Fireworks in the Sky

This is a picture of the PL Fireworks show tonight as seen from our balcony. Too bad the lens on our digital camera isn't powerful enough to take a clear picture of the fireworks, which were about 15 kilometers away.

Beach Shot

This picture, taken from TV, shows how crowded a typical beach in Japan looks during the summer months.

I've Got Da Fee-vah... I've Got Da Fee-vah...

Well, seriously, I did have a fever - for three days.



I first noticed common symptoms of fever this past Tuesday night: chills (at a time when it is very hot and humid in Japan, and we are trying not to use the air conditioner), sore muscles and joints. My wife put this type of cool pad on my forehead, and I went to sleep - or tried to. I really couldn't sleep well that night. I was either too cold or too hot (typical fever symptoms, my doctor later said).



I woke up Wednesday morning, still with a fever and with a decision to make about going to work. I had never missed a day when I had classes to teach, and my intention was to go to work. So I popped some pain medicine and went to help my wife make breakfast.



But my body ached so much that I had trouble even standing up. Then I felt dizzy and nauseous. That decided it for me; I couldn't work that day.



I stayed in bed all of Wednesday, my fever not getting any better, despite taking Bufferin. My temperature was a little over 38 degrees Celsius. It became slightly lower that night, and being that my past fevers never lasted more than a day, my wife and I felt that I would be better in the morning. We were wrong.



Again, I had an almost sleepless night from being too cold or too hot. I woke up on Thursday again with a fever. Although I wasn't feeling dizzy or nauseous like I was on Wednesday, I thought I should stay home again, rest, and get over this thing.



By the time my wife came home Thursday evening, I still had a fever, and she was freaking out, worried about my health. She almost immediately took me to a nearby family clinic. The doctor was very friendly, trying to say most medical terms in English so I could also understand. What the doctor really couldn't understand is why I had such a high fever for a few days, yet otherwise I was basically fine. I didn't have a cold, and I wasn't in any great pain, just discomfort from the fever. He guessed that I might have an intestinal infection, but he wasn't 100% sure. He sent me home with a few pills to keep my fever down if I had to.



I took one of the pills that night to get some much-needed sleep, and it worked - up until about 4:00 am Friday morning, when the fever came back. My wife, still freaking out, wondered if I should stay home. But I insisted on going to work that day, so I popped another pill and headed off.

For most of the morning at work, I was groggy, but fine. But after lunch, the fever came back. The pill had worn off. The doctor hadn't given me that many pills, so I was worried about taking another one. So basically I suffered through that afternoon. My boss in the office must have know I was suffering, because with 5 minutes left in my shift, he said, "Herman, it's time to go home." (That was very un-Japanese!)

When we came home, my wife again took me to the clinic, and she had them do more this time: a urine test, blood test, and a chest x-ray. All the x-ray showed was that I had "nice-looking lungs", according to the doctor. The urine test just showed I had a fever (duh!), and the blood results wouldn't come until the next morning.

After leaving, we stopped for some KFC, then went home. My wife was surprised at how much I was eating, since my appetite had been so small the last few days (it's because KFC was finger lickin' good!). She took my temperature, and my fever was almost gone!

When I woke up on Saturday morning (this morning), my fever was completely gone! We had to go back to the clinic, though, to get the blood test results. I told the doctor that I had head and neck discomfort, and he said that was basically "fever leftovers" and would go away. The blood test revealed that I had a virus, and the fever was because my body was fighting it. That was it. Not exactly earth-shattering.

Anyway, here it is, Saturday night, and the fever still hasn't returned, although the "leftovers" are still around and I have to take it easy. I hope I'll be alright soon, though.

Why the Small Face?

As I (probably) mentioned earlier in this blog, this academic year I'm working two days a week at a prestigious junior high school located south of Osaka city. The kids there are very enthusiastic about learning, especially the girls. When they see me in the hallways, a lot of the girls try their best to speak to me in English.

However, some of those same girls have told me something I find peculiar:

"Your face is so small!"

You know, I don't know how to take that. That is something I never heard back in the U.S. Is it good or is it bad that my face is small?

INSTANT EDIT: Just a few seconds ago, while writing this post, my wife told me that in Japan, a small face is good. So I guess I can take that as a compliment.

However, it is another episode where I hear something I wouldn't hear back in the U.S. The learning, the experiences, they never stop, even after more than five years here.

More Stormy Times, and the Road to Lahaina

I told you earlier about the troubles between my wife and her mother at Disney World in March. Well, get ready for Part II. In Oahu and Waikiki, everything was fine. But almost from the moment we arrived in Maui, there was tension between my wife on one side, and her mother and sister on the other side.

