LUCKY ol' March . . .

March was an amazing month! I'm labeling it as a LUCKY month in the title to this entry for three reasons. First, we celebrated St. Patty's Day (of course), second, Pam came to visit for TWO WEEKS during 春休み (spring vacation), and third, I was able to travel to Hungary where I visited Trazy and Jeff for about six days! Although two of those three occurances actually take planning and can't accurately be described as LUCKY because that implies a fortunate event despite a lack of planning, I still felt blessed that a friend was able to come here to visit, and that I was able to visit friends elsewhere. I'd consider that a pretty lucky month.

So let's start with Pam's visit because it was right at the beginning of the month. She was here from March 5 through March 19th. Seriously, we had so much fun together. Those two weeks were filled with lots of walking, exploring, and laughing, and I could not have asked for a more enjoyable time with my friend.

Pam arrived on a Friday afternoon. I left school at around noon in order to be at the gate at the airport early enough to greet her as she walked out. Her flight was delayed a bit, and even then, it took forever for her to finally come out. I was getting so antsy and worried that something happened, but finally, about 45 minutes after her plane landed, I saw Pam amongst all the other people, called her name, ran up to her, and gave her a big hug. Embarassingly, the waterworks started. Haha, I didn't bawl or anything, but I definitely had more than one tear from my eyes.

From the airport, we had a 1.5 hour train ride to get us back to Yokohama, then another short ride on the subway to the station near my place. Poor Pam was exhausted, though, and in a daze as we made our way to my apartment. To welcome her to Japan, I bought us a bottle of wine, cheese, and crackers, and we toasted to her safe travel and much-anticipated arrival. 　　　　　CHEERS! かんぱい！

Here's a list of the things we did and the places we went:

Friday: Japan welcomed Pam!! Despite her traveling induced delirium and fatigue (thanks, Pam, for the words) I took her to my favorite ramen restaurant where she was so exhausted that she failed to properly utilize chopsticks to eat her ramen. (Thanks, again!)
Saturday: Yokohama station area where we went to SOGO (department store) and PORTA (a series of boutiques along the station's underground walkway. I fixed curry rice for dinner and we watched Grey's Anatomy.
Sunday: Introduced Pam to my Sunday school class and church family. We went out for lunch then walked along Motomachi shopping street.
Monday: Started at Chinatown, where we had lunch, then made our way over to Minatomirai to see Landmark Tower (tallest building in Yokohama, also filled with shopping), and Queen's Square (more shopping).
Tuesday: My church next door was having an arts & crafts fair as a fundraiser for its preschool. We stopped in there to look around. From there we went to Roppongi Hills area. It was cold and rainy that day so we decided to do something indoors. This, of course, included more shopping. We ended at a 270 yen izakaya for dinner.

Wednesday: Finally the weather was nice! We walked to Yamashita Park, Omotesando Pier, World Porters, then made our way to Yokosuka for Bible study.
Thursday: Japanese Outdoor Folk Home Museum (Nihon Minka-En). Green House gathering in the PM.
Friday: Sankeien Garden. It took us 1.5 hours to walk there! Haha, but we had a few stops for snacks along the way . . .
Saturday: A busy weekend day, so I took Pam to a busy area of Tokyo! We stopped at Shibuya, Harajuku, saw Meiji Shrine, and ended with dinner at Shinagawa.
Sunday: Sunday school and church, then made our way to Shinagawa to meet friends for kaitenzushi, a sushi restaurant that serves all its sushi (and other dishes) on a rotating belt so you can simply pick whatever is in front of you! We ended the day by walking through Ginza and Yurakucho (high-end shopping street), then went out for coffee and cake.
Monday: ONSEN DAY!! We went to Odawara Castle (where there were lots of blossoming trees), saw a shrine and temple near Kozu, then made our way to Hakone where we went to an onsen called Hakone Tenzan. An onsen is a hot springs bath. The one we chose is outdoors and separates the men from the women. Basically, you strip off all your clothes, wash yourself, walk outside, then soak in the hot spring baths. They are arranged from warmest to hottest, so anyone can gradually work up to the hottest bath. I'm not an experienced onsen-goer, so I didn't make it up to the hottest temperature.
Tuesday: Kamakura area to see Daibutsu, or, Big Buddha. Kamakura is an old capital of Japan so there are many temples and lots of greenery. Pam and I started at one point in Kamakura, hoping to take the hiking trail to see Big Buddha. However, we didn't realize how much of a "hiking" trail it was. We were definitely not dressed for the journey ahead of us. We made it though!! After our journey, we walked to see Yuigahama Beach, which is pretty popular for surfing.
Wednesday: LADIES' DAY AT THE MOVIES!! Pam and I started by going to Pompadour for coffee, walked to Isezaki-cho to do more shopping, then made our way to Minatomirai to buy movie tickets to Sherlock Holmes. We had to wait until the next showing, though, so we walked around World Porters (the building with the movie theatre and more shopping), then stopped at Starbucks for our 'sakura feast.' What is 'sakura feast' you may ask? Well . . . apparently Japan has a flavor for their beloved cherry blossoms, or sakura. Starbucks has a sakura drink, cake, steamed dumpling, biscotti, and cookie. Pam and I each got a drink (I got hot, she got a frappuccino) and we split the enormous sakura cake. Delicious. That, my friends, is a sakura feast. (By the way, the movie was good, too.) We ended the day by walking along the coast to enjoy all the city lights at night.
Thursday: Another trip to kaitenzushi!! We ate a lot of food . . . then came back to pack!
Friday: We went to Narita airport together -- Pam to fly back to Michigan, and myself to fly to Budapest to visit Jeff and Trazy.

