Michigan
Monday night's weather forecast for the rest of the week predicted sunny on Tuesday and rain to follow. So we decided to use Tuesday to take a ride on a ship on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, often compared to Lake Michigan, for example, or one of our Great Lakes.
We went to Otsu, just a few train stops away, and walked to the dock. After buying the ticket and going to the waiting room we found out that there were several different docks from which one could board a cruiser. This particular one just made the ninety minute small circle south of the "bridge." (Interesting, in Michigan, a 2-peninsula state, the "bridge" connecting them is an important point, as it even connects 2 cultures.)
We were on the earliest cruise of the day. It left dock around 10. While waiting in line at the gate some group was doing a flag dance of some kind. I was too short to see through the crowd, so I could only see when the flags were tossed in the air. There was some pretty peppy music, though.
The name of the ship was the " Michigan." It was a beautiful ship. There was the deck below and then three decks above it. As we boarded there were about six musicians playing "When the Saints go Marching In." spacealien_vamp wondered if they were getting "Michigan" confused with "Mississippi." Other than the name of the ship being Michigan, everything else seemed more closely related to Mississippi. The traveling musicians played a lot of old favorites like, "You are my Sunshine," "I've been Working on the Railroad," etc. The theme seemed to be more Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky (?)
As the ship pulled out of the dock, we all waved to the ground crew and said (in Japanese), "We're leaving now." They all stood at attention and said, "Go on." and waved back to us. I guess this is a traditional greeting when people leave in the morning in Japan.
We wandered the decks and took some photos of the ship and of the view. It was really beautiful with the cities' skylines and the mountainous backdrop. We wandered into the cafe and got a kick out of some of the names of the dishes, like "Tom's first love."
Outside the captain's cabin, they let us dress up and stand at a mock steering wheel.
At 10:50 they had a family show with three of the musicians and some dancers and singers. They
were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the fiddler. They were "gaijin." During the show it ended up raining several times. We were under cover and only caught some of the spray from the sides from time to time. I guess it is common for the forecast to be wrong.
The show had lots of ways for the children to participate, like extra washboards and metal brushes for the kids to make rhythm sounds, as well as tambourines and such.
They celebrated everyone's birthday (well, if you said you had a birthday or anniversary in August, we sang to you...yes, "Happy Birsday to You!" At least, that's what it sounded like to me! (Maybe they were singing, "Happy Beer's Day to you!"?) ( spacealien_vamp tells me that they don't have the "th" sound in Japanese, and they can't notice the difference between its sound and the "s" sound. Furthermore, they consider it embarrassing to put the tongue between their teeth, so when she makes them do it in class, they cover their mouth with their hand.)
After the show, the ride was over, and so was the rain.
We stopped at a nearby shopping center where they had a new Moby Dick buffet--open less than a week. It didn't have quite the variety that we found in Moriyama, and they were not quick to refill the empty serving bowls (like still empty a half hour later), but what they had was good. They were offering 10% off for their grand opening.
Then we came home. Once home, in the afternoon there was a huge downpour. I'm glad we went in the morning.
On Tuesday nights we've been watching a TV series called "Hanazakari no Kimi-tachi e." It's a story of a girl (disguised as a boy) who gains admission to an all boys' high school. It's a combination of silly, funny, clever, and romantic. A lot of cultural things come up in it; it takes place in Tokyo. I'm enjoying it more and more.
Wednesday we leveled up Guapoton to level 30 where he earned the skill "Divine Intervention" as well as the "Blessing of Light." We were hoping to make it to level 40 where he would get a horse, but it's really taking a long time to level up now.
Today we ran all our errands before 7:30 AM, it was much more pleasant than otherwise. Running errands here is not like running errands at home (into an air-conditioned car and then into an air-conditioned store and then back again into an air-conditioned house.) Here it is either walk, walk, walk, and carry all the stuff back, or ride the bike and bring the purchases back in the basket. We've been biking recently. But even just re-entering the sauna-like apartment to put the food away drains us as we melt away. This morning we got back before the apartment was more than 85 degrees, so it felt cool.
