Almost winter

So, it's almost winter. Actually, the Japanese all think that it's winter already but the temperatures are like in that of spring in Michigan. Scarfs, boots, gloves, you name it, they've brought them out. I walk around with my jacket in hand because I frequently get too hot walking around in it. Definitely too many years in Michigan already.

The change of season also means a slow down in festivals and such stuff. The autumn pace was frenetic. Talk about festival fatigue. Drove to a place called Korankei last weekend. Didn't expect to see much except for a small village. Turned out to be a gem. The town is small but the backdrop is gorgeous. Too bad we went like 2 weeks too early or else the leaves would be even more colorful. Anyway, we've updated our Picasa photo site with some of the shots.

We've also been busy studing for our upcoming Japanese Language Proficiency Test this Sunday. Since we only started in August, we don't expect any miracles like passing it with flying colors. I'm resigned to a failing grade but I think Joey will make it through.

Trisha gets a scolding

So, Trisha has been sick for like almost a month now with a variety of illnesses. We are near exhaustion since she doesn't sleep well at night anymore and being fussy during the day with Joey. The joys of parenthood! Anyhow, she seems to be getting better (and we are now sick with the same nameless virus) and so she got her first scolding from her dad today.

Of late she had picked up the habit of throwing her food anywhere and everywhere. And tonight the line was drawn because she was gleefully chucking pieces of chicken and beans onto the floor. She got a stern "no, no" and not-so-nice facial expression from me and the funniest thing happened. In slow-motion her face changed from a happy baby to a baby who had just suffered the worst fate in the world. Her lips pursed, her eyes down and after a few seconds, her lips started to quiver as she tried not to cry. I wished we had the camera out then. Up till now she had never really shown any sign that she understood our wishes and all of a sudden, she gives us another sign that she was catching up. And so it was difficult for us to to stay angry with her, as we fought our giggles to avoid to giving her a wrong impression (no-no should not equal giggles, right??). Happy, happy, joy, joy. Now if only she would stand up and start walking.

Europe

So I left the family back in Nagoya for a little R&R in Europe by myself.....nahhhh...not really. Work is a bummer when one is super jetlagged. Didn't get see much of Munich although I did get to sample some excellent food. The first restaurant I went to was full and the restaurant owner put me at a table that had a couple of chatty Germans. Nice people. Recommended that I try the pork shank with sauwerkraut. Brilliant choice. Now I'm in Paris for a couple of days. Nice to see the places that Joey and I visited a few years back.

Siesta

There's never enough time in one day, is there? Family, work, Japanese study and travelling basically sucks up all of our time. That the excuse we'll use for not keeping this blog up to date. It didn't help that Trisha came down with some sort of weird rash and high fever. She's just starting to get over both but still looks a little fatigue. Hopefully the rash stays away once the medication is done. Joey took her to the doctor 5 times but no luck with the diagnosis.

We have a bunch of new photos which I'll to post to Picasa by this weekend. I wonder how many visits our blog gets. Maybe I'll have to find time to put in some tracking code. Big brother is always watching.

Debauchery

Here's my belated announcement of "Let the debauchery begin!"......Joey and Trish left for Malaysia last Saturday. So far, zilch. Nada. Tame as a pussy cat. Watched a Judo tournament, ate a juicy burger at Outback, stumbled onto an outdoor concert that was awesome but rained out, arranged Trish's toys and sleep. Lots of sleep. Sleeprvana. Oh, and study Japanese in a Starbucks while surrounded by nubile young people (noticed that I've successfully transitioned into the non-young generation).

Going to Hokkaido for a couple of days for work. Will post some photos when I get back. Hopefully the temperature is lower up there. It has been a sweaty-I-can't-breathe-humid last couple of days. Urrgh. Now I really miss the Michigan winter sludge and Chinese food. Believe it or not, I can't find Chinese food as good as the ones we left behind in metro Detroit. Submit that to Ripley's.

Picasa web albums

If you haven't noticed it, in the Picasa Web album where our pictures are stored, each album has a "View Map" link. Clicking on it will display the map of the area but what's really neat is that we can mark spots on the map with tiny versions of our photos. So, you can actually see where the photos were taken. Just thought I would share that. Google rocks.