Now from here, another adventure begins . . .

My flight to Budapest included a connecting flight in Moscow. Probably not the best planning on my part because the Moscow airport is awful. I won't get into too many more details, but it wasn't the best experience. The flight from Moscow to Budapest, however, was less than three hours, and at that point I was so tired that I slept the entire flight. That was probably for the best because otherwise I don't think I would have been able to contain my excitement.

So arriving at the airport in Budapest, things went smoothly. I went through customs, got my baggage pretty quickly, then walked out of the gate expecting to see Jeff and Trazy waiting there for me, but was disappointed when I saw no one. Hmm . . . What do I do now? I have no phone numbers, no addresses, nothing. What if I am stranded at the airport?! I started to make my way over to some chairs to sit and wait, but that's when I heard, "Katharine~!" It was like music to my ears, hearing my name in English amongst this foreign language that I had never heard before. It's one thing to be confused when hearing Japanese, but it's another thing to be confused hearing a language I'm not studying! I turned and saw Jeff running up to me, gave him a hug, then met Trazy with a hug as well. Ahh...safe and sound. :o)

Apparently, Jeff and Trazy had been waiting in the wrong terminal. I dramaticized everything on my end just to give them a hard time. Honestly, I wasn't waiting long so it was no big deal.

Well, that's when my trip in Hungary began. We made our way to Trazy's flat in Budapest where I dropped all of my stuff, exhausted from traveling, and did a little catching-up with my friends. Unfortunately, though, I was so sleepy, so I didn't last in conversation very long.

The next several days were just a whirlwind of activity. I am so bad at remembering all the Hungarian names for the places we went, so we'll just deal in English. My first day there, we woke up early to catch a train in to Nyirtelek, the town that Jeff lives in. The train ride was pretty fun. It was like the train in the book, Polar Express, or the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter. There was a little cafe car and everything! Trazy and I hung out there for a bit to get my first taste of Turkish coffee. Sorry to have abandoned you, Jeff!

We arrived in Nyirtelek, then went to meet Aunt Suzie, the adorable Hungarian lady that Jeff lives with. We visited with her a while, then went to the church that Jeff is attending. There, we met the associate pastor as his wife, as well as the pastor's family. We made our way back to Aunt Suzie's place to have lunch. This is where I learned that a typical Hungarian lunch will begin with soup as the first course, then move on to something else for the second course. I think we had chicken and potatoes. It all blurs together.

After lunch we went and visited the place where Jeff works, then visited some different families that he knows. We went back to Aunt Susie's place to have dinner. From there, we went to the church to use the internet, then were invited to the pastor's house for something delicious that his wife made for us. This is when I was introduced to 'fruit soup.' Sounds weird, I know, but it was so good! Trazy told me earlier that this was her favorite food in Hungary, and now I understand why! We ended up staying at the pastor's house for several hours, playing UNO and a dice game that's similar to BS.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to Jeff's church where we met more people. Then Trazy and I were caught off guard because we were asked to come up front and talk about what we do in our different placements. Trazy, of course, was able to explain in Hungarian, but I had the luxury of a translator. ;o) After church we went to the train station to head back into Budapest to Trazy's place. Here we are at the train station.

