photo essay

I have a friend! This is Satomi. She and her son Hana came over to our house. I remember thinking I would never have any friends here. We are almost to our 8th month here and I have made 3 japanese friends! (4 different people, but considering the language barrier, I think it counts more as 3 friends) Having a japanese friend is really nice. Satomi sent me chocolates when I was sick and yesterday spent at least an hour calling travel agencies for me, and I didn't even ask her to do it. I am so happy I met her, who wouldn't be!


Alex loves watching videos, but he is banned from Sesame street because he is always talking about his emotions- which are usually either sad or scared. I think he watched too many hurricane episodes. Ok, I know it is good to talk about these things, but really, how sad can a lego really make you, on an hourly basis? Anyway, he is still pretty cute. He is going to throw everyone through a loop when he comes home.















I bought this fabric to make a cool bag for new baby stuff, or whatever it happens to be used for beyond that. It is not a diaper bag, I hate that term because usually diaper bags are just ugly and who wants an ugly bag with a dirty diaper in it. If you have to carry around something like a dirty diaper, because that situation will arise where you know you have to just stick it in your bag, you need something to compensate for that. Anyway, in anticipation of being reunited with my beloved sewing machine in the near future I have been looking for patterns online.

















Maybe I am the only person who spends endless computer time looking up patterns, besides possibly Ted (who I love because he recently introduced me to pattern review), but can I just ask who in the hell thinks people want to still see patterns that look like they are from the 70's? This is a NEW Vogue pattern in the current issue of Vogue Patterns. Whoever makes these books needs to be tortured for all the years they have tortured me.

I was just reminded of something. About a year ago I was sitting on a park bench at PSU reading this and I knew then that marrying a genius like Nate was no mistake.

Look, no snow!!

meme

4 jobs i have had
teenage candy seller
the bookstore
city market slave
flower girl

4 movies i could watch over and over
the rules of the game
bottle rocket
the thomas crown affair
goldiggers of 1933

4 favorite tv shows
the oc
sex and the city
magnum p.i.
the office (british version, although it also makes me
queasy due to striking similarities it has to a certain "chard"
(ex-boss) I know)


4 places i have lived
idaho falls, idaho
portland, oregon
kanazawa, japan
multnomah village (does that count?)

me and my brother at redfish lake

4 places i have vacationed
san juan islands
czech republic/poland
anne's beach cabin- r.i.p.
redfish lake, stanley, idaho

4 sites I visit daily
101 cookbooks
craigslist-portland-real estate for sale
friend's blogs
epicurious

4 favorite meals...
sunday brunch at daily cafe
dinner at Gino's with dolcetto and tiramisu
fresh caught, pan-fried trout with potatoes
7 flavor beef and bacon wrapped oysters at wild ginger in Seattle


not to be confused with
first 4 things I am eating when I get back to the u.s....
hamburger at McMennamins
Baja Fresh, or anything closely resembling mexican food
old town pizza with green salad/ blue cheese dressing
chicken crudité and mille feuilles from the boulangerie

also not to be confused with
4 favorite meals in japan.
ham and egg sandwich and dorito-like chips from convenient store
ton katsu in Kyoto
salmon cakes with mustard sauce and Yoko's potatoes
steaming-hot pork dumplings, again, from convenient store

I spend alot of time thinking about food.

4 places I'd rather be
I'm not even going to answer this question.
No offense to japan, but I have been here for 7 months now,
the list is endless

4 people to tag to do a meme, too

nate

melissa l.

casey

molly

guess what?

We are having a girl! Well, the doctor's exact words were, "My guess is a girl" but backed it up by pointing to sufficient, factual evidence found on the ultrasound. Besides, the chinese astrological chart told us many months ago that it was true, so he was only really confirming what we already knew. In any case, we are really excited. Nate is already worrying about dating and keeping her under lock and key.

In other news, we have all had the worst case of influenza and have done not alot of anything besides watching 200 episodes of Sesame Street. We were teased by a few beautiful spring like days and then it started dumping snow again.

