Sunday, May 30, 2010

Ueno Park, Feeding the homeless

The Mass of homeless waiting for food


On Saturday, we participated in a project that ASIJ does, in coordination with Second Harvest, to help feed the homeless population in Tokyo at Ueno Park. Each class has the option of picking a Saturday to participate. The parents donate a small amount of Yen, and the kids, with the help of the teacher and parents, spend the Friday afternoon before it in school making Onigiri (Onigiri are rice balls, with something in the middle (tuna, cucumber, fish, plums, etc), wrapped in Nori (seaweed). They made nearly 400 Onigiri as a class on Friday. So, the four of us trekked up to Ueno park to help out. First, I will say there were only 5 kids from her class and their families who volunteered- FIVE out of TWENTY! I was so disappointed with the turnout- I know it is the end of the year, and everyone is busy, but I personally viewed this as a chance for my kids to see that our world (especially the one we are living in right now) is not the norm. Most don't have what we have, and a lot don't even have food to eat, a place to live, and clothes to pick from. It really struck a cord with both kids, but especially Maya. She asked a lot of really intelligent questions, and was really unsettled about their situation. There were SO many homeless there, that it made me incredibly sad (to sum it up, the Onigiri didn't last for even half of the people there..and there were 400 onigiri).
I am thinking I will volunteer with Second Harvest next year when we come back...first hand is a lot different than reading about it in the newspaper!!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A week and a half of Firsts!



The past 12 days have been a period of firsts for us(me)- we had our first visitor, took our first trip to Tokyo Disney, the girls tried Sushi for the first time (and kind of liked it!), went to Kamakura for the first time, I drove for the first time alone to the airport (about a 90 min drive), was told I was as "fresh as a stick of pineapple, baby", and got lost for the first time....crazy, fun 12 days, and now, I am completely exhausted!

On Saturday, May 15, our longtime babysitter from Michigan came for a 12 day visit. She was our first visitor, and had a list of things she wanted to see/do while we were here. First off, I want to say that I wasn't sure how it would be- having someone in our place for 12 days (I am pretty sure we have never experienced that before). It was wonderful! The girls LOVE Karen- she is as close as family to them, and they enjoyed every minute they got to spend with her. I enjoyed having her here- we got to tour around Tokyo during the day, and relax and chill out at night. Scott has, again, been exceptionally busy with work, and hasn't been getting home until 8 or 9 every night. It was nice to have another mediator on hand, someone to play Super Mario with the girls, help with dinner, etc. And, someone to talk to and laugh with after the kids went to bed. Overall, the visit was fantastic, and very, very tiring!!

Sunday, May 16
The girls and I took Karen to the Tokyo Tower (they couldn't wait- Maya has been talking about going to the Tokyo Tower since we moved here). The Tokyo Tower is higher than the Eiffel tower, but red and white, and not nearly as beautiful. It is kind of an eyesore, but is quite incredible when you are up close to it. At night, it is always lit up, and not always lit up the same way- it is actually prettier at night than during the day. After going up to the observation deck (which freaked me out), the elevator deposited us on top of the building under the tower, which was filled with a mini-kids carnival- a clown, silly little pointless rides, carnival games...it sucked us in for a solid 45 minutes, and the girls loved EVERY minute of it. From there, we had to go down past a few floors of shopping. I had no intentions of buying the girls anything, but then Maya made a compelling argument: "How are we supposed to have and keep our re-memories of the Tokyo Tower, if you don't buy us something to remember it by?"..ugghhh. So, I have two miniature Tokyo Towers in my hutch right now, for re-memory purposes. :) We also took her to Harajuku to see the Harajuku kids dressed up in their weird costumes (I told Karen she should take this tradition back to WMU- see if she can get any of her friends to go out and dress like cartoon characters on the weekends..she didn't think it would go over very well!), and then on to Yoyogi Park to see the Rockabilies (there were 4 "gangs" there that day- lots of 1950's people, dancing and playing the roles).



