"Ohayo gozaimahss" ...Good Morning
Woke up very early and on my way to the bathroom, I actually saw through my office window the sunrise for the start of another day. It seemed to look like a good start to what would end up being a very nice day. With all the rain we had yesterday everything now looked so bright and even more clean than before, if that is even possible?
Yes of course, I ran and got my camera and took some pics of the first sun rays gleaming off the skyscrapers in the distant Yokohama skyline. Muy Bonita,"Domo kirei" Very pretty !
I then thought to myself, is this a good thing or a bad thing. You see,I love sunrises and sunsets and so now that I know that I can actually see it all from my window...well, I hope that doesn't make me want to get up each morning at 3am to watch every new day begin. I mean come on, I am already waking at 6am and that is 3 hours earlier than I ever woke up on my own back in MN. haha
So of course I took a few more pics and then went back to bed for another hour or so, but had this great urge to get back up and go watch it some more, and to see how the sky changes colors, or whatever else happens? I am sure, I will probably end up doing that one day very soon.
It's like I am on vacation here. I'm in my "vacation mode", where I can't sleep too long as I want to go out and see what is happening, explore.... I feel like I am going to miss something. Um...I wonder how long that feeling is going to last?
Back up at 6am and then checked my Emails, and ate breakfast while CJ did a few phone calls for work and chatted with Kalen before he left for the day. I then went on my daily walk in search of the road to the Bay Bridge. CJ had heard you can walk up on it and get a great view of the city, so that was my mission for today.
I walked down the street, through Motomachi Park, past the outdoor swimming pool and then onto a new path, which was very green,lush,had butterflies flitting about, spiders pinning webs and it was very noisy as well. The locusts were already up and busy chatting with one another and there was this constant humming sound almost like a generator. I took a video which I have up on my FaceBook page along with the rain storm from yesterday and some others from the Shinto festival, baseball game... Check them out if your interested. I am not sure yet,how to put a video up here on my blog, or if I even can, but I will try.
Once I got through the park I went down another road I had't been on before. It ran along the ridge of the bluff. I past by many beautiful flowers along my way and then ended up in the industrial area of town below all the overhead freeway bridges. I asked a few different people how to get to the Bay Bridge so I could walk across and take photos. Noone was really able to tell me anything but the guy who wrote the "name" down for me "Daikoku-Futo".
I kept on walking and just looked above me every so often, to see which way the bridges were going and tried to walk in the direction of the cable part. I ended up at what looked like some kind of area where trucks come to get their trucks loaded. The traffic guy with the face mask on(to keep from breathing the heavy exhaust fumes-I presume) told me by crossing his arms and shaking his head that you can't walk up on the bridge. :-( So I thanked him "arigato" and went back a block and down the next street to see what was going on in that direction. I ended up at the marina and got some different views of the bridge, boats and city skyline from there. Then I thought, perhaps I would not find the actual entrance to the bridge so I headed back towards the Homes and OK store where I needed to get some groceries.
Well what do you know, I finally did find the entrance ramp and toll booth so I walked up to ask the little uniformed man and he too crossed his arms and shook his head and gestured NO walking. So I guess we can NOT walk up there,or at least that is the conclusion I came to, for today anyway.
I waited and then crossed the very busy street with trucks coming and going in all directions and made my way into the cool air conditioned building. Ahhhh...I didn't realize how hot I was, till I got into the store and the sweat glands kicked into overdrive and streams instantly ran off my forehead and down my back. Thankfully I had my little pink Manekineko(the Beckoning cat) Japanese cloth hankie so I could be like the other little Japanese women and dab the perspiration droplets from my glistening forehead. What I really meant to say is, I wiped the sweat streams running down my whole face which was totally soaking wet,and was hoping the water that was running down my back was not dripping out on the floor from under my dress...YIKES...If I am NOT releasing a TON of toxins each day, I will be VERY surprised.
By the way "Maneki Neko" the cat is the good luck charm for good business.It brings the luck, the fortune and the customers into your store. The cat with it's left paw up invites customers or people. The one with it's right paw up invites money or good fortune.
