Japan! Real time update
Since I’ve been catching up on blog posts, everything that I’m posting is actually stuff that we did weeks ago. So I thought I’d do a quick post on what’s going on RIGHT. NOW.
A Japan edition of “At this moment”, if you will.
At this moment, it is 12:55 pm on Saturday. (7:55 on Friday  back home) The sun is out, and while my yahoo app will not tell me the temperature outside (it’s snotty like that some times) Google tells me that it is 52 F, 11 Celsius. Humidity is 50% (not humility, like I just mistyped. Though if we’re being honest, humility is probably right around there too.)
Bruce and Zoe are out on an adventure- they went to see the shine of the 47 Ronin (go here to read about them- fascinating stuff.) in Shinagawa and for B to sign up to take Aikido classes. He’s taken Aikido before, but the chance to take it in Japan doesn’t come around very often!
Tiny and I are at home at the apartment- she decided she didn’t want to go anywhere today and just wanted to color all day. So she is lounging around in her hot pink thermals and coloring. I’m listening to Bing Crosby and David Bowie sing “Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth”. Â Bless Pandora holiday stations. Except that they keep trying to make me listen to Sarah McLachlan. Not gonna happen, Pandora.
I put up our Christmas banner today, which makes it feel more Christmas-y. There are Christmas decorations up around Tokyo, lots of Christmas trees and lights. Â It’s known to snow in Tokyo in December, so we may see some, which would be awesome.
Later today we’ll go up the street to the grocery store. Luckily, a lot of the food is recognizable, and when it’s not, Google translate does a great job of helping me find what I’m looking for. For example, corn flakes are corn flakes no matter what language is on the package- the rooster and flakes on the box are a give away. Yogurt is figured out by finding the right sort of container in the dairy section, then looking for the white flower that is the universal sign for vanilla. Meat is more of a guess, a number of times I’ve picked out what I thought was bacon or hamburger and realized later that it was something else. (As I said the other day, “In Japan, sometimes you don’t know what you bought until you cook it.”) Things like flour and brown sugar you have to go by the writing on the package or ask, which is where google translate comes in handy. Â Peanut butter is expensive, so is cereal. They don’t have Cheerios or Eggos, and bread comes in packages of 3, 4, or 6 slices unless you go to a bakery. Â We go to the store every other day or so, to get vegetables, fruit, and meat. Â The apples here are gargantuan, as are the carrots. The eggs are a thing of beauty, honestly. Â I can’t get too adventurous because Tiny is allergic to soy, so I can’t just grab pre-packaged things to try, but that’s ok. We went out to lunch the other day and Tiny chowed down on my tempura octopus, so she’s doing fine in that regard I guess. 🙂
We go out on adventures probably 3 days out of the week. Sundays we go to church, which is two trains and a short walk past a gorgeous lake and shrine. The other days we stay  around the apartment and the girls play and I read. We’d go out more but the girls’ legs get tired. The trains are amazing, and go pretty much anywhere we want to go, but then there’s walking once we get off the train, and walking wherever we’re going. Z does pretty well, but Tiny gets carried quite a lot.
Since I don’t have my sewing machine here (which is killing me since I’m finding out about more and more babies on the way!), I’m reading a ton. The other day was a home day and I read two novels from start to end. I stayed up till midnight to finish the second one, but whatever, I’ve done more extreme things to finish a book. 🙂
Since I last posted about books I’ve read:
When Did I Get Like This by Amy Wilson
The Templeton Twins Have an Idea by Ellis Weiner
Dead Writers by  P.K. Rossetti
The Land of Later On by Anthony Weller
Not Quite Nirvana by Rachel Neumann
Dead Until Dark by  Charlaine Harris
Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach
We’ve been here 24 days and I’ve read 16 books. I should be writing for NaNoWriMo, but – oh! look! a squirrel!
Right now I’m, reading The Stockholm Octavo. It’s set in Sweden in a time period I’m not familiar with, so it’s an interesting read.
Yesterday we went to Thanksgiving dinner at the home of some friends from church, the food was delicious, the girls got to play, it was wonderful. We miss our friends, and are blessed to be making some here.
And that’s what’s going on around here. What’s going on with you at this moment?
Y’know… I didn’t consider how the young ones would obviously get tired. It’s a LOT of walking, isn’t it? I’m still amazed that you get the opportunity to be there so long.
Thanks for the report, it’s wonderful to hear your impressions and adventures in the grocery store.
Hey, are you guys gonna do the KFC Christmas dinner tradition since you’ll be in Japan?