Konnichiwa

Sports Day (Part I)

The annual sports day fell upon us. 

I have to admit, I was not particularly excited. In part because I had to wake up early on Sunday morning, in part because I attended last year's and felt it was - well, nothing spectacular, and in part because we are supposed to make obentos and I know I will not make it but will drag the family to a restaurant after the event. And I know the mums are all looking around discretely to check out other mum's obentos and when they see my laziness family starving, there will be some tut-tutting. My MIL saved the day on the last count when Tomo invited his parents along and she insisted on making the obento. You think she insisted 'cos she knows me well?

So there you go, grandparents at the sports day? Yes, in Japan. The kindergarten did not leave anyone out.  Of course the kids took part. Then there were dances with the grandparents. The races between the teachers. The races for the older siblings who were in primary school already but were hanging out at the kiddie's sports day as both parents were there.

And then, there was the parents' race. We were warned beforehand, both mum and dad had to take part. If one can't make it, please bring along a substitute.  Our race turned out to be hilarious. They had dads at one end, carrying a balloon, and mums at the other. When the gun is shot, the dads and mums had to run towards each other and bump into each other to burst the balloon using their bodies! This turned out to be hilarious with the substitutes - when we get 2 middle-aged men grinding their bodies together to burst the balloon, or a mother and a young child (imagine the height difference). And then we had 1 couple, a mum and a dad, who had the misfortune of getting the Teflon balloon which absolutely refused to burst. They went at it, using different body positions, trying different bumps and grinds until every single person around the field had their eyes fixed on this couple. After the longest of times, they were given a substitute balloon! So after the balloon bursts, we have to run to our waiting kid, grab our kid and all, holding hands, run to the finish line. Kai did a great job keeping up with us, Tomo was too much of a gentleman, giving way to another dad when their paths crossed. You know what they say about playing sport with a person to see their true personality? Which is why businessmen like to play golf. A-huh, don't race me unless you are prepared to lose. Sport just naturally brings out that competitive streak in me. So when it was about time for my race to start and the mums were just standing around waiting for the gun shot, I was all crouched ready to spring to action. I had the other mums standing around wondering if they should just be standing or getting into position like me! 

The amazing thing was I actually totally enjoyed this year's sports day. I think the reason for this is twofold: (i) they have improved the program and (ii) Kai is now in the oldest class and they actually do have proper races.  For kids in the first 2 years of kindie, there is no real race and everyone is a winner. So Kai's races had my adrenaline running (see, I told you I am competitive). He also had some performances and I think he (and his friends in the graduating class) did a fabulous job.

Taiga on the other hand was very difficult. The day started off with him wanting me to carry him around! I refused. He pouted. For his kakeko (very short distance sprint), when the gun was shot, he refused to run!!! He just stood at the starting line and looked down.  When it was his turn to do a dance performance, he refused to even put on the outfit. When his class was out there dancing, he just stood on the spot.  All because I did not carry him for as long as he wanted. I am hoping this is just a phase and not an integral part of his personality! 

Here is Taiga when he was being moody.

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?

Surfing in Ski Country

Surfing the internet, that is. I am sitting in the Edleweiss Cafe of Prince Hotel in Niigata,Naeba as I write this post. Isn't WiFi amazing? Better when it is free, as it is now.

Tomo is out being challenged by the ski hills.  He is an advance skier.  He does black slopes.  

Prince Hotel has a ski school for kids, named Miffy - after the famed character.  Kai and Taiga are now in school.  Kai is actually on skis. He even went up a ski lift today! He is doing pretty well and is very enthusiastic.  He comes down the bunny slopes nicely but can't stop.  Stopping is tough.  Reminds me of the first time I was on skis.  Can't stop too. Just went from right to left to right, instead of stopping.

Taiga is too young to go on skis although I think we will try to convince the Miffy school otherwise next month. Kids can go on skis only from 4 yrs and Taiga's b'day 4th b'day is early April.  They will not let us this time, but when he is 1 month short next month, I think we will try a little harder to convince them. Taiga's class spends 1 hour indoors playing with toy cars and 1 hour outdoors playing with the snow. Including tobaggon rides. For whatever he is doing, it is costing me an arm and a leg which is a little hard to justify. So you could say I am buying myself some quiet time here!

Miffy school has a great reputation.  Also, I was very impressed when we came for a look-see here last year.  This was soon after the Natasha Richardson incident.  All the ski schools we looked at did not care or stress head gear at all.  Miffy did.  So much that in the aftermath of the accident, they were encouraging skiiers to use helmets and did free rentals of ski helmets.  Great marketing?  Whatever.  I am sold.

