J was just the right size for these go-karts. 

L was too short to drive so S gave him a tour. 

Kanpai! N really enjoys grilled food. 

Craft time at camp. Why is everybody looking at J? Even the girl behind them... 

Family Trip

S gave me some pamphlets early in the summer with lists of hotels with swimming pools and said we should take the kids somewhere for 2 nights and take it easy. He pointed to the great prices advertised and told me to find someplace, giving me the dates of our English school's summer vacation: August 14-24. I circled all the cheapest places but, of course, none were at the advertised prices S expected because we weren't planning a mid-June or early September holiday. Still, 10,000 yen a night per person wasn't too bad for hot springs, a pool, proximity to the beach (in Izu) smorgasbord (all you can eat) dinner and breakfast.

S rejected the places I had circled saying that it would be too tiring and expensive getting all the way to Izu and back and not wanting to spend even more money on daytime entertainment (amusement parks, alligator zoo etc.) when the kids got bored of swimming. He asked me to find out if our Co-op (a delivery shopping club we belong to ) had any discount tickets for the camping place we visited last year, Sagamiko Picnicland.

This place is a city slicker campsite with 4-person dome tents already set up on wooden platforms (with 2 blankets per occupant and a flashlight) or small 4-person cabins, simple (futons, a light, running water, no toilet) or deluxe (futons, a toilet, A/C, a sink, and a TV), a pool, a petting farm, an amusement park and other attractions all rolled into one. For one price, dinner (all you can eat grilled vegetables, meat and fried noodles), overnight facilities, unlimited one day use of the amusement park rides, unlimited use of the pool, petting farm rabbits, sheep, goats, ponies and other animals), buffet breakfast, a campfire service (with sexy guys leading the songs and activities), a pack of fireworks for each child, a craft project for everyone and hot showers are rolled into one package deal.

I was able to find discount prices (5,200 yen per night per child, 5,600 yen per night per adult) in our Co-op leaflet and make internet reservations for a tent and a cabin. S said he needed a futon and that 2000 yen extra for 2 of us in a DELUXE cabin and 4 people at the tent price wouldn't break the bank. Unfortunately, the deluxe cabins were all reserved and S had to accept the cheaper (only 1,000 yen extra) cabin with no toilet. We made reservations, received confirmation by mail with a bill and remitted our money directly to Sagamiko Picnicland's account.

The tents and cabins are in different sites so I immediately sent an e-mail explaining that I had made 2 separate reservations for 2 and for 4 people as we wanted a cabin for my husband and young son but that the girls wanted to sleep in a tent and that I hoped they would try to find a tent as close as possible to the cabin. I got a reply saying that it might be difficult but that they would try, so I sent a gushing thank you e-mail, not forgetting to say how much we enjoyed our stay the previous year and that whatever they could come up with would be fine.

You can see more details at http://www.picnicland.co.jp . It is one stop past Takao on the Chuo Line and then a 10 minute bus ride so we took our train line to Takao and transferred to the Chuo Line. Most people pack all sorts of cooler boxes and other gear in their cars and just drive there but some folks do take the train with a bare minimum of luggage. It only took us about an hour to get there.

Each person in our family had a medium sized daypack with two changes of clothes, a swimsuit, a small and a large towel, a pack of instant ramen (bulky but light) and an amusement to share with siblings in case of rain (a pack of cards, a pack of hanafuda cards (traditional Japanese game), a book about bugs and a small rubber ball respectively from top to bottom). I had a tote back with a big box of onigiri (rice packed into balls and wrapped in nori seaweed sheets) and a Tupperware box with tamagoyaki (a sliced square soy flavored omelet to use up the eggs in the fridge), sweet potato chunks, cherry tomatoes and leftover yakitori （grilled bite-sized pieces of chicken and leeks on skewers with sweet soy flavored sauce） for lunch the first day and lots of snacks for all 3 days. S had the video and digital cameras and a small electric hotpot so we wouldn't have to spend extra money renting the fireplace area and pots and pans to heat water for our ramen lunch the 2nd day.

We arrived safely and were micro-bus chauffeured halfway to the top of the "mountain" where the camp facilities are located. When I checked in, they gave me a map to locate the cabin, but no tent...UH OH! But wait, I have another confirmation number...The receptionist looked relieved, punched the second number into her computer and came up with a map to our tent as well. It was right across a small path from the cabin. Hurray! And what do we find when we arrive at our cabin/tent site? They've upgraded us to DELUXE! S was ever so pleased at the free upgrade and the air-conditioning. L and N were
happy about the private toilet which was even a WASHLET type (Check out the TOTO website at　http://www.washlet.com/default.asp , L enjoyed that more than the mini-roller coaster!).

It was cool enough for 3 of us to stay in the tent the first night, but we all opted for the cabin the second night, 2 of us on blankets on the floor, the other 4 in the bunk beds with futons.

The place is set up on a ridge and we did a lot of walking up and down hills to do anything. The rides are a little tame; just right for L and N. J and M would probably enjoy a little more excitement next year. Everybody seemed to have a good time so I think it was a success. City slicker camping worked well for us as we don't own any camping gear or a car.

We arrived home just before a typhoon headed toward Tokyo and it began to rain last night. After 2 nights of grilled veggies and meat, we were ready for sushi for dinner last night and the girls had fun playing sushi chef and assembling nigiri sushi and maki (rolled) sushi for us at the table at home.

Today and tomorrow are definitely indoor days with all the wind and rain. The second term of school starts a week from today.

Summer Vacation

Town Life

A large box from Grandma and Grandpa arrived the morning of the 11th, right on N's birthday, making her feel extra special. Presents for the summer birthday children (J, L and N respectively) were enclosed and much appreciated. We went out for a lunch of Korean BBQ per N's request and had an ice cream cake for snack later at home.