Monday, May 17
With both girls in school, Karen, my friend Pam and I headed down to Ginza, to the Tsukiji Fish market. This market is the largest fish market in the world. I will say, it is something I am glad that I have seen, but not something I really want to go back to!! It is crazy- fish, dead fish, guts, blood....got all of that in one visit! We saw more fish, and types of fish than I have ever seen in my entire life. They also have a really cool street market outside, with restaurants, shops, etc. It was a good place to visit, and a great place to take Karen (who, by the way, HATES fish!)


Tuesday, May 18


We spent the day on Tuesday at Tokyo Disneyland. I pulled both girls out of school, and the four of us headed out early in the morning. I drove, which I was quite nervous about- it was the farthest I have ever driven in Tokyo, but in actuality, it was a very simple drive, and only took about 30 minutes (YAHOO- we have a Disneyland only 30 minutes away!!) Tokyo also has a Disney by the Sea, which we didn't get to this time. Disneyland is very similar to the original Disneyland in California, and because we went on a Tuesday, it was not super crowded. The longest we had to wait was 45 min, but most rides were only about a 30 minute wait. We got on everything we wanted to, ate dinner and were home and getting ready for bed by 7pm! The weirdest thing about this Disney, is that the language of the rides and characters/songs is split- some English, come Japanese! So, for example, we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and Buzz spoke all Japanese...but the song on the Pirates of the Caribbean went from English to Japanese, depending on what part of the ride you were on!! The funniest part of our Disney adventure was the fact that they were celebrating an "Easter Wonderland"...at the end of May....Maya kept saying- Easter, in May?? It was very odd- the whole park was decorated in Easter (think pastels, Easter eggs, etc)-- they even had an Easter Parade!! On the Tokyo Disney website, it explains Easter as "a time where people wear bonnets, color Easter eggs, and do egg hunts"....hmmm..I am pretty sure that those are the "extra" things about Easter, and that the main point was missed somewhere in that whole explanation...seeing as most people here in Japan are not Christians, I don't think they would get the real meaning anyway!

Wednesday, May 19
I took Karen up to Asakusa to visit the Senso-ji Temple, as well as to the Meiji Shrine, near Yoyogi park. It was a great day- I actually got to enjoy the Senso-ji Temple this time (as opposed to when we took the girls there and they cried through the entire day!). I found that there were more parts to the shrine area than just that one shrine- a tomb or two, some praying stations...quite interesting! At the Meiji Shrine, we met an older college professor from the University of Texas, who was spending three weeks touring all over Japan. He was completely amazing- spoke no Japanese, was all alone and had more energy than my 4 year old...he also talked like mad, and kept finding us to "chat" us up (I am sure, happy to have a few native English speakers to talk to!). He told me some things I needed to make sure I did before I left Japan!! :)

Thursday, May 20
Thursday we had Maya's Portfolio day out at ASIJ. Instead of doing an end of the year program, they invite the parents out to actually see what the kids did through out the entire year. The kids keep portfolios of their work- including all areas- science, math, art, reading, writing, and they get to walk us through all the stuff they have learned. Maya's teacher, Mrs. Marty Olson, also put together a photo album of each child, doing special things throughout the year. Finally, the kids put on a little music program for the parents, while the teacher explained all that they have learned in Music (which, I will say, is a LOT more in depth than I ever learned in music in grade school). Maya was so very proud of all her accomplishments. It has been such a joy to see her blossom here in her Japan environment. She truly loves the school and the friends she has made, which helps so much with life in general here in Japan. I am so proud of her, and how far she has come in gaining independence, learning new things and adapting to her very strange, new environment.