The boys did 1 class yesterday and are doing 2 classes today. We are planning to be back another 2 weekends in March to round off this ski season.

It snowed quite a bit from late afternoon yesterday till this morning.  But since this morning, it has been sunny.

As the boys are skiing, I have been busy doing my own stuff.  Like getting to know more about my Mac. I am not fully utilising all the functions on my Mac and have spent hours watching the video tutorials on the Apple site. I have been catching up reading my Time magazines. Ever since having Kai and Taiga, my subscription issues tend to lie around unopened.  I brought along a parenting book I bought a couple of weeks ago - Einstein Never Used Flash Cards.  I like the book.  But watching those tutorials have taken up a lot of my time and I am not sure whether I can get to reading the book before we head back to Tokyo tonight. Anyway, we will probably be back here in 2 weeks time, and that book is probably coming again too.

May post some shots/video footage later.

Singapore - Part IV : New Digs

What a view! 

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My sis moved. *We* have a new place to stay! :-)

Now, this is the life.  I look out of my windows in the Tokyo/Yokohama corridor and I see buildings, buildings and more buildings.  Usually, plain boxy buildings, very practical in design and very practical in color.  What I would give for a view like the one above.  Contrast the green of trees and plants, and the blue of water, against modern glass architecture.

We did not stay here this time as she was just about moving when we were in Singapore.  But that did not stop us from having some fun in the pool.

The evil cousins.

Led by the evil Uncle, my bro.

Taiga taking a ride from Daddy.

Taiga's fav.  He would throw the board down and then "fall" flat into the water like the board.

Kai grabbing onto Daddy.

Good job cousin Keira!  She only just started swimming classes.

 
 Having more fun.

The anxious grandparents keeping an eye over the grandkids.

Tomo taking a break.

Plotting his next attack.  See that squint in his eye?

Ah, the tranquility.     
  

Singapore - Part III : Changes

The iconic Ion.

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The Singapore skyline and scenery is never stagnant.

The latest big thing to open is Ion. Located most strategically at the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road.  With such prime commercial retail space, I am glad the architecture did not disappoint. Look at the pic above - it's absolutely not a boring, boxy building.  It is also located back from the road, which is a great idea, making that junction seem more spacious.  I am glad they sacrificed high rent-yielding retail space for that spacious junction.  My sense is the architects are not Singaporean, I asked around, nobody knew.  Just found out from the internet that it is a London architectural firm that designed this. Apart from the exterior, the interior is also beautifully designed and certainly did not skimp on quality.  This building certainly raises the bar for the other shopping centres in the vicinity.  It makes Takashimaya next door appear downright dowdy.

It is not a surprise that the big name retail shops like Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Prada would want a space here. It was a surprise that Cartier and Louis Vuitton who already had space next door in Takashimaya, and Prada just diagonally across the road, did not close their previous retail spaces when the opened up shop at Ion. Who would have thought that the world economy was in a downward tailspin? 

Maybe it is a sign of the bad economy or my age, but none of my friends have stepped into Ion except for 1.  Even though it had been open for 5 months already.  Whatever happened to my friends who were always on the prowl for the next big cool thing to happen?

My biggest regret the whole trip was right at Ion.  They have those water fountain thingeys that shoot water right out from the walkway for pedestrians.  These were located at the front of the mall, where there is high pedestrian traffic.  My boys saw the water spouting out and wanted to go play. Surprisingly, no other kids were playing with the water.  So off ran Kai and Taiga right into the water. They did silly things like tilting back their heads and pretended to be washing their hair or bending the knees, tilting back their torsos like they were peeing (in conjunction with the flow of water - such that the fountain water looked like their pee flow!). They were having such fun, they were oblivious to the crowd that had gathered around to look at their antics.  My regret?  Not having a videocam or camera on me.  The boys were just so hilarious.  I think if I had passed a hat around, I would have collected a tidy sum!

When we go back to Singapore again at the end of this year, there will be more changes to report. World-renowned Sands would have opened as well as the other "integrated resort" which would be on Sentosa and which would have Universal Studios in its resort!

     

Singapore - Part I

We did so much in Singapore, that it is quite difficult to coherently document everything here (with the limited blogging time I have).  So, in no particular order, I will just write whatever comes to mind first.

