life out here

visit this blog

2007-09-26T21:40:00.000+09:00

This blogger is documenting the protests in Burma. The larger his global audience, the less likely the government is to shut him down...

The photos are powerful, but his courage is even more impressive.

http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/

because the last post was a cop-out...

2007-06-22T02:41:00.000+09:00

Well, I just made it through a stint of working practically full-time for 2 months. And survived. OK, it wasn't really full time, but it was a lot more than I've been up to since we got to Havana. Hopefully, more things will come up in the fall, cause it turns out: I like to work!

And tomorrow, we head off to Vancouver for a 3-week break for Steve and a 5-week break for Sam and I. And boy, do we need it. It's a good thing it is really sunny here, or it would be just downright depressing. I'm finding the level of hopelessness that lies beneath the surface here to be a bit much at the moment, so am really looking forward to a good, long break in a city with life and action and options. Not to mention good food and shopping.

We have long lists of foods to eat (sushi, fresh ramen, a really good burger, salmon, salad with more than one kind of lettuce in it, an apple, onigiri, bagels, steak you can actually chew with your teeth, extra old cheddar cheese...), things to do (go to a movie, see some Shakespeare, do some essential shopping, take a vacation [Steve and I are taking a parental 5-day break to Whistler], see family, go to a wedding...). I really and truly can't wait!

In amongst the anticipation of our trip, life in Cuba continues. Last weekend was a series of ups and downs:

The high point was definitely Sam's first piano recital - he was just excellent. I swear, the kid has talent. He really gets the music. He was completely nervous and couldn't play either of his pieces through all morning, and then he sat down at the piano at his recital and played like a pro. About halfway through the first piece, he just relaxed and went with it. So proud!

After the recital, we hustled home and had Sam's 11th birthday party - this year's cake looked like this:

On the down side, on the way to the recital, our car got swarmed by about 5 guys who managed to tear off our rear-windshield wiper - I think they may have been trying to "surf" behind the car in the 2-6 inches of water on the road due to the rain, but it was a freaky moment.

In other exciting and decidedly Cuban news, while we were on our fabulous (and now far too distant) break to Playa del Carmen, we had a new kitchen installed - 100% termite-free! For now! It's quite gorgeous, and came with a new oven that looked like this when we first turned it on:

Hmmmm... not so much.

Last night I had a dream that we got a new dishwasher that actually cleans the dishes...

wasting time before vacation

2007-06-22T02:40:00.000+09:00

My New York age is 39

This New York age puts you into a middle category between young and old (but not "middle age" per se). Be proud. You've got a nice balance between going out hard-core and staying in. You care about culture but also like some quiet nights. Keep it up, but think about expanding your horizons in the other directions. Head to Studio B or Anthology Film Archives for the first time, or finally check out the Village Vanguard or Elaine's for a dose of old-school NYC.

Does your age reflect how you're living? Let us know.

What's your New York age? Take the Time Out New York quiz and find out!

squeamish

2007-06-09T04:43:00.000+09:00

There are just to many small, slimy, many-legged things here for me to actually relax. Cause, really, underneath it all (and on top of it all, actually), I am an urban, Jewish-Canadian princess. And I truly believe that creepy-crawlies should not be in my house.

It's almost an escalation... First, the termite infestation in the living room walls. Big termites. With wings. And of course, there are the ants. Big ones, but mostly thousands and thousands of little, tiny sugar ants. Really, thousands of them - especially now that it is "ant season", which is apparently differentiated from the rest of the year when things go from, say, 200 ants per square meter to, say, 400 ants per square meter. It's more, but it's never none.

The lizards, I like. They eat ants and termites. I think. The frogs are generally ok, except the other night when we had an albino frog on the balcony railing. That was a little creepy.

The land crabs are a little over the top, since they are at least 8 inches claw-to-claw (I know, I just can't stick with one form of measurement), and blue. Tarantulas are ok, you just have to stay clear of the holes in the lawn. If they are out of their holes during the day, they are generally dead.

The thing that did it for me, that pretty much ended my feeling of comfort, that pushed me over the edge, was the SCORPION in the LIVING ROOM.

Enough.

sorry, sorry, sorry

2007-05-03T08:46:00.000+09:00

I know, it 's been ages. I blame it on life. Life in Cuba, really. In between almost non-stop guests between New Year's and oh, next week, things have been busy. I've seen lots more of Havana, what with touring people around (or, being toured around, more likely) and the need to FIND things.

And I've been working on and off. Luckily, mostly off for the 4 months of visitors (nothing like living somewhere hot and generally accessable to generate interest). I had a job briefly in January, but it was so boring that I quit after 4 weeks. On the up side, I was working during the PTA elections, so managed to dodge that bullet - but still managed to get volunteered for the upcoming "international food fair" this weekend. Canadian food? Right... hmmmm....

Now, I am working again, for 8 weeks part time at the Canadian Embassy - don't ask what, at least not on the blog. I shudder to think... And I am working as an editor for the UNDP - starting last week while we were in Mexico for 5 days. I know lots more now about drought patterns and relief than I did a week ago...

I have to say, I was tootling along just fine here in Havana, scrounging yellow peppers here and frozen spinach there, with the odd exciting moment (feta cheese! a new skirt!), and feeling pretty good about things. And then I left the island. For Playa del Carmen. Oops.

Turns out that visiting Mexico (a mere 40-minute flight away) has had a much more serious impact on my impression of Cuba than say, visiting Ottawa in December. Go figure. Damn, that Mexico is a place that WORKS. With restaurants. And taxis. And stores. We went to a grocery store and it had actual groceries.

transformistas!

2007-01-05T00:53:00.000+09:00

or... Priscilla, Queen of the Playa?

We spent new year's eve with some friends at an event hosted by a German diplomat here in Havana. It was truly surreal - not exactly the new year's eve I was envisioning for Cuba...

Here are some shots - I'll let you make of them what you will...

Our Hostess:

The Goddess:

me getting familiar:

what the f?ck you lookin at?

For the (straight) boys in the audience:

Pics! Of that fab beach I mentioned...

2006-12-15T03:57:00.000+09:00

So, we finally got around to downloading the pictures that we took when we went to Cayo Levisa back in October or November or whatever it was (time flies when you are doing nothing...)

Where we came from:

Where we slept:

The view down the beach:

My view for 3 days straight:

So, now do you want to come and visit?

fly me to the moon...

2006-12-10T01:32:00.000+09:00

Here is the cool thing about Havana.

I am living in history. It is a semi-functional museum that hasn't changed since 1959. The cars, the buildings, the president...

I love driving along the Malecon past the Hotel Riviera - Myer Lanski's gangster central. I will go inside in the new year, and see if I can take some funky photos.

Yesterday I had lunch at the Edificio Bacardi, which was the headquarters for Bacardi Rum, back in the day. It is one of the few well-maintained buildings in Central Havana, and it is an art-deco WONDER surrounded by crumbling buildings and decrepit streets.

But even better...

Last night we had dinner at the home of some British colleagues, and they live in Frank Sinatra's love nest. It is a lovely house, with a pool and a fantastic patio. Kind of off the beaten path, near the State school of music (which used to be the Havana golf club, before The Triumph Of The Revolution - which is how they mark before and after here). A nice house, but ever so much cooler when you know that this is where Frank brought the girls that he picked up at the Hotel Riviera when he wanted "a little privacy".

Wow.

garapatas

2006-12-07T23:07:00.000+09:00

Yay! New vocabulary...

Crap! It means ticks...

Fox is now an outside dog. Something about her Japanese blood is absolutely delicious to Cuban ticks, and I can't stand the sight of the creepy little crawlers scurrying across the kitchen floor. We have fumigated inside and out, treated the dog at least 4 ways, and now she lives outside. Sorry, puppy.

Sam has a new friend here, an newly arrived American/British boy, and as always with Sam's friends, he is about 3 feet taller than Sam. And even more energetic and talkative than Sam - imagine!

I actually have some of Sam's writing to post, so I should get on that. He has blossomed as a poet, and is loving the Shakespeare component of his literature programme - and they are studying Romeo and Juliet! Imagine how much he would love the comedies. He wanders around the house quoting Shakespeare, and is able to remember whole scenes word-for-word. Yet, he can't seem to remember to pick up his socks...

And they are starting to get stinky.

Carrots!!!!

2006-12-06T03:27:00.000+09:00

Ahhh... Carrots. You can't even imagine what you will miss until it isn't available.

Yep, found carrots today, and aubergine. Such riches - the season of abundance has arrived. At last... (and for how long, one wonders...)

Actually, I got a huge bag of veggies (carrots, aubergine, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, limes) for under $2. And coming from Tokyo, that's a shocker! And I've got 2 beautiful pineapples as well. But they were expensive, $1 for the two of them.

We are currently eating the lettuce from our own garden, and the mandarin oranges from our back yard tree. Waiting on two bunches of bananas, one of which will probably be ripe while we are freezing in Ottawa over Christmas.

People in Canada talk about the weather - here, we talk about FOOD. Where you can get what, what you have at home, a vaguely decent restaurant. It is almost inevitable that any coversation will eventually turn to edibles.

memed again

2006-11-27T23:21:00.000+09:00

This is from Jo; and she is right, I have time to kill. So, here goes.

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

What does next year have in store for me?
She Moves On, Paul Simon

What's my love life like?
Garden of Eden, Frankie Vaughan

What do I say when life gets hard?
Where the Streets Have No Name, U2

What do u think of on waking up?
Giant, Stan Rogers

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Ocean Beat, Tosca

What do you want as a career?
It's Saturday Night, Proclaimers

Your favourite saying?
Never is Enough, Barenaked Ladies

Favourite place?
Ma's Rose, Cate Friesen

What do you think of your parents?
That Don't Impress me Much, Shania Twain

What's your Pornstar name?
Try (just a little bit harder), Janis Joplin

Where would you go on a first date?
Duke's in Town, Joe Sealy

Drug of choice?
TVC 15, David Bowie

Describe yourself
Piece of my Heart, Janice Joplin (again?)

What is the thing i like doing most?
Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe, Barry White

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
I'm Just a Singer (in a rock & roll band), Moody Blues

How will I die?
I Don't Believe You, Bob Dylan

that's all pretty retro, isn't it? My iTunes must be in a mood today.

I think that's just silly...

too much time on the internet...

2006-11-25T07:32:00.000+09:00

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured an ancient site
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played Dungeons & Dragons for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently well enough to have a decent conversation
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
151. Finished a marathon
152. Gotten lost in a city where you can't read or speak the language

frente frio

2006-11-23T23:52:00.000+09:00

Yes, a cold front has hit Havana. It started out with rain last week, the sort of rain that makes you worried that your pool might overflow... And now, it's cold.

I realize that complaining about the cold in Cuba will probably garner as much sympathy for me as when I complained about finding good household help back when I lived in the DR, but this is MY blog, after all. And if you weren't used to my princess-y ways, you wouldn't be reading this, right?

