You know, kids are just the greatest thing ever (although I know that Becka, is she ever read this, is she _ever_ talked to me period [although that is a bitter gripe for a different time] would disagree with me vehemently). My host family had another barbecue dinner this Saturday, and several family friends came as well, of course bringing their children with them. I ended up playing with them for most of the evening, tag, hide and seek, and a game that involved throwing around a beach ball and screaming a lot (I also got to climb a telephone pole after knocking said ball onto the roof of a shed, which was kind of cool, except for the point when I was hanging off of two rings ten feet above the ground, swatting at the ball with a butterfly net because I had managed to knock it almost completely out of reach; however I did get to impress all the children with my mad monkey climbing skills, so I guess even that was okay).

And you know, some people back home were right. I am a big hit with the girls here. The only problem is that they're all half my age at the most (which at this point would make any return interest not only creepy and disgusting but outright criminal). Now is this condition persists until I'm twice as old, I might be willing to reconsider (although on the other hand, I have about as much desire to be a creepy old man as I do to be a creepy young one).

Hide and seek was a lot of fun partly because I got the chance to be insufferably clever, with my jacket making the best hiding place. Yeah, you read that right. I got the bright idea to drape my jacket over a basket and a couple of stuffed animals, tricking the seeker into thinking that I was crouched in the corner (that was the first time I'd actually hidden; previously I had just been goofing off, like sitting in the middle of the room holding a handkerchief in front of my face). So the next round I wrapped a blanket around my legs and draped my jacket over my head, taking the basket's place in the corner. Fooled them completely. There after my jacket received continual use either as a decoy, or somehow masking my real hiding place. A couple of times one of the kids hid under it, and because they were so much smaller than me, they got mistaken for a decoy. At this time I should probably also point out that we were playing in the dark, with the seeker using a flashlight (thus explaining why my jacket made such an effective ruse).

Something that I forgot to mention yesterday, I picked up a souvenir from the deer park for my host family, and it seems like I made the right choice. I bought this cute little plush deer, that lives in a cute little plush stump. Imouto almost immediately claimed it for her own, carrying the deer around with her for a good portion of the evening. It always feels nice to do something right once in a while.