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::Andrea's Rambling Notes - once from Japan, now from Canada::
::Author::  Name::Andrea From::Small city/town, B.C., Canada I am a short girl from the west cost of BC, Canada and I am a proud Canadian. I went to Japan in 2000 because my Dad told me I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't. He was right. I lived a good life found my husband from the other side of the world and have a beautiful daughter. Basically we lead a pretty normal life filled with normal ups and downs. We both come from different cultures: me Canadian, him Chinese. Living in Japan was a real eye opener about who I am and about the people I associate myself with. I lived and loved in Japan but the time to move on came upon us and in May of 2006 we left and moved to Canada: a huge move for us all. We are now trying to start up again, remodel our lives and create our future for our family. I now feel like a tourist in the country of my birth, my eyes see different and my life will be forever changed. This blog is my notes and observations of our life, our changes, our adventures and new beginnings. Welcome. View my complete 
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Saturday, January 29, 2005 Good read.. Japanese Hero Pointedly Ignored Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/29/2005 :: 1 Comments: Still here, just nothing to say. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/29/2005 :: 1 Comments: Just got back from the doctor. There is NO baby coming yet!!! No I am not overly thrilled by this. The baby is at 3463 grams approximately right now. That is about 7.7 pounds and I am totally closed. The doctor does not expect anything to happen this week and as far as he is concerned I come in next week Friday for a doctor’s check and then I am induced. He will not let me go past 41 weeks, which is basically the standard now a days, especially at the speed in which this child is growing – 300 grams in one week! The books say things are supposed to slow down in the last month but not in my case. UGH! This was not exactly as I had planned plans never really work out do they. So wait just a bit more people. You will be kept posted. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/27/2005 :: 3 Comments: Yesterday was a relax day. All we did was go out for lunch and visit my friend Jean. Her baby is a month old now and is soooooo cute!!! Today we headed out to Shizuoka. We reserved Dad’s tickets for his trip to Kyoto. The Japan Rail offers package deals that include the bullet train and hotel. Excellent. To make it better the lady spoke really good English. Kim met us at the station and we headed to a quick Subway sandwich lunch and then to the city office observation floor. Unfortunately the clouds were NOT cooperating and Dad STILL could not see Mt. Fuji but the rest of the view was very nice. After that we jumped in a cab and the three of us headed to the Prefecture Museum. There was a really good exhibit of paintings that had been entered in an ‘All Japan Art Contest’. One of the fourth place prizes was actually won by a lady from Fujieda. There were a few beautiful works in there and one or two I could have happily brought home for my wall. Then we headed into the ‘Rodin’ wing. Beautiful sculptures. I have been in it before but this time they had free little radio things in English explaining each sculpture. All three of us grabbed them and had a great tour in the ‘Rodin’ exhibit. Great!! Then we headed home. We bought some veggies for dinner, I put my feet up, and Dad prepared the veggies for Li to cook. Li then got home early and was in a mad man mode to decide a baby name. We came up with three but have shortened it to one. We had to go through all the good things about each name but were particularly worried about playground problems and discovered a few I had NEVER thought of with names I had chosen before. OOPPPPSSS…. That name TOTALLY would not have worked. I would have been apologizing to our daughter very often. So, we have chosen a name but I am not telling you what it is. I have basically finished doing the announcement cards and when you get it in the mail (or a very few of you via email) you will find out then. Hehehe Tomorrow and from now on I am staying very close to home and doing little activity other than keeping my feet elevated. Li and Dad are insisting. The only thing I have to do tomorrow is go to the doctor for another check up. I will keep you posted. If I disappear for a while from the blog you know I am in the hospital. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/27/2005 :: 3 Comments: Today my feet are a little tired. Dad and I went to Kakegawa and headed out to the Bird Park. I have been there before with Kim. – Bird Park. Dad was sooooo funny. He was as giddy as a school boy. He got to hold an owl.  Then he was attacked by tons of little finch type birds and toucans wanting food. He was so funny. Laughing away. Even a few of the Japanese girls couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of dad as he was soooo funny.   