Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada! It is some sort of holiday here today (we aren't sure what) and we have been thinking of turkey (and Columbus) all day today. We had a nice, relaxing weekend -- the highlight was going to a puppet show at Nakajima Park on Saturday. They did three little plays, including the Three Billy Goats Gruff (I didn't remember that the third Billy Goat poked out the troll's eyes with his horn and threw him off the bridge... is that what happened when we heard it as kids?). We also heard a folk tale that had to do with a farmer trying to pull a plant -- an onion? or really big garlic? a turnip! -- out of the ground. By some wonderful coincidence (or maybe not... it could be called "The October Folktale" in Japan for all we know), the girls had heard and then performed the same folktale at school last week. So they recognized it (and, since I was there, I did too and was able to say "See, it's just like the one at school!"). So even though they didn't understand the words or refrain that everyone sang (John couldn't make sense of it either... it was probably something like "Heave-ho-out you go" that makes sense to a 3 year old but not a foreign speaker), it was pretty great for them to see it in both places and know what to expect.
This afternoon I had a couple of kid free hours and so did a little shopping. What an experience. I literally tried on 23 pairs of pants to find some that fit. Apparently, I am shaped like a Japanese boyfriend, as the only jeans that fit were called, in English, "Boyfriend pants". The khakis I found didn't have an English name, but I am pretty sure the Japanese letters were "really dowdy pants for women who have had children and aren't 15". Most of the pants were just SOOOOOO small, and in places you would expect as well as those you might not. Like, in the knees. And, well, the ankles. Places that I didn't even know *could* not fit a person. And the shirts all fit oddly -- I apparently have much broader shoulders than most Japanese women, as all sizes were too tight in the shoulders (although they fit OK in the arms and torso... a victory!). Anyway, it was a bit disappointing. I had already given up hope of finding many fabulous shoes that fit my size-nines (and there are SO many cool shoes here), but I did harbor hope of coming home with many cool big-city clothes. I'll keep looking and trying (and my boyfriend jeans are pretty great), but I won't be spending all of our money at the mall.
And I had a bit of an ephiphany today about money. The two other times we lived abroad, I (and then we) had so very little of it. In my mind, traveling in a foreign country means never having enough money, and looking for the cheapest motel by the rail station even though it probably isn't entirely safe, and eating on the street instead of in a cafe. I just figured that's what happens when you leave the comforts of home. And I had been kind of operating in that same way here, to a certain degree (like not looking at pants for me because even though two of the four pants I brought from Lethbridge now have frayed bottoms and tons of food stains and kid goo and soon will have holes in the knees, it wasn't *really* a necessity because I still have two others, and worrying about how much groceries were costing (not cheese, though... I'll pay anything for cheese.) But because this is a teaching exchange, John is still getting his salary at the UofL. I am still doing some editing. And HGU pays a stipend to help offset some of the costs of living in Japan (and provides housing). So really, we're actually doing OK -- and in some ways, better. We're not driving our minivan around and so don't have to pay for gas (and are healthier for walking everywhere, too). Lori, our housesitter, uses far less water and electricity than the five of us did. And since you pretty much only use cash here, we have no credit card debt, and we are MUCH more aware of what things cost and what we are spending. It's all kind of interesting. And it was also nice to realize I could get the pants and not worry about keeping apples off our table.
Enough babbling for tonight. I still have to upload Lake Toya pix and Nakajima Park pix. Sheesh. Such a demanding job I have here!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Just a few more fun pictures
Here are just a few random and fun pictures of the kids the last week or so.
Sleeping sisters and working on a loose tooth...
Reading Olivia's favorite book, Olivia.
Sleeping sisters and working on a loose tooth...
Reading Olivia's favorite book, Olivia.
Katie's head
We took some photos of Katie's head today as proof of what a fine job the plastic surgeon did.
With the stitches,she really would make an excellent pirate.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Another coffee table victim
Maybe I should start by saying we had macaroni for dinner tonight (box number six).
After a great morning riding bikes in Nakajima Park (a city park that was decked out in fall colors where Jack was riding on two wheels like a pro, his bottom tooth practically dangling out into his bike basket), we returned home for lunch. And at the end of lunch, Katie started dancing and the next thing I heard as I was working with Jack on his French was a crash. And crying. And Katie in John`s arms and blood.
