You probably don’t know but this last week I had to return home for my Grandmother’s funeral.  It was held in a small town in rural Michigan where my mother’s family has lived for generations.  I hadn’t been there in over 21 years, so it was a strange experience to walk through an entire town both rich with family history and filled with memories from when I was 4. A lot of extended family showed up and I learned that I had a lot more cousins then I knew.  Most of them seemed to be named “Brian” or “John”.

Over the next few days I’ll be putting up some pictures from the trip and try and share some of the experience of going from central Istanbul to rural Michigan and back.  Five days, and over 75 hours of travel later here I am.

On my way to the last airport bus for the night. Istanbul.

Thirty-five hours later. “Cross in the Woods”, the world’s largest Crucifix. MI.

I’ll be honest.  We have not gotten out and about much. However, where we live is pretty interesting, so I grabbed a couple of quick shots to give you a taste of it all, so to speak.

 

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We’ve got a look back at what life used to be like in Vietnam.  A short glimpse into what it was like to live in Ho Chi Minh, and our home there.  Housing in Vietnam had its own style, but one things for sure – it was cheaper than Tokyo.

As Brian explained, New Years in Tokyo was more quaint than crazy, and the entire holiday season wrapped up for us without a show of fireworks, real or metaphoric.  We definitely had fun times together, and those fun times definitely coincided with major holidays we’ve celebrated before, and there was something vaguely holiday-ish about those fun times, but trying to piece it all today into a coherent “holiday season” feels like trying to remember a hazy dream from a deep nap. 

Nonetheless, Tokyo continues to offer its unique brand of the quirky and random, and I thought we’d share some of the wisdom this city so far has given us.  Most of this wisdom has come in the form of signs and advertisements, giving us guidance, helpful advice, and food for thought. 

 

This message is clearly intended to preserve the peace and cleanliness of the subways.  No warning that such excessive drunkenness – a spilled beer, a stray shoe, a leg hanging awkwardly over the armrest – is self-destructive and detrimental health.  The briefcase, unceremoniously serving as a pillow, also suggests that the passed-out gentleman went straight from work to the bars.  Clearly, he should have thought of the other passengers, especially the poor man turned away in empathetic shame, and gone straight home to drink himself into oblivion.  Usually we say “When in Rome…” but I think in this case we should exercise a little more judgment before obeying the subway sign…

 

This one is more or less agreeable – who shouldn’t…do! more safety…?!?  The message sounds great – perhaps a candidate motto for 2009 for some people – but what on earth does it mean?  And what kind of safety should we do?  The young smiling girl certainly doesn’t offer any clues, nor does the disorienting corridor of insistent messages.  Are those lockers?  It’s quite mysterious, but we think this is a message we should all heed…

 

And finally, one of my personal favorites, overlooking a main strip in Shibuya, an imposing reminder to us all…

Once again, this is a message we can all get on board with.  But why is there a massive picture of a gorgeous woman?  She doesn’t quite seem sad or stern, and at first, we’re not really sure what she has to do with stopping STD’s.  Also, there’s no direct mention of a *method* for stopping STD’s – birth control, condoms, abstinence, regular testing?  Then, at the bottom, we find the sponsoring company, Soft On Demand.  As it turns out, it’s a pornography company, and you can scan the QR code on the bottom left to visit their website and order yourself some DVD’s.  Absolutely brilliant – once I pieced the implied message together, I found myself astounded that I haven’t seen this argument before.  So you rambunctious young adults, next time you feel like putting public health at risk by giving into your sexual urges, do the right thing – order pornography.  You and your partner, should s/he actually exist, will benefit from reduced exposure to dangerous STD’s.  [Soft On Demand is a staunch supporter of safe, do-it-yourself methods of dealing with your desires.  Note: clearly, no STD’s were possibly transmitted in the production of these films.] 

Well Tokyo, thanks for these helpful pieces of advice.  We’ll be sure to share some more precious wisdom from the strange signs all around Tokyo.

Visiting home and being away from Jet Set Zero has been relaxing, but can sometimes feel lonely. For the last few months, I have spent almost every waking hour with one or a combination of Matt, Brian, Bryan and Kevin, and I have enjoyed the bittersweet solitude. I’ve found over the last few days, however, that I miss everyone most when I’m trying to film something.

