Monday, April 26, 2010

It’s a Small World After All

A huge cliché, true, but a nice opener for saying we went to Disney Land on Saturday before my mom arrived in Japan Sunday. I’ll try and refrain from making this a list of what I ate, when, and with who, so let’s just say Ann cooked a few times again this week, and it was all delicious again.

On Friday we left Ina and drove to Tokyo. It would be cheaper, if only slightly, to pick mom up in the car rather than by bus/train and whatever tickets for 3 people back to Ina. That, and I always secretly wanted to drive in Tokyo before, one of the biggest cities in the world?

After a couple hours, I soon discovered my car is much better on the highway as opposed to the little roads I hail from. I later discovered my car has an “overdrive”, so maybe that’s what’s been eating my fuel too. Anyways, getting to Tokyo was easy enough, but driving around it is something else. The highways/tolls lose their names and become numbered. The directions I printed off didn’t help, but a few well placed
“rainbow bridge” signs saved the day, as Mervin helped us find a cheap hotel in/at the harbor: Odaiba.

We arrived shortly later after some small panic attacks on 4 lane roads; far removed from the single lane roads I’m used to. I paid for the two nights, and quickly realized I had spent $300 already that weekend. I asked Ann what she wanted for supper, and the convenience store in our hotel was good enough because it was cheap. Haha, she’s a fun girl.

She laughed when she saw the room and took pictures right away so that she could show her friends what a $120 a night hotel in Tokyo looks like. I thought it was nice, if not small, but really that’s about as cheap as you’re going to get. Japan charges per person, not per room. I don’t know, I thought the room was nice anyways, and lucky for us it’s a “good neighbor” with Disney Land, meaning free shuttle bus to and from the park.

Ann asked why we didn’t just drive up Saturday and save lots of money. It was because I wanted to spend the whole day at Disney land instead of losing ½ the day in the car. Even 1 day is not enough; she wanted to go on all the rides but there simply wasn’t time. She had cautious optimism at first, but before long was running around with me from ride to ride and sampling the various colors of foods; mostly as bites off what I has bought. This included those huge and lovely smoked Turkey legs I got last time I went with Neal over 2 years ago.

We hit over a dozen rides. Some were a bit small and disappointing, but those were really rare. For example, Snow White’s and Pinocchio’s rides were designed to be nightmares, with very brief interludes into a cherry house or whatever fun memories I still had. I want to watch the movies again to jog my memory. We did other stuff too like go-karts, so Ann drove a car for the first time, even if it was on a very strict and slow track.

Show stealers were the roller coasters. I found out, to make me worry, she’s a roller coaster junkie. Big, crazy, and all that stuff that makes me horrified she loves. I told her about Disney Sea’s tower of terror, and she wanted to run over right away and try it. Maybe we’ll have to go to that park in the future, but I swore to never take that ride again.

I can do small bursts and such, those are fun; what I don’t like are the drops, or cruising downhill. Splash Mountain was open this time, and the big drop it proudly advertised at its front shocked me. This tainted the whole experience for me, as instead of enjoying the ride, I dreaded that huge drop that came up. When it came, I tried my best, but my face still twisted in horror as I saw on the photo. Looking at Ann though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone smile so wide and be that happy before. I’ll have to talk with Neal and see if he wants to do FujiQ roller coaster park with her maybe while I stand around like a wimp :)

The parades were spectacular again, with the night light parade stealing the show for us. By chance, we had practically front row seats as it sailed by, so maybe those feelings are biased. It really was magical though. I remember someone saying a while back, that nothing really is half-ass at Disney Land. It’s clean, details and designs are everywhere, and it all is in top shape.

We spent 12 hours running around, waiting in line, and so on. After the fireworks show we went to our bus, got back to our hotel, and barely had the energy to eat a quick supper from the convenience store again before falling asleep. We deservedly slept in Sunday and had some time before going to the airport. She had never seen or rode a Ferris wheel before, and we could see one nearby. It told us it was the Guinness’ World Record holder in 1999, but while very high, having all those huge buildings not so far away made us feel not as high above the clouds as you’d get in a place like Regina. We loved it regardless.

At the airport we waited for an hour for my mom. Instead of being held back by language barriers and stuff like Ann did, she was held back by long lines, and not knowing where to go; waiting for us to show up inside the area we couldn’t enter. She made her way eventually, and it was good to see her again after over a year.