Ah... head wounds. Jack`s encounter with a coffee table when I was 8 months pregnant with the girls taught us that head wounds bleed a lot. So we didn`t panic. Katie had a gash just to the right of her eyebrow -- and we were able to get it to stop bleeding, at which point I discovered that of the many, MANY bandages I had brought, none were a butterfly type and the regular kind wasn`t sealing it up. So I biked to the nearby pharmacy and found they don`t seem to exist in Japan. After searching all the bandage shelves, I even asked an employee there, using my dictionary and just got confused looks. So I came home, cut some myself as John cradled the still-sad Katie, and we debated (at length, it`s kind of sad to say) if we should take her to a doctor, as my homemade butterfly bandages were just OK, but didn`t keep the cut sealed in a tight or straight line.
Now it`s kind of embarrassing to admit that the thought of having to deal with our lack of language skills could keep us from seeking medical treatment for our children. But it`s not like she was having a heart attack -- it was really just a matter of how it would seal up, and what kind of scar NOT taking her would likely make. We poked at her head, tried to squeeze it together, briefly tried out a potato chip clip (too tight), and agreed if we could just hold her still for the next 2-3 days while we pinched it shut, she`d be fine. But since that wasn`t likely, we thought we better take her to a doctor.
In the midst of this, John was trying to send something in to work... so I took Katie to the pediatrician`s office that Hiromi told me about (yay Hiromi) and John stayed to finish work and try to get Liv and Jack to nap (yeah, right). I got there at 1:20 and discovered the doctor was `resting`until 2... so we waited, and when they finally opened up, I tried (my fingers flying on the keys of the electronic dictionary) to explain what happened. The conversation sounded like this.
ME: (In Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... (point to still slowly oozing head wound on now chipper Katie, who thinks this is a great adventure)
NURSES: minutes of conversation... one asks where I am from... it felt weird to say `Canada`but that is where we are `from`and it probably wasn`t the time to explain our permanent resident status and citizenship history... she goes to find a nurse who speaks some English.
ME: (In Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... to new, kind nurse who speaks a little English. I also told her when it happened, that we got `chi`(blood) to stop but `big cut` and asked `doctor sew or OK`...
NURSE: For some reason she asked how high the table was and measured the (very vague) height I indicated. She then peeked at the cut and looked shocked (it wasn`t THAT bad -- only about an inch or so) and nodded, `doctor sew`and something that I figured might have been `scar`... I looked it up and asked `big scar` and she said `yes. No big scar on little girl. No good. No good.`She then went to get the doctor (we were still in the waiting room when all of this was happening).
ME: (in Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... to the doctor... he also peeked under the bandage and agreed it needed help. But... we would need to go to a hospital. He (apparently) couldn`t do it there. I said that in Canada, when something similar happened to our son, the doctor used a `special glue`to fix it. The English-speaking nurse looked horrified and translated and they all looked like we had just said we amputated our own son`s leg to get rid of a splinter. Maybe `special glue`just doesn`t translate...
I asked if I could call my husband who, it turns out, was on his way there with the Jack and Liv (deadline having been met, I think...). As we waited, I asked again about the glue and said `son cut head on table, too, when he was 2`and again got a bit of a horrified look -- like `how could you let TWO of your children crack their heads open on coffee tables...`Then I explained `Katie-chan san(meaning Katie is three), son roku (meaning son is six) and other daughter san`... then looked up the word for `twins`(which I am ALWAYS forgetting, even though it`s one of the words people ask me all the time here..). and then looked up identical... she, I think, got a kick that they will no longer be identical, and, I think, understood why there might be a bit of chaos in our house.
Also while we were waiting, she wrote out the name and address of the hospital for us to give to the taxi driver, and a brief history in Japanese of what happened (including the oh-so-important height of the table) to take to the hospital. I asked in Japanese `how much`for the office visit (or waiting room visit) and they conferred, and agreed that it was no charge. Have I mentioned the niceness of the people here...
John showed up and she explained much of the same in Japanese to him... and we thanked them repeatedly for all of their help. John had quite his own adventure at the hospital, so I will let him tell you that now. All I`ll say is that I stopped at Victoria Park on the way home with Jack and Liv, and had to leave after Liv tried to use the `squatting`public toilet by herself and got completely soaked with pee. Yes, the fun never stops, where ever we are...
Ok, Lisa is indicating that there is an important hole in this story to be filled. Yes, I spoke with the nurses as the kodomo (child) clinic where Lisa had taken Katie and they seemed emphatic that she should go to the hospital even though we knew her cut was slightly less severe and much less bloody than the precedent set by her brother 3.5 years ago. I asked her if the hospital was far, and she indicated that it was very far. She convinced me that there was no good way to get there except taxi, but that the whole family could go together and that Lisa might enjoy watching the other children there and going to the nearby grocery store. Lisa looked at two sleepy--though to their credit, not bleeding--children and decided she would rather take them home.
