July 23, 2007
Dear family,
Nagoya was a lot of fun! When I got there, Michiko was standing right at the bus stop saying, "savanna-san?!?!" There were two bus stops and I guess she'd been worried that she'd go to the wrong one and miss me. I should've emailed her a picture of myself before! How silly of me. She was so excited to see me and gave me a big hug. Then we went to a brand new building called Midland Square. It is the tallest building in Japan. There are 42 floors! It was fun. Then we went window shopping in a brand name type mall where everything is disgustingly high priced and looked around for who was actually buying something. Shirts around 600 bucks, slippers around 200...it was crazy! But fun to look. Then we took the subway train to a more practical mall and looked around for a while. Then we went up to the suburb Michiko lives in and I met her husband. She has such a nice family. Right now she lives with just her husband and 30 yr old daughter. I really liked everyone. But I hadn't met the daughter yet at the time. Their bird Ponsuke liked me. It is just a little parakeet but it can say things in Japanese and apparently once he lived in the wild for a month in the next city but someone found him and put up some "found bird" posters.
Then, that evening we went to hear Ayumi sing pop/soul songs in her band at Paradise somethingerother club [now i remember, it was called paradise cafe]. It was really small but apparently a pretty popular club. I guess you'd call it a club or a bar I dunno there wasn't really dancing so maybe that's called a bar? Well anyway I was really quite impressed, she is a good singer and has a really good ear; they sang many American songs and I couldn't hear any sort of accent in her voice. The guy singer is a different story, however, which you will see if you watch the movie I took of him singing "you reary got a hold on me" ^_^ It was quite enjoyable. On stage, Ayumi looked REALLY surprised when we walked in. Teehee, we didn't warn her that we were coming.
On Sunday we had a really nice time at church. I guess the couple missionaries after the couple missionaries after grandma and grandpa Hoggan (the broomheads, I think it was?) had been called to be mission presidents in samoa or tonga or some place like that in the middle of their mission and then they were called to a Tokyo mission (I'm not sure exactly what they do) but they had randomly come down to Nagoya for just that weekend to give a talk. So it was really cool to see how surprised Michiko was to see Sister Broomhead there! Sister Broomhead was bawling, but she did kinda seem the emotional type. So that was sweet. It was a really spiritual meeting and I hope Michiko will go again. She is such a sweetheart.
After church, Michiko's husband took us to see an art museum. It was pretty cool; it had a real Picasso and a real Van Gogh. And a lot of really famous Japanese artwork. Then we went to a ("little" i guess i'll call it--in comparison to midland square it was tiny!) little public tower and looked at the city. Then we went home and Ayumi made curry for us for dinner. It was SO good. Then Michiko's husband showed me a bunch of photographs he'd taken because he's really into photography. It was a nice evening. Michiko seemed pretty relieved that I was perfectly happy and enjoying myself just relaxing at home and didn't need to be out and about and seeing everything! I was glad because she really spoiled me rotten! They really made me feel at home. Michiko and Ayumi had gone shopping beforehand and found me a pair of slippers (everyone wears slippers indoors) and they were somehow my exact fit! I felt bad that they'd gone to such trouble, I know how hard it is to find shoes my size! And they didn't even know my size as far as I can tell...Anyway, I could tell she really thought of me. Their family had gone to Hokkaido on vacation the week before, and she brought me all sorts of treats that you can only get up there. Even her husband had picked something out for me. I felt really quite too spoiled. But when someone goes to that much trouble to bring you a gift, I'm pretty sure they want to see you happy and say thanks rather than turn it away. So.
The next morning (today) Michiko and I made onion carrot bread. It was so delicious! Michiko says that if I start practicing I can become a good cook. (out of context that sounds strange but the fact is I can't cook a thing...think of it as a really encouraging statement!) I brought a bunch of bread back for the Takaras. After we had breakfast, we went to see the horses Michiko has a new hobby of riding, but it was closed for the day so we went to see her brother instead. Michiko's brother lives in Setto which is very famous for its pottery. He makes pottery for brands like "tiffany" in new york. Michiko gave me a bunch of those plates. I felt really like it was too much but she promised me that he gives them to her whenever she wants for free and that she hasn't even used them. So I said well as long as we say it is a "really early wedding present." and she played along and said yes because I wanted to give them to you in person :-P I hope she will come to America and visit me in my future home someday so I can spoil her back. I told her I'd try to get Margie (sorry grandma, I kept calling you that for clarity) to come to Japan someday and we'd visit her together.
