Sidenotes

but the whole sky is blue from horizon to horizon - bright, clear, punctuated by cool breezes. I love summer. I wish it wouldn't end...not yet...

So many little things I've been wanting to share, small things, details in between the normal routine that makes up my life in Japan.

Do you want to hear? Have a seat.

* I've had a permanent retainer (little wire) on the back of my bottom front teeth ever since I had braces my first year of college. Well, I was eating a carrot two weeks ago, and part of the bonding came off. Uh, oh...a visit to the Japanese dentist. It looked like any clean-scrubbed American dentist's office, except that the dental assistants wore pale blue uniform dresses and there were these amazing cutting-edge video cameras attached to each chair.

The dentist, who spoke English (and heard me when I asked Kathy to make sure he was careful and PAINLESS), put this skinny thing about the size of a ball-point pen in my mouth, and all of a sudden he beamed pictures of different parts of my mouth and teeth to the video screen so I could see it.

Amazing! (And they do this to everybody?!) He took one look at the permanent retainer, kind of shook his head like, "I can't believe these primitive Americans still do this," and told me it definitely needed to come out. What about my teeth going back all crooked? It's been long enough, he said. Let's just take it off. So he did. We had requested a cleaning, so he did - those teeth. Only those teeth. When it was done, I couldn't believe the change - beautiful, white, clean, straight, bottom teeth with NO wire. "What about the other teeth?" I asked Kathy. Kathy asked the pale blue uniformed dental assistant. The pale blue uniformed dental assistant said something long and polite in Japanese which basically meant "no." "I guess they're only going to do those," Kathy said with a shrug. So now I have six clean, wire-free teeth, and I got to see them on a video screen the size of a Pop-Tart. Pretty cool.

* The leaves are starting to change here already. Sad, but true... Some of the big green trees are turning splotchy yellow and brown (not very pretty yet). The Japanese walnuts are patchy red and green, and the Japanese maples turn deep purple. There is a kind of tree I see every day that has beautiful clusters of bright orange-red berries, round like peas.

* My skin allergies have been getting worse and worse since I've been in Japan, itching and turning red and bleeding when I scratch them. So I finally gave up and went to ANOTHER medical office, this time with my bouncy young Japanese teacher. Everyone was quiet and solemn in the dermatologist's office (except us). They stared at me because I was a foreigner, but they stared at Ichihara-sensei even more because 1) she was with a foreigner and 2) she did not fold her hands in her lap and look off into nowhere. She actually made a joke to the receptionist and GOT UP OUT OF HER CHAIR to look at a child walking past the window. When the receptionist called me back, we went together so she could translate. He took one look at my horrible blotchy red legs and told me I had really, really dry skin. In English. He didn't even look at Ichihara-sensei. "Do you think it might be...?" she was suggesting. "No." He said. People are very protective of their English. So when the bill came for the visit and medicine, I almost fell over - it was only about $30. Ichihara-sensei and others had told me to expect at least $100, maybe $150, for any kind of specialist like that, and it had gotten so bad I finally said, well, who cares, and went. But $30??!! Either the dermatologist was REALLY nice to me, or God was blessing me, or both. I think both. I've been using the medicine every day like he said, for about a week and a half now, and you wouldn't BELIEVE how much better everything is! It's like I have new skin.

* I don't think cars in Japan have mufflers. They must be banned.

* I spent Saturday in the SUN and on the WATER about three hours away from here, whitewater-rafting with seven other people. It was soooo much fun! We made fun of each other from our respective cars, our raft guide was Nepalese, we got to float around in VERY cold water in dry suits, and several of us got soaking wet faces (thanks, Athos and Georgi!). The river was perfect, surrounded by mountains and trees just starting to change color. Our Nepalese guide even gave us permission to splash the other rafts around us with our paddles, which we did enthusiastically. On the way back we stopped at a Japanese hot springs to thaw out and watch the sunset. The moon was completely full and bright. What a beautiful day...

* I have a new bed! It seems more and more like I might be allergic to tatami, the grass mat flooring inside traditional Japanese houses (and my apartment). It's only in one closed-off room for formal events, but I'd been sleeping in there on the floor because the old futon bed I had was lumpy and uncomfortable. So when we started thinking the tatami fibers in my sheets and in the room might be aggravating my dry skin (I'm VERY allergic to grass), I needed to get out of there. Back to the old futon bed. Back to my back hurting. What to do? Well, we took the old futon bed apart and are going to give it a one-way ticket to the landfill. And in its place is a brand new little single bed, pine frame, just put together yesterday. It's up off the floor (since my doctor last year said I was having allergies to dust - is there anything I'm not allergic to??!). Today I put clean sheets on it, washed in special non-allergenic detergent, and can't wait to get in it tonight. A clean bed and clean sheets - one of the best things on earth!

* Make absolutely SURE the automatic doors are ALL THE WAY OPEN before you go through.

* They're putting sweaters out in stores now. I put my sandals in the cabinet for next year just this evening. It'll probably be too cold to wear them from now on.

* It's too much trouble to cook eggplants. Ken from the seniors' class gave me a whole bunch of them, but I would have had to buy so many special ingredients to make anything palatable. Any suggestions? I think it's too late for these (I mean REALLY too late - I won't go into details) but maybe next time. Most Japanese like eggplants. Or better yet, give me your address and I'll send you mine.

It's almost nine in the evening, so I should go... Thanks for listening! Ask me about the armadillos sometime when I have more time.