BBQ

Today we went to a BBQ with several people Curtis works with. These were the same group of people that threw us our welcome party when we first got here so you may recognize some of the faces. The BBQ was somewhere in the mountains about an hour from our house so a couple guys came and picked us up...at 7:00 AM!!! Anyway, as you will see in the pics that follow, we had many different foods to eat.

This is a fresh tuna fish head! Can you believe how BIG it is!!! They boiled it at we ate the meat.

And, of course, this is the tuna's eyeball and...yes...Curtis ate it!!! He said it was chewy. Mmmm!

I took some homemade chocolate chip cookies and brownies (good old Betty Crocker from the states..shhhhh) and they were quite a hit!

The kids had a great time painting on some cement blocks, playing with sparklers, and shooting waterguns.

We had a really good time and the Japanese were, as usual, very hospitable and tried very hard to make us feel comfortable. Gotta love'm for that!

Oh Where to Begin?

Well, we have had a few things happen this past week and I don't even know where to begin. I guess first I will say, we had our first visit to a Japanese clinic. As many of you know, we had to leave the sumo tournament last week early because Avery came down with a fever of 103 degrees out of nowhere. She had us a little nervous because we had a difficult time breaking it. On Sunday around 4:00pm her fever broke!!! I kept her home from school on Monday for "good measure" and it was back to school on Tuesday. On Wednesday after school, fever came back. but with a dose of Tylenol and some fluids the fever was gone. Well, it just so happens that on Wednesday at Nissan, there was a big meeting on new "swine flu" regulations. Needless to say, when I called Curtis at work to tell him that Avery was running a fever again, panic broke out among the Japanese. They immediately called the clinic there to see what precautions should be taken. Since we hadn't been in any of the reported "infected" areas they said he could remain at work, but in order to return to work, he must where a surgical face mask....he was NOT happy!!! Here in Japan many people where surgical face masks if they are sick or if they fear getting sick, so it isn't uncommon to seed people with masks on...but not Curtis! So...I had a really good laugh!!! Anyway, I took Avery to the clinic that serves mostly foreigners and Avery is perfectly fine. No Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Elephant Flu, Toe Flu or any other kind of flu you can come up with. I called Curtis at work to let him know and he immediately ripped off the face mask and told his co-workers the news! Curtis was happy again!!!

On a different note, this weekend we set out on our bikes with the Drake family that is over with Nissan also to Red Brick Park. This year is the 150 year anniversary of the opening of the Yokohoma Port, so all summer long there are many festivals and events going on in this area...so we wanted to check it out. Here are a few various pics.

Who knew that Colonel Sanders had different outfits!!! Yes, he is dressed as a samurai.


Jellyfish in the canal. It was so neat!!! They were everywhere!!!

A dance ceremony at Red Brick Park area.



My little beauty!!! Isn't she cute!!! She was looking into the sun so her smile is a little crooked.

Avery found a new friend tonight on the mailbox....yes, it's a slug...she loves them! Notice the scrape on her forehead!?! She and her daddy had a little bike accident.

SUMO!!

We went to a Sumo tournament this past weekend and had a blast. This was one of only three held per year in Tokyo. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because Avery wasn't feeling well. We got home to find she had a fever of 103. She is better now, but we sure had a long night last night. We're keeping her out of school tomorrow and keeping a close eye on her. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before someone thinks us gaijin have brought the swine flu over with us...

Anyway, back to sumo...

I found out that Sumo is way more than fat guys with wedgies shoving each other around. There is actually a lot of ties to their religion that I did not realize. I read the booklet that we got with our tickets and I'll try to summarize some of it below so you know a little about sumo as well. I'll post pictures and links to YouTube for videos that we took while there.

