Traveling with Ellen

One day when Melanie was around 10 years old and we were taking her to her friends house near Morganton NC, we kept passing big rounded hay bales. She turned to us and said look at all the barrels of hay. That is now why we still call them barrels of hay. Not an exciting story, a cute 10 year old story that became our family story. I still call them barrels of hay, and can't remember what they are really called most of the time. This one's for you, Melanie!

All my bags are packed, not ready to go! Monica the suitcase packerer!

I went to the Edo Tokyo Museum yesterday with Monica and Michiko (two of my favorite people). We took the train to meet Michiko all by ourselves. Here are some things we past on our way there. This was one of the most interesting museums I have been to in a long time and I couldn't read most of the signs on the exhibits. It told of the history of old Tokyo and how it got to be the way it is now. There were a lot of things that were similar to American History, the industrialization and such, but there were so many exhibits that were just gorgeous and telling of the times. I took a lot of pictures. I am sorry my blog entries are shorter then when my trip began but my trip is winding down and my adventures are tiring. I got tired, hot and somewhat less motivated. I have had such a rich experience both with cultural differences and with my family. I value both of them. I see the Japanese culture more clearly and I see my family dynamics more clearly. It is weird aging and

I have been so tired the past three or four days. I am tired, pooped and worn out. I have had many many adventures but i find that aging has slowed me down. If I go out all day on one of my adventures, I need to rest a lot the next day. The heat and humidity are making me more tired. I am even tired of sweating. I know that the heat makes me more tired especially since I moved to the south. I feel rather lazy, can't move, yet I make myself go out every day, at least to the market or to meet Eric for lunch. I hate feeling like a lazy ass. I should just accept it as a "mental health" day. My whole trip went really really fast and I only have 4 more nights here. Monica has been wonderful in welcoming me (between working) and taking me around while Eric has been busy with two jobs and school. I appreciate all they both have done to make me feel comfortable. I think it is going to be very sad to say goodbye! I will miss them terribly! I am hoping they can come h

Michiko and I went to lunch at a small sushi place near Tokyo University. She used to go to this Sushi place with her uncle the professor. She explained that this place was the favorite sushi place for a lot of the professors on campus. She has such fond memories of it. When we went in, they greeted her like family. She told the Sushi Chef to make his speciality (whatever he thought was good, to give us). He made two platters of different sushi: tuna, shrimp, white fish and a few other fish that I don't remember, egg and he ended with maki with umiboshi Here are a few pictures of some of the sushi I ate. I did not take these pictures but they food looks similar to our plates.

Tokyo University Global University Ranking ranked the University of Tokyo 3rd in the world and 1st in Asia Michiko's uncle was a professor here and he introduced Michiko to Jun and they have been married for 28 years now.