Tonight, Zack and Ellie got to experience what I grew up doing here in Japan when I was their age... every summer, children enjoy little hand-held fireworks called "hanabi". It means...
"flower fire". They giggled and oohed and ahhed through the whole thing. It was very fun!
On an unrelated subject, the 99 Yen store here is quickly becoming one of my favorite stores here. I smile every time I say "yen" instead of "cent". Today I was very surprised and pleased to find chicken breast packets there...individually wrapped and sold for 99 yen each:)
And finally, I got my bike today...with a basket type seat for Ellie on the back. I was too scared to ride it home, so Jeff walked it all the way back (about 20 minutes or so) with Ellie sitting in her new seat, smiling all the way home. After the kids went down for bed, I went out and practiced around the neighborhood for a while. I'm very wobbly on turns, and I get scared when cars come or other bicyclists come zooming towards me. I'm going to have to practice a lot.
Oh, we met our landlord and family today...SUPER nice people! There was the mother, her Japanese daughter and American husband, and their cute little baby daughter. We thanked them profusely for ALL the wonderful things they did to the home to get it ready for us. We really felt comfortable with them, and hope to be friends.
Gotta go have some snacks now.
Jeff's column offers a mix of reflections on leadership and fatherhood, as well as news from Asian Access.
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