We closed the English school from the 14th to the 24th to relax around home and enjoy summer a little. We've been going to the local public pool a few times a week and singing karaoke a few times to enjoy the airconditioning at one of the many local karaoke studios. The children all sing very well and enjoy listening to their parents sing a few oldies from time to time. S has a lovely, deep voice, good tone and rhythm. The children seem to take after him, fortunately.

We're off camping at the same place we stayed last summer soon.

Batting Center 

Sleeping sisters 

N's birthday lunch out. 

What a gentle guy! 

M is having fun too. 

This is how L is enjoying his summer vacation. 

Busy Weekend

Saturday was L's birthday and he requested a chocolate and ice cream cake shaped like a cartoon character, Doraemon. I managed to do most of the preparations the day before, as I was downstairs at the monthly building committee meeting all morning and we went out to the "family" restaurant a few blocks away for lunch. We were grateful for the arctic blast of air-conditioning in the restaurant and managed to stretch lunch into two comfortable hours before returning to our sweltering apartment for the Doraemon cake. We made sure to set the table and get the video and camera out before removing the cake from the freezer, hurriedly sticking six candles on and singing a rush job of "Happy Birthday" before the face melted. Halfway through eating the cake, we realized we'd forgotten to take a photo of the masterpiece.

Saturday evening was the building's annual summer party. I cycled around late in the afternoon picking up food we'd ordered (sandwiches from the bakery and 100 sticks of yakitori from a poultry specialty shop halfway to the next station) while the less mobile committee members boiled and salted edamame (green soy beans) and waited for the sushi, beer and chilled watermelon to be delivered by the respective neighborhood vendors. The men from our new building management company helped set up the desks from our meeting room in the entrance lobby and about 40 of us enjoyed dinner and beer from 6 to 8 p.m. Promptly at 8, the chairman announced that the beer was gone and thanked everyone for attending. I sent the kids upstairs so I could help clean up, but there were enough people helping that I didn't have to do too much. We divided the leftovers so S had a few extra dishes with his beer when he returned from classes after 10.

Sunday was an elementary school parents' association softball tournament. S was asked to join our school's team and he agreed to play if they couldn't find enough players. He had assumed that he had sounded non-committal enough to be left off the team, but it seems that they needed him. A neighbor who organizes our school team each year called him last week with details and told him that they really needed him. He said it was a casual competition among 5 schools and that no special equipment would be necessary but to please wear long pants and a hat and bring a glove if we had one. S decided that his judo pants would be acceptable and easier for him to move around in, but he did get serious about other gear. He borrowed a bat and some gloves from the construction company laboratory where he does consulting work and he went shopping for a few extra knee and elbow supporters. The kids were having fun trying them on and walking around like robots. S looked a little embarrassed when L appeared with a jock strap over his head like a professional wrestler's mask.

I mentioned a batting center not far from here and S went a few times to get some practice swinging at baseballs pitched by a machine for a couple of dollars a bucket. He also had the kids throw balls to him in the park to practice chasing and retrieving. I think the practice helped him acclimate, he wasn't in terrible condition after pitching morning game, umpiring another game and then playing second base and catcher in an afternoon game while we and two other families braved the heat and cheered the team on. I was responsible for buying the team lunches; onigiri (rice balls), pumpkin, square omelets, pickles and cherry tomatoes.

The principal watched the morning game and the vice principal stopped by for the afternoon game. The team played well for never having practiced together and managed to maintain leads through the top of the last inning. Unfortunately, the opposing teams managed to get a home run with bases loaded in the bottom of the last inning and our team lost both games. S was preparing to decline the team invitation to go out with some of the wives and children to a bar for dinner and cold beer and 6:00 but when I told him I'd take his Sunday evening classes, he was happy to accept and told me to come to the bar after the last student left at 8:30. He and the children were enjoying themselves when I arrived just in time for a few beers and a brilliant green cocktail which had chunks of kiwi fruit floating in it. J said that they had to order lots of squid because the children (mostly ours) kept eating the platters of grilled whole squid as they arrived and the food never made it to the adult table. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the day and evening out in spite of the heat and humidity.

I washed the orange school team uniform T-shirt that S borrowed and the aforementioned supporters and have them ready for the next half of the tournament on Sept. 19, a holiday.

Phlebitis?

A pain in my left calf Saturday morning developed into a swollen calf by that evening and I could feel two hard veins under the tender pink swelling. I thought it might be some kind of blood clotting so I rested with my leg up for a while and kept it cooled by soaking it in a tub full of cold water from time to time. The swelling went down and left only two reddish lines over the veins instead of a pink calf.

Monday morning I went to the clinic down the street to see if I'd done the right thing and the doctor confirmed superficial phlebitis. I was worried that it might be a side effect of the Tamoxifen that I've been taking once a day since December and the doctor thought that it might be possible. He asked me to speak with my breast doctor before deciding whether or not to discontinue the medication and to take it easy, elevate and cool the calf.

This morning the veins look much better and are just a little tender. My breast doctor advised me to keep elevating and cooling per the local clinic instructions and continue with the Tamoxifen. Sounds like it isn't too serious.

Hakone Trip Dinner

Hakone Trip Dinner
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

L seems capable of eating anything with enough peer pressure. At home he hardly ever eats tomato flavored rice in an omelet.

Hakone Lake Ashinoko

Hakone Ashinoko
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

L had a great time on his three day trip to Hakone with his grade in kindergarten. His teacher said he was always the first asleep and the last up in the morning, so I guess he had no trouble sleeping without a room full of sisters.

