Catching Up Part 2: Corvallis

So I met up with the OSU students in Portland and rode down to Corvallis with them. Once they were settled in, I headed off to my dad's place. The next few days were mostly student devoted, although I did break away to meet up with some awesome friends. I had lunch with a few at OSU and the old ELI gang - of which sadly many have moved on - was able to get together to have a big bash as well. It was great to see everyone - Even Lis Skyped in from Africa. Sweet! The food was awesome too. The ELI was always blessed with outstanding cooks.

After the students at OSU were all set up, I headed down to UofO to meet with my contacts there. I hadn't been to the campus in ages. It was gorgeous with all the summer flowers and greenery. I had a good visit and got some business done. I think all three Oregon groups will be well taken care of this year. I look forward to following their adventures.

With all the study abroad business finished for a while, I was able to take some real time off. Russell had come in a few days earlier, but he was planning to work for the whole week, so I headed to mom's house and spent a nice long weekend with her. We spent lots of time chatting and even got around to cleaning out her garage to make room for her new car.

But let me back up and talk about THAT. When I first arrived, mom was telling me about how she was looking for a new car and she had found one that she liked, but she couldn't find the model she wanted as a 5-speed in the color she wanted. She had given up on that particular car and was looking at other options. Between every mediocre assessment of other cars, though, she would light up and tell me how cool the Honda Fit was. I heard over and over how the back seat can fold up to fit a bike in the back and how comfortable the seats were. Finally, I suggested we just find a Fit. We were pretty sure we could get one in Seattle (based on info mom had received from a salesperson) so we started hunting up there and looking for a train ticket. Things were going to be tight, but we figured if we could home in on a dealership that definitely had the right car, it would be no problem.

Luckily, in the eleventh hour - just after we had contacted Russell's sister in Seattle to pick us up from the train station, we got a tip from a dealer mom had been working with that a dealer in McMinnville might have the car we were looking for. We called, got the confirmation, and were over there within an hour. Mom gave it a test drive and jumped right into the purchasing negotiations.

At this point we were back in the office and we met the dealer's "closer", a new kitten named Pilot. We were warned that Pilot could be feisty and to be careful. Duly warned, we didn't try to pick Pilot up. He was having none of that, though, and launched himself at Jose right away. Jose passed him to mom, who then snuggled him for about 30 minutes until it was simply not practical to have a cat in her arms. At that point Pilot was passed to me. He continued to snooze in my arms for another hour or so. He seemed totally sweet to us.

Apparently the "feisty" comment had been based on a stunt Pilot had pulled a few days earlier. He was hiding under one of the show cars in the dealership when a family walked by. They had a two year old toddling behind them, and when Pilot spotted her, he decided she was just his size. He jumped out from under the car and grabbed onto the little girl's back. Having had no idea there was anything under the car to begin with, the little girl was understandably terrified and it took everyone a minute to figure out what all the shrieking was about.

Pilot now comes with a warning.

In the end we weren't able to get the car that day - but we were able to drive it home the next. Mission accomplished! And the garage was ready. We were both quite pleased with ourselves, I think. I'm super happy to think of my mom commuting in a car with modern safety standards for once.

After the long weekend with mom, I headed back to Russell's parents' place. They have been slowly but surely turning the outdated, jerry-rigged country home they bought into a country palace. When we last saw them, they were just getting ready to tear the monolith fireplace out of the center of their house. Apparently the fireplace came out and the kitchen as well and they had been living out of a temporary kitchen set up on their back porch for most of the year. They went to great efforts, though, to have the house back together before Russell and I arrived. They pulled it off too. We heard stories of the remodel, but we got to enjoy all the fruits of their labor. The result was really impressive. There's something to be said for being out of the country for a year. I can't wait to see what they tackle after another year.

More to come as we head back to Portland.

Catching Up Part 1: Back in America

As I am trying to get across in my title, I am acutely aware that I am way behind in posts and I am equally aware that it will take me more than one go-'round to catch up.

The good news is that I definitely have good stories to tell.

