The 15th Meeting of the International Women’s Association in Akita

The 15th Meeting of the International Women’s Association in Akita on Wednesday 23rd February 2011 was another lovely meeting.
Apologies: Mrs/K/M/K/K/M/A
Attendance: Mrs /I/S/I/I/N/M/
Agenda: To decide next program of events: March – December 2011

SUGGESTIONS PUT FORWARD:
March: Free. As of 23 Feb ’11.
April: Mahjong. Learning/playing and potluck lunch at Mrs N’s home.
May: Late May: Garden potluck BBQ at Mrs I’s home.
May: Possibility of Garage Sale at Yugakushya. To be confirmed later.
June: A Saturday or Sunday: 2 movies back to back: Come Dancing (Japan) & Come Dancing (USA). Maybe taking place at AIU campus with lunch at the Café.
July: Outing to LAVENDER FIELDS/Otamachi and visit to the Organic Wine Shop.
Picnic lunch.
August: Early August: Oyster eating in Kisakata. To confirm with Mrs K.
September: Free. As of 23 Feb. ’11.
October: A British Recipe Cooking Lesson by Mrs I
November: Evening meeting with SPEAKER. To be confirmed later.
December: Christmas Party. Venue to be decided later.
Other options: The original cut, black & White DVD of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. Staring
Orson Wells.
Fire Flies Viewing.

The dates have not been confirmed yet. If you have other suggestions please contact Mrs I as soon as possible.
Please check this blog from time to time to keep up to date with updates about activities.
IWA is pleased to announce yet another new member to our group Mrs M. Thank you for joining and for your future support.

A little suggestion to members…it would be nice if you wanted to attend these events that you would please make a reservation/commitment by email to Mrs I. regarding your attendance, as soon as possible, so that it would make the planning of events so much easier for the IWA. Thank you for your cooperation with this request.

The 15th Meeting of the IWA in February 2011

THE 15th MEETING of the International Women’s Association will be held
on Wednesday 23 February 2011 at Mrs I’s home/Motomachi, from 11 a.m. We shall enjoy a POTLUCK LUNCHEON PARTY. We hope to discuss ideas and the programme for 2011. Those members attending are asked to bring along to the luncheon a photo of themselves at any age from 2 – 20 years. We shall try to guess who they are!
Looking forward to seeing you all then. Please reply as soon as possible. Thank you.

The IWA Christmas Party (14th Meeting)

THE IWA’s CHRISTMAS PARTY (14th Meeting) on Saturday 18 December was very successful.
9 members attended with 2 husbands accompanying.
Thanks to the introduction by Mrs M the restaurant MIZUYA-KOURIN was a huge success and highly recommended. (Tel: 018-863-0002. Akita City) The room was spacious and very comfortable and the set menu was very, delicious and of course very beautiful to look at. We met the chef who was successful in winning an All-Japan Award.
We had some fun with traditional British Christmas Cracker Jokes…
‘Why would you invite a MUSHROOM to a Christmas Party?’
‘Because he’s a FUN-GUY to be with!’
Also, we guessed the titles of famous Christmas songs from initials of the titles…
ISMKSC = ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’.
Thanks to Mrs K for driving 5 members and also thanks to Mrs M for sorting out all the charges, etc. the whole party was so enjoyable and ran smoothly. Thank you to all and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!



Also, given out at the party was an interesting letter from my sister who had just finished a course at the local college in UK…
‘I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection. The relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (Head of Psychiatry at Stanford) said, ‘among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends’. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious!

‘Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality ‘girlfriend time’ helps us to create more Serotonin-a neuro transmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well-being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? – rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers and evidently that is very good for our health’. He said that ‘spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There’s a tendency to think that when we are ‘exercising’ we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged – not true’. In fact, he said that ‘failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Soooooooooooooo, let’s toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it’s very good for our health’.

So ladies let’s keep enjoying our IWA and let’s always have fun!

INFORMATION FOR IWA CHRISTMAS GATHERING…

Mrs K has kindly offered to take up to 7 members from Mr Donuts, Aeon Shopping Mall Goshono, on Saturday 18 December.
If you wish to have a lift please be there at Mr Donuts by 11 a.m. sharp.
Parking is available at PARK HOTEL at a minimum charge. This parking area is close to the restaurant.
Please remember to make a little donation for travel expenses to the driver etc. Thank you.

We shall start our party at 11.30 a.m.

If you wish to CANCEL you must do so by Friday 17 December by 10 a.m. or I am afraid you will have to pay Yen2,000 as the restaurant has catered for 11 guests as of today.

Hope to see you all there for an enjoyable, relaxing gathering.
Please contact members about this information if you know they do not have computer access. Thank you.

Christmas Party in 2010

The 14th INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION in AKITA will hold its Christmas Party at:
Mizuya Kourin Japanese Restaurant
Tel: 018-863-0002
http://can.ne.jp/-kourin/index.html
Our room has been booked for SATURDAY 18th DECEMBER from 11 a.m.
The cost is Yen 2,000 per person.
The restaurant is proud of their award-winning chef and we shall be in for a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the delicious dishes he will prepare for us.
We have a room booked for 10 members ONLY.
PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH MRS I, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AS WE HAVE TO REPLY AND CONFIRM OUR NUMBERS WITH THE RESTAURANT BY FRIDAY 19th November.
PLEASE COOPERATE WITH THIS REQUEST. Bookings taken from first come first served. PLEASE HURRY and tell other members about this event. Thank you.
I am sure we shall all enjoy a wonderful time together.