Skating In Places We Never Thought We Would

Well, once again we found ourselves in a strange and unforgettable situation.  I'm glad this blog is here so I won't forget it.  

We went skating Japanese style, complete with silly molded skate rentals and a curry ramen noodle snack bar.  Mandy managed to rent some beat up old hockey skates to cruise around in.  I begged to be pushed around in a chair thing, but nobody would push it.  Just jokes, i didn't beg...

Some of Mandy's kind adult students offered to take us in a van to a skating rink right beside the sea.  
It was hilarious, fresh, and the view was beautiful.  Little green mountains and the sea with islands.
This is Hiroko, who required a little assistance to get going on her skates.  We rescued her from an afternoon of clinging to the railing.  After a while, she was doing well on her own.  
Left to right: Masaki, Hiroko, Mandy, Aya, Orie (who manages one of our schools), and Fukashi.  All very lovely people.  
I was standing on skates in the rink when i took this picture of the ocean.  The mystery for me was how the rink ice ever formed in the first place.  it was well above zero.  
Top to bottom:  Mandy's skates and my skates.  mine had toe picks and the spiky heel blade.  I stumbled and nearly fell a few times, RIGHT ON MY HEAD.

I'm glad, especially for Mandy, that we were able to have this little adventure.  I know she misses hockey sometimes.  Our hosts were very impressed with her smooth agility on the skates.  and so fast!  Hayai de su yo!

Meeting with a Famous Artist

We've been having very beautiful, warm, unseasonable weather lately, so we've been enjoying the fresh air wafting into the apartment.  Kelly's been visiting and we've had a lot of fun with her; on friday night, we had some people over for snacks, and we ended up playing card games until the wee hours of the morning.  i haven't played cards in ages.  

Mr. Adachi really wants Kelly to work for ACC, near us, in Nagoya.  last night he took us out for food to talk shop, and now we're all eagerly awaiting her decision...

Yesterday, our friends picked all three of us up at our apartment, and took us out for a day of fun and some amazing encounters.  first, we went to Nishio, to the home of a world-famous bamboo artist, to view a private exhibition.  How many tourists get to do such things?  we are very blessed to have had this opportunity.  his name is Torii Ippou (pronounced Ippo), and if you get a book about modern bamboo masters, he's likely to be in there.  he spoke only Japanese, but one of his grandchildren lives in California, and she did some translation for us.  

Here is a bit of his work.  he is famous for these amazing, swirling pieces that look like decorous roller-coaster tracks and ocean waves.  i can't think why i never got a better photo of them.  you can see some amazing examples of his work here:

http://www.textilearts.com/bamboo/toriiippo.html
Here are his granddaughters.  the one in black is the translator.  the other two were silent, but seemed pleased to meet some strange foreigners.  i got the camera out and, with only the slightest gesture to them, they instantly made this pose.  it happened in about 1 second!  they must be well-photographed. 
Here is the whole gang.  the three foreigners got to sit with Mr. Ippou, and behind, from the right, are Mr. Ippou's daughter (who works with our friend-hence the connection), then our three friends, Michiko, Hiro, and Yukari, and the four grandchildren.  we had tea and goodies.
here's a shot of us in the sun, near a garden we visited after we left the artist's house.  it was a beautiful day, as you can tell by Mandy's lack of jacket and her obvious enjoyment of the sun.

then we went for curry, which was very tasty, and then to a ceramics mall!  we bought a few little tiny items, but nothing big.  it was nice to see the local fare.  mostly, the region is famous for those little teapots that have a sieve inside... you know the ones i mean?

Nagano!

This is Mandy, my darling wife, standing beside one of the gondolas at Nozawa Onsen ski resort, where some of the 1998 olympic events took place.  this place was amazing!  we had fresh powder to shred all day.  
i had never been on a gondola before, at least i can't remember having been, and we crowded on with six other people, to the top.  it seems that Japanese people don't like powder and fresh snow, because they stick to the groomed runs where everybody else is.  
on a lift.  Mandy and i rented goggles.  our friend Kelly came to meet us there!  she lives in Yamagata, up north.  
Just over the edge of that flat, by the trees, is a whole valley of fresh powder we tipped into.  it was super fun.
this is just one of the local hot spring bath houses.  most of them are free!  we went to this one, and found that the water was nearly boiling.  but it took our aches and pains away.  

now, Kelly is visiting us at our apartment for about a week.  our boss, Mr. Adachi, is trying to woo her to work for him in this area.  it would be pretty fun to have a friend nearby.  

it was great to breathe crisp cold air again, and to be in snow.  i never knew i could miss snow.  

Into 2009

The holidays this year were unlike any other for us.  Being married, living outside Canada, no family gatherings, and so on really made for strange feelings. 

Tyler and Misty's visit added a familiar twang to everything, though, and even though we were in non-stop travel mode, it was a good, relaxing time.  

An added bonus was that we connected with the excellent Solheim's!  We met up in Tokyo with Tara and Krista, and they showed us around.  In good Tokyo fashion, we ate Hawaiian burgers and Thai food, and saw the possibly craziest department store on the planet.  

