Wendy in Japan

Last week was super busy! On Tuesday my new dressers came, so I had to clear out some space for them on Monday. I love them just as much in my bedroom as I did when I saw them in the shop! I spent the next couple of days moving our clothes from the plastic drawers we have been using (you can see one set on the left) to the new dressers. I also took all of our winter clothes from the hanging racks and folded them and put them into the plastic drawers so that I could reduce our hanging racks from two to one. I ordered a hanging rack that will fit right into my closet, but it will not arrive until early October, so for now I have a rack of hanging clothes in the middle of my room.  On Tuesday evening, I had dinner at Mamiko`s place. The previous week she came here for dinner, so she wanted to repay the favor and invited me over.   She made a very delicious Japanese meal for me and  I took watermelon cakes from a local bakery for dessert. W...

Last week was the Obon holiday here in Japan. Obon is a custon in Japan where the spirits of one`s ancestors are honored. Go here for more information. My husband and I were both off from work from Wednesday - Friday which turned into 5 days off thanks to the arrival of the weekend. We went to his parents` house, 4 hours away, from Thursday to Saturday. Two of his nephews from Nagasaki were there as well. The oldest is a freshman in college and the youngest is in 4th grade. They are 9 years apart. Their brother, who is 16, couldn`t come because he had volleyball games. The youngest brother really loves his oldest brother and every chance he got would sit so close to him. I was able to snap this photo of them one night. My husband`s mom`s cousin`s daughter and family came to visit while we were there, too. They live really near my in law`s place, but it was the first time for the three of them to visit as a family. Their daughter is 2 years old and loves tomato and meat...

The typhoon has come and gone with no damage to the area that I know of. Some other areas in Japan got quite a bit of rain, but where I live wasn`t really affected this time. Friday`s Work Yesterday I worked at the YMCA where I teach 10-13 toddlers every Friday. It`s a program for 1-3 year olds who aren`t ready to go to kindergarten yet. Here you can start kindergarten at 3-years old. On Fridays I go to work from 9:15 - 12:15. The children arrive between 9:45 and 10:00. From 10:00 they are allowed to play freely for about 40 minutes, then we play a "clean up" song and help them clean up the toys. After cleaning up they each get a tiny toddler sized chair and sit in a line. We go through the morning greetings, mostly in English on Fridays, which includes the date, weather, checking to see who is absent, calling the names of the children who are present, and calling the leaders` names. After that we start English time. This month`s theme is food so yesterday we learned som...

It`s typhoon season here in Japan and there`s one headed this way now. It should really affect us around Saturday, assuming it doesn`t change course a little between now and then. So I will go shopping tomorrow to buy some food and snacks so that Koichi and I don`t have to leave the house much on Saturday. I have an appointment that morning at the maternity hospital I`m going to, so I hope the weather isn`t so bad that my appointment is cancelled. I`m really hoping we can find out what we`re having then . As of how the skies are mostly blue with some clouds and the wind is pretty strong. It`s supposed to start raining tomorrow sometime. Luckily I only work tomorrow morning and then I have lunch with a friend and her kids so I can get home early. I`m hoping to take advantage of the rain and not wanting to go outside to get some cleaning done around my place. I really need to organize my two big closets and figure out where I`m going to put the baby stuff we will have coming soon. ...

I haven`t posted in ages. I suck at blogging and I know this, but when I get in a good blogging routine I really enjoy it. What prompted me to even venture over to my neglected blog today was reading the blog of a college friend / sorority sister. She recently found out that she has breast cancer and is blogging about her experience. I totally admire her for being able to put those kinds of thoughts and feelings into words at all, much less being able to sit and type them out. Anyway, when I commented on her post there was a place to enter my website, so I clicked the button on my toolbar and visited my site simply to copy and paste my info into the comment. Then I thought, if I`m going to post my website when I comment, perhaps I should try posting something of my own now and then. For today`s post I will keep it simple. I don`t want to jump in the deep end on my first day back to the blog. I will simply leave with this request. If you`re a praying person or someone who believ...

Christmas has come and gone here in Japan...and the rest of the world at this point. My holiday was as pleasant as it could be since I didn`t get to go home this year. I had a busy few days and then a few free days. The English classroom I work at finished classes for the year on Saturday the 21st. I had one class that morning and then I went to work out. Koichi and I went for lunch and shopping that afternoon/evening. I had planned to clean my house that day because the next day friends were coming over for dinner. Unfortunately I didn`t get anything done on Saturday! That meant waking up Sunday morning and getting to work. I had to clean, go see a musical production several of my students were in, and cook dinner for 6 adults and 3 children all in one day! Thanks to my husband helping me and being such a good sport about me barking orders all day long I got it all done in time! Now, some pics from this month! A couple of weeks ago Mayu and Mahiro came over to help us put up ...