So it is the last day of the year which makes me think 'what did I accomplish this year'? And the sad revelation is not much. Well, I did finally pay off all my debt (and ended the year with US$700 in my RTW account) which I am very proud of. Wow, I actually have savings! Not much but it is definitely better than that old 'please pay x by this date'. This year marked a full year (Sept 2002) since Hiroshi and I quit smoking, and we don't ever plan to start again! On a negative note I managed to re-gain all the weight I had lost in 2002. That is obviously not a proud accomplishment. I think Hiroshi gained 2 kg this year... which he can well afford to gain anyway. This year I had a few health scares, but luckily everything came back fine and, to think positively, I now have several base-line medical tests for future reference (e.g. mammogram). I look to 2004 to improve my overall health (see resolutions on the 1st).

We finally went on our honeymoon this year - oh to be back in Thailand! We're looking forward to going back in the spring... Hiroshi won the free business class ticket, so we just have to choose a hotel and decide who gets to actually sit in business class. LOL I didn't make it back to Canada this year, but hope to in the summer with Hiroshi so he can see that it isn't freezing all year round.

I *finally* had visitors after 4 years in Japan. Dad came over at the beginning of May and Mom (Rose) and aunt Donnie came over at the end of October. It was really nice to finally share my life here... but it took you guys long enough to come over! ;D While I had two visits from family, two good friends left. Both Jo and Shar moved on to other things - Jo back to Canada and Shar to Germany with boyfriend Neil. Miss you guys!

Work-wise I was quite hectic this year. I think my job function will be changing in the new year which will be nice. Despite being crazy, I was quite happy to make money this year - 2002 was pretty lean. And despite all my complaints and whining I like working crazy hours - so hopefully I'll stay busy this year too. :)

Overall 2003 was a great year! Love and best wishes to everyone for 2004!

Yahoo! News - FBI Issues Alert Against Almanac Carriers
The almanac ... super handy even to terrorists. Umm... is it just me or is this a bit paranoid? I mean, I can just see some poor farmer walking down the street only to find himself suddenly surrounded by the SWAT team.

THE GLOBAL TRIP 2004 - BLOG
This is a really good blog.... Erik is currently travelling in South America (Peru specifically). He updates everyday (unlike every other travel blog I have found) and has pics and fun stories. Check it out!

Oh Happy Birthday to Hiroshi yesterday. He is now 35. And suffering from PMA - pain in my ass - syndrome. Holy cats has he ever been a bear the last few days. Honestly. Don't know if it is his birthday, end of the year or what, but man has he been in a foul mood. Hopefully he'll snap out of it cuz I'm about ready to snap myself... he's heading off to MILs without me though so maybe by the time I get down there he'll be his normal happy self. I hope so!

Tokyo DisneySea
is awesome. Hiroshi and I got up early and headed out shortly after 8. The park opened at 9 so we thought that'd be lots of time. By the time we got there it was actually quarter after nine... and then we discovered we had to take the monorail to Disney Sea. Disney World is right at the station, but Disney Sea is a fair bit away. And you have to fork over 200 yen a person to take the monorail! Wow!

Anyway we finally got to the park around 9:30 and bought our tickets. Then we made the mad rush to the Indiana Jones ride, picking up fast tickets for the weather ride on the way. Fast tickets allow you to just walk right on the ride without waiting - you can only get one at a time though. Anyway, we go to the Indiana Jones ride and the line up was supposedly 80 minutes long. We're like, oh man, it is going to be a day of waiting. Actually the line wasn't too bad cuz there were interesting things to look at. And even better, the wait was really only 40 minutes long. The ride was only so-so... but it is Disney so that is expected.

Disney Sea only has 12 attractions (not including the kid part). That includes the steam boat ride, the electric railway and the gondolas. Most of the experience here is just walking around. The park is done beautifully - the scenery is wonderful. We saw so many birds! Hiroshi said some of them were quite rare to see too. In addition to the great ambiance there are also tons of shows to see. Granted they aren't Broadway, but something to entertain you while you sit down for a while... speaking of which there were places to sit down all over the park! The one thing any tourist will instantly notice about Tokyo is that there are no benches to sit on anywhere. So this was a nice treat. Especially because the weather was absolutely perfect!

Anyway, after the Indiana Jones ride we wandered back to do the weather ride... it is kinda like the Star Wars ride at Disney except Star Wars is much better. Maybe because we were sitting at the very back. Then we went to see a dance show which was pretty good and grabbed some lunch after. We had Mexican food. It was reasonably priced which was nice. Granted there are a ton of expensive options in the park too, but I was pleased. For the whole day we spent 8000 (about US$90) on food including 2 beers each. So lunch, dinner and snacks. For two people that's not bad in my book - especially at a theme park! We just missed the mariachi band at lunch but it was great to sit outside. Imagine - December 24 and sitting outside with just a sweatshirt and no jacket. It was lovely!

After lunch we wandered around some more and Hiroshi started to complain about sore feet. It was actually kinda funny. There was a show in the lake in the center of the park at 2:30, so I figured we should go find a ledge to sit on around 1:30. That meant we had to sit there for 45 minutes after we had found a place. No problem for me - I felt like I was sitting in a plaza in Italy :) Hiroshi the one-drink-wonder promptly fell asleep on my shoulder LOL He missed the whole show! Mickey and Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale on their own decorated boats, and skidoos made up to look like dolphins. Sucks to be him. ;)

Then we decided to get coffee to wake up (and some cake!) and grabbed a table outside a cafe. At this point we noticed all the women were looking rather peeved.... ALL of the men were falling asleep! All afternoon walking thru the park we saw men everywhere having a little nap on their gf's shoulder. Pretty funny.

In the afternoon we hit the rest of the rides except the Journey to the Center of the Earth one... the waiting time was over 3 hours!! We hit the gondolas right at sunset so it was nice and romantic :) Then we went into the Spanish galleon and kinda conked out at the table inside. It actually worked out pretty well because there was another show on the lake at 6:30 so we had a perfect view! The show was cool - it was Mickey doing the Fantasia thing directing fountains with lights and firecrackers to symphony music. And we were close enough to the Journey ride to run there (with everyone else) right after the show finished. The 'time to wait' sign was flipping thru numbers like crazy when we got there. It ended up being an hour and what a long hour it was!

We finally made it to the front of the line and we got the front of the car. The thing started and we were going by all these cutesy things and I'm like, we waited an hour for this??? Then suddenly we were whipping around in total darkness - way better than Space Mountain cuz in Space Mountain you can still see things cuz it isn't completely dark (not to mention it derailed last month but lets not go there). And then all of a sudden you burst out thru an opening at the top of the mountain in the center of the park and it looks like there is NOTHING there! It was GREAT! This was the best ride in the whole park. I definitely recommend doing it at night. In the day time, you'd be able to see where you exit the tunnel, but at night the darkness just continues until you are actually out of the tunnel and it is a big surprise. Definitely worth the wait.

After that we grabbed some pasta and another beer and missed the fireworks. Fought thru some people in the gift shops and didn't find anything we wanted. We did see some absolutely adorable little shoes that we got for Kai (friends Yasu and Eriko's son). Couldn't resist. They were soooo cute. Then made our way back home. By the time we got back it was after 11. The day though was perfect! Really nice to walk around, the right amount of romance without being cheesey, and not so busy as all my students warned me. Christmas Eve is "couple" day and Disney Sea is the Disney place for couples, and Japanese people love Disney. I was worried it was going to be really packed, especially since the weather was so good. It wasn't bad at all.

So I'm really happy that I finally got there! I've only been bugging Hiroshi to go for the past 2 years LOL

Ok, I know I'm supposed to tell you about DisneySea... but I just woke up. So maybe later. What I didn't tell you before was that I finished the India book. Lots of things to see in India... might have to spend 2 months there. :) Most of the things I'm interested in are located in the norhtern part so that isn't too bad in terms of travelling. There is a rumour that there is a ferry service that has started to Sri Lanka which would be cool - cuz then we could go there too... and there are convenient flights to Maldives from there! :)
Hiroshi is a bit unsure about India. I'm a bit worried about all the touts. But I think it will be awesome. Not to sure about a boat trip down the Ganges though... I really don't want to see half-cremated bodies. That's just gross. But then, that's India. I definitely want to see a cow that has been painted purple though. That's fun! And a Bollywood movie. Doesn't matter if it is in Hindi or English - apparently the plot isn't much to worry about anyway.

Merry Christmas! Ok, I know I haven't given you all the fantastic details about DisneySea, but fear not - that is my project for tomorrow (along with uploading pics to my photoblog and doing some cleaning). Today was pretty much a lazy do nothing x-mas. I never did put up the tree. In a way it was a bit depressing, but it doesn't feel like x-mas here... maybe in February. And I just couldn't bring myself to lug out the tree (ok, I know it is only 1 foot tall) only to put it back again. Yes, I'm lazy.

