This page contains the September 2009 blog entries. The home page is
here.
We've been back just over a week now. Riku managed to elude the ravages of jetlag, and eased back into his routine here, with karate on Thursday, piano Friday, and Chinese conversation on Saturday afternoon. He and Akane saw a movie yesterday morning (the Japanese Power Rangers, I believe), then had ramen for lunch. Akane wants ramen again today ... I just know she'll say, "OK, that's enough ramen for awhile" afterward.
San Francisco was so much fun. Riku and I had separate itineraries most days. I think I only ended up eating with him two or three times ... kind of shocking in retrospect.
Akane and I were talking over the spring about how little we miss SF food. I'm more into Mexican than she is, and I missed that for sure. (She misses Gao-Lao-Shi's homemade dumplings the most.) So I wasn't exactly craving to get back to "the city". But I had yummy meal after yummy meal, and now can't wait to get back.
Deep dish pizza at Little Star. Vietnamese meatball sandwich from Out The Door. New Orleans-style ice coffee from Blue Bottle. Super suiza quesadilla from El Farolito. Amazing salads, pastas, pizzas from Flour + Water. Sublime homemade phở and ribs at Judy and Bi's. Late-night chicken wings at Toyose. Seafood pancake and ~15 mini-dishes at Muguboka. Fantastic faux-Chinese and cocktails at Heaven's Dog. Mexican plate dinners at margaritas at Tia Margarita. Chinese tacos at the Kung Fu Taco truck. Decadent Greek at Kokkari. Kimchi pork soon-tofu at Doobu. Charcuterie, preztel, and craft beers at Monk's Kettle. Gao-lao-shi's homemade pork-chive dumplings. Chicken shawarma at Oasis Grill. Back-to-back huevos rancheros breakfasts at the Red Lion Inn in Sacramento. Crap-tasty Mexican and beers at the state fair. And American breakfast at Jim's.
Next trip: more dim sum, more Mexican, and more of the same.
Homemade phở at Judy and Bi's.
Akane and I submitted my permanent resident application before I left for San Francisco. We had to include photos of us together, but I don't think we aroused much suspicion with two children. About a week after getting back, the approval notice came in the mail.
This set off a chain of administrative work ... registering with the city (who will issue my actual resident card), registering for medical insurance, and (soon) getting my cell phone, adding my name to our bank account, etc. I'm also eligible to work (but who likes to work?).
A few weeks ago, I went to the dermatologist to get a mark on my forehead checked out. I've had it twice before, and had it liquid nitrogen'd off in San Francisco both times, but it keeps coming back.
Our dermatologist is a really nice guy. He was a surgeon for many years until he got a rare skin condition, and decided to switch to dermatology. He wanted to take a sample from this growth thingie ... so I went under the knife, and had to wear a stupid bandage on my forehead for a week.
I get my stitches out tomorrow. We're still waiting to hear what it is/was ... another week or so before we get the lab results. Although Akane agrees that he didn't appear too concerned.
It's been fun getting back into the rhythm of family life after my lovely, extended break in San Francisco.
Mirei's French school ended in June, and she had a month of Japanese preschool to keep her busy, but that school broke for August ... she spent two weeks (with a break week in between) at a YMCA English "camp" in Osaka. She loved loved the Japanese school, and had been complaining that she didn't want to go back to French school (which is, admittedly, a more drab environment). But her first day back was perfect ... not the slightest hesitation, resistance, or fuss. Marched into class without even turning back.
Her school day shortened a bit this term ... she's now there from 9-3:20 instead of 9-4 (admittedly, still a long day). I've been picking her up on the bus and she's always full of news from her day.
Riku had a huge break from piano ... went from weekly lessons and near-daily practice (generally 20-30 minutes) to 4+ weeks of nothing. But his first lesson after getting back went well ... a bit of a surprise. He's now back in the swing of it, and I'll try to upload some new video soon.
Mirei'll be starting piano (group lessons nearby) once we get back from San Francisco. She also wants (or thinks she wants) to go to karate with Riku. Although there are 3-year-olds in his class, we're going to hold off another year at least. But I'm looking forward to her starting piano ...
Riku is back at school of course ... same class/grade (they graduate/switch years in March). The heat of summer is definitely over ... sooo much nicer walking to/from school now. I've been walking him to school maybe every second day or so (although I'm the only parent in the area who does).
