SO I suppose that trippin is not a verb, at least not in the sense that I wish to use it in. But we did go on a trip together. A "fly by the seat of our pants" trip to Tokyo (to lazy to hyphenate so quotes instead)! Well there was some planning since I had to make a hotel reservation and appointments at the American Embassy a month in advance...but otherwise!
I, being fairly feather-minded at times, did not submit the paperwork for the children and I to get tourist passports (blue) while we were in the states. Mine had expired and the children have never had one. We flew into Japan on our "official passports" (red) which are issued for those traveling at the behest of the government. Since we hope to do some traveling, and since it is considered abusing the official passport to use it for personal travel, we needed to get blue passports for everyone. Hence a trip to the American Embassy in Tokyo.
In order to have appointments asap and close together in times and have a hotel room, I had to book everything about a month out and over a Monday night. The plan was to take the train in on Monday, spend the night and then hit the Embassy bright and early on Tuesday followed by a train ride home. Jon did not come with since it was over a week night, not that he got to relax, true to form he had to work late that night.
The train ride was fun, four trains with one long ride and multiple shorter rides got us to Tokyo. It took a bit longer than my Japanese Train App promised since I had to figure out what direction to go at each stop. A lot of people helped us out. Basically I pointed at my phone and the station it listed as our next stop and looked confused. They figured it out and held up fingers to indicate the platform number. Jon hates that kind of thing, but it all worked out fine for me. We finally made it to our stop and walked about 10 minutes to the New Sanno Hotel.
This swanky place is the Tokyo playground for the military and its dependents. You have to be active duty, retired, or civil servant (or family) with ID to book a room and they check ids at the entrance, just like on a military base. It is quite nice: a bunch of restaurants, some NEX (base) shops, a spa and a great pool. I had timed it to miss the massive boondoggle that is rush hour in Tokyo (they literally hire people to PUSH commuters into the trains so the doors shut). That put us at the hotel around 3:30pm. We had a light meal, explored and then hit the pool. After I pulled them all out due to blue lips we fixed ourselves back up and went walking around the area. There is a big park near the train station, so we meandered our way up there passing the French Embassy and a neat looking shrine. It was odd seeing all the caucasians on the street and thinking "big city they can speak English" only to hear responses in French. It was a great park, however Io did not enjoy the massive rock stair while in her stroller. Next time she will be in the backpack! At twilight we headed back. Found a 31 flavors which I cruelly passed by, as well as many cute clothing shops and a grocery store.
Some of you may remember Felix the cat; it turns out he is still big in Japan and is the spokesman for this grocery store chain. Better than an anthropomorphic cactus I guess. I don't think I will ever understand the draw of Japanese advertizing. (Possibly because I am such a horrible artist :-)
We had dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant. They had hibachi grills like at the Japanese steak houses in the states, but they have an age limit, so we were stuck at a table. My kids have loved those grills since infancy, the fire scared them a little, but that just meant they leaned back not forward at the important tricks. Ah well. With some very understanding wait staff we had a nice meal and finally wandered off to bed a bit to late and quite tired!
Now, our room was somewhat cramped with a queen bed and a sofa bed pulled out, but you should have lain on the queen bed. It was heavenly, I know this because I had about 4 hours of sleep on it. My dear Thor 'decided' to have a lovely bout of croup that evening. Our room was fairly warm and it was humid and the outside was not better, plus he was battling my coughing cold. Finally around 3am I raided the ice machine and had him sit with his head in the ice bucket, chewing ice cubes and doing my best to ease the coughing. Big all-nighter in Tokyo! Oh Yeah!
Eventually he was able to ease back asleep and I got a couple more hours in the lovely bed before the alarm went off (and another hour where I convinced myself to get up). We hit breakfast and had the bellhop call us a cab to the Embassy.
An American Embassy in my head has always been a great place of mystery. Secret meetings, guard that will catch you as you are being chased by the hostile government of you host country, falling into their arms shouting "I am an American!", a big antechamber with art and a feel of America in the center of a foreign world. Turns out not so much. The gates were closed and fortified and the guards were Japanese men. I understand having some Japanese there since so many people were in line for visas, but all of them! There were two lines for entrance, one for those applying for visas, very long, and one line for American citizens (and handicapped) which was blessedly short. We gave them my cell phone and cameras and went through multiple metal detectors, first at the entry building and then again at the administrative building, where I also had to leave the stroller outside...luckily I brought the baby backpack! I love the kid, but Io likes to explore and lets you know it when she feels thwarted. Putting her in the backpack prevents this without most of the yelling.
We arrived inside just before 9am, our appointment time. (Yeah me, even with security we were on time!)
The appointments stretched from 9am to 10:45am but they were kind enough to run all of our paperwork at once. Jonathan had it all set for them in separate folders, I am sure they thought I was very methodical and organized:-) I gave them the folders, stood by the kids while she worked her way through it, went and paid, show the receipt, waited and then was called over to raise my right hand and swear that all of the information was truthful. Alexandra and Thor each gave their ages and said I was their mommy. Normally Thor would have been super shy, but there was a microphone he got to talk into so he was loud and clear. Io did not really confirm anything. She gave me back our official passports (very important!) and we were on our way. It took just over an hour. We had hoped to explore a bit, but other than walking up some lovely stairs to the main building there did not seem to be much to see. More security, which would have been a hassle, and no fancy foyers, just halls and meeting rooms, which may have been decked out, but they were not about to show me. I was a bit disappointed in that, plus Jon said they are more likely to shoot you than save you if you come running towards the gates so I was quite disillusioned by the time we were done. However our passports should be processing and may even be here before we head stateside later this month.
After realizing that we should have waited in front of the Embassy for a taxi instead of starting the walk and finding our own, I finally flagged one down. New Sanno was kind enough to include a taxi card in the room information. On one side it said I want to go to XXX and listed some major attractions, the other side said I want to go to the New Sanno, this is how you get there, all of it was in English AND Japanese. The taxi driver was ~quite~ relieved.
We went back and tossed on the swimsuits for a quick swim before checkout. It was a cloudy day so we nixed going to the Tokyo Tower (no view) and headed back to the trains and home. We made it home in time for Alexandra to have her first swim lesson.
All in all a successful trip. Hopefully next time we can take the time to really explore and maybe even bring Jon with.
As and aside we are headed stateside for the second trip of the year. Ten days in Illinois, a week in Florida and 10 days in New Jersey then home again. Jon has to go for work and we are tagging along. The government won't let him mess with the airlines so I get to fly with the kids, he said he is upgrading to first class. Just because he can. At least I don't have to wake up for work at 5am tomorrow. :-)
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The baby shower
Ahhh, the joys of a Baby Shower. Lame games, lots of small children, women talking about the pains of labor and diapers, lots of estrogen-filled bonding going on, good food though. (Ok, ok, I actually love baby showers:-)
In Japan baby showers are not given. Not because of the lameness factor but because it is considered bad luck to celebrate the baby before its birth. Usually, by the time a baby shower is had, women are past the danger mark, but the Japanese do not like to tempt the gods or Karma or whatever. I can see their point. But this means that these poor women don't get to have a baby shower!
As with most pre-schools, at Thor's school there are a number of children with siblings on the way. One of these lucky boys is Thor's good friend (in part because he is English speaking). His mama Keoko, is a Japanese women married to a Navy man and she is around her final trimester and they are soon transferring to Virginia. With our children at the same age and in the same class and the fact that we can hold a conversation together, the other American mom at the school (Mish) and I are friends with her:-) So Mish discovered that Keoko has never had a baby shower. The American side of the family was far away for the first child, and the Japanese side doesn't hold baby shower. Thus Mish decided that Keoko needed to have a baby shower. Under the premise of a 'goodby tea' she arranged a surprise shower inviting a dozen of the other mothers from the school.
Poor Mish and Poor ladies did not know what to expect...but it turned out to be a lot of fun. After dropping of the older siblings at school the moms walked down to mish's house. She is super crafty and decked her house out with all kinds of baby onsie notes and other cute stuff, so Keoko figured out pretty quickly that this was not just coffee and tea. Everyone entered and took off their shoes and then stood around for a little while not quite sure how to proceed. After some discussion with Mish, I did a little welcome speech while she finished things up. There was a bit of translation included, but I essentially said "Hello, welcome to the American style baby shower for Keoko and her soon to arrive baby. In America we celebrate showers to show support for the mother and to help provide some items that she may not have for a brand new baby. There is food and drink and some baby inspired games and gifts. Please help yourself to some tea (I think usually it is served?) and enjoy!) Fairly lame eh?
Mish was quite concerned about offending anyone. There are all kinds of things that seem fine to Americans but are quite offensive to Japanese and vise versa (btw don't blow your nose in public here). Just to be safe she went though games and ruled out ones like the diaper changing game and guess the candybar in the diaper game. Finally some ladies began getting a drink and we settled in for a rousing game of baby bingo, all the more amusing with the translations...baby rattle becomes some kind of onomatopoeia in Japanese and baby booties are not the norm. After everyone had gotten bingo and received a box of chocolate we moved on to a bit of brunch. (Very yummy) There was a guess at the number of hersheys in a jar (winner takes them home) and then the best fun of all...guess the baby food!
After eating so as to not upset stomachs beforehand. We skipped the blindfolds and did guessed by smell, sight and the occasional brave taste. Mostly everyone did poorly, especially on the squash. Turns out that other than pumpkins, they do not eat much squash in Japan. Fun was had by all. There was a impromptu game of guess the pregnant mama's circumference (initially skipped due to the offending people worry). The yarn lengths were then tied into knots and string games ensued. These ladies know incredibly complex string games by heart. Thanks to a book of Al's I know a couple, but I way way out of their league!
Next was especially odd for the Japanese, the gift opening. In Japan a person does not open a gift in front of the giver. You take it home and open it in private. Perhaps as to not offend people with a disagreeable face, though Japanese seem to hide distaste with incredible ease. Either way, it was something of a treat when it was decided to open gifts in front of everyone. Then there was chatting and laughing. Two of the native ladies spoke English well and a few others made wonderful attempts. No one was offended and everyone seemed to enjoy the treat of going to an American baby shower. They also enjoyed gathering together outside of the school pick-up area. Because the houses tend to be small here, entertaining is usually done outside the home. A party like this is almost unheard-of. Keoko was surprise, but I think enjoyed herself and was happy with the celebration. Her husband thrilled that she got to have a baby shower, a fully American celebration for his wife.
The most everyday way of life things in America are celebrated much differently here. It will be interesting to do Thor's birthday party this fall. 4th of July obviously will be on base; Halloween is not celebrated, so we will go to base for that too. I explained the difference between Memorial day and Veteran's day to our neighbor last week. Thanksgiving will be different and Christmas too...KFC managed to make fried chicken the 'official' Christmas holiday meal for those who celebrate:-) Then New Year's, which is actually one of the big deal Holidays over here. They have official holidays celebrating children and those becoming adults, Greenery Day (I have not figured that one out), the emperor's birthday and so on.
Different priorities, but still they have the time to celebrate with family and other times of remembrance just as we do.
In Japan baby showers are not given. Not because of the lameness factor but because it is considered bad luck to celebrate the baby before its birth. Usually, by the time a baby shower is had, women are past the danger mark, but the Japanese do not like to tempt the gods or Karma or whatever. I can see their point. But this means that these poor women don't get to have a baby shower!
As with most pre-schools, at Thor's school there are a number of children with siblings on the way. One of these lucky boys is Thor's good friend (in part because he is English speaking). His mama Keoko, is a Japanese women married to a Navy man and she is around her final trimester and they are soon transferring to Virginia. With our children at the same age and in the same class and the fact that we can hold a conversation together, the other American mom at the school (Mish) and I are friends with her:-) So Mish discovered that Keoko has never had a baby shower. The American side of the family was far away for the first child, and the Japanese side doesn't hold baby shower. Thus Mish decided that Keoko needed to have a baby shower. Under the premise of a 'goodby tea' she arranged a surprise shower inviting a dozen of the other mothers from the school.
Poor Mish and Poor ladies did not know what to expect...but it turned out to be a lot of fun. After dropping of the older siblings at school the moms walked down to mish's house. She is super crafty and decked her house out with all kinds of baby onsie notes and other cute stuff, so Keoko figured out pretty quickly that this was not just coffee and tea. Everyone entered and took off their shoes and then stood around for a little while not quite sure how to proceed. After some discussion with Mish, I did a little welcome speech while she finished things up. There was a bit of translation included, but I essentially said "Hello, welcome to the American style baby shower for Keoko and her soon to arrive baby. In America we celebrate showers to show support for the mother and to help provide some items that she may not have for a brand new baby. There is food and drink and some baby inspired games and gifts. Please help yourself to some tea (I think usually it is served?) and enjoy!) Fairly lame eh?
Mish was quite concerned about offending anyone. There are all kinds of things that seem fine to Americans but are quite offensive to Japanese and vise versa (btw don't blow your nose in public here). Just to be safe she went though games and ruled out ones like the diaper changing game and guess the candybar in the diaper game. Finally some ladies began getting a drink and we settled in for a rousing game of baby bingo, all the more amusing with the translations...baby rattle becomes some kind of onomatopoeia in Japanese and baby booties are not the norm. After everyone had gotten bingo and received a box of chocolate we moved on to a bit of brunch. (Very yummy) There was a guess at the number of hersheys in a jar (winner takes them home) and then the best fun of all...guess the baby food!
