Thursday, July 31, 2014

Greece - 25th Wedding Anniversary Trip

   After I graduated from college, I went on a European Seminar trip with my High School roommate Isabel to 8 different countries in 10 weeks.  Or was it 10 countries in 8 weeks?  I don't remember.
With two college professors, there were about 30 college students staying in hostels with curfews and lots of sightseeing.  I remember visiting cities like Amsterdam, Brussels and Rome.  We camped in tents too and I remember getting the flu in Rome and staying at the campsite all day.  Very boring!
   The trip was a perfect amount of class time and free time.  It became expensive though after wanting to buy a leather jacket in Italy.
   Our trip to Athens was the best.  I remember thinking this city reminds me of Kobe where I grew up.We had the chance to visit an island close to Athens one day with the class.  Isabel and I did some exploring once we got to the island and realized we could stay overnight in a hotel room for only $7.00.  So we purposely missed the cruise ship departure and stayed on the island that night.  We ended up going to one of the Open Air cinemas on a rooftop and staying in the small hotel room and catching the cruise ship back to Athens the next day.  I knew we would be in trouble from the professors the next day but it was worth the adventure.
   Greece was exciting and beautiful.  I remember seeing lots of stray cats and eating Gyros.  I think I told Isabel at that time I would be coming back on my honeymoon.
   When I met Januck, we decided to get married in December.  He had grown up in California and wanted to go somewhere cold for our honeymoon.  We ended up going to Banff, Canada over Christmas and had a wonderful time.  However, I still always wanted to go back to Greece.  We have been saving for many years and celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary last December.  So, in four days we will be going on a 10 day island tour to Santorini, Mykonos and Athens by ourselves to celebrate our years together.   I am so happy he is willing.  I am more excited to show him the sites I remember but also to experience new adventures with Januck.
   The next post will have many photos of our awesome trip.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Alex's Exam


Alex had his Mock Exams and this was his Japanese essay. I can't believe he knows this many Kanji characters!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Parking!




Yes, parking in Japan can be tricky since there isn't much space here. I was amazed that our neighbor parks this way on a daily basis.