After we headed out to the Kakegawa castle. I was pleasantly surprised as the castle is VERY nice. There was a museum and a palace. We were allowed to go all the way to the top of the castle. The view was beautiful. We took so many pictures.  Then we moseyed on home and headed to the photo shop so that I could get my pictures developed. We had taken two rolls of film over the past three days. Now we are sitting here with our feet up and relaxing, waiting for Li to come home so we can all eat dinner and talk away. Relax is on the agenda for the rest of today. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/25/2005 :: 3 Comments: Today Dad and I went for a bike ride. First I pretended I could speak Japanese to get some information about dads upcoming trip to Kyoto. Actually no problem there. We then headed out on the bikes to this lovely Shinto Shrine near the city office, then walked up to the top of the hill behind it to check out the amazing temple at the top. I have been there before but it is always stunning. Dad is totally fascinated with the way everything is built, he has to knock on thinks and look inside. Hehehe On the top we had a beautiful view of Fujieda and spent a while hiking around the little shrines that are hidden in all the trees. He even climbed to the top of the main alter to reach what we thought was an orange tree so that we could check out the oranges in season. Wasn’t an orange but a grapefruit. Tasted really good. I then brought his slowly along the old shopping road, checking out a few other temples along the way. We then came across the famous Fujieda Daruma store. The owner is a really nice guy who is so friendly to foreigners. He is the fifth craftsman of that shop which is 170 years old. He gave us some English literature to explain his dolls and then we headed off. It started to spit rain, to our surprise, so we headed back and decided to visit the Daruma man again and buy one each. I really wanted an original. We ended up having a lovely visit there. We got to paint our names on the back of our dolls and because I am obviously pregnant he added a good health wish to the back of mine. We had this very long conversation about his amazing fish tanks, his wife brought us tea and we had a lot of talks about the history of the Daruma. Here is a picture of mine (I haven’t made a wish yet) and I wrote a whole thing about the history and understanding of the doll. Personally kind of interesting. Link – The Fujieda Daruma.  We then went for lunch, went back to the apartment and saved my clothes that were outside getting drizzled on. After the sun came out again we went for a walk to the dollar store and then to a drugstore to find dad some allergy stuff as his pollen allergies are flaring up a bit. Welcome to Fujieda and Shizuoka province – the worst allergy area in Japan. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/23/2005 :: 1 Comments: Well Dad arrived and we had a dinner. Li and he were dead tired from sitting for hours on a bus. They crashed pretty easily. Before they came I had Japanese class and did wonderful with ‘give’ and ‘receive’. I had been having a very annoying mental block sorting out the two in my brain and understanding the sentence structures. I also talked to my teachers mother and she was so happy as we were able to have a half conversation with Yoko (my teacher) translating only sometimes. Felt good. BUT the coolest part was the baby gift that Yoko gave Li and I….. A Snoopy on a Rocking horse!!!!! AND there are batteries with little music and Snoopy makes the horse rock. IT IS SOOOOO CUTE!!!! That, and I am totally in love with Snoopy. Heheeh  So anyway, because we all went to bed early we all woke up early. Had a decent breakfast, watched some news and then pondered on what to do. The weather really sucked – it rained. We ended up deciding to go to Shizuoka even though it was raining. Dad at the station.  We headed out to this hill called Nihondara. Now, again, it was raining, and on a clear day this hill offers the most beautiful view of Mt. Fuji and beyond. Well today it was so damn cold it was actually snowing on the top of the hill. We were a little startled by that. We took the city bus to the top and headed over to the Cable car that takes you to the ‘Kuno-Zan Tosho-Gu Shrine’. This is a mausoleum / shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was given the title of Shogun in 1603. The mausoleum was completed in 1617. Have you ever seen the movie ‘Shogun’, the one where Kevin Costner and Whitney Huston go to watch on their first date in ‘The Bodyguard’? Well this is the Shogun I am talking about. This shrine was built on this totally inaccessible hill. You have to walk up 1159 stone steps to get there. Thankfully there is now a cable car that will zip you across for a few hundred yen. The shrine is all bloody steps though. I had a good work out today and did not feel even a little bit guilty inhaling a chocolate bar later. There are some amazing buildings of the Shinto and Buddhist faith, and the loveliest carvings.   