Welcome 2017

This January 1^st I’m in Japan once again, but this time just for a short stop on my way back to Beijing. I’m watching about 100 naked guys around me, walking to and fro from one onsen to the next, and I thought it would be a perfect time to reflect on life and the past year.

2016 was a good year for me. I had a good job, my wife was happy and healthy, there were no major deaths in the family, pretty much everyone retained their health and jobs as well. I travelled to Japan last winter, then to 10 countries in Europe this summer. My visited country total has reached 39 now! Yes, I count! I got to travel with my mom and also see friends in Europe.

I have continued at a great job, continued teaching online at another job I love, and this year I became the online learning director at my main job. Kind of cool as I have been pushing to get more involved with online learning since I got my master’s degree in it 5 years ago. Now I teach it, direct it, and a recent chat with my school’s principal leads me to believe I will be overseeing the expansion of the program from about a dozen kids this year to 50 next year.

Physically I am in great health, no major problems and my running game is still on, though slipping a bit. I wouldn’t call it a NY resolution, but I plan to run a marathon this coming fall. I’m in a good shape now, but certainly that will mean getting ultra fit by September. If that race goes well I may have another shot at the Tokyo marathon in 2018 as well.

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Who knows. Both of my parents retire this year too, so that will be cool as it will probably mean that I will get to see them more and may entice them to travel to see me a bit too. So the year was good and the outlook for 2017 is good too. Happy 2017!

7 years on

Two weeks ago Aya and I were sitting on the couch talking about how our eighth anniversary was special because eight is a lucky number and how maybe on our tenth we would return to Hawaii with our parents to celebrate. It wasn’t until we had been chatting for some time that we realized it hasn’t been eight years, but seven. Lucky for me, Aya got my wedding band inscribed with the date so I could double check.

Seven years have gone by in the blink of an eye.  It is an annual tradition for us to recount the past year’s anniversaries, a way to keep alive the memories of those days. There was our first when we went to the “small” town of Hangzhou (2.4 million people) to enjoy the lake view (packed with people and smoggy). On our fourth I surprised her with a flight to Singapore (we lived in Penang, so it was like 50 dollars a ticket!). There we rode the giant Ferris wheel on the waterfront. Aya told me she got upset with me and I can remember that, but I don’t remember why. On our second we went to the Pearl Tower in Shanghai and ate at the rotating restaurant, but our third isn’t clear. We think we had a nice dinner at the Shangri-La in Penang. That is the story we will stick to, it seems.

I guess that happens as time goes on. You tend to forget the details, but it is the big picture that matters. As we talked about the past our conversation also moved to the future. Where would we be next year? What do you want to do for our eighth? It is a lucky number, you know. We should tell our parents now about our plans for the tenth anniversary. What about your parents retirement plans?

Time goes so fast, just the blink of an eye.

Arriving in Amsterdam with Aya we immediately set about finding my mother. Unfortunately I gave her bad directions. Meet me at the McDonald's I said, well, there is more than one. So for about two hours we waited outside her gate. Eventually the torrent of passengers coming from the gate turned to a trickle and we knew that we must have missed her so I went to make an announcement with the information desk. Just as I was reaching the desk I heard MY name called over the PA system. So we finally met up with mom and made our way into Amsterdam. Unfortunately Aya had a quick turnaround and so had to head back to the airport after having lunch with us. So began a week in Amsterdam with my mother.

The first night, Friday, we went to see Van Gogh at the museum. On Friday nights there is a special VJ and bar they set up in the main room of the museum. On the way we stopped at a canal side cafe for pofferjes and so started mom's quest for pancakes the rest of the trip. The museum and vj was kind of cool. I think of Van Goghs paintings as some of the most beautiful in the world, so it was really cool to see them. We also listened to a talk about Van Gogh and whether he really meant to cut off his whole ear and if in fact it was his whole ear. Enlightening.

