/log

I’m writing this sitting on the toilet. Wait! I’m not doing anything you should feel awkward about. I’m just sitting on the toilet seat with my feet in the bidet. Ah, that sounded better before I said it…

Bear with me, please. I’m now here in Italy enjoying all the pleasures that the Tuscan countryside has to offer; the pleasant atmosphere, good wine and great food. In fact just about the only annoying thing to happen on this entire stay (so far, that is) are the ten or so mosquito bites that I’ve suffered. As a good portion of the people reading this may have heard me mention (several times, probably), my favorite remedy for these is to heat up the skin to drain it of the histamines that cause the itch.

In Japan, I’d start each day with a nice hot shower which would then do me quite nicely until the next morning. Here however — and I’m not sure why — a single daily dose doesn’t seem to suffice. Hoping to go for a quick run this afternoon, I figured I should do something about the five bites on my feet. Thus, my feet soaking in a bidet full of scorching water.

I actually went for a run a couple of days ago. The day earlier, I went with my father and a couple of his friends, Hanna and Reiner from Northern Germany, on a short hike up to the village of Greve. The weather was fine: cloudy, but hot and sunny isn’t necessarily better. Neither is pouring rain — which is what we got when we got to Greve. Perfect timing because we had actually planned to have lunch there. A tomato sauce spaghetti and a plate of salamis, ham and cheese, all with plenty of olive, bread and a few glasses wine. The weather helped out that day because I both eat a lot and slowly but this time there was really nowhere to go with the torrent from the sky so I could eat my fill in relative ease.

Inspired by that fun hike, I figured I should really go for a quick run through the hills around my father’s house. The temperature was mild and light showers on and off: Nice cool weather for a run. There was also a mist over part of the area: not so cool if I’d lose my bearings, but I figured that with ten houses on every hill and everyone knowing everyone, I shouldn’t have too much trouble finding my way back. So off I went heading first to Casanuova di Ama, then turning south along that hill and down into the valley. The well-kept road turned grassy and steeper as I went dashing through raspberry bushes and poison ivy, down slippery gravel where the only grip were knife-sharp edges that hungered to sink their teeth into my flesh.

Arriving at the bottom of the valley I continued along a path that soon turned into a puddle. Thinking it would be nicer not to completely soak my feet I decided to just bypass it and scrambled into the densely forested hillside, sans shirt because of the heat, doing my best not to scratch myself too badly. After a few nice rock-climbing inspired moves I jumped back onto the path, took to a sprint before arriving at a similar puddle — well, pond — ten times the size about a dosen paces in. Back into the woods…

From there it went uphill as I tried to figure out if I was actually on the right hill or the one further over. Gleaning the sun through the thin cloud-cover I saw I was heading pretty much the right way. Sure enough, a little while later I ran through the winery at Castellina de Ama; just across from my father’s house, La Casa.

On my little run, I was reminded of walking home from school with my nieces Klara and Sylvía. Not so much the noise and the smog (of which there is none here), but rather the shot-gun shells strewn around. Not that there are many wild boar hunters in Madison, Wisconsin. No, just that we’d usually pick up rubbish to throw away once we got home.

Today has been great weather; warm with plenty of sunshine. Then about an hour ago I was in the kitchen with my father talking about the nice weather when we heard a roar outside. I reckoned it was a lighting but my father leaned towards a fighter jet (that occasionally dash across the countryside). Indeed, the weather looked beautiful — in all but one direction. To the north was a huge dark cloud that was already starting to sprinkle a few drops on on us.

Funny weather.

This one cloud seems to have passed so I figure I’ll see how my feet feel about going for another run.

Tomorrow morning I’m off again on a business trip. Sadly, this will probably be my last as next month I’ll get an extra school to fill in my so-called “office week”. I spoke to the supervisor in the area I went to last month and was pleasantly surprised that she’d actually looked into whether I was taken for next month, as otherwise she would have requested me again.

Anyway, this last week has been filled with events, but unfortunately I haven’t given myself the time to post messages here on the log.

Running

I went out for a run last week in my brand new Mizunos. I hadn’t slept well that night and found myself awake at six o’clock in the morning. The sun was just crawling over the inland hilltops so I donned my jogging pants, laced up the shoes and set my aim at the castle.

It was fantastic. Hardly anyone was out and the air was fresh and not too cold. Getting to the castle wasn’t straight forward because of my choice to take the less travelled, but nicer, roads. As it turns out, these roads are less travelled because they often get cut off by one of the many canals that surround the castle.

