Latest Belly Shots

Here is may latest belly shot, taken last week as we were headed out to dinner. This is me at 28 weeks. I'm a little concerned that I still have 12 weeks to go, since I'm already feeling HUGE. On our way to dinner, our taxi had to stop to let the below procession of people go by (carrying a shrine on their shoulders). We still aren't sure what this was for or where they were headed but it was still going strong when we headed home from dinner too (note that it was a different group of people too). I especially got a kick out of the gigantic sumo wrestler leading the pack in the first picture.

Dinners with the Jensens

I'm posting these pictures because dinners with the Jensens have become a weekly affair for us. Sometimes we'll go out but mostly we'll eat at either of our places. Trish and Seph live just two floors up from us and are having their first baby this Wednesday (we know its this Wednesday because she's having a scheduled c-section). They're having a baby girl that they're naming Kate, and we're sure our two little ones are going to be fast friends. I'm excited to have two months of "practice" with Kate before our baby comes- since at the moment, neither Andrew nor I has ever even changed a diaper.

Yuriko Hirayama-sensei

Here's a picture of me with one of my favorite speakers from the Tokyo: Here and Now program. She also teaches several classes through the Tokyo American Club on Japanese culture and traditions. I first heard her speak last fall and enjoyed it so much that I took all of the classes that she offered. She even had her students over to her home for a traditional tea ceremony. Since I didn't have this website then, I'm throwing in some pictures from that tea ceremony (taken last fall).

More Tokyo: Here and Now Pictures

Just a few more pictures. On a side note, I'm not too sure how many more pictures of me are going to make their way onto this website. My face is starting to get just as round as my belly and I'm not too happy about it at the moment.

Tokyo: Here and Now

These past few months I've kept very busy planning for the "Tokyo: Here and Now" program that I headed up. The 3 full day program took place this past week and I'm happy to report it was a great success. Tokyo: Here and Now is an orientation program for newbies to Tokyo, where we bring in a ton of speakers to give presenations on Japanese culture and traditions, the Japanese medical system, transportation, touring Toyko, coping with culture shock, and dealing with food and grocery shopping when you can't read any menus or labels. We added several cultural demonstrations this year too- on kimono dressing, Japanese dance, and taiko drumming (some of the participants even got to join in on this one). I attended the program last fall and found it really helpful in getting a handle on living in Tokyo, which is why I volunteered to help with the program this time around. How I ended up chairing the event- I don't know. We had 80 people attend the program. I was also the MC.

The program concluded with a cocktail party reception for participants and their spouses. This gives all of the husbands a chance to meet and hopefully make some new friends too. This year we met another couple who actually just moved here from Annapolis of all places (small world!) and are expecting their first baby next month.

More New Apartment Pictures

Here is the kitchen/dining room. We have a great view of the city from the window in our kitchen. Also a picture of the hallway.

New Living Room: Before and After

Here are some before and after shots of our new living room. Some of you may remember that Andrew lived for a whole month (while I was home in the US) with just the TV and the leather chair for furniture while we were waiting for our stuff that we still had at home in storage to finally make its way out here. We ended up blowing up the air mattress just so people would have a place to sit should any friends come over to visit.