The first ceremony of the day is the dohyo-iri, or ring ceremony performed by the rikishi before their bouts begin. ( The rikishi are the wrestlers) The lowest-ranked rikishi enters first and walks a complete circle around the ring followed by the other rikishi in ascending order according the rank. Once the last rikishi in the group has been introduced, the rikishi, who are facing the spectators, turn inward and face each other around the ring. After clapping their hands once, they raise their right hand, lift their kesho-mawashi (decorative aprons created for the ring ceremony), and finally raise both hands in unison. This tradition goes back to the samurai days and represents the rikishi showing each other that none is armed.

Click here for a video of the ceremony.

Once the actual bouts begin, the two rikishi spend several minutes before their match lifting their legs high in the air and stomping them down, a practice said to scare away any demons. They also throw several handfuls of salt into the ring, which is said to purify the ring. The outstretched hands with palms facing upwards are symbolic to show they are unarmed.

Sumo takes place in a ring approximately 15 feet in diameter that is raised about 2 1/2 feet off the ground on a huge block of clay called a dohyo. A light sprinkling of sand is applied inside of the ring. The edge of the ring is made of tightly wound straw bands called tawara and rises up about 3 inches out of the dohyo. A new dohyo is created for each tournament.

Five judges, or shinpan dressed in black kimono, sit below the dohyo and around the ring. These judges are former rikishi themselves. A referee, or gyoji, dressed in an elaborate kimono stands at the edge of the ring and officiates the bout. At the end of the bout, the gyoji points to the winner. In a particularly close bout, any of the five judges can dispute the call made by the referee. A rikishi loses a match when any part of his body other than the bottoms of his feet touches the dohyo or when he is pushed or thrown outside of the ring.

Click here for the full 3+ minute show and 20 second fight.

Click here for a cut to the chase fight only.

A quick search online will likely answer any questions you may have.

Here are some photos from the afternoon.

Not much personality to this post - my apologies. I initially thought I would have plenty of one liners about men in diapers and such, but it's much different than I thought once I started looking into it. I thought it would be better to share the history and background of the sport instead.

Have a great week!

Curtis

Happy Anniversary to US!!

This post falls well outside the normal “what we did in Japan this week” Please pardon the deviation from the norm, though I’m sure you all understand…

My, how time flies when you are having fun.

May 15th, 2009 is of little significance to most. For me, it is very significant. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of my marriage to Deana.

It seems just last month I was chasing Deana around trying to get her to stop being my ‘friend’ and admit that she liked me. It took me just a few months to convince her that I was “date-able” and then it took Deana another 5 YEARS to get me to dive into that bond called marriage. I’m grateful she did not give up on me. Today marks our 10 year wedding anniversary. TEN YEARS!! I want to take a moment and share with you some tidbits and little known facts leading up to our marriage.

We first met through our mutual friends in school – in the 8th grade.

Throughout high school we were friends, though not terribly close until I got into 10th grade. From this point, we were what most people would consider “best friends”. I honestly don’t recall what pulled us together – call it fate…

During our “friendship”, we both dated other people and thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until I started dating one of her close friends that I noticed she was upset and trying to hide it. Once I saw that, it was game on – I always had feelings for Deana but did not want to ruin the great friendship we had by trying to force it into something that wasn’t going to happen. Once I saw “the light” I had everyone that I could recruit convincing her that I was worth the risk. My favorite quote from this time era was from her Dad, who said “I’m on your side Curtis – you hang in there and we’ll get Deana to come around”. She was still “iffy” about ruining the friendship…

I eventually won her over and convinced Deana to give me a shot. That said, SHE kissed me first.

We officially started dating “exclusively” (i.e. “going together”) when she accepted my class ring in August of 1994. We were at my parent’s house watching Pet Cemetery 2 on the TV. I was about to start my senior year of High School and she was going to be a junior.

We were engaged when I drug her out to Fall Creek Falls and hiked out to a cliff overlooking a gorge. I got down on one knee and she said yes on November 15th, 1997 – exactly 18 months before we got married. It started sleeting while we were in the park.