I hailed a taxi and got in with a now asleep Katy clinging to a shoulder. The taxi ride took forever. It was far away. Lisa later told me that the nurses at the children`s clinic had conferred for a long time when selecting which hospital to send us to. Apparently, the consensus was that the further away the better. There were also many red lights, the traffic seemed 25x heavier than Lethbridge (well, Sapporo is 25x bigger), and it was expensive. Katy slept on my shoulder from just before leaving the children`s clinic to well after arriving at the hospital. She did not know we were in a new place or that her Mom was no longer there.
To her credit, she took everything in stride at the hospital. She had cried earlier that morning about what clothes to wear for riding bikes, but she cried very little when splitting her forehead open and not at all during the various procedures at the hospital. About those procedures. It started in a way that felt frighteningly more American than Canadian. I was asked if we had a reservation. No. I asked if we had insurance. I said `No, at least not in Japan.`This was greeted with three friendly Japanese faces giving pained expressions and repeating `takai,` (expensive),`takai,`(yes, really expensive), and even an emphatic `takai desu yo`(wow, this is really, really going to be expensive) unless I made that one up in my head. This is the point where I would normally turn around and leave. That is, if it was my cut, I would not have come. If it was Jack`s cut, I would have reasoned that this will ultimately help his pirate costumes in the future. However, the nurses at the children`s clinic had won me over with the idea that it will not do for a girl to have a scar.
As some of you know, Japan is almost completely a cash economy. I said, all this in Japanese of course, that it would be no problem. I would pay, but would it be possible to pay on another day as I did not have much cash on me. Often in Japan, I do have US$200-$500 on hand, because that is what you do in Japan. Today, with biking in the park and no plans for shopping, I had just under US$200 in my pocket. They conferred and agreed that I could come back next week Tuesday (after the long weekend) and pay then. Out of curiosity, I asked what `takai`meant in this case. They said probably ni, san man yen (2 or 3 10,000 yen notes; about US$200-$300). This actually sounded like great news to me after hearing `takai`and remembering some of our recent experiences in US hospitals for fairly minor procedures.
I then went up and spoke with a doctor. First, I had to fill out forms on the first floor, get a medical card they created for Katie using the katakana Japanese characters that I gave for her name. Then I went to the third floor and began to struggle through a Japanese medical history form. Fortunately, I was able to set this aside and see a doctor almost immediately. I was still thinking that they might be surprised that we were at the hospital for this sort of cut. So I told him that we took her to a children`s clinic in the neighborhood, but that doctor insisted that we take her to this hospital. The doctor thought that was a good idea. He too was interested in the table height, oddly enough. Perhaps there are different categories of head wounds depending on the type of furniture involved. After all, you use different words to count in Japanese depending on whether you are counting flat things, long things. etc. Anyway, he also asked probing medical questions about how her head felt. For some of this he used some English words. He did not register any recognition of the word `glue`and I did not know it in Japanese. He looked it up after I told him that a Canadian hospital used a type of super glue on a similar wound for her elder brother. I have now cemented Canada`s reputation as a backwoods country where rugged recluses use McGyver-like jerry-rigging for almost all problems. Usually, these involve duct tape. This time glue.
He did not go for it. Not only did he decide she needed a sewing operation, he said he needed to consult with the plastic surgeon. The pained expressions and predictions of `takai`came flooding back. Now I thought, US$200-300 may have just gone up tenfold! Oh well, Katie remained happy throughout these conversations and went over to get books while we waited to hear from the plastic surgeon. All the books were in Japanese. They were, however, kids` books that I could stumble through. We read Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The `mirror, mirror on the wall`agreed that I had to go to the plastic surgeon or risk that Katie might not be the fairest of them all, and that her once-identical twin might rub it in.
We were sent to floor 2, plastic surgery. Gulp. Two very nice women took over from this point. The amount of English had decreased once again. However, Katie`s stoic cheer transcended linguistic boundaries. They were quite amazed with her. They wrapped in a towel (to bind her arms to her body) and strapped a net over her to further immobilize her. I kept her head in position while talking to her with my eyes locked on hers. She grimaced with the anesthetizing needle and then again when they were putting in stitches. She didn`t cry. She didn`t move. She didn`t cause any trouble. She often smiled. She skipped afterward and agreed that she deserved a toy. Katie has been difficult the past week in a number of ways that seem like they should be easy. Katie was a champ at the hospital in circumstances that would text Bruce Willis`Die Hard persona.