After eating so as to not upset stomachs beforehand. We skipped the blindfolds and did guessed by smell, sight and the occasional brave taste. Mostly everyone did poorly, especially on the squash. Turns out that other than pumpkins, they do not eat much squash in Japan. Fun was had by all. There was a impromptu game of guess the pregnant mama's circumference (initially skipped due to the offending people worry). The yarn lengths were then tied into knots and string games ensued. These ladies know incredibly complex string games by heart. Thanks to a book of Al's I know a couple, but I way way out of their league!
Next was especially odd for the Japanese, the gift opening. In Japan a person does not open a gift in front of the giver. You take it home and open it in private. Perhaps as to not offend people with a disagreeable face, though Japanese seem to hide distaste with incredible ease. Either way, it was something of a treat when it was decided to open gifts in front of everyone. Then there was chatting and laughing. Two of the native ladies spoke English well and a few others made wonderful attempts. No one was offended and everyone seemed to enjoy the treat of going to an American baby shower. They also enjoyed gathering together outside of the school pick-up area. Because the houses tend to be small here, entertaining is usually done outside the home. A party like this is almost unheard-of. Keoko was surprise, but I think enjoyed herself and was happy with the celebration. Her husband thrilled that she got to have a baby shower, a fully American celebration for his wife.
The most everyday way of life things in America are celebrated much differently here. It will be interesting to do Thor's birthday party this fall. 4th of July obviously will be on base; Halloween is not celebrated, so we will go to base for that too. I explained the difference between Memorial day and Veteran's day to our neighbor last week. Thanksgiving will be different and Christmas too...KFC managed to make fried chicken the 'official' Christmas holiday meal for those who celebrate:-) Then New Year's, which is actually one of the big deal Holidays over here. They have official holidays celebrating children and those becoming adults, Greenery Day (I have not figured that one out), the emperor's birthday and so on.
Different priorities, but still they have the time to celebrate with family and other times of remembrance just as we do.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Oh, Did I mention we are back in Japan?
Thanks Mom, for calling me a slacker...:-)
So yeah, we have been back in Japan for like three weeks now. I may have forgotten to mention that since I have not updated since we evacuated. Sorry 'bout that.
In other news, We are back in Japan and glad to be home. The trip stateside was an unexpected bit of fun of course. We stayed ~3 weeks in New Jersey with Jon's parents. The kids were thrilled to see the older cousins three whole times during our trip! Plus they met and played with the baby cousins too. Which they loved, but the elder two are the same age and hence more exciting (sorry Jeff, yours will grow:-) As an added bonus we also saw Great-grandpa Cies (Dadju) and the extended family on the Greek side (for Greek Easter, which means yummy food!) We also had a mere 5 days in Illinois with my family. There was a wonderful family gathering for Good Friday (one of the traditional extended family celebrations for someone I am sure) and there were much loved cousins and chickens to play with.
Alexandra was 'homeschooled'. We went with the unschooling method of learning for the most part, but threw some math and time and writing in there for good measure...also that girl can consume some chapter books! You would never know she could not read in October. Thor was on break from school for part of it, but really he is in PreK/Kindergarten and we like Waldorf methods where academics don't start until 1st grade anyways; conveniently this is the same philosophy the Japanese follow.
The plan (HA!) was to fly to NJ, stay a couple weeks, fly to IL stay until recalled, then fly back to Japan from Chicago (since that is the layover). In reality after being told it would be a week before departing, we had two days notice that we were beingevacuated voluntarily departed. The flight to NJ was on March 29th. We still figured a couple weeks there and then to IL for the brunt of the evac. departure. We stayed an extra week in NJ so we could be sure to see all the cousins and I bought a one way ticket to Milwaukee for each of us for the 25th of April. Since the layover between NJ and Japan is at O'Hare, Jon confirmed that we could depart to Japan from Chicago and just do the first leg on our own (no additional cost to the gov). Instead the week before we left to IL the DOD announces they are bringing the departed home by the 2nd of May. That sucks since it significantly cuts down on time in IL, but those are the breaks. During the hubbub of paperwork Jon has to file and refile they decide that we have to fly home from NJ...they don't want to cut out the leg of the flight and on and on and on blah blah blah. So here we are getting ready to go to IL, having to decide if it is worth it to fly out on Monday, fly back on the weekend and then fly to Japan, though O'hare, on Monday. Could Jon convince them to fly us from O'hare, is it worth the hassle, do we pack to fly to Japan for a quick trip...lots of angst and all.
Net net, there was another set of one-ways purchased, We went to IL, the kids and I saw the lovely Detroit airport (nice one btw) returned to NJ on Saturday, drove ~3hrs for Greek Easter on Sunday (and back again) and then flew to Chicago and then Japan on Monday/Tuesday. Fairly annoying, but it turned out well in the end and hey, more stories to tell.
It was great to spend unexpected time with the families and we did enjoy the trip. I wish there could have been more time in Il, but at least we saw everyone at least once! (BTW I wish I had said it at the dinner table, but thank you so much to my Parents and Siblings, neices and nephews, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins who skipped Good Friday service to come and have a family dinner and see me and the kids. I was so thrilled to see all of you and love you very much. Being so far from all of you is the only downside to marrying a man who earned a degree in Ocean Engineering. {{{hugs}}}) (Sorry for the sap trap there).
The plane ride home was long, but the kids did sleep for a portion of it and watched Shrek for the first and second time, so that was fun for them. There were lots of women and children on the return flight, but many others returning home or visiting Japan. Though the plane was tight, it was heartwarming to see a full flight of people headed to Japan. Once we landed my gallant husband braved the Tokyo traffic to pick us up and drive us home. I say that not really in jest. There was another mom I talked to who, after landing, had to wait another 3 hours for the base bus transport because her husband was scared to drive the hour to Narita airport. Seriously? Man up! Plus going straight home instead of adding another leg to the trip was really nice.
Just want to mention that there was a huge rushing sound there for about two minutes and the rapture did flash through my mind, but I think it was just some drag racers. At any rate I am still here, so either I'm not going or it did not happen. Not to surprised either way:-)
Back to the story.
We are home. The kids are back in school. Thor is now a Kindergartner, A is still in 1st grade. Io is desperate to go outside whenever her siblings do. The weather is currently lovely, but it is suppose to rain all of June. Not having Daylight Savings Time is odd. The sun rises about 4:30am and sets around 7pm. It is strange to wake up at 5am and have the sun already up, it makes me feel late. We missed the cherry trees blooming, but saw the wisteria and azalias and now it the time of Iris festivals. The house still has no dressers, but we do have a couch and carpet and tv now. I love it all except the tv. The tv-less time in the house was so nice...no begging for shows less fighting and screaming. But now there is Disney again a couple times a week so all is well in my children's world. On the plus side Io mostly ignores it so I don't have to worry about her getting any screen time.
We had an awesome day at two nearby parts the weekend of my B-day. First was the Sledding park, there is a big hill with plastic grass holders on it. The city loans out sleds that the kids can (hey!) sled down the hill on. It is great fun for all. There is also a skate park there. We brought A's scooter with and she went on the park (not sharing with T). Jon bought Thor his very own scooter so now they are rockin' the skate park with all the other kids. Then we left there and went to Kanazaki Park. It is like a state park with a beach and trails amphitheater and various things. We hiked 20 min to the short slide park. It was up-(steep)hill the whole way, but so worth it. The playground set is about 1/5th of a mile long and leads to these slides. The slides are made up of a series of many small rollers, aka like the old conveyer belts that dad moved the green bean boxes on. There was a web-like trampoline and a climbing wall for kids. Way Awesome. There is another play area with longer slides that we may hike to soon...it is another 15 min past the first one! The walk back down was short, especially with the kids whizzing down on the scooters :-) I had to go back up and find T's dropped jacket, but that means a quiet walk back to the car during which I was able to examine all kinds of plants. They had jack-in-the-pulpits growing right along the trail, and ferns galore and beautiful trees. Very nice. By the way, informational signs found on trails are not nearly as interesting if you cannot read them, but we stopped to try anyway.
Hmm what else...things are generally back to normal in Yokosuka. Everyone is trying to conserve power, so fewer lights on in homes and stores, but AC mostly won't be an issue for a couple weeks yet. The base commander seems very surprised that usage is creeping up...perhaps due to all the families that are coming back??? Sigh. Fresh produce is still available they test it and certain areas may no longer produce. I hate to think of the farmers who have lived on the land for generations being told that their soil is toxic and they may no longer farm. Land is so \precious here...where can they go? It is the story for anyone who owns land in the evacuation areas, but so much more for the farmers who have more than a house lot and really know their land.
The air and drinking water are clear. I worry about the seafood, but the kids and I don't eat it much anyways and none of us, Jon included, are fond of the filter feeding clams and such. It is clamming season here, there are kits for sale in the 100yen shop. I would love to take the kids out to try it, but feel guilty collecting if we won't eat them. Perhaps we will go and just give them to some one else.
There have not really been earthquakes since we returned. I have only felt one and it was small. A worries about it, but she seems to be able to put the worry aside and play with the friends. One benefit to the evac. is that many families have not returned yet. They are finishing the school year state-side, so her class is down to 16 kids, one of which is a neighbor boy whom they are fond of. I finally had the parking spot certified. I had a whole day at home today (except for kid pick-up). Jon is on a trip this week, but returns tomorrow (Saturday) presumably with local honey.
We are getting back to normal. It is a relief.
Things I have noticed in Japan.
1. They do have buttons are some of the cross walks (standing around for 10 minutes gets you looking for such things)
2. It is a HUGE complement to tell a native speaker that they speak English well. They never believe you.
3. Everyone sweeps the street in front of their homes, and scrubs the stoop (guess who was chastised).
4. You really have to watch when driving since a car may be parked in the driving lane along almost any curb.
5. American kids are really loud, I was actually shocked to hear a Japanese toddler throw a tantrum. It was the loudest noise I have heard from a native child!
PS I have seen multiple articles about this lately and would like to inform any who care that I double space after my sentences not out of ignorance (anymore) but out of habit. Plus I think it looks nicer.
So yeah, we have been back in Japan for like three weeks now. I may have forgotten to mention that since I have not updated since we evacuated. Sorry 'bout that.
In other news, We are back in Japan and glad to be home. The trip stateside was an unexpected bit of fun of course. We stayed ~3 weeks in New Jersey with Jon's parents. The kids were thrilled to see the older cousins three whole times during our trip! Plus they met and played with the baby cousins too. Which they loved, but the elder two are the same age and hence more exciting (sorry Jeff, yours will grow:-) As an added bonus we also saw Great-grandpa Cies (Dadju) and the extended family on the Greek side (for Greek Easter, which means yummy food!) We also had a mere 5 days in Illinois with my family. There was a wonderful family gathering for Good Friday (one of the traditional extended family celebrations for someone I am sure) and there were much loved cousins and chickens to play with.
Alexandra was 'homeschooled'. We went with the unschooling method of learning for the most part, but threw some math and time and writing in there for good measure...also that girl can consume some chapter books! You would never know she could not read in October. Thor was on break from school for part of it, but really he is in PreK/Kindergarten and we like Waldorf methods where academics don't start until 1st grade anyways; conveniently this is the same philosophy the Japanese follow.
The plan (HA!) was to fly to NJ, stay a couple weeks, fly to IL stay until recalled, then fly back to Japan from Chicago (since that is the layover). In reality after being told it would be a week before departing, we had two days notice that we were being
Net net, there was another set of one-ways purchased, We went to IL, the kids and I saw the lovely Detroit airport (nice one btw) returned to NJ on Saturday, drove ~3hrs for Greek Easter on Sunday (and back again) and then flew to Chicago and then Japan on Monday/Tuesday. Fairly annoying, but it turned out well in the end and hey, more stories to tell.
It was great to spend unexpected time with the families and we did enjoy the trip. I wish there could have been more time in Il, but at least we saw everyone at least once! (BTW I wish I had said it at the dinner table, but thank you so much to my Parents and Siblings, neices and nephews, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins who skipped Good Friday service to come and have a family dinner and see me and the kids. I was so thrilled to see all of you and love you very much. Being so far from all of you is the only downside to marrying a man who earned a degree in Ocean Engineering. {{{hugs}}}) (Sorry for the sap trap there).
The plane ride home was long, but the kids did sleep for a portion of it and watched Shrek for the first and second time, so that was fun for them. There were lots of women and children on the return flight, but many others returning home or visiting Japan. Though the plane was tight, it was heartwarming to see a full flight of people headed to Japan. Once we landed my gallant husband braved the Tokyo traffic to pick us up and drive us home. I say that not really in jest. There was another mom I talked to who, after landing, had to wait another 3 hours for the base bus transport because her husband was scared to drive the hour to Narita airport. Seriously? Man up! Plus going straight home instead of adding another leg to the trip was really nice.
Just want to mention that there was a huge rushing sound there for about two minutes and the rapture did flash through my mind, but I think it was just some drag racers. At any rate I am still here, so either I'm not going or it did not happen. Not to surprised either way:-)
Back to the story.
