summer vacation in America

Here it is, the more detailed post about being in America.  Besides minor family drama and remembering the fact that people in Fairfax County VA are frustrating, I had a nice vacation. 

One of my co-workers came with me for the first week of my trip, so we made sure she had a good (exhausting) time in America.  Jet lag?  Who cares!  We did not have a chance to succumb to the heavy desire to nap.  There was no time.  We did get to shop a lot and play with my puppies.  Let me introduce them!!!

This is Jake!  He is beautiful and loves everyone.  He likes to lick stuffed animals, sit on your head and help you pack by laying in the middle of the things you want to take.

This is Starr!  she is shy and likes to lay by your feet.  she likes to lick things more than Jake does.  it took her a few days to get used to my being there, but then we were best friends.  Her ears are funny.

Other things we did: we went to Wolftrap to see Marvin Hamlisch (fantastic, by the way!!), we went to NYC to see the Yankees and shop, we went into DC one day to see the sights, saw a show at the Kennedy Center, and in between, we shopped more!  Doi-sensei seemed to enjoy going into typically American places like Target, shopping malls, restaurants, etc.  I have to admit, and I am not sure how much I convey this with pictures and blog entries, but where I live in Japan and where I live in America are completely different...like 100%.  Even just the way things look is different (architecture, mountains and rice fields, size of cars), and then we go from there (population differences, attitude differences, etc etc etc).  New York City is a bit more familiar to those who spend a lot of time in Tokyo, but even so, you can sort of sense a difference in attitude and life-style, but that is what makes New York New York!  It has personality!!

Let's see... a notable thing from New York...the Yankees scored 12 runs in the first inning!  Never again will I think, "meh, it is OK to miss the first inning or two of the game...nothing will happen anyway."  We would have missed the entire game with that thought.  Anyway, the first inning took about an hour and was just run after run after run.  It was unbelievable!

check the score!!!

Also in NY, we went to the  "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller building) so Doi-sensei could see the size of the city, the size of Central Park, and catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance since we couldn't go see it up close.

Oh yeah!  We also went to the Harry Potter exhibition!  It was awesome! They had a whole display of actual props and costumes from the first 6 movies.  It is cool to see the size of things, especially how tiny they all were in the first movie.  The costumes are also incredibly detailed and fabulous, which makes the moves that much more awesome, in my opinion.  No pictures allowed inside, but... 

Then back to VA where we saw Wicked!  I adore Wicked, and I hope Doi-sensei enjoyed it.  She has never seen the Wizard of Oz, so there are some gaping holes in plot for those lacking that basis, but I encouraged her to watch it once she got back to Japan.  Who knows if she has or ever will, but if she does, a lot of things from the show will click into place.  A funny moment, we were telling her about the Wizard of Oz and her reaction, "Oh, isn't Michael Jackson in it!!!"  I about died, and then corrected her that while there is a Michael Jackson version, it is not the groundbreaking one from 1939.  It is so interesting sometimes to see what bits of American culture have spanned the world and what bits have not.  I find a lot of things go very much against my expectations.  I guess I expect Michael Jackson to be famous, but I would also think that people, at least in developed countries would know well of the Wizard of Oz.  Oh well.  This is why everyone on the planet should have to live in a foreign country for at least a year.

We also took Doi-sensei to Skyline Caverns which was pretty cool.  I had never been there before, either, so it was nice to see something different from the usual Luray Caverns.

moving on...Doi-sensei went back to Japan August 5 and I stayed for another week and a few days in which we went to Ohio and then just finally relaxed a little bit back in VA.

Ohio... relatively uneventful, but I got to see my twin cousins (last time I saw them they were newborn, still in the hospital, now they are one, and walking!)  and I got to eat lots of delicious foods.  Saw grandma, too, which was the main reason for the trip to Ohio, but we will not go into detail about those visits.

In order for us to go to Ohio, we had to pack the car and take the puppies to the kennel.  Jake was happy to drive himself to the kennel

Back in VA, I spent some quality time with my puppies, went to doctor appointments, went shopping and packed.  Another thing I did a lot in America?  bake!  It was so nice to have a huge kitchen with lots of counter space and a real oven!  (two ovens, in fact!)

One of my many creations:  cream puffs!!

I feel like my time in America went by entirely too quickly, but that seems to happen anywhere I go.  Along those lines, this next year in Japan will also go very quickly, I imagine, though right now it seems to be dragging.  345 days until my contract ends next August.  Not that I counted or anything.  And at this point, you are probably wondering if I am staying another year or not.  The honest answer is I do not know.  Most likely, no, I am not.  I will come home next year, do the grad school thing, and do the real adult thing where I have a job and a live in a country where I am fluent in the language.  Then again, I never thought I would stay in Japan past 1 year, and here I am, going on a third.  Right now I am still stuck in that rut that happens when you fly across the world and vividly remember the things you miss about home because you just had them.  What I need at this point is to get my routine back.  English conversation classes on Mondays, short days on Wednesdays, studying Kanji with Crystal on Thursdays, fun weekends with the gang, and periodic traveling to fun places.  As I mentioned, I do have a lot of concerts to look forward to.  I am not going to hold back with my paid vacation, so I plan to make the most of this year, and if I stay another one, then I will make the most of it like it is my last, too.
 
Ok.  This should satisfy those who are genuinely interested in reading about my life and also those who just like to check up on my blog every once in a while to make sure I am still alive.