18 July 2012 New Country, New Camera
We’ve been in the US for about five days now. Usually Genbo, Zoe and I go for a few weeks and are joined by Maki at the end, as she can only take a single week off of work at a time. This time, however, she is studying at a hospital here in the States, so she’s with us for the entire six weeks. Talk about luxury.
Packing for four people for six weeks was somewhat of a challenge, especially deciding what got promoted to carry-on status. Including shakuhachis, books for the kids, iPads, and whatnot, carry-on luggage was tight enough that I ended up not bringing my serious DSLR gear. Instead I brought only the diminutive Sony RX100. It’s just a compact, but it holds its own and I enjoy using it. Most importantly, it takes up a small fraction of the space that a large DSLR and a couple lenses do. So, all photos of this trip will be with the RX100.
Here we are on the train to the airport. Genbo always gets a serious look to him when he’s reading.
We ended up renting a place from Airbnb, as the four of us at my dad’s house just wouldn’t have worked for such a long stay. The place we picked is great house in a nice neighborhood, right near a lake and playground. It’s near the camp Genbo and Zoe are going to, and relatively close to both where Maki will be working and my dad’s. We get the entire main floor of the house, while the owner hangs out in the basement. He’s friendly, but we hardly see him. Best of all possible worlds.
Here is a lake about 15 minute walk from us.
Genbo and Zoe relaxing at my dad’s house….
Now a couple from the pool right near Lake Hiawathat…
And, finally, some shots from today from a walk that I took with Zoe and Maki while Genbo was still at camp.
2 comments in “New Country, New Camera”
July 18th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
I should visit the US some time. Or Japan. (If the latter, I’ll be sure to drop in!)
Out of curiosity, what does Maki do as a job? Only being allowed to take a week off sounds a little rough.
I assume total leave is more than one week per year, but only able to be taken in one week chunks?
July 19th, 2012 at 10:15 am
She’s a doctor. And, I think only getting a week off at a time is pretty common in Japan. There’s a reason they have such a high GDP with no natural resources: they’re willing to make themselves miserable!