More baby pics!

I know, you must all be thinking "jeeeeez... more baby pics? You'd think the kid was hers!!".... and yeah, I admit that even though I havent met the kid yet, Im enormously proud and excited every time I get a new installment of pictures and updates. Its weird, especially for me. Im NOT the type of person to go "ga-ga" over babies at all, but Julia just warms my heart! Maybe its her smile and her incredible blue eyes! I think the fact that shes related to me also helps, haha!


Here is my mom and Julia. At 6 months she really likes to practice standing up!


Ok, let's hear it! "Awwww..."


So, Heather (her mommy) says that she's outgrown the infant bath and the laundry room sink is now her bath haven!


I hope she doesn't find out that Im posting her baby bath pics online! It could be some serious blackmail material later on... hehehe....


Like I said... her eyes are gonna stop people in their tracks!


She learned how to wave "hi" and "bye bye"!


Im told that those are prunes on her face.... Glad I wasnt the one to change THAT diaper!!

New developments!

So after the enormous excitement that was Thailand, we're now back to the same old hum drum that is a normal working person's life. However, there are a couple interesting tidbits worthy of a blog post!

The weekend after we got back some friends and us all got together to go celebrate my bday in Osaka for the night. There was nothing especially spectacular but it was a great time anyway!

This weekend a friend from college who lives and works in Tokyo, Kotaro, came down to the Kansai area with a friend of his! We havent seen him since last August so we decided to take a trip to Kyoto and see him. They'd just arrived on the overnight bus, which Ive heard is a total nightmare, and so were sleeping the day away and would meet us for dinner. Well Sunday was a gorgeous day -- blue sky, sunny and upper 70s (I think) so we didnt want to miss it and decided to go see the Fushimi-inari Temple. In English I think it would be Temple of 1000 Gates (??). Anyway, its a couple stops out of the city so its kinda secluded. The most famous thing about it is the fact that there are trails all through the forrest all covered in torii gates (the red gates that are always at the entrances to shinto shrines). Its also the temple featured in the movie of Memoirs of a Geisha when Sayuri is running down through all those arches. Anyway, it was by far my favorite temple to date. There were a lot of tourists there but we kept climbing up the mountain and took trails that not many others were taking so at times we were the only ones around! It was so peaceful, serene and, in a sense, spiritual to be in the forrest and just hear the birds chirping and the river gurgling. It really made me long for a place of my own, or our own -- somewhere ideally in the forrest but near the water as well. Who knows if thatll happen, but its my dream! It would be the perfect place. I actually just wanted to cop a squat somewhere and lay back, relax and meditate.... but I dont think Adam would have wanted to wait around.... oh well. I took loads of pics which I will try and get up ASAP. Another unique thing about these temple grounds was that people had tiny little restaurants and shops along the way. There were also shrines where you could light candles and be blessed. The restaurants sound like theyd be tacky, but they werent. People actually lived along these trails and just set up shop there to provide refreshments for the visitors.... which, I might add, was very nice! These trails weren't flat. In fact, they were up hill/stairs most of the time, so refreshments were very much needed! It was such a pleasant experience I didnt notice how much we were climbing.... however, my calves have been letting me know each day since!

After the temple, we decided to go back to Gion and see if we could see any geisha since this time I had my real camera with me. We saw a few, and snapped a couple pics, but then had to leave to meet up with Kotaro. It was really nice to see him again and meet his friend (whose name I cant remember for the life of me. shes chinese-australian, like Liv, and very nice). We went out for falafel and then to our favorite bar in Kyoto, A-Bar. Its teeny tiny, looks like a log cabin inside with just a bunch of big tables. They place you next to anybody and its a great place to get to know people. Its really cheap and has great food, two big plusses in our book!

Anyway, tonight we're meeting up with Kotaro and his friend again, and then tomorrow we're heading to Kobe for the Re-contracting Conference being held from Weds through Fri. It should be a lot of fun.... at least thats what we're told. Although, since most of our friends are leaving this year, we wont know many people. I guess this is a chance to make some new friends! (I hope!)

We also were accepted for the Tokyo Orientation Assistant positions which is really exciting! It means we're in charge of all the Group A Nara JETs coming in in July. We tell them how great Nara is, how wonderful the JET Program is (Ill have to embellish a bit...) and then take them out drinking one night. Besides that, though, we're required to give presentations on certain subjects and help them get to and from the airport and then back to Nara. So.... its a free trip to Tokyo and will be loads of fun!!! We also get to go up in mid-June for a planning meeting and then again in July so Im super happy about that!

