Family Issues...

No, no, no... I wont bore you all with issues with my personal family back home. No worries guys.

The "family" issue is that Adam and I have been accepted to be Tokyo Orientation Assistants (I think I mentioned this before???) in July for the newbies coming in. For this we have to give conferences on a certain topic that we choose, supposedly. Well, apparently our choices mean jack since neither one of us got any of the conferences we'd asked for (and you get to pick 3). Instead, we must have been the ONLY couple that applied so they stuck us with giving a conference on Family JETs... uh excuse me, whaaat??? Yeah.... needless to say we were a little less than enthusiastic to hear this. At first I didnt really comprehend this since I read the email after just waking up from a long night of karaoke and singing Madonna and ABBA to death... (no shitty comments from the peanut gallery on this please... we were getting really into it!)

Anyway, we both had the same reaction: "Shit... how the hell are we, of all people, supposed to advise people on what to do with their kids??? We must be the least informed and worst people to ask about this subject. We're not even really engaged!!!!"

However, after our freak-out moment had passed, we figured that since we're stuck with it anyway, we might as well learn as much as we can and give a kick-ass conference despite our personal situation. Soooooo... instead of reading at work I've been researching! I joined the yahoo groups FamilyJETs and posted a message asking for help and advice from anyone who actually has a family. One lady emailed me back saying that she was doing the same conference but for the second group of newbies coming in, so we will meet her in person! YAAAAY! She's already brainstormed an outline and thought of some great ideas. Ive also read previous posts on the site and well, Ive learned wayyyyyyy more than I ever thought I would about babies, baby food, and foreign kids in a japanese school. So, I figure this is a very good educational experience for me even though I dont think I'll ever have kids here... She also mentioned that since we're in the interesting position between singlehood and parenthood and since NOT ALL of the people at our conference will have kids, that we bring a good situation to the table. We can also connect to some of the younger couples without kids a lot better. So, I guess Im feeling a lot more confident about it now than I was initially, which is good. Im just dreading the Q&A session afterwards...

This weekend we're heading to Tokyo for the Planning Meeting for this whole thing. It doesnt actually start til Monday but we figured we'd sightsee and hang out with friends this weekend as well... why not? The government is paying for our transportation, so we might as well come earlier! We're taking the bullet train, oh baby, oh baby!

In other news, Adam and I have been brainstorming (yeah, lots of brain work going on for a change, haha!) about our future and career options etc. We DONT want to be executives or work behind a desk like we do here -- at least not permanently. We'd like to study more practical things like horticulture (both of us), carpentry (him), medicinal herbs and energy work (me). Sooooo, we've been trying to find different community colleges around the Seattle-ish areas that offer these courses. Actually, and I never thought I would say this, we're thinking about moving to Sequim or Port Angeles (where most of my extended family has migrated to)! The reason is because first of all, its cheaper than Seattle, my family is there so I'd get to see them more often, its beautiful, and well.... its not Vashon -- but close enough so Id get to see my parents more often too. It's also close to Canada -- I think there's a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, right?? We are also tossing around ideas for jobs and such but havent really landed on any firm decisions yet, dont think we could.

Eventually, though, we'd like to live in an intentional community, a self-sustained community where everyone works for the good of the whole and its completely eco-friendly. There are loads of them popping up all over the place. Originally I was thinking somewhere in British Columbia and although thats not totally out of the question yet, Costa Rica has been calling our attention more and more. We've found a few places there that are forming and needed new members. To do this, though, we need more practical skills to bring with us other than just having travelled a lot and speaking multiple languages.... doesnt get you very far when trying to build a community. Sooo, thats why we'd like to get into carpentry, horticulture, medicinal herbology, energy work etc. We'd like to have something practical to bring to the table. Also, Costa Rica is one of the most progressive countries in central and south america. It has the highest percetage of expats, and well, we think it'd just be really cool. Adam's been there before and is all for it.

I was thinking about wanting to work for a Salem Children's Village somewhere in the world (http://saleminternational.org), but we'll see about that. Its still a good possibility... Id still need some more practical skills first, though. I guess I just want to do something that makes a difference -- that makes the world just a little bit better.

Other than all that, Ive just finished "The Prophet's Way" by Thom Hartmann and even though it mentions God all the time, I really enjoyed reading it and becoming more spiritual myself. I guess I just have a hang-up on the word "God". It just conjures up pictures of an old white guy sitting in the clouds and/or reminds me of all the oraganized religions and how corrupt they've become which just saddens me. Soooo, every time I saw the word "God" I just replaced it in my head with "holy spirit", "great spirit", "the great consciousness" or something like that which convey my feelings a lot better. After that, Ive been reading "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore which is also VERY good, but I learned most of it all in "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" by Thom Hartmann (which my mom enthusiastically recommended to me, by the way :) happy now mommy-dear?? haha!). This book has loads of pictures and graphs, though, which are always nice. Im a very visual learner so it all sticks in my head more this way!

Ok well Ive babbled on enough for now, so I will write again when we get back from Tokyo -- hopefully with some interesting news and pictures! Love to all!