Aussie World

Hey everyone! our trip is getting closer to it's end. Sad, I know. But We are having a fabulous time. After our adventures in Japan we flew to Brisbane, Australia. When we arrived at the airport our good Australia friends Shane and Lauren Horton picked us up bright and early. (You may remember them from our trip to Germany. We spent 5 days with them there.) We were happy to see them again, and they were happy to see us too. We were escorted back to "Bentley Manor." (This is Lauren's parent's house.) There we were greeted with open arms, by Mac, Lauren's mom, and chocolates on our pillows! It was delightful. Later in the day we caught up with Lauren's dad, Geoff, went to meet some of their friends at a small group meeting, and otherwise we just relaxed on those first few rainy days on the "SUNSHINE Coast".
Since we spent two entire weeks in Australia, we did alot of things. So I am not really going to tell them in any order, just as they come to my mind.
Let's start by building you a "base" of our Australian Friends:
The Jeffs Family who own the Australian Christian Channel that produce the snowboarding videos & also owners of Network Connections (Mom and Dad: Mike and Viv, Sons along with their wives and children: Stephen & Ruth with kids Bailey and Elijah, Craig & Bonnie with daughter Ava, lastly Adam & Rachel with their son Lucca and daughter India), Greg and Hannah Timmer with their son Jamie, Rob Wood who works with Josh doing the snowboard video stuff, Craig (who produces the music for the snowboard videos - Josh works with him) & Jodie Ross with thier son Jaylen, Shane and Lauren who lived in CO this past winter, Lauren's family - The Bentley's with their three daughters Lauren, Esther and Grace and their one son Warwick & his wife Ammi.

