Bill's Blog

Last evening we walked to the National Mall to enjoy the Independence Day fireworks and festivities. Due to jet lag, we didn’t get out of the hotel until Trump’s speech was almost over. We did see him leave his speech as the presidential motorcade sped past us. The Blue Angels jet fighters also soared over head, which was awesome.

The fireworks were bit of a disappointment. The 89% humidity level of atmosphere, caused a thick cloud of smoke that hid most of the fireworks. I did get one good photo against the Washington Monument. There were thousands of people walking around and enjoying the show. I think fireworks in general are overrated, but I can’t think of a replacement.

It was entertaining to people watch. There were protesters, Trump supporters, slightly insane people, tourists, college kids, etc. The military and police vehicles and personnel were also entertaining. There are a lot of logistics that goes into holding such a large public event.

We walked down to the trendy and expensive District Wharf. This is a new (2018) mile-long development on the Potomac River. Developers and city officials built 14 large buildings in a disused, high crime area on the fringe of the national mall. George Washington always wanted this area to be developed, so the city should be proud that they finally got this going. The complex included restaurants, a large music hall, apartments, hotels and office space. It was nice but crowded and we finally found a place to eat, a bit later than we expected. However, Mi Vida Mexican restaurant did not disappoint and it was some of the best Mexican food I ever had.

The electronic scooters were a highlight for the kids. We downloaded the app Bird, and with many of the streets blocked to traffic, they were able to race in the streets along the Potomac. I see why they are so popular and I also see why they can be a nuisance.

Almost heaven, West Virginia – Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

Life is old there, older than the trees – Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

Country Roads…

Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver (1971)

I was thinking about this song as we floated down the peaceful south fork of the Shenandoah River in northern Virginia. Thanks to our friends, Kim and Mark, who is one of the three “River Keepers” of the Shenandoah River watershed, we had a delightful day on the river! Owen and Oliver were in the canoe and the rest of us were in kayaks. Unfortunately, a migraine headache sidelined Ocean and Nadia stayed at home to take care of here. After a delicious BBQ lunch at Mark’s house, we put the boats in upstream and paddled down back to his house.

The water was refreshing on a hot day. It was so nice to see the boys working together in the canoe all day. They looked like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer! Outdoor adventure is so good for teenagers and gets them off their digital devices and into nature. We all had a blast! We saw many grey herons on the water, the pterodactyl of wetlands. I also saw a mother Common Merganser mother call over her ducklings to get away from me as I approached them in a kayak.

Mark’s knowledge, experience and expertise of the river made it all the more enjoyable. He was talking about fighting algae blooms from agricultural and livestock runoff and pointed out Native American fishing weirs as we flowed over them. The weirs were particularly fascinating as most Native American tribes did not have stone monuments as legacies and so this is one thing that they left behind that you can still see today. They used to drive fish into funnels formed by rocks they placed on the river bed.

The water was not flowing very fast and in mid-summer, the depths ranged from a foot to 15 feet, mostly shallow. It is a perfect river for kids to learn to canoe.

Two nights ago I walked down to the National Mall to see preparations for the 4th of July celebration. The late afternoon rain cooled temperatures here in the nation’s capital to make it a pleasant evening for a walk. We are still adjusting to the 13-hour time difference, so a close to midnight walk, is really a mid-afternoon stroll the next day for me. Our hotel is a mile from the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial, which will be the main stage for President Trump’s Salute to America.

Owen and I earlier in the day briefly stopped at the National Public Radio studios which are also here in Washington. I have spent hours cleaning the kitchen, cooking breakfast and other household chores while listening to NPR. It was a thrill to see where it all happens.

Washington DC is a liberal city with a highly-educated populace. NPR’s news and storytelling is at a higher intellectual level than most other programs and fits well with this city. A strongly anti-intellectual president like Trump does not. Many people here feel that he is turning Independence Day into a personal political rally and are highly critical of the event. I am excited to see how things turn out as I write this morning, the fourth of July.