Friday, May 21
I experienced a "first" that I never wanted to experience while living here in Tokyo...I got LOST. I didn't just get lost by taking a wrong turn and then figuring it out....I got lost for an hour and a half, driving around Tokyo, listening to my Navi tell me to "turn right now" as I pass the street, over and over again. Thank god I had Karen in the car, or I might still be lost!! It was an incredibly frustrating experience, but I think I got to know the city of Tokyo a bit better, so all isn't bad! To add to that experience, I had to bring Maya and a friend to a birthday party in another part of Tokyo, so I had to buck up, get back in the car and drive again, not soon after I got home from my previous adventure. I had our front desk put the address of her friend into my navigation system (phone numbers don't always work, and addresses have to be entered in in Kanji), as well as the address for National Azabu, one of the international grocery stores that I go to on occasion. Lucky for me, I had a conversation with the birthday girl's mom and for some reason, the directions to their home from the grocery store stuck in my head..because, the Navi DIDN"T work!! I was driving (with no idea where I was in relation to anything else), and it randomly says "you have arrived at your destination"!! I knew we were not even close....so I punched in the grocery store and had to figure it out from there! They were 30 min late, but they made it, right???

Saturday, May 22
Maya had another birthday party to go to at the 100 Yen park in Meiji Jingumae. The girls love this park, and it was OK if Hanna went as well. The weather was beautiful, and after, we took Karen to the Hard Rock Cafe so she could get a tshirt!

Monday, May 24
So, this was the day we had planned to go to Ueno and check out the National Museum. We got our umbrellas, trained all the way up there (30+ min), walked through the park to the museum, only to see that it was CLOSED!! UUGGHH. Because I had not done the museum type touristy stuff here in Tokyo, I did not know that all museums are closed on Mondays. We were not the only ones left to figure out what the heck to do- there were quite a few foreigners left scrambling with no agenda! So, we went to Ueno's market street, and enjoyed perusing the markets...it was here that a young, Japanese man, trying to get me to buy his wares, told me that his pineapple on a stick was "as fresh as you, baby"! I think Karen and I laughed most of the day on that one!! So, if any of you think differently, there is a young Japanese man here who thinks I am pretty darn fresh... (or his pineapples were really pretty darn stale..hmmm..I think I will go with the first option!)

We also cruised through Harajuku, as well as went Kimono shopping in Omotesando! Fun times!!

Tuesday, May 25


We went to Kamakura, home of many temples and shrines, as well as the second largest Bronze Buddha in Japan. The seated Buddha, known as Kamakura Daibutsu, was constructed in 1252, and took 10 years to complete. It is 13.4m high and weighs 121 tons. It is unbelievable and completely amazing. Maya is starting to get very interested in temples, shrines and all things uniquely Japanese. We also took them down to what is probably the worst beach I have ever been to (they didn't care- took off their shoes and went running through the water!), and concluded the day with a trip to Baskin Robbins!

Wednesday, May 26
I took Karen into Shimokitizawa, a little neighborhood right near ours, that is quite unique- lots of shops and restaurants, and we are told, a good nightlife! We had lunch at a great little Italian place, La Verde, and then headed off to Shinjuku, which is, I believe, the largest train station in the world. I have never attempted to go to Shinjuku alone, as I am a bit intimidated by it. However, we had some gift cards that I needed to trade in for cash, and that was the place I was told I had to go to do it. My front desk (once again, thank you, Mr. Ishyzaki) printed out a map of where I had to go (not a very good one, just a rough map of the train station), wrote down on the bottom in Japanese what I wanted to do with the gift certificates and the exit at the station I needed to find and sent me on my merry way. So, Karen and I get to the exit (there were levels of this exit- so we had no idea which one we were supposed to go out of), and start comparing our map to the map outside of the station. We must have looked very confused, because this elderly Japanese man, who spoke very little English, came up to me and said "help"?..I shook my head enthusiatically (at this point, I had to idea he didn't know english- the word Help sounded pretty good!), and handed him my map. He proceeded to look at the map for a solid 7 or 8 minutes, and turns to me and points and says "you, follow me, you, follow me" and proceeds to WALK us to the place!! I am telling you, the place was not right outside the station, and this man, who couldn't even communicate with us, took the time out of his day to walk us there! What an uplifting and happy experience. One thing about Japan- the people here are so very helpful- I could not picture that happening anywhere else that we have lived. What a great experience and a good feeling!