So, it is cold. Why, yesterday when we woke up it was a chilly 15 degrees celcius. And today, it might only go up to 25. Will this slow down the ripening of my tomatoes? Will it chill my lettuce? Will it affect my zucchini? I'll have to remember to ask the gardener.

The difficult thing (I know, your hearts are already bleeding) was digging out long trousers for Sam to wear to school this week. Who knew we'd need them? He has 5,000 pairs of shorts, and 3 pairs of trousers. And I've taken to wearing socks in the house, as the marble floors are bloody freezing!

Outside of the extreme cold, we have been having fun here. The weekend before last, we finally found the beach that we have been looking for here: Cayo Levisa (I'll post photos soon). It is a short 110km drive from Havana - however, due to livestock and road conditions, it is a drive that takes over 2 hours! (Nothing slows you down quite like a herd of cows on a windy, hilly, holey road.)

Once you survive the drive (which is actually really beautiful when you are brave enough to stop scanning the road for cavernous potholes and look up for seconds at a time), it is a 20 minute boat ride to a tiny island, where you stay in (really, surprisingly lovely) cabanas right on the beach. They even had hot water! Every day!

And when supplemented and augmented by the goodies we brought, the food at the restaurant was downright edible, and we didn't see Sam for more than 2 hours the whole time we were there (he and his buddies were busy torturing hermit crabs - I hope that is a joke...).

So, life here is okay...

the lost blog...

2006-11-20T02:36:00.000+09:00

I wrote this ages ago, and now that we have internet at home, I can post it.

Did I just write "internet at home"? WOO HOO!!!!

Thursday September 14, 2006

Well, last Tuesday Sam was invited to be the batboy for the Canadian Olympic baseball team, in their final game in the Americas Tournament, against Nicaragua (try to fit that on the front of a baseball jersey…). Steve and I decided that would be a legitimate excuse to skip school – he has years and years more of school, but only one chance to spend a morning in the dugout with these guys, so off we went.

Sam and I went with a few other Canadians from the embassy (including a couple of other batboys) to find a tiny little town somewhere south of Havana, on the Ocho Via (the 8-lane national highway built by the Soviets, meant to run the length of Cuba, but only made it half way – as far as they got when the Soviet Union crumbled). The Ocho Via, once you are on it, is an impressive highway – smooth, almost traffic-free, and completely unsigned. No signs to get on it, and no signs on the exit ramps to figure out where to get off for your destination. You have to hope for the best, watch the map, and count the overpasses. I assumed (wrongly) that the lack of signs was to confuse any potential invading forces. But no, it is because the metal used to make the signs is a great building material, and apparently, if you to into the right houses, you might find an ancient fridge with a side panel reading “Santiago” or “Las Tunas”.

So, we did manage to find the little town, and the baseball stadium (always one of the easiest structures to find in a Cuban town, especially at night, because of the lights. The game was fun, Sam had a great time (photos to come at some point in the future), the Canadians won the game, and we got to hear the play-by-play from the Nicaraguan sportscasters up above us in the stands. No sign of any Canadian broadcasters, though…

And we thought…

“What could be cooler than being the batboy for the Canadian Olympic baseball team?”

Stay tuned to find out…

…

How about getting to meet Kofi Annan?

All of the kids at Sam’s school (no parents, boo hoo…) were invited to go and meet with Kofi Annan while he was here for the non-aligned states thingey…

it's coming...

2006-11-09T01:18:00.000+09:00

so, word on the street (well, ok, around the embassy) is that our home internet will be coming next week.

WOO HOO!!!!!

I have to say, I can't wait. Although it might cut into my "sitting around the pool eating bonbons and getting pedicures" time... Right.

Last weekend, we went to the Marine Corps Ball, as we do pretty much every year (I like those opportunities to dress up and wear the shoes of satan - ouch, sore feet). While it was a little quieter than those in other locations (no fraternization with locals for the marines here, poor lads), we did get the coolest party treats ever... I now have a Cuban cigar in a wooden box labelled "US Marine Corps Ball 2006 - Havana, Cuba". What do you figure I can get for that on ebay?

Oh, and one of the Marines had come to Cuba from Okinawa. Oddly, my Japanese is better than his, and I certainly wasn't doing any sort of "fraternizing with locals" (that would be a euphemism, folks) in Japan... And I bet he was...

This weekend we are off on an adventure with some friends. We are taking off to a very small island (Cayo Levisa - maybe I will google it) about 2 hours plus a short boat ride east of Havana. Should be fun, although I hear the lodgings are pretty basic and the food is awful. For Cuba. Hmmm...

still here...

2006-10-27T22:48:00.000+09:00

Really, I am still here. Havana is still here. Rumour has it that Castro is still here...

I have unposted blog entries at home, which will have to be posted later, so I will try not to ruin any surprises... It is possible that we will have internet at home sometime in the next month or so. Although that is what I believed back in September (who ever thought I was an optimist?). Vamos a ver.

We continue to attempt to eat at restaurants, and continue to be generally disappointed, although last night we had a nice meal at a paladar (family-run, in-home restaurant. No more than 12 chairs - unless you know someone in the government who can grease some wheels...) not far from our house. I think that the trick is to stick with really simple food. Fresh fish. Rice. Cuban beans. Mojitos. How could you go wrong with that? The problem is not the restaurants, it is our expectation and hope that we will find somewhere wonderful and creative. Not yet.

On sunday, our house broke. Saturday night, we were having a small dinner party out in our ranchon (outdoor dining area) while the kids were swimming in the pool. As usual here, the talk turned to politics, and we asked our guests to please speak clearly and directly into the light fixture, as that is where we figure the listening device is... We joked about spies, Cuban and otherwise, and life here, and all of that... And the next day, our house fell apart. Perhaps a "hello" from our listeners? A little nudge that "we are here"? Who knows. But it seems awfully coincidental that the next morning we had no hot water, the dryer didn't work, the light in the kitchen wouldn't turn on and our pool pump stopped working. Either "those guys" did something, or the warranty on our house ran out...

Anyway, everything is fixed. For now...

one more, written on tuesday Sept 12th

2006-09-15T04:41:00.000+09:00

So, marietta, our helper (my empleada), arrives every weekday at about 8.45 am, and leaves around 4 pm. our house isn't really big enough to require that much cleaning time, and the only things to get ironed are Steve's shirts, but here is why she comes every day:

some guys ring the bell - they want to know where we got our guard house because they need one.
the fish delivery guy (who can also get almost anything else that might fall off the back of a truck around here) comes by to tell us that he can't deliver anything this week because of the meeting of heads of non-aligned states - no one can ride around (even on bicycles) with parcels.
the water guy from the embassy comes with two more water bottles for us.
a couple of guys in a horse cart show up to take the coconuts off of the trees in the back so that they don't fall down on our heads and kill us while we are lazing aroud the pool. I paid them too much, but they had to fend off thousands of ants while 30 feet up in the air swining around machetes. What's a few dollars to me?
two guys from the embassy come over to check out the new stove we have in the garage and to figure out how they will wire it.
two more guys from the embassy show up to look at the work that the carpenter did yesterday with the new curtain rods, and to consult on the wiring of the new stove.
a friend comes over for coffee
the garbage removal guy comes from the embassy to take away our non-recycleables.
the fumigator stops by to spray the yard for mosquitoes so that we can avoid catching dengue (big problem here for the past few months).

And all of this at my gate before noon today.

In between arrivals and departures, I made orange juice. We bought a HUGE bag of oranges for $5, but they need to be dealt with fairly quickly. No preservatives, you know. I am about halfway through the bag right now, and we have a lovely container of very tart fresh-squeezed orange juice in the fridge.

The only person who DIDN'T come to my door was my Spanish teacher, but that is no great surprise, as driving this week is quite bad, what with all of the non-aligned heads of states zipping around town in official vehicles having meetings. Or whatever you do when you are unaligned. Whatever that means.

written on Monday, 11 September, at home

2006-09-15T04:18:00.000+09:00

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore...

I keep getting this feeling here. This is SO NOT TOKYO! Which is mostly fine, although I have moments of missing Tokyo viscerally. If that is the word. I feel it in my gut. Clearly, four years was enough time for me to put down roots, to really feel at home in Tokyo. I remember that I was ready to leave, that I was ready for new challenges (hoo, boy, watch out what you wish for...), I was tired of the constant fear of earthquakes. But WOW do I miss it. I think if I start listing the things I miss, I'll end up a snivelling mess. However, just one thing - I miss having INTERNET!!!! I am writing this at home, assuming that I will be able to figure out how to transfer this from heret o some internet-connected computer somewhere, sometime soon.

Havana is beautiful and kind of sad. Or not sad, but melancholy or something. The buildings and the city itself are just stunning. But things are crumbling (oops - power just went out, hooray for the UPS I have the computer connected to...). If Cuba hadn't had the last 50 years of isolation, it would be just like the rest of the world (probably just like the Dominican Republic, our home 4 years ago, or was it 5), and that would be a sadder thing. Things are kind of static here, at least architecturally. I can imagine, driving along the Malecon, or though my 1950's neighborhood, what Havana looked like in its mid-20th Century glory. Our area, where we live, was all built in the 50's, and the architecture is experimental (not all of it successfully so) and funky and cool. Our house is all strange angles and different levels, and I love it. We have friends who live in houses build in the 1920's, or even back in the late 1800's, I think, and those houses are amazing. But everything that is not a government building, or that isn't housing a foreigner (or isn't a part of Havana Vieja- Old Havana) is completely crumbling. If you sneezed too loud (like a salaryman on the subway) the whole place might come crashing down around you.

One of the things that Steve did during our unpack on the weekend was to disassemble our bed. It was kind of creaky and wobbly, and so he took it apart to investigate. It was held together with plumbing parts. The bedframe was screwed to the headboard with water-line shut-off valves. A testament to Cuban ingenuity, and to the complete uselessness of the Canadians who have used the bed for the past however many years. Because not only was it put together with toilets, but it was also assembled in such a way that only four of the six legs could touch the floor at any given time - hence the fantastic wobble and rattle every time we ummm... got into bed.

I know, in my heart, that it will be good for me to take a hiatus from shopping. Tokyo made a master-consumer out of me, and unpacking our riches was embarrassing at times. We just have so much, and people here have so little. But I miss heading out the door to go hunting for something new. A chachka, or a place to explore, or whatever. I can do that here, but the EASE of doing it in Tokyo... The first day that Sam went to school here, and Steve went off to work, I thought - what do I do? I can't just walk out the front door, hop on the subway and find something new and amazing. I know that I am wrong, and that the things to be discovered here in Havana are also new and amazing (and far more accessible - at least I can speak and read the language - what a strange experience), but I wanted to hop on the subway and be taken there. Not worry about how to get somewhere, or whether it will be safe or clean or if there will be a toilet or edible food (don't get me started on the food - I am going to have to learn to cook again...). And I've lost the feeling of familiarity. Tokyo was strange and unintelligible and grey all over, but it was HOME. And so will this be, eventually.

