I'm not going to mention every time Emily writes her name, but as it is still a novelty, she did it again twice today; once on the aquadoodle sheet and once with a pen on a sheet of paper so that she could take it to show to her teachers tomorrow. Maybe they will encourage it more if they see what she can do, especially when all the other children are napping and she can have some quiet time to concentrate.
I do so wish we knew what the next few months hold, because if we are not going back to the UK before summer then I really think we ought to be moving her to a preschool environment where she can receive a higher standard of English and maths learning. Ui is a pleasant and fun environment for her but maybe it is time to step things up a gear (not that I have any intention of being a pushy parent, I hasten to add).
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
26 January 2011
We had a very busy day: a visit to Appi jidokan, then lunch with Nick, then on to Midtown Park. We finished at Charlize's place, where the girls were doing ballet moves (in tutus and ballet pumps too) rather well. Julia is trying to rearrange the ballet lesson so that it is on Monday mornings and if she can then I think Emily would quite enjoy it, having seen her in action today.
At home, I gave her a present I had been holding back: a Thomas aquadoodle sheet. Almost immediately she wrote an 'E' and then with very little encouragement and no assistance she went on to complete her name. This is a milestone I have been anticipating with much pleasure (and impatience). A pretty good effort too, for the first time.
Nick got his bonus letter and it was rather disappointing, though if his boss is to be believed, he did better than most, year-on-year. The Japan office has performed abysmally so perhaps he was not lying about the bonus pool being severely depleted. I won't bang on about it though, as it is hardly a popular topic right now! His salary converts well into sterling at current rates, but it is the bonus that makes his incredibly tough hours and stress worth it, and a good income is necessary in the most expensive city in the world. Still, I know that there are plenty of more deserving people who work just as hard for much less reward. Well, we have a useful addition to our home-buying fund, if we can only get back to the UK and put it to use.
Monday, 24 January 2011
24 January 2011
Tracy and the children are leaving Japan on Thursday, so I'd asked them over for a final playdate and lunch. The girls played quite well alongside each other, and 13-month Rudy pointed at numerous objects and repeatedly said 'this' again and again. I wonder how long it will be before we see them again?
After they had left we rushed over to Hamamatsucho as I'd agreed to meet Steph and a new coordinator there to do some TMG paperwork. That didn't last long, so Emily and I played a while in the jidokan afterwards before walking home, encompassing a short play in Shiba Koen. I noticed another classic bit of Japlish while in the playroom: a pair of tiny kids shoes with a logo saying 'naive naughty nakedness'! What the ****???
After her bath, Emily wrote several recognisable letter 'M's in the steam on the mirror, and seemed so pleased with herself that I am hopeful she will manage her whole name very soon.
After they had left we rushed over to Hamamatsucho as I'd agreed to meet Steph and a new coordinator there to do some TMG paperwork. That didn't last long, so Emily and I played a while in the jidokan afterwards before walking home, encompassing a short play in Shiba Koen. I noticed another classic bit of Japlish while in the playroom: a pair of tiny kids shoes with a logo saying 'naive naughty nakedness'! What the ****???
After her bath, Emily wrote several recognisable letter 'M's in the steam on the mirror, and seemed so pleased with herself that I am hopeful she will manage her whole name very soon.
Sunday, 23 January 2011
23 January 2011
Nick had been dying to get some photos of Fuji-san using his new camera, so we settled on a day out to Enoshima. Unfortunately, there was some thin high cloud around before we even left home, and by the time we got off the Shonan monorail the majestic snow-covered peak had all but disappeared for the day.
We went for an early lunch at a new restaurant which had great views over the beach and to the island. In the past, food options at the seaside resort had been decidedly second-rate so I was pleased there was now a decent eatery. Nick had noticed a sign advertising boat trips and we thought the price was reasonable for a half hour ride to the other side of the island so we booked it. The young, friendly guy led us a few hundred yards down the riverbank to a smart speedboat.
After cautiously slow progress out to the mouth of the river, he opened the throttle once in the sea, and we sped round to the open bay. Emily seemed to enjoy the experience.
On the way back the driver unexpectedly offered Nick a chance to handle the boat for five minutes or so. Perhaps it was a reward for Nick's Japanese ability - I expect he had been dreading spending half an hour with a family of foreigners he couldn't chat to, and must have been relieved to find his customer could talk to him. On enquiry we learned that a boat like that would set us back around 10 million yen (currently equating to about 80,000 quid), so any dreams we had suddenly formulated of buying one soon dissipated!