We are home. The kids are back in school. Thor is now a Kindergartner, A is still in 1st grade. Io is desperate to go outside whenever her siblings do. The weather is currently lovely, but it is suppose to rain all of June. Not having Daylight Savings Time is odd. The sun rises about 4:30am and sets around 7pm. It is strange to wake up at 5am and have the sun already up, it makes me feel late. We missed the cherry trees blooming, but saw the wisteria and azalias and now it the time of Iris festivals. The house still has no dressers, but we do have a couch and carpet and tv now. I love it all except the tv. The tv-less time in the house was so nice...no begging for shows less fighting and screaming. But now there is Disney again a couple times a week so all is well in my children's world. On the plus side Io mostly ignores it so I don't have to worry about her getting any screen time.
We had an awesome day at two nearby parts the weekend of my B-day. First was the Sledding park, there is a big hill with plastic grass holders on it. The city loans out sleds that the kids can (hey!) sled down the hill on. It is great fun for all. There is also a skate park there. We brought A's scooter with and she went on the park (not sharing with T). Jon bought Thor his very own scooter so now they are rockin' the skate park with all the other kids. Then we left there and went to Kanazaki Park. It is like a state park with a beach and trails amphitheater and various things. We hiked 20 min to the short slide park. It was up-(steep)hill the whole way, but so worth it. The playground set is about 1/5th of a mile long and leads to these slides. The slides are made up of a series of many small rollers, aka like the old conveyer belts that dad moved the green bean boxes on. There was a web-like trampoline and a climbing wall for kids. Way Awesome. There is another play area with longer slides that we may hike to soon...it is another 15 min past the first one! The walk back down was short, especially with the kids whizzing down on the scooters :-) I had to go back up and find T's dropped jacket, but that means a quiet walk back to the car during which I was able to examine all kinds of plants. They had jack-in-the-pulpits growing right along the trail, and ferns galore and beautiful trees. Very nice. By the way, informational signs found on trails are not nearly as interesting if you cannot read them, but we stopped to try anyway.
Hmm what else...things are generally back to normal in Yokosuka. Everyone is trying to conserve power, so fewer lights on in homes and stores, but AC mostly won't be an issue for a couple weeks yet. The base commander seems very surprised that usage is creeping up...perhaps due to all the families that are coming back??? Sigh. Fresh produce is still available they test it and certain areas may no longer produce. I hate to think of the farmers who have lived on the land for generations being told that their soil is toxic and they may no longer farm. Land is so \precious here...where can they go? It is the story for anyone who owns land in the evacuation areas, but so much more for the farmers who have more than a house lot and really know their land.
The air and drinking water are clear. I worry about the seafood, but the kids and I don't eat it much anyways and none of us, Jon included, are fond of the filter feeding clams and such. It is clamming season here, there are kits for sale in the 100yen shop. I would love to take the kids out to try it, but feel guilty collecting if we won't eat them. Perhaps we will go and just give them to some one else.
There have not really been earthquakes since we returned. I have only felt one and it was small. A worries about it, but she seems to be able to put the worry aside and play with the friends. One benefit to the evac. is that many families have not returned yet. They are finishing the school year state-side, so her class is down to 16 kids, one of which is a neighbor boy whom they are fond of. I finally had the parking spot certified. I had a whole day at home today (except for kid pick-up). Jon is on a trip this week, but returns tomorrow (Saturday) presumably with local honey.
We are getting back to normal. It is a relief.
Things I have noticed in Japan.
1. They do have buttons are some of the cross walks (standing around for 10 minutes gets you looking for such things)
2. It is a HUGE complement to tell a native speaker that they speak English well. They never believe you.
3. Everyone sweeps the street in front of their homes, and scrubs the stoop (guess who was chastised).
4. You really have to watch when driving since a car may be parked in the driving lane along almost any curb.
5. American kids are really loud, I was actually shocked to hear a Japanese toddler throw a tantrum. It was the loudest noise I have heard from a native child!
PS I have seen multiple articles about this lately and would like to inform any who care that I double space after my sentences not out of ignorance (anymore) but out of habit. Plus I think it looks nicer.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
On the Flip Side...of the Planet
So we are back in your neighborhood, at least in that we are most likely on the same continent and possible the same time zone. I received word from Jon Thursday night (Mar 24th) that we would likely be leaving this week, Wed. to Friday. It was nice to have a solid time table. I went through the luggage and unpacked a couple of things, reorganized a bit and relaxed with the knowledge that we did not have to be on call to get up and go.
Then I got a call from Jon Friday morning telling me we were leaving Saturday morning. Hmmm… At least he called before we had left for the train station and our adventure. Instead I sent the boy out back to play and repacked everything. Again.
Luckily the wind had shifted Eastward and the air was safe again. So the two eldest children went out to play after school, soon joined by baby and me. They got out the wiggle and finally had some fresh air, saw some inu friends (dogs) and played in the universal language of kickball.
Jon’s work command arranged for a bus to move evacuating departing SRF families to the airport Saturday morning, and there was room on the bus so he joined us for the ride and killing time at the airport. We left at 11am Saturday. Killed the time, said goodbye to Daddy, who caught the train home, and went through security. Everything was fairly painless and we boarded our plane for the 6:05 pm departure. The kids slept most of the time and watched a movie, we had salmon and noodles for dinner and pizza for lunch(?) with a sandwich in the middle. We then landed at about 3:40pm, Saturday at O’hare Airport. The lovely staff helped to get my numerous carry-ons, carseat and stroller off the plane (in part because I was holding them up), helped us to get a ride on the big beeping cart, smoothed our way to baggage and customs and wished us well. We received a free luggage cart (in Ohare!!!) and collected the baggage just in time for a huge line of spring breakers to be headed into customs, but I with my stroller, luggage and three kids was diverted to the no line area; a “we just evacuated from Japan” and a wave through got us to the handy baggage check-in point for connecting flights. That was where my lovely parents popped out to surprise the kids and I and provide an escort to security for the connecting flight. Plus some brief quality time with (and treats for) the grandkids. Thanks Mom & Dad!
We hopped though the security line (after removing Ioanna’s shoes and ours…no shoe removal in Japan btw) and had a treat of McDonalds for dinner(?) and boarded a mostly empty flight to Newark where we landed at about 10pm Saturday. We had another lovely flight crew escort us and our carry-ons off the plane and down to the main area where a delighted A & T greeted Poppy. We made it to the house by 11:30 pm where a pot of meatballs was waiting to greet us. Yay Yai Yai!
All told we left 10:30am Saturday from our home in Japan and got in 11:30pm Saturday to the current home in NJ. 3 suitcases, 1 stroller, 1 carseat, 8 carry-on, and the children, one of which counts as a carryon seeing as she walked nary a step and I had to heft her the whole time. The carseat and heaviest bag were in the stroller. That was the longest Saturday of my life, about 30 hours if I am doing the math right, but I am still a bit jet lagged, so no promises.
So Jon is bach-ing it in Japan with all the other DOD Geo-bachelors (single by reason of the family being far away). The men are petitioning the base captain for rights to the general mess so that they can feed themselves somewhat well. Barring McD’s, the mess is the only place open on a regular basis and it seems many men don’t bother to put any time into meals for themselves.
The radiation level in Yokosuka is going up and down, depending on the wind. Some was found in the water (one of the three city sources so plenty of clean water still available). No word on when the families will come back, but they are still trying to settle everything out so that is understandable. We are roughly planning on 30 days plus processing time. In the mean time we will hang with the grandparents and play outside in the freezing cold weather.
I have my old phone reactivated so if you have my Florida number (904) you can give me a call or e-mail of course.
Current plan: New Jersey for 2 or 3 weeks, Illinois for the remaining and then home...Japan
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
So much for radiation exposure
Not to say that we want to go to a Ball at the Nuc. plant, but I am now not as concerned about the exposure. My lovely little girl whom I am trying to protect from a higher likelihood of cancer in future years just received a head CT.
Zap.
We made brownies late last night and, in order to prevent burns from the big bad oven, I put Ioanna in a high chair with arms and pulled it up to the counter so she could not fall forward. Instead she stood up and just fell off. Flat on her face with a nice big bump on the temple. She took the longest breath I have ever seen (I may have too), cried a second then snored (really) and passed out on my shoulder for a couple seconds. Then she woke and screamed some more. Jon got home just then (thank goodness) and decided to offer her a cookie to see if she would vomit (sigh). Instead she watched the many pretty daddys circling around her, at least she really did not realize what the cookie was, or could not pick which one to grab at. So off to the ER we went.
The nice thing about an ER visit during anevacuation departure...no wait! There was one unlucky little girl there with a badly broken finger and us. Io was very quiet for a while and then became quite giddy (at 10pm when she is usually quite grumpy if she is not in bed). With the passing out, the giddiness, the height of fall and the bruise location, the doctor recommended a CT scan to check for bleeds. Since the alternative was waiting for her to pass out and hence suffering further possible brain injury (with the hope she would not) I decided to go with the CT.
Zap.
So my kids are playing outside this afternoon. (Actually the radiation levels have gone down and the base nuc. guys said it was safe enough.). If she does get cancer later in life I can now blame it on bad parenting instead of natural and unnatural disasters. At least I was able to put her to sleep for the scan so she was not sedated. Yeah me!
Otherwise here is the current update. DOD families are now cleared to leave, our paperwork is in and we are now waiting on orders which should come soon, today even. We will see. We are now likely to fly into New Jersey, but with no tickets I still cannot say for certain. Jon is essential personnel and will be staying in Yokosuka. Amusingly he was in charge of picking a team to go south to Sasebo and fix the ship we moved down there. The selected Japanese gentlemen were happy until they found out Jon was not going down to be in charge. Nice to know they like him. :-) The ships are now gone so he is working normal-ish hours again, mostly doing paperwork. The kids are actually seeing him before we go, which is very nice.
Alexandra started back at school on Tuesday. One classroom of first-graders of about twenty kids. No homework and no 'teaching' just lots of playing, which she needed. Many of the teachers have evacuated. A's teacher did, but she is early on in a pregnancy, so she rightfully went soon after the radiation was detected. Other teachers just left, which they are not suppose to do. The teachers are essential personal, just like Jon. They are not suppose to leave until the base is evacuated (or at least all the dependents are). Right now we are have a voluntary departure and the teachers are suppose to be here to teach the children still here.
The main reason The Man okay-ed the departure was to clear out young (under age 2) children and expectant mothers. (Also so shrill housewives would not be distracting their husbands with phone calls during the emergency.) It was not due to danger to adults. There is still a commitment to the remaining students. But some teachers have remained parents have been asked to step in and together they will keep the remaining students a-learnin'.
As for Alexandra, I was thinking of enrolling her in a school while we are gone, but since I don't know how long that will be and since we wish to do some traveling while we are stateside she is being homeschooled for the next month. Thor graduated from preschool and is suppose to start Kindergarten on April 8th; they said they will hold his spot for our return. (At least I think that is what they said, my translator left the day before.)
He has a orange hat now and is very proud of it, it is much better than the yellow hat.
We are packed and ready to go. I even repacked everything. I may repack the carry-ons again just because it is that fun. All the chairs are lying on the floor so dizzy little girls do not fall from them. Instead she can just trip over them like her mama. I am trying to empty our fridge just enough to leave Jon with a usable amount of food but I have pretty much run out of meal ideas plus I have a hankerin' for some sushi so we may go out tonight. The kids will probably get fried chicken, you know because that is what you go to the sushi joint for (actually they have killer fried chicken and french fries!)... or maybe we will try a ramen joint... or maybe both, the portion sizes are small here!
You may have noticed I spoke fairly little about the ship deployment and such...sorry I have bunches to say about that, but loose lips sink ships and whatnot. Just ignore whatever sensationalist crap CNN has to say and you should have a basic idea of what is going on around here.
Oh and for those of you wondering, the brownies are quite tasty. Due to maternal guilt Ioanna has had some and loves them! Also, I have not yet found out why the Japanese man was in my friends apartment.
We'll be seeing some of you soon and sorry to miss the rest of you!
Zap.
We made brownies late last night and, in order to prevent burns from the big bad oven, I put Ioanna in a high chair with arms and pulled it up to the counter so she could not fall forward. Instead she stood up and just fell off. Flat on her face with a nice big bump on the temple. She took the longest breath I have ever seen (I may have too), cried a second then snored (really) and passed out on my shoulder for a couple seconds. Then she woke and screamed some more. Jon got home just then (thank goodness) and decided to offer her a cookie to see if she would vomit (sigh). Instead she watched the many pretty daddys circling around her, at least she really did not realize what the cookie was, or could not pick which one to grab at. So off to the ER we went.
The nice thing about an ER visit during an
Zap.
So my kids are playing outside this afternoon. (Actually the radiation levels have gone down and the base nuc. guys said it was safe enough.). If she does get cancer later in life I can now blame it on bad parenting instead of natural and unnatural disasters. At least I was able to put her to sleep for the scan so she was not sedated. Yeah me!
Otherwise here is the current update. DOD families are now cleared to leave, our paperwork is in and we are now waiting on orders which should come soon, today even. We will see. We are now likely to fly into New Jersey, but with no tickets I still cannot say for certain. Jon is essential personnel and will be staying in Yokosuka. Amusingly he was in charge of picking a team to go south to Sasebo and fix the ship we moved down there. The selected Japanese gentlemen were happy until they found out Jon was not going down to be in charge. Nice to know they like him. :-) The ships are now gone so he is working normal-ish hours again, mostly doing paperwork. The kids are actually seeing him before we go, which is very nice.