The first full day in Australia we visited the Australia Christian Channel and Goodlife Church and Recreation Center. We had lunch with a few friends: Stephen, Craig, and Rob. Josh was excited to see his friends who work hard to produce his snowboarding videos. I was just excited to see where, "all the magic happens." (HAHA- that's showbiz talk) Again, we had a nice evening at Bentley Manor, relaxing and eating dinner with the fam.
On the following day Josh decided to work on the up and coming video with the boys, while I had a fabulous day relaxing with Lauren. I wasn't feeling well, so it was nice to just sit and watch movies and read books. We realized as we arrived in Australia that we hadn't packed very well for "winter" weather. Although Australia's winter is mild, it was still a shock for our bodies after being in the sweltering heat of Europe and Japan. I also got to visit Network Connections, a cell phone store that our friends, the Jeffs, own and run. It was nice to see them all hard at work. I dropped in on Stephen, Mike, and Craig. Mike asked me if we wanted to eat lunch together the next day, since he was going on a business trip the next day, and would be gone the rest of our time in Australia. Craig also asked if we wanted to go to the beach house on the weekend with his family. So we were already compiling a busy schedule and we had just arrived. Of course we accepted both offers.
The next day we slept in and then we went to lunch with Mike and Viv Jeffs. We caught up on their busy lives, as they heard all about our extravaganza. Josh worked with the boys again, writing music for the next snowboarding video. That night we had dinner at Warwick (Lauren's brother) and Ammi's house. Dinner was fabulous. They live on a cute horse farm and we heard stories about their crazy dog, Kingston. It was a fun evening.
Friday had finally come and we were on our way to the beach house with Craig, Bonnie, and Ava Jeffs. We spent the weekend walking on the beach, hiking up the sand dunes, playing with Ava, laying in the sun, and watching Australia Football. While we were walking up the sand dunes, I was impressed by Ava's excitement to get to the top on her own. She is two years old. She has a funny little mind of her own. As she was working her way up the hill, I commented that she "looked like a crab." Hum... wrong comment. She started to say "...crab, Crab, CRAB!" Then she didn't want to walk anymore. (Opps! I didn't mean to mess it up.) But after awhile she got down and continued to walk.
One of the following nights after returning from the beach, we had dinner with Stephen, Ruth, Bailey, and Elijah Jeffs. It was nice to kick back and enjoy where they live and their very cozy home. We talked about everything and anything. It was a nice evening.
One afternoon Viv picked myself and Lauren up and we went on a girls day out while Josh and the boys worked some more. We travelled up the coast to Noosa. Noosa is a town on the coast that is know for shopping. We started with lunch at Bistro C. Viv and Lauren both raved about their food. I went in with an attitude that I would try something new... and I did. I tried calamari and corn fritters. I truely enjoyed the corn fritters, however I couldn't get myself to enjoy the taste of calamari. Oh well, at least I tried! Then off to the shops. I bought a very cool looking 80's shirt and a gray dress. Both were only 5 dollars! Lauren bought a very neat striped top with cute green buttons, also only 5 dollars. I bought some postcards and we called it a day. We had to get back so Viv could pick up two of her grandsons from school. I really enjoyed seeing their school setting. So different than ours in Summit County. Everything is out in the open, because there is nice weather all the time.
One night I made dinner for the Bentley's. I made my famous pierogie lasagna. Everyone loved it. Geoff thought it was the best meal in the world. He was facinated that it included all the food items he loved the most! Warwick stopped by and had a piece even though he was headed to a dinner party himself.
On a Tuesday Josh and I decided to do some adventuring ourselves. We loaned a car from the Bentley's and we went to the Australian Zoo. I had a small list of "to do" while in Australia, and this was one of them. You see, when I was little I watched "The Facts of Life: DOWN UNDER" It was a made for TV movie with all the regular characters who went to Australia...and it shaped my idea of what Australia had to offer. (It's funny what sticks with you through life.) Anyway, this zoo was started by Steve Irwin and is now run by the Irwin family. It was fabulous. We saw crocs, birds, camels, tigers, snakes, elephants, wombats, and otters. But I was the most excited to see two different animals: koalas and kangaroos. I was going to the zoo in an attempt to touch or even hold a koala. And I got to make my dream come true. They won't let you hold a koala, but I did get to touch many of them, as well as the kangaroos. It was a dream come true.
Towards the end of our trip we were asked by Craig Ross to stay at his home just around the corner. His mother-in-law, Glenda, was out of town and she was happy to let us use her home. So Josh and I packed up our things and headed over there. We had a great time hanging out with the Ross family. They are really awesome people. We felt right at home as soon as we walked through the door. Craig has a lovely wife Jodie who likes things clean, and a wonderful son, Jaylen, who loves to beat the grownups at video games. While at their house we played lots of Buzz, jumped on the trampoline, went to the beach, watched Bewitched, and ate like kings. They are incredible cooks. Thanks a bunch!
Almost every day we drank "heaps" of tea. Everyone loves to have morning tea, afternoon tea, and a tea before bed! I loved it! One day Josh and I had an afternoon tea with Viv. We talked about their up and coming trip to the states for Christmas 2009. It was exciting to think about the entire Jeffs family in Colorado.
Another dream of mine while in Australia, was to go surfing. And I got my chance. A friend of ours, Greg took us to King's beach one day. He finished work early and met us to go surfing. Josh had gone before and he just charged at the waves. As for myself and Greg, we stayed in the shallow while I learned. Soon, Josh came to join us, as he was being tossed out in the deep. I was proud that I got up five good times. And three of those times were very solid! I was stoked to be again living a dream! That evening Greg had us over for Friday night pizza night. We met his wife Hannah and son Jamie. Adam Jeffs and his family, Rachel, Luca, India, came along to catch up as well.
Another fun couple we met while in Australia, were the Lovell's. They include dad: Tim, mom: Donna, daughter: Holly, and son: Caleb. Tim is the pastor of Goodlife Church. After talking for a few minutes we found out that the Lovell's lived in Colorado before moving to Australia. Tim was the youth pastor of Faith Bible Church in Arvada. Josh and I are familiair with this church because our good friends in Colorado, the Stooke's went there. It is really crazy to go half way around the world and meet someone who knows someone you know!
Other favorites, other than friends, in Australia include: Cherry Ripe candy bars, meat pies from Beefy's, boys soccer nights (every Wednesday night the boys would play indoor soccer at the gym/church) they also had a chance to play outdoor soccer, and the sunshine, when it was around!
The last night we were there the Bentley's planned a barbie on the beach for us. We went down to the coast and cooked up some steak and "snags" sausages. We had hot drinks, salad, bread, and "hot chips" fries. It was a great way to end our Australian experience.
The next morning we got up extra early and Shane and Lauren took us back to the airport. It was a sad goodbye as this was the third time we have said goodbye to these friends. We were headed for Christchurch, New Zealand.