The next day we did a biking tour of Amsterdam with Mike's bikes. It was a great way to get around the city. We saw and heard lots of things about the canals and structures and mom was so pleased with her bike she quickly agreed that we should rent them for a few more days, which we eventually did. On the way we back we stopped at a windmill bar and had some beers before reaching the bike shop and proceeding on foot. It was a great day and super cool way to see the city, but wow the bike traffic in Amsterdam is crazy!

On Sunday we headed to Nordwijik where I ran a 10k along the shore and mom went to check out the local Catholic church. It was a great day along the seaside and we had breakfast beforehand. I ate a bit too much salmon, which I would regret later when I was running. ha! After the race we packed in our rental car and headed to The Hague and Madurodam. I wasn't too sure what to make of this place. My aunt suggested we go there and said she had gone with my grandparents in 1969! It was a cool place, but a pretty hot day. I think mom and I both were pretty impressed with the displays miniatures themselves, but many of the displays did not appear to be working. We left late in the afternoon to drive back to Amsterdam and along the way saw a sailboat crossing the highway in a canal overpass! How weird, but true! Arriving back in the city we figured that since we were returning the car near to the ferries by the main station and so we would use our proximity to cross and have dinner on the other side of the canal. It was quite a nice end to a nice day, sipping beers and eating cheese.

On Monday we started the day late and eventually went to see Body Worlds display. I had seen this display years ago in Japan, but this one had a few new updates that were pretty neat. After we just stuck around the neighborhood and watched Family guy in the evening. It was mostly a day to chill, do laundry, and rest up.

On Tuesday we tried once again to book Upstairs Pancake, but no luck. We had tickets for the Anne Frank House later in the day, but in the morning we rode our bikes north of Amsterdam along the canals. We saw a few windmills and farm fields. It was nice to get out of the city. We took the bikes back to the apartment and went on foot to Anne Frank. Thankfully we had booked in advance and so we didn't have to wait in the large queue forming to get in. The house was really cool and after we had watched the 1956 movie Anne Frank it was also really neat to see the rooms where she had lived. This experience reminded me again of the holocaust and Auschwitz. It also made me think of today's migration problems. Somewhere out there is the modern day Anne Frank, cowering in some small corner of Syria or Nigeria or Ukraine, waiting for the war to be over or for a country to migrate to.
Later on Tuesday we had booked a canal cruise and dinner. We used the company Canal en Holland International Cruises which turned out to be a good decision. We had initially arrived at the wrong port to board the dinner cruise and saw a much more crowded boat. Luckily we were in the wrong spot and found our boat just in time. It was a beautiful night and the canal and food were great, along with the company. It was really nice just to sit with mom and enjoy Amsterdam like that. Plus, it gave us another perspective on Amsterdam after the biking tour and we went places we likely would not have thought of. As we biked home that night through the dark quite back alleys of Amsterdam I couldn't help but take a mental picture of that moment. It was a great day and I hope to hold on to that feeling for a long time.

On Wednesday we finally got to Upstairs Pancake for breakfast, or rather lunch, as they didn't open until noon. It was well worth the wait. The pancakes were great and the place is very unique. After a quick rest at home we headed south to the Rijks Museum, the Diamond museum, and finally on to the Heineken brewery. The Rijks museum was pretty cool. Lots of old Dutch masters and interesting things. I think mom was most impressed with a diorama of the Dutch Indonesia colony that was made with dough figures. ha! After making sure to see Night Watch we headed over to the Diamond Museum. Amsterdam is well known for diamonds and I had seen some things online about the museum, but I would say it wasn't too much to see. The heineken experience was pretty good. There were lots of bits of information and things to do. Taking a ride through Amsterdam on the Heine bikes was pretty cool. At the end we headed up to the roof top for beers and then, realizing we were late getting our bikes back we headed for burgers instead of rushing to the bike shop before heading home.

On Thursday we spent our last day in town doing some shopping and just hanging out. We both had fairly early flights Friday so took the train out of town together. As Amsterdam slipped past the train against a slate grey sky I was feeling pretty low. It was a great week, beautiful weather and pretty much everything went off without a hitch. Spending that time with my mother is something I won't forget and in the weeks since then I have been thinking about it a lot. So much that I am now thinking of when we can do it next. So, mom, want to take a trip after retiring?