11 days...

2006-08-29T22:41:00.000+09:00

...since I last touched a computer.

Toto, I have a feeling we aren't in Tokyo anymore...

Things are certainly different here. Beautiful, different. It is a much, much, much smaller place, with much more life. Vida. People seem generally happier, and there is music all over the place. I think I have heard Air Supply on the radio twice already. What????

Our house is truly lovely, and has space for guests. But, those guests will be requested (required?) to bring with them some things that we just can't find in Cuba. So far, that would be English books. There is, in fact, toilet paper here. I guess Cubans DO go to the bathroom...

Actually, there are more President's Choice and No Name products (these are basic Canadian brands, for my non-Canadian readers) here than I could ever imagine. And we even had a SALAD last night, with actual LETTUCE!!!!

wow....

what's up?

2006-08-02T22:58:00.000+09:00

so, here we are (Sam and I) surviving in the heat and humidity of Ontario, staying with Steve's family... Things are fine out here, but I am eager to get to Havana.

Steve arrived there on Sunday after a 3.5 hour flight from Toronto (yahoo, no more 10 hour flights!), and has been at work for a couple of days now. I gather that things are a little interesting there now, as Castro has handed over power to his brother for the first time ever... I suspect that we will have a very interesting time in Havana.

Apparently, we have 2 kinds of bananas, oranges, mandarin oranges, mangos and avacados growing in our back yard! Yum! The pool looks lovely, and the house seems quite big, but inhabited by the typical foreign affairs furniture - some of it in fairly rough shape. Oh well - we can live by the pool.

There is a garden, and the gardener says he can grow anything, so I am off to buy seeds next week, for tropical sorts of things (are carrots tropical?). Oh, and we have a cat. Fox will be so pleased.

last blog from Tokyo

2006-06-14T21:15:00.000+09:00

Here is the Tokyo-ness that I will miss most:

The perfect t-shirt to match your hair.

5 x 5

2006-06-09T17:57:00.000+09:00

My friend Jo tagged me with this, challenging me to think...

5 Musicians that I currently listen to
Jack Johnson
Talking Heads (that is now a 26-year habit)
Lyle Lovett
Juan Luis Guerra
Jamiroquai

5 Movies/DVDs That I Have Watched Recently
half of First Knight
half of Napoleon Dynamite
White/Blanc (all of it!)
The Chronicles of Narnia
and there are about a million movies I am looking forward to watching this summer...

5 TV Shows That I Tend to Watch
none, really, as we don't have proper television here
on DVD, I watch:
Desperate Housewives
Six Feet Under
Sex in the City
Poirot
Jeeves and Wooster

5 Restaurants I have Visited Recently
Las Chicas
Cafe Madu
Aux Bacchanales
Cicada
Los Platos

5 Foods That I Currently Enjoy Snacking On
chocolate
chocolate
chocolate
chocolate
chocolate

And if I have to tag anyone, I send this off to anyone who reads this blog - just leave a note in the comments, so I can read YOUR answers.

anticipatory nostalgia

2006-06-05T17:42:00.000+09:00

I find myself wandering around Tokyo these days looking at things with new eyes. I wander through a neighborhood that I walk through several times a week, and notice the flowers and small corners, and think that this may be the last time I see that particular thing.

As I drive through a much-travelled interesection (when you only drive once or twice a month, and almost always to the same places, things become familiar), I'll look at a set of huge, ugly billboards and consider how it will be not to see that particular corner again.

I get off the subway in Shibuya and wonder if I will be back in the next few weeks, or if this is it for this particular spot.

Things that a year ago would have driven me completely batshit, I now see as quaint, charming, unique, Japanese.

the countdown...

2006-05-28T13:14:00.000+09:00

Well, we are closing in on the end of our time in Tokyo. In less than 4 weeks, Sam, Fox and I will be headed to Vancouver for a few weeks, and then off to Ottawa for the rest of the summer.

As we meet with moving companies, buy our tickets, start to PURGE junk (one of my favourite things to do - in fact, I love getting rid of things so much that I invariably dispose of something that will later prove essential), and begin the long series of goodbye dinners, parties, lunches, and so on... it starts to feel real.

We are actually leaving Japan. And not coming back. At least not for a very long time... I think this first hit home when I booked our flights home, and then several days later realized: the dog! I need to bring the dog this time! Since we got Fox in Japan, this will be our first time taking her along, and her first flight. Poor thing... But, at least I remembered her.

We sold our oh-so-cute car, and are giving away plants, alcohol, books... I guess this is really happening!

And, we are beginning the preparations for living in Havana. School applications, car buying, inventory (oh, crap!), etc... Since this is our 3rd major move, things seem less frantic this time. Or perhaps, I feel less frantic this time. I have more faith that things will eventually work out. It might be confusing for a while - what gets moved where, and how, and when - but it will all work out somehow.

I am almost relaxed!

happy, exhausted

2006-05-11T10:46:00.000+09:00

Sam returned last night from his first trip "away" without parental/family supervision. All of the grade 4s at TIS went camping - they left EARLY monday morning, and returned wednesday evening. They sort of staggered off the bus - filthy, exhausted, odiferous, sunburned and really really really happy.

Sam had no voice left at all (although that didn't stop him from sampling all of the new campfire songs he learned as we drove home) - from telling stories, singing and telling jokes around the campfire. He told the "Desert Island/Surprise" joke - I'm not sure how I feel about this. It is a great joke - but appropriate? Oh well. I guess that is what his teacher means by "I can't wait to hear what Sam will say next..."

He was just a happy, happy boy. The hardest part, he said, was going UP the tower for rappelling. As many of you may know, Sam's relationship with heights is not a friendly one. Staircases can be an issue... Well, no more. He has informed us that after rappelling, he is no longer afraid of heights. He has conquered his fear, and he is proud. And so am I. What a boy!

They slept out in tents, woke up at 5 am, cooked and cleaned up, went canoeing... Then returned home and crashed. Out like a light. Not a peep. We should arrange to do this more often.

oh, oh, oh

2006-04-28T08:20:00.000+09:00

I keep getting more and more excited!

Havana!!!!

Our pre-posting medicals are done, and none of us are dying of a dread disease (although I had a weekend where I was dying of cancer because my urine test was a little odd - turns out I am "normal" - I think that actually reads "neurotic" for me...). Sam made it through his various (2) needles without screaming once (most likely because I was off in another room at the time getting xrayed or peeing - abnormally, that time - in an impossibly small cup).

I'm finishing up my last training at TELL, so work is starting to look finished - whenever a big new issue comes up, I can defer to my replacement, as I am LEAVING! Although there are a couple of things coming up that I will be doing - presenting the Life Line to kids (shudder) at various international schools... I have no problem presenting to adults, but put me in front of 50 kids and I am a wreck. How do I do this? What do children want? Friendly? Youthful? Accessible to youth? How do you exude those things? I have no idea... Good thing most of my friends are all grown up...

And I have to start our inventory, which is a big stinky list of everything we are moving, what it is worth, where it is going, how it will get there... My thought is that this might actually be important this time, as most of our belongings will be going by sea and arriving in Cuba during hurricane season.

And I foolishly read the pre-posting report from the Havana Embassy, which kindly informed me that the only things that I can rely on finding in the grocery stores are "beans, rice, rum, cigars, mayonnaise and olives". And bring everything else you might need in a three year period... Ha ha ha. I figure if I start with enough of the rum, I can make a decent (if repetitive) meal out of the rest of the ingredients. I hope the dog likes mayo on her beans.

But whenever I get stressed about it, I just check the weather in Havana...

Love Hotel Bust

2006-04-17T08:14:00.000+09:00

So, since Friday was a holiday for me and Steve, but not for Sam, and since my visiting parents were still in Kyoto, we thought we would round out our Japan experience by checking out a Love Hotel.

We had a light breakfast and wandered off to love hotel hill in Shibuya, all a-giggle and ready for some fun...

It was cute wandering around an area populated almost entirely (and sparsely populated, at that) by couples - many of them holding hands, which isn't all that common here.

Most of the love hotels are pretty nondescript - you enter through a well-shaded and walled entrance into a tiny lobby - most of which had big light-boards with pictures of all of the rooms - if the picture was lit up, the room was available.

We must have wandered into at least 20 love hotels, searching for the perfect theme room. Or, eventually, any theme room at all - and came to several conclusions:

1. Friday morning at 10 am is an incredibly popular time to have sex in Tokyo - most of the rooms in most of the hotels were booked.

2. Contrary to everything I have heard, there are very few "theme" rooms in love hotels - we only saw one (fairly unimpressive - a couple of desultory chains attached to the wall) s&m room, and not a single hello kitty room - although more than a couple did have karaoke included. Oh, and some had hot tubs, but the thought of (as Steve put it) "stewing in other people's juices" somehow didn't invoke the right reactions...

3. People must really not have anywhere else to have sex in Tokyo - these rooms were, on the whole, terrible. Depressing, small, and the lobbies of the hotels all smelled sort of sad and old. If I wanted to have sex in a depressing, characterless room, I would do so at home, surrounded by our foreign affairs furniture and putty-coloured drapes. I certainly wouldn't pay 30-40 dollars to fulfill my "trailer park meets Sears catalogue" fantasies - even if I had them...

So much for kinky, illicit Friday morning sex...

We had coffee and a croissant instead. That's what 19 years together will do for you.

so much work!

2006-04-12T17:29:00.000+09:00

You know, I haven't been blogging at all lately, and I completely blame my computer. It died... Well, the motherboard died, and that meant reconfiguring the hard drive - but no-one at the shop told us that, so we lost everything. Luckily, all of our photos were on the alternate hard drive, and will soon be copied to disc for safekeeping. As soon as I find the time to buy some discs...

So, we really did lose everyone's contact email - so please, please send me an email if you are someone I care about - even in the most minor of ways!

Since the computer came back, all shiny and new and EMPTY, we have been working to upload all of our music to iTunes again. Yes, they were on the iPod (are still), but apparently I didn't download them right the first time, so Steve is "happy" to have the opportunity to do it right. If I had the camera (maybe later), I would take a photo of our music collection, so you would get an idea of how much stinking work it is to re-download all of our stinking music...

Wouldn't it be clever, I thought, if I could backup the iTunes so that if this ever happens again, I will already have it all... You can see where this is going, no doubt. The way to back up your iTunes is to put your music on cds... How helpful - but lucky me, my music is all already backed up! It just takes days and days and days to put it back on the computer when the computer inevitably DIES!!!

