Our first minor dispute

So we have run across our first minor dispute with Yuki. While it's a minor issue, it has the ability to turn into a rather large issue. When Yuki applied, she said that she would eat and can eat anything. Somewhere between her applying for the program and getting here, she stopped eating all meat aside from fish, which can turn into a problem with us as we don't have access to good fish and we eat a lot of chicken and pork.

Yuki has tried pork chops, but I don't know what she really thought of it. She had a VERY small bite of steak and was ready to spit it out. We had a grill out, and she only ate veggies and a little bit of mac and cheese. She is very reluctant to try any sort of meat.

I asked her what she would like me to pack in her lunch for school and she told me veggies and an egg sandwich. I can't see her eating that every day for the next year. She wants all of her veggies cooked too. This is the point where I told her that she is going to need to try to eat American food and that I don't have time to cook veggies in the morning plus get us all ready for work and school. It just won't work.

I don't think she understands the need for her to try new foods.

I might need some help on this one.

I have the best exchange student in the world

So earlier I mentioned how Yuki has a friend from her school in Japan who is on program in Kentucky. Yuki asked me tonight if she could call Haruna to see how her first day of school went. I thought it might be a little late so I called her family to see if it was okay. In the short moment that I spoke to her host mom I had found out that she had a really bad first day of school that resulted in her crying at school and when she came home. Her mom said that she went to bed early and was still really upset with what happened and figured talking to Yuki would sheer her up.

In the few seconds that they started talking I could hear them both laughing. Yuki managed to turn a terrible day for her friend into a great one by just talking and listening. I am really proud of her.

Okay, gloating mom time over with.

Practice, Shopping, and Friends

Tuesday, Yuki had her first full morning of marching band practice. I don't think she was too happy about getting up early in the morning to "roll on the ground" for 4 hours. Hey, that's what she told me! She got her sheet music and we are still working on getting her a keyboard from the school so she can practice at home. There will be music in our house that has nothing to do with video games or played on the computer for once! Yay! Meh, it's a minor thing. Yuki said that practice went well and that she was introduced to everyone in the band. I asked her if she talked to anyone and she said that she had. I'm really excited about that! I really hope she will start making friends.

I took Erica's suggestion and went back to Hyde Park for some more shopping for Yuki. She said that they had close to what she was looking for, but thought it was too expensive. She did buy a few shirts. We went over to DSW and looked at some shoes. She fell in love with the Chucks. That's my girl! Later we went shopping for some clothing for band. Hopefully we'll get her fitted for a uniform soon. I'll be shocked if they have one that will fit her because she is so tiny!

Yuki has been really tired these past fews days, so we took it easy today and watched Wall-E. That is such a cute movie! Tonight she has band practice. I got tackled by a band mom tonight asking me who my kid was, which was followed by "we heard she was coming when we were at band camp! So, where do you want to volunteer?" Those women work fast! What I also find amusing is the comment made by this mom - she made a very simple statement - so, you're a teacher... You look like you're a teacher. Is there something about me that screams teacher? Is it written on my forehead? Please tell me so I can get it off.

So one of Yuki's friends from school is on program with YFU and is living in Kentucky - about 40 minutes from where we live. We called the family and introduced ourselves and explained their relationship. Very much to the joy of the girls, we were able to arrange a weekend for them to meet and have a sleepover. We have set one rule for the two of them and that is that they must speak English at all times, the exception being when they are in Yuki's room and they are getting ready for bed. Any other time, they have to speak in English. I don't think Yuki was too happy about this... We have good reasons for it. Haruna is in school now, and Yuki will be starting next week. I think it will only set them back if they spend an entire weekend speaking Japanese again. Yuki is super excited to see her this weekend.

The rest of the week should be fairly uneventful. Tomorrow is new student orientation at school and Friday is a free day for band. I'm looking forward to a good weekend!

Wow... I'm a band mom now...

Today was a long and fun day. This morning we went to Kings to get setup for classes. It was a good thing that we sat down last night to get classes figured out. I think if we skipped that step, it would have made this morning very difficult. The last thing I really wanted was for the school to take charge of her classes and not us. We got all the classes that we needed, but I couldn't get her registered as a senior. I did get Yuki into senior classes though. Go figure. We did have Yuki signed up for Earth science, but she has since decided to drop the class because of when she has to take it in the school year, and the fact that she will be learning the subject in English and she really needs it to be in Japanese for her entrance exams next October. I don't think she's too happy about having to drop the class, but I think we will help her study if we can.

This afternoon we took a trip to Dayton to visit the Air force Museum. Will got to lead the tour and gave a little lesson on a vast majority of the planes there. I am always amazed at what he knows and how much he knows. He is really going to be a great teacher. I would have taken pictures of us there, but my camera is out getting fixed for the next month. Boo! I'll work something out.

After the museum we went to the world's first airport in Dayton and looked at the Wright Brother's flight locations. It was a few places that we had never been, and I thought it was really neat. I have to agree with Will, the airplane has to be one of the most significant and important inventions of the 20th century. The world would be so different without it. Heck, I don't think Yuki would be here.

