Guest blogger!!

Whenever my mom came to visit us in August, we asked her if she wanted to be a guest blogger for this blog and write about some of her experiences in Japan.  Unfortunately she didn’t want to put her writing out there for the world to see.  When Margaret came to visit us in October, we gave her the same deal.  She said that she would, and without further adieu, I give you the words of Margaret Reed on her two week vacation to Japan: 

 

Well, I imagine that when you all are finished reading this blog, you'll not want a "guest" blogger again. So, here it goes. Melissa and Ian asked me to write a blog about my trip to Japan.

I was really excited to visit Ian and Melissa and see where they live and have them show me around. I had been to Japan one other time for work. On that trip I only visited Tokyo and Kyoto so this trip was going to be all new things. First and foremost I want to thank Ian and Melissa for allowing me to stay with them and show me around. I had a blast, and they are the perfect hosts.

I arrived in Osaka on a Friday, and Ian and Melissa were waiting for me at the airport with a welcome sign. They weren't hard to find as they were pretty much the only non Japanese waiting in line for someone. We got on the train and I was having the hardest time staying awake, but I made it. We shipped my "big" suitcase to Yunomae so we only had Ian and Melissa's luggage and my small suitcase. Since I was tired, "old" Melissa and Ian took turns being pack mules. As we were trudging up and down stairs on our way to the hotel, I was very glad that I was "old". That night we went to a restaurant in the arcade close to the hotel. It was a Japanese type of restaurant where the customers cook the meat themselves in the middle of the table. Not sure what all the types of meat were that I ate. I'm sure I don't want to know either. It was pretty good but all in all by the end of my trip it was my least favorite meal.

The next day we ate a "western" style breakfast at the hotel and then went to Nara to see the "Big Buddha" and the deer. We walked, and we walked, and we walked. Ian said it was a normal amount of walking, but if that's a normal amount of walking then I'm a monkey's uncle. The deer in Nara are very friendly (can you say overly friendly?). They come up to the people and are willing to be petted. There are crackers that they sell in the park to feed the deer. Once you get those crackers you get a pack of deer around you wanting crackers. They were a little "too" friendly for my taste so I gave my crackers to Ian and Melissa. The highlight of the interaction with the deer was when one of the deer grabbed Melissa's map that she was holding. It was absolutely hilarious. Melissa gave chase and the deer kept eating. Everyone around us was laughing as hard as I was. I wish I had gotten a video of it.

We made it back to Osaka and met Joe Hosbach (a friend from Paducah) for dinner. It was a lot of fun. We were meeting Joe at the train station, and we were in front of the neatest waterfall I'd ever seen. It was a waterfall that formed date, time, and words. Very cool. We all tried to get pictures, but they were all blurry as the waterfall was moving.

On our last day in Osaka we had waffles for breakfast in the underground mall. It was wonderful, and Ian and Melissa let me go and pay for breakfast by myself. They taught me everything to say, so I went up there with "Ohayōgozaimasu" and "Isshoni" and did just fine. However, this started something that continued my whole time in Japan. Once I said that the waitress assumed I knew Japanese and started rattling off a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand. I just nodded my head and went back to the table to get my high fives from Ian and Melissa.

We spent the last day in Osaka at the Osaka Castle. Other than donning the Japanese costume so Ian and Melissa could take pictures, it was a lot of fun. Again, it was a lot of walking and walking and walking. We ended our day at Hard Rock in Osaka. Lots of fun. However, our fun wasn't over. We went to catch what we thought was the last train to Yatsushiro. However, we had long ago missed the last direct train. So we ended up on three different trains to get to Yatsushiro, and I really did feel old then. Running to catch other trains (or any other running) isn't my forte. However, we made it back to Yunomae in one piece. Even with me in the back seat of the car. I discovered early on that you want to be in the front seat of Ian and Melissa's car and not in the back seat. It doesn't matter which one of them is driving, their main goal is to hit every dip in the road at full speed so that the person in the back will hit their head on the roof.

Melissa had Monday off that week so after Ian and I went to the grocery and the gas station (with me sitting in the front). Melissa took me around to show me all of the sites to see close to Yunomae. We went to the swinging bridge and the views were breathtaking. We also went to the "Fertility" shrine. Basically, this is what Yunomae is known for and they take full advantage of it. Melissa even went back later during the trip to buy a t-shirt celebrating the fertility festival.

