Wednesday, October 17, 2012

IHBO, Space A and other alphabet soup ingredients...


Life here has been busy for me, I have been in the throes of the college semester, with my students' first major research paper to grade. I am also now the President of a new organization on MCAS Iwakuni, the Iwakuni Home-based Business Organization, or IHBO. It's a group that allows all types of home-based business owners to network and share ideas. Plus, in January we plan to start requesting membership dues, which will go toward advertising and events to promote the members' businesses. One of the ways we are doing that is by launching a Iwakuni Business Directory web site. Ads and events will then promote the directory so that all members can benefit. Putting my marketing, strategic communication and leadership skills to work!

Tenaciously Remembered is also taking off. I have had four orders since the web site launched, and I have also had requests for classes. There is a craft sale on base Nov. 24 that I am planning for, and I am looking in to the possibility of doing a scrapbooking class as soon as Dec. 4. Fortunately, working only part time from home has opened up plenty of scrapbooking time!


We took the boys to the sushi restaurant with the conveyor belt that runs through it. That was an epic fail. They were willing to try anything, which is a great attitude, but, unfortunately, their eyes did not match their palates. I let them pick the things to try. I may not like certain things, but that doesn't mean they won't, is my philosophy. The both liked the fried fish pictured below, but that's about where the liking stopped.



First, Will chose something off the belt that looked like steak. He tried it, hated the taste and the chewiness. Here is his face:


And here is his face when he found out it was marinated horse meat:


I don't have photos, but Xan selected a couple of seaweed-wrapped little bunches of red marble-looking things. It turned out to be very salty salmon roe, which he immediately spit out. A few days later we tried a Japanese barbecue place and went to the Joyfull restaurant, kind of like a Japanese Denny's, for ice cream and fries. This was much more to the boys' liking.



We also tried some Dragon Fruit we found at the commissary.




I know I have seen Dragon Fruit on occasion in American grocery stores, but never ventured to try it. It cost $4, has the consistency of a kiwi... and had no taste. Really, just a tiny hint of sweetness, but, essentially no taste. We gave it an average score of 5 out of 10. It didn't taste good or bad, but $4 is a bit much to spend on nothing, so a 5 is a good, neutral score.

This weekend, I am planning for a trip to the States. I am flying "space available," or, Space A for short, which means I do not have a ticket and am not guaranteed a seat. It's a crap shoot, so wish me luck in getting to the States on Saturday, and returning (which is the harder thing to do, I hear) in a couple of weeks. I will be sure to blog about my trials and tribulations because I am sure I am bound to have some. While I am gone, Rodney will be here in Iwakuni holding down the fort. I have left him with a schedule of events and a very important envelope with checks for bills that need to be paid, field trip information and more. Wish him luck, as well!

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