Alexandra started back at school on Tuesday. One classroom of first-graders of about twenty kids. No homework and no 'teaching' just lots of playing, which she needed. Many of the teachers have evacuated. A's teacher did, but she is early on in a pregnancy, so she rightfully went soon after the radiation was detected. Other teachers just left, which they are not suppose to do. The teachers are essential personal, just like Jon. They are not suppose to leave until the base is evacuated (or at least all the dependents are). Right now we are have a voluntary departure and the teachers are suppose to be here to teach the children still here.
The main reason The Man okay-ed the departure was to clear out young (under age 2) children and expectant mothers. (Also so shrill housewives would not be distracting their husbands with phone calls during the emergency.) It was not due to danger to adults. There is still a commitment to the remaining students. But some teachers have remained parents have been asked to step in and together they will keep the remaining students a-learnin'.
As for Alexandra, I was thinking of enrolling her in a school while we are gone, but since I don't know how long that will be and since we wish to do some traveling while we are stateside she is being homeschooled for the next month. Thor graduated from preschool and is suppose to start Kindergarten on April 8th; they said they will hold his spot for our return. (At least I think that is what they said, my translator left the day before.)
He has a orange hat now and is very proud of it, it is much better than the yellow hat.
We are packed and ready to go. I even repacked everything. I may repack the carry-ons again just because it is that fun. All the chairs are lying on the floor so dizzy little girls do not fall from them. Instead she can just trip over them like her mama. I am trying to empty our fridge just enough to leave Jon with a usable amount of food but I have pretty much run out of meal ideas plus I have a hankerin' for some sushi so we may go out tonight. The kids will probably get fried chicken, you know because that is what you go to the sushi joint for (actually they have killer fried chicken and french fries!)... or maybe we will try a ramen joint... or maybe both, the portion sizes are small here!
You may have noticed I spoke fairly little about the ship deployment and such...sorry I have bunches to say about that, but loose lips sink ships and whatnot. Just ignore whatever sensationalist crap CNN has to say and you should have a basic idea of what is going on around here.
Oh and for those of you wondering, the brownies are quite tasty. Due to maternal guilt Ioanna has had some and loves them! Also, I have not yet found out why the Japanese man was in my friends apartment.
We'll be seeing some of you soon and sorry to miss the rest of you!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
At least the Plum Blossoms were pretty
So Everyone hears about the cherry blossoms blooming in Japan. Beautiful, relaxing, peaceful, blah blah blah.
What they don't mention are the Plum Blossoms. They are so pretty and everywhere and very unique looking and have their own festival. Best of all I actually get to see them! I have waited so long to go to DC and see the cherry blossoms and then made it to Japan first and now it seems I will not be seeing them still. Next year I will see them. Oh yes, I Will See Them.
The news as of now is that "voluntary departure" has been authorized. That means that the Navy will beevacuating departing non-essential civilians. First go the military families then the DOD Families. I am not sure how long it will take to get anywhere, one to five days? I am also not sure where they are sending us to, but it is a 30 day min. evacuation departure. I was thinking of enrolling Alexandra in a first grade somewhere, but now I think I may just homeschool her for a month or two. That way we can take advantage of the unscheduled time stateside to visit both sides of the family.
Have I mentioned that the navy can run a war but not an evacuation. Maybe that is a good sign, maybe it means we don't retreat much. Either way I am disappointed and my confidence shaken. Not that I ever counted on The Man to fully protect us, but it would be nice if The Man could make up His mind and #### or get off the pot. (Sorry for the #### just a bit frustrated). I understand that the sailors and the ships and then the relief mission are top priority. That is as it should be, but a nice little "we assessed the situation and you are currently safe. We will start our relief mission and then work on the base issues" would have been nice and gone a long way towards keeping the shrieking housewives happy. What do you expect the wives to do when there is no information except what is seen on the news (when we can understand it) and there are young children at home and husbands leaving with very limited warning. The Navy wives are used to that last part, but usually the threat to the family is not there...except ya know the typhoon in October and that whole N. vs S. Korea stand off...but still.
So we hang out inside, bags packed and waiting. I just saw on Facebook that they are changing bag limits to 50 lbs for an adult and 30lbs for kids, but only if you are going to a specific airport. So I would like to know...do you really expect me to repack and remove things and just how am I suppose to know what airport you are sending me too if you don't tell me squat???
Jon we be in Japan at least through Monday and then he does not know what to expect: perhaps a trip to south Japan, perhaps stay here and catch up on paperwork, perhaps a jump across the drink to the west coast. He is super-important so he gets to stay and be irradiated for a bit longer at least. Lucky boy! I'm glad we have skype though. You old people had it hard with the letter writing and phone numbers with city names in them, good songs though...no offense of course:-) really!) Man, now Pennsylvania 6-5000 is in my head...punishment for the above I suppose. Sorry. We are lucky to have all this technology (hmm but that does include nuc. plants a whole different blog)
Me, 2 Kids, 1 Baby, stroller, carseat, 3 checked bags, 5 carry-ons....Its an Adventure. Perhaps we will see Korea or Germany or Washington State who knows a hanger in Bahrain? Well, that may be unlikely. What other disasters are waiting for us...I don't know if I can stand the excitement. I 'm gonna go knock on some wood now.
tootles
What they don't mention are the Plum Blossoms. They are so pretty and everywhere and very unique looking and have their own festival. Best of all I actually get to see them! I have waited so long to go to DC and see the cherry blossoms and then made it to Japan first and now it seems I will not be seeing them still. Next year I will see them. Oh yes, I Will See Them.
The news as of now is that "voluntary departure" has been authorized. That means that the Navy will be
Have I mentioned that the navy can run a war but not an evacuation. Maybe that is a good sign, maybe it means we don't retreat much. Either way I am disappointed and my confidence shaken. Not that I ever counted on The Man to fully protect us, but it would be nice if The Man could make up His mind and #### or get off the pot. (Sorry for the #### just a bit frustrated). I understand that the sailors and the ships and then the relief mission are top priority. That is as it should be, but a nice little "we assessed the situation and you are currently safe. We will start our relief mission and then work on the base issues" would have been nice and gone a long way towards keeping the shrieking housewives happy. What do you expect the wives to do when there is no information except what is seen on the news (when we can understand it) and there are young children at home and husbands leaving with very limited warning. The Navy wives are used to that last part, but usually the threat to the family is not there...except ya know the typhoon in October and that whole N. vs S. Korea stand off...but still.
So we hang out inside, bags packed and waiting. I just saw on Facebook that they are changing bag limits to 50 lbs for an adult and 30lbs for kids, but only if you are going to a specific airport. So I would like to know...do you really expect me to repack and remove things and just how am I suppose to know what airport you are sending me too if you don't tell me squat???
Jon we be in Japan at least through Monday and then he does not know what to expect: perhaps a trip to south Japan, perhaps stay here and catch up on paperwork, perhaps a jump across the drink to the west coast. He is super-important so he gets to stay and be irradiated for a bit longer at least. Lucky boy! I'm glad we have skype though. You old people had it hard with the letter writing and phone numbers with city names in them, good songs though...no offense of course:-) really!) Man, now Pennsylvania 6-5000 is in my head...punishment for the above I suppose. Sorry. We are lucky to have all this technology (hmm but that does include nuc. plants a whole different blog)
Me, 2 Kids, 1 Baby, stroller, carseat, 3 checked bags, 5 carry-ons....Its an Adventure. Perhaps we will see Korea or Germany or Washington State who knows a hanger in Bahrain? Well, that may be unlikely. What other disasters are waiting for us...I don't know if I can stand the excitement. I 'm gonna go knock on some wood now.
tootles
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Current Norm
Life is settling into a tension-filled schedule. We know how the day is suppose to go and are following it, but always with a worry in our hearts. The big question right now is whether to evacuate.
The Navy detected very low level radiation, akin to a transpacific flight, but have shared the precaution that we should stay indoors and seal obvious airflow into the houses, if we want. We are not playing at the playground after school and Sullivans elementary has recess inside right now. Thor, Io and I bike to school in the morning but that is only for two more days then school is done for the year. (Thor will be a kindergartner in April!!!) We cover up and I wash out clothes each day, this radiation is easily absorbed by water. I even bought some masks just in case...the Japanese pharmacist I bought them from went to school in Rockford, Il for a while. He even knows of Woodstock!
There are to be rolling blackouts twice a day for the rest of the month. That was suppose to start three days ago. I have yet to have one, though nearby neighbors have had them. Perhaps our little section is just that much better about conserving energy. Oh Yeah! We are going to do most of the shopping on base since local stores will be having trouble with supplies. At this point though the base stores are fairly well wiped out for now. Still quite a bit, but limited amounts of everything since they cannot depend on refrigeration all day every day. Between overstocking for emergencies and buying items to send up north, only the most unessential items are still at the stores. Our local train line is out of service for now, but we do have a car and the bikes as needed. Alexandra is at school at the base but Thor's last week of preschool is on a day to day basis (and none today). Luckily we have gas for cooking and the water also comes without power, so mostly we are unaffected. Plus, I can check facebook on my phone...so important you know!
The base was limiting gasoline to 10gals a turn and now 5gal. That just means more annoying people will go through twice I suppose. There are lots of stations running out in town. Luckily we drive so little that I only filled up to 8.5gal. Due to the (low) radiation in the air Jon is driving to work right now, so we are using a bit more, but even that is only 10 miles a day.
I heard the intercom go off again Tuesday morning...lots of"Japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami" Then the English saying that the tsunami alert had been lifted. Worry then relief. Now it goes off with no English translation, but they are just sharing the latest version of the blackout schedule. Occationaly our cell phones will buzz with a funny buzz. That means an earthquake is about to hit (about 2 to 10 seconds warning usually). There are still tons of quakes through the island, but we only feel a few a day here; maybe one today, Wednesday, but I did not feel it. Civilians are not being allowed to go north and assist until the shakes subside.
Right now everything is just waiting. Although it is obviously a different story up north, for us the Earthquake and Tsunami are done. Little damage at all. There is just the general increase in the number of recent quakes. The thing everyone here is worried about is the radiation. I know two Americans who have left and my neighbor and his daughters family have gone to the in-laws for the time being. We have started to add more iodine to our diets, just in case (though it turns out we are a bit low anyways). That will help if there is a radiation spike. Otherwise I am trying to keep the kids busy without running around outside. Tempers are a bit short right now. At least the Navy has become a bit more communicative recently. They caught a lot of flack at the town hall meeting for not sending out an "everything is ok we will give you more info later" message (You can facebook Command Fleet Activities Yokosuka if you want base updates)
And so now I sit, and wait for Jon to get home...and roll some beeswax candles because we don't have many right now. They smell so nice :-) I check facebook much too often, but I am stuck inside so the opportunity is at times to hard to resist.
I really like it here. The country is lovely, the plum trees are blooming, people are friendly and so welcoming, especially if you bow and have a spattering (like 'hello' and 'goodbye') of Japanese. The climate is quite nice and it is starting to feel like home. I would really hate to have to leave after only just arriving (and before the cherry trees bloom). Jon's intern has been called home and she is bitterly disappointed. Yes, natural disasters, blah blah blah, but the opportunity she is losing... and she only finished the welcome to Japan classes Friday. Her moms is relieved though...as I am sure my Mother and Mother-in-law will be if I come home, or rather, if I bring the grandchildren home :-)
Oh highpoint today, Ioanna was cleaning the toilet for me...with her toothbrush! Hmmm, sweet girl. Luckily I just happened to buy her a new one at the store this morning so not so bad.
Different things about Japan
~ You don't hand payments to cashiers, you put your cash or card in a little plate.
~ When they ask people to conserve energy, the public actually listens!
~ When referring to themselves, Japanese point to their nose not their chest.
~Streets are not labeled, you find addresses based on the area, then area section, then block number then house number. Out of towners are screwed.
P.S. Did I mention the worst part of conserving energy is turning off the toilets so the seat is cold!!! I am so bringing a toilet when we move back stateside.
The Navy detected very low level radiation, akin to a transpacific flight, but have shared the precaution that we should stay indoors and seal obvious airflow into the houses, if we want. We are not playing at the playground after school and Sullivans elementary has recess inside right now. Thor, Io and I bike to school in the morning but that is only for two more days then school is done for the year. (Thor will be a kindergartner in April!!!) We cover up and I wash out clothes each day, this radiation is easily absorbed by water. I even bought some masks just in case...the Japanese pharmacist I bought them from went to school in Rockford, Il for a while. He even knows of Woodstock!
There are to be rolling blackouts twice a day for the rest of the month. That was suppose to start three days ago. I have yet to have one, though nearby neighbors have had them. Perhaps our little section is just that much better about conserving energy. Oh Yeah! We are going to do most of the shopping on base since local stores will be having trouble with supplies. At this point though the base stores are fairly well wiped out for now. Still quite a bit, but limited amounts of everything since they cannot depend on refrigeration all day every day. Between overstocking for emergencies and buying items to send up north, only the most unessential items are still at the stores. Our local train line is out of service for now, but we do have a car and the bikes as needed. Alexandra is at school at the base but Thor's last week of preschool is on a day to day basis (and none today). Luckily we have gas for cooking and the water also comes without power, so mostly we are unaffected. Plus, I can check facebook on my phone...so important you know!
