Konnichiwa

My Little 'Hood

The good news is, opening very soon, a stone's throw from my new house - will be:

*drum roll* Ralph Lauren, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Max Mara, Epoca, Paul Smith ......

 

Can life get any better?

 

The bad news is -  I can't buy that kind of stuff anymore.  I will be up to my eyeballs in debt paying off the mortgage for my new house.

 

C'est la vie? 

 

My Last 2.5 Months

The last 2.5 months has pretty much been nothing but work, work and more work. On largely just 1 deal. Which finally signed early June. Hard work is one thing but to be made to stay in the office every weekday night till about midnight or after, and to go in to the office every single weekend till midnight is another thing. I felt trapped, like I had lost my freedom, which essentially I did. I could not do simple things like get my hair cut! In the last one month, there we were 4 nights (not consecutive) where I stayed up the whole night working without any sleep at all - not sure how many more of nights like these I can do at my age! Tomo was great being the dad, the mum, the chef, the chauffeur, the entertainer, the housecleaner all whilst holding down his own job. One of the daycare mums whose son is in the same kindie class as Taiga stood in for me at one of the kindie events, Kai's English teacher kindly babysat for us on a weekend at the last minute ..... So that was how we managed, with the help of the community around us. Brought the English teacher to French Kitchen at Grand Hyatt last weekend as a 'thank you' and am glad he really liked the place. So what's next? A trip back to Singapore for 2 weeks. The boys and I are excited about it. Tomo will have his vacation at home without us! 2 quiet, blissful weeks for him. Tomo got me an Ipad so I am now ready to get on the flight, give my Ipad to the kids and get some sleep. Unless they start fighting over it. So here I am this morning sitting in Starbucks typing out this post on my Ipad. I am taking the morning and early afternoon off work to attend a lunch organised by the mums in Kai's kindie. This Is Kai's last year in kindie and I have never attended these kind of events before, so thought I should attend at least once before he leaves the kindie. I think there will be a round table self-introduction. I must say I am not fond of these things especially if it is to be in Japanese. Be positive, be positive, be positive! Does not help that I am feeling rather sluggish this morning. Was up until 3 am researching software for family trees last night. I intend to properly start my family tree project when I am in Spore this time.

The End of Ski Season

Ski season has ended.  We made it to the mountains 3 times this Feb/March.  

The first time we went, I spent hours packing.  The second time we went, I spent about an hour packing. The third time we went, I spent only a couple of minutes.  Call me seasoned. So, this is what it feels like to have a second/weekend home?  It can be quite tiring.  As Tomo and I have long hours at work, we tend to leave our house no earlier than 11pm on Friday nights and do the drive to Yuzawa.  It should take only 2 hours but Feb/March is when there are road works everywhere as the various cities try to use up all the government budget before the financial year end (which is March 31 in Japan).  So the traffic jams throwin another hour, at least. We sleep in on Sat morning, do a lazy brunch and hit the mountains only at about 1pm. We ski, eat, sleep, eat, ski, eat, ski... and then leave Yuzawa at about 10pm on Sunday night to get back to Tokyo/Yokohama.  Only to be up again at 7 to get ready for the school/work day.

Much as I enjoyed Yuzawa, I am glad ski season is over.  I can now do proper sleep ins on Saturdays and Sundays!  I am exhausted.  Work has been crazy this Feb/March and many weekends found me hunched over my computer or attending meetings.  In fact, our 3rd trip to Yuzawa was not confirmed until 10pm on a Friday night.  At 6pm that day, I managed to confirm that I was OK work-wise to leave the city.  Tomo was still not sure until he called home at 10pm to say that he is OK too, pack up and we will go!  We were all so excited, esp since we had to cancel a trip the prior weekend, which was a long weekend, due to a meeting Tomo had on a SUNDAY! (I will save my rants on the Japanese disregard for family time on weekends in another long, long, long post).

As for the boys, they love skiing.  We can't tear them away from the mountains! When the ski-lifts for the day pass end, Kai refuses to leave and makes Tomo push him up the mountain so that he can continue skiing!!! Taiga too, is like the Energizer bunny on the ski hills.  He takes quite a few tumbles as his legs are still not strong yet, but that does not deter his spirit. At one stage, he had a 1 on 1 class with his instructor for 2 hours.  After the class, the instructor mentioned that he should be exhausted by now and would probably want to sleep soon. Nah, he made Tomo push him up the mountains too and skied for another 3 hours.  Poor Tomo, he has to do the midnight drives and push the kids up the mountains. But then again, having the kids start skiing now is his idea.

