wow. what a day; it's hard to know where to begin...
you know when we get to lunchtime, and sometimes the sixth-graders are ahead of us and we wait for them to get quiet (or chant their hand-washing thing if it's mr. baron's class) and we all look at each other like waiting a minute for the sixth graders to finish whatever they're doing is just the most awful waste of time... well, students... waiting an few moments for a groups of sixth graders is NOTHING out here in the REAL WORLD...
as it turns out, since all those awful things happened two months ago, we wait now, us americans... we hang around in airports... we wait long enough for things to happen at airports that it begins to seem like we've always been waiting, for everything...
my waits today:30 minutes to check your big suitcase... 30 minutes to get through the security check-point... 2 more hours sitting in a plastic chair, and then on the floor, and then in another chair waiting for the airplane people to start letting you get on board... then another hour on the airplane, just sitting, waiting for a time to take off... then almost 2 hours flying to the state next door... then an hour in the airport waiting for you luggage to come belching out of a huge metal carousel... and then another 30 minutes waiting for a bus to take you to your hotel... like i said before: we wait now, us americans... and i guess it's all for a good reason.
however, all was not lost during these prolonged waiting periods. i got to talk to a really great guy, his name is Koutoku Uewaki. he was in phoenix last week at a conference for baseball umpires. he is an umpire for the baseball league in his hometown, osaka, japan. We spoke in japanese together, using my small phrasebook, to help me learn many important japanese words, and when to say them. I had a blast talking with him, and we took each other's picture as we got off the plane.
I was sooooo glad to get to the san francisco airport, finally.
I met my ube, yamaguchi, japan group today too, finally. they all seem very nice. like most teachers, when you put us together, we just talk, and talk, and talk... that's pretty much what we did this afternoon... except when we had to be quiet because someone important was speaking... but even then, sometimes, people just kept talking, and talking and talking... teachers are strange that way.
more tomorrow (i hope) from TOKYO!!!
a short flagstaff live article about my study-tour is out on newstands this week (no url, i'm afraid)... likewise, the first of four or five columns in the arizona daily sun is in the paper today, too. you can read it online at www.azdailysun.com. leaving for the airport in about 20 minutes...
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