Carrying on with the lazy theme I decided not to cook today either.... like you can cook any semblance of an x-mas dinner when you don't have an oven anyway. So I hit the pre-made food counter at the supermarket this morning and bought some honey potatos, fried chicken (the roasted chicken was too expensive), and a whole bunch of cheese and crackers and stuff. We had the cheese along with strawberries and some champagne and orange juice. Lovely. After all that hard work, we had a little nap. Then it was dinner time which was unexciting. The thing about cheese is when you aren't used to it it creates horrible nasty smelling gas. Hiroshi and I are trying to out-do each other - peee-yeeeeww

Oh, and went back to the $6 a piece cake store and got the strawberry torte. Looked really yummy but was a sad disappointment compared to the orange one. So that was my x-mas. Miss you all (family and friends!) and hope that you guys had a fantastic holiday. Was wishing I was in Canada to celebrate with you!

Went to DisneySea today - it was awesome! My feet are killing and I'm zonked :) We were up late playing games online and only had about 4 hours sleep before we had to get up this morning... were out the door at 8 and just got back now. Will write more tomorrow!

Went to visit friends Yasu and Eriko tonight for an end of the year dinner. Got to see Kai (their son) who is getting more and more adorable by the second. He's starting to come into a personality and get his own facial features instead of the squooshed round baby face. Very very very cute. I'll put pics up in a few days!

The DivaCup Menstrual Solution
Men just ignore this post. You don't really want to know.
Women - what do you think? It looks like a viable alternative to carting around feminine hygeine products around the world. However what to do when the water supply is questionable? Sure you can boil up some water, but somehow I don't see having this thing sitting on the table in our hotel room going over all that well with Hiroshi. 1 year guarantee on it ... opinions please!

Today I did nothing. I slept, I woke up and chatted on the net, I slept some more, I went out to dinner with Hiroshi, we went to Starbucks and I slept some more. That was weird - I was zonked! It has been a really long time since I have been so tired that I was unable to open my eyes - I wanted to be awake, but my eyes refused to open. Darn those comfy Starbucks couches!
Hiroshi went and bought us some yummy cake. We walked past a cake store and saw these masterpieces of food ... for $6 a piece! But oh how heavenly they were!! We had this chocolate orange thing. It was chocolate crust with a layer of chocolate then topped with pieces of tangerine or other sweet orange (small pieces), then had some whipped orange flavoured cream on top of that with some fresh strawberries and big wedge of chocolate peanut butter wafer kinda thing. Heaven. Luckily $6 a piece cake is not really in our budget or that place would end up being a weekly stop!

Sad, sad day... found out that Farm Grill is closing at the end of the year. Farm Grill is this great place where you can eat Western food in buffet style. And they have the all you can drink option. Sigh. They were great for get-togethers and for Thanksgiving and X-mas dinner and stuff.

I'm almost finished working for the year. I just have a couple classes every other day or so for the next week... sweet!! I can sleep in and relax! But teaching once a day ensures I at least haul my butt out of bed. I teach 4 hours tomorrow (Sat), then 2 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday (which is a holiday), 3 on Thursday (yes I know it is xmas) and then possibly a couple hours on Sunday the 8th. Working the holidays was my choice - if I don't take my vacation days I lose them, so I've rescheduled some classes for the holidays so I can take my vacation days. I'm looking forward to only 7 in-class hours though.... compared to the normal 35 it is pure bliss!

Very weird and freaky thing happened the other night on the way home. I have never had a problem walking by myself late at night anywhere in Tokyo - one of the things I love about this country. If you forget your change in the ticket machine at the train station the next person in line will grab it - and proceed to run after you to give it back. Does that happen anywhere else in the world??? Certainly not in Canada.
Anyway, I'm walking home from teh station and this Landrover pulls up along beside me. Not necessarily weird at this point. Then the man rolls down the window and asks if I want to go for coffee. I told him I had to go home, but thanks - figure it is just some Japanese guy who wants to speak English. He pulls forward.. only to stop and put the car in reverse to pull up beside me again. Then he proceeds to 'follow' me at super slow pace. Rolls down the window, says "why don't you come for coffee with me". I again say no. He proceeds to follow me. I'm not very happy with this. So I pop into the convenience store.
Stalker boy stops the car across the street and was watching me in the store. So I pretended to be busily shopping and he eventually left. I was a bit freaked. I called Hiroshi and talked to him all the way home cuz I was worried that he'd come back.
First time ever that I have felt uncomfortable in this country.

Made hamburger and mashed potato for dinner tonight. Not all that exciting, but the fact that I cooked is. And the amazing thing is, I didn't burn the potatoes!! Whenever I boil them I always burn them on the bottom. First time I made them in my T-fal pot. Very happy about that cuz mashed potatoes taste good :)

Some of my classes met for the last time this year, so I decided to do a Santa Quiz with some of them... it was a sad, sad experience. Japanese people have no idea about Santa. They all love Christmas, but don't quite grasp the whole culture behind it. Here are some sample questions and answers:
1. Who makes all the toys?
- his wife
- Toys R Us
- the Chinese
2. How many reindeer pull the sleigh?
- 1
- 4
- 6
3. What is special about Rudolph?
- he flies
4. What are three things that families put on a table for Santa?
- socks
- orange juice
- chicken
5. Where does Santa park his sleigh?
- on the street
- in a parking lot
6. What does Santa say when he laughs?
- buwahahaha
7. What does Santa give to bad boys and girls?
- nothing
- a text book
- a bible
8. Where does he live?
- Finland
- Turkey
- Sweden

Ok, now I was shocked at the answers to number 8, because well, he lives at the North Pole and Canada lays claim to it (it is equidistant from Canada and Denmark (Iceland) though). Well turns out Santa's gone all scientific. Since there is no land at the North Pole, he can't live there. So apparently his permanent home is in Korvatunturi Finland. There's lots of reindeer food there. Turkey also was cause for a snicker; however, turns out Santa originated there. Sweden is probably confusion over Nordic countries. I still say he lives at the North Pole, Canada though!
Even Hiroshi didn't know the answers to most of the questions. I think I need to immerse him a bit more in western culture!

I'm having a super strong diet Coke craving and we don't have any... *sigh* It's too cold to go to the store too :( Spent today playing Crash Bandecoot on PlayStation. I'm addicted. I foresee what I will be doing for the whole x-mas/new year holiday...

Oh a side note about Nemo. Never even thought about it, so I'm quite lucky. Nemo = children's movie. Children => can't read subtitles. Children's movies in Japan = dubbed into Japanese. Luckily it was all in English with Japanese subtitles! Maybe cuz it was the late show. Didn't even think to ask before we bought the tickets!

Canada deems P2P downloading legal | CNET News.com
Boy I'm glad to be Canadian. Not only can we download music legally, but we can tick off the States at the same time. :) (I aplogize to my American friends, but as a Canadian it is my patriotic duty to feel proud when we get a spine and do something other than what the US tells us to do)
Thanks Jason for forwarding this link.

So went to see Finding Nemo tonight. Very cute. The animation is great. Hiroshi fell asleep - that's pretty normal for him. He needs blow up / kill people action.
Went to the convenience store on the way home... Coke has a Nemo promotion. Buy a Coke product and you get a Nemo trinket for your cell phone or key chain. Hey, maybe I can collect them all. I already have two! LOL

Went to see Kill Bill tonight. Note to self - in Japan, they won' t dub the Japanese into English. Grrr. They removed all the English subtitles for the Japanese parts... so I didn't understand a good 30% of what was said. Oh well. It was still good. Loved the squirting blood. Hiroshi said it was weird. But it started at 9 which means we got tickets for 30% off. And I also got a members card which gives us another 10% off or so. So that was pretty cool. Tomorrow we're thinking of going to go see Nemo. There's a show at 9:30 ... kinda like two shows over two days for slightly more than the price of one.
Also went out to Outback for dinner. Damn their baked potatos are good. Once again, I am wishing I had an oven - every time I go there I want to be able to make baked potatos at home. Microwaved ones just aren't the same.

Today was absolutely freezing :( In fact I had thoughts of putting up the Christmas tree.... I know I know. I'm normally the first one with it up. This year it doesn't seem like the season yet, despite being only two weeks away. At least I got all my cards mailed out!

Today I saw a bunch of very cute kids. They were a group in day care - all of them were probably 3 or 4. They had paired off and were running down a walkway holding hands with their partners. And they all had on their bright yellow caps (so they are easier to see I guess). Gosh kids are cute!

Had a lovely lunch today with my students - one of them owns a restaurant so we went there. Very delicious :) Luckily my evening classes cancelled so I can go to sleep - why am I so tired lately? Ah well, grab the sleep while I can. And I have to clean off all my crap from the kitchen table - it has extended itself fully across my side! I hate how it does that. It like grows or something.

Not much is new for today. Yes, I'm at a loss for words! Gotta go check out fark and see if there are any interesting news bits to link in :)

Went to see Last Samurai tonight. Good show - didn't feel like the three hours that it was. Simplistic story but nice message. Couple of reality breaks that I noted... there were an aweful lot of palm trees in the mountain village that is supposedly snowed in for the winter. Living in modern Tokyo, I am stared at practically every day - and yet when Tom Cruise is brought into the village, which has surely never seen a white man before, no one is gaping at him. And for this one I had to suppress a snicker... I'd estimate that 25% of Japanese men would no longer fit into samurai armour - that stuff is small! There is no way that Tom Cruise would. Unless it belonged to some giant gargantuan one...
Loved the use of cherry blossoms. Seeing the samurai face masks actually on someone brings new dimensions to their coolness. Liked how the cast was actually Japanese and not random Asians. Liked how Japanese were portrayed.
What's the Western view on this one? I may have a different understanding having lived in Japan for so long.

