Update on the Washer and Dryer

For those of you who read my last blog about my washer and dryer, I have another update....I walk into the building with Hanna after picking her up from school, and Mori-san calls me over to ask if they could come MEASURE my laundry room again. This is going to be the SEVENTH time they are measuring our laundry room...which is the size of a large bathroom stall......so, I ask him- what is going on? What are you looking for? And he proceeds to tell me that "they want to make sure they choose the absolute best option" before they make a decision....UGH!!!! It is maddening, I tell you...and this, I am finding is the Japanese way...they do not like to take risks or make the wrong choice, so it takes forever to get anything accomplished. I can only imagine what it is like for Scott at work, being that he is working in an all Japanese environment, and trying to make this company a "Stryker" company!! There are many, many things I like about living here, but this inability to make a decision is not one of them!

Lesson Learned

On Saturday night, we were invited over to our new friend's, Louis and Evie Efron, for dinner, along with Skip and Marianne Kiil. Skip, Louis and Scott all work for Stryker, and are all relatively newly relocated to Tokyo, so we are all either going through or have gone through the same things, both work wise and life wise. It turned out to be a fantastic night- great conversation, a lot of laughs and stories shared, and a wonderful meal (it took Evie the majority of a week to find everything she needed to make dinner...which was Lasagna...so nothing crazy..but it is a matter of going to a 1/2 dozen stores just to get what you need!). As the night was getting later, we all retreated to the living area only to look at the clock and see that it was 11:10pm. Marianne announces that they have to leave, as they have to get home in time for their helper (sitter) to take the train home...which is when we realize that we also had our helper sitting the girls, and she also takes the train. We live quite a bit further than the Kiil's do from Louis and Evie, and had no idea what time the trains shut down for the night....so, we hustled back as fast as we can, only to see that the trains stop at 1am....so not only did we pay our sitter 1500 Yen an hour (9000 Y for the night- which comes to almost $100!!), but we also had to pay her cab fare home...we gave her an additional 5000Yen (roughly $55), and will find out Tuesday when she comes to clean if we need to pay her more for the ride home!! UGGHH!! Lesson learned- be home by 11pm anytime we use someone that lives outside of our building!!

Green Pepper Comparison

Take a peek at these peppers...the colored peppers, you can find in all grocery stores, and are normal sized. However, the green peppers are the size of a clementine- it is crazy! The only place you can get normal sized Green Peppers is at an international grocery store!

Japanese Toilets

This is a photo of a Japanese toilet. It is pink, as it is in the girls' restroom. In most public restrooms around the city, they also have a few stalls with Western bathrooms (toilets as we know them!), however, the further outside of central Tokyo you get, the better chance that this is what you are going to find. It might work for the small, slim Japanese, but for the regular sized American, they are not very functional! You literally have to squat over it, so you better be doing your squats daily, or you aren't going to make it (especially because there is nothing to hold on to most of the time!). My girls freak out every time they see this..I pray we are never anywhere that they have to use one, or I will have two crying children!!

Jindaiji Temple, 100Yen Park, Ueno Zoo, Shinagawa Aquarium

This week included a field trip with Maya's 1st grade class to the Jindaiji Temple and a day at the Ueno Zoo with the girls. The Jindaiji Temple is of the Tendai sect, constructed in 733, is nearly the oldest in the Tokyo area, second only to Sensoji in Asakusa. Although the temple building itself is modest, the surrounding village of food stands, soba restaurants and waterwheels evokes an image of Edo-period Japan, and makes Jindaiji Temple a hidden gem in suburban Tokyo (yes, I copied this right off the brochure!).

I personally thought this temple was fantastically beautiful- unique, with flowing water, bridges, a lot of nature....I am told it is especially great at New Year's and during Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) season. The field trip included a 30 minute opportunity for the kids to sketch the different areas of the temple, which was neat-the kids picked aspects that interested them, and they all were very excited to show us their sketches (love 1st graders- they all love to draw, have no inhibitions, and all think they are good at it!!). After that, they had the opportunity to go to a little pottery shop, pick out some pottery, paint it and watch it be fired in the Kiln, and then ended with a nature walk through the botanical gardens, and a picnic.

Scott and I took the girls to the 100Yen Park here in Tokyo last Saturday. What a great day- the girls LOVED this park- it was a bit modern- had a kids "zip" line, climbing areas, slides, swings and space...the best part about it is the kids discovered this new ice cream treat- it is vanilla ice cream wrapped in a cone...so it is like a sandwich, and tastes the same as an ice cream cone, without the mess! Great invention- it needs to come to the states by the time we move back!!



