Mom’s trip to Japan
May 19, 2009
I’ve uploaded pics from Mom’s trip to Japan. Unfortunately, because there are so many and they were taken by 3 different cameras, there was no way to put them in order. The pics are here.
Doraemon
May 18, 2009
I never really cared for Doraemon, the cat-robot from the future, but he now adorns my mobile phone, thanks to an experience at the Movie Village in Kyoto. Mom and I went on May 8, and I was hoping to see the “Super Samurai” show that I’ve seen twice now. It’s really cool with acrobatics and stuff, but they didn’t have it this time. Instead, we went to a little show where a guy was demonstrating a sword and frog oil. I got called up onto the stage, and he pretended to cut my arm and then “heal” the wound with frog oil. He gave me a mobile phone strap with Doraemon on it for being such a good sport. The best part was him asking me how old I was and then misunderstanding my reply. I said I was 31 in English, and he said, “Oh, 21?” in Japanese. Then I said, “No, 31″ in Japanese. He and the audience acted surprised, so I guess I could have passed for 21. I was happy. 
If you’re reading this in your e-mail, you’ll have to go to my blog to view the video.
How do I get to Tokyo?
May 8, 2009
So I’m here at Kyoto Station and this elderly Japanese lady comes up to me and asks me how to get to Tokyo. There are about 5 million people at the station and she asks the foreigner. I had no idea, but I looked around and found the sign, so I told her in a confident tone, “Tokyo? That’d be lines 11 and 12.”
Mom arrives in Japan
May 3, 2009
Mom’s flight arrived safely at Narita, but unfortunately she had to wait on me for two hours. I was waiting on her, too, though. The stupid signs at the airport were never updated to say that the passengers were going through customs. I had heard on the news that people were having to wait on the planes for hours being checked for swine flu so I didn’t think anything of it. When the sign finally changed I got up to make sure I’d see her come through the arrivals gate, but to my surprise I heard a familiar voice from behind me say, “Mr. Carmical!”
Jogging again
April 15, 2009
Well, I took Clay up on the challenge. I couldn’t do 5k in 25 minutes. It took me 28 minutes and 25 seconds. I think I probably could have done it in a little under 27 minutes, but I didn’t notice that my pace was too slow until a little over halfway through.
iPhone
April 12, 2009
Kaori and I just got iPhones the other day. I learned today that there is an application that uses GPS to track speed and distance travelled while jogging. So today I gave it a shot:
Pretty cool. It even gives the elevation. I usually just jog for 40 minutes, so I’ve never tried to figure out the distance I jog. Apparently I usually jog about 3.51 miles.
Update: Clay says I should try for 3.2 miles in 25 minutes. I’ll try that on Wednesday. I was kind of slacking off today, anyway.
Men’s Retreat
February 14, 2009
Went to a place called Okutama last week with a group of guys from church and got to hang out with my friends Brad and Assis.
The place we stayed was called Okutama Fukuin no Ie (”Okutama Gospel House”).
Another short video from Greece
January 5, 2009
This was taken outside Syntagma Station.
Once again, if you’re viewing this in your e-mail, you’ll probably have to visit the actual blog in order to watch the video.
Greece
January 4, 2009
As you’re already aware, we’re back from Greece now. I thought I’d give a summary of our trip, but if you’re only interested in the pictures, they’re here.
Day 1 (December 25)
We left Narita a little late but made it to Rome on time. Since we had a bit of time before the flight to Athens I insisted on eating pizza in Italy (even though I had already eaten supper). Unfortunately, it was Christmas Day, and most shops were closed. There was a fast food place that was open, though, so I got a slice of pizza and a Coke. It was good pizza for a fast food restaurant. I’d probably still pick Pizza Hut, but I really want to have the real thing someday.
The cashier was a bit unfriendly. You’d think at an international airport they’d speak English, but she rolled her eyes and said something to another worker when I couldn’t understand what she was asking me in Italian. All I could do was point at the pizza and hold up 1 finger and then say “Coke” and hold up 1 finger. First impression of Italy: Food is good, but people are unfriendly…(Could have had something to do with having to work on Christmas, though…) We made it to Athens at midnight on the 26th and went straight to the hotel.
Day 2 (December 26)
Had breakfast at the hotel. Great yogurt. Really fattening, apparently, but also very tasty. We then headed off for a short cruise on the Aegean Sea. We stopped at three islands (Hydra, Poros and Aegina). The islands were really beautiful with clear water and fascinating architecture. Had lunch on the boat, but the waters were so rough it was all I could do to eat the appetizers. After that I had to put my head down and close my eyes. Normally the waters are calm, they said, but it was raining that day (as it did every day we were in Greece) and the weather was affecting the waves. The boat was rocking so heavily at one point that an old lady tipped over in her chair (she wasn’t hurt). In the evening we had supper at a fast food restaurant called “Everest,” officially my favorite place to eat in Greece. I had a “spinach pie,” and it was delicious.