All the stores are playing Christmas music. It is really bizarre to walk into a convenience store and hear Dolly Parton or someone belting out the Christmas classics. Remember, Japan is a non-Christian country. It seems way too early for x-mas tunes despite it being only 20 days away. Today was the first day it got under 10 degress (about 50F). Doesn't feel holiday like at all. I'm even thinking of working the 25th.

So finished the book on East Africa. Have decided to just go to Tanzania. Kenya is marginally cheaper but then we have to go through Nairobbery (Nairobi) and might get blown up in a Terrorist attack. So Tanzania it is. And it has the Serengeti.

I'm still at a total loss as to how on earth the accomodation can be so expensive. I mean the average annual incom is under $400US a year. What gives???!! That 175 bucks is for a luxury tent - it isn't even a real hotel. Talk about totally gouging people. I have no problems paying fair price, but that is ridiculous even by Japanese standards - and Japan is one of the most expensive places in the world.

Picked up some lovely travel brochures tonight on Spain and Maldives. I like looking at the pictures! I'm going to make a collage out of them after I finish research all the places we want to go - kinda a preview of the trip :)

Tomorrow's travel planning tasks: check out all those over-the-water beach huts in Maldives (are they horribly expensive??) and start reading the Central Asia book. I wanna get all the goods on Uzbekistan!

I finished the Spain book and have decided that Granada is a good base - it seems to be central to lots of cool things. When the time comes, we'll try to rent an apartment for a month and then we can do day trips and stuff. We'll also stay in Barcelona for a month too - doing the apartment thing there too if possible.
So now I've moved on to the Eastern Africa book. Who knew, but Eastern Africa is expensive!!! In addition to the $25 - $50 per person per DAY fee to enter the national parks, BUDGET accomodation starts around $175 a night. BUDGET????!! Of course there is always tenting it, but I'm not to sure I want to camp out with the lions if you know what I mean... and Hiroshi has refused this option. So looks like we'll just cough up the dough and do it - I mean, we're never going to get the chance to go again, so might as well. Geesh. Now I understand why safari companies were quoting a couple thousand dollars for a week's trek.

I love Amazon... you order books, they send you an e-mail telling you your order has been filled and shipped and it will arrive in 2 days.... and as you delete the e-mail there is a knock at the door and the books have arrived already! Always have great service!

FREEDOM!!!!!!!! Whehoo - I am officially debt free!! It feels great! Now I can start stashing away the dough for the trip around the world. Very happy. Also got all my x-mas cards sent out today. Hiroshi wanted to sign his own name but I had to explain who everyone was. I've come to the conclusion that my family is just weird (sorry, but you are).

I've always said that Japanese children are very well behaved... and that I very rarely see whining, snivelling, screaming offspring. Well, now I know where they have been hiding... CostCo. Argh! Went out there today to pick up some things and it was a total madhouse. About halfway thru shopping I realized that I wasn't feeling well again, and that maybe I should have stayed in bed for another day. Oh well. Finally got home and feel much better now that there is peace and quiet.
Cooking up some chicken and writing my x-mas cards. Tomorrow I send home the money that will pay off my visa and I am debt free!!!!!!! Whehoo!!! For the first time in my life I will be debt free. I've had a balance on credit cards, loans and/or mortgage for the past 14 years. This is a fantastic feeling!

Today I lazed around in bed all day and it was wonderful :) I got up to take my medicine and jumped on the net a couple of times but other than that my sick butt was resting. Reading, sleeping, watching some tv, sleeping, Play Station, sleeping. Great. I am starting to feel much better too. Sleep and good drugs :)

So I came down with a nasty throat infection last night :( Had to call in sick today - not happy about this - today and tomorrow's hours count for about 20% of my pay this month!! In other words, my pay just fell by 20% *sigh*
Went to the doctor this morning. Was at the point where I didn't want to get out of bed, but also knew that if I didn't get meds it would just get worse. Went to a clinic in Shibuya with an English speaking doctor. Why is it that EVERY ear-nose-throat doctor I have ever seen in Japan looks like he is 12 years old??!! This does not inspire trust on my part. And they like wear every instrument possible on their head - when was the last time you saw a doctor with: a mask, a miner's headlight, a mirror, and a stethoscope? He gave me a big stack of drugs though. Then he made me go sit at "the contraption".
For some reason all ENT offices have this ancient box that pumps a medicated steam. For some reason this box is about 3 feet wide, 3 feet tall and 6 feet long. Not quite sure what the stuff that is pumped out is exactly... or why it needs a machine that big to make it. You basically put your mouth around a tube and suck it in. Only the stuff tastes just foul. It is really aweful. I ended up having a coughing fit. I just couldn't do it. I would breathe in and then cough my lungs out. The nurses were laughing at me :(
Then there is the big issue about powder. Japanese people love medicine in powder form. I can't take it cuz I gag. Basically you throw it on the back of your tongue and swallow for that full taste sensation. Blech. So I always have to fight with the pharmacist. The powder is better sayeth they. Not if I throw it up everytime sayeth I. They eventually relent and give me pills.... while laughing at me.
I love being everyone's entertainment. Geesh.

Had a horrible thought this evening... during the world trip, I'll be without regular internet access for more than a year!!! I'm suffering withdrawal already!!

And the best Scotch is . . . Japanese, says Canada panel
Considering that Japanese versions of hard liquor are mostly crap, this surpises the heck out of me. Sake, shochu = good. Anything made by Suntory = hang over from hell.

New 7 Wonders - Project

Click this link and vote for what you think the new list should be!

I'm very excited - there is a new grocery store that opened near my house (Food Express). It is clean and has nice displays and all the prices are put up on digital remote electronic tags. Very cool. I was surprised to find that it isn't that much more expensive than the other store in that area.
I hit the other store tonight because of it's "Renewal Open". That's Jap-lish for "Renovations Completed". It looks much better than before. More spacious, brighter and cleaner. Of course they have totally rearranged the layout and I have no idea where anything is anymore. That's rather irritating. But the bigger 100 yen store makes up for it :) :) :) Gotta love 100 yen stores.
Looks like the first imported strawberries are in too... which means I can add some to my oatmeal. Cinnamon was getting a tad boring. I love sliced strawberries in my oatmeal. Yummy yum yum!

Finished reading Silk Road by Rail today. Ok, now I want to do the whole route. Esepcially after talking to a couple of my colleagues who have done the western China part. They said it was incredible. Decisions decisions. Now I'm in process of reading a book on the Trans-Siberian ... after that I will probably want to do a route from Beijing to Moscow on the silk route and then back to Beijing via Siberia *lol* By the time I finish reading all the travel books I'll want to go everywhere!

Today's rant - stupidity. Watching the news tonight and the big story is the danger of strollers on the trains. Now in Tokyo, there is a nice warning bell after which you have about 5 seconds to get onto the train. Despite the fact that many trains come once every three minutes, this bell is a signal to run like mad from halfway down the stairs to the platform and leap onto the train between the closing doors. Enter women with strollers. Bell rings. Mothers run, pushing stollers, rushing to get on the train. Doors close on strollers. Train pulls away taking baby with it. HELLOOOOOOO???????? I mean how stupid can you be. I certainly wouldn't risk having doors close on my child. Are these people brainless?

So, JR (the railway company) has done test and determined that the warning system that prevents the train from running doesn't work for strollers. It will stop the train only if something greater than 2 or 3 cm is caught in the doors. The frame of a stroller (the stroller gets caught with one wheel inside and the rest outside) is less than 2 cm in many cases. JR is now inserting hard rubber pieces into the lower portion of the door so that the sensors will detect something less than 2 or 3 cm. They have to alter like 8000 trains... all of which have 11 or more cars... which have 6 doors each.

I think it is great that JR is doing something to prevent this. Smacking these women upside the head might also be useful. Geesh.

So I finished reading Lonely Planet's Guide to China.... all 1000+ pages of it. And have determined that China is a much vaster country than first imagined when the average train speed is like 25 km / hour. So the China part of the tour will have to be curtailed. Other than Beijing and Xian (terracotta warriors are there) and a few day trips on the side, I think we'll skip the western portion and just fly to Central Asia - it will cost the same as week or two of travel.
Next on the reading list is The Silk Road by Rail.

For some reason all of Tokyo put up their x-mas decorations today. Not sure why Wednesday the 19th of all days was designated by everyone as *the* day. Possibly cuz it is now only 5 weeks to Christmas????

