Well, it's Friday night, or the wee hours of Saturday morning, to be accurate. Just got in from hanging out with some old, good friends, the best kind of friends, the ones who know you and have known you since far enough back to understand who you are now and how you came to be that person. Lea, her husband Mike, and Andrew. I've known them about half my life.
I got back here Tuesday morning, arriving at 8 AM, which was a little Twilight Zone-ish, since I left Osaka on Tuesday morning at 8 AM. Of course, that was before I crossed the international date line and all, but still. Didn't do much for the first three days, just sitting around the house, hanging out, trying to 1) recuperate from my jet-lag, and 2) readjust to not drinking coffee. Maybe I shouldn't have done both at the same time, but I think that now, after three days, I'm doing ok.
I've seen a lot of my family, and of course my niece! She's as adorable as ever, and thanks to Skype, she recognizes me and isn't so timid about being around me. She takes a while to warm up, of course, and still prefers her mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa to me, but I can accept that. The little tyke is amazingly cute, though!
Today I went out, did some shopping, trying to buy some fun/throw-away reading material for Japan. Paperbacks there run $10-15, so I'm hitting the used bookstores like a maniac. I'll give them another run through before I depart.
Haven't hit any beaches yet, but will do so next week for sure...and try to get on some real rock for some rock climbing exercise.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
B-U-S-Y!!!
Wow, it’s been a busy two weeks.
After that amazing hike, I returned to a short few days of work and getting ready to move to my new apartment. Although I’d tried to get some packing done before Naomi came to visit, like most people (I know, at least), I waited until the last minute to really pack. That meant an evening of climbing followed by about five hours of packing. . .which made it about 4 AM before I got to sleep that Saturday night. Waking up at 8, I finished up and waited for my friends to come help: Scot (colleague), Moto (another colleague) and his friend Maki (whom I’d never met, what a nice guy).
Maki had a large van and Scot had a small one, so between the two vehicles, we got most of my stuff here in the first trip. After it was all unloaded, we figured we could do the rest in one trip in the van, so Scot went home. We got the rest of the stuff and by 5 PM I was alone with a lot of stuff to put away. I got a good bit of it done that night, but I couldn’t go past nine or so, and crashed.
Then I was in the last week of school, so between work and trying to spend time with Naomi before she left, I had little time to finish putting my place in order. Nevertheless, it’s done now, or is for the time being. I plan to buy a bed and mattress when I return, and that should pretty much complete my apartment.
The area I now live in is called Kigawa. Here are some interesting tidbits about it:
- It’s about a 15-minute walk from Shin-Osaka station (which is a big station one stop from Osaka, and where the Shinkansen, or bullet-train, stops).
- It’s rumored to be a Yakuza area. . .but so far, I haven’t seen any scary looking guys wearing shades and driving large, black imports. I’ve been advised that, when I introduce myself to my neighbors (which I’ll do when I’m back from Hawaii), I should do a pinky check. That is, I should check to see if my neighbors have their pinky finger, since some Yakuza don’t.
Tomorrow I head out to Hawaii for nearly five weeks! I can hardly believe I’m done with my second semester teaching. Amazing how fast time goes by. With my new contract just signed last week, I’ll be here another year, probably two more, maybe more.
In Hawaii, I’m looking forward to:
- seeing my niece and spoiling her rotten before I leave
- visiting friends and family
- motorcycling around the Big Island with my dad
- hanging out on Kauai for a week
- trying to climb the rocks at Waimea Bay
- eating shave ice at Baldwin’s in Waimalu
Probably some other stuff, too, but that’s what I’m thinking about right now.
Well, I’m off to meet friends for something to eat. See some of you soon! Aloha!
After that amazing hike, I returned to a short few days of work and getting ready to move to my new apartment. Although I’d tried to get some packing done before Naomi came to visit, like most people (I know, at least), I waited until the last minute to really pack. That meant an evening of climbing followed by about five hours of packing. . .which made it about 4 AM before I got to sleep that Saturday night. Waking up at 8, I finished up and waited for my friends to come help: Scot (colleague), Moto (another colleague) and his friend Maki (whom I’d never met, what a nice guy).