Krakow

From Vilnius we took a bus and then a connecting train to Krakow. I had not much knowledge about the city other than that we were going because it was near to Auschwitz. We arrived at night so it was hard to really see the city, but as soon as we got to our hotel and started to wander the streets you could immediately tell that this was a lovely city. Wc came out onto the central town square which was bustling with touristy night life. After a long day we sat down for some desert and drinks and to soak in the people. What a beautiful city backdrop we got in the old town square.
We really only had a couple of days in the city, so the first day we hired a driver to get to Auschwitz and Wileliczka Salt Mine. The driver flew down the roads like a bat out of hell, but it seemed that he was not so unusual among the other drivers we encountered. We didn't get much chance to see the countryside as it whizzed by, but what we did see looked very nice and reminded me a bit of Wisconsin.
We arrived at Auschwitz and there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. Through the guide we were put into the groups line, which entered fairly quickly. You could go in as an individual, but I think it was good to get in as a group. Once inside we had a guide who took the group around to various buildings and sites. It was as you might expect, sobering and somber. Some of the statistics of individuals who arrived were shocking even though I have read some things about the camp before. Besides gassing many people upon arrival the Nazis did many things that dehumanized the Jews and others who were there. In one room there was preserved piles of hair that was cut from those who arrived and then used for various ropes, rugs, and socks. The socks bit really got me, how could you wear those socks knowing that its made with human hair?
After a short break we drove to Birkenau to finish the tour of the camps. This was also extremely somber. The tracks leading into the camp is still there along with the guard tower and some box cars. Our guide told us that roughly 8000 people a day would arrive, about half of which would be immediately gassed. He said sometimes the demand on the crematorium was so much that the people who were going for "showers" would have to wait in the nearby woods until the crematorium could catch-up.
After spending most of the day touring the camps, we were more than ready to see something else. In researching a bit about the area I found out that we would be near the Wileliczka Salt Mine which looked super cool. A lot of tours in the area do both the camps and the mine either in one packed day or two seperate mornings. We packed it in and got to the mine at about 3pm. The mine was in operation until sometime in the 1970's, but long before that miners had begun to carve things into the salt. Now there are statues, corridors, pools, and what can only be described as a cathedral of salt carved into the rocks. Even though we were there for just a few hours we only saw a tiny fraction of the overall caves, but they were really unique and beautiful. It was also kind of a weird feeling to know that we were 135 meters below the surface. I heard from some other people in the group that there is a similar place near Salzburg, so if i ever get there I will have to check it out.

At the end of the day we returned to Krakow and the old town square for a few more beers and deserts. As we were watching the sunset my friend Brian remarked on how Krakow had been one of the few places to escape bombing during WWII, which would explain the old towns unique feel. Aya commented on how the per capita gdp in Poland was around 10,000 USD and I just couldn't believe it. Everything in the city seemed so clean, tasty, and mostly well kept.

The next day Aya and I were leaving in the afternoon to get to the airport where we would stay for an early morning flight to Amsterdam, so we only had the morning to see some more of the city. So we had a slow morning of writing postcards over breakfast before we met up with our friends Brian and Bethany. We ended up going to Wawel Cathedral, which I had seen on my run around the green loop park surrounding old town. I had read that at the Cathedral there were a set of dragon bones, so I had to check it out. Sure enough, above the cathedral entrance were the dragon bones. They kind of looked like whale bones to me, which is one of the things they are speculated to actually be. After we took a quick tour of the inside of the Cathedral and went to the dragons den, a cave under the cathedral. From there we did not have much time left, so we grabbed lunch at the worst Mexican restaurant in Krakow, then headed for the train station. It was a little sad to say goodbye to Brian and Bethany as we had just spent the last 2 weeks or so traveling around with them. I'm sure we'll take a trip with them again.