Pearls are a girl's best friend

With Joey and Trisha's 3 week trip back to Malaysia looming, we decided that it would be nice to take a mini-trip somewhere close to Nagoya. So, we decided to take a drive down south to the Ise Peninsula. This little jutting piece of land on the south west side of Nagoya is well-known for several things, chief among them the cultivation of high-quality pearls.

Since we didn't make any advanced hotel reservations and it turned out to be impossible to get a room at a decent rate, we took a chance and booked a room at an unknown Japanese-style inn (ryokan). Thanks Val for the travel books! Anyway, this ryokan is located in a little sleepy fishing village called Daio. And believe me you, it was a quiet little town. Quite amazing since everywhere we've been in Japan is jam-packed with people. We were walking around at 6:30 pm and the streets were virtually deserted. Felt like we were in some kinda of zombie movie where everyone had been devoured.

We had lunch at inconspicous restaurant and they had the best fried fish I've tasted in a long time. Incrediblely fresh stuff. Joey went to town on a seafood bento box (most of you know that I'm allergic to shellfish and so she doesn't get to eat seafood often). After that we drove to Ago Bay and took a boat ride in a Spanish-type galleon. The view is awesome and it was interesting to see all the pearl cultivation as well.

The next day we drove up to Mikimoto Pearl Island. It is a tiny little piece of land that had been transformed into a tourist trap, showing off Mikimoto's finest pearls and assorted jeweleries. We also got to watch a demostration of the "ama"s (women divers) diving for oysters. It also has a nice museum that has everything you ever wanted to know about oysters and pearls.

It was a great trip...the weather was gentler than it was when we were in Kyoto. And I took Monday off to spend more time with the family at home.

A busy week

It has been a busy week for me and Trish. We were all over Nagoya. We went to Nagoya Castle in the north, the aquarium in the south watching dolphin shows and went to a cultural exchange meeting in the east. Other than a little tired, I think Trish actually quite enjoyed the excursions. Mom certainly did.

A group of Japanese guides led a few of us gaijins for the Nagoya castle tour. There were 6 of us foreigners but I think well over 30 guides. The tour was meant for the Japanese guides to practice their English on us. That was the second time we were there, but the first time that I actually know what I am looking at and the history around the castle, like how the stones of the wall were carved with specific symbols representing the Lords who built them. It was quite interesting actually. Other than that, it was the most relaxing tour I've had having Trisha by myself. The guides were helping me carrying her, pushing the stroller, taking my backpack, fanning us and even had umbrella over us at all time that we were under the sun. Talk about VIP treatment.

The aquarium was an impromptu trip suggested by a friend that I met here. Set against the port of Nagoya as the backdrop, I'm sure the sunset or sunrise there will be stunning. The dolphin show was the highlight. We were at the very first row. With the weather so hot, I thought a few drops of water splattered by the dolphins wouldn't be too bad. Apparently, Trisha had a different idea. She was startled when we were splattered and started crying. Hmmm... you'd think that I should know that by now considering my one year experience of being a mom.

Today we went to a cross cultural exchange association meeting. It's a group made up by half Japanese and half gaijins. There was free baby sitting, the main reason I joined:))) so I left Trish to fend for herself while I slipped down to enjoy the "Rakugo" - traditional Japanese story telling. It was pretty hilarious; it was like stand up comedy other than the performers was kneeling down on a cushion. Having enjoyed myself, I went and picked up Trish to find that she was playing nicely. I might do that more often now....

Typhoon

Here's our second brush with a typhoon. The first one veered off and didn't do much damage. This was back when we first arrived in Japan (and after experiencing our first earthquake). It looks like tonight's typhoon is headed straight for Tokyo and will probably affect us in some way.

気象庁 台風情報 or http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/typh/070924l.html

The typhoon didn't materialize after all. Kinda anti-climatic, just like the previous one. I now have to move my junk back onto the balcony.

Kyoto and Nara

We waited and waited to get this picture of the geisha in Kyoto's Gion area. The street was lined with tourists, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the her. It was like a Hollywood star sighting in Timbuktu. Everybody jostling to get a picture of her walking to her clients. Including us.

