Newest daughter

So! We have signed up once more to take in one of Tachi's girls, and last night Laura came by to drop off her information. A little info by way of background: Tachi is the nickname of Mr. Nonaka, the English teacher who brings to the Seattle area every spring a group of students from the college he teaches in Niigata, Japan. We've been hosting a girl from this group ever since 2004, for a total of six girls. Out of the twenty-seven girls we've hosted (holy quacamole, that's a lot!!), Tachi's girls have been some of the most fun. His group is also the most reliable--you can bet they will all be sweethearts, as opposed to some of the groups I've worked with over the years (shudder).

Anyway, the newest addition to the Webb family is named Chihiro. If you are at all familiar with the films of Hayao Miyazaki/Studio GHIBLI, you will recognize that as the same name of the little girl in "Spirited Away" (Sen to Chihiro). And indeed, our Chihiro is a big GHIBLI fan--in fact she likes all sorts of anime and manga, which means she'll probably fit right into our family. As my scanner is not working right now I can't post the picture of her that came with her application. However, Tachi helpfully posted on his website a couple of pics of the girls who are coming. Here's the first pic. Chihiro is the girl right in the middle of the first row:

Here's another pic. Tachi loves to do these "posed" pictures. Again, Chihiro is smack in the middle of the group:

She looks like a really nice kid, and I hope we have lots of fun with her. She comes from a big family--two brothers plus her parents and grandparents (not unusual with Japanese families). She likes dogs and has a Corgi-like dog named "Nana." She does say she would like to find out what it's like to have a cat. I think with the four felines we have lounging about the house now she'll get her chance.