North Star

Well... I have always heard ALOT about Northstar.  (It is an adventure camp center in Japan that Josh has visited and worked for many times.)  I really didn't know what to expect.  I have seen many videos and pictures, but I never thought it would be like it is.  We arrived after a LONG day of traveling.  We traveled on four trains and one bus to get from Yokohama to Norikura Kogen.  When we arrived everyone was happy to see Josh again.  We entered just in time for dinner.  Kayo was happy to see us again.  She is the cook at Northstar.  She came to the states two years ago, and stayed at our house for a few nights.  (She is amazing!  She makes the best food and works EVERYDAY at Northstar.)  Josh introduced me to some old friends; Dan Junker (head of Northstar) and his wife Tina and their two boys Anthony and Mikey, Seth McAllister, his wife Hannah and their 6 month old Ezekiel Danger McAllister ("Danger" is his middle name, literally), Yamaken and his wife Yoriko and their two beautiful little ones Ann and Leon,  Michie who runs the office, Shingo and his fiance Saeko, B, Brad, Troy, and the list goes on.  Then we made our way over to Dan Junker's house. We listened to a girl talk about how she became a Christian through meeting the Junkers and how she and her husband felt led to move to a small Asian country as missionaries. We played some worship music, and ate dessert.  Finally, we retired to our Japanese style room and happy let our heads hit the pillows for a good night`s sleep after our long day of traveling.  

The next day we got up early for breakfast.  Then I took a small nap while Josh helped wash the vans that belong to Northstar. After I woke up, I helped by vacuuming the van.  We sort of worked a little bit, helping with small chores, since they let us stay and eat and everything for free. Then it was lunch time.  After lunch we checked our email and did some blogging.  Then we sat around and talked for awhile.  The Junker boys, Anthony and Mikey came over with their friend and took us on a hike to see the waterfall.  Josh was really excited, as he had never been to the waterfall in the summer.  He had only seen the waterfall when it was half frozen in the winter.  The waterfall was beautiful.  You hike up through the lush green Japanese forest, cross over a little bridge, and you can see the mist rolling off the fall.  Then you turn the corner and there it is, huge and breath-taking.  The boys talked us into going on what they called 'five more minutes' up the hill to a circular tree and a pond.  Let's just say, it wasn't five minutes.  But it was a very nice pond with lilly pads and a very cool tree (check out the pictures - www.stockwolrdtour.shutterfly.com).  We made our way back to Northstar, cleaned ourselves up and it was time for dinner.  After dinner we hung around with the staff and played some ping pong and finally finished the night with two games of Yahtzee.

The next morning we got up again for breakfast. We helped Michie vacuum and clean the Ofuro.  An Ofuro is like a wooden room for communal bathing with showers on one side and a huge hot tub on the other. I have to admit, I snuck in when there were no other girls in there...as I felt a little uncomfortable bathing with others, but it is a Japanese tradition, so I had to try it. We checked our email again, and did some more blogging.  After lunch Josh went mountain biking with the boys.  I got to hang out with Hannah McAllister and her baby, Zeek.  He is such a cute little baby.  He was talking up a storm and crawling all around.  We went for a walk along a path and then decided to go off road to see this pond.  Well, we didn't last long off road because there were ants everywhere.  They wouldn't leave us alone.  So we shook them off and headed back to the lodge. When I returned Josh told me about the fun he had, but that the bike he chose was broken, so he had to ride in one gear the entire time.  The boys said he did well anyway!  For dinner we had a fabulous bar-b-que.  It consisted of pork, chicken, salad, and my two favorites corn on the cob and fries!  It was the best meal!  And to top it off, brownies for dessert!  I was in heaven!  Josh played some more ping pong and foosball.  I watched the kids practice on the rock wall.  I thought I would give it a try, however as soon as I started everyone told me to stop because my fingernails were making a scratching noise on the wall that they couldn't bear to hear.  I guess rock climbers aren`t meant to have fingernails. So, I stopped and decided to call it a night.

On Sunday we got up at eight for breakfast.  Josh was really tired because he stayed up late and read, while I went to sleep.  After breakfast he took a nap while I did some laundry and did some computer work.  

Tokyo and Yokohama...

Hey all. Remember to be following along as well on WWW.STOCKWORLDTOUR.SHUTTERFLY.COM for all of our pictures. (click the link to see them)

Sorry for the delay. We are really behind on our blogging. We have been having a ton of fun, though, so let me catch you up to speed. Let's see...where did we leave off?

Val and I pulled into Tokyo at 6 or 7 am after the long overnight bus ride from Kyoto which had begun 8 hours prior. Tokyo, as some of you know is a HUUUUGE city. It has sprawled so wide that it is a sort of city in a city in a city...similar maybe to New York City, but with skylines upon skylines. We pulled into Shinjuku station, which is one of the busier parts of Tokyo. We had booked a room a few train stops away in another busy part of the city called Ikebukuro. Ikebukuro is the second busiest train station, only behind Shinjuku.

