ダニエルの冒険

I’m really failing at this blog. If it weren’t for my almost-daily posting in Japan I would assume I just can’t blog, but I know that’s not true. As I’ve been saying in almost every post for the last month, it’s just a matter of having no time. I know that I have no time because I want my glasses to be adjusted and need to get them to the opticians, but haven’t had the chance to at all. It’s pretty high on my list of things to get done, but it’s been waiting for about 6 weeks. Anyway, I had a wonderful weekend and that’s what I’m going to focus on this time! One of the things I like most about this place is the characters you meet on your adventures. In this case, the character was Yumi.

I left Chiyo with the bags at a café near the Hilton to get a coffee while I dashed off around the building to find the minivan Saturday morning. I found it and got the driver to wait (we were about 10 minutes late at this stage), ran back to the café, and grabbed Chiyo. When we got on we were asked to sign our names to a sheet and did so. I noticed that the name beside mine was Japanese, and then realised I had a Japanese girl sitting on each side of me (one being quite familiar to me, one new. The new one was “Yumi”). I didn’t pay any particular attention to her or note the fact that she was Japanese and we were all on our way. The tour guide, who was a really really great guy, asked where I was from and when I told him I was from Limerick he got quite excited since he was from New Zealand and started talking about Munster’s rugby team. That conversation didn’t last too long. As we left the city he started explaining what we were seeing, like the new bridge being built along by the Bay Bridge. As he explained, he gave some numbers, such as the expected completion date, length, etc, and I noticed that Yumi kept talking to herself, repeating the numbers and saying things like “oohh, wow! That’s so long!” (in Japanese.. to herself).

She kept up this dialogue with herself the whole way out and when Chiyo pulled out a Japanese London guidebook Yumi got a bit excited and started talking to herself some more but didn’t say anything to either of us. Once we got out of the minivan I told Chiyo that the girl beside me kept talking to herself in Japanese and how strange she seemed. At Yosemite, she finally approached us and politely asked Chiyo if she could take a picture of her by the Grizzly Giant (big huge tree). She asked if we’d like a photo together and Chiyo said we were alright but I really wanted one so I handed her my camera and she took one of us. We went our separate ways and Chiyo commented that she was actually a pretty nice person.

That night the two of us went to the restaurant at the Cedar Lodge, where we were staying, and saw Yumi standing around there by herself. She said hello and I invited her to eat with us so we had dinner together and it turned out that she had a lot in common with Chiyo, from the places that she wanted to go and see to her favourite drinks and food. When ordering our food, Yumi ordered in Japanese. This is another funny trait: she had no idea what language she was speaking at any time. The next day, back in the minivan, Chiyo was chatting with Yumi and I was chatting with the French guy beside me. Yumi was talking about her experiences in France, maybe about wine or something, and then turned to the French guy and started asking about French wine… in Japanese. He smiled and nodded and acted like he was knowing. Fortunately for him, none of the questions required answers beyond a polite nod so he got away with it but I wasn’t sure if he was actually understanding or not so I asked later and sure enough, he hadn’t a clue what she was saying, nor did he know any Japanese or ever pretend to. She kept doing this, like when he asked her what sort of music she liked, she listed it in Japanese, with no idea that he didn’t understand a word! Chiyo found this so funny she had to look away and cover her face, and people were asking why she was crying. She asked Yumi for her email address so she could stay in contact, and Yumi wrote her full name and home address in Japan, zip code and everything. This caused lots more jabbing in my ribs and poorly suppressed tears of laughter. Totally living in her own world but so hilarious. I can’t wait to see what sort of emails she sends.

As for Yosemite itself, not more I can add than the photos I’ve uploaded — lots of trees and amazing views of waterfalls and granite mountains. A free shuttle bus ran through the main part of the park and that was handy. Our tour guide really knew his nature and was really friendly and great with everyone. The tour was about 12 people, which included a middle-aged Indian couple, two teenaged blonde Swedish girls who ran around in short shorts and wrestled with each other when we’d stop for food (seriously!), a group of three or four guys from Chiyo’s school (co-incidentally), an elderly Brazilian lady studying English in SF away from her family in Brazil, who are on their way up soon, Yumi, and an Irish girl travelling by herself.

These last few weeks have been crazy busy at work. One of the guys got carpal tunnel in one of his wrists and hurt his other wrist over-compensating for the one he injured first so I’ve been spending a lot of time helping him out with his computer, which has proved to be really great experience. As he solves tickets from customers, I get to see exactly what he does, how he communicates his answers and how to use the software to find out what the problems are and how to solve them. Learning a lot and really enjoying the interaction.

So I’m off to Virginia tomorrow to see Cassie. It won’t be a long trip but I have work and that can’t be helped, but it should be lots of fun. Haven’t seen her since Christmas and won’t see her again until who-knows-when. Niall, Olivia and Family coming over the following weekend, which I’m really looking forward to. Bring on Independence Day