2009

Happy New Year everyone!

A Year in Review

What did you do in 2009 that you’ve never done before? Played badminton, celebrated our anniversary, flew domestic Japanese airlines, got pregnant

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any last year because they're always forgetten, so no.

Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend, Reiko and my sister

Did anyone close to you die? Jeremy's grandfather

What countries did you visit? Only Japan, but within Japan we visited Hokkaido and Okinawa.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? healthier eating habits, more motivation to study/learn Japanese, a neater house

What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? June 28th - our anniversary, October 19th(ish) - the positive test

What’s your biggest achievement of the year? conceiving

What’s the best thing you bought? our vacations!

Whose behavior merited celebration? the Knapps for all that they do for us

Where did most of your money go? vacations, student loans

What did you get really, really excited about? vacations, baby stuff

Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Thinner or fatter? happier, richer, fatter, LOL

What do you wish you’d done more of? traveling, learning Japanese, exercising, taking better care of my body in general, studying God's Word

What do you wish you’d done less of? worrying

How did you spend Christmas? with Jeremy at a resort in Ishigaki

Did you fall in love in 2009? even more so

What was your favorite TV program? still Seinfeld

What was the best book you read? the Bible

What was your greatest musical discovery? Jeremy's video game music

What did you want and get? vacations to Hokkaido and Okinawa, food items, webcam, heat, love and support

What did you want and not get? a cat, but I know we won't be getting one until we're back in America. :-(

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 27, and Jeremy made me my favorite meal: meatloaf and mashed potatoes with NY cheesecake for dessert, and then we watched a 'chick' flick together.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying: getting in shape

How would you describe your personal fashion concept for 2009? simple and buisness casual

What kept you sane? Jeremy

Who did you miss? everyone back in America

Who was the best new person you met? Our two new secretaries

A valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: listen to your body - stop eating when you're full, drink when you're thristy, stretch, get up when you wake up, etc. It makes life so much more pleasant!

Taketomi Island tour

So we're back from our vacation! We had a great time and enjoyed every moment, and look forward to our next Club Med (or other resort) vacation! Seriously, the pictures and videos cannot do it justice. It was awesome and we highly reccommend it to anyone. We met many great people, tried many new things, and ate a lot of delicious food. Here are some moments from our first full day:

Jeremy in the souvenir shop trying out some hats:

Me by some shisa:

We took a water buffalo cart ride through the town:

Some of the beautiful roadside:

Our buffalo had to go #1 during the trip...

A view of Taketomi village (340 people live on the small, flat island, and the number possibly includes the water buffalo population):

The coral and sand taken from the nearby beaches that cover the roads:

Some star-shaped sand from Kondo(?) beach - a type of small coral:

A view of the beach:

Us at the beach:

Random pics/videos around Club Med Kabira

How we got there: A view from our bed: The swimming beach:
Doing some archery: Jeremy's skills: Some cool acrobatics at an evening show - it's so strange to get to know all these people (Club Med staff members) throughout the week at their usual jobs and then see them in the evening like this:
The place we ate all of our delicious meals: Our mad pingpong skills:
The schedule of events for Christmas Eve and Day: The beautiful flora near the dinning room: The trapeze:

Christmas eve Hawaiian dancing Okinawan style: Children making Christmas cookies: The Christmas Eve show, Under the Sea:
Evening dancing at the bar: Jeremy on the awesome bed: Me with our Christmas gift from Club Med - chocolates, which ants later attacked with extreme prejudice and Jeremy still consumed.