Once on dry land we walked over the causeway to Enoshima island. As ever, it was packed up the one street, which is lined with food stalls and tacky gift shops. We walked up the steps as far as the first temple and washed some more money, then wandered back down again. By now we were very hungry again so we decided to make our way back slowly, and stop off at another new cafe/restaurant we had noticed earlier by the mooring place, Diego By The River. This proved an excellent choice and we filled our faces with dessert. We rather over-ordered because Emily's fruit pancake turned out to be a gigantic and scrumptious concoction that we could have shared between us.
On the way back to the station we couldn't resist buying Emily an addition to her train set. This was a cute little Enoden train, plus a miniature of Enoshima island, complete with its shapely tower and a red torii (shrine gate), but the icing on the cake was a model daibutsu (the big Buddha of Hase). If we go back home this will be one item no future friend of hers will ever duplicate!
For my weekly run I felt that as I have been comfortably managing a full hour it was time to increase the time to 70 minutes. I completed this without trouble, apart from a bit of a calf niggle that developed towards the end. On my way I saw many more other runners than usual and put this down to practice for next month's international marathon (which Oli is taking part in).
We went for an early lunch at a new restaurant which had great views over the beach and to the island. In the past, food options at the seaside resort had been decidedly second-rate so I was pleased there was now a decent eatery. Nick had noticed a sign advertising boat trips and we thought the price was reasonable for a half hour ride to the other side of the island so we booked it. The young, friendly guy led us a few hundred yards down the riverbank to a smart speedboat.
After cautiously slow progress out to the mouth of the river, he opened the throttle once in the sea, and we sped round to the open bay. Emily seemed to enjoy the experience.
On the way back the driver unexpectedly offered Nick a chance to handle the boat for five minutes or so. Perhaps it was a reward for Nick's Japanese ability - I expect he had been dreading spending half an hour with a family of foreigners he couldn't chat to, and must have been relieved to find his customer could talk to him. On enquiry we learned that a boat like that would set us back around 10 million yen (currently equating to about 80,000 quid), so any dreams we had suddenly formulated of buying one soon dissipated!
Once on dry land we walked over the causeway to Enoshima island. As ever, it was packed up the one street, which is lined with food stalls and tacky gift shops. We walked up the steps as far as the first temple and washed some more money, then wandered back down again. By now we were very hungry again so we decided to make our way back slowly, and stop off at another new cafe/restaurant we had noticed earlier by the mooring place, Diego By The River. This proved an excellent choice and we filled our faces with dessert. We rather over-ordered because Emily's fruit pancake turned out to be a gigantic and scrumptious concoction that we could have shared between us.
On the way back to the station we couldn't resist buying Emily an addition to her train set. This was a cute little Enoden train, plus a miniature of Enoshima island, complete with its shapely tower and a red torii (shrine gate), but the icing on the cake was a model daibutsu (the big Buddha of Hase). If we go back home this will be one item no future friend of hers will ever duplicate!
For my weekly run I felt that as I have been comfortably managing a full hour it was time to increase the time to 70 minutes. I completed this without trouble, apart from a bit of a calf niggle that developed towards the end. On my way I saw many more other runners than usual and put this down to practice for next month's international marathon (which Oli is taking part in).
Monday, 17 January 2011
16 January 2011
On a bitterly cold day, we made a trip to Inokashira park with Julia, Charlize and Serafina (Cliff was flying off for another job interview so could not come). I wished we had gone there before, as it took less than an hour, and with only one change of trains, to get to Kichijoji station. From there it was a short and pleasant stroll to the park, via a street lined with hippy type boutiques and eateries. At the end of the path was a small lake set in deciduous woodland.
Julia had tickets for a show at a nearby art museum, the animated film being a very famous one called 'Tonari no Totoro', which Charlize had seen but Emily had not. The creator was Miyazaki, who made Spirited Away. We spent half an hour crossing the park and finding our way to the Ghibli museum, which was a folly in a vaguely European style filled with odd Japanese animation characters in various arrangements and some rotating in zoetropes. Upstairs there was also a huge furry 16-legged stripey 'cat bus' which was very reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat. Kids could play on it but it was very busy and there was a queue. As Julia was off feeding Serafina somewhere, I was watching over Charlize, and she decided she wanted to have a play on the cat. I was very surprised that Emily didn't want to. I realised afterwards that she was envious of the attention I had to give my charge, but at the time it was very frustrating that she just shrank away and refused to join in; I left Nick to deal with it while I waited with Charlize then watched her while she had her five minute slot on the bus.
