no time, no typing...

I had a wonderful winter break and have been back at school for two weeks now.

We woke up to a beautiful white wonderland this morning. Everyone has been really concerned lately because it simply wouldn’t snow. The ski resorts were closed. In the middle of January it was raining. The last week had a few “spring” days. So we all sighed with deep relief today because the snow came but after 8am it began to rain. Here is the photo I took in the morning and the photo I took when I got home…So much for snow. (ski school was cancelled for this week)
As I was eating lunch the other day with the Kawa Sho second graders, they asked me why I always bring a bento. I replied that it was because I chose not to eat fish or meat. They all nodded gravely. The solemnity quickly gave way to shouts of WHY??!! but before I could reply, one of the twins leapt from his desk shouted- “I understand!! That’s why your eyes are green and your hair is brown!”

Today I attempted to master some Japanese riddles. I could only answer 2 of like 25 that were posed to me but I was proud to be able to manipulate the language in a new way…1 floor cushion for me! I translated my favorite below but it doesn’t make much sense in English (like most jokes, when explained it ceases to be amusing…)
Q: What is the biggest ‘kai’? (kai = any type of shell)
A: Sekai ( = the world, get it…play off of ‘kai’…hahaha…)

I plunged in and bought tickets to attend MIA’s wedding in Seattle in March…oh I cannot wait to see you all. Three years is WAY too long.

Craig’s parents also just finalized plans to visit us (for their THIRD time!!!) from Feb. 22nd – March 6th. Looking forward to their visit…

What else is exciting and new? We had to buy a new digi camera just before we left for Vietnam last December. I suppose the old one was just tired…I hate that you have to replace things so often these days. Why can’t companies build things to last?? What happened to those good ole days? But we love the new one!!!

Speaking of new, we also replaced our Swizzle, the lovely little Turbo mini car which has been transporting us everywhere throughout Japan for the last 3 years. Her power steering mechanism broke, was leaking and could have caught on fire anytime. Lesson to be learned here- when your car is doing strange things, take it to get checked. It could explode. To reach the mechanism the entire engine would have had to be removed and the parts for such an old car aren’t cheap. The shop was very honest with us and told us to scrap it and buy something newer. That we did and we are now the proud owners of this sky blue, yet to be named, March. Craig likes ‘Princess Mobile’ or ‘Pre-Mo’ for short. Here she is covered in some snow...Like my new PJs? This is one of my ways of keeping warm this winter.

Crafts-
I received this BEAUTIFUL vest for Christmas from Nobuko. I love my Japanese mom!

I finally finished Craig’s scarf too…not quite the level of Nobuko yet! (photo coming soon...) and am 3/4 of the way through a baby blanket but ran out of yarn...i thought i had enough!

Returning home from Vietnam was really difficult this time. It is hard when you stay in such a poor place for so long. It becomes your reality. You spend less and realize the value of small amounts of money. Then you return to such a rich place where everyone throws cash around as if it were nothing…This is also our reality. Which reality is more real and which reality do you try to live by? It has been really difficult to reconcile everything we saw with the way of life here. Not that we feel guilty but more that we feel responsible to live a certain way. The Japanese are just beginning to think about ‘charity’ for people outside of their group and it is a great opportunity for us to share about how a little money here can do so much in Vietnam. The trip also provided amazing experiences for thinking about how life should be lived. Ultimately, I think, it is living with a little less so that you can do a little more for others. But this is a very personal lesson that people learn and apply to varying degrees. We continue to work out the degree for our family. That said, I will post some photos when I have more time. We did have a wonderful time (sorry to be heavy…)

Flowers-
January 19th, 2007

January 27th, 2007