Election

It's Nov. 4 here in Japan, and I am obsessing about the election.

One of the most important things to do on our "things to do" list before coming here was to make sure our absentee ballot -- usually sent to Canada -- would come to Sapporo. As U.S. citizens living abroad, we get to vote in the state of our last legal residence, Pennsylvania. As it is usually a swing state, and with the election being potentially so close and certainly so important this year, we were eager to make sure our voices were heard.

And so, I developed quite the rapport with Helene at the Montgomery County Board of Elections in September and October. We received our ballots in early October and spent $20 to overnight them back. Helene has assured me, via email, that our absentee ballots were received back in Norristown many weeks ago. I hope so. After watching the close elections in 2000 and 2004, and losing a bit of faith in the world of politics (if not humanity), I hope this election is fair for all of those involved.

I have only been in the U.S.A. twice for a presidential election -- the first time in 92, when I was at university, and the second time in 2000, when my heart lurched back and forth all night as I was working in the Bucks County Courthouse covering local elections and watching Florida swing back and forth. In 96 we were in England, and in 04 we were in Canada. Now we are in Japan. It's an interesting way to experience an election -- no annoying political ads (unless we choose to see them) and no real sense of how "real people" (neighbors, coworkers, etc.) are feeling. In some ways I feel overly involved, as I have spent FAR too much time reading about the election. But in other ways I feel very far away and detached, like I'm not truly a part of the process at all (aside from that absentee ballot, which is enough).

But I have never been as excited about a candidate as I have this year. I have so wanted to be involved in this campaign from the very start -- volunteer, knock on doors, do SOMETHING because I have never felt so inspired by any political candidate before. As there is not much the campaign office needs from Lethbridge or Sapporo (besides our money), I have mostly been trying to convert my dad to "my" side (not too successfully, I fear. But he's a good sport and loves me still, I think...).

Anyway, whichever "side" you are on, be sure to go out and vote tomorrow. Make sure your voice is heard, too. And whoever is president on Wednesday morning (and please, oh please, let it be decided by Wednesday morning and not in December in the courts), I hope that after it is over all "sides" can unite and move forward. I think we can do it.

Yes, we can.

Barfing at Tiffany's (and photos from Jay and Judy's trip)

We needed to run to Akachan today (my favorite, affordable kid's store) but decided to check out the fancy department stores along the way. The kids got oohed and aahed at on many floors, in one place drawing almost a dozen sales people over to them with murmurs of "kawai" (cute).

After a lot of fun looking at very expensive and cool things we don't need, including some VERY amazing toys, the kids started melting down a bit, so we grabbed lunch at a nice restaurant on top of the one of the department stores. At lunch, Jack said he wasn't feeling good. From my backpack I dug out Katie's JAL purse (given to her by a flight attendant on the trip over) and gave it to him in case he had to throw up.

So we finished lunch quickly and headed back down to the first floor to go home and Jack turned pale. "I have to throw up," he whispered, and started running to a sign that he thought was a bathroom sign (it was an escalator sign, sadly). He stopped, right in front of Tiffany's, and across the way from Cartier (the boy always has had good taste), to throw up. A lot. Into the JAL bag which, thankfully, turned out to be waterproof.

People stared. We got the sense that Japanese children don't do anything so gauche as throwing up in public places (much less in front of places selling $10,000 diamonds). I asked a salesperson for "toilet" and got directed up the escalators...and John took Jack and the bag of barf up the stairs while I mopped up the little bit of barf on the floor in front of Tiffany's that didn't make it into the bag and tried to look, if not cool, at least not obvious. "La-la-la-la-la don't mind me, mopping this little mess up... la-la-la."

We took a taxi home. Jack slept on the couch all afternoon and has perked up this evening, and we had French toast for dinner at his request (not mac-and-cheese!).

In happier news -- I have posted a ton of pix from Jay and Judy's visit to the Shutterfly site. You can click here:

jackkateliv.shutterfly.com
password: kozleski

to see them. Here are some of the favorites:
Jack has been building a TON of cool things with his Lego. These are spaceships.










Here is Olivia at the Jozankei View Hotel

It's a girl!

