Momma's Sayonara Party

Momma has made a lot of friends in DC over the last few years. It never fails to amaze me how many Japanese live overseas. Momma found all her friends through an internet bulletin board called Mixi. You can post a message on a number of different types of bulletin boards (some are even based on geographic regions). I think over the course of the last 33 months Momma has made at least a dozen good friends (and met many more that didn't turn into friendships) and they have enjoyed getting to know each other, eating out and, of course, speaking Japanese. Most of the ladies are around Momma's age which is also nice. Some of the ladies are here working, some are married to Americans and others are married to other nationalities working at the various offices in DC. This past Sunday a number of gal pals got together to give Momma a nice send off to Alohaland. It was a great afternoon and I think everyone had a very nice time. The party theme was Hawaiian and it was complete with Spam makizushi - yummy!

Momma had found some cute jinbei on the internet featuring Anpanman and Momma's sister brought them over from Japan when she visitied last month. For those of you who don't know Anpanman he is a cartoon character in Japan that has an anpan roll for a head and fights evil. Anpan is a baked bread filled with anko, a kind of sweet bean paste. I like Anpanman but don't like anpan (I think it tastes like a mouthful of sweetened dirt). Anpanman has a lot of sidekicks that are also different types of baked breads. His nemisis is Baikinman (baikin is Japanese for bacteria). I can't wait until Momoka is old enough for her and I to watch Anpanman cartoons together (of course I'll need to get busy with my Japanese lessons).

Here's a photo of our gal dressed for the party in her best Anpanman jinbei . . . .


Back of jinbei with Anpanman's face . . . . .


The little wings on the top are part of a cotton undergarment that goes next to baby's skin and the clothing she is wearing. This is great thing to have in summer because it absorbs the sweat and keeps baby's skin nice and dry. Momma puts this little undergarment on before our gal gets in her car seat (and starts sweating) and then pulls it out, right from the top, whenever we arrive. No clammy baby - yeah!

One of Momma's friends has twin baby girls and they also came to the party (the girls are a bit older than Momoka). Here's a cute picture of them together having a seat on the floor. The girls are very sweet and played nicely with little Momochan. One twin is a little shy and the other is more outgoing, waving and smiling at you every time you pass by. One thing's for sure, they are adorable and Momoka really enjoyed watching and interacting with them!


Three big girls having a seat together!