Since the kids loved it, we bought them ski clothes after the 1st weekend.  Before the next ski season, we will probably buy them their own set of skis and ski boots.  It works out much cheaper than renting. The first weekend we were there, we easily spent 50,000 yen just on renting the clothes/skis/boots, paying for 3 ski classes for each boy and ski lift passes. Come next ski season, we will not be renting anything, Taiga will probably go back for some more classes (as he is so young - he was not even 4 when the ski season ended!) but Kai is definitely over classes. He is begging out of it.  Instead, he wants "Daddy School". The apple does not fall far from the tree - speed is king. In the proper ski school, where there are a few kids to 1 teacher usually, the kids have to ski slowly and ski for only 10 meters before having to stop and wait for the next kid to ski.  At Daddy School, he gets to ski non-stop all the way from the moment he gets off the ski lift, which means he can go fast, fast, fast! Yes, speaking of that, I will definitely have to buy him a safety helmet too.

Whilst they are skiing, I am enjoying a cappucino in a lovely, warm cafe, followed by waffles topped with caramel ice-cream fresh from a nearby farm.  All the whilst, playing around my Mac with the free wi-fi and listening to music with my noise-cancelling Bose headphones.  That is why I don't object too much when they want to go skiing when I rather stay home and sleep. Oh, I have been productive.  I have been watching the Apple video tutorials on how to make/edit home movies.  I have not mastered it yet, but the videos attached are my first efforts.  You can hear me snapping at Taiga, Taiga crying, strong wind blowing etc - I have yet to learn to mute that. Enjoy!

In this video, Taiga is so adorable as he takes his spills  - and what is Kai doing?

Happy New Year

Rather belated, but happy new year!

Not sure who is reading this blog any more though - this blog has been stagnant for the longest time.  Many things happened last year which I will update the blog on some time later.  Kai started English class at Berlitz, Kai started kindergarten, Kai started golf, both Kai and Taiga started swimming class.

As I blogged earlier, last year was a crazy year.  There were months where I was very free at work, but had to behave myself in the office (i.e. no blogging) as redundancies were everywhere.  My colleagues have been asked to leave.  Of the 3 of us who started together and did our orientation together, I am the only one left.  The other 2 were asked to leave.  Because of the terminations, the maternity leaves and natural attrition, I was incredibly busy at work for about 6 months.  At the peak of of it, I seemed to be working non-stop, even on weekends, which kind of resulted in my losing all sense of what day of the week I was in.  For those 6 months, Tomo held fort at home and I did not cook a single meal.

To make things worse, my daycare forbade me to use the stroller to bring Taiga to the daycare.  They said he is old enough to walk.  He is, but he does not like walking in the mornings.  So for the last 5 months, I have been been carrying Taiga to daycare.  16 kg, 20 mins.  Up a steep hill.  And that is not to mention 2 bath towels, 2 daycare bags (with various towels, fork/spoon set etc.), my handbag and my document bag that I also have to carry.  And when we walk home, throw in another 2 bath towels (Kai's) and Kai's various daycare and kindergarten bags (at least, 4, depending on the day).  And am I expected to run after 2 active boys as we cross the various roads in our residential estate?  I am pissed with the principal.

So what are the plans for this year?  Now that Kai is 5 and Taiga 3, I think the pain of the last few years is easing.  For the last few years, we were just about living day to day.  With the kids easier to manage and Kai to start primary school next year, I think we can start scheduling our lives a little.  Some ideas/resolutions for this year:

1. put the kids into bed by 10.30pm - they used to sleep at midnight or after.  We tried this after coming back from Singapore and so far so good.  
2. stop going out so much, stay home more and do activities with the kids at home - when the kids were younger, they needed lots of entertainment and with our small house constantly messy, we used to get out of the house all the time previously.
3. cook more at home (preferably, with an organic slant) - we did get organic last year.  I think we can achieve this more this year with a supermarket opening on our side of the station.  It has made a huge difference already since it opened, so much more convenient for me to grab some stuff on the way home.  And this supermarket carries quite a range of organic veges, so that helps
4. make the kids room more functional - since we will be doing more activities at home and want to de-clutter our living room, this is a step to be taken.  We just bought them ergonomic desks/chairs from Germany which will be delivered in April.  We are thinking of buying double-decker beds for the kids because from experience in the last 5 years, no one bothers to fold up/put aside the futons - at all!  Hopefully, when this is all put together, we can finally get the kids to sleep on their own and I can get my bed all to myself again!! Oh, the luxury.
5. invite friends over more often - it will be nice to have company over. Esp since I now know quite a few people who stay in my area (from daycare).  Even the kids like it too the few times we had people over the last few years. They get so excited (and even did an impromptu "magic" show last Spring) and would not let the guests leave till they finished their never-ending show.  And it will force us to keep our house clean and de-cluttered.

So the thrust of it all is that this will be the year where we try to get some normality back to our lives.  

(I will blog abt Singapore as soon as I can.  The photos will take some time.)

The End of A Year, the Beginning of the Next

2008 was a pretty crazy year.  It was all about adjustments, adjustments and adjustments. 

First, it was the job change, then losing my trusted weekly cleaner (who was planning on going back to her country for health reasons), then my MIL stops helping out with less than one month's notice.  What that meant was that in 2008, I was busy trying to understand and settle in to my new job environment (and it was very different in almost all aspects from my old place), busy trying to establish a level of trust and respect from my new colleagues, adjusting to speaking English like a native again (more foreigners in this new place - I had to speak slowly and use simple words/concepts at my old place - for 8 whole years!), busy sussing out my new colleagues, cleaning a house that somehow never became clean, sneaking off work to pick the kids up from daycare, spending more time with the kids on weekday nights, making dinners on weekday nights ..... For those very busy weeks/ months at work, it meant working overnight at the computer after the kids have slept.  I have also developed a new routine for those really crazy work days.  I would wake up before dawn breaks (and the dawn breaks early here in Japan), shower, catch the first train into central Tokyo and be at my office by 6am!   

I survived!  I now live day by day, day to day.  I may have lost weight along the way.  Not that I noticed.  Just that when I was home in Singapore for the holidays, so many people commented on how slim I am now.  Is it the new lifestyle or the effects of ballet finally kicking in?  It also got me wondering - how fat exactly did I look like before????

So for this year, I am just looking to consolidate my work in the office.  There will be routine changes again come April when Kai starts kindergarten.  Apart from that, this is what I am hoping to do this year:

1. cook more nutritious food/reduce dependency on processed foods
2. buy more organic produce  
3. eat in more/eat out less  
4. bake bread on weekends   
5. spend more time at home on weekends doing arts and crafts with the kids or reading to them 

I was about to add "making breakfast every weekday morning" to the above but that would be too ambitious.  For the record, I myself don't eat breakfast and have not for most of my life.  When in school in Singapore (where school starts at 7.30am - 30 mins after the sun rises), eating breakfast at 5.30 am when it is still pitch black (the school bus comes around that time) was never my thing.  I always threw it out to my dogs.  But everyone has been saying - breakfast is the most important meal, esp for school-going kids.  And my sis went to one of those nutrition for brains for kids seminar and told me it is not just any breakfast which is good for the kids, it should ideally be more protein-rich.  So at some point, I will get to that, but maybe not the next few months.

Happy new year to you all reading this out there!

Dad's Birthday

The main reason for going back to Singapore was to celebrate my dad's birthday.  I think it was his 73rd birthday?

It cost us a whole lot to fly back but that is what it is for an "international marriage" where extended families are living in different countries.  With my dad being so old (although he would be just about ending middle-age here in Japan!) and his health being not the greatest, money becomes a a non-issue.  Besides, accommodation back in Singapore is free! And it gets better next year - my sis and her family will be moving a stone's throw away from Orchard Road and we have an open invite to stay! Woo hoo!

So here are some pics of the special birthday meal at a Chinese restaurant.

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Here is the whole family, minus Tomo.  We could not afford his airfare! :-)  See how all the grandkids are wearing the Disney t-shirt again?  My dad requested for it.  I could not find Taiga's t-shirt for days and was quite stressed out by it.  I was up nights turning the house upside down!  You would have thought that things can't really get lost in a tiny house like ours!