After lunch, I packed up my things and we went back to Nagoya. She wanted to show me the electric building (some sort of science building) so when we got to Fushimi she asked someone for directions, but we ended up at a different science museum that was closed. Well, by that time we had only 5 minutes until the electric building we wanted was to close, so I was just trying to get her to relax but she said she wanted to try again. So we walked a bit further and she found it (i was surprised that they'd have so many science buildings). Just as we walked in, the attendant was turning off the escalator! It was a close call, but she turned it back on and let us go up and have a look. It is a public place for kids to learn about electricity. The first thing in the tour is a model of how the Earth was made. I thought that was a bit interesting, haha. Anyway it was really funny because we were like the only ones there and the attendant was kinda ushering us through so that she could go home, directing us to the fun things and shooing us out. Michiko had been really excited to show me the building because the missionaries had really enjoyed it, so I hope she wasn't disappointed, because I really did have an enjoyable time. After that we just went the rest of the way to Nagoya and window shopped until my bus came. I felt sad to leave! Michiko is such a nice lady. I'll admit I couldn't recognize her (don't tell her that, g-ma:) when I saw her, but she reminds me of Grandma a lot. Her mannerisms and activeness. Ayumi's mannerisms reminded me of Angela, so I felt right at home. I was kinda surprised at the similarities since you are both so unique!
Well, I had a great weekend, and even if you read the whole thing, it didn't say everything. But I did try to be detailed. I want to remember it well. Michiko kept reminiscing about the times we'd had together and many of the things I didn't remember. She has a good memory. She agreed when I told her that ^_^ I was also impressed at her English. She has a real talent! I thought for sure she'd studied in America...but no! Only in a weekly community class...I want to know how they're teaching there!
PS I was really tired so I hope I didn't say anything too weird!
Nagoya was a lot of fun! When I got there, Michiko was standing right at the bus stop saying, "savanna-san?!?!" There were two bus stops and I guess she'd been worried that she'd go to the wrong one and miss me. I should've emailed her a picture of myself before! How silly of me. She was so excited to see me and gave me a big hug. Then we went to a brand new building called Midland Square. It is the tallest building in Japan. There are 42 floors! It was fun. Then we went window shopping in a brand name type mall where everything is disgustingly high priced and looked around for who was actually buying something. Shirts around 600 bucks, slippers around 200...it was crazy! But fun to look. Then we took the subway train to a more practical mall and looked around for a while. Then we went up to the suburb Michiko lives in and I met her husband. She has such a nice family. Right now she lives with just her husband and 30 yr old daughter. I really liked everyone. But I hadn't met the daughter yet at the time. Their bird Ponsuke liked me. It is just a little parakeet but it can say things in Japanese and apparently once he lived in the wild for a month in the next city but someone found him and put up some "found bird" posters.
Then, that evening we went to hear Ayumi sing pop/soul songs in her band at Paradise somethingerother club [now i remember, it was called paradise cafe]. It was really small but apparently a pretty popular club. I guess you'd call it a club or a bar I dunno there wasn't really dancing so maybe that's called a bar? Well anyway I was really quite impressed, she is a good singer and has a really good ear; they sang many American songs and I couldn't hear any sort of accent in her voice. The guy singer is a different story, however, which you will see if you watch the movie I took of him singing "you reary got a hold on me" ^_^ It was quite enjoyable. On stage, Ayumi looked REALLY surprised when we walked in. Teehee, we didn't warn her that we were coming.
On Sunday we had a really nice time at church. I guess the couple missionaries after the couple missionaries after grandma and grandpa Hoggan (the broomheads, I think it was?) had been called to be mission presidents in samoa or tonga or some place like that in the middle of their mission and then they were called to a Tokyo mission (I'm not sure exactly what they do) but they had randomly come down to Nagoya for just that weekend to give a talk. So it was really cool to see how surprised Michiko was to see Sister Broomhead there! Sister Broomhead was bawling, but she did kinda seem the emotional type. So that was sweet. It was a really spiritual meeting and I hope Michiko will go again. She is such a sweetheart.