I am working on crocheting a baby blanket. Maybe it will be more of a lap blanket, it is kind of bigger and denser than I planned. I am using alpaca wool and it is very, very soft. Also it will take forever to make, so who knows when it will be done. I also made and attached a body to my crocheted cat head.


polly tagged me for a meme, which before a couple of days ago I had no idea what that even was, or that being tagged for it actually meant that I now need to do one! I will get to work on it and try to post it soon.

new friends

We went to our new friends' house for lunch the other day- Satomi and Hana. Hana is almost 2 years old and doesn't say any words yet, but finally we have found another kid here as crazy as Alex. Despite his sweet face, he is loud and kind of a little terror- he and Alex get along great.

winner gets a prize

ok, give up? The closest winner I'd have to say is Derek with the guess of cocaine and hot chocolate. But, it's actually ice cream! I sent Nate to get chocolate covered ice cream bon-bons and this is what he came back with. Yes, they are in a balloon. And, no, they are not good, but in Nate's defense- the package does say bon bon on it!

new years party

Today we went to a new years cooking party. 5 different countries foods were represented: Phillipines, Mexico, Japan, Kenya and me, U.S. The food I was ordered to make was chocolate cake. My japanese teacher, who has now become more of my japanese teacher who comes over to my house to gossip and cook and not teach japanese, asked me months ago to make a cake. I said yes, but as time grew nearer, I worried that there might be some issues- like ingredients, pans, recipe. We, and most people, don't have an oven, so I had no idea how a cake would even turn out. Although there are plenty of cakes available to buy here, nothing ever lives up to my standard of what good cake should be. This fact alone led me to think that the possibility of being able to make one was slim. Then, day before the party, Yoko called to tell me that I needed actually to make 4 cakes! Even more worried, I kept asking about what kind of pans there would be to use, but my only answer was repeatedly "ok, yes, see you, make 4 cakes, bye!" over and over. Then when I got there, there were no pans to be found anywhere.


Finally, we managed to dig up 2 sheet cake pans. Two other JET girls really did most of the work, I mainly supervised and laughed nervously when everything seemed to constantly be seperating in the bowl and looked nothing like any cake batter I've ever seen. But, in the end, although it wasn't really, exactly cake, it turned out. Enough frosting seemed to make everyone happy. It kind of turned out more like a brownie, or something in between. All of the food, cake included, was very good, especially the Mexican lentil soup. Alex had a really fun time playing with a little girl there, he even shared his new, coveted sticker book with her. Afterwards, we all played bingo. Nate won two Asahi beer mugs and I got a new towel to wipe down the windows with and a cheap velcro wallet- SUGOI NE!
Also, check out more pictures on Flickr

Alex has mixed feelings about snowmen, which is interesting because usually he is quite sure how he feels- he likes it or he doesn't. I wonder what it is about the snowmen that has him somewhere in between.

Nate has gone back to work after three weeks off. The apartment is so quiet now, and I find myself feeling kind of like I did when we first got here, which is wondering what to do now. Except now it is snowy and I am big and Alex seems bigger and I can hardly carry him to the end of our driveway. Also, now, I am not wondering what to do in a worried, helpless sort of way. I guess I feel confident with my options and comfortable with my surroundings. And considering the uncertainty of our future it seems best to take advantage of being a little comfortable and bored. I wish I could get motivated and try to fufill the 8 credits of art electives I wanted to complete while I was here. If only somehow I could transfer my overactive brain into something that looked like art work. I wish I could find some printmaking ink, and a potty training seat.

Lately, I spend alot of time thinking about my neighbors. I think about their lives and how they are at home everyday with 2+ kids, hanging up laundry, wiping the windows down multiple times a day, making meals. There husbands come home on the weekends and are rarely seen, and they don't really ever have friends over and never seem to go anywhere. And I don't think they wonder what they are going to do with their lives or if they are satisfied. And I think about my me and my friends who may be reading this, and the options and freedom we have and how we don't know what we are going to do, but I wouldn't want change places. It is no wonder to me now why they keep you in the hospital at least a week here after you have a baby, it is probably one of the only breaks these women get. It is interesting to me, not good or bad, just very different.

We still don't know whether we are having a boy or a girl, or where the birth will be for sure, but so far things are good. I am almost positive that it is a girl, but any suggestions for boys names are encouraged!

finally 30

Nate's birthday was yesterday, he has arrived.

