6:42 a.m. - 2007-06-06
You know you have adjusted to Tokyo when...
You know you have adjusted to Tokyo when -
1) you go to dinner with your girlfriends - a night of sushi and wine and when the check comes you say "Wow it's only $65 per person! That's cheap".
2) You go out to dinner with friends and spend between $200-$300 a couple on dinner and that doesn't even count that $100 babysitting fee you pay once you get home.
3) You see a women pushing a stroller down the street and you look to see if there's a baby or a dog inside.
4) You leave your purse with roughly $500 cash on the bench at the park and leave for 45 minutes while chasing your kids around the park and don't think anything of it!
5) You lose your child at the park for 5 minutes and you don't think anything of it!!

Tokyo is so safe and clean and wonderful! We just had friends come visit for a week. They couldn't believe big, safe and clean the city is. We had fun.

The sun is up at 4:30am so the kids have been getting up earlier than ususal. Elisabeth sometimes wakes up at 5:00. She crawls out of her crib and comes to my room but I tell her to go play with her dolls, read books, read books to the dolls, etc. She runs off and plays for an hour or so until I get up. It is very cute! She is getting so big - she's defn. into the terrible twos! She is so sweet, precious, loving, and funny one minute and the next throwing a tantrum. Colin is doing great! He only has 2 more weeks of school. For graduation they are singing a japanese song so he practices a lot at home. I guess we will go to the pool at lot when he gets out of school.
Colin had his 4th birthday party a couple of weeks ago. We had a big party at the Tokyo American Club. We had a clown that did magic, games, balloons, etc. It was great! He loved it.
The weather has been really nice. I'm waiting for the rainy season but we haven't had much rain yet. I hope it's not as bad as last summer.
We have been here almost 15 months and may only have a few more months left. We are not exactly sure when we will be going home - could be anytime between Dec. 07-Feb. 08 or longer. Right now we don't know. When I think of going home I get excited. I look forward to getting back to my famiy and friends and home. I look forward to all the things I have missed over the last month - Chick-fil-A, Target, etc.. Plus I start noticing everything that I won't miss from Tokyo - like all the japanese smoking! But for now I'm focusing on everything I love about the city because I know I have at least another 6 months!

6:41 a.m. - 2007-06-06
Chicken Tartar anyone?
We went to a restaurant with some friends. It was Italian with a strong French flair. The menu had chicken tartar, American bullfrogs legs, horse, veal cutlets, etc. I actually tried the bullfrog legs and didn't like them but at least I tried. Can you imagine eating chicken tartar? I will never ever eat raw chicken – EVER! Being a Kentucky girl eating horse doesn't sound good either! Our waiter spoke very good English (which is rare) so it was great to be able to ask questions about the menu. I saw Sea Bass (never see it on a menu) with olives and sepia sauce. I asked about the sepia sauce and he said it is squid ink – no thanks! They had braised fish on the menu so I asked which fish is used. He went to the kitchen and I thought he was asking the chef the fish of the day but instead he came out with a platter arranged beautifully with several ugly fish and one of the fish was still moving his jaw. He explained I could select 2 fish. No thanks! I think if I had ordered the fish it would have come out with the head and bones and everything! I went with the sirloin and it was delicious.

5:47 a.m. - 2007-06-06
Friends come and go
Two good friends have moved back to the states and it's very hard when someone leaves. I was thinking about this a lot after the second left and trying to figure out why it's so hard. I have a theory. When you come over you don't have family or friends so you immediately make new friends. You spend your Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Birthday's together. You get together 3-5 times a week. You lean on each other when you are having a "japan day", because you don't have family or friends to lean on because of the huge time difference. We go out together on Saturday nights. My theory is you become each others family instantly and you survive together. It's a huge bonding experience and when someone leaves it's hard for both – the friends that left as well as everyone that is left behind. I'm know many of the friends I made here will be friends for a lifetime and I know I will see them again soon.
This environment is very transitional. New people are always coming and others are always moving back to their home countries or a new country. We live in an area very popular among the expat community so it is very common to see the same people all the time.
Wish more friends would come over to visit!!!