After church, Michiko's husband took us to see an art museum. It was pretty cool; it had a real Picasso and a real Van Gogh. And a lot of really famous Japanese artwork. Then we went to a ("little" i guess i'll call it--in comparison to midland square it was tiny!) little public tower and looked at the city. Then we went home and Ayumi made curry for us for dinner. It was SO good. Then Michiko's husband showed me a bunch of photographs he'd taken because he's really into photography. It was a nice evening. Michiko seemed pretty relieved that I was perfectly happy and enjoying myself just relaxing at home and didn't need to be out and about and seeing everything! I was glad because she really spoiled me rotten! They really made me feel at home. Michiko and Ayumi had gone shopping beforehand and found me a pair of slippers (everyone wears slippers indoors) and they were somehow my exact fit! I felt bad that they'd gone to such trouble, I know how hard it is to find shoes my size! And they didn't even know my size as far as I can tell...Anyway, I could tell she really thought of me. Their family had gone to Hokkaido on vacation the week before, and she brought me all sorts of treats that you can only get up there. Even her husband had picked something out for me. I felt really quite too spoiled. But when someone goes to that much trouble to bring you a gift, I'm pretty sure they want to see you happy and say thanks rather than turn it away. So.
The next morning (today) Michiko and I made onion carrot bread. It was so delicious! Michiko says that if I start practicing I can become a good cook. (out of context that sounds strange but the fact is I can't cook a thing...think of it as a really encouraging statement!) I brought a bunch of bread back for the Takaras. After we had breakfast, we went to see the horses Michiko has a new hobby of riding, but it was closed for the day so we went to see her brother instead. Michiko's brother lives in Setto which is very famous for its pottery. He makes pottery for brands like "tiffany" in new york. Michiko gave me a bunch of those plates. I felt really like it was too much but she promised me that he gives them to her whenever she wants for free and that she hasn't even used them. So I said well as long as we say it is a "really early wedding present." and she played along and said yes because I wanted to give them to you in person :-P I hope she will come to America and visit me in my future home someday so I can spoil her back. I told her I'd try to get Margie (sorry grandma, I kept calling you that for clarity) to come to Japan someday and we'd visit her together.
After lunch, I packed up my things and we went back to Nagoya. She wanted to show me the electric building (some sort of science building) so when we got to Fushimi she asked someone for directions, but we ended up at a different science museum that was closed. Well, by that time we had only 5 minutes until the electric building we wanted was to close, so I was just trying to get her to relax but she said she wanted to try again. So we walked a bit further and she found it (i was surprised that they'd have so many science buildings). Just as we walked in, the attendant was turning off the escalator! It was a close call, but she turned it back on and let us go up and have a look. It is a public place for kids to learn about electricity. The first thing in the tour is a model of how the Earth was made. I thought that was a bit interesting, haha. Anyway it was really funny because we were like the only ones there and the attendant was kinda ushering us through so that she could go home, directing us to the fun things and shooing us out. Michiko had been really excited to show me the building because the missionaries had really enjoyed it, so I hope she wasn't disappointed, because I really did have an enjoyable time. After that we just went the rest of the way to Nagoya and window shopped until my bus came. I felt sad to leave! Michiko is such a nice lady. I'll admit I couldn't recognize her (don't tell her that, g-ma:) when I saw her, but she reminds me of Grandma a lot. Her mannerisms and activeness. Ayumi's mannerisms reminded me of Angela, so I felt right at home. I was kinda surprised at the similarities since you are both so unique!
Well, I had a great weekend, and even if you read the whole thing, it didn't say everything. But I did try to be detailed. I want to remember it well. Michiko kept reminiscing about the times we'd had together and many of the things I didn't remember. She has a good memory. She agreed when I told her that ^_^ I was also impressed at her English. She has a real talent! I thought for sure she'd studied in America...but no! Only in a weekly community class...I want to know how they're teaching there!
PS I was really tired so I hope I didn't say anything too weird!