GSE Day 23
08 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in Gerald/ジェラルド
GSE Day 23Interesting day. We checked out of the hotel and went to a Zen Buddhist temple, where we meditated for 15 minutes, rested for 5 and repeated a 15 minute meditation. This was done with socks off, but only the Team commented on my toe nails. During that time, the monk walked up and back. If we wished to be awakened, we put our hands together and he came over to slap our backs with a stick. I tried it, and the stick smarted, but I retained a body image of the slap and the 15 minutes flew by. I even stayed in a half lotus position for the entier time. The monk did a full lotus, when he wasn’t marching. The temple had burned about 20 years ago and was just reopened this past year. The odor of new wood was strong and very pleasant. However, no “nightengale floors,” which sound as if they chirp as we walk, and I heard in the temple yesterday. He had a small art gallery. Of interest to me was a rather sexy Chagall lithogragh - nothing like sex from a Russian Jewish painter to enliven a Buddhist temple.
Then lunch at the Rotary club. They (the whole club) had another meeting so our presentation was just a few minutes of introduction and no slides. The meal was a Japanese version of pork curry over rice.
Then off to Hamamatsu Photonics. They make wonderful light sources and sensors - lots of medical uses and even celestial viewing - looking for neutrinos. Tom Okedo worked here until about 12 years ago when he started his alternative energy - solar and wind, etc. - company. Then back to the hotel to meet our families.
Yoshio Miyazawa was there; he told me to call him Yoshi. We drove to his home, about 30-40 minutes away. His English is far from fluent though far better than my Japanese, and he asked me questions which I tried to answer so he would understand, and he, mostly, did not understand my questions. His wife, Reiko, and daughter, Masako, live with him. There is a ceramic Tanuke in the yard and two paper ones in the living room along with lots of animal figures, especially stuffed cats and dogs. And, of course, lots of clocks - I counted four in the living room, although only three worked. The yard is delightfully landscaped, but the house is just off a large street, so I’ll sleep with ear plugs. He was born Jan 1, 1942 and works as a stock broker. His hair is dark as the benefit of the wig he wears since he was 48. They have a daughter in the US, so they have been there many times, including Sedona just this past year, but many national parks and the wine train. I tried to show them where Petaluma is on Google Earth, which has an icon on the desktop - eventually Masako got that to work, and I was able to show a picture of my house and the other places significant for the Team.
Reiko prepared a dinner of beef curry - they laughed when they learned that I had had curry on rice for lunch. There was also store bought cut carrots and cucumber, sliced ham, grated something - maybe radish and a small salad. Then some fruit for dessert and a sweet. I had a beer, but the others did not. They are offering a Japanese restaurant for tomorrow. They seemed pleased that I enjoy Japanese food, especially sushi and Inagi.
The cumputer was the adventure as they have no wireless. I plugged my computer in to their Ethernet, and it needed a password. Masako tried to figure it out; Yoshi is not very knowledgable at all and never knew he had a password. I sent a couple emails on their computer, but my computer was blocked. Masako and Yoshi called the computer company and, at about 8:30, someone came to the door with the password. He did not come in, and Reiko gave him a package of small oranges. Masako entered the password, played around a bit and eventually, my computer was on line. Good thing, too, as they don’t have Skype on their computer and I couldn’t get it to download properly, but that won’t be a problem with my machine.
My bedroom is upstairs in a very generous room. The toilet and sink are nearby. The shower and bath are downstairs. I have to be up and out for breakfast at about 6:45 - which is later than I have been getting up anyway, but Yoshi must be at work (after dropping me at the Grand Hotel) by 9, so we leave here at about 7:45.
Only 4327 steps, today. Some mouse problems with the computer and no time to fix it this morning.
