Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Denny's
Yes, you've read correctly. We ate at Denny's. This is indeed a Denny's never to be found in America. The menu includes tasty morsels such as spaghetti with three truffle sauce. The salad was great - the veggies were roasted (including lotus root). They also had pork curry, a fried mushroom dish and chorizo with squid rings (they look just like onion rings from the pictures). We had a great time just reading the menu and looking at the pictures. I want to go back for the sundae. Oh my gosh I have never seen anything quite so big in my life. I think it would take at least 2 determined people to eat it. Care to join me?
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Nagoya by Car
Imagine any large city at rush hour. Now, imagine driving through that city with completely indecipherable road signs, signs written in a totally random script. Add to that the fact that there are very few road names anyway, readable or not. Give yourself a map that shows the basic layout, without road names, and in the same indecipherable language. Add to that mixture, driving on the wrong side of the road. Add drivers who weave down the road to continuously get ahead. That just might give you a rough idea of driving into downtown Nagoya…an experience not to be repeated.
We have come to the conclusion that the subway system is the only way to go.
We have come to the conclusion that the subway system is the only way to go.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Nagoya Port
It may have taken well over an hour to arrive at Nagoyako – bus, train and subway – but it was well worth the trip. The Aquarium is spectacular. As you walk through the doors, you are greeted with a view of dolphins cavorting in the large, expansive tank. The animals enjoy performing, diving, jumping, gracefully swimming on their backs and coming right up to the window to watch you, watching them. They’re magnificent.
There’s also an orca whale swimming through the different tanks, always with a small dolphin by his side. It’s spectacular to watch him fill the window as he moves from one area to another.
Traveling up to the 2nd floor, you can see the open tanks and the ‘performance’ area. The tanks are all interconnected, allowing the animals to move from one to another, or to be isolated for training – or waiting to perform. We watched the keeper playing with the orca. The whale brought a hula hoop up to her and played with it, teasing her and not letter her have it. Finally, the trainer quit playing and used hand signs to have the whale give it to her, which he did (and, of course, got a fish in return).
The actual show was fabulous. The dolphins were the stars. They cavorted about the tank, jumping and flipping in unison – including 6 of them jumping out of the water together. Pretty remarkable what they can do – and they seemed to love doing it.
More to come….the aquarium was huge!
There’s also an orca whale swimming through the different tanks, always with a small dolphin by his side. It’s spectacular to watch him fill the window as he moves from one area to another.
Traveling up to the 2nd floor, you can see the open tanks and the ‘performance’ area. The tanks are all interconnected, allowing the animals to move from one to another, or to be isolated for training – or waiting to perform. We watched the keeper playing with the orca. The whale brought a hula hoop up to her and played with it, teasing her and not letter her have it. Finally, the trainer quit playing and used hand signs to have the whale give it to her, which he did (and, of course, got a fish in return).
The actual show was fabulous. The dolphins were the stars. They cavorted about the tank, jumping and flipping in unison – including 6 of them jumping out of the water together. Pretty remarkable what they can do – and they seemed to love doing it.
More to come….the aquarium was huge!
Monday, September 13, 2004
School
We finally made it! We are in the building and what a building it is. There are some features that would make a teacher fall in love. First…there is storage – floor to ceiling along one whole wall. Second…there’s a sink in every room WITH counter space. Third…there are hangers along the ceiling that can be used to hang things – and they can be moved along the track wherever you want them. Fourth…the wall are completely ‘spongy’ so that you can put thumbtacks in anywhere you want. Fifth…they are big (larger than Chinook’s). Sixth…there are about 14 kids in each classroom. Seventh…the science room is really a science lab with everything you need to conduct hands on experiments. This is just heavenly.