This year, since all the current AJET managers are leaving Adam and I have decided to take over with a couple other people. AJET is the Association of JET and there's a group in each prefecture who plan events and activities for JET members in that prefecture. It should be a lot of fun but also a ton of work. Ill probably end up being the Nara AJET Prefectural Representative who is in charge of getting all the emails from the national AJET and distributing them and then visa versa. Also... I dont know... Im not entirely sure what I will be doing, but it should give my life here an extra kick so maybe I wont be as bored as I was before. It will also keep us connected and in tune with everything going on. Who knows? It might even look good on a resume! And no, its not a paid but a voluntary position :)

I think thats about it... Ill try and get some pics up soon!

Quick Overview of Thailand

Here is the first half of our trip to Thailand... a quick and dirty overview! Like I said before, Aaron did a much better job at summing up our adventures pre-Bangkok, so I will still advertise for it! (link on the right "Aarons blog"). However, I felt like I should still write a bit about it! Sorry if its a repeat! As for pictures..... well....... Im really exhausted from this weekend, and honestly, Im feeling kinda lazy, so if y'all could just go to the pictures link and see for yourself, itd be wonderful! Thanks!

Adam, Aaron and I all decided we needed a little break from the Japanese life and what better place to do that than Phuket! As it was the beginning of the rainy season in Thailand we were expecting it to be rainy, of course, but to our pleasant surprise it hardly rained at all! However, it was super hot and humid, pretty much like Japan in August.... yay.... But, we spent most of our time on Patong Beach where we lazed around on the beach, tried to get tan but ended up getting very, very burned! Aaron slathered on oil while I slathered on sunblock, but after playing in the very warm water and jumping in the waves, I promptly forgot all about my skin and forgot to reapply the sunblock.... Payback for being stupid I guess! Adam was the smart one, always under the shade of the beach umbrella!

Anyway, we took a few excursions! One day we decided to rent a car and go exploring. We went to a national park area (aka jungle) where there was supposedly a waterfall that we hiked for over an hour to find and couldnt! Aaron is accostumed to driving in Japan, so for him driving on the left side was no problem at all. However, as this was a new experience for Adam and I, it was a bit nerve-racking! With Aaron in the passenger's seat playing driving instructor, and me feeling like I was 15 all over again with a tendency to hug the outer line, things got a little interesting! I think I almost took out a biker, a pedestrian and ran over the curb a couple times while turning left.... luckily, nothing bad happened, but there were a LOT of close calls. It was a good thing we opted for the automatic. Had we gotten the manual I would have either been doing all the driving myself or have had to teach both the boys how to drive stick... on the left side. Honestly, I think it would have been a bit too much!

We also took an island tour around the Phi Phi Islands which included snorkeling! That was my favorite part, since every time Id been snorkeling before, it was either too dark, too murky or there just weren't any cool fish! This time, though, was fantastic.... especially for those of us who don't need glasses to see farther than 3 feet (sorry guys!).

The boys also went to a Muay Thai (aka Thai Boxing) match, which they said was really interesting. I guess there were a few matches at the beginning with little kids fighting! Supposedly they start out early and stick with it for life. They said the kids were even more vicious than the adults!

While we were there, we ran into a dutch guy who has owned a restaurant there for awhile. We ended up talking about the tsunami and how it impacted the island. He said that the residents themselves dont talk about it much and dont seem as affected or sad as we might think they would. According to him, Patong Beach was getting really dirty and trashy with all the tourists and the food carts all over the beach. When the tsunami it, it washed everything away and, according to the people there, its actually cleaner and better now than before. I guess it just needed a good washing! He told us that some people died, and of course that was sad, but that the residents accept the tsunami as something natural that just happens sometimes. I thought that was really interesting. Im sure the situation was different in other places, though.

Over all, and despite our adventure in actually getting to Thailand (we got stuck in Beijing for 24 hours... nightmare to say the least) and the atrociously hot and humid weather in Bangkok, the trip was glorious and a much needed and much appreciated vacation!

My Ring!

A one carat ruby set in a silver band, with cubic zirconium on the sides. I was told you NEVER EVER set diamonds in silver.... interesting. Whatever. No one but an expert would be able to tell that they arent diamonds set in white gold, so Im happy! By the way, this is NOT an engagement ring. Its just a birthday present from Adam. Although I do wear it on my ring finger since its the only finger it will fit on, and people at work already think we're engaged so its convenient in that sense...