Just a quick note to say Hiromi finally had the baby! Welcome little Fuuka, born Saturday, Nov. 1, weighing 2576 grams (about 5.6 pounds). They will be home from the hospital on Friday. As Midori (Lisa-chan's mom) wrote in an email last night: ''It is a thing with vigour...It might be relieved because it is safely born though Hiromi might also have become tired. Being able to meet the baby is the enjoyment.''

Just a trim

It's been more than eight weeks since the kids had a haircut... so we went in search of that today. Hiromi (of course) told me of a place that charged 1,000 yen just down the street (about $10, although the way the market has been changing and the Canadian dollar slipping and yen gaining strength, that formula isn't quite right any more. My apologies to currency purists. Apparently 1,000 yen is now about $12.50 Canadian).

Anyway... we found it. John asked if he could cut all three kids' hair and he said yes. Jack got an AWESOME cut -- one of the best ever. The girls' cuts are just OK... I think he was probably more barber than beautician, and probably was more familiar cutting short cuts (which is a polite way of saying I might have to clean it up a bit...) (EDITED TO ADD ON SUNDAY MORNING: after showering the girls, I actually had to spend quite a bit of time tidying it up, which means it is much shorter than intended. Oh well!). Anyway, the hair guy was very kind and enthusiastic and knew a few words in English... including "pretty", "handsome", and (sadly), "sexy". Which he kept saying, again and again, as he cut Katie and Livie's hair... an experience that felt very creepy, without (we hope) meaning to be.

Still -- any day when we accomplish something like a haircut in a foreign country and no one ends up with a buzz cut or perm is a good day in my book!

Oh, and I had wanted to add this photo showing a Japanese bridal shop -- with both traditional kimono and a more western look. Apparently brides wear both during the wedding celebration.

Photos from the Lake Toya trip

At last -- I have uploaded the pictures from our Lake Toya weekend.

Here is a glimpse of some of our favorites. You can see us in our yukata, the bathrobes you wear to the traditional Japanese baths, and checking out an active volcano that shot up out of a corn field during World War II (they knew it was a sign of something... just what, no one was sure...), and our ride to the top of another mountain in a gondola.

You can also see lots of sleepy girls -- we spent a lot of time hiking with girls in arms or on backs (and are VERY happy with a sling/child-carrier I found here early on. There are a ton of great babywearing carriers here! A lot of parents use them instead of strollers when out and about -- easier than a stroller on a subway, I'd guess.)

In the Shutterfly pictures, you can see Richard, the very kind HGU faculty member who accompanied us, and our hotel (which included "Viking style", or buffet, breakfast and lunch). If you want to know who is who in a photo, just email me and I'll add it.

What a party!

It was a great, if weird, party.

Midori and Lisa-chan and Hiromi's husband and Ayumu showed up right on time (3:30 -- everything in Japan seems to start on time, which would be fine in my old life, but tougher these last, oh, 3.5 years). Hiromi's husband didn't stay long, and the kids just played and snacked and we waited for Tomoko and her sons, Taiki and Keita, to arrive at 4 (she had let me know she couldn't arrive until then... it's not like she was, you know, running LATE.). It some ways it was like any party or group of kids together -- playing, running around, checking things out, even sharing. Jack, Kate and Liv really seemed to like having other kids in the house, and it was fun to see them showing their toys and things to their new friends.

In other ways, it was an odd party. It was so quiet, for one thing. So unbelievably quiet. Probably it was the language barrier, but also I suppose there was a certain shyness because all the friends were new. At one point, Jack went up to John and asked if he thought kids were having fun. They were -- it just took a while, and wasn't noisy.

But we did a Halloween project (decorating felt pumpkins) and and the kids played with toys, dressed up in crowns and scarves and bandanas and ate and were kids -- and there was lots of smiles throughout.

The moms talked about poor Hiromi (with Tomoko translating), who still hasn't had the baby but will stay in the hospital again tonight, and poor Ayumu, who misses his mom terribly and whose whole world is in the midst of changing.

Tomoko and Midori both brought cakes, and all three families came with goodie bags for all the kids, and with the treat bags we found -- well, there was A LOT of candy at the end.

