A Baby Overseas

I lived overseas for two years after college in Minsk, Belarus and I remember the struggles I had: not getting to where I wanted when I wanted due to public transportation, wishing the lady behind the counter would understand my broken Russian (which became much better by the end of 2 years and now I find myself wanting to speak it while in Japan), or just the simple things that are so much easier in the country you are familiar with. Well, that was a piece of cake compared to having a baby overseas! She is still fighting jet lag and was up last night from 2-4:30. She was up again at 6. I should have known that good night would not last forever. HA! I am glad we are staying for a good bit of time because I would hate to spend a week of a 10 day visit adjusting to jet lag.

Today I had big plans to go to the mall. However, Priss Pooh did not take a morning nap therefore I did not get a shower so we could not go to the mall after her morning nap. Oh well. The same thing would have happened in America! It just feels heightened when I was really wanting to try the subway today by myself. I need to remind myself I am here for a month so I have plenty of time and I need to let my sweet girl get adjusted. She is taking a solid nap and I am listening to Spin ride 177 from Heidi while I write this entry as I drink my coke zero. Life is good. Plus, for those of you not on facebook, I watched Monday Night Football this morning on the computer via our sling box!!

I have gotten several suggestions of things to do from the yahoo group of foreign women married to Japanese men. There are several shopping centers to go to, a cool area by the bay to walk around, and some childrens museums that have toy rooms even for Miyako's age and nursing facilities. So, we are going to take the ones on our subway line first to tackle and then once I am more comfortable with that move on to those places where we have to switch lines. Yesterday we took a second walk in the evening and found a playground within 5 minutes of our apartment, but they did not have baby swings. That was a bummer since Miyako loves the swings. I feel bad for her somewhat because we could not bring a whole lot of toys and stuff. However, it is a blessing because one of Kan's co-workers found a high chair and exersaucer for us to borrow. It will be nice to not feed her in her stroller and to have a place to put her when I have to use the bathroom.

Here are some fun cultural tidbits for you. A friend of my husband's gave Miyako a Hello Kitty fork and spoon. However, the spoon has a stopper on it. Maybe we have spoons like that in the US for kids but I have never seen one. Our toilet has a heated seat...I am not kidding. And there are all kinds of buttons on it to get sprayed with who knows what. Of course all of the buttons are in Japanese and I am afraid to touch them. When I was here 8 years ago, my American mother-in-law and I had a hilarious time trying the buttons out at a fancy restaurant...we went against all rules, but we had fun doing it. I took my first Japanese bath today. In Japanese homes they have a bath tub and a shower. It is common for the bath tub to be filled in the morning with hot water and after you shower and clean yourself, you relax in the bath for a few minutes. I must admit it was very relaxing.

Some of you may be wondering how I am getting my exercise in...well, I borrowed those P90X DVD's from a friend and play them in my computer. They are super hard. I did the plyos one this AM and it was like a training session with my trainer. I am so glad I brought them with me!

Well, I have gone on enough. Kan just called and told me he found a cable for me to download pictures. I took some of our apartment today and will try to post them soon.