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Published: July 21st 2006
Just a quick entry to say hello, no I haven´t forgot about my blog recently but between the humid weather and working quite abit I´ve scaled my touring back a bit in the last couple of weeks, but fear not I am really just saving my energy and bucks for my upcoming vacation! Summer vacation is almost here, in a few short weeks I have TWO, count´em TWO glorious weeks off of work and I am really excited!
I am headed to Tokyo to check out the sights and sounds of Japan´s capital city. I´ve been leafing through my LonelyPlanet for ideas and so far I think I´ll be checking out Harajuku, Shinjuku (where a million + people use a single train station each day) Ginza (which is supposed to be one of the world´s great electronics and shopping meccas) and the world´s biggest fish market and Tokyo Disneyland for good measure. Everyone tells me Tokyo is a place that has to be seen to be believed so I am really excited! Then I am off to meet up with my friend Marita in Fuji, home of the famous Mount Fuji. Apparently a couple thousand people climb the mountain most
evenings in the summer so we are going to give it a whirl and enjoy some R&R in the area which is apparently quite scenic.
In the last couple of weeks summer has arrived with a vengence in Japan, although from what many of you have told me, you´ve had it a lot worse at home. I´d say the temps are comparable the humidity is bad and most days its mid-30s, the kicker is it doesn´t get any cooler at night so often when I am trying to go to sleep its 34 degrees outside. So on the suggestion of my students I recently bought an ice pilliow, I think its safe to say this is one of the world´s greatest inventions, it´s literally a pillow with cool jelly inside that I store in the freezer, and take it out just befour bed, its AMAZING and definately helps me sleep.
Last weekend I took the train 3 hours north to the small city of Toyooka for a Children´s Summer Party, we got put up in a hotel which was kinda fun, over the course of the day I played the egg and spoon race about 345 times and
read the same ´No Puppies Today´ book 9 times, trust me I counted, but it was a lot of fun to see all the cute kids and watch their parents smile with pride as their little one talked English to the gaijin. Even if what the kid was saying made no sense to me I could tell mom and dad we just thinking ´Ahh, little Tomoki can speak English, my money isn´t being wasted, the gaijin understands´. All in all it was a lot of fun, and the scenery on the train ride was quite beautiful.
I hope you are all well, I think of you often and can´t wait to show you my 2000 photos when I get home.
lots of love, Melissa
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Connie and Neil
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getting ready to see Tokyo
Keep cool! Today we received a copy of your Masters Thesis in the mail...all 178 pages of it and we were so excited to see it! Love...Mom and Dad