Holidays

We decided since our prefecture if most famous for its udon, we'd eat some. There are udon restaurants on almost every corner it seems. Udon is a thick noodle, sort of like ramen except (I think) way better. There was even a movie called "Udon" which came out earlier this year, and during that time some of the talk shows had our prefecture featured as the hosts went around eating udon.
This shop looked nicer than some, and was near a park we were visiting. Udon's great beause it's only a few bucks per bowl.
I posted a video of Colette playing with one of her Christmas toys, if the link doesn't work it will soon, just check back later.
And for old time's sake, remember this song from last year? Colette's voice has changed a lot since then.
Our friends Rick and Aileena have graciously offered us their last stamp on their train passes, so looks like we'll be taking a trip out of town, probably to Osaka. We're excited to see a big city, partly to eat Brazilian and/or Latin food, there are many restaurants there.

Its cold inside

Our bedroom sits in a corner that is exposed to the wind but not the sun. On days like today it sounds like a hurricane is going on outside. We try to huddle together to warm up but when it is 50 degrees in the house it is easier said than done.
I wanted to share some interesting tidbits that I learned about this last week. We learned that the color of the license plate tells the other drivers whether the car is considered a large car or a small car. Why would you need to know that? Well it turns out that they determine who is at fault for the accident based on who has the larger vehicle based on the assumption that the larger vehicle does more damage so they should pay more. We thought that was pretty silly, until we realized we have a small car:) Also we think about the states and other countries where the big cars bully the small ones, but that doesn't happen here, plus it is an extra incentive to have small fuel efficient cars instead of big gas guzzling ones.
I had also noticed some cars have some stickers that I assumed meant somthing like biodiesel run or hydrogen run or something but it turns out that one means that the driver is a new driver and the other that the driver is a senior citizen driver. I will have to get pictures of the stickers later. Just a few interesting things about driving in Japan.

Christmas Pictures

We had a fun Christmas, but we missed our families very much.

Christmas in Japan

Opening presents . . .
Sunday afternoon, Christmas eve. . .
Making pies. Colette loves to help but often gets carried away. In the time it took for me to run and put the camera away, she'd flung 1/2 cup of flour around the room.
Lots of friends . . .
Colette opening presents.

Christmas

Colette and Annie were Shepherds in the little nativity at the school's christmas party.

The Japanese love to dress up in costumes, every holiday is like Halloween I guess. There's a wide selection of santa costumes, including "Mannish Santa Girl" and "Pixie Food Santa".
I think the shepherd was a little lost herself. . .
Don't forget Rudolf.

A grim look into the future . . .

Colette the politician

Colette the actress, with Keira Knightly-style lip pouting.

baby pictures

Who needs a lazy boy when you have an obliging daddy to watch movies and eat from.












Here's a bad picture of a picture of the baby last week. I had to go to the appointment without Rob because he had to teach, luckily Lori took me and watched Colette while they were drawing blood and doing the ultrasound. The baby is moving a lot and actually had the hiccups during the ultrasound, it made the doctor laugh to see the baby jump, especially since she was trying to take pictures of the baby's tiny heart.














Arg, sorry again for picking one that wasn't turned...She just looks so cute.













This picture is actually from three weeks ago but I think the baby looks really cute and human like, plus this way you can see the progression. I have another visit next week. The baby, as of last week was 8.14 cm, so a little longer than my middle finger, actually that is the Crown to Rump Length, so it doesn't include the legs. We should find out the sex of the baby by late January.

some more of the park...

While we were at the park there was a a family taking wedding pictures. Rob had the camera at that moment so I asked him to take a picture, he was embarrassed so he tried to be sneaky. He took the picture and turned off the camera, but later when I looked at the picture it was obvious that our little family doesn't go unnoticed no matter how hard we try. I especially like how they are staring right at the camera, and yes we were the only ones over there. I actually cropped this picture so that it was easier to see since we were pretty far away. One of our students said that the reason that they walk so slowly and elegantly is because the wig with all of the stuff in is is really heavy and uncomfortable. It looks cool in any case.