I took Karen to the airport on Thursday- another driving first for me. This experience went perfectly well, and I am happy that I did it (as hopefully, if anyone else comes to visit, I will be doing it again!)

We are getting ready to wrap up the school year here, and thus, our first 1/4 of our stay here in Tokyo. I want to say that it has been simply an AMAZING first 6 months. I think Scott, the girls and I have experienced so many different feelings and emotions, both good and bad, than we have ever had to deal with as a family before. The one thing this experience has proven to me is that we are a pretty great family unit- we have helped each other, encouraged each other, and supported each other like never before- it has defintely made our family a lot closer and stronger. Sounds cheesy, but when you are in a foreign country,especially one whose language and culture is so vastly different from your own, it is sink or swim- be flexible or be miserable (and a lot of you who know us well know how flexible by nature both Scott and I are!!). We are still working through things, and getting used to this new life we are temporarily living, but things here in Japan are good!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Wilco Concert- Zepp Tokyo, Mother's Day, Yoyogi Park with Friends



So, I am not sure how I forgot to put this in a previous blog, but Scott and I enjoyed our first concert in Tokyo this month! We went to see Wilco, an American band, and one of Scott's favorites. They were playing at Zepp Tokyo, which is a really nice, newer, intimate setting in ODaiba (no idea if that is the way it is spelled or not, but darn it, that is what it sounds like!!). Being our first concert in Tokyo, we didn't know what to expect- several friends had told us that concerts here just aren't the same- they follow the "typical" Japanese culture- polite clapping after songs- no craziness (our friend Karen told a story of how she and her husband Bill went to an AC/DC concert when they first moved here, and when they announced the band as they were coming on stage, Karen and Bill started going nuts- screaming, clapping....and NOT ONE other person did!! The quickly put their hands down, stopped making noise and just watched..BORING!). However, our experience was a bit different- people were excited to see this band, clapping, whistling...I am not sure if it was that there were so many foreigners there, or because the Japanese crowd was younger, but it was a really fun concert. Things I found quite funny though- even though I couldn't speak to most of the people there, they knew ALL the English words to ALL the Wilco songs!! I think if I learned to speak Wilco, I could get something done around here! Second, the lead singer kept picking on all the Americans there- it was funny, but the Japanese thought it was REALLY funny! Overall it was a really good night!


Last Saturday we met some friends, Ken and Kim Graham, and their kids Marley (who is in Maya's class as ASIJ) and Will (who will be in Hanna's preschool class next year at Yoyogi International Preschool)at Yoyogi Park for the Reggae Festival. The weather was fantastic, and everyone had a great day...mostly! Marley and Maya went down to the pond to "play" and Maya FELL IN! It was a typical pond- dirty and gross...she was wet and completely covered in dirt..and, you would have thought someone had hurt her, the way she was screaming her little head off. In case I haven't mentioned this before, people here are pretty reserved and do not make a lot of noise...so I think she scared the pants off of half the people around her. It took quite awhile to calm her down, and convince her that we should stay at the park, but she did manage to get over it and be able to enjoy the rest of the day. On our way to check out the fare at the Reggae festival, Hanna and Will ended up making friends with a Japanese guy who was playing a Diggery Do (again, no idea on the spelling!)- it is an Australian instrument that makes a very deep sound. The fella LOVED the kids, and soon, all four were playing his Diggery Do (that does not sound good, does it??), and beating on his drums (again..what?)! They had a blast, and it was equally nice, as Scott and I really got along well with both Kim and Ken!


