Thursday, July 3, 2008

Life in Tokyo

My stomach is full, satisfied with rice, sashimi, miso soup, and green tea. Oh, yes, and the red bean filled donut I had as a prelude to breakfast.

It is just past 8 o`clock in the morning but the group of students I am with here in Tokyo rose at the ungodly hour of 5am to make it to the fish market bright and early. Thankfully our body clocks are still adjusting to the new timezone, so the fact that the sun had barely risen didn`t discourage us.

We walked as a flowing mass along the sidewalks of this wonderous city, craining our necks to see the peaks of buildings and dodging puddles that were growing as the large raindrops fell on top of our heads (at least my head. I had no umbrella.)

I need to go change out of these wet clothes before we head out to do more sightseeing today, but there is some sad news I must share first. It is very very sad. Are you ready?

My dear little Canon Powershot has gone off on an adventure of its own. As I settled into Seattle for a day between Sacramento and this trip, it took off for San Jose, nestled in the seat pocket of an Alaska Airlines plane. Or maybe it found its way into the hands of another photography lover and its red leather case is tucked into a different purse.

What can I do? Hopefully someone is taking good care of it, or it is simply waiting in a lost and found box to be linked back to me and will be waiting when I get home. Either way, I am without a camera for these four weeks in Japan and am so sad I do not get to share pictures of my time with you.

I`m sure I wouldn`t be able to resist borrowing someone`s camera here or there to take a particular shot, but otherwise I`m carrying a sketchbook everywhere I go and trying to just be thankful for the chance to be here.

Maybe I`ll even find myself a nice fine Japanese camera and settle down here with him for a couple years. ;)

4 comments:

Rachael said...

Lael, so glad you are safely there and already immersed in the people, sights & food around you. I look forward to sharing the impressions & influence of this trip on you and your artwork when I see you next month. Till then, write when you aren't too busy living...and I'll read every word.
Love you, mum

Unknown said...

I'm so glad your adventures there have already began. I will miss your beautiful photographs, although your words paint wonderful images themselves. Enjoy these days. I'll be checking your blog for updates!

Anonymous said...

sweet friend. what a sorrowful thing that you were separated from your dearly loved camera and after so little time in japan. i can relate. after being in china one week, my camera was unintentionally submerged in water, and I spent the rest of my four months in asia without one. i hope you can make do and find creative and perhaps unorthodox ways to document your trip. this seems much more your style.
Lauren

Lael Meidal said...

Mum: Thanks for being such a faithful reader...Japan is simply amazing. you will need to come visit me in tokyo someday!

Lauren: It`s nice to know someone`s been where I`ve been and isn`t rolling their eyes at my dilemma...but you survived, so I will too. I miss you dear friend. Thanks for stopping by my blog!