Tuesday in Japan

This afternoon we decided to go to Miyajima island, one of the 3 top sights in Japan.  The island of the gods, this entire island is considered holy ground.  In our first moments on the island, we discovered our welcoming committee.   Simply roaming around enjoying the day:

The signs say not to feed them or touch them-- I tried to follow directions, but somebody needed to tell HIM the rules.  He was very friendly.  I finally gave in and touched him; his antlers were fuzzy and soft!  I apparently did not know that was what antlers felt like before they were dried to bone and hung up in your garage.

We all took the obligatory fan pic-- I think Madeline's is the cutest :)

We saw a traditional Japanese table and cushions (I'm sure they have a proper name, but I obviously don't know them) and we just had to sit down for a pic!

This is my apprehensive face.

We decided to try something new.  We went to the Dr. Fish. So, here we go. Are you ready for this?

This is a bit of info on what we tried.  No matter how hard I try I can't get the darn thing to be landscape.  Sorry...  "It endures though it is ticklish."

These are our apprehensive feet.

The beginning of the swarming.

Okay, then here's a close up of the little fishes trying to eat me.

Ah! We alternated between yelling that this was "so weird!" and "so horrible!" and that it was "the coolest thing ever!"  So I guess that means we're not really sure what we thought of it... :)

On this island is where they make these little pancake sort of things filled with various, erm, fillings.  They're all shaped like a maple leaf and you can buy them all over the world, but they're made here.  Like I said.  Anyway, here's a pic of the machines that make the little leafy things.

And a more finished product.

 

 And the obligatory picture in eating said leafy pancake thing in front of the largest rice paddle in the world. Seriously. Like they checked.

And here we have some beautiful and seriously yummy beef bundles.  Holly loved the dough and I loved the middle, so we made a great pair :)

Learned that this entrance to the holy place and the holy place itself are not actually rooted down, or attached to a foundation but are instead perfectly balanced on the sea bed. As such, they call it the floating shrine.  They do it so that it a severe storm comes the shrine can give way a bit to the weather.  So, the goddess in the shrine will never be touched by water because the building thing will give way with the water if necessary. It's an architectural miracle in my brain. I can't even fathom it.

Maddie rolled out some prayers while we walked up to a temple...

...and I got to ring a really big gong thing...

Maddie was wandering around checking out the temple,

but all she really wanted to do was take a nap on the prayer rug.

I was a little surprised by the feeling of being in a public place without shoes.  It was weird.

Look at me! Look at me!

We did a hike to get to the tram to avoid a hike to get to the top of the mountain. Ya follow?  It was a beautiful view; both the hike and the tram :)

We were really looking forward to seeing the monkeys at the top of the mountain.  Here are some nice signs to prepare us for this adventure.

BaHahahaha!  This was absolutely the best one!  Yes, that leaping monkey has vampiristic teeth.  Here are the other two as well:

"We do not hope to be such a monkey."  These signs are absolutely my favorite.  Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to test these theories of what would happen as a result of staring monkeys in the eyes or whether or not they were interested in our cameras.  They were not out and about that day :(

We spent a bit of time searching for an eternal flame there. It has apparently been burning since the year 539. Seriously?? How can they even call that a year?  Like who hears the number 539 and thinks that it could even possibly be a year?  That's so amazing.  Anyway, back to the flame; we never found it, but the view from the top was pretty beautiful.

The whole way back, however it started pouring and we walked for seriously like a mile or two in the downpour before we got to the car.  I don't understand where they all came from, but suddenly every single native Japanese person had possession of a very useful umbrella.  We, of course, did not.  Poor Madeline got soaked to the bone in her little stroller, despite our best efforts to stay under trees and put stuff over her head.  We were exhausted but happy to say the least at the end of our amazing day in Miyajima!

Monday in Japan

I woke up automatically at 7:45am. Quite surprising to me after my trip, but I was raring to go.

We went by the base and I got my first official tour. It was so interesting! I was captivated by the uniforms and intrigued by the exchange that sold all the best souveniers. So I got a general idea of what trinkets I'd be finding, got some yen, we picked up Scott from work and we were on our way.

We went to this AMAZING sushi place. Seriously amazing. I really should have taken pictures. The chefs stood in the middle of the room. Surrounding them was a conveyor belt about waist high. All the dishes they were making circled the room and we just picked up what we wanted. I tried all sorts of yummy, COOKED sushi and udon noodles.

We went for a crazmazing hike past the Kintai Bridge up Kintai mountain to the Kintai Castle. It was awesome!!!

Holly is seriously such a trooper! She carried her 25 lb baby on her back for the entire 1400m hike. I don't know how long 1400 meters is, but it was steep and fairly taxing. Maddie Sue was a trooper to stick it out too; especially since she was a bit scared of her hiking chair at first.

All the way up we learned important facts from the road signs:

Translation: Watch out for rodents in flame-retardant hats.

Translation: If you want to smoke, put your face really close to the campfire to light your cigarette.

Translation: It's really exciting to jump into the soccer net!

They even had a public drinking bamboo shoot complete with plastic cups!

The view from the top was awesome.

The castle was equally amazing. 