So as you could tell yesterday from the HUGE list of countries we wanted to visit, we needed to do some narrowing down. So, the question of the day is:
If you had 6 months to live an unlimited funds at your disposal, which 10 countries or places would you want to see before you die?
Now this is actually much harder than it seems! After really thinking about this I could only come up with 8! Hiroshi had the same problem! Here's our top 8...
Liz - Beijing, Tibet, Greece, Brazil, Italy, Tanzania/Kenya, Maldives, Morocco
Hiroshi - Azerbaijan, Barcelona, Chile, Morocco, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Netherlands
I brougth home a brochure for Hiroshi on Maldives and now he really wants to go there too! So now we just have to see if the dots connect :)

So the big news of the day is.... Hiroshi and I are going to a world tour in 2005. We were thinking about working in Spain for a year (and may still do that) and the backup plan in case Hiroshi couldn't get a job (I can always teach English) was to just hang out in Spain for a couple months. Well, if we're going to do that, why not Italy... and Greece... and and and. So I thought, if we saved like mad for the next year, we could do a 9 month tour of the world... and still have a fair chunk of relocation money (money to reestablish ourselves somewhere - Spain or Canada). Anyway, I am incredibly excited about this. I will be able to see all of the places I've always wanted to! I won't be able to do a 6 month African safari which was my dream tour, but it is pretty impossible now anyway because of all the darn civil unrest there.

Anyway, here is the RTW (Round the World) destinations list. Right now we are just in the process of getting our wish list out - thinking about where we want to go. We'll cull this according to time, budget and safety (e.g. Middle East?).
Asia: Korea (Seoul), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam (Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh by train), Malaysia (Kuala Lumper, Brunei), China (Beijing, Xian, Shanghai), Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, India (Agra, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi), Sri Lanka, Maldives
Australia and Pacific: Australia (Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania), New Zealand (Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland), New Caledonia, Fiji, Tahiti
Middle East: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan (do the Stans on the Silk Road by rail)
Africa: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco
South America: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Chile (Tiera del Feugo, Santiago, northern area), Peru (Lima, Cuzco)
North America: Mexico (Yucatan), Cuba - other cities can be done later in life
Europe: Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg), Finalnd, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Czech, (Prague), Spain (1-2 months), Italy (1 month), Greece (Athens, Corfu), Turkey

Did we miss anything? LOL If you've ever been to these places give us a review or a must see list! If you think of a place that would be good to add to the wish list, drop a comment for that too!

Went to see the Matrix tonight with Hiroshi for date night. Now, I knew it wouldn't have a plot - I mean, it is part 3. Part 3 of any movie sucks. Well, with the exception of Star Wars maybe, and technically that is part 6. I was expecting cool special effects and I was quite happy... especially cuz we saw it on an IMAX screen! Very, very, very cool. Wish I had of seen the other ones on IMAX too. Not 3D, but the size just adds so much more to it!

Mainichi Interactive - Top News

Ok, now if this isn't the height of stupidity. There are enough real accidents - suicides and deaths of people who fall on the tracks or are assisting others who have fallen on the tracks. How many missing brain cells do you have if you lie down on the tracks as a joke. These people should be charged with idiocy. Honestly.

Watched 7 Samurai tonight. I had forgotten what a great movie that is. It is also a lot more meaningful now that I have lived in Japan for ages. Actually, I could even understand some of it in the Japanese. The whining snivelling women were a bit much I admit (how irritating) but the 7 samurai characters are great. If you haven't seen this movie, check it out! Akira Kurosawa directs.

Telegraph | News | Sons I gave birth to are 'unrelated' to me

Chimera .... cool.

Oh, I forgot to mention the very cool earthquake yesterday night - 6.4 on the Richter, and 4 on the Japanese scale. I like them there.... just enough to shake things up a bit, but not enough to make you freak out. There can be as many of those as the earth wants. The more of them there are, the less likely the big one will hit in catastrophic magnitude and bury me under 10 feet of rubble. At least, that's my theory ;)

Ugh, I'm getting the flu :( I taught one class this morning and then came home to bed... and slept all day! Hopefully that will kick it out of my system. I have only been to the gym once this week, and my eating has been crappy. I'd like to say I'm half on track, but honestly, I can't. Comfort foods. I did manage to ignore Hiroshi who was talking about ordering in pizza and other bad for me foods. Anyway, off to bed now.

Had a good day diet wise - I ate only authorized food and I went to the gym! Today was abs and low cardio. I know, I took the easy route. But it was a start! Tomorrow is HIIT and chest/back. Meals for today:
1. apple and c/c
2. tandoori chicken on mixed greens with yogurt/basil dressing and oatmeal
3. banana protein pancakes
4. raspberry almond protein pancakes
5. eggs, julienned potato ("fried" in a t-fal), daikon (Japanese radish)
Not all six meals but I got in all my cals and scored 89.75% on PFA. Its the darn sugars in the fruit! And I need to get more fiber.... think I need to get some metamucil!

It's sooooooo cold today :-( I'm not happy. I had to get my winter coat out. That bites. I'm freezing my butt of in my apartment too - think we need to get out the gas heater. *sigh* Winter is coming.
Hiroshi is trying to grow a beard. He's moving from scraggly bum look towards the artiste look. Figure nows a great time to see what he looks like with one. Kinda cute, but I like that clean shaven look and feel :)

I taught Hiroshi how to make pancakes this morning. Donnie brought maple syrup and pancake mix, so we had that for breakie. This was a big cooking achievement for Hiroshi... he can now measure out one cup of mix, add in 3/4 cup of water, mix it together and then cook it. He needs remedial flipping practice though. I swear, he's helpless.
Went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I LOVE their baked potatoes! Yummy! We just split the steak and ask for an extra potato and it works out great. That was our date night - nothing is playing at the theater. Well Matrix Revolutions, but it is premium seating only, and I'm not paying 30 bucks each for tickets. We'll wait until it moves to the normal theaters there.

Today was a long day at work... too many hours. Came home and just zonked. Yosuke (Hiroshi's friend) came over around 11 pm for an hour. Other than that, nothing is new.

I'm so tired. I've been sleeping so much lately. Don't know if I'm trying to fight off the flu or making up for lost sleep last week. My joints are all achey though, so it leads me to believe I'm fighting off getting sick.

Haven't put the futons away from mom and Donnie's visit yet. We've been sleeping in them! There is so much more room having a single futon each than sharing the double futon. The comforters are really poofy too! We like the futon itself better though... but it is so nice to have so much space!

Mom and Donnie left today. Had a really nice visit and it was great to have visitors. Now I have to go back to work - blech!

Today was raining which isn't so great for sight-seeing; however, it does mean that there were fewer people. We went to Kamakura to see the Great Budda and Hase Dera temple. Personally I like Daibutsu (Great Budda) - I find it very peaceful. Mom and Donnie were expecting him to be bigger though. Hiroshi went up inside him and was upset because "he's heartless". Daibutsu is 750 years old. The statue has been exposed to the elements for 500 years - it is in surprisingly good condition. It used to be in a temple but a tsunami came and washed the temple away (must have been a huge tsunami). Budda however stayed.
Then we went to Hase Dera temple. It is really nice. There is a nice garden at the entrance and then quite a few temples. One of the first things you see when you walk up to the temple area is Jizou. These are small statues that represent babies lost through miscarriage of abortion. It is actually quite sad because there are hundreds of them. Women come and dress them so they stay warm.
When we got to the main temple area, mom was all excited because there was a cemetary. There are several temples there. We rubbed the statue of Daikokuten who is the god of fortune. Mom lit candles in front of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The statue is said to be 1200 years old. Then we walked around the sutra ... basically you push on a wooden post sticking out of the library which is circular and centered on a pole. Hard to describe. Anyway, walking once around is supposed to impart all of the knowledge of reading the sutras themselves. Then we went to the little restaurant and had tea to warm up. And took pictures of the ocean before leaving. At that point we were really tired, so got back on the train to go home.
For dinner we had katsu, or pork cutlet. Very filling. Then we came home and relaxed and mom and Donnie packed all of their stuff. It fit! Not sure how mom got her bamboo hat into her suitcase, but it worked!

Today was a beautiful day. It was designated as shopping day. We bummed around a bit in the morning and didn't get going until almost noon. We went to Shibuya to go to the 100 yen store. When we got there Prime Minister Koizumi was speaking just outside the station (elections are on the 9th). That was kinda cool. I think mom and Donnie were worried about an assassination attempt or something... there wasn't much security. One of them said that it was amazing that in a country of how many billion people that they saw the Prime Minister... and yet in Canada you never do.
Shibuya was surprisingly quiet. I thought it would be packed. We wandered up to the 100 yen store (like the dollar store) only to find that it is closed!!!!!!!! I can't believe it!! That 100 yen store was awesome. *sigh* So we headed out to Harajuku and soon figured out why Shibuya was so quiet - everyone had gone to Harajuku instead!
At first we wandered thru Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine). It was a perfect time to go. November is shichi-go-san (7-5-3). Basically 3 and 7 year old girls and 5 year old boys get dressed up in traditional clothing and go to shrine. They are absolutely adorable! We saw lots of cute kids and a wedding - got some pics of the traditional wedding clothing.
After wandering thru the shrine grounds we went shopping. We went to Oriental Bazaar which is a huge souvenir shop. Mom and Donnie went to task and bought a ton of stuff. The store is great - it has pretty much everything. The only thing we couldn't find was playing cards. I couldn't believe it. There were some, but $13 is a bit steep.
After we finished shopping we went back to my station and met up with Hiroshi (he had another day without English) and went to Gyu-Kaku which is a Korean bar-b-q restaurant. We ate so much! We were stuffed. We had a lovely spinach salad with sesame dressing, a ton of meat, some scallops, and veggies. Then we waddled home.