We arrived, rubbing the sleep from our eyes, still struggling with the abuse of poor sleeping conditions on the bus, although we had booked the nicer bus, which was equipped with air conditioning, seat backs that reclined to 140 degrees and these hysterical little bubble capsules that pulled down over your head to filter most of the exterior light and sound. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with something like that. We hopped a train for Ikebukuro station, and navigated our way in the early morning heat to our hostel. On the way, our directions mentioned walking past a DENNY`S, and Val`s American food cravings led us in the door. The selection of breakfast foods made us laugh out loud. Denny`s serves steaks, an array of salads, and curry and rice for breakfast. There were one or two options for eggs or American style food and we couldn`t help but indulge as we tried to wake up. We probably overstayed our welcome as we sat for a while milking the air conditioned environ, then made our way to the hostel. Despite not being able to check into our room until 3pm, we were allowed to leave our heavy packs in a storage room and sat in the AC and used the internet. We were so tired that after an hour of internet-ing, we realized we had 5 more hours until we were allowed to check in, so we almost literally had to lift eachother out of our seats to get motivated enough to head out on the town. We walked around Ikebukuro a bit, visited a soccer store, sat in the free trial massage chairs in a 8 story electronics store (Japanese technology boggles my noodle) and read some funny japanese t-shirts. There is a humorous phenomenon in Japan, where they adorn all of their clothing with English words, and despite Japanese technology being as incredible as it is, they can`t seem to translate to save their lives. We actually resolved between Val and I that the process for deciding which words to print on a piece of clothing looked something like this: a few guys grab an English dictionary, pick out the words they like and throw them in a hat and pick `em. It is impossible that the process is any more complicated or strategic than that. It is so funny. Check out some of our pictures...and if you find any of them hilarious, you can visit www.engrish.com and see the discoveries of others.

We returned to our hostel to check in and take a shower, before making plans to sightsee for the evening. We grabbed some food on the run, Val spotted a KFC and had some french fries and I made it a habit of grabbing meals on the run; some rice balls which are covered in seaweed paper and filled with something (it`s always a mystery until you bite into it since we can`t read Japanese) or sushi or some noodles or something from a convenience store. I enjoy it that way because that`s what the busy Japanese do as the hurry around like little worker bees. That first night in Tokyo we decided to go back to the indoor ski resort that I had been to a year and a half ago when me and the Colorado boys were in Japan to film our video. We wanted to take the employees there a few copies of the video we made. We met Hiro, a guy that I had met in passing last time I was there. He was very excited to see the video and he immediately put it in and started watching it. I decided not to snowboard while we were there as it was very busy and expensive and we`ll be in New Zealand soon where I can get my fix. We said goodbye to our renewed friend Hiro, took a photo and headed for our next destination. On our way we stopped at a grocery store and bought Val some sore throat drops as she had been developing a sore throat since the air conditioned bus ride the night before. The staff was very friendly in helping us find what we needed and we sped off on our way, again navigating the busy and efficient Japanese trains to Harajuku. 

Harajuku is a part of Tokyo that I`ve been to once before and it`s a very trendy and very fashionable district of Tokyo. You can visit a lot of very fashionable name brand stores: Dolce and Gabbana or Versace or whatever, but the street we liked is more interesting. You see some people dressed in some pretty crazy styles; Strawberry Shortcake or Rainbow Bright or Punky Brewster or goth or punk - anything you can think of, it`s crazy! The street is lined with shops selling some of the most bizarre clothes and accessories. The street is bumping and an adventurous, curious young person`s fantasy. I told Val all these things while on the train and we were both very excited to experience it together. We arrived at 9 o`clock and found nothing of the sort. All of the shops were closed. The streets were pretty much empty. I was soooo bummed.  We had decided to leave the ski place early so that we could see Harajuku and we even decided to see Harajuku over some other cool sites. A little disappointed, we hopped back on the train and headed home. We thought about stopping at another stop on the way home, but the cost of our train travels for the day was starting to compound, so we called it a night and went back to our room, and a wonderful thing it is to feel the cool air conditioned room after sweating all day in the hot humid Japanese summer.

The next morning, we woke up and I took Val back to Denny`s for breakfast. Unfortunately, Japanese Denny`s stop serving breakfast at 10am. So, we had Japanese style brunch, which is salad and curry. Yeah, strange, huh?

