Early Start to Japan

I promised this trip would include some blogging. So away we go….

After nearly two years of talking about it and dreaming about it, we are now on our way to Japan. Even as we sit here in the Air Canada airplane on our way to Vancouver for a quick layover it still doesn’t seem real.

Many people have asked “Why Japan?” Fair question since this was never on our bucket list of places to visit. After all, it is very far away and I don’t speak the language or even recognize its words. The seed was planted by our friend Masumi who works for Tokyo Disney. We met Masumi during a trip to Disneyland (California) and became friends. A year later we met up at DisneyLand again. Unfortunately the timing of that trip coincided with Hurricane Irene. Our flight was significantly delayed and we almost didn’t see each other. We made plans to meet up in Florida at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios (one of the perks of the Comcast and Universal merger was a one-day one-park pass to Universal Studios). It was on this trip in January 2012 when Masumi finally talked us into going to Tokyo.

The plan had been that in 2013 we would go to France to celebrate our 20^th wedding anniversary. The trip would include a stop at EuroDisney (now known as Disneyland Paris). Disneyland Paris. Tokyo Disneyland. Same thing, right?

Masumi graciously offered to be our tour guide. She speaks excellent English, and is extremely sweet.

It has been a long planning process. First I had to create my list of “wants,” then we had to narrow down my wish list to what was possible to do in two weeks. That meant my wish to visit Hokkaido was scrapped as that would have required a 6 hour flight, which wasn’t cheap.

Then we had to decide on dates. We went back and forth a good bit on this. We knew it had to be during Ashley’s summer vacation, but not during Don’s busy time of the month, plus I wanted to be home for the Fourth of July. Pros and cons to all dates. These dates meant missing out on Art AllNight, and it meant starting our vacation as soon as school ended.

So here we are in the airplane. We spent the night at my parents’ house. They graciously agreed to wake up at 3 AM to drive us to Newark Airport for a 7 AM flight. We made it in plenty of time, so much so the ticket agent was not yet at work (we had issues with printing the boarding passes from home). As we told Ashley, the old “hurry up and wait game.”

We made it to our gate with an hour and a half to spare. We heard a small child screaming his way through security and even as he waited for his flight to Florida. Happily none of his “friends” seem to be on this leg of our journey. Hoping we are just as lucky on the next leg.

It is our first time flying Air Canada. We are usually diehard Jet Blue fans, but must say this is giving them a run for our business. The backs of the seats have an outlet and a USB port so we can charge our electronics as we fly. The in-flight entertainment includes TV, movies, games, and music – all for free (JetBlue charges for movies). There seems to be more legroom than I had anticipated. It also helps that the section around us (by the wings) is fairly empty. Most of the people slept for the first half of the 6 hour flight. It is a very quiet flight.

We were not as fortunate on the second (and much longer) leg). The flight included a screaming baby. Fortunately the baby settled down for most of the flight.

For me the highlight of the Air Canada flight was being able to watch French movies with English subtitles. As the French say “Super!” I saw “Camile Redouble,” “Haute Cuisine,” and a Belgian / Quebec film called “Congorama.”

This plane was much larger than any we have flown – it was 50 rows long, and had 2 seats, then 4 seats, than 2 seats. The seat next to Don was empty so Ashley toggled between next to me (by the window) and next to Don. The flight was nearly full.

What I love about International flights, and miss with regular domestic flights, is being fed and having a blankie and pillow waiting for you. Our first leg to Vancouver did not include these benefits because it was considered a North American flight. Boo hiss! Don and Ashley appreciated the two hour leg stretch at the Vancouver airport, and lunch at the A&W. Yes, I ordered a root beer with my meal.

This was our first time crossing the International Date Line. Remarkable only in its non-remarked upon status. I still don’t understand how it works, but I am on the other side of it. Maybe someday a trip will take us to the other side of the equator.

We slept a lot. The food was tasty. If the person in front of me did not insist on leaning into my lap, it would have been perfect.

Nearing the finish line

As we are encroaching the finish line towards our big trip to Japan I have a ton of feelings racing through my head. This was written 10 days before we leave. 

After all this planning, the trip is almost here. We've been talking to our friend Masumi about this trip for nearly 2 years. We've been stressing about details big and small from figuring out the right dates for the trip to what are we going to do each day. I'm in charge of the big picture, thankfully Masumi has been working her magic to squeeze in all my wishes into reality. It is truly shaping up to be the trip of a lifetime.