I won't go into too much detail, since these are my family matters, after all. I will tell you this, though: my wife has different views on travelling from her mother and sister. My wife likes to go exploring, go driving, see as many sights as possible in the time that we have. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law, however, like shopping and relaxing, taking things at a leisurely pace. (If you are wondering, I'm somewhere in the middle.) That was the crux of the problem.

Things came to a head the morning after our arrival in Maui, when the three of them had an argument. To take my wife's mind off of things, we took a drive up to Lahaina - a beautiful drive, mind you! Take a look at the pictures below and tell me if I'm wrong.

Welcome to Maui

After spending a few days on Oahu, we spent the rest of our 2008 Hawaii vacation on Maui, my first time on the Valley Isle. A view of the airport terminal building is above.

Driving away from Kahului Airport, you are welcomed by this sign right outside the airport grounds.

Believe it or not, the very first thing we did after leaving the airport was stop at Krispy Kreme and grab some doughnuts. I think we're too crazy about Krispy Kreme. The bad thing was that the doughnuts we had were not "hot and now" - not made fresh and piping hot.

After our doughnuts, we drove across the big valley in the center of Maui on our way to the beach resort town of Kihei.

Du~de!

Driving around the North Shore of Oahu in April of this year, we stopped at this beach called Turtle Beach. It was recommended by a guidebook called Oahu Revealed. The book said that you are virtually guaranteed to see a sea turtle here, whether in the water or on the beach itself. So we gave it a try, and we weren't disappointed. There were two turtles resting on the beach.

There were "turtle volunteers" keeping an eye on the turtles (a protected species) and making sure humans didn't get their dirty little hands on them. There were signs and ropes around the turtles (including a bilingual English-Japanese warning sign, seen above - very necessary, as the Japanese tourists were trying to get as close as they could).

A close-up view of one of the turtles.

Upcoming Trips

Here's a list of some of the places I will be traveling to in the not-so-distant future (thanks to my beautiful wife for this idea):

• Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture (late summer 2008)
• Saipan (fall 2008)
• Hawaii (islands yet to be determined, winter 2009)

Look out for posts and pictures regarding those trips.

Costco: A Big Disappointment-o

After our journey to IKEA in Kobe yesterday, we decided to stop by Costco in eastern Hyogo Prefecture on our way home. I had heard nothing but good things about Costco. A lot of the foreigners I talk to said that Costco is good because you can get a lot of Western food. Also, my wife and I heard that because of Costco's wholesale format, you can buy food in bulk and save money.

When we went there, we found that neither of those things were true.

I went to Costco hoping to buy a lot of American things I usually can't buy in Japanese stores: American cereal, dry fruit mix, flavored coffee creamer. None of that stuff was at Costco. In addition, we found that buying goods in bulk at Costco didn't really save us much money compared with what we usually pay for single goods at the supermarket we usually shop at. It's not worth it to make the trip to Costco if we don't save money or if we can't get those American snacks and goods that we are looking for.

To top it off, the place was EXTREMELY packed. Yes, it was Saturday, but even with very wide, American-style aisles, it was very difficult to maneuver a shopping cart around Costco, making the whole experience unpleasant. As soon as we paid for the few things that we did buy, we went straight back to the counter where we signed up for membership, and requested our membership fee back. We do not plan on going back to Costco any time soon.

IKEA: Home Away From Home

Yesterday my wife and I went to the IKEA furniture store... for the third time since we moved in April. IKEA opened the first store in the Kansai area of Japan that month over in an area of Kobe called Port Island. It's the largest IKEA store in the world thus far. My wife just loves it. She likes the Western style of the furniture and goods, and a lot of Japanese people must feel the same way, because that place was extremely packed every time we went there.

When you enter IKEA, you are led straight up to the showroom, where you follow a winding one-way path taking you past displays of furniture, goods, etc. You take a pencil and a small form and write down the serial numbers of the stuff you want while you peruse. Next, you go downstairs where you can buy small stuff like curtains, light bulbs and lamps, dishes, etc. After that, you go to the warehouse where you get your unassembled furniture yourself, wrapped in flat boxes. You pay, then you go home.

I'm not as crazy about the store as my wife is. The furniture and goods are all European, so, for example, if you get a bed from there, like we did, you can only get bed covers that fit from IKEA. You can't get it from Japanese stores. Also, curtains may or may not fit Japanese-made windows. If you can get past that, though, they do have some good things. We especially like the comfortable pillows, IKEA 365+ FAST (pictured above). They also have a range of futons, from thin for the summer to thick ones for the winter.

