The Wayfarer Blog

On Saturday, I had a private lesson with my group from Mitaka. Because there was a huge festival at our community center, we went to a park in Kokubunji, a station just a bit farther away.

We had our lesson in the park. One of the students brought homemade Chai tea, and he made a portable whiteboard for me to use! We mostly just talked and I helped edit a story one of my students had written. I also brought them a souvenir from Kyoto, small custard cakes.

We walked around the park and saw a spring with fish, and lava rock from an ancient eruption of Mt. Fuji! After that, we walked through a small house that was part of the park property and admired the teahouse. They were getting ready for a tea ceremony the next day, but the man kindly let us admire the teahouse. One unique feature of many Japanese teahouses is the ????, or “maru mado,” which means “round window.” Basically, it has a couple slideable shutters. You can slide one to make the window round. Another makes it square, or round with bars, etc. It is hard to describe, and I didn’t have a camera, other than my new phone, which I wasn’t able to effectively put into service (tried to take a couple pics, but it was getting dark and they didn’t turn out well).

Here. I just found a Japanese architecture link that gives a small description and some photos of what I am talking about here.

After that, I went to a coffeeshop with a couple of the students. We were lucky, because the weather has been perfect the last few days: not too hot and not too cold!

Ok, I know I haven’t posted much, but…last week was just ridiculous. I worked, from Monday through Saturday, about 40 teaching hours. 40. That doesn’t count the transportation to and from these lessons, nor does it count the huge blocks of waiting time I often have. Plus, I had tons of prep work. I had tests at my high school and essays and quizzes at my college. One night, I only got 2 hours of sleep. The next night, I got 4. And i had to be cheerful and intellectual. Yay! So..you will have to forgive me if I haven’t been good about keeping up with my blog (or email). And that was only my main job. That doesn’t count my private lessons!

But this week should be a little better. Today, I went to the high school…and it turns out that I didn’t have to go, because it was a test day. So I finished up the last of the homework and grades I needed to submit. Now, as I mentioned before, my company makes me do office work when a student or client cancels. So I still have to go do two hours some time. They didn’t have any work for me today. I think they should just forget about it. After all, I should go and throw a fit and make them pay me for all the unpaid hours of work I do for that high school, for example.

Anyway, I came home and took a nap. So I feel much better. I will write more later. I need to get up early and I want to stay well-rested if possible. I felt really good after my nap. This is what “normal” feels like…it is so nice.

BTW, guess who lost his cell phone? I will give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count. That’s right. I lost it while Angela was still here (or did I blog this already? Hmm..I am more tired than I thought!) Anyway, last Wednesday, I finally went and got a new one. That same day, when I went home and got my mail, I had a letter saying my cell phone had been found!!! The jury is still out on my new cell phone. I like it better in some ways, but worse in others.

Ok, that is all for now. Be patient. I will write more soon. In the meantime, check out my pics. I have managed to squeeze out at least a couple a day, which is pretty good, considering how tired I have been. This is the busy season, and I am always busy, but the last week or so was the worst. I haven’t had a day off since Angela left, but we will have a three-day weekend, the first week of November. That should be nice. Then there is another national holiday towards the end of November. On a Thursday…

I have updated a couple pictures…I have been playing around with the beta trial version of Adobe Lightroom. So far, it is pretty nice. It doesn’t replace Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, but it is a nice addition–especially if you shoot a lot in RAW, as I have been doing recently. All digital cameras shoot in JPEG format. It is the standard. But some cameras, like my Nikon D70s, also allow you to shoot in RAW format, which is basically like a digital negative. The nice thing is that you have more control over the photo and you can edit it non-destructively. The bad thing is that you must do more editing and the files are larger. Programs like Adobe Lightroom and Apple Apeture make it a lot faster and easier to edit RAW files.

If you want to download it and try it, the address is here. I’ve had it on my computer for a long time, but only really started trying to use it recently. I think it also works for JPEG pictures, but I haven’t tried that. If you don’t know what I am talking about and/or don’t care, then just ignore this.

Anyway, I am swamped. I have tests at my high school, and of course they gave me a huge list of demands at the last minute, as always. And I am just really sleepy…so I need to finish things so I can go to bed early. I have uploaded a handful of pictures, which I can process while I am working on my tests, but I am really behind. Sorry about that. Please be patient. I made a few breakthroughs with my Nikon during our trip. I am starting to get a feel for it. So I am glad about that. And I still want to write more about the trip.

