I lost a week somewhere. Sorry about that. I’ve been busy “assimilating,” which means emptying the dehumidifier, trying not to feel like ‘Mater (from the movie Cars 2) in the Japanese bathrooms, and attending middle school orientation.

First (especially for my Arizona friends), THIS is a dehumidifier:

It takes water out of the air. How much water? Well, we have one downstairs and one upstairs. Each holds about 50 pints of water in that lower half of the unit. I think we empty each one two to three times a day, depending on how much the kids go in and out the doors. In other hilarity, I unpacked our HUMIDIFIER this week and laughed at myself.

We have been out and about a bit the last week or so, although not as much as I would like. I want to do it all, eat it all, see it all, and start right NOW. My children are not as enthusiastic. They want to stay home and play with their new friends in the cul-de-sac or walk to the pool. Matt took Cora Jo and Jet to a festival last Sunday, where they had several groups of traditional dancers. (I took the other two to youth group…again, to hang with their friends…) Matt described it as a kind of state fair, and he took far too few pictures for my taste. He said there was all kinds of crazy food, including squid on a stick (where’s the pic? I ask you!) and puffy snow. Cora Jo and Jet shared some puffy snow (kind of like a snow cone). 

Cora Jo took two bites and declared, “There’s probably tofu in this.” Then she didn’t eat anything the rest of the night.

We ventured into a Japanese department store (Aeon) this past weekend to find pencil boxes and a birthday present. We hardly got through a quarter of it. As soon as we arrived, everyone had to go to the bathroom. Bathrooms here have all kinds of bells and whistles. I am always a little cautious in my approach. Sometimes there are buttons with pictures of little showers and things, so I try to avoid those buttons to keep from being spritzed by surprise. In the Aeon bathroom, the toilet had a little speaker box which I quickly realized was a sound machine that was activated upon sitting. 

At first I panicked when the waterfall sounds began, but once the birds started chirping in the next stall, I realized it was a privacy soundscape. Then the girls wanted to try all the commodes. Lovely. (Sorry if this entire paragraph horrifies you. I have four children, so my tact-meter is a little off.)

Also in Aeon, we visited Mister Donut. 

We grabbed a tray, a pair of tongs, and picked the doughnuts we wanted off the racks. Once at the cashier, they bag them. Matt (aka donut connoisseur) says that the texture is slightly different, but they are still tasty. Memphis devoured hers so fast I’m pretty sure she couldn’t taste it.

Finally, on Saturday, I took our two oldest children to middle school disorientation…wait, I mean ORIENTATION. Look how motivated we are! 

We had a little pep talk from the principal, a tour of the school, and locker combination lock drama (I can talk via video chat with my mom in the states, and we can put a man on the moon, but combination locks are still the bane of middle school experience?) Memphis declared I am ruining her life, and I programmed the principal’s cell phone into my contacts list, while giving him Matt’s direct number. Yup, I’d say we’re ready for school to start. Assimilation to be continued…