Maki had a large van and Scot had a small one, so between the two vehicles, we got most of my stuff here in the first trip. After it was all unloaded, we figured we could do the rest in one trip in the van, so Scot went home. We got the rest of the stuff and by 5 PM I was alone with a lot of stuff to put away. I got a good bit of it done that night, but I couldn’t go past nine or so, and crashed.
Then I was in the last week of school, so between work and trying to spend time with Naomi before she left, I had little time to finish putting my place in order. Nevertheless, it’s done now, or is for the time being. I plan to buy a bed and mattress when I return, and that should pretty much complete my apartment.
The area I now live in is called Kigawa. Here are some interesting tidbits about it:
- It’s about a 15-minute walk from Shin-Osaka station (which is a big station one stop from Osaka, and where the Shinkansen, or bullet-train, stops).
- It’s rumored to be a Yakuza area. . .but so far, I haven’t seen any scary looking guys wearing shades and driving large, black imports. I’ve been advised that, when I introduce myself to my neighbors (which I’ll do when I’m back from Hawaii), I should do a pinky check. That is, I should check to see if my neighbors have their pinky finger, since some Yakuza don’t.
Tomorrow I head out to Hawaii for nearly five weeks! I can hardly believe I’m done with my second semester teaching. Amazing how fast time goes by. With my new contract just signed last week, I’ll be here another year, probably two more, maybe more.
In Hawaii, I’m looking forward to:
- seeing my niece and spoiling her rotten before I leave
- visiting friends and family
- motorcycling around the Big Island with my dad
- hanging out on Kauai for a week
- trying to climb the rocks at Waimea Bay
- eating shave ice at Baldwin’s in Waimalu
Probably some other stuff, too, but that’s what I’m thinking about right now.
Well, I’m off to meet friends for something to eat. See some of you soon! Aloha!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Japan Alps
My friend Naomi came in from Hawaii last week Thursday for a two week visit. On Sunday morning we woke up at 4:15 to get an early start on the long journey to Nagano Prefecture. From my town, we had to catch a train to Shin-Osaka, get our tickets and hop on the bullet train to Nagoya, about 45 minutes away, then switch to a regular express train for a two and a half hour ride to Takayama, a town known for a quaint area with historic houses and shops. From there, we had to take two buses before finally arriving Kamikochi, the jumping off point for the circuit we'd decided to try. All told, it took us until almost 1 PM before we were ready to hit the trail.
We snapped a picture and headed out along a path that also doubled as a small road for supply and maintenance vehicles. We set a leisurely pace, enjoying the much cooler temperature and lower humidity of the mountains, the clean, clean air, and of course the nearly constant vistas of the range of mountains rising above us. We were, for this part of the journey, walking up a valley. 
We strolled along the trail/access road, but stopped after about three hours, already tired after the early start, worn out by sitting on trains and buses.
Our plan, at this point, was to do what would normally have been a three day circuit, if one was able to start the first leg at an early hour, in four days. We would travel light and stay in huts spread out fairly regularly along the multitude of trails that wend their way along the valleys and ridges of this amazing national park. Huts provide a place to sleep with the option of meals, but for a pretty hefty price at roughly $90 a night with the meals. Still, we didn't have to carry a tent, nor sleeping bags, nor food for four days. Our route would take us up to Yari-ga-take, a peak of 3180 meters (10,433 feet; fifth highest peak in Japan), on the second night, then from there we would continue on to Hotaka-dake (third highest at 3190 m) for the third night, from where we would descend back to Kamikochi on the fourth and final day.
Well, the second day dawned early, the sun rising around 4:30, but breakfast was served at 6 and so we didn't get out of bed until around 5:30. We ate a traditional Japanese breakfast (rice, miso soup, fish, egg, veggies) and were on the trail again by 7.
We had broken up the first leg of the journey, a 17 kilometer (10.5 miles) leg, that supposedly takes 7-8 hours. 
Well, we'd done three hours already and figured we could lick the rest of it in a leisurely 5 to 6 hours. How wrong we were.
The main problem as that we were hiking probably a month before most people go through there, so the guidebook gave a low estimate for time. Either that or they were talking about very fit hikers. See, there was still a lot of snow deeper in the mountains. Although the wide and easy trail/access road ended there at the hut where we spent our first night, a rather easy path continued for another two hours or so. But from the next hut, the trail gets steeper until it comes upon the ruins of a hut that was wiped out by an avalanche some time ago. From there, the trail goes very, very steep. In what I would guess is the last three miles of the hike, you gain nearly a mile of altitude. And there were large patches of snow to ascend as well.