I am in Washington DC this week courtesy of the State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools. They are giving an orientation to State Department’s programs for American-assisted overseas schools. As part of the workshop, we got a tour of the Harry S Truman State Department Building.

The headquarters of the US Department of State is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of DC and is the work place for over 8,000 employees. The place is massive and holds a myriad of offices, reception rooms, including the office of America’s head diplomat, the Secretary of State. Security was tight and we needed to be escorted everywhere we went in the building. The State Department is sometimes referred to as “Foggy Bottom” because of its location. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in America and is quite affluent, being close to both Georgetown and George Washington universities.

The highlight for me was seeing the diplomatic reception rooms. The rooms house a collection of Colonial era art and furniture. I had chills seeing Thomas Jefferson’s travelling notebook, the 18th century version of the iPad pro! You could see that he was right handed by the ink drops below the right side of the notebook. The collection of portraits and paintings was also awesome (awe-inspiring meaning of the word). Washington DC has come a long way since the painting below. You can see why it is called Capitol Hill. Today you can barely see the hill because of it being surrounded by development.

The Ben Franklin Diplomatic Dining Room was amazing. The views from the balcony, the massive carpets and chandeliers lent an air of importance and dignity to the room. Many ambassadors and Secretary of States have been sworn in in that room.

The whole experience made me proud to be an American! There are over 300 embassies and consulates around the world. The US military gets more of the headlines and money, but in my opinion, diplomacy is just as important. Knowing that so many smart, hard-working people support the American government’s diplomatic efforts literally all over the world is reassuring.

I would like to thank the Office of Overseas Schools for welcoming the new directors to the State Department. I’ll do my best for the children of American diplomats and foreign service employees.

The farewell tour of Japan continues! Last night we went out with Alexi and Violeta and soaked in the ambience of downtown Osaka. The Hotel Conrad Osaka is located Nakanoshima Island in the Aji River. Osaka is a city of canals and rivers leading from the inland mountains emptying out in Osaka Bay. It was such a delightful evening, with amazing views of the lights of Osaka, live music, delicious cocktails and most importantly, good friends.

I’ve had many good nights in Osaka. For someone coming from a town of 900 people in the forests of northern Michigan, I am still awed by big cities after all these years.

A big thank you to Alexi and Violeta for driving and introducing us to such a beautiful venue! You are always welcome to our home in T-kent!

It was a touching ceremony this evening as Ocean “graduated” from grade 5. In our school, grade 5 marks the end of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. She will be not only leaving elementary school, but she is also leaving the Osaka International School.

All of the grade 5 students gave a speech. I am always impressed at their public speaking. All of the students were poised and clear in their communication. The speeches were followed by a potluck dinner and photographs and conversation.

These milestones in our children’s lives are taking on more special meaning as they and Nadia and I get older. It warmed my heart to see Ocean happy and beautiful! It was also nice to have her older brothers come to support her. Ocean is the last of our children to graduate from elementary school. It will be strange next year to only have middle schoolers and high schoolers in the house.

I want to thank grade 5 teacher Trevor Jones for his outstanding work with Ocean. I would also like to recognize Ocean’s BFF, Elina and Alona and their families. When families live far from their homeland, the school takes the place of family and the Jones and Boock families feel like our extended family. We will miss you!

Our time in Japan is winding down and we’ve been trying to eat all of the dishes one last time that we love. It also helps that our home is empty and we get tired of eating with plastic forks. Last night we had the “Osaka Soul Food” okonomiyaki, the flour/cabbage-based pancake that is famous in Osaka. The dish has not caught on outside of Japan.

A local chain restaurant, Warai, serves a good okonomiyaki and Oliver, Nadia and Ocean accompanied me to dinner. My favorite there is the squid. There is something attractive about a hot grill on your table. I wish this would catch on in other countries.