I paid for my goods,packed them up in my 2 recycle cloth bags(yes I am environmentally friendly) and was then on my way back home. First I climbed the really loooooooooooooooooooooong stairway from the bottom to the top ridge of the bluff, and then meandered through the gardens of Harbor View Park, crossed another street and wove my way past the Foreigners Cemetary and then down some more steps and back on the path past the pool which was now open and busy with people sunbathing, swimming with their kickboards and relaxing in the mid day sun.
Past the roped off HUGE beehive nest in the trunk of a tree and up the last 3 sets of steps and on to what was now my very busy street. The construction crew was back and working very hard. When I left at 8 there was no one here and now at 12 noon they had 5 big trenches dug up here and there all the way up to my house. I had an escort home, as a man made sure I was safe when walking across the plywood laying over the open holes.
Got back home, put my food away, and had a nice salad for lunch and then did some computer work. Had a crazy busy afternoon as I was skype chatting with Kalen and then my fellow honduras volunteer friend Darren skype called me, while at the same time the door bell rang and the construction crew told me they were going to shut the water off for an hour. I can multi task, but come on, that a was a bit nuts for a few minutes.
Sorry Kalen, I didn't mean for our conversation to end so abruptly. I trust all is well with you after the big storm blew through Chicago. Darren was in Waukegan, IL and he had just talked to his brother in law who was driving through it and he said it was the worst storm he has ever seen there. YIKES...I bet you were a bit nervous as you huddled all alone in your basement cellar with sirens blaring outside? :-(
Darren by the way,became my "personal computer guru" when I had problems in Honduras a year or so ago and so now I can always count on him to walk me through issues via phone. He was telling me my photos here on the blog are very small and it would be nice to see them larger and so I guess you can go to my Picasa Album and see them all in bigger format. I did NOT know this, so if your interested in seeing them in a bigger format than the postage stamp size ones here... go check it out.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ckkgHarriman/KarlaAndCJGoToJAPAN
Well here we are, and I am now getting ready to watch the sunset from the opposite window in my office and am hoping we see the TV delivery guy tonight. He has not called yet, so who knows? I do hope CJ shows up early tonight as well, as I think the Bon Odori celebration starts in Chinatown tonight and I wanted to go and check it out.
I too,finally saw my first advertisement today about the Beijing Olympics. It was this sticker on top of the beverage vending machines that are all along the roadsides.
I still find that very odd that we don't see anything about it and it's now 2 days away. I have to believe they have some great athletes representing Japan and you would think they would have them plastered all over wouldn't you? Hum...I wonder if it has anything to do with Japan and China relations?
Oh,wait a minute, there is the door bell...It must be the TV guys, Yeah! ...Again I multi tasked as CJ called me right when they were coming in and wanted to know if we had all the right cables. So there I was trying to talk Japlish with the two guys and my dictionary and telling them where to put it,learning how the remotes worked,filling in warranty and registration cards. CJ was of course VERY HAPPY his h new baby arrived. It does seem weird to have a TV or noise in here now besides the music from our computers. It will be very interesting to see what we can decipher out of the Japanese.
When the guys left I was watching it a bit and it looked like a recall came up on Potstickers. Looked like some kind of crystal rock like drug was on them. I ended up taking a photo of the notice on TV so I can always use it to ask soemone if needed. I actually bought some today at the grocery and now am a bit leary about eating them before I can ask someone who speaks english. Oh boy, looks like another whole new world, or can of worms is going to open up here with the TV.
I would venture to guess though, that it will help us with our Japanese and hearing it over and over and over.
Well best go and get some food prepared. I think I am gonna skip Bon Dori tonight as I have a bit of a headache and my throat feels a bit swollen? Did I breath in too many toxic exhaust fumes I wonder...perhaps I too need to wear a mask? Or could it be from going in and out of 100 degree temps to cold air conditioned buildings...I know that happens to me in MN in the summer?
Anyhoo,CJ just got home and is quite the happy camper playing with his new baby down stairs...Hey now,am I gonna be a TV widow :-(...and to think I had him all to myself this past month.Um? :-)
He just reminded me, that I was the one who wanted it before the Olympics started..
"Konbanwa"... Good Evening
Karla and CJ
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