All this took its toll on us. We slowed to a near crawl. Around this time we met a Swiss man, also half Japanese as it turned out, named Kenji, and we finished the ascent together. (Probably lucky for us, as we had neglected to bring a good map and may have taken the wrong path...maybe...more on our unpreparedness later.) The total time for our second day was 8 hours. So, to finish the 7-8 hour leg took us 11 hours. Crazy, but true. I may have been able to do it faster, maybe even in the 7-8 hours claimed in the book, if I'd been alone, but it would have been harder, much harder, and I felt near exhausted as it was.
After much slipping and sliding, we arrived at the hut on the top of the mountain, just down from the actual peak. Naomi was exhausted, done in, so I climbed the peak with Kenji and, as the clouds broke and closed, I managed to get some spectacular shots of the valley on the far side. Without a doubt, one of the best hikes I've ever done, one of the top experiences I've had in Japan, or even in my life. It was a difficult ascent, but worth it.
Now let me digress for a moment. How unprepared we were... I did both days of this ascent wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. In spite of a dreary forecast, the sun was out for much of our climb and I wasn't cold for longer than a few minutes at a stretch. But I forgot how easily I burn when I have no tan to protect me, and I've been indoors of late, rock climbing in a gym. And with all that snow, with hours spent on or near the snow, I was getting blasted by sun. So I got burned on my lower legs, my forearms, and the back of my neck (I did remember to put sunscreen on my face). Stupid #1. The next thing I did was to forget to bring more food along. The farther along you, the farther you get from the base, the more expensive things get. By the time we reached the peak, a bottle of water (500mL) was about $3.50. Snacks were equally high. Stupid #2. Then there were the old running shoes I was wearing, instead of real hiking boots...preferably waterproof, given the snow we were hiking on for much of the ascent. Stupid #3. The last thing was to wear shorts instead of my zip-off leg hiking pants...and to not bring rain gear for my legs...you'll see why in the next paragraph. Stupid #4.
The night we spent atop the mountain was not quiet. A storm came in, complete with thunder and lightning, and the rain was still falling as we woke the next morning, at our breakfast, gathered our things, and finally started out. With the weather being what it was, and given how tired we both were at this point, we opted to turn back the way we'd come, descend all the way back to Kamikochi in one day, get the buses back to Takayama and spend a day there relaxing. We figured the down would be faster than the up, so it would take us maybe 8 hours. Wrong again.
Kenji was heading out at the same time, so we started our descent together. But with stiff legs and a cold rain, the going was slow and Kenji soon decided that he could sort of "ski" down the snow much faster than we were walking down the rocky path. Soon he was hundreds of meters ahead. We gave it a try ourselves, but after a few falls and a rather uncomfortable attempt to just slide down on our butts, we opted to just walk down the snow...which is very slow going. We walked on rocky patches where we could, but up toward the peak, there was more snow than rock, and it took a long time. And as we went on, we got more tired and moved slower. The cold didn't help at all. At one point I was freezing, though not worried about my health, as it wasn't that cold, just miserably uncomfortable. If I'd had hiking boots and rain pants, I would have been fairly comfortable. As it was, I fantasizing about a hot bath.
(Note: no pictures could capture the rain and cold, so I've not included any from our descent, of which there were unsurprisingly few, given the rain.)
When we finally made it down to the hut ruins and thus the end of the most difficult part of our descent, over four hours had passed instead of the two I'd hoped. We completed the rest of the trip in another six hours. The rain stopped and the sun even came out a bit, but we were just tired, tired, tired. We got the last bus out that would make the connection we needed to get back to Takayama.
We stayed the night in a Best Western there, which was distinctly (obviously) not Japanese but very comfortable and, as an unexpected bonus, had an awesome breakfast buffet included. We walked around the town a bit, checking out the morning markets and the old, historic homes and shops, before I caught a train back to Osaka just before noon.
As tired as I felt, or maybe partially because of that, I had one of the best experiences of my life. That was a phenomenal hike, spectacular beauty, wrapped up in a true challenge. Those views would still have been beautiful, but not nearly so much had I not had to work so hard to see them. Absolutely wonderful.