That day in Tokyo was busy and very productive. After the Denny's disappointment, we headed to do some laundry and internet-ing before the heat hit. Val also enjoyed visiting the HUNDRED YEN SHOP (which is like a dollar store) while the laundry was in and sending some postcards. That afternoon, we headed into Tokyo to ride the Thunder Dolphin, a roller coaster at the Tokyo Dome that goes through a hole in a building. It's hysterical because it's right there in the downtown area and businessmen on their lunch breaks are enjoying a thrilling roller coaster ride before heading back to the office. Val ate some Subway and I had some sushi and riceballs, as we made our way to our next stop, Harajuku to do some shopping. We were excited to get there when all the stores were open and the crowds were out. Val bought some clothes; a very cool grey hoodie, some black legging things to wear with a dress and a Rubik's cube T-shirt. We enjoyed the atmosphere, ogling humorously clad locals and hopped back on the train for our next stop. We were relieved when someone recommended we buy a "day pass" for the trains, which turned out to be an incredible relief on the wallet, as it allowed us to travel all day on one $7 ticket. Our next stop was Shinjuku, the busiest train station in Tokyo. You've probably seen movies that have scenes taking place in this mega intersection. We arrived to thousands of people on the streets, and lights galore. It is a very charged atmosphere with everyone in a rush. What a crazy experience. We grabbed a drink from Starbucks and Val bought a Japanese children's book for her classroom. We took a few photos of the huddling masses and sped off to the Tokyo Tower, which is very similar in design to the Eiffel Tower (where we had just been two weeks earlier), but BIGGER and Red. Why they decided to make it larger than the original...is beyond me. We were navigating again with Japanese maps, so we had to walk about a mile from the station, but we could see it from far off and it was amazing to see it grow and grow as we came closer. Since it was nighttime, the tower was all lit up. It was very romantic and we talked a lot about how we really enjoyed our time in Paris under the Eiffel Tower. We were hot and tired from a long day, so we caught a taxi back to the station and headed back to our hostel and the lovely air conditioning that we had been missing all day. 

We slept well and packed up in the morning to head for Yokohama to meet Nathan Johnson, a friend of a friend of a business partner of a guy I met once in Colorado. Yeah, I know. It was a long shot. We didn't know what to expect, but when you consider that equation mixed with the fact that you're overseas in Japan, you're expecting it all to be a real adventure. As it turns out, it was.

We checked out of our hostel and headed for Yokohama, a suburb south of Tokyo where we were to meet up with Nathan Johnson and some kids from his youth group for a YOKOHAMA BAYSTARS baseball game. The Japanese love baseball, maybe even more than Americans, and so we had been looking forward to taking part in America's (used to be) favorite pasttime in this new Japanese setting. After looking long and hard for an ATM, we met Nate and the crew and headed into the stadium. We were surprised that when buying a ticket, you must decide which team you want to cheer for, as they section off the fans (according to the orderly, sometimes control freak-ish Japanese culture). We would come to be even more surprised when the game started. After being sectioned off by teams, each section of the stadium has its own designated "cheer meister", a guy who stands up to lead you in the appropriate cheer at the appropriate times. And trust me, you are meant to cheer the entire time your team is at bat, and sit quietly when your team is in the field. And if you're not cheering, the cheer screamer stands in front of your section, yelling louder, until you DO cheer. The whole event was so amusing. We had a great time, and laughed most of the time we were meant to be cheering, because we couldn't understand any of the cheers. Val had some popcorn, chicken nuggets and fries and I had octopus balls. No typical baseball game hot dogs here. Our team lost in the bottom of the 9th, but it was a great game. We hopped on the crowded subway after grabbing our heavy bags (that we had ditched earlier in the train station lockers) and headed for that night's "home." 

It turns out that Nathan and the kids live in Yokosuka, a smaller suburb on a US Naval Base. Val and I stayed off the base in an apartment of a girl's that we had met at the baseball game. It overlooked the ocean and it had air conditioning, so we were stoked. We got in really late and had a bit of a sleep-in, before meeting up again with Nathan to have the local tour. We ate at Pepper Steak or something like that, another small restaurant where you order from a vending machine, and then it cooks in front of you on a hot metal plate. We had steak and rice and had a good talk with Nate about the local culture and the kids that he works with. I got really nervous, because I was to speak to the youth group that night, and I knew nothing about the military base lifestyle, and I rarely work with middle schoolers either (cue butterflies). Nate took us onto the base next and we toured around looking at the naval ships and learning a fair bit about how these American navy families operate overseas. The restaurants and shops on base make it feel like little America: Subway, A&W, Cinnabon, a movie theatre, Taco Bell, Chilli's, etc.. It was remarkable. We were really impressed with how many people just live a narrow secluded life on the base in a country with such an interesting and amazing culture; so much to see and do and they're content living in their tiny version of America. Maybe something that we don't understand, however, is the fact that the military moves people around so much that over time, they may just be getting burnt out by being picked up and moved around so often unwillingly.

