March 2003

The next day, Kerry joined us on a day trip to Takamatsu on Shikoku Island. We took a ferry
from Takamatsu to Demon Island, where Okayama`s hero Momotarou apparently defeated
a bunch of demons. Unfortunately, we missed the ferry back that we wanted to take and ended
up sitting around for 2 hours for the next one. It was a big waste of time and we didn`t get to
do the sightseeing in Takamatsu that we`d wanted to. We ate at an sanuki udon restaurant,
since Takamatsu is supposedly famous for udon, but I didn`t think it tasted any different than
udon in Okayama.

On Saturday the 22nd, I took one of my paid vacation days from work and Dad and I went to
Okayama. We saw Okayama Castle but didn`t go inside. MOstly we just walked around and also
went to the Internet Cafe for a couple hours. On the way back from the castle, there were
about 50 pigeons walking around, and some little kid was feeding them, so I decided to take a
small doughnut out of my purse and feed them, too. Well, within 30 seconds I had about 8 birds
standing on my hands, arms, and shoulders eating out of my hands! It was so funny! I could pet
their bellies and could feel their wings flap against me. I`ve never seen such friendly birds!

I worked on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday as usual, so I didn`t see Dad much those days.
On Sunday, Naoko gave him a Kurashiki tour for a few hours and even took him to a tea
ceremony, something I`ve never seen! Then on Monday and Tuesday, Shozo took him around
to a bunch of places and also gave him some nice gifts. In the middle of one of my lessons on
Monday night, I looked out the window to discover the two of them standing right outside,
videotaping me, LOL!

Wednesday morning, Dad and I left for Hiroshima at 10:30. We took the local train and I
expected it to be a 2.5 hour trip. Well, between waiting for trains to leave and changing
trains 3 times, it took 5 hours!! Thank goodness we were staying overnight, or we hardly
would`ve had time to do anything!

Hiroshima is a big, lively city, just like it says in my guidebooks. There are trams/
streetcars that are very convenient and can take you just about anywhere. We stayed at
the Kokusai Hotel right downtown, near Hondori Street, the main shopping boulevard. Soon
after we arrived, we walked to the Peace Memorial park and museum. Saw the A-Bomb Dome
from across the river and took some pictures. We got to the museum at 4:30 without
realizing it closed at 5:00, so we had to practically run through it. Wasn`t enough
time at all, so I want to go back someday. There are a lot of graphic pictures and
stories, and models of Hiroshima before and after the bomb.

After that, we took a tram back to the station and ate dinner at an okonomiyaki place,
which Hiroshima is famous for. I`d never had okonomiyaki with noodles in it, and it
was good. The big department store at the station is called Asse, which Dad and I got
a kick out of. :-)

The next day, we took the hour-long tram ride and 10-minute ferry ride out to Miyajima
Island. Despite the faint drizzle, it was beautiful! Besides the famous torii (gate),
there are tons of little shops and restaurants, an aquarium, and a ropeway to the top
of the mountain (where apparently you can see monkeys). Deer were wandering around
everywhere, and they came right up to people in search of food. One deer ate a hole
in Dad`s paper bag! LOL One lady gave one deer a tiny scrap of food, and soon she
had about 10 deer following her for 4 blocks!! :-)

We took the shinkansen back to Kurashiki, and it took about 55 minutes vs. the 5 hours
it took by local train! Geesh. The next morning, Friday, we took the shinkansen again
to Kansai Airport. It was very sad to see him go, and after 9 days of always looking
over my shoulder to make sure he was still with me, it felt weird being alone again
on the way home. I stopped in Osaka on the way back and went to the top of the Umeda
Sky Building, which I think is the tallest building in Osaka with 41 floors.
There were some good views from the top and I took some pictures.

Saturday, March 22, 2003
Dad is here right now and it`s great! He arrived Wednesday night and will be here through
Friday March 28. We are very busy and are taking tons of pictures! So there should be a
big update after he leaves.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Last Friday, my friend Takae picked me up and we drove to a strawberry farm near Okayama
Airport. I`ve never picked strawberries before, so it was interesting, though a little expensive.
It cost 1300 yen to get in, which allowed you 40 minutes in the greenhouse. You could have
as many strawberries as you wanted, but the catch was that you had to eat them all while you
were there. If you wanted to take some home, you had to pay per 100g or something. I bought
some and also some strawberry syrup, and made white-chocolate covered strawberries that
night. All in all, I must have eaten 40 strawberries that day, LOL! Oh well, lots of vitamins. :-)

I went to the theatre at the mall for the first time last week with Naoko. The admission price
for movies is higher here than in the States (almost double on most days), but the food is
cheaper. I got a medium coke and medium bucket of caramel corn for about $3.75. We saw
`The Bourne Identity` which was good. There were crowds of people when we got out waiting
to see the next `Lord of the Rings" showing.

This month is very busy at work, probably the busiest of the year. Group lessons end next week and all
teachers, including me, have to write both progress reports and "graduation certificates" for all
of our students. Plus we have to recruit a certain number of new students, which this month is
set at very high and possibly impossible number. Lots to do...