The clock at the top of the hill had this nice fishing boat with the birds. Holly says she thinks it's a famous type of fishing where the fishermen steal the fish from the birds' mouth.  Eww.

These gods have blankets. How nice for them.

Tell me this does not look like an adorable little elf-man. Apparently, this was suuuper disrespectful 'cause I quickly learned he's a god. The hat was not a silly, vandalizing decoration but placed by an adoring follower. Oops.

"Those are huge koi! Look at those cute statues of turtles! Oh, those are real?  It's like the zoo!" -Brittney

Hey, they have music on that monument.

Holly politely informed me BEFORE we took the picture that this was NOT a deity and I could, therefore, pose like an idiot all I wanted.

Then we went to dinner at a place called Cocos. Apparently all the servicemen from base LOVE it there; not gonna lie, it was way yummy curry.  Afterwards we went to a bakery where I discovered the unique softness of Japanese bread: the beginning of my new love affair.

Traveling to Japan

Here's a play-by-play of my trip to Japan.

On my flight to San Fran the lady sitting next to me smiled that "I don't speak English so please don't try to talk to me" smile. I spared her the conversation by promptly passing out. At the end of the flight I was wondering if maybe she spoke Spanish so I tried talking to her- much to her dismay. Ends up she's from the Czech Republic.  Been in the US a grand total of two weeks.  At first I was super shocked but after awhile I realized that probably meant she was a tourist. I may be slow but I catch on eventually.

So SFO airport - that's new for me. I've never flown internationally through there. It was big. And I kinda felt like I was already in Japan. A part of me hoped I would get a nice Japanese/English bilingual row-mate who would teach me some necessary phrases on the way there. Turns out I didn't get my bilingual. But my 10 hour friend was just as good; in fact- probably better.

Name: Rubish.
Pronunciation: German r, oobeesh.
Discovery of this piece of information: Hour 6.
Time it took me to realize it sounded like "rubbish" everytime I said in in my American accent: too long.
Country of origin: Marutius.
Location of this unknown country: Island off the southeast coast of Africa.
Native tongue: Creole.
Other languages spoken: French, English, some Hindi.
Ability to speak English: Better than mine.
Countries of ancestral origin: India and Marutius.
Age: 28.
Height: Approx. 6'2.
Weight: 70kg.
Features: Let's put it this way: I literally almost asked him if I could take a picture of his face simply because it was so pretty.
Lest ye ask me if I was interested, Marital Status: Girlfriend of 3 years.
First embarrassing moment with my new friend:  So, we get our first of two meals on the plane.  We both choose Teriyaki chicken.  It comes with a lovely little salad (okay, bowl of lettuce) and a packet of ranch dressing.  This dressing is in one of those little cups that you tear the lid off of- you know, like creamer?  Well, I start with my salad like a good little girl.  I start pulling off the lid.  It's half-way open, I just decide to give it one more tug.  As I grasp it firmly and begin to tug, the container collapses, which sends it flinging into the air; ranch dressing flying everywhere.  Thankfully (oh my gosh, I don't know what I would have done if it had been otherwise; probably cried and been miserable for the next 8.5 hours) everything flung toward the window rather than toward my seat-mate.  It splattered across the back of the seat in front of me and covered my window.  My hand flew to my mouth and I just stared at my seat-mate in horror.  I don't think he really knew what to say or do. I mean, how often to do you sit on a plane next to a total stranger who is apparently severely incapable (yes Katelyn, I'm trying to delete that other word out of my vocabulary...)?  Finally, as I started giggling he laughed too and wah-lah, instant friendship.  Thank you ranch dressing.
Second EM: I told him I didn't know Hindi was a language.  He later mentioned it is the prominent language in India.  India is not a small place.  Maybe I already knew that?
Third EM: Flight Hour 6. Rubish points to the window in front of us, where some ranch dressing had dried to a yellow crust.  Mortified.

After forever we get to the Tokyo Airport.  So my baggage claim ticket said "Arizona" and "Hiroshima." I figured this meant that my luggage was somehow, automatically being beamed (Star Trek style) to Hiroshima. How nice for me. As I went through customs and deciphered the broken English of the officer, he seemed to think my purse was not sufficient luggage for 2 weeks in Japan. I wandered back to find my luggage, solitary and destitute in a dark corner of the airport.  I prayed a pretty long prayer of gratitude that it didn't get lost/I didn't leave it in Tokyo.

Holly, Scotty and Maddie met me at the airport. Weirdly, they weren't allowed in the baggage claim area and I wasn't allowed out until I'd gotten my luggage. So we had to stare at each other awkwardly through a glass door for awhile til the bags came.  We had about an hour drive home for me to get accustomed to the fact that people were driving on the wrong side of the road... Thank goodness I wasn't driving :)

GRADUATION!!!!

I graduated!!!  ASU 2010 baby!

 I was pretty stoked, and the best part was having some of my family there! 

 Mom and Dad sacrificed their last few hours before Costa Rica to come, and both of my sisters and brothers-in-law were there.  Missed you Kade and Amber!  The Votaw girls even sat through the late evening boring ceremony. My family is so nice to me!  