Anyway, all of that is just stuff. The great news is CUBA! This has been a stinky, cold, wet spring in Tokyo, and I am about ready for 3 years of summer. And the opportunity to be functionally literate again. I mean, my Spanish is nothing to write home about (at least not in Spanish), but at least I can read it! What a relief that will be. I'll be able to ask for things in stores! Oh, wait. There won't be anything in the stores. Well, at least I will be able to order a Cuba Libre. Or a Cervesa. Or some vino. Come to think of it, I can do all of that in Japanese, too.

Cuba Libure, onagaishimasu.

good news, bad news...

2006-03-31T12:51:00.000+09:00

well, have you ever had your computer die on you, and think - wow, I really should have backed up...

just had that...

if you want to hear from me, send me an email!

And the good news is:

HAVANA!!!!

wahoo!

hot, humid, cigars, rum, functionally literate - all those good things.

So, if you want to visit us... send me an email, cause I've lost your address. Really.

just a snippet

2006-03-11T16:39:00.000+09:00

from my boy...

This, last weekend at the dinner table (just before Sam's bi-annual haircut):

me: so, Sam, we are all getting haircuts tomorrow (expecting great gnashing of teeth, moaning and threats to leave home forever...)

Sam: oh, good. My hair is obscuring my vision.

me: ...uh...okay...

the wee lad

2006-03-03T11:07:00.000+09:00

Sam has been creative lately - his class is working on poetry, and he and his grandma worked together to write the following poems. Both forms, Tanka and Haiku, are traditional Japanese poetry. Both topics are traditional 9-year-old boy.

Tanka

Caterpillar juice
Colorful, green and yellow
Like lime and lemon,
But juice you’d not want to drink
Unless you are just mental.

Haiku

Dead flies are such fun
You can play with them a lot
They will make your day.

busy, busy, busy

2006-02-26T11:02:00.000+09:00

I haven't been overrun socially, although things have been quite busy at work. It's just that my mom is here and I don't want to take time away from hanging out with her. I haven't even been to the gym for 2 weeks!

We spent 5 days in Mie-ken at our friend Michiko's, which was absolutely lovely. We went to several onsen, which is truly the most wonderful thing to do in the winter in Japan - especially if you are staying in a Japanese house! Just a few minutes (well, maybe 30) in scaldingly hot water will keep you warm for hours and hours. We went to the Ise shrine and then saw a wedding at the wedded rocks.

Still no word on where we are going next, but the list has narrowed and changed somewhat, to include Havana (still) and Dakar (new...). Dakar, you say... I've heard of that - quick, run and grab an atlas - that's what I did. Cuba remains our first choice, but it is good to have a backup. Dakar would be a new kind of challenge, the first of which will be the language - French. This will either be a great bonus, or a huge hassle. Or both.

While Dakar might sound like a crazy idea, it has allowed me to sleep. It feels good to have a backup option, and to have the possibility of more challenge and adventure.

We shall see...

aaaahhhhhh....

2006-01-30T19:20:00.000+09:00

This is so lovely. A massage for your brain.

http://www.storynest.com/Pictolaby_web/works/p08.htm

Go ahead and play - but only if you have shockwave, sorry.

I get my certification

2006-01-30T19:00:00.000+09:00

So, Sam had a huge hairy fit about his literature circles homework tonight. It's his job to read the chapter and summarize it, and he's known about this since last thursday.

He screamed and wailed and flailed and cursed (as you all know he can) and didn't get much done - hard to read while screaming, wailing, flailing and cursing.

I think I should get a medal for not beating the crap out of him - the temptation was unusually strong, and Marie has now decided that she would like "less than one" children. But, we all survived and made it to the dinner table.

And we even managed to talk about it a bit. It went something like this:

Sam: I hate literature circles. It's too hard.

Me: I doubt that it is too hard. I think that the problem is that you didn't do any reading on the weekend, and now you can't get it done in time. You brought this on yourself.

Sam: Nothing's so bad that you can't add a little guilt to make it worse.

See? I'm a real, certified Jewish mother.

suspense!

2006-01-24T08:34:00.000+09:00

Is giving me zits.

I think I might have hit a critical stress load, as my chin is breaking out most spectacularly. Aren't I a little old for this?

1. The election - soon to be resolved. We will get either the complacent and corrupt Liberals, or the scary Conservatives. Either way, it won't be much of a party - the most there will be to celebrate is (hopefully) a minority government. That way, there won't be too much damage done over the next few years.

2. Preparing for the upcoming volunteer training programme at TELL - all of those unpredictable variables - who will apply, will things work out, what will go awry...

3. Where, where, where? No word yet on where we will be living after July - the promised news for this week hasn't materialized yet. So, more waiting there.

4. It seems like with enough major stressors going on, everything else has the potential to become hugely stressful - so I am consciously avoiding making mountains out of molehills. It's interesting to note my reactions, I guess...

Poopy. Need chocolate.

snow day!

2006-01-21T08:51:00.000+09:00

Sadly for Sam, it isn't a school day, but we woke up this morning to a thin blanket of snow (thickening as I write) covering the embassy. Interestingly, there seems to be a lot more snow sticking inside of the embassy compound than out. Coincidence? I think not... This is, after all, a part of Canada...

The election is fast approaching, and my ballot is working its way towards whereever mail-in ballots go. I doubt that my vote will make much of a difference, but having voted, I feel like I now have the right to bitch about the government until the next election. If you don't vote, tough patooties - you had nothing to say at election time, you get nothing to say till the next time around. That's what I think.

And this week, for a brief moment (well, two days), we thought we knew where we would be living come August. But then we didn't know. So, back to that constant state of minor stress - where? Augh!

Here's more of Thailand:

...and no speedos

2006-01-14T14:57:00.000+09:00

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to vote in the upcoming election - and I need to figure it out soon, as the ballots are going out from the embassy on tuesday.

I suspect that my dilemma is a pretty common one - do I vote for the party closest to my values, or do I vote against the party furthest from them? In my riding - where I last lived in Canada - which happens to be Orleans - the pickings are slim. I get to choose between the big 3 - it might be the big 4 if I were on the other side of the river, but I'm not. So, NDP, Liberal or Conservative?

Living way over here on the other side of the world, I'm sort of outside of the election goings-on. No signs, no debates, no candidates knocking at my door. I can check them out on the internet, but that's about it. But I do hear rumours that the Conservatives are gaining ground. Ick. I'm sure I won't be revealing much, or surprise anyone, if I say that the NDP are closest to my beliefs. Which I think reveals a surprising vein of optimism in my character, really. A belief that people are actually good, or at least that the good people outnumber the slimeballs. And considering the Canadians that we come in contact with here (Steve in particular, with all of his prison visits) - that's kind of sweet, I think.

So, I could vote NDP - which would essentially be throwing away my vote in Orleans, but it would send some sort of message. And what if the NDP actually wins (just bear with me here)? Could they govern? But then, can any of the partys govern? Things do seem to be deteriorating - guns and scandals and healthcare and all that stuff. But if the Conservatives get in, what then? So, should I vote Liberal to head off that potential nightmare? What's a vaguely cynical, somewhat hopeful and seriously out-of-the-loop girl to do?

What we really need is a party that has a good social conscience, demonstrates solid fiscal planning (don't ask me), and will ban speedos.

Then, voting would be easy.

pointy bits

2006-01-12T17:26:00.000+09:00

this is me being artistic. Like it or lump it.

call me!

2006-01-09T13:04:00.000+09:00

Well, in the process of dusting the house today (our cleaner is on extended holidays...), Marie found the headset, so I went ahead and downloaded Skype.

Cool. You can find me under my name if you want to call me...

because...

2006-01-08T14:23:00.000+09:00

I think it has to do with inertia.

I haven't posted anything for ages because I don't know what's happening in my life - I don't know yet where we will be living after we leave Tokyo, and since that's such a huge question - the only question at the moment - nothing else really seems all that important.

But, things, life continues...

The computer was at the home for wayward computers for 2 weeks - but things didn't get fixed. Oh well. I'll just ignore it and it might go away...

We went to Thailand for a week - that was cool. Bangkok is the opposite of Tokyo. In an urban way. Obviously, the middle of the forest or something like that would be the real opposite of Tokyo. But Bangkok is sort of Tokyo's urban opposite - hectic, dirty, disorganzed, cheap, cheerful, green in spots, rivers that are a functional part of the city (I really liked that bit). It was exciting, envigorating, and it made me nervous. I am so used to the ORDER of Japan - it just fits my personality so well. Everything in its place, everything goes where it should, happens when it should... I like that. But the craziness of a place like Bangkok feels more ALIVE to me. And I like that, as well. Which is probably a good thing, because wherever we live next, it most likely will not be well-ordered and polite. I suspect...

Anyway, Sam goes back to school tomorrow, and it is a national holiday, so perhaps I will use the time to find some funky photos of our trip to add to the flavour.

halloween at last...

2005-12-09T09:03:00.000+09:00

it's been over a month, so maybe it is time to post Sam's halloween pic:

He is a lawyer. No doubt you figured this out on your own, despite the fact that his most important accessory - a ventriloquist's dummy which he dragged around behind him on a noose (his client) - is not in the photo...

it's been ages...

2005-11-23T09:22:00.000+09:00

or at least, it seems that way. But the time has also flown by. Finally finished my fall volunteer training, which just takes up so much time - working 2 nights a week is hard! It means that I can't play at all at night, or Sam starts to get whingy - "you're going out again? But you're never home..." And, for the last couple of weeks, I have been out 4 nights each week. Which, even to me, seems a bit excessive.

A quick plug for my bro - he's a vancouver-based artist/designer, and I am really impressed with his new designs - both furniture and spaces. Here's a link to his website:

http://www.zilliondesign.com/

If you click on the absolutely middle picture on the bottom, "split bookshelf", that's one of my (old) favourites - I bought this piece, but Ben is storing it for me while I live overseas (which seems sort of indefinite at the moment).

Sam continues to be his irreverent self. He recently had a school assignment to create a dinner party made up of fictional, historical and "real" guests. He invited Mother Theresa, Queen Elizabeth, Mickey Mouse and Wayne Gretzky, among others. Part of the assignment was to write down a "memorable moment" from the meal, and his went like this:

The memorable moment during my dinner party was when someone farted, and I said "who did it?" and everyone said "not me" except for Queen Elizabeth.

Not a monarchist, I'm thinking.

why adventure travel isn't for princesses... (part 2)

2005-11-07T10:47:00.000+09:00

details, details...

well, the trip to Vietnam, as I keep telling everyone (when asked) was an "adventure". Which, at this point in my life, is a euphemism for "not quite what I signed up for".

Hanoi was frenetic - craziness everywhere, everyone moving, working, selling, yelling. Very few cars, but thousands upon thousands of motorscooters and bicycles. Probably the most important tip there (no thanks to our guide, but more on that later) is to cross the street very slowly. That gives the scooters time to go around you. If you run, the will run into you. Simple, right? Actually, not as simple as it sounds. It is almost impossible to resist the urge to run as fast as you possibly can when there are 78 scooters, 38 motorcycles, 102 bicycles, 12 cars and a bus heading right for you. Trust me on this.