 

No celebratory Chinese meal is complete without the suckling pig.  And the abalones.  We had that too, but I did not take a photo.

Formal Chinese meals have many courses which go on, and on, and on .... Kai and Taiga did the time-honoured thing that kids do - at least in my family - they went around and explored the restaurant! That's the good thing about Chinese restaurants, they are usually so noisy that the extra noise made by the kids don't really stand out.

Yes, I am Still Alive.

I have not touched this blog for almost 2 whole months already! Just signed myself in to Typepad and wow, they have made so many changes to the functionality of their blogging service. This is what they should have had from the start considering that this is a paid blog, but I am very pleased nonetheless that it is now here.  And they are still making improvements.

So many things have happened in the past 2 months, this is the condensed version:

• we were in Yuzawa for Golden Week and had 2 fun-filled days with Lily and her family.  We bought a new videocam just before going, and this blog was a bit held up as I was waiting to download some video footage to this blog.  But I think it will be a long time more considering how busy we are at home, so this blog is moving forward without the footage.
• my MIL has stopped helping us look after our kids.  I think she has been reading my blog. ;-) Actually, I take great comfort that she can't read English and I am therefore pretty safe venting here.  She has been feeling weak for quite some time, has been seeing docs, but docs can't find anything wrong with her.  Personally, I think her problem is that she is not eating enough.  She is very health-conscious and now associates a low weight with being healthy.  She weighs herself too often.  She is the only person I know who cuts a banana into 3 pieces, eats 1 piece and then wraps the other 2 individually and places them in the fridge.  It grates me every time I open the fridge and see slivers of banana carefully wrapped in Saran wrap.
• because she has stopped helping us since Golden Week, our family has been undergoing another adjustment to our routines.  Just as well that I changed jobs earlier and with my new job, it is easier to get home earlier and pick the kids up from daycare.  But it also means that I don't get much time to check out other blogs now or I just skim through them.  Hopefully, this is just temporary and once I settle down to this routine, I will have more time to blog-surf.
• as if changing routines was not difficult enough, we had that new routine disrupted 3 times within the past month.  First, Tomo left for Singapore on business for a few days.  When he came back on a Wed night, I flew off to Hong Kong the very next morning for training.  Then when I came back, I brought the kids to Singapore for 10 days to say happy birthday to my dad as well as to play with their cousins.  Just got back this past weekend.  And we are all exhausted.
• we had a good time in Singapore.  So much happening there, but all for another post.

    

Our Car Arrived

It finally came last Saturday.  It is the Volvo XC90.

Tomo was starting to get withdrawal symptoms from not having a car for 3 consecutive weekends.  Although Volvo had offered to lend us a car in the meantime, I said "thanks, but no thanks".  I thought it would be fun to lug the boys, Tomo included, around by trains.

So what did we do once we got our car?  We headed to Costco!  Now, all of us were getting withdrawal symptoms from not having been to Costco in quite a while (which means, longer than 1 month).

The pros of our new car:

1. we are higher than most other vehicles;
2. the space at the back is so big, it is the playroom for Kai and Taiga;
3. the space at the back is so big, it is a great place for changing diapers;
4. the space at the back is so big, we could shop without restraint at Costco.

The con would be that, whilst it is a powerful car, it is not as powerful as the Saab, which is our previous car.  I guess it is not fair to compare, Saab is after all the makers of aircraft engines.  What happened was that we were on the express lane on a highway when a really fast car behind us started closing in.  Tomo (who fancies speed) stepped on the accelerator, but the Volvo did not move like the Saab, so in the end, Tomo had to change lanes and get out of the way.  I guess this could actually be a pro rather than a con.  Not safe to drive that fast right?  Could this be one of Volvo's "hidden" safety mechanisms?

I really like the space at the back.  At noon on Sunday, Tomo had to go to some remote area to meet with a client for a while.  Since it was a Sunday, we followed him.  But whilst he was with the clients for more than 30 minutes, what do I do with 2 active toddlers in an area with nothing to do?  I brought some toys along and let the boys play at the back.  They loved it and I had some peace.

Then when we arrived at Costco later, Taiga had just fallen asleep and Tomo wanted to get some shut-eye.  I put Kai at the back with the toys again, and we all got to sleep for a bit until Taiga woke up about an hour later.  Without the space at the back, at least 1 of us would have to walk outside with Kai - for an hour. 