The trip back through Tokyo was a challenge, and traffic was ugly. Mom got sick on the plane from a combination of a horrible landing and bad airplane food, then again later in the hot traffic wherever we were stuck in Tokyo. Once we figured out the numbers and road signs from a map we got from a toll guy, getting around wasn’t so tough or scary anymore. It took 4 hours to get back to Ina, and we even saw Mount Fuji along the way.

We met up with Ono Sensei, and it was a great reunion after how many years. Mom only has 2 short weeks here, and 3 or 4 of those days are spent busy around our area, seeing as many people as we can. That being said, this update will be short, and I won’t be able to update for another 2 weeks (until she leaves). It will be a great Golden Week holiday ^_^

"In order to live happily and free, you may have to sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice." -Richard Bach

tnoy

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sweet, Sweet Respite

School is pretty much back in full swing from spring holidays, so I’ve found myself with less free time than usual. Uncompleted tasks started to build up until I made a to-do list and committed myself to cleaning it up, everything from sending my taxes home, to making itineraries, to job hunting. I cleared off most of my list, and was unexpectedly hit with a weekend of relaxation.

It’s always go go go with new things to do and see, but when a Canadian party was canceled at the last minute and most of my friends were busy that weekend, we weren’t exactly rushing to make new plans. The week was fairly busy like usual, although it’s interesting just how different it is from last fall when I was tutoring, being tutored and so on.

Now we mostly meet with Richard and eat out then watch a movie, or Ann cooks something up; on Wednesday she made yellow curry and Saturday was fried rice and tom yum soup. She told me one of the best parts of being in Japan for her is being able to cook, even if it’s hard to find some ingredients. I thought that was a bit strange, maybe she doesn’t have the chance often back in Thailand, what with the long hours and many days kept busy. She used to be a housemaid, and lately it sounds like that’s the job she wants to return to.

She’s pretty price conscience when we’re out shopping, perhaps still not coming to grip with how much more expensive things are in Japan. I don’t blame her though, like when we saw one mango for $40 dollars, or a small box of cherries for $30. Sometimes perhaps it is cheaper to eat out, as ironic as that is. If it means a home cooked meal though, I’ll almost always chose that over eating out. There are still lots of things to try in Japan though, like the Katsu-don we had on Monday with Rich. (breaded pork chop in a rice bowl)

I had a work welcome party Friday night again and it was fun despite walking over 20 minutes in the rain without an umbrella. It was sort of a standard party, but still fun. The teacher sitting across from me wanted to talk a lot, which was a nice change, and a good chance to use lots of Japanese. I thought I had got a little rusty, as strange as that is, but it’s interesting how so much of the basic/intermediate grammar I memorized is not used in normal conversations.

A lot of the week was plagued by ugly weather, from 3 days of rain to actual snow. When I woke up Saturday morning and saw the ground covered, I groaned and went back to bed. Ann was excited though, and luckily it was a beautiful day. We walked around that morning and got pictures of cherry blossoms surrounded by snow before it all melted, an irony my teacher said she’s never experienced in her life yet. That’s still the best sound in the world in my opinion; the sound of snow melting on a sunny day.

It all melted fast enough and the day was beautiful. While we were walking, Ann noticed green onions growing wild on a hill near my house. Not that long ago she took what I always thought were weeds in my backyard and put some in the fridge. Sure enough, they’re herbs of some sort that she pointed out in a supermarket later. One man’s weeds are another woman’s garnish I guess. That, or I’m just ignorant with spices; I really have to figure them out sometime.

We had sushi for brunch, and visited some stores to peruse. We went to a “bull dog” store where you get crazy things like my Hello Kitty bed sheets, or that gag gift can of sex toys I got my brother John for Christmas 2 years ago. Later we saw some more stores, and I showed her the amazing Japanese 100 yen store ($1 store approx). Not do be outdone; they have a 20 baht store in Thailand (a 60 cents store). Regardless we still got some good stuff, like Ann picked up some black thread so she could fix a button on my suit.

