Biscuits, babies, and a potluck

A couple of weeks ago I went to my friend Reiko's house for an annual potluck dinner.  I went last year and had a great time despite not speaking any Japanese whatsoever, so I was excited that I might be able to do something more than smile a lot and gesture wildly this year.  I also had not seen Reiko since she had baby Lisa in August.  I had not realized that there had been a memo after last year's dinner.  This year was BYOB.  Yep, Bring Your Own Baby.  There were THREE.  I guess it's that decade in my life isn't it.  I'm not sure I am ready for that, cute as it may be.

Anyway, I met Reiko when she worked as the art teacher at my school.  She studied lacquerwear in university, and her husband, Michael, is half American, half Japanese.  He is a potter.  Karen and I went in for a lesson with him once, and despite his infinite patience, our mug/bowl/flowerpots look an awful lot like a mother's day present from a seven year old.  Oh well, they still let me hang around their house with all of their artist friends, so I don't mind.  That said, last year at dinner when we were doing the introduction game it went a little like this:

"I'm Machiko.  I make metal jewelery."

"I'm Mauricio, from Mexico.  And I've been doing pottery for 16 years."

"I'm Miki, and I am studying pottery."
"I'm Yoko, and I'm a painter."

"I'm Bastien, and I'm broody and French and studying lacquerwear in Japanese." (okay, okay, this may not be verbatim)

"Ummm, I'm Maggie, and... I teach English....."

Yeah, it's really hard to have a more cliche job than teaching English, but at least I teach at a public school with a bad reputation??  Still, how can that possibly compare to lacqerwear and Mexican potters?  It just can't.  Also, of the four foreigners there, two were fluent in Japanese.  And the third was Bastien.  And he is French.  I just could not win.  But everyone was wonderful, the food was delicious, and hanging around a Japanese house with a lot of Japanese people eating and drinking an evening away made me feel like maybe I wasn't a big scary foreigner.

So this year I went back armed with a little more Japanese.  And pepperjack cheese biscuits.  Because what more classic and delicious and easy American recipe can you imagine?  And who can resist butter and cheese laden  carbohydrates?  You'd think that in Japan, of all places, people would be able to turn away.  Not. A. Chance.  I saw women as big as my pinkie tuck away two BIG biscuits.  It was incredibly satisfying.

 Photo note: I had seen the white guy on the far right at the driving center and wondered who he was. Well, now have I met him, his lovely wife, and their adorable baby.  There is a very good reason some Japanese people think that all foreigners in Japan know each other.... one way or another, we kind of do.

Mao, the Mexican potter, and his Japanese-Mexican wife, and their adorable daughter all came this year, so I had a great chance to realize just how much Spanish I have lost.  I could understand everything we were talking about, but stringing together a sentences was like pulling teeth, and half the time they came out in Japanese, which is particularly ridiculous considering that I DO NOT SPEAK JAPANESE.  Fortunately, Mao and his wife both speak Japanese and somehow managed to understand what I was talking about.  Or maybe they didn't...  Dios mio.

This is me and Baby Lisa.  When Reiko passed her to me, she and couple women started laughing.  I panicked for a moment thinking I was doing something wrong, but I couldn't imagine what.  No, no, not to worry, this was not some big cultural faux pas, they had simply gotten the giggles because of how small Lisa looked with me compared to Reiko.  Then I reached out to get something while holding Lisa (very securely, I might add, there are no dropped babies in this story) in one arm.  Oh. My.

But I can see their point.  Though the photo looks pretty normal to me, Lisa looks an awful lot more like a toddler in Reiko's arms.

Yep, I may not be an artist, but I guess I am pretty darn good at holding babies.

Ummmm, cool?

Let's just pretend that didn't happen

It's been months.  I know.  In fact, it has been 3 months almost exactly.  But let's just pretend that none of that happened and dive right on into the ALT Soccer Tournament on the island of Awaji, November 2010.

Only a week ago I was riding in a car with Yoko, Marc, and Creighton on our way home from a gorgeous weekend at the soccer tournament in Awaji.  As sore as we were when we got into the car, attempting to get out of the car for dinner at a rest stop was a significantly slower and more agonizing process than we had imagined.  Bracing myself on the car door in order to hoist myself out of the backseat, I had an awkward and painful preview of what old age might be like.  But sore muscles and bruises make you feel like you have accomplished something.  And what we accomplished was our best tournament to date, with the women taking 3rd and the men playing the best they ever have.

Perhaps you will recall this summer's tournament in Nagano where the women also took 3rd under the guidance of the phenomenal sisters, Stacy and Shaun.  Going into Awaji we were more than a little concerned about our missing sister safety net, but thanks to teamwork, sheer determination, and Coach Damo patiently explaining how to play the game (did you know that it's live play after a penalty kick?  well, we didn't), we pulled it together and took a satisfying third place.  And I think our men, having finally been able to play hard in a tournament of like-minded (re: serious about soccer and fun as opposed to some of the Nagano teams who were simply serious about being jerks) teams, had a great time and played better than ever.  We will definitely be heading back to Awaji come spring time.

All of the photos were stolen from Bill's facebook album of the tournament.  I would have taken my own except that 1) did I mention my camera broke in an unfortunate bike accident in Hokkaido in August?  and 2) it's hard to take photos while you are trying to defend a goal, and 3) Bill's photos are fabulous.

You can see two clips of our women's team at around 1:46 of this video from the tournament website.  Also, the human tunnel featured in the video is an Ishikawa FC tradition, win or lose.