The cure for jet lag...

Sarah and Lap made it safely to Tokyo. I even went to the airport and picked them up and brought them home all by myself, for the first time. As I was excitedly waiting for them to appear, Sarah came around the arrival corner in a wheel chair, however, which was a little disconcerting, but all is well. During hour 11 of their 13 hour flight, an empty food cart fell over on top of Sarah and barked her shins. I think it hurt- a lot! Lap and Sarah were sharing their 3-seat section with an EMT, and she was all over the incident, and assisted with ice, and then getting them through customs. Thankfully, after a moment, Sarah hopped on out of the wheel chair and told us the story. Surprisingly, she has no real bruising, just a couple of cuts on her shins, which may be their ticket to an upgrade to first class on the way home!

Now to the cure for jet lag. I believe it was discovered yesterday as Sarah and I had the opportunity to go white water rafting with the TAC Women's Group. What a hoot! It took about 2 1/2 hours by chartered bus to get up into the mountains near Nagano. Once we were there, we were surrounded by lush green vegetation and gorgeous peaks all around. Our guides were from New Zealand and were very good. The rapids were flowing pretty well. I guess we were in class 3 rapids. There was enough turbulence for a couple of the rafts to completely tip over and spill out their passengers (Japanese, BTW). We had a trio of gals wash over when attempting to surf in a whirlpool, but they were rescued by us and the white water kayaker who accompanied our band of boats. There was just enough excitement to make it exciting, but not scary.

Women from our group kept walking up to Sarah and asking, "How's the jet lag?" She was wide eyed and bushy tailed for the entire day, and didn't fall asleep until after 10:00. I suspect we've discovered a really effective way to kick jet lag in the butt: fresh air, sunshine, exercise, team work, laughing, lottsa cold water in the face, paddling, swimming, jumping off rocks, rescuing boat-mates, a picnic lunch, and companionship with a great group of women.

We stopped at a rest stop on the way home, and Sarah had her first taste of Japanese cuisine: octopus balls.

Today, we are all going off to see Nathan Graduate from the American School in Japan. It will be a good day.