  All the MLMC girls found each other so we could try to walk together.  It was a blast to catch up! 

California

 K, so as soon as school was over I hopped in the car with the Votaws and joined them for their Cali vacation.  It was a blast! 

We played on the beach,

We even got to go SAILING!

   They are so sweet to bring me along for fun vacations!

Why I Laugh P3

So today a girl named Stephany helped me do some small task (pass out papers or something to that effect).  I said quite casually, "Thanks Steph."  A little boy a few seats down from her, Jose, asked, "Why did you just call her 'Steph'?"  I easily explained, "It's just a nickname for Stephany, it means the same thing as calling her by her full name if she's okay with it."  He said, with little recognition of just how humorous it actually was, "So what are you going to call me?  Jos? (pronounced as English word 'hose.')"

Knock Knock; Who's There?

So for the last year I've been hearing this strange sound out my window in the mornings. Like knocking, but inconsistent.  Knock, knock......knock......................knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock................. and so on.  It would wake me up, I would get annoyed and look out my window, but I could never figure out what it was.  Finally, it occurs to me.

There's a woodpecker in my palm tree.What the heck??  Do woodpeckers even LIKE palm trees?  Do woodpeckers even LIVE in GILBERT?????

Pull out the Passport

I booked my flights to Japan today.  I get to go visit my cousin Holly and her cutie family and my Tiffani friend!!! I am SO excited for an adventure. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Happy graduation to me!!!! =)

Why I Laugh P2

I don't know if I already told this story, because it happened a few weeks ago.  I was taking my class out to lunch and a little girl had on these HUGE sunglasses.  They were humongous.  And she was trying to keep them on at all costs.  When I looked at her I thought, "Wow- those are really gaudy."  Then my next thought was, "that kind of looks like the style I wear."  I asked her where she got them, and she said they were hers.  I thought that was a strange answer, thought momentarily that..... but no, it couldn't be... Then I realized she was wearing MY sunglasses.  I asked her again where she got them and she answered, "They're MINE."  I looked at her and with all the risk of sounding like a two year old said, "No, they're MINE."  And I took them back.  She said someone had handed them to her off their desk and told her they were hers.  She hadn't argued, in fact, she'd adopted them quite readily...

Why I Laugh in Second Grade

I was counting to the "magic number" so the kids had time to be ready to move on.
Me- "Uno............... dos..................."
My monolingual Spanish student (L) who is just now learning how to be involved in class shouts out,  "TRES!!!!"
Me- "Gracias Larry."


I'm drawing a leaf quickly on the board to show the kids where the nervio central principal is located.  I tend to talk to myself, and often aloud.  I say to myself, "well that doesn't really look like a great leaf, but whatever."
From behind me I hear a small voice call out, "It's okay Miss. Greer, we all try our best."
BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!


C comes up to me when she's supposed to be working independently and gives me a hug.  This is not uncommon behavior for her.  Then she looks up at me and says, "It's okay Miss. Greer, don't cry."  (Another girl, L, walks up at this point)  I laugh and say, "Oh my gosh, did I look like I was going to cry?"  C says, "yeah, a little bit."  L interjects, "No, you just looked like you were going to fall asleep."  (A much more accurate observation.)


I was trying quickly to draw a horse on the board (I know, my spur of the moment artistic efforts all end the same way)...  I (again) say something to myself about the quality of my drawing.  This time L calls out to just do my best and it'll be okay.  A calls out that she can draw a GREAT horse.  5 students gang up on A and tell her that Miss. Greer is doing just fine and that all we need to do is our best.  They were pretty sweet to defend my pride :)


While talking about the horse and its harness, I momentarily stopped concentrating on my speaking and told them that the horse had "ropa" on.  For those of you who don't know, that means clothes.  They looked at me funny and I realized my mistake.  "UNA CUERDA! UNA CUERDA!!!"  Oh my.


Often when counting to the magic number I lose track, or get distracted because I'm multitasking (not my strength :)   So one day I'm counting to the magic number starting at 25 and going up to 35.  I think I say "25...................26.......................27......................................................................................................."  I begin helping a student with a question they'd asked me.  All the sudden in my subconscious I hear my monolingual Spanish L running to the front of the room calling "28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35!" As quickly as he can.  Then he proceeds to ring my bell that I have in the front of the room that acts as an "eyes on me" signal.  I was dying inside- it was hilarious.


I was reading the kids a book today about a pioneer family.  They were obsessed with the family's dog.  No matter what was happening in the story, with every page turn they'd raise their hand and ask a question about the dog.  Why did the dog have to walk behind?  Why didn't the dog ride in the wagon?  Why didn't they tie him up?  Why did he want to come with?  What did the dog eat if he got hungry?  Wasn't the dog tired?  Where did the dog sleep?  Where is the dog in this picture?  I can't see the dog!  Okay, so endearing as that may seem, it began detracting from the story I was reading them.  I finally said in Spanish, almost exasperated that the dog was fine.  He got fed, he got taken care of, he did what he wanted, when he wanted to.  I told the kids we weren't going ask any more questions about the dog.  A little girl raised her hand.  I called on her.  "Why doesn't the dog just ride the horse?"