8:44 p.m. - 2007-04-27
Beijing China
Geoff's mother and stepfather were in town for 3 weeks. We had a great time. We went to Beijing China for 5 days. It was a lot of fun. Elisabeth and Colin did fabulous. We went to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and much more. We got a tour guide which was excellent. He planned everything and took us everywhere. One morning we went furniture shopping. It was approx. an hour outside of Beijing and in the middle of nowhere – no water, no taxes, no trash service, etc. It was several rooms in a compound complex where people live (only way I can describe it). I saw a baby wearing crotchless pants – they don't wear diapers and so when they pee they go wherever they are located. I know this because I saw several babies and some go to the bathroom. The mother was holding the baby and he started to pee so she placed him on the ground – he did his business then she picked him back up! While we were looking at furniture Colin had to go to the bathroom so the guys took him to a corner outside and told him to drop his pants and go. While Colin was peeing he said, "Look Daddy dog poo." Yes my child goes to the bathroom at the same spot as the dogs (as am sure may people do in China). China is so different than Japan or any other place I have been. It truly is a different world.
The great wall was amazing. Words could never do it justice so I won't even try.
We didn't do as much shopping as I had wanted but that's ok because I did get to see everything. The Chinese bombarded the kids. Everywhere we went they wanted to take their picture or touch them. Sometimes the kids were great about it and would smile and handle it well. Other times esp. when they had 20 people trying to get their picture or touch their hair it was a little much and they would want to hide behind me. Sometimes it was scary. Many of them had never seen a blond haired blue eyed person before! Can you imagine? We went to McDonalds a couple of times for lunch. It was bad! It didn't taste like McDonalds. My mother-in-law ordered a chicken sandwich (they didn't have any salads on the menu) and it was bad! It was all dark meat with a lot of fat – we weren't exactly sure what it was and couldn't eat it. Thankfully the McDonalds in Tokyo tastes just like the one at home. We have some different items but the salads are wonderful and they have a shrimp sandwich which Geoff enjoys. But the cheeseburger and fries are just like home!

6:48 a.m. - 2007-03-14
Adam and Eve
I was going to start by saying A Typical Day in Tokyo but decided that Wednesday was a not so typical day for me in Tokyo. After I dropped Colin off at school at 9:15 Elisabeth and I walked to the Chinese Embassy to apply for tourist visas (again). The visas are only valid for 90 days so I had to reapply for another visa for our trip to Beijing in April. Afterwards we met some friends at the park for some playtime. Then we walked to the Hiroo shopping street to run some errands. Finally we came home for lunch and Elisabeth took a nap. I went to a spa called Adam and Eve with 3 friends. We went for a body scrub and massage. I'm going to try to describe this experience because it is so different than anything I have experienced (except for the Onsen). You walk in, take your shoes off, pay and go to the locker room. Undress, grab a towel and go to the bath. This room has 2 sauna doors, 2 baths (one hot and one cold), several shower sprays and stools and to the right is an area with 5 massage tables. In Japan you must shower off and get clean before getting into the bath – this is an absolute must! We shower off (soap and all) then climb into the hot bath. If you happen to glance around this is what you see – ladies completely naked walking around going to the sauna or café – some laying on their back on the massage table with nothing on and nothing covered getting a massage by a lady in a black bra and panties. I tried to figure out why we get massages from women wearing a black bra and underwear and I cannot come up with a logical reason except maybe it is to make you a little more comfortable since you are completely naked. I'm not sure. After the bath and 10 minutes in the sauna we lay on the tables and got scrubbed. They scrubbed everything!! I think they took off about 10 layers of skin and they scrubbed in places that I know did not need to be scrubbed and has not seen the sun in my entire life. It was the most bizarre experience. After the scrub they tell you to go shower off and go into the sauna for another 5 minutes. Then return back to the massage table for a gallon (or more) of olive oil and a massage. Afterwards they washed my hair, soaped me and showered me off. It was crazy! But you just go with it – relax and enjoy the experience. After my spa experience I ran home because I had about 20 minutes before 8 girlfriends came over for a sushi cooking lesson. From 5:00-10:00 pm we had a sushi cooking class with lots of wine of course. I had originally thought sushi would be easy to make but it's actually hard! But it was so good and I cannot wait to make it again!!! I first need to go to Kappabashi (kitchen district) and buy all the kitchen supplies needed to make it.

5:45 p.m. - 2007-03-03
Reasons to run in Tokyo
I was reading the Top 10 Reasons to Run in Tokyo
10. You always have an audience
9. You don't need to carry a water bottle. Vending machines and konbinis abound.
8. You will get an awesome workout running up and down the hills.
7. It can be an adventure getting lost - you may find a new shopping street.
6. it's so quiet others can hear your ipod.
5. You don't have to worry about being whistled or honked at.
4. Dogs are too pampered to attack.
3. it's quicker than driving.
2. The ever-present construction crews will keep you safe.
1. Running doesn't require stilettos!

You prob. need to live here to get each of these but I thought it was cute to share.