Once Julia found us we left in search of food, as the other reason for Emily's meltdown was hunger. It was hard to find any restaurants that were not already full or too small for all of us and our two big strollers. We spent 20 minutes walking in the freezing cold in vain before we eventually settled on a Chinese place that was large and empty. The food was surprisingly good though Emily only ate rice and a bit of egg and prawn.
It was so cold that I would happily have turned for home then, but having eaten (and in Charlize's case, napped), the kids got a second wind and insisted on going to the small zoo abutting the park that we had already mentioned to them. First we headed for the petting area, where dozens of guineau pigs were available for holding and stroking. Just as the last opportunity, Emily was again strangely reticent with the animal on her lap and held it very half-heartedly, only stroking it when I encouraged her. I thought she would leap at the chance, as she spent ages pursuing Florence to stroke her, when home in the summer. Hopefully that means we won't get pressured to buy a rabbit or hamster when she is older!
Aside from a lonely and very old elephant, most animals here were small or medium-sized. Some were exhibiting distressed behaviour though the large troop of monkeys seemed happy enough. I can never understand why the Japanese are so cruel to their zoo inmates when they profess to be animal-lovers and make such a fuss of their horrid yappy pooches.
Beyond the little zoo was a fairground, with half a dozen rides that were perfect for preschoolers. Nick rode a shinkansen, a carousel and a tea-cup ride with Emily and Charlize. I declined to join them - these days I even get dizzy on a swing. We managed to extract them without trying out every single attraction, on the promise that we would stop off at the playground on the way out. It was so perishingly cold that we had to call it a day after 10 minutes, though the girls didn't seem to be overly bothered about the temperature.
On the way back to the station we called in at a funky cafe that had several retro-style hanging coccoon type chairs. Emily and Charlize loved them, naturally, and sat side-by-side in one while they ate their snacks.
My evening run was amazingly good, considering I had not drunk enough water or eaten any high energy foods. I did a full hour again and made my mind up to do a half marathon by the end of 2011 (hopefully Macclesfield in the autumn if we are living back in the UK by then).
Julia had tickets for a show at a nearby art museum, the animated film being a very famous one called 'Tonari no Totoro', which Charlize had seen but Emily had not. The creator was Miyazaki, who made Spirited Away. We spent half an hour crossing the park and finding our way to the Ghibli museum, which was a folly in a vaguely European style filled with odd Japanese animation characters in various arrangements and some rotating in zoetropes. Upstairs there was also a huge furry 16-legged stripey 'cat bus' which was very reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat. Kids could play on it but it was very busy and there was a queue. As Julia was off feeding Serafina somewhere, I was watching over Charlize, and she decided she wanted to have a play on the cat. I was very surprised that Emily didn't want to. I realised afterwards that she was envious of the attention I had to give my charge, but at the time it was very frustrating that she just shrank away and refused to join in; I left Nick to deal with it while I waited with Charlize then watched her while she had her five minute slot on the bus.
Once Julia found us we left in search of food, as the other reason for Emily's meltdown was hunger. It was hard to find any restaurants that were not already full or too small for all of us and our two big strollers. We spent 20 minutes walking in the freezing cold in vain before we eventually settled on a Chinese place that was large and empty. The food was surprisingly good though Emily only ate rice and a bit of egg and prawn.
It was so cold that I would happily have turned for home then, but having eaten (and in Charlize's case, napped), the kids got a second wind and insisted on going to the small zoo abutting the park that we had already mentioned to them. First we headed for the petting area, where dozens of guineau pigs were available for holding and stroking. Just as the last opportunity, Emily was again strangely reticent with the animal on her lap and held it very half-heartedly, only stroking it when I encouraged her. I thought she would leap at the chance, as she spent ages pursuing Florence to stroke her, when home in the summer. Hopefully that means we won't get pressured to buy a rabbit or hamster when she is older!