We had even more luck in this different store as it has a mini-Thai section for spices and curries. Ann’s eyes lit up, and she was ecstatic to find fish sauce, apparently vital for many dishes. When she cooks, she has a very Thai approach (and somewhat Japanese) in buying the ingredients the day of. In contrast, I like to plan my week ahead and only go shopping only once if possible; I picked up some beef and made Hamburger Helper on Wednesday; I still have lots of food I need to cook that I brought from Canada. On that note, in the frozen food section, she was surprised to find that you can buy frozen vegetables. Like I said earlier, she made some fried rice that night, and some delicious Thai soup.

We had an even lazier day Sunday and watched a lot of Futurama. I’m excited the show is starting up again after Fox canceled it almost 6 years ago. We only left the house once to buy ingredients for pizza this time. The pizza I made was such a monster it left a mess in my oven, and served its purpose again for breakfast. It was another very good day, even though we did so little. With a stomach full of pizza, I went to bed embarrassingly early at 10, but doing so leaves me with lots of energy to polish off the rest of my to-do list.

On that list is touching up my mom’s itinerary. She will arrive next week everyone is excited to see her again. On that note, I don’t know if I’ll be able to post on time next Monday, but if I can’t, it should come sometime during the week.

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have." -Margaret Mead

tnoy

Monday, April 12, 2010

Food, Sakura, and Festivals

Richard’s birthday was a success I’d say, as we all went out for Brazilian hamburgers and they only forgot one order this time. Many people got together, and many plans were made. Sometimes it feels like I go to meetings with my friends, as there is lots of organizing and communication needed to properly attend upcoming events. There are so many events that we have to decide which ones to go to, and which ones to miss.

On Tuesday I made ramen with Ann. While easy and really good, I think I’ll just go to one of the million ramen restaurants in Japan next time, as it’s not very expensive and while ours was tasty, their offerings are delicious. In such a competitive market, you really have to be to have a running business. I love family run operations anyways. I’m really starting to feel the crunch of my upcoming departure from Japan; less than 4 months away.

For Wednesday night Mervin and Aiko came to town, so Ann was able to experience Japanese Karaoke. Unfortunately the place we sang in had no Thai songs for her, and apparently her knowledge of English songs is really limited at best. Regardless we picked easy songs with easy choruses for her to join in occasionally. The biggest treat of the night for me was when Mervin picked up the mike and blew me away with his amazing singing voice. I eventually lost my voice again, but it was still a good time; I can’t remember when I went to karaoke last.

When I came home from work Thursday, Ann was all excited at the deals on veggies and stuff that she found shopping; she’s getting better at living in Japan it seems. Since we eat out too much, I suggested we stay in and cook for once, and Richard joined us. Finding the proper sauce for Ann was a challenge, as there are hundreds of sauces and thousands of Chinese characters for them. She apologized that she couldn’t get it ‘tasting the right way’, but Rich and I were pretty happy eating the spicy Thai treats she prepared.

Another reason for cooking at home was the Sakura, the Cherry Blossom trees, are blooming and beautiful. It was prime time to go out and picnic under them, and my friend from Kyoto, Noriko, had holidays to come visit. She arrived around 2 on Friday and we went to the famous Takato Park soon after, where I have been before.

There was a tour we’d join later in the day, but it was a night tour. Our weekend was short, so we wanted to see the park during the day too. Our timing was really, really good, as there was no traffic and we were able to park nearby, unlike last year’s 45-minute hike uphill from the ‘parking lot’ under a bridge last year. In fact, it was eerie how empty the park was at first, but we took advantage of that because it was that much more peaceful.

After an hour or so of wandering, we played card games under the trees while waiting for the tour to arrive. I taught how to play ‘99’ and ‘Pass the Ace’, and then later Ann taught us some Thai games of her own. One of them I really enjoyed is used for gambling, and the other was a bit too short and simple: ‘you get 2 cards and the person closest to 9 hits the other players’ sums it up nicely.

We played until the party showed up. Sorin is in charge of an English guide-book club that Patricia lead last year. We all got marvelous lunch boxes to eat together, and after they gave us a tour around the park, explaining the different types of cherry blossoms, some of the history of the park, and so on.

History that included samurai that took seppuku here; the act of suicide to atone dishonour by cutting open your stomach with your katana sword. After doing that, their entrails were thrown up into the trees, and their blood soaked into the ground, which is why the Sakura in the park is so red. For some Sakura represents a Samurai’s life: short but very beautiful.