Mother's day was also a very good day. Scott and I had gone down to IKEA during the Golden Week Holiday to get some things for our apartment (SO HAPPY!! Our place finally looks organized and homey). We went to the Hard Rock Cafe (again, more about going somewhere the girls will eat)for lunch, and then home to put together all of our furniture. Scott and the girls also came home with some FANTASTICALLY beautiful Lily's, and a little bunch of miniature roses and purchased a gift card to Amazon.com for me as well (I have a great Husband!). For Christmas, I got a Kindle as a gift (for those of you who don't know me well, I read almost as much as I exercise, and have joined a book group here in Tokyo)- however, it is difficult to get English books here for a decent price, so now, I have $$ to just download them onto my Kindle- yahoo!

Tonight, Karen, our college aged babysitter from Portage, is flying in to stay with us for 12 days. We are really excited, as she is our first visitor from home to come here and see us (Maya says this morning- I can't believe Karen is coming to see us before any of our family!! Hint, hint...!) :). We have 12 days of fun and excitement planned- we are going to Tokyo Disneyland on Tuesday (pulling the girls out of school for the day- we are told NOT to go on the weekends or any Japanese school days off, or you will not get on any rides), as well as Kamakura (home of the big Buddha!) Asakusa (Senso-ji temple), Tsukiji (largest fish market in the world- they do a daily turnover of $3 million USD in fish sales for over 5 million lbs of fish! Crazy!), as well as a few things school related for the girls- both girls are REALLY excited for Karen to see their respective schools.

I will update next week with a tale of our adventures!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Random Tokyo

This past two weeks have been busy with lots of random, various things going on. I took a tour of the Imperial Palace here in Tokyo with a few friends. The grounds were absolutely amazing, yet, I didn't see the Imperial Palace at all!! I did get to see where the Emperor and his family greet the people on his birthday and during the New Year's holiday, saw some neat landscaping, meeting rooms, and was told about a rice patty that the Emperor plants himself...but no actual Imperial Palace. I guess I can't complain though, as the tour was free, and I did get to listen to some Australian women through an English navigation, give me the history on everything I did see while I was there!

Last Friday, Maya's Entire first grade went on a field trip to the Tama Zoo. I am finding that most fun things to do here in Tokyo are pretty cheap- this zoo cost me 600 Yen (about $8) total to get into- all kids are free! This Zoo was beautiful- we had a great, warm sunny day, and the grounds and animals were fantastic. At Maya's school, each year focuses on a continent. 1st grade focuses on Australia, 2nd grade on Africa, etc. And during the second half of the year, everything is focused on that continent- all the songs they sing in Music are about Australia, all the art projects revolve around Australia in some way, the books they read (whether it be the book or the author) are about Australia, etc. It is really cool---so when we did our field trip, we focused on the Australian animal section of the zoo. We did get to see the rest of it, but that is where we spent the most time. They also do reports where they have to research animals and write a book about them. It is a really neat way to engage the kids, and Maya has been loving it. I also took Hanna out of school, so she could enjoy the zoo trip with us- what a fun day!!

This week we also went to the ASIJ Spring Musical- Thoroughly Modern Milly. Scott had the day off (Japanese Holiday), so we all got to go. I will say, the amount of talent here at this school is phenomenal! The musical was fantastic- and what made it even better was that three of the girls' babysitters were in it, so it made it even more interesting to them!

On Saturday night, our friends, Lyndon and Mary Oliver, invited us over for a dinner party. Lyndon is from India, and his mom was in town, and cooking authentic Indian cuisine. I have only been to an Indian restaurant one time, so I wasn't sure what we were going to eat (or if I and the girls would like it!). I am happy to say, the food was incredible!! We liked everything- and there was a lot of food. We also had a chance to meet a few new couples, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Sunday, Maya had her first Church participation day- it was the Crowning of Mary, and her First grade class at St. Francis Chapel Center got to participate in the mass. She was a part of the collection- passed the baskets to the rows in one section, and she was VERY nervous, as well as the crowing of Mary. She actually left the class during mass, walked over to where Scott and I were sitting and started BAWLING!! She did not want to do it, and wanted to leave and go home. Unfortunately, she is one kid who builds things up in her head, and it gets to the point where she almost gets physically sick thinking about it. For those of you who know her as the talkative,outgoing, somewhat crazy kid, she is completely different when it comes to doing anything in the public eye. I let her sit with us for a little bit, and then told her she made a commitment, and had to do what she said she was going to do. I think that is the hardest part as a parent- making your kids do something, even when you see the fear in their eyes, knowing it is best for them (like chasing Maya after she ran off the bus during the second week of school here in Japan, and putting her back on it while she cried her eyes out!!). She ended up doing just fine, and was completely OK after it was over. The anticipation kills her!

