End of the Trip--Seth's point of view

As our trip is drawing to a close I have thought about all the places we've been. The two countries that stand out the most to me are India and New Zealand for very different reasons. India was a chaotic, dirty, stinky mess that made almost no sense to us. There was poverty and people everywhere. New Zealand was green, calm, and it almost felt like we were home because it was similar to The United States. The scenery and wildlife was stunning and so was the ice cream :).

I think one thing that can be learned as you are traveling is that there is so much good in the world. When you watch the news you hear of bad things that happen all around the world, but when you actually go places that people are so kind and willing to help.

I couldn't tell you whether or not this trip lived up to my expectations or not because I had no idea what I was getting into. I can tell you that we have had many funny, happy, sad, and scary experiences. I'm glad that I was able to go on this trip and if I got the opportunity I will definitely do it again.

Change of Perspective

Almost three years ago Rich found out that his job had been sent off to India without him.  What a blow to lose your employment.  I remember feeling so helpless and almost trapped in our situation.  I felt so limited in the possibilities of our future.  Thankfully he had a side business that kept us going as it took several months to find a new job that was a good fit.  That new job allowed him to work from home which in turn allowed him to work from "home" around the world.  What a fantastic opportunity for our family.  An opportunity that we hadn't even dreamed about before, but has been an incredible experience.

Almost Home

Our week in Japan seemed to fly by and before we knew it it was time to pack up again.  Only this time we were headed to the US, almost home.  We started our monster travel day by leaving our hotel at 5:15 in the morning and then traveled by van, bus, plane, plane, and van for the next 26 hours until we were at Grandma's house in California.  On paper it looked like a 15 minute flight, but in reality it was the day the just didn't end.  I had such mixed emotions as we were heading back to the US.  In one way I was so excited I wanted to jump up and down but in  another way I was so sad I wanted to sit down and cry. When the plane did touch down in LA several people on the plane cheered, but honestly I was looking out the window and felt more like crying instead.  I guess I am just a little messed up right now!

End of year

Before we left for our trip We all had parties with our friends and said “Goodbye”. Throughout the entire trip we went to23 different countries including: Washington D.C, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Vatican City, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. All of the countries had there own personality.

My favorite countries that we went to are: Italy, Germany, and New Zealand

Bio Park part 2 [BY JENNA]

Seth already told about the park but I want to tell you more.

We went to the capybara.   It is like a dog size but does not look like one at all its kind of prickly not anything like a porcupine and they were like a tanish brownish.  We fed those too.

Next we went to the turtle section it was not very cool just a big place with water and land and turtles.  some of the turtles had red eyes and looked evil.

We went to the monkey section next we got 3 little containers of raisins and we fed the monkeys they climbed on us and grabbed the raisin like the raisins were candy.  There tiny hands felt so cool and felt like a new born baby's hand but smaller a lot smaller.

After that me Joe and mom went back to the kangaroos and fed them hay that was free and we got to  pet lots of them too.

these are the capybaras

me petting a kangaroo

The Monkey found the raisin!

Pottery

Inside of our bowls.

While we were in Japan, we got to go paint our own pots. They had a few to choose from, like a plate or cup, but we all chose to make bowls.

A while back, Japan had kidnapped or captured some Korean potters, and made them make nice pots and things for the emperors. They lived in Japan and made pottery for a long time, then about 40 years ago they got their freedom and were allowed to return to Korea or stay, and they chose to stay, because they'd been there for a few hundred years. Also, along the lines the Dutch did some trading with the Japanese, so the Delft Blue style of coloring and painting became popular, especially among those Korean potters, so they combined the techniques, and that's the kind of pots that we got to paint.

They had two colors, dark blue and light blue, and they had some stencils that you could choose from. I drew a dragon freehand, Joe did a Christmas themed design, Seth did a panda and some leaves, Jenna did leaves and dragonflies, my mom did flowers, and my dad did vines. They all looked pretty cool before they were fired. They take a while to fire, so our friend Sister Priddis in Japan is going to mail them to us in a few weeks. I'll make another post, or update this one when they come.

Outside of the bowls.

Japan

Lots of you probably don't know, but I took Japanese for two years in school, so now I can read and write lots of the characters. (for those who are interested: There are 3 types of characters in Japanese, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana are for Japanese words, Katakana are for foreign words, and Kanji are symbols that represent words, which are also used in Chinese. I can read Hiragana and Katakana.) So I had a lot of fun trying to read stuff in Japanese. Usually I didn't know what it meant, but it was still fun.

We had just left Beijing when we got to Fukuoka, Japan. If you don't know, Beijing is extremely polluted. It always looks like a big dust storm is happening. You can't hardly see the building 4 blocks away. Japan is completely different. The air is super clear, and everywhere we went just felt super clean to me. Sister Priddis taught us that the Japanese don't do anything halfway. She also taught us that they have these 'Community Days' where everyone goes out all day and pulls weeds and cleans stuff for the city, and that is pretty cool. We learned that Japan is so safe, that you don't even need to lock your car or house when you leave them, I thought that was awesome. Imagine if that's how it was in the U.S. When you go into a restaurant, they will always give you a towel or something to wash your hands, which was nice. All of the people were very kind, even though almost nobody spoke English. In the end I really liked Japan.

I am nothing...