I hope I can go there again next year, do the full course or maybe even a longer one...maybe even get really crazy and camp it, with a tent and food and all that...
We snapped a picture and headed out along a path that also doubled as a small road for supply and maintenance vehicles. We set a leisurely pace, enjoying the much cooler temperature and lower humidity of the mountains, the clean, clean air, and of course the nearly constant vistas of the range of mountains rising above us. We were, for this part of the journey, walking up a valley. 
We strolled along the trail/access road, but stopped after about three hours, already tired after the early start, worn out by sitting on trains and buses.
Our plan, at this point, was to do what would normally have been a three day circuit, if one was able to start the first leg at an early hour, in four days. We would travel light and stay in huts spread out fairly regularly along the multitude of trails that wend their way along the valleys and ridges of this amazing national park. Huts provide a place to sleep with the option of meals, but for a pretty hefty price at roughly $90 a night with the meals. Still, we didn't have to carry a tent, nor sleeping bags, nor food for four days. Our route would take us up to Yari-ga-take, a peak of 3180 meters (10,433 feet; fifth highest peak in Japan), on the second night, then from there we would continue on to Hotaka-dake (third highest at 3190 m) for the third night, from where we would descend back to Kamikochi on the fourth and final day.
Well, the second day dawned early, the sun rising around 4:30, but breakfast was served at 6 and so we didn't get out of bed until around 5:30. We ate a traditional Japanese breakfast (rice, miso soup, fish, egg, veggies) and were on the trail again by 7.
We had broken up the first leg of the journey, a 17 kilometer (10.5 miles) leg, that supposedly takes 7-8 hours. 
Well, we'd done three hours already and figured we could lick the rest of it in a leisurely 5 to 6 hours. How wrong we were.The main problem as that we were hiking probably a month before most people go through there, so the guidebook gave a low estimate for time. Either that or they were talking about very fit hikers. See, there was still a lot of snow deeper in the mountains. Although the wide and easy trail/access road ended there at the hut where we spent our first night, a rather easy path continued for another two hours or so. But from the next hut, the trail gets steeper until it comes upon the ruins of a hut that was wiped out by an avalanche some time ago. From there, the trail goes very, very steep. In what I would guess is the last three miles of the hike, you gain nearly a mile of altitude. And there were large patches of snow to ascend as well.
All this took its toll on us. We slowed to a near crawl. Around this time we met a Swiss man, also half Japanese as it turned out, named Kenji, and we finished the ascent together. (Probably lucky for us, as we had neglected to bring a good map and may have taken the wrong path...maybe...more on our unpreparedness later.) The total time for our second day was 8 hours. So, to finish the 7-8 hour leg took us 11 hours. Crazy, but true. I may have been able to do it faster, maybe even in the 7-8 hours claimed in the book, if I'd been alone, but it would have been harder, much harder, and I felt near exhausted as it was. After much slipping and sliding, we arrived at the hut on the top of the mountain, just down from the actual peak. Naomi was exhausted, done in, so I climbed the peak with Kenji and, as the clouds broke and closed, I managed to get some spectacular shots of the valley on the far side. Without a doubt, one of the best hikes I've ever done, one of the top experiences I've had in Japan, or even in my life. It was a difficult ascent, but worth it.
Now let me digress for a moment. How unprepared we were... I did both days of this ascent wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. In spite of a dreary forecast, the sun was out for much of our climb and I wasn't cold for longer than a few minutes at a stretch. But I forgot how easily I burn when I have no tan to protect me, and I've been indoors of late, rock climbing in a gym. And with all that snow, with hours spent on or near the snow, I was getting blasted by sun. So I got burned on my lower legs, my forearms, and the back of my neck (I did remember to put sunscreen on my face). Stupid #1. The next thing I did was to forget to bring more food along. The farther along you, the farther you get from the base, the more expensive things get. By the time we reached the peak, a bottle of water (500mL) was about $3.50. Snacks were equally high. Stupid #2. Then there were the old running shoes I was wearing, instead of real hiking boots...preferably waterproof, given the snow we were hiking on for much of the ascent. Stupid #3. The last thing was to wear shorts instead of my zip-off leg hiking pants...and to not bring rain gear for my legs...you'll see why in the next paragraph. Stupid #4.
