Nagoya, Japan

The Nagoya Countryside

Professional Development – Stephanie Harvey Workshop:  I was fortunate to be able to use Professional Development funds to travel to Nagoya Japan to see Stephanie Harvey, a pioneer in the field of reading comprehension.  David came along for the ride.  The conference was wonderful – Stephanie was inspirational, dynamic and down to earth.  She validated much of what we are doing at ISB as well as made me start thinking about some things we should consider exploring.

I Can Wear My Jeans!:  In the 2-1/2 months we have lived in Thailand, I have put my jeans on only once to enter a wat in downtown Bangkok. I almost passed out from the heat. Every other day of the 2-1/2 months, I have either worn capris, shorts or my bathing suit.  As we prepared for our trip to Nagoya, I checked the weather and learned that it was quite a bit cooler there than here in Bangkok.  My initial thought was “OMG!  I’m going to get to wear my jeans!” This may seem a bit petty.  Let me explain.  If you come from the pacific northwest, you enjoy wearing a cozy long sleeved shirt or a worn pair of jeans for a good part of the year (much to the chagrin of many PNW residents).  So far here in Bangkok, it has been warm every day, even if it rains.  Some have said that it has been uncharacteristically cool.  I think the powers that be are helping us to acclimate to the weather.  So I enjoyed two days of wearing long sleeved shirts and jeans.  This could end up being the first and last time I do so this year.  :0) 

Inuyama Castle, Nagoya, Japan

Inuyama Castle:  We arrived in Nagoya, Japan in the morning and ended up with half a day to play.  We decided to jump on the JR train line and head for Inuyama Castle, the oldest castle in Japan.  It was beautiful.  David ventured the many flights of stairs to get to the top floor of the castle.  The castle is located on the top of a hill overlooking Inuyama, near Nagoya.  The grounds were gorgeous and the architecture of the castle was beautiful.  We can imagine how gorgeous it is throughout the seasons of the year. 
As our dear friend Jimbo says, “It’s all about the food!” We were anxious to try out some Japanese food on our short visit to Nagoya.  We tried the local burger joint, Mos Burger.  The burgers were good – I’m not exactly sure what they were made of because we couldn’t read the menu, but they were tasty.  One night we ate at a sushi restaurant.  We went in and everyone shouted greetings to us – at least we think they did.  We don’t know Japanese. We had sashimi, sushi, soup, fried fish and a big mug of beer.  It was great.  Our other beautiful meal was on our way to the airport.  We stopped at a Japanese BBQ restaurant.  We BBQ’d a variety of proteins on a BBQ in the center of the table.  Between the grilled veggies and meats, the soup and rice dishes, we were in 7^th heaven.

Japanese BBQ