The base was limiting gasoline to 10gals a turn and now 5gal. That just means more annoying people will go through twice I suppose. There are lots of stations running out in town. Luckily we drive so little that I only filled up to 8.5gal. Due to the (low) radiation in the air Jon is driving to work right now, so we are using a bit more, but even that is only 10 miles a day.
I heard the intercom go off again Tuesday morning...lots of"Japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami" Then the English saying that the tsunami alert had been lifted. Worry then relief. Now it goes off with no English translation, but they are just sharing the latest version of the blackout schedule. Occationaly our cell phones will buzz with a funny buzz. That means an earthquake is about to hit (about 2 to 10 seconds warning usually). There are still tons of quakes through the island, but we only feel a few a day here; maybe one today, Wednesday, but I did not feel it. Civilians are not being allowed to go north and assist until the shakes subside.
Right now everything is just waiting. Although it is obviously a different story up north, for us the Earthquake and Tsunami are done. Little damage at all. There is just the general increase in the number of recent quakes. The thing everyone here is worried about is the radiation. I know two Americans who have left and my neighbor and his daughters family have gone to the in-laws for the time being. We have started to add more iodine to our diets, just in case (though it turns out we are a bit low anyways). That will help if there is a radiation spike. Otherwise I am trying to keep the kids busy without running around outside. Tempers are a bit short right now. At least the Navy has become a bit more communicative recently. They caught a lot of flack at the town hall meeting for not sending out an "everything is ok we will give you more info later" message (You can facebook Command Fleet Activities Yokosuka if you want base updates)
And so now I sit, and wait for Jon to get home...and roll some beeswax candles because we don't have many right now. They smell so nice :-) I check facebook much too often, but I am stuck inside so the opportunity is at times to hard to resist.
I really like it here. The country is lovely, the plum trees are blooming, people are friendly and so welcoming, especially if you bow and have a spattering (like 'hello' and 'goodbye') of Japanese. The climate is quite nice and it is starting to feel like home. I would really hate to have to leave after only just arriving (and before the cherry trees bloom). Jon's intern has been called home and she is bitterly disappointed. Yes, natural disasters, blah blah blah, but the opportunity she is losing... and she only finished the welcome to Japan classes Friday. Her moms is relieved though...as I am sure my Mother and Mother-in-law will be if I come home, or rather, if I bring the grandchildren home :-)
Oh highpoint today, Ioanna was cleaning the toilet for me...with her toothbrush! Hmmm, sweet girl. Luckily I just happened to buy her a new one at the store this morning so not so bad.
Different things about Japan
~ You don't hand payments to cashiers, you put your cash or card in a little plate.
~ When they ask people to conserve energy, the public actually listens!
~ When referring to themselves, Japanese point to their nose not their chest.
~Streets are not labeled, you find addresses based on the area, then area section, then block number then house number. Out of towners are screwed.
P.S. Did I mention the worst part of conserving energy is turning off the toilets so the seat is cold!!! I am so bringing a toilet when we move back stateside.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
I know why your here...
Yes, normally you would know better than to check back so soon after a blog from me...but then there is an earthquake and everyone wants to know about it. So here I am ever so kindly updating you on what is going on. Yeah it has been a long day, how can you tell?
Sorry. Anyways...
Thank to all of you who have sent a note or message to check in with us. We are doing just fine. It was scary, we were all a bit shaken.
hmmm sorry again (kinda)
The week has been fine. Thursday was way busy. Ioanna is waking up, or rather not going to sleep, at night so we were tired and missed the alarm, Jon dropped Thor, Io and I at pre-school, then drove himself and Alexandra to base, then came back to give me the car and biked back in..all before noon. Thor, Io and I drove onto base to meet Alexandra and go to the school playground. We try to do this once a week so the kids can play with the friends we met while living on-base at the Navy Lodge.
I left Al and Thor with the other moms to go to the Outdoor Rec and rent sleds for our trip to sled on Mt. Fugi on Sunday (now canceled btw). Did that and returned about 2:35 (thank goodness). I met up with the other playground moms and was about to hear why one lady woke up in her nightie with a Japanese man standing in her bedroom when another mom said "Hey did you feel that." And then it started. I did not recognize the first movement since I just picked up a wiggle Ioanna, but after that you could feel them, and see them. The ground moved and we all found the kids and got them off the play equipment. Alexandra says she did not feel it at first because she was already swinging on the monkey bars (and ignoring me telling her to get down). Probably true! So we gathered the children and heard the Sullivan's School announce an evacuation. The teachers already had those kids pouring out. At some point a mom started telling everyone to get off the blacktop and onto the grass, which we did. I still don't know why, but why not.
You may have noticed that I have just typed quite a bit and did not mention the earthquake stopping. That is because it did not. It was still going. The first one I felt in January lasted about 30 sec. The aftershocks I have been feeling last about 1- 2 min. That big one and the one just after lasted 5 to 10 min. (I wasn't really timing to the second.) It registered as an 8.9 at the epicenter and we felt it as a 6.5-ish earthquake. We gathered, kids played, kids cried, some moms did too and then it stopped. It felt like walking on a trampoline that other people are walking on; the ground was just not firm under your feet. All told after about 30 min everyone started to head home. We made a quick pot stop at the apartment tower just in case it was a long drive home. Over heard a boy from one of the higher floors tell his dad that all the statues fell off the shelves. Those higher floors sway a lot! As we went back through the playground to our car I did notice that all the Asian moms were still there with their kids playing, just the American born moms went home. Wide open spaces are the safest place I guess :-)
We drove around to the front of the base and through some aftershocks. I could see all the plants on the hills shaking. We took a detour past SRF, the building where Jon works. Alexandra was very worried and wanted to know if he was OK (plus I wanted to see him). The employees happened to be waiting outside, evacuated for the second time so we were able to see him and reassure Alexandra a bit. We then drove home. There was no power to any of the traffic lights, good manners and the occasional policeman ruled the roads.
At home we discovered the power was out, however we still had water and gas (which we switched off after making some hot chocolate). Jon made it home on his bike about 30 minutes after us, he aggravated a minor foot injury biking through some earthquakes, but he made it. According to his co-workers a) this was the biggest quake they had ever felt and b) the power plants are nuclear and shut down preemptively to prevent possible trouble. I may have mentioned the intercoms that play music every day at 4pm. They also play the various city warnings for when there is trouble. All along the drive and then at home I could hear them. First it was all in Japanese, or I could not hear the English while driving. At home I was finally able to listen to Japanese chatter and then FINALLY an English translation. (btw I am writing a note of thanks to the City of Yokosuka) It said there was a tsunami on the way and to evacuate to higher ground. Crap.
So Jon stayed calm and said we were fine and Japanese people went on walking their dogs at the park across the street, and I packed us all into the car. This was about 4:30pm
In the past week I have met two lovely ladies and more importantly I have driven to both of their houses, up the hillside. They happen to live on the same road so following the premise that everyone who meets me loves me within moments, we went a visiting. First stop was the mom of a classmate from Thor's preschool. The two boys have hit it off (mostly since they both speak English) and we had a playdate there the day before. Our second stop was going to be a nice newlywed I met at my knitting group. She is fabulous, but has no kids and so was option two. Luckily the classmate and his mom was home and she let us all in without a second thought. The other nice thing is that she is Japanese and could understand the radio chatter.
We stayed and played. They had just taken a cab home from swim lessons. In Japan most buildings have parking garages above them instead of space wasting parking lots. The concrete was rippling and moving and she decided not to go get her car when they evacuated. Can't say as I blame her. There was cereal and cheese and crackers for dinner. One small aftershock was felt. We chatted. The phones mostly did not work, too many calls going through. She did not know her husband was 'trapped' on the Carrier because they were not letting anyone on or off, which Jon was able to tell her. She managed to get through to her mom down south and we used our phones to check the web a bit. Later her husband got a call through. We stayed there until about seven, at which point the kids were cranky and Jon and I felt that the tsunami was no longer a worry. I am forever going to be indebted to her, even though I would have done the same saying it was no trouble, it was such a huge relief that when we appeared she let us right in. BTW to make your flashlight give off more light put a plastic bag over it and it becomes more like a lamp. She pulled that bit of tv tidbits out of her head and it works awesome!
So we left and took 30 min to drive just over a mile. (I did know second route avoiding the really bad lights). We got home and went to pull out the candles, realizing that they were left behind as non-transportable flammable items. Luckily I had one long burning candle (Thanks Aunt Jean), matches, and a few of my Halloween ghost votive candles snuck their way into the shipment and were sacrificed for their light. The kids went to sleep in our bed and Jon and I dove into our phones a bit before going to bed around 9:30. It was dark after all. With the last of my battery charge I put my quick update on facebook and skype figuring that many of you would check there first. (Brie you are awake much to early!)
Io once again slept fairly horribly and Jonathan let me sleep in so I did not get back to many of you until the past few hours. My apologies. The day was a mix of comforting the children, skyping and e-mailing, normal daytime stuff and wondering if 'that was an aftershock' Alexandra keeps saying she can feel the earthquakes in her head, which I understand. Sitting here I occasionally glance at my water filter to see if the shaking I feel is in my head too, or has a manifestation in the physical world as shaking water. Once or twice that water is actually shaking. These aftershocks are strong at the epicenter, 5s and 6s, but by the time they reach us it is only a 1 or 2.
She would not play outside today, not that I blame her. They kids did not actually notice any of the little quakes, played right through most of them. They are disappointed about the lack of sledding tomorrow as are Jon and I. I am going to start paying attention to the news tomorrow. I have heard the edges and but will delve when there is some time. The nuclear plants are having some issues. One's building exploded but the reactor is fine and they are pouring saltwater on it to keep it cool. They will fix it. The tsunami caused most of the fatalities and is a horrible thing, the earthquake caused things to explode or collapse, but not as much as a decade ago. The rules for building structures are very good and the Japanese have a habit of tearing down old houses and building new. Bridges and tunnels, roads and train tracks are being inspected so that people can start moving around the country again. The Regan aircraft carrier and it's battle group plus some of our ships are going up north to help. (Our carried is having a big maintenance job done and would take 2 days to close up and get out so they send the Regan from Ca. Got here is one day.) The carriers can make enough water for 5,000 people for a day in about 15min and had medical facilities. The other ships have helicopters to move supplies and people where they need to go.
It is very late here and I am tired, and Ioanna will probably be waking up soon. Let me know if there is anything else you want to know (or any painful grammatical errors, I am only proof reading once) and I will try to update every few days. There probably (hopefully) won't be much happening here. Life will get back to normal, as it always does. The news will let us know some of what happens up north.
And no, I still don't know what happened when my friend woke up with a Japanese man in her room. I'll let you know when I find out :-)
Much Love,
Christine
Sorry. Anyways...
Thank to all of you who have sent a note or message to check in with us. We are doing just fine. It was scary, we were all a bit shaken.
hmmm sorry again (kinda)
The week has been fine. Thursday was way busy. Ioanna is waking up, or rather not going to sleep, at night so we were tired and missed the alarm, Jon dropped Thor, Io and I at pre-school, then drove himself and Alexandra to base, then came back to give me the car and biked back in..all before noon. Thor, Io and I drove onto base to meet Alexandra and go to the school playground. We try to do this once a week so the kids can play with the friends we met while living on-base at the Navy Lodge.
I left Al and Thor with the other moms to go to the Outdoor Rec and rent sleds for our trip to sled on Mt. Fugi on Sunday (now canceled btw). Did that and returned about 2:35 (thank goodness). I met up with the other playground moms and was about to hear why one lady woke up in her nightie with a Japanese man standing in her bedroom when another mom said "Hey did you feel that." And then it started. I did not recognize the first movement since I just picked up a wiggle Ioanna, but after that you could feel them, and see them. The ground moved and we all found the kids and got them off the play equipment. Alexandra says she did not feel it at first because she was already swinging on the monkey bars (and ignoring me telling her to get down). Probably true! So we gathered the children and heard the Sullivan's School announce an evacuation. The teachers already had those kids pouring out. At some point a mom started telling everyone to get off the blacktop and onto the grass, which we did. I still don't know why, but why not.
You may have noticed that I have just typed quite a bit and did not mention the earthquake stopping. That is because it did not. It was still going. The first one I felt in January lasted about 30 sec. The aftershocks I have been feeling last about 1- 2 min. That big one and the one just after lasted 5 to 10 min. (I wasn't really timing to the second.) It registered as an 8.9 at the epicenter and we felt it as a 6.5-ish earthquake. We gathered, kids played, kids cried, some moms did too and then it stopped. It felt like walking on a trampoline that other people are walking on; the ground was just not firm under your feet. All told after about 30 min everyone started to head home. We made a quick pot stop at the apartment tower just in case it was a long drive home. Over heard a boy from one of the higher floors tell his dad that all the statues fell off the shelves. Those higher floors sway a lot! As we went back through the playground to our car I did notice that all the Asian moms were still there with their kids playing, just the American born moms went home. Wide open spaces are the safest place I guess :-)
We drove around to the front of the base and through some aftershocks. I could see all the plants on the hills shaking. We took a detour past SRF, the building where Jon works. Alexandra was very worried and wanted to know if he was OK (plus I wanted to see him). The employees happened to be waiting outside, evacuated for the second time so we were able to see him and reassure Alexandra a bit. We then drove home. There was no power to any of the traffic lights, good manners and the occasional policeman ruled the roads.