Watermelon

Watermelon
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

I bought a big watermelon for dessert yesterday as we had some friends over for dinner before the second evening of the festival. It was so big that we only made it through half of it so I saved the other half for snack today. It really hit the spot after cycling down to the public pool and huffing and puffing our way back up the hill home for lunch. L got a little pink in spite of the sunscreen, but should feel well enough tomorrow to go on his kindergarten trip to Hakone for three days.

Shaved Ice

Shaved Ice
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

J really needed the shaved ice. She danced for 90 minutes after it got a little darker. Of course she waited until there was a fairly good crowd of dancers before joining in to avoid seeming conspicuous. There was very little I could do to blend in...

Borrowed Yukata

Borrowed Yukata
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

After the thunder faded away, we had a great evening for the annual neighborhood summer festival in the park behind our apartment.

Summer Festival Season

We're down to the last week and a half of school before summer vacation. The kids are getting excited about dressing up for this year's neighborhood BON dance festival in the park next weekend. A few days ago, the superintendant relayed that that an elderly woman on the 4th floor hoped she could lend me a yukata (casual cotton summer kimono) this summer as she knew how difficult it could be to find one big enough for the large foreign woman with the cute children. I told him that I had one of my own and that I'd be too scared of spilling something on borrowed apparel.

He stopped me in the lobby today to tell me that the woman was still eager to lend me the yukata and that she was confident that it would fit me well as she had had it tailor made to fit her wider than average dimensions. I decided to stop by and thank her for the kind offer. She was expecting me, the yukata laid out on her coffee table with all the paraphenelia for properly putting it on and a beautiful woven OBI (2 or 2 1/2 yard long, 1 foot wide waist belt). She said she'd had it all out since the previous day, when her regular day care helper had been there. She invited me in to show me the best way to wear it.

I tried it on over the clothes I was wearing and we both worked out how to tie the OBI as it had been a long time since she had worn it. Her response to how I looked was a gusty "Bravo!" and an apology for Italian instead of English. She had aspired to sing opera when she was younger, she explained, so her chest had developed too much for off-the-rack yukatas. She was pleased that I recognized the OBI as a special pattern from Hakata in Kyushuu, where S is from, and told me more than I wanted to know about how special the silk belt was. Now I'm afraid to wear it to the festival where L or N will think nothing of wiping their sticky hands...Of course it would be rude not to wear the outfit though.

The wooden sandals she offered me were, as to be expected, too small to get my feet into but she happily insisted that my usual summer sandals would look wonderful with the ensemble. I thanked her for the loan and walked downstairs to give the superintendant and his wife a laugh before returning home to take it all off and carefully fold it until next week's festival. I'll definitely try to get some pictures.

102-0201_IMG

102-0201_IMG
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

He had fun getting up there, but needed assistance on the descent.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea
Originally uploaded by Koggy.

Just some cool colors to help beat the heat.

Rainy Season

There's a street ,barely wide enough for bicycles, that connects the main street where we live and the parallel back street the children use to walk to school. On this street is a very small dilapidated 2 story house on a 4x5 yard plot of land. Although it is officially "rainy season" now, the big cactus is blooming with bright yellow flowers beside the shady blue hydrangeas in the 50 inch strip of garden bewteen the from of the house and the street. Small green citrus fruits which will grow to grapefruit sized pinkish orange fruits by winter fill the tree in the corner where the garden wraps around the south side of the house. An overgrown palm tree and a cherry tree, which was beautiful in April, are featured among the bushy hodgepodge of who knows what. It's a tiny patch of jungle in the city and, somehow, calming. I really have to get a picture.

Fifth Grade Trip

M left for school this morning with a backpack filled with clothes for 3 days, two onigiri (rice packed into triangular balls with a pickled plum in the center, wrapped in a sheet of seaweed) and a thermos full of iced barley tea. She and the entire 5th grade will spend 2 nights in Nagano hiking and visiting various industries (mostly forestry and farming) as part of their "moving classroom." She was very excited about it all and it looks like the weather will hold out for them in that part of Japan, even though the rainy season has officially begun.

L may not be so lucky; his kindergarten picnic was postponed from last Friday to tomorrow due to rain. It looks like rain already, so they'll probably cancel the event altogether. He had a day off today because S and he attended the Fathers Day event in his classroom on Sunday. We biked around the city doing errands and met about 12 "Assoc. of Foreign Wives of Japanese" friends for lunch in the department store near our station.

I learned an interesting fact from an Austrian woman whom I had met 6 or 7 years ago at another event and knew that she lived about 40 minutes further out from the city than we are, on the same train line. It turns out that she and her husband also own an apartment right here in our neighborhood. It's in the building right in front of ours, in fact, and is empty most of the time since both of her daughters have graduated from university and gotten married. She or her husband stay there sometimes when their business runs too late to catch the last train to the distant parts of the metropolis. She said I should call her if I have out of town guests who might need a place to sleep, but that it is just that, and not very luxurious. If I had only known a few months ago...

J's Birthday

J did very well with the English notes for her birthday treasure hunt and successfully found the keys to her new bicycle on Monday morning. The girls were out of school for the day as a make up day for the previous Saturday when they had classes all morning for an open house. L had kindergarten, as kindergarten isn't part of the public school system. M made plans to visit a friend. We called one of J's friends and J, the friend, N and I rode our bikes to a nearby bowling alley for three games. N was pleased to get a combined score of 68 for her three games. After curry for lunch in a restaurant, we cycled home to decorate the cake before L came home. M brought her friend by at 3:00 when L also returned so we had a good number of voices for the Happy Birthday Song. The strawberry sponge cake with strawberry mousse filling and raspberry liqueur flavored whipped cream sold well.

Sometimes "smaller" is an advantage; L is victor at local tricycle circuit, taking home first prize, a coupon for free fries at McD's. 

