Konpira-san a la sakura

Today Nicolle had her last checkup before going home. Our doctor (Dr. Pooh) has been great, and we've really enjoyed the benefits of an income-based health care system, where we pay little for insurance but recieve great benefits. I know this system would never fly in the States, but it's sure been nice for us here. It's great to have had an ultrasound every visit, two weeks apart.
I saw pictures of Konpira with cherry blossoms, and Nicolle wanted to buy a kimono for herself at a shop there, so we went back to Konpira one last time.


Colette takes a break from climbing back down the stairs. It was quite a workout!

Nicolle's sister Michelle bought tickets for the same flight Nicolle is taking home, so I am very relieved. She'll have someone to help her take the baby home. And Miwa, one of our Japanese friends, is helping us send Nicolle's bags to the airport with the Kuro neco (black cat) delivery service: they charge about $20 a bag and deliver it from your house to the airport. I'm still nervous about their trip, but it seems like things will not be as stressful as they could have been. There's a hotel with free shuttle service about 10 minutes from the airport, so Nicolle will hopefully have a safe, convenient trip back home next week. Thanks Michelle, Miwa, Todd and Guiselle, Mom and Dad, everyone who's helped out so that they can go home safely!

Sakura: the spring cherry blossoms

On sunday we took a break between listening to conference sessions (We're a week behind here, since we're a day ahead . . . try to figure that one out!) and took some pictures at and around the castle. This one's actually in front of Marugame high school, where I think the prettiest cherry blossoms are found.
Colette loves going out and about with the two of us. She runs around waving at everyone she sees. In the background you can see a few tarps and people picnicking, there were hundreds of families at the castle looking at the sakura. We had to park at the school because all the parking was full.
The sakura seems to have a deep meaning and feeling of nostalgia for the Japanese. I can understand why: all the school kids get a two week spring break right during the sakura, and it's a signal of the coming of spring, the weather's warm and the flowers are beautiful. With each gust of wind or breeze a shower of pink petals floats and swirls around like snowflakes. Many songs are written about the sakura, including (if anyone remembers) the theme for the Japanese boxer on Nintendo's "Mike Tyson's punch-Out".

Rob took the country quiz...

You're Brazil!

You're athletic, charming, and probably a good dancer.
Unfortunately, you don't really mind chopping down the rain forest, and you probably
consider homeless people expendable in certain circumstances. Of course, your
personality is so diverse that it's hard to track down exactly what you're like. You
definitely like Pele, the World Cup, and shouting "gooooal" at the
top of your lungs.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Sakura at the castle

fun at school

Sorry I didn't have time yesterday to write about the pictures so here's a brief explanation for those of you that were wondering...
This first one is of Rob teaching his older kindergarten class. He likes it much better than the younger class, for one because he doesn't have to deal with poopy diapers or runny noses, well except for Colette's and he doesn't mind hers:) He also likes it better because there are fewer of them and they are better behaved than the babies. Colette likes this class more too. She especially likes the boy on the far right, when we sit down to watch a video she gives him kisses and pets his head. So strange;)
Next Colette loves to play with her umbrella which she calls "ainy". This day it was actually raining so she got to show off her umbrella holding skills. Lots of people stopped in the street to watch her.
Next is a picture of what we suspect is a "yakuza" car. You might notice the 4's, the benz and the license plate. I just kind of snapped the picture off because another car was coming so sorry it is not very good, but I know that some of you were wondering what they look like so I took advantage that this one is often parked just around the corner from our school. Next we have a picture of some of the girls in Rob's class. Rob did a girl against boy activity and the girls won. You can't tell from the picture but the girls were really excited. These girls are really sweet and cute and I like them a lot, it makes me sad that they aren't regulars, they are just in Rob's class for the "spring special" I don't imagine that they will stay on because the little girl on the left is a twin (her brother is in the first picture, also really cute and sweet, especially when the other boys aren't influencing him:) and they came during summer special but stopped as soon as the special was over. They are 5 years old so they go to regular school most of the time. Lastly we have a picture of Colette in her house slippers. I just bought them for her because I couldn't resist, they were only a dollar and she doesn't have any slippers for the house so she is usually barefoot on the freezing floor and they are boyish so her little brother can have them when they are too small for her. We also have some squeaky shoes that we will bring back, she loves them and although they get a little annoying it is nice to be able to keep track of her, she can be sneaky. And they are blue so they can be hand me downs too. I think I will try to get some video of her with the squeaky shoes on.

belly picture..kind of

Colette likes giving my belly hugs and kisses, so cute. It is a good thing that we took these pictures yesterday, today I feel so huge and uncomfortable that there is no way I could pose or smile. I tried publishing it like 4 times yesterday but it never worked so it seems a little out of place but I think it was too cute to not post so sorry all of you that don't like "cute" fluff on the blog, it is mandatory for lots of other people:)

Silly pictures

Our branch had a fitness activity on Wednesday because it was a national holiday so Rob got to play softball and soccer. Here he is as the catcher. As a side note I should mention that his team won at softball but lost at soccer.
Next we have some pictures of the three of us, I want to give pictures of us to our friends here so that we can try to keep in touch. You might notice how good of a poser Colette is (just like daddy:)

Here's our little totem pole. Colette loved running back and forth while Rob set up the timer on the camera.