We tried to time our visit to this park to see all of the fall colors. Some of the trees had already lost all of their leaves but there were still some brilliantly colored ones in some places. This park is right up against a big hill, there are more pictures of it further down..









It was really chilly but Colette wanted an ice cream cone. As usual Rob was a good sport and helped her finish, and even helped clean her up after wards. It was like watching a lion clean off a cub after eating, only funnier. She kind of looks like a clown with her chocolate nose and mouth.










Colette had just given me a kiss. She even does the kiss sound now. She is such a sweetie. You can kind of see the big hill in the background. There are beautifully forested hills right next to terribly scarred mountainsides and bustling cities. It is really strange.















Oh sorry I thought I turned this one. Anyway this is the entry way to a ceremonial tea house that is in the park. I just love to see Rob standing next to these tiny doors. He makes them look like playhouses. Colette was awake but she was cold so she just cuddled with her daddy. This was near the end of the visit to the park so we were all pretty pooped.

make-up time

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to the park...of course they are all out of order so bear with me.
This is at a pond near the entrance, you can actually see this spot in the background on the next picture where Colette is pointing. One of my students was telling me that Koi (carp) are actually really expensive, especially the big ones so it is a sign of wealth and prosperity to have some in your pond. My student was actually complaining because she had finally convinced her husband to buy her some little ones but the cats and birds kept eating them. When we went to the karaoke place a couple months ago they had some little ones in a tiny pond and it was covered with chicken coup wire. It wasn't very pretty but since I knew how expensive they were and how hard it is to keep them alive I knew that I was supposed to be impressed. Rob still recoils at the thought of Koi, he says that they are the nastiest fish and that most American fishermen hate them because they ruin the water. Here they only eat they black ones because they supposedly have medicinal qualities.
Colette still can't say her f's so she says pissh, she recognizes them because of her obsession with Nemo. It was hard to tear her away from the fish ponds. She just loves to stand there and point them out for us.









Rob loved these trees. He took a bunch of pictures of them but Colette thought they were pretty boring, especially when she could be looking at...pebbles or as she says kak (rock).
She could play with rocks for hours if we let her. Actually almost all of the pathways just had pebbles so Colette was in heaven. We would walk away from her and say bye-bye trying to get her to come after us, but she would just wave bye-bye over her shoulder and keep on playing with the rocks. Hence the next picture....



She gets so preoccupied about what she is doing that she either doesn't notice or care about the draft of cold air on her bumm and back. Which reminds me Rob taught her the word bumm, so if you say where is your bumm she will smile and pat her bumm and say bumm. I couldn't resist this shot, sorry if this offends anyone:)










These are the fish she's pointing at in the second picture. At one point she actually started to throw her little leg over the curb which really freaked us out so we were sure to not let her get out of arms reach, especially around the fish. It is so much fun to go to places like this with her, she gets so excited.

Sunset

Cold weather and tough decisions

Colette and Annie go crazy when they are around each other. It will be sad when theWatanabes go home and Colette won't have a playmate her age, we'll miss them too; they've been great friends.
Colette dictates from her throne directly behind my head as I drive. She has quite the voice and can really project when she wants to.
We went on a walk for the first time since it's gotten cold, Colette was very happy.
More pictures sharing a seat.
Nicolle and I are trying to decide when exactly to go home to the states, whether in May or July. Both have their risks, since the baby could be born early before we can get good health coverage if we go home early, and the baby could be born so late as to make us stay extra time to wait for its passport. We are looking for jobs all over the States, but also in Spain and Brazil as usual. . . This week we started considering another option which would be to stay in Japan for another bit to save money. we've been able to save more here than in the States for some reason, I guess cause there are relatively few expenses. Of course we'de go home for the wedding, but anyway we're trying to figure things out. congrats Dad on the Dialogue article.

