Maya's Birthday

Today was Maya's birthday, and I will tell you, it was quite a fun adventure!! We started the day with a phone call from Mrs. Della-Coletta, which got our day off to a great start (Mrs. D-C, if you are reading this, you are AWESOME. We appreciate you so much!!). Then Maya, Hanna and I had the chance to web cam with our friends and neighbors, the Frank's and the VanWinkle's!! They all sang Happy Birthday to Maya, and the girls had a chance to catch up with Madelyn, Natalie, Madi and Sam, which was fantastic..(and Mom got a chance to catch up with Nicole and Joell!!). They also, technically, babysat for me while I tried to set up my co-op. I have found a co-op here in Tokyo (there are TONS of them around) that will actually just bill me for our food monthly...so for 198Yen a week (roughly $10/month), they will deliver as much food as I want them to, from their catalog, every Monday. I will be able to walk to the AM/PM or the Family Mart and pay my bill, just like I do my electric bill (yes, I have to currently pay that at the convenience store every month!). The issue is this- I don't speak Japanese, and the person they sent over to do the paperwork, didn't speak English...I could tell she was a SUPER lady :), but all we could do was sit and smile at each other...which was nice for a few minutes, and then just got awkward...so, I had to go get Mori-san, who is our concierge, and have him talk to her, then talk to me, talk to her, then talk to me. Thank goodness my friend Tami, who is Japanese, did the pre-set up, and most of the real work/explanation had already been negotiated (they don't typically let people pay at the conbini, as they call it, but I have a friend who does it, so they let me also do it!). But, while I was nodding and smiling, the girls were in on the web cam, talking to the Portage crew!! So, Joell and Nicole, thank you for keeping an eye out on them...I will need you again Saturday night, say, 7ish?? :)

My parents also called, and my brother and sister-in-law called Maya as well...the day couldn't have gotten off to a better start!!

After that, I took the girls (they did not have school today) to their new favorite place to eat.....drum roll please.....T.G.I. Friday's!! I couldn't have gotten them to go there in Portage to save my life, but the kids love it here...a little taste of home. They sang Maya Happy Birthday, she got a free ice cream sundae, and they took her photo and put it up on their birthday wall....yahoo. Forever enshrined in the Shibuya birthday wall of fame! After this, we had to find our way to the ice rink...Maya LOVES skating, and wanted to go for her birthday...we had planned to do an outdoor rink, that I actually knew the location of, but because it rained, we had to go to our backup plan...and indoor rink, in an area that I had never heard of, much less trained to, in the rain, with two little girls....luckily, my wonderful Husband got me this fantastic iPhone, or I would be still wandering around Tokyo, with two little kids, trying to figure out where I am. If you are ever in Tokyo, please, do not come without your iPhone...or rent one...I can get myself anywhere, on any train, to any location...and then, I can map how to walk to the place I need to go...technology is amazing. I would have probably died, lost in a puddle of my own tears, if I had to live here prior to the iPhone and the internet!! :)

So, we did find it, though it took a little round about walking...the cool thing is, we found the 100 Yen park, which is an awesome park for kids here in Tokyo that we had heard about, but I had no idea of its actual location! Next time it is warm and not raining, we will be heading there! We spent the afternoon skating...I even wore skates, and was thrilled that I remembered how...that is, when I wasn't bending over, picking Hanna up off the ground!! They did so well today though, and were such troopers! Getting around isn't nearly as seamless and easy for these two, but they did not one lick of crying all day..(ok, Hanna cried once, but got over it fast!!)...plus, by the time we left (after over 2 hours of skating!), it was POURING rain outside...so we had to walk back to the train station in that! Thank goodness I brought our umbrellas and we wore our rain coats, just in case!

Tonite, Maya chose Domino's pizza for dinner, and we celebrated with cake and ice cream! She loved all of her gifts (especially Super Mario Brothers, which Scott picked out for her-she says all the boys make fun of her for playing Tinkerbell on the bus!!), and was so grateful and happy tonite. I can't believe a. she is SEVEN and b. she didn't complain about one thing today! Success!

Aside from Maya's birthday, I figured out how to purchase Wilco tickets (a band we love, that is coming to Tokyo in April), and booked a stop in Maui on our way back to Michigan this summer- thank you Marcy!!).

