"It is so nice to see you today"

McDonald's was the setting for a precious memory. Aaron and I were walking around Mito on Monday morning after visiting the two schools where he teaches English. Our train to Tokyo was due soon and we had not eaten, so we stopped in McDonald's which was very near the JR -- Japan Rail -- station. Aaron was definitely the one to manage any counter situation because he speaks some Japanese and I do not, so he was standing in front of me in line looking up at the menu. A precious little Japanese boy, probably about seven years old, walked up so sweetly and tentatively and looked up at Aaron's back and said, "Hello, how are you, it is so nice to see you today." He said this very carefully and slowly in excellent English. Aaron turned and saw the little fellow and instantly bowed low to him and said, "Hello, I am fine. It is so very nice to see you today." Aaron said this in slow, careful English. Then he said to me, "Mom, this is one of my students." Then he spoke Japanese to the little boy telling him that I am his mother. The little boy's mother, a beautiful, petite young woman was nearby. She was beaming and proud about her child walking up to his teacher and speaking so well. She appeared to have no English at all, and was positively delighted when Aaron told her darling son that I was his mother. She smiled and nodded to me so beautifully. It was a moment that I will never forget -- a mother and son moment for both me and for a beautiful young Japanese woman. There was no language barrier between us as we both glowed with smiles from delight in our sons.

Road from Nikko to Tokyo

I just saw a monkey. There is a great forest on the outskirts of Nikko where little monkeys play. One was sitting on the guard rail along the highway as we returned on our bus from seeing the beautiful shrines and temples. It rained today. We bought umbrellas. I bought one for me, not knowing that Aaron was busy buying one for me and one for him. So now we have three extra umbrellas and several silly souvenirs. The ancient temples and shrines are amazingly graceful, beautifully maintained. There are still priests and apparently devout adherents, especially of the Buddhas. My favorite things are the quaint tiny stone temples "used for illumination", as our guide phrased it. They are little stone houses set on tall stone stands where candles were placed for light all around the temple complex. Now, they have patches of moss on them and candles are no longer used. But, they were in active service in the days of the Shoguns for hundreds of years. I am always intrigued by antiquity -- that something was built so beautifully and intricately years ago and then so very carefully preserved for all of these centuries, never swept away in the name of progress. Something I admire about Japan is that the most high-tech buildings in the world can coexist peacefully within view of something built a hundred years before Columbus was born. There is tremendous respect here for the very new and for the very old.

Happy Super Terrific Day

Sunday was such a great day in Mito. Aaron and I went to his church. We walked probably 4 or 5 miles. In Mito humidity, though, it just seemed like 20! There were SO many Japanese people at church -- I had thought it would be mostly AET types -- there were LOTS of those, too. It was a standing room only crowd. The service is done in mostly Japanese. Then after communion, the "foreigners" go to a different room for the sermon time -- much like our Kids for Christ dismissal. In the foreigners' service there were announcements, songs, and a devo style sermon. Then we met back upstairs with the Japanese church group for closing. It was VERY nice. I met so many super sweet people. Aaron and I went with two lovely young women to lunch at a curry place called CoCo's. It was delightful. This is a great favorite place of many of the AETs, and Aaron and his friends highly recommended it. They ordered the very mildest curried rice and veggies for me. I loved it. Then we went to Starbuck's and got vanilla cream shakes. I loved that, too. I had never had any of these treats before. The girls, blessedly, had a car and dropped us back to Aaron's apartment. We were going to read for a few minutes, take a little nap, then walk around downtown, maybe shop and enjoy the sights. That was the plan at 2:00 yesterday. The next thing we both knew, we woke up and it was 7:30 at night! I didn't even know if it was day or night. For some reason I had jet lag -- but so did Aaron!!? So we sat around in shock for an hour or so, then we commenced to cook yet more pasta and bread for dinner, and do laundry in the odd little "washing machine." In Texas, this thing would be classified as a toy, but never mind. So then I hung out these wet items or ironed them sort of dry. Apparently, only the Emporer has a dryer and he is very careful about using it. We had a ball, as usual. We watched some of the new Simpson's season 5 DVD that I had packed for Mr. D., and it was funny. Aaron was slightly appalled at how much his apartment had morphed since I had come with all my gear everywhere, not to mention the laundry hanging all around and the ironing board set up and smoking. I got up this morning (Monday) at 5:10am just like yesterday. Aaron is appalled at that, as well. See, this sun, here, rises at 4 or 3 or something. Anyway, by 5:10, it looks for all the world like 9:00am to my asleep brain, and I'm not sleeping with all that midmorning light in the room. So I took this happy, super terrific bath. Not exactly the fabulous public baths that are so famous in Japan -- Aaron has done that, uh, it's probably not for me -- but a delightful bath none the less. The bathtub, which has never been used, is short in length, but really deep. It is SO great. I mean, I had that hot water up to my neck. Now, Aaron's electric bill will probably be $1000.00 just for this one bath. People speak in hushed tones about hot water and electricity usage here. Aaron's washer DOESN'T HAVE a hot water hook-up anywhere on the appliance! The concept of washing with hot water isn't understood. No wonder there's a language barrier. We're operating differently, here. No, it's gone beyond different planet, different region, different culture, different language -- we're operating on an entirely different dimension, here. We're heading, Lord willing, to Tokyo in a few hours. We are going to visit Aaron's schools -- if our ride pans out......then, on to Tokyo Station and, maybe, Kabuki Theatre tonight -- if we can get tickets! Yes, I see all the ifs!!