There was also a lot of restoration work going on. Dad was fascinated with all the construction work and the tools being used. He was so funny as he would just walk into sectioned off areas to check things out and Li and I would be going… uhh uhhh closed, uhhh. Silly man. There was also a small museum that houses some official National Japanese Treasures. They were some beautiful Samurai swords and costumes. I have seen them in movies but this was the first time actually seeing real costumes in a museum. We were STUNNED by how small the armor was. These men were tiny back then!! After we headed back into Shizuoka city, ate, did some looky loo shopping then headed home. The boys are now resting with there feet on the table watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and drinking beer. Li made a great breakfast so now we are all comfortably full and relaxed. Tomorrow Li has to go to work and I have to pretend I can speak Japanese for dad to get these tickets for him. EEEEKKKKKK…… Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/23/2005 :: 0 Comments: DADDY IS COMING!!!! He should be in Japan in about 2 and a half hours!! Li is off to the airport to collect him. Li is all worried about Dad getting lost at Tokyo station. Personally I agree with this worry. Dad decided to hell with it. He didnt care that we were moving back soon, he wanted to head out to Japan. It is kind of cool as this is my FIRST family member to visit me. There is sooooo much I would love to do and show Dad about where we live but Li has to go back to work on Monday and I am waddling like a duck. There are a couple of things I can do that are close to home. I really want to go to this Samarai museum that I only just heard about from my student. I would like to go tomorrow so that Li can join us but the weather report does not look overly favourable. Maybe the Tengu god will be nice to us and change his mind. hmmmm Mostly dad will have to fend for himself. He has plans to head out Kyoto way and I would love to join him but I have a good travelers Japanese book and he will have to venture out there on his own. It will still be wuite fun though. hmmm heheheh Gotta finishing vaccumming dust bunnies though. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/21/2005 :: 0 Comments: Got up early this morning to go meat shopping with Kim. Steak and basic meats are pretty expensive over here but there is one store out in Yaizu that is only open three days a week and is VERY cheap. Kim has a car so off we headed to Big Fuji. I spent a hundred bucks but my freezer is so nicely full. Then I got my nails done. Just got back actually. I had to get them cut soooooo short so the midwife wouldnt snap at me at the hospital. They dont like manicures. grummmbbbbllleee. They are sooooo short that they feel weird. I am thinking of changing my nails to french nails. It is a little bit more expensive but very classy. I dont know. What do you all think of that? Gotta go to the doctors in an hour. Today is a busy day. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/20/2005 :: 0 Comments: Got your Email address Yvette. I deleated your comment so you wouldnt get junk mail from some bad dude. Hope you got my testing email. It will be so cool talking to you. As for me, I got a face massage today and am so relaxed right now. Ahhhh.... Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/19/2005 :: 0 Comments: Sorry to all you out there who keep MSN messaging me and I am not around to answer. Li and I have to turn the computer off every once and a while, due to Virus control downloads, updates and so on. Every time this is done Li NEVER remembers to reset my Messenger service. I have asked a Zillion times but he doesn’t care, so he doesn’t remember. Sorry!! I really would love to talk to alllllll of you if I was at the computer or even awake. The other day I wrote that I was going to play with clip art so that I could design our baby announcement cards. Well I had not yet played with the clip art in the new Office yet and couldn’t find any. That was when I noticed the Clipart OnLine button. COOOOLLL!!!! This is a very interesting sight by ….(Just had to go and rescue my washing from being blown off the balcony. Ooooohhhhh flying underwear.)….. the way. There are some great templates on there. I am now playing with the family house finances one. It is going to require some diligence on my part to keep at it but when you are trying to save money it must be done. There are also some great learning courses on there. I am totally going to start doing some. I have actually planned to start today after I go for a bit of a walk. They all look great!!!! Start upgrading my computer skills – or the lack there of – now. Should be interesting as my Office is written all in Japanese and the classes are in English. I will have to stretch my brain just a little more. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/18/2005 :: 0 Comments: Last night Masatoshi figured out how to get my computer to write in Japanese. Now we can write in Chinese, Japanese and English. The problem is remembering how to turn them on and off. UGH! The control is a little different from my lap top at work and I get all frustrated and confused. AUGH! Then I get a little confused and am not sure if I use the English keyboard or the Japanese key board, as the keys are placed in slightly different spots between the two. Going to take a bit of getting used to but right now I am just sooo happy that I can write properly. So FIRST!!! Congratulations to Z on becoming an Aunty once again!!! YAAA!!!!! (Smiley icon here!!!) This morning we all woke up pretty early. Li was off to work and the other three woke up a bit before me and jumped in the shower – no, not all at the same time – and got ready to head out to Tokyo. I got up and got ready to head out to Shizuoka. I wanted to see them off at the station and then head to the big department store where I buy my makeup. We did our hugs and a few pictures. Heather, Masatoshi and Daryl  I bought my makeup and a few cook book magazines for Li. He was talking about wanting Japanese cooking books so I grabbed some stuff for him. That, and a Starbucks tea for me as well as a hugely yummy Subway sandwich. MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! I moseyed on home, hung up the wash, headed to the corner post office to mail a letter and am now playing with my computer. Every once and a while my hand hits the language change shortcut key – mostly because I have the worst typing hand posture – and the damn language keeps changing. Remain calm….. Breath…. You are happy about the language changing thing…… hummmmmm, hummmm That and Li and I are doing the eye glaring thing trying to decide the layout and cost for our baby announcement cards that we of course want to do. Li has this bad habit of going ‘What ever, you decide’ and then in the next breath saying ‘I don’t like that, this would look better’. AUGH!!! MEN!!! I just got off the phone with my friend Jean who just made cards for her newly born daughter to find out where she went for a printers and some basic how-not-to-kill-your-husband tricks. Hmmmm… I am going to go and play with clip art now. Talk later. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/16/2005 :: 5 Comments: Yesterday was a miserable cold and wet day but basically very relaxing. We actually didn’t sleep in very much and spent most of the day making music CDs. Li and I also went shopping and got a water proof garbage can for on the balcony to hold dirty diapers. (Grimace face if I could make one.) But last night Heather and I went for dinner with a couple of girls from work. We had a LOVELY dinner! Then we headed over to the dart bar and met up with one more girl. All of them, Fumiko, Shinibu and Chika, have never played darts before. We had a blast. And then to top it off Fumiko actually won a dart set on her second game. We had a lovely time. Li met up with us as did Kim. I stayed up a little late as we then headed over to the Flute to have a few drinks and juices and keep chatting away. We had a lovely evening and slept in well today. Masatoshi and his friend headed out to Nagoya last night but are due back this evening. Li and I did our last baby shopping today. Today was a beautiful spring, hot day. Thought the weather seems to forget that it is January. It was beautiful today. Clothes were washed and we headed over to the big cheap baby store. I happily found a breast pump that is both electric powered and battery powered and only 40 bucks. I was very happy at the price tag. Also a lovely ear thermometer for 30. With the expected stuff coming from across the ocean and what we have now I do believe we are more than set with all that is really required for this child before heading back to Canada. Ahhhhh….. (relaxed face if I could make one.) I just finished eating dinner that Li made and we are waiting for the boys to return. Basically watching movies, reading books, writing blogs and vedging out. Tomorrow I have to head to Shizuoka city to buy some more face powder. I dropped the damn thing in the sink and shattered all my expensive powder. AUGH!!! Then I will ummmmm….. I don’t know… something. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/16/2005 :: 1 Comments: Heather was curious how this worked so I am showing her. Hi everyone. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/15/2005 :: 2 Comments: So this morning I woke up, had a shower and blow dried my hair. As I was putting hair wax in my hands to style my hair I was looking at my face cream and thinking about the facial massage I am about to go to in 30 minutes time. I promptly smeared hair wax all over my face. Pregnancy fucks up the brain there is no doubt about it!!! I have been on holidays for a few weeks now and am officially getting bored. Not crazy bored – not yet anyway. My god send is that Heather is coming this weekend. That will give me a couple of days of amusement. I have cleaned the food cupboard (which was sadly overdue for a cleaning), wiped down the inside of the fridge (which needs a total cleaning but I don’t want to do it), organized the baby clothes area, rearranged closets, aired out bedding, and sorted out our hundreds of videos. I have gone from three boxes of videos to slightly over one. I need to go through them again and do some tough love so that I get down to one. DVDs are so much better but there are some videos that are almost impossible to find on DVD, for