Decisions that have been made:

* Our dates -- not as easy as one would think when juggling Don's work schedule with my desire to be home for July 4th with summer camps Ashley enjoys attending.

* Our basic itinerary -- 3 days at Tokyo Disney, a day in Nikko with her friend Hiroko and a rental car (which Hiroko will be driving, not us) and staying in a ryokan (like a Japanese B&B), a night in Tokyo, four days in Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. Back to Tokyo for the last four days -- one of which will be a day trip to Mt. Fuji, plus catching a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome.

* New suitcases -- our old ones weigh 20 pounds empty and were purchased on the way to the airport on our honeymoon 20 years ago. The new ones only weigh a few pounds and hold the same amount.

Concerns:

* We've been stressing about the flight. I don't even want to think about how long it is!

* My camera. I realized last week the camera is not taking pictures as nicely as it used to. I bought the latest model of my Panasonic camera (I'm partial to the Leica lens) and am waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Meanwhile, my current camera will be spending some time in the repair shop as it is still under warranty.

* The language. Though Masumi says she will be with us the whole time, we are landing and taking the shuttle bus to the hotel without her. Yikes! I am listening to Japanese language CDs in the hopes of learning: Hello, Good-bye, please, thank you, do you speak English, where is the bathroom and (just added) where is Masumi? 

* The culture. We don't want to embarrass our friend and her friends. Reading the books it seems there are lots of areas for us to make major faux pas from blowing our nose in public to adding sauce to our rice. And those are the ones I know about. 

* The food. By most standards, we are fussy eaters. Ashley is the fussiest, Don is in the middle, and I'm on the most daring Pillsbury eater, but still not a fan of seafood. Add being tired and I'm even less likely to want to try new foods.

* Sleep. I like sleep. I don't sleep well in a new place. We are jumping between hotels nearly every other night. This is not a recipe for keeping me happy.

* Over packing: it is a tough juggling act. I do not want to do laundry on this trip vs. I do not want to carry a lot of stuff with us. I'd love to do it in two suitcases for the three of us, but it will most likely be one suitcase each, plus a carry on to survive the flight. I'm hoping the Kindle cuts down on the number of books to carry.

By the time this publishes we'll see how my worries matched up with reality.

History of my cameras

I just bought my first camera with an interchangeable lens. I'm patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for the UPS man to deliver the Panasanic G5 (which was nearly 50% off this week at B&H).

The new camera is sending me on a trip down memory lane. For as many pictures as I have taken over the years, too few have been of the actual camera.

I think my first camera had 110 film. I just looked upstairs to see if I have it, but I don't see it. I'm such a pack rat there really was a chance.

The first camera I really remember using was the Kodak Disk. Remember these? The negatives were minuscule and the images were blurry. I used this the whole time I was in Belgium. This disk is labeled with images from the Rotex Talent Show, so bring out your magnifying glasses to see Dana in a dress.

I took a few pictures at Trenton State College, but not many. I believe by then I had graduated to a 35 mm camera. When we got married in 1993, everyone was shooting film, even our professional wedding photographer. We put disposable cameras on the tables and encouraged our guests to take pictures of each other. 

It took a lost roll of film in May 2005 to give up on regular film and make the switch to digital. We went to a Trenton Thunder game at the new Phillies stadium (they were playing the Reading Phillies). I shot an entire roll of film (yes, all 36 pictures). Dropped it in the Snapfish envelope. Put it in our mailbox and went to DisneyLand with Don and Ashley. As I filled rolls of film at DisneyLand, I mailed them to Snapfish, too. The others were developed, but not the one at the Phillies Stadium. I called and was given the vague "sometimes it takes longer than other times." I even went to our local post office. Not there. SIXTEEN MONTHS later the pictures arrived at our house. The only thing we could say is that it was censored because there was one of Boomer and the other mascots "streaking" across the field.

Don and I made our first trip to B&H Photo and Video in September 2005. I don't remember the exact model, but I bought a Panasonic camera with a Leica lens -- and an extended warranty. That warranty has paid for itself over the years. With a small child, okay with ME, I have yet to go through the warranty period without breaking or damaging the camera.

The worst was three days before we were leaving for DisneyLand. I took a picture of Rebecca and her son, Danny, in the spring of 2009. I carefully put down the camera and lined the four grandchildren up on the couch. I picked up my camera and it was broken (no the kids were not near it, nor were any adults, it is still a mystery). I sent that one to the repair shop, and received a check in place of a camera. A quick search at B&H and I bought what I thought was the same camera, only the latest model (it was about the same price). Well, the FZ50 turned out to be much bigger and had some really neat features -- like the ability to zoom on the lens and not via a switch. Unfortunately that one broke beyond repair when it fell off my lap in January 2010. That lead me to another Panasonic DMC-FZ5, which stopped having the ability to zoom. After spending much time in the repair shop, I bought my current camera. Over 3 million pictures later, it is at the repair shop. 

