Number 12

It seems like ages since I have been able to write. Things are starting to settle down a little, and I think we are getting a taste of what a less hectic life is like here in Japan.

The girls have all had slight colds. I think they are actually beginning to shake their colds and of course now, Dana seems to be getting it. He took some Nyquil and is snoring away now. My ear seems to be almost back to normal.

We postponed our trip to Tokyo for last Sunday and decided to stay home most of the day and let everyone rest. If all is well, we are planning on going this Sunday. I think this will work out better since there were no shrine sales last weekend, and that was one of the reasons we were going.

I have been practicing my Japanese cooking. I bought a cookbook that is called Quick and Easy Japanese Cooking for Everyone. It is really just the basics, but it gives me a chance to get familiar with some of the different ingredients. The nice part is that it has the names of the ingredients written out in romanji so I can pronounce it and kanji, so I can read the label or sign in the store. I had planned on sharing on particular recipe with you, but Dana is asleep in the room and I don't want to turn the light on so I can copy it. I will try to remember to do so next time. Once I have mastered the basics, I may get a more complicated one, although, I am not sure I will ever be able to slice things as small and precisely as they do here. Presentation is an important part of Japanese cooking. On one of the children's shows they had a song to teach the children how to use a knife. It wasn't a small knife but more like a butcher knife. I am so paranoid about the girls using even a small, dull knife, but I guess that is how they get so good at using one, by starting real young!

I think we have finally got the apartment set up more or less the way we want it. We got a great deal on a cabinet to hold the microwave and toaster oven. It is large enough to also hold my rice cooker and the other electric skillet like cooker that I got. It also has a cupboard and drawers for storage.

The only furniture we are trying to change is the dining room table. The one we rented is a western style table and rather small and we would prefer a Japanese style one that is larger. It is difficult to have the girls spread out their schoolbooks on the little one and we have come to enjoy sitting on the floor to eat. It works well with the girls since the table is more at their height.
I think I could get used to this Japanese style. I particularly enjoy going into a restaurant and being able to take off my shoes and sit down on a comfy cushion.

There are many methods of heating here. One method of heating is to use effectively, and electric carpet. There is actually a large heating pad that is placed under an area carpet. You can adjust the temperature the same way you do an electric blanket. They also make a similar version that is for a kitchen floor. This reminds me of those heating tubes that can be placed in a floor when you build a home, but portable, and I am not sure it will warm an entire room. Two of our rooms have air conditioners, which are just that they adjust the condition of the air. They can make it cooler or warmer. We have purchased an electric carpet for the den and if we get the lower table, I will probably get one for the living/dining room. I am not sure what we will need for the rest of the apartment if anything. There are so many gadgets for heating different ways here; you'd think we were in Alaska!

I feel very comfortable here for the most part. It does not seem strange to hear someone speaking outside the apartment in Japanese and I actually can get out of the grocery store in less than an hour now. Driving on the left side of the road doesn't require silence in the car so I can think, unless I am backing into a narrow parking space, which is the norm here. I am beginning to understand directions and questions in Japanese. I don't think it is so much the exact words, but the mannerisms and gestures as well as the situation. I also am beginning to be able to understand some of how the kanji works in the Japanese language.

Of course, I love my home in Colorado, with the yard and all the space, but this apartment suits our needs now rather well. We are just a few minutes walk from the train station as well as many restaurants. The only thing I haven't found close enough to walk to is a grocery store, but there are convenience stores nearby if needed.

Monday, when I was grocery shopping by myself, a lady came up to me and asked if I lived in Mito. She did so first in Japanese and when I didn't understand her completely, she switched to English. We exchanged phone numbers and addresses and hope to get together and get to know more about each other. I was actually surprised when she came up to me because usually the girls are the ones that draw attention. I hope we will be able to get together.

Fall, is definitely upon us here and the weather has begun to cool off. We had rain on Monday most of the day and today, Thursday, it rained or sprinkled off and on most of the day. Temperatures have been in the 10-20 degree centigrade range. I know Mito does get some snow, but I am told it is not usually too bad.

We met with the mother and the daughter that I mentioned in my last chronicle on Sunday. Beginning December 22nd, she will come over everyday, except Christmas, and help with the girls and practice English while we practice Japanese. I think that will last until around the 20th of January. Dana will be off during some of that time, so we may take advantage of a "baby-sitter" and do a couple of things that the girls might not enjoy. We are really looking forward to this time.

It turns out that the mother manages a Japanese restaurant, so we are going to have to try that soon. She used the term manage, but they also live in at the same spot, so I wonder whether they may actually own the business. Many business owners live in homes upstairs from their shop or restaurant. Residential areas are definitely not separated from commercial. In fact, I was walking down one of the busy streets in town the other day and looking at the shops, all of the sudden, I noticed chickens in cages, right there next to the sidewalk! There looked like there was a little home in there and they were apparently their own chickens.

Speaking of Christmas, it has already hit the stores here. Since only a small percentage of the people here are Christian, it is a very commercial, secular view of the holiday. I cringe when I see signs for X-mas, leaving Christ out of Christmas, but I know they just don't understand. I am glad we have decided to make our cranes for Christmas. I am not sure if we will get a tree, because everything I have seen seems to imply that they only use artificial trees and I can't see buying one to be used only once. I am hoping to be able to find a small nativity for our family altar.

One thing seems to lead to another thought...I'm sure some of you will get a laugh out of this. In some of the stores here, they sell these Shinto shrines. They are basically the size of dollhouses, unfinished wood with gold-like trimmings and three doors. I think they are great. We bought one and are going to remove some of the trim that makes it look like a shrine, add our own decoration, include a crucifix and some holy cards----voila! Really nice Catholic Family Shrine! I had a Japanese friend over yesterday, he was amused.

Before we left Colorado, a friend Jeffrey, told me he had a friend who lived in Japan. He is Japanese, but studied for several years in England, where Jeffrey met him. Anyway, we have sent email back and forth, and since yesterday was a national holiday, he decided to venture up to our part of the county. It was a three-hour train ride for him, but he came up and spent the day with the girls and I. His name is Tatsu.

Since Tatsu studied so long in England his English is very good. I have to admit though; it is rather funny to hear a Japanese person speak with a British accent. It was nice to talk with him about some of the perceptions I have had about Japan and ask a few questions. We went to a park where the local Chrysanthemum festival is going on. It was a little cool for the girls, so we didn't stay too long though. The girls really liked him, and he didn't seem to mind their attention either.

Tatsu was able to program our TV to clearer channels because he could actually read the on screen programming menus and the information we were given about television with our rental agreement. The channels are all still in Japanese, but we can understand enough of what is going on if we want to. I wasn't sure how much the girls understood, but Christina was relating the story she had seen on TV to Tatsu and he said she had it exactly right. I laugh, because the girl’s favorite show seems to be the one that teaches English to Japanese children in the morning!

I think that had better be all for now. It is almost midnight and my words are beginning to get blurry. I hope my thoughts are still coherent.

Blessings and prayers,
Marion