Gruesome stories aside, the park was very beautiful, and even more so at night with the reflection pond. We lingered for an hour until it was time to leave. Michelle had a while to wait for the train, so the 4 of us went to my place to play video games for an hour until then; we had to wake up early the next day.

Saturday morning started around a painful 6:00. We left my house at 6:30, picked up Richard and Thi at 7, and were in Okaya around 7:45. This day was a much bigger and apparently more spectacular Onbashira festival that you may remember me talking about last week. Apparently many towns have their own festival, where they drag these logs to temples and erect them to protect the shrines they surround. The old logs are cut down into charms and dispersed/sold.

What made this one the most famous was its hill was much larger. We parked at my tutor Kayo’s places and took a taxi to the area after painfully scouting the road. Driving nearby was nothing short of a nightmare. There were way too many police on each side of the road in various sections for over a kilometer, all of them swinging colourful batons and running and screaming at you with no hesitation should you slow down or try and drop people off. I was literally dizzy and nauseous the first time driving through that gauntlet with no success of dropping off people.

I don’t want to get too much into that, it makes me rather angry thinking about it again. Instead let’s cut to the festival. Actually it all gets a bit negative so I’ll try to give you the skinny to avoid spiraling into negativity like last week. The whole thing reeked of something that was poorly conceived, planned out, or cared about despite the organizers knowing perfectly well over a million people would be in attendance. The main event, the steep hill, was sandwiched between a river, mountain and forest.

Despite being over 3 hours early, the best seats we could get was deep in the forest, and that was lucky to get. In the end we hardly saw anything anyways, and we left early instead of waiting for the second one out of mass disappointment. That was lucky though, as there were literally hundreds of thousands of people that couldn’t see a single thing as opposed to our sliver through some trees, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they waited longer than 2 hours for that letdown. Even most of the Japanese people around us were not entertained in the slightest.

To give you an example of the ridiculousness, besides roads that were blocked off for literally no reason (the ambulance had to go through the monstrous crowd), there was a tent pitched at the foot of the hill. Inside was a table, and a man selling pamphlets. He didn’t even have many because who would, and more importantly, who could buy those stupid things. He was in a place you couldn’t walk to, the dozens of police officers saw to that. Not only could have 50 people been accommodated in that real estate, but also the big ugly tent wouldn’t have blocked the view for the 1000+ people standing behind it.

I should digress. We left and knew we could see it much better on TV our youtube later. Our hopes were up thinking this was more of an event and not a festival like last week’s, but instead it was an even bigger letdown because of that; a mindless festival would have been more fun. The only positive thing I can pull from the whole experience was playing cards for hours to pass the time in the woods with friends, and a cheese omelet covered hot dog I bought on the way out. Thi summed it up best when she said, “I feel like Onbashira gave me a big F-You”

We didn’t get back to Ina until 5 or 6, so we missed Hiroko’s potluck party. Anyways, at the park we just missed out on the Taiko drum performance, listening to it while walking towards the park from my house. Rich, Thi, Noriko, Ann and I ate food and relaxed under the pink trees in the evening again. It’s not always easy to entertain people, but if you present the right events it works out on its own. Together we were able to unwind again after the days events and lose ourselves is the lazy pink clouds above us.

That night we watched the movie ‘Pitch Black’ before an early night’s sleep, and slept in Sunday. I got up around 8 to cook some egg-in-a-basket for the girls, and we made plans for the day. It was raining in Ina, so we didn’t want to go to the park again. Matsumoto in comparison had nice weather, a castle, and Neal, but Noriko’s bus left at 4:15 so our hands were a bit tied.

Instead we chose to join a prefectural bowling event with dozens of other teachers. Since it was an hour south, Noriko could change her bus time to later and join. My big boat of a replacement car feels like a family car, but it gets the job done nicely I suppose for road trips.

We went bowling for a couple hours and I did ok. I tried to break 100, but my first game was stopped short at 97, and the second game I got 99. I think we all had fun though. We dropped Noriko off at the bus stop and had sushi for supper. For some reason the fish tasted a lot fresher and better, so I ate too much again. Ann and I watched a movie and it was an early night.