Happy New Years

Dear people in last year, the future is trippy. Sorry for the lack of anything, but I just put a bunch of pictures up in Flickr for the time being. Hope everyone had a happy new years! We miss you!

snowy dayz

The snow has finally come with a bang, Lindsay said that Kanazawa is all over the news because of this huge storm. It usually doesn't come until January, so I guess it was very unexpected. We went out to get Alex's Christmas present on probably the worst day. As you probably tell, Nate wasn't amused by my picture taking while we were waiting for the bus, but that's mainly because he had been walking around in wet shoes and socks for about 3 hours. The solution to winter driving here is that there are mini sprinkler systems placed in the center of all the main roads. This is a bitch for pedestrians (especially if they don't have knee high rubber boots) since there can be up to a foot of water and slush to wade through when crossing streets. Also the bonus of getting constantly splashed by cars. There are also crazy thunder and lightning storms constantly, the thunder is so loud it rattles the house. I have always like thunder storms, but it is scary for Alex. I told him it was the clouds talking because they are so cold.


Now we are more or less confined to the house, which I also kind of enjoy for the time being, at least until we run out of food and Christmas cookies, so most likey until tomorrow. The house is cold, but outside looks freezing. I made Alex his first Christmas stocking. I also knit a scarf which looks terrible and I think I hate knitting. We have been cleaning and organizing , and hoping that my dad and Barbara will make it here with no weather delays. It still doesn't seem like Christmas to me, but I am not down about it. Japanese style Christmas is kind of annoying to me because it seems especially materialistic, even worse the in the U.S., not so surprising since as one teacher told Nate "we don't give a shit about jesus". For me, it is mainly that the selection of Christmas novelty items here are so tacky that I almost want to vomit. They make those fuzzy cheap Christmas stockings you can buy at Walmart look classy. And I really just want some eggnog.

Nate is so sweet that he takes over my most detested chore on his days off, which is wiping bucketfuls of freezing cold water off the "sunroom" windows. There is so much water condensation that occurs, and from what I can tell, no one else has this problem. The best solution would be to get a dehumidifier, but they are expensive and we have already sunk enough money into stuff that we are just going to lose in the end. It is a ridiculous amount of water, and when I wipe them down, after only an hour I come back to find it looking totally like it did before. It drives me nuts. The only solution so far is to keep the windows slightly opened all the time, which sucks when you have paper screens as barriers. Funny, too, is that this is where we are supposed to hang our clothes to dry.

So, I know I don't paint Japan as a great place, but I just love to complain about it. The thing is, the things I like about it are impossible to describe. Like the way the string of lights glow at dusk when I ride my bike home from the grocery store, or how I have to stop and make myself hear the 1000 crickets chirping because I have become so used to them that my mind tricks me into thinking they've stopped. And most of all, the way people have gone out of their way, even running a whole block and back, to give Alex a small toy or something to eat. And I really don't know what else to say, except sometimes I am of the opinion that this place is o.k.

he just wants to be taken seriously

Omicho Market

One of the prized landmarks of Kanazawa is Omicho Market. Here you can buy fresh seafood, vegetables, flowers and more everyday except Sunday. The only thing I have bought here so far is flowers, I am too chicken to venture into the seafood arena. Right now it crab season. There are what seem to be hundreds of different types of crabs: hairy Hokkaido crabs, tiny local crabs, giant, spiny purple crabs. The prices range from 800 yen to 30000 yen (add a decimal point 2 numerals in, you get a general idea of what it would be in u.s. dollars).


The japanese consider the guts and brain to be equally delicious as the actual meat. This is good because some of the crabs here are so small that it would be too unsatisfying to pick out and settle for just the legmeat, although not good for me. I am not into eating crab guts.








Hopefully by the time we leave here I will be able to say I have purchased something other than cymbidium orchids and tortillas from the Diamond Store in Omicho Market. A few weird restaraunt experiences involving raw wormlike sea creatures and whole, ungutted cooked fish, where there was no mistaking the fine taste of the fish filet and the foul taste of when you had actually (and not intentionally) reached the bowels of the fish, and of course, fish ovaries, kind of turned me off of the whole fish thing. But I think I am almost ready to make a fresh start of it, or maybe I'll just buy more flowers and look.

photos at last

I realized that is has been over a month since we have taken/posted any pictures, so yesterday we made up for it. Now you can view too many new pictures on Flickr. It was a beautiful sunny day, Nate took the day off because he had 0 classes to teach. It's hard to believe how today it is back to rainy and freezing. I hear snow is coming soon.

bears, bears, bears

Well, Thanksgiving here was a total bust consisting of Alex puking and laying on the couch moaning all day, me eating muesli for dinner and both of us watching a taped vcr recording of animal planet over and over. I expect you all to help make up for it next Thanksgiving! In the meantime, Nate got to sit for hours in an outdoor hot springs, in the rain with a six pack of beer. He brought back one can of beer and this story:

There is another JET here who worked last year in a school that was way up in the mountains. Anyway, one day she went to work and her students starting getting worked up about something. She looked out the window and there was a giant bear walking around the school grounds. Everybody was freaking out and a call was made to two grizzly-looking Japanese mountain men. Soon enough they arrived, dressed in furs, and shot the bear while everyone watched from inside. Then they proceeded to also skin and butcher the bear, also while everybody watched. They recieved a portion of the meat and the fur as payment for killing the bear. The rest of the meat went to the school and everybody had bear for school lunch that day.

Note to Mothers: You aren't going to like this

Well, I guess one way to get a new bike here quickly is to get hit while riding one. Although I really hesitate to say this, in the last week both Nate and I have been hit by cars. Luckily, neither of us were injured at all, beside a small cut for him and a small leg bruise for me. He was on his way to work, I was on my way to the grocery store, and thank god, without Alex. Luckily, I saw my car coming and tried to brake and turn to avoid it and didn't even fall over. But my bicycle front tire did not come out so well, it was practically bent in half and the bike was unrideable. The woman spoke no English, but seemed extremely apologetic and said she was going to repair my bike. I left it at Mos Burger, she insisted to have the bike-lock key and I would have Yoko, my teacher, call her tomorrow about the repairs. Much to my surprise, the next day Yoko called her and she said it was my fault- I ran my bike into her car!! Yoko asked her if she reported it to the police, she said no, and therefore had no right to make judgement. She said she would have a new bike delivered, and here it is! But, I guess we will have to buy a new child's seat. Anyway, I am not happy to be hit by a car at all but a new bike is kind of nice. Fortunately, it will be winter soon and no bike riding anyway, so you can all try to be a little relieved about it. I was quite shocked that she lied about it, though.

Now I have to deal with this kerosene heater! It is so warm, but kerosene? Supposedly it is safe, you just have to air out your house every so often, which seems to defeat the purpose, but it is quite warm when it's on and electricity is so expensive here. I never thought I would use it when we first got here, but here we are. Poor Nate is freezing at school with no heat at all there, either. And all those girls have to wear skirts all winter long. In the good news, I am very excited because it looks like my dad is coming for Christmas!!! I can't wait, visitors at last! And I got up the nerve to invite my friend/neighbor Yuko and her 3 kids over for Thanksgiving with me and Alex while Nate is out of town. Her husband works and lives in another town during the week (which is actually pretty common here). I am a little unsure about what to make, but I am very excited to have such fun things to plan for! I hope her kids will eat my food!

The last week was rainy, not really much happening except maybe too much Japanese television and too many ramen noodle bowls from the convenient store. I could never eat these at home due to 1. not knowing what the hell was in them and 2. the outrageous amount of fat and calories. Now, I could really care less what is in them as long as there seems to be no weird fish-like pictures on the cover and I cannot read any of the nutritional information, so I can pretend they are healthy. They are actually pretty good, although not that filling.
Alex caught a cold, but has been in really good spirits despite being sick. He has learned how to peel satsuma oranges all by himself, which he is very proud of and has been watching many video game clips with his dad, something both of them seem to be able to do over and over and over. Nate gets very excited when he thinks about Alex finally being old enough to be his "gaming" partner. And I have no doubt that Alex is going to kick Nate's ass in any game he sets before him He has a way with buttons, as you all know. I bought him 4 crayons for $3.00, and haven't seen them since. I have no idea where they could be, he didn't even color with them at all, they just disappeared as soon as I handed them to him. I cannot figure out why something like a single crayon has to be so ridiculously expensive, but maybe at least they were good quality, I would have liked to tried them out myself!
Last week I found myself trying to stall my Japanese tutor by getting her to gossip (not a hard thing to do) because I hadn't studied enough. Not very smart, considering I am paying her, so, this week I have made up for it and been studying tons. I actually had my first real conversation in Japanese with a guy at the train station, which I could more or less understand and also answer everything he said.





