I ate seafood! (and didn't die)

So most of you probably know (since mainly the family reads this) that I hate seafood. The only exception is tuna and that is only on a sandwich loaded with mayonnaise and pickles. Well anyway, we had our Bible study with the Japanese students last night and they cooked for us! It was a very kind gesture but I'll admit I was dreading it all day long. With good reason too because I knew they were going to cook things I didn't like. I'm not a picky eater, really I'm not, but I just can't handle anything that used to live in water (or mushrooms and tomatoes but that's really it). So they got here and were SO excited about what they were making. It is called okonomiyaki and chirashisushi. The thought of both of them kind of made me want to die. Okonomiyaki is kind of like a pancake. Which I thought sounded fine but what they do is put a ton of cabbage, shrimp and calamari in the batter. Which I thought didn't sound fine at all. Then I saw some bacon and got really excited because I love bacon but it went directly on the thick mushy seafood filled pancakes and got contaminated. I did have one tiny piece that still tasted like bacon. Thank goodness they put this sauce on it that tastes very similar to barbecue sauce. I doused mine in it. At first I was just trying to swallow it down quickly but then I realized I was finishing way faster than everyone else and I needed to slow down so I cut it into tiny pieces and waited a few minutes between bites. They also put mayonnaise on it, which really surprised me and I just had a little bit of that with it. Going into the meal I figured I'd be fine because I knew we'd have rice. However, to be fancy, they cooked it ahead of time and made chirashisushi which is baked salmon and thinly sliced cucumber mixed in with the rice. Usually made for special occasions. I honestly appreciate the effort and it was so kind of them to do that but my stomach hated me the whole night. To top it off we watched a movie in Japanese. It was a film on Jesus' life so I was able to follow along but mainly I thought about what was sitting in my stomach and felt more and more ill as the night went on. Two hours of thinking about seafood. I will say by the end of the night I had lost any desire to ever visit an Asian nation. After the movie we ate green tea ice cream which was pretty good but I still had to eat a piece of toast after they all left, not because of hunger but because my body needed something familiar. It made me thankful I am here in Australia where those meals will be few and far between instead of teaching English in Japan where those meals might be hard to avoid. Being with the Japanese people is a lot of fun and I really enjoy studying with them. I will probably be teaching the Japanese class on Sunday's when Bob and Lynne go to the states in October. I am nervous but thankful I have a couple weeks to observe before I teach. Prayers would be appreciated.
In other news...there is a softball team that wants me! Yay! It is a B-grade team, which makes me a little nervous because I was wanting to just play C but I really think it will be great. Pam, the lady at church who did the dirty work for me, says not to worry because it is just a "social team." Haha, I can't wait to find out what that means! They play tomorrow afternoon and I have been instructed to come ready to play but I might not be able to register same day so it might be a week or two before I actually get to play. I will at least get to meet the team and watch them play.
Tomorrow morning we have a bike ride organized by Bruce, Pam's husband. He is in a mountain biking club and has arranged for the church to do what is considered an introductory ride for beginners. We will be following a fire trail in Kuringai National Park and have a devo up there and a snack. I am really looking forward to getting out in the bush (or at least out of the city for the morning). It is great learning new areas around here!
We are about to head to church for my first experience with Funky Friday. It is kind of like a mini VBS the church does once a month for elementary aged kids in the community. That's what I hear anyway, as I said, this is my first time. All I know for sure is that we are having a sausage sizzle and I do like the sausage here.
Thanks for all your love and support! I love you all just for caring enough to read this.

Prayer requests:
Visas (we're moving forward but not there yet)
good first meeting with the softball team (the Gators!)
good preperation to teach the Japanese students on Sunday mornings starting in October
a safe bike ride Saturday morning
MONEY for me and especially for Sammie at this point. We believe God is faithful and will deliver but it is YOU He will be using to keep us here! Please help Sammie if you can, I want us both to be here the full two years.

THANKS!