Carmen andIwent to see W at Great American Ball Park. It was great and so positive and so on-target. Lotta kewl people there too like Anthony Munoz, Johnny Bench, Steve Chabot, Mike DeWine, Rob Portman, Betty Montgomery, and more. Laura looked so polished as usual. Not like that frayed crazy lady Heinz. Anyway the issues that mattered most were brought up most. It was a great time. Now all we need is to pull Ohio together for W.

FOUR MORE YEARS!

Hm, jet lag going west- didn't have it. But coming back east, at first I THOUGHT I didn't have a problem with it, but then I noticed Tuesday I all of a sudden got groggy driving back, had to stop at a convenience store and sleep for like 10 min. I have been going to sleep at about 7 or 8 and sleeping till maybe 2 or 3, then waking up. Can't get back to sleep. That's the situation now. Went to my parents' with my family. Fell asleep there for most of the evening. Came back home and couldn't sleep. To top it all off Steve had neglected to pay our car insurance according to a letter I found randomly laying about the house; OK SO NOW WHAT!!!! I was pretty hoppin' mad. So anyway I called up Geico and the computers were down. So I couldn't sleep knowing we weren't gonna be able to drive, then I called at 5 a.m. and fixed everything and paid. Great customer service, by the way. Geico is excellent and cheap. We used to have Nationwide and switched to Geico- 24/7 service- can't beat it. We're paying now about $150 or thereabouts a month for everything on two nice cars and that ain't bad!
Yeah I definitely COULD live in Japan. I really like Japan. Did I mention I really like Japan? Japan is such a country of convenience. But such funny opposites. They have toilets that are just squat-over things. Then they have toilets that wipe, wash, dry, and serenade your derriere. Really! The people I lived with for 9 days: both their toilets open up for you, the seat is plush and warm, and depending on what you want it to do (I didn't- it's such an American thing- I feel uncomfortable pampering such a lowly body part so much), it will give your butt the Louis the XVI treatment. :) Then it will flush automatically. Or YOU can flush it. However you prefer. And the most hilarious thing: the sound effects. You can press a button to make a fake toilet flushing sound. WHY? And the upstairs toilet, I am NOT kidding: you sit down and a recording of birds starts to sing. When you pee in that bathroom it is eternally springtime and cherry blossoms. Not to mention both bathrooms smell strongly of cedar so your nose is pampered and doesn't have to smell anything that comes out of your body. LOLOL Anyway the Japanese know how to do toilets. And I thought the AM radio toilet paper dispenser my grandparents had on the Iowa farm was so cool! Little did I know there was something superior to listening to the weather advisories and price of hogs while you're on the throne.

Kyoka practicing ballet

Yuuka

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last night...sushi restaurant, a favorite of the Sasagawas

Kyoka doing kanji homework

This restaurant was small- only about 8 stools. Japanese cabbage and turnips, all kinds of mizo, bean curd, seafood.

Kyoto at night near Gion

small tunnel under an old road

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playing with the water chimes on Kyoto temple trail

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Kyoto

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girls in the bamboo forest

Yuka in bamboo forest

Tomomi and Kyoka Sasagawa

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along the way to some of the famous temples in Kyoto... not sure what this little house is used for.

Kyoka and Yuuka

in Kyoto

Fish in Kyoto pond

picture of the steak house we went to after my visit with Mr. Shinjo

We went afterwards to a nice steakhouse.

NGU computerized English class

Music student- his song was lovely. I listened to him for a while.

NGU central part of campus

view from NGU

I need to lose more weight.

I made a trip to meet with Iwao Shinjo, English professor at Nagoya Gakkuin U. This is his favorite spot on the campus.

The following are pix of Nagoya Castle, home of some of the most famous ancient Samurais. I was able to get through floors 5 through part of floor 2 of the castle. We were then evicted, typhooned.

During the stay I went several times to Nagoya. It's a short train ride from Gifu.

When working on the original walls (the part that wasn't destroyed in WWII and then reconstructed), people made their marks on the sections they and their crews were assigned.

There's a replica of the golden female dolphin inside the castle where you can take your picture taken. It's the only thing you can photograph inside. Shortly after this, and quite suddenly, several guards approached everyone in the castle looking at the museum pieces and quickly scooted us out. They were closing because of the typhoon and once they decide, there's just no time to lose!

the female dolphin atop the castle, an important symbol

another view of Nagoya castle

Nagoya castle

Nagoya castle

one of the old Samurais

some of the walls around Nagoya castle

Keiko, a former Conversa person, met us at Nagoya Eki and went through Nagoya castle with us. The typhoon was well on its way to us and we sloshed about in the rain a lot on the way to and from the castle.

Nagoya from the main train station

I think it was Friday when Andy and I went to 2 different schools with regular employees of Hop Step Jump. In each school we were seated in front of the assembly of 3-7 year olds.

We were served treats after School 2.

kirei

still babies Are they even 3 yet?

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This little one kept falling asleep. She finally dropped off and slept through the entire thing including class and lunch.

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still almost babies

All of us gaijin were seated in front of the kids. Mrs. Goto (owner of Hop Step Jump) is trying the Cote d'Ivoire drums owned by "Kaku" (behind her). We gaijin were from the US, England, Australia, New Zealand, Cote d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Italy, Nicaragua, and Spain. All but Andy and I were permanent residents. Some have visa problems. Most are married to Japanese. The children think it's a great diversion. They jump and climb all over us when we break apart into individual classrooms. Learning English is a huge game.

school playground

playground

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