Aside from a lonely and very old elephant, most animals here were small or medium-sized. Some were exhibiting distressed behaviour though the large troop of monkeys seemed happy enough. I can never understand why the Japanese are so cruel to their zoo inmates when they profess to be animal-lovers and make such a fuss of their horrid yappy pooches.
Beyond the little zoo was a fairground, with half a dozen rides that were perfect for preschoolers. Nick rode a shinkansen, a carousel and a tea-cup ride with Emily and Charlize. I declined to join them - these days I even get dizzy on a swing. We managed to extract them without trying out every single attraction, on the promise that we would stop off at the playground on the way out. It was so perishingly cold that we had to call it a day after 10 minutes, though the girls didn't seem to be overly bothered about the temperature.
On the way back to the station we called in at a funky cafe that had several retro-style hanging coccoon type chairs. Emily and Charlize loved them, naturally, and sat side-by-side in one while they ate their snacks.
My evening run was amazingly good, considering I had not drunk enough water or eaten any high energy foods. I did a full hour again and made my mind up to do a half marathon by the end of 2011 (hopefully Macclesfield in the autumn if we are living back in the UK by then).
15 January 2011
While I attended Japanese class, Nick took Emily to Shiba Koen, where she practised on her scooter and played baseball.
In the afternoon I took over and looked after Emily while Nick went out for a couple of hours. We chilled out
and made some cupcakes and she got to wear her new apron for the first time.
Monday, 10 January 2011
10 January 2011
It was a very welcome national holiday (coming of age day), and we spent a few hours at Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba. This is an 'Old Edo Tokyo' themed venue with multiple hot baths, both indoor and out. The geothermally heated water is piped up from deep below. On entry we chose from a selection of yukata then changed into them. They had run out of jinbei trousers for kids but Emily seemed happy with the top only (for which they waived the usual charge). On the other side of the changing room was an area made to look like an old street scene at night, so the high ceiling was painted black and there were lots of gaily-coloured lanterns. We went straight into the onsen. It's such a shame that we had to part from Nick - it was separate bathing, as usual. Emily and I went in through the curtain and stripped off in the changing room, then passed through to the vast bathroom, where a couple of hundred naked women and children were washing or immersing themselves in baths of various temperatures. I was really relieved that they had some baths at a lower temperature so that Emily could go in. We stayed in the cooler bath and she seemed to be really enjoying herself.
Back out in the 'street', we bought lunch from one of the many faux restaurants. Emily was happy with a bowl of fat white udon noodles and some of Nick's pickled ginger.
After we'd filled up we moved on to the outside section, donning bulky down jackets to keep out the chill. Here there was a very large canal-style footbath, set among pebble paths and plants.
Our objective, however, was the 'doctor fish' bath. I had heard about these from other intrepid gaijin and thought that with a possible move home looming I had better grit my teeth and try this unique experience. These small black fish actually like to eat the dead skin from peoples' feet! A friend had told me that it was weird and a little unpleasant at first, so I was feeling nervous. Nick put his feet into the pool first and immediately let out an exclamation, which made me even more scared. His feet were covered in the little black bodies.
I found the courage somehow to go ahead and plunged my feet in. Straight away they began nibbling at my skin and I did find it both unpleasant and also very tickly.
My whole body was rigid with trepidation. Poor Emily was getting upset because she could see that I was fearful. I managed to convince her that my reaction was purely because it was tickling me so much, which was not entirely untrue. It took a good five minutes for me to relax a bit and stop nervously guffawing, to the amusement of the other two customers. By the end of the 15 minute slot I had got used to it, but Emily was agitating to leave. When we withdrew our feet they were indeed a lot smoother and felt pleasantly tingly.
I went back into the main womens' bath while Emily stayed with Nick. This time I tried out all the baths: jacuzzi, mineral, rotemburo, one with bubbles so fine the water looks totally cloudy. i went to collect Emily from Nick's care so she could come back into the cooler bath she liked, and so that he could have another soak.
On our way home, pausing to stock up at Peacock, we had yet another meltdown. I refuse to allow a 3 year old child to dictate what we are doing. I hate to see her in such a state though. Of course all was OK once we were home but this is turning into a daily event.
Later I went for a much-needed stress-relieving one hour run. It was absolutely bitter outside and almost hurt to breathe in, but I settled into it and was soon quite comfortable.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)