Have you ever seen the Nightmare Before Christmas? I just saw it the other day and it totally reminds me of....ME - especially when Jack is singing that song, "What's this?" (If you don't know, go to youtube.com and look up "jack what's this"). The air is crisp and clean and smells of a camp fire all around and the mountains look like a giant Cosco muffin tore in half; the trees are the walnuts and brown sugar spilling over the side of the muffin. It doesn't look anything like Colorado mountains. I am scared to go into the bamboo forests, I've heard they are filled with monkeys and spiders. They don't look very inviting; they look like a big jumble of firewood that is waiting to be burned. Anyhow, my bike ride feeling can't really be described...but I think it's best captured in the Nightmare Before Christmas song OR by riding a bike downhill really fast.
I have been going in different directions to try to discover everything around my area. There aren't any street names here, so I have to remember what stores or landmarks are around me (which is perfect because, as you know, I never looked at street names in the States anyway, I always looked for stores or landmarks) I usually get lost for awhile and then eventually find my way back. So far I have discovered: a closer train station than my town office told me, an easier route to the city, another mall, the source of a peculiar burning smell. I don't really know what's going on with the rice fields, but now they're bare, and for some reason set on fire. I pass uniform-clad students as I go, and old people with little dogs; who all stare at me as I whiz by. I love the Japanese student uniforms, they're so interesting. The girls are kind of like a mix of a sailor/golfer/Britney Spears catholic schoolgirl. The boys look like chefs at Benihana, but with black outfits.
"What's this? What's this?" I sing in my head as I ride my Dorothy-style bike around the city, scaring people.