During my time in Yunomae I had some of the best food I'd ever eaten. Ian and Melissa are wonderful chefs and fixed tremendous dinners. I won't even try to name the Japanese dishes we had but we had savory pancakes, curry, marinara among other wonderful dishes. We also went to Hitoyoshi to eat Indian with some of the other ALTs. It was nice getting to meet some of Ian and Melissa's friends, and the food was great. We also went for ice cream at Baskin Robbins which was yummy.

Most of my days were spent sleeping in, walking to the grocery, buying lunch for Ian and myself, knitting, catching up on news at home on my IPad and then taking a nap in the afternoon. The grocery was another place where I said "konnichiwa" they took off running and just assumed I understood what they were saying.

The first day I went for a walk Ian was going to the city for a couple of days for work. I needed to go to the post office to get some money from the ATM. Ian told me how to get there walking. However, I didn't hear the "turn right at the first main road". All I heard was turn left at the stoplight. I started out on my trip and an hour later when I had gone through the forest and basically decided I wasn't going the correct way I gave up and called Ian. That's when he reminded me the "turn right at the first main road" directions. So, I turned around and headed home. I tried again that afternoon and got to the stoplight, but I had no idea how far to go. After several text messages to Melissa and Ian I gave up one more time and headed home. I finally did get money thanks to Melissa .

Melissa and I had a really good time while Ian was gone. We visited, and I got her hooked on watching Castle and she got me hooked on watching Grimm.

I also went to her eikaiwa class on Thursday. This class was the children and as it was October, we were doing a Halloween themed class. Melissa had me dress up as a witch, and she was a rabbit. It was a lot of fun and the kids really had a great time.

On Saturday of my second weekend in Japan we made a spur of the minute decision to go to Nagasaki. We drove to Kumamoto and took the ferry. We didn't have hotel reservations and we ended up in a hostel. While I don't want to make a steady diet of staying at hostels, this one wasn't too bad. On Sunday we went to see the site of the bombing and to the museum. It was really neat and while it made me a little uncomfortable being an American, I was glad we went. We finally found a Starbucks in Nagasaki, and I got my cappuccino.

The next week was more of the same as week before. I really enjoyed my walks during the day. The time I was in Yunomae was rice harvesting time. As Melissa and Ian are surrounded by rice paddies I was able to watch all of the different steps in harvesting rice. This was very neat. You could tell who were the "mom and pop" farmers and who were the "big buck" farmers. The mom and pop did most of the harvesting themselves and with minimal equipment. The big buck farmers had machines that did most of the work for them, and all they had to do was to drive the machine. Very interesting to see.

This week I went back to the eikaiwa class with Melissa. This class was the adult class, and we did a Halloween themed class again. Everyone was so nice and so friendly.

I decided to ship both of my suitcases back home rather than having to hassle with them on the train and the subway. Ian and I set out for the Japanese version of UPS which they call the "black cat". We went in and Ian tried to tell the guy what we wanted to do. However, he evidently was talking in the local dialect and not the Japanese that Ian could understand. The guy kept talking and looking at me. He was acting like if he kept talking I was magically going to start understanding him. Didn't work. Ian and Melissa kept my luggage and were able to ship them off to me after I left.

I left for home on Saturday, and Ian and Melissa got up super early to drive me to the train station. We went through the mountains by the river, and it was such a beautiful drive. I ended up leaving Japan at 5:45 pm and landed (same day) in Seattle at 11 am.

I had a wonderful time and was so glad to spend so much time with Ian and Melissa. They are a hoot. They laugh and pick at each other all the time. They complement each other's personality so well. Japan is such a beautiful place, and I recommend anyone to go. You won't regret it. The Japanese are such friendly people. I was always approached by English speaking Japanese, and we had nice conversations. They were also always bringing me gifts. I had a trip of a lifetime and was thrilled to go.

 

All of the above was written by the lovely Margaret Reed.  Thanks, Margaret for coming to visit and sharing your experiences on our blog!    We look forward to seeing you again in person in August!