At some points later that night, as John and I cleaned up and listened to the kids buzzing with excitement and sugar, I couldn't find the girls... it turns out they had taken the bowl of Doritos and camped out in the entry, munching with crowns on. Because, you know, they clearly hadn't had enough junk food in the previous 90 minutes!

A little while later, the three of them all put on rainboots and grabbed bags and went outside to ring out doorbell and shout TRICK OR TREAT. We added some more candy to their bags (by that point, why bother limiting it?) and called it a night.

These are three happy kids. They have been flying high all night (and it can't just be the sugar).

We ended up with great decorations thanks to John's good find at a grocery store with the kids today and the fortuitous arrival this morning of a care package from my dear childhood friend and her family, Susie (we shared the candy corns -- they were a HIT!). And while I don't consider myself a crafty person (at least not in the arts-and-crafts sense)... the crowns and felt pumpkins were pretty darn impressive, if I may say so myself.

Here are some more pictures of the day, including one of me with my electronic dictionary, the kids being silly in the morning earlier this week.

Happy Halloween!

Prepping for a party

Our big Halloween party is this afternoon and the kids can't wait.

It's not an easy task to prepare for a party in a country where the holiday is not really celebrated. John asked his students this week if they did anything for Halloween, or recognized the day in any way, or understood why there are a few orange and black decorations at the grocery store and mall. They had no clue except for recognizing jack-o-lanterns and such from their middle school English textbooks. I think the kids coming to the party are curious as well. We will do our best to share the joy of candy and costumes with them and probably not spend as much time, this time, talking about the undead and pagan holidays and all of that (maybe next time we're in Japan we can tackle that!).

We will have orange food (carrots, satsumas, orange juice and orange Doritos) and play Ghost in the Graveyard (I will ask Tomoko and John to translate). I couldn't find construction paper for decorations anywhere, and Hiromi volunteered to look for some for me, but instead went to the hospital last night to have her baby (Ayumu's dad, whom we haven't met, will drop him at the party, as it's all Ayumu has been talking about for a week). So we made little ghosts out of kleenix balls and dress-up crowns out of our cardboard recycling and tinfoil (they actually turned out pretty well!). I found some felt at the 100 yen store (like a dollar store) and made some felt pumpkins and different shapes the kids can put on it, and I found orange bandanas there, too, so kids can dress up as cowboys or pirates or anything else. I had wanted to make a cake or cookies, but we only have a broiler and my one attempt at making cookies was a quickly burnt disaster.

We'll take lots of pictures, of course, and let you know how it goes.

In other news -- I made the startling discovery yesterday that the bag of what I thought was white sugar (which I had just put on my plain yogurt, fruit, and granola), was actually salt. Yeah... not a good taste (especially as generously as I had "sugared" my yogurt.) I could have sworn I had picked up the same bag as I had last time at the store.

And good news for Katie -- she reported that she didn't spit on ANYONE at school this week. Now that's something every parent loves to hear. The school is preparing for some kind of performance which is, we now understand, a BIG DEAL. For one thing, they are practicing songs and dances all the time at school. Costumes are filling up the classrooms. And we were sent with a list of more things to buy for the kids (white tights, including for Jack, a white long sleeved t-shirt, and camisoles for the girls... Maiko from HGU had first translated the last item as singlets, which confused us... so John brought in the girls' leotards to learn they are NOT singlets... so she looked up more words and decided on camisoles.) Of course, all of these items will need to be marked with their names.

Anyway, this list took us for the first time to the underwear section of our favorite (affordable) children's department store and I have to say -- Japanese kids' underwear is AWESOME. So unbelievably soft -- like a different kind of cotton all together. And very clever. It is clear that it will get cold and snowy here and I found so many great footless tight, long underwear, tops, etc, and all of this amazingly soft cotton. I will need to head back (and check out the adult section, too). It did make me want to buy underwear for all of the kids we know in the world, which John said is just a little weird. Maybe... but it was SO soft!

OK. Off to shop for the party. Hope to be back with a good report later tonight. Happy Halloween!