quick June update

I apologize that there are still no pictures to post (I still need to figure that out) but- quick update-

Andrew has arrived and we love having him in Osaka with us. He spent the last month with my brother's family up in NY and enjoyed working on their farm and getting to know this side of our family better. What a treat- thanks, Keith and Lori.

Now however, Andrew's job will soon involve being his dad's murse... (male nurse). Jeph and Andrew will be flying to Thailand on Wednesday. J has his consultation scheduled for Thursday when he will find out exactly what kind of knee surgery he will be having... which we are thinking will involve a total knee replacement. Please keep both of them (travel, surgery, recovery) in your prayers- thank you!!!

While the boys are in Thailand, I (Karen) will be in London all week attending a class for International School Counselors. I am looking forward to being back in the UK- haven't been there since my college semester abroad in 1981! The course schedule is quite full, but I hope I can squeeze in a little sightseeing before heading back to Raleigh at the end of the week. I am excited for the trip and the class, but admit it is hard to not be with Jeph. However, I am thankful that Andrew can be there to take care of his dad- (it's kind of fun in that last summer, J took care of Andrew after his knee surgery- and now A returns the favor- the caregiving will have gone full circle!) Knees.... guess we have to love them and if you happen to have good knees, be grateful!

27 years of wedded bliss!

Well, for some reason, I just discovered that we have "exceeded our quoto" for photos, so... until I figure out how to post more pics (does anyone have any advice?), I will just add a quick update. Yesterday, J and I celebrated our 27th year of marriage! Above our bed is a quote that I love: It doesn't matter where you go in life, it's who you have beside you" - that has certainly been true in our case and I continue to thank God for J and the gift that he is to me. We had a great day, although I admit that we both sort of forgot about it being our anniversary due to the fact that it was also the start of the World Cup Games, but even more importantly, it was graduation here at OIS. What a special celebration- hopefully, pictures will follow.

Senior Class Trip to Okinawa

Although we were all disappointed when the planned trip to Thailand to work with Habitat for Humanity was cancelled due to the political situation, we were grateful for the chance to still get to take part in the senior class trip. The class advisors (J is one of them) worked hard to make a trip to Okinawa a reality.

Oki is a beautiful place- and we took advantage of almost everything it had to offer.. from DragonBoats (this was a riot)
to underground caves (amazing)

to butterfly gardens... we had a great five days!

We also visited the Aquarium, Pineapple village, Glassblowing Center as well as the Peace Memorial, Underground Tunnels, and Okinawa World.

While there, we also discovered the secret to the Oki long-life spans....

Voicethread

Somewhere below you will see a blog about flat Wyatt. To help explain the adventure to Wyatt's classmates we have created a voicethread (actually three voicethreads). If you are interested you can click on the links below to see (and hear) more about flat Wyatt's adventures.

http://voicethread.com/share/1025404/ Flat Wyatt in Japan
http://voicethread.com/share/1025390/ Flat Wyatt in China
http://voicethread.com/share/1025384/ Flat Wyatt in Cambodia

Cambodia 2010

(taking advantage of severe jet lag- thought I would finally get a few posts posted!)

Jeph and I were fortunate to be able to head to Cambodia to take part in a school dedication. Our school here in Osaka, had raised money to build a new school through a Schools2Schools project. The senior class had planned to attend the celebration last year during spring break, but due to an outbreak of the H1N1 virus, the trip was cancelled. Although the school building was completed and open to students, they had saved the dedication service for a time when our school could attend. So... on March 12th, Pete, Jeph and I headed to the SOIS School of Hope in Prey Veng, Cambodia. Here are just a few shots of several hundred that we took!

The children were absolutely gorgeous!

They were fascinated by our digital cameras and the fact that they could see themselves!
Here's J with a group of the boys who now have a school to attend!We also visited the Bright Future Kids Home that worked alongside the New Life Orphanage. Again, Jeph and I had our hearts deeply touched by the children and the teachers/workers who did so much with so little. Here I am with several students teaching them the two songs I could remember how to play on the piano. Chopsticks and the beginning of the Entertainer never sounded so wonderful! From the beauty of the children and schools, we saw the other parts of Cambodia- even more heart wrenching and truly unbelievable. These two shots are from Phnom Penh- the one above is from the Killing Fields Memorial. The building holds over 9,000 skulls from the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

This pic is from the S21 prison - they converted an old school and turned it into torture cells. The whole experience reminded J and I of our visits to the concentration camps in Germany

yet Cambodia felt even more tragic in that it was such recent history- Everyone we met and talked to had family and friends who were brutally killed by the genocide. We came away with such an awe of the resiliency and bravery of the Cambodia people.