The Birthday Present

J's birthday isn't until June 13th but I just had to take advantage of the sale at the local shopping center. Our credit card is issued through this chain of stores and they give us a 5% discount in addition to the special Spring Sale prices. I found an adult bicycle for 7,999 yen and went ahead and bought it. It was the last one in stock, so I felt lucky.

The actual purchase took a while as there were forms to fill out for registering the bike with the police (so it will be returned to us if it's found in some obscure place) and the clerk had to complete a thorough pre-sale inspection. We talked while he made various adjustments and filled the tires a little more and I told him how it was a present for my daughter who would be very pleased to have her first new bicycle. He took my credit card and went to another clerk at the cash register. When he returned, giving me my receipt and card, he told me that he had marked the bike down by 499 yen to an even 7,500 yen because it was a present and that he'd like to throw in some 200 yen reflective name stickers for the birthday girl. I arranged to pick up the bike the next morning, as I was on my own bike and couldn't push the new one home with my groceries too.

Now I had to figure out how to hide the bike until J's birthday. Our building has free bicycle parking outside, behind the building, and 2,000 yen per year parking in the basement parking lot. Our old bikes are all out behind the building but I paid for half a year to get a slot downstairs for the still new bike. I left the girls home with S when I took L to his kindergarten bus stop on Saturday morning and walked to the store near the station after sending L off. I rode the bike home (gently) and into the new slot downstairs. The tires have been wiped clean, the key and manual hidden in S's study so now I just have to keep my mouth shut until the middle of next month. We'll wait to put the name on until after J's birthday so she won't accidentally find the bike downstairs among 40 or 50 other bikes.

Intruders!

I left our sliding glass doors to the balcony open to air the apartment out for an afternoon visit from J's teacher. I returned from my errands to find two pidgeons trying to build a nest against the wall under the dining room table bench. Apparently S had shooed them out once and gone back to his nap. I shooed them around the table and out again and cleaned up the twigs before the teacher arrived, glad they hadn't had time to lay any eggs.

Sad News from Home

I learned today of the unexpected death at 45 of the former town historian, D W on May 6th. I remember hearing him talk about the landscaping plans at the local historic spot, the manse of the town's founder, as he researched authenticity and worked hard years ago and also remember enjoying his contributions to the Republican on the town history which I received by seamail far far away. I suppose it's too late to mention any schoolgirl crush I may have had on the gentle and earnest student of anthropology and archaeology. His contributions to the understanding of local history, even after moving down south, are not small and I feel that his death at 45 is such a waste.

Golden Week

Golden Week

We closed the English school for a week because of a series of national holidays collectively known as "Golden Week" in Japan. Families make plans months in advance to travel during the extended vacation. The news reports 60 and 70 mile long traffic jams on the major expressways around Tokyo. We decided to relax around home rather than brave the crowds and special holiday price increases in Hakone or some other tourist spot.

So far we've cycled, splashed in a stream, had a picnic, eaten out (Chinese) and gone swimming. S was too tired from the Saturday cycling to go swimming on Sunday, so I took the kids to the indoor, heated, public swimming pool with two water slides and a circulating pool where we tried to visit in January. L was too young and too short for the slides, but he had a great time drifting around the circulating pool with me while his sisters were sliding.

The children went on and on about the fun they had so S decided we should go again today so he could see this wonderful place. There weren't too many small children, as there was a rule that people using diapers on a daily basis are not permitted in the pool area. There is apparently a nice play room where the grandmothers can stay with the babies while the rest of the family splashes around.

Dinner at a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki restaurant on the way home was good entertainment. The kids loved sitting at the grill/counter watching the the cute young man fry noodles and mountains of shredded cabbage to be sandwiched between a savory crepe and a flattened and spread out fried egg and slathered with brown okonomiyaki sauce. When the "pancakes" were ready, they were placed in front of us on the grill for us to chop away and eat in small portions as the whole pancakes were too big to fit on the small plates we'd been given. The children were excited about eating right off the grill and we managed to finish the meal with no burned fingers or spilled water.

We only rent videos or DVDs a few times a year, so "Monday Night at the Movies" in the Sugio home was appreciated. They watched Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban." Tonight they are camping on the floor of the English school with S, a few blocks away from here. They carried blankets and pillows down the street after they brushed their teeth at home.

Tomorrow is probably KARAOKE day and then off to the local hot springs before dinner in the restaurant near the station where we went with Mom and Dad after our picnic last month.

Pension Gifts

The Lady Downstairs

The nice lady from the third floor has graced us with another visit. She asked if it would be OK to give the children 500 yen each to pick out a book at the bookstore, saying that she was sure they could pick the books they like better than she could. She receives her national pension on the 15th of each month, and seems to spend the 2 preceding weeks thinking of how to use it. The children sat down with her on the floor near the front door joyfully accepted her gift money and chocolates, making her very happy. We biked to a bookstore in a new shopping center and got some craft books, a Pokemon board book and some manga, Japanese comic book style novelettes. We'll be sure to show her the books when she stops by next Saturday with red bean filled rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves (I think they're oak leaves) for Boy's Day a few days early.

PTA

I'm down to the last week as VP of the kindergarten PTA and only have one more orientation meeting and a formal speech to get through next week. The incoming VP says she appreciates the streamlining I accomplished and plans to continue using my model. What a relief.

While I was conducting the changeover meeting at the kindergarten this morning, the elementary school district safety committee meeting was being held closer to home to choose this year's area leaders. There are 4 areas with 5 subgroups or so per area. As we have a 6th grader, the subgroup leadership fell to me this year. I have to make a telephone tree with the 8 families in our sub group and distribute various documents and safety patrol rosters from the main area leader when this year's documents are ready. I called yesterday to let them know that my kindergarten duties would make me late for the meeting.