I took the girls to the Ueno Zoo on Monday of this week. This is Spring Break week for them, so I am trying to find some things around Tokyo that we can do together. Most everyone we know has left Japan for the week- going on trips to Thailand, Bali, Australia, Hawaii....but, because this is a super busy time at work for Scott, we had to stay here....which leaves me with no play dates for the girls, and a lot of free time on our hands!! The Ueno Zoo is the oldest Zoo in Tokyo, and is quite large. It is not the best zoo in the world, but it definitely made everyone happy (plus, it was free for the girls, so who can complain!!). This zoo is in the Ueno Park, which is a really good sized park with a lot of things going on. Monday was a Japanese Holiday, so it was actually a lot busier than I think it would have been on most other days- one thing about the Japanese and their ridiculous number of national holidays- they go out and enjoy them. The park had a little amusement park, that the girls thought was awesome, and one Cherry tree that was in bloom...the people here take their Cherry tree blossoms very seriously- everyone was taking their picture with it, and people have picnics under the trees....they are supposed to be in full bloom within the next week or so, so I will update this with some pictures and more information when I see them!!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this very long Spring Break were terrible- the weather was down right cold, and it rained like crazy. The girls and I were basically stuck inside for three days, which was tough for all of us. Although we now have a car, you just can't take a car to many places within the city- there is little parking, and what parking there is, you can't always guarantee there will be spots. For instance, the grocery store that I go to has 10-12 spots,and that is it. If you go and there isn't a place to park, you have to keep circling until the guy at the front of the lot waves you in (yes, there is a hired guy who waves a little flag to let you know if the lot is full or not). Everything is a crap shoot, and therefore, if you aren't sure, you take the train. On Wednesday, we ventured out to go to TGI Friday's (I know, I am going to have to buy some stock soon.....) pouring rain, cold winds....and when we got there, they didn't have any heat on, so we sat and froze inside, and then when we did get outside, we froze there too..so frustrating! I will say though, that I encouraged the girls to try to go to the bathroom before we left, and they were SO happy they did - the toilets have the heated seats, and I nearly had to pry both girls off and out of the stalls so we could go home...nothing like a hot toilet seat to change your mood!!

By Friday it was finally not raining outside. It wasn't nice necessarily, but at least we could get outside without getting soaked! I decided to take the girls to the Shinigawa Aquarium. This Aquarium, though not easy to get to, sits right next to a park that is gorgeous- trails, water, trees..sometimes it is hard to believe you are in one of the biggest cities in the world. The girls liked running around on the trails, and made me take a Gazillion pictures of them (I think they were just glad to be outside of the house). We had the opportunity to see some very strange fish and sea life, a dolphin show, sharks, a turtle- not the biggest Aquarium but that being said, it cost 2300Yen (somewhere around $25 for all three of us), which is a pretty cheap day in Tokyo. However, being that this Aquarium isn't easy to get to, I ended up paying 6500Yen (roughly $70 USD) in CAB FARE!!! UUGGGHHH.





My Very Japanese Story of the week:
We have been working on getting our washer and dryer replaced for the past month and a half. In our contract, we had it written in that if the ones they provided didn't work well (they don't- it takes me ALL day to dry 2-3 loads of laundry- I am talking starting at 8am, and finishing sometime in the middle of the night). So almost two months ago now, I contacted our realtor to set this process in motion. She contacted Sumitomo, the owners of our building. They have since come up and measured our laundry room FIVE times. Five times!! I am not sure if they are thinking it expands and contracts depending on the weather, but our front desk concierge called again two days ago to see if he could come measure again....UGH. I am thinking we will have the new appliances by the time we get back in the fall. So, until then, I put anything heavy- sweatshirts, jeans, etc., on a drying rack and place it in my bathroom. I then put on the drying feature in my bathroom, and it dries within an hour!!

Today, we took the kids down to Omotesando to the Gap and to the Softbank store. Softbank is who we have our cell phones through. Scott had to change the credit card that we are being billed to, as we now finally have a Citibank credit card, and not just an ATM card. He gets the best English Speaker he has has yet there, who helps him fill out the form, and proceeds to tell him it will take about TWO months to do the change over. Everything takes SO long here....after those two store visits, we took the girls to Yoyogi Park and rented bikes. The park was PACKED. More people than I have ever seen there before by far, all celebrating the Cherry Blossoms. Unfortunately, most of the trees don't have blossoms yet, but that didn't stop them. They were picnicking, playing music, singing, playing games...it was a very festive day, and a fun day to be at the park. :) The girls liked biking, but their favorite part was seeing the monkey, that was being walked like a dog. Maya was taking a drink out of a drinking fountain, only to turn around and see a Monkey drinking out of the fountain next to her! It was pretty funny...not sure how sanitary (I am not sure if it is better or worse than the dog I saw drinking out of the Haverhill Park drinking fountain while playing tennis last summer??).