We arrived back in Budapest sometime in the late afternoon. That evening we went to a choir concert that Jeff's pastor's daughter invited us to. It featured three Japanese choirs, as well as the choir that she sings in. Who would have thought that I'd be in Budapest in time to hear Japanese choirs? I haven't even had a chance to hear Japanese choirs in Japan . . .

After the concert, Trazy had a surprise for us! We went back to her flat to change our clothes, then went walking around the city at night. She took us to Buda Castle where we were able to overlook the Danube River onto Parliament. Everything was illuminated so beautifully! Talk about a gorgeous view. As we were enjoying the scenery in front of us, from her enormous purse, Trazy brought out a bottle of wine! So, there the three of us stood, overlooking the river at night, in a beautiful foreign city, enjoying a bottle of wine. Like Trazy said, it was oddly romantic.

Here we are at the wall of Buda Castle that overlooks the river. I'm sure the wine was gone by now.

The next day, we woke up in a timely fashion to enjoy all the hot spots of the city. We began by walking past Parliament, since Trazy lives only a short walk away! Of course, perfect picture opportunity. From there we walked along the Danube where I, of course, took many more pictures. We also went to a market where we had langos for lunch, walked across the bridge to the church that's actually a cave, explored around the Castle District some more where we went to a cute cafe called Roszwurm (spelling is definitely wrong--sorry!). This is a picture of the three of us in the cafe. The nice English-speaking girls at the table next to us took the picture! Thank you! We walked around some more and made it back to Buda Castle just as the sun was setting. I was able to get some good pictures before it became TOO dark. This is my favorite picture. The sky is the perfect shade of blue, and this section of the castle is illuminated so nicely. It's like Cinderella! Or Beauty and the Beast...or whatever other Disney castle you want it to be! That's why I like the picture so much. Here the sky has gotten darker, but I still managed to get a decent picture of Parliament across the Danube. We ended our day by visiting some of the other volunteers in Budapest, then Trazy and I headed back to her flat and called it a night.

The next day we went to Trazy's work and hung out with the other ladies there by decorating eggs with beads. Meanwhile, Jeff entertained the kids that were there. We left by about 12:30 to make it over to the hospital to have lunch because it's really cheap. Luckily, the afternoon turned out to be a really nice, with a BLUE sky! We did some more walking around the city, where we saw the Opera House, Heroe's Square, and another castle that I forgot the name of. We also made our way over to the basilica where we walked inside, then went up to the tower to see the view of the city. As we came down from the tower, the sky brightened up a bit, so that's when I took this picture of Jeff and Trazy. We were sitting on the steps to the basilica. Trazy just can't stop being silly . . .

While at the Opera House, we bought tickets to that evening's performance -- the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra playing Ferenc Erkel's opera, Dozsa Gyorgy. I was slightly confused, though, because it was performed as an oratorio, so I don't think they performed it as the real thing. Maybe just selections from the opera? Either way, it was an enjoyable evening of music.

After the opera, we went out for pizza. This was our last night together in Budapest. [tear, tear]. This last picture is of us at the restaurant. It was such a great trip! Budapest is beautiful, and seeing the relationships that Jeff has built in Nyirtelek was amazing. I'm so proud of these two, and I'm so glad I was able to visit.

All in all, do you see why March was a LUCKY month? It's not that unexpectedly good things happened, that's not the case at all, because all of these circumstances were blessings. I was simply presented with such wonderful opportunities. Pam came to visit and I visited Jeff and Trazy. To top it all off, I've been out of school since March 5th, and I don't even start teaching until April 8th! Talk about a long spring break!

Now I have something wonderful to look forward to: the beginning of a new school year at Ferris. I am so excited to welcome in a new batch of J1 students (7th grade equivalent). Most of them have had no English experience in a classroom setting, so it will be difficult for me to break them in to conversational English without overwhelming them, however, I have confidence that we'll be fine. I received some feedback from my students from last school year, and overall they thoroughly enjoyed my class. I hope this new school year goes just as well!

Well, goodbye for now. Until April . . .