In the meantime, we've purchased smaller cameras that fit in our pockets and handle those surprise moments. For as much as Don says I go through cameras, his pocket cameras always break after taking far less pictures than I take with my big cameras. Ashley has also broken at least one tiny camera when it fell into the stream during a class field trip. These days she prefers taking pictures and videos with her iPod.

Here's to hoping I love the new camera as much as I loved the FZ50, if not even more. 

A note on the new camera: I've been really happy with it. The speed and clarity are very nice. Just wishing I had time to play with it before we left A trip like this is not the right time to start experimenting.

Running Goals

My running goals can be summed up as following:

1) Stay free of injury
2) Have a good time
3) Finish with a smile

Let the training continue through this muggy summer until I cross the finish line in California.

My race calendar is as follows:

August 31: 10K at DisneyLand
September 1: Half Marathon at DisneyLand
October 13: 10 miler in Mercer County Park ("The Perfect 10 Miler")
November 2: Beauty and the Beach 5 miler
November 3: Princeton Half Marathon
November 9: Trenton Half Marathon

November 10: putting up my feet and taking a break from running (we'll see how long that lasts)

D3 training

With over two months still to go until the Dumbo Double Dare (D3), I hit my hardest training weekend to date, with at least one more super challenging weekend to survive before the big race.

I chose a training schedule that looked reasonable on paper -- with the exception of these four back to back long runs. Why would one do that to oneself? You see the D3 is like half of a "Goofy" -- a 10K on Saturday (6.2 miles) followed by a half marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday. Crazy, huh?

This weekend called for 5 miles on Friday and 10 on Saturday. Tropical Storm Andrea is coming through? Too bad, get out there and do it (or not, I'm not overly serious about running if you hadn't noticed from my other posts). 

Well, I did it! I stuck to my neighborhood and did lots and lots of laps. In the end I was thrilled with my time (11:15 mile) and happy I did it. I felt better running in the non-stop gentle rain than I did a week earlier in the sticky, hot and utterly draining yet dry weather. 

Today's turn. Legs felt good for the start. The first mile felt fabulous. From there I kept slowing down. Sure some of my miles were faster than others, but I just wanted this to be over! My pace was nearly two minutes slower than yesterday (13:11 pace), but overall I felt more beat. 

On a good note, I know I can do the D3! Disney requires a 16 minute per mile pace. Even with photo ops, and water stops, I'm good to go. With God's help, and lots of training, I'll only get stronger over the next two and a half months. And as a bonus ... California is not exactly famous for their super humid days, so that should help, too.

I have to remind myself to stay hydrated and fueled. I can do this!

Oh and tomorrow I rest!

Interfaith Worship

It is no secret we tend to visit a lot of different houses of worship during the year.Christmas time alone it is not uncommon for us to attend worship in four different churches. Often when we go on vacation we'll attend a local worship service. Sometimes these lead to anecdotal stories (such as the time we stopped by the Crystal Cathedral and their way of trying to lure us to worship with them was by telling us they seat visitors in the area most likely to appear on TV; we did not return for worship).

We have attended numerous services at St. Ann's Church, and will continue to at least until Ashley's graduation.

Of course we do lean towards Presbyterian services. We are members at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church, but tend to worship Sunday evenings at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville's 5 PM service called WiNK: Worship in a New Key. I could write much about this service, perhaps this deserves its own blog post. The "key" for me is that while each service focuses on the same scriptures I have heard preached on many times (especially around Christmas and Easter), worship leaders always manage to put a new perspective on it so it feels fresh. That is hard to do. I'm the lay person on the committee for this service. One of the unspoken goals is to have different people preach. One of my personal goals is to spread word about this service to worship leaders who need a chance to sit down and worship in order to feel rejuvenated. They also do an amazing job with finding area musicians to lead the worship, often drawing from members of the congregation. They even alternate between three different hymnals to really shake up the experience. Often the pastor will ask the congregation a question invoking the feel of a bible study to worship.

Unfortunately WiNK is on hiatus from June through September. They will start up again in October with fresh ideas.

