Noi and Grandpa

One reason I wanted to move to Japan was so Noi could have a grandpa. It's so heartbreaking for me that my father passed away before ever meeting my child and I wanted Noi to know and love and be loved by one grandpa. Here they are playing together......

Finding Cicadas

I'm trying to raise Noi to have a love for nature, as that was the wonderful gift given to me by my grandpa Elmer and mother and father. The older I get, the more I realize what a treasure that has been in my life. Luckily my husband loves nature too and loves insects, which makes me very happy, because I do too. Yesterday we went to the grove of trees near Hideto's parent's home and searched for cicadas. They are amazing little creatures that sing beautifully. In the early evening they crawl out of small holes in the ground (where they lay dormant for six years). If they are not eaten by Japanese ravens, they will hide in a tree and shed their skin, like dragonflies.. If you can find them in their holes, you can put a stick in the hole and wait for them to grab it, then pull them out, just like ice fishing! Otherwise, you walk around with a flashlight and look for them crawling out and then grab them, put them in a bucket, and bring them home. We found two last night and we brought them home and put them on a curtain. Then they crawl up the curtain until they find a cozy spot and prepare to shed their skin. After shedding their skin, they are bright green.

Then we went to sleep and in the morning, the cicada was sitting on the curtain, all brown, waiting for it's wings to harden. Shortly afterwards, we released it outside.

Meet the Mamas

One day I saw a foreign lady at the gym near our new home, so we went up and introduced ourselves. Turns out she organizes a Mama group with lots of Mamas from different countries- here we are in the photo. I'm the tallest! Funny.........Terrific group- Indonesians, Filipino, Chinese, Polish, Mexican, Taiwanese and most of them speak some English, they all speak Japanese. For me, since I'm not Japanese, I find it weird to speak to other non-Japanese in Japanese, so I spoke English and they all seemed to like it. I guess they didn't think to speak English, since none of them are Native English speakers anyway. I realized how Americans miss out somewhat on a great experience by not learning at least one foreign language. All these people could speak English and their native language, plus Japanese. Does learning another language make you wealthy? That is the question many Americans might ask, the answer is No, but it gives you confidence. Anyways........here's a photo of how I'm looking these days up close..........

Whoa, this zoo is amazing.......

Akita has an amazing zoo. Yes, we were really this close to the lions, their heads were on the glass and I was touching their faces. The only thing between us was a thin piece of glass. I guess the Japanese don't worry that the lions or tigers might get pissed off and try to crash through the glass, which they obviously could if they wanted to. Noi had a lot of fun playing on the little stuffed animals with this boy. He asked me "How do you say 'Mango' in English?" That made me think, is Mango an English word or a Spanish word or what language is this word? One thing that surprised me is Noi loves the snakes. Right after we got there, she said, "I want to see the snakes." Next to the snakes were these star turtles from India and Pakistan and they were eating these super yummy salads!

Futon Days coming to an END

Thank God!!!!!! I have been rolling and unrolling these things everyday for almost a year. They are a nightmare. Totally uncomfortable and sleeping on the floor sucks. I can't wait to have a bed! We already picked them out. BUT, look at this photo....this is the one great thing about this whole house-building journey, seeing Hideto and Noi together like this. Here they are watching TV on Hide's mobile phone. All phones have TV on them in Japan...........I skipped TV on mine and instead purchased a Global phone. Anyone can call me from around the world and I can call from any country I visit.

Fireworks

Noi thought this was fun. She did it with Ryu after the day at the beach. I thought it was dangerous for her to be doing it, but Hideto's family all said it was okay. You can see how I feel in the photos, in one I'm smiling for the camera, so Hideto will not feel bad, in the other one, I'm holding my hands up with a shocking look on my face thinking "Watch out!" It was one of those times when I couldn't make my opinion heard, so I stood there praying one of those sparks wouldn't go into her eye. It seemed so obvious her arms are still a little too short for this activity. Well, once I have my own house, I can control what goes on, these days I just try to do damage control. For example within the last two days, I have picked up a small sharp bobby pin off the bathroom floor, a safety pin off the bathroom floor, caught Noi starting to take the cap off the nail polish her grandma left on the small table you sit at without a chair (very low to the ground), killed a bee flying near her bed, because the screens are left open, moved a toolbox that was left on the floor....and other things too.......All of these things left laying around by a woman that thinks I'm not a good mother because I don't wash Noi's lunch box the minute she comes home from daycare.......And yes, she bought the fireworks without asking me if it was okay first...........Well, in the end, I know she does love Noi and that is the reason we are here, just can't wait to be about 15 minutes away everyday!!!!!!

Yaki Niku - A meat BBQ

In the house.........Noi was loving it, her first try and devoured a lot of meat. Up until now, she wouldn't eat meat, although she loves fish. Again, she had a blast with Ryu..........

Our Car- Nissan Serena

Here is our new car, it's extremely comfortable. Okay, I wanted a Prius, but as Hideto put it, there is no space for loading anything, including people.......Comes with a great Navi system, which is standard now for all cars. Started driving again after almost a year! Noi forgot I know how to drive, she said, "Is Mama going to drive?" Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer at the Beach

This is Miyazawa Beach, one of the top 100 beaches in Japan, about one and a half hours from our new home. Okay, it's not white sand, but after living in SF where you can't swim in the ocean, it was amazing!!!!!!! We had so much fun with our nephew Ryu. Noi loves him and they enjoyed playing in the sand. I had a blast swimming in the ocean, it's been almost 5 years. There are other beaches within 20 minutes from our home, but this one is the cleanest.

Japanese Blessings

Shinto, the Japanese religion, it's a custom for the priest to come and bless your home. They built an altar inside and I put my own little blessing signs on it, maybe you can see them in the photo, the little white rectangles. The priest said it was a good thing. I have a lot of hopes for living here. I believe they can all come true. The fun part of the blessing was throwing rice and sake all over the house and outside the house!