On our way home from Church today, we had a little unplanned adventure. We decided we wanted to have hamburgers tonite, and there are only two places that you can get Hamburger buns here in Tokyo- Nissen Deli and National Azabu grocery store. Our church is in Roppongi, and both of these stores are in the general area, so they shouldn't have taken very long to get to by car. I thought I had entered them both into our Navigation system correctly, so I go and select Nissen from the menu and we leave, thinking we are on our way to the deli. Our Navi system drives us in this crazy loop- including getting us on the toll road (which it then proceeds to say "you have arrived at your destination"...as we are driving on the highway, high above the ground, with no exits!! Neither of us was sure what destination it thought we were arriving at!). We did two loops, with no Nissen in site, and decide that we are just going to go to National, as we had an idea of the general area that it was in. We punched that into the Navi, and as we are driving it says "in 500 meters, take your second left"...now, I don't know about you, but what the hell does that mean? There was one left turn that we could see...so, we didn't know what to do (and mind you, we are driving in crazy, busy Tokyo!). So, Scott goes thru that light thinking there might be another place to turn, and unfortunately for us, there was not, and the light was only a left turn light, not a go straight light! So, this policeman JUMPS out in front of our car and, blowing his whistle quite loudly, and waving his hands frantically, forces us to pull over. We had NO idea what was happening...and the policeman spoke very limited English. We managed to figure out he wanted to see Scott's license (international) and then asks for his U.S. license as well (thank god Scott had it). He spent 10 minutes trying to ask us questions and explain to us what we did wrong...and then, let us go!! Yahoo....however, we decided to just head home instead of driving around being lost and blowing red lights (we never got our burger buns- so all you people who easily drive to Meijer or the D&W on a whim to get those last few items for dinner- be GRATEFUL!!) What should have been a short, easy trip to the grocery store turned into a 47 minute drive around Tokyo, which include Toll ways, driving the same loop multiple times, blowing a red light and getting pulled over by the walking policeman (where else in the world does that happen!!??), and two kids with motion sickness! UGH!!! :)

On a funnier note...Hanna, our 4 year old, has turned into a little liar. She has been doing random things, and then looking Scott and I right in the eye and claiming to have no idea about anything. And, unfortunately for us, she is REALLY good at it (yet too young to realize that we know a lot more than she does!). I went into her room the other night before bed, only to see the Stain Stick cap off the stain stick. She was in the bathroom, which is right across the hall from her room, and I called out and asked her what the cap was doing off the stain stick...she proceeds to tell me she has no idea, and doesn't know what or how it happened. I then turn around, and ALL OVER her closet doors, was stain stick- she drew all over the things with the stain stick!!! So, I ask her again, and she comes in, looks at the doors as says "well, I have NO idea how that happened. I am telling the truth Mama, I do not know"...I say "OK Hanna, I know you wouldn't lie to me" and she says "I know- I wouldn't" and runs off!! Not only that, but over the past few days, I have found stain stick on EVERYTHING!! Her dresser, her bed, her garbage can....uugghhh!

This week is Golden Week (something like a Spring Break in Japan). It is a national holiday week, and all professional businesses are closed, and the Japanese come out to have fun in droves. Scott had Thursday off, and then has M-W off this week, Hanna has the same, and Maya had Friday off as well as this Monday...so this week we should see Scott more than we have in the past three months- we are all really looking forward to it!