We started out with four and then went to five, but ended up with four. Naoko did a make up for the class she is going to miss this Friday. She is going to Australia with her family and parents-in-law. I am sure she will have a great time and will send us a postcard.
We started the unit on landmarks tonight. I was surprised that there several ones in the book that people weren't familiar with. For example Victoria Falls and the Petronas Towers. We will have a chance to talk about Japanese landmarks later in the unit, so you had better start your research now. The homework for next week is to do the vocabulary exercise on page 81. Please add a comment 6:17:17 PM
My Vacation
I guess I will give everyone a rundown of my winter vacation in Alaska. As many of you know I left quickly after the end of the party on Thursday night because I had to go home and finish packing, and shovel snow in my driveway. Friday morning we woke up to more snow, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the station. We got to Chitose all right, but a surprise was waiting for us. Our flight was delayed for about two hours! They assured us we would be able to make our connecting flight to Alaska. It wasn't a very restful flight because we were worrying about catching the next plane.
When we landed in Seoul the flight attendants had us and a couple of other people come up to the front of the plane so that we could get off first. The minute the doors opened we dashed out expecting to meet a KAL staff person to take us to the next plane. The only thing the person said was sorry the flight had already taken off and they arranging a hotel for us in Seoul. This meant a whole day lost for Noriko and Kai and an extra trip to Anchorage for my parents.
When we got to the hotel Noriko remembered a Korean friend whose husband had been at Chikudai had just moved back to Seoul. We called Japan to a friend and got her number. It took a little while but got a hold of her and made plans to meet the next day. Things were looking up. At least we didn't need to spend the day sitting around the hotel. We did some shopping and had a delicious lunch.
The flight the next day was uneventful and we got through immigration and customs very quickly which was a little problem because my parents were planning to arrive much later. We did some shopping in Anchorage and then headed down to Seward. A short way out of the city we saw a big moose along side the road. This would be just one of the many that I would see during my stay.
After one night in Seward we went to Alyeska for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration with my brothers and their families. There were 31 people in total. It was a wonderful three nights and four days. The weather was great with a lot of snow everyday. It was a real winter wonderland. I didn't do any downhill skiing, but did some cross country. Kai did do some snowboarding and said it was great.
Kai and Noriko left for Japan on the the 24th. My nephew drove us to the airport. The security was tight so we got there 3 hours early, but already there was a long line of people with a lot of baggage. Luckily, we snuck into the business class line, and they didn't say anything. My nephew and I went back to the hotel to catch a few hours sleep and then went back to Seward before lunch. We were in a bit of a hurry because there was going to be a special Christmas Eve service at my parent's church.
We didn't do anything very special for Christmas because we had celebrated Christmas at the resort. My mother did make a nice meal and later in the afternoon some friends came over for awhile.
On the 27th we went to my parent's cabin which is on the other side of the Kenai Peninsulapast the town of Nikisiki.About a two hour drive. Once you get to the end of the road it is 7 miles by snowmobile to the cabin. It was a very cold day and when we got to end of the road it was minus 30. It was 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Riding a snowmobile can be hard work so we stayed pretty warm. The cabin was cold, but by the time we went to bed the temperature was up to 25 degrees in the cabin. The next day things warmed up a bit and we did more snowmobile riding. The snow was deep so you had to be careful not to get stuck. If you did it was hard work getting out. On the day we left it got up to 0 and when we arrived in Seward it was raining. This isn't unusual so I wasn't surprised. The next day it got cold again and everything was very icy. It was really dangerous walking.
On New Year's Eve I went out to dinner with my parents and then went to a high school classmate's house for a party. I was home in bed by 12:30. A very uneventful New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day we started watching football at 7:00 in the morning. After lunch we went to a Rose Bowl party at a friend's house. Michigan lost so it wasn't a perfect day, but I did get to meet a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time.
The morning of the 2nd was spent getting ready to come back to Japan. My father took me to Anchorage in the afternoon because my flight left at 3:45 in the morning on the 3rd. I had some last minute shopping to do and we also went out to dinner. When we were going out to our car a woman who was coming in told us to be careful because there was a moose in the parking lot. About 5 cars away there was a moose eating branches off a tree. They can be dangerous if you get too close.
As we were going out to the airport I was able to get my only look at the northern lights. I checked the sky every night during my stay, but this was the only time I saw them. They weren't very spectacular, but I was glad to see them.
I hope all of you had a good vacation and I am looking forward to hearing about them in the first class of the new year. Also I have a surprise for you! Please add a comment 3:50:02 PM