Woke up to a beautiful view out the window of our room - the window perfectly framed the leaves outside. Will be posting the pics of this in my photoblog eventually. We went down to breakfast and had more yummy food. Tomoko was our server again. We had fish that we grilled on a little hibachi. Standard salad, rice and miso (Japanese eat salad for breakfast). There was also a mochi soup (mochi is rice that is pounded into a dough) which was really good, and a box of stuff. There were 6 dishes in the box - tofu, tororo which is ground mountain potato ( hate this stuff cuz it looks like sperm), root veggies (lotus, mountain potato, bamboo root etc), black seaweed, and two things that I forget! *lol*
After breakfast we headed down to the onsen again. The 24 hour room had a plain bath with windows looking out at the trees, a cold bath, a sauna and another rotemburo (outside bath)! We went outside and relaxed. It feels a bit more riske in broad daylight.
Then we checked out. We were supposed to checkout at 10, but I thought it was 11, so we were a bit late. Ooops! Guess that explains why people were trying to clean the baths. We got the bus outside of the hotel and had a very twisty ride back to Kinugawa Onsen. The views were beautiful again, but I couldn't get any pics cuz it was hard enough just staying in the seat!
We arrived about 15 minute before the train left for Tokyo which was great. Just enough time to go to the washroom and line up to grab a seat. We took the cheap train back to Tokyo. A pair of girls were nice enough to change seats so that the four of us could sit together.
Once we were back in Tokyo we gave Hiroshi our bags and he went home for an English break. We wandered around Asakusa. There were tons of people there! Mom was in shopping mode -she went into every bag store possible. We tried some Japanese treats. Found some an (sweet bean paste) things that mom and Donnie liked. They were freshly made and still hot. After wandering around the temples and stores for a while, we went to Starbucks and had a coffee and a rest.
Then we went to meet some of my students. We were having a reunion from a seminar I taught back in September. We went out to the Farm Grill which is a buffet restaurant (western food) with all-you-can-drink. My students were rather shy and quiet at first, but after they had a drink they started gabbing. They were fascinated with Donnie's farm. As Japanese they are very softspoken and mom was having a hard time hearing them. I told the person beside me that she couldn't hear cuz she was old, only mom heard and she threw a shrimp shell at me!! (No mom, I'm not going to let you live that down)
After dinner we went to karaoke. Two of my students had had t-shirts made welcoming mom and Donnie. That was really nice. They also gave them silk bags as a gift. Mom and Donnie didn't sing, but we all had a lot of fun. And we didn't make it an all-nighter... we were home in bed by midnight :)

Left early this morning for Nikko which is where the Tokugawa Shogun is buried. The temple a stunning array of decadent carvings. Very beautiful - and a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. We took the Spacia up - Spacia doesn't translate to extra space. It just has seats that recline. And costs twice as much. Oh, it is also an express train - it gets there 10 minutes faster than the regular one. I can now say I've been on it. I don' t think I'll take it again - not worth the extra dough. Although there were foldout trays for each arm which made eating our bentos (Japanese lunch boxes) easier.

We choose the perfect time to go - the leaves are in full colour and are absolutely gorgeous! Nikko is actually a collection of several temples and a Japanese garden. The garden was wonderful. I've only ever been in spring/summer. In the fall, the Japanese maples are vibrant red and the moss is lush and dark green... it is a bit patchy earlier in the year. I got some GREAT pica - so make sure you check out my photoblog. I'll be posting the garden pics over the next week.

We walked around Nikko all day - the weather was great. It wasn't too busy either which was another bonus. We didn't go to see all of the things. Just the garden, Sanbustudo (the temple with three large Buddhas inside) and Toshogu which is the main shrine. Toshogu is the highlight though. After we traipsed thru and took all our pics and bought our souvenirs, we caught a taxi to Kinugawa Onsen... and just missed the bus that would go to our hotel. So we had to get another taxi!

Actually the taxi ride was great. It worked out to be about the same price as the bus (considering there were four of us) and the drive was stunning! I now know why it takes two hours to travel between Nikko and Yunishigawa onsen when they are only like 20 km apart... you have to go up and around mountains! Lots of them. And all of them were covered in colourful trees. The taxi driver even stopped one point by a large river that made for great pictures - he stopped so we could take pics.

We eventually got to the hotel and checked in. We waited in the lobby until they took us up to our rooms. While we waited they served amazake and dango. Amazake is sweet sake. I really liked it. It tasted a bit yeasty, so no one else liked it. Having tasted overpowering drain cleaner like sake in the past, this stuff was wonderful. It didn't have that really harsh taste. The dango were just like any other dango you get. Dango are rice dough balls with a soy-based sauce on them. They aren't that exciting.

A man named Hachi came over and introduced himself - he spoke English and was great at explaining everything to us. This was an unexpected surprise - it was really nice because it took the pressure off Hiroshi and it helped a lot at dinner time! We went up to our rooms and were shocked. They were huge! We had requested a certain style of room, but none were available, so we were given VIP rooms. In addition to a very large tatami room with the adjoining sitting area (standard to Japanese inns) there was another large tatami room, a small kitchen area (cupboard with dishes and sink) and a bathroom with two toilets! And we had two rooms like this! We all could have stayed in one. Mom and Donnie had the nicer room - their scrolls in the alcoves were prettier and their seating area was much larger - it had a couch and two upholstered chairs. Ours just had wide chair things. Hiroshi and I had the better view though.

We all got into our yukata and prepared to go down to dinner. One of the staff helped mom and Donnie put them on correctly. I couldn't get one to fit me. My hips are too big. I was so embarrassed. I had a huge cry and Hiroshi was really sweet about it. He is usually less than helpful when I am upset and tends to be very unsympathetic. He gave me a cuddle which was what I needed and called down to see about other options. Eventually they found the old style they used - it was pants with a yukata type top. I put the regular yukata over top of that. Basically when I walked the yukata opened a bit too revealingly, so the pants worked perfectly. The top also showed way too much cleavage (think popping boob) so the other top fixed that too.

The dinner was absolutely incredible. Hachi joined us to explain what each of the dishes were - which was a godsend. It was all local mountain food, so Hiroshi wasn't sure about a lot of it. The meal started with a wild mountain grape wine aperitif. This was really good! Wish we could have ordered a whole bottle of it ;) Then we had, in no particular order:
- chestnut tofu with a slice of okra
- royal jelly
- skewer with matsutake mushroom, shrimp and mountain potato
- fresh trout sashimi (raw trout) -- this was incredible
- mushroom and tofu soup
- mountain potato soup
- chawanmushi which is savory pudding
- deer sashimi -- no one wanted to eat this. It was quite good though. Mom and Donnie cooked theirs though.
- teppanyaki -- beef cooked on a steel sheet
- Japanese pickles
- rice with matsutake mushrooms
- miso soup
- miso on a paddle in the fire
- chestnut mouse and melon for dessert

Matsutake are very rare mushrooms that grow by pine trees. You can only get them a few places in the world (BC being one of them) and the Japanese go gah-gah over them every fall. The miso is made daily at the hotel and is delicious! It is red miso, which I like. It is the first one that I have ever tasted that was really fruity. Quite good. I bought some as a souvenir.

After that sumptuous dinner we all got ready to go in the onsen (hotspring). The ishiburo (stone bath) was open for women at night so we went there first. Mom and Donnie were having a hoot - maybe the wine helped?? Then we went to the rotemburo (outdoor bath). We had to walk down these slippery stone stairs to it. It was cool though. Then up to bed for a nice sleep.

Ok, I'm actually writing this well after the fact and back dating it... too busy to write while mom and Donnie were here. I had to work on Thursday so Hiroshi took them sightseeing. They went up the Metropolitan Gov't Bldg which has really great views of Tokyo. It was a bit hazy on the horizon though, so they couldn't see Fuji. Then they went to the East Garden at Tokyo Palace and to Akihabara to check out the electronics after that.
I did manage to meet them for lunch and we had sushi. We played induction into using chopsticks *lol* They actually did pretty good. I don't think Donnie liked it all that much, but she was a real trooper and did try everything. I didn't get home until late evening from work, and was feeling tired so didn't feel like cooking dinner... so we ordered pizza! Gotta LOVE corn on pizza! We also ordered on with eggplant and meat - that one is good too. They weren't into squid rings, potato, mayonnaise or tuna for some reason *grin*

Well mom and Donnie made it here ok. Haven't lost them yet dad ;) They now understand why I'm a total zombie when I get to Canada... and the jet lag is a million times worse going that way! Both of them are now crashed on the futons. Things are cozy in the apartment - four people is a lot more than two when you only have a 40 sq m apartment.
Thought the internet was down tonight. Had Hiroshi look at everything - settings, network etc. Couldn't get it to work. Then asked the million dollar question - Did any of the cables get unplugged when you were cleaning (aka shoving your stuff underneath the desk to look like you cleaned)? The internet works fine now.

I feel like I've been run over by a truck... the flu is on my heels. Darn sick students passing it my way *grumble* Mom and Donnie arrive tomorrow! I'm supposed to be cleaning, but I just can't summon up the energy. Figure it will be a last minute effort tomorrow afternoon. Or maybe Hiroshi will be a sweetie and he'll do it. One can only hope.

And what's up with all you people in stealth mode? Click on the "ramble back" button and say hi!