Kevin and Bryan do an awesome job, so it’s easy to sit back and assume that all the shots will be great, they’ll be neatly logged and rolled nicely up into another beautifully edited masterpiece by Jed. But now, I’m here alone with a camera, and, let’s just say, God did not put me on this earth to be a cinematographer. Here’s a brief shot list:

• 3-minute monologue, drowned out by wind noise
• Copious footage of the road while driving, frame-askew
• Many inadvertent shots of my groin
• Half of a sunset time-lapse (at the end of which, the camera falls over and tumbles down a pile of pumice)

Dear Jed, I would recommend taking a few painkillers and some Dramamine before you watch any of my footage.

While the cast and crew land and adjust to Tokyo, I have set out on a trip of my own– a trip back home. I simply couldn’t allow my marriage to end without seeing Sonya to say goodbye, no matter how painful it would be. So, on December 5th, I began the first of 72 total hours of travel, by air and land, that would take me from Saigon to Minneapolis, MN; Davenport, IA; Santa Fe, NM; and ultimately, Tokyo. I have already made it to Santa Fe, where I’ll be able to spend Christmas with family. I regret that the cast and crew cannot enjoy the same privilege, but with every day home I grow more and more ready to take on Tokyo and the world.

So, we had $1036 all together, but Rob, Dan, and I finally got our payment for September teaching…all $601 of it. Our teaching schedules hadn’t yet matured, so while this could help stave off poverty for a bit, it’s certainly not a sustainable income and it doesn’t offer much comfort as we careen our way through October, anxiously awaiting Dan’s coming paycheck and our end-of-the-month paycheck.

Expenses:

$430: New housing in our new neighborhood, away from the frenetic Pham Ngu Lao area. Excellent! Unfortunately, this did require 2-weeks rent up front, though, so not being homeless took about 70% of our paychecks.

$100: 2 slick new bikes joined Bonus Hog, each at $50/month. They’re light, fast, and sexy, and they don’t plague us with engine problems or sear us with their blazing hot tailpipes. Rob’s in love with Bonus Hog, so the other bikes are shared by Brian, Dan, and I. One curious note about these bikes – the rental “company” (I think just a family that owns a bunch of motorbikes) required only our driver’s licenses as collateral…not an effective security measure, in my humble opinion…

$25: Transit costs are going down, but some of us still take Xe-Oms to those classes requiring a brutal 1-hour battle through rush-hour traffic. We’ll brave those when we have more experience on the bikes.

$110: Our food budget plummeted, partly because we left the foreigner area, partly because new stable wifi doesn’t drive us to internet cafes, partly because I yell at everyone for spending too much.

$70: Cheap cell phones for Rob and I, plus sim cards for all four of us. Brian and Dan brought their own phones, so they didn’t need to wade through all the options to find that budget Nokia cell phone for $30. Man have I missed that classic cell phone game Snake…

$40: Miscellaneous items, including a bunch of software from the totally legit software store. Using a totally legit commercial service called Bittorrent, they download totally legit software, burn it to CD’s, package it up nicely, and cell it for anywhere between $1.50 and $10. Dan got MacOSX Leopard, Brian got Bioshock, and we all high-fived for supporting the local pirate economy. Note: Jet Set Zero endorses totally legit software and supporting local economies.

So…$862. DAMMIT! Dan should get paid next week, but Brian, Rob, and I will huddle down for the long October winter until we get paid again…

My marriage ended in October. Tomorrow it’ll be one month and twenty six days. I’ve written fifty-seven different eulogies, and I start over every time. I haven’t found the kind of language that does it justice, or even a way to communicate how I feel.

Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving, and it feels oddly symbolic. Tonight, there’ll be no shopping, no oven, no pies. We won’t fall asleep together. I won’t spend tomorrow with family, walking the dog, watching football, setting the table. I won’t pour her a second glass of wine or eat two helpings of dessert. There’s no house to clean when we’re done.

Tomorrow I should be thankful. After all, she’ll be happier this way– but I feel lost, angry, regretful. I feel that this has been the biggest failure of my life. And most of the time I feel nothing.

After three Thanksgivings together, it’s hard to remember the day otherwise. We started traditions, saved recipes, took pictures. We had a box for the champagne corks we got on our anniversaries with two inside. We rented movies on Friday night.

It’s good to be in Saigon on Thanksgiving, lost with friends who are all lost too. I can’t be reminded of it here. I’m a thousand miles from the snow, ten thousand from the blanket, and further from the beating heart beneath it. It’s cold in Minnesota, colder in Saigon.