August 2004
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2004 — Buying, but less
Sally and I briefly wondered the Tumon Bay shops but didn’t really find anything of interest — mostly expensive, brand-name shops. I went into a convenience store and bought some Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. They were sweetened with the knowledge that I probably would not get to eat them again for several more months.
We hopped a bus back to the mall, where Sally managed to pay for a drink with her remaining change, including a hefty number of pennies. She wasn’t used to American change, so she’d just hand all her coins to me to count out. We bought tickets to two MORE movies — I, Robot and King Arthur. I wasn’t going to let this cheap-movie-viewing opportunity pass me by! For lunch, I had some side dishes from Kentucky Fried Chicken — which admittedly, we have in Tokushima, although I’ve never been in it here. I went to the bookstore (of course) and ended up buying a new journal.
After the movies, I got a haircut. By the time my JET time is up, I really will have never gotten my hair cut in Japan. Bought some cookies at that cookie store, that one that sells the giant cookies. They were scrumptious! I had peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and Snickerdoodle cookies. I had to explain to Sally what Snickerdoodles were. For dinner, I grabbed a sandwich at Subway. It was like I was back home in Texas!
We packed that night. Sally had to brave The Shell. While she was cringingly washing it out in the hotel sink, she brought it up to her nose to smell if any residual odor was still there. At that exact moment, I had been about to say, “What if something fell out while you were washing it?” but then I saw her hold it up to her nose so I ended up making a strangled noise instead and Sally freaked out and screamed, thinking something HAD come out of it. The whole thing happened in seconds but it was so funny I collapsed to the floor in laughter.
Our flight left at a horrendously early time the next day, which meant waking up even more horrendously early.
Bye, bye America. See you in a few more months.
Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 — Wet welcome
My family came to Japan on the same night that Typhoon No. 11 blew over the country. Having been out of the country myself and only recently returned, I had no idea. I hopped the bus to Kansai International Airport expecting to get there almost an hour before their arrival. The traffic instead coupled with the rain to make me an hour late, proving that the Japanese transportation can, indeed, actually go off-schedule.
I was so happy to see my family after so long. The bus ride had been interminable but seeing them made it all better. On the bus ride back, everyone fell asleep except my mom. Her first view of Osaka was of the chemical plants. Haha, she and my dad both work at chemical plants so they were pretty impressed by the size of the plants.
By the time we got to Tokushima, the typhoon was drenching the city. Sheets and sheets of rain. We took a train to my station. I’d warned my family that when the train pulled up to my stop, we’d have to be quick about getting ourselves and the luggage off. I didn’t emphasize this enough and as I pulled a bunch of suitcases off with my mother and grandmother, I watched in horror as the doors closed before letting my sister and dad off. My dad tried tugging the doors open, but no such luck. Because it was raining so hard, the conductor wasn’t even bothering to get off the train to collect tickets, so he’d not seen that we were still getting off.
It wasn’t that bad, really — my dad and sister could have just gotten off at the next stop and I would go get them. But STILL, I was pretty anxious, what with having to watch out for the luggage and my mom and grandmother and having to deal with the driving rain. Luckily, someone must have noticed, because the doors opened and let my dad and sister off. Whoo!
We had to run across the way to the hotel. By the time we got there, we were drenched. So drenched. I checked them into the hotel and then went to my apartment with my sister who’d be staying with me. My parents had brought goodies for me and I spent that evening going through the stuff they’d brought (as well as my birthday present!) and doing some catching up with my parents, who came over later, once they’d dropped off their stuff at the hotel. They'll be here until just after Awa Odori. Yattosa! Yattosa!
Thursday-Friday, Aug. 5-6, 2004 — Introducing Tokushima
Here are some pictures that my sister took when I brought the family to the Tokushima Station area for a bit. I also brought her and our mom to a calligraphy lesson.
Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 7-8, 2004 — Hiroshima and Miyajima
I took my family to Hiroshima, a four-hour bus ride away, to see the Peace Park. Then we ventured to the island of Miyajima to see its famous floating shrine.
Tuesday-Wednesday, Aug. 10-11, 2004 — Kyoto
The family visits Kyoto and sees a million temples. At least.
Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004 — Nara
We move on to Nara, where we find the rarest of finds: a Vietnamese restaurant!
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2004 — Awa Odori, Round 2
My family watches Tokushima’s famous dance. I am so happy they get to see this wonderful festival, even if it meant coming in the draining heat of summer.
Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004 — I get to wear a yukata!
Kurohashi-sensei, my calligraphy teacher, GAVE me a yukata. Wow! The best gift EVER from Japan! I got to wear it during tea ceremony practice. It’s hard to breathe and bend at the waist when wearing an obi wrenched as tight as it will go around your torso.
Monday, Aug. 29, 2004 — Bad, BAD blogger!
I am slowly working my way through a truckload of digital pics that I've amassed since the end of July. I've posted some pictures I got from Sally of the Easter Party back in April that we both did with pre-schoolers. I also updated a couple of picture sections with an added photo or two: student interview tests (June 30, 2004); school lunches (July 1, 2004) Open-Mic Night (July 2, 2004); rafting (July 4, 2004); and the JET sayonara party (July 10, 2004).
In addition, I've begun working on posts about my summer vacation, which ran from July 23-Aug. 2. This is what happens when I go to school but find no students because of the typhoon (No. 16, in case you're counting) so I have no lessons but I'm stuck at school all day.