Family reunion in Japan!

I have difficulty believing it myself but I just spent the whole afternoon and evening with my dad and brother, who I haven't seen (in person at least) for more than 6 months. It feels like nothing has changed. And they just fit in so perfectly into my new life: my dad chatting with the trainers and athletes during the practice and my brother practicing hard with the Tokai girls and even throwing some of them. I almost can't believe that they're actually here.

They first arrived around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I introduced them to the dorm dean and my roommate, gave them a little tour of where I live and then it was already time to go to practice.

My brother practiced with the girls today. Next week, he'll probably practice with the boys at least once, but today, as it's his first day, we deemed it best for him to practice with the girls to get used to the level of training here. So my brother was the only boy there. But he's kind of gotten used to that after years of being the only boy in the gymnastics club in Beausejour, Manitoba.

My brother getting taped up before practice

It was a hard practice. He was pretty tired by the end of it. I'm pretty sure that the girls' practices are not as tough as the guys's but the girls are all strong here and my brother had quite a workout tonight.

At the end of practice, we gave the girls some red licorice as a souvenir from Canada along with some mini Tide-to-go's, which have become one of my dad's indispensable items he likes to have handy, especially at a judo tournament. In judo, if there's blood on a gui during a match, the wearer has to change his gui. And blood is often pretty hard to rub off. But with a little bit of water and these little tide-to-go markers, the blood comes off easily.

Then we took a group picture:

Then some girls came to talk to my brother... as I thought they would. I mean, my brother is a pretty good-looking guy, kakkoii as they say here in Japan. So by the end of their conversation, I think he made two new girlfriends... lol

Girlfriend #1: Akane

Girlfriend #2: Naori

A possible girlfriend #3: Kumiko

Then we went back to my dorm where I cooked supper for them, beef curry udon. Didn't turn out like I had imagined it (when does it ever?) but it was still good and we enjoyed the meal together, which is the most important thing. I said earlier that I have trouble believing this all happened today. But I just have to check my refrigerator to confirm that it actually did: all my three containers of juice have disappeared. And there's only one person I know who can drink that much juice in one sitting... my brother!