We were married on May 15th, 1999 at our church (Smyrna Church of Christ). Here is a photo from that day.

"So what did you all do for your anniversary???" is the question that I am expecting from many of you. Well, it's a bit difficult here (in Japan) to be honest. There are no Hallmark stores to buy cards, so I couldn't even get a card. I arranged a babysitter so we can go out to eat tonight, but Avery has pink eye (AGAIN) and we can't leave her with our friend as she also has small kids, so we won't even get a one on one dinner. But, we are grown ups and we aren't pitching a fit about it. I am however, in celebration of our 10 years together, going to try my hardest to get a layover on our final trip home in Hawaii... It shouldn't be terribly difficult, but you never know these days. So, I guess the answer is we are going to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary - we're just going 6 months late...maybe.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm not sure if they celebrate Mother's Day over here or not, but I'm smart enough to know that whether Japan celebrates it or not, we better...

Avery and I got up this morning and cooked up some pancakes for Deana, then we took her to Ebina. Ebina is not a major or a famous city, but it has a very large and nice outdoor mall (Vina Walk) with an Outback Steakhouse. It has been longer than I can remember since we have had authentic American food, so we were looking forward to lunch. I had a chicken sandwich and Deana had a burger and it was SOOOO GOOD!! Just like back home - I mean just like home. I'm glad we don't go to American places often because I think it would make us more homesick. Not going often also helps us REALLY appreciate the times that we do go.

Here is a view of the out door mall from the second level. As usual, the picture really doesn't do it justice - there is a large mountain range in the background that you can't see in the photo. It was a very pretty area.

After lunch, we did some window shopping. Deana and Avery found a doggie boutique. This country is nuts about their dogs. It is completely common for 80% of the dogs you pass to have on outfits or booties or to be sitting in a doggie stroller (seriously - they have doggie strollers). We were out in the rain last week and passed an owner walking his dog and the dog had a rain jacket on! Here is a couple photos from inside the store.

We later found a shoe store and decided to outfit everyone in new summer kicks. Deana got a new pair of tennis shoes and me and Avery got a pair of beach shoes. Avery had hers on within 2 minutes of leaving the store and about 2 minutes after that she was trying them out...

The weather was gorgeous today (75 and sunny), so it was a good day to goof off with family. We didn't do anything major, but we had a great time spending time together.

Now, for the fun photo of the day. This one is going into the scrapbook for sure. Unfortunately, they only had small and medium sizes and wanted $40 for the shirt. If not for that, I would have bought one or two. CLASSIC JAPAN...

I wonder if Carifornia is anywhere close to California?

My First Attempt at Cosmotology

Ok....so Avery needed a haircut very badly and I didn't want to have another "nail salon" experience. I decided I was going to cut her hair myself, I mean, how hard could it really be...her hair is straight!

I bought some scissors (cheap ones of course) and started to cut. I got what I paid for in scissors that was for sure. Her hair was starting to look a little "chopped" and I was getting nervous. I immediately went upstairs and got my nice expensive sewing scissors and that seemed to do the trick.

I ended up cutting about 6 inches off and did a pretty good job if I should say so myself. Maybe she won't need another one until we get back home.

Kyoto Wrap-up

We got home from Kyoto yesterday afternoon and we were quite exhausted. I decided today to sit down and upload all of our photos to the computer, clean off the camera memory disc and get ready for the next adventure. Can you guess what happened next? If you guessed that I lost some pictures...you would be the BIG winner!!!

We had a cookout at our house tonight and I went to show a slide show of our photos and noticed that not all of the Kyoto pics were coming up. So I started searching the computer only to find that random photos some how didn't make it to my computer. It's very strange, but it wasn't just one day that didn't make it, but several pics from different days. I don't know what happened, but we can't find them. I'm pretty upset but I learned that I will always follow my usual plan and not rush like I did this time. So....sorry that I don't have any photos to share with you today. I won't make the same mistake twice.