When Mom and Beth came

Well, here it is - the long awaited and much anticipated visit from my mother and sister.  Maybe after I get this posted, I'll start posting more often.

 Day 1 (jul 24, tues)- I began by cleaning house, then sitting around bored, so I did some yoga. Since they were flying in to Kansai Airport, which is on an island, I took the ferry to fetch them.  The timing was just about perfect - I got there, had a cup of Starbucks, and then they showed up!  There may have been tears of joy involved.  On the way home, we learned that Beth is apparently afraid of ferries and long bridges.  Who knew? When we got home I made them eat a little soup and we hung out until bedtime.

My apartment, all clean and ready for guests.

Bethy being all jet lagged and stuff on the first night.

Day 2 (jul 25, wed)- We headed out early and walked downtown, because Mom needed to change money.  I convinced them that the walk wasn't too long and they could see a bid of the city, so we walked instead of taking the train.  Turns out this was a bad idea for people who just arrived and weren't used the the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF HUMIDITY that inhabit Kobe in August (seriously, this is some pretty awful stuff).  Sorry guys.  We had left so early that nothing was open yet (in Japan, stores don't open until 10 or 11), so we stood around swearing for awhile.  After we got the money changed, we went to the city observatory, which is free, and has nice views of the city.  Beth had neglected to take her asthma medicine, so she was threatening to have an attach... After we had rested a bit, we visited the glass museum, which was the one thing mom wanted to do.  It was nice.  Later I bought her Christmas present there. 

At the city observatory

After a quick nap, I made everyone go to Osaka to see "Brave," so they wouldn't fall asleep too early.  Beth and I liked the movie.  Mom was ambivalent.  We had bagels from Bagel and Bagel for supper.

We went to the Osaka Station movie theater, which is 11 floors up and has a nice deck for eating supper on.

Day 3 (jul 26, thurs)-We're pretty sure this is the day we did the Shin-Kobe trail and the Herb Gardens, the same as I did with Dad.  This time, we walked up the trail.  Given the humidity and heat, it was pretty miserable.  At the Herb Gardens we soaked out feet in a nice herbal footbath that they had (footbaths are popular.  sometimes hot springs have them outside for free).  After that we didn't want to walk anymore, but of course we had to get down, so... yeah

here's beth at our dessert buffet place

Day 4 (jul 27, fri)- We visited my school, which was pretty boring because there were no students to talk to.  Then we went to Namba, which is one of the big shopping areas in Osaka.  We had lunch at a dessert buffet, which was very cutesy and Japanese.  I don't remember the name (although I could find it again if I wanted to), but it was not Sweets Paradise.  Since we were in Namba, the cool shopping place for hip young people, Beth had to go shopping.  While I'm all for shopping, she likes the kind of places that have too loud music and strange clothes.  Also she is very indecisive.  so it took a long time and was pretty tired by the end of it.  But then we got do karaoke, which is always fun. Finally we had supper at a restaurant the one of my student's parents own.  It was okonomiyaki and it was tasty.




Day 5 (jul 28, sat)- I had Japanese lessons, so I was gone a large portion of the day.  Mom and Beth apparently did Harborland and Merican Park, which are places I love to go, so I was happy for them.

Day 6 (jul 29, sun)- Went to KUC for church, then came home and got sushi to eat for lunch.  We at with the ladies from the Mennonite church that owns my apartment and meets on the first floor.

Day 7 (jul 30 mon)- We were going to go to Awaji, but I was sick :(  I think this was the result of turning on the AC for the first time all year.  The air was funny and I couldn't sleep.  I think we ended up doing something fun, but I have no idea what it was.

Day 8 (jul 31, tues)- We went to Awaji island!  To get there, we took the train to Akashi, then a ferry over to the island.  The ferry was quite small, but it was fun.  When we got there, we found out that the bike rental place didn't open for another half an hour.  (This is what happens when you want to get an early start!  Places are not open!)

Waiting for the bike shop to open.

view of the island from the ferry

earthquake museum

this is the epicenter of the Hanshin earthquake in 1995

cool!  Windmills!

 We eventually got our bikes and headed around the island.  It was very nice.  Since this was the thing Beth wanted to do, she had us stopping for random things like looking for lighthouses.  We also visited the faultline for the big earthquake in 1995, but we didn't actually get to see it, because that would have cost money.  Eventually we got to this beach that was really cool.  The buildings were kind of run-down, but there was good food and lots of sand and water to play in, so we were happy. 

ooo, pretty!

Mom at the beach

I don't know, but it's pretty!

break time!

break time!

mother taking pictures of rice patties

bethany taking pictures of mother taking pictures of rice patties

 We would have liked to stay at the beach longer, but we had to get the bikes back by 5 (in addition to opening late, everything closes early), so we turned around and headed back.  On the way, we saw another beach that we missed the first time because we detoured to see the fault line.  We decided that even though this beach was big and new, we liked ours better because there were fewer people and it was cooler.  When we got back, we still had a little time, so we biked around the town a bit and had ice cream.  Then we went home.  Good times were had by most.

aww, look at those happy sunburned faces

poor bethy.  just remember, I had it worse than you.

on the ferry, heading home.

temple

 Day 9 (aug 1, wed)- We went to Kyoto!  We saw various temples and Nijo Castle, which has cool squeaky floors.  We also walked around Gion and we saw these cute little ducks out for their first swim, but they couldn't get over a little dam that their mother wanted them to cross.  It was so sad.  I hope they are ok.

entrance to temple

mom and beth

Day 10 (aug 2, thurs)- Beth wanted "normal" food, so I took them to this Italian / Japanese place, where you get to eat your spaghetti with chopsticks.  Then we were walking around and found this cafe where we got a giant chocolate waffle.  That evening we had sushi one more time for supper.  We got a lot, but couldn't eat it all, so mother told me to save it for the next, after they left.  I did this and found out that sushi should not be saved overnight, as it gets hard and yucky when you do that.

our last night together

Day 11 (aug 3, fri)- On the way to the airport, we ate at Vie de France, this pastry place at the train station that we always went past, so Mom wanted to try it.  After I took them to the airport, I went and had Baskin Robbins ice cream, which was something Beth and I had wanted to do, but we never had the time.

smores on the stove

 Also, we spend a lot of time at home hanging out.  We finished a puzzle that I had been working on occasionally since January.  We made smores on the stove (turned out ok).  We played the bean game a lot.  We watched movies.  On night we ordered pizza.  The first day I had a delivery scheduled.  Since I never hear the delivery people when I'm upstairs, mom volunteered to go wait downstairs.  I went down later to find her sitting outside in the blazing sun, because she was afraid she would miss the delivery if she sat just inside.  We made popcorn.  The day before they arrived, I made a huge pot of soup, so I would have something to feed them.

beth with the puzzle.  finally finished!

 I think that is all for now.  Maybe I'll write more tomorrow.