Hello from Osaka the second largest city in Japan

I am happy to report that after being awake for almost 24 hours to get here, I was able to sleep all the way through the first night. Granted, I didn’t sleep on the planes & I didn’t go to bed until midnight after arriving but still it’s an accomplishment for me to sleep all night upon arrival. I have been able to sleep every night since and am feeling good. Registration hasn’t started yet because the JCI World Congress officially starts tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov 2 but we’ve had several Board meetings & many committee meetings. I found out the other day that registration will take place outside in the courtyard of the Grand Cube Convention Center where the Congress is being held. It is a huge place and the courtyard is equally huge. There was a typhoon warning (but not in Osaka!) for a few days and it was rainy & windy but it has cleared up and the temperature for the rest of the week is supposed to be sunny/partly sunny and in the 60’s so I’m not complaining too much about having to work outside.


The food has been a challenge. A lot of my co-workers love sushi so they’ve been in heaven. I’ve been to MacDonald’s for lunch twice and the Hard Rock Café for dinner once. There was a big Halloween party at the Hard Rock and it was pretty neat to see everyone in costume. There were many unique costumes based on Japanese characters and also a lot of American costumes like Michael Jackson and Mario, Luigi & the princess (who looked like a transvestite). We all were taken out to a Japanese barbecue restaurant where they bring you the raw meat and you cook it at your table. I sat with Edson & two other Japanese which may have been a mistake as they were eating a lot of things raw. They raved over the raw liver which disgusted me! The beef & chicken we grilled was good but I didn’t like the pork which was 80% fat and I wouldn’t even try the intestines. I had it when I was in Japan in 2004 and I didn’t like it then so I refused to try it again. There is a cafeteria in the Cube where we get lunch and several co-workers have gotten the box of sushi which also has octopus testicles, oh, I mean tentacles in it. As Eduardo put it “that looks nasty in many different ways!” I got the egg salad sandwich today which was pretty good. It was crustless white bread layered with egg salad, bread, potato salad with a little wasabi, bread, cheese, bread and ham. Not exactly the way I make an egg salad sandwich but I liked it. Luckily, I got about 8 potato chips today which was more than the three I got yesterday. You should’ve seen me trying to spread those out to last through my sandwich!

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Preparations for Osaka

I will be leaving tomorrow morning for the JCI World Congress in Osaka, Japan.  As you all know from my posts from previous years while working at Congress, I usually cry at one point or another.  Normally it's because of my being emotional from lack of sleep and people getting angry while registering.  This year I'm prepared with a sign:

                      Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.

                      L’ impolitesse est la pretension du force de l’homme faible.

                      La rudeza es la imitación de la fuerza del hombre débil.

I have this printed on cardstock in three of the official JCI languages - English, French & Spanish.  The final official language is Japanese but I decided not to write it in Japanese because they usually aren't mean or rude.  I already have permission from my boss to wave it in front of anyone that yells at me during registration.  I'm determined to be a big girl this year....