Now we had to go downstairs to get medicine. They were prescribing antibiotics. They had disinfected numerous times, but weren`t taking chances. We got the medicine, made a follow up appointment to take stitches out (or check on them, or something...) Wed. morning (before their school and our fancy welcome lunch with the HGU president and 5 others). I also met with accounts payable department to make sure I could pay next week when we go back. They said ok. I asked how much. They seemed to indicate less than US$100. I had that and just paid. I may later find out that was just for the medicine or something. Then again, this might be like our Canada health care experiences where we had to pay for a few things out of pocket early on and found that the prices were quite reasonable. I don`t know. I do know Katie is pretty happy and has 3 very smart stitches near her right eye. I do know that she insisted on getting treats for the brother and sister and mama and me too, so we did. Katie and I found our way home with a combination of train and subway (and the requisite `need a bathroom NOW`stop somewhere between transferring from one mode to the other).
We got home to Mac and Cheese. We`ll see what all happens next Wednesday. We may be writing all blog readers for money. More likely, we will simply be impressed once again with how friendly, helpful, professional, etc. all the people here have been to us in an increasingly varied array of situations. Oooooh, this has become long. Good thing I am not doing the blogging most all of the time . . .
After a great morning riding bikes in Nakajima Park (a city park that was decked out in fall colors where Jack was riding on two wheels like a pro, his bottom tooth practically dangling out into his bike basket), we returned home for lunch. And at the end of lunch, Katie started dancing and the next thing I heard as I was working with Jack on his French was a crash. And crying. And Katie in John`s arms and blood.
Ah... head wounds. Jack`s encounter with a coffee table when I was 8 months pregnant with the girls taught us that head wounds bleed a lot. So we didn`t panic. Katie had a gash just to the right of her eyebrow -- and we were able to get it to stop bleeding, at which point I discovered that of the many, MANY bandages I had brought, none were a butterfly type and the regular kind wasn`t sealing it up. So I biked to the nearby pharmacy and found they don`t seem to exist in Japan. After searching all the bandage shelves, I even asked an employee there, using my dictionary and just got confused looks. So I came home, cut some myself as John cradled the still-sad Katie, and we debated (at length, it`s kind of sad to say) if we should take her to a doctor, as my homemade butterfly bandages were just OK, but didn`t keep the cut sealed in a tight or straight line.
Now it`s kind of embarrassing to admit that the thought of having to deal with our lack of language skills could keep us from seeking medical treatment for our children. But it`s not like she was having a heart attack -- it was really just a matter of how it would seal up, and what kind of scar NOT taking her would likely make. We poked at her head, tried to squeeze it together, briefly tried out a potato chip clip (too tight), and agreed if we could just hold her still for the next 2-3 days while we pinched it shut, she`d be fine. But since that wasn`t likely, we thought we better take her to a doctor.
In the midst of this, John was trying to send something in to work... so I took Katie to the pediatrician`s office that Hiromi told me about (yay Hiromi) and John stayed to finish work and try to get Liv and Jack to nap (yeah, right). I got there at 1:20 and discovered the doctor was `resting`until 2... so we waited, and when they finally opened up, I tried (my fingers flying on the keys of the electronic dictionary) to explain what happened. The conversation sounded like this.
ME: (In Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... (point to still slowly oozing head wound on now chipper Katie, who thinks this is a great adventure)
NURSES: minutes of conversation... one asks where I am from... it felt weird to say `Canada`but that is where we are `from`and it probably wasn`t the time to explain our permanent resident status and citizenship history... she goes to find a nurse who speaks some English.
ME: (In Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... to new, kind nurse who speaks a little English. I also told her when it happened, that we got `chi`(blood) to stop but `big cut` and asked `doctor sew or OK`...
NURSE: For some reason she asked how high the table was and measured the (very vague) height I indicated. She then peeked at the cut and looked shocked (it wasn`t THAT bad -- only about an inch or so) and nodded, `doctor sew`and something that I figured might have been `scar`... I looked it up and asked `big scar` and she said `yes. No big scar on little girl. No good. No good.`She then went to get the doctor (we were still in the waiting room when all of this was happening).
ME: (in Japanese) Daughter... fell... table... big... cut... to the doctor... he also peeked under the bandage and agreed it needed help. But... we would need to go to a hospital. He (apparently) couldn`t do it there. I said that in Canada, when something similar happened to our son, the doctor used a `special glue`to fix it. The English-speaking nurse looked horrified and translated and they all looked like we had just said we amputated our own son`s leg to get rid of a splinter. Maybe `special glue`just doesn`t translate...