We went to Otsu, just a few train stops away, and walked to the dock. After buying the ticket and going to the waiting room we found out that there were several different docks from which one could board a cruiser. This particular one just made the ninety minute small circle south of the "bridge." (Interesting, in Michigan, a 2-peninsula state, the "bridge" connecting them is an important point, as it even connects 2 cultures.)
We were on the earliest cruise of the day. It left dock around 10. While waiting in line at the gate some group was doing a flag dance of some kind. I was too short to see through the crowd, so I could only see when the flags were tossed in the air. There was some pretty peppy music, though.
The name of the ship was the " Michigan." It was a beautiful ship. There was the deck below and then three decks above it. As we boarded there were about six musicians playing "When the Saints go Marching In." spacealien_vamp wondered if they were getting "Michigan" confused with "Mississippi." Other than the name of the ship being Michigan, everything else seemed more closely related to Mississippi. The traveling musicians played a lot of old favorites like, "You are my Sunshine," "I've been Working on the Railroad," etc. The theme seemed to be more Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky (?)
As the ship pulled out of the dock, we all waved to the ground crew and said (in Japanese), "We're leaving now." They all stood at attention and said, "Go on." and waved back to us. I guess this is a traditional greeting when people leave in the morning in Japan.
We wandered the decks and took some photos of the ship and of the view. It was really beautiful with the cities' skylines and the mountainous backdrop. We wandered into the cafe and got a kick out of some of the names of the dishes, like "Tom's first love."
Outside the captain's cabin, they let us dress up and stand at a mock steering wheel.
At 10:50 they had a family show with three of the musicians and some dancers and singers. They
were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the fiddler. They were "gaijin." During the show it ended up raining several times. We were under cover and only caught some of the spray from the sides from time to time. I guess it is common for the forecast to be wrong.
The show had lots of ways for the children to participate, like extra washboards and metal brushes for the kids to make rhythm sounds, as well as tambourines and such.
They celebrated everyone's birthday (well, if you said you had a birthday or anniversary in August, we sang to you...yes, "Happy Birsday to You!" At least, that's what it sounded like to me! (Maybe they were singing, "Happy Beer's Day to you!"?) ( spacealien_vamp tells me that they don't have the "th" sound in Japanese, and they can't notice the difference between its sound and the "s" sound. Furthermore, they consider it embarrassing to put the tongue between their teeth, so when she makes them do it in class, they cover their mouth with their hand.)
After the show, the ride was over, and so was the rain.
We stopped at a nearby shopping center where they had a new Moby Dick buffet--open less than a week. It didn't have quite the variety that we found in Moriyama, and they were not quick to refill the empty serving bowls (like still empty a half hour later), but what they had was good. They were offering 10% off for their grand opening.
Then we came home. Once home, in the afternoon there was a huge downpour. I'm glad we went in the morning.
On Tuesday nights we've been watching a TV series called "Hanazakari no Kimi-tachi e." It's a story of a girl (disguised as a boy) who gains admission to an all boys' high school. It's a combination of silly, funny, clever, and romantic. A lot of cultural things come up in it; it takes place in Tokyo. I'm enjoying it more and more.
Wednesday we leveled up Guapoton to level 30 where he earned the skill "Divine Intervention" as well as the "Blessing of Light." We were hoping to make it to level 40 where he would get a horse, but it's really taking a long time to level up now.
Today we ran all our errands before 7:30 AM, it was much more pleasant than otherwise. Running errands here is not like running errands at home (into an air-conditioned car and then into an air-conditioned store and then back again into an air-conditioned house.) Here it is either walk, walk, walk, and carry all the stuff back, or ride the bike and bring the purchases back in the basket. We've been biking recently. But even just re-entering the sauna-like apartment to put the food away drains us as we melt away. This morning we got back before the apartment was more than 85 degrees, so it felt cool.