Reunited and It Feels So Good

Me, John Reynolds (a genuine soul), and Kenja singing "Livin' on a Prayer"

Hola!

If you have been missing me, I'm sorry. Everyone here thinks I haven't been writing because I feel like crap. My stomach is always queasy and now I have a cold to boot. But rotarians here tend to my needs. I could open a pharmacy with the medicine I've been given. I have awful tasting Chinese medicine balls for nausea, pills for headaches and cramps, antibiotics, cold medicine, cough drops. You name. I got it.

But alas, I have been remiss in my blogging duties because I have had no internet access for what feels like an eternity. For a country responsible for many wonderful things like great cars, cameras and other electronic equipment, few people are aficionados of the internet, neither at home or at the office. We've learned that because many of the businesses in the countryside of Niigata are owned by older men, the internet technology that we Americans seem to be unable to live without, is quite a hard sell. Although Tokyo, the Manhattan of Japan, is a different matter.

But thanks to my hotel, I am up and running again. Yay!

Rather than try to convey everything that has happened in words, I've decided to let pictures do the talking. So please enjoy. (Yes Vicki, I love the word "so".)


This picture was taken at a school museum in I'm not sure what town. It struck me because I find it impossible to sit like this for five minutes, much less a whole school day! But I recently met a foreign exchange student from Panama who is studying in Japan. She says she still has to sit like this sometimes and assured me that it gets easier with time.




This is my favorite picture. As you may know by now, I love taking snapshots of real life. This mom and her son were sitting on a bench enjoying their ice cream during a huge chrysanthemum festival that had the biggest flowers I've ever seen from a single stem. You'll have to ask Dan to post his pictures. He snapped photos of plants while I was more interested in the life happening around me.


This picture was taken during one of our hotel stays. Fujii-san (the rotarian next to Dan) surprised Dave with a writing lesson. I forget the Japanese word for it. But it's OK, I guess. Since I am the one who knows the least Japanese and Dan's excuse for me is that Spanish was my first language. That's how he introduces me at every rotary meeting. Since my favorite word is "wakarimasen", which means, "I don't understand." Anyway, this picture makes me sad because everyone got to write their name in Kanji except for me :-(

Dave has informed me the word I was looking for is Shodou. No Shodou for me.



This photo was taken at a Buddhist temple. This shrine really touched my soul because it was dedicated to the unborn. I thought of all the heartbroken mothers and fathers who never got to bring their children into the world and watch them grow. My heart ached for these families who leave children's toys and clothes at the shrine.

Later on in the tour, there was also a shrine for children who died at a young age. For someone who has no children of her own, I was really touched. I love children and can't imagine the world without their innocence and laughter.







This sweet lady is permanently bent over like this. Dan says many women who worked in the rice fields find themselves in this state.

I will always think of her before complaining about a hard day at the office.

She keeps the temple grounds clean. On this day, we found her raking leaves on a cold day with the tiniest rake. If the fields didn't do this to her back, this rake (about as long as my arm) definitely did. I held myself back from helping her hold the bag.






We stayed at a grand old house with old school glass walls and rice paper doors and lots of history. It was so cold!

To keep warm and after being kept indoors for so many rotary meetings, we were eager to get outside. Early one morning, I snapped this woman tending to her small patch of land.



The house we stayed at was cold but it was great to experience a very traditional Japanese way of life. And the rotary group who hosted us was wonderful. Everyone was very warm and welcoming and it was the first time, we got to see rotarians' families. Kids were running all over the place and they stuck to Dave, as he put it, "because they have the same attention span," like glue. The family atmosphere was awesome.

These are some of the treasures in the attic.