2016-05-28, The Little World of Man and Fireflies

Yesterday Akina, Shioli and I took off for Aichi Prefecture and a place called the Little World of Man.  We were mostly on a highway so it wasn't a very pretty drive until we got closer and ended up going up a mountain and through a couple of nice little farming towns.

The Little World is kind of a strange place.  Sort of like (Disney's) Epcot in Florida but not nearly as well done.  The basis is showing how people in other parts of the world live.  But really it was just sample buildings (most were not terribly authentic looking), shops selling goods from those countries (that was nice!), restaurants with some foods from those countries (yum), and an opportunity to (pay and) try on clothing from some of the countries.  Again, you pay a hefty ticket price and then have to pay for everything you do once you get in.  Strange.

But, I was with Shioli and Akina, in the mountains on a pleasant day, add in some ethnic food and groceries to take home, and it was a very nice way to spend my birthday.

Akina and Shioli

Okinawan kimomo

Okinawan house

from Hokkaido

Taiwan

Native American

Peruvian Hacienda

 I had a yummy Peruvian taco and some passion fruit juice in the cafe in the courtyard here.

Bali - those boys are standing in front of a squall machine.  Luckily we noticed that they were wiping their feet dry so we took off our shoes and rolled up our pants, opened our umbrellas and pressed the button.  The water comes at you from different angles.  Would be quite refreshing on a hot day.

Hawaii

Germany

Italy

Africa where we sampled ostrich, alligator and camel.  

Nepal

India

for funerals (inside the house)

Korea

I brought a 'NY' bagel (it wasn't) and lox home and we all picked up some grocery items from different countries.

Then, on to (drum roll please!) COSTCO!!  

We passed it on the way there and Shioli has a card so... time for some fun!  I got some feta cheese, hopefully it will freeze well, some Salinas blueberries (I didn't know they grew blueberries in Salinas), Akina bought beautiful Watsonville strawberries (it was too big for me) and we all bought cooked chickens.  They have families to share it with, I'll be eating it for a while.  I did freeze some though.  And then, a hot dog with sauerkraut for dinner.  YEAH!

And to top off the day Shioli directed Akina to this special firefly place where we watched and held the fireflies while we listened to the frogs croaking in the surrounding rice paddies.  

The looked like they were magically floating rather than flying.

It was a very nice day for sure.  Thank you Akina and Shioli!

2016-05-22, Rose and Berry Farm

Finally, an outing with Cindy.  And her husband Shin and a new English teacher, Melicia.  We went to a 'farm' in Nagahama (I think) on a beautiful day.  Heaven!  

There are many sections, the one we went to was the garden area and the buffet restaurant.  There is an animal area, an 'experience' area where you can make pizza or bread and different crafts, a wine area, etc.  As with many places in Japan, you pay to enter and then you have to pay to partake in various activities.  I find that kind of strange....

But, it was a perfect day for walking through the garden and that's what we did.

We had a nice lunch as well.

And since Shin and Melicia hadn't been to Shosakai park near our school we stopped of there on the way home.

A good part of the reason I stayed in Hikone for another year was Cindy.  Unfortunately we aren't able to get together very often so this was an extra special day.  I hope we have many more!