Random pictures

This is a picture of a picture of the baby from two weeks ago. I haven't taken a picture of the picture that I got yesterday but I will do that soon. Sorry if you think its weird to have this picture on here, but Karla asked for it so the people get what they want:) Anyway it is interesting too because they always give us a 3D picture instead of those impossible to figure out pictures they give you in the States. By January we should know if the baby is a boy or a girl, so if you want to take a guess you better do it soon. The doctor said that everything looks normal (another contrast from the States, if things are normal the doctor tells you things are great, maybe because they want you to feel better since you don't actually get to see the baby). Also they finally checked my blood pressure and weighed me. It is kind of random the things that are high tech and the things that are still from the stoneage. We have this card, kind of like a debit card or something, that we have to "check in" with when we get to the clinic. When they weighed me yesterday instead of writing my weight down on a form or anything, I just scanned my card and it put the info in a computer somewhere. For my blood pressure I didn't even have to scan it again, it was connected to the scale so it did it automatically. But at the end of the visit
we had to pay in cash because they couldn't take credit cards.

Rob didn't mention that at the party we danced like fools. Ok, maybe that is an exaggeration. We danced a little though and it was lots of fun. The party was pretty relaxed. There were a couple of games but they were mostly for the adults. At the end of the party the host of the party gave presents to the families with kids. I think that the present that they gave to Colette was more expensive than the present that we gave to the birthday boy. They had lots of candy and bocaditos and thankfully none of them were japanese. Rob played his sax when they blew out the candles so that was really nice. They also played the mananitas, so I thought of my mom. You would have loved it mom. It wasn't even like we were in Japan, we might as well have been in Peru. I had never realized how japanese peruvians look, or maybe it is the other way around. Another funny thing was that that little boy in the blue shirt thought that I was his English sensei, his mom said that he is young so he still can't tell white people apart. I don't think that is a condition exclusive to the young;)
We were driving around after church and took a wrong turn. It was like one of my claustrophobia nightmares, the roads kept getting narrower and narrower. It would have been really freaky if it hadn't have been so funny. There is no rhyme or reason to the layout of some of these neighborhoods and with no street addresses I don't know how any one finds anyone, especially taxis or mailmen.

La fiesta de Jusei

Today after church we went to Jucei's first birthday party, he's a grandson of some of our peruvian friends Alex and Tula. It felt like we weren't in Japan at all, the music brought me back to when Nicolle and I would go to the latin dances at BYU, and reminded me of the Salsa band I played in in Utah, Orchesta Caribe.
We got there on time so no one showed up for another couple of hours, of course.
Jusei and Colette.
Cheesey smiles
We've been bundling Colette up before going out these days, because it's really cold. At night it gets particularly cold, so thank goodness one of our students showed us how to turn on the heaters, each air-conditioner doubles as a heater if you know which button to press. Going to the bathroom at night or getting up to take a shower isn't so fun because it's so cold outside of our room but coming back from the cold hallway into our room is great.
Nicolle's been sick so I got a taste of what it'll be like to teach all of her classes this week. by the end of the month we'll have switched completely so I'm teaching all but two. She's feeling much better and we all went to church today. People have been very nice and have made us some food while Nicolle's been sick.
Sorry for not writing for a while, but this week wasn't very newsworthy, except for the barbie-sized tsunami scare.
Tomorrow we have another checkup, it's always fun to look at the baby; every visit they do a long ultrasound. It's amazing how fast the baby's growing, it more than doubled inbetween the first and second visit, two weeks apart.
I've been looking for jobs in Utah,Texas, Spain, and Brazil; and have applied online to a few, I figure I might as well see what people think of me already. Nicolle thinks I'm worrying about it too soon but it took me 6 months to find a decent job in Texas last time, so 8 months out is a good start. We waffle between going back to Utah or staying a little longer in Texas, or going somewhere completely different. Sorry if we get people's hopes up then let you down, we change our minds a lot.
Well I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving this week. Luckily there's a Japanese holiday this Thursday, or we'd be working; this Thursday is labor day here. We're getting together with all the American teachers from our ward to have a quai-authentic Thanksgiving, I think they bought soem sort of turkey product at the Costco in Osaka last time they went. Regrettably the black olives I found at a local store were pretty nasty, so we won't be contributing those, but I'm going to attempt some sort of apple pie/crisp thing probably.