I asked if I could call my husband who, it turns out, was on his way there with the Jack and Liv (deadline having been met, I think...). As we waited, I asked again about the glue and said `son cut head on table, too, when he was 2`and again got a bit of a horrified look -- like `how could you let TWO of your children crack their heads open on coffee tables...`Then I explained `Katie-chan san(meaning Katie is three), son roku (meaning son is six) and other daughter san`... then looked up the word for `twins`(which I am ALWAYS forgetting, even though it`s one of the words people ask me all the time here..). and then looked up identical... she, I think, got a kick that they will no longer be identical, and, I think, understood why there might be a bit of chaos in our house.
Also while we were waiting, she wrote out the name and address of the hospital for us to give to the taxi driver, and a brief history in Japanese of what happened (including the oh-so-important height of the table) to take to the hospital. I asked in Japanese `how much`for the office visit (or waiting room visit) and they conferred, and agreed that it was no charge. Have I mentioned the niceness of the people here...
John showed up and she explained much of the same in Japanese to him... and we thanked them repeatedly for all of their help. John had quite his own adventure at the hospital, so I will let him tell you that now. All I`ll say is that I stopped at Victoria Park on the way home with Jack and Liv, and had to leave after Liv tried to use the `squatting`public toilet by herself and got completely soaked with pee. Yes, the fun never stops, where ever we are...
Ok, Lisa is indicating that there is an important hole in this story to be filled. Yes, I spoke with the nurses as the kodomo (child) clinic where Lisa had taken Katie and they seemed emphatic that she should go to the hospital even though we knew her cut was slightly less severe and much less bloody than the precedent set by her brother 3.5 years ago. I asked her if the hospital was far, and she indicated that it was very far. She convinced me that there was no good way to get there except taxi, but that the whole family could go together and that Lisa might enjoy watching the other children there and going to the nearby grocery store. Lisa looked at two sleepy--though to their credit, not bleeding--children and decided she would rather take them home.
I hailed a taxi and got in with a now asleep Katy clinging to a shoulder. The taxi ride took forever. It was far away. Lisa later told me that the nurses at the children`s clinic had conferred for a long time when selecting which hospital to send us to. Apparently, the consensus was that the further away the better. There were also many red lights, the traffic seemed 25x heavier than Lethbridge (well, Sapporo is 25x bigger), and it was expensive. Katy slept on my shoulder from just before leaving the children`s clinic to well after arriving at the hospital. She did not know we were in a new place or that her Mom was no longer there.
To her credit, she took everything in stride at the hospital. She had cried earlier that morning about what clothes to wear for riding bikes, but she cried very little when splitting her forehead open and not at all during the various procedures at the hospital. About those procedures. It started in a way that felt frighteningly more American than Canadian. I was asked if we had a reservation. No. I asked if we had insurance. I said `No, at least not in Japan.`This was greeted with three friendly Japanese faces giving pained expressions and repeating `takai,` (expensive),`takai,`(yes, really expensive), and even an emphatic `takai desu yo`(wow, this is really, really going to be expensive) unless I made that one up in my head. This is the point where I would normally turn around and leave. That is, if it was my cut, I would not have come. If it was Jack`s cut, I would have reasoned that this will ultimately help his pirate costumes in the future. However, the nurses at the children`s clinic had won me over with the idea that it will not do for a girl to have a scar.
As some of you know, Japan is almost completely a cash economy. I said, all this in Japanese of course, that it would be no problem. I would pay, but would it be possible to pay on another day as I did not have much cash on me. Often in Japan, I do have US$200-$500 on hand, because that is what you do in Japan. Today, with biking in the park and no plans for shopping, I had just under US$200 in my pocket. They conferred and agreed that I could come back next week Tuesday (after the long weekend) and pay then. Out of curiosity, I asked what `takai`meant in this case. They said probably ni, san man yen (2 or 3 10,000 yen notes; about US$200-$300). This actually sounded like great news to me after hearing `takai`and remembering some of our recent experiences in US hospitals for fairly minor procedures.
