just to say.

something real nice about travel is all the time to do whatever you want and when there is nothing to do and your hanging out in Mito, Japan, you just think and think and think and it`s slow and it`s real good.

tuesday we head out for exploration.
nikko to nagoya
nagoya to magome and tsumago
from there to Hiroshima
hiroshima to kyoto
kyoto to nara, dewa sanzan and osaka.

7 days 9 cities and back to our diet of ramen and convience store food.
the food, mostly all fresh from the garden at dorthy`s house has been amazing. anna and i actually wrote down recipes. there are a lucky few of you who will benefit from this. it`ll be worth the wait.

and i want to reiderate being with dorthy for these 2 weeks has been so so educational. there is no way we would have learned so much or gotten half as much out of japan without her or our time here. thank you to dorthy and all her hospitality.

videos

Ruth and i took a video of us next to the river in tokyo, close to where we were staying in asakusa, in the capsule hotel. we could see this rivder from our hostel.

WWOOF ing aka housemaids and daycare

We have as of last Monday (the 10th) been WWOOFing. internet as it turns out is not as easily accessable in a house where everyone owns a computer (and i believe there is wireless) but you are the 100 and 101 WWOOFers just passing through. two points.
1) we`ve been busy anyways with awkward moments, strangely articulated work expectations and Obon season 2) we figured out all we really had to do was conjole (congole/ cunjole/ kunjoleee??) one of the children to let us use their computer and here we are. not a big deal.

here is the real story:
we have for the last week been moving around bamboo, doing dishes, weeding, helping with meals, entertaining children and general mucking about Mito, Japan. it has been enjoyable, highly educational and sometimes tedious.
Dorthy is the host and it is with her 3 children, husband and mother that we are staying. she is a manic, forever busy, loud, extreamly generous and helpful woman. she has been continuously teaching us japanese culture via food, customs, videos, conversations and her children which has been amazing. i don:t know how else we could have learned so much in such little time.
we:ve gone to tea ceremony class at the proffessor:s house which was really wonderful.
the over crowded, over modest beach. which ended up being a ploy to babysit the youngest child for 4 hours.
had barbqs, beer, firewords and family visits due to obon season which is the time of year japanese people go home to their parents house and ancestors are believed to come from heaven (or where ever) and visit. altars are laid out, food and beverages, incense and gifts scattered around. it:s one of the biggest holidays in japan and we are extreamly lucky to get to see it first hand.
we`ve had a number of earth quakes here and talks of typhoons but all is well and mito is even quieter and more peaceful than tokyo.
also the foreighnor hating grandmother seems to at least find us only minimally offensive. i believe this is due to anna`s amazing old lady skills.
we are staying with dorthy but actually in the old style japanese house behind dorthy`s newly built house. the floor is all tatami mats, giant windows, bamboo, old decorative tiling, really wonderful. we sleep on matts on the floor and of course no shoes in either house at any point, our feet are not even to touch the entry way floor. serious feet hygiene which sort of laughs in the face of sharing bath water...
(so day two or maybe even one i totally slip and put on shoes while indoors, after the horrified face of the youngest child and a reprimand from dorthy i was then shown the educational video on tatami mats. see very educational. i forgot again this week but no one saw. thank goodness)
this week begins (we thought) the part where we teach young children english. instead it turns out anna and i read a book or two in english and the rest of the time is daycare. i am extreamly thankful this part will only be for a couple of days. it was okay when it was framed as some sort of `save the children` rag but daycare isn:t cultural it:s just tedious.
this week there are more fireworks planned (woo hoo!!!), more english to be taught, more dishes to be done, things to learn and plans to be made for our travels next week.
we have taken a few pictures and hopefully will be able to put them up sometime later this week.


oh last stop in tokyo was the fish market. man that was a hoot.

more pictures...

yep yep

Ruth and i have gotten the hang of Tokyo. We are comfortable enough to wander without maps for awhile. Its still challenging to find things but thats even difficult for the japanese. we are here for just two more days and then we are off to go wwoofing!

We made it to Tokyo

Yesterday we spent all day flying. The first flight was from the cincinnati airport to chicago, just a 55 min. flight, then the next flight was from chicago to tokyo. The first thing I noticed while we were sitting at the gate, was the dull hush over everyone. And not to make generalizations, but there were quite a few Japanese people flying to Tokyo, and Ruth and I noticed that even once we were here walking the streets of Tokyo, surrounded by people there is still a hush. So quiet, it was almost eirie. Anyways the flight was 14 hours, but it didnt seem that long to me. Luckily I only got an hour and a half of sleep the night before and Ruth only got three so we were able to sleep through alot of it. The rest of the time we were served the best airline food we had ever had, watched an assortment of movies and tried to figure out what the hell we were gonna do in Tokyo. We are still not really sure what we are doing here and im not sure we will ever figure that out. We think its part of the fun. We slept in a capsule hotel last night. For you all who are like me and dont really know what that is... its like a cubby, thats about 3 feet high and wide and six feet long. Theres a radio in there a mat to sleep on with a pillow and blanket and a light and alarm clock. I was very comfortable in there, Ruth and I actually like the tight places, they are cozy, its from our large family and being squished among them while we grew up. We went to sleep early last night, and caught up on some of that sleep that we had missed. I woke up early and made a b-line for this computer that they have to use cause i know if i waited too lnog that there would be a wait. Im sitting here wearing pajamas that this hostel gives everyone to wear, slippers that we all have to wear cause they have us all take our shoes off at the door, and listening to the news in japanese that they play constantly. This place is full of westeners and apparently the part of Tokyo we are in is very popular for tourists. We could tell that while we were walking around yesterday. We noticed tons of people riding bikes. Theres vending machines for cigs and beer. Theres women/girls who are wearing heels, overly large and loud cicadias, and the moist, river smell surrounds us. Now we just have to get used to the slower paced travel life.

go time.

In approximately 9hrs we will start our all Asia, all the time, until the money runs out, "once in a life time" (which is bullshit), leave everyone and all things behind, excursion. So it is also time to start a blog.

We have approximately $15,000
Two packs: 35 liter and 45 liter
Two day packs which I swear we will fit into our regular packs when not needed, though mine now contains 4 books, a change of clothes, 5 maps, ipod, chords, headphones, sunglasses etc
Personally:
3 dresses
3 pants
2 long sleeve shirts
6 sleeveless
5 t-shirts
2 pairs of socks
3 bras
7 pairs of underwear
1 pair of sandals
1 pair of boots
the ability to wear all of anna's clothes also. such a dear.

That's it, we're going to go, it's that time and so we'll live. leave.

look I'll get excited when I get on the plane.