Sumi climbs

Sumi has found a new spot to hang out. Notice the tattered curtains.
Sorry it is sideways, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it.

Sumi Video 1

I just noticed a little video button while creating my last post, so I am trying to upload a video of Sumi when he was only 3 or 4 days old. I can't believe how much he has grown. He used to fit in the palm of my hand and now I have trouble holding him with one arm.
Let me know if you are able to view this or not.
I hope it works!

Kit Kat

I have been wanting to do a Kit Kat blog for a while! Over there in America we have only a few kinds of Kit Kat, but here in Japan there are more flavors of Kit Kat than you could imagine. I will post them one at a time, just to give those of you of who look at my blog often something new to see. So far I have found 17 different flavors, not including the original plain one. Some I have tasted, others I have bought to give away. If you see any flavors that look particularly good to you, I’d be happy to mail a piece of candy to you! Just let me know which one you like. Also, the flavors only stay out for a month or so, and are seasonal, so if I can get it, I will, but if it is gone already, then tough luck! But I will try. Some people think I am becoming a little obsessed with finding different flavors, but you know some people collect stamps, coins, or cookie jars, I am collecting Kit Kat’s. And I buy them to eat or give away, so everyone can enjoy them!
Let’s start with the big bags, some of you have already seen these, and hopefully tasted them. There is banana, Sakura (cherry blossom), and anko (あんこ). Of course I must be careful with that spelling because if you change just one vowel, it becomes something completely different, although it looks similar to me.

Sumi's 1st Halloween!

Sumi is not very cooperative when it comes to dressing up. I have no clue as to why. He looks so cute! I tried a kimono, a sweater set, a grass skirt and bikini, even a hat, but he hated them all. For Halloween, I designed a T-shirt. This one he couldn't take off! I got a black shirt (yes I realize he's black too) and used markers to draw a jack-o-lantern face on it. If you look carefully, one sleeve says “す”and the other says “み” for his name. Also am including some pictures of him in a hat that he hated and a hula outfit that he hated even more.

eggs or cheese?

Now can you see why I tried to make quesadillas with this?!
What am I supposed to do with 2 pounds of shredded eggs!

Happy Halloween!!

Yes, it is early, but hey, most people here don’t know when Halloween is anyway. Actually, I had no hula this Sat, so it was the perfect time to throw a Halloween party! I had 11 people here in my little apt to celebrate. I decided to have a pumpkin contest with tiny pumpkins I bought. Of course there was lots of food. My downstairs neighbors, Matt and Hitomi, made tako yaki in orange, black, and green. I made meatballs, salad, chicken rice, deviled eggs, chips and salsa, and jello eyeballs (which everyone said were too gross looking to eat). I also attempted to make quesadillas, which failed miserably as the shredded cheese I bought turned out to be shredded eggs. I swear it totally looked like cheddar cheese! And who shreds eggs! I also made little cakes for (almost) everyone. I decorated them as graves. They tasted pretty good and everyone enjoyed them. We played a game called “Apples to Apples,” which was fun.
The only one to dress up was Theo, who came as Anna Nicole Smith's ghost. Although as he is not used to wearing a bra, his boobs were up around his shoulders. Then he complained about how uncomfortable it was to wear. Oh really! And I as hard as I try, I can't get his picture straight! He said he got some funny looks on the ways over. I wanted to do more of a costume, but I was so busy prepping and cooking that I had no time.
Sumi was very well behaved. He was a little freaked out by all the people, so he stayed in my room, but he had many visitors.
Out of 11 people, only 5 of us were from the US, and 3 had never been to Halloween part or carved a pumpkin before. So it was nice to share some traditions and we had a nice time.

Jellyfishing and Sports Day

Wow, it has been a while since my last post. Things are going fine here, just busy as always.
Just a quick recap of what I’ve been up to. A few weeks ago I was at Kada and they had their Sports Festival and I went fishing again with them.
There is the jellyfish that unfortunately decided to swim close to children with long sticks.
An oil slick in the water.
The disgusting bugs that scared me when I peeked over the side and saw a million running around inches away from me. They were giant.
Now I am at Kishi, and they had their Sports Festival yesterday which was quite fun. This school is much bigger than Kada so instead of only two teams, they have 15. Each team/class makes a flag. Some of the kids are great artisits. My favorite event was one where they had to do some funny things like pop balloons and hop in a potato sack. One girl could not pop the balloon no matter how many times she sat on it, the air just kept oozing over to a different area. She was just too gentle with it. I thought it was quite funny to watch. I've already said how I do not want to use pictures of the kids on the blog, so I fuzzed out their faces. Now they look a little creepy, but I can post them.