Narita View

... during our work week)<br><br>So on my day off I thought it would be fun to make Boeuf Bourguignon and Poudin Alsacien for dinner. I shopped and found the ingredients and made a delicious Julia Child's meal for the guys, complete with garlic mashed potatoes. I think it turned out quite well &#8211; check out the pictures and let me know what you think!<br><br>More later . . .

... if I will every tire of the kids looking at Santa with those eyes filled with wonder, enjoying the magic for maybe the first time. And of course there are those who come and lean back and settle into my beard and tummy &#8211; oh it makes me smile! I suppose it is a little taste of what I will feel with a grandbaby!<br><br>The other guys have had days off and, in our tradition, made dinner for the three of us. Mel made a dish that his mom used to make of corn, sausage, potatoes ...

November 11, 2009<br><br><br><br>So today was rained out! We didn't do one single set. The Japanese have a system that we have grown accustomed to. When we are rained out from the beginning of the day they will come to us and say, "First set, cancelled. Please get dressed." The first time they told me that I ...

... say! I am putting a picture of it up so you can see it. I have NO idea how I&#8217;m going to get it home!!<br><br>(Later in the evening)<br><br>Just got home from my first day in the chair. It was great fun to be back. It was a beautiful day, around 70 degrees. The air was still and the humidity was higher than normal. That means sweating Santas! Our wigs, beards, and suits were soaked by the end of the day! We had a great time ...

... Oh my goodness, NO! We were all three sweating in all that padding. It was almost funny, except that we were thinking that we were going to have to wear them all the time. I mentioned to our translator that we had never used them before, she relayed the message and the costumers &#8220;convened.&#8221; Lots of fast talking and looking at us and discussing (I wish I spoke better Japanese!!) They finally realized that ...

... the language. There were absolutely no problems for me though passing through Japanese immigration and customs. As always, the personnel there were extremely friendly and professional. The greeting of these people coupled with all of the other familiar sights and smells made me realize that, despite the severe pain in the ass that I had developed on Air Canada flight 1 from Toronto, it was truly great to be on vacation and back in the land of the rising sun!<br>

Today we make the trip from Yamaguchi to Narita, to prepare for our return trip to Canada. Time seems to have slipped away so quickly. We got up this morning and Mizue had prepared a breakfast for everyone. Yasutoshi had the day off, we guessed to be here for our departure. We had packed last night, so we were pretty much ready to go. We had to leave for the Shinkansen station at about 9:15, to catch our 9:41 train. We all piled into Yasutoshi's Toyota ...

... back to Hiroshima to catch the shinkansen to Osaka. We arrived in Osaka with no place to stay at 8pm - the J Hoppers we wanted to stay at was full of bogan Aussies so they recommended the Hotel Raizan around the Tenojii area for only 2000Y a night - and it had free internet! It was a little dirty but we were so tired we really didnt care. It wasnt until the next morning that we realised that we were in the blue collar district of Osaka and surrounded by homeless people ...

... helpful and cheerful, whether or not they spoke English. The Temple complex dates back over 1,000 years, with different parts reflecting different architectural styles throughout the ages. The Gate is the most recent (5). A famous lantern sits at the second gate and is several hundred years old! (6). We were able to see several beautiful pagodas (7 &amp; 8). People were actively worshipping in the newest part of ...

... and I got the very comfortable (lots of legroom) emergency exit row. The flight that departed at 1.45 p.m. took 10.40 hours. It felt much shorter. Sitting next to me was a nice Russian gentleman who knew a lot about Japanese customs, and described how best to behave with Japanese. It was interesting. First two things observed while on flight: 1. if a Japanese is ...