My failed attempt to mimic Eddie's pictures
Day 3 (December 27)
Breakfast at the hotel again. Spent the morning on a tour around Athens led by a Japanese-speaking Greek woman. She was friendly and told Kaori and I what time we should go to church the following morning. We visited the Parthenon, the Athenian Agora, Panathinaiko Stadium and drove past the Parliament building enjoying the old and the new (much like you can do in Japan). In the afternoon we had free time to walk around Athens. I had seen some information about a flea market on the Internet, so that’s the first place we went. We also went to a shopping district by subway and went back to the Parliament building to get pictures with the guards. Dinner was at the hotel.
This is a little video I took with our digital camera. It’s my first video, so please excuse the poor quality. (If you’re reading this in your e-mail client you will need to visit my blog directly to view the video.)
Day 4 (December 28)
We got up early and went to a Greek Orthodox church. Not knowing anything about the customs or anything else for that matter, we stayed outside and watched through the window. The men sat on one side, and the women sat on the other. There are no musical instruments. The singing was a lot like chanting. When people went in they kissed a picture or something and made a cross sign (which is done in the opposite direction from how the Catholics do it, according to one of the guides that took us through the monasteries). We couldn’t stay for the whole thing, because we had another tour scheduled. After that we hurried back to the hotel and got on the bus to go to Delphi where we visited a museum and the ruins. After lunch we walked around the town of Arahova.
Day 5 (December 29)
In the morning we headed off to Kalambaka near the Meteora. Kaori wore a kimono. It was snow, snow everywhere. We actually went inside the St. Stephen Monastery (which is now a convent) and the St. Nicholas Monastery. The big one, the Great Meteoron, was closed due to the sidewalks icing over. These monasteries were very impressive. We spent the night at a hotel in Kalambaka and did some shopping for souvenirs.
Day 6 (December 30)
In the morning we made the long (5-hour) trip back to Athens. In the afternoon we went to another market, this time a meat market (the Central Market). It smelled awful, probably because of all the lamb meat. It was grotesque, too, with pig and lamb heads staring you in the eyes. The pigs were at least covered in skin, but the skin had been peeled from the lamb heads. We then went to a big department store and looked around. They say the economy is bad in Greece, but the massive crowd in the department store could have fooled me. I’d hate to try to shop in the summer when there are even more tourists in town. Later we went to a fast food restaurant and had some pita sandwiches before returning to the hotel.
Day 7 (December 31)
In the morning we went to the Temple of Zeus. We got there at 8:00, but it did not open until 8:30. Unfortunately we were pressed for time, so we couldn’t get in. We got some pretty good pictures outside the fence, though. We hurried back and did some last minute shopping for souvenirs at the hotel’s souvenir shop. The bus took us back to the Athens Airport.
Day 8 (January 1)
We celebrated New Year’s in the air on the flight from Rome to Tokyo.
General thoughts:
You can make it in Greece with just English. Pretty much every cashier we came in contact with spoke English fluently. Despite the media’s overreaction to the riots, I felt quite safe in Athens.
The Greeks celebrate Christmas at least from December 25-31. I’d say they were probably celebrating way before that. We got there on the 26th, but everywhere we went they were playing Christmas music and wishing us a Merry Christmas. I had taken Christmas music with me to listen to on the plane, but when we got to Greece I found out that was unnecessary.
There is graffiti everywhere. It’s strange, because the people of Greece seem to be patriotic, but then they don’t seem to care that Athens is covered in ugly graffiti.
There are stray dogs and cats everywhere (not just in Athens but all over Greece–even on the islands). They are surprisingly well-behaved and do not jump all over you or growl at you. They love to be petted and given attention, though.
97% of Greek citizens identify themselves as Greek Orthodox Christians. At the same time, only 81% of Greeks believe there is a God. I thought that was strange before we went to Greece, but after visiting the churches and listening to the tour guides I think it is because the Orthodox church has strayed from the teachings of the Bible and is now full of traditions started by humans. At one place they had the bones of the hand of a doctor who founded a church, and the tour guide informed us that it was believed that anyone who looked at the bones and prayed to him would be healed (the tour guide actually referred to him as a god). I’m pretty sure the Bible teaches that we are not to pray to the dead. I’m also pretty sure that prayer doesn’t work that way and wasn’t intended for that purpose. If the tour guides are to be believed, the Orthodox believers pray to their patron saints (who are also dead). They have good luck charms and all sorts of religious trinkets that are supposed to protect them. My theory is that many of the people that identify themselves as Greek Orthodox realize that these things are irrational and instead of throwing out the extra-biblical stuff they decide that the whole thing is just a myth.
Happy New Year!
January 3, 2009
We’re back from our trip to Greece. It was my first trip to Europe. We had a great time. I’ll put up some more stuff about the trip along with the pictures (we took 350 or so pictures) later today or tomorrow.
My New Year’s resolution this year is to get down to 10-12% body fat (while bringing my weight back up to around 185 lbs.) and get flexible enough to do splits again. I achieved my goal last year of getting down to 15% body fat, so I intend to achieve this year’s goal as well.