The night we spent atop the mountain was not quiet. A storm came in, complete with thunder and lightning, and the rain was still falling as we woke the next morning, at our breakfast, gathered our things, and finally started out. With the weather being what it was, and given how tired we both were at this point, we opted to turn back the way we'd come, descend all the way back to Kamikochi in one day, get the buses back to Takayama and spend a day there relaxing. We figured the down would be faster than the up, so it would take us maybe 8 hours. Wrong again.
Kenji was heading out at the same time, so we started our descent together. But with stiff legs and a cold rain, the going was slow and Kenji soon decided that he could sort of "ski" down the snow much faster than we were walking down the rocky path. Soon he was hundreds of meters ahead. We gave it a try ourselves, but after a few falls and a rather uncomfortable attempt to just slide down on our butts, we opted to just walk down the snow...which is very slow going. We walked on rocky patches where we could, but up toward the peak, there was more snow than rock, and it took a long time. And as we went on, we got more tired and moved slower. The cold didn't help at all. At one point I was freezing, though not worried about my health, as it wasn't that cold, just miserably uncomfortable. If I'd had hiking boots and rain pants, I would have been fairly comfortable. As it was, I fantasizing about a hot bath.
(Note: no pictures could capture the rain and cold, so I've not included any from our descent, of which there were unsurprisingly few, given the rain.)
When we finally made it down to the hut ruins and thus the end of the most difficult part of our descent, over four hours had passed instead of the two I'd hoped. We completed the rest of the trip in another six hours. The rain stopped and the sun even came out a bit, but we were just tired, tired, tired. We got the last bus out that would make the connection we needed to get back to Takayama.
We stayed the night in a Best Western there, which was distinctly (obviously) not Japanese but very comfortable and, as an unexpected bonus, had an awesome breakfast buffet included. We walked around the town a bit, checking out the morning markets and the old, historic homes and shops, before I caught a train back to Osaka just before noon.
As tired as I felt, or maybe partially because of that, I had one of the best experiences of my life. That was a phenomenal hike, spectacular beauty, wrapped up in a true challenge. Those views would still have been beautiful, but not nearly so much had I not had to work so hard to see them. Absolutely wonderful.
I hope I can go there again next year, do the full course or maybe even a longer one...maybe even get really crazy and camp it, with a tent and food and all that...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Climbing, apartments, and visiting an old friend.
Hello. Greetings from the increasingly hot and humid land of the rising sun. It was actually chilly last night, which boggles my mind, as I don't recall it ever being even cool in June from the last time I lived here, but I'm not complaining, just observing. I know it'll be disgustingly hot and humid when I get back from Hawaii in late August, so I'm enjoying this fluke of pleasantness.
I finally got around to taking my little point-and-shoot to the climbing gym and took some pictures and even a video. You'll have to check out the video on my flickr page, as I don't want to upload that twice.
As with all things done regularly over time, I'm getting better at it, though I can't really claim that I'm always satisfied. I have my good days, when I accomplish a lot (which means I learn some new technique, or make marked improvement in a technique, or else when I'm able to complete a route or problem I'd not been able to do before), and of course the bad, when I'm just too tired, or else just can't, for whatever reason, seem to complete anything. But last week Friday and Sunday were very good days for me, in terms of learning and problem solving. Just to refresh the memories of those not so familiar with climbing: bouldering is not climbing long, typically high routes, but is about solving "problems," which are short but often require power or great technique or both in order to "solve" them. So on Sunday, I was able to "solve" quite a few problems, some of them in the "middle" difficulty rating. Considering my two months experience, I'm quite happy with that progress. That said, there is still a lot of improvement I want to make.
I'm also in the process of looking for a new apartment. I think I found the one for me. It's essentially a one bedroom located about a 15-minute walk from Shin-Osaka station, which is a major station in the area (a primary stop for the bullet train as well as local trains and even subway). It has a relatively "large" living/dining room, as well as what is known as a "unit" bathroom, which is a typical American-style bathroom, which has the toilet in the same room as the shower. For most Japanese, this is undesirable (a cultural thing), but for me, I don't really care either way, although I think I increasingly like the separate toilet idea.
My agent is in the process of negotiating or finalizing details with the landlord, but I think I'll get the place...I'll have to move in about two weeks, a bit of a pain in the backside, but not too bad. The biggest problem is that my friend Naomi will be here and I'll have to neglect her for a bit while I pack and then move. On the upside, my friend Moto has a friend with a kind of delivery truck, and they're going to help me move, perhaps along with Scot, another colleague.
