There's no place like home...

We've been in the Trumansburg/Ithaca area for 2 weeks now. In that time, the boys have all found summer jobs, I've attended a retirement party and an anniversary celebration, I reunited with my dog, have been to Rochester, have painted some of my house, trimmed bushes, and have moved all (almost all) of my stuff back into my huge old house. Whew!

Everyone asks me, "So...how was Japan?" How do I possibly answer such a question? I've taken to giving the short and mostly true answer: "Fun. Great. A wonderful experience." The longer answer is reserved for the closest friends- they are the ones who really want the full version. In truth, my 10 months in Japan ran the gamut. It was fabulous, fascinating, energizing, exciting, empowering, and at times, terrible, frustrating, exhausting and also lonely. We all had our personal struggles. The boys had some serious rough patches, and Robin worked and traveled A LOT. But overall it was a good year: one we will remember and cherish. I had everything that made me who I am pulled out from under me the day I stepped onto the plane, and I had to figure out who to be. It was tough at first, but after the initial shock (cultural and personal) wore off, I relaxed and had a great time "floating." The turning point came at Christmas and I give my nieces a lot of credit for that. On one of the last days in Japan, Sarah and I went on a Women's Group white water rafting excursion. On the way up to the Nagano area we did an exercise to find out what we were all most proud of. My response: I conquered Tokyo. In my own very small way, I became comfortable enough to get anywhere, ask directions, take the metro and Japan Rail, hail a cab, order in a restaurant, and relish my new experiences. Tokyo started feeling like a second home.

However. There is nothing that compares with the feeling of putting on a favorite, comfortable old pair of shoes when your feet are a little weary. And that's the way coming home has felt to me.

I've made some great friends in Tokyo for whom I hold loads of affection, and am glad that I get to go back for just a while longer.

Now, I will soak up the starry night sky, get in some kayaking, listen to the song birds, hike the rim trail, marvel at the huge expanse of my lovely green lawn, enjoy friends and mentally let down a little. I'm off to Wegman's!!!

On our way...

It hardly seems possible that 10 months have passed since we stepped off the plane on August 14th, 2007. Many cool and interesting things have happened- there were many new "firsts." Language lessons, conquering the metro, new friends, taiko, onsen experience, matsuri, the Women's Group at the American Club, bike riding to the grocery store, walking in the typhoon, museums, shrines, gardens, Mount Fuji, Kabuki, earthquakes, singing the Brahms Requiem, playing for Forum, ate the best sushi in the world, experienced an international school, graduation, traveled to Thailand, swam in phosphorescence, went white water rafting, was a minority...we traveled by train, subway, car, escalator, elevator, shinkansen, bus, taxi, gondola, cable car, sailboat, motorboat, elephant, and jet plane.

And now, weary from visitors and full of expectation and happiness to see old friends, we depart for home tomorrow afternoon. Sayonara, Nippon. Hello New York!

Wedding pictures from Sunday at the Meiji Shrine

Since Sarah and I were white water rafting on Friday, she missed the tour of Meiji Shrine with Lap and Robin and Chris and Julia. I took her there on Sunday. It's a favorite destination when we have visitors. It's close, it's lovely and has great historic significance in Tokyo. There was a display of bonsai trees there that we had heard was pretty amazing. Some of the trees are older than I. A couple of them are 200 years old. We were wondering how the care of the trees gets passed along from generation to generation.

We also witnessed a wedding procession through the grounds of the shrine and enjoyed looking at the traditional Japanese wedding clothes. The bride was lovely. Enjoy the pictures.

Today is Thursday. It is raining. Time to find an indoor activity. Packing, perhaps??

Sarah's got Bar Breath

Kamakura on Monday

On Monday, we took the trains to Kamakura, a lovely ocean-side town famous for it's temples and the Great Buddha. This giant meditating guy was cast in the 1250's. Originally, he sat inside a massive structure, but it was washed away during a tsunami that left him sitting out in the elements now for a couple centuries. We wandered up the main street of the town, and Nathan led us to a Korean restaurant where they serve you food (sometimes raw) in very hot stone bowls. as you stir and sizzle, the food cooks, the flavors blend, and yum! It was a good find. Nathan has a nose for good eating.

The best part of the day was on the way back to the train station, we turned down a street toward what looked like a shrine on the hill side. We looked in and were not sure if we wanted to pay the admission fee, but since Julia had not seen a garden yet, and it looked very beautiful, we entered and were stunned by what we found. Inside the grounds we found a water garden with floating iris boxes, carp, turtles and fountains. As we walked along the paths there were more discoveries: a cave with candles burning in it, and little figures of a god with a musical instrument. Then there were shrines with hundreds of statues of the same god and a pathway that led us up the hillside that was covered by gorgeous hydrangea bushes. As we went higher, we could see more of the town and the ocean, the waves on the beach, and the hopeful surfers out in the waves. Eventually we were at a lookout point and enjoyed watching a couple of hawks flying by. It was a lovely and serene place. I think everyone enjoyed it- even Chris, who I know had been fading and wanted to get home. he was like a mountain goat after we got there, though. I think the winding paths, the view and the flowers re-energized him. The clouds cleared while we were there too. It was one of those lovely Japan surprises that make the day especially memorable.