I have been thinking a lot about winter, it will be so strange to be here over the holidays. It is the first time we have been away from our families, it seems like they (the holidays) just won't exist this year. Nate has to go to a conference on Thanksgiving Day which is overnight, so it will just be me and Alex and some chicken nuggets. I was looking up recipes on Epicurous.com and there was a beautiful picture of a pecan pie, it made me sigh. What are we going to have for Christmas that involves as microwave, toaster oven and a fish broiler? How I am going to get to the grocery store or bank in all that snow, something now that is done on almost a daily basis? (and oh yeah, let's not forget I am pregnant) I guess with many layers, boots, and planning ahead we'll waddle our way down to the store. Maybe we can quack like ducks, too, Alex would really like that- and I am sure the neighbors would!

fall

Fall here has been very beautiful, when it's not raining. There are persimmon tress in almost every yard and the smell of burning fields in the countryside. This red farmhouse surrounded by rice fields is near Valor, a supermarket we like to shop at. It provides a very unjapanese-like, kind of surreal scene that reminds me of Idaho.

This is the Valor supermarket, which also looks like it could be anytown U.S.A. until you step inside. I have finally gotten to the point where I can go in, know where everything I need is, and not totally lose track of time because I am stuck gawking at one of the million different products because I have no idea what they are. Sometimes, they actually stare back at me. Nate saw a fully dressed geisha shopping here at Valor the other night, sans make-up, the first one spotted so far.

In other news, as many of you probably already know, Nate and I are expecting another baby. I went to the doctor Monday, an experience I was dreading, but actually turned out to be just fine. I had the embarassment of having to have the receptionist physically show me where and what to do with the cup for the urine sample, but luckily that was cancelled out with me having to help the doctor spell syphillis (not because I have it, but because they test everyone for it!). The doctor spoke English well enough, and was friendly. I have heard rumors that often doctors are very cold and uncommunicative, compared to Western standards, so I was relieved that it went so well. Also based on Western standards, you would have thought they were running a meth lab by how unorganized and in disarray the exam room was. But, this extreme messiness is very common in Japan, and I have no doubt that under the piles of tools, viles, and papers everything was very clean. Based on an ultrasound, the due date is June 8 and based on my last "mens" it is June 6, so I have to go back in two weeks and then the doctor will be able to tell me exactly what the due date will be and blood test results. Then I will be able to give my official statement of pregnancy to the major of Kanazawa and recieve a Boshi Techo (maternity/child handbook) and then we will see what comes next.

pictures

I got this new book about this kitty who plants a beautiful flower, it gets eaten by a caterpillar, so she bakes him a flower pie and he is to full to eat her flower anymore. It is all in cut-out felt and the cutest thing ever.

I put up some more pictures of Alex on Flickr, check them out!

killing time

Some of you may wonder what it is Alex and I do everyday while Nate is off teaching proper English to scared junior high school students.

One of Alex's favorite pass times is going to the train station and watching the trains. The walk to the train station is about ten minutes, if I am lucky I can get Alex to walk the whole way. Above is the view near the train station of a meadow of weeds, which is full of crickets and solidago, with the surreal background of a expressway in construction that we walk past almost every day. I will be amazed if it is completed while we are here, it looks like it has been there forever. Yesterday we actually noticed that the dirt road that the cement trucks take to work on the expressway had a small, concrete pool surrounded by sprinklers in it, Alex of course wanted to go play in it. I couldn't figure out
what the heck is was for, then I realized on the way back that it was to clean the truck's tires off before they enter back onto the paved road.

So, we go to the vending machine, get a drink, go to the train station and wait.

And we wait some more, and then the song starts and we know there will be a train. Alex freaks out, starts jumping up and down, yelling that the train is coming.
Then the train comes, if it is a fast train, it doesn't stop. If it is a local train, it does. Fast is better.

Sometimes we are there an hour, Alex wants to stay all day. I usually have to bribe him to leave. One day we were leaving to go do this and I ran into my neighbor. When she asked where I was going, I was kind of embarassed to try to explain with her that we were only going down to the train station to watch the trains. She said that her son liked the trains too, they actually have a huge train set they invited us over to play with. But since then I have realized it is not only the local foreigners (aka-us) with time to kill that do this. It is what all the Japanese moms do. Every day they are down there with their toddlers and babies to watch the trains, too. Last week, we went to the train station to actually take the train downtown, and I ran into my neighbor with her son and her daughter. It was her daughters holiday off from school, and this is what they were doing.

Alex is, as usual, by far the most enthusiastic when it comes to showing his excitement. None of the other kids yell and jump quite like he does, or really at all. Maybe they come to watch him.