6:37 a.m. - 2007-02-27
Girls weekend in China
I went to Shanghai with 5 girlfriends this past weekend (Feb 22-25). Shanghai is a beautiful city. We went to The Bund and it had a European feel. The buildings were beautiful and it's on the river. The skyline was gorgeous as well. We shopped during the day – furniture, jeans, shirts, bags, you name it and we prob. bought it. The other buildings had a US feel – we felt like we were in a big city in the states instead of China. BUT there are so many differences – the service was terrible everywhere, it's dirty, you cannot drink the water or ice, the people are loud and rude, driving is treated more like a video game or sport (scary), etc… It was such a relief to get back to Tokyo. Tokyo is so clean, the people are so quiet, polite, respectful, beautifully dressed, etc. The service in Tokyo is excellent everywhere. It's amazing that these 2 countries are so close but so different. Japan is so clean and the food is well packaged everywhere – the Japanese want the best of everything including the food. We can drink the water (anyone that comes to visit can drink the water and not worry about getting sick or eat anything). These are small things that had not occurred to me beforehand.

5:45 a.m. - 2007-02-04
SuperBowl Party Monday morning
Colin did a good job at his photo shoot. Geoff said he was shy at first and next time I should take him – he may not be as shy. Geoff brought home a couple of pictures they had taken and he was really cute. They dressed him up as a punk rocker – even put a tattoo on his arm and put gel in his hair to get it to stand up. Geoff said that was the best picture but we didn't get a copy. I hope it's in the magazine so I can see it. Geoff said Colin got to pose with a beautiful girl model, Petra, (not sure if she was suppose to be his big sister or mother but she was 17 years old). They were pretending to eat plastic sundaes. We will see if he ever gets called again.
I'm taking cooking lessons once a month. Several of my girlfriends and I have this popular chef come to us and we cook for an evening then eat everything we cooked. It's a lot of fun and I'm learning so much. I have never taken a cooking class – no wonder I don't know how to cook. But it feels great to go into the grocery store and buy local Japanese veggies that before I had no idea what they were nor what to do with them. I'm learning to make some awesome food too – chili shrimp, cashew chicken, tempura, soups, spring rolls, and much more. I cannot wait to go back home and have dinner club at my house – I can finally cook a great dinner!
SuperBowl is this weekend. Geoff and I usually host an annual superbowl party at our home. The American Club is having a Superbowl party here. The party starts at 7:30 AM Monday morning with kick-off at 8:00 am. It's sold out. I cannot imagine going to a superbowl party at 8:00 am. We have friends looking for a bar or somewhere to go to watch the game before work.

7:07 a.m. - 2007-01-22
The kids 1st modeling audition!
I took Colin and Elisabeth to their first modeling audition the other day. It was an experience. The room was tiny with 2 photographers, lots of adults and about 15 kids. They rush you in, measure the kids, put on the cloths, take their picture and rush you out. Elisabeth screamed the entire time. Colin did awesome! He let them change his cloths then he posed for the camera. Lots of Americans come from the military bases to let their kids audition. I was talking to one of the moms. She had to hike over an hour and half to get to the audition but she also said that it paid around 35000 Yen which is worth the trip. They gave me 2000 yen just for auditioning. Yea! A few days later they called with the good and bad news. They don't want to use Elisabeth but Colin got the job. He goes this Saturday for his first photo shoot. He will be in a kids clothing catalog. It should be an experience so I'll let everyone know how it goes.
The Japanese like the blond hair and blue eyes. They touch the kids hair all the time. And they take their pictures a lot too. Some come up and ask me if they can take the picture while others just take it. There have been a couple of times that someone comes up and asks me something and I assumed they wanted me to take a picture of them with their friends but instead they want to take their picture with us. All the kids and young adults make the peace sign when they have their picture taken.
Saturday night Geoff and I went to dinner with 2 other couples. We went to the Conrad hotel to have a drink before our dinner reservation. The bar is on the 28th floor with a band and a great view. It was really nice but we had to pay around $18 a person for the sitting fee plus another $15 per drink. Since it had a great view we wanted to sit near the window but there were only 4 seats and 6 of us so they gave us 2 stools and said we could not take 2 seats from an empty table (there were around 10 empty tables around us) in case someone wanted to sit at that table – that is nonsense esp. when you are paying for a sitting fee. I took the chairs anyway. They do not break away from the rules! Afterwards we went to a great Italian restaurant. Geoff and I had bad luck every time we took a taxi that night. First he couldn't find the Conrad hotel even with the phone number and a navigation system. Did I mention that most taxis have a navigation system and instead of entering an address to a location you can enter the phone number. The phone numbers don't change but instead stay with the location. For example our apartment phone number will always remain with this apartment. When we were leaving the restaurant we jumped in a taxi and told him to take us to Arisugawa Coen (park), Hiroo ichi (station), Roppongi – the guy didn't know how to get anywhere. How frustrating! We had a hostess from the restaurant looking for a map so we could show him where we needed to go. Geoff was determined to jump out of this taxi and into another one that knew where he was going but the Japanese don't allow that – they would rather us sit there for a half an hour and figure things out as opposed to jump in another taxi and be home in 10 minutes. We finally got home! But I still love Tokyo even with all the challenges and trust me it has lots of challenges.