When we were headed home, I got a phone call from Mr Mills the band director at the high school asking if we could come in tonight to talk marching band. We were able to get Yuki into marching band, and she will be playing electric keyboard for the band. I don't know how excited she really is to be in the marching band and playing piano. In the mean time, we'll get her a saxophone and get her some lessons from the jr high band teacher. This way, come winter, she'll be a much better and more confident player and knock the socks off of everyone.

Yuki had her first marching band practice tonight. When one of the section leaders said that band moms were great, I then realized that am I now a band mom. Okay, I may not be one of those band moms, but I'll be pretty darn close. Will and I are so excited for her first performance in about 2 weeks. :-D

The rest of the week will be band practice (which is great for Yuki because she will be meeting students and getting to know them) and getting ready for the first day of school. It's coming so soon - next week! I'm excited!

I just hope that Yuki is as confident at school as she has gotten to be at home and around us. I think she will be just fine.

The first week

I can't believe that it's been a week since Yuki arrived. In a way it feels like she just got here, and it also feels like she's been here forever. It's been a very interesting and fun week to say the least.

Monday I had to take Yuki to her school to get enrolled. That had to be the most paperwork I have ever filled out. I think in total I had to fill out and sign 65 different papers. Yuki only had to sign 1. When we got the the office the person in charge of registration asked if she wanted help with English. Personally, I think that Yuki's English is quite good. I'm afraid that they will try to stick her in ESL classes and she really doesn't need them. I think between the two of us, we can help Yuki with anything she struggles with when it comes to classes. If anything she might have issues with English lit classes and the US government class she has to take.

Any who...

After that, I got a bright idea to drive into Cincinnati and go to the Art Museum - Apparently, the art museum is now closed on Mondays, so there went that bright idea. Instead, we drove down the Kroan Conservatory and looked around. It was a short trip, but I still think what is there is worth sharing. I wasn't too keen on doing much outside because it was so freaking HOT outside, so we headed home. I stopped by LaRosa's for lunch and found out the perfect meal size for Yuki - that goodness for kids menus! She said she really liked it and later in the week we got her to try their pizza.

Tuesday wasn't all that amazing, in part because we got some bad news in our family. We pushed forward, had a good day and night of watching movies and made the best of the situation.

Wednesday we picked up Will's sister Liz and went back to the art museum and spent several hours there. Yuki said she liked the hand carved beds and furniture the best. I'm looking forward to going back in October for some of the other special exhibits. They will have one on wedding dresses and (for Will) one on arms and armor. Hey, it's the little things that excite me. I think Yuki might like the wedding dresses because she wants to become a wedding planner in the future. We also spent the evening playing Uno - That was a blast!

On Thursday, Will and Yuki went to see Toy Story 3 while I attempted to do some house work for a little bit. That night we went to a park in Loveland and watched the Perseid meteor shower. We laid out on the baseball field and watched for falling stars. I think we saw 6 that night before we got tired of getting bit by bugs.

On Friday we went to Cesar's Creek Lake with Clayton and Liz and spent the morning and afternoon there. Will and I got sunburned, and I think Yuki's SPF 100 prevented any sort of tanning what-so-ever. That night Will went to the Reds game with his dad and Clayton, while Yuki and I went out with Will's mom and Liz for some shopping for the girls. Yuki didn't have much luck at Plato's Closet so we went to Old Navy and had some much better luck there. I'm a little worried about the ease that Yuki will have in finding clothes while she is here. Yuki said she style of clothing is Mori Girl (or forest girl) - while I am finding some clothing here similar to the style, it isn't what she is looking for. Suggestions for where we could shop would be awesome. That night we had Thai food for dinner, which was something I had never had before. It was really really good, and I hope we get to eat there again!

Saturday we went out for more shopping and running about town. We went to Jungle Jim's and did a little bit of shopping. Yuki bought something called goya (aka Indian bitter melon). It looks like a cucumber with spikes and smells like one as well, but it was the most bitter tasting thing I have ever tasted! She was sitting at the table gobbling it up and Will and I were struggling to eat just one slice. Made rice for dinner and had to serve it in tea cups. I had asked Yuki if it would make someone upset in Japan if I was serving rice in tea cups and she said yes. That was then followed by her saying that she would have her dad send us some rice bowls so I wouldn't continue embarrassing myself when I serve rice.

Today has been more shopping. Tonight we'll go to Will's parent's house for dinner and a game, and then we'll spend the evening at home. We need to go over a few things for school because it starts in a little over a week. Yuki and Will will go to the high school tomorrow to get her enrolled in classes. I just hope she can get all of the classes that she wants and doesn't have any issues. I just need Will to stand firm on getting her enrolled as a senior.

This week has been a very good week. It's a little odd being a parent, but I think we're doing okay. We're starting to talk about rules and expectations for when school starts. I know we're going to screw up along the way, but that's okay.

Regardless, I am really happy that she is with us.

The first weekend

Prior to Yuki's arrival, we had a general idea of things we wanted to do and share with her.Perhaps our plans were a little too ambitious. I don't think we realized how tired she was going to be, or how tired we were going to be.

