August 11 - meeting friends

The rental car company brought us a van that had been "deodorized". Let's just say that it still smelled like smoke! So, we had to wait a few days to finally get a non-smoking Toyota Corolla. A bit small, but worth the clean smell!

The weekend went quickly. On Saturday, we had a Maloney family wiffle ball game on a dirt field outside our building. The dirt fields are very common here. Running in the dirt (and rocks) can be challenging. It was easy for me to adjust, but not those crazy competitive boys! (Ok, I am competitive too, but I feared injury more than defeat at this point.) Matthew took 2 serious dives and walked away with just some scrapes. Jessica proved that she can hit! She wasn't much for playing the outfield though. The playground was too close by. We found Ikea and Sports Depot. Then, on Saturday night, we watched a 40 minute firework show from our bedroom balcony. Simply incredible. August is fireworks month in Japan, and Kobe hosts the 3rd largest show. We just happened to have a great view.

On Sunday, the boys played rugby for 3 hours while Phillip played softball with a Procter and Gamble team. Then, we went to the fitness center where Matthew swam 200 laps! Afterward, the boys climbed 24 flights of stairs. Are you kidding me? Matthew said that he wasn't really that tired, but he did sleep well, though. :)

Phillip took Monday off and we headed to the Kobe Oji Zoo. The drive should only take a few minutes, but the traffic was bad and the GPS was a bit challenging. We did find it though, and loved it. Our favorites were the Giant panda, koala, and the mother kangaroo with her little joey in her pouch. (see pictures). We noticed her belly was moving. Then, we noticed a little tail pop out. Then, a head. We watched for 15 minutes. This little face would pop out, and then the mom would "smack" the head back in! I assume this was for the child's own safety! The other amazing thing was how close we were to all the animals. The lions and tigers were just across the glass from us. Wow! It rained, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. This is definitely a trip we will make again.

We met new friends this week. On Monday, we had dinner with a nice Procter and Gamble couple from Belgium who lives in our building. (Kids in 6th, 4th, and 2nd.) Today, we met an American family, the Wilsons, (from Florida) that has a 7th grade son! Yea! Both of the adults teach at the Canadian Academy, and have been here for 1 year. They also have daughters in 5th grade and Kindergarten. We hung out most of the day. The boys connected right away, playing football and soccer on the new turf school field. The dad is also the middle school soccer coach. Cool. It turns out that Jacob and his new friend are the only 2 American boys in 7th grade. I am glad they have each other. The funny thing is that my boys showed up in Bama football gear, and these guys (dad and son) were in Florida gear. This should be fun. We are very happy to have new friends!

Tomorrow, we go to school for kids to have testing and interviews. Phillip and I will also be interviewed. The kids will be fine.... Let's hope Phillip and I do ok. :)

Peace and Love.
Tina