I then went up and spoke with a doctor. First, I had to fill out forms on the first floor, get a medical card they created for Katie using the katakana Japanese characters that I gave for her name. Then I went to the third floor and began to struggle through a Japanese medical history form. Fortunately, I was able to set this aside and see a doctor almost immediately. I was still thinking that they might be surprised that we were at the hospital for this sort of cut. So I told him that we took her to a children`s clinic in the neighborhood, but that doctor insisted that we take her to this hospital. The doctor thought that was a good idea. He too was interested in the table height, oddly enough. Perhaps there are different categories of head wounds depending on the type of furniture involved. After all, you use different words to count in Japanese depending on whether you are counting flat things, long things. etc. Anyway, he also asked probing medical questions about how her head felt. For some of this he used some English words. He did not register any recognition of the word `glue`and I did not know it in Japanese. He looked it up after I told him that a Canadian hospital used a type of super glue on a similar wound for her elder brother. I have now cemented Canada`s reputation as a backwoods country where rugged recluses use McGyver-like jerry-rigging for almost all problems. Usually, these involve duct tape. This time glue.
He did not go for it. Not only did he decide she needed a sewing operation, he said he needed to consult with the plastic surgeon. The pained expressions and predictions of `takai`came flooding back. Now I thought, US$200-300 may have just gone up tenfold! Oh well, Katie remained happy throughout these conversations and went over to get books while we waited to hear from the plastic surgeon. All the books were in Japanese. They were, however, kids` books that I could stumble through. We read Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The `mirror, mirror on the wall`agreed that I had to go to the plastic surgeon or risk that Katie might not be the fairest of them all, and that her once-identical twin might rub it in.
We were sent to floor 2, plastic surgery. Gulp. Two very nice women took over from this point. The amount of English had decreased once again. However, Katie`s stoic cheer transcended linguistic boundaries. They were quite amazed with her. They wrapped in a towel (to bind her arms to her body) and strapped a net over her to further immobilize her. I kept her head in position while talking to her with my eyes locked on hers. She grimaced with the anesthetizing needle and then again when they were putting in stitches. She didn`t cry. She didn`t move. She didn`t cause any trouble. She often smiled. She skipped afterward and agreed that she deserved a toy. Katie has been difficult the past week in a number of ways that seem like they should be easy. Katie was a champ at the hospital in circumstances that would text Bruce Willis`Die Hard persona.
Now we had to go downstairs to get medicine. They were prescribing antibiotics. They had disinfected numerous times, but weren`t taking chances. We got the medicine, made a follow up appointment to take stitches out (or check on them, or something...) Wed. morning (before their school and our fancy welcome lunch with the HGU president and 5 others). I also met with accounts payable department to make sure I could pay next week when we go back. They said ok. I asked how much. They seemed to indicate less than US$100. I had that and just paid. I may later find out that was just for the medicine or something. Then again, this might be like our Canada health care experiences where we had to pay for a few things out of pocket early on and found that the prices were quite reasonable. I don`t know. I do know Katie is pretty happy and has 3 very smart stitches near her right eye. I do know that she insisted on getting treats for the brother and sister and mama and me too, so we did. Katie and I found our way home with a combination of train and subway (and the requisite `need a bathroom NOW`stop somewhere between transferring from one mode to the other).
We got home to Mac and Cheese. We`ll see what all happens next Wednesday. We may be writing all blog readers for money. More likely, we will simply be impressed once again with how friendly, helpful, professional, etc. all the people here have been to us in an increasingly varied array of situations. Oooooh, this has become long. Good thing I am not doing the blogging most all of the time . . .
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A good day at school!
I was able to leave Kate and Liv at school yesterday! Hooray! We had had an email (the school had called our contact at HGU who emailed us... I do wonder exactly how clear the final message is, but that's another story) saying the teachers thought Katie did well on Wednesday and they were glad I was able to be out of the classroom. So we took that as a sign that they were comfortable to have me out of the classroom. We decided to both taken them to school in the morning (walking in a huge rainstorm... all five of us, the stroller, their backpacks, the adult shoes were completely SOAKED). I dropped off Jack and John took the girls. Katie was upset to be so wet (well, I was too) and didn't seem like it was off to a good start... but he was able to extract himself, and we watched from the window for a while, and after about 30 minutes (with her moaning from time to time, but doing it cuddled up on a teacher's lap, while Livie had a HUGE smile on her face), John knocked and asked the teacher if she thought we could leave. She said yes!