We absolutely loved Japan. In large part we enjoyed it so much because we had a friend who took care of us very well. She advised us on activities, recommended restaurants, rented a mini-van, and coordinated other friends who could drive the van for us while she was at work teaching English. On Mother's Day she even hosted the dinner. She introduced us to some Korean friends who made us a yummy authentic Korean meal of Pugogi (garlic and beef) and Chimda (chicken, potato, and carrot curry). I think Joe asked for the recipes. We visited a Shinto Shrine, a bio park (zoo), an aquarium, Nagasaki Bomb Museum and several other places. The other reason we enjoyed Japan is because the people were so kind and we felt so comfortable.

The places we visited were often an hour or longer drive away. As we drove we often spoke with whomever was driving about Japan and Japanese culture. I don't remember how the subject came up but I remember learning that in Japan children are brought up to understand their place in the world. The person who explained it to us used the words, "They are taught from the time they are very young that they are nothing." I interpreted this to mean that they are not as important as the world, their country, their city, their school, or their family. I think it is meant to teach the children to be less selfish and think of others first in every context. It says nothing about the worth of the individual or their capacity or ability to do great things. It provides a value system to be used when making a decision.

In the context of this value system, the graciousness and kindness of the Japanese people is easy to understand. I wonder how different the world would be if we were all brought up understanding where we fit in. I think I could use a little more of this "I am nothing" attitude. I think way too much of myself and way too often.

Bumps in the Road

While traveling we have hit some bumps in the road, literally and figuratively. We had Joe's little trip in Boston. We missed a train in Germany. We had Seth's acute appendicitis in Egypt. The six of us shared a two-person sleeping compartment on an overnight train. We had Sam's shellfish (?) allergy on a remote Malaysian island. Our latest bump in the road happened in March while we were in Australia.

Aquarium

Here in Japan We have been staying at the US Navy base. Everyday somebody picks us up in the morning and drives us to something they want us to do or see.

One of the days they took us to an aquarium. There were lots of crabs, starfish, and other sea creatures that you can touch. Lots of them felt weird and squishy. There was also a dolphin show that was super cool. The dolphins jumped super high and did back-flips and things like that.

The Bio-Park Part 1

   Yesterday we went to a "Bio-Park", which basically is a park/zoo.  When you are walking up to the entrance area on the right there are two blue and gold macaws just chilling on a branch with no cage or anything, and on the left there is a Llama that has a very short railing between you and it.  When we got our tickets and got in the park we went to the giraffe feeding (we basically ran across the park to get there on time).  Once we got there a trainer brought out this big branch with a bunch of leaves on it.  He stuck it in a hollow pole and the giraffe started ripping leaves off the branch.  It was kind of cool because I had never seen a giraffe eat a tree.  After we were done we went to the cage right next to the giraffe's.  In it there were ostriches and zebras in the same cage.  That's when I learned that Ostriches are UGLY.  They are the most ugly animal I've ever seen and I don't understand how it could even be called a bird because when you see it you definitely don't think of something that is graceful and eats worms or something.  That's not the Ostrich.

If you are lost in Japan...

"If you are lost in Japan, write down what you want and give it to a Japanese school child. After correcting your spelling and grammar the child will help you."

-- A friend who has taught English in Japan for 5 years.

Beijing Zoo [BY JENNA]

My mom and I went to the zoo in Beijing.   My favorite part was feeding a giraffe.   Here are some pictures.

Pandas

baby monkey

me on elephant statue

me with cotton candy

me feeding a giraffe

me on a turtle statue

me on a lizard statue

Fukuoka, Japan

I will let you know right now that this post is mainly for my brother, Bryce.  So if you want to skip over it, I am not offended at all.   Nineteen years ago he served as a missionary in Fukuoka, Japan.  I know he has wanted to return, but just hasn't had the right set of circumstances available to do so.  We spent one day in the city of Fukuoka so I spent some time in a park he recommended and just enjoyed visiting a place he loves so much.  As we walked around I imagined him being here many years ago.

Favorite Part of China

China was a great place for us.  I guess we were prepared and expecting it to be "India" hard and we were pleasantly surprised how much we liked it there.  The one thing we did not like about Beijing is the air pollution!   While in Beijing we visited the Olympic park, the Great Wall, saw an acrobatic show, saw the Forbidden City and Tienanmen  Square, the Temple of Heaven park and bargain shopped at a few of the markets.  

Food in China

Food has often been an adventure on this trip even when we didn't mean for it to be.  Sometimes it gets a bit hard finding food that we can identify AND like.

Seth Has Negotiating Skillz!

Yesterday we went to Beijing's Pearl Market and had a blast. I was proud of all of us for negotiating good prices and for having fun doing it. The rules of thumb we had before going in were:

• Counter-offer at 10% of the first offer
• Don't pay more than 15% of the first offer
• Don't be afraid to walk away

We all had chances to negotiate but I think Seth was the best at it. He had a way of doing it where everyone had fun, even the vendors. The negotiations were not done verbally but on a small calculator that was passed back and forth with offers and counter-offers. All numbers were in Yuan. Here is my favorite sample of Seth's skills during negotiations for a pair of Timberland hiking boots.

Vendor: 750
Seth: 65
Vendor: 700
Seth: 66
Vendor 600
Seth: 67
Vendor (laughing): "Give me a 3-digit number."
Seth (with a smile and a twinkle in his eye): 68.5

Sam and I laughed out loud.

Seth ended up getting the boots for 120 Yuan, about $20.

Desperation Parenting

We planned a day to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square while in Beijing.  We managed to get there on public transportation with the help of only one person.  We found a little food to eat and then purchased our entrance tickets.  I make all of this sound pretty easy, but please remember we are in China and we don't speak or read any Chinese.