At home we discovered the power was out, however we still had water and gas (which we switched off after making some hot chocolate). Jon made it home on his bike about 30 minutes after us, he aggravated a minor foot injury biking through some earthquakes, but he made it. According to his co-workers a) this was the biggest quake they had ever felt and b) the power plants are nuclear and shut down preemptively to prevent possible trouble. I may have mentioned the intercoms that play music every day at 4pm. They also play the various city warnings for when there is trouble. All along the drive and then at home I could hear them. First it was all in Japanese, or I could not hear the English while driving. At home I was finally able to listen to Japanese chatter and then FINALLY an English translation. (btw I am writing a note of thanks to the City of Yokosuka) It said there was a tsunami on the way and to evacuate to higher ground. Crap.
So Jon stayed calm and said we were fine and Japanese people went on walking their dogs at the park across the street, and I packed us all into the car. This was about 4:30pm
In the past week I have met two lovely ladies and more importantly I have driven to both of their houses, up the hillside. They happen to live on the same road so following the premise that everyone who meets me loves me within moments, we went a visiting. First stop was the mom of a classmate from Thor's preschool. The two boys have hit it off (mostly since they both speak English) and we had a playdate there the day before. Our second stop was going to be a nice newlywed I met at my knitting group. She is fabulous, but has no kids and so was option two. Luckily the classmate and his mom was home and she let us all in without a second thought. The other nice thing is that she is Japanese and could understand the radio chatter.
We stayed and played. They had just taken a cab home from swim lessons. In Japan most buildings have parking garages above them instead of space wasting parking lots. The concrete was rippling and moving and she decided not to go get her car when they evacuated. Can't say as I blame her. There was cereal and cheese and crackers for dinner. One small aftershock was felt. We chatted. The phones mostly did not work, too many calls going through. She did not know her husband was 'trapped' on the Carrier because they were not letting anyone on or off, which Jon was able to tell her. She managed to get through to her mom down south and we used our phones to check the web a bit. Later her husband got a call through. We stayed there until about seven, at which point the kids were cranky and Jon and I felt that the tsunami was no longer a worry. I am forever going to be indebted to her, even though I would have done the same saying it was no trouble, it was such a huge relief that when we appeared she let us right in. BTW to make your flashlight give off more light put a plastic bag over it and it becomes more like a lamp. She pulled that bit of tv tidbits out of her head and it works awesome!
So we left and took 30 min to drive just over a mile. (I did know second route avoiding the really bad lights). We got home and went to pull out the candles, realizing that they were left behind as non-transportable flammable items. Luckily I had one long burning candle (Thanks Aunt Jean), matches, and a few of my Halloween ghost votive candles snuck their way into the shipment and were sacrificed for their light. The kids went to sleep in our bed and Jon and I dove into our phones a bit before going to bed around 9:30. It was dark after all. With the last of my battery charge I put my quick update on facebook and skype figuring that many of you would check there first. (Brie you are awake much to early!)
Io once again slept fairly horribly and Jonathan let me sleep in so I did not get back to many of you until the past few hours. My apologies. The day was a mix of comforting the children, skyping and e-mailing, normal daytime stuff and wondering if 'that was an aftershock' Alexandra keeps saying she can feel the earthquakes in her head, which I understand. Sitting here I occasionally glance at my water filter to see if the shaking I feel is in my head too, or has a manifestation in the physical world as shaking water. Once or twice that water is actually shaking. These aftershocks are strong at the epicenter, 5s and 6s, but by the time they reach us it is only a 1 or 2.
She would not play outside today, not that I blame her. They kids did not actually notice any of the little quakes, played right through most of them. They are disappointed about the lack of sledding tomorrow as are Jon and I. I am going to start paying attention to the news tomorrow. I have heard the edges and but will delve when there is some time. The nuclear plants are having some issues. One's building exploded but the reactor is fine and they are pouring saltwater on it to keep it cool. They will fix it. The tsunami caused most of the fatalities and is a horrible thing, the earthquake caused things to explode or collapse, but not as much as a decade ago. The rules for building structures are very good and the Japanese have a habit of tearing down old houses and building new. Bridges and tunnels, roads and train tracks are being inspected so that people can start moving around the country again. The Regan aircraft carrier and it's battle group plus some of our ships are going up north to help. (Our carried is having a big maintenance job done and would take 2 days to close up and get out so they send the Regan from Ca. Got here is one day.) The carriers can make enough water for 5,000 people for a day in about 15min and had medical facilities. The other ships have helicopters to move supplies and people where they need to go.
It is very late here and I am tired, and Ioanna will probably be waking up soon. Let me know if there is anything else you want to know (or any painful grammatical errors, I am only proof reading once) and I will try to update every few days. There probably (hopefully) won't be much happening here. Life will get back to normal, as it always does. The news will let us know some of what happens up north.
And no, I still don't know what happened when my friend woke up with a Japanese man in her room. I'll let you know when I find out :-)
Much Love,
Christine
Monday, March 7, 2011
Told you I would start slacking!
Well turns out I only write regularly when Jon is `not` home...but here I am again. Jon is not gone, just working his new normal of ten hour days again. So...
Since updating you last month we have had more adventures of course!
Also I had the warning about using kids names on the web, good advice which I should have used from the start. The past posts will be updated but my eldest is now Al, the middle is TJ and the youngest is Io. And onto it we go...
Al & TJ and Io and I headed off on our first solo foray on the trains...off to the mall. We paid a bill at the 7/11, because in Japan all the utility bills have barcodes and almost any place with a scanner will let you pay the bill there. Talk about easy! There is a Shinto shrine at our local train station. Very nice tree behind it, maybe the reason for the shrine. Had a nice time and the kids did not complain too much about all the walking. They seem to be getting used to it. Also discovered a new favorite candy. Melty Kisses. Seriously good. Luckily (and I normally do not like this) they are all individually wrapped so you have to think about each one that you are eating instead of letting one after another melt in your mouth. Send me your address...I'll send you a box (or two, no need to be cruel!).
TJ, Io, a friend (who happens to speak Japanese) and I went to register our driveway...yes that is right we have to prove that since we have a car, we also have a place to park it. It is illegal to park on the streets overnight in Yokosuka, and much of Japan. So we hopped on the train going opposite from the mall and went for a ride. Off to the police station we went managing to not get lost along the way. Yeah us!
I, of course, did not bring the car registration so it was a futile trip, but I now know where to go next time, and I did score a broom. Outside they use an old-fashioned broom-brush branch broom, and I have a ton of little rocks in my driveway but could not find an outdoor broom until that day. Now the rocks are gone, and since Japanese tend not to show public amusement at people, I did not get any funny looks on the train.
I also went to our second Preschool tour. This was the one! TJ is now enrolled in Mabori Kaigon Preschool and Kindergarten. It is the local Japanese kinder. but my neighbors daughter volunteered to be my translator. (She even rewrote my application into Japanese) Aoi (ah-oh-ee) has a son in TJ's class who speaks a hint of English plus the other two English speaking kids in the school are in his class also. One is fluent in both Japanese and English so he is the little translator. :-) TJ now wears button up shirts and zipper shorts to school every day. Previously he has refused all but elastic, but now he gets to wear shorts in winter so that makes up for it. Did I also mention the tights...it gets cold here man! There is a little blue hat, jacket and shorts plus a white shirt to wear to school. When the kids get there they change into a different pair of shorts (elastic) and cover the white shirt with another blue smock. I have to hand wash that smock almost every night because he gets it so filthy! At lease I can get blackmail money from the pictures some day. The children have mud to play in and a garden to grow and lots of room to run around, plus we can bike there in three minutes. Lots of good stuff about this school, including the fact that I am alone with Io to enjoy her babyhood again. That boy can be exhausting!
Jon returned home safe and sound and fairly tired. Caught the bus to base and we picked him up there. There was a little welcome home party. Ya know the kind where the kids get a bunch of presents:-)
So TJ has started school and I am 5 year-old-less during the day. It allowed me to go on a field trip to the post office with Al and get a few more things put away...still looking for those dressers and bookshelves. I did find laundry sorters, who knew what a relief that could be? I even had a haircut. Woo-hoo! Now it is time to start going exploring, small jaunts, but I should be able to get around a bit with the baby on my back.
A couple weekends ago Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to Yokohoma. Let me be more specific, Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to the big camera shop turn toy store in Yokohoma! So Saturday afternoon we hopped on the train and took off on our first real family outing. Everyone enjoyed the train since we managed to get seats. The kids looked out for cave trolls (lots of tunnels out here) and Io amused herself by amusing the Japanese...who all LOVE her little blonde smillyness! We arrived, found our way and got lost on the 6th floor (toys). They have all kinds of stuff here that aren't on the shelves in the US. They also have all kinds of stuff here that is either twice as much or half as much depending on the toy. Jon and TJ went gaga over the transformers and such. Al just loves the many manga girls in very short skirts who look so pretty on all the posters...actually Jon likes that too! I am saddened by the lack of wooden toys here, but it is an island and they are Shintoists so I guess I understand. Plus we already have enough toys, so it is for the best. Instead I try to remind myself that all the children I know can wait for their birthdays to get really weird random stuff from Japan. Hello Kitty sushi set anyone? (actually I gave Genny dibs on that one, but can get another if needed).
After shopping and not buying too much stuff to carry home we went to a resturant. Until this day I did not realize how spoiled we are in Yokosuka. This close to the Navy base there are translated menus and really good plastic food replica of restaurant menus. We picked a nice looking place that smelled good. They had a menu, could not tell you what was on it though. So we pointed to a couple pictures and a couple random lines in the menu and hoped for the best. We did not quite get it, but at least dinner was edible and varied. There was a decent soup with ramen noodles and seaweed. Then there was the yakitori (bird on a stick) and the pork version of the same. But in Japan they do not just eat the meat, there was meat on a stick, liver on a stick (Al liked that even after we told her what it was), cartilage on a stick, skin on a stick, fat on a stick. All cooked and edible, kinda. Just not quite what we had in mind. I did like the salad dressing though! So after dinner Jon got us lost going the total wrong direction to the Toys R Us. But I did finally get a winter coat when we found an LL Bean so it worked out (for me at least).
Jon had his first big drive in Japan this last week. He has been biking about 4 miles to work almost every day, not rain nor sleet nor windy day keeps him off the bike. It helps that we only have one car and he wants me to have it for emergencies. Great for getting in a workout, but he has not had as much practice driving with the Japanese. So he went off to the airport in Tokyo; talk about jumping into the fire! He managed to get there but missed some turns on the way back. It seemed like he was showing his new intern around the area...yeah...that's EXCTALLY what he was doing...a tour. Sure. But he did not crash and did get her to the Navy Lodge. He also drove us out to his boss's birthday party, which was a nice bit of grown-up time (plus the kids, but still). We had a chance to meet the new girl (the only female engineer in engineering btw). She seems very nice and exuberant. Very excited to tour around and party in Japan. His poor intern thinks she is making out on a government funded vacation to Japan for three months. The girl has never been on a ship. I almost feel bad for her, but if she actually works hard she will learn a lot from Jon. If not at least Jon will be amused getting a lot of work out of her crawling through bilges and fuel tanks. And I get to hear the stories with his embellishments. Most of you have heard Jon's stories...the embellishments are the best part:-)
Thus far we have had sushi and tempura, hot Soba noodles, food on a stick, meat grilled on a little hot grill in front of you (dif. from the hibachi grills), a steak dinner at Family Garden (local Italian joint) and some surprisingly tasty meals at a tea house down the road. We have not hit all the food types yet, but slowly will get there.
So if I had written the blog as often as I planned there would have been more fun/boring details, but hey, you now know we are still alive so that is what really counts right? Though if I wrote more often perhaps my postings wouldn't be quite so long. Hmmm.
Next time...We have a playdate and Al goes to the Aquarium and who knows what else...
More different things about Japan:
They wrap everything in plastic here I bought two carrots...they put them in a bag and then a bag.
Luckily they also recycle everything here so I don't mind too much.
Those SARs masks are for allergies too. It is hayfever season with the bloomings and more people are wearing them than usual.
Going really slow feels(25mph) really fast on narrow roads with drivers that change lanes all the time.
Also it does not feel as slow because there are no mph on the speedometer to compare it too (vs driving in Canada)
The Seahawks are crazy. I had to take Io's granola bar away because I saw one ready to swoop at the park.
Japanese bath (soaking) tubs rock!
If a head of lettuce (for example) is pricier than the one next to it, it is because it was grown on the island instead of China
I find I am not ~quite~ so opposed to things made in China now that it does not have to go around the world to get to me...unless it is in the base commissary, in which case it went around the world twice.
If I bow to you when I talk to you one the phone, at least you cannot see me and laugh, unless it is on skpye and then I am screwed. (btw just look up my name if you want to skype some time!)
New furniture tends to be a little bland here, but the antique is beautiful, and the price proves it!
Al's new Japanese word...ichi kudasai "one please" Mine is Mizu "water"
Have a lovely tomorrow!
Christine
Since updating you last month we have had more adventures of course!
Also I had the warning about using kids names on the web, good advice which I should have used from the start. The past posts will be updated but my eldest is now Al, the middle is TJ and the youngest is Io. And onto it we go...
