Monday, October 15, 2012

Day 10 to 11

In the morning I ate breakfast with my teacher.  I enjoyed the fresh paprika which she hervested from her garden 30 minutes ago.  I was wondering how to eat, but it was rather sweet and juicy itself.
Then my first American friend from University of Illinois came to pick me up and took me to the airport.  It was a very short time, but I am glad to see him after 5 years and a half.
At the airport after checking in, I bought a book which I wanted to read for a long time.
After boarding, we had to wait for an hour because there was the problem on the door.  Then we needed to wait for another two hours or so because the weather became so bad and the control tower did not give the permission to fly. 
After 12 hours and a half, we got to Narita Airport, but it was already 4 hours later than the schedule.  Many people who had connection flights were rescheduled.
At the baggage claim we had to wait for another hour or so, because the door had the problem again.
After all I got on the train at 20:25 and changed twice and came home nearly midnight.

Anyway as a lesson, I thought I'd better have enough time schedule.

Through this vacation I visited New York, Florida (Miami & Delray Beach), and Chicago and met many friends and gave them my book.  I am so glad to have such nice friends to visit. 
Thank you very much for everyone who shared time and meals.
I am looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Day 9

I left Delray Beach and went to Miami by Tri-Rail.  It was supposed to come at 10:27 but came late for about a half hour.  It cost $5 and took about 1 hour get to the Miami Airport.  And there is a shuttle bus service to the Miami International Airport. 
After checking in the baggage, I walked around the airport to find a place to eat lunch, but after all I ate at Burger King.
It took about 3 hours to Chicago.  The terminal I got to and the baggage claim were different place, and it was rather difficult. 
There my dear teacher from the university was waiting for me.  I was so glad to see her.  It has been about 5 years and a half since I met her last. 
We went out for dinner.  I wanted to eat something special in Chicago.  Some restaurants were so crowded because it was a home-coming weekend. 
We decided to eat stuffed Pizza.  I usually do not eat Pizza for dinner, but it is Chicago, and the Pizza is famous, and we enjoyed.

It rained while I was waiting for the train and in Chicago too.  But I am glad it was not so cold as I thought.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Day 8

I had lunch with an ex-colleague at a Greek Bistro. We ate Eggplant Salad, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Glant Beans, Hummus, Octopus, Mouzo, and Iced Tea.  Octopus and Mouzo which contained their famous ethnic drink OUZO reminded me of my trip to Greece in 2004 when there were Greece Olympic Games.
After lunch I went to the post office to send another book. It seems it costs $3.65 by first class mail and $2.47 by media mail.
In the afternoon I played golf at the same course we played before.  It's been 4 years and 10 months or so since I played last.  Score was not good but I am glad I did not lose the ball.
We had delicious dinner with my first roommate of the Morikami and her boyfriend.
At night we played billiard again.
I enjoyed my vacation here very much.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Day 7

I went to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens today where I have worked for 2 years from August 2006 to July 2008 as a JOI (Japan Outreach Initiative)  Coordinator.  I cannot believe it has been already 6 years since I came here first.  I had lunch with Education staff at the Cornel Cafe, then met other friends from tea lesson, and then met other friend from sister city program.  At night I visited the first host family and had dinner with neighbors.  I could meet many friends today and had a good time.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Day 6

I started translating my book into English in the morning, but it may take time.  For the time being the copyright belongs to the publisher, so I may need to wait to publish the English version for a while if I wish to do self-publishing.  If any publisher would like to publish my book in other languages, the story must be different though.
In the late afternoon my friend and I went to Miami.  I hoped to visit a museum but when we got there, it was almost closing time, and I could not see fully.  They said it is open for free on Saturday.  That is a good news to know.
We went to a restaurant called "Naoe(直江)", Japanese style restaurant where I have wanted to visit for 4 years.  Executive Chef Kevin Cory is my friend from the Morikami Tea Class.  It is a small restaurant and they only accept the reserved guests through OpenTable.   It opens only for dinner at 6 pm starting @ $85 + sales tax + 18% gratuity per person.  They served boxed lunch style dishes with clear soup & 8 pc Nigiri-zushi & Dessert.  There were many seasonal dishes such as matsutake (松茸) : mushroom , ginnan (銀杏): gingko nuts, kaki (柿): persimmon, sanma (秋刀魚): Brevoort, and so on.  All were so delicious.  I tried frozen sake (酒).  They also have a variety of  tea.  I enjoyed the three biggest rare tastes called sandai chinmi (三大珍味) too.  It may seem very expensive, but it is worth going and having dinner at least 4 times a year. 
I am not sure when I can visit next time, but whenever I come to Florida, I hope to visit there.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Day 5