Our guide... Didn't really approve of us. I think we were a bit of a dissapointment to him. We lacked the necessary interest to listen to his 40 minutes of explanation for every single facet of every single thing we looked at. Tragically for him, several of us (well, all of us but Steve) quickly developed the habit of wandering off the moment he drew his first breath. We may have missed a few tidbits, but the Lonely Planet made up for it.

He did manage to hold off on a few things, though. For instance, he failed to mention to us until we were in our berth that the travel company had failed to book us into the first class car on the night train to Sapa. When we got to our berths, Sam said "this isn't luxurious!". We all had to agree. And our helpful guide neglected to tell us (until after our trip to Sapa) that the homestay we had been booked into had left several groups covered in bites the next morning... Judicious timing or completely useless? You decide...

Luckily, our alternate guide in Sapa did mention that we "might not enjoy" the homestay we had been booked into, and would we like to see it? We saw it, and barely enjoyed the 3 minutes we spent inside. Yikes! There were no beds, no lights, no toilet, but lots of chickens and ducks running around. Not to mention that it was indescribably filthy and right on the side of the road... However, we explored for a bit, while the driver of our antique Russian army jeep tried to figure out why our vehicle wouldn't go. After he removed some obviously (to him) useless parts, we moved on...

After decided to forgo the homestay altogether, we booked ourselves into the only absolutely lovely hotel in town, had a hot bath and a good night's sleep, and were able to enjoy the real beauty of Sapa the next day:

After a day of exploring, hiking and drinking coffee to keep warm, we returned to Hanoi via first class sleeper car on the night train - no great shakes in a communist country, but better than not first class... After quick showers and dodgy breakfast in a hotel by the Hanoi train station, we hopped on the bus to Halong Bay, and had the adventure described in the post below...

more to follow...

a little ditty...

2005-11-01T11:31:00.000+09:00

...about our trip to Vietnam.

This is the soap that was eaten by the rat:

This is the junk* that housed the soap that was eaten by the rat:

This is the bay on which sailed the junk that housed the soap that was eaten by the rat:

*some artistic licence here, as that isn't really our junk, but a picture of one just like it.

gallery of my creativity...

2005-10-17T10:13:00.000+09:00

Once a year, for Sam's birthday, I get creative. He gets to request the cake, and I get to make it (generally with his and Steve's input). And then we eat it!

2005: Pirate theme. This was my first attempt at a 3-D cake, and it came out pretty well. Steve did the sails and the anchor (licorice, of course), and I really like the malt-ball cannonballs.

2004: When birthday cakes go bad... Sam wanted a "rotting cake". I don't have a picture of it eaten, but everyone wanted one of the icing eyeballs.

2003: Spongebob... He's a little 2 dimensional, but cute. And tasty...

October already???

2005-10-11T10:04:00.000+09:00

Man, time flies when you are busy. Or having fun. Or something.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner last night, with a good mix of friends, and even a couple of other Canadians there. I like Canadian thanksgiving - it's cool enough out to enjoy a nice, heavy meal; and far enough away from Christmas that I should be able to convince Steve to do it all over again in a month and a half. And I promise to get the cleaning woman to come back again next time and do all of the dirty work - I'm so spoiled...

We went to a party on Sunday, and brought Sam... One of my friends (a blog-reader...) commented on his ghost story. It's possible that I forgot to ask his permission to put that here - but I think he was pleased. At least people have something interesting to read, he says.

He's trying out for the cross-country team at school, which is a huge thing - as he is completely my son and has expressed not interest in any sport, at all, ever. In fact, yesterday, when he came home and told us about the tryout (a 1.5 km run!), he suspiciously asked - is cross-country actually a sport? Uhhh.... What's the RIGHT answer to that question, if I want him to continue?

stuff and more stuff

2005-09-26T14:14:00.000+09:00

so, here is how I am wasting time today:

http://www.eyezmaze.com/grow/cube/index.html

Terribly addictive, but once you figure it out, it's finished. And the music is annoying, but you can turn that off.

Had a lovely conversation last night over dinner with Sam about social responsibility and the nature of money. I'm not sure he will eschew society and go live communally like his grandparents did, but at least he understands why they did it. And now that he knows how evil oil is, maybe he will turn off the lights from time to time. But probably not.

We've finally put in our official "wish list" for our next posting, and it looks like this:

1. Havana
2. Vienna
3. Prague
4. Santiago de Chile
5. Bucharest

So, there it is. Now, we just wait... All of them look interesting to me, and exciting, so really - it's all good.

Vamos a ver...

my bank really really really cares about me

2005-09-17T09:37:00.000+09:00

Below is the text of an email we received from our bank - while I appreciate their attention and customer care, I think that issues surrounding my bladder shouldn't really come up in this context.

Hi,

As per your instructions your investment account has been closed and the funds have been deposited to your account and the bi-weekly contributions cancelled. I am also in the process of finding out if we have a 24 hour number for our overseas clients - I was under the impression that the number I provided was 24 hours. I apologize for any incontinence caused.

Should you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

Irene

And, I think she should apologize again for causing me to pee my pants from laughing when I read this.

really, it was the dog...

2005-09-16T20:28:00.000+09:00

I finally found a picture of the Tokyo anti-smoking campaign poster that I love so much. Words (as so many of you know) really can't describe the brilliance of this particular concept.

I won't start smoking, but I am going to be much more responsible with my farts from now on.

Sam's latest effort

2005-09-09T07:41:00.000+09:00

The Rusty Old Knife

By Sam Chapman

Once upon a time there was a very small man. He lived in a wooden cabin in the woods. His most prized possession was a rusty old knife (he was very poor). One night at midnight he heard a noise in the kitchen so he went down to investigate. He didn’t see anyone so he went back up to bed.

At the top of the stairs he saw a figure. It had a black, long, scraggly beard, an eye-patch over one eye and the small man’s rusty old knife. The oddest thing was that he was slightly transparent. The very small man was so scared he fell down the stairs. The ghost glided down after him.

“GET OUT! eiiaiioo…” wailed the ghost. The ghost advanced on the very small man. “LEAVE NOW! eiiaiioo…” screamed the ghost.

The ghost had the very small man cornered now. “OUT! eiiaiioo…” hollered the ghost.

Then the very small man saw a vase of roses. “Ghosts hate roses” he thought, so he threw a rose at the ghost. The rose hit him in the face.

“eeiiiaaiiioooo…” shouted the ghost, and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The rusty old knife clattered to the floor.

The End

sorry, sorry

2005-09-08T08:44:00.000+09:00

Every time I sit down to write a post, I realize that I am just too busy. I still am, but have 15 minutes before I head off to work...

Oh, and once I log on, my mind goes blank. I think that this is what several friends of mine refer to as "blog block". It's not that I don't have anything to write, but rather that there is so much going on, I just don't know where to start.

One of the things that I've been thinking about lately - as various friends of mine go through ending relationships, or stay in relationships that I have various judgements about - is what exactly do we/I mean when we talk about "love"? What does "I love him" actually mean? It's certainly been a good place to start conversations with all sorts of people - my friends, my mom, Steve, myself... I'm not getting to any real conclusions, but it has been, for me, an interesting and revealing question.

Sam remains Sam - getting off of the bus during the first week of school saying "back from the salt mines..." Although he actually likes school, I believe.

We had an amusing trip out to Costco the other day - what else do you do on labour day, but stock up on soft toilet paper and bagels? The horn on our charming (but currently somewhat embarrassing) BMW convertable seems to have a loose wire somewhere, so for the entire drive out and drive back we were intermittently honking at everyone... Which would have been fine in the DR, but NO-ONE in Tokyo ever uses their horn. Particularly when paying their toll at the toll booth... So now, there are a whole batch of Tokyo-ites who think that there is some weird gaijin horn-honking habit. Oh well... I like to do what I can to further the cause of cross-cultural (mis)understanding.

the sounds I don't hear (Tokyo)

2005-08-12T12:58:00.000+09:00

Tokyo cicadas - took me a while to get used to this one, as we just don't have cicadas where I'm from. Or if we do, they don't sound the same. there are thousands of them in the park near our house - well, all over Tokyo right now, actually. Right now, they are just "sreeeeee sreeee sreee sree"ig, hoping to get lucky so that their offspring can spend the next 15 years or so underground, and then dig their way out and start all over again. Soon, however, they will have passed their best-before dates and start flying and dying around like huge, drunken cockroaches with wings. Blech.

Tokyo crows - these things are disturbingly huge. Some are almost as big as Fox - who isn't all that tiny. I've heard stories of them attacking embassy pet cats and causing them harm out on their balconies.

Tokyo traffic - there's so much of it, but I rarely notice it at all. I'm not sure that it's possible to live in a bigger, more crowded city, but the traffic here is so well behaved. I do jump when I hear a car horn, though - it's so unusual.

Sam in the middle of the night - actually, I do hear him. But it is starting to seem pointless to dash naked out of bed (well, with Marie in the house, I have to get dressed now) and see what's up, as he absolutely NEVER remembers in the morning.

I didn't realize that I didn't hear these sounds until I left them, and got to somewhere really quiet (the cottage this summer), but then it was so quiet there, I could barely sleep. Hmmm...

happy happy family

2005-08-08T22:12:00.000+09:00

We got into trouble for taking this pic in a department store, but it was so worth it...

holy snot!

2005-08-05T17:00:00.000+09:00

It's hot out!

It's about a million degrees in the narrow gaps between the skyscrapers with the hot pavement off-gassing heat upwards, and the sun beating downwards. I have to say that 35 degrees C is way way way hotter in Tokyo than it was in Santo Domingo. What this city needs are big, leafy trees, a good ocean breeze and a massive downsizing. But maybe I shouldn't wish for that. Another good shake (say a magnitude 9 or so) could do all of that pretty quickly. Ok, maybe not the trees, but you know what I mean.

Sam and I went out for a little adventure today, and just about cooked ourselves. We had a lovely time, though. He bought himself some charming fake wounds and a fake cigarette that really smokes! We had a naughty McD lunch and then staggered home before we collapsed.

Makes me really appreciate our severly underused pool... Yes, I am even getting wet - it's hot and humid enough for me to drag my butt off of the lounge chair (in the shade) and float about in the shallow end of the pool. Ahhhhh.....

Still playing with our wish list for next year. Currently, it looks like Santiago, Havana, Bucharest and Caracas. Prague is probably off the list, as the position is not quite right for Steve. Personally, I'd like a list that goes: Santiago, Santiago, Santiago, Santiago, Santiago. It just looks so nice, and it's in the same time zone as Canada, which makes the 18-hour trip somewhat less horrific.

Anyway, off to a shindig with the Aussies. Steak sandwiches, yum yum.

making the most of it

2005-07-31T20:03:00.000+09:00

time, that is. I feel like I don't have much time left with so many of my dear friends leaving in the next few months. Well, in November, anyway. And of course, there are always the suprise "I'm leaving next week"s that pop up in this life. Oh well.

