Random Visit to the Imperial Gardens

Kan headed out to Hong Kong today for work and he accidentally left his passport at home. He needed Miyako and I to bring it to him at the train station, so my classmate joined us in the venture to the train station. I was so thankful that she came along as I did not know what bus exactly to take and it is much easier getting on a bus with someone else to help me with the stroller. After handing over the much needed passport, my classmate and I walked to the Imperial Palace to take a stroll through the gardens. It was rather hot so I found a small water fountain for Miyako to get wet in. Once we started with that, she did not want to leave. My classmate tackled a little bit of the gardens. They are rather big and we got there about a hour before they closed. They were beautiful, very well manicured and green. It was a fun little random sightseeing adventure. Our plan is to go back one day in August since our classes have been canceled for the month. I am still getting my babysitter and decided to do some touristy things that are just not easy with Miyako. I thought walking around the entire gardens in the heat would be something she would not really enjoy. You will probably see another blog entry in the future about an August garden trip with a nice little lunch at a cafe in the area.

Speaking of heat, just for the record, it is downright hot here. I decided I am going to blame everything on "it is hot." It really does drain the energy out from under you. But I cannot complain too much. The skies today were bright blue and beautiful.

Girls Night Out Monja Style

Two of my friends from our Friday play group joined me for a Girls Night Out for Monja-yaki. I have talked about Monja in a previous blog regarding my cooking class. However, last night was a fun experience with it because I was not worried about a 20 month old burning her hand on the hot plate it is cooked on. My girlfriends have both lived here a significant amount of time (6 years and almost 3 years) but had yet to try Monjayaki. So we hit Monja street for a girls night out and enjoyed some fabulous food. We ate what the restaurant owner recommended - the first one was made with fish eggs and cheese while the second one was a curry based monja with corn beef. Both were delicious. Enjoy the pics.

Shimoda

Saturday and Sunday we ventured down south to a coastal area near the town of Shimoda. It was a much needed getaway from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. We went with my classmate and her husband and had the best time. We stayed at an inn called The Ernest House. It reminded us of a bed and breakfast you might find back in the US. Our breakfast came in a little basket you could take to the beach or eat outside on the front lawn. There were many highlights of the weekend. For one, we were nowhere near a computer so I was not distracted by emails, facebook or blogging and Kan was not distracted by work. We could focus on having fun and enjoying our family and friends. The company was excellent as we really enjoy my classmate and her husband. They are laid back and easy going which is our style! Another highlight was the beach! I love the beach and from the looks of our pictures you can see Miyako does too. She LOVED the ocean. In spite of how cold the Pacific was this past weekend, she would have gone head first if we would have let her. She did not mind at all when the waves would come crashing into her face. She would look up and just laugh and laugh. Funny considering when I bathe her she screams loud enough for our old neighbors in Lexington to hear when I shampoo her head and the water gets in her face. But salt water? Sure, bring it on, she says! We also did some exploring. We found a tasty little Italian restaurant for dinner. We were the only ones in the place, which is not always a good sign. :) But the food was delicious and we could watch them make our wood oven pizzas. On our way back Sunday, we stopped and did a mile long hike along the coast to a Suspension Bridge. The hike was not stroller friendly, and since Kan and I were in flip flops, we were not too prepared. But we made it and got some beautiful pictures of the scenery. We found a paved road to take us back as we did not want to take the chance of falling and getting hurt with Miyako. Miyako was exhausted on the train ride back. She fell asleep on Kan for the second half of the train ride back, woke up long enough to eat dinner and get a bath once we got home, and then went right back to bed. I am already trying to decide when we should book our rooms for next year.

Progress with Nena

Thursday is our "Nena" morning where our babysitter comes to be with Miyako while I go to Japanese class. I expressed concern to some of you when we first started using Nena because Miyako had a horrible time when I left. She cried and cried and Nena had to keep her outside most of the time because every time she came inside she would look for me and say "mama, mama." I knew if I just gave it time, she would get more comfortable and used to Nena, but it still pulled at my heart strings. I never once felt uncomfortable with Nena. She is a wonderful sitter and we are so glad to have found her in such a large city with our nearest family about 3 hours away. But when we first started, I really wondered if it was going to work simply because Miyako had such a hard time.

I am proud to say we stuck with it, both Nena and I, and for the past several weeks Miyako has not even whimpered at me leaving. In fact, Nena comes in, and Miyako easily goes to her and is comfortable with her. My MIL told me it would be hard that first time Miyako easily goes to Nena, and she was right...it was a bit hard. My heart thought "she does not miss me or need me." However, that quiet voice from the Lord reminded me that this is what He intended with children. They take little milestones on their way to independence and freedom. Obviously Miyako is not completely there yet. Who are we kidding. She is only 20 months old. But it is God's divine plan for the children to grow up and leave home and embark on their own journey.

The question for me is what kind of woman of God are we training to go out into the world at age 18 and tackle whatever life may bring her? What kind of character am I exemplifying to her on a daily basis? Do I point her to Christ? Do I serve our family well, without complaint, so that she one day will serve others well? Do I love her father well in front of her? Pretty heavy stuff for just some progress with Nena. And I might I add, very convicting as I do not always love and serve well. God has given us this gift, and what a sweet gift she is, and one day she will be her own independent person who I trust will make a difference in this world. It is good that she is comfortable with Nena, and it will be good one day when she leaves our nest and goes to college. It will be good one day when she walks down that aisle and commits herself to her own family. Is it easy...no...but it is good and it is how God intended it to be.

