Fantastic Weekend

My fantastic weekend began early Friday morning. Tane and I drove to Towada to visit a used Kimono/Obi shop. It turns out they weren't open. I don't regret the early morning trip at all. I enjoyed the time to unwind and visit with Tane.

Friday afternoon we met our friend Kim and Jun. Ryu stayed home to work. We are THANKFUL that you let them come visit, Ryu. What a blessing your family was to us....and oh the things Kim taught me about Japan.

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Kim first came to Japan in 1985 or 1986. She returned, after teaching at various Bible Colleges and working for various Mission's organizations, in 1996 with Asian Access. It was such a surprise to renew our acquaintance and GROW our friendship via Facebook...and a few months later to find out that we were moving to Japan. Misawa is "close" to Tokyo on a map - but it takes 8 hours to drive, 3 1/2 hours via train, an hour via plane.

Kim was invaluable as we prepared to move to Japan. She explained the culture to the children (and us). Ryu, Kim and Jun met us in Tokyo when we arrived. She's answered my questions, taught me phrases (Torie Wa Desuka - Where's the bathroom), always laughed at the silliness of the things we wondered about, but never in a condescending way..... it was a joy to have Kim and Jun visit this weekend.

I'll post later about all the little things she showed me in the kitchen, things that will make life here easier. She helped me unravel the mysterious kitchen aisles at Homac. She ALSO taught me that what I THOUGHT were futons were only the MATTRESS PADS...and what I thought were futon covers are actually FUTONS. We bought covers for the futons this weekend.

I also learned the inner lid of my rice steamer can be removed and cleaned....leaving me to wonder, Kim, is there an inner lid that can be removed in my electric water pump thing?

I had plans to take them to the beach, Shiriya Lighthouse, Oriase Gorge...in the end we simply stayed home, watched our children play, and caught up on 25 years of news. Mike has been in the midst of an Exercise. He had to go in to work Saturday. That gave us time to just sit...and talk...sip tea....Ryu and Kim are moving to America soon...and as silly as it is, afterall, we CAN keep up via Internet and that IS how we reconnected, it makes me sad not to have Kim in Tokyo. In fact, I cried as we left the train station this a.m. I do hate goodbyes these days.

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These princesses LOVED dancing and Zander was the only available partner.

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Dancing and Homac proved to be too much for Jun - nearly did Stacia in too.

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They perked right up when the chance to lick the brownie bowl presented itself. We have Jared to thank for these photos.

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It appears in Japan, bowls are licked a bit enthusiastically by pre-school girls. ::snort:: After this the bowl went on each one's head....and THEN Jun was about to lick some mix out of Stacia's hair. By that time Kim and I arrived on the scene. Moral of this experiment? Never leave two pre-schoolers from ANY culture alone with a brownie mixing bowl. ::snort::

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We all had much fun this weekend. It would be hard to say if Kim and I, or Jun and Stacia had more fun. We pray this was a nice bit of refreshment in the midst of the international move frenzy.

It was also fun to see "base life" through Kim's eyes. She mentioned that the first thing she was going to do when she got back to America is have "American Pizza". Can you imagine mayo, mashed potatoes, corn, fish etc on your pizzas at Pizza Hut? I guess they don't have the same menu country to country. ::snort:: We could help out with this dream, we ate at Pizza Hut on base Saturday Night and Sunday Night Kim taught me to make Gyudon. We got the better end of that deal. LOL

I loved seeing how fluent Kim is in Japanese...I can dream. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...