I got on the scale last night and found out I had hit 105kg. My weight has gone from embarrassing to shameful; I was 110 when I came to Japan almost 3 years ago, and I was 90kg last year. Writing this blog I can start to understand why; I think a lot about all the different foods to try, and how good they are. I like Neal’s philosophy of dying young but dying happy not being stuck in crappy diets, but I simply need to lessen my portions again.

Richard showed us a “food matters” documentary on Tuesday, and although we only saw half so far, I bought vitamin supplements the next day and plan on taking them. When I was playing volleyball years ago I was told to take them daily, although nobody ever said why. The documentary is really good, mentioning how society dances around this huge rhinoceros in the room; what really stuck to me was when one guy said; “we’re not suppose to be tired in the afternoon, we’re suppose to be full of energy.”

Well I recommend watching it anyways if you have the time. It’s time for me to get serious again about portion control and all that. Once your stomach shrinks a bit, it’s a lot easier to pass on seconds.

"When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart. " -Russian Proverb

tnoy

Monday, April 5, 2010

The Onbashira Festival

After visiting a Brazilian store for whole chickens and other treats, Ann wanted to make a Thai dish, and I wanted to make a roast chicken. Roasting a whole chicken, to me, calls for a party, or a gathering of people to enjoy together. I sent out some emails, and before long we had agreed to a potluck at my place on Wednesday night.

I don’t know about you, but the day of a big meal I get excited. So excited, that I start cooking hours before I should. Ann had a Thai dish ready by 5:00, but we weren’t suppose to eat until 7:00, and people started showing up. Richard made a salad, Molly had breads and garlic bread, Jessie had corn bread, Ike had creamy chive potatoes and Craig and Lauren had grits.

“Grits” is a word you hear often in pop culture, but I don’t think I honestly knew what they were. Apparently they’re a staple/simple/”poor-man’s” food from the south. Well lobsters and crab used to be a “poor man’s” food too, all I care about is if it tastes good, and they were all right. I guess you use it as a base for many other foods, not unlike rice or bread.

My roast chicken, stuffing, whipped potatoes, chip dip and instant gravy turned out just fine, and we ate, drank, and were merry for a while. Unfortunately it was a Wednesday night, and people had their minds on work the next day. I was hoping to stay up a bit late playing games or something. We watched an episode of “Planet Earth” instead, and although an amazing series, is something of a party killer in my eyes. It demands your attention with its splendour, and silence breeds fatigue. I haven’t watched them all myself, as I always fall asleep half way through; it’s just too relaxing.

Everyone left after 1 episode except for Richard, who was the only one to help Ann and I clean up the mess after. His birthday is today too, so I’m racking my brain on what to get him, although after typing that I have a good idea now. He wants to celebrate over Brazilian burgers tonight.

Despite having no work still during this spring vacation, I was productive Thursday by throwing out around 40-50 textbooks cluttering my desk that I’ve never looked at. Most of them were teaching theories, the kind of thing that don’t help you in the slightest, and having thousands of pages on your desk only give you information overload. The only sad thing is, my desk still looks cluttered with books I haven’t read yet, but maybe my replacement will. I bet thinking that is what keeps these books around in the first place.

That night Ann cooked up the remaining ingredients she put together for Wednesday night (there was simply too much) and we had a very spicy and amazing Thai meal. She was homesick for something spicy as Japanese food leaves you wanting in that department.

On Tuesday we drove over an hour to the “spiciest ramen restaurant in Japan” and despite showing up between 6 and 7:30, the 90-minute window they’re actually open, they were still closed. We were so hungry and disappointed we just got fast food because you know those places will actually be open and willing to take your money. I don’t know why so many Japanese restaurants can and actually do this. I don’t think I’ll ever go there again out of principle, even if I do have their number to call ahead next time. I think this is the 3rd or 4th time we’ve shown up there and they were closed.

What Ann cooked on Thursday was a million times better anyways. I’m happy we were able to find the spicy red peppers for her, tucked away and hidden in the local supermarket. We bought all 3 little packages of them so we can use them again in the future. It was very spicy, delicious, and filling. On another note, we used up the last of the rice I bought over 2 years ago. When I came here I bought a 10kg bag, but simply haven’t cooked enough to empty it until now. It’s nice to be back in the kitchen experimenting again.