6:09 a.m. - 2007-01-16
Shake, Rattle and Roll - more earthquakes
Yesterday a friend sent me an email asking me if we were ok because of the big earthquake a few days ago. I'm sure she knows more about the earthquake than I do living in Japan. We don't watch the news since it's in japanese and we need to get the newpaper but don't so the only news I read is on yahoo or from watching CNN American Morning.
Well last night my bed started shaking around 3:20am. An earthquake of 5.7 magnitude struck Japan. The bed was shaking and things were rattling but then it stopped and all was quiet. I happened to be awake because a friend was showing me how to set my alarm on my cell phone yesterday. We thought we set it for yesterday afternoon but when it didn't go off I forgot about it until 2:50am. The alarm woke Elisabeth up as well so we were awake when the earthquake hit.
We only have 2 clocks in our apartment - 1 on the stove and 1 on the satellite dish. We never need an alarm. Most the time the kids are up by 6:00 or 6:30 and they are our alarm. Many times they are up at 3:00 or 4:00 or 5:00 as well.
Will write more about Japan later this week. Geoff is in Australia this week. It's summer in Australia so he's enjoying some warm weather. :)

5:42 a.m. - 2007-01-15
Top Ten Surprises after living in Tokyo
My friend, Lisa, went home for 2.5 months over the holidays with her 2 boys. She sent me a note about a week before coming back to Tokyo that had a list of all the things she will miss (Target, her boat, the boys riding their bikes, backyards, etc..) and all the things she misses from Tokyo - her friends, the boys school, and her toilet seat warmer. She had a really long list of things that she will miss from home and only 3 things that she missed from Tokyo but she said atleast she had a list for Tokyo. She's back and glad to be back. I've found either you love Tokyo or you want to leave Tokyo. Some people don't like it here at all and cannot wait to leave. Others love it and want to stay longer. I am finally in the love it stage. I would love to stay another 2 years. We actually only have 1 more year left but I would love to stay another year. It's a fabulous city with so much to offer. I miss my friends and family from home so I look forward to getting back as well.
I just got a book on expats guide to finding your path in Tokyo and it had a the following.
Top Ten Surprises after Arriving in Tokyo
10. Even in a city of 23 million people, you can hear a pin drop.
9. You never knew that plastic food would be such a welcome sight.
8. You learn not to take it personally when appliances talk to you in Japanese -- you haven't done anything wrong.
7. it is actually ok to wash your hands in that faucet behind the toilet.
6. you need a master's degree to figure out how to sort garbage.
5. Small dogs are like purses - another accessory.
4. You never knew there were so many ways to count.
3. Those guys with white gloves at the station are there to pack you into the trains.
2. it takes you longer to figure out how to flush the toilet than to actually go.
1. If you get out at the right station but the wrong exit - you are still officially lost.
After reading each one I kept saying "That is so true".

11:16 p.m. - 2007-01-07
Happy New Year
Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone is doing well.
We had a really nice New Years in Tokyo. We went to dinner with 4 other couples. Everything closes for New Years so the only place we could go was a restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi Hills – easy walking distance for everyone. I have never seen such empty streets in Tokyo. New Years is a religious holiday here (like Christmas at home) so everyone spends time with family and going to the shrine.
Tokyo is shut down Jan1-3 (it's the only time of year that everything shuts down). Some of the stores are open and having big SALES! Big sales in Tokyo are nothing like what we are accustomed to in the USA. The biggest sale I saw was 30% off. I looked at a sweater for $1000 so it was on sale for $700. Needless to say I kept walking. It was fun to walk around and see all the people going crazy for a 15% off sale.
Another big New Year tradition in Tokyo is Happy Bags. Department stores, starbucks, grocery stores, just about everyplace sells Happy Bags. They are very popular. You can pay $30, $50, $100 or more for a happy bag. We were told to spend $100 or more because the cheaper bags are not very good. You spend money and get a bag and you have no idea what you just bought. It's like a raffle. In some of the major department stores you can win a car or house in a happy bag. We were planning to buy a happy bag but just didn't get around to it – but I'm not too disappointed b/c if we got cloths they would have been too small.

We are planning a trip to China in a couple of months. I went to the Chinese Embassy to get our travel visas. That was an experience. They spoke Chinese and Japanese but not much English. It took me awhile to find the English forms and then forever to figure out everything I needed to do and which line to stand, etc. It gets comical after awhile but once I figure it out I feel like I conquered the world or the Chinese Embassy anyway!