Getting there...

So there we were... Ian recovering from his visit with Imai-san and me still feeling a few of the after effects of the gallbladder attack... Luckily it was a quiet week. By the weekend we were all recovered and ready for some fun though. On Saturday morning Joisan went to a party for the track and field club and I went for a swim at the Meisuite. One of the things that the Dr. did say when he was examining me was that I need to lose some weight so I figured the best way to get started on that was to get some more exercise. The Meisuite has a shallow (1m) 25 metre pool and I swam for about 25 minutes the first time. I was well and truely worn out by the time I finished! Afterward, I went to the onsen all by myself! It's the first time I've gone without Hiro or one of the other teachers with me and it was a bit strange but very peaceful.
Joisan's ballet was early on Saturday - she's working on a piece for a performance in November. She's doing a duet on pointe! After dance we went to a jinja festival in Date. It was very reminiscent of the festival we went to in Sapporo last spring. We didn't stay long but we were able to see some performances and eat festival food!


On Sunday Ian and I got up early and attended a family wedding (congratulations Margaret and Ian!!!) via Skype. I think my brother has a photo of me (on the computer) sitting in a chair in the front row! It was really cool to be able to attend and be part of it - I LOVE SKYPE!!!! If you haven't got it yet (and you know who you are!!!) this is your friendly reminder to SIGN UP NOW!!! I was even able to take a few photos from the webcam! It was almost like I was really there... if only I'd been able to enjoy the delicious dinner along with everyone else that was there.
Sunday evening we had the Hayashi family for dinner. As is the norm here, they brought way too much stuff with them - particularly considering all that we had prepared! We made burritos (thanks to a trip to Costco!) and salad and Joisan made cookies for dessert. The Hayashi's are the family who took us to Otaru in July. We really enjoy hanging out with them. After dinner we taught them to play spoons!
Monday was a national holiday (respect for the Aged day) and we had a lazy lazy day. We stayed home and watched tv and slept. We thought about going out... but we let that thought pass and had a great time perfecting our remote clicking abilities!
I'll keep this update short as the next one is more complicated... the school festival week was very busy!