Going up to Diamond Head

While in Hawaii this Golden Week, we did something I never did when my family lived in Hawaii: we went to the top of Diamond Head. Here I am near the start of the trail leading to the summit.

The trail starts to take you uphill, turning sharply at hairpins as you make your way up. The more altitude the trail takes, the more uneven the path becomes, so make sure you have sturdy shoes when you go. Also, be sure to take a lot of water, as you will get hot and sweaty.

Just when you think the trail's coming to an end, you lay eyes upon this beauty: a long, steep staircase. I didn't count exactly, but there must be over 100 stairs in this stretch along. After this, you go through a tunnel, up a narrow, spiral staircase, then you arrive at a park worker at a desk inside a foxhole stamping certificates. They cost $2 and say that you made the trip up to Diamond Head. Past that, you go up through a narrow opening to the top, and you are presented with this view:

Lovely, isn't it? Definitely worth the trip. It does get windy up there, though; my sister-in-law almost lost her precious brand-name hat. Be careful.

A View To Kill For

While in Waikiki at the end of April, we had dinner at a restaurant called Hanohano, located at the top of the Sheraton Waikiki. These pictures were taken from up there. The night view of Diamond Head below is amazing!!!

Do You Take...

During Golden Week my wife and I took another trip to Hawaii, this time with her sister as well as with her mother. Among the things we did was have a small wedding ceremony at a beach in Honolulu - an opportunity to take some lovely pictures. This is my wife and I with the minister during our vows (which my wife did completely in English - what a trooper!).

M-I-C-K-E-Y...

When you stay at Disney's Pop Century Resort (one of many hotels on site at Disney World), you never forget where you are, as evidenced by the imagery on the bars of soap, shampoo and signage in our room.

Seeing so many Mickey Mouse faces had me a little too excited.

If you aren't tired of seeing Mickey in your room, just look at the front of your building. There he is, making a phone call.

On The Road... How Does That Song Go?

Enjoying a car trip around the Tampa Bay area. The bottom picture shows Tropicana Field in the background.

Hot And Now

When traveling back in America, no morning is complete without a trip to the nearest Krispy Kreme. There is no doughnut like their original, "Hot and Now", just-baked glazed variety. If you ever take a trip to the U.S., do your best to go to Krispy Kreme, if there is one near your locale. This one is in Brandon, Florida, outside of Tampa.

Birds! Birds!!!

A flock of birds taking flight early in the morning behind my parents' house in Tampa Bay. Wow, I usually don't see flocks of birds (other than pigeons)... or trees... from behind my house in Osaka.

Mom-san

Here is my mother, enjoying the yukata that we brought her from Japan. She was definitely happy with that.

Stormy Times in the Sunshine State

(A view of the Tampa skyline.)

In late February/early March, I took a trip to Florida with my wife and my mother-in-law to visit my parents, who have lived in the state for about three years. Before the trip, I was worried about how things would go. I heard stories about in-laws not getting along with each other, so I was hoping things would go well in Florida. I never expected that I would have to deal with a different kind of battle.

(Me and my mother at a Tampa Bay park.)

The trip started out well.　Even though there were obvious language barriers, my parents and my wife's mother were very nice to each other. My mother-in-law really loved my parents' house in the Tampa Bay area. One thing my mother likes to do is decorate the house, and my mother-in-law was amazed by it, saying to me, "Why did you ever come to Japan?" (It seems to me that during my time here in Japan, none of the houses I've seen have been decorated - no pictures in frames on the wall, no paintings, no sculptures. etc.) My mother-in-law, my wife and I spent time in the large backyard, something that doesn't really exist in the Osaka area. We spent a lot of time in Tampa just relaxing and taking it slow, which suited my mother-in-law just fine.

(Entrance to Walt Disney World, Orlando.)

Things changed, though, once we drove up I-4 to Walt Disney World. One thing you have to know about my wife is that when we travel, she keeps busy, trying to do as much as possible in the time we have. That was the case at Walt Disney World, where she was almost running from attraction to attraction. That didn't go well with my mother-in-law, who wanted to take it slow and easy. It came to the point where we would separate for hours at a time, and it eventually came to the point where my mother-in-law decided to just stay in the hotel while my wife and I enjoyed the parks.

Tension developed between my wife and her mother, and I was caught in between, serving as a "messenger" between the two during the times they wouldn't talk to each other. It was bad.

Well... at least Pooh and I had a good time together. Still... I must say that it was good to get back to Japan and leave Orlando behind.