I had lunch with Barbara whom I wrote about in my book to hand it to her.  It's been 4 years since we met last.  We enjoyed the reunion.
In the afternoon I practiced playing golf and billiard.  It has been also 4 years since I played them last.  It's been so long that I formed blisters on my hands.....
At night I baked pizza.  It's been also 4 years or so since I baked it.....
Considering these, it seems my life in Japan is quite different from what I spent here in Florida.

Day 4

I tried kayak and surf-kayaking for the first time.
First my friend and I went to the nearby lake to see if I like it or not.  It was nice, so we decided to go to the Everglades N.P. to kayak there.  There were many wild lives there including alligator.  There were beautiful lotus flowers and others too.
After having lunch at home, we went out to the ocean to kayak and surf-kayak.  The water was cold at first, but after turning over into the sea, I did not feel it was cold any more. 
I really felt I am on the vacation!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Day 3

I went to see my second host family in the morning.  We went out for brunch at a restaurant in Delray Beach.  It is a very famous and popular one, and there were so many people waiting for.  There are other restaurants nearby but only that restaurant attracts so many people because of the food.
There were 6 of us:  Father, Mother, daughter, her husband, their son and myself.  We had good brunch and  enjoyed the reunion a lot.  In my book I wrote about their wedding and used the picture.  They were glad to know that.
After coming back to friend's house, we went out for Downtown Delray Beach Craft Festival which was held only this weekend.  How lucky!  I have found the Kudo Klip which I liked when I got 4 years ago for the first time.  And I went shopping where had 20% off sale for just weekend.  I felt lucky again.
At night I went to my third host family's house after 4 years.  Father, Mother, and a daughter welcomed me and we enjoyed dinner, dessert, and chatting.  They were very pleased to know my first publishing and enjoyed listening to the contents I wrote about. 
I had a good day today.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Summer Vacation 2012: Day 1 to 2

I take my late summer vacation from October 5 to 15 this year.  There are still so many places in the world where I would like to visit, but among them I chose to go to the USA to deliver my first essay to those who are important to my life.   There are many people whom I want to see in the USA, but since the book is about my experience in Florida, I decided to spend more time in Florida.
I booked the flight tickets from Narita - New York - Miam - Chicago- Narita by Internet, which cost yen 120, 310.  To get the US VISA, I applied ESTA from Internet which cost $14.
I decided to see Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon who contributed to the Japanese Constitution including women's equal right in New York, friends and colleagues and host families in Florida, and teacher from university in Chicago.
I left home around 11:30 and took Keihin kyuko line to get to the Narita Airport which takes about 3 hours.  Then I took the UA882 leaving at 16:35 and arriving at Chicago at 14:49.  During about 11 hours  14 minutes flight there were dinner, snack, and breakfast.  We used to be served the snack and a drink soon after the departure, but there was not this time.  To my lucky there was no one next to me.  We arrived at Chicago 40 minutes earlier and entered the USA there.  There was a dog searching something.  And it stopped in front of the family who carried the banana served in the plane.  After re-checking the baggage, I checked the emails.  The next flight's plane came late and we had to wait and left there about one hour late.  Before arriving at New York there found bad problems with flaps and we needed to wait for landing until fire trucks were ready.  When we landed, people clapped with joy.
In New York, I took NJ transit and subway to go to Manhattan which cost $12.50 and $2.50 respectively.  We had a nice reunion at Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon's Apartment for a few hours.
Then I went back to the airport by the same route.  The Newark Airport is 24 hours open, and I spent the waiting time to read a book and solve some sudoku.
The next flight was early morning at 6:10 to Miami.  I saw the very beautiful sunrise from the plane.
It took about 3 hours to get to Miami.  There I was going to take Tri-Train but I missed the shuttle.  I called my best friend and asked to pick me up at the airport which was far much better.
It was chilly and slightly raining in Chicago, fine in New York, and very hot in sunny Florida.
It was a very long trip, and I could relax the rest of the day.