WORLDWIDE | Sunday, 27 Mar 2011 | Views [488] | Scholarship Entry
One year before the earthquake and tsunami struck I left Japan. I’d been teaching English in a remote mountain village. Before leaving I wrote a love letter to the country I had fallen head over heels for. Now it seems all the more poignant. ‘Words seem ... Read more >
Tags: #2011Writing, Travel Writing Scholarship 2011
ITALY | Tuesday, 20 Jul 2010 | Views [819] | Comments [2]
We pretty much knew things were going to be a bit special here after the first evening in Bari. Unfortunately, many of these little incidents and side notes that created such a special place are far too inappropriate and damaging to certain individuals ... Read more >
ITALY | Thursday, 17 Jun 2010 | Views [719]
So I’m living on a farm up in the mountains
with a cool hippie family who have a tendency to walk in on me when I’m
changing. They have three cats, who incidentally like to sleep in/on my bed,
one dog that is pretty docile so that’s ok, three ... Read more >
JAPAN | Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010 | Views [716]
I am currently sat in
a cubicle on a train, somewhere in between Geneva and Milan, eating left-over
pizza from last night, planning an epic journey home and trying to get to know
my new partner in crime as we head towards our first camp.
... Read more >
FRANCE | Sunday, 6 Jun 2010 | Views [527]
I am sat in a street café in Nice down some
random little cobbled street lined with artists and authentic Gussi bag
vendors, totally lost and, given my relatively short journey, inexplicably
knackered.
I am quite surprised I made it here ... Read more >
JAPAN | Thursday, 25 Feb 2010 | Views [839]
There are no words to
express how much I’m going to miss you. Words seem inadequate when we have
communicated through smiles, intuition and vague interpretation…all I can give
you is an endless list of little things that over time I have come ... Read more >
Tags: awesome, japan, love
JAPAN | Tuesday, 3 Nov 2009 | Views [548]
So I’ll admit it. Right now I want out. Eight months down the line and I’m having unfamiliar feelings…I think normal people call it homesickness. (In my defence it is coinciding with culture shock bottom out and from having 10 days left to decide whether ... Read more >
Tags: heads, hearts, homesickness, meh!
JAPAN | Tuesday, 18 Aug 2009 | Views [768]
24th July.
Tokyo is hot. Mind achingly, sweating in all places, I just want to be naked, h.o.t. Not that the Japanese seem to notice. Really, I don't know how they do it! We can be in a subway station praying the train arrives soon so we can crisp ... Read more >
Tags: heat, shibuya, shinjuko, teapots
JAPAN | Tuesday, 18 Aug 2009 | Views [837]
What is it about
wondering through cities at night that makes you feel like you own the world?
Perhaps it was because I was about to embark on the most adventurous adventure
I had ever had that made me all the more euphoric as I walked the streets ... Read more >
Tags: belonging, nomadishness, overnight busses, un-belonging
JAPAN | Friday, 10 Jul 2009 | Views [918]
Greetings my furry little friends of near and far! How dost thou? I do hope I find you in the most joyous of moods, swinging from the stars and dangling your feet in the river of life! Forgive my over articulation, I am in somewhat of a joyous mood and ... Read more >
Tags: boats, monks, summer plans, sunset
JAPAN | Friday, 10 Jul 2009 | Views [738]
I got horrendously
lost yesterday. I’m talking like an hour in the wrong direction, no signs for
the place I’m going, damn I really need a pee lost.
The worst thing is I
was going somewhere I go all the time. I know the way. I just had ... Read more >
Tags: getting lost, maps, needing to pee, sheep
JAPAN | Monday, 6 Jul 2009 | Views [549]
You know what…I think
my little bubble world is made of steel. Actual steel. Not that cheap plastic
cover that is moulded and painted to look like the real-deal, no, just the
actual real-deal.
See, when I came here
I wasn’t sure if my ... Read more >
Tags: bad french accents, jess world, pirates
JAPAN | Sunday, 28 Jun 2009 | Views [734] | Comments [1]
Ok, hello. I’m going
to be all post-modern now and blog about my insufficient blogging. Wooo- using
my degree! (I feel like this is a fairly unique statement in the current
climate- go me!)
So. No blogging. Well,
I’m afraid to say I’ve ... Read more >
Tags: bubbles, chanting bugs, love, rice, snow domes
JAPAN | Friday, 8 May 2009 | Views [844] | Comments [1]
Bad news. I fear I am being stalked by a man in a bandana for the purposes of amusing TV. It’s quite scary. The evidence isn’t all there yet, but it keeps adding up…
After my post about finding the meaning of life in Morioka my Dad rang me up to ... Read more >
Tags: bandana man, insanity, japanese tv
JAPAN | Friday, 8 May 2009 | Views [795]
Me: Oh my god! How
much do I owe? That’s ridiculous! How is anyone expected to pay that much for
water? I don’t have that much! No way! Ahh shit, I’m gunna have to get money
off the parents and I wanted to do this all alone and now I’m gunna ... Read more >
Tags: holidays, jesus, kakunodate, pizza hut, pyramids, statue of liberty
JAPAN | Sunday, 26 Apr 2009 | Views [807]
Some things that
happened this week in the Japanish world of Jess:
After an alcohol
fuelled cherry blossom party with my board of education I have now added a few
more unmentionable meats to my ‘consumed’ collection, a new father who owns ... Read more >
Tags: bad music, fatal errors of human judgement, tampons
JAPAN | Sunday, 19 Apr 2009 | Views [544]
Just as Rod Stewart’s
awesometasical line ‘the rhythm of my heart is beating like a drum with the
words I love you rolling off my tongue, no never will I roam for I know my
place is home; where the ocean meets the sky I’ll be sailing’ seems to ... Read more >
Tags: cherry trees in rocks, morioka
JAPAN | Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009 | Photo Gallery
Iwaizumi
See all 16 photos >>
JAPAN | Tuesday, 14 Apr 2009 | Views [579]
If Japan were the sea
and the people the fish, I would be the giant flopping snorkeler that just
belly flopped into their serene world under the water. I attract a lot of
attention. They’re all so friendly and gather round to say hello and ask ... Read more >
JAPAN | Monday, 30 Mar 2009 | Views [730]
I stuck my finger right into the middle of a raw egg this morning. I thought it was boiled and as I attempted to peel said egg I got a hand-full of goo. Quite what I was supposed to do with a raw egg I am not sure, but given the selection of random food ... Read more >
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