Spent a lovely afternoon by the pool with a couple of them, with plans to do much more of that over the next month - nothing better than doing nothing. Especially when it is stinky hot and humid out.

I'm doing lots of fun stuff, none of it deep or meaningful. Getting to know my ipod, figuring out which bits of my music I actually like and having fun making various playlists and all that. Returning to work (hooray for 3 days a week!), getting to know Marie (our au pair) - she is lovely and she and Sam are getting along like houses on fire. I'm feeling a little redundant...

Mostly, just feeling wonderfully relaxed and refreshed and rejuvenated from our trip home. Before we left, everything about this place was driving me nuts - the people, the city, the culture, everything... but now it all seems ok. Enjoyable, even. Quaint, perhaps. I have to say, I like it so much more when I like it!

missed it!

2005-07-25T09:44:00.000+09:00

well, I leave town for a few weeks (ok, five), and miss the largest earthquake Tokyo has had in the last 13 years - by 24 hours. darn! or not...

in fact, that's always my hope, that the big shakeys will hit while we are away. Probably none of us were happier than Steve, though, who will still have piles of work to deal with it - but at least he didn't get called into work on Saturday night.

and despite massive jetlat (my brain hasn't arrived from Canada yet), it is always so lovely to get home after a long trip. And particularly lovely when your home is still all in one piece. (that went piece/peice/piece oh forget it I'm too tired).

and Steve tells me that Jamaica is open for this summer - great job for him, etc etc. I say, convince me. I want to stay here for one more year. As planned - unless something truly amazing comes up. Is Jamaica amazing? I don't know...

anyhow, I'm too fried (freid/fride/frayed?) to continue here for now, and I need to go and forage some food toute suite (au pair arrives weds, so I am now in French mode. That was basically it...).

hah!

2005-06-14T20:12:00.000+09:00

turns out I have 1.74 gb of music on my computer. And I don't even have an ipod...

off to Canada on Saturday, so don't expect much action here until early August. In fact, no action would be the way it will be.

looking forward to two weeks in nature... sort of. In a nice cushy 4-bedroom cottage (with a dishwasher) on a river off in Quebec. I mean really. You can take the princess out of the city, but you can't... well, you know.

have a happy July!

meme me me

2005-06-11T10:45:00.000+09:00

Apparently, I've been meme'd. At first I thought it was me-me'd as it is all about me me me me me. But no, apparently a meme is some sort of obscure term from somewhere about something, that is far to complicated and convoluted to explain.

Anyway, my dear shorter-haired now than before friend Jo did this to me.

And I have to answer these questions without giving away how uncool I really am...

Total volume of music files on my computer: uhhh... I don't even know how to find this out... But I am planning to get an ipod when we are back in Canada this summer, so probably I'll be able to answer this sometime by, say, christmas.

Song playing right now: sweet, sweet silence. We had a birthday party last night for Steve's 39 & 11/12ths, so I'm enjoying quiet. Which, in fact, I do a lot. Much more as a parent than I did pre-Sam. Go figure.

The last CD I bought: more embarrasment. I can't recall. Oh - I think it might have been "Brain" by Hitomi , who I saw at an Oscar Peterson tribute at the embassy - last year. She was great, this tiny little Japanese woman with a huge afro, dressed all in black with bright red sneakers on. It may have been the shoes that did it for me.

Five songs or tunes I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
well, first it would have to be Suavemente - Elvis Crespo. If Steve and I had a song, this would be it. It always makes us dance - together. And there's nothing I like more than a merengue with my sweetie.

then, Take me to the River - Talking Heads, and the live version is the best of all. I just love the talking heads. Everything about them. Especially the big suit.

strangely, the CBC radio pre-news tune. It just makes me think of being a little kid, lying in bed - I don't know if it was morning or night - and hearing that sound. My dad is smoking his pipe - which makes me think it was night - and I can smell the tobacco, and then the familiar voices of the newscasters. Kind of a safe and homey feeling.

this is tough. There aren't that many things that I listen to all that regularly.

But...

If I had a Boat - Lyle Lovett makes me think of living in Montreal, and the hot hot summer and our funky old apartment and feeling so cool just to be living in Montreal...

Kiss you till you weep - Paul Gross is just a lovely song, and from a movie that I strangely love - Men with Brooms. It's embarrassing how much I enjoy that movie. It must be due to my extreme lack of Can Con here overseas.

There. That's five. Although only the first two really sprang to mind for me. So I guess that I'm less influenced by music than one would imagine. But let me hear the sound of a chainsaw, and I'm thrown right back into my childhood.

I'll probably come up with more really cool songs later. But that's it for now...

I'm supposed to send this on, I think. But the truth is, I don't know anyone who blogs - except the ones that have already been meme'd.

So, this meme is up for grabs. Just let me know if you take it so I can read it.

24 hugs (plus one)

2005-05-30T19:54:00.000+09:00

ahhh...

all the love!

The non-profit organization where I work (www.telljp.com ) had its annual recognition event for the volunteers last night, and it was a wonderful evening. Since I run the training programme, I got to give out the certificates of appreciation to the wonderful, fantastic, amazing people who dedicate huge amounts of their time to train new phone counselors (I still can't say enough about how wonderful they are!).

I guess I was nervous. I think I had an attack of latina-itis. I forgot I was in Japan. I might even have spoken a little Spanish. And I gave every single one of those volunteers a great big hug when I gave them their certificate. Oops! But it was lovely, I have to say. I'd do it again!

and the other hug...

was a mom-hug, of course. I'm so pleased and proud and amazed by Sam. He has finally figured out how to read music. Or, rather, he has finally figured out that he already knew how to read music (these things can creep up on you...) and decided to try his hand at composition (or, composure, as he calls it). He's written a little peice for the piano/organ/whatever noise our little electric piano can make.

cool!

my little dostoyevsky

2005-05-24T16:12:00.000+09:00

hmmm... time for another proud mom post. Cause you can never get enough of that, now, can you?

Sam has taken quite artistically to his school assignments, and now writes everything (including research projects) from a literary perspective. His piece on the African Black Rhino had him (the narrator) as a private eye. But I really like this one. It showcases his signature style - pretty much everyone dies in everything he writes...

Komodo Dragon
By Sam Chapman

Chapter 1.
It was a cool day in Komodo Island. I was walking around, tripping over my tail (which is longer than me). My name is Komo. I’m a Komodo dragon. So there I was minding my own business (tripping) when I heard a BOOM! I turned around (or tripped around). Then I heard it again. BOOOM!! Louder this time. Then CRAAAASHH!!!!!! And I knew no more.
When I woke up, I was in a little enclosure with shiny sticks all around me. Little and big fat blobby things were all around me. One of them was offering me a fish. This one was in the shiny sticks. It got closer and closer. TOO CLOSE! I bit him! He screamed in pain. Then, he fell to the ground. Slowly he was dying.

Chapter 2.
Two more things came into the enclosure. They picked up the fish-serving freak. I don’t even like fish! I ran for it. When I got to the bars (I think they are called), I started digging a tunnel. When I finished that I ran (tripping frequently). I wanted to get back to my home.

Chapter 3.
When I got to the wilderness I made a new burrow. The next morning I went hunting for my food. A deer! Mmmmm…. Life was pretty normal after that. Until…

Chapter 4.
One day I was minding my own business when suddenly I was in another cage! Then a sharp thing came out of nowhere and I fell asleep. When I woke up I was in the same type of cage but bigger. I tried to dig my way out but the floorwas too hard. I’m in a tight spot, I thought. I didn’t get fed at all. I was starving. Slowly but surely I was dying.

The (dead) end.

Isn't that sweet?

now, where should I send it for publication...

sad things, loveliness

2005-05-22T12:42:00.000+09:00

well, sadly but not unexpectedly, my mom's partner (Jack) died this morning in Vancouver. Because we live so far away, I didn't know him really well. Mostly what I know about him is how he transformed my mom.

Jack was my mom's first true love. They were absolutely beautiful together. He allowed her to see how wonderful and loveable and beautiful she really is. They only had a couple of years together, but what loveliness to see someone you love so much have so much love in her life.

Thank you, Jack. We will all miss you.

a few of my favourite things

2005-05-16T15:54:00.000+09:00

as many of you know, I spend waaayyyy too much time on the internet (although it has certainly decreased since I got gainful employment).

anyway, since nothing actually exciting seems to happen in my life these days (although we did get hit by a thunderstorm on our way home from watching sumo yesterday), I thought I would share a few of my favourite spots on the net with you. I suppose I could just have them as links, but that seems too permanent. These are my current favourites...

kind of poignant, funny, sad and maybe an antidote to some sort of loneliness:
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

where I turn whenever Steve sends home a possibility for our NEXT home (in recent weeks: Athens and Dar Es Salaam):
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/

and things that make me giggle and/or cringe and/or wonder:
http://www.ananova.com/news/lp.html?keywords=Quirkies

to date, despite what seems like weekly options for leaving Tokyo, I remain committed to one more year here. Good job for me, settled (for now) job for Steve, great school and friends for Sam...

but I do always wonder about the next thing - wherever and whatever that is.

I'm not saying which year.

2005-04-28T17:12:00.000+09:00

Things that happened the year I was born. Of course, I've deleted the ones that I think really don't matter...

Communist troops attack Saigon and 30 province capitals in the "Tet Offensive"
Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, TN
Senator Robert F. Kennedy is shot in California after celebrating presidential primary victories
American troops destroy a town in South Vietnam in the "My Lai Massacre"
Peggy Fleming wins Olympics figure skating gold medal
Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university
LL Cool J, Lisa Marie Presley, Jeri Ryan, Lucy Lawless, Céline Dion, Traci Lords, Tony Hawk, Kylie Minogue, and Sammy Sosa are born
Detroit Tigers win the World Series
Montreal Canadians win the Stanley Cup
2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes are the top grossing movies
The rock musical Hair opens on Broadway
The Beatles' White Album and Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends are released
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, debuts on NBC

found here: http://www.blogthings.com/yearborn.html

cooking...

2005-04-23T14:43:00.000+09:00

...for a change. I'm so lazy! Oh well. I'm making a honey-carrot tzimmis for a passover seder we are going to tonight. I'm so lazy that I managed to wrangle us passover at someone else's house! Of course, that's my goal every year. Although it was fun doing our own alternative/ feminist/ Dr. Seussilian style last year, I have to say. Sam's favourite is always the matzoh-ball soup. I'm wondering how many years it will be before I have to admit to making it all from a package?

Last night was Sam's school's annual charity concert. This year, they were raising money for a school in Sri Lanka that they have sistered with - to rebuild it after the tsunami. Sam's school lost a whole family in the tsunami, so the concert and fundraising is in their name. It was a fun evening - each year Sam crashes less hard at the end (it's a long day, and he never remembers to eat...). And he was great - he had a speaking part, and he was calm and clear on stage. I fear he might be a natural.