When I arrived 45 minutes late, the district leader was just putting papers away and all the other people had gone home. She was pleasant, thanking me and asking me to sign in. She said that she hadn't been informed of the area leader for my neighborhood, but that I would hear from last year's subgroup leader with any news.

I learned on the phone this evening from last year's subleader that the 4 other subgroup leaders had been unable to decide upon a leader and had resorted to putting our 5 names in a lottery. Guess who won! In my absence, the other mothers were relieved to lose the lottery and leave making traffic safety documents and a patrol roster of 60 families up to yours truly. Fortunately last year's subleader will give me a big bag full of last year's documents I can reference in organizing this year's plan.

This supposedly gets me off the hook for other school committees this year, so I won't have to organize the summer pottery painting, the fall sports day, the winter rice cake festival, the PTA election...this year. Also, next time we have a 6th grader (next year), I can be excluded in any lotteries if things get so bad that lotteries are required for selecting leaders. I don't know how many times this exclusion is valid, as most people only have 1 or 2 children.

New School Year

The kids started their new school year on Wednesday. The cherry trees blossomed that day as well, just after Mom and Dad left the country. The park is full of families playing in a flurry of petals. Tomorrow we'll go on a picnic at our usual spot along the nearby river where there is a bank of cherry trees.

"Let me go!" 

L and his bus stop friends 

Procrastination

I don't want to attack the large pile of laundry and the messy house just quite yet. If I clean everything up now, I'll have to do it all again on Thursday before Mom and Dad arrive. We took a bike ride to the local river to check the cherry blossoms and it looks like they'll be in their prime when Mom and Dad are here. L managed to kick his right sneaker into the river when kicking a stone into the water. J and M managed to fish it out with a stick before it floated away. N was grumpy because we didn't let her ride her own bike, but she's still alive and well so I think we made the right decision.

Report Cards

Today was the last day of the school year here and the girls brought home their report cards. They also brought home a trimester's worth of marked papers, art works, musical instruments and whatever else was in their desk. All year N has been reluctant to be seen or heard doing homework, even though the parents are expected to give her marks on her oral reading performance and math practice on a special mark sheet periodically. She announced each day that she had finished her homework, not mentioning the oral part and forged the parental marking portion. I hear her reading stories out loud to L and know that she's reading above level for her grade and that her class reads the work out loud at school several times, so I didn't bug her too much about not reciting.

My handwriting isn't so wonderful, so it wasn't difficult for her to write my name beside the excellent marks she gave herself each day, but her dates gave her away. The marksheet came home today with a load of other papers and I smiled to see she had done such a great job reading everyday from December 30th through December 44th.

Girls' Day Doll Festival

The third day of the third month is a special day for girls. It isn't a national holiday like the fifth day of May, formerly a special day for boys, now Children's Day, but it has its own traditions. Families with girls get out their set of courtesan dolls with a prince and princess at the top of five or seven tiers of court musicians and maidens with all the paraphernalia of the ancient court. Families in tiny city apartments like ours usually get a smaller set, with only the prince and princess and a few accessories like plum trees or colorful stacks of rice cakes.

The shy 76 year old woman who lives on the third floor of our building approached me a few weeks ago, requesting permission to visit us on March third. She said that she wanted to celebrate Girls' day with us. She stops by a few times a month with snacks for the kids, but doesn't usually come inside. I told her we'd love to have her over and invited her for dinner so she could eat the traditional sushi dish that people eat on this day. Saying that she was a picky eater, she declined the dinner invitation and asked if 7:00 p.m. would be a good time to visit.

A few days later, I got our set of dolls out and on March 3rd I cleaned the house and had a nice sushi meal with the kids. We set out a bowl of tangerines to share with our visitor when she arrived. She rang the doorbell at 7:00 on the dot and I opened the door very slowly, to avoid knocking her over (J did knock her over on one occasion). She had a bag full of tangerines as a house gift, so, knowing that she had walked all the way to the fruit shop and back with her daypack with the goal of getting something nice for the children, I quickly asked J & M to take our bowl of tangerines into the back room. Fortunately, our visitor moved very slowly, carefully navigating every step in unfamiliar territory, looking down through her very thick glasses.

The children were happy to have a visitor and showed her our dolls and some of the 7-5-3 photos. She seemed to have a good time and was talking about other seasonal events she could contribute to, like providing rice dumplings for moon viewing in September.

Today I dusted the dolls off and returned them to their storage boxes, as displaying them too long after Girls' Day is unlucky. There are no such superstitions about the Boys' Day, so we'll get L's warrior armor and carp wind sock out sometime before Mom and Dad visit.

More on One of the Supers

The 70 something (probably closer to 80) year old man who works in our reception office downstairs showed me a neat picture from his days as a waiter in an exclusive restaraunt in Fukuoka in the decade after WWII. Amazingly, I was able to recognize three of the five people in the photo. In addition to a much younger, tall and handsome version of our superintendent in his waiter's uniform and another person from the staff, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were seated at an elegant dinner table with another guest. He asked all three of the patrons for their autographs and I could decipher "Joe DiMaggio" and a shaky "Mariylin Monroe DiMaggio" (the DiMaggio part was a little cramped, I assume because it was their honeymoon and she wasn't used to writing it yet). A few months later, a TV crew was in our lobby filming for a five minute segment on our superintendent, his life now and then and his treasure, the photograph, and twenty minutes more on the celebrities in the photo.

Management Crisis

The company which has managed our apartment building for the past 33 years went bankrupt at the end of January, making me sorry I agreed last year to my two year appointment to the management committee. It looks like they embezzled lots of money from most of their clients. I've been running around all month getting signatures on various banking documents and making sure that the nice people who perform the daily superintendents duties (a live-in couple and a 70 something man who rides his scooter over every day) get paid.