We were able to continue our sightseeing around Cambodia and took a 6 hour bus trip up to Siem Riep. Our first adventure was a boat trip out to the Floating Village-

And of course, we had to go to Angkor Wat... A highlight was taking an elephant ride around several of the temples... amazing.

Here we are in front of just one of the 400 faces at Bayon Temple. Other highlights of the trip include some interesting dining experiences- here's J with a trantula (although they called it a big black spider)and here we are on one of 2 escalators in Cambodia. We actually rhode on both of them!

Two other noteworthy experiences include- getting a foot massage at a Seeing Hands Center- where all the workers were blind (a very unique experience) and as pictured above, another interesting foot massage- this time done by tiny little fish! It tickled and sometimes stung a bit but was definitely fun. The best part was that we got great back massages as we soaked our feet!

We really fell in love with Cambodia and found it to be a country full of great promise. From a horrible history to a vibrant and generous present, we look forward to returning and are grateful for the connection we have with the SOIS School of Hope.
(we are hoping to raise enough money to provide the school with solar panels, a computer and a full time teacher - all for a mere $2,000)

Kristin's Graduation 5.1.10

Kristin's graduation weekend was a wild one- complete with moving out of one apartment and into a new one, graduating magna cum laude from Point Park University, running in the Pittsburgh Marathon (she ran as part of a relay team and ran the first leg..a 7 mile run) and
hanging out together! Amberly and Andrew flew into Boston for the weekend and what a blessing it was to be all together again!

Here we are with the truck... completely filled! Hard to believe we moved Kristin to PPU in our family mini van! She now fills an entire 10' UHaul truck!
The gang... so grateful that we could be together. At the Mellon Arena- didn't realize that this was Point Park's 50th anniversary year! Here's K after the Marathon. Still not sure how she did it all, but... she's amazing!Here's Kristin and Kobi in their new home!

some of the funny things about Japan

One of our friends here in Japan posted this list and we thought you might enjoy reading about some of the interesting cultural differences. Thanks for sharing, Denise!

■911 in Japan is 119

■using a dryer here makes clothes MORE wrinkled

■gasoline is ~$6 a gallon

■milk only comes by the pint

■loaves of bread come in slices of 4 (thickest),5,6,8, and 10 (thin slices for sandwiches) and only white

■hot dogs are served at McDonald's as breakfast

■you can do everything from grocery shop to paying your utility bills to buying stamps and movie/concert tickets at the local convenience store

■kids only drink sodas on outings or special occasions

■teenagers put their cell phones in ziploc bags so they can text in the bath

■it costs $20 to see a movie

■getting a driver's license costs about $3,000

■girls give boys chocolates on Valentines Day. To recipricate, they created "White Day" in March so the girls would get a gift.

■to buy a car you have to show proof that you have a parking space...the police come to your house to verify and sign a form

■politicians don't campaign on tv, instead, they drive around neighborhoods or stand at train stations and blast a speech through LOUD speakers

■every store will ask if your purchase is a gift...they will carefully peel off the price tag(s) and gift wrap for free (and very meticulously!)

■you never see your-average-joe on tv game shows....it's always celebrities winning the money and prizes

■you can purchase a $1 item from a vending machine with a $100 bill

■you can get anywhere by train and can get by without a car

■it's cheaper to fly to New Zealand to play golf than it is to golf in Japan

■you always back into parking spaces

■there is no such thing as road rage

■no city street cleaners...people sweep up the area from their porch to the street every morning

■no janitors at schools....the students and teachers clean the entire school, even the toilets (thankfully this is not the case at our international school- I am very grateful for our cleaning staff!)

■people never eat or drink while walking

■you don't find trash cans on public streets

■carrying pocket tissue is a must since most public restrooms don't stock toilet paper and since there are no paper towels, everyone carries a small washcloth to dry their hands

■at some sushi places, if you bring in your own chopsticks you get $1 off your bill

■no tips (anywhere!) and no doggie bags at restaurants

■kids' birthday parties are not a big thing (birthdays are usually just family)

■it's not common and quite a hassle to return things (no such thing as gift receipts)

■Christmas dinner here is a whole roasted chicken (KFC takes pre-orders!) and a white cake (because apparently that's the American way)

■when you get a parking ticket, they don't just stick a paper ticket on your windshield that you can toss in your glove compartment....they stick a metal clip with the violation ticket attached to your front grill...tickets get paid quickly!!

Jeph and I enjoyed several amazing trips this past spring break. hopefully we'll get pics posted soon!