Day 65 - I know I'm turning Japanese

The first time I ate fermented soy beans, AKA natto, and liked it, I thought I was turning
Japanese.

When I called a guy at 6.30 am each morning just to help him get up, I thought I was turning into Japanese. When I first craved things from the sea with eyes, not chocolate, as comfort food, I thought I was turning Japanese.

But yesterday, I knew for sure that I had really turned Japanese. I heeded my body's call to rest, biked to the hot spring onsen, Niwa no yu at Toshimaen, and chilled for a few hours. Finally felt good in a bikini! Yay! Got a PCP-ish meal of grilled squid, vegetable curry, and rice and then slept in front of a big window looking out onto Spring greenery. Listened in smug contentment to the rain outside. Felt less smug when I realized I didn't have rain gear for the ride home. None to be had in the shops round Toshimaen, so I bought a cheapo brolly and rode home clasping it in one hand.

Riding bikes one handed, as well as balancing side-saddle on the back of a bike, is something I often see here, but rarely saw in the UK. I don't think I could have done it pre-PCP. The body-resistance exercises we do are about integrating the different muscles, getting them talking to each other. This means we'll be able to move around gracefully and smoothly. I wonder what muscles I needed to ride home on slippery roads with only one hand...I felt proud anyway.

The low is that even though we are on a three-day national holiday, I am struggling with my body's classic sign to slow down - a bad throat. Obviously, the bike ride in the rain wasn't a good idea! Slept for close to 12 hours yesterday in preparation for reading the lunchtime news at NHK. I'll blog more about the relationship between my radio work and PCPing another time!

Good to see those on Day 65 going strong! Let's keep our eyes on the peak!

Day 41 - PCP curry.

I'm all for Zen and 'ma' and white space and all that, but surely they could have arranged this a little more intelligently! It's screaming 'Look Mum, No Nan Bread!' I went to this curry house in Kawasaki 30 minutes before meeting Japanese grandma and told them what I'd like by the gram. I wanted to get tandoori chicken, but I'm trying to do my PCP with fish as my main protein source, so I asked for tandoori prawn. This was very dry and I'm sure it was not 120 g. so I bought 20 g. of dried fish from a station platform afterwards.  Not good. 

Going back to this culinary extravaganza, the red dish is vegetable curry and was rather uninspiring. Usually I'd get a two-curry set with nan, rice, and salad. I'd usually pay 950 yen. For this, I paid 1, 500 yen because of the tandoori prawns. Meh. All this grousing is wholly unimportant compared to the pleasure of spending time with my delightful Japanese grandmother, Yoko. I missed meeting her for a month. The world is a better place after seeing her. 

After I got back to my part of Tokyo, I went to Toshimaen for a bit and had this...squid and salad. It came to 1,200 yen which is more reasonable than the curry, but in truth, I'd paid someone to chop and arrange some vegetables and then grill some squid. If I did this at home, I'd have arranged the squid properly.  It tasted good though, ordered sans salt, sans mayo, salad with vinegar.

I don't mind paying to eat this when I can look at a huge pink sakura lit up against the night sky.

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Did I mention that I did all my WO before breakfast? I think I'm over that throat thing now. Maybe I have a stronger immune system already. 

Let's finish Week 6 in style with some sexy jumps tomorrow. Go TEAM IO!

Day 33 - Sass and sleep

Went to an onsen this afternoon and ended up SLEEPING for at least an
hour. I usually enjoy the waters, change into the onsen issue PJs and
eat or chill with a book. Today I headed straight for the darkened
sleeping room which is a bit Orwellian really - lots of recliners,
ornamental fossils lit up with pinks lights, canned birdsong, and the
sound of about fifty people sleeping. My leg muscles and shoulder
muscles really felt better after a rest. I did feel a bit middle-aged
though!

Felt amused and angered in the changing room was a video ad for an
exercise machine. One that moves your body so you get 'toned' without
breaking a sweat. 'It's just like running!' 'So easy!' shrieked the
voice while a woman beams at the camera. This is backassbackwards and
plays on peoples' fear and laziness. I'm glad I have a routine now,
even if it's hurting.

The capoeira class didn't happen but the sassy girl class was full on
two hours. Again struck by difference between my reps - numbered,
uniform, tending to fail towards the end and the musicality,
contrasts, and cleaner execution of dancing.