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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Soaking In The Onsen
We have been having some interesting times on our trip here in Japan and learning a lot about a culture that is so truley different than our own. I'm not sure that two weeks is even remotely long enough to even start to get a taste of what Japanese culture is all about. Sandi has, fortunately, been able to get more of a handle on it and it has been helpful to hear things from her perspective. The people here are very friendly and have a quiet sense of honor and helpfulness that is so uncommon in our western society. They love to go out of their way to help you in any way that they can and their dedication to service is commendable. Yesterday we had a chance to tour one of the schools that Sandi teaches at and saw her in action. We had a great time talking to the students and watching them practice their english on us. We had a meal with them and it was great. We also saw them preparing for their graduation ceremony as it is currently the end of the school year here. Amazingly they will get a week off and then start the next term. Tonight we attended Sandi's last adult english class and we had such a good time. Sandi certainly has a way of getting people involved and it was a joy to see all the students joining in with the activities and games she had come up with. But the people are not the whole mystique of the orient. There seems to be such a quiet efficiency about the place. Everything has a place and everything is in it's place. Everything from the condition of the highways and roads down to the individual houses seems to be immaculate, but you never see anyone working on stuff, it just seems to be here. And there is such an efficient usage of space. There are things tucked away into every corner of the country side. Of course, everything here is much smaller. Many of the cars are very tiny, to fit on the tiny roads which wind here and there through the town and up and down the mountainsides like wayward vines. At the end of the day yesterday we were able to relax in the onsen or hot spring. This is a favourite pastime of the Japanese and for good reason. Soaking in nice warm mineral spring water is very soothing and warming. We are planning to go back. So far the trip has been very relaxing as Dianne and I have had a chance to just lounge around a bit while Sandi is at work. This weekend things will heat up, though as we plan to take the train to Hiroshima and then to the island of Mia Jima. On the way back we are going to stop in Kyoto to do some sight seeing and a bit of shopping before returning to Sandi's. Towards the end of next week we are trying to figure out a way to get to Tokyo before we have to head back to Canada. Sunday, March 23, 2008
First Post From Japan
It's a rainy Monday morning here in Japan, a great time to get caught up on a bit of housekeeping. Sandi is away at work and Dianne and I decided to lounge around in bed a bit to try and shake off the jet lag from Friday. Everything went well with the flight, we caught our connection OK and other than being a very long flight we survived it intact. We arrived in Nagoya at around 2:15 local time and Sandi was there to greet us after we went through baggage claim and security where they fingerprint you and take your picture. We had some challanges getting out of Nagoya as Sandi was a little unsure of the route and the tollways here are insane. It doesn't help that the highway signs are all in Japanese either and the maps are just as useless. Nonetheless, we managed to find our way home and arrived at Sandi's cute little Japanese house as it was getting dark. After unloading the bags we relaxed with a cup of tea before finally falling into bed. Yesterday, Sunday, we were up early and headed off to church for Easter Sunday service. The service was in the house of a pastor and we were the only congregation. It was a lovely service, though, and we were treated to a traditional Japanese lunch provided by the pastor's wife afterwards. It was back to Sandi's after that where we met up with a few of Sandi's friends who were dying to meet us and we all drove to a little town called Takayama for coffee. We had a delightful time getting to know everyone and before we left that town we went to a Japanese equivilent of Canadian Tire where some of the girls bought some tropical fish. It took a couple of hours as we were introduced to the Japanese way of doing things, what the girls call the "process" where in order to do anything, you had to first plan it all out, decide who was going to do what, when and where and then proceed to replan it all over again. After circling through the tool section for the third time I finally saw that they were ready to go and so off we went, with plastic bags full of goldfish and happy smiles on the girl's faces. By the time we got home, had a bite to eat and viewed some video of Sandi's trips we were beginning to fade again, so we called it a night and as the rain pouned on the roof we dropped off to sleep. So now we are just showering and getting ready and we will decide if we are brave enough to venture outside on our own. Thursday, March 20, 2008
