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.

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.