Since I do seem to have a stubborn linear streak in me, I'm going to start more or less where I left off - just before I traveled to Oregon. That would be around August 15th. I had to work like crazy to get all of my loose ends tied up after the end of the term. I had to leave some colleagues in charge of proctoring my last, last chance tests but for the most part I had all my stuff taken care of.

After a few minor bumps at the airport (so THATS where those sewing scissors had gotten to... I THOUGHT I had brought them to Japan!) and a few bumps in immigration (oh, THAT form... I'm sure the students won't mind waiting) we were on the plane. I was really excited to be heading home to Oregon. I was definitely ready for a visit. Of course, the people I know in the US are way nicer than the flight attendants that were on my flight.

Culture shock #1:
Drinks round #1: Kind-looking Japanese grandfather next to me orders hot tea. After the flight attendant makes a big show of not understanding that "ocha" means "tea" he gets his hot tea.

Drinks round #2: Very concerned with ordering correctly in English this time, the grandfather asks his granddaughter how to say "ocha" in English. She tells him "hot tea." He practices.

Stewardess: "Can I get you a cold drink, sir?"
Grandpa' "Hot tea"
Stewardess: "Is that COLD?"
Grandpa: "Hot tea"
Stewardess: "Is that COLD sir?"
Helpful Japanese business man: "No, ma'am, I think he wants hot tea."
Stewardess: Just hands him water and huffs off.

Now, there was no hot drinks at the time because of turbulence, which was the reason she wasn't giving him hot tea - but let's get real. The poor guy obviously doesn't speak English. He is obviously trying to accommodate this woman by using as good an English as he can. He doesn't know we are heading into turbulence (announcements are only made in English) but he does know she gave him green tea last time. I DO understand why he can't have green tea. I don't understand the need for sarcasm or huffing.

I start to brace myself.

Culture shock #2

Lucky thing, because San Francisco immigration is 100 times worse. The actual immigration agent was just scary, but the helpers in charge of helping jet-lagged foreigners (and non-foreigners) get from immigration to customs were practically frothing at the mouth they were on such a power-trip. Some of my students were trying really hard not to cry by the time we got to immigration. At some point one of my students misplaced his customs card - the one the security lady had practically screamed at everyone to show her before she would let them through her gate - and I thought he was going to have a melt down. He was terrified that he would be deported. The customs folks were much more laid back. A couple students got searched, but not in too scary of a way.

We thankfully did all make it into the country.

We almost missed our second flight though... not because we were short on time, not because the students didn't make their way back to the terminal on time, but because we were all chatting away so happily it almost came and went without us noticing. I don't think the students noticed how close we cut it, but I just about gave myself a heart attack. We made it onto the airplane fine and it closed up right behind us.

The students I was with (heading to PSU) were greeted by friendly staff and unnervingly hot sunny weather. We headed into Portland, they headed off with their host families and I made my way to my friends' new house. It took me a while to figure out that the page about building your own backyard pizza oven was not an advertisement stuffed in their mailbox, but rather a note for me guiding me to the restaurant where they were having dinner, but I did find them eventually.

Spent the evening snuggling with their cat and the next day with the students. They seemed to be taking everything in stride and having a good time. Good thing, because the next day it was back to the airport to greet the OSU-bound students and head down to Corvallis. Of course, there was some letterboxing that was fit in in-between (note pictures of friends poking around potential hidey-holes in trees).

Japan Rocks Video Games

I can't believe its been over a month since I posted. I've been on vacation in the States and just got back a week ago. Now we are in a mad dash at work to get our textbooks finished (Friday was the soft deadline and we didn't come close) so a group of us are working through the weekend. Blog posts may need to wait a few more days... rest assured I have stories to tell.

In the meantime, I felt the following needed to be posted as it took place:

Russell is playing his new video game. Hi character? Chopin (as in the composer). What is Chopin doing? What else? Flighting a winged, two-horned unicorn (bicorn?) with flaming hooves with a sword.... in a top hat.