I am always behind, and I always write entries about how busy I am. But this is the busy season at my job, so….(better get used to it! )

I helped Angela get her luggage on the train to the airport, and barely got off before the doors closed. We had a leisurely last morning–perhaps a bit too leisurely–since we barely finished in time. We went out to lunch and then had to rush back to my apartment to get her luggage and get her to Shinjuku to catch her train.

Now, she is back on her way home. I remember walking back home, thinking how strange it was to be back to “normal,” whatever that means.

Of course, what we call “normal” is just what we have already accepted as our reality. Anything new or contrary to that is “strange.” But living in a place like this, I have had to challenge my views of what is normal and what is not. We all do. It is still difficult to reconcile at times, as we all experience in our own ways.

I remember in high school, one of my karate instructors used to recommend books for me to read. Some of the books were “deeper” than others, but all of them gave me a new perspective. I remember now that he introduced me to books by Dan Millman, a former gymnastics champion and martial artist, who has written many self-help books, most notably, “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.” Although his books were interesting to me at the time, this is not a plug for Mr. Millman; in fact, I hadn’t thought about him for a long time. But I do remember one quote that he wrote, which stuck with me: “There are no ordinary moments.”

Every day, every moment, we are faced with new challenges and opportunities. We usually do not see them that way, unless there is some “special” reason, such as an emergency, an illness, or a major milestone in our life.

Another way to express this is with a four-Chinese character idiom:
????? (In Japanese, it is read, “Ichi Go Ichi Eh”.) It is often translated as, “One encounter, one chance.” The first (and third) character, ?, means “1.” The second, ?, means “period; session; term.” The fourth character, ?, means “to meet.” (Interestingly enough, in Chinese, it also means “to be able to do something.”) So we could also understand this as “Each time is unique and it will never be repeated again, so do not waste it.” (Chinese characters are deep and they contain a lot of meaning. It is often difficult to translate them elegantly.)

In other words, every day is our one and only chance to encounter this exact set of challenges and opportunities. Our life is made up of nothing more than these “ordinary” moments.

As the memory of my sister’s visit fades into the past, I might forget the daily events and the details of what did, and where we went, but those memories will be a part of my life. And as I return to my “ordinary” life, I will face something entirely new.

I eagerly face the next “ordinary moment.”

…is not on my side…I have a lot to write about, and many pictures to share. But I don’t have a lot of time left with Angela..and I also have a lot of work to do. So I am even slower than usual. I appreciate your understanding.

In the meantime, you might want to check out my friend Stew’s site. He is a REAL Wayfarer..he has been everywhere! He even worked in Antartica! He is back in China now…check out his site here. He and I used to work at EMP in Seattle. He even made it to Japan before I did!

Anyway, I will have more frequent updates soon. I promise.

While we were in our hotel in Kyoto, I wrote this post, and I meant to edit and publish it, but I got too tired, so I gave up. Now that we are back in Tokyo, I will post it. Here is what I wrote on 10/9/06, at around 11pm:

(Post title: “On the Road…(Reporting Live from Kyoto)”

Well, we aren’t really “On the Road,” we have been traveling by Bullet Train, but “On the Rail,” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Anyway, we have been having an interesting trip.

First, we went to Hiroshima. Our first impressions on Friday night were rather lukewarm, but that was colored by the fact that we were tired and we had some trouble finding a place to stay. (More on that later).

The next day, we went to Miyajima and the A-Bomb Dome/Museum. That’s two World Heritage Sites in one day! Then we got up this morning (Monday, 10 /9) and went back to take a few daylight pictures of the Dome. Then we headed for Himeji Castle, another World Heritage Site, and arguably the best Feudal Castle in Japan. I had been there a year and a half ago, but last time I didn’t have a good camera. Now, we are in Kyoto.

It is a bit late, and I am completely exhausted. I will write more and post some pictures later. Angela has also taken some great pictures. It wasn’t hard to take good pictures, because the places we have visited are incredible.

That’s all for now.

Sorry again for the lack of updates, but I have been very busy.  Angela has been really getting out and seeing a lot of things.  She has seen a lot of neighborhoods, as well as many great museums.  The other day, she went to  Nikko, a World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have ever been.

We are going to take a trip to Hiroshima, Nara and Kyoto.  We will be gone for the next few days.  I’m not sure how much internet access we will have, but I will write more about our trip when I can.

Sorry again for the lack of updates, but I have been very busy.  Angela has been really getting out and seeing a lot of things.  She has seen a lot of neighborhoods, as well as many great museums.  The other day, she went to  Nikko, a World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have ever been.

We are going to take a trip to Hiroshima, Nara and Kyoto.  We will be gone for the next few days.  I’m not sure how much internet access we will have, but I will write more about our trip when I can.