With WiNK on break, this was the perfect weekend to try a different worship experience. As luck would have it, this was also the weekend that Temple Micah meets for the month. Temple Micah? That doesn't sound very Presbyterian? Well, it isn't.

According to their website, Temple Micah is:

 an unaffiliated, egalitarian congregation in Lawrenceville, New Jersey serving the Jewish community of Central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania since 1969. Temple Micah’s mission is to provide a warm and comfortable atmosphere where all individuals and their families and friends are welcome and can realize their own connection to Judaism, without financial burden.

We met their rabbi last November when Temple Micah hosted Lawrenceville's Interfaith Thanksgiving service. Rabbi Vicki is warm and inviting. When I asked about attending one of their worship services she was most encouraging. In fact, she said she likes to attend worship services of different faiths, so I invited her to WiNK, which she has yet to attend.

Temple Micah meets once a month in the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. Okay, that helps with the comfort zone right there -- we already know our way around that building. It still took a while before their meeting schedule meshed with our complicated schedule. Yesterday they highlighted a Klezmer band. This was a huge draw as they moved their service from the chapel to the sanctuary to accommodate everyone.

When we walked in were handed a prayer book. Don's version of the book was in the Hebrew style -- from what us Westerners would say from back to front. Ashley and I came in later and were handed Western version of the same book (from from to back). Same page numbers, but on opposite pages. The books had words in Hebrew letters, Hebrew pronunciations, and English translations. 

Rabbi Vicki was great at explaining things to the congregation (is that the right term?) at each transition. The music was their normal prayers set to Klezmer-style music. Not nearly as much standing and sitting as in a Presbyterian service, but this had the added twists of facing the door to welcome the Sabbath bride and facing East (I don't remember why). 

In many ways, this service reminded me of a regular WiNK service -- the traditional words of scripture were made fresh, the non-traditional worship music added a spark of life, the building was the same and the congregation was very warm and inviting. There were some notable differences -- people actually danced in the aisle (though i suspect that only happened because the Klezmer band was that good), the lack of Jesus (of course), and (again, of course) the addition of Hebrew. 

The language barrier was a bit of a challenge. If we focused on the pronunciation of the words, we lost the meaning. If we read the meaning to ourselves, we lost speaking our faith with other believers. I thought about how the Catholic church only had services in Latin. A former co-worker loved this tradition because it meant she (who understood Latin) could worship anywhere in the world and always understand the priest. In the 1960s that changed to preaching in the language of the people, which might mean Polish in the Polish-section of Trenton, or Italian, or English. There are some who still offer mass in Latin. 

Back to Temple Micah. I wonder if there is a movement to change from worshipping in Hebrew to worshipping in the local language. What would be the pros and cons of such a move? Yes, it would be more inclusive, but it would further sever ties with Israel. Are there any Jewish services doing this now? 

I would feel comfortable enough discussing this with Rabbi Vicki, but last night was not the night. After worship we gathered for snacks. When we finally tore ourselves away (did I mention how friendly everyone was -- we were surprised how many people we knew from other parts of our lives) I was shocked to see over 2 hours had passed. Nothing felt long, but it was 9:30.

Speaking of the congregation, the trickiest question I had to answer was "do you worship here?" The technical answer is "yes" because we worship there on Sunday nights with WiNK, but the implied answer was "no" because we are not Jewish and do not worship with Temple Micah. People were still welcoming even after explaining we were not Jewish. Reminded me of times we have visited churches out of state and people come up to greet us, though in those case they fade away once we say we are not planning on moving close enough to worship there on a regular basis.

Summer is here. Time to explore new places and ways to worship and glorify God.

A modern translation 

of Psalm 150:

 

Hallelujah!

 

Praise God in God's sanctuary;

Praise God in the world around us.

Praise our Source of Life for mighty acts;

Praise the Divine presence 

for being a part of our life's greatness.

Praise with blasts of horn;

Praise with harp and lyre.

Praise with timbrel and dance;

Praise with lute and pipe.

Praise with resounding cymbals;

Praise with loud-clashing cymbals.

 

Let all that breathes 

praise that which is divine in our lives.

 

Hallelujah!

Cotsen Critix

This school year Ashley has been participating in a program at Princeton University called Cotsen Critix. No, she is not taking Ivy League classes at the tender age of 10-11. Instead she has been participating in a free literary club at Cotsen's Children Library (located inside Firestone Library). The leader, Dr. Dana, is so sneaky that Ashley didn't even realize she was in a writing class even though they had to hand in three writing assignments over the year and each session focused on a different genre of literature. In order to be chosen to be in this group they had to write a critique of a book. Ashley was one of 12 selected. Coincidentally, so was one of our neighbors.