Since both the Saab and the Volvo are Swedish cars, the interiors are not too different.  So we felt right at home immediately. 

And the license plate - we bidded for numbers that are auspicious to the Chinese (and to a certain extent, the Japanese too).  We were very lucky.  Quite a few people bidded for that number, but we got it!  In Singapore, this would actually involve an auction process i.e. the highest bidder would get it.  And for the number we choose, it would be quite a hefty sum in Singapore, easily running into the thousands of dollars.  In Japan, it is not an auction process.  More like a lottery.  We paid only 2000-odd yen (approx. S$ 30) for the number. 

May our luck continue with this car!

My FIL is Getting Younger

He is getting a sports car. 

He signed the documents last week and the car, which has a long waiting list, will be ready only in August.

Over the Japanese new year extended-family lunch, as the women fussed around the kids in the living room and the guys were chatting at the dining table (I was hanging with the guys!), my FIL said that he was thinking of getting a sports car.  I cheekily told him - what's the point of getting a sports car unless you get a girlfriend too? 

My MIL was out of earshot and would not understand English anyway!  ;-)

No doubt my FIL was amused and agreed with me.  Interestingly, by brother-in-law immediately agreed with me.  Ah, he could be in trouble for having such views as his wife is the FIL's daughter!

What is it with men and fast cars?  They are so attracted to fast cars no matter what their age.  Kai loves racing cars.  That is his current obsession.  He loves "red racing cars that are made in China". 

Don't ask me. 

October in Japan: Undokai

Undokai = sports day. 

When we think of sports day in Singapore, it is usually  a school athletic meet.  Only teachers and students attend.  It is also always held on a school day which for the students (and probably the teachers too) is a super day as there are absolutely no classes and it is a half-day.  We all get to leave after the meet ends.  Also in Singapore, the date of the meet can be at anytime in the year.

Now in Japan, sports day is always in October.  There is the official Sports Day, which is a public holiday, but the meet can be on any day within October.  In Japan, it is not only for schools, but also companies!  Yes, companies also have a sports day.  Every year, Tomo attends the meet for his best client and every year, he brings cases of beer and shochu (a strong Japanese liquor).  Yup, you read right.  Alcohol.  Even though his client's meet is in the morning, everyone is already drinking alcohol from then.  I always wonder - how do they participate in the sporting event even if slightly inebriated?  And many of them bring young kids too, so maybe one parent drinks and the other parent abstains?

So I read in the Nikkei the other day that the months leading up to October and within October itself is the peak period in Japan for camcorder and camera sales.  Steep increase in sales during those months.  Why?  Because many parents out there are rushing to buy the latest model to record their kids' athletic prowess.  Therefore many Japanese companies were rushing over summer to bring out their latest models in time for this peak season.  Gotta be true.  My SIL, whose son started his 1st year of kindergarten this year, who already has a nice camera, bought a new one.  Specifically for the undokai.  (Or at least that was the excuse she used to her husband to justify a new camera!)

Back to the sports day itself.  It starts from kindergarten and I understand that it is not unusual for daycares to have it too.  I saw my neighbourhood daycare holding theirs.  I am so glad that Kai & Taiga's daycare does not have it, for the following reasons:

1. sports days are typically held on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.  That to me is precious family time (read: I don't want to wake up at the crack of dawn on a non-working day);
2. it is customary for grandparents to be invited (for the school sports days - don't think for the company ones!).  And almost always, at least the grandma will attend.  I have no problem with the MIL attending per se (and would actually love for FIL to attend!), but that would be a problem as regards the obento (see 3 below);
3. it is also customary for each family to bring an obento (packed lunch).   It is usually packed by the mum which er, would be me.  Which again, would not be a problem and I think I might enjoy doing it, since it is only once a year.  But, the MIL will be there.  She will definitely scrutinise the contents and be criticising it, whether she verbalises it to me or not.  Judging from her reaction to food I have cooked before, I suspect she would either: (i) take a look and tell me she is not hungry, (ii) take a bite and tell me it is oishikunai (not delicious) (no, she does not even bother to lie - Tomo says it is a good sign, that we are close enough for her to  be open about her thoughts!!!), or (iii) bring her own obento.

I am spared this year but my time will come.  When Kai starts kindergarten.  We'll see.  It may actually be fun.