Getting into the building has been really difficult. Today was our first day in and they had organized about 100 kids, alumni and parents to come help move everything. The problem was that there was also a typhoon headed our way. Instead of working all day, it was called off at 1:00 so that everyone could get home before it hit (we’re actually on the outer fringe of it so it’s not that bad but there are definitely high winds outside.) My library has a lot of the furniture and chairs and a good part of the AV stuff already moved in. We have all of the books to move but with the wind and rain coming down they didn’t want to get everything soaked. There are still a lot of boxes left in the gym to be moved. I did get a chance to get some of the AV stuff out of boxes and on shelves or checked out to people (the more they take, the less I have to shelve). I will be barcoding a lot of stuff here because most of the AV stuff is not barcoded. It will take a while but with only about 25 classrooms it won’t be difficult to get it done. Some stuff gets shared because there is not enough for one a piece but everyone is flexible. Already found the ‘tech’ guy who likes to hang onto the Elmo to “make sure it’s not messed around with”. It’s fine because he uses it frequently.
I now have all of the boxes in the library – hundreds of boxes – looks like thousands of boxes. I have to wonder when it will all end. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Getting into the building has been really difficult. Today was our first day in and they had organized about 100 kids, alumni and parents to come help move everything. The problem was that there was also a typhoon headed our way. Instead of working all day, it was called off at 1:00 so that everyone could get home before it hit (we’re actually on the outer fringe of it so it’s not that bad but there are definitely high winds outside.) My library has a lot of the furniture and chairs and a good part of the AV stuff already moved in. We have all of the books to move but with the wind and rain coming down they didn’t want to get everything soaked. There are still a lot of boxes left in the gym to be moved. I did get a chance to get some of the AV stuff out of boxes and on shelves or checked out to people (the more they take, the less I have to shelve). I will be barcoding a lot of stuff here because most of the AV stuff is not barcoded. It will take a while but with only about 25 classrooms it won’t be difficult to get it done. Some stuff gets shared because there is not enough for one a piece but everyone is flexible. Already found the ‘tech’ guy who likes to hang onto the Elmo to “make sure it’s not messed around with”. It’s fine because he uses it frequently.
I now have all of the boxes in the library – hundreds of boxes – looks like thousands of boxes. I have to wonder when it will all end. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Baseball
You have not experienced baseball until you have seen a Japanese baseball game! We erroneously thought we were headed to a night of baseball and indeed it was the game we were expecting. The game, as played in Japan, is a totally participatory sport. First ALL of the fans are dressed up in the appropriate colors/clothing/hats or whatever that supports their particular team - all except, of course, the crazy gaijin who don’t know any better. Then, you give each and every one of those crazy fans two bat shaped plastic objects of various sizes from long and skinny to short and fat. Then you add some cheerleaders on the field – complete with pink knee high boots and bright pink pom poms – looking very much like go-go girls. Now you also need the mascots – 2 dinosaurs and a mouse – who dance around with the girls on the field. That, however, is not enough. You also need some cheer leading right up there in the stands – 4 to 6 people, dressed in the appropriate colors, blow whistles to attract the attention of the hords so that they can bang the baseball shaped things together in time to beating drums and the live band. Now, to further attract attention to your side, add a few flags – BIG flags, GIGANTIC flags, between 3 and 6 flags – all being waved to the beat of the aforementioned drums and bands. Add some chants to this and you have just set the stage for the beginning of the game.
They are very civil about their cheering. Each side takes turns cheering their team on when they are the ones up at bat. They are LOUD! They jump around, they sway back and forth, they bang on each other’s bats, they chant louder and louder. It’s actually a wonder that the team members can think at all with the noise level. As the game progressed, the taking turns seemed to diminish and both teams were cheering, frequently at the same time – particularly since it turned out to be a very close game. The notable thing, however, was that there was absolutely NO booing whatsoever from either side. We also noted the total cleanliness of the stands. They even had crew who wiped up spills while the game was in process! Trash was even thrown away (though we did notice that the losing team left some behind, not so the winning team). Absolutely amazing!
They are very civil about their cheering. Each side takes turns cheering their team on when they are the ones up at bat. They are LOUD! They jump around, they sway back and forth, they bang on each other’s bats, they chant louder and louder. It’s actually a wonder that the team members can think at all with the noise level. As the game progressed, the taking turns seemed to diminish and both teams were cheering, frequently at the same time – particularly since it turned out to be a very close game. The notable thing, however, was that there was absolutely NO booing whatsoever from either side. We also noted the total cleanliness of the stands. They even had crew who wiped up spills while the game was in process! Trash was even thrown away (though we did notice that the losing team left some behind, not so the winning team). Absolutely amazing!
