Some photos from our two days of riding... I am not going to mark who is Katie and who is Livie and see if you can guess :) The last photo is of a cool dragonfly the kids found on the second day. "It's different from our dragonflies, mom!"
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The bikes are great.
Just a quick update (with first day of school stories to come). We love the bikes. The path along the river is perfect and Jack has been able to start AND stop (with hand brakes, no pedal brakes) with only one fall. We took a little ride on Monday and a long one yesterday and it was great. We rode pretty far south to a bridge that has a walking arch over it and great views. The only (small) downside is that Jack gets (as he says) tuckered out walking his bike to the river... so we have taken to locking it up at an apartment house across the street from the river. I am sure in a few weeks, he will be able to ride on the sidewalks like everyone else, but for now we are risking our $20 investment and leaving it close by. I'll let you know how that works out for us.
Some photos from our two days of riding... I am not going to mark who is Katie and who is Livie and see if you can guess :) The last photo is of a cool dragonfly the kids found on the second day. "It's different from our dragonflies, mom!"
Some photos from our two days of riding... I am not going to mark who is Katie and who is Livie and see if you can guess :) The last photo is of a cool dragonfly the kids found on the second day. "It's different from our dragonflies, mom!"
Monday, September 29, 2008
One bathroom
We've had no complaints about the size of the Guest House in Sapporo although we have a new appreciation for the luxury of having multiple bathrooms at our house in Lethbridge. That hit home this morning when Katie ran to the bathroom, saying "Gotta poop!" Thirty seconds later, Livie ran to the bathroom, saying "Poop's coming!" Ten seconds later, I arrived. Katie made it to the toilet... Livie made it to the floor of the bathroom, and I -- well, I had the chance to be thankful for the abundence of toilets I do have most of the time.
In less messy news, we took the bikes out for a ride by the river this late afternoon... it was great! Jack practiced his starts and stops in a dirt soccer field at Victoria park, and then we walked the bikes three blocks to the river, and had a great afternoon of riding. We stopped at the Victoria restaurant on the way home (they have a kids menu -- I guess some things are universal!) and felt pretty pleased with ourselves. We're hoping to head out tomorrow morning (John teaches in the afternoon) and then Wednesday is the first day of the new school. I need to do some editing sometime this week too -- but things are definitely starting to get into a bit of a routine.
In less messy news, we took the bikes out for a ride by the river this late afternoon... it was great! Jack practiced his starts and stops in a dirt soccer field at Victoria park, and then we walked the bikes three blocks to the river, and had a great afternoon of riding. We stopped at the Victoria restaurant on the way home (they have a kids menu -- I guess some things are universal!) and felt pretty pleased with ourselves. We're hoping to head out tomorrow morning (John teaches in the afternoon) and then Wednesday is the first day of the new school. I need to do some editing sometime this week too -- but things are definitely starting to get into a bit of a routine.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Mountain top
We had a great lunch with a colleague of John's today, Yukie Ueno and her husband and 18 yo daughter. They served us a special family dish 
called chirashi sushi which they serve on birthdays and holidays, and which included smoked salmon and dried fish, mushrooms, eggs and rice, and (if one desired), salmon eggs.
Jack tried the salmon roe but wasn't a fan.
Although it's becoming repetitive to say, we were overwhelmed with the kindness shown to our family. After lunch, Yukie took us to a gondola up to the top of Mt. Moiwa (and a bus from there to the very top) where you can look out and see the city of 1.8 million.
It really gave us a sense of the size of Sapporo (much larger than it seems when we walk or ride around our block) and its geography (we could see out to the Sea of Japan to the northwest and to mountains in every other direction). Sapporo was also the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics, so there are various ski jumps and lift rides up nearby mountains (and just so many green, lush mountains in general).
After admiring the view from the top, we had what has been the very best ice cream in Japan so far (and what a quest to have, the search for the most delicious ice cream...). Livie liked the green tea ice cream, Jack had mint chip, Katie had blueberry, and I had something called "fresh milk". John shared bites of all. After we rode the gondola down, we stopped at a coffee shop in a building that had once been home to a poet, and the girls fell asleep in my lap. Yukie's husband drove us home, and we again felt so lucky to be here, surrounded by great people.
called chirashi sushi which they serve on birthdays and holidays, and which included smoked salmon and dried fish, mushrooms, eggs and rice, and (if one desired), salmon eggs.
Jack tried the salmon roe but wasn't a fan.