Now, I leave you with this: Is anyone going to see the movie Hot Tub Time Machine? Scott and I keep seeing these commercials for it, and they make us laugh each time - what the HELL kind of title for a movie is that? Almost makes you want to see it, doesn't it? If you do go, let me know what you think! :)

We FINALLY got our car this past Thursday. It is a Honda Stream, sort of a cross between a small minivan and a station wagon. It has been an adventure, I will say. I thought Scott was going to pass out when I was driving this morning...I think he actually screamed once (ok, so driving in Tokyo is hard!! Wrong side of the road, small, teeny weeny roads, bikes all over the place and people who could care less that a car is coming!). I kind of drifted into the lane next to me and almost got us hit by a van (I don't think it was as bad as Scott thinks though!!), and then got stuck on a very, very small street, with a car coming at me...basically was up on the curb trying to get around each other...I was shaking and sweating..not a good way to start the day!! But, I am going to do it again tomorrow- I refuse to not drive the car, now that we have it. I know after a few days, I will get better and more comfortable, so I just have to buck up and do it.

Scott ended up driving us all over Tokyo yesterday...Maya had two birthday parties this weekend, and one was completely across town. The way there was great- the navigation system got us there just perfectly. The way home, the darn navi brought us right into the heart of Shibuya- crazy, crazy Shibuya (this is where the Starbucks with the most turnover in the WORLD is- serves more people per day than any other Starbucks ANYWHERE!!). We almost got hit by a guy who decided to speed up when he saw us, and then ended up heading in the wrong direction....but, Scott got us home, and that is what counts, right?? I would probably still be there crying if it were me!! :)

I also just put out a bunch of new pictures on FaceBook, if you are interested in taking a look!

Overall, best week in Tokyo yet bar none....and looking forward to more!!

Saturday was the first Saturday in quite awhile that it did not rain- yahoo. Scott and I took the girls by train to Tachikawa, to the Showa Kinen Park. Several friends have told us this is a wonderful park, but it was even better than we expected (per Maya "this park is so much more than I expected Mom...I thought we could come here, ride some bikes, look at nature and go home"). Although it took us a little over an hour to get there by train, with several transfers, it was well worth it. The park is an old Air Force base, and is HUGE. Greenery, trees, grass, open space, fantastic paved bike trails, and an unbelievable Children's forest for the kids. They had play gyms, climbing areas, a "mist" park with a big cement tunnel shooting out mist and water, square (yes, square) grass mounds- many, many of them- for the kids to climb up and down, a big castle, dragons- huge dragons- for the girls to climb on, rock areas to climb, and these HUGE white mushroom like tarps that are springy, and shaped like hills- it is like a huge trampoline covering the whole hillside! Unfortunately, this area was being prepped for the busy season, and was one of the only areas shut down while we were there. This park also had paddle boats, mini golf, kayaks..it was just a blast. We rented bikes and biked around only a portion of the park, it was so large. We are definitely looking forward to going back and doing some more exploring.



I also found out that two of my good friends from high school- Caroline and Michelle Kuether- were actually born on this Air Force base!! Their mom planted two trees in their honor at the base when they left Japan....next time, I am going in search of these trees!!

We took the girls to a Yakatori restaurant- it is the first time we have attempted to take them out to eat here in Japan that wasn't TGI Friday's or The American Club (which serves American grill food- hamburgers, chicken nugget, grilled cheese, etc). It went better than expected- they ate some chicken sans wasabi :), some Miso soup and Hanna even tried just a touch of a friend chicken wing...I did bring a PB&J sandwich for them, which they also ate! A friend from Portage, who had done an assignment in Switzerland when her kids were young, told me that she never went anywhere without snacks or a makeshift meal for her kids, because you never know if you are going to find a place that serves/has food that your kids will actually eat- best piece of advise I could have gotten!

