Erin Hughes.com

A couple of days ago I fired up my Skype and heard this message left by 2 drunken fools rambling on and on about how I never call and write and how they had t shirts for me.... In addition I have got a few email enquiries asking how things were going.

I have not posted anything since I got to America. There was just too much going on and I was not really feeling like .... well like I was really back in the USA. I have had the feeling more like I am on vacation from Japan and soon I will have to go back. There was more then a few times when I questioned why I was here WTF I was gonna do about XYZ problem and how I was gonna make it till the next day. In that time a couple of things pulled me through, team reports of matches on the TokyoGaijin.com text messages and emails from friends and lastly, the videos of all of my teammates at my going away party. Honestly, Lonnie told me not to watch them till I was on the plane. I waited till I needed them and they really helped me get through a couple of tough times.

When I got to Texas, the first thing I did was try to find the rugby club in my area. It was kind of a disappointment. I have been on plenty of teams before, but the coach and a couple of others made me feel pretty unwelcome right away. I shrugged it off and things got better, but when I got my work schedule I found I had to work on Saturday, our game day here, and the fact that I did not have health insurance till February did not help. Finally in January I scratched my leg. I slid in on my shin for a try in touch and got what I thought was a little brush burn. $300 and a swollen leg and 3 weeks of antibiotics later, I decided to wait till I had real health insurance to keep playing. There are some summer 7s and 10s matches coming up and I am trying to get fit to play in them.

After a long peacefully quite wait Satomi, Eric, Anna, and little baby Sara all arrived with the help from my mother in law.  

It took some time to get all our stuff and fill the house but we did it and now have a guest bedroom, anyone want to come and stay in Houston for a couple days?

Eric started going to school and playing rugby. Both are going well for him, he scored a hard fought try on the wing in his last game of the season, and his English is improving also he passed ESOL reading and writing level 1, and his teachers and coaches are always ecstatic about having him around. In school Eric seems to be enjoying himself and his teacher is very happy at how well he does in math, especially word problems, with out being able to read them he still manages to under stand the problem and solve it correctly.

His Rugby Couch lets him play all over to get the feel for the right position and he likes prop lock and hooker, but the assistant coach would rather stick him on the wing cause he is tall skinny and fast. In his first couple of games Eric made a name for himself and had everyone screaming his name as he ran across the field twice to drag a player to the ground from the opposition who had made it past everyone else and stop what seemed like inevitable tries.

He is naturally better then me at everything he tries to do, but he is never very serious about anything still, like father like son. He always asks why we do not have after parties for his team like we did in Tokyo? "In a few years..." I say.  

Anna has become quite the handful since moving but is still cute and funny! She speaks Japanese and English, in a very matter of fact way, so fast that the words sometimes run together into nonsense. Her favorite phrase right now is "You gotta wait!"

Sara is a patient little angle who rarely cries.... except at 4 AM or when she really wants to be held.

Finally I left the company I came to Houston to join, and had to find some new employment. There was nothing wrong with the company I was at, I just did not fit in. I found a new job and it appears to be a great fit so far. Things are getting better little by little.

I want to say that I miss all my friends from Japan and enjoyed the lessons learned, during my time in Tokyo. I miss all of my friends at GMO, TGRFC and TLUG, and hope through out the crisis you are doing well. I think about you all at least once or twice a day and think Gambatte!

Seriously if you're interested in coming to Houston, send me a message on my contact page or you can hit me up on Skype at erin_hughes_jp. 

When I got to Gotemba last night Satomi said "I do not think the baby will come till tomorrow or the next day." She was right! At about 3 am she crawled into bed with me and said she was having some pain.

A little while later she said the pain was contractions. A round 330 AM we decided to go to the hospital.

At 4 we checked in and I went out to wait in the car.... they did not have a place for me wait.

Around 650 I was awoke by a call from Satomi, she said I could come inside the hospital.

I saw the doctor at almost 830 and he said I could see Satomi and the baby in a few minutes and ensured me that they were both fine.

At on 2010 10 09 at 743 my latest little girl was born. She weighed in at 3080 grams (6LBS 12.84 ounces) and 49 cm (19.29 inches). Right now we have not decided on a name but Sarah, Mia, and Sena are all in the running. If you have a suggestion please add it below, we have till Monday to decide. We decided her name will be Sara Alison Hughes/Udagawa.

Here are a few photos, you can click them to see larger images and view the rest of the photos in the gallery.

I was having a beer or 3 when I saw a post from someone I went to HS with who was not going to be able to make it to our high school reunion. I wanted to go too, but babies and other responsibilities will keep me away this time.

In about 20 minutes I put together some text, grabbed a picture from Facebook, and added a pay pal button for people to donate cash to the cause. That was Thursday night my time. 
I mailed a few of the popular people in my class and then waited. The next day I posted it to my profile, soon a few class mates with a little prodding were doing the same. That was Friday morning my time. 

By Saturday morning we were up too 340 dollars and not long after that a couple of big donations, you know who you are, came in and we were over the 400 dollar mark. 

I do not like asking people for money personally, but feel this was a great way to show off the school spirit that made my time at Lake Shore　High School the reason I would move back there if I could. 
NOTES: Things you might want to be aware of if you try this. 

Pay Pal;

1. They take a % of your donations as their handling fee. If you need to raise X amount of dollars, shoot for X + 7% to cover that. I did not know this so.  
2. If you do not have a Pay Pal Account in the USA you can not set up a straight forward donate button that allows people to make what ever donation the feel they want to. Instead I set up 4 different payment sizes ranging from 2 to 50 dollars. ($2.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00). 
3. The easiest way to get the cash to the person you want is through Pay Pal. Have them set up a account and simply choose Send money and enter their e-mail address. 

Facebook and other social media; I like Facebook and twitter they are good ways of staying connected but do not count on it to do all the work for you. You will still need to make people aware of what your doing and post constant updates on progress to keep people interested in the idea. 

Finally, Kim I hope you have a good time. I put up a page and kept people interested (most of them were pretty excited from the start), but the people who donated, really did all the work. 

E./

Just as long as we are here, standing tall for one more year
Sing out loud and keep away the cold

When you're blind and you can't see
Realize it's them, not me
I might be hard to find, you know it happens everytime

When I'm tired I crawl, I can't stand to see you fall
And the years they don't treat you like they used to

When you're wide and I'm awake
I got time enough for days Take a-want you want
It just might set you free, not me ...

Oh no way, I've been up for a thousand days 
But you can cut me down when I'm old and gray 
And if you catch me on the move, you can come along
Or you can disapprove

I might be hard to find, you know it happens every time

When I'm tired, I crawl, I can't stand to see you fall
And the years they don't treat you like they used to

When you're wide and I'm awake
I got time enough for days take a-want you want 
It just might set you free and not me...

Does it feel the same

When I'm tired I crawl like the savior in us all
But I don't mind it's somethin' that I'm used to

And when it's time to go, I just thought I'd let you know
Farewell this time, you're always on my mind

When I'm tired I crawl, it's a shame to see you fall
And the years they don't treat you like they used to

But when you're wide and I'm awake
Baby, I got enough damn time for a million days
Take a-want you want and it just might set you free....

When you're up you roam, it's a shame to see you go
And the years they don't treat you like they used to

Just as every light you see might be the one that sets you free
Keep on rising like the ones you used to know, let's go.......