Right now I'm on day 12 of a 28 day cleanse. In Japanese this translates to I'm on a diet, much to my irritation. During the time I've been on this cleanse, there has been two work parties
(enkai). Enkais are essentially a big overpriced party where over-stressed and over-worked teachers get to drink their ass off with their co-workers in the the spirit of go-team-go-ness. I really can't stand these things but there is a few perks to going.
1.You have teachers talk to you that you've never talked to before because they are afraid of you and embarrassed of their English but now since they're liquored they're courageous.
2.You get to find out some teachers actually speak English.
3.You find out how many people know your name.
4.The next day at work everyone is super friendly and acknowledges the fact you went as a sign of you becoming one of them.
5.You get to catch up on all the gossip at school.
6.You get to try new and exciting meats or veggies like raw whale (I didn't eat it though, po' lil' whales) or sea cucumber (strange texture, tastes bland).
7.I get to practice the school song.
8.You get asked questions or get complimented in ways which are hilarious.
(Your boobs stick out at least 5 cms!Does you bra have padding*poke, poke*Wow, bouncy too!)
At the beginning each enkai you have to kampai (to toast, say cheers). But I couldn't drink which prompted many teachers to worry, 'Why Sarah-sensei? Are you okay?' I'm not a lush (not anymore) but the fact I can drink as much as most men here (over two beers) without turning red makes me quite the oddity. Thus making me a challenge. How many beers can she drink? I usually just nurse beers and watch the show of drunken teachers, semi-entertaining. However, before I could even answer the question, the PE teacher I sit next to yells from the next row over, 'she's on a diet!' Oh God. So that teacher sits there and asks me wide-eyed, fifty million questions about my "diet."
In a society that is very much diet conscience, but not necessarily health concienence at the same time, it's crazy frustrating to try to say, I want to be healthy and if I lose weight too hey great but it's not that important to me. All they hear is "lose weight"- wow that's great. Anyway, all conversations that night were of my diet and strangely I became a diet advisor. I gave advice such as try to exersice at least 30 mins a day, even if it's just walking or try not eating fried foods or sweets too often. The most common response I got was 'hueee!' (wow!) It was like I was giving them answers from above. I tried to explain how the main reason I was doing this was to feel healthy again.
Yes, Japan has lots of healthy food, but they also have loads of unhealthy food which run rampantly around taunting me. I can be strong willed when I need to be but damn it's easy to not be. When I came back from Thailand I was hard press to think of a time before then that when I felt that healthy. I kept at it for a while actually, but I got busy at work, got tired and would let it slip a little and then a little more and then a little more. I stopped and said 'nuf 's 'nuf. I started to change it all and my attitude and again I feel good.
I have an audience for my cleanse now and really that's helpful because it ain't easy doing this on my own without people and without gorgeous sun, the sea, my own gorgeous silver fox of a yoga instructor- *sigh.* Some people I've told about the products are agree with the logic of doing a cleanse. I mean, if your sewer is clogged and backed up, your apartment's gonna stink, no? This isn't a case of so you don't think your sh*t don't stink, 'cause we have stinkers- I'm just stating the obvious. I think of it as just helping the natural plumbing along. If anyone wants to check out the site where I got the products it's
http://www.ariseandshine.com I would recommend it highly for those who need a plan to start themselves off in a healthy way. Enough healthy talk, time to go cleanse the bowels. Ewww...
