Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Apologies to those who thought I might have fallen into the drink. I'm still in Japan, and still enjoying that fact. For a while, I was feeling pretty rotten, off and on with some Asian virus (how uncreative of me). But enough of that.
In the time since my last report, I've been putting in a lot of hours on the project, helping to bring that to a close. It looks like the project will be completed by mid November, and I'll be on my way home. That is, unless one of the other projects here can use my talents. Our assessment team has reviewed the status, and gave a green light to going "live" at the end of this month. That is VERY welcome news.
Language instructions continue every Saturday morning. I've begged off of the Friday night almost-all-nighters for health and sanity reasons, so those lessons are MUCH more enjoyable now. ;~} It's amazing. I feel so well-informed about Sqigglese when the instructor leaves. Then I go out to the store or restaurant or whatever and am amazed that I haven't learned anything yet. Finally, I've figured it out though. I think there's a sign on me that nobody over five feet tall can see, and it says, "This person is trying to learn Japanese. Confuse him." :~}
Last Monday was the first day I felt a lot better, and it was a holiday here, as it was in America. However, here it was not called "Columbus Day" (duh!); it was "Sports Day." I've mentioned before how important sports are to this nation, but I'm still finding out the ramifications of that. The banks were closed. Almost all businesses except stores were closed. Even the newspapers skipped the day. I don't know what sorts of celebrations went on, though - I was out of the loop on that. So a bunch of us took advantage of the extra day off and headed South. We were nine guys, plus Dale's girlfriend. Poor Meho. :~}
It was about a three-hour, $3 train ride to Yokohama. That's a beautiful city, with some amazing architectural work and a wonderful park that has a giant ferris wheel and various carnival rides. We went to China Town there, and had a great dim-sum event. I say "event" rather than "meal" because it doesn't feel right to say we had a three-hour meal. Paul is well versed in the Mandarin language, so he did the ordering for us. He spent about ten minutes talking to the waitress, and to our amazement, she came back with food! Bless him! We all sat around two tables, Japanese style (which means the tables are about two inches off the floor. OK, maybe six). Aside from having cramped legs after sitting that long in yoga position, it was a great time. One food that I can identify was the "crunchy-aromatic duck." It passed both the crunchy and aromatic tests, and besides that it was downright good! Lots of vegetables that have no pronounceable names, various fishes, and meats whose origins I chose not to ask about.
After the event, we went strolling through China Town, looking at the various shops and temples. The streets were absolutely packed with people. We finally had our fill of shops (nothing other than a couple of coconuts were purchased by our group), and headed back toward the train station, where we found the park. We wandered about the grounds there, enjoying the great bay view and the pleasant 75-degree weather.
Oh. The park itself was pretty interesting. It was a place where people hung out on the grass. Most were couples, and many were asleep. There was one couple there, presumably fast asleep, who were lying in a very - how does one say this? - well I'll just say "interesting position" and let your imagine do the rest for you. The girl was on top. They were fully clothed and unmoving. We came back past there on our way to the train about two or three hours later, and they were still there. Amazing.
In our journey, we found this wonderful area that looks like it was some sort of boat lock at one time (Yokohama is right on the bay or ocean or whatever). They've preserved it, made it accessible, and built a huge, beautiful hotel next to it. I tried to take pictures, but it was very dark. I don't know yet if they will come out.
By the time we returned to the station, we'd walked about ten miles at a leisurely pace by my estimation, so we were all pretty tired. The ride "home" was pleasant but quiet, for reflection. It was a day well spent.
Anyway, at work the next day I received the news of a death in my family. My Uncle Clarence meant so much to me, and now he's gone. He was a very talented guitarist and singer, and he had an amazing way of looking at life and a sense of humor that just didn't quit. I'll miss him forever! So I've not been journalizing for those aforementioned personal reasons. It feels nice to begin getting back into the swing of things.
My next challenge is to get a haircut. I'm way overdue for that. I've stopped in a few times at one of the local places, but haven't braved the entrance yet. Saturday afternoon, I'll do that for sure. I mean, what's the big deal? I can always shave my head if it doesn't look right. :~}
Also Saturday, I'll meet a native Japanese guy in Shinjuku. Ichiro-SAN had some technical questions on one of the e-mail lists that I monitor, and I was able to help him out, so he's planning to buy me coffee as a "thank you." That's nice. I'll also try to help him find some audio books in English to help him with his interest in that area - I hear there's a great bookstore there. There are no current plans for Sunday. Having learned more about Mt. Fuji at this time of the year, I've flatly rejected the idea of going there. According to the natives, climbing that mountain after September is nothing short of suicide because of the low temperatures. And for a person who is cold at 65, that just doesn't sound like any fun at all. :~}