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Tokyo
We had our first ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train). The stations have enough of a mixture of romaji and hiragana that it is possible to navigate with minimum help. Having a ticket in Japanese also does wonders because pointing works well, along with lots of arigato- gozaimasu’s and summimasen’s. We’re getting quite good at at least that part. Arriving in Tokyo we discovered that there wasn’t just 1 exit, there were 6! We had no idea which one Kazumi would be at so we headed for the North exit (Kita means north, hence the connection). Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long before she appeared, breathless. She had been hurrying from one to the other to find us. It was still another 15 min. or so to their station and then a 15 min. walk to their home. It sounds like a long time but when you look at the network of cars and roads it’s probably half the time you would have spent driving!
Funabashi is a suburb of Tokyo though I don’t think there was any break whatsoever between the various cities – they simply run together and one side of the street is in one city, the other in the next (much like LA).They live in a very tiny apartment that reminded of us American travel trailers. Everything is compact and no space is overlooked or unused. Extremely efficient though tiny, tiny, tiny. They are saving money so that they can get something much better in the future. Housing is VERY expensive in Japan – much more so than in the US.
We spent Saturday going to Asusaka shrine in Tokyo. It’s a very large shrine with the traditional gate and long, at one time elegant, entrance path up to the actual shrine. It now has the air of a festival with many vendors lining the path, selling their wares and games for the children. We tried the fortune telling – if you get a bad one you can tie it to the tree so that it will take away the bad fortune for you. Jeff’s was very good but I definitely tied mine to the tree with a very secure knot! The shrine itself is fabulous. The details put into the roof tiles and statues and carvings is unbelievable. The center altar piece (for lack of a better word) was totally made of gold, intricately made into tiny shapes and patterns. It was spectacular to see. The splendor and beauty was in sharp contrast to the festival quality outside.
We took off to “Jeff’s town” after that, visiting the area in Tokyo, famous for its electronics. He and Kaz had a wonderful time going in and out of all the stores with electronic marvels and deals that dazzled the eyes. We have decided that the next time we go up there, Kazumi and I are going to go to the zoo while Kaz and Jeff come back to visit the stores.
We went to a 3 generation festival in Chiba. It was very much like a fair in the states with a few major differences.... For a start, the food included squid on a stick, octopus and chocolate covered bananas. They also had a large group of people doing "funny face dancing". They all wore different kinds of masks and danced around on the street. It was great to see!
Funabashi is a suburb of Tokyo though I don’t think there was any break whatsoever between the various cities – they simply run together and one side of the street is in one city, the other in the next (much like LA).They live in a very tiny apartment that reminded of us American travel trailers. Everything is compact and no space is overlooked or unused. Extremely efficient though tiny, tiny, tiny. They are saving money so that they can get something much better in the future. Housing is VERY expensive in Japan – much more so than in the US.
We spent Saturday going to Asusaka shrine in Tokyo. It’s a very large shrine with the traditional gate and long, at one time elegant, entrance path up to the actual shrine. It now has the air of a festival with many vendors lining the path, selling their wares and games for the children. We tried the fortune telling – if you get a bad one you can tie it to the tree so that it will take away the bad fortune for you. Jeff’s was very good but I definitely tied mine to the tree with a very secure knot! The shrine itself is fabulous. The details put into the roof tiles and statues and carvings is unbelievable. The center altar piece (for lack of a better word) was totally made of gold, intricately made into tiny shapes and patterns. It was spectacular to see. The splendor and beauty was in sharp contrast to the festival quality outside.
We took off to “Jeff’s town” after that, visiting the area in Tokyo, famous for its electronics. He and Kaz had a wonderful time going in and out of all the stores with electronic marvels and deals that dazzled the eyes. We have decided that the next time we go up there, Kazumi and I are going to go to the zoo while Kaz and Jeff come back to visit the stores.
We went to a 3 generation festival in Chiba. It was very much like a fair in the states with a few major differences.... For a start, the food included squid on a stick, octopus and chocolate covered bananas. They also had a large group of people doing "funny face dancing". They all wore different kinds of masks and danced around on the street. It was great to see!