During the Obon Holidays, we decided to take a short trip up to Kyoto and Nara, two ancient and historic cities. Since we have a ton of Trisha gear, we thought driving would be more convenient, regardless of the kind advice given to us by the locals about the really bad traffic (almost the whole country goes on holiday during this week.....so all modes of transportation are jammed-packed with people). The traffic was worse than we could imagine. Driving to Nara (about 120 km) took us all of 4 hours. Insane. Anyhow, once we got to Nara, we stayed in a ryoukan, a traditional Japanese inn. It wasn't the most ritzy place but definitely worth the experience. We arrived at the best time because that night itself, the whole town was to be lighted up with candles to help the spirits return home. It was a beautiful sight. Another really unique thing about Nara is that it has about 1000 deers roaming around the town, especially around the parks and popular temple areas. They are considered sacred and not to be harmed, like the cows in India. Interesting but smelly.

We moved on to Kyoto the next day and were pleasantly surprised to discover the hotel that we had booked is rather posh. We didn't expect much from the price but it turned out great! Kyoto is an incredible place to visit but unfortunately, it was so hot during that period of time. Mid-August is probably the peak of Japan summer and Kyoto really gets the worse of it because it's surrounded by hills and mountains. I can't describe how hot it was. The pictures don't quite show the effects of the heat. Poor Trisha really sweated it out in her stroller. We will definitely return to Kyoto because there wasn't enough time to cover everything.

One last thing about travelling for us. Now that we have Trisha, it's an entirely different way of travelling. In the past, we would walk till we dropped to cover as much as possible. Now, it's stop and go. And a return trip to the hotel after lunch to let her nap. Aaaahhhhh...the sacrifices we make. :) We also take a lot more taxi rides than we use to. Well worth the money compared to being squished up in a train or bus holding onto Trisha and the stroller.

Anyway, we'll let the pictures do the talking.

Defining features

There are two defining features in our lives in Japan so far. One is the unbearable heat (which I have already described in sweaty details but I could always continue to rant on about the temperature) and the other is what we dearly call "The Hill of Death".

The picture doesn't really do THOD justice. Our apartment is located over the damn hill and let me tell you, it's a workout walking up that hill especially in this heat (get the theme yet?). It didn't seem that bad when I checked out the apartment during my pre-trip search. Perhaps the combination of jetlag and nice, comfy car had something to do with it. Or perhaps it's just a deathwish of some sort. Anyhow THOD never goes away and is always waiting for us when we get out of the subway station. Poor Joey has to push Trisha in the stroller and carry the groceries as well.....she could probably run a marathon after this summer is over.

Laziness and humidity

OK, so we gave in and joined the hordes of bloggers. Not because we feel a need to express all of our random, unappreciated thoughts, not because we want to design an impressive blog page but because we are just plain lazy. Period. That's what oppressive heat and humidity do to you in a foreign land. It's hard to look forward to writing emails especially when I'm soaked in sweat and my boxers feel like wet crumpled newspaper riding up the wrong trail. Picture that.

So, here we are. Land of the Rising Sun. Almost 2 months since we left good old US of A. Amazing how time flies. We are glad to say that we are getting into the mix of things now. It wasn't the smoothest of transitions but the worse is over, except for the killer heat.

I'm proud to say that Joey has been a model mom to Trisha despite her longings for corporate America. Her schedule is quickly filling up with all kinds of activities for Trisha and herself. In fact, she just took Trisha for her first swimming lesson today. Trish seemed to have liked it although she was a little hesitant at first.

We've met some very nice people who are here on assignments from various companies. Quite a lively community of expatriates. Hopefully this will eventually help us mix in with the locals. Language is still a huge barrier for the both of us. Classes should start next week. Apparently the teachers at this language school refuse to use English and will only converse and teach in Japanese, even though they know English perfectly. Sounds like good times, eh?

There you have it. Our blog's grand opening. We'll write more soon (scout's honor) about our recent 1 week summer holidays. Till then, take care and note the link to our Picasa photo page.