Yuki arrived Thursday evening, and we didn't get home until 2am. Will and I tried to sleep in on Friday, but we are just too accustomed to getting up early - 7:30 came and we were up. 5 hours of sleep doesn't meananything to your biological alarm clock. Thursday night I pre-made breakfast for Friday morning. I made french toast and bacon - something easy for breakfast and something that I knew Yuki would like.

Breakfast turned out better than the first time I had made this dish (thank goodness!) and then we got ready to introduce her to family and the neighborhood. We took her to my mom's house first. I think she was a little overwhelmed with all of the dogs that she has, but she wasn't scared. Next, we had to take care of a few things for school and then we went out for some fun.

Will asked Yuki if she had ever been to putt-putt or mini golf. We hit a language barrier. She hadn't heard of either. So we just decided to gothere and show her. There is this really great indoor mini gold place in West Chester called Monster Golf. It's a lot of fun, and we were hoping that it wouldn't be too busy for a Friday afternoon.

It turns out that Yuki had no idea how to play mini-golf, but she did quite well. We had so much fun playing it with her, and I think she had fun as well. We all laughed, joked around, and got to know each other a little better. I have no idea who actually won theround - I never kept score. But I think keeping score would have taken some of the fun out of the game that day. Honestly, I think Will won. Hopefully it's a place where we'll all go again.

Friday we had originally planned on going to the drive-in to watch a movie. We then changed to Dave and Busters, and then we changed again to Toot's. On our way to Toot's we changed our minds again and we went to a local Japanese restaurant for dinner. Yuki looked really tired, and we thought it would be a nice dinner for her. Maybe not what she was expecting. After dinner, we went to Loveland to the Whippy Dipp for some ice cream.

In all, Friday was a good day. Maybe we pushed her a little far, but we all got to talk and get to know each other a little more. We all had fun, and we got to share some of our favorite things.

Saturday, we took things easy. I had realized that we hadn't given Yuki time to unpack her things! My mistake! So that morning she unpacked. We went to St X to pick up Clayton from Band Camp that morning. We had taken Yuki to Will's parent's house Friday evening, but we didn't stay for very long. We had some lunch at the school, and that afternoon we watched the marching band's performance. It was really nice to see the results of the work the kids had been doing at camp that week.

That afternoon we came home and played some Wii sports together. We also went out and bought Mario Kart to give us another game we can all play together. So far, it's been a lot of fun playing Wii together.

Saturday night we went out to Toot's for dinner, and then we came home and watched a movie. It was a much needed quiet evening!

Today, we went out for dim sum for breakfast and then went grocery shopping (ugh!). I asked Yuki if the stores were as big in Okinawa, and she said that they were much much smaller. Tonight our families are coming over to celebrate Yuki's arrival with a little welcome party. It's a night for the family to gather eat some tasty food, and do whatever.

These past 3 days have been packed. Will said that he felt like it's been a really long weekend, and I told him that I felt like it's been a week. We're still just as excited and happy as were were the day Yuki arrived. I'm still shocked that we're taking care of another person and that we're responsible for another life. Holy crap... I have a daughter... I'm happy to say that too.

Welcome Yuki

This is a story that will take place over a period of nine months. It's a story about how a young girl has changed our lives and made us look at everything a little different. It's about sharing lives and cultures. It's about opening our hearts and home to another person. It's about us growing up, maturing, taking responsibilities and risks.

Will and I decided to host an exchange student this year. It's something that we had been talking about and knew we wanted to do for quite some time. There were several things standing in the way of us doing this before now. One - I was in school and not working, or working on occasion. Two - prior to me being in school, we both worked jobs where we didn't get off until 9:00. Not the best hours to be working when you have a teenager living in your home. With my graduation from grad school pending and the job outlooks looking really good, we made the decision to host a young girl from Okinawa - Yuki.

We decided to host with the organization that I have been volunteering with for the past 10 years, Youth For Understanding I also was an exchange student with them as well. So in early May, we sat down and looked at some profiles of students who still needed families. We found Yuki, read her letter and we knew we had to host her. When we got the okay from theschool, we sent her a birthday card with us (a host family) as a gift. Not a normal gift or one she would be expecting. We wrote letters to each other from that point on and we were even more excited with each letter that we received.

We started counting down the months, the weeks, the days, then the hours and the minutes. She was set to arrive on August 5th, and we both kept checking the airline to see where she was and if she was still arriving on time. When we got to the airport, we were shocked to see she had been delayed. When the time arrived for her to be there and there was no plane, I called the airline only to find out it was delayed again. The third time we called, we found out that her plane had landed and was sitting at the gate.

Will carried a bouquet of flowers, and I carried a welcome sign. We kept looking at the people walking out of the gate wondering when we would see her. When we finally saw her, we got so excited! I had been debating on giving her a hug when I saw her, but when she walked up the debate ended and I gave her a hug.

We waited for her luggage and took some pictures. At this point, it was about 1am and she had been traveling since 10am in Japan - She had been traveling for over 24 hours at the point between Okinawa and the US.

This is where our adventure begins. When I was an exchange student I kept a journal talking about each day while I was there. Our goal now is to keep a journal for each day Yuki is here. Hopefully this gives each of us something to look back on and remember.