Their final assignment was to write a criticism of Cotsen Critix. Each week they had a different activity. The following is her words mixed with some explanations for those of us too old to participate.

Cotsen Critix

"I loved Cotsen Critix. I thought it was a lot of fun and I wish I could do it next year."

Each session they did something unique, but always focused on books, learning or exploring. In the first session they talked about things they would want to do. Each week was a new adventure. This is what Ashley's group did, but next year's group could be completely different. The group is open to 8-14 year olds through an application process.

One week they turned their names into music through a piece of paper with cut outs for each letter, similar to a gramophone. Who knew words could be turned into music?

A real treat for the group was the week they were allowed in the secret room at the top of the tower in Firestone Library. It is a very dusty room and only available with special permission."I loved the tour to the tower of the library. It was really cool how we got to see something that we wouldn’t normally see of the library. The only part I did not enjoy about the tower was that the windows were too high and I couldn’t see out them."

The group had to read the classic "My Side of the Mountain" and talk about it one week. I was surprised Ashley did not like it since it really seemed like her speed. As part of the discussion our friend, and naturalist, Pam Newitt spoke to them about survival skills. "I didn’t really like the book “My Side of the Mountain,” but I did like that session. It was really fun because we learned how to make rope and what we would bring to the wilderness."


The week they learned Chinese calligraphy was a hit, though. "I really liked the Chinese calligraphy. I have always wanted to write in Chinese, and even though mine wasn’t very good, it was still fun."


She missed a week due to the Columbus Half Marathon. In the end, I am surprised she did not miss more weeks. The class met every other Friday afternoon from 4-5:30. It always seemed to be the week that *something* else was happening -- such as opening night for "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" or a half day at school. We did take her out early twice because of the show at SVP. Most Fridays we did take out afterwards from Tiger Noodle. A few weeks (such as opening night) Don joined us in Princeton and we ate at Tiger Noodle -- a real treat. "I was really disappointed that I missed the acting session, but I was in a play and was pretty much the main part. It sounded like a lot of fun, though."

They learned a "foreign language" one week. "Elvish 101 was so awesome. My friend (Julia) is a 'Lord of the Rings' fan, and she had just been telling me about Elvish a few days earlier. I was so thrilled to get to learn it."


After seeing how hard it was to teach Ryan, the assistant, how to make a peanut butter sandwich, they were assigned the task of teaching Dr. Dana something. They were given 3 minutes each. There were other guidelines, such as Dr. Dana already knows how to brush her teeth. Ashley taught her the importance of not sticking your fingers in a socket. "Teach Dr. Dana was really fun, too. I thought it was a good idea because she had been teaching us so much, and then we got to teach her something."

One week they had a guest speaker -- a professional writer named Phil Porter. His day job is as a Technical Writer, but his weekend gig is as a stand-up comedian. By chance, I hung out that week in the library and eavesdropped on the conversation. "I liked the stand-up comedian and technical writer. I didn’t know that they write their own jokes beforehand. I thought they just made them up on the spot."Afterwards Ashley said she could relate to the question about how funny is it to keep saying the same joke over and over again. She said there were lines in "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" that were very funny the first few times, and by the end of the run she was smiling through it, but not able to laugh as much.

They learned about "Hansel and Gretel" in a different way -- through opera. "The opera was also fun, even though I can’t sing. But I liked it because I didn’t have to do any singing, so it was just acting for me."

The best week for her was the scavenger hunt / quest. Well, at least she loved it until she stubbed her toe and thought she broke it. Funny, that didn't make the review. They spent their time running all over Princeton University (with an adult) looking for clues. "I really, really liked the quest. It was so much fun. I liked how each person was given something, and then they had to solve one of the clues. I also thought the sword fight was really fun."

For me, I loved that Dr. Dana challenged them to write. In addition to the original critique, they had to write a piece of non-fiction, an historical fiction story, another critique, and anything they wanted (she submitted her George the Cockatiel story). A few days after submitting the story they were given positive feedback with a suggestion or two for improvement. In the end they will receive a copy of everyone's work, and a few pictures of them having fun together.

The picture on top was from the scavenger hunt. Since I don't know the other children, I chose this one since it only shows the backs of heads. Photography is not allowed inside Cotsen Library.

Ashley won the Hermoine Granger award for doing research. She won this for conducting "first person" research for her historical fiction story -- she interviewed Lewis and Clark during dinner at the Cock and Bull.