"Flower Meanings" For the ladies - what does your fav flower mean? Mine: Calla lily = beauty. For the men - what the heck do we need to do to make you buy us flowers without bugging/begging/pleading/whining?

Ok, need movie advice. Should I go see Kill Bill or Matchstick Men... or neither? Decisions decisions. Give me a review :)

So, Hiroshi doesn't cook. Ever. He has difficulty getting a glass of water for himself. I don't mind too much cuz generally he does all the other housework... and I can usually say I'm too tired to cook ;) Ok, I'm a lazy wife. You know your DH is totally incompetent when.... He was whining that he was hungry at lunch time, so I told him to find some things. So he got a can of peaches and was hunting around for the can opener - which I eventually had to get for him. About two minutes later, I'm opening the peaches. Why? He can't use a can opener! Talk about deep set amnesia! Geesh. This is the man who used to cook me really awesome cooking creations BEFORE we lived together. Hmmm..

Stupid Kikkoman Thing This is mildly amusing. Very Japanese. In the chorus they are playing on English words ... this is the translated version - in the original Japanese this is kinda cute. "Show you" is how you pronounce shouyu, the Japanese name for soy sauce.

EBAY REALLY NAILS IT: Bidding heating up for part of city's landmark
The nail from the Uniroyal tire! Please, please, pretty please???!!! You can UPS it along with a pumpkin pie to me for Christmas!
Seriously - they're "renovating" the Uniroyal tire? For those of you who are not in the know, the Uniroyal tire iis this massive, like 10 storey high, tire off the highway in Detroit. It's like the giant wooden deck chair on Highway 6 in Ontario, except that that's a chair and not tire ;)
Anyway, $1000 bucks for a giant nail. That's a bargain, isn't it?
Oh, here's a link for those who've never seen the giant tire... Uniroyal Tire - pic and info They're spending a million bucks on renovation that thing???!!!

NEWS.com.au | Giant jellyfish turn up off Japanese coast (October 20, 2003)
These are some big jelly fish! Having tasted jelly fish once, I know exactly why it is not a popular food item. Ick. Imagine encountering one of these on a day at the beach. Yikes!

Love my digital camera (thanks dad!) and I'm having a total blast taking pictures for my photoblog... but... I realize the limitations of it now that I'm using it so much. 2MGpixels just isn't enough for detail pics. And not having macros bites the big one. I can't take any close ups, which sucks. Today there were some beautiful flowers on display near my client's office and out of 40 some odd pics, 9 came out. That's it! The rest were too blurry to be any good. The composition of the pics was fabulous - but when you can only see outlines that are so blurry you think you need new glasses, well, it just doesn't work. Which is sad, cuz the colour play was beautiful.

This of course means that I want to buy a better camera. I think what I want is pretty much out of my price range though. *sigh* My Casio Elixim is perfect in terms of portability - I carry it everywhere so I can always snap some pics of interesting things... but... it needs an upgrade. I have no problems with distance pics. It is great with those. It's just those darn close ups. Oh well, I know what to look for next time I guess.

Of course that MP3 player in it rocks! Love listening to my tunes. Gotta hurry up and download everything I want before all the sites go 'pay per download'.

Today I had to work (yes, I know it is Sunday and that I don't get a day off this week). Blech. I finished reading my Sue Grafton book (Alphabet series - good train reading. Train reading = mildly entertaining plot and doesn't matter if you miss a paragraph or forget your place). This means I now get to decide whether I want to read 'L' or something different.

I seemed to have wasted a lot of time this evening doing pretty much nothing. I did put the laundry on and started putting things away. I have a quest to clean off the junk on the kitchen table ... and perhaps the desk? I have to cook up chicken which has been marinated in the fridge for a while... as in borderline garbage while. Hope it is ok. There are no good movies, well no movies period, on tv tonight so I suppose I should be productive and clean the apartment.

The NHK guy came calling today. NHK is the public service channel here. You're supposed to pay something like $250US a year for it. I don't think so. I tried the "I don't speak Japanese" but then he forked over an English brochure, so I had to resort to lying and saying "I don't have a TV". Really. And if you look in my apartment those two things that look like tvs are just your imagination. Honest. He left, so maybe he believed me.

I finally took a whole bunch of pics today so I could update the photoblog (link on the right). It was rainy and crappy - again. My pictures are looking rather sinister lately.

Kids Play
Spoiled young'uns... no idea how great Atari is. They're dissing Pong for crying out loud! And Space Invaders. All you 80s children, take a read - quite funny what young ppl think of the first video games. I remember begging my parents for months to get an Atari. I swear we were the last family to get one. That and the Beta...

Nothing exciting today except work, work, work. Gotta go make tandoori chicken and baked potato - yuuuuummmm!

Mainichi Interactive - Top News
Big earthquake in Tokyo today, and I didn't even feel it! Geesh =( I was on the train at the time or walking. Oh well.

I totally missed Thanksgiving! Actually, I didn't even know it was Thanksgiving until I suddenly got all these e-mails about people going to visit their families and having nice dinner. Can someone please, please, please UPS me some turkey and pumpkin pie? Ok, the turkey prolly won't make it, but if you pack the pie really well and throw in some cold packs I'm sure it will get here ok. Pretty please? *sigh* The one drawback of living in Japan - no darn pumpkin pie.

Hana to Hana
So this is the place I found to stay at. It looks great! There are like 6 hotspring baths, and the food looks yummy! The site is all in Japanese but if you click on the pink buttons you can see what it looks like. I'm so excited about staying here!

Today it rained like crazy, and there wasn't even a typhoon! Around 2 the skies just let loose. I was picking up some groceries and when I came back I had to cross over the river (actually it is a drainage ditch IMO, but it has been named Meguro river). It had stopped raining, but I couldn't believe how high the water in the ditch was! I've never seen it so high. It was within a couple meters of the top. The ditch is probably 20 meters deep, and another twenty across. The water line is usually at least 10 meters down. So the water rose quickly! When I got to the other side, the low lying areas beside the ditch were flooded! Couldn't believe it.
So that was my excitement for today. Today was a holiday so I had a two day weekend for the first time in a while. Other than groceries I just hung out. Watched Minority Report on video. Going to make nabe (hot pot) for dinner with cod, konnyaku and veggies. Yum! First time this season.
Thought I had found a good ryokan (inn) to go to when mom and Donnie come, but I have now found an even better one. I just have to get Hiroshi to check through the website. This one looks like it is cheaper too. Go figure. Also realized that it might be snowing where we are going. We are going way up in the mountains in central Japan. Could be chilly! But that will make the onsen water all the more enjoyable!

I ordered some pants from Eddie Bauer online, and they came yesterday. I was a bit worried that they would be too tight - I was at the end of the range in the size I ordered, and I wasn't sure if the measurement was the garment measurement or if it fit that measurement. What I mean is, if the pants were that exact measurement they'd be skin tight. Anyway, they arrived and I tried them on and they were too big! The sizing charts are much nicer in women's sizes (i.e. fat people sizes). The pants I got were very roomy.

The expensive wool blend pair that I ordered were falling off me. I'll have to return them. The material is beautiful. I have to call them to figure out what size I should order. The other two pairs of pants seemed huge at first too. I was upset that I would have to return the whole order! Then I took a look at them, and the hip area is right - it is just the waist. Ah, the standard problem. Why is it that pant manufacturers think that women's waists are the same darn size as their hips??

Anyway, I decided that a smaller size would probably pull in the hips and I'd still have the problem of the huge waist. So I went on a sewing adventure. Easiest way to take in pants - go up the butt. So I took the waist in about 3" and took some out of the butt as well. The waist could have come in a bit more but then the fit was totally weird. As it is they're a bit off. (MOM - if you are reading this, any other ideas to take these in? I have another pair in a different colour too).

So I got out my cheap sewing machine. Now by cheap I really do mean cheap. Ok, it cost me $15 at a useful gadgets fair (they have these at department stores every so often). It takes batteries *lol* Now I should have known that there is no way that that thing can do heavy cotton twill - in a double layer no less. I had a total disaster with thread all wrapped around the bobbing and knotting up in the pants. So forgot that idea. Hand sewing here we go.

So I hand sewed them. I did a good job too. Was very patient and tried to make the stitches all the same size. Then they were puckering a bit in the back - well folding. Hard to describe. So I had to come down a bit more - extend the angle down a bit, and now they lay properly. Then they were too long, so I had to hem them. Luckily there is the best invention in the world here - iron hem. You hem the pants, then wet this ribbon like thing and iron it on. Works great and takes all of five minutes to do. I LOVE it!

So all that done, I now have this big flap of material on the inside of my pants. So off to the sewing store to find bias. I took Hiroshi with me to explain. He was less than useless... this is the man that can't boil water. Try to have him explain sewing terms *roflol* Well it eventually turns out that in Japanese bias is bias. Doh! So I got the ironable bias - cuz I can't hand sew that. Cut off the big hunk of material, put the bias on and now I'm rocking and rolling. I might have to redo the bias though. It didn't stick very well - I think because I didn't wet it enough. (For the men reading this, bias is tape that you stick on a raw seam so that the material doesn't fray).

So now I have two pairs of pants that fit. Will re-order those other pants in the correct size, but will only get one of those. As I get thinner I'll order them in smaller sizes, cuz they really are wonderful. Very soft material and it falls nicely.