Although it's becoming repetitive to say, we were overwhelmed with the kindness shown to our family. After lunch, Yukie took us to a gondola up to the top of Mt. Moiwa (and a bus from there to the very top) where you can look out and see the city of 1.8 million.
It really gave us a sense of the size of Sapporo (much larger than it seems when we walk or ride around our block) and its geography (we could see out to the Sea of Japan to the northwest and to mountains in every other direction). Sapporo was also the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics, so there are various ski jumps and lift rides up nearby mountains (and just so many green, lush mountains in general).
After admiring the view from the top, we had what has been the very best ice cream in Japan so far (and what a quest to have, the search for the most delicious ice cream...). Livie liked the green tea ice cream, Jack had mint chip, Katie had blueberry, and I had something called "fresh milk". John shared bites of all. After we rode the gondola down, we stopped at a coffee shop in a building that had once been home to a poet, and the girls fell asleep in my lap. Yukie's husband drove us home, and we again felt so lucky to be here, surrounded by great people.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Bikes!
The last exchange professor (and his high school age daughter?) left two nice bikes for us with wire baskets in the front. People ride all over Sapporo on bikes, on the sidewalks, usually, which is a little dangerous for three kids who have never walked in a straight line in their lives. John and I have only used the bikes on solo missions... until now. Yesterday, after a quick trip to Victoria park...
...we stopped by the swing (with Katie in the red)...
... she has finally gotten over her fear of swinging and goes "high in the sky"....
...and Jack going in the most dangerous way possible, of course...
...and Liv climbing up, slowly but surely...
...and Katie riding a plane...
we went to the Home Store, which has just about anything a person could use in the home. So we picked up a spatula, some lightbulbs, paper towels, and most exciting of all. bike seats for the girls (just 2,000 yen, or $20, each!).
They are VERY cool -- lightweight and fairly comfortable and they don't even mess with your sense of balance and gravity on the bike. We are glad we threw in the bike helmets (I debated at length over the value of bringing them, as I wasn't sure what we'd end up doing for bikes).
And then, after everyone had naps, we went to the used bike shop (Katie and I rode there, and John and Jack walked with Liv), where we picked up a new bike for Jack -- also 2,000 yen ($20) with a basket and bell (which were essentials for Jack).
There was a bit of debate as the bike is QUITE pink and sparkly (with fancy doo-dads on the spokes), but Jack thought it was great, and we said we could put stickers on it if he'd like.
He didn't want us to get training wheels so we will be limiting most of our riding to a trail by a river that we have heard of (as the sidewalks are very crowded and he is still fairly new to riding with just two wheels).
We got home just in time to get dinner ready for Shinya and Yuki. Shinya was a student from HGU who attended the University of Lethbridge four years ago. He played basketball with John and a group of professors, and we enjoyed spending quite a bit of time with him (Halloween, Christmas tree decorating, etc.).
He now teachers junior high English on one of Japan's northernmost islands. He and his girlfriend, Yuki, were our first real guests... so we folded up the futons and tucked them away, brought the "fancy" dining room table out, and had a simple meal (with delicious cheesecake from Shinya and Yuki). We hope to see them again in November.
In the midst of taking all these bike photos, I got a few of the Guest House as well.
We live on the first level, and another exchange professor sometimes lives upstairs (not this semester, though). Maybe they knew three noisy kids would be living below?
This is the view from the street -- more like an alley off a major street and near the university's baseball diamond (we get to hear baseball at all hours of the day!)
Going out of the alley, this is what it looks like to the right, looking toward the university.
And this is the view to the left, toward Victoria park, which is where we are heading right now! Then we're off to a brunch at a professor's house, and John will need to write the next week's lecture sometime (he needs to hand it out one week in advance)!
...we stopped by the swing (with Katie in the red)...
... she has finally gotten over her fear of swinging and goes "high in the sky"....
...and Jack going in the most dangerous way possible, of course...
...and Liv climbing up, slowly but surely...
...and Katie riding a plane...we went to the Home Store, which has just about anything a person could use in the home. So we picked up a spatula, some lightbulbs, paper towels, and most exciting of all. bike seats for the girls (just 2,000 yen, or $20, each!).
They are VERY cool -- lightweight and fairly comfortable and they don't even mess with your sense of balance and gravity on the bike. We are glad we threw in the bike helmets (I debated at length over the value of bringing them, as I wasn't sure what we'd end up doing for bikes).
And then, after everyone had naps, we went to the used bike shop (Katie and I rode there, and John and Jack walked with Liv), where we picked up a new bike for Jack -- also 2,000 yen ($20) with a basket and bell (which were essentials for Jack).