Northwest

For starters, we flew Northwest and they are so kid-unfriendly as a whole.  We had 1 supernice stewardess (who happened to also be on our flight back to Japan), but apart from that, some of the stewardesses don't even bother making eye contact when talking to passengers, which really irks me.  But before we even started our flight, I found out a couple of days before that they had seated me  separately from Kai & Taiga.  I don't know why, especially since we had the same reservation number.  I called Northwest to change the seating and they said it would be difficult, I should just do it when I enter the plane.  Not to worry, I told them, I really don't mind seating on my own, I just hope whoever is next to Kai and Taiga can cope with them.  Gosh, I really should fly with Northwest more often.  What an opportunity to be apart from the kids.

On the way back to Japan, we had the same problem in that I was placed to be seated with the kids, but Tomo was a few rows behind.  It was not Northwest's fault this time in that Tomo had a different reservation number (he flew to Singapore on his own a week after us, but we all got back to Japan together).  I tried to get Northwest to change our seats but again, they said do it when you board the plane.  So we approached the girl next to us and asked her if she could please trade her aisle seat for another aisle seat 2 rows back.  Surprisingly, she was hesitant and uncooperative.  She said no.  Finally, that super nice stewardess came to help us and that girl again said no, this time citing that she had ordered a special meal.  She did move in the end though.

Service in Singapore

I must say that this time round, I was quite disappointed in the service.  Sometimes when I go back, I get service that pleasantly surprises me but this last trip was not one of those times.

In one incident, I was a Borders and was seeking out Seventeen magazine that I had promised my niece.  Could not find it in the magazine section.  Looked around for a Borders employee, could not see one, started walking around looking for an employee.  About 15 meters later, at the Politics section, I spot an employee.

Me: Excuse me, I am looking for Seventeen magazine.  Can you please help me?

Employee: That would be in the magazine section.

Me: Yes, I know.  I just came from there but could not find it.

Employee: Then we don't have it anymore.

Me: Could you please show me the shelf where you usually have them?  I may have missed it.

Employee: *waving in a certain direction that excluded only the half of the bookshop behind her* There.

Me: And when do you think the next issue will arrive?  

Employee: We have no idea.

Me: Would it be in the computers?  Could you please check?

Employee: It is not in the computers.  You just have to keep coming back to check.

Lovely.  Is that how they keep their customers coming back?

Spoken English

The kids' English always markedly improve every time we go back.  Even if for just a week.   This trip was no different.  Before the trip, Taiga did not speak much English although he understood a lot.  Since coming back, he has been chattering away fluently in English as if it is his native language.

Now, Taiga love the song Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  He would dictate which animals are in the farm and I have to sing it and make the appropriate noises.  He was like that in Singapore too.  First, the cows, then the sheep, then the pigs .....

and then, the COCKROACH!

Yup, old man MacDonald's farm would not be complete without a roach.  And what sound do roaches make???

Unveiled: The New Haircuts

These photos were taken not long after our return from Singapore.

 

(Kai refusing to pose nicely)

 

(A close-up shot I managed to sneak)

 

(Taiga did not mind photos being taken.)

Baking

I baked my first cake ever!

What brought it on was that recently, I have been seeing some shops in Jiyugaoka selling Bundt cake recipe books.  And the recipes were not your usual cake recipes, they included more exotic recipes likes chocolate mint cake and rum/raisin cake.  That sparked off my budding interest in baking. Then a couple of weeks later, Costco sold the Bundt cake pans at a really good price.  I bought one.  Which meant that I had to bake, at least once.  I went back to Jiyugaoka to buy those recipe books and would you believe it -they no longer had them!

So, the Bundt cake pan laid below my bed until a few days before Taiga's birthday, I suddenly got inspired.  Why not bake Taiga a birthday cake?  Enough with those strawberry cakes that seem to be the only cakes that are sold whole as a birthday cake in Tokyo.  And who needs those recipe books when they are all over the internet (as I discovered).  For free.  (The wonders of the internet never ceases to amaze me.)

But if Taiga's birthday is the next weekend, I should do a practice cake this weekend.  Yeah, I am anal like that (and for many other things too).  So I rushed off on Friday evening to the supermart and baking shop to get my stuff.  What really floored me was when I was standing in front of the zucchinis and checking the recipe again.  The recipe called for 3 cups of grated zucchinis.  That was a real brain teaser to this non-baking and usually non-cooking female.  Just how many zucchinis do I need to get 3 cups?  Walked over to the household section and had a good look at the volume of 1 cup.  I figured that it would probably take 2 zucchinis to get 1 cup, which means that I need 6 zucchinis.  For good measure - who wants to run out of zucchinis when baking halfway - I threw in an extra 2 zucchinis.  At 250 yen each, the zucchinis cost me 2000 yen (about US$20) in total. 