Friday, September 03, 2004
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Shopping & Driving
Shopping is cool here. The stores don’t really look very much different than in the US. They even have a 100 yen store – with a much better quality of junk in them. Jeff had wanted a wine glass and they were running ¥800 to ¥1000 ($8 to $10) each everywhere else. The ones in the store were of pretty good quality and he’s delighted. Since we still need more gadgets, we’ll probably be back there on numerous occasions. The shops don’t use large shopping carts the way we do. They use the hand carried baskets and if you don’t want to carry it, there are small carts that you can put the little basket on. It works great. When you check out, they put the stuff into one of those baskets, put a bag on top, and then you go over to a table and pack your own stuff. Quite efficient. There’s also a little tray for the money to be put in. They leave it there until they give you the change. We had tried handing them the money and they really looked at us strangely.
It’s funny the way that the people just keep right on talking to us like we’re gong to suddenly understand them. American tend to just keep getting louder and louder, the Japanese tend to just keep saying it, still softly, but getting more nervous because we’re not responding. I only catch a word or two periodically – not enough for meaningful discussions of any sort. Oh well.
Driving is a trip here. We have a new mantra “to the left” that we repeat at every intersection – especially those pesky right hand turns. On the main roads it’s not too bad. There’s enough traffic to keep cars to follow and we do fine. It’s the little tiny roads that you’re driving down the middle of and then a car comes. The first inclination is to veer right and that’s when the mantra really takes over. There are also light and utility poles right in the street (on the sides). The white line actually goes around them in some cases. You have to pull over to the side to take turns with cars passing. It’s really crazy. Sure wish we had one of the narrower cars. We have a Camry and while it is nice, it’s wide compared to some of the new models here. They have some of the tiniest cars I’ve ever seen – even smaller than ones we saw in Ecuador. The drivers are very courteous and let people in. They do pull out at some crazy times but they count on people slowing down. It’s getting a little easier to get around. Mostly we just drive to school and one of the big stores that is farther away. The mall is on the bus route and there’s a grocery store 2 blocks away so we just walk over – much easier anyway and the parking lot is very tiny anyway. All of the people here back into the parking spots – at home and in the lots. You rarely see a car that just pulls into the spot. I think you could count on those being the gaijin!
It’s funny the way that the people just keep right on talking to us like we’re gong to suddenly understand them. American tend to just keep getting louder and louder, the Japanese tend to just keep saying it, still softly, but getting more nervous because we’re not responding. I only catch a word or two periodically – not enough for meaningful discussions of any sort. Oh well.
Driving is a trip here. We have a new mantra “to the left” that we repeat at every intersection – especially those pesky right hand turns. On the main roads it’s not too bad. There’s enough traffic to keep cars to follow and we do fine. It’s the little tiny roads that you’re driving down the middle of and then a car comes. The first inclination is to veer right and that’s when the mantra really takes over. There are also light and utility poles right in the street (on the sides). The white line actually goes around them in some cases. You have to pull over to the side to take turns with cars passing. It’s really crazy. Sure wish we had one of the narrower cars. We have a Camry and while it is nice, it’s wide compared to some of the new models here. They have some of the tiniest cars I’ve ever seen – even smaller than ones we saw in Ecuador. The drivers are very courteous and let people in. They do pull out at some crazy times but they count on people slowing down. It’s getting a little easier to get around. Mostly we just drive to school and one of the big stores that is farther away. The mall is on the bus route and there’s a grocery store 2 blocks away so we just walk over – much easier anyway and the parking lot is very tiny anyway. All of the people here back into the parking spots – at home and in the lots. You rarely see a car that just pulls into the spot. I think you could count on those being the gaijin!
News from Japan
Oh my gosh! We made it. The flight didn’t seem as long as it was until we hit Tokyo. That was when we realized how late it was – just about midnight. We went through all of the immigration and customs stuff and went through 3 more security checks, and then on to the next flight. It was impressive how quickly they moved a LONG line of people.