I was worried when it was time to pick her up, but she was fine. Happy! With stories about the day and willing to walk home in the rain (with my newfound freetime, I bought rubber rainboots). Olivia and Jack had had a good day, too. When I was watching at Jack's window, a mom of a 6yo head me (and saw me with my dictionary) "talking" to the teacher and said something in English. It turns out she had spent a year in Banff. We chatted a bit and I asked if she'd ask the teacher how Jack was doing in class -- if he was enjoying it. She did, and translated back that "Jack is so cool... he knows how to do everything and is very happy." Now, seeing that his response to any Japanese question is to speak French, I am not sure what all he knows... but I think she was speaking honestly that he is happy.
My cold seems to be in its last gasping stages, and we are eager for the weekend ahead. And I *will* add those pictures somtime soon. Really!
I was worried when it was time to pick her up, but she was fine. Happy! With stories about the day and willing to walk home in the rain (with my newfound freetime, I bought rubber rainboots). Olivia and Jack had had a good day, too. When I was watching at Jack's window, a mom of a 6yo head me (and saw me with my dictionary) "talking" to the teacher and said something in English. It turns out she had spent a year in Banff. We chatted a bit and I asked if she'd ask the teacher how Jack was doing in class -- if he was enjoying it. She did, and translated back that "Jack is so cool... he knows how to do everything and is very happy." Now, seeing that his response to any Japanese question is to speak French, I am not sure what all he knows... but I think she was speaking honestly that he is happy.
My cold seems to be in its last gasping stages, and we are eager for the weekend ahead. And I *will* add those pictures somtime soon. Really!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Just a few updates
Sorry for the lapse in writing about our adventures. I have been battling the tatami-induced cold (more likely just a regular old run-of-the-mill cold, or a we-are-finally-settled-in-and-I-can-catch-my-breath cold, but it feels kind of good to be able to blame on something). The last few days have felt very much like our new routine -- John teaching, all of us going for groceries, and me and the kids cooking -- but there are a few things I wanted to mention, though.
1. Hiromi took me grocery shopping last Friday night and it was wonderful. What luck to have met her at the park that day. She was able to point me to things I had been looking for since I got here (baking soda, sesame oil -- tricky to guess among the hundreds of tannish looking liquids) and give me good insider advice (such as -- only buy spinich with the little kid on the front of the bag since it is the only spinich, she said, that is "safe to eat." The *other* spinich (which looks the same except for the lack of a little kid) is somehow prepared, or fertilized, or treated (I never fully understood) with LYE and needs to be boiled, she said, for a very long time. Good to know!) She and the rice guy spent about 15 minutes discussing just what kind of rice (chewy, hard, sweet, short, medium, long, white, brown...) would be best for our family. I just took her word for it... the bag we had bought and finished and thought was just fine, was probably like picking out a Velveeta at a specialty cheese store.
2. And I found the specialty cheese store in Sapporo! It is wonderful. But in the course of about three minutes, I picked up three small packages of cheese and was a bit horrified to see the bill when it came time to pay ($22!). I never imagined a day when I thought Canadian cheese could be considered cheap... but it came yesterday. And we thoroughly enjoyed every delicious bite of one package last night (mozzarella).
3. Jack has a loose tooth. This is very exciting for all of us, and especially Jack, who asked me last night to hold his hands while he fell asleep because he just couldn't stop wiggling.
4. We returned to school today. As usual, Jack had a great day. And I continue to be impressed with the school... there are pianos in every classroom, and music and songs sung throughout the day. Katie and Olivia started off kind of poorly, though -- clinging to me, not wanting me to be more than inches away, slumping on me, hiding their heads in my lap. I was pretty sure we had made a huge mistake sending them to Japanese preschool -- that the double whammy (of being in Japanese, and being their first preschool) was just too much. That seemed to be confirmed when a wonderful teacher came in for the English lesson and they perked up, finally participated, didn't look like they were being tortured. I was debating in my head whether it would be bad to have them go to an English immersion preschool across town and keep Jack there, since he is clearly having a good time, or not bother with preschool at all (which might make everyone crazy and wouldn't do much for them actually interacting with Japanese children)... and suddenly, after the English lesson, I found I was able to go check on Jack, go to the bathroom, leave the room, watch for 5 minutes from the window outside... and then they had soup for lunch (which Katie loves) and she ate so well (which pleased the worried teacher)... and then they went outside to play in the afternoon and I said I couldn't come with them right away and that was OK... and I think (maybe, just maybe) that it might work out. Or not. But I was able to spend most of the afternoon sitting on a little chair outside of their classroom reading a book -- which is 1000 times better than being clung to by two sad girls and 28 other very loud children singing songs and clapping hands (did I mention my cold came with a headache?)
5. We voted in the U.S. election this week and are watching all of the news there (and in Canada, and around the world) closely. I am so glad we can vote (and in Pennsylvania, a swing state).