On Friday, Maya, who didn't have school due to Parent Teacher conferences (she is doing great- her teacher says she is where she is supposed to be at by the end of the year...so our worries about our kids being behind going from Public schools to International schools was for nothing!!), Hanna and I went to Hanna's preschool field trip at the Tokyo Equestrian club to ride ponies and feed them carrots, and then continued on to Yoyogi Park for a class picnic. The weather was great, and the kids had a BALL riding the ponies. Because Hanna's preschool is so small, the kids got to ride as many times as they wanted, which was so nice for them.

We also found out that it is completely free, and we can return anytime- as long as we bring a carrot as payment! We also went to visit another international Preschool- Yoyogi International school, to see if it would be a fit for Hanna. We loved it- and it is closer to our apartment than the other one, so it will be easier for me to get Hanna to and from next year. The classes are a little larger, the play area is bigger and better, and the building was built after the new earthquake rules went into effect....what does that mean, you ask? It means her building is on rollers underneath the ground, so in case of a bigger sized earthquake, it is supposed to roll with the shaking, and not fight it- in theory, it is supposed to be safer. Hanna's current preschool is awesome, but in a very old building, and that has always been a concern of mine.

Best weekend in Tokyo yet!

This past week has been fantastic, from start to finish. Last Wednesday, I went to the Kabuki theater in Ginza. For those of you not familiar with Kabuki, it is a Japanese form of theater- the costumes are beautiful, the makeup is unique, and the story line was actually quite entertaining. Typically, Kabuki theater runs for several hours, but my group of friends and I decided to attend the 30 minute, 1 act Kabuki play, which was perfect, as we had to listen to the plot, storyline and background information on English language headsets. The Kabuki theater that we went to in Ginza is beautiful and very old. I believe it was built in the late 1880's, and after this month, it will be shut down and refurbished...so no more Ginza Kabuki until 2014. After the theater, we headed on over to the Sapporo Beer Hall for lunch- the Hall is beautiful, and of course, it serves beer, so it doesn't get much better than that!!

Manners Street

This is a photo of Manners Street. These are located right outside some of the train/subway exits. People stand in droves, especially in the rush hour times, and just smoke like chimneys..and then politely put their cigarettes out and go on their merry way.

The First picture is of Maya with the Tokyo Tower in the background. With 333 meters, Tokyo Tower is 13 meters taller than its model, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, and the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It lights up at night, and the view from atop is gorgeous (from what I am told- we haven't made it up there yet!)

The second photo is of the girls by the 10 meter sculpture of a Giant Spider in Roppongi Hills.

The last picture is of the girls at a really cute little play park, not far from our apartment. I was told we could bike there, but will never, ever do that again!! The bike route is partly on a main, busy Dori (street), and it crosses over train tracks....it was nuts. I felt like a crazy mom, trying to make sure they didn't get hit by a car!

Hanna

As I have mentioned, Hanna goes to preschool in Omote-sando..the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo. This is her after a day of school when I did not bring her the exact snack she wanted to eat on the way home! She plopped down, in the middle of the sidewalk, pitching a fit, and tearing everything out of her backpack (she apparently thought I was lying!!) Thank goodness I had my friend Debbie with me, who helped me see the funny side of it all!! Another reason that we need a car!! :)


The second picture is on Family Math day...it was a Japanese Holiday, so Scott got to join us. It was very nice to get to spend the day with Hanna at school.

Bike Riding @ Tokyo University

We have found a place, Tokyo University, where the girls can ride their bikes- free of cars and with a ton of space to cruise around. It is right up the hill from our apartment. I took the girls there last weekend, and they had a blast. It was so nice to not have to worry about cars and people!! Yahoo!!

Hanagi Park

We were told that Hanagi Park is a FANTASTIC park. Great kids play areas, beautiful Plum blossoms(which they were), and just an overall great place to spend some time with your family. Of course, we didn't know that they were having a big Plum Blossom festival when we went. It was PACKED- can't move, squished together packed. Not to mention, it had U.S. Lawsuit written all over it (this park would never get approval for kids to play on it!). The majority of the play area looked like old school playgrounds in the U.S. - wooden, and not well put together (a little scary if you ask me). Reminded both Scott and I of the types of places we played at as kids...the girls didn't care, and played like crazy...but there were some things that we weren't too keen on them going on. Also, they had open fire pits- literally logs placed on top of each other, and huge fires burning from them, and they were handing out what looked like round balls of dough. Everyone was wrapping the dough on large sticks (from a distance, we thought they were roasting Marshmallows!) and cooking it over these open flames just feet from the kids play area. Very strange!!

