New Experiences

Recently I have been having a lot of new experiences and most of them have been good. So I've decided to document my new experiences for a future date when I feel like life is boring or stagnant. I find that reflecting on my past experiences is sometimes helpful when I feel down. So here goes, for November 2015, I had the following new experiences:

Panacotta

I had Panacotta. I know, it doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but for me it was major. I love food reality tv. I religiously watch Master chef and on Master chef someone is always making a panacotta and running the risk of it not setting in time to complete the challenge. This dessert is not popular where I live, so I had no idea what it tasted like. I assumed however, that it would taste like jello or like a custard pudding. So, you can imagine that when I saw it in the convenience store, I squealed at the opportunity to finally taste this dessert that was so popular on one of my favourite tv shows. Needless to say, I enjoyed every spoonful of my panacotta :).

I learnt that there is a fruit called 'Buddha's Hand'. I didn't get the opportunity to taste this exotic fruit, but from my research I probably haven't missed much. So, just knowing it exists is enough. Isn't this world amazing! I would never have imagined that this was the normal shape of anything. It however, is beautiful in its own right.

Buddha's Hand

After living in Japan for several years, I finally tried hot Japanese sake and discovered just how strong sake can be and that I actually like it. I was at a public cafeteria when I saw some people drinking a clear liquid from cute, tiny cups  that looked like toy cups from doll houses. I was immediately intrigued. So I tried it. The heat from the sake is somewhat intensified when heated. The sake immediately warmed me from the inside out on a cold autumn day.

Hot Sake (Japanese)

In addition, I recently had two strange but interesting fruits from Vietnam. I tried langsat (lanzones) and dried lychee. The langsat was dirty on the outside but the inside had such a pleasant taste. The texture of the fruit was that of a grape, but the taste was reminiscent of passion fruit.                 

At first I was unsure about the dried lychee because I didn't know what it was, and it looked spoiled. I opened the lychee expecting to see white flesh, but was greeted by a black, shriveled object. As you can imagine I was surprised and scared to try it. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized that it was similar to a raisin or prune - a fruit that has shriveled up and changed to black during its aging process. After making that connection it got easier to eat the dried lychee.

Langsat (Lanzones)

Dried Lychee

What lies inside the dried lychee

Dear Mr. Sun,

For three whole days the sun has been in hiding.

Day broke at around 6:30 am but even at midday, 

the sky looked like late afternoon, right before sunset, dark and cloudy.

Mr. Sun has been hiding far behind the clouds.

Out of my reach for far too long.

Did we have an argument and you moved out while I was sleeping?

Are you away on a business trip? 

Where are you, my hot, sweet sunshine?

I miss your kisses and the rays that normally massage my skin daily.

I'm sorry for whatever I did.

Just come back and I promise I will treat you better. 

Don't you think three days is enough punishment?

The real meaning of development

One thing I'll miss when I return to Jamaica is the ease with which I can find past time activities in Japan. There's always something interesting going on, and I don't mean a party or a tv show. I can simply walk to a park and stumble  upon a festival or turn a corner and stumble into a museum or walk into a glass atelier with 5 minute classes. I can go to a coffee shop, study, watch YouTube, scroll through Facebook or talk to real people. I can take a stroll up the mountain or take a cable car instead.

"The developed country is not one in which the poor has cars.
It is where the rich uses public transportation."

These simple pleasures have become normal activities that are accessible to even a pauper like me. This is one of the marks of development - when people with the lowest income can enjoy the same things in life as the rich. A friend shared a quote with me recently that said a country is developed not when the poor can buy cars, but when the rich uses public transportation. This made a lot of sense. Of course, the rich will still have nicer things, they will have bigger houses and luxury cars, but they will go to the same museums, parks, ateliers, light shows, festivals and ride in the same trains and buses. Why? Wealth distribution and infrastructural development are key to real development. With wealth distribution, the poor is not really poor and with infrastructure development, public transport becomes more efficient and desirable than private transport.

The African Festival in Kobe

I recently went to an 'African' festival with a few friends and ended up having a good time overall, but needless to say, there were a few regrettable parts as well. However, the bad moments don't deserve mention here.

The festival itself was on a mountain, on a cool October day. There were people playing rugby nearby and children playing in a park. The festival was the perfect vertex to the triangular scene of activities on the slightly hilly field.

The first thing I noticed was that this 'African' Festival had only a few Africans. To be specific, there were three Africans there. Everyone else were either Japanese or from another country. Anyways, this is usual at Japanese festivals, so I didn't think too much about it.

The Africans present did not speak English, given that they were French Africans. So, we conversed in Japanese, which felt a bit strange on my end.

They had smoked fish and cheese for sale, counterfeit African prints (because they were cheap) and a chicken stew with mounds of onions for sale. I tried some of the smoked food, but the mounds of onions that I sighted in the pot were too much for me.

The main event of the day, however, was the music, not the food.