Tanabata Festival

Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is a Chinese legend about two stars, Altair and Vega, who are able to meet one day out of the year. The rest of the year they are separated across the milky way. Tanabata is celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month, so today being July 7th, we celebrated Tanabata. A popular custom is to write your wishes on a piece of colored paper and hang that wish from a piece of a bamboo tree in hope that the wish will come true.

I had noticed with our friends last week lots of colorful papers being hung around the city in parks or at shrines but had no idea what it was in relation to. I figured it was some kind of wish or something of that nature. Today, Miyako and I went to our local indoor play area and it was unusually crowded. There were probably 50 kids plus their moms in the small little room. Come to find out, the play area was celebrating Tanabata. We sang songs (and I got many compliments on my jouzu (skillful) Japanese - YAY, I can read enough characters to sing some kiddie songs) and made a craft with the male and female people who plan to meet today. A friend compared it to the Asian version of Romeo and Juliet. Nobody dies, but the couple can only unite one day out of the year. We were also given a piece of paper to write wishes for Miyako on. I did not know enough Japanese to know I was supposed to write a wish on it. Instead, I wrote her name in English and Japanese and she partially colored the paper while fully coloring her hand in the process...with marker! When Kan came home, he found the Tanabata branch on his desk as a "welcome home from work" gift. What I thought would just be a typical day at the indoor play area, turned into a fun craft time, and I learned something cultural in the process.

A Taste of Lexington

Yesterday, on July 4th, we put our friends back on a plane to Lexington. We had a fabulous time with them. Just seeing them get out of the taxi that first night upon arrival was a breath of fresh air. It was so nice to see some people from home. Kan and I were deeply touched that they spent so much money (let's face it, a flight to Tokyo is not cheap) and their vacation time to come see us. It made us feel warm and fuzzy inside. And we had lots of fun with them. They probably put more than 50 miles on their shoes in the ten days they were here. I think they saw more of Japan than what I have seen and I have been here for 6 months. Mr. J is a natural with maps and navigating through cities, so even when Kan and I were not with them exploring, they managed to find their way and see a lot of Japan. We went to Kyoto the first weekend they were here and saw the highlights. I finally went up in Tokyo Tower - kind of funny since it is a touristy thing to do and I had yet to do it. We did Odaiba and got rained out at the beach, but found an indoor play area for the girls to get some of that energy out. I think the best part though, besides staying up and talking, was watching our little girls get to play together at parks like they did when we lived in Lexington and would meet at the four way stop to walk to the neighborhood park together. We went to a park in Ebisu on the last day that had two bucket swings so the girls got to swing side by side. Such a treat, especially since you do not find tons of bucket swings around Tokyo. I hope our girls become lifelong friends and even though they do not live close by anymore, can develop a strong friendship via skype! Thank you for coming friends! We really do appreciate it and miss you already!

The Finished Stocking...Merry Christmas!

So, for those of you who know me, you know I am not the most crafty person. I do not enjoy sewing or anything of that nature. But one thing I have found I enjoy is needle-pointing. It is a mindless activity you can do while watching episodes of The Office or Friends, and yet it looks like you are actually skilled at something crafty. I have mostly made belts - even making Kan a UT belt for his 30th birthday (definitely a Round 2 gift as I did not want to spend that much time on a gift during Round 1:). I was talking with my best friend after Miyako was born and saying how I wanted to needlepoint her something. She had also recently had a baby and was doing a tooth fairy pillow for her little one. She did tooth fairy pillows for her boys as well. So, one day in the late spring of 2009, my mom and I went to the needlepoint store and I decided to do a stocking for Miyako. However, I did not choose a small and basic stocking. I chose the largest and most detailed stocking known to man. But it is a mindless activity I thought, and we watch lots of football in our house, so I knew I could finish it by Christmas of 2009.

I took it on the annual Faulkner Family vacation and my cousin-in-law and I both worked on our babies' Christmas stockings. She finished hers...mine still had some work to do. In October of 2009 Kan and I spent four weeks in Japan to "check it out" and I thought I would finish it, only to find out I ran out of some yarn and needed to purchase more upon returning to Lexington. When we got home, I went to the store to get more yarn and asked the lady if I were to bring the stocking in by Thanksgiving, would it be ready for Christmas. She responded in her sweet southern voice, "Oh honey, we start our Christmas orders in July. If you wanted it ready by Christmas you should have finished it by the summer." Really? I wish they had told me this when I bought it, but nonetheless, this gave me more time. I knew for sure I could finish it by summer of 2010. I had plenty of time!

Well, life turned crazy at that point. We came home from Japan, and a few weeks later made the decision to move here for a couple of years to try it out. We spent a week in Knoxville at Christmas and I was so bummed I forgot the stocking to work on, but I was not too concerned about it since I knew I had so much time. To make a long story short, I finally finished the stocking tonight! WOOHOO! The pressure was on. I had been putting it off by reading great books at night, but then our friends decided to come visit us, and I knew I simply had to finish it so they could take it back to Lexington. I am proud to say, the stocking will board a plane on Sunday July 4th and hopefully within the week it will be at the needlepoint store to become a complete stocking. Then in September, it will board a plane back to Japan from Lexington with my folks and come December, it will hang proudly from these little hooks dispersed on our living room wall for pictures that we do not have right now.

What was I thinking making a stocking so big and so detailed? The Santa I know does not have enough toys to fill it up! I should have stuck with a tooth fairy pillow. I also knows this means any other children we have also must have a stocking of the same caliber. Maybe I will even make one for Kan and I one of these days. But it was well worth it. This is something Miyako can keep forever, or until she makes stockings for her own family, and in spite of how long it took me, I cannot wait to see it hung from the chimney with care...or little hooks on the living room wall in our situation in Tokyo.