in the Year of the Horse!

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please leave a comment or share the link. I always love hearing back from my readers and I hope they at least like reading what I write.