Luckily, the castle sits high on a hill so it is easy to navigate towards. Ill fortune, however, would cast boulders in my way. As I was almost at the castle grounds, I felt something like a grain of sand in my shoe. The grain turned out to be the beginnings of sore heels on both feet.

Though disappointed by my beloved Mizunos, I charged on (walking) determined not to turn away now that I was this close.

Matsue Castle

The castle is pretty cool. It is surrounded by a ditch/canal with high steep walls. To get to the castle (through the entrance I came through), you have follow a path which winds around a few sets of walls and takes you up old stone steps towards the castle.

The setting was perfect. No-one was around and the castle mount was quiet except for the chirping of the birds, starting their day. I took the long way around the castle before heading back.

Back in the apartment, content with the morning’s adventure, I fell blissfully asleep again.

Cooking

I’ve been trying my best to keep at it and maintain a good, healthy diet. Since my illness at the beginning of the month, I’ve had a craving that is very novel to me: vegetables. Yes, I was as surprised as most that will find themselves reading this.

It could be that uncontiously I’m choosing things that I know my parents and grandparents might make, but I have this feeling that it is my body knowing best and telling me just what it needs. So, I’ve bought sprouts and broccoli. I made a really nice pasta sauce from broccoli, onion and garlic simmered in plenty of olive oil. It was basically a weak imitation of something that I’d seen my dear friend Magda make, but it tasted rather good.

Inspired, I’ve decided to start experimenting whenever I have the chance. Still, if anyone has any good wholesome recipes to share, I’d greatly appreciate and email.

Mizuno redeemed

This Sunday, I went for another run. I re-laced them at the top to make them hold my heel more firmly down in the foot. It was noon but the weather was nice. I headed back to the castle and my heels had no problems at all. The only difficulty in running was my tendancy to stop to enjoy the scenery.

I once stopped at a bridge where the river slowly flowed along the canal with heavy trees propped up to prevent them drooping into the water. Ducks swam around in the stream and the light breese swayed the branches. At that moment I dreaded the day when I’d take that magical scene for granted.

I took a slightly less interesting route through the castle grounds so as to not disturb castle visitors. I figured that a gaijin (外人, e. foreigner) running through this ancient Japanese place might somewhat disturb their cultural experience.

King Harald to the rescue

One of the things I’ve been occupying my time with is getting bluetooth to work between my computer and cellphone — mainly to be able to download pictures that I’ve taken with my cameraphone.

I’ve had considerable success, though it seems my bluetooth card is broadcasting a very weak signal. In order to have a connection, I have to lay my phone on the keyboard (flush with the left side gives best results). But, I have pictures! I’m still working out the best way to syncronize or pull only the new pictures, but haven’t figured that part out yet.

But pictures I have. I’ll leave the big picture post till later, and leave you just with this proof of principle. A standard, quick dinner consisting of curry on rice and miso soup (the television is still broken, but at the time of the picture I had as entertainment the second series of Yes, Minister on my computer). Many more pictures to come.

Went on a shopping spree today. Bought myself shoes and pants for a total of 14 thousand yen … both from the Mizuno company. Ever since buying my first two pairs of Mizuno shoes (street running shoes and spiked sprinters) I’ve been in love with the company.

Until then, I had religiously bought Nike Airs and wasn’t too sure about the foam-soled Mizunos, but bought them because my running coach (Freyr, my gymnasium sports teacher who got me to train with the Ármann sports team) recommended them and they were pretty cheap. They turned out to be the by far best running shoes I’ve ever had.

Even after they lost their shape did I continue to use them and only stopped once the soles fell off. But my love affair with Mizuno ended there. The only outlet in Iceland had gone bankrupt and there were no Mizunos to be had in the country.

I tried finding myself Mizunos in Vancover, but they weren’t easy to track down and since I already had running shoes (Nike Airs again) I didn’t want to waste the money unless I found just the right pair. Which unfortunately never happened.

So, now I find myself in Japan. Guess where Mizuno is from. BINGO! And it’s difficult not to notice since pretty much every sports team here dresses in the brand. Japanese kids are kept extremely busy with extracurricular activities and on weekends when western kids are sleeping in and playing video games, every Japanese train station is teeming with their Japanese counterparts on their way to or from some sports practice.

And thus the affair continues. I’m so looking forward to going out running again. Perhaps I’ll even catch a sunrise…