I went to Honolulu with Alexis, did you?

Leaving Japan on such short notice after a huge earthquake followed by a huge tsunami by a nuclear crisis = not so easy.

The plane that took me out, therefore, had a full day of layover in Honolulu. Alexis was on the same flight, so we chilled in Hawaii.

I ate this

and it was delicious. Vegan soup pho is totally always the best.

We played here

and it was beautiful, and our hair was crazy.

We forgot that we were in Hawaii and not Japan

and left our stuff hanging out on the beach.
It's okay, though, because we have the coolest stuff evs. :-)

The smart Alexis, who had brought a bathing suit, played in the water

while I sat on the beach getting my pants all wet. Which led me to put on Alexis's shorts, which were all big and fally offy.

Good times were had, and then I got to Colorado, and Kristen wondered why I was so tan.

My day in Honolulu 以上です。

Japan - fleeing, feeling, and donating

I posted this in my book blog, but I know some of the people that read this blog don't read my book blog, so I thought I'd do a double posting, just to be safe.

So, as most of you probably know, I have been living in Japna for the last year. And with all of the things going on in Japan lately, I have received SO many wonderful comments and e-mails from you guys inquiring about my safety. First of all, I just want to say thank you SO much. I really appreciate all of your thoughts and concerns, and I am sure Japan and all of the Japanese people do as well.

Second of all, yes, I am safe. The area I live in was basically unaffected. I felt the quake a little bit (I was actually teaching 2 year olds at the time, and the building we were in shook like we were in a boat for about 4 minutes - the worst we got was some crying two year olds. And me feeling motion sick), but other than that my area was unaffected.

Still, because my family was worrying so much (and let's face it, when it came to radiation, me, too), I have returned to the states. It was a little bit crazy going through everything to get my re-entry permit and a last minute flight and to get myself packed, but now I have safely arrived in Colorado with my sister.

I've been a little bit blah and a little bit depressed about the whole situation, so I've been doing my best to avoid the internet (unfortunately, it's been hard, and I've been watching and reading way too much about Libya and Japan).

Now, I know you all want to help Japan (I know I can't watch the news without crying and feeling sick), and what they need more than anything right now is money. There are lots of great ways to donate, and I hope you will. For a list of donation possibilites, go check out this article.
In the meantime, please keep Japan (and Libya, of course) in your thoughts (and prayers, if you have those).

And, since I know it's been ages since I last updated about anything, I'll do my best to post a real update as soon as I get back to Japan.