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we spent the morning on a local tour around our area of Ishigaki Island. It was a very cloudy, rainy day so we were glad we had something extra to do! Inside the glass bottom boat tour:

CM Friends: A view of the boats at Kabira Bay: The black pearl farm in Kabira Bay: A strange statue from when the emperor visited a few years ago: The beginning of pearls - these clams have just been implanted with an irritant that will cause them to form the pearls, in a week they'll be put in the farm: A disection of a clam with a pearl: The awamori factory - a famous local sake: Jeremy posing in front of an old Okinawan home at Yaimura village: We had tea, okinawan cake, and a traditional music lesson in the tea house:
Afterwards, we visited a monkey sanctuary - this lady decided to 'feed' the monkeys, but they mostly just helped themselves! We saw them squeezing the juice from the sugar cane, preparing to make brown sugar: I found this lobster-formed straw in the ladies bathroom interesting: Our weather that day and some neat bushes: A local Ishigaki elementary school band came to play for us: Me at the bar before dinner: Us with 'Santa' - they were doing family pictures here: Another 'family' picture with our new friend, June: The evening show, "Dream show" about a child and her toys:

Adventures in watersports

Jeremy had been talking about trying windsurfing for several days, so after the weather cleared up he finally tried it and loved it! Here are a few precious moments for you to enjoy in order of activity:






He also wanted to try sea kayaking, but wouldn't go without me. I would have loved to have gone, but I was a bit worried as the doc specifically said NO SWIMMING. Sigh. Now Jeremy says I can tell people I married a windsurfer. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Three parties down, one more to go! On Saturday night we had a lovely time at Toshiko's enjoying sukiyaki for dinner and delicious Christmas cake and apple pie for dessert. We were even graced by the company of Simon, a previous Bell teacher, who was visiting in the area.
Our first REAL taste of Christmas cake! This is what a traditional Christmas cake looks like in Japan - a must have for every Japanese family. It's amazing the kind of detail and edible goodies they put on them!

And yesterday, we had both Bell school parties. Sadly, very few children came to the Christmas party, which we were somewhat expecting as few actually signed up to come. Last year we had about 120 people, at least half of whom were students, and this year we had only 12 students. Yes, that's right! We still had fun though!! Here is Jeremy making his appearance as Santa Claus:

Who knew Santa had to go through agility training?

So today/tonight we're quite busy getting ready for the trip, cooking, running errands, and attending our friend, Akiko's party. Sooo... We wish everyone a fabulous Christmas and we'll 'see' you again when we return home with many pictures - of course!

-The Bowmans+1 (12w4d)



*edit* Baby Bowman is soo cute! I just watched the DVD of the last two ultrasounds the hospital gave us and I could see and understand so much more now that I'm not laying on the table! I didn't notice its chin, nose, and ears before! Baby has an adorable face! And the tiny arms and hands with fingers that open and close! I could tell that it's already kicking and punching me, but of course I can't feel anything yet, haha. That's all. :-)

Oh! And it's the first day of winter! Winter... if you hear me... please hurry by, we miss the warmth, no offense...

Shot update

Thanks everyone for your advice and opinions! So, after more consideration and prayer we ultimately decided that it would be best to wait a few months before getting the H1N1 vaccine. I was scheduled for this morning, and called and cancelled a few hours before (sorry!). I figure since it's still so early on (11 weeks) and the baby is still in its critical stage of development, plus the greatest risk of contracting the virus is in the later stages of pregnancy, that it would be wisest to wait. Fortunately, I heard H1N1 is at its peak here now, and in a few months I probably won't even need the vaccine. So here's to our health this holiday season and beyond! I plan on wearing those popular masks while traveling and in the classroom, and of course, the usual staying-healthy methods.

PS. Those masks are annoying though! They are common here, people wear them both while sick and while preventing sickness, so I don't look out of place - BUT they do tend to steam up my glasses from time to time making me look a little odd, lol.

Shot or no shot?

Hmmm... I'm wondering now if I should get the new flu shot. I've never had a flu shot before, and I've never had the flu (that I can remember). But sooo many people around me have it or live with someone who has it. Apparently, Yamaguchi is the hardest hit area in Japan right now, go figure it's where I live. :-p The vaccine is only available to women with infants less than one year, pregnant women, the chronically ill, and elderly right now. A good friend of mine suggested it today especially as we'll be traveling in a few weeks and I work with kids every day. I know there's pros and cons to it, but I'm not exactly sure what they all are. What do you think?