Ode to Laura

Yeah, so the arena I work at is filled with about 50 men and women in black and navy blue suits scurrying about getting the place ready for a big event today. It almost feels like if it's going to be a big wedding or a presidential visit. The speakers inside and outside have been blasting classical music since I arrived at 8:00 AM. Caterers have arrived and seem to be setting up some tables for later. All of this and my office has not mentioned a word to me. Oh and to top it all off, I am easy to spot because I am the only person not in a navy blue or black suit wearing a blue shirt (instead of white or white with some checkered pattern which seems to be popular) and brown striped pants. Forget sticking out like a sore thumb, I am the hand that's so gross you need to hide it in your pocket for the entire event.

Now that I have finished venting, I will recount the events of yesterday. I visited Uchinoura elementary. The kids were very excited to see me. I have to say that I was not as excited to see them at first, but the visit proved to be extremely entertaining for them and for me. The only thing I could live without during these visits are the shaking of the hands. Everyone here (including adults) find shaking hands such a novelty that they try to practice with you almost every chance they get. As children tend to exaggerate some of these novelties, they spend the whole time randomly shaking your hands (YES, handS, both of them). I have never been so aware of the passing of germs in my entire life. As the weather is changing here, everyone seems to have the beginnings of a cold or some sort of "flu". However, since blowing your nose is not culturally acceptable, everyone slurps(?) up their snot and wipes their nose with their hands. The worst is when the children laugh really hard and a big cloudy one just plops out of a nostril and onto their mouth. They proceed by wiping it and licking their hand then shaking mine. I have never taken so many breaks to wash my hands. Anyway, it was fun.

After work, we met with Jill and Laura to go change Laura's oil, fill up her tank with gas and change her windshield wipers. Laura and Jill are going to Fukuoka this weekend so I guess she just wanted her car in tip top shape. Speaking of Laura, this seems like an excellent time to mention how many wonderful dinners I have had at Laura's house. When I say dinner, I am not giving it enough credit. They have been more like feasts. She always has tons extra so we just sit and eat for hours. I usually hate pasta (and Mom, you can verify this), but Laura's pasta and sauce were simply delightful, not to mention her countless garlic rolls and abundant salads. To top it all off there is usually our choice of Haagen Dazs ice cream. Most recently, I have been choosing espresso which I urge you to try if they have it in a supermarket near you. As for her next endeavor, Laura will host Thanksgiving Feast Extravaganza 2004, a dinner that shall live in infamy. I eagerly await November 23rd (Labour Thanksgiving Day here, a holiday) where Laura will shower us with more of her amazingly delightful cooking. And if I have not said so already . . . THANK YOU LAURA for all your tasty evening celebrations.

Now that I got done with that, I can continue. Actually, no. The reason I just went on about that is because Laura was angry that I had mentioned her "midwestern dinners" were a bit sparce AS A JOKE on a post ages ago which she has not been able to get over. However, we have had several dinners at her house since then that have truly been as described earlier on this post.

Anyway, after getting Laura's car matters settled, we went to Unqlo to buy Kaz a birthday present that we will take to her small birthday get together today that she is having with the members of her adult conversation classes in Koyama. After Uniqlo, we went to the Bluebird Tea Room for dinner.

I have to go now, but before I do, let me just remind you of how truly scrumptious the dinners have been at Laura's house.