Osaka--It's a Wrap!

Okay, so I am sure that I have a lot more to write about my first modeling trip to Japan and Osaka in general, but I have come down with a nasty cold....again. So here I sit, pregnant, unable to take any meds even though I would KILL for TheraFlu or NyQuil or pretty much anything that could make me stop feeling like my throat is being invaded by an army of fire ants and giant cinder blocks have been shoved up my nostrils. It doesn't make for great writing or memory re-calling. Sorry guys.

What I can tell you is that I had a great time in Japan. Once again made great friends, although somehow lost complete contact with all of them. The fact that most of them didn't have email addreses didn't help, I'm sure. I made a nice sum of money, got to see a lot of beautiful places....but never made it to Nara where the giant Buddha is located & I kick myself for that one to this day. I am a Buddha freak. I learned some totally random phrases in Japanese, loved how polite everyone was....you know my cousin just got back from teaching in Japan and mentioned that she never saw a little kid throw tantrums there....and I never did either. I swear they are born polite. Maybe I should have given birth to my son in Japan....he is 2 and the definition of tantrum incarnate. I ate some amazing foods...but not sushi. Why? I really can't answer that, seeing as I love the stuff. Hung out with my girls and watched altogether too many totally off the wall Japanese gameshows while overindulging in Meiji ice cream (the best vanilla on earth) with little wooden tongue depressor things.

I got to experience the wonder that is a Japanese department store. You walk in and are treated like royalty. You purchase an item, and no matter how miniscule it is, it is rushed off by a salesperson and returned to you in the most beautifully & intricately wrapped package....makes you cringe at the thought of having to open it to get to what's inside. Karaoked in a "box", but never got into the Osaka party scene, so no crazy stories on the debauchery end of things. I did go to a few Brazilian nightclubs with my roomate and the other models, but those times consisted mostly of people watching and listening to odd Cher remixes & techno-ized samba. Nothing too wild.

I was sad to leave when my time was up. You get pretty attached to your agencies & fellow models when you travel since they become something of a surrogate family for you when you are abroad. But 6 weeks was all I was contracted to be there for, so I was off to board a plane back to Portland for a few months to wait & see where my next stop would be. Stopping "home" in Portland was always my chance to get back into a work-out routine, eat healthy and relax or "de-tox", so by the end of each trip I was ready for that return to normalcy. And the return to normalcy in Portland after Osaka was going to be a much needed one.....seeing as a month after I had returned I was scouted by Karin Models who at the time had offices in Paris, NYC & Miami. They offered me a contract and I was to go to Miami for the following season. South Beach. Den of Iniquity and Happiest Place on Earth. Hallelujah. I was about to be thrust headlong into the world of model rockstardom.