June 4, 2000 - Sunday
"This morning, I woke up with this feeling,
I didn't know how to deal with,
And so I just decided to myself, I'd hide it to myself,
And did not talk about it, and did not go and shout it
When you walked into the room..."
Does anyone know the next line? Hint: David Cassidy, Shirley Jones, Susan Dey.....Yep,
that's right, it's from the Partridge Family. I woke up this morning to this song.
It's kind of an appropriate one for me. I love David Cassidy and all that!
I got up today around 10 and showered and got ready to go out. Fumihiko was meeting
me just before 12 to take me to lunch at his house. His mother and his aunt were
there. Both of them speak about as much English as I do Japanese.
Lunch was great and then it was time for the driving portion of the day. He asked
if I minded if his Mum came too; of course not; so we headed off to the Mount Haguro
area.
We went to a small temple with a lovely garden and we walked around and took lots
of pictures of each other. We climbed up a hill which was fine, but the way down
was very steep and scary. Still, we got down with no limbs broken so that was okay.
I was surprised that one of my students actually works there! It was nice to see her.
Then we headed back into Tsuruoka to visit Fumihiko's aunt. She wanted to serve me
Macha...the powder green tea. It was good. It was quite funny when I asked if I
could use the toilet. They only had a Japanese one, and were apologizing about it.
After 3 years in Japan, I know how to use that style, so no worries!!! We ate some more
food, and then we headed to the Shonai Airport.
At the Airport we went to visit a former student of mine, Manabu. We had coffee with
him, and he took us up to the tower to see the control center.
After that, it was back to Tsuruoka to a Soba restaurant.
Sadly, the Soba restaurant was closed, and Fumihiko remembered that he had to feed
Gombey. Gombey is his very cute Chiba (that's a dog folks). So, back we went to
his house.
At his house, his mother tried to give me more food.
Then we all went out again for yakiniku. Yum. This was a place that I'd never been
before. We ate a lot...too much?
After the meal we all went back to Fumihiko's house, and yes, his mother did try to
give me more food! She's so nice, but I just wasn't hungry.
We talked/watched TV and looked at old pictures for a while. I could pretty much
pick him out of his high school yearbook, but I couldn't pick him out of the Airport
Police book. It must have been his hat putting me off???
Around 11:00 pm he decided to drive me home...well, they did offer to let me take
a bath there first, or to stay over, but I thought I'd better get home and do some
work.
His mother stayed home and he dropped me off. He apologized for not having a souvenir
for me, so I gave him one. (Nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more).
Then, I wrote a few e-mails and started to pack....again. Argh. I had to take a
break which is why I'm writing this. I have so much blooming stuff.
I had a fabulous day. I wish I'd had a few more like that in my stay in Tsuruoka.
If I had, I probably wouldn't be moving.
Just a note, perhaps to change the mood, but I heard on the news today that it is
the 11th anniversary of the Tiennamen Square Massacre. I remember how excited I
was when the students protested for democracy and how devastated I was at the terrible
outcome. I had just graduated from University at the time and I felt a kinship with the
students. Truly a case of "there but for the grace of God go I." If I'd been born
in China, maybe I'd have been there?
Point to ponder.....
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