Here are a few pics of the kids on Maya's birthday! Favorite gift- Super Mario Brothers. We went Ice Skating and both girls had a ball!!

Hanna and the Post Office Box!

This picture is of Hanna in front of the Post Office box down the street from our Apartment building. She runs into this box at least 2 times a week on our walk to school...she is going to suffer brain damage due to lack of attention span if I don't get us a car ASAP!!

Daily Doings...

I also took a trip to Costco. I know I have probably mentioned this, but I LOVE Costco. The prices are not super crazy, I can get American products, and meat and chicken in bulk. I was so happy to get enough to fill up my cupboards and to know that I won't have to go to the store 3 times this week- that thought alone makes me very happy!

We are finally (for real, this time) going to get our car on Tuesday. It has been a very "Japanese" process, and one in which I, unfortunately, can't take any part in. The women are a rung below the men here in the Japanese culture, and unless we are unmarried, we pretty much can't do anything- I can't open a joint bank account, Scott had to do it (and, I can't make any changes to it- all I can really do is use my cash card and credit card..and a credit card here is basically our version of a debit card- I can use it at places that accept Visa/Mastercard, but it pulls the money directly out of our bank account, a cash card, I can only use to go to an ATM and get money out), I can't apply for a TAC (Tokyo American Club) membership, and I definitely can not buy/lease a car. So, Scott, along with all the pressures he has going on with work, has had to make time for all this little piddly stuff that in the States, I would have taken care of. This is particularly difficult, because nothing is too far away to do, but nothing is too close either...so he has been running all over Tokyo, just to get our basic living things set up and taken care of...very Japanese!! :) So, all the paperwork is in, signed and sealed, and as long as his signature looks the same in all places (yes, they will return the paperwork if his signatures don't look identical in all the places he signed...that is what 5% unemployment gets you- everyone has to have a job!) we should have a car on Tuesday!! Thank god, too, because Hanna now has asked if we can just take a cab to school, because she is "so tired" of taking the twain every day. :)

Another challenge we are facing is Hanna's preschool. We currently love the preschool she is in- the staff is FANTASTIC and she has learned more in the past 2 months that I ever could have imagined she would. She can write all of her letters, numbers, is learning Japanese...it is amazing to see how fast she is learning. I have to say, unfortunately, that preschool over here is so much more advanced than what we saw in Michigan. All day every day, and very academically based. However, we have been told that she is the only 4-5 year old signed up for next year, and they advised us to start looking for a new preschool...so we have a meeting set up with Yoyogi International Preschool this Thursday. I am hoping that it works out, or I will be having to drive Hanna 20-30 minutes every day to preschool, which is not ideal for me. The expatriot situation here in Tokyo is declining at an alarming rate. Families are leaving at a rapid pace- the preschools and schools are losing a lot of kids, the women's societies are losing members...it is pretty crazy. We personally wouldn't know any different, but the people we have met who have been here awhile tell us that 2 years ago, there were hardly any apartments open, and many of them couldn't get all of their kids into ASIJ- they had to spread them out at different schools, because ASIJ didn't have space. So, in that respect, we have had a lot of good fortune- we love our apartment, we love our location within Tokyo, and we love the friends we have made in the past few months.

Also, we have rented out our house in Portage starting this month. This is a really good thing, but now, we have no where to go back to in Portage this summer! Currently, we are planning on being back for July and August. If anyone knows of an affordable vacation rental, please pass it my way! We are looking for a furnished apartment or house to rent just for those two months!

Meiji Shrine

This weeks big visit was to the Meiji Shrine. The Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine. Shinto is called Japan's ancient original religion. It has no "founder", no holy book, and not even the concept is religious, but Shinto values things like Harmony with nature and virtues such as "Magokoro" (sincere heart). This particular shrine is dedicated to the divine souls of Emperor Meiji, who passed away in 1912. It is one of the most visited shrine's in Tokyo, and is actually right next to Yoyogi Park, so it has a lot of trees, gardens and natural beauty. The pictures above are of the shrine, the prayer cards- people pay to have prayers put up in this area, and the Hand and mouth cleansing..before entering the shrine area, you need to cleanse your hands and mouth by dumping water from this fountain into a wooden cup- it looks like a wooden measuring cup on the end of a wooden stick- and then pouring it onto first your left hand, then your right. Then you pour some into your mouth to cleanse your mouth, empty the rest back and put your wooden measuring cup/stick back in its proper location. It was a nice day, with some very nice ladies!