We're Ready To Go
Here's a quick posting before we head off on our trip. It's now Thursday evening and I think we are ready to go. All the bags are packed and weighed and I believe we have taken care of all the last minute details. I suppose it would be a good idea to get to bed pretty soon as we have to be up by 4:00 tomorrow morning in order to be at the airport by 5:00. Our flight leaves around 7:00 so we have to be there a couple of hours early. We had a chat with Sandi last night and she was telling us how excited she was and all the things she has planned for us. Anyway, we are finally going and we are totally looking forward to it. I had my last physiotherapy session this afternoon and will be returning to work the week we get back from Japan. I have to go and see the physiotherapist once more after I have been back to work about a week to assess how the transition is going and I may require two more assessments after that, depending on how things are. But that is down the road a ways. Right now we are just going to concentrate on having a good time on our trip. Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I Think I'm Turning Japanese (I Really Think So)
It's Tuesday night and only 2 more sleeps until the BIG TRIP! Everything is falling into place and we are just about ready to go. The Yen arrived from Calgary and the rail passes arrived from Vancouver and I am picking them up tomorrow and even the car is fixed and we will pick that up tomorrow too. I have two days left of physio and tomorrow my therapist is going to decide if I'm rehabilitated enough to go back to work and we both figure I am so after my two week holiday, during which I promised I would be a good little boy and diligently do my exercises, I will be back at work. I will probably go for some reassessments down the road but for the most part I think I am good to go. Sandi posted a video on Facebook telling everyone we were coming and how excited she is. Of course we are very excited to be seeing her and all her friends and students as well. It sounds like it will be a busy time as everyone wants to cram in as much traveling and sightseeing as possible and now that we have the rail passes that will be all the more possible. The passes only cost us $277 each for 7 days which is very reasonable. The train trip to Hiroshima alone is $300. So if we make it down to Tokyo or at least Kyoto the passes will have paid for themselves. We have some long flights ahead of us so I crammed the 2 gig memory card on my Blackberry full of podcasts and jazz CD's, so I am set. Dianne is taking her iPod with her with all her podcasts and favorite music so we will be a couple of tech junkies as we land in Japan, technology heaven. I will try to post reports on the blog from Japan as our adventure unfolds and will even try to get some video on. So stay tuned.... Saturday, March 15, 2008
Counting Down
So here is the update on the last week or so. I went to see my surgeon on Tuesday and he has given me a clean bill of health. He says the bones are mending nicely and that I have done a good job of recovering my range of motion. I am basically fit to go back to work but I have to take it easy and continue working on getting my strength back in that arm which I am doing with my physiotherapy and my at home exercises. We are less than a week away from our big trip. This time next week I will be writing to you from Sandi's house in Giro. Preparations for the trip are coming along although we have run into a couple of snags. Two weeks ago we went to our bank to order $3000 in Japanese Yen which has to be sent from Calgary and therefore takes about a week. I went in this Tuesday to pick it up only to discover that they had made a mistake in Calgary and had only sent us $300 worth! I was pretty irate as we are leaving on Friday. They got on the phone immediately with Calgary and made arrangements to have the remainder sent up as soon as possible which will be Tuesday. Cutting it fine! Then we had decided to purchase rail passes for Japan as we would be doing a lot of traveling around and the trains are expensive there. We went to AMA today to pick them up only to discover that the passes have to come from Vancouver and that they were closed today. So first thing Monday morning I have to go back and order the passes and will probably have to pay extra to have them couriered here in time. Don't they do anything locally anymore??!! Nonetheless, we are getting pretty excited about going on our newest adventure to a strange country. Of course, the biggest highlight will be seeing Sandi, in person, again. There is no word on when the car will be done but I am going to give them a call on Monday as I think they have been at least looking at it. The estimator called last week to say they had to add an item to the parts list as he had overlooked some damage to the cowling when he did the estimate. So with that and some other running around we have to do it looks like it will be a busy week. Dianne is going to be working two days and I have physio every day so Friday is going to come in no time. Our flight leaves just before 8:00am so I think we will have to be at the airport by 6:00am, an early start to what promises to be a very long day. Monday, March 10, 2008