So that afternoon, we hung out with the middle school youth group first (about a dozen or so), and after playing some games, I shared my story of traveling and God and coming to faith with them...and fumbled my words all over the place. I was so nervous. I felt bad about it, but the kids seemed to respond a bit, so hopefully, maybe something may have struck a chord with one or two of them. It was just a testament to me of how God is continually calling me out of my shell to share my story with others even if I'm uncomfortable...and how I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO. After the middle school crew left, the high school kids rolled in and we played a bit of basketball and football before we got started. It was disgustingly sweaty hot that day, and we dunked our heads under the bathroom faucet before we got started. Ahhh... Some of the boys in the youth group had just started playing music together, and so after a really fun game of Play-Doh Pictionary (led by Val and I - using clues from our trip as items for the game) the boys led a few songs and I again shared my story, this time a little more comfortable, but still very nervous. I don't know why I am so nervous in front of people...I knew that all of these kids had varied backgrounds as far as their faith or denominations were concerned, so I was a little worried about stepping on toes or something. I don't know exactly, maybe I just care too much about others' opinions of me. Hmmm. After youth group, we went out to Chilli's with the youth staff and had a lot of laughs and some good old American food. It was great to get to know them a little better and put out the general invite for everyone to come and visit us in Colorado...as we have been doing the entire trip.

We said some goodbyes and retired for the night. Upon waking, we packed up and Nate took us to the train station and we were off again, this time headed for the mountains. We caught a train to the Yokohama main station, and did a bit of research on how to get where we wanted to go. We wanted to go to the mountains via Mt. Fuji, as I've never seen it up close. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a good plausible route to our final destination, so we nix-ed the idea, and instead headed on another train that would connect us to a high speed train that would then drop us off in Matsumoto, a city I have frequented before. It is the closest city to the mountains where I had lived five years ago. Once there, we hopped the last daily train out of the city to the Shinshimashima station up in the mountains. From there, we caught our last connection, a bus that dropped us off right in front of my old home...Northstar Outdoor Adventure Pension at the base of Norikura Kogen ski resort. Ahhh...the cool air and beautiful scenery...the memories came flooding back. But for the first time I would be sharing this experience with my wife.  

News from PA

Hello to all our adoring fans. I am assuming you`re "adoring fans" if you`ve been successfully following our posts. Well, Val posted my last post before I could tell you the funny news from PA I received while in Kyoto. As some of you remember, last summer, Kev Stock, was filming several short films before he started attending film school to up his repertoire and film maker portfolio. Kev and I had come up with a silly idea for a short film and we planned to shoot it while Val and I were home for Val`s cousin Jodi`s wedding. Anyway, when I got home our plans for our film fell through because we couldn`t find a boxing ring to shoot in (as was the premise for our film), so we decided to come up with something on the fly, so we turned on the camera, and out came one of our weirdest creations: a movie about a homeless man whose one and only prized possession, his bicycle, was stolen from him and he works his way fighting through thugs and zombies and so forth to get his bike back. We edited it and had a good laugh at how weird it was. 

In the last school year, Kev has been making a few more, but every year he throws whatever films he has done into a few film festivals. Long story short, Paper Tiger, our film, in the Johnstown film festival won third place in the grand jury prize, the Johnstown Award for best local film, and the Viewer's Choice Award. Crazy huh? Val and I had a good laugh that we are both `in an award winning film` and Val is now calling me an "award winning producer". 

Opps...Post

Sorry all... I accidentally posted the last post before Josh was done writing it.  He will share more soon.

Kyoto and...

Hello there all our dearly devoted readers. Josh here again. I believe Val told you a little about our adventures from Paris to Doha in the middle East to Osaka, Japan and how our phone was stolen and such. Oh and shopping in Osaka. After Osaka, we hopped a train for Kyoto, Japan`s oldest capital city, and a wicked hot place in the summer. It has been incredibly humid, and a real drawback has been our bodyclocks. We were living on Europe time for a month and so getting used to that was a cinch, but now that we`re on a 7 hour difference, our bodies drag in the morning and then at night don`t want to go to sleep. This leaves you with two options, wake up early and drag for the morning and then don`t nap at all, so that when night comes you`re ready to go to bed. Or the other option is to sleep in and stay up late, but then you miss a lot of the hours when things are open and you wake up and it`s the hottest part of the day, so you don`t want to go out until evening. It`s a no win situation, and our bodies are feeling it. We arrived in Kyoto and had booked a room the night before online for a nice little hostel. If you`re not familiar with hostels, they are like hotels that are popular with young or budget saavy travelers and they offer single beds in dorm style rooms for very cheap or for people like us, cheap private rooms...usually pretty small but comfortable. We have met a lot of people like us through hostels. We arrived pretty early on Thursday morning to our hostel and left our luggage there (as our room wasn`t ready yet) and had a walk around. Kyoto has a very `historical` feel to it: a lot of old temples and shrines, lots of old elaborately carved, wooden architecture, and people still dressed in kimonos. We walked a block behind our hostel and came upon the KENNINJI Temple. Val called it the Kenny G temple. There were no saxophone players anywhere, but there were some Buddhist monks and some pretty beautiful wooded gardens and temples. It is interesting to experience, and it`s funny to see how modern technology is mixed in with this ancient way of life. At the temple we saw this monk walking around these construction workers and the contrast was pretty humorous.

