Bullfight...Sort of.

This weekend I had my first Okinawan bullfight experience. It was very different than I had imagined. During my undergraduate years, I went to Spain and studied there for a semester. The bullfighting experience there is quite gory and involves a crazy man (in my opinion) and one bull in a ring. In Okinawa there are two bulls who "fight" each other. They have handlers who hold onto a rope attached to the bulls' nose the entire time.

The bulls basically push each other around. The looser is the bull who gives up first. I think this one we went to was more for show than the real competitions they often have. Apparently they hold real competitive matches with judges and possibly a little betting on the winner.

Of course there had to be quite a few performances by kids. The Japanese love being entertained!

As many of you know, I HATE clowns and anything or anyone dressed up, it just creeps me out. This guy was no exception, but Laura was brave enough to take a picture with him!

At the end, we went down into the ring where they brought out an old bull and you could take a picture next to it OR sit on top of it. Of course I couldn't be a wimp, I had to get on! Only in Okinawa!

Here are my friends Laura and Sabrina with me and the host, the creepy clown and of course a girl dressed up as a cow because, well why not?

Texas Part II

I am so sorry my blogs are not quite Japanese-y. I do venture out, but it is to do everyday things that don't seem blog-worthy. So I apologize if you are reading this blog to see all of the cool things we have done in Japan, and you see posts about the zillion times we have been to the States! When John comes back we will do a few more touristy things, I promise, but for now, I guess it is the "Andrea Show". Ha ha!

Hopefully you all had a chance to see the snow madness we got in Texas. I am still shocked over the amount we got, and the havoc it caused in that town! Here is my younger brother, Jacob's huge snowman!

I have to post a few more pictures of the trip. Here are my cousin's girls who greeted me at the airport when I got into Dallas.

The next few days we spent at home because the roads were so horrible. Fortunately, my brother Daniel has a 4-wheel drive truck and was able to trudge through the snow so we could see them on Christmas. Here is my nephew, Cade who is too cute for words!

I love this boy!

Finally I was able to go with my dad up to Oklahoma city to see my grandmother and some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. As soon as I walked in here house I saw this and immediately staked my claim to it! My dad had the same idea but I called it first!

See, my gramma is a fabulous seamstress and always has a quilt in the works, so when any of us go over there and see something we really like, we have to put our name on it before someone else does since the family is so big! Luckily gramma saw how much I was in love with it and let me take it home. It is so fitting for our home and our life here.

For some reason my cousin Chris and I thought it would be funny to wear my grandpa's suspenders, and Jacob found some old sweatbands and tube socks!

Back at my mom's house I had a fun time playing with her new West Highland White Terrier or Westie, as they are known, his name is Cooper and he's adorable but made me realize how much I do not want to ever have a new puppy!

On New Years Day I had lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousins, then it was back to Dallas to get ready to head home.

The night before I left I got to have dinner with some of my best girlfriends. It makes me sad that I can't be around them all the time I really miss them.

Now I am home safe and sound. The flamingos are out of my yard and I am working on my very last class for my master's! Woo hoo!

I Got Flocked!

I made it back to Okinawa safely and even got bumped up to business class on the long leg of my trip. It made for a MUCH more pleasant ride! I guess all of those trips back and forth to the States has paid off with the airlines!

Two days after I got home, I woke up and heard some kids laughing and talking very loudly outside my house. I peered out the window to see what was going on and I spotted a pink flamingo. Uh oh. It happened to me. I got flocked!

The youth group at our church are always coming up with ideas to raise money and I think this is the most fun one yet. Anyone can pay them to put a little heard (or whatever you call it) of plastic flamingos in another person's yard. They usually sneak around in the middle of the night so you have a big surprise when you wake up. You can also buy flocking "insurance" to protect yourself from this happening to you! I think it is hilarious. I knew they had started doing this, but didn't think it would happen to me! This definitely made my day!