Colette is always the center of attention when we go to eat cheap udon. We also discovered that she likes the onions that they put on top of the udon, further proof that she is a Bennion.

I am going to miss this crazy place...

You know you never realize how much you like a place until you are going to leave it. The first picture is of one of my baby classes. The little kids there are so sweet, the do everything I do and they give me lots of hugs and high-fives. The teachers are also really nice and have even come to some of the MIA activities. I hope that I can keep in touch with them. The second picture is of the same kids, but the always rush up to me as soon as we sing the goodbye song to help me get my bag and to give me hugs and stuff. Some of them are super smart too.
The last picture is of Colette on this weird bouncy thing at a park at the end of the ship-factory row. She kept banging her face on the handles when she was trying to make it bounce.
I know I have talked a lot about the healthcare here in Japan but I just can't praise it enough. I am really bummed to be going back to the US to have the baby, if only we could afford all of the other stuff then we would stay.
Rob doesn't believe me but I would like to come back to live in Japan, sometime down the road, maybe in a bigger city, after I have graduated. Who knows maybe we could even come back and have a baby:) If I decide to have another one that is;)

Spirited Away

Yesterday I had a long break so Colette and I braved the semi-warm weather to bike to nearby New Reomo world, a theme park 5-10 km away. Here's Colette in front of the popular "Anpan man", Anpan is a bread filled with sweet bean paste. I haven't really been able to develope a taste for it the few times I've tried it, it's too strange I guess to eat sweet beans.
An ominous figure guards the gate to a roller coaster.
The place reminded me of "Spirited Away" because it was nearly empty and felt kindof eery. There were restaurants lining the entryways and the main gate after the restaurants was just over this bridge over a river. I kept expecting to see "No Face" (the black cloaked character with a white face mask) to appear at any moment. . . "Uh . . . Uh Uhn . . "
Colette rings a bell.
There was an enormous escalator leading up to the zoo part of New Reomo World. I thought it was interesting to ride an escalator cutting through a forest.

Yesterday morning I had the privilege to witness a Japanese kindergarten graduation. It was amazing . . . from the presentation you'd think that practicing for this day was all the kids did all year, they were very talented, but also robot-like. They played drums, pianos, keyboards, xylophones, cymbals, sang, chanted, danced, all with near-perfect unity. At certain times during the very formal ceremony (I was told to wear a suit, everyone there was wearing either suits or kimonos) the kids, dressed in their little graduation caps and school uniforms, would respond and bow all together "a-ri-gato goz-ai-masu!" very slowly and loudly. The graduation lasted over two hours, with many songs, speeches, and presentations, as well as the main school principle awarding each student with individualized diplomas.
When I walked in a man asked me if I spoke Spanish (of course nobody spoke any English) and it turns out that he and his wife (the main principle lady) both lived in Spain for many years. He gave me his card and we talked for a long time. Funny how many times Spanish or Portuguese has been the lingua franca which we communicate in here.
Later while driving home from my last class I heard clips from the graduation ceremony on the news. Apparently Kogaku kindergarten is known for its music program. I couldn't believe what these 4, 5 and 6 year old kids were doing in sinc, sometimes they sounded better than my old high school marching band!

no epic journies yet

We feel like life has returned to the definition of boredom since the Bennions left, but we just have to remember that just being here is an adventure and that even though it seems a little mundane to us you can't get much more foreign than rural Japan. We hope that is what you all think anyway.

This is our sweet loaner car that we got from the shop when our car died. It had Rob at 4-wheel drive. Things just haven't been the same without it.
Occasionally Rob convinces me to leave the house on short excursions to the nearby castle. Colette of course loves it and doesn't seem to mind the cold, even when her lips are slightly blue.
One of the swans at the castle obliged Colette with a free show of how swans bathe, Colette was more entranced by that than she is by tv, I guess it is a sign that real life is better, duh
Here we are on another day that was sunny, walking around our neighborhood. Our house is the one with the blue roof way in the distance, just a stone's throw from the Gunge-cho's (Gunge is the name of our neighborhood) temple. This is actually on the way back but Colette decided to sit on only one of daddy's shoulders and then she gave his head a little hug. So sweet.
This is inside the temple. There were no monks to be found so I took this picture without permission but no one has ever told me I couldn't before so I just hope that it is ok. Anyway, this was quite a large room but I didn't get the impression that it is full very often, there were only three kneeling pillows and two little heaters next to them. I don't know if the doors infront of the actual "altar" (is that what it is called?) open but I assume they do. The craftsmanship on the ceiling and altar are breathtaking.

at the park

Shikoku Mura

The vine bridge.
This was "girl's day" so there were many dolls on display. You can buy sets of dolls like these at a mall, they can be very expensive, we saw some for $5,000.

taking a breather

These pictures don't do the place justice, there were many old farmhouses and assorted buildings from around the island, collected into a villiage on the side of Yashima (mountain plateau near Takamatsu).

Ritsurin park