The committee invited three new companies to offer bids on the job and we've chosen a new company but need to hold a formal vote among all of the owners before we hand over everybody's bank account information. Tomorrow is the "Emergency Owners Meeting" as opposed to the annual owners meetings held to report the usual goings-on. It will be a relief to hand over the accounting to the pros on Monday. I'm glad that the new company has agreed to keep our superintendents and the various monthly businesses which polish floors, maintain the water tank, maintain the elevator etc.; these businesses don't lose our business and we can enjoy the same good service we've been getting.

This is our lucky week.

Another free ticket to the circus arrived via an old man downstairs who thinks L is cute. We ought to clean L up more often.

The Circus is Coming

At this morning's building management committee meeting, I was given 5 free tickets to the circus which will be here from mid March until early May. The tickets are valid for free admission on March 28, 29, 30 and April 1. This is perfect for a family trip to the circus on April 1 when Mom and Dad are here. I'm glad that Tokyo is at the end of their Asian trip so they won't sleep through the circus from jet lag.

In a few weeks, if more free tickets don't fall into my lap, I'll buy 2 children's advance sale tickets for 1,700 yen each and use the free tickets for the rest of us. What could have been 17,000 yen at the gate for 3 adults (3,000 yen each) and 4 children (2,000 yen each) will only cost 3,400 yen. S said he'll probably stay home that day to enjoy our home while the "circus" is away.

S's brother was nice enough to play dodgeball with the kids on the pink bump in the local park when he visited in January. 

Computer Savvy...not!

I learned that our account was bouncing e-mails recently and couldn't figure out why. I check my mail daily so messages shouldn't be bouncing. I got sick of all the junk mail that we'd been getting and, not wanting S to accidentally open any virus attachments while I was in the hospital, I set up a number of rules forbidding certain types of messages from being downloaded from the server (messages containing certain words like mortgage, finance, cheating wives and enlarge). I assumed that the messages would disappear from the mailbox after being refused. This was not the case. I removed all the rules to see if that was why my downloading was so slow these days and over 900 messages dated from early November arrived in the mailbox, about 60 of them with dubious attachments...Duh!

I waded through and found a few messages from family (yes I received the book Elizabeth, and thank you for the messages I wasn't ignoring you on purpose.) and friends (you wanted to get together when and where for coffee?). The other 900 plus messages were junk mail. Now that the pop mailbox is empty, downloading is almost instant. Ya lurn sumpin everday.

Bone Scan

I saw my skeleton from various perspectives and was told that no breast cancer cells were detected in it. Nice news. Last month's blood tests were OK too.

I will be seeing my doctor at a smaller local clinic one Friday a month from now on, except for semi-annual exams at the university hospital. He said I'd get a "visual" exam (ooh, gotta buy some new bras...) and a blood test at the monthly visits and mammograms at the semi annual visits. He didn't give me any trouble about importing my own supply of tamoxifen citrate after I showed him the package and explained about the price difference. He even said that the monthly visits could be once every 6 or 8 weeks if I preferred, as he had planned on giving me a new prescription each month. We agreed to keep to the monthly exams for now, as there are a few more tests he'd like to do at the clinic and I'd feel more secure knowing that he's keeping an eye on me.

TV Spot

Town Life

The Rice Cake festival on the first day of school last week was taped and about five minutes of it were broadcast on the local cable TV station. We don't subscribe to cable, but the guide channel, where they're showing the program with other local news, is available for free as our apartment building is wired in to the cable system.

International students from the nearby national university were invited to experience the tradition and share in the hard work of pounding sticky rice in the big wooden "mortars" with heavy wooden hammers until it became a single, smooth, sticky and hot mass of MOCHI (rice cake). There were seven "pounding" stations in order to make enough to feed all the elementary school students quickly. This year's coordinator asked me to be there to chat with the international students. They, another foreign mom (from China) and I were asked to make short speeches about New Year's customs from our own countries.

The cable TV program shows the pounding process, a mini concert by the university brass ensemble over the din of 550 kids enjoying their rice cakes and me (and my chins) on stage making them all say "Happy New Year!" in English.

All three girls are shown with their respective classes and there's a nice close up of N while the narrator explains that "some children returned for second and third helpings..."

Town Life

Town Life

Just a quick update. My bone scan went smoothly on Tuesday, results will be available next Tuesday. J's art has again been selected for the city-wide elementary school art display. The children and I walked over to the gallery to check it out before dinner yesterday. She has also been asked to go to her city science club half an hour early next week because one of the teachers was impressed with her report on the qualities of water and would like to interview her. I expect they'll ask her to give a 5 to 7 minute presentation at the closing ceremony in February. They called twice to arrange the appointment. It sure is nice when someone calls with nice things to say about the kids.

Already Friday

Monday was the last day of winter break for the children but they're already looking forward to the weekend after only 4 days of school. They got too used to the relaxed holiday schedule. L is home today with gastroenteritis (no fever) and, fortunately, has learned to use a bucket adeptly. More vigilance in hand washing may contain the situation.

Karaoke Klub

Friends came over for a TAKOYAKI party yesterday. After tanking up on slightly burned balls of batter filled with pieces octopus and other ingredients, slathered with a rich, sweet and savory sauce and AONORI seaweed sprinkles, we all decided to go to a local KARAOKE entertainment center. The center has several floors of small rooms, each with its own large screen TV and song receiver/player. We rented a room for 3 hours for about $3.00 per adult as it was the weekday pre-6p.m. special rate. Kids are free (but must be accompanied by an adult) so our group of 3 adults and 6 kids was a deal.