6. I am getting a little nervous (some might say paranoid) about earthquakes. There have been many in Hokkaido and Sapporo in the last 100 years (note to self... when paranoid about earthquakes, do NOT go to the USGS website listing all earthquakes over the last 100 years. It won't help). I find some reassurance that all of these buildings have been around and weathered those quakes, and so even if one happened, we should be fine. Right? Right. Right....
I still want to write more about Lake Toya and add the photos... but it seems a bit too daunting for my state of mind (and nose, and lungs) at the moment. I haven't broken out a box of mac-and-cheese yet though (well, we had one the night we got home from the trip, but that was a true necessity!)... we've been eating the world's best apples, apple pears, pears, broccoli, rice and even miso soup one night (made with detailed instruction from the very kind Hiromi.) More soon!
1. Hiromi took me grocery shopping last Friday night and it was wonderful. What luck to have met her at the park that day. She was able to point me to things I had been looking for since I got here (baking soda, sesame oil -- tricky to guess among the hundreds of tannish looking liquids) and give me good insider advice (such as -- only buy spinich with the little kid on the front of the bag since it is the only spinich, she said, that is "safe to eat." The *other* spinich (which looks the same except for the lack of a little kid) is somehow prepared, or fertilized, or treated (I never fully understood) with LYE and needs to be boiled, she said, for a very long time. Good to know!) She and the rice guy spent about 15 minutes discussing just what kind of rice (chewy, hard, sweet, short, medium, long, white, brown...) would be best for our family. I just took her word for it... the bag we had bought and finished and thought was just fine, was probably like picking out a Velveeta at a specialty cheese store.
2. And I found the specialty cheese store in Sapporo! It is wonderful. But in the course of about three minutes, I picked up three small packages of cheese and was a bit horrified to see the bill when it came time to pay ($22!). I never imagined a day when I thought Canadian cheese could be considered cheap... but it came yesterday. And we thoroughly enjoyed every delicious bite of one package last night (mozzarella).
3. Jack has a loose tooth. This is very exciting for all of us, and especially Jack, who asked me last night to hold his hands while he fell asleep because he just couldn't stop wiggling.
4. We returned to school today. As usual, Jack had a great day. And I continue to be impressed with the school... there are pianos in every classroom, and music and songs sung throughout the day. Katie and Olivia started off kind of poorly, though -- clinging to me, not wanting me to be more than inches away, slumping on me, hiding their heads in my lap. I was pretty sure we had made a huge mistake sending them to Japanese preschool -- that the double whammy (of being in Japanese, and being their first preschool) was just too much. That seemed to be confirmed when a wonderful teacher came in for the English lesson and they perked up, finally participated, didn't look like they were being tortured. I was debating in my head whether it would be bad to have them go to an English immersion preschool across town and keep Jack there, since he is clearly having a good time, or not bother with preschool at all (which might make everyone crazy and wouldn't do much for them actually interacting with Japanese children)... and suddenly, after the English lesson, I found I was able to go check on Jack, go to the bathroom, leave the room, watch for 5 minutes from the window outside... and then they had soup for lunch (which Katie loves) and she ate so well (which pleased the worried teacher)... and then they went outside to play in the afternoon and I said I couldn't come with them right away and that was OK... and I think (maybe, just maybe) that it might work out. Or not. But I was able to spend most of the afternoon sitting on a little chair outside of their classroom reading a book -- which is 1000 times better than being clung to by two sad girls and 28 other very loud children singing songs and clapping hands (did I mention my cold came with a headache?)
5. We voted in the U.S. election this week and are watching all of the news there (and in Canada, and around the world) closely. I am so glad we can vote (and in Pennsylvania, a swing state).
6. I am getting a little nervous (some might say paranoid) about earthquakes. There have been many in Hokkaido and Sapporo in the last 100 years (note to self... when paranoid about earthquakes, do NOT go to the USGS website listing all earthquakes over the last 100 years. It won't help). I find some reassurance that all of these buildings have been around and weathered those quakes, and so even if one happened, we should be fine. Right? Right. Right....
I still want to write more about Lake Toya and add the photos... but it seems a bit too daunting for my state of mind (and nose, and lungs) at the moment. I haven't broken out a box of mac-and-cheese yet though (well, we had one the night we got home from the trip, but that was a true necessity!)... we've been eating the world's best apples, apple pears, pears, broccoli, rice and even miso soup one night (made with detailed instruction from the very kind Hiromi.) More soon!
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