In Hawaii

I know this is "My Japanese Adventure" blog, but just a quick note about my trip so far.
I flew in to Hawaii on Thursday, and leave for San Jose on Wed. It has been quite busy here. I visited with my Grandpa on Friday for dinner, went shopping and to a really pretty park on Saturday, and the beach on Sunday. It isn't quite the same without Lady around. I'm used to having her follow me around the house, patting her on the head, and giving her lots of doggie hugs. I see the spot on the curtains where she would always poke her nose through to check out the goings on outside. I miss her.
Well, now I am at the Coffee Bean for the 4th time in 5 days (I missed Sunday dangit!) They give you free WiFi access for one hour with a purchase. Hopefully I'll get to do a little more shopping today, but money is starting to run low, and I'm only on the first leg of the trip!
I have also been receiving updates from Sumi's kitty-sitter. He seems to be doing fine. She sent me a picture of him lounging on the 14 year old cat's bed. I hope he didn't get his little butt kicked for that! It is MUCH hotter in Japan, so the kitty-sitter told me "Sumi expands because it was hot today. The tongue was seen only a little." hee hee!! I really shouldn't laugh, because she is trying really hard to speak English and tell me about Sumi. But still, it's really funny!! That is what machine translated English sounds like.
Anyways, things are fine here. I'm having a good time, and I look forward to the next part of my trip.
I am trying to get a few pictures up, but the website isn't cooperating, so check back later for pics.

Almost Vacation Time!!

Well, it's Wednesday night, and I dropped Sumi off at the kitty-sitters. He was a little hesitant. Just sat in a little ball or walked around a little. I of course was in tears. It is really hard to leave him after constant care for 2 1/2 months! But I have full confidence that he will be very well taken care of. Me on the other hand... No, soon I will be surrounded by family and friends.
So I leave Japan at 7pm on Thursday, and arrive in Hawaii at 8am Thursday. I'll be going back through time!
It is now almost 11pm, so I guess I should start packing.
See you soon!

a tiny jolt

Wakayama just had it's own little earthquake! It was a 2.9, and centered right here.
For those of you interested, this website is great for any weather/nature related information on Japan: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html
And aren't animals supposed to sense these things. Sumi was fast asleep. I think he's broken.

My Weekend

Well, I don't know if you all are keeping up with your Japan news, but we have had a few natural disasters this weekend. None of which affected me luckily. There was a 6.8 earthquake, but it was pretty far north of me, so I didn't feel a thing. Then there was a typhoon that hit Okinawa and Kyushu pretty badly, but turned before it made it to Wakayama. We had lots of rain and a thunderstorm last night, but I am not sure if that was related to the hurricane.
So, I played it safe and cancelled my trip sown south for a Fire Festival in Nachi. Although with all the rain, it would have been a wet stick festival.
Sumi had his first vaccination on Wed, and his first play date on Monday. I took Sumi to the place he will be staying while I am gone to meet my friend and her cats. Sumi is still young and naive, and I'm not entirely sure that he knows he's a cat, so he wasn't even paying attention to them. But the two "queen" cats (one is 14, and the other about 9) hissed at my poor little baby. He looked too tiny next to them! But he seemed pretty comfortable in the house and quickly found two places he liked to hide in. My friend and her family love cats, so I am sure he will be well taken care of while I am gone.
Also on Monday, which was a holiday here, the Jr. High schools in Wakayama City had a basketball tournament. I am at Kishi now, and the basketball coach took me to the game to watch. Before you all get too excited, the coach is a 22-year-old girl. She is super nice, and exactly the same height as me! Since all the schools were playing, I was also able to watch 3 of my other schools as well. Kada (the smallest) lost, Nishiwaki lost, but Kishi and Fukko won, and played each other at 4pm later that day. I couldn't stay for the second game, but Kishi won. So now they move on to the prefectural game next weekend. It was lots of fun, and I surprised many students by coming because no one from the other schools knew I would be there. The girls made good cheerleaders in the audience, and cried their little eyes out when the boys lost. It was weird. I do have pictures, but I realized that I shouldn't post pictures of the students without their parents permission, and instead of alerting them all to my website, I figure it is easier to just not put up their pictures.
So I had a nice weekend. This is my last week of school before summer break (YES we are still in school!!). I leave for Hawaii on July 26th, and California on Aug 1st. I will be very busy trying to visit as many people as I can, so it will not be relaxing, but I am excited to see and talk with everyone!!
So, more pictures of Sumi and his crooked tail.

update

I haven't posted anyting for a while, so I just thought I'd do a quick update. I finally found a kitty-sitter for Sumi while I am gone on my trip. It was really difficult to find someone to watch him for a month, but luckily a girl from hula volunteered. I am so relieved!
The weather has gotten a little better, but I really can't complain after hearing about California and the west coast.
No celebrations for the 4th here. I have been doing a lesson on Independence Day, and I play the students our National Anthem, and all they ask me is how much my ipod and speakers were. Oh well, at least they were interested in something.
I have started packing. I have to be careful not to pack Sumi too! I don't plan on bringing much clothing, and then I'm going shopping! I can't get shoes here at all, and very few clothes.
Since I haven't been doing very much, I will post a few more pictures of Sumi. He is very interesed in the shower and he is finally big enough to hop in. I thought he would be upset once he realized there was water in there, but he was happy to check it out. I included the picture of his back so you can see his coloring. In many pictures he looks all black, but he really is black with gray stripes.
I hope this next weekend will be more exciting!