There was a bit of debate as the bike is QUITE pink and sparkly (with fancy doo-dads on the spokes), but Jack thought it was great, and we said we could put stickers on it if he'd like.
He didn't want us to get training wheels so we will be limiting most of our riding to a trail by a river that we have heard of (as the sidewalks are very crowded and he is still fairly new to riding with just two wheels).We got home just in time to get dinner ready for Shinya and Yuki. Shinya was a student from HGU who attended the University of Lethbridge four years ago. He played basketball with John and a group of professors, and we enjoyed spending quite a bit of time with him (Halloween, Christmas tree decorating, etc.).
He now teachers junior high English on one of Japan's northernmost islands. He and his girlfriend, Yuki, were our first real guests... so we folded up the futons and tucked them away, brought the "fancy" dining room table out, and had a simple meal (with delicious cheesecake from Shinya and Yuki). We hope to see them again in November.In the midst of taking all these bike photos, I got a few of the Guest House as well.
We live on the first level, and another exchange professor sometimes lives upstairs (not this semester, though). Maybe they knew three noisy kids would be living below?
This is the view from the street -- more like an alley off a major street and near the university's baseball diamond (we get to hear baseball at all hours of the day!)
Going out of the alley, this is what it looks like to the right, looking toward the university.
And this is the view to the left, toward Victoria park, which is where we are heading right now! Then we're off to a brunch at a professor's house, and John will need to write the next week's lecture sometime (he needs to hand it out one week in advance)!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tea and shopping
Well, the tea with the (very nice) university president wasn't as much of a disaster as I had feared, but it wasn't exactly the kids' shining moment, either. We got everyone showered and dressed up (no easy task) and I donned my fancy birthday shoes from my mom, which fit in very well here, a city filled with beautiful shoes (a whole other post some day... I am going to just wax poetically about the amazing shoes I have seen in these 10 days). Olivia said I looked very fancy -- the highest compliment. By the time we left, the girls were ready for a nap... and in fact, Katie just hunkered down under the tea table in the President's office and fell asleep. He said that was fine. They also immediately took their shoes off in their office (they were too big with tights on). He was fine with that, too. He seems like a good soul. He did some of his studies in Boston and so his English was terrific -- and John's Japanese sounded good too. It would have been nice to talk with him more, but the slouching, slinking, slipping children prompted us to leave after about 15 minutes. When we got home and checked email, we had a message from one of the many people whose job it is to make our life here easier (another topic that merits a full post -- there are so many people here whose full time jobs seem to be helping us -- they come to preschool interviews, set up appointments, you name it). Anyway, this message was scheduling a formal dinner for us with the president, but he suggested that perhaps instead we could do a lunch -- on a day when the children are in preschool. Gulp. Were they that bad? As it turns out, he sent it shortly before the first meeting, so it wasn't the direct result of rude sleeping children.
Today took us to a downtown shopping district where Hiromi told us we could find many of the items on the school list. Here are a few of our finds -- all very kawai (cute).
All of the loot -- three smocks, three large towels, three small towels (and some extras we will use here), cups, silverware/chopstick sets, indoor shoes, the works.
Close up of the kawai cups and one of the bags.
Katie and Livie picked out matching Hello Kitty smocks.
Close up of indoor shoes. The white ones for the girls were in a package labeled "School Shoes" and cost 298 yen (2.98). They didn't have Jack's size, so we hope these are OK. Probably not...
Jack in his uniform (holding Superdog, who came on the shopping trip with us). You can see from the blue flower on his uniform that he is part of the "tulip" class.
Jack showing the back of his hat, with a very jaunty ribbon.
Livie in her uniform (showing that certain Livie sense of style). She (and Katie) are part of the "melon" class. We will have to put her name in the middle of the green melon on her uniform.
Katie and Livie hugging (Liv in blue) on futons in the tatami room
Katie showing off her new "First Day of School Dress"
We didn't find the art bag and we are going to see if their backpacks will be acceptable (it doesn't look like what they have on the list, but we'll try). I also picked up a ton of labels -- again, this labeling thing is clearly something that is done many places in Japan, because right next to all of the school supplies were a whole assortment of different labels (cloth ones you can iron on smocks, sticky ones to put on your chopsticks set, etc.). The store (Akachan) was great -- not too expensive but full of so many cute things. I have already found lots of goodies I want to buy for friends and family back home. Perhaps I, like the university president, will wait to do that when the kids are at preschool...