example ‘Willow’. I love that movie. I have finished making my flash cards, now I am sorting them all out. Haven’t finished the globe puzzle yet but I am saving that for later. I will need something. I have been watching movies, movies, movies. And getting sick of watching the TV. I have been trying to get in a walk a day plus a few minutes on my stair-climber thingy. Mostly to keep the blood pumping and blood to continue flowing to my brain. I have even started closing the shutters every night like a typical Japanese house wife cause I have the time so why not. I do have to start scanning pictures, but I think that would be a good job for when the baby is here. It is a job that you can safely walk away from and then return to no worries. I have even written the inside of our baby announcement card, but we have not gone to the printers to look at designs yet. And Li’s mom finally got her visa so that is one stress off of our minds. Ugh! Ok I am off to get an aromatherapy facial massage. AHHHHHHH…….. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/12/2005 :: 0 Comments: I just finished watching Finding Neverland. Johnny Depp is amazing as usual. I am still crying. It is an EXCELENT movie and I recomend EVERYONE see it. I do like the end - I agree - Neverland is Heaven. All you have to do is believe. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/08/2005 :: 0 Comments: Watched Alexander the other day. Personally not a bad movie at all. Ignore the American bruhaha about bisexuality. Watch it as a pretty good movie. And as a word of note, the elephants in it are now being used to help clean up the Tsunami. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/08/2005 :: 0 Comments: In my free evening time I have been alternating between making teaching flash cards and doing this crazy 3D world puzzle I bought. Well I am happy to announce that my flash cards are almost finished and some real progress has been seen on my puzzle. My thursday night progress...  Then last night I worked some more and actually completed the circle.  Now I am working on the ocean sections and it is giving me a headache. ugh. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/07/2005 :: 1 Comments: The companies that work globally in this country are pretty decent. << Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is donating 20 million yen in cash as well as 26,500 flashlights, 210,000 batteries and 5,000 emergency food packages to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India, company spokesman Karl Takahashi said. Sony Corp. has donated 30 million yen through the Japanese Red Cross and has given the Thai government an additional $128,000 in local currency in aid, spokeswoman Minako Eto said. ...... Among other companies making donations are electronics maker Toshiba Corp., which is donating 22 million yen, and Hitachi Ltd., an electronics and machinery maker donating 20 million yen, officials said. Food-maker Ajinomoto Co. Inc. donated 40 million yen.>>>>>> Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/05/2005 :: 0 Comments: So I got my teeth cleaned today. Well I should say scaled, as they do not clean the same way they do back home. There is not the spit and polish that we are used to. But the tarter is removed and my teeth are checked for cavities. This was all I was really worried about. The baby books said to make sure you get to the dentist for a cleaning before you have the baby and again soon after. Pregnancy can wreak havoc on your teeth. First, there was the pucking continuously for three months that kills your teeth and gums, and then there are the hormones. In my first baby class that I had to go to they subjected you to many disgusting photos of what can happen to your teeth if you don’t look after them properly while pregnant. I have since turned into a slight freak. I brush three times a day and use floss and these little brush sticks on each tooth every night. Then there are two types of mouth wash in the bathroom. I may have gone a bit anal, but the doc said my teeth are totally cavity free and fine. I need to go back in a few months but no problem. I also made another appointment for Li to get him teeth done. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/05/2005 :: 0 Comments: The Kotatsu: The underneath part...  The blanket/quilt goes over top...  Then the table top sits over the quilt...  You turn it on and sit underneath, or lay, in total comfort. It is VERY easy to fall asleep under one. Li has on many occasions. We have two of these. One in the living room with a much lighter blanket due to the air con, and this one in the tatami/teaching/guest room. The carpet underneath this one is a heat carpet, so you get double warmth. This is how we deal with the lack of central heating in this country. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/04/2005 :: 3 Comments: Li and I have just received in the mail the BEST New Years and Birthday present EVER!!!! The official letter from Canada Immigration telling us that our package has been accepted and has been sent to the processing office!! YAAA!!!!! It has started!!!!! Now I know what the wait is for. Before I was terrified to open the mail box and find the package returned with notes telling me of my mistakes. Then I was terrified that it never even arrived there. Now I can relax and know the wait is just a wait and no more worried. Ahhhhhhhh........ Happy Happy New Year - and I am eating peanut butter M&Ms - double Ahhhhhh... Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/02/2005 :: 0 Comments: First!! A HUGE Congratulations to my friend Jean who had a perfect baby girl on December 28th. Well done my dear. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/02/2005 :: 0 Comments: Just got off the phone with some new years cheer from Grandma. Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope this finds you all safe and sound. Everyone tucked in front of their computers and all writing emails and blogs. Speaking of which, I would love it if a couple of you would PLEASE email me back with your addresses so I can send you your New Years cards!! Better late then never I say!!!!! I spent my New Years at home watching movies and cutting up flash cards for my students. I set my alarm clock for midnight so I would not miss the bells. Yes the Buddhist bells ring 108 times at exactly 12. I bundled up and headed outside for a very nice refreshing walk and strained my ear drums to hear the bells. I did have to strain as the temples are not overly close to my home, but I heard them. Them along with the slightly annoying Shinto shrines shooting off their noise- only- fireworks continuously for the first hour. They started up with the booms again in the morning. A few of my neighbours headed outside as well and stuffed themselves into their cars to head off to the shrines to do their New Years prayer. A lot of people have started trying to get to the shrines as early as they can as the crowds are CRAZY later. The mass crowds last for about two days. Some people wait until the 3rd and 4th which are considerable less crowded. Li had gone to Shizuoka for the evening. He had dinner with his Chinese friends and then met up with Abby and Kelly at this bar out there for some new years cheer. I never bothered to try – too smoky and too noisy. It sounds like he had a good time and he actually made it home all safe and sound on the first train. When we woke up – very late – on New Years Day I insisted that we go for a walk. After eating we bundled up and went for a very relaxing, quite long walk around the neighborhood. We headed down some side streets that we have never gone on and just enjoyed the day which was beautiful. The sky was clear and the sun was shinning. The wind was pretty damn cold but it was still soooo nice out. We then discovered that Sumiya, the music store was open, to our surprise. It was also VERY busy. But we headed in there and wandered around. I discovered a bin of CDs all for 4$ each. I walked out with 5 CDs – some great female country artists and this very interesting woman from Africa, oh and Marcy’s Playground cause we all love sex and candy. We then headed home and watched a few movies while bundled up under the kotatsu. OHH the kotatsu. Z, I have finally taken some pictures of it and will add them to the post following to show you what a kotatsu is. It is Li’s birthday on the 5th and he turns 30. Thirty is a big year in China. His one friend bought him a 200$ nice bloody lamb skin jacket to help him celebrate it. If he was in China he would have to celebrate it with a full course dinner in a fancy restaurant and his ENTIRE family coming from ALL over for it. He is VERY happy that he has not had to do that. Thirty has been a bit of a mental barrier for him. He has been thinking a lot about life lately and about how different things have turned for him. But, I am happy to say that he believes his life and the person he is has become is much more than he had ever dreamed and he is happy about it. He has lived in another country, has visited Canada (which he had never imagined), got married to someone totally unexpected (hehehehe), speaks three languages, understands the thinking of three different types of people and feels he is a better person because of it all. And now he is going to be a father. Last night at the restaurant he goes – I wonder what type of person I will be in just three years after we move to Canada. I said, honey I have no idea. I have been wondering about it myself – not him but me. I am different than I was before. I know I am. I think different; I look at friendship and family different, and personally better. I too understand the thinking of three different types of people and it changes how you talk to and deal with people. Hmmm Anyway, Li has to work on his birthday and I had not bought him anything, so I convinced him to head out to Gotenba Premium Outlet Shopping Center. I had never been there before but have had many students and friends tell me about it. In my mind it was just a strip mall. OHHH NOOO!!!!!! I’ll get back to that. First we woke up much earlier than expected which turned out to be a good thing. We eat then headed out to the station. Now my student had told me that the most direct and slightly cheaper way to get there was to take the train to Shizuoka, then to take the highway bus to Gotenba and it was right there. So this is what we did. Didn’t work quite as smoothly as that, though. 