Fall

They say that we will get our first snowfall tomorrow so here are some memories of the fall. We tried to get out in nature as much as possible. Some shots are from a get together near an old orchard and abandoned school. One of our friends runs a bed a breakfast there.

Others are from a drive we took south down the coast. We saw some amazing sites from these fantastic observation areas.

A bunch are from our office olympics and a hiking trip we took with Jim and Dave in Obira, the town just north of ours. They office olympics were really fun. We won the championship and had a big party afterwards.

Some of the pictures are from a bike ride we took around our town.

Tomorrow brings the snow and our Halloween party. Chrissy is so nervous I don't think she is going to go to sleep. She made some great pumpkin pies and the house is going to look great with all of the decorations she bought.

You might want to click on the pics and view them on the Picasa site. Some of the captions are long and you can go at your own pace more easily there.

Chrissy vs. Spider

So I'm home alone, baking a pumpkin pie from scratch (like REALLY scratch, we're talking actual pumpkin), and as I close the oven and head to couch to do some knitting, I spot a giant brown blob scurrying across the couch. Ok, a 1-cm spider qualifies as giant in my book. As if it sees or hears me stifle a scream it halts, poised on top of my Mac power cord. I strategize quickly before the spider escapes or attacks me, I grab a hanger first but rethink that decision. I roll up a nearby magazine and gently pull the cord away from the spider (I don't want the cord to get spider guts on it) and take a good swat. The spider doesn't even flinch. I swat again, harder and when I lift the magazine, the spider is GONE! Nowhere to be found! Somehow, I simultaneously look at the magazine in my hand and throw it across the room. I quickly inspect every inch of my person, but still no spider. I'm now flinching at every spot on the wall or floor. Not cool. Why does this stuff happen to me? But the question I really should be asking is how is that a biology teacher is such a baby around bugs. Anyways, I get the vacuum and go to town, but just as I lean in really close to the scene of the crime, the power in the whole house goes. Now I'm standing in complete darkness, sure that the spider is on my face. But since running screaming from the house is out of the question, I find a flashlight and the fuse box and get the lights back on. As I put the vacuum away, I contemplate how long I can go without sitting on the couch, tricky. But then, as I bend down to pick up my knitting I see the carcass on the ground under the table. I blow to see if it moves, and it DOES, so I grab enough tissues to put about 1 inch of it between me and the crunch that's about to happen. Does anyone not shiver at the crunching exoskeleton of a squished bug? Success, finally. Mr. 8-legs is now on his way down the Rumoi sewer system, soon to swim into the Japan Sea, maybe to be eaten by a fish I'll buy at the market next week. Ew, but at least I win. Yes, I just wrote a looooong story about squishing a bug. Pathetic? Maybe.

Happy Birthday to Don!

The candles were so hot they melted the frosting!

Happy Birthday to Don!

A special homemade cake for my husband on his special day. 33 candles
make a pretty big fire ball!

Knitting Project #2

This is a scarf for myself. I actually shouldn't have called the hat
below a "project" because it is finished. (and it actually fits Don's
head!). By the way, wool yarn here is about $1 a ball, maybe $3 for
super fancy stuff. With my yarn collecting tendencies this could be
trouble!

Knitting Project #1

This is a snowboarding hat for Don.

I want to be a farmer. Stop laughing please.

Today we spent the day in Mashike, the town just south of Rumoi. We met up with Jim and Dave, and some people from the chat club, then headed to a nearby orchard. The owner showed us around and had us sample 5 different delicious types of prunes (plums?), several varieties of grapes right off of the vine, and of course, some apples. The grapes especially, put american grocery store varieties to shame. We also talked plant propagation and genetics (so you know I was happy). With gurgly stomachs, Don and I agreed that to have something like this ourselves would be amazing. Then we headed to a winery down the road that made apple wine, or hard cider. The owner of this operation explained the process to us. Also tempting and interesting. Even though both of these ventures clearly require huge amounts of hard work, I'm still fantasizing about my own farm/orchard. I also just finished Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is inspiring me (as if I needed it) to grow as much of our own produce as possible when Don and I finally settle into a house, in America, don't worry moms. The questions that remain are

1. How much of my time can we afford to devote to this agriculture adventure?

2. Will growing our own food save us enough money to be worth that time? I feel like it's worth it for our health alone, but mama's gotta pay bills. Thanks a lot NYU.

3. Are chickens out of the question? Sheep for wool? What about a horse? Ok, maybe we're not there yet.

Violated On the Soccer Field

Just a quick note of advice. When playing soccer with elementary school students try to stand as straight up as possible. If you lean over even a little you leave yourself vulnerable to a two-handed stab in the ass by any tiny elementary school student looming behind you. What's worse, once they see one kid do it they all want to do it. Its like being surrounded by piranhas. Even though these are some of the cutest kids you will ever see you cannot trust them. They are tricky. It starts out real cute looking too. They put their hands together the way someone would pray, then they angle them towards your ass and stab them in there. It doesn't hurt but it doesn't feel good either. So when you visit Japan, don't play soccer with elementary school kids and thank me when you get back home.

Electric Blankets

Ok, so I when I first saw the electric blanket in the closet here, my response was "Do they really still sell those?" For some reason this product conjures up images of people burning to death in their sleep. Then I remembered that I was in the land of "if our machine kills you, it's definitely your fault and you should be too ashamed to complain or sue."

The first time I thought to use the blanket definitely had something to do with Don leaving town again for a few nights. Anyone that knows him or notices him sweating all the time and never wearing a coat, would know or imply that he is unreasonably hot, all the time. In the winter, this makes sleeping next to him nice (in the summer, not so much). Anyway, I was missing him on a particularly chilly night, so I took out the blanket and inspected the cords. Everything looked kosher, and it didn't look that old so I decided to try it out. It was AMAZING. I blissfully watched a movie in bed snuggled under it, but when it was time to sleep I struggled with the choice of leaving it on or turning it off. Again, images of flaming beds crept into my mind, but I refused to believe this innocuous flowery flannel piece of heaven would hurt me. I asked it, "please don't barbecue me in my sleep" and drifted off to dreamland. After 2 more nights of sleeping in these womb-like conditions and reflecting on the experiences, I have compiled the following list.

Top 10 Reasons Why Electric Blankets Make Good Partner Replacements in Bed:

Disclaimer: Some of these may not apply to you and your partner.

10. The blanket covers most of your body with warmth instead of just the parts it likes.

9. You can adjust how warm the blanket is.

8. When you change positions, you don't accidently dive your limbs into cold spots because there are no cold spots.

7. The blanket doesn't move around or away from your cold hands and feet.

6. The entire blanket can be on top of you without crushing your chest cavity.

5. The blanket doesn't accidently elbow you in the face while sleeping.

4. The blanket doesn't pull the other covers off of you.

3. The blanket doesn't suddenly get sweaty.

2. The blanket doesn't fart or snore.

1. You can throw the blanket out of bed without hurting its feelings.

Now, to be fair, the electric blanket does NOT do a lot of good things, too many to list in fact. And I greatly appreciate my wonderful romantic and caring husband. But I would be lying if I said that the past few nights of sleep haven't been some of the best in my life.

American Stereotypes

So after talking about politically-correctness and derogatory words with the teacher I tutor, I asked him to tell me the stereotypes Japanese have about Americans. Here they are:

1. We eat lots of beef.

2. We drink lots of soda. (or "pop" for most of my family)

3. We talk loudly.

4. We are independent.

5. Women are aggressive. (rawr)

I was kind of hoping for something a little more scandalous, but I think he was being polite.