All good things...

All good things.... are really good then.

And they come to an end, sometimes so that you can do MORE good things.

And sometimes good things come to an end so that you can go back to school and work with kids, which can be another good thing, or a great gob of stress as the non-teaching part of things (paperwork, phone calls, ordering books, trying to order things, whatever) has to be taken care of.

At least there's Labor Day Weekend to look forward too. We had a safe flight home.

A few more pics and updates coming....

Shizuoka Food Update

Just finished breakfast... the home made maple bread from Noriyo was delectable (umaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiii!) Had to go back for seconds.... and thirds. Tasty. We saved some for tomorrow. Yum!

Next exhibit: Mt. Ranier Caffé Latte... Hazelnut flavored. Good ingredients, also very tasty.

Also, the Kagome 100% natural Purple drink. Yes, the drink is purple... it's made with purple vegetables and is VERY tasty. Gotta love it.

Also on the table, umeboshi (Japanese ultra-sour apricots soaked in sea water to make them edible.... super sour, very tasty. They were a food of samurai and helped keep them healthy. Umeboshi are extremely good for alkalizing the body).

Last item on the table: remnants of onions soaked in umeboshi juice. Also very tasty.

Breakfast eaten... mission complete.

Noriyo's house, a massage, then dinner with friends

We stopped by Noriyo's beautiful new (8 y.o) home near Shizuoka downtown today (5 stops on the commuter tram/train). It was a trip back to my youth... LEGOMANIA, MAAAAAAAN!



Noriyo baked us a couple of loaves of bread... one maple, the other... can't remember. Arigatou gozaimasu!






It was cloudy out today... but there's nothing like an hour-long massage to make you feel great! (It's good for your posture, too!)

Noriyo dropped us off in her car. It's always interesting going for a car ride in another country.... especially when you're on the other side of the road from the one you're used to!

Gotta love healthcare in Japan... total charge: a bit under five bucks.




Of course, you've gotta squeeze some gourmet food in... it IS Japan, after all.







Delicious-looking tofu salad.




It was also delicious tasting. Oi shi!

Mariko Participates in the Eclipse Moon Shots

Ishizuki means "moon stone", thus Mariko's website: http://pierre-lune.com/ (French for moonstone).

zuki (tsuki) would be "moon". つき

Mariko added this: 月

The former symbols are: tsu and ki (ki actually looks like a key). They are in "hiragana"... the alphabet used for spelling Japanese words (as opposed to the alphabet used for spelling FOREIGN words, which is different all together and more angular).

The second symbol that Mariko added 月 is "moon" 'tsuki' or 'zuki' in Kanji... the Chinese based (non-phonetic) symbols for big boys and girls. I know about two kanji.

Aaaaaanyhow...

Mariko took a few shots of the moon towards the end of the eclipse... then I took a few more of the landscape. It's moon overkill, but you're a good friend for continuing to put up with looking at this blog :D


Enjoy!
































It's amazing how quickly the eclipse ends. I forgot how fast it went. Eclipses in summer are good b/c you can stay outside for them and not worry about freezing like in winter or colder seasons... just mosquitos to worry about. Anyhow it was all over in less than an hour, I think (but I didn't have a watch out, so don't quote me on that).

Eclipse over Shizuoka

We weren't supposed to be able to see the eclipse tonight, but there it was... a near cloud-free evening!

I even got a little video. Sorry if it's boring. I didn't have a tripod :(





Too much sake with dinner. (kind of looks like an upside heart).



The sun.





Geez.... without the 4X zoom it's reeeeeeeeeeeeeally tiny!

More shopping

Because you can never get out enough on a bike in Japan, we went shopping for more stuff... actually, we just picked up some boxes and for packing things up for the trip home.

A delivery service, sort of like UPS will send a driver by tomorrow (Wednesday) to pick up our bags. Our bags will be waiting for us at the airport when we get there on Friday.


Here we are at D2 for the boxes.



Man, look at the size of those feet! Those are my new Birks. Forty bucks. Score.

Terrorizing the locals at the supermarket, heh heh heh....

Loaded up and ready to go... that is one hot set of wheels.



But first, a house inspection.



Not sure what they're looking at.



Mariko's dad was an architect. He designed the house. It's very aesthetically pleasing. He had it build well.... too well. Now he finds it too small, but the earthquakes do no damage to it and he's disappointed. He wishes it would be destroyed so he could build a new one. So it goes...



She's off to a slow start. It looks like the woman in the middle of the street (out ahead of my mother-in-law) is headless... but she's just using an umbrella. Japanese women still value staying white. Being tan is the sign of being a farmer (and thus poor).



My mother-in-law cruising on her bike. I like how she stands on one pedal and glides along. You're really supposed to walk your bike across the street.

We didn't get a picture, but with two bikes and three people, Mariko got to ride on the back of my bike (on the rack which is probably only supposed to support 25lbs. or less). We could have gotten a fine for riding like that, but on the main road (the one in the picture) Mariko got off and walked. It's rare to see cops in Japan, unlike the US where you can see a cop every 5 minutes. Hmm... interesting... a small police presence AND low crime. I think they may be on to something in Japan. Of course when I show up we start breaking the law and riding two to a bike and stuff. Ugh... rebels. It was Mariko's idea anyhow....



After she took off across the street I found Asian Pot with a capital P!

Kidding aside, I think Japanese Pot must be a restaurant, with a capital P for parking. Sorry, now I spoiled it for you.

Aaaaaaaanyhow, this supermarket is neat... the shelves are like 2 feet off the floor, just the right height for the old Japanese oba-chans to see their fruits and veggies.


Check out the sushi and chirashi.. cheap!



The shelves don't even reach Mariko's hip.

Wish I had taken more pictures. A lot of cute babies (being pushed by cute moms, of course) in strollers. The babies got a kick out of seeing me. I had fun.




We were loaded up with sushi and sundries on the way home, but stopped by a farm down the street to pick up some veggies.



Only 100 yen per bag! (like $.85 USD)


Gotta love this country life. Even out here in the country you can get around on a bike. The roads are extremely well-maintained and the drivers in cars/trucks are "bike friendly". Despite the hills all around the cities, the cities themselves (the valleys?) are quite level and it's easy to get around on a bike. Considering that it's still August, it's not too hot either... I think it just broke 90 (32 C) now, but it wasn't bad outside. Life is very livable here in Shizuoka.