The Week Before Crazy Was...
CRAZY!Though it could not hold a flame to its successor, my mom's first week here in Japan was a gongshow in its own right.
As mentioned, we returned from Tokyo and attended my staff dinner party on Sunday. We arrived home exhausted and zonked out early. Monday morning my mom attended my classes... or should I say took over my classes! haha! Actually, I was more than enthusiastic when my mom volunteered to help teach, and she did a fabulous job! The kids were all awed by witnessing the miracle of not one, but TWO gaijin in one room!
After briefly stopping home to collect a pack, Mom and I headed to Tsukuba for the day. Our first stop: the Ushiku Daibutsu, otherwise known as Freaking Huge Buddha. As it was my third visit to the buddha, I refrained from taking a grillion photos. Despite being my third visit however, I somehow managed to get lost between Ushiku and Tsukuba, and as such we missed our opportunity to visit the International Foods Store at Tsukuba Center Mall. Instead we went directly the cinema. We stopped at a terrific Italian place for some Crab Rose Spagetti and then viewed the tightly-wound third installment of Mission Impossible. There isn't a minute of downtime in that whole movie!!
Monday night at approximately 11pm, my mom commenced her Kyoto adventure. After boarding the nightbus I had booked her on weeks before, it was all downhill... figuratively, I mean. She had some difficulty finding the locations of tourist attractions in Kyoto and battled about a grillion other people who were also trying to use the public transit system. What's more, likely because there are three hotels in the central Kyoto area that have similar names (they are, in fact, owned by the same company), it took her about two hours, and the assistance of numerous friendly Kyotans to find her hotel. Once there, even worse news arrived...
Despite the intense 35+ degree weather, someone had put out a typhoon warning. In my experience typhoons are nothing more than a spot of rain, as was the case this time. Actually, Mom said the sunshine was unfailing while she was in Kyoto. Nonetheless, the friend who helped me book her buses phoned on Tuesday night to tell me that her return bus had been cancelled because there was to be a typhoon. Uh-oh. Not only had that night's and the following night's buses been cancelled, but the two night's buses afterward were booked solid. Wah-wah-waaaaah. In the end, Mom hopped a Shinkansen back to Ibaraki which took half the travel time and cost double the price.
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Since she was back early, we switched Karaokefest to Wednesday, from Thursday. Prior to going I got a rather long-winded lecture:
M: Crystal, once we are there, DO NOT make me sing. Please.
C: What?! You have to sing. It's karaoke.
M: I will NOT sing. Don't embarass me by trying to make me.
C: Whatever. Everyone sings at karaoke. It's contagious.
M: Not me. I'm a horrible singer and will not be singing, so don't try to make me.
C: Ok Mom. Whatever you say...
It took about 10 minutes and one Shibori Nama Grapefruit Chu-hi before I started noticing the microphone hanging out in Mom's hand. Phfft. Not singing... that's what everybody says!
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Thursday I had the day off. We were supposed to go to Nikko, a renowned shrine-town. Frankly, I'm all shrined-out, and it didn't take long for my mom to get to that state too. There are a LOT of shrines in Japan. So we skipped Nikko and headed instead to Sanuma Sun Beach in Shimotsuma, a neighbouring city. I had never been to the Sun Beach, but anything involving water in this weather (daily around 37 degrees, plus humidity) sounds good; even better when that water involves waterslides. As it turns out, we chose pretty much the only day of the summer that the Sun Beach was closed. Good luck there. Instead we jumped on the expressway and I took my mom to the ocean, Tokai actually, where we camp.
Friday morning we packed up what we needed, and that list was long, and began our VACATION! First though, I had to teach, so my mom attended class again, this time with a little less enthusiasm. We left directly from Koga and were on our way...
hey girl
good to see your having a great time. just a quiet thought from me.
peace and love
love
trav