Charles Barton, headmaster, and John Gaylord, Elementary/MS principal, met us at the airport in Nagoya and took us to our home. We, of course, automatically stepped to the passenger side. Oh well….It was well after 3:00 am when we finally arrived at our house.
The house! It’s truly magnificent. After we had been warned on numerous occasions to “think small” and that there really wasn’t anything in the way of room in a Japanese house, we are positively in the lap of luxury! It’s fabulous. Here’s a description to go along with the pictures (yet to be posted). The carport is the smallest little carport you’ve ever seen – just barely wide enough for the car to fit (don’t even think about putting the van in it). If you’re not careful, one side or the other is completely blocked. We have a cool little gate that opens up to a concrete with small rocks path up to the front door on the left side of the house. The lawn is our front yard and it’s huge. It’s quite overgrown and what passes as grass here is actually a wide variety of weeds that are cut down to grass level with the smallest lawnmower you’ve ever seen (it’s about 1m wide at the most). Jeff has already planned his deck to wrap around the house to connect the two sliding glass doors that open up 30cm above the ground……..I’ll be happy just to get the weeds mowed down. The doorbell is actually on the gate out front. Visitors ring that and wait for you o respond rather than coming in directly. You get to use the phone to talk to them or invite them in - though it's quite useless when you don't speak Japanese.
The entrance has the lowered area for taking off your shoes and then stepping up to the house itself. Straight ahead is the kitchen/front room. It runs along the right side of the house. The kitchen is in the back of the house and the front room looks out over the yard.
Charles picked us up Tuesday and took us around to some stores for shopping (more about those later) and then up the NIS. I cannot believe this school is going to be ready for us to move into in 20 days! There’s so much left to be done. It is a very ambitious plan and the new renovations and space will allow for more students – though only about 50 at this point. There is a gigantic stack of boxes that are all of the books for the library – it almost fills a classroom. It will be a LOT of work to get them all on the shelves in some semblance of order. It will be interesting. The staff is really nice and they all speak English very well – a big help for us gaijin who can’t say much more than yes, no, excuse me and thank you. We’re looking for a class.
Stay tuned - more to come.
Charles Barton, headmaster, and John Gaylord, Elementary/MS principal, met us at the airport in Nagoya and took us to our home. We, of course, automatically stepped to the passenger side. Oh well….It was well after 3:00 am when we finally arrived at our house.
The house! It’s truly magnificent. After we had been warned on numerous occasions to “think small” and that there really wasn’t anything in the way of room in a Japanese house, we are positively in the lap of luxury! It’s fabulous. Here’s a description to go along with the pictures (yet to be posted). The carport is the smallest little carport you’ve ever seen – just barely wide enough for the car to fit (don’t even think about putting the van in it). If you’re not careful, one side or the other is completely blocked. We have a cool little gate that opens up to a concrete with small rocks path up to the front door on the left side of the house. The lawn is our front yard and it’s huge. It’s quite overgrown and what passes as grass here is actually a wide variety of weeds that are cut down to grass level with the smallest lawnmower you’ve ever seen (it’s about 1m wide at the most). Jeff has already planned his deck to wrap around the house to connect the two sliding glass doors that open up 30cm above the ground……..I’ll be happy just to get the weeds mowed down. The doorbell is actually on the gate out front. Visitors ring that and wait for you o respond rather than coming in directly. You get to use the phone to talk to them or invite them in - though it's quite useless when you don't speak Japanese.
The entrance has the lowered area for taking off your shoes and then stepping up to the house itself. Straight ahead is the kitchen/front room. It runs along the right side of the house. The kitchen is in the back of the house and the front room looks out over the yard.
Charles picked us up Tuesday and took us around to some stores for shopping (more about those later) and then up the NIS. I cannot believe this school is going to be ready for us to move into in 20 days! There’s so much left to be done. It is a very ambitious plan and the new renovations and space will allow for more students – though only about 50 at this point. There is a gigantic stack of boxes that are all of the books for the library – it almost fills a classroom. It will be a LOT of work to get them all on the shelves in some semblance of order. It will be interesting. The staff is really nice and they all speak English very well – a big help for us gaijin who can’t say much more than yes, no, excuse me and thank you. We’re looking for a class.
Stay tuned - more to come.
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