Then we had a nice leisurely (and sweaty) walk to the GION Corner, where they still perform ancient styles of Japanese theatre, i.e. dramas with masks and these weird puppet-looking things, but they only do performances at night, but we saw where it all goes down and we may have accidentally walked in on the spot where they were rehearsing and we were quickly but politely asked to go to the entrance of the theatre and come back later.

Back on the walk, we headed for the Yasaka Shrine, a huge orange shrine in Maruyama Park where we saw some more crazy temples and took a lot of pictures. There are these huge shrines where people pay money to say some prayers and ring these large bells. They also burn a lot of incense. The park/garden there was classic, the cool looking trees and ponds with big white herons (or cranes or whatever those birds are called) catching fish and the little circular stones as walkways. Kung fu movie in the making. Very cool.

It was very hot and humid and nearing 3 o`clock and time to check into our AC equipped room, so we made our way back. Once checked in, we took a little rest, found ourselves a map of Kyoto and decided to go out exploring after the heat had wained.

In each place we`ve visited this summer, we`ve found this:

1. When you stay with someone who is a local: someone who knows the place you`re visiting, they show you around and you see a lot of local things you may not find on your own. It`s efficient and it's very easy on our part. We just show up and they take care of everything.  

2. When you visit a city (say any European city) by yourselves, you grab a map and even if it`s in a different language you can make out street names and navigate your way around. Sometimes you happen upon some interesting sites. Other times you get lost trying to find the sites you know are there.

3. When you visit a place (like Japan) you can`t even read the street signs, as their letters aren`t even the same, so you just sort of guess as to where you are and hope that you happen across something cool. It`s very much an adventure and once you`ve been in a city for a full day, had a chance to navigate the bus or train system, you start to get confident as your extra-ordinary sense of direction kicks in.

We`ve experienced all these, and all of Japan has been falling under the latter category.

That night in Kyoto, after a dinner of riceballs and Japanese salads, we felt confident enough to navigate back to that Maruyama Park and temple where we had been earlier that day hoping to see the place lit up at night (there were also people setting up for some night festival that was going on). On arriving at about 9 o`clock, however we found them all packed up already. That was fine with us, as the grounds were still lit up and very beautiful under the clear sky and a waxing moon. On our way back we saw a Starbucks and as Val and I had been practicing trying new and interesting foods, we noticed that the Japanese Starbucks has a `Coffee Jelly Frappuccino`. Coffee Jelly is a desert in Japan that is pretty much coffee flavored jello with cream on top. I love it and we decided to check out the Starbucks version. Upon entering, we noticed a taste testing that was going on and were very kindly ushered in to try some coffee and treats. The Japanese, as I`m sure Val told you are extremely hospitable and would go out of their way to help you...even if you don`t ask. (We are up to around 15 to 20 separate incidents where we`ve been standing somewhere looking at a map and a kind old lady or young businessman barges in to show us where we are and kindly ask where we`d like to go. Several times the person gives us directions and then walks us there, clearly out of their way.) So we accepted the coffee and treats and retired for the night thinking and talking about how we loved the national willingness to serve. We vowed to try to put that virtue into practice in our own lives as we return stateside.