Spring Thaw
So I took the car in for the estimate on Thursday and it turns out we have a $1400 repair bill on our hands. That's to replace the hood, hinges and hood latch, paint, undercoat and clear coat the hood and blend the fenders. We are not amused. The earliest they could book it was after Easter but after a bit of hummin' & hawin', they decided to take the car right then and would try and sneak it in during a lull in the action so that it wouldn't be sitting around in their lot until after we come back from holidays. Since the car was not drivable I agreed and left it there. Now we are trying to make do with one vehicle until Dianne starts her holidays which means I have been having to drive her back & forth for work as I have needed the car for physio. We thought about dragging the truck out from behind the garage but after looking at the banks of snow we would have to clear to get it out we decided it was not worth it and we could get by for one more week. Dianne is off all next week so it should work out OK. Tomorrow I go for my next and hopefully last appointment with my orthopedic surgeon to see how things are progressing on the bone mending front. Hopefully things are going well unless I've managed to yank ten pins and screws and a caterpillar dozer blade out of position in my elbow. I am hoping he will release me from wearing my arm brace which is driving me crazy (when I do wear it). Things are going well with pysio and I have almost all my range of motion back. I'm about half an inch from being able to touch my shoulder with my left hand. It's still a bit tender in places and is a bit achy when I push it too hard, but I am getting my strength back and can do most things normally. I have one more official week of therapy after this one and then we will have to assess if more is necessary when we return from Japan, but I don't have to worry about showing up for work again until we get back. We are really starting to get excited about our trip and have started to make our list of stuff to pack. Sandi has booked us into a hotel for an overnight trip to Hiroshima on the weekend we will be there. We are also thinking about what other excursions we might want to take and are looking into perhaps buying an unlimited rail pass for a week. The snow is almost gone from our south facing front yard and the temperatures have been very balmy. But we know better than getting too comfortable just yet as it is only the beginning of March and there will probably be another good dump of snow before everything is said and done. Monday, March 03, 2008
It's time for another quick update before I dash off to physio. This weekend we went to the bank to order the Japanese Yen we will be taking to spend on our trip. Yes, you have to order it and it takes about a week to get here. They don't just have that stuff hanging around. We then went out and found what we think will be the desk for my new edit suite. Yes, I have decided to buy one instead of build one as I can't seem to get my act together to do the building and besides, I really don't have time to build. I need to get this edit suite up and running as soon as possible. So we have found a desk and once we prepare the room we will order it. I also bought a new office chair and it is sweet. It is a nice black leather high back chair that is very comfy. I have decided to move my office to our workout room as it is a bit more roomy and has a window (and heat).So we will be repainting it ASAP and putting some new lighting in before we get the desk. I am just waiting till my income tax refund comes before I go and buy all the equipment I need for this project, but it will be a lot. Starting to get excited. Dianne had a little problem yesterday. She accidentally left the hood of her car unlatched and as she was driving to church it caught the wind and flipped up into the windshield. She was able to stop OK and didn't hit anything and thank goodness the windshield didn't shatter. But she had to limp back home with a bent up hood that was attached to the car by only one hinge. Today I went to get an estimate on the damage and get it booked in for repair but the body shop is so backed up that I had to make an appointment for Thursday just for an estimate! Goodness knows how long it will be before we can get it fixed. I think I'm going to phone around to a few more body shops tomorrow to see if we can get it in sooner. Well, its less than three weeks away from our departure for the land of the rising sun. We are starting to get an idea of what we need to take but have not yet started to pack. But it's starting to get exciting.
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