Paige's Skating Lesson

Since Big Sister Marina has been enjoying her ice skating lessons, we got a 4 week intro to skating lesson for Paige. She seemed very excited and anticipated being an "ice ballerina" as soon as steel hit ice. Unfortunately when steel hit ice - it was a bit slicker than she had imagined. After the 1st big fall she implemented a protest against anything below 32 Deg Fahrenheit. Thanks to a quick thinking instructor, the lesson was modified to include sitting on the instructors lap and drawing on the ice with a magic marker. After re-establishing that ice is not mean by nature - she was able to skate from the instructor to the door to end the lesson. Of-course she was so proud to tell mom that she had skated all by herself, even if it was only to cover the 2 feet to the door! Wish us luck for this week....


Mr. Adam pampering Miss Paige with a little ice drawing following an Ice to Rear incident.

Definition of a Metallurgist:

Definition of a Metallurgist:

A pseudo scientist, who uses undetermined suppositions, indefinite theories, and inexpressible hypotheses; which are based on unreliable information, uncertain quantities, and incomplete data; derived from non-reproducible experiments and incomplete investigations; using equipment and instruments of questionable accuracy, insufficient resolution, and inadequate sensitivity, to arrive at timid, tentative cloudy, abstruse, and non-committed conclusions prefaced by the phrase, "IT DEPENDS".

Highlights From Japan

Right now I am sitting in the NWA Worlds Club lounge, waiting on my flight, so I have plenty of time to reflect on the trip. This trip was excessively busy, but there were several highlights.

1. Watching the Japanese react to being bought out by an American company - the medicine is not as easy to take as it is to administer :)

2. Listening to a New Zealander speaking Japanese - no mistaking that accent, even in a different language.

3. Flying in the upper deck of a 747 - WOW.

4. Getting to see the Awesome Cherry Blossoms.

5. Trying to eat round noodles with metal chopsticks.

6. Changing trains a record TEN times in ONE day (UUUgh).

7. Touring the Toyota Headquarters.

8. Shaking hands (bowing) with the President of DENSO (DENSO is to Toyota, what DELPHI is to GM.

9. Riding the Shinkansen again....what a rush to travel that fast on a train.

10. Eating desert at one of our Friends house in the depths of Japan - tasted real Japanese culture.

Japanese Friends

Unbelievable Cherry Blossoms!

On Sunday, Yoshihisa came and picked me up at the Hotel and we traveled by train to the Sunday Meeting. Fortunately there was gospel meeting, so we went to lunch at a local Chinese Restaurant. It was just like ours with a slight twist to give it a Japanese flair. I felt right at home Sheila :) I then went back to some of the friends home for desert, and on the Gospel Meeting. WHAT a treat. Jim Easton was visiting the area, so he participated in the meeting - A New Zealander. His sermon was in Japanese, but it was refreshing to have an English conversation over supper. The three brothers took me to a local Japanese restaurant where we enjoyed Sushi and Tempura. Tempura ranks as one of my favorite Japanese dishes, right next to Shabu-Shabu.

Back in Japan

Just an update from Japan. I got in last night, after a 13 hour flight. With the 14 hr time change, it is stall hard to sleep even though you feel like a zombie. I got up and had a nice breakfast in the hotel - thankful for some Western cuisine (although the eggs were really runny). Yoshihisa is coming to pick me up to take me to meeting this morning - once again it will be the highlight of my trip.

I have posted a couple of pictures that I took from my room's window. There is a beautiful view of Akashi Castle. It is also the season for the cherry trees to bloom, so it is very pretty - hopefully I can snap a couple pictures when I am out and about today.