The next morning we woke up ready to navigate the city again, as this would be our last day in Kyoto and we wanted to experience as much of it as we could. We rented bicycles for the day, checked out of our hostel, but leaving our bags there, and made our way south out of the Gion district and through Kiyomizuzaka to see the large Buddha-looking statue. It was gigantic. It felt amazing to be on bicycles. We didn`t realize how good it felt until we stopped at the statue. As soon as you stopped, the humidity was almost overwhelming. You immediately wanted to get back on your bike with the wind in your face. It was just enough to take the edge off, so we kept moving. We rode down to the Shosei-en Garden. A beautiful old garden built a long time ago by some Japanese lord; one of the Honganji, I think, where we took a tour and had another Japanese lunch of riceballs and I think Val had another salad. It was very cool, these little old dojo-studio style buildings with the serene little ponds and elaborate landscaping. It was incredible. We then picked up and headed a few blocks in the direction of the Higashi-Honganji Temple, which is another series of buildings on a pretty large plot of land right there in the middle of the city. We went to the main temple, which is still used as a temple but also a very touristy spot, took our shoes off as is the custom, and went inside to sit on the tatami mats as we listened to some guys doing some chanting, burning some incense and bowing before the buddhist statues. It`s interesting to watch the spiritual rituals and customs of another religion. Val and I sat asking so many questions. We wonder how much is simply ritual and how much is heartfelt. We reflected on our own customs and rituals as well, wondering how we could learn from this. A few blocks away was another temple built by an ancestor of the previous temple. This one was called the Nishi-Honganji Temple. The magnitude of these places was insane. They are so elaborately designed, and it makes you just sit there and look. As the heat crept on, so did we. We stopped at a convenience store for another dinner on the run and happened by the Nijo Castle, this cool old castle built some long time ago with huge walls and a moat around it. Standing outside of that makes your mind wonder why they had to build things like that and what an outsider might think as they approached that place...or an invader. We continued onto the last of our stops for Kyoto, the Imperial Palace. The emperor of Japan`s home away from home in Kyoto. The emperor lives in Tokyo, which is now the capital city and which used to be the ancient Japanese city of Edo. It was like several city blocks wide and had grounds for relaxation and recreation. There were hordes of Japanese both young and old out enjoying that traditional game of games, baseball. Ha. They LOVE baseball. Val and I will actually be going to see a baseball game while we`re here, but it was humorous to see this once popular American sport decline in American popularity and now so popular here.

We returned to grab our bags, use the internet and continue on our adventure to the Kyoto main train station by train, and book some tickets for an `overnight` bus ride to Tokyo. While we waited for our bus, which left at near midnight, we walked around until we found a KARAOKE bar, ate a quick dinner, and sang to each other for an hour to such favorites as: Love Shack, some New Kids on the Block, the Beatles, etc. It was soooo much fun.

On the overnight busride, our bodies still struggling with the new time zone, we caught a few z`s and awoke to the sites and sounds of Tokyo...at 7 am. More to come.

Osaka, Japan

Well, we got off the longest plane ride I have ever been on, a 6 and 1/2 hour flight to Doha, Qatar, then right on to a 10 hour flight to Osaka, Japan. It wasn't too bad except when the food came around, my first choice was already gone, twice! I was a little bummed. Anyway, after we got off, we went to get our bags and go through customs. The first thing we did was to get our phone out to try to find a place to stay for the night. Well... to make a long story short, our phone was stolen from our bag. And that bummed us out again. But we moved on and found a place to stay in Osaka.
We hopped on a train and went to our hostel. On our way there we walked through an underground shopping street. I was amazed by the lights and sounds that came out of every building. It was like Vegas times 1,000! WOW! I thought it was really funny. As we walked into our room we realized that we were staying in a traditional Japanese hostel. Which sounds very fancy, but means you sleep on the floor! It actually wasn't bad. We decided to stay two nights there.
The next day we slept almost half the day away. Well, we did stay up late the night before, had a long overnight flight in which we didn't sleep much, and we had to adjust to a new time schedule that is 7 hours ahead of the last time zone we were in. (We are still trying to adjust.) We decided to make our way up to the shopping district of Osaka again. On our way we were hungry and stopped at a noodle shop. It's funny because you order from a vending machine. The machine gives you a receipt and you give it to the chef. He, or in this case she, makes your food. We had a hard time picking what we wanted because we don't read Japanese. In the end we made good choices. I had noodles that you dipped in broth, beef I think, and Josh had traditional ramen and a rice bowl with fried ?something? on top. We walked to the underground mall and walked on the shopping streets. I bought a shirt that I really liked. (When the pictures are posted I have a picture of me wearing it. It is yellow kinda plaid. Check it out!) We went back to our room and cooled down for a bit. The weather here is really hot. Later we went and tried to go to these magnificent temples, but they were all closed. Instead we found a 100 yen shop, it's like a dollar store, and bought gifts for our nieces and nephews. So kids if you are reading this, expect presents from Uncle Josh and Aunt Val! We thought it would be a good idea to try to go to sleep early that night, to try to get on the time schedule... however we found ourselves awake for a good portion of the night:(
The next morning we HAD to get up early to check out, and catch a train to Kyoto, our next stop. At the train station we met many helpful Japanese people. The Japanese people are very funny. EVERYONE is overly happy all the time. They say EVERYTHING as if it was the best thing they have ever said. I think it is hilarious! We got on a train to Kyoto and we will tell you about more of our Japanese adventures later.