Etc...

It's Saturday and I'm in my office at school. Part of the "etc." clause in my contract. No big deal, the students are only here for 1/2 a day to participate in a school-wide health and dental check-up. About 90% of the teaching and admin staff are here to supervise and organize. I'm actually quite happy to have the time to prepare some lessons.

Anyway, here are some photos that Ericka took over the past 2 weeks from her cell phone.

Cellphone photo

Just sharing another photo taken on our cell phone. The fam` visited me on campus the other day and some students took this picture of the ladies.

Green tea & Cheerios

The breakfast of champions.

After learning that Cheerios are unavailable in Tokyo (who would've thought?), Grammy quickly got 2 boxes out to us and, much to our amazement, they arrived on Easter Sunday, moments after talking to her via Skype!  

Skype call to VT

Duh.  It dawned on me last weekend that we can use our Skype account to call both land-based and mobile phones at local rates.  So, seeing as how we really haven't spoken to Greg or Mel much since we arrived, we gave them a ring.  

Lucky for us, Grammy answered and she was thrilled to hear from us.  It was exciting all around and even though their computer does not yet have Skype installed (soon, we are told) we were pleased to have finally reached them.  As Ericka said previously, it feels like we kidnapped the grandkids!  

I snapped a photo of our realtime computer-to-phone moment.   

I See U!

Top Gum

Happy Easter

It was last weekend, I know, but I'm just now getting around to the photos from Easter Sunday.  

Free beer?!

Yes, really.  Allow me to explain...

Last Saturday, armed with 3 backpacks and 3 re-useable shopping bags, we ventured to the local supermarket to stock up on groceries and to get a few home necessities.  While Ericka stood in line to pay for the iron and ironing board, Miki, Sam and I decided to look for some lunch and get started on the grocery list.  

While descending on the escalator from the second floor I noticed a sales woman standing among the beer, wine & sake corner handing out cans of beer to customers.  Like any reasonable Papa on a hot, sunny, Saturday afternoon, I ambled over.  She happily thrust a can in my hand and I thanked her for the "Papa juice".  She was still laughing as the 3 of us continued our search for the bento lunch boxes.  

Over the course of that afternoon and picnic lunch I managed to get 4 beers.  Wow, let me tell you, it was one of the best times I've had in a Japanese grocery store!  

Oh yeah, we picked up a kickball for Miki that day.  Here are some shots of the park across the street and site of our (slightly intoxicated) picnic lunch.

Chutes & Ladders

Living in the city does actually have some perks when it comes to parks and "green space". There are at least 3 within easy walking distance of our apartment.  Granted they are not huge, but for a 3 year old they don't have to be.  All that's required is a slide, a few swings and a sand box.  

Yokohama city has a Montessori school about 12 minutes from here and adjoining the building is a park with a very unique slide: mellow incline, raised sides and at least a hundred independent "rollers", much like the belt used to usher airport luggage along or thru the x-ray screen.  I've never seen anything like it and it reminds me of the "alpine slides" built on the sides of ski slopes for summer entertainment.   Anyway, it works best with heavy objects and since, on this particular day, I was wearing Sam, Ericka joined Miki for a ride or two.   

More climbing photos

Pump II.  Read entry below for the report.

Indoor Rock Climbing

Yesterday I took Ericka, Miki & Sam to the rock climbing gym we used to frequent many years ago.  Ericka and I were regular members here for about 3 years and along the way made many friends.  The gym as we knew it then changed a couple of years ago.  They lost their lease, the building closed, etc, etc... Luckily they built a spanking new building across the street and it's better than ever.  

We arranged to meet 2 friends Sunday afternoon for a climbing rendezvous (actually, one is our good friend and climbing veteran, the other a family friend and total beginner).  

As it turned out, there were a handful of people already at the gym when we arrived whom we knew from 7 years ago!  It was great to catch up and reunite.  Needless to say, they were absolutely stunned to see us walk in with a toddler and an infant.  

All in all, we had a grand time and Miki loved it.  She was giddy with excitement and so tuckered out that she fell asleep in the stroller on the walk home from the station.  After a quick meal of rice, sweet potato, noodles, pork, kimchi and miso soup, I got Miki into the tub and put her into her futon.  She slept soundly for the next 11 hours!

Tokyo Girls

I'm short on time so I'll have to skip any background information on these photos.  Basically they are recent pics taken in the apartment.  Mostly of the sisters lounging around and one of Mama & Sam cooking up some udon noodles.

Kodomo no kuni

Children's Land!  This lovely park, about a 10-12 minute walk from our apartment, was actually used as underground storage for "supplies" (ammunition and such I presume) during WWII.  It's quite a large park and today serves as a mix of nature park, petting zoo and amusement park all rolled into one.  

Anyway, last weekend the park held a special 2-day event for night time cherry blossom viewing (hanami).  We managed to catch the final hour of the event on the last night.  Sounds pathetic on our part, but believe me, it hasn't been easy adjusting to our new environs.  

Here are a few photos.  

Oh yeah!  Almost forgot.  There was a taiko drum band performing towards the end of the night.  Could hear it long before you could see them.