Windsurfing

Erika

Merry Christmas!

We got out of Japan for the holidays! We were actually on U.S. soil, the first U.S. soil that the sun rises on every day, Guam! Watching the weather station was rather hilarious, as it was the same every day: high of 88 degrees, low of 77 degrees! (It is only 12 degrees above the equator.) We had a blast and never actually just laid out in the sun and relaxed, we were too busy having fun! The first five days we stayed at the PIC (Pacific Islands Club), highly recommended if you ever go to Guam! The bedrooms were actually really crappy and rather disgusting, but the rest of the hotel (water activities, etc.) more than made up for it! Everything is included so you don't have to pay for any activities, snorkeling, windsurfing, tennis, racquetball, archery, water slides, and much more. The next five days we stayed at the Marriott because Eric has a load of points from living there for more than a year! The rooms were of a much higher quality and I must say, we slept much better! That is the only thing they have to recommend them, as they have no activities at all and it was very boring. So we took the opportunity to tour the island. The first day of touring the north end of the island we got a flat tire and waited over an hour for the tow truck to come and change the flat. Surprise, the spare was almost flat as well, not a good start! The north end beaches weren't really accessible due to the strong current and waves. The south end of the island was much prettier and had some very interesting history from WWII. The staff at the PIC invited us back for the Christmas party, carolling, and lots of fun and games. What a great time we had. We ate as much American food as we could: BBQ ribs, hamburgers, steak, etc (Yummmm!) The kids are just pros now at snorkeling. Eric even found a brilliant blue starfish! I will have to add those pics later as they must be developed from the underwater camera we bought. Windsurfing is very hard! I have no problem standing on the board and raising the sail, it's when the wind starts blowing the sail that I just can't hang on, and can't pick which direction to go! All in all, Guam was a fun break and most of all, it was warm!!!

Sweet 16

For Erika and Rachel's Sweet 16 I took them for a special Japanese cultural day. We spent an afternoon of cultural exchange with a group of lovely Japanese women. They dressed us in traditional Japanese kimonos, walked through a Japanese garden and went to a very serious tea ceremony. We now know how women felt back when they wore corsets! Man were we bound soooo tight inside those kimonos! It took two people to fully dress each us and it was difficult to walk, and we didn't even wear the traditional Japanese shoes! To our untrained, American eyes, the materials that they laid out for us to choose from didn't even match, but when put together looked just beautiful and "just right". During our walk through the gardens and feeding the enormous Koi, we met some other women dressed in kimonos also. One of them had a friend that served tea in the tea house, which was closed to the public for the day for a private, very important tea ceremony. She invited us to join the ceremony, after she asked permission from the master of ceremonies, and we happily joined them. We had a "sweet" from one of the finest Japanese bakeries in Nagoya, and had very green and foamy green tea (Yuck, with a capital Y!). At the end of the tea ceremony the man even made a couple of jests about Boeing, the American dollar, and even Ichiro, for our benefit. We returned to the ladies who had dressed us to have our scheduled tea with them, and they proceeded to present us with gifts and sweets and tea. It was a most wonderful experience!

Taylor's play "Semper Veritas"

Asuke, Japan: Autumn Splendor

Taylor's play, "The Semper Veritas"

Taylor was in a play in November called "The Semper Veritas", or "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!" (The words are latin for truth, or something along those lines.) The play was written by two of the teachers and it was hilarious! Taylor was one of the "Right" brothers, they were the heroes of the story. The conquered the villians by inventing a machine which determined whether or not you were telling the truth. We laughed so hard; one, because the lines were so funny, and two, because the kids were! This was Taylor's first acting role as well as his first lead role. Today I actually watched Taylor play out his second acting role as "Terysais" in the Greek Tragedy "Antigone." Everyone was very impressed with Taylor's ability to really "get into his role." He had all his lines memorized after a couple of days and performed them with great aplomb! Cheers for Taylor!

Asuke, Japan: Autumn Splendor

We have witnessed one of God's truly awesome creations! The place we visited, Asuke
(ah-sue-kay) was soooooo beautiful, that I couldn't stop saying "Oh, that's so beautiful, take a picture!" Every direction we looked was breathtaking. We hiked up this huge hill (or mini-mountain, depending on your point of view!) and there were Japanese women hiking this trail in 4" spiked high heels and skirts! I will never understand the Japanese prediliction for wearing high heels without regard to where you are walking. (They even wear them while riding their bikes!) Back to the point of this blog. We saw many shrines, an old village, and of course the beautiful red bridge. It was lit up at dusk and looked like it was on fire. I can't wait to go back in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in bloom; I am sure it will be just as spectacular.

Higashyama Zoo