Till next time... :)

Setsuban Festival, Tokyo Tower, Zojoji Temple

Asakusa, the Rock-a-billies in Yoyogi Park (check out the dudes hair), Maya in Harajuku with a Cheshire cat and Omote-Dori...Tokyo's Rodeo Drive

This post comes courtesy of our college friend Tim Bonk and his son, Will, who is 7. File it under the category of kids saying goofy but pretty funny stuff.

Tim told his children that we have moved to Tokyo….the following conversation with Will ensued:

Will: "Awww, I feel sorry for them."
Tim: "Why do you feel sorry for them"
"Japan is all wrecked up."
“No Will, that must be Haiti your thinking of.”
"No, there was an atomic bomb and everything got messed up."
“Will, that was in 1945.”
"They rebuilt?"

The Cell Phone Circus...from Scott...

So, Stryker Japan had recently outfitted all their workforce with iPhones. In Japan, only one company carries the iPhone, Softbank. When we arrived I asked if they had negotiated any incentives or reduced rates due to the volume of business given to Softbank that could apply to personal use iPhones as well. I was told that Softbank created a special campaign for Stryker employees and their families to receive a free iPhone and a 10,000JPY (roughly $100) gift card. That sounded pretty good so I thought I would take advantage of it…..the timeline below details the saga….

Jan 12 – James (our relocation coordinator) filled out an email application in Japanese.

Jan 14 – Received a hard copy application in the mail with 5 pages to complete.

Jan 15 – James completed the application – all in Japanese and some of the information was repeated from the emailed application.

Jan 18 – Mailed application to Softbank, complete with copies of my passport photo page, my visa page, a document called Zaishoku Shomei Sho (proof of employment, which Stryker Japan HR had to create), and my Alien Registration Card. The ARC details my passport number, length of stay, visa sponsor/employer and local address – so it basically had every piece of required information included.

Jan 23 – Received a Thank You confirmation via certified mail that Softbank received the application. The real intent of the Thank You was yet another method of checking we are who we said we were and we lived where we said we lived. I had to produce both my passport and my ARC to be able to sign for the letter.

Jan 29 – Received a call from Softbank quality control indicating that my application was incomplete. Through a 1.5 hour series of phone calls and conversations which my interpreter facilitated, it became apparent that the caller didn’t have any authority to do anything but read the requirements of the application. After this 1.5 hours of back and forth, the caller also informed us that the campaign we were applying for had been concluded as of Jan 26, so we were no longer eligible! I was able to determine that the missing requirement was a photocopy of the backside of my ARC which contains a completely empty table. I faxed this immediately to Softbank. They then “guaranteed” this was the last check and that I could still qualify for the campaign. I would receive the phone within 7 days.

Feb 4 – Received a call from Softbank indicating that my “credit” did not pass a check. Through another long series of phone calls I was finally able to reach someone who spoke English. This was critical because they would not discuss my credit with my translator even though I tried to give them authorization to do so. We finally discovered the root cause was that I did not include a credit card number on the mailed application on Jan 18. The application allowed for EITHER a credit card number OR a bank account. I apparently chose incorrectly when I tried to set up automatic withdrawal…. So, I tried to give them my credit card information over the phone, but they informed me that they could not accept that information over the phone and that they were terminating my application. I would have to start over!

Feb 6 – Walked into a Softbank store and two hours later walked out with an iPhone, which was free anyway! This whole process was apparently only to get a 10,000JPY gift card! Maddening!!!!!

When people tell you that it is more difficult to accomplish anything in Japan, you better believe them! EVERYTHING is harder to get done.

To Softbank’s credit, they sent three employees to my workplace to formally apologize to me for all the grief they put me through. There were two were General Managers in addition to the sales rep dedicated to Stryker. The trip from their office to mine is over one hour one way. One of the General Managers asked me to contact him directly if I was ever dissatisfied with any of their service. That was a very nice gesture and it was much appreciated. They also presented me with the gift card for 10,000JPY.

What I have noticed...

Some things that I have found:

Japanese women wear high heals all the time. It doesn't matter the weather or how much they will be walking/racing to catch a train or a light.

When they do construction, you only get to see the area until the foundation is in. Once that is up, they put tarps and scaffolding up, so we can all have a big surprise at the unveiling.

Japanese do not seem to ever get too hot or too cold. Daily, I am sweating like mad on the train, and they all look completely cozy and comfortable.

They do not smile naturally....it is just not part of their culture to smile back at you when you smile. That being said, once you get to know them, they will laugh and smile like normal. Very strange feeling to smile and not have the person smile back. They also stare a lot, but as soon as you acknowledge, they look away like they haven't spent the last 10 minutes looking directly at you or your kids.