Overall, the online experience was ok - I'd be thrilled if they had fit perfectly. I'll order from them again. I can't get pants in my size here - they simple don't offer them. Size 14 is about as high as they go in Japan... and that is in the plus sized section! Fair warning - once you order, you can't change the sizes or anything. I second guessed and tried to order a bigger size, but couldn't change the order. It worked out with the sizes I did get, but I'm a bit peeved that no one even answered the email I sent. That is just sucky customer service. So my suggestion - don't go by the size charts, ask them directly... before you order!

So I'm trying to hunt down an onsen to stay at when my mom and aunt come. I was looking at one that I thought was the one I saw in a brochure, only to realize that it was just one with the same name! Gotta love Japan and how they have places that are side by side with the same name! Anyway, I was looking at the hotel, and it looked quite nice. I finally found the webpage for the ryokan (Japanese inn). Hopefully there will be rooms available. If not I am looking for places for Plan B... but they are all in a resort dense onsen town. I hope we get the other one. It is really old and looks very quaint. So, cross your fingers for us!

I'm so excited!! Not only is my mom coming to visit at the end of this month, but now my aunt is coming too!! I can't wait! It will be so much fun!

Tonight my MIL (mother-in-law) called. The phone rang and I hesitated to answer it (cuz it is never for me) but decided to grab it. Hiroshi is working tonight so I was stuck! Not that I dislike MIL, but she doesn't speak English. And, my Japanese is extremely limited. Conversations with her are aweful experiences for me because I can't say anything and don't have the vocabulary to fit into the simple structures that I do know. Well tonight I talked to her for half an hour! I'm amazed! And there was actual communication.

Hiroshi always gets a kick out of this - his mom thinks I understand everything she says, when in reality it is like 30%. Today, I'm pretty sure it was 90%. Of course, Hiroshi doesn't believe me (I mailed him on his cell phone). But it is true! He'll call her tomorrow and check. I had to give him a full report about what we talked about.

I told her we were going to go there for New Year's and help her do the spring cleaning (Japanese do it before Jan 1st). I asked her to teach me how to make the special dishes Japanese people eat over the New Year holiday. We talked about FIL's health and SIL's overwork. Apparently she is also studying in addition to horrible Japanese work hours,... and this is the part I'm not sure about, but I think she's studying to be an optometrist. I also told her about aunt Donnie coming over with mom and what we were going to go and see. So I'm very proud of myself. This is like a momentous occassion!

Anyway, I'm super excited about Donnie coming (and mom too of course). I am going to haul my butt to bed now... I'm trying really hard to get more sleep. Doesn't always work that way, but at least I'll be off the net by midnight tonight. Whether or not I can sleep will be another matter (I'm rather hyper).

I forgot the persimmons... fall also brings persimmons. The ones in the store now are a bit unripe - I'll have to wait a couple weeks. But vitamin C overdose here I come!

I'm fighting off a cold actually, so the C will be good for me. Trying to get lots of sleep (as I look at the time and say "How the heck did it get to be 1 am??"). Had to do some work tonight otherwise I'd have been snoozing at 10.

Today the weather was very cold. Luckily Hiroshi met me at the station coming home from work tonight, so I could steal his coat ;) Isn't he a nice hubby?

Ok, time for bed!

I love fall in Japan. The weather is great, my favourite flower blooms (I don't know what it is, but it is a shrub and it is small and orange coloured and has the most heavenly citrusy floral scent - wonderful), and there is some pretty darn cool food things: nikuman, oden and hot drinks. Nikuman is basically meat inside a steamed bun. Nice and steamy hot. The convenience stores carry a variety of other flavours as well like pizza, curry, an (bean paste), and this year, chocolate.

Oden is a personal favourite. For some reason 7-11 has the best oden. It is basically fish cakes and other stuff (hardboiled eggs, daikon slices, cabbage rolls, wieners in a blanket, seaweed and konnyaku) in a broth. The stuff at 7-11 sits there all day out in the open (no sneeze guards in Japan) and, well, it is just yummy.

The other fall event is the conversion to hot drinks. North America is totally missing out. The convenience stores now have the heated display cabinets - so you can get hot canned / bottled coffee, tea etc. I haven't seen a vending machine yet, but I haven't been paying attention recently. When you can buy a hot can of tea from the vending machine, you really do know fall is here.

Today there were all kinds of festivals happening. Not sure why. Hiroshi and I stopped in Meguro (next station) to have sushi for lunch and there was an extremely energetic group of people "shouldering a mikoshi" (will elaborate on this phrase in a minute). A mikoshi is a portable shrine on horizontal poles. They are quite heavy, and usually have 20-50 people carrying it. Well, the group today was taking it up the steps into the station! I couldn't believe it. They barely cleared the entrance (mikoshi are quite high), all the while shouting and whistling. It was very bizarre. Usually they just walk down the street! Couldn't get near them with my camera though - every Japanese person in sight was trying to photograph it. See, it really was a bizarre occurrence.

Anyway, the "shouldering a mikoshi" phrase. On the Yamanote line (the line that circles Tokyo) there are TV monitors that show ads and stuff. One of the things they have is the English phrases lesson. Basically it shows a Japanese phrase and then will tell you the English equivalent. This is quite amusing sometimes because the English is wrong! LOL My co-worker Cal and I both believe the phrase "shouldering a mikoshi" to somehow be wrong, although technically correct. It just sounds weird.

Roy got eaten by a tiger! Ok, he just got attacked. If you don't know what I'm talking about, where have you been??? Guess when Hiroshi and I go to Vegas to get married by Elvis at a drive-thru wedding chapel (yes, we really are going to do this one day - we haven't had a ceremony, and since we've been married for 2 years already, this is perfect!) we won't be able to see the tiger show :( Ah well, just means there's more time for gambling!

I think I'm nuts. I accepted all kinds of new students to fill up my schedule, and now I'm overextended. The money will be good, but man, I'm going to be running around like a mad person for the next three months!

The Japan Times Online
To give you an idea of how busy Tokyo station is (it is not the busiest station in the Tokyo area)... "instead of JR Tokyo Station, which currently sees some 200,000 shinkansen passengers per day" In other words, every day, the average population of a Canadian city takes the bullet train from Tokyo station. Imagine how many people are using the commuter trains. The good news about this article is that Shinagawa station is right near me! Ah, my area grows more convenient by the day! This year, three new train lines, occassional stops of the Narita Express (train to airport) and now the shinkansen. Life is good!

World's Oldest Man Dies
114 years old. Wow. Japan's now oldest man is the young age of 108 - article doesn't state if he is also holder of the world title.

Hiroshi locked me out of the house today >:-( I came home around 2 to get some food and pick up materials for my next class, and I opened the door only to have it bang really loudly and start large steel door reverberations up and down the hall. Neighbours were less than happy I am sure. The chain was on the door. Next came the joyous task of trying to wake Hiroshi up - he worked night shift last night so was dead to the world. Finally he let me in. Geesh. That's the third time this week he's done that! I mean, maybe it's a sign. He claims he is subconsciously punishing me for stepping on his feet when I walk over the futon to go to the washroom in the middle of the night though.

Ok, I'm supposed to be eating six small meals a day, but I don't think that is going to happen.... I know I'm going to sleep in late. So here's eating plan based on what I know is reality. No sense planning two morning meals I won't eat cuz I'll be snoozing.
Planned Meals 9/29
10:45 apple and cottage cheese
1:30 tandoori chicken with pear on salad with a bit of yogurt and basil dressing
4:00 protein pancakes
6:30 protein pancakes
9:00 TO THE GYM! (yes, I'm yelling at myself)
10:30 not sure - probably salmon, brown rice and a veggie. Or maybe a potato :) Might be protein pancakes or a shake if I can't bring myself to cook.

If I do happen to get up early, all of my meals will shift and I'll add in a shake in the evening for meal 5. My self-promise for tomorrow is: I will follow my eating plan and not cheat!

I love CostCo! Went out there today with the Watanabe's. I bought a bunch of meat and also found some perfectly fist-sized potatos. Whehoo! If only I had an oven to bake them in! I'd kill to do baked potatos at home. I'm not paying to do them in a toaster oven though (electricity is too expensive). Oh well. I like grating them up and 'frying' them in my t-fal (no oil). Very yummy. I also got some raspberries for my protein pancakes and some yogurt.

Hiroshi got danishes, giant bag of Doritos, bread, instant mashed potatos, sliced ham, bean salad (free day stuff for me unless I rinse the sugar/vinegar dressing off), and nutella. That should fix his junk cravings for the next while.

We also picked up our x-mas cards. I got a gigantic box for 50 yen per card which is great. They cost about 300 yen each to buy them in a normal Japanese department store. I had to try to remain calm and stay away from all the x-mas decorations. Hiroshi got his first glimpse of what a decorating nut I am at x-mas time. I was trying to convince him we need a 7' tree. The argument about where we would put the tree won out. *sigh* Can't wait until we move to Canada (sometime in the future) so I can go nutso over the xmas decorations again.

