Last Thursday morning our air shipment arrived. I can't believe the difference just a little bit of home makes. Maya was so excited to see our living room lamp, she sat and hugged it for a solid minute! The girls finally have toys to play with (YAHOO), our phones (please feel free to give us a call on our Portage phone number- just remember we are 14 hours ahead of EST), our slingcatcher, so we can watch our Charter TV from home (thanks Sobells!), the Wii...aahhh...not to mention boxes and boxes of food! The past few days have been much better..I can only imagine how much better it will be when we get our beds and all of our own stuff!!
On Saturday, we took the girls to the National Children's castle,and they had a blast. It had a nice big indoor playland called Waku Waku land (I will share some pictures of Scott on it soon!), as well as a craft room, rooftop play land (with little bikes), and a big white board type wall, where the girls could go get buckets of paints and paint on it--we spent a lot of time in this area.
Sunday, Dawn, a new friend of mine, took me to the 100Yen store...a nice, better version of the American Dollar store. The one we went to was in Harajuku, two train stops from our apartment. After, we took a long walk home and I got to see a few things I never thought I would see. First, let me explain that the culture here is very honorable, and based on towing the line, and basically, not standing out (nothing like you would see in the U.S.!). They have beer in vending machines, and you can literally leave something outside the train station and come back an hour later, and it will still be there! (I leave my umbrella stroller there every day while I bring Hanna to school..one day I went back for it 3 hours later and it was still in the exact same spot, unlocked, where I left it). That being said, the young adults, mostly college age, go down to Harajuku every Sunday dressed normally, rolling small suitcases behind them...go into the bathroom and come out dressed up as complete freaks! Actually, they pick their favorite character (I am told, but I am not sure where the characters are from) and dress up as it...so they have spiked, colored crazy hair, huge black platform shoes, crazy getups, crazy makeup....it is very weird. People go to just take photos and see it...it is the one time a week where they can just be- whoever they want to be, however they want to be and they don't have to worry about not fitting the mold. It is kind of sad, but in the same respect, pretty admirable- that this thing they do that allows them some freedom to be themselves and let loose is completely harmless and peaceful...
The second stop we made on the walk home was to see the Rockabilies. They "perform" in Yoyogi Park. They are a HUGE group of adults- all ages, that are regular working people during the week- that dress in 1950's U.S. outfits and hairstyles (so think black leather jackets with the name of their "gang" on the back, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, greased back hair etc.), and they do the dances from the 50's- the mashed potato, etc.. It was very peculiar, and they seemed to be having a fantastic time doing it. Pink ladies, anyone???
This Monday marked the first week of work for Scott here in Japan- taking the train to work every day, and getting home a bit later than he normally did in the states. It has been a pretty good week for him overall and he hasn't complained once about the train ride there and back. Yesterday he did come home though and say he took a train that was the most crowded he has ever been on here- he couldn't even lift his arms up, and when the train swayed, the entire crowd in the train swayed together. Crazy.
Today, for me, was a GREAT day- best I have had yet here in Tokyo. I managed to find my way to the Roppongi station and back this morning. I start my tennis lessons tomorrow morning and had NO idea where I was even going. From there, I took the train to a station I had only been to once, and somehow, found my way to the Shibuya Ward office to pick up our Alien Registration Cards. On my way back, I was trying to find another train station that I have never been too...and wasn't quite sure where the I was going...so I turned to an Asian woman standing next to me, thinking I would use one of the four Japanese words I know- Sumimasan (excuse me), and just say the name of the station, and see if she could point me in the right direction...well, she turned out to speak perfect English, and was from Colorado!! So, we walked to the station, and realized that we had girls the same ages (6 & 4) and live in the same general area! So, we are planning to get together and let the girls play soon...just goes to show you, you never know who you will meet, and where it will happen! So, I come home from this little adventure feeling pretty good about myself- traveled all over, didn't get lost, etc., etc. etc....went over to my friend Dawn's house, and got lost walking back!! She literally lives 10-15 minutes away....but none of the streets have names on them, and they all just intertwine.....so I walked around like an idiot for about 20 minutes before I found my way back to a major street and could get myself back home!!
I also had the opportunity to meet up with a group of women for Coffee at Starbucks this past Tuesday. They seem like a really nice group of women. I have found that everyone is so helpful and kind- they have all been in our boat at one time- the new person/family, without a clue as to how to live or get around in Tokyo...they offered up some really good tips and tricks that I am sure will help my transition a ton. I have also been invited to a movie night at one of their houses...really looking forward to getting together with them and getting to know everyone a little better. My neighbor Karen also spent about 2 hours with me yesterday- giving me a personal tour of Yoyogi-Uehara- showed me a few other parks to take the girls, a place to bring them to ride bikes, another grocery store that delivers...what that help means to me- it is truly unbelievable, and I am really looking forward to the day when I know enough to pay it forward!
Maya is finally getting used to the commute to school. After being sick for two days last week, she really struggled and was pretty petrified to get back on that bus on Monday. Tuesday, she actually ran OFF the bus, bawling her little head off...it was a horrible way for her to start her day, and a horrible feeling for me to have to force her back on that bus to go to school for the day. Needless to say, she didn't die from it, and the past few days has become friends with another little girl on that bus, so it has been much easier getting her to get on it!!
I am going to upload some pictures tonite, so I will try to post them soon! I know I keep saying that, but I promise, I will!!
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