Riku had a field day (exercise meet as they call it) on Saturday ... it's scheduled for the weekend so that both parents can attend. It was a lovely sunny, breezy day ... a little too breezy, in fact ... lots of dust blowing around. Akane and Mirei went for the first 2/3 and I went for the last 2/3. The whole school was divided up into three teams (red, white, blue) and they had a ton of competitions ... some more traditional (running, etc.) but mostly more interesting games (tug-of-war variants, ...). Plus some demonstrations, including (Riku's favourite) some human pyramids (grades 5-6) that were darned impressive.
After Saturday's field day, we high-tailed it to Sakai. It was a Japanese holiday Mon-Wed, and Riku got Thursday off as well to make up for the Saturday field day. It's now actually Thursday night, and Riku heads back to school for one day and then it's the weekend!
Anyway, Riku's aunt and Uncle took him (and Akane and Mirei ... just not working me) to the Ultraman store in Osaka. Here are a few shots of the action.
I try to work with Mirei on her (capital, Roman) letters each day. She quite enjoys them, and we have lots of fun fooling around with facial expressions to denote "hmm", or "I'm thinking". I will try to catch a bit on video ...
Today she did them faster than ever. Her circle around the "V" is to show me that she did a nice sharp point there. And she's also learned how to draw stars, and she deservedly gave herself one upon finishing.
"Weather's taken a warm turn, but signs of fall abound."
About half the rice planted in our neighbourhood has been harvested ...
Closeup of the grains.
Humongous grub (but Riku's hand, not mine).
Just some local colour.
Persimmon tree a few houses down ...
Akane was heading out to the grocery store, which is just off the (modest) main commercial drag in our area. I went along and we grabbed lunch at a place we'd been meaning to try. It's always crowded ...
Very modest place ... cheap, full of men grabbing a quick lunch. Lots of tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) in various forms: curry, over rice, nabe (in a pot with broth), ...
I had the tonkatsu nabe ... Akane, the "lunch special". Just over $6 for each.
I pick Riku up on Akane's bike (which has a "baby" seat) every Friday after class, and we head to piano (just a few minutes away by bike).
Last week's lesson didn't go so well ... Riku wasn't focused, wasn't listening, etc. As soon as we left his teacher's house, he said, "I want to watch Doraemon tonight". It's one of his favourite TV shows and he gets to watch it provided that the lesson goes well. So, he knew that it didn't go well, and this is the first time that he didn't get to watch it. He was upset but more resigned to it than livid.
This week's lesson went sooo smoothly. He was proud of himself, saying, "if I did anything wrong, I would say sorry", and "I had gas, but I excused myself". (I usually sit in on the class but chose to wait outside for most of it this week, just for a change.)
I was worried about today's lesson ... Riku was awake well before 6am for some reason, and couldn't get back to sleep. But the gods were with us ... maybe stopping off for a snack at the shrine beforehand is finally showing some dividends.
Akane and Riku's teacher are working on rhythm these days ... unfortunately, he picked up his father's "rhythm". We have a metronome now and, once he gets over the novelty of it, we're hoping it'll help.
Where it all goes down ...
Bamboo next door to his teacher's house.
I haven't been taking Mirei to the park: there, I said it. But we went today, while Riku was enjoying his post-Chinese conversation practice decompress: a DVD ("Ice Age 2").
The park's just a few minutes away by foot, and there are always children there (and sometimes adults too!). One woman who is often there around 4-5pm is the pictured "obaa-chan" ... elderly woman. She lives in a senior home just a few minutes away (other direction), and walks herself down with her chair/walker combo.
I have chatted with her a few times ... she's very sharp and chats a furious pace. Although she gave me her "stats" a few months ago, I've largely forgotten, except for a few things. She grew up in Hiroshima (a few hours away by train), and is in her late-80s. I forget her exact age, but I recall that she was a young teenager in 1945, and was living right in Hiroshima City (Hiroshima is also a prefecture/state) ...
She's been living in Kyoto for quite some time, and hasn't been back to Hiroshima in maybe 15 years? Says that she's afraid of trains now (some bad wrecks recently).
I took Riku to the park a few times and hadn't seen her ... today was the first time I'd seen her since July (before the SF trip) ... was glad to ...
Mirei and I are off to San Francisco! We'll be there until the 29th.
We leave for the airport in a few hours. Just walked Riku to school ... won't be doing that again until November ...
Riku is looking forward to lots of movies with his mommy ...
Saying goodbye at school ...