In Japan with most excellent son

I am here in Aaron’s apartment early on Sunday morning. Yesterday was a longish day. There is something surreal about jumping on a big shiny bird and then being across the entire world in a few hours. It plays with your head. It is glorious to be spending time with my wonderful son – to have seen his face as I was strolling out to the meeting area outside of Japanese customs. I declared nothing. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me when I try to take my Nikon camera back home!! Hopefully, they’ll look at me and just KNOW I didn’t buy that camera here. I barely got it purchased functioning in my own language! Aaron and I ate Italian food right out of my suitcase last night – chicken/proscuittio (sp) tortellini (undeclared to Japanese customs), a French baguette with EVOO to dip in, and peanut butter cake to top it off. It was good old easy food from Texas, but to us it tasted like the nectar of the gods! Now, in order to have this pasta, we had to go buy a pot to boil the water. We also purchased two plates and two drinking cups and some forks at the Daiei, sort of an all-purpose high-rise dollarstore/house-wares/walmart/and grocery all in one. – a perfect retail establishment as far as I could tell. There was no colander to drain the pasta, and the kitchen (and everything else) is built for conservation and thrift MUCH more so than for convenience. Aaron hasn’t noticed such trifles, and for that I adore him. His apartment is new and very utilitarian – perfect for Mr. Diggs! He has no chairs. He purchased a rug (while I was buying the small stock pot), and we sat Japanese style on the floor on his brand new rug and ate our grand dinner. Scotty called to make sure we had found each other at the airport – everything went blessedly smoothly. Then, Aaron and I visited for a long time about not just what he has seen and done, but about the nuances of race, nationalism, and language. For me, this is Nirvana! And then I realize how ABUNDANTLY blessed I am that my God has granted me peace and joy on SO many levels from so many sources – all around the world!

Going to Japan

Friday, Lord willing, I am jumping on a plane to go visit Aaron in Japan. I can hardly wait. He has been there since April 1st and is getting very acclimated to a VERY foreign country. He's traveled a lot and he says this is BY FAR the most foreign place he's ever been. He is treated like a rock star at the schools where he works -- the ONLY non-Japanese face on TWO entire campuses! It seems so odd to him that Japanese people can go all day long and never see anyone that doesn't look and think exactly like themselves -- quite amazing to a young American -- and Aaron is American/Texan through and through. His size alone makes him stick out. He's a large framed, broad chested six feet and WAS 190 pounds, pretty normal for Arlington, Texas. But he towers over most people he works with. At his schools he is seen and noticed and looked at by everyone. If you placed Aaron's Japanese co-workers in the halls at Arlington High School -- nobody would even see them. At AHS every third person is of some completely different ethnic extraction, and that's how Aaron grew up. The Japanese have a work ethic that is mind-blowing. He's been working his head off. He's had two breaks. Once, he went to an Asian Missions conference in the Philippines with his church friends, and then this past weekend he climbed Mt. Fuji. But he hasn't had much time to tour the country of Japan -- see the shrines and antiquities. It's hard for the young people to take off work and it's extremely expensive to travel in Japan, so I'm going to accompany him on a Japanese 5-city tour for a week. We are going to ride the bullet train (Shinkansen) and see the sights -- Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Mt. Fuji, Nikko, etc. We DO have a Japanese bi-lingual travel agent. My agent works for a Japanese ONLY travel agency in Manhattan. She is extremely concerned about me and Aaron tooling around Japan. My Texas accent must have alarmed her. She has it set up to where they are practically leading us by the hand, so hopefully, we won't get lost in Japan, though that is quite a famous thing to do in Japan!! Her reps are going to come INSIDE our hotel in Tokyo and lead us out to the proper conveyance to begin our tours. They, then, hand us off to LICENSED English-speaking tour guides, who, in turn check us into our next hotel, etc. It's completely hilarious! I'm laughing my head off at all this. This agent is leaving NOTHING to chance. Aaron has said these are VERY precise people. Aaron rides a bike everywhere. That's another odd thing for a VERY American young man!! He has lost 20 pounds since he got there. I was frantic when I heard that. I said "Diggs, are you not eating!?" He said, "Sure, Mom I'm eating like a horse (he LOVES the food) but I'm on that bike at least 45 minutes every day. I'm all muscle!" He changes clothes four times every day because of his commute and the humidity. Sounds pretty daunting to me, but he thinks it is all awesome. He's absolutely unsinkable!!