The reason this all came about is because on our last day in Thailand (Bangkok), we decided to go to the Grand Palace to check it out, take pics etc. But as we were nearing an older gentleman walked up and asked me if thats where we were going. I replied that it was and he said that unfortunately the palace was closed in the morning because it was a national buddhist holiday. However it was to be open at 1pm for tourists and foreigners. In the meantime, we should take advantage of the holiday cuz all the other temples were free to visit (where they would cost on other days). We should take a government sponsored "tuk tuk" (ie. glorified motorcycle that carries 3 people in the back) for 40 Baht (about 1 dollar) that would take us to all the temples we wanted for as long as we wanted. He then told us about how this one week was the week that the export jewelry shops had a special deal going on. This one week they were selling not to companies, but opened their doors for personal buyers.... ie, normal people for promotion. What they would do is sell it to you at cost, before the 200% - 500% tax was put on them to sell to companies. This means you could get jewelry for about a 5th of the price sometimes!!! So what people do is come and buy a nice set for about $3,000 and when they get back home, sell it to a jewelry store for up to $7,000! Not only did they just get a free trip, but they made money on top of it!! Some Thai students who study abroad pay for their education this way as well. Its incredible! We're definitely thinking about saving up some cash for the next time this happens. We could make a lot of money, or just get a free vacation. Anyway, we hadnt really planned on buying any jewelry, but the tuk tuk driver would get gasoline coupons for bringing us there, so since he was really nice and helpful and he needed the gas, we said ok.

Ok, Im getting ahead of myself. That happened to be our last stop, so Ill back up and fill you in on the inbetween events. The nice guy who stopped me at the beginning happened to be a law professor at the Bangkok University, spoke excellent English and not only mapped out the whole day for us, gave us information, but also made sure we got into a governmnent sponsored tuk tuk (they were only out that day specifically for taking tourists around and showing off the temples!). It was awesome! When we got to another temple a Belgium guy started talking to us and giving us loads of information about the temples, different areas of the city, and ALSO told us about the export stores.... then at the next temple ANOTHER middle aged thai started spouting off all this info and told us about the export stores.... we were a bit creeped out in the end by all this, especially since it was all completely unprovoked! We were starting to wonder if we had giant signs on our foreheads that said "Stupid Tourist. Please Educate." It was really weird...

Anyway, like I said, we ended up at the jewelry shop only planning to look at stuff and make sure our tuk tuk driver got his gas coupons. However, when we started looking at the stuff, a lot of it was absolutely gorgeous and when they mentioned they had stuff in silver too and that it was much cheaper, my ears perked up! Thailand specializes in rubies and sapphires since theyre mined there and so that was their largest selection. I loved both but when I saw this one ring, I fell in love. we looked at the price and it was about 6,000 Baht which is about $150. The guy then told us that it would sell for about $500 in America! Adam then turned to me and said, Happy Birthday, and paid for it right there! I was so surprised!! And very very happy! Aaron also bought a ring for his boyfriend, Tsukasa, which was also really nice.

The tuk tuk driver then wanted to take us to a silk export shop since he got coupons there too, and we agreed. I didnt get anything there, but Adam got about 3 silk ties for about $12!

Anyway we had a great time, ended up with awesome pictures and some cool gifts! All in all it was an incredible day.

The flight back was all in all uneventful, mostly due to the fact that Adam shared a couple of his sleeping pills with Aaron and I so we all slept like the dead on the way back. For sure the fastest flight Ive ever been on!!! Although, I was still recovering from my terrible sunburn (basically an outline of my bikini top... ie the cleavage area, and my shoulders too) so I was flaking off all over my clothes and was extremely itchy. The boys kept making fun of me for looking dangerously diseased and even more so when I would scratch at it and flakes of skin went fluttering all over (seriously disgusting!). Aaron said that if I was a super hero, my flaking ability would be an excellent super power.... a couple scratches and POOF! Id disappear in a cloud of dead skin and could make my getaway! We giggled about this for awhile in our exhausted delirium and when I asked then what my super hero name would be Adam blurted out "super crinkly ass......" ewwww.... I personally thought "super flake" would be better... or maybe "super crinkle".... whatever. It was funny at the time and kept us amused for the rest of the waiting period before our flight.

And now here I am at work, with a mound of homework to correct, the warm sping breeze blowing lightly in from the window behind me, and things are back to normal. Ill fill you all in on some of the middle of the trip (ie. parts Aaron didnt mention) and put pictures up as soon as I get the rest from him.

So stay tuned!

Thailand News Coming Soon!!

Hey all! Well Ive been thinking about writing a blog about our adventures here in Thailand while we're here, but Aaron beat me to it and his is acutally much funnier than I could have ever made it! Sooooo, Im promoting his instead. Please go to his link on the right side of this page titled "Aaron's Blog" or go to this site http://furio1981.blogspot.com

WARNING!! He uses colorful language at times and I would NOT recommend it for anyone disapproving of raunchy subjects. Its hilarious though and I love it. So, there's my disclaimer.

By the way, Adam bought me a gorgeous ruby ring for my birthday!!! Ill post pics up as soon as I get back!