No post last night? It was the Olympics' fault!!

So, last night at 9:00, we started watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, live in this part of the world. At about 1:40-ish, they were over. The dinner dishes did not get washed until 10:30.....my shower was finally taken at midnight. **Ergo...no blog post last night.** It was all quite spectacular, but...man! I thought it would never end!!!!

Did you watch? Personally, the K-man and I spent the majority of the time asking each other "How did they do that?". It was all so amazing!! Though it was all quite incredible, they had me at the taiko....or the drumming at the very beginning!!! That just gave me shivers!!! But....pretty much any kind of taiko will do it for me anyway!! But still....it always amazes me how, at each Olympics, the opening ceremonies just keep getting bigger and more elaborate....Lord only knows what is in store for the next Olympics!!

As the K-man and I were watching....waiting for the Japanese and American teams...we entertained ourselves by trying to mimic the Chinese announcer's pronunciation of the countries...it really takes so little to make us happy!! ~~sigh~~

Japanese is a really hard language and I struggle with it pretty much every day....but Chinese!?!? Holy Moly....I have a few friends who speak it and.....I bow down in the direction of anyone who can speak and understand that language because it seems to me to be one of the most difficult ones to master!!!

We were also laughing at how many countries we didn't know!!! I don't know about the English commentators, but the Japanese ones would just say the country and a little bit about the athletes. What I was wanting was "and that country is located......." every now and then!!!!

On the Yahoo pictures this morning I found this......hmmmmmmmm.....I may have to do some investigating on this!!! As the Japanese athletes went by....the K-man and I were talking about the ones we recognized (of which I knew way more than he did!!! Score!!). And then when the American team finally made their way into the stadium....yeah....okay...nice hats, people. Didn't really know much about anyone.

Now....don't get me wrong...I'm all for the American athletes and want them to win. But.... I have to admit that, because I know more about the Japanese athletes....I'm probably going to be cheering for them just a little stronger. Also, please keep in mind, that when it comes to the media....I'm going to see the Japanese games, matches and races....if they happen to be against the Americans, then I'll get to see the Americans (like right now....the American women's volleyball team is playing the Japanese team....reeeeaaaalllly want to get in the living room and watch that!!!). Otherwise, I catch the updates on CNN or Yahoo, or read about the results in the paper.

There are a few sports that I am definitely watching.....swimming, volleyball, synchronized swimming, gymnastics and tonight, I watched and cheered for Ryoko Tani, in the 48-kg division of Judo. This is her 5th Olympics....she got married a couple of years ago and now has a baby. These Olympics were her come-back (of sorts).....and she got the Bronze medal. It was exciting to watch (even though the rules of judo really confuse me sometimes!!!) and yet, so heartbreaking when she didn't win the gold.....she was visibly disappointed....but she did say that she would possibly try one more time!!!

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I have told you before about the whole 'slippers in the house' idea here in Japan and with the heat and humidity happening all around us, the LAST thing I want to do when I come home in the late afternoon, is to put on some slippers. I just want my dawgs to breathe!!!

The other day....one of my students had on a pair of sandals that I really liked and promptly asked her where she got them. One of her friends makes these zori out of cotton....

...they are only to be worn inside the house, like slippers! When I first got mine...they were way too little and I was like "No way!! These are NOT going to work. Ouch!! They hurt!!" But, my friend assured me that after about 3 weeks of wearing them around the house, they would smoosh out and be more comfortable. (*smoosh out....would be what I translated what she said to be...works for me!!*) Okay....so...I put them on and damned if she wasn't right....they do smoosh out and they are getting more comfy!!! She also told me to throw them in the washing machine and that should help loosen them up a bit more!!!
They are great and I really love them!!! With the humidity, the floors are just kind of damp a lot of the time and these work great!!! Plus, I figure that in, yes, you got it, about 3 weeks, they will fit perfectly!!!

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When we were trying to find a name for Koji....I knew that I wanted the name "Koji". The K-man had picked Issei's name out and, in all fairness, I should have gotten to pick the next one. (I was pretty adamant about that!!)

The name 'Koji' has always just sounded really good to me. It's short. Easy to pronounce. And to me, it just sounds really strong...a good name to give a boy. With Japanese names, most people choose a kanji for that particular name. You may find that one name could have 3 or 5 or 6 different kanji, all with slightly different meanings. Plus....each kanji is written in strokes and you must be careful because a certain number of strokes in a character could be good luck or bad. The K-man had found the kanji for Koji's name....2 characters with the last one being the same as his father's. We were set on that...or so I thought.

A few days before we were to go to the hospital to have Koji (both boys were scheduled C-sections!), we were watching TV and happened to catch a commercial with an athlete who happens to also have the name, "Koji"....Koji Murufoshi, Olympic hammer thrower. At the end of the commercial, they put his kanji on the screen and the K-man was immediately drawn to those particular characters.....so we changed our plan. The kanji of Koji's name mean basically "wide spaces"....which is pretty much what he needs!!!

And why am I telling you all this? Well......I will now give to you....

Eye Candy of the Olympic Kind

Koji Murufoshi

The man at work.....
....and at work as the spokesman for FedEX.
(To be honest....I've always thought he was really hawt ("secret boyfriend" matererial, perhaps!!!)...and am tickled that my Koji shares his kanji....maybe that means something good!!!)

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And....before I forget.....

Some "Flamingo Friday" on a Saturday!!!

Someday...after I'm long gone and the boys are going through my things trying to figure out what to do with everything, they are probably going to wonder why the hell I had so much flamingo stuff.....I need to start telling them right now that their Grandma Linda contributed to the collection quite often!!! Here are some salt and pepper shakers that she gave me one year for Christmas!!! (The margarita candle was added just because I thought it fit!!!)