On Friday night I had another work party, but this time it was to welcome the new teachers. It was a good time, but I was excited for the Onbashira festival the next day and didn’t want to be sick. Despite my instincts saying otherwise I went to the second party where I got to talk with my new boss for a while and little else. I got coffee that cost $10, as the price is split at Japanese parties. Usually that works in my favour when I have beer so I’m not really complaining.

Hype is very troublesome and I love the one quote “Nothing kills hype faster than the product being released.” Well how would you feel if I told you a year ago that Onbashira is this “crazy event that only happens once every 6 years, where people die riding a tree down a mountain?” Over a million people go see it, and it’s more popular than that massive fireworks show that happens yearly and draws hundreds of thousands.

Actually being there was a lot like every other festival in Japan, which isn’t a bad thing. I heard some citizens paid up to $500 for seats next to one of the hills, and later my friend Phil told me he got to help drag that log down the same hill for free, and was given more alcohol than he could handle for his troubles. The elevated seats we stood beside for free were selling at $45 each. But I digress.

Actually watching the event had a lot of false starts making it anti-climatic. We actually didn’t even make it out until Sunday after we watched it for a bit on Mervin’s awesome HDTV on Saturday. Instead we had a lot of fun then enjoying the spring weather by walking out to the lake, playing on all the various playground equipment we came across, skipped rocks and other stuff. We soaked our feet in a foot Onsen (hot spring) until dark, had supper, drinks and watched a movie.

We thought the city would be wall-to-wall people and cars, but we were far enough removed from Chino city that it wasn’t the case. Regardless Ann and I stayed over at Mervin’s so we could get an early start for the festival. She’s starting to talk more to others so that’s a bonus. Mervin was a lot of help too, giving her good advice on practicing her English and so on. It helps when you hear that stuff from more than one person; she bugs me that I keep reinforcing things that are easy to do, like making pancakes or whatever. I know she understands lots, but is shy about using it. That's another thing I really like about Mervin, he's good at making anyone feel relaxed, and when he's happy, he truly looks like a man that is happy.

So back to the festival Sunday, the log we queued up to watch was scheduled to launch at noon, but after over an hour of singing and not much going on, it finally slowly fell down the hill, and people scattered the moment it finished. After the hill they drag the log 200m through town to the river where they cross, taking their sweet time again. My theory is that since the people paid so much they drag it out as long as possible. I almost wish I counted the number of times they played the same 20-note song over and over to try and pump up the crowd, but I know that if I had I would only have been more agitated and angry.

The places we chose to wait at for 90-minute stretches often weren’t ideal. The hill we were standing on was steep at the railroad tracks covered with rocks, and then at the lake was another steep hill I could only stay on because of a tiny dip I could sit on that kept me from sliding down. For these hundreds of thousands of people we only saw 5 portable washrooms.

Well that was the bad part, as people like to hear about; the good stories are still pretty fun I think. Despite the actual festival part of the festival, we enjoyed the food, meeting with people and talking to the locals. One group proclaimed “don’t push us, we’re drunk” while dragging the log through the packed streets. We ate our fill and tried many new and wonderful things. One stand was selling drinks they poured from a bottle for $3, but a vending machine is never far away in Japan where we got cold drinks for much cheaper.

It really was a nice day. Unfortunately I’m too white and despite wearing a toque for half the day, my head and face got terribly sunburnt again. I should almost put on sunscreen anytime I want to go outside. Ann didn’t understand my condition of being too white, but it makes sense. She’s dealing with dry lips for the first time because the lack of humidity is new to her too. Overall it was a great weekend.

I had this all written and ready to go home, but we got a surprise visit from Matsushima Sensei, my caretaker for years before leaving on maternity leave. Her and the baby are doing well and we had a good talk. She offered to let me hold the baby, and before I knew it she was in my arms.

It was one of those weird moments you always hear people talking about; the moment a baby is in their arms. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had done that, and I was nervous the whole time. Some people resolve to want kids right away, for me it affirmed I’m just not ready now, and makes me wonder if I’ll ever be. I wonder how many people really are ready when they make that decision, or find out it’s happening whether they’re ready or not.

She sure is a cute baby though, and slept the whole time. There’s something to that whole “miracle of life” thing you keep hearing about; I feel moved anyways.

"Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, it is possible to learn something that can enrich our lives and the lives of others... No one's education is ever complete." -Sir John Templeton

tnoy