October 6, 2011

HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY TO MOOZE!!! Moozey your Homecoming picture where you are smiling super big made me and Derricott Shimai laugh so hard... Derricott Shimai can't wait to meet you because of it.

I waited to e-mail you all until today just so I could wish Hannah a Happy Birthday!
Just kidding! We were so busy on Monday with appointments and other things that we couldn't take that day as a P-day, and today was the next available day. Sorry about that.

I'm including a couple of pictures of our apartment, as evidence that it is indeed very un-posh, but certainly located in the 'posh' part of town. I have no clue how much it costs per month, but if the cockroaches cost extra it must be pretty expensive : ) We really can't complain at all though; Cam's cockroach friends would eat ours for breakfast. We are on the 5th floor of a complex that's located above a convenient store. It's one of those set-ups where you walk from the sidewalk in through the main door and then take the elevator to where you are going.

(Pix: 1-inside our apt; 2-view from the street of our apt. main entrance; 3-walking in the main doors 4-view of the street from our apt. main doors, 5-the sidewalk outside our apt. 6- our study room and beds, this is the only sisters' apartment our mission that has beds - and sometimes there are 3 sisters here so that's why there is an extra).

This morning Sister Derricott and I went for a jog and got into the 'Babylon' part of town... We don't go there much so it was fun to see what's down there. As we were going along I caught a glimpse of our reflection in a store window and couldn't help but smile... we didn't fit into that scene at all. All these really sleek, high-class looking people were walking either to their work or home from a night of partying and we looked somewhat ridiculous in the middle of it all. Plus I was wearing a BYU-I shirt. funny... later we were jogging by a pile of garbage and a crow that was picking at it flew up with a big piece of meat (bigger than my hand) in its mouth and then dropped it right as it went over my head. Strange. Thankfully the meat landed a couple feet away.

Mom, Sister Derricott's Dad doesn't actually do TV anymore. He retired a few years ago but now is working with a different company here. Also, we will be watching General Conference this weekend in our English branch, and since we have the computers we have actually been able to start watching some if it online already.

Dad, you asked about how the language is coming, and how I like the food. I LOVE both! Language: I know that having Saiki Shimai as my first companion forced me to learn basic language skills faster than most missionaries. Communication was pretty interesting that first transfer, but now I am so grateful because even if it doesn't sound very pretty, I feel comfortable speaking. Listening is harder, but thankfully Derricott Shimai is a lot better than me because she grew up a little bit with the language. Learning a second language is so different than I thought it would be... I finally realize that I'll never understand everything I hear, but hopefully things continue to become more and more understandable.

Food favorites: I drink more mugi-cha than I do water these days. It's a wheat-tea that most people think tastes like cigarette butts when they first taste it. I love it. We also eat natto: fermented soy beans. When I first tried it I thought I would throw-up, but it is so yummy now, especially on salad. I love going to ramen shops here- they give you this HUGE bowl of broth with noodles and boiled eggs and all sorts of other things just floating around. When we eat noodles we slurp a lot because the noodles are hot and it cools them down. Anoko is another thing I love: it's a sweet paste made of red beans and sugar and they do all sorts of things with it - I like it inside of bread rolls. I'm also getting pretty accustomed to other Asian foods as well - especially Kimchee(sp?). We eat it a lot on rice or with noodles. OH and noodles: There are about a billion different kinds. Ramen, somen, soba... I can't describe all the things we do with them. I need to stop talking about all this food because I'm getting hungry, but I must say I have found a replacement for apples as my #1 favorite foods ever: Nashi, asian pears that are so so so good.

Anyway, I better go but you just need to know that I love all the letters you send! I am so so blessed. Yesterday I got a DL from Dad and a letter from Cam in the same day. Cam sounds like he's never been doing better.

-Waite Shimai

Christmas Idea: I would love another big tub of Cetaphil lotion!