A Looooonnnnggg Weekend

The Trip
I couldn't eat school lunch fast enough on Friday. I wanted to get out of school and start my 1/2 day of ねんきゅ/vacation. After biking home, showering for a 2nd time, packing my overnight bag, and watering my babies, I headed to 黒部駅/Kurobe Station, parked my car and jumped on the はくたか/Hakutaka Express for 越後湯沢/Echigo-Yuzawa and the しんかんせん/bullet train onto 東京/Tokyo, a 3 hour trip in total. I managed to get a lot of reading done and drank a Snapple raspberry ice tea that I'd been saving for several months. Delicious!

Arriving in 東京　is always exciting: the lights, the fashion, the crowds, the noise, the anonymity! I know less than 10 people in a city with millions. Sometimes it's great to be anonymous for a few days.

Finding the hotel was easy and the air con, while not as cold as may prefer, felt good after a long trip and negotiating the 東京 trains. When I got there, Bobbie & Elliot were chillin' after a busy day of laundry and Kels had recently arrived from 韓国/Korea, a 16 hour trip, even though it is just a hop, skip and a jump away. To celebrate our mini-family reunion we ventured to 原宿/Harajuku. Unfortunately, the freakshows had disbanded for the day. We ended up at the Elephant Cafe for dinner; small portions, but delicious food! I highly recommend the peach beer and the tuna steak!

東京 Disney Sea

Bobbie & Elliot are Disneyworld experts and Kels & I have both been to Disneyland as kids. So we decided that Disney Sea was the best option because it would be new to us all. Besides the heat, humidity and the lack of an international ATM, we had a fabulous day. The highlights included: visiting Indiana Jones (but my driving sucked), journeying to the center of the earth, watching small children entertain themselves in the fountains and eating cheeseburgers during a Donald show (日本語だけ/in Japanese).

None of us felt the need to stay all day, so we headed back early, I bought some lime green shoes (crocs) in the station and we ate and rehydrated at the hotel before passing out.

相撲：　名古屋場所/Sumo at the Nagoya Gym

I've been waiting two years to see the big boys have it out in the dirt ring! And it was fabulous! It was another long day, but this time there was little walking involved and it was all indoors. Plus we got 6 hours of 相撲/sumo enjoyment in. And the experience was made complete by tasty bentos, special soup, autographs, photos galore, cheering and watching an obnoxious fan get kicked out. We also meet 相撲's biggest fan; he never misses a tournament and is a famous eccentric all over 日本/Japan (so he proclaimed).

After the bouts, as the big boys were getting into their hummers, lexus SUVs, etc the biggest boy of them all, Asasyoryu's driver pulled rank and exited the parking lot in front of all the others. The crowd went wild. But he is the よこずな/champion. As Koutoshu drove out he gave a little thumb's up-it was so cute! I like him too! And even though we didn't get a picture with one of the really big boys, we did get a picture witha a BIG BOY! We saw some りきし/wrestlers walking to the subway at about 12noon. The fact that they were finished that early and have to travel by subway vs. lexus indicates their status on 相撲/sumo totem pole. But they are intimidating nonetheless.

While we were waiting for the しんかんせん/bullet train at the Nagoya station, Bobbie took some super cute photos of the cousins 24-18-28! I've never spent any real time with Elliot before. I'm so glad I got to know him a bit. He's a fantastic guy!

A 東京 Tower Birthday
Monday was my sister, Kelsey's, 24th birthday. To celebrate we enjoyed an overpriced Western breakfast buffet complete with buttery croissants and bad scrambled eggs. It was a rainy day, but our hotel was minutes from Tokyo Tower, so that's where we ventured to meet our friend, Natsuki. The tower was what I expected, another overpriced view of a big city: buildings as far as you can see.

But after fighting the crowds of tourists from all over, including a Florida baseball team or maybe they were just a mormon family on vacation, we went back downstairs for a little birthday treat. We weren't able to light candels (tokyo tower fire code) but there were candels in the brownie mint chocolate chip sundae from Baskin Robbins. Unfortunately she had to catch her airport bus at 1pm so the birthday festivities were cut short. But we got the party started and I think her students and friends were going to help her continue it all week in Sokcho.



小学/Elementary Munchkins
The last stop on their Asia Tour was one of my elementary schools in my little town. They helped me teach 4 classes and are both natural teachers. I barely did a thing, it was wonderful. The kids were in full form: giving かんちょｓ (finger pokes up the butt), asking questions about weight and waist size, jumping & hanging on my 6'3" cousin and falling over in shock to see 2 more foreigners at their school. B & E were a big hit! And they also got to meet the Star Wars teacher who fell in love with them! And the office lady gave them each a big hug as they left. It was adorable!



I don't know many jobs where bringing your family to work for the day is acceptable. And I'm sure some of my co-workers question it. But...my job is specifically about communication and internationalization. So far my parents, sister, aunt and cousin have visited each of my schools. Each of them have brought a different view and picture of America! Thank you!



Wrap-up
I've been catching up on sleep and recovering this last week. It was an long exhausting weekend, but it was so great to be with family! Something none of us will ever forget. I'm lucky to be able to share Japan with so many people! Thanks for the visit!

I also updated my Japan To Do List (already posted)!

I'm leaving for my next vacation on Monday night. I'll be in Hokkaido with two friends, three bikes and a tent for one week. Pictures will be posted when I get back! Life is good!