He certainly won't be a proof-reader... He came home from school on thursday and asked me:

"what's a long-bottomy?"

a what?????

so, he showed me in the book he was reading: oh, a lobotomy... well... I've certainly had to explain more difficult things. I just played some Ramones for him, that pretty much cleared it up.

nothing doing

2005-04-11T12:34:00.000+09:00

hmmm...

not much going on here, really. Just had the most glorious weekend of cherry blossoms of my 3 years here. Beautiful, sunny, and the trees just loaded down with blooms. We had a picnic in the Aoyama cemetery yesterday, and there were literally flurries of cherry blossom petals blowing through the air. Lovely.

work is work, play is play - Sam is generally being himself these days (he's good at that), and working up the old charm with his Grandma here. I'm giving him a couple of "mental health" days off school this week, as grams is leaving on Sunday - so they can spend some quality AND quantity time together before the weekend.

I guess the big debate in our house right now is how Steve will mark his 40th birthday this summer. He's suggesting skydiving and I'm suggesting... not. Not with a young kid, anyway. What would Sam do without his dad? What would I do without him? I recognize his need to do something momentous, but aren't there any non-life-threatening options?

it's not like it sounds...

2005-03-19T08:06:00.000+09:00

last friday night (I know, I'm slow to blog, but busy with life), we took Sam over to "Happy Hour" at the embassy so that he could sell his share of raffle tickets for his school festival. He did great - sold 40 tickets in about an hour, and developed a nice little patter, too ("part of the money will go to tsunami relief" - who could say no to that?).

And then he was sitting at the bar drinking his hot chocolate and eating the caramel-pretzel things that someone had brought along. I was standing next to him, chatting with a couple of people - embassy staff and moms of the other kids here. Sam was pigging out on the pretzels, so I asked him to slow down, save room for dinner, and leave some for other people. And he turned to me and said:

"don't worry mom. I'm not taking marajuana, I just like them."

on my part: stunned silence

on the part of those around us: stunned silence

I realize where that came from - from Steve letting him watch clips of Monday Report - one of which shows Canadian icon Pierre Berton giving tips on how to roll a joint.

So much for the benefits of exposing him to Canadian culture...

ahhhh... yesterday

2005-03-05T17:06:00.000+09:00

was an eight-year-old's (my eight-year-old's) idea of a perfect day:

1. friday
2. grandma arrived last night
3. snow
4. SNOW DAY!!!!!!

What more could you ask for?

And, as a bonus, the parents (me & Steve) got to go out to a movie, without paying for babysitting! That means we only spent $60 on a movie and snacks! Wahoo!

I had this thought that not only is it great to have Steve's mom here (her first visit to us since we moved overseas), but that we will also save all kinds of money while she is here: for every hour that we go out and leave her and Sam together, we save about $12 - by the time she leaves, I plan to be rich!

And in the throes of post-wine club happiness and 2 glasses of wine, I had a fabulous idea:

a cocktail club!

It would be like a wine-tasting club, but the drinks would taste better. You know, you'd pick an alcoholic base (vodka, rum, gin, shochu - whatever) and then play around with the mixes for an evening. I picture: lots of friends, lounge music, snacks, general mayhem. Oh, and of course, scintillating discourse about the qualities and merits of each drink.

n.b. all costs in Canadian dollars...

the first step...

2005-02-27T19:08:00.000+09:00

ahhh... I love sunday dinner. So quiet, refined, relaxing. Not in my house. It's lovely, though - more of a laugh-fest. This is how part of the conversation went:

Mom, I think I should start drinking martinis.

me: really, why?

Well, I like cocktail onions, and that's the first step.

me: I see...

I then commented that I should change the name of my blog to "life with Sam", since most of what I write is about Sam - who then pointedly commented "yeah, because you're too old and boring to write about".

I think I need a martini.

tricksy, tricksy

2005-02-25T06:19:00.000+09:00

Well, after the first "official" day of spring on Thursday (when the winds switch from icy to warm here in Tokyo), I feel a bit betrayed to wake up to snow this morning. I think it has something to do with coming from British Columbia - I really do think of February as "spring". It isn't really, not any where else in Canada, or anywhere in Japan, either - apparently.

Sam seems to be over the snow thing as well. It seems that twice in a winter is plenty for him - although maybe it would be better appreciated if this weren't already a day off for him (what's the point of snow if you don't get a snow day?). He was up at 5:30 this morning anyway, he has a buddy sleeping over and they clearly don't want to waste any time sleeping when they could be wreaking havoc.

I'm starting to think I've been here too long, as the funky fashions here are starting to appeal to me. I no longer stare into the shop windows with incredulity (well, ok, I do sometimes). I have switched to occasional admiration - which may be the first step to finding things wearable. Or perhaps it just means that my ability to view fashion as art is becoming better developed. I'm still not walking pigeon-toed or wearing really pointy shoes, so I haven't yet been assimilated. But resistance may, in fact, be futile.

Varentine's Day

2005-02-15T18:54:00.000+09:00

Well, I did manage to get Steve a treat for Valentine's day - a nice box of Romeo y Julietas (cuban cigars). Since he's gotten all in shape and stuff, it didn't seem right to buy him a box of chocolates. So I went for the lungs instead.

In Japan - for those of you reading from afar - on Valentine's day, men get the goodies from the women, and then a month later, on "White Day", the men return the favour. Kind of sweet, except that the goodies you give are referred to as "giri choco", or obligation chocolates. I don't know if you give them because you are obliged to, or if once you give them the receiver is obliged to do something for you...

I did get treats from some of the students at the high school - my teaching monday fell on Feb 14th, so I got to try lots of homemade treats, and got a couple of bags of goodies, which I shared with Sam. Except that one of the chocolates was chili flavoured and REALLY spicy. If only I could remember which student gave that to me... I'd give her black licorice, that's what I'd do. Not a treat to most Japanese at all - our Japanese homestay students used to make the most amazing faces when they tried it. Lucky for her, I can't remember a thing, as usual.

chocolate on my mind

2005-02-14T19:34:00.000+09:00

Chocolate
White chocolate
Lemon Cheesecake
Green Tea
Passionfruit

all Kit-Kat flavours you can buy in Japan. Why haven't I branched out?

you load 15 tonnes...

2005-02-02T19:33:00.000+09:00

wow...

It's our 15th wedding anniversary today. And Groundhog Day. As Steve so romantically points out, we could have been married to five different people for 3 years each so far. But I can't think of anyone else I'd want to be married to. Except Johnny Depp. And probably 3 years with him would be plenty.

We celebrated with a lovely dinner of chicken tacos and Veuve Clicquot. Yum...

the working mother's nightmare

2005-01-22T10:47:00.000+09:00

So, I have a kid, a job, a dog, and a husband.

And at 2am on wednesday morning, I have a sick kid (feverish and hacking up a lung), an important meeting at 10am that I am meant to run (and no-one else can), a dog (asleep and so far no problem), a husband who has to be at the airport at 9:30am to usher the Prime Minister and his contingent (huge contingent) smoothly out of the country, and mostly no sleep.

Crap.

This isn't quite what I signed up for.

Oh well. So, at 5am I cancel the meeting via email (because our new computer is lacking the handy dandy phone list of everyone I know - it dissapeared into some computer-esque nether world), and hope that everyone gets the email (all but two do). I drug up the kid (which doesn't really help all that much), and manage to get an hour's sleep (wahoo!). Get up at 8 (Steve is already on his way to the airport), call the neighbor's nanny to walk the dog, and spend a day with my sick kid.

Which is actually kind of nice, in a way. He's 8, and I figure I only have a few more years of cuddles, and nothing is cuddlier than a sick kid. We read together, snooze, watch a bad movie, eat soup.

Maybe it is what I signed up for, after all.

who'd want to read about your boring life?

2005-01-16T19:30:00.000+09:00

asks my son, Sam (currently going by the name "Calvin" in our house), when I explain to him what a blog is.

Well, that is the question, isn't it.

Why are we calling him Calvin, you might ask? Well, the other morning, we got a call from Molly's mom (some of you may know Molly from Sam's little you f*cking son of a b*tch incident, where he got in only the smallest amount of trouble...), asking us to tell the bus driver that Molly wouldn't be going to school on the bus in the morning. So, I asked Sam if he could remember to tell the bus driver that Molly wouldn't be on the bus, and that he wouldn't have to wait for her. And Sam said...

wait for it...

"Oh, I tell him that every day."

great...

So, Steve figures that Molly is the Susie to Sam's Calvin. And I would have to agree.

And, in the wake of the tsunami and on our way to a new year's party, Sam was kind enough to inform me that "Japan is one of the countries doomed to destruction." You know - earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons, tidal waves - we have it all here.

Our happy little family...

"what you eat is yourself"

2005-01-16T15:14:00.000+09:00

which, I think, is a direct English-Japanese-Engrish translation of "you are what you eat". I saw it on a poster in a restaurant I frequent, and it cracked me up. A nutrition seminar, perhaps?

my honey's gone to help

2004-12-31T10:36:00.000+09:00

Well, Steve is on his way to Bangkok today to help out with the Canadians in Thailand who are looking for loved ones, or on their way home, or injured - all from the tsunami last week. Despite the fact that I miss him, it's good that he will be there - he really is good at what he does, and I think that he will be comforting to those who need it. But I made him promise that, if he is traumatized by the stories he hears and the people he meets, he will need to get some counseling of his own. I hope he won't need it, but you never know.

I keep thinking how lucky we are not to be there - I complained and complained that the upcoming Prime Minister's visit to Tokyo meant that no-one could go on a proper vacation over the holidays, now I am glad of it. It probably saved a number of lives just here among our friends and colleagues.

Anyway, happy new year to everyone - I hope the next year brings peace and happiness.

let it snow...

2004-12-29T11:24:00.000+09:00

Well, Sam woke up to a real treat today - Tokyo's first snowfall of the winter! As Steve points out, snow is the only weather that actually causes children to yell with joy - and head out the door without breakfast, brushed teeth... He's been back in to eat, but that's about it. Since there is now about half a mm on the ground, it's time for a snowball fight! It does look gorgeous out there, and feels gorgeous and warm in here.

And, Steve is waiting to find out if he is off to Bangkok for a week to help out with the Canadians stranded/devastated by the tsunami. I'm torn about it - I understand that it is important work, and that he is needed there, and that it would be a great experience for him. And that he would help hundreds of Canadians in need. But... how will I cook the ham for our New Year's Eve party all by myself? I know, silly and selfish, but that's me. We'll see what happens.

I'm going to make a cup of tea and meditate on the snowflakes. From inside.

happy happy

2004-12-28T09:59:00.000+09:00

ahhh... The joys of a family christmas... Too much food, too many presents, lots of sleep and drink and books and friends. What could be better? Well, being with the rest of our family, of course, but that will have to happen later this year, in bits and pieces.