Our lovely surprise...

Wowza in Bright Shining Smile Land.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Nathan got his braces off today. As he emerged from the basement treatment room at the orthodontist's office, he flashed me the happiest look I've seen in months!

We'll all be flashing our smiles around Trumansburg in less than a week!

International Nathan Day

The American School in Japan

Class of 2008!
We are so proud of Nathan! He graduated from the American School in Japan yesterday at a wonderful Commencement ceremony. He looked fabulous in his dress clothes and cap and gown. When it was all over, we all went out to dinner to celebrate.

I am fiercely proud of Nathan and am certain that we should keep an eye on him to see where he ends up. I am sure he will be wildly successful at whatever he chooses to do, and will live a fulfilling life, completely on his terms. He is still a quiet and deep pond compared to his noisy splashy brothers. He has always been that way. I remember as a little baby, he was all eyes and ears watching the whirling dervish that was Chris his big brother. More recently, I have enjoyed his very dry and clever wit. He doesn't talk a lot, but you better be listening when he does. He has enjoyed exploring his artistic gifts this year and made some wonderful ceramic dishes and works of art on the wheel at school. He has also become a proficient ukulele player, and has been dabbling in sketching. I know Nathan is glad to be done with high school and is looking forward to some unique and thrilling challenges ahead in New Zealand. He will be participating in a semester of wilderness training through the National Outdoor Leadership School. (Bring on the kayaking!) He is also getting his braces off this week and has promised to dazzle us with his big white smile.

I know that Nathan enjoyed the anonymity of being a senior at ASIJ. No one knew who his Mom or family was, or had seen him grow through elementary school. Part of me was glad Nathan had the chance to create himself from scratch this year. Part of me felt kind of desolate at the school functions where I knew no one, and no one knew me. I felt quite lonely at those times. How different for all of us this year. More important is Nathan's assessment: "It was a good year!"

So to my graduating senior (and forever peanut): Congratulations, Nathan! Here's to new beginnings!

The cure for jet lag...

Sarah and Lap made it safely to Tokyo. I even went to the airport and picked them up and brought them home all by myself, for the first time. As I was excitedly waiting for them to appear, Sarah came around the arrival corner in a wheel chair, however, which was a little disconcerting, but all is well. During hour 11 of their 13 hour flight, an empty food cart fell over on top of Sarah and barked her shins. I think it hurt- a lot! Lap and Sarah were sharing their 3-seat section with an EMT, and she was all over the incident, and assisted with ice, and then getting them through customs. Thankfully, after a moment, Sarah hopped on out of the wheel chair and told us the story. Surprisingly, she has no real bruising, just a couple of cuts on her shins, which may be their ticket to an upgrade to first class on the way home!

Now to the cure for jet lag. I believe it was discovered yesterday as Sarah and I had the opportunity to go white water rafting with the TAC Women's Group. What a hoot! It took about 2 1/2 hours by chartered bus to get up into the mountains near Nagano. Once we were there, we were surrounded by lush green vegetation and gorgeous peaks all around. Our guides were from New Zealand and were very good. The rapids were flowing pretty well. I guess we were in class 3 rapids. There was enough turbulence for a couple of the rafts to completely tip over and spill out their passengers (Japanese, BTW). We had a trio of gals wash over when attempting to surf in a whirlpool, but they were rescued by us and the white water kayaker who accompanied our band of boats. There was just enough excitement to make it exciting, but not scary.

Women from our group kept walking up to Sarah and asking, "How's the jet lag?" She was wide eyed and bushy tailed for the entire day, and didn't fall asleep until after 10:00. I suspect we've discovered a really effective way to kick jet lag in the butt: fresh air, sunshine, exercise, team work, laughing, lottsa cold water in the face, paddling, swimming, jumping off rocks, rescuing boat-mates, a picnic lunch, and companionship with a great group of women.

We stopped at a rest stop on the way home, and Sarah had her first taste of Japanese cuisine: octopus balls.

Today, we are all going off to see Nathan Graduate from the American School in Japan. It will be a good day.

Experiencing Traditional Japanese Arts with Chris and Julia

I took the kids to Kabuki theatre this morning. We stayed for 1 and 1/4 hours and enjoyed the spectacle. Then after a delicious lunch at the Tokyo American Club, I took Chris and Julia to taiko. I had the distinct pleasure to take Chris and Julia to my taiko class today. We were working on a pretty complicated piece called "Running Horse." The bass note part, the part we were reviewing today uses 2 drums and the rim of the drums. The kids were amazing! Chris of course, was a natural. And one point during the class when all the women fell apart and forgot where we were, Chris was the only one who knew where we were and he kept playing by himself. Julia kept up brilliantly today, and everyone was impressed at how fabulous these 2 were. It was great fun, and I could tell Chris was eating it up. Moko even gave Chris a solo- a tempo transition section that sped up, and he nailed it every time.
Moko, Alice, Chris and Julia
Julia was brilliant!
Chris with his game face on.
Concentration....concentration....