And as another added bonus, this was the weather we had for pretty much the entire holiday.  Ueno station in Tokyo is massive, and there's a really lively shopping street nearby.
As a further added bonus, Kelly Krupski (yes, THE Kelly Krupski) arrived in Japan, and we got to go meet her at the airport (an adventure all in itself), and hang out with her in Tokyo for a little while.  It was great to see another familiar friend in this strange land, Mandy was very impressed.
The park in Harajuku is full of people.  People performing 'cosplays' (which, to our slight disappointment, consisted of strangely dressed kids standing around text messaging, and posing for photos), people practicing their craft (we saw a man with a bullwhip whipping the air repeatedly.  Tara and Krista said he does it for hours on end, daily), and rivers of people watching all the action.  
Sittin' on a low chain, chewin' on a, sushi roll... (any Mississippi Gary fans out there?)

We watched for a while on the famous Harajuku bridge, and then, after meeting up with Krista and Tara again, we went for burgers.  

And now you know, some more of the story.

At Home

It was a nice Christmas holiday we had.  Two weeks of touring around and relaxing is a good way of forgetting about work.  Today is Wednesday, and Mandy's at work already.  She made a really good chicken gumbo soup yesterday and we had it for lunch today with some multi-grain bread i luckily found; i say luckily because it's a rare thing to find a loaf of multi-grain bread in Japan, in my experience.  Usually, bread comes in bags of 4, 6, or sometimes 8 slices.  But i've found a good bakery i visit each friday before work at which to buy good loaves of bread.  

Trivia, trivia, what else?  I've been practising guitar lately, and i really like it.  Mandy's been knitting up hurricanes, and now when i go out i'm clad, cozy in her products.  

The blogger site apparently doesn't like my spelling of "practising".  i was taught that the  's' in there stands for 'singing', which one could be practising, as opposed to "practicing" medicine or something.  Am i wrong, or is blogger wrong?  i'll have to look it up later.

Mandy's parents confirmed a visit for March 5th until the 28th!  We're excited to have them here.  If anyone else fancies a visit to the far east, now's your chance.  Except it's really tough because the yen is so powerful these days.  

Have a good one! 

Foreigner Fun

Osaka has a very famous castle (it's the single most visited sight in all of Japan - some say that's because it's the only thing to see in all of Osaka), and near the grounds is a kind of park.  We saw these hilarious people doing a "cos-play" (costume play), dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland.  The one guy collapsed at one point, but he got up and boogied again.  They were well-choreographed, but we couldn't hear any music, so it was extra funny because we could hear their feet, and their laughter.

They were videotaping it, but i don't know why.
Subway rides can be quite a relief from all the walking.  Misty and Tyler found seats, which is the key.  Tyler and i bought samurai headbands, and whenever we wore them, people laughed at...no, WITH us.  They asked us whether we knew what they meant, and we said 'yes'.  i guessed that it was the equivalent of a Japanese person coming to Canada and wearing around a coon-skin hat or snow shoes or something.  some people thought it was cool/amusing.

Tyler's means "victory", and mine means "fighting spirit".  Combining the two powers, we were invincible!  Basically, i did all the work and he got the glory.
This is the mountain that Mandy and i climbed up on our first visit to Kyoto.  The shape in the hillside is called 'dai', which means 'strength', and there are three shapes like this around the city.  Every year, during a certain festival, they light fires along the shapes and it's supposed to look amazing.  We'd like to come back for that.  
We bought noodles and okonomiyaki in Kyoto from a street-side vendor.  I really liked that okonomiyaki.  it's like an omelet/pancake with stuff inside and sauce on top.  We ate in front of a little temple.  Temples are everywhere in Kyoto.
There was a restaurant which, for some reason, had antique waterskis on the front of the building.  They reminded me of waterskiing.... so i took a picture....  

plus, look at the scooter!  

By the way, we are now back at work, almost done our first week of the new  year.  It's been ok, but somehow it's a little lackluster.  It takes some effort to keep it fresh.  No matter where you are or what you are doing, you have to accept ups and downs.  I'm pretty confident that that is a fact of life.  Just because you go to a new, exciting country, doesn't mean that everything you do is superfun.  But a lot of things are.  Sometimes, the classes get tiresome.  I don't know how teachers do it for 30+ years.  Maybe you just get used to it.  Oh ya, look who's talking...it's the guy who has never done the same thing for more than a year in a row.  Spoiled brat.

Our friend Kelly arrived in Japan!  She's working as a teacher up north in the colder, mountainous area, where she can snowboard on weekends.  We picked her up from Narita airport outside Tokyo late at night and had an unexpected taxi-ride.  It's all adventure out here.

Did i mention to have a look at that scooter?

Linky link

I haven't found the way to add videos to the blog yet, so i uploaded a little clip to youtube, of our shinkansen (bullet train) ride to Kyoto this Christmas.  

so check it out!

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ajLQM5ibU