They love blond hair. Hanna has had people come and rub her head like a Buddha belly and run off...she gets very mad, and Maya gets very freaked out.

They have every type of fish imaginable at the grocery store...shrimp with eyeballs, Octopus legs...freaks me out. Give me my salmon fillet any day, over googly eyes staring up at me from the cooler.

Japanese are quite helpful, and will actually walk you to a place if you are lost (I had this happen last week trying to get to Maya's school...out in Chofu, which is outside of Tokyo, and where there is little English spoken at the train stations).

They are crazy about germs and disease. There are more masks worn here than in any hospital I have ever been to. And, it is completely accepted as normal. Kids, adults..everyone. They even have these little animal pouches that can clip on to backpacks so the kids can have a cute storage place for their mask.

That being said, they hand out wet towels (just wet, no anti-bacterial anything on them) as a way to 'wash' your hands before you eat. AND, many bathrooms do not even have soap in them....maybe if they provided more soap, they could wear fewer masks? Seems like that would make sense, but hey, I don't know the language enough to argue. :)

Japanese love to smoke. It is almost like no one here knows that smoking can kill you....almost all restaurants are smoking, and they have smoking "stations" outside of a lot of the train station exits. For a land afraid of germs, they don't seem to mind nicotine at all!

Japanese is a VERY difficult language. I learned how to introduce myself and Scott, and say hello, good bye, are you OK? and some basic phrases today...I think my Japanese teacher thinks I am an idiot...and if she doesn't, I am sure she will soon. I ask a gazillion questions for each new phrase..that consists of maybe 5 or 6 words!! I now know why my friend Steph quit Japanese 101 in college after a month!!

Our kids, however, are picking up Japanese at a ridiculous pace. They now call oranges "micons" instead of oranges, dogs "enu" and cat "necco"...they correct me every time I speak a word they know in Japanese in English...

There are some FANTASTIC places to eat in and around where we live. We have gone to a Korean BBQ, an Indian Restaurant, an Izakaya (like a Tapas restaurant, only most everything is seafood related...except for the chicken wings!), and a Sukiyaki place, where they place a pot of boiling soy based sauce on your table and you cook thinly sliced pieces of beef, chicken,lamb and vegetables in it...and you dunk it in an raw egg yolk and eat it! Wednesday I am meeting a friend at the Rotating Sushi restaurant, where they also have mini hamburgers, french fries and cheeseburgers to go with the sushi, and Friday we are meeting up with a bunch of Stryker employees to go to a place where you fish for your own dinner and then eat it! Should be fun. :)

Because of all the restaurants, I will be needing to walk everywhere I go from now until I come home this summer!

Last week we received our boat shipment! Whahoo. We had some damaged goods (worst one, our Big screen TV was damaged in the move and does not work, so we are currently without a TV in our living room), but overall, we got everything we shipped and then some. We got our mini-trampoline, as well as my high school prom dresses...hmmm...not sure how those got taken out of the deep dark depths of the storage closet and which mover decided I needed to pack them to bring...maybe he heard me saying we had some potential formal events and thought he would help me out...but looking at the dresses and then me, he had to be able to tell I would never have fit into them!! It is so much nicer having our things though- it makes every day better and a little bit easier..so I am very thankful!!

One thing we did was find a Catholic church. I was so happy- it is one thing that is exactly the same as it was in the States. If feels good to be there, and the girls are loving Sunday school. Maya is learning a lot, especially with Lent coming up, and asking a lot of questions that I can't remember the answers to! I guess I may have to go back to Sunday school myself! :)

We also were invited to see the Superbowl at the Tokyo American Club with some friends- Denise and Andrew Hersey. It was fantastic...and fantastically weird. It was 8am, the buffet was breakfast (then turned to lunch), the drinks were OJ, tea, coffee and water, and there were no commercials, In between plays (all in English) we got to listen to the Japanese commentators...it was great just to be able to see it on big screen TVs, great reception, at the time it was actually happening. So very nice.

Because of the delivery, we have hardly made it out and about the past week. Aside from Scott going to work and my dropping off and picking up Hanna, we have been here, unpacking, shoving things under beds and throwing things away (those beautiful, 1990's circa prom dresses). So, I have no good tales to tell from the past week- no beans were thrown, no shrines were seen, and no kids turning into the devil (anymore than normal, at least!).