S was surprised to see other people we know on our way in and out. He had assumed that only gangsters and other "bad" people went and here were several classmates of J's and M's and a few families with children who study English at his school (he must not have screened them well enough!). This was our first time as a family to go out for KARAOKE, if you hadn't guessed.

He now knows that it's a good place to let the kids go ahead and be noisy. It was cozy and warm and they all had a great time. When we go again, we have to take an extra microphone for N, as she latched on the the microphone every time a song she knew came on, regardless of whether she requested the song or not and her sisters missed out on a few turns to sing. Even L did well.

Today, the children set up their own KARAOKE room by arranging chairs in a rectangle and taking turns singing songs. The poor neighbors.

Happy New Year

Well, there were good things and bad things in 2004. Unfortunately, the end of the year was filled with overwhelmingly sad news. A Foreign Wife friend who used to live in our neighborhood was in Phuket with her Japanese husband, two sons and baby daughter for the Christmas holidays. A very large earthquake resulted in a disasterous tsunami killing thousands of people and my friend and her family were swept away. On December 31, I learned that her sister had been flown in from the Philippines to identify her body and that the rest of her family still hadn't been found. She had carefully documented her family's recent life on her website and there was an eloquently written passage about how the travel bug hits them every so often as well as hundreds of photos of various trips and events.

Now my face is all puffy and I look like Aunt Vi without the pink hair.

I cheered up considerably when, upon opening Mom's and Dad's Christmas card which arrived in yesterday's mail, I discovered that Finn is going to have a younger sibling sometime in late January. This wonderful news is a perfect way to begin the New Year.

We all stayed up watching a traditional TV show with 2004's most popular musicians and guest Olympic gold medalists and eating buckwheat noodles for longevity (another tradition). After midnight, we went for a short walk to the shrine at the corner to toss a few coins in the alter, ring a bell and pray or wish for a healthy and prosperous 2005. I distinctively heard L making a specific request for a magic flying carpet as he bowed his head and clasped his hands. We were given cups of hot AMAZAKE, a sweet creamy drink made by culturing cooked whole rice grains, using traditional methods, so that their starches turn into natural sugars. It isn't alcoholic, despite the literal translation "sweet SAKE" and S and I also got small paper cups of real SAKE as we exited the shrine.

Returning home, S handed each child a decorated envelop with a little money and an age appropriate book as a New Year's treat. He never had Christmas presents as a child and New Year's was the holiday he most eagerly anticipated. Our children get a little of each holiday, in moderation.

When everybody wakes up, we'll have grilled MOCHI rice cakes served dumpling style with pressed fish cakes, taro potatoes, carrots, a spinach-like vegetable called KOMATSUNA, soaked and simmered dried SHIITAKE mushrooms and a few bits of chicken in a bonito broth. The soup is ready as is the box of other New Year's foods. I couldn't fit all the items in the three tiered box, so we'll use a few platters as well. I sure hope that the family will accept the same menu for lunch and dinner, as it took all day yesterday to cook it all.

Happy New Year to all.

Health Update

I went for this month's blood test and to get my next prescription for Nolvadex-D. As I had experienced no side effects, I was given a 28 day prescription instead of 2 weeks worth. I'll be going on January 17th for a bone scan. The Japanese word was the Chinese letter for bone and phonetic characters SHIN and CHI, which apparently come from scinti, as in scintigraphy, which took me a while to figure out. I had the general idea that isotopes would be injected in the morning and images would be taken that afternoon but that "shinchy" word didn't have any equivalents in the on-line dictionaries. A quick search on Google for isotopes, bone and test brought me lots of pages with the necessary vocabulary to mire my way through the release which must be signed before the test.

The Nolvadex-D is about $1.35 per pill after the 70% National Health Care discount. Unfortunately, generic drugs have not reached Japan. I'm thinking of forgoing the NHI coverage of the drug and ordering at my own cost from a reliable online pharmacy in Australia for about 42 cents a pill including shipping as the generic version is so much cheaper. I will, of course, continue to make use of NHI for my monthly doctor visits.

Stocking stuffer bubble bath is put to use immediately after breakfast. 

No more pink rain boots! 

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! 

Christmas Eve Chez Nous 

Oh the suspense!

I had no place to hide Santa's presents this year, with closets at full capacity, so they're all under a pile of clean laundry for now. There is very little danger of anyone accidentally finding the presents as the children know that even touching the pile will result in an invitation to fold clothes, so they stay away.

It's Beginning to Feel a Little Like Christmas...

I acquired one of the two 1,700 gram (less than 5 lbs) frozen French turkeys in the local store this morning and it is thawing in the refrigerator as I write. Now I have to figure out what else to serve for Christmas (Eve) dinner tomorrow evening.
With such a small bird, I won't have to start too early; instructions to roast at 200 deg. C (about 390 deg F?) for 30 to 40 minutes were included.

The Great Pretender

Almost 6 years ago, a soon to become good friend called, wanting to set up a local playgroup for children and moms to play in English once a week so our kids could experience English outside their homes. I had a few kids at the right age for such a group and another on the way and was glad to join. M, N and L enjoyed songs, games and stories with a nice group of people from around the world before they were immersed in the Japanese education system. The founder's children have also graduated the group, but members with younger children are keeping the group running so successfully that there continues to be a waiting list to join(Too many babies and toddlers in the small meeting space detracts from the fun.).

Thursday afternoon was the annual Christmas party at a small cafe/restaraunt a few stations away from here. I've taken all four children a long time ago, but have missed a few parties because of work and other scheduling problems. I was told alumnae were welcome and I didn't have any classes on Thursday, so I RSVPed for L, N and myself (a room full of babies isn't so exciting for M and J so they opted out.) The organizer called to confirm and ask if I might be able to play Santa for them this year. I happened to have a full Santa suit with a beard and a hat from the local equivalent of the Dollar Shop (Hundred Yen Shop) and I knew that we'd be arriving late so I agreed.