And before christmas, we went to Kyoto with our friend Michiko. We stayed in her daughter's 10-mat apartment (just the 3 of us, Michiko stayed in her son's smaller apartment downstairs). What, some of you may ask, is a mat? Rooms in Japan are measured in Tatami mats, which are about the size of me, I think. Maybe a little shorter and wider (0k, about twice as wide), and 10 of those make a pretty good sized apartment - for Japan.

Kyoto was nice, but much more modern than I expected. I guess I had some unrealistic vision of ancient Japan - but it is a modern, functional city - with bits of old stuff stuck in. We went to lots of temples, running from cute little ones stuck in corners of shopping streets, to typical Japanese temples and shrines, to really stunning ones unlike anything else I've seen. Those were my favourites - the 1001 Bhudda temple, with - well - 1001 life-sized bhuddas lined up on 10 levels - each unique and beautiful. And the Golden Temple - photos of it everywhere, in every book about Japan, but in reality even MORE beautiful than I imagined.

And Kyoto was different from Tokyo in that every restaurant we went to had an English menu, and they brought it to us without us even asking for it! As if we were obviously not Japanese-speakers! Perceptive people, there. We had fantastic food, the best ramen I have ever had, and fantastic, huge and cheap (by any standards) Italian course meal. The Italian restaurant had a dessert bar - all you can eat for 500 yen (about cdn$6) if you also have a meal. You only get one go at it, but it is with a proper dinner-sized plate... I was impressed, no, flabbergasted by the amount of dessert a tiny little Japanese woman can fit on one plate and then EAT! 5 of them pretty much emptied the dessert bar - which had about 12 different desserts. One woman took 5 ramekins of creme brule, and that was just the start! We considered taking photos of them with their mountains of dessert, but decided it might be considered rude...

But I want to go back there and see how much I can pile on one plate!

this is working

2004-12-16T20:55:00.000+09:00

see, now things are moving much faster blogwise, so I will post TWICE in one week. Not that I have anything to say at all at this point.

We are all on vacation now - Sam, me, Steve, some of us for longer than others. In fact, Sam has the longest vacation, haven't quite worked out how the logistics of that will work. Perhaps if we can train Fox (the wonder-dog) to function as a nanny... Although her training hasn't progressed beyond sit, treat, walk and over (thanks, Jo!). So I don't know how she will respond to "I need a snack! Read to me! Tickle me! Let's play monopoly." Probably just as she responds to anything else: a waggy tail, foul breath, and begging for a tummy rub. Useless beast.

Tomorrow, Disney! With a pair of 8-year-old boys (no, Sam hasn't divided, he is bringing a friend), what could be more fun... And Sunday, Kyoto! Which may be marginally more culturally correct than Disney. But no less incomprehensible. The Pirates of the Caribbean sound silly speaking Japanese. Really.

I had an odd moment the other day. It was finally cool out - kind of Ottawa autumn weather, and I was wandering down the street, smelling the autumn smell, getting that kind of autumn feeling, when all of a sudden I realized that everyone around me was speaking gibberish! Two and a half years here, and I have made NO progress in my Japanese. Not that I have been making any effort, but I would have expected to absorb a bit more by now. In fact, I now know LESS than I did after my 10-week Japanese course in Ottawa - now I can only count one way. I can no longer count flat things, round things, things that hold stuff, long skinny things, animals, people... All I can count is numbers! How useless is that. Bah.

blahhhh....g

2004-12-14T21:35:00.000+09:00

you know, I would post a lot more on this thing if the silly blog host or whatever it is caller would download FASTER!!!! I just don't have time for this... Precious minutes are wasted! Argh!

Oh well, happy hanukkah to the world, only 6 days into it, and of the thousand posts I should have posted, here are a couple:

1) Roasting a Chicken.
Why does everyone but me know that when you roast a chicken it goes UPSIDE DOWN in the pan? This seems like vital information I should have gleaned somewhere, before the age of 36. I remembered (too late, of course) my mother mentioning "shaking the hand of the turkey" to tell if it is done, so there I was, standing in front of a hot oven (yes, me) thinking "how can I shake its blasted leg if it is SITTING on it?" And having Steve confirm, on his arrival home, that I had made a tragic mistake and cooked it the wrong way. Lesson learned. Don't roast chickens.

2) A Diplomatic Christmas Party.
Yep, had the fabulous bonenkai (end of year party - amazing how that all fits into one word in Japanese) at the Canadian Embassy, got all spiffied up and wore my most ridiculous high-heels and push-up bra, and had a lovely time... Until the end... When I had to "Uh, Alyssa, I haven't seen ---- for a while, can you check the ladies room?" be the lucky discoverer of an unnamed diplomat from an unnamed country (NOT Canada!) passed out in a pool of her own vomit in the ladies room... If you have been to the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, you may be aware of the lovely, fabulous, AWARD-WINNING restrooms. I may even have pointed them out to you. Let me just note that they must have won the award for looks, and not for practicality. Or at least, they weren't considering the difficulties one is faced with when one finds someone passed out, in a pool of their own vomit, locked behind the stall door that goes all the way to the floor. How to extricate such a person in such a situation? A fine question, and one I shall not answer. I will just say that all is now well, and I did not clean that bathroom. Not that I clean any bathrooms.

3) Life In General.
Is good. Christmas is coming, cookies have been baked, candy will be made sometime this week, and we will be spending Friday at Tokyo Disney - Sam finishes school on thursday. We are meeting our friend Michiko in Kyoto on Sunday for 3-4 days, and then the madness of christmas will be upon us!

I'll try to post more. Maybe once we get the new computer all figured out, things will work better.

everything makes me feel guilty

2004-11-27T18:29:00.000+09:00

Even my blog. I keep feeling like I should be blogging more, keeping everyone (is there an everyone reading this? I feel so much like I am shouting into a deep well when I write this) more up to date on the exciting, thrilling, amazing...

uhhh... Well, I did give Sam a bloody nose this week, probably the most excitement for a while. So I get to feel guilty about that as well (will I get reported to the authorities for writing this? Are there people surfing the net looking for admissions to child abuse?). Actually, it wasn't my fault, I finally got to blame the dog for something (since she doesn't destroy things or fart, she has so far proven useless in that realm). I was tickling Sam, and Fox came up behind me and licked my bare foot... BAM! my knee, Sam's nose, and you know how the rest of that story goes...

Other excitement: I have come to the end of my first "solo" TELL (www.telljp.com ) volunteer training. Solo, in that I got to be the only boss. It went well, I think, and the thing that I learned (according to Helen, it didn't happen right away - thanks) was that I can be in control (not that I am a CONTROL FREAK...) and be flexible at the same time. The hard part was being out to work 2 nights a week... So, I am feeling accomplished at the moment, although the work isn't quite over, and the next one starts in 2 months, which means the prep work starts... now....

And Steve and Sam brought me flowers at the celebratory lunch afterwards. I live with such sweet men... I should really be nicer to them. Now I can feel guilty about that, too.

Now, off to dinner. And no doubt further guilt. About something.

fall arrives in the megalopolous

2004-11-15T08:40:00.000+09:00

Well, one grey, rainy day is fine - a chance to laze about, watch movies, eat chocolate, read books and drink tea. But TWO seems excessive.

I guess that Fall has finally arrived in Tokyo. The humidity is gone, and it smells different. Actually, I love the smell of autumn in Tokyo. In Canada, I always associated a kind of decomposing-leaves smell with the season (not as bad as it sounds, really), but here it is an absolutely lovely aroma of coal-roasted sweet potatoes, sold by vendors all over the city. Delicious.

The TELL Charity auction went very well, we raised a little over 12 million yen, and the highest bid item was dinner for 12 hosted by the Canadian Ambassador, at his residence (Y700,000!!!). The coolest item was a hockey jersey signed by Wayne Gretzky (you know, the great one...). I had a few minutes of thinking how cool that would look in its frame on my dining room wall, but it went for Y490,000. I had to be satisfied trying to explain to my Japanese friends exactly who Gretzky is. Hockey is not so big here...

So, I think my job is secure for the near future at least. There were several items I almost bid on (like airfare & 5 days hotel in Whistler), but by the time I got my paddle halfway up, things were invariably out of my price range. Oh well...

And then this past weekend we went to the US Marine Corps Ball (our 4th in a row!). It was fun, and the special guest speaker was Aaahnold (I expected him to show up naked in a ball in the middle of the room, but no such luck). He gave his standard speech, but added an inspired "I may play an action hero in da moovies, but choo are the reeeal action heros" for the marines. Cute, no? I think the excitement of that may even eclipse the marine ball in Santo Domingo where we got to see someone get shot (no, not by a marine) on our way home...

Oh, the exciting life...

blog the second and things I'm not understanding

2004-11-06T04:39:00.000+09:00

Well, I have figured out how to enable ANYONE to post comments here, not just those who are registered with the site (thanks, Sarah!), so comment away...

Big night here in Tokyo (at least for me and my little NGO), as we are having our biggest annual fundraiser - a charity auction at the Canadian Embassy. If you're in Tokyo with a spare Y10,000 in your pocket, buy a ticket and come along - free food & wine! I've suggested that we would make the most money if we auctioned off a Canadian Citizenship (think of all the tickets we'd sell at the US Embassy today!), but no go...

Anyway, I'll be dressing up and encouraging people to pay as much as possible for well, anything... Maybe I'll smuggle in my camera & take photos of the better lots (like the charcoal room freshener shaped like a scottie dog...)

Trends I'm not getting in Tokyo: facial piercings on trendy folk. You know (or maybe not, if you don't live here) the super-fashionable youth here - pigeon-toed deeply-tanned bleached-bolde short-skirted 21-year-old fashionistas (and whatever the male version of that is) are getting cheeks, chins, eyebrows peirced. Now, I'm not against peircing at all, but it seems to me that short-lived trends shouln't leave scars... And it kind of short-circuits the, ummm, je ne sais quois of peircing when EVERYONE does it! oh well... guess I'm getting old...

Still working on the photo thing (well, not really - not till we get a new computer, but soon!).

I feel so techie

2004-10-31T03:52:00.000+09:00

Well, this feels odd...

But since I seem to really suck at sending out emails, I thought I'd see how this works. Sort of like the updates we USED to send, back when life was exciting (or at least a little more exotic).

As you probably know, I am working as the assistant director at TELL, and loving it. I feel so... grown up...

Sam is doing great, we just got back from Cebu (in the Philippines) so everyone is all relaxed, and I'm as tanned as one can be after 6 days sitting in the shade while wearing spf 30. Sadly, not enough of a tan to do my dream Halloween costume as a Shibuya girl (you know, bleached blonde hair, deep tan, white eye makeup & lipstick & beach wear - sounds like me, no?).

Once I figure out how to host my pics online (shouldn't be too difficult), I'll add some of those too, but so far, this is more of a test.

Cool.