Today took us to a downtown shopping district where Hiromi told us we could find many of the items on the school list. Here are a few of our finds -- all very kawai (cute).
All of the loot -- three smocks, three large towels, three small towels (and some extras we will use here), cups, silverware/chopstick sets, indoor shoes, the works.
Close up of the kawai cups and one of the bags.
Katie and Livie picked out matching Hello Kitty smocks.
Close up of indoor shoes. The white ones for the girls were in a package labeled "School Shoes" and cost 298 yen (2.98). They didn't have Jack's size, so we hope these are OK. Probably not...
Jack in his uniform (holding Superdog, who came on the shopping trip with us). You can see from the blue flower on his uniform that he is part of the "tulip" class.
Jack showing the back of his hat, with a very jaunty ribbon.
Livie in her uniform (showing that certain Livie sense of style). She (and Katie) are part of the "melon" class. We will have to put her name in the middle of the green melon on her uniform.
Katie and Livie hugging (Liv in blue) on futons in the tatami room
Katie showing off her new "First Day of School Dress"We didn't find the art bag and we are going to see if their backpacks will be acceptable (it doesn't look like what they have on the list, but we'll try). I also picked up a ton of labels -- again, this labeling thing is clearly something that is done many places in Japan, because right next to all of the school supplies were a whole assortment of different labels (cloth ones you can iron on smocks, sticky ones to put on your chopsticks set, etc.). The store (Akachan) was great -- not too expensive but full of so many cute things. I have already found lots of goodies I want to buy for friends and family back home. Perhaps I, like the university president, will wait to do that when the kids are at preschool...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A few photos
Here is some of the luggage waiting to go...
My first photo from Sapporo -- the beautiful mushrooms...
Ayumu and Jack at the park, Sept. 24
Jack and his sisters on the seesaw (Kate on left), Sept. 24
Olivia (or "Supergirl" as she likes to be called in her "O" superhero cape) and Ayumu at the park.
Katie pushing her babydoll on the swing.
School for (almost) all of us
A few updates.
1. Something I am thankful for -- that Katie waited until we got off the subway to throw up yesterday. We were coming back from Odori Park (the cool big one downtown) and she had said her belly was hurting all day and sure enough, we walk in the door and blech... but at least it wasn't on the crowded train car. Thankfully, it seems to have been a passing bug. But John and I had a bit of it, too, and Livie and Jack were at the tail end of their colds... so... we pulled out the second box of macaroni for dinner last night. Everyone was happy, and no one else threw up.
2. John taught his first two classes today and they went well as far as he could tell. I'll try to get him to update on some of the specifics once he gets a few more things off his plate. I think it will be a good semester for him (with some challenges, of course, but good overall).
3. We ran into one of our friends at the local park (the one we call "Seesaw park" -- for its ancient and wonderfully dangerous apparatus -- to distinguish it from the other local park which we call Victoria Park, as it is across the street from a restaurant called, you guess it, Victoria). I asked for name spellings this time -- the mom is Hiromi and her 3yo son's name is Ayumu -- and he and the kids had a great time playing. I got some pictures and will try to post them later tonight. John had to leave to teach so she and I "conversed" with her English and my dictionary... and we are hoping to see them again tomorrow. From what she seemed to be telling me, I think Jack's appeal to other kids crosses language and cultural barriers... Hiromi said Ayumu had been talking about Jack nonstop ever since we met them over the weekend, and when he saw Jack and the girls playing there today (he lives in an apartment above the park), he insisted on coming down. Of course, right after she said this, Jack knocked Katie off the seesaw through some circus maneuvers (not hurting her but prompting a loud complaint), and then (accidentially) knocked Ayumu off a few minutes later ("I kept telling him to get back, get back, but he didn't!"... sigh). I apologized profusely (one of the first things I learned to do in Japanese) but she shrugged and said "kids playing"and wasn't worried. Thankfully, she was able to fill me in on the daunting list of things the kids will need for...
