Blogarrhea

I have had one post in the new year. That is just wrong. I should make it a resolution to post more regularly. In the meantime, prepare for a flood of info about what has been going on in the past two weeks. I will try and keep each topic short and sweet, but I tend to type whatever pops into my head (surprisingly there is a lot going on up there), so I apologize in advance if it becomes a novel.

I am in the last week of my Child Development class. There has been a great deal of writing, five papers already! It was originally a six week course, but it was cut to four weeks for the on-ground students. However, none of the work was cut. Therefore, we have been cramming six weeks of work into four. Last class I had 3 presentations and 3 papers. Good thing it is a subject I find fascinating.

The girls are doing well. Emily is doing PE club after school, in addition to swimming and gymnastics. She is rather athletic and coordinated! I am glad. I always did athletics, but was never a stand out, like my brother. McKenzie is currently planning a 4th-5th grade school dance with student council and has her nose buried in a book every second she can. She is still swimming, but prefers to socialize or read over athletics. Did I mention that the girl now wears the same size shoe as me (she constantly raids my flip flop collection) and we are almost nose to nose??? I can't believe it. Brian is also staying busy at work. He got his test date for Master. February 13th!! It is a lucky Friday and this is the year, I can feel it. No pressure, but making rank is our ticket out of the Ghetto...lovely as it is. D can tell you some stories...like how she stepped in pee in the elevator, a surprisingly common occurrence around here. Our neighbors just got approved to move into a house on Foster last week due to her knee problems (eight flights of stairs would be tricky in a fire). I congratulated them on getting paroled. I told Brian that if he doesn't make Master I am going to pop a cap in his knee (Ha, Ha). It is the ghetto after all.

Let's see.. what else has happened. Oh D and I went to a stone spa last weekend. That was a fun adventure. I heard about it from one of the gymnastic moms. If she would not have given us directions, we would have never know it was there. She kind of gave me an idea of what it was all about, which was good. When we arrived, the hostess spoke absolutely no English. We were strictly in charades territory, but I think we did okay. It is tricky stuff because there are certain shoes you wear in certain places, specific towels for different purposes, and a definite routine to avoid faux pas and offending others. We did our best by interpreting the charades and inconspicuously spying on those around us. So here is how it went down. First you put your shoes and other belongings in a locker by the door. You are given three different towels and a karate gee looking outfit to change into. Then you have a second locker that you put your street clothes in after you shower completely and change into the nifty gee. Then it is off to the spa! The room was great. It is stuccoed to look like a grotto. The ceiling has constellations that are lit and change around! Of course, there is relaxing music. You put your brown towel down on these graphite stone slabs that are hot. 5 minutes on your front and ten minutes on your back...NO TALKING...you sweat like nothing else, but it is a really moist heat so you are not sticky sweaty. You just feel like every pore in your body has opened up...even on the tops of your feet!!! I was so comfortable that I even did some yoga moves. However, I couldn't be too adventurous because the robes were built for an Asian body type. They weren't tight by any means, but they definitely weren't meant to securly hold in everything that I possess...it is tough to be a grapefruit girl in a tangerine world if you know what I mean. After the 15 minutes, you go out to the cooling room which is a lounge with chairs that overlooks the ocean. Here you drink cups of water (you get your own coffee looking mug, for the duration of your stay). I knew in advance that we were supposed to eat some sugar and salt from these dishes, so I was prepared to look for them. I found one dish that had some pink granules and dished a spoonful into Ds hand. I told her it was the sugar and then the other container would be the salt mixture. D has learned quickly that just because I look like I know what I am doing doesn't mean I do. She chucks it in her mouth only to discover that it was what was later identified as pink Himalayan salt! She was brave and managed to get it all down. Best of all she didn't hold a grudge against me. Sweet. The other dish was brown sugar clusters with poppyseeds. We chilled out in this room for 20 minutes and then repeated the cycle two more times. It was very relaxing. The best thing...a 3 hour session was only 900 yen (approx $11). We will be going back there.

What is next on the agenda??? Tomorrow we are going cherry blossom viewing on Mt. Yadekade with a tour group. How very Memoirs of a Geshia!! It will be a girl thing because both the hubbies have to work :(. Next weekend, it is whale watching on the East China Sea for everybody. Stay tuned!!!