Some of you may wonder what it is Alex and I do everyday while Nate is off teaching proper English to scared junior high school students.One of Alex's favorite pass times is going to the train station and watching the trains. The walk to the train station is about ten minutes, if I am lucky I can get Alex to walk the whole way. Above is the view near the train station of a meadow of weeds, which is full of crickets and solidago, with the surreal background of a expressway in construction that we walk past almost every day. I will be amazed if it is completed while we are here, it looks like it has been there forever. Yesterday we actually noticed that the dirt road that the cement trucks take to work on the expressway had a small, concrete pool surrounded by sprinklers in it, Alex of course wanted to go play in it. I couldn't figure out
what the heck is was for, then I realized on the way back that it was to clean the truck's tires off before they enter back onto the paved road.
So, we go to the vending machine, get a drink, go to the train station and wait.
And we wait some more, and then the song starts and we know there will be a train. Alex freaks out, starts jumping up and down, yelling that the train is coming.
Then the train comes, if it is a fast train, it doesn't stop. If it is a local train, it does. Fast is better.
Sometimes we are there an hour, Alex wants to stay all day. I usually have to bribe him to leave. One day we were leaving to go do this and I ran into my neighbor. When she asked where I was going, I was kind of embarassed to try to explain with her that we were only going down to the train station to watch the trains. She said that her son liked the trains too, they actually have a huge train set they invited us over to play with. But since then I have realized it is not only the local foreigners (aka-us) with time to kill that do this. It is what all the Japanese moms do. Every day they are down there with their toddlers and babies to watch the trains, too. Last week, we went to the train station to actually take the train downtown, and I ran into my neighbor with her son and her daughter. It was her daughters holiday off from school, and this is what they were doing. Alex is, as usual, by far the most enthusiastic when it comes to showing his excitement. None of the other kids yell and jump quite like he does, or really at all. Maybe they come to watch him.
4 comments:
That is a very lovely story. I know you were concerned when you began this blog that you were lacking writing skills, and I just have to say you were either lying, or you have really developed some wonderful talent in the way of telling a wonderfully simple and moving slice of life. I admire your style. Total Class.
Nice pictures, too!
-- Lindsay
ps -- If I come visit again, can I watch the trains, too?
Krista,
This is a lovely story! Anyone can identify with the child in them that wants to watch the trains! The anticipation of the song, will it be a fast train or a slow one, will it stop....wow, I want to watch the trains too!
Donna
the unfinished highway behind the tracks is actually a new shinkansen track that they are building. It's going slow because it's expensive...but really, I never see anyone working on it either.
Apparently, it should be finished around 2010.
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