Eight Things About Moi

I was tagged by the lovely Gina and so here goes nothin`!

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight random facts about me:

1.) I was a waitress for a really long time (in university and beyond) and to this day I over-tip because I know what it`s like to be running around trying to serve people. I also can`t bring myself to yell "SUMIMASEN" in order to get the server`s attention here in Japan (a perfectly normal and polite thing to do). I cringe every time my husband does it.

2.) I hate mornings. It doesn`t matter how early or late I go to sleep, I CANNOT get up before 7am and if circumstances require an early start, it`s best you avoid me if you can. I actually book flights and other travel arrangements with this in mind. My dh is the complete opposite.

3.) Okay, I`m going to let a secret out of the bag. Once you know this information, you are in NO WAY allowed to use it against me. I hate feet. If other people`s feet come near me, I go beserk. I will never ever give anyone a foot massage. EVER. On the other hand, I have no problem with people touching my feet and request foot massages from dh on a regular basis.

4.) I LOVE to eat out. It is pure joy for me. If you want to butter me up, give me a gift, or otherwise make me happy, take me out for dinner! I would rather spend $100 on a gorgeous dinner in a nice restaurant than on anything else. I also love staying in nice hotels. So, a nice dinner in a fancy hotel (that we are staying at) would be the ULTIMATE present for me. This includes bed and breakfasts. :)

5.) I am very weird about fruit. I like cherries, oranges, strawberries, pineapples, and bananas....IF they are perfectly ripe. I love raspberry-flavored things like soda or chocolate pie but I`m not fond of eating only raspberries. I don`t like blueberries unless they are in something like muffins. I don`t like chunky fruit in yogurt or jam but it`s okay if it`s smooth. Not sure if this one is making any sense.....??

6.) I LOVE coffee and going for coffee and talking over coffee and trying different coffee. I like it sweet and strong with cream (or lattes). Unfortunately, coffee does not like me and sometimes I have an "overdose" that results in a kind of freak out where I shake and get extremely anxious. When one of these "episodes" occur, I will cut out all coffee for about 2 weeks and then slowly slip back into my coffee-drinking ways. I`ve tried to substitute tea but it`s just not the same.

7.) I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers. I love them all and miss them a lot. I would love to have a large family like that but I don`t think I can handle the baby years again.

8.) I never intended to come to Japan. I had no interest in Japan or it`s culture until one of my best friends, who was living here, sent me a letter with pictures from her daily life. They intrigued me and so I booked a trip over to visit her. Obviously the rest is history.

Now, I don`t think I know eight bloggers who haven`t already done this! Let`s see,

-Midori (The Babe in Kyushu who is now in London!).
-Jenn (Medeafication)
-Sheri (Life Here)
-Laura (Laura no Iken)

I`d love to hear from people who don`t have blogs too! You can just leave your eight things in my comments! :)

-Jan in Nagasaki
-Christine in Calgary
-Sister Amy
-Sister Kristin
-Sister Laurie
-Sister-in-law Clare
-my mom

It`s a Small (and kind) Blogging World

Last week I received these by delivery:



I don`t want to embarrass anyone so I won`t say who it was, but I had to acknowledge this totally kind and generous gesture of friendship. I hope to "pay it forward" so if anyone out there in Japan is missing a particular American product that you can`t get easily on Mainland Japan, please send me an email (or leave a comment and I won`t publish it) and tell me what it is. There are a lot of items for sale here that you can`t get in the rest of Japan so, if I can get it, I will send it to you as soon as possible. And, if by some chance you choose something not availiable here, I will send it from North America this summer! I await your requests.

Kids Stuff

Lots of stuff happening around here lately. We had a Father`s Day function at the yochien this past Saturday where I got to experience one of my more embarrasing moments here in Japan. It all happened during the "stilt race". That`s right, I had to participate in a race involving stilts (blast you Tigerpapa for not being here to suffer the humiliation intended for the FATHERS!). This may seem odd to you but in Japan it`s perfectly normal. I think most kindergartens here have stilts, unicycles, and hoola hoops as "outdoor equipement". Anyhoo, I have never in my life ridden (performed? experienced?) stilts and thought I`d be able to do it. Wrong. I couldn`t do it, no matter how hard I tried. EVERYONE was watching and pointing and laughing because I was the ONLY one who couldn`t do it. Mr. Pudgy Office Guy, he could do it. Mr. Muscle Work Out Guy, he could do it. Mrs. Stick Thin Housewife, she could do it. I just couldn`t do it. I can still hear the laughter ringing in my ears even now, 2 days later. Here`s a cute picture of the kids from that day:



The other thing I want to post is a bit lengthy but worth it. Here is Tigerboy "reading" one of our favourite bedtime stories:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yochien

You will never guess what I need to do for the yochien this week. Well, maybe some of you could guess but none of my family and friends in North America will guess. I have to do a poo-test on both of my kids. I have a little sticker thing (looks like a blue bull`s eye) that I have to press onto the kid`s bums as the "turtle is coming out of it`s shell". I though a metaphor would be more pleasant than the actual words. And the best part of all is that I have to do it twice...twice on TWO kids....that makes FOUR times! Judging from the instruction sheet, it is to check for some kind of worm. Wish me luck.



Enough of the unpleasantness.

I also have to make 3 origami paper cranes. Luckily, my LSF and I ran into a really friendly family* at the restaurant where we ate lunch today and they showed us how to do it. After a few practice sessions which resulted in these:



I came home and found a website with clearer (read ENGLISH) instructions and made these:



Then there`s the fresh cut flowers that need to go with each kid tomorrow for some kind of thank you ceremony. Hopefully, the sunflowers I purchased today will fit the bill and won`t be representative of death or anything. I once bought some beautiful flowers for my apartment and had them on display when my boss came over and exclaimed, "Who Died?". Apparently, some flowers are ONLY used for funerals. Who knew???

Lastly, I have to find a couple of white t-shirts for the kids to bring for an art project tomorrow. I`m not sure if the shirt is supposed to be adult-sized or kid-sized so I`m going to send both. This is the way I handle most things when Tigerpapa isn`t here to read the information letters. I Wing it!

*This might seem strange to a lot of you. You know, that complete strangers will start talking to you while you are eating lunch in a restaurant, but it happens all the time in Japan especially if you happen to be a visible foreigner. The conversation started off with the mother saying "excuse me, will you check my daughter`s English homework?".

Posers....not hosers.

I have a Lovely American Friend here on Okinawa who has kindly invited us to many gorgeous bbq`s at her home. We always have such a great time with her and her family....and not just because of the great food. ;) My friend`s daughter and Tigergirl get along amazingly well and it warms my heart to watch them play together. Well, when they aren`t being devious together! Anyhoo, the last bbq was a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun. They had a trampoline set up with a sprinkler turned on to keep the kids cool. I was reminded of summer days in my hometown....except the trampoline we jumped on never had a net surrounding it so somebody always ended up with a broken arm or a mild concussion.

Host clubs

If you are a woman and feeling lonely where do you go? Why to a "Host Club" where you can be entertained by guys like this:



Apparently these guys work at a Club in Tokyo. The woman in the video don`t look particularily impressed. How about you?