1!! The train was sardine packed!!!!! It was January 2nd and half of Japan was heading to their favourite shrine and the other half to take advantage of the shopping deals. MY GOD it felt like rush hour in Tokyo. There were a few stops where we could not get the train doors closed!!! IT WAS CRAZY!!!!!! 2!!! We didn’t actually know where the highway bus was and were walking in circles and asking people tons of questions until we found a taxi driver who understood us completely. Now the whole highway bus thing was a real eye opener as we discovered that it has direct service to both Nagoya and Narita airport. As for Narita airport it takes about 30 minutes longer but you save 30$ and don’t have to deal with the hell of Tokyo station. We have people to pick up at the airports soon (eg. Li’s mom). 3!!! The bus ride was uneventful and smooth but what we didn’t know was that we had to then take a shuttle bus to the center. Now the shuttle bus stopped right there, so that was not a problem. The entire morning Li kept asking me – are you sure it is open it is an official holiday today. Well it was open and the lineup for the shuttle bus curled all the way around the corner. AND THERE WAS SNOW!!!!!!! It was sooooooo damn cold. We were only just over an hour from home and the temperature was TOTALLY different !!! Of my god. We were both dressed very warmly but were not prepared for the snow. We had to wait almost 45 minutes before getting on a shuttle bus. But on a plus side it was a perfectly clear blue sky day and Mt. Fuji was RIGHT there looking perfect. Li took a bunch of pictures with his cell phone as I was not prepared to remove my hands out of my pockets.  So we got on a bus and headed out. Now as I already said, I assumed this place was a strip type mall. I knew it was all brand name stuff but was not really expecting anything overly fancy. Stupid me. The bus started heading into the hills and through forests. No one seemed at all concerned by this but I was pretty confused. The traffic jam in the middle of the forest was weird. And then WHALA we were there and it looks like bloody Whistler!!! No joke!!!! Whistler is definitely classier but the layout was the same, and there was snow! The mall stretched out in Whistler style stores over gullies with covered walkways and scattered food courts every where. There was a bloody Ferris wheel up on the hill.  It was actually quite nice. The first thing we did was grab a map and then dive into the first restaurant with no line up. Turned out to be a good choice. I had a very American type chicken burger that tasted really good. Everything is written in English first and Japanese second. All announcements were in English and then in Japanese. This was a total American adventure – never mind the fact that most of the stores are from Italy and France – Armani and Hugo Boss. It was after eating that I saw my first snow man. I have been in Japan for almost 5 years and this was my first Japanese snow man.  So we headed out to buy what we could afford. This place had everything – Brooks Brothers, Chloe, Elle, Laura Ashley, The Body shop, Versace, Adidas, Nike, Armani, Dunhill, Lego, and United Colours, - You name it, it was there. My main concern was Li getting his birthday present. Well this may have been an outlet store but that does not mean things were cheap. HELL NO!! This was brand name stuff. Crazy! After a lot of looking, Li found himself a really nice pair of shoes at Hugo Boss. They go perfectly with his new Jacket. They are a boot style but have just the right amount of class to make jeans and these boots appear dressed up. Very nice. He wore them out of the store. Then out of the blue he goes – these are my first hundred dollar pair of shoes - Feels good. He always gets his shoes from China. They look like an 80 dollar pair of shoes but really were only 5. Li likes shopping that way so he felt pretty cool. Hehe I then found a PERFECT cardigan for after pregnancy at United Colours and we both found turtle necks and sweaters at GAP where they were having a MAJOR blowout sale. They had ten cash registers going and there was still a long line. We stopped in the main food court for a pick me up chocolate chip cheese cake and Li grabbed a pint of the Famous locally brewer Gotenba beer. I then got this history lesson about how the first ruler of Taiwan, Moe’s main enemy, used to drink only water and Gotenba beer. The food court had a total western feel to it; they were even playing western music.  We had a very long but good day that turned even longer when the bus back was 30 minutes late and arrived back in Shizuoka an hour late due to MAJOR Holiday rush hour traffic. UGH! Then in Shizuoka there was a newly made ice sculpture in front of the station that was already starting to melt as it was one hell of a lot warmer there than in Gotenba. HUGE temperature difference!!  Today is a write blogs and relax day. Posted by (Top)Andrea::1/02/2005 :: 0 Comments: |
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