Al & TJ and Io and I headed off on our first solo foray on the trains...off to the mall. We paid a bill at the 7/11, because in Japan all the utility bills have barcodes and almost any place with a scanner will let you pay the bill there. Talk about easy! There is a Shinto shrine at our local train station. Very nice tree behind it, maybe the reason for the shrine. Had a nice time and the kids did not complain too much about all the walking. They seem to be getting used to it. Also discovered a new favorite candy. Melty Kisses. Seriously good. Luckily (and I normally do not like this) they are all individually wrapped so you have to think about each one that you are eating instead of letting one after another melt in your mouth. Send me your address...I'll send you a box (or two, no need to be cruel!).
TJ, Io, a friend (who happens to speak Japanese) and I went to register our driveway...yes that is right we have to prove that since we have a car, we also have a place to park it. It is illegal to park on the streets overnight in Yokosuka, and much of Japan. So we hopped on the train going opposite from the mall and went for a ride. Off to the police station we went managing to not get lost along the way. Yeah us!
I, of course, did not bring the car registration so it was a futile trip, but I now know where to go next time, and I did score a broom. Outside they use an old-fashioned broom-brush branch broom, and I have a ton of little rocks in my driveway but could not find an outdoor broom until that day. Now the rocks are gone, and since Japanese tend not to show public amusement at people, I did not get any funny looks on the train.
I also went to our second Preschool tour. This was the one! TJ is now enrolled in Mabori Kaigon Preschool and Kindergarten. It is the local Japanese kinder. but my neighbors daughter volunteered to be my translator. (She even rewrote my application into Japanese) Aoi (ah-oh-ee) has a son in TJ's class who speaks a hint of English plus the other two English speaking kids in the school are in his class also. One is fluent in both Japanese and English so he is the little translator. :-) TJ now wears button up shirts and zipper shorts to school every day. Previously he has refused all but elastic, but now he gets to wear shorts in winter so that makes up for it. Did I also mention the tights...it gets cold here man! There is a little blue hat, jacket and shorts plus a white shirt to wear to school. When the kids get there they change into a different pair of shorts (elastic) and cover the white shirt with another blue smock. I have to hand wash that smock almost every night because he gets it so filthy! At lease I can get blackmail money from the pictures some day. The children have mud to play in and a garden to grow and lots of room to run around, plus we can bike there in three minutes. Lots of good stuff about this school, including the fact that I am alone with Io to enjoy her babyhood again. That boy can be exhausting!
Jon returned home safe and sound and fairly tired. Caught the bus to base and we picked him up there. There was a little welcome home party. Ya know the kind where the kids get a bunch of presents:-)
So TJ has started school and I am 5 year-old-less during the day. It allowed me to go on a field trip to the post office with Al and get a few more things put away...still looking for those dressers and bookshelves. I did find laundry sorters, who knew what a relief that could be? I even had a haircut. Woo-hoo! Now it is time to start going exploring, small jaunts, but I should be able to get around a bit with the baby on my back.
A couple weekends ago Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to Yokohoma. Let me be more specific, Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to the big camera shop turn toy store in Yokohoma! So Saturday afternoon we hopped on the train and took off on our first real family outing. Everyone enjoyed the train since we managed to get seats. The kids looked out for cave trolls (lots of tunnels out here) and Io amused herself by amusing the Japanese...who all LOVE her little blonde smillyness! We arrived, found our way and got lost on the 6th floor (toys). They have all kinds of stuff here that aren't on the shelves in the US. They also have all kinds of stuff here that is either twice as much or half as much depending on the toy. Jon and TJ went gaga over the transformers and such. Al just loves the many manga girls in very short skirts who look so pretty on all the posters...actually Jon likes that too! I am saddened by the lack of wooden toys here, but it is an island and they are Shintoists so I guess I understand. Plus we already have enough toys, so it is for the best. Instead I try to remind myself that all the children I know can wait for their birthdays to get really weird random stuff from Japan. Hello Kitty sushi set anyone? (actually I gave Genny dibs on that one, but can get another if needed).
After shopping and not buying too much stuff to carry home we went to a resturant. Until this day I did not realize how spoiled we are in Yokosuka. This close to the Navy base there are translated menus and really good plastic food replica of restaurant menus. We picked a nice looking place that smelled good. They had a menu, could not tell you what was on it though. So we pointed to a couple pictures and a couple random lines in the menu and hoped for the best. We did not quite get it, but at least dinner was edible and varied. There was a decent soup with ramen noodles and seaweed. Then there was the yakitori (bird on a stick) and the pork version of the same. But in Japan they do not just eat the meat, there was meat on a stick, liver on a stick (Al liked that even after we told her what it was), cartilage on a stick, skin on a stick, fat on a stick. All cooked and edible, kinda. Just not quite what we had in mind. I did like the salad dressing though! So after dinner Jon got us lost going the total wrong direction to the Toys R Us. But I did finally get a winter coat when we found an LL Bean so it worked out (for me at least).
Jon had his first big drive in Japan this last week. He has been biking about 4 miles to work almost every day, not rain nor sleet nor windy day keeps him off the bike. It helps that we only have one car and he wants me to have it for emergencies. Great for getting in a workout, but he has not had as much practice driving with the Japanese. So he went off to the airport in Tokyo; talk about jumping into the fire! He managed to get there but missed some turns on the way back. It seemed like he was showing his new intern around the area...yeah...that's EXCTALLY what he was doing...a tour. Sure. But he did not crash and did get her to the Navy Lodge. He also drove us out to his boss's birthday party, which was a nice bit of grown-up time (plus the kids, but still). We had a chance to meet the new girl (the only female engineer in engineering btw). She seems very nice and exuberant. Very excited to tour around and party in Japan. His poor intern thinks she is making out on a government funded vacation to Japan for three months. The girl has never been on a ship. I almost feel bad for her, but if she actually works hard she will learn a lot from Jon. If not at least Jon will be amused getting a lot of work out of her crawling through bilges and fuel tanks. And I get to hear the stories with his embellishments. Most of you have heard Jon's stories...the embellishments are the best part:-)
Thus far we have had sushi and tempura, hot Soba noodles, food on a stick, meat grilled on a little hot grill in front of you (dif. from the hibachi grills), a steak dinner at Family Garden (local Italian joint) and some surprisingly tasty meals at a tea house down the road. We have not hit all the food types yet, but slowly will get there.
So if I had written the blog as often as I planned there would have been more fun/boring details, but hey, you now know we are still alive so that is what really counts right? Though if I wrote more often perhaps my postings wouldn't be quite so long. Hmmm.
Next time...We have a playdate and Al goes to the Aquarium and who knows what else...
More different things about Japan:
They wrap everything in plastic here I bought two carrots...they put them in a bag and then a bag.
Luckily they also recycle everything here so I don't mind too much.
Those SARs masks are for allergies too. It is hayfever season with the bloomings and more people are wearing them than usual.
Going really slow feels(25mph) really fast on narrow roads with drivers that change lanes all the time.
Also it does not feel as slow because there are no mph on the speedometer to compare it too (vs driving in Canada)
The Seahawks are crazy. I had to take Io's granola bar away because I saw one ready to swoop at the park.
Japanese bath (soaking) tubs rock!
If a head of lettuce (for example) is pricier than the one next to it, it is because it was grown on the island instead of China
I find I am not ~quite~ so opposed to things made in China now that it does not have to go around the world to get to me...unless it is in the base commissary, in which case it went around the world twice.
If I bow to you when I talk to you one the phone, at least you cannot see me and laugh, unless it is on skpye and then I am screwed. (btw just look up my name if you want to skype some time!)
New furniture tends to be a little bland here, but the antique is beautiful, and the price proves it!
Al's new Japanese word...ichi kudasai "one please" Mine is Mizu "water"
Have a lovely tomorrow!
Christine
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Daddy Missed the Snow
Since barely anyone in Japan knows about this blog and you all live to far away to break into my house, if you could find it! I will say that Jon is in the states for two weeks and it kinda sucks. He has an audit of the San Diego Navy base to attend this week, then since he is "so close" anyways he is hopping a plane to NJ and to meet his new nephew and see his parents, and pick-up things that we left behind in the rush to get out here.
In the mean time we sit at home and twiddle our thumbs and wait ever so patiently for him to return to us...
or, ya know, not.
So last week was busy since Jon was working all hours in prep for his two week absence. The kids each had a Daddy lunch so they had a bit of one-on-one with him. (Thor picked the chief's club for the ice cream sundae and Alexandra picked pizza on her day off from school)
Wednesday we went preschool hunting. There is a nice international school up the hill from the base. The uniform for boys is hot pants and suspenders with a white shirt (really, shorts all year round, Thor is thrilled.) There is a bus for the preschool so he would be gone from 7:30 to ~1:30. Can you imagine! I think all the schools here have buses just to avoid the parent pick-up traffic. We visited the class he would be in, a whole bunch of little dark-haired Japanese children and then a little blond boy. Just the opposite from the Playgarden and its sea of light haired children with the occasional dark-haired! He liked it but was too shy to leave us to talk to any of the kids...I use talk loosely since ~maybe~ one speaks English. But Thor wants to learn Japanese and he already likes the foods (school provides a Japanese lunch daily). Jon was saying each child's name. They took turns jumping in front of him so that he could butcher the name and they could laugh. It was great fun.
The children do get to wear shoes inside, but it is separate indoor shoes. There were slippers waiting for us for the tour. They bring a toothbrush in a special bag and a calendar bag and gym clothes in a bag and have a musical instrument (in a bag) they learn...it is like a little keyboard but you blow into it. Some horrible amalgam of a 80's bagpipe gone wrong. But there is a concert at the end of the year! The school is large, the interesting thing being that is is open air, literally there are windows that overlap but do not touch in order to let fresh air in at all times. So it was COLD when we were there. Waldorf places such an emphasis on warmth for the children, it is an interesting twist for me.
After the preschool trip, Jon and Thor did lunch and Ioanna and I strolled off down Blue St. to the Mikasa Mall. I purchased my fancy new Droid phone, I am still not sure what it cost. I barely understand cell phone contracts in the states, try adding a completely different language to it! The saleslady was very nice and I think she let me cut in front of 5 other people who were patiently waiting in line. (I did not see the number tabs and she did not correct me). All in all I have a droid, she changed the presets to English so I can mostly understand what it is telling me, and I already installed the lightsaber app, much to the kid amusement:-)
However I only have one person in my address book, Jon ... A little sad really but it shall grow. It shall grow.
I also popped into a craft store and a the local yarn shop. I did not buy anything, but it was fun to look. Plus I found the next craft kit to send my nieces way, after they tire of jabbing fingers with sharp felting needles:-) Bumped into a knitting group lady there...I would put her in my address book, but she is also a new arrival and does not have a phone yet. Actually she joined the kids and I on a trip to the commissary and we took her home..an awesome place, four stories up the side of a mountain. She is already tired of the stairs and only moved in the day before. However she says she can see Yokohama (17 mi away) from her bedroom on the top floor.
Thursday the children and I jumped on our bikes (I mentioned my kickin' pink bike last time) and we explored the pedestrian walkway that lines the opposite side of our park. To the left (west) it heads half a mile to the train station. To the right it probably trails a mile to a new 'super awesome' park. It has a tall climbing net, a 4-way see-saw and even has a zip line (obviously the best part). Ioanna laughed and laughed when I took her down it! The yards we passed were beautiful and very small. The Japanese really work to connect with nature in the littlest ways to make up for the fact that they as so snugly packed together. I cannot wait for spring and the big blooming trees.
The big news of the week was Sunday's snow storm...We maybe got 1/8th an inch. It started as a few short flurries, but there was a good 30min of storm. A grassy snowball fight ensued at the park with some other American kids who came out to play. No Japanese kids, which I thought odd. I was feeling pretty grumpy before forcing myself outside with the kids, but a snowfall always clears the air. Alexandra and Thor laughed, I took pictures and chased down Ioanna who was entranced and trying to escape to the main road. Met another neighbor, a fellow ex-pat as he called himself. (Are you an ex-pat if you work for the US in a foreign country?) Ioanna's first snowfall and the elders first at home. We have been telling them it does not snow here, I am glad we were wrong. It all melted and hour after sundown, but was lovely while it lasted. Wish Jon was here to enjoy it.
Monday and Tuesday have been quiet. I continue unpacking. Thor goofs and plays, Ioanna practices climbing up and down stairs (Alexandra taught her how to come down on Saturday) and A goes to school comes home and grumps about. Tonight we knocked on our backdoor neighbor's door (they speak English well) and received a restaurant rec. He offered to drive so we could follow him, but it is just down the (scary, narrow, cliffside) road so I declined. It was a nice place in a hotel I have my firt beef curry, The kids had the "kids set" which consisted of 1st course: cream of corn soup (popular here, Thor liked it) 2nd course fried shrimp and chicken and 3rd course a hamburger & fries (more like a salsbury steak w/no bun). the Fries ROCKED! 4th course Ice cream (I had a cream puff. Yum!) All for 900 yen ~$9. Ioanna just double fisted the rice with curry sauce and a piece of fried chicken and a french fry wedge. American-ish. I was hoping for more Japanese, but new is good. High point...On the way there way a huge sunset view of Mt. Fugi, all pink and purple and lovely. It was just on one of the parts on the scary cliff.