4. PRESCHOOL! Wow. Well, all three kids were accepted even though they will only be going two days a week (from 10:20 -2:40 on Wednesdays and Thursdays). Kate and Liv will be in the "Melon" class, while Jack is in the "Tulip" class. They will attend Wednesdays because they can take part in the English language instruction the school has that day -- and will have lunch at school with the other kids. But oh, the things they will need for school. It made Jack's list for grade 1 seem like nothing! In addition to little wool hats and blue coats they must wear to and from school each day (provided by the school), we will need to provide special indoor shoes, a cup and cloth cup bag (both labelled), extra clothes in a cloth extra clothes bag (all labeled), chopsticks (or a spoon and fork) in a cloth utensil bag (labelled, of course), a portfolio to bring their "art" home, a bag to hold their gear, a little washcloth (labelled) and a bigger washcloth with a loop on the end (labelled), and smocks for them to wear for crafts, playing outside, and eating (labelled). We didn't fully understand the difference between the different bags or where exactly one would purchase these items, but thankfully Hiromi set us straight -- and ended up giving us one of Ayumu's extra smocks, three cloth cup bags (with apologies that she didn't have any extra clothes bags), and one large washcloth (without a loop -- she said I'd have to add that). So clearly these are universal supplies for preschool in Japan. Who knew?
5. Sleep continues to gradually get better -- today everyone slept in until 5:50 a.m.! Yay!
Tomorrow we are meeting the university president at 11 a.m. -- which is when K&O have been napping. They are invited to attend. I see no flaws in this plan. At all.
Goodnight!
1. Something I am thankful for -- that Katie waited until we got off the subway to throw up yesterday. We were coming back from Odori Park (the cool big one downtown) and she had said her belly was hurting all day and sure enough, we walk in the door and blech... but at least it wasn't on the crowded train car. Thankfully, it seems to have been a passing bug. But John and I had a bit of it, too, and Livie and Jack were at the tail end of their colds... so... we pulled out the second box of macaroni for dinner last night. Everyone was happy, and no one else threw up.
2. John taught his first two classes today and they went well as far as he could tell. I'll try to get him to update on some of the specifics once he gets a few more things off his plate. I think it will be a good semester for him (with some challenges, of course, but good overall).
3. We ran into one of our friends at the local park (the one we call "Seesaw park" -- for its ancient and wonderfully dangerous apparatus -- to distinguish it from the other local park which we call Victoria Park, as it is across the street from a restaurant called, you guess it, Victoria). I asked for name spellings this time -- the mom is Hiromi and her 3yo son's name is Ayumu -- and he and the kids had a great time playing. I got some pictures and will try to post them later tonight. John had to leave to teach so she and I "conversed" with her English and my dictionary... and we are hoping to see them again tomorrow. From what she seemed to be telling me, I think Jack's appeal to other kids crosses language and cultural barriers... Hiromi said Ayumu had been talking about Jack nonstop ever since we met them over the weekend, and when he saw Jack and the girls playing there today (he lives in an apartment above the park), he insisted on coming down. Of course, right after she said this, Jack knocked Katie off the seesaw through some circus maneuvers (not hurting her but prompting a loud complaint), and then (accidentially) knocked Ayumu off a few minutes later ("I kept telling him to get back, get back, but he didn't!"... sigh). I apologized profusely (one of the first things I learned to do in Japanese) but she shrugged and said "kids playing"and wasn't worried. Thankfully, she was able to fill me in on the daunting list of things the kids will need for...
4. PRESCHOOL! Wow. Well, all three kids were accepted even though they will only be going two days a week (from 10:20 -2:40 on Wednesdays and Thursdays). Kate and Liv will be in the "Melon" class, while Jack is in the "Tulip" class. They will attend Wednesdays because they can take part in the English language instruction the school has that day -- and will have lunch at school with the other kids. But oh, the things they will need for school. It made Jack's list for grade 1 seem like nothing! In addition to little wool hats and blue coats they must wear to and from school each day (provided by the school), we will need to provide special indoor shoes, a cup and cloth cup bag (both labelled), extra clothes in a cloth extra clothes bag (all labeled), chopsticks (or a spoon and fork) in a cloth utensil bag (labelled, of course), a portfolio to bring their "art" home, a bag to hold their gear, a little washcloth (labelled) and a bigger washcloth with a loop on the end (labelled), and smocks for them to wear for crafts, playing outside, and eating (labelled). We didn't fully understand the difference between the different bags or where exactly one would purchase these items, but thankfully Hiromi set us straight -- and ended up giving us one of Ayumu's extra smocks, three cloth cup bags (with apologies that she didn't have any extra clothes bags), and one large washcloth (without a loop -- she said I'd have to add that). So clearly these are universal supplies for preschool in Japan. Who knew?
5. Sleep continues to gradually get better -- today everyone slept in until 5:50 a.m.! Yay!
Tomorrow we are meeting the university president at 11 a.m. -- which is when K&O have been napping. They are invited to attend. I see no flaws in this plan. At all.
Goodnight!
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