Well, contrary to all my resistance to driving in the land of opposites, I have been. Yes, I have driven many times now without sweaty palms! Yay! While it is still a challenge, it is doable. (Much like everything else here.) As long as I only drive to a certain familiar places…church, the Price Club (a store here on the island that imports food WE know), and IKEA on Port Island. The biggest measure of my driving success…Caden doesn’t scream anymore when I get behind the wheel! Always a confidence booster.
Darin and I had reservations for a steak house called Kochan a couple weeks ago. We got directions: go out of the train station, go straight, cross Route 2, the restaurant will be on the right side.
We went out of the train station, went straight, crossed Route 2, and there was a steak restaurant immediately to our right. Even had a big stuffed cow in front. Had to be the place, right? Wrong. Not until after we entered the establishment, were seated, removed our coats, and were given menus, did I realize we were in the wrong restaurant. Nice. How stupid did I feel? Even more stupid when I had to resort to calling our front reception staff, then I shoved my phone at the host so he could finally talk to someone who spoke Japanese. After he understood what the issue was, he provided us with an escort to bring us to the right establishment. A tad embarrassing. Our only saving grace is that we are gaijin (foreigners). And believe me, we will play the gaijin card as often as we need to!
Once we got to the right place, things went much better. Food was not only great, but was cooked right in front of us. It may have been a steak house, but we were still served sashimi (raw fish) and miso soup. The portions by American standards, were scarce at best. Our vegetables consisted of two pieces of each: sliced carrot, broccoli, and sliced potato. The steak…was awesome…melted in the mouth, much like the texture of sashimi. Believe it or not, we were very full by the end of the meal. Wine jello was dessert and the meal was completed with coffee for Darin and Japanese green tea for me.
Caden missed a couple days of school this week. Nothing significant…slight fever and cold. By the second day he was feeling much better and insisted we go somewhere. He reminded me we needed milk so we went to the store. After we returned from our brief outing I unloaded the groceries. I looked up to see him staring off into the distance, quite obviously deep in thought. With his arms tightly grasped around his bear, he sighed and remarked, “It was a good day.” It was only 11:30 am! Guess being stuck inside the apartment the entire day prior was more than he could take.
For those of you without Facebook access, this was my posting of a recent Caden episode, “Should I have let Caden bring four playmobil men to the table? Probably not. Should I have turned my back on him at any point during his meal? Absolutely not. Two chicken noodle soup soaked Roman soldiers along with their two slightly damp farmer friends wholeheartedly agree.” Nathan alerted me to the situation when he walked into the kitchen and said, “Uhhh, mom? Do you see what he is doing?” I turned around to see Caden dipping one soldier in the soup, while the other three men were swimming in it. The next morning I found a Roman sword in the sink. Apparently it had been lost during open swim.
Nathan said sayonara to his bunk bed. He was quickly outgrowing it so we bought him a sofa bed from IKEA. Looks like a futon. Seems fitting since we are in Japan. The new bed is long enough to accommodate his growth and big enough for company when we need extra sleeping space. Now I have the task of reorganizing his room…again. I did that when we arrived back after home leave last August. I didn’t realize how many blankets and pillows were on the top bunk, or how much stuff was stored under his bed. All those things have to find a new place to live.
Nathan finally broke his streak of being sick only during school breaks. He has missed school twice in two weeks from illness! Now I am hopeful he won’t be sick during spring break. I should clarify neither of his sick days were anything serious. Just a cold virus, I think. I hope…he’s still on the mend from the second missed day. There are strange viruses around here and the weather changes seem to have a direct link to health. When Caden is ill, almost always, I hear from his teacher, “It’s the weather.”
Thursday, February 11 is National Foundation Day (Kenkoku Kinen no Hi) here in Japan. What does this mean to the Japanese? This is a holiday to remind them of the nation’s founding and their love for the nation. What does this mean to me? Caden’s preschool is closed. Nathan has school. Darin has work, but will get Friday off in lieu of Thursday being a national holiday. The nice thing is that Darin will have the day off Friday while BOTH kids will be in school. Nice opportunity to spend some quality time together without hiring a sitter.
Happy National Foundation Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