Now the kids are in bed (except the boy, sigh) and I am updating you all on our life this week. Jon is probably asleep and going to have delicious beach-side pizza again tomorrow (I actually miss (good) pizza quite a bit) while talking to strangers he can understand. Man is he missing out! I asked him how driving was going. He made the solid point that I do almost all the driving right now since he is biking everywhere so he is having no problem back on the right side.
I will post pictures I promise, Jon is the picture guy and has been slacking. I have no problem blaming it on him.
More different things about Japan.
1. They pretend that they live in a tropic climate even though it gets cold! Little insulation and air vents everywhere.
2. No buttons at the crosswalks because they change for the walker all the time. Pedestrians rule in the land of the rising sun...you must always yield.
3. People don't complain if you budge in line, they just smile and let it pass.
4. yokosuka = skinny man, fat man cooking on the stove, watching tv
That is what the characters for Yokosuka looks like (pronounced 'yokooska' btw, silent U)
5. Moped drivers act like they are bad-ass and weave around traffic to the front of all stoplights ques.
6. 40 kpm feels much faster on skinny roads when you don't have mph to ref on the dashboard.
7. Can you explain pesticides and organic and local foods in a foreign language you don't know? Me neither.
In the mean time we sit at home and twiddle our thumbs and wait ever so patiently for him to return to us...
or, ya know, not.
So last week was busy since Jon was working all hours in prep for his two week absence. The kids each had a Daddy lunch so they had a bit of one-on-one with him. (Thor picked the chief's club for the ice cream sundae and Alexandra picked pizza on her day off from school)
Wednesday we went preschool hunting. There is a nice international school up the hill from the base. The uniform for boys is hot pants and suspenders with a white shirt (really, shorts all year round, Thor is thrilled.) There is a bus for the preschool so he would be gone from 7:30 to ~1:30. Can you imagine! I think all the schools here have buses just to avoid the parent pick-up traffic. We visited the class he would be in, a whole bunch of little dark-haired Japanese children and then a little blond boy. Just the opposite from the Playgarden and its sea of light haired children with the occasional dark-haired! He liked it but was too shy to leave us to talk to any of the kids...I use talk loosely since ~maybe~ one speaks English. But Thor wants to learn Japanese and he already likes the foods (school provides a Japanese lunch daily). Jon was saying each child's name. They took turns jumping in front of him so that he could butcher the name and they could laugh. It was great fun.
The children do get to wear shoes inside, but it is separate indoor shoes. There were slippers waiting for us for the tour. They bring a toothbrush in a special bag and a calendar bag and gym clothes in a bag and have a musical instrument (in a bag) they learn...it is like a little keyboard but you blow into it. Some horrible amalgam of a 80's bagpipe gone wrong. But there is a concert at the end of the year! The school is large, the interesting thing being that is is open air, literally there are windows that overlap but do not touch in order to let fresh air in at all times. So it was COLD when we were there. Waldorf places such an emphasis on warmth for the children, it is an interesting twist for me.
After the preschool trip, Jon and Thor did lunch and Ioanna and I strolled off down Blue St. to the Mikasa Mall. I purchased my fancy new Droid phone, I am still not sure what it cost. I barely understand cell phone contracts in the states, try adding a completely different language to it! The saleslady was very nice and I think she let me cut in front of 5 other people who were patiently waiting in line. (I did not see the number tabs and she did not correct me). All in all I have a droid, she changed the presets to English so I can mostly understand what it is telling me, and I already installed the lightsaber app, much to the kid amusement:-)
However I only have one person in my address book, Jon ... A little sad really but it shall grow. It shall grow.
I also popped into a craft store and a the local yarn shop. I did not buy anything, but it was fun to look. Plus I found the next craft kit to send my nieces way, after they tire of jabbing fingers with sharp felting needles:-) Bumped into a knitting group lady there...I would put her in my address book, but she is also a new arrival and does not have a phone yet. Actually she joined the kids and I on a trip to the commissary and we took her home..an awesome place, four stories up the side of a mountain. She is already tired of the stairs and only moved in the day before. However she says she can see Yokohama (17 mi away) from her bedroom on the top floor.
Thursday the children and I jumped on our bikes (I mentioned my kickin' pink bike last time) and we explored the pedestrian walkway that lines the opposite side of our park. To the left (west) it heads half a mile to the train station. To the right it probably trails a mile to a new 'super awesome' park. It has a tall climbing net, a 4-way see-saw and even has a zip line (obviously the best part). Ioanna laughed and laughed when I took her down it! The yards we passed were beautiful and very small. The Japanese really work to connect with nature in the littlest ways to make up for the fact that they as so snugly packed together. I cannot wait for spring and the big blooming trees.
The big news of the week was Sunday's snow storm...We maybe got 1/8th an inch. It started as a few short flurries, but there was a good 30min of storm. A grassy snowball fight ensued at the park with some other American kids who came out to play. No Japanese kids, which I thought odd. I was feeling pretty grumpy before forcing myself outside with the kids, but a snowfall always clears the air. Alexandra and Thor laughed, I took pictures and chased down Ioanna who was entranced and trying to escape to the main road. Met another neighbor, a fellow ex-pat as he called himself. (Are you an ex-pat if you work for the US in a foreign country?) Ioanna's first snowfall and the elders first at home. We have been telling them it does not snow here, I am glad we were wrong. It all melted and hour after sundown, but was lovely while it lasted. Wish Jon was here to enjoy it.
Monday and Tuesday have been quiet. I continue unpacking. Thor goofs and plays, Ioanna practices climbing up and down stairs (Alexandra taught her how to come down on Saturday) and A goes to school comes home and grumps about. Tonight we knocked on our backdoor neighbor's door (they speak English well) and received a restaurant rec. He offered to drive so we could follow him, but it is just down the (scary, narrow, cliffside) road so I declined. It was a nice place in a hotel I have my firt beef curry, The kids had the "kids set" which consisted of 1st course: cream of corn soup (popular here, Thor liked it) 2nd course fried shrimp and chicken and 3rd course a hamburger & fries (more like a salsbury steak w/no bun). the Fries ROCKED! 4th course Ice cream (I had a cream puff. Yum!) All for 900 yen ~$9. Ioanna just double fisted the rice with curry sauce and a piece of fried chicken and a french fry wedge. American-ish. I was hoping for more Japanese, but new is good. High point...On the way there way a huge sunset view of Mt. Fugi, all pink and purple and lovely. It was just on one of the parts on the scary cliff.
Now the kids are in bed (except the boy, sigh) and I am updating you all on our life this week. Jon is probably asleep and going to have delicious beach-side pizza again tomorrow (I actually miss (good) pizza quite a bit) while talking to strangers he can understand. Man is he missing out! I asked him how driving was going. He made the solid point that I do almost all the driving right now since he is biking everywhere so he is having no problem back on the right side.
I will post pictures I promise, Jon is the picture guy and has been slacking. I have no problem blaming it on him.
More different things about Japan.
1. They pretend that they live in a tropic climate even though it gets cold! Little insulation and air vents everywhere.
2. No buttons at the crosswalks because they change for the walker all the time. Pedestrians rule in the land of the rising sun...you must always yield.
3. People don't complain if you budge in line, they just smile and let it pass.
4. yokosuka = skinny man, fat man cooking on the stove, watching tv
That is what the characters for Yokosuka looks like (pronounced 'yokooska' btw, silent U)
5. Moped drivers act like they are bad-ass and weave around traffic to the front of all stoplights ques.
6. 40 kpm feels much faster on skinny roads when you don't have mph to ref on the dashboard.
7. Can you explain pesticides and organic and local foods in a foreign language you don't know? Me neither.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Getting settled in...
So in case you have not heard yet...we live in Japan now. Two and a half months in the Navy Lodge with two rooms, a mini kitchen and three mobile children. It was fun to live on base so close to everything, but I am glad that we are past that.
Jon and I planned to live in one of the housing area associated with the base, but under threat of being kicked out of the hotel before finding a home, we went on ~one~ house tour, and found a house in town to move into. Just completed this month in the Western style (ie large with a shower, American fridge and no tatami mat rooms) but with Japanese touches...Japanese bath, no shoes allowed, and "high technology" toilets.
It is a lovely home though I think we will be losing the security deposit to a war between three children and wood floors, but I can live with that. There is a quiet road, a park lined with cherry blossom trees directly across from us and room for a veggie and flower garden. Jonathan can bike to work and Alexandra takes the bus after walking to the stop around the corner (with Jon). Lots of storage in the kitchen, entryway and laundry area. Now we just need some furniture for the rest of our belongings...books, dvds and foldable clothes, plus Jon wants a tv soon... though that is still waiting for a few more weeks (while I enjoying not having one).
Thor likes his giant room and in an ideal world where children go to sleep when they are put in beds he would be sharing with Alexandra in the bunk beds. For now Alexandra is enjoying being the only girl she knows with a balcony attached to her bedroom. Ioanna does not care much either way, but does not like having her siblings closing the door in her face when they are playing with little things. Jon is getting used to biking the distance, about 4 miles (7km). It takes just as long as driving but is much colder, especially since he tends to go to and from work in the dark. He tells me that this is a really busy year and that he will not be working all the time in the fall...we will see. I have also finally gotten a bike... it has a childseat built into the front handle bars giving better stability then the add-on that go on the back and it is pink (I wanted the orange but this one was nice and cheaper!) Ioanna loves sitting in it so far and I got a little windshield for her to keep the chill off...and blowing into my face instead! I have visions of a happy smiling family biking together along the bay. It could happen, maybe even with my family!
The kids run and play and Jon works and for now I am trying to unpack and reorganize what the movers unpacked for us. It is nice to have an oven and everyone is a bit less stressed now that we can spread out and have our own spaces. In the meantime I am hoping to chronicle our life and adventures in Japan with this blog, both to keep you, my family and friends updated and to remind me many years from now of all the wonderful things I know will slip my mind. I am aiming for once a week, feel free to e-mail and harrass if I start slackinig:-)
P.S.
Different things I have noticed so far about Japan:
Beautiful seahawks everywhere, no seagulls... b.t.w. they will swipe food from your hand
Gigantic crows also everywhere
Useless roadsigns (and not just the ones written in Japanese characters)
TONS of every kind of restaurant.
Digestive biscuits anyone, how about strawberry flavored kit-kat or shrimp crackers (actually those are not bad) They are obsessed with flavors over here strong and horrible is the game. Let me know, I'll send you some.
Everyone parks backwards...causing significantly fewer parking accidents. Plus side mirrors fold in because the spaces are tiny, and all the cars have sonar, even my 10yo minivan.
Jon and I planned to live in one of the housing area associated with the base, but under threat of being kicked out of the hotel before finding a home, we went on ~one~ house tour, and found a house in town to move into. Just completed this month in the Western style (ie large with a shower, American fridge and no tatami mat rooms) but with Japanese touches...Japanese bath, no shoes allowed, and "high technology" toilets.
It is a lovely home though I think we will be losing the security deposit to a war between three children and wood floors, but I can live with that. There is a quiet road, a park lined with cherry blossom trees directly across from us and room for a veggie and flower garden. Jonathan can bike to work and Alexandra takes the bus after walking to the stop around the corner (with Jon). Lots of storage in the kitchen, entryway and laundry area. Now we just need some furniture for the rest of our belongings...books, dvds and foldable clothes, plus Jon wants a tv soon... though that is still waiting for a few more weeks (while I enjoying not having one).
Thor likes his giant room and in an ideal world where children go to sleep when they are put in beds he would be sharing with Alexandra in the bunk beds. For now Alexandra is enjoying being the only girl she knows with a balcony attached to her bedroom. Ioanna does not care much either way, but does not like having her siblings closing the door in her face when they are playing with little things. Jon is getting used to biking the distance, about 4 miles (7km). It takes just as long as driving but is much colder, especially since he tends to go to and from work in the dark. He tells me that this is a really busy year and that he will not be working all the time in the fall...we will see. I have also finally gotten a bike... it has a childseat built into the front handle bars giving better stability then the add-on that go on the back and it is pink (I wanted the orange but this one was nice and cheaper!) Ioanna loves sitting in it so far and I got a little windshield for her to keep the chill off...and blowing into my face instead! I have visions of a happy smiling family biking together along the bay. It could happen, maybe even with my family!
The kids run and play and Jon works and for now I am trying to unpack and reorganize what the movers unpacked for us. It is nice to have an oven and everyone is a bit less stressed now that we can spread out and have our own spaces. In the meantime I am hoping to chronicle our life and adventures in Japan with this blog, both to keep you, my family and friends updated and to remind me many years from now of all the wonderful things I know will slip my mind. I am aiming for once a week, feel free to e-mail and harrass if I start slackinig:-)
P.S.
Different things I have noticed so far about Japan:
Beautiful seahawks everywhere, no seagulls... b.t.w. they will swipe food from your hand
Gigantic crows also everywhere
Useless roadsigns (and not just the ones written in Japanese characters)
TONS of every kind of restaurant.
Digestive biscuits anyone, how about strawberry flavored kit-kat or shrimp crackers (actually those are not bad) They are obsessed with flavors over here strong and horrible is the game. Let me know, I'll send you some.
Everyone parks backwards...causing significantly fewer parking accidents. Plus side mirrors fold in because the spaces are tiny, and all the cars have sonar, even my 10yo minivan.
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