Finally, I went to visit an old friend I met during my last tenure in Japan, a Kiwi named Heidi. (For those of you who may not know: Kiwi = New Zealander.) Heidi lived in a different town than I did, but she was such a lovely person, so kind and fun, that I always held her in high regard. She is also friends with Aaron and Lisa, my friends in Colorado, and was at their wedding, which was actually the last time we saw each other, an almost unbelievable 6 years ago. She married a Japanese man a few years back, has had two cute little kids, and they are all now living in Shizuoka (home to the famous Mount Fuji, and well known in Japan for growing tea). I went up for a quick one-night stay, mostly just to catch up and meet her husband and kids. It was really great to see her and to chat the hours away, and to see that she's doing so well. Her husband is a very nice guy, speaks English quite well although he's a bit on the quiet side. Her kids are very cute. The older, a boy of three named Tetsutaro, Tetchan for short, is quite fun and treats his sister with great generosity...I imagine my brother was the same way. The youngest is one and a half year old named Mary, who surprisingly took to me fairly quickly. It was a nice visit, very nice to reconnect with old friends. I look forward to seeing them all again, perhaps in September...
Aloha...
I finally got around to taking my little point-and-shoot to the climbing gym and took some pictures and even a video. You'll have to check out the video on my flickr page, as I don't want to upload that twice.
As with all things done regularly over time, I'm getting better at it, though I can't really claim that I'm always satisfied. I have my good days, when I accomplish a lot (which means I learn some new technique, or make marked improvement in a technique, or else when I'm able to complete a route or problem I'd not been able to do before), and of course the bad, when I'm just too tired, or else just can't, for whatever reason, seem to complete anything. But last week Friday and Sunday were very good days for me, in terms of learning and problem solving. Just to refresh the memories of those not so familiar with climbing: bouldering is not climbing long, typically high routes, but is about solving "problems," which are short but often require power or great technique or both in order to "solve" them. So on Sunday, I was able to "solve" quite a few problems, some of them in the "middle" difficulty rating. Considering my two months experience, I'm quite happy with that progress. That said, there is still a lot of improvement I want to make.
I'm also in the process of looking for a new apartment. I think I found the one for me. It's essentially a one bedroom located about a 15-minute walk from Shin-Osaka station, which is a major station in the area (a primary stop for the bullet train as well as local trains and even subway). It has a relatively "large" living/dining room, as well as what is known as a "unit" bathroom, which is a typical American-style bathroom, which has the toilet in the same room as the shower. For most Japanese, this is undesirable (a cultural thing), but for me, I don't really care either way, although I think I increasingly like the separate toilet idea.
My agent is in the process of negotiating or finalizing details with the landlord, but I think I'll get the place...I'll have to move in about two weeks, a bit of a pain in the backside, but not too bad. The biggest problem is that my friend Naomi will be here and I'll have to neglect her for a bit while I pack and then move. On the upside, my friend Moto has a friend with a kind of delivery truck, and they're going to help me move, perhaps along with Scot, another colleague.Finally, I went to visit an old friend I met during my last tenure in Japan, a Kiwi named Heidi. (For those of you who may not know: Kiwi = New Zealander.) Heidi lived in a different town than I did, but she was such a lovely person, so kind and fun, that I always held her in high regard. She is also friends with Aaron and Lisa, my friends in Colorado, and was at their wedding, which was actually the last time we saw each other, an almost unbelievable 6 years ago. She married a Japanese man a few years back, has had two cute little kids, and they are all now living in Shizuoka (home to the famous Mount Fuji, and well known in Japan for growing tea). I went up for a quick one-night stay, mostly just to catch up and meet her husband and kids. It was really great to see her and to chat the hours away, and to see that she's doing so well. Her husband is a very nice guy, speaks English quite well although he's a bit on the quiet side. Her kids are very cute. The older, a boy of three named Tetsutaro, Tetchan for short, is quite fun and treats his sister with great generosity...I imagine my brother was the same way. The youngest is one and a half year old named Mary, who surprisingly took to me fairly quickly. It was a nice visit, very nice to reconnect with old friends. I look forward to seeing them all again, perhaps in September...
Aloha...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