That was not the only substantial expense.  Just before the shops closed, it suddenly occurred to me that I have tossed away my one and only grater when I saw the terrible state it was in.  (My MIL uses it to grate daikon (radish) and since it is not an oily dish, she simply does a quick rinse with only water and puts it back into the drawer).  I would need to get another grater if I am to get grated zucchinis.  This provided the perfect excuse the buy the 4000 yen Microplane grater that I have had my eye on for the longest time.

I should have bought a cake instead, right?  Would have been a lot cheaper.

The whole baking experience turned out really well.  Kai insisted on doing everything, and I mean everything.  Even taking the butter out to soften at room temperature, he wanted to do that.  So when the recipe called for "cream the sugar and butter" and I figured out "cream" probably means "whisk" and brought out my electric whisk, Kai was delirious at the metallic equipment and insisted on holding it.  We switched it on but instead of creaming it together, it was expelling the butter and sugar with great force from the deep metal bowl and hurling it at us.  Kai was trying his best to deflect the buttery missiles.  But how could I tell Kai "mummy probably made a mistake there in the use of this whisk".  I switched it off and said very confidently "I think the whisk is spoilt".  I am sure there will be a payback time for all these little untruths I tell my kids.

In the middle of all that action, I misread 1 cup of cocoa for 3 cups of cocoa.  So the chocolate orange cake actual became very, very, very chocolate and orange cake.  But it was delicious.  It turned out well.  And the shape came out quite well from the Bundt cake pan too.  Nothing like the cookies I tried making last time.

Only problem was, the cake was rather big and it took us another couple of days to eat it.  I don't think anyone really wanted another chocolate orange cake when the weekend of Taiga's birthday rolled around.  So we bought a strawberry cake for him instead.

And I still have 5 zucchinis sitting pretty in my fridge.  I cup of grated zucchinis requires only 1 zucchini.    

Strawberry Picking

We don't normally do anything very fun or unusual on the weekends.  The main objective of the last few years has been to go somewhere that (i) is not too far, so that the tired parents can sleep-in and wake up at noon, (ii) has lots of space/activities for the kids to run around or do, to tire them out so that the tired parents can sleep.  So that means that we tend to go to only Costco, Lalaport and Takashimaya (@ Futako-Tamagawa). 

Then, Lily suggested that we join her family for strawberry picking.  (Thanks Lily for inviting us along!)  We were limited to only 30 mins of eating at the strawberry farm!  Kai had fun picking and eating.  Taiga approached the whole picking with deep concentration and single-minded objective.  He certainly needed no help from me. 

The strawberries were nothing like what we buy.  But I think that is because we buy the cheap stuff.  Like USD8 a punnet.  The stuff that we ate, I think is the stuff that is usually sold for USD30 a punnet (i.e. maybe about 10 to 12 strawberries?).

The strawberries were very, very sweet.  We found out that the owners of the farm cultivated their own bees and used the honey from these bees to make the strawberries sweet.  We were told not to open this box.  That's where some of the bees are.

And next to the strawberries were these fields of yellow flowers.  Apparently, canola oil comes from these plants.

And here is a cute pose of Taiga.  (I can't resist.  It is a cute pose.)  Notice he has no shoes on?  That is because he ran right into a muddy puddle - and fell.  He is looking very pleased because he does not have to wear shoes.  He is *constantly* pulling them off.  See Mt. Fuji in the background?

 

The weather and visibility was not the greatest that day.  But can't complain, at least it did not rain.  Here is a bigger pic of Mt. Fuji in the circumstances.

A Trying Time Indeed

Taiga has been really cute, so much so that I was wondering only 2 weeks back whether we should have 1 more kid.  But he has been so difficult too.

Just yesterday, whilst I was paying for some things at the pharmacy, he climbed out of his stroller.  Not once but twice!  The first time round when I saw him, he had his legs entwined with the seat belts, and was dangling upside down with his head close to the floor. 

And each time when I tried to put him back in, he would refuse, run away and kick me. 

Not to mention that he was running away without any socks and shoes because he had promptly peeled them off and thrown them to the ground within 10 seconds of me putting them on.  So I gave up after 3 tries and decided to let him go shoeless and sockless in the pouring rain.  Temp of about 8 degrees celsius.  And strong winds.