The Santa suit was just big enough to fit over my own clothes and my coat covered most of it so N and L weren't too embarassed as I rode them through the dark, late afternoon back streets to the party on my bicycle. I sent N inside first so the organizer could come outside with the presents she had prepared for all of the children. After a minute or two, I made a big production of peering in the window, looking for kids, and waving in big, slow motion moves when I found a cafe full of them. The children were all young enough to look wonderfully amazed and shyly happy to accept their presents. Some of the older ones even said "Thank you Santa." A few older siblings knew who I was from our playgroup days and were happy to be in on the secret and play along. After about 5 minutes, Santa exited, dramatically waving and excusing himself to get ready for his Christmas Eve gig.

People in the street were a little surprised to see Santa emerge from the small shop and peel his suit, beard and hat off to reveal a tall, blue eyed brunette woman, almost as rare as Santa in that neighborhood. With a wink and a smile I waved, deposited the costume in a paper bag in my bicycle basket and re-entered the shop with a flustered "Hello! Am I late?" to which a few of the older kids replied that I had missed Santa's visit. "Aw man! I've been trying to meet that guy for years now!" They showed me the bags full of goodies Santa had given them and I sat down to enjoy a pleasant dinner of genmai (brown rice) sushi salad, fried chicken, spaghetti with several types of Japanese mushrooms in cream sauce, salad and finally cheesecake and coffee. N and L had a good time with their friends too.

Lab Results

My surgeon showed me page of cross sections of the removed tissue and tumor and told me that he is confidant that he got it all and radiation isn't necessary. He also confirmed that as no cancer was detected in the 4 lymph nodes he had removed, I won't need chemotherapy either. He did say that if I felt more comfortable, I could have the follow up radiation for peace of mind, but that he didn't feel it was necessary.

The tumor was estrogen receptive, so he prescribed Nolvadex-D (30.4mg of Tamoxifen Citrate which is equivalent to 20mg of Tamofixen) daily for the next 5 years as a preventative measure. Japanese National Health Insurance (NHI) will only permit 2 weeks of medicine at a time, so I'll go back in two weeks to get my next 2 week prescription and a blood test, just before the New Year's holidays.

After another visit in mid January, I'll begin seeing the doctor at a smaller, not-so-far-away clinic where he arranges appointments two days a month as a visiting specialist. He said to expect monthly check-up exams for five years, and that he will arrange to have other doctors at the smaller clinic to write prescriptions to be filled between exams. The smaller clinic is about 15 minutes by bike, instead of the 40 minutes it took me today with L on the bike up a big hill to the university hospital.

Speaking of NHI, I found out that if my 30% (NHI covers the other 70%) of the bill at a single medical institution exceeds about 700 dollars in a calendar month, the excess will be refunded to our bank account in two months. S didn't believe me and had me take my receipts from November to city hall to learn more. He was very relieved that we'll be getting about 1,300 dollars back in February.

Belated photos

The friends who went to the local university festival with S and the children last month while I was in the hospital e-mailed some photos today. I just had to share them.

Hey! What is S doing in MY Reebocks? And what is N watching?  

L learns he has to hold on tight or let his father tie the balloon around his wrist. His Donald Duck shirt was a girl magnet at the local university festival. 

The tree looks a lot smaller now that the smallest child is so much bigger. 

Carrot Cake 

Lunch Out

Well, I've had a rather busy week. On my birthday, a friend met me near our house and treated me to lunch, bringing flowers, fruit, herb tea and other treats to celebrate my release from the hospital and my birthday. It was a very pleasant way to celebrate. Then, after school, the kids wanted cake, so I baked a small carrot cake to have our own little party. Another friend stopped by with a souvenir tee shirt from Hawaii. She had returned the day before and wanted to see if there was anything she could help out with. She also brought some NIKU JAGA (previously described meat and potato dish, Japanese home cooking) which was good in the kids' lunch boxes the next day.

I had a check-up at the hospital on Nov. 30, and was a little disappointed that my lab test results weren't back yet. The doctor promised that they would be for my next visit, on Dec. 14th. It will be good to know what to expect.

Last Friday the doorbell rang and it was the postman with a package which was too big for our box downstairs. I accepted it, racking my brains to remember if I'd ordered anything from Amazaon-dotcom. Inside was a shipping notice with Elizabeth's name and a very informative book about breast cancer. I have to get her phone number from Mom and Dad to call and thank her personally. It was very reassuring to read and learn that my interpretations of the doctor's explanations were accurate and comforting to have so much information at my disposal anytime now.

I saw a few friends yesterday at a Christmas cookie exchange. Not having time to bake anything, I brought a large bag of chocolates and was forgiven. Was it Roosevelt who said "Speak softly and carry a big bag of chocolate."?

Today, two friends who had wanted to invite me out for my 40th arranged to meet me near our station and we went to a nice Italian pizza restaraunt between the station and our apartment. The woman who runs the restaraunt came out to speak with one of my friends, telling her that there were 18 adults and almost as many children. My friend looked a little flustered as I thought "Huh?!"

"Surprise!" Actually 17 of my friends, most from the English playgroup, and the parents of one of them who happened to be here from the States treated me to lunch, flowers and Maxim De Paris cookies. The tiny restaraunt was wall to wall friends, (well-behaved) preschoolers and babies. What a nice gushy warm feeling to have so many friends, some from quite far away now, get together to ease me into my forties!

Tonight the kids and I are going to see the new Studio Ghibli (Japanese animated) movie with friends who happened to have eight free tickets. The mom and two girls will come here for curry rice after the movie so I should probably get some rice rinsed and cooked and hide the mess.