Ocean can’t walk past the “gacha-gacha” vending machines without spending some money. I did a video below to document the occasion of perhaps, her last time dropping coins into a machine.

It was a crazy start to the week with a 24-hour police manhunt for a certified insane violent man with a gun in our neighborhood. It sounds like a movie and something that rarely happens in Japan. It started on Sunday morning with a 33-year old man stabbing a policeman in the neighboring suburb of Suita and stealing his gun. This led to a manhunt all day on Sunday and into the evening. Our city of Minoh recommended schools close and people stay in their homes while the perpetrator was at large. This led to a lot of work for us alerting the community that our school was going to delayed if he was not caught before 6:00 AM and closed if he was still on the loose by 10:00 AM.

I got up early 5:00 AM and saw that he was not caught yet and so sent an email to the school that we were delayed until further notice. A little later on, I received a text message from a friend saying that there were lots of police in the Minoh Hills National Park near our house. I went out on my bike and saw the policeman below speeding towards the hills. The thundering sound of helicopters overhead made the ambiance even more gripping.

I followed the sound until I saw a commotion at a small supermarket about 5 minutes from our house. In reading the reports later, the guy was caught sleeping on a bench in the national park. The gun was in a plastic bag below the bench and he was taken into custody without incident at 6:35 AM. We started school a bit later in the morning.

It was interesting to see the reactions of the Japanese, a society with almost no guns. People were very alarmed and frightened. A mentally unstable man with a gun with 5 bullets in it in the USA would describe a certain percentage of the population. But here in Japan, with guns so rare, it caused a lot of people to panic. There was not much traffic downtown Osaka on Sunday because people were really staying in their homes. It was strange that the guy was right in our neighborhood. We always go up into the hills for hikes and bike riding and have been on the bench where he was captured before.

It was a double tragedy with the young policeman in a coma and the mentally unstable man in jail. His father called police to identify him after his photo was shared from a surveillance camera. It is nice to live in a culture without any guns. I don’t have any answers for mentally ill people.

Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the Great Northern Osaka Earthquake . It seems like every June, something dramatic happens in Minoh.

I had a really nice father’s day! Ocean and her two BFFs took their fathers to Escape Osaka. The girls planned it as a surprise and they were so excited! The idea is to use clues to figure out codes for locks that open up further clues. You need to go through a series of these to escape two rooms. It was very clever and a thoroughly enjoyable hour with our daughters. It really is a team effort, each of us making a different contribution.

After the escape room, we found a nice burger restaurant in Namba. Osaka city has so many great neighborhoods with thousands of restaurants and shopping areas. I will definitely miss this city.

In the morning I did some errands with Nadia as we continue to clear out our house in preparation for our move at the end of the month. I also did a quick workout of rowing and swimming.

There was also some excitement in our part of Osaka. In the suburb next to Minoh, Suita, a man attacked a policeman and stole his gun. A manhunt has been taking place since it happened this morning. As I write this at 9:00 PM, he still has not been found. The city has ordered schools to close tomorrow. This is a rare event in Japan and the city was empty today as people are staying home. Sunday is a big day for driving and usually we get lots of traffic, but there were much fewer people downtown. Japan is a risk-averse culture and people are quite cautious here and are staying home until the gunman is found.

Both of my sons performed in the Senri Osaka International Schools Spring Concert on June 12, 2019. Music education is a focus of the school and is one of the best programs for international schools that I have seen. Many families in the community take classical music seriously and the school has produced many professional musicians through the years.

Owen and Oliver play brass instruments (trumpet & tuba respectively) in the winds program. The strong music program did not inspire them practice all the time, but they can sight read, play reasonably well and they have a stronger appreciation for music. The schools have different level of bands and both play in the intermediate levels. If we would have stayed, Owen would have been in the top level next year. Oliver took some time to find the right instrument, but eventually found the tuba and he likes it.