The Watanabe's (Yasu, Eriko and Kai) found some good priced baby stuff. I played with Kai all day. We tried to teach Hiroshi to feed him, but it wasn't too successful. Hiroshi looked at odds. That's ok - that meant *I* got to feed him. He is such a total cutie. I got some good pics of him today that I'll put up in the photoblog as soon as I finish with my Look Up / Look Down series. The feeding thing was kinda funny - Hiroshi has never fed a baby before. I'm training him you see *heheh* I'm hoping men have a biological clock too. And Kai is the perfect baby because he never cries! He just smiles all day long. We actually had him 'talking' and laughing today. Cute cute cute! I want one. But gotta get my body in shape first. So, gotta plan my meals and will post them later tonight!

Earthquake Hazards Program: NEIC: Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days
Here's a neat link to put in your favourites list (for my family who might be worried about me). It tells you about earthquakes all over the world. Actually, I like looking at the list cuz it is really intersting. Amazing how frequent they are. Hokkaido has been just nailed in the last few days - lots of aftershocks I guess.

Well I finally got around to updating my Photoblog today. I have been creative lately. I'm doing what I call "Look up / Look down". So for the next while I'll be posting shots of what I see when I look down and when I look up. Actually the looking up ones are a bit challenging - basically everyone walks around Tokyo with their eyes glued downward. I like the down pics much better, although I'm starting to find some cool geometric designs now for the up pics too. Anyway, check them out - click on the link to the right.

The Japan Times Online
The big news of the day is the Earthquake... and yes mom, I'm fine! This one appears to have hit all the major papers worldwide... well, it would seeing as it was a 8.0 one. Some of my coworkers claimed to have felt it this morning here in Tokyo, which is about 900 km away. There were also quite a few minor tremblers today in the Tokyo area - nothing compared to the 7 and 6 magnitude aftershocks felt up in Hokkaido. I was shocked at how little damage was caused - Kobe is The Earthquake on record. It was only a 7.3 and the damage was incredible. The 1923 earthquake in Tokyo killed 140,000 people - and that was also only in the 7's in terms of magnitude. That of course is mildly misleading - apparently most of those people were killed by the subsequent fires that broke out, and quick spread throughout the city.

Anyway, today I have been learning about tsunami. I've always thought that tsumani were giant 1 mile high waves that came crashing miles inland. I was reading the news reports about 1 meter high tsunami, thinking "uh... so what??" Well those suckers are fast! They have had some really interesting footage on tv. One clip showed a pier basically being submerged in less than a minute as the water rose shortly after the quake. There was another clip of the tsunami moving up a river - basically flowing backwards. And the one that really gave an indication of how strong they are was a boat that was churning up water it was powering the engines so much, and yet it appeared to not be moving. It was going into the tsunami.

So, thank heavens there was only 1 death and mostly minor injuries. And another day has passed in Japan, and I have yet again learned something new and had my perceptions alterred. A mile high wave would be kinda cool to see though.

I'm so proud of myself - for the first time in a very, very long time, I have actually followed my diet and had a perfect eating day. Planned vs. actual below:
9/25 Meals
7:00 Japanese pear and cottage cheese - check
10:00 protein pancakes - check (but only 80% of them)
1:00 protein pancakes - check
3:30 tandoori chicken, shredded cabbage salad, and some carb (yogurt?) - tandoori chicken, 1 whole tomato, 2 extra thin slices whole wheat bread
6:00 protein shake - check
9:00 WORKOUT - missed
10:30 salad and fake blueberry frozen yogurt - 9:30 salad with Japanese pear and tandoori chicken with a couple tbsp of lf yogurt and a sprinkle of basil (this was really good!!)
12:00 fake blueberry frozen yogurt

I needed to add in the yogurt thing to get my calories up enough for the day. Total cals for the day - just under 1700, which is pretty strict calories for me. (My PFA score was A- or 91.6%). I was over on sodium, under on potassium and over on sugar. What else is new. Sodium I'm down to 120% of daily intake (from over 700%!), and sugar is improving - I like fruit too much! I forget about the fruit in the protein pancakes. As for potassium, donno what to eat so I can get more. Have to research that one. Bananas - but they will boost my sugars even higher.

Anyway, the plan for tomorrow...

9/26 Meal Plan
7:30 apple and cottage cheese
10:30 protein pancakes
1:30 protein pancakes
4:00 protein shake
6:30 tandoori chicken, cabbage salad, potato
9:00 workout
10:30 ?? not sure!

My brain is broken at the moment so I can't decide on a sixth meal. Argh. Perhaps salmon and brown rice. Depends on how motivated I am to cook. Might be chicken again too. I'll think about it tomorrow.
Now I'm off to bed. Why is it I can never get to bed before 1 am???

So here it is, almost 2am and I am still awake. I suddenly remembered my chicken had been marinating for more than 1 day - almost 2 and that if I didn't cook it today, it would be iffy. So now the kitchen has the heavenly scent of tandoori. I'm drooling. I want to eat it! But I have to haul my butt to bed. Tandoori chicken will have to wait until tomorrow. *sigh*

9/25 Meal Plan
7:00 Japanese pear and cottage cheese
10:00 protein pancakes
1:00 protein pancakes
3:30 tandoori chicken, shredded cabbage salad, and some carb (yogurt?)
6:00 protein shake
9:00 WORKOUT
10:30 salad and fake blueberry frozen yogurt

Jehovah Witnesses are everywhere. I'm walking down the street today and there are these two sweet little old western ladies dressed in mauve suits standing by the bus-stop. As I walk past, one of them comes up to me and says "Would you like one of our magazines?" Unsuspecting I took one... only to find that it is a JW religious publication. Go figure.
I must say I like the tactics of 'here, take a free English magazine' over the follow you thru the train station tactics that some other religion (not sure which) uses here.

Went to see my good friend Yasu and his wife Eriko today... and of course their little one Kai. Kai is now 5 months old and as adorable as ever. I haven't seen him in over two months, and holy cats he's growing like mad! He's about 30% longer than he was last time I saw him and now weighs 7kg (that's about 15lbs to you non-metric folks). We arrived at their place around 2 and sat around playing with Kai for a while, then went for a walk to Ameyoko - which is a big shopping area near Ueno in Tokyo. It took about 30 minutes to walk there, and it was nice. We finally parted at around 8, and during that time Kai didn't cry once. Didn't even fuss! I'm amazed. He's just happy and smiley and oh so cute.

At first Hiroshi held him and didn't quite know what to do. He had that deer in headlights look. He was quite comfortable by the end of the visit though. I think we're going to have to visit them more often. ;) That biological clock is ticking you know. We're all going to head out to CostCo on the weekend, so I'll get to make stupid faces and do silly things all day. Gotta love it!

The walk tonight was really nice. The weather in Tokyo is totally whacked - one day it is 30C and the next it is 15C. What's up with that??!! I like this temperature though, so I'm a happy camper. This is great fall walking weather. I love not sweating to death.

I'm back on my diet again and will be posting my meals here daily. Here's the plan for tomorrow:
9/21 Meals - Plan
1. 1 cup cottage cheese and 1 asian pear
2. pumpkin protein pancakes
3. 5 oz tandoori chicken, 250g sweet potato, 3/4 cup shredded cabbage with 3 cherry tomatos, 1 tbsp non-oil dressing
4. whole wheat tortilla, tuna, 3/4 tbsp homemade mayo
5. 5 white and 1 egg omelette with shiitake mushrooms and salsa, oats with 1/4 cup of milk, dash of cinnamon
Vitamins: B Complex, C, calcium, folic acid

Mainichi Interactive - Top News

Oooh, yippeee, another typhoon. I keep hoping it will be big and exciting, but all that ever happens is a ton of rain falls. oh well. Maybe my weather girls umbrella will turn inside out! That'd be cool!

Had a great time last week doing my intensive training course. It was draining but fun. Great group of students. Now it is back into the swing of things. Tomorrow I'll be cooking up a storm - starting my diet again on Monday. Will hit the gym tomorrow on my way to the grocery store. Time to get serious again about losing weight.

Had a big earthquake today - 5.5. It was scary cuz it was an up and down one. The side to side ones are ok. It's the up and down ones that cause massive damage. There was supposed to be a huge 7+ one in Kawasaki last week (where I was) but it never happened. (They had measured things in the atmosphere to predict it - I don't quite understand) When this one started I was worried it would be a huge one. But it just rattled the dishes and shook the shelves. All was fine. I was getting ready to dash under the kitchen table though.

I'll be back next week - will be offline until Saturday.

I love days off. I wish all my Saturday classes would change their minds and reschedule them for sometime during the week. Only having 1 day off a week really bites. Slept in this morning. Woke up and bummed around on the net for a bit and then went to give Hiroshi a cuddle (he was still sleeping). Heard someone slide something into the door mailslot. I'm expecting a package, so went to check, and sure enough it had been the delivery guy. He didn't knock!! Duh! How'm I supposed to answer the door to take the package if you don't knock???!!! Geesh. He's supposed to come back later today. Hope so. I want to bring some shakes with me next week when I'm doing that intensive course.

After lazing around a bit more, Hiroshi and I went to go to Franklin's for lunch. It is a gourmet hamburger place. There was a huge lineup though! There must have been a feature on it in a magazine or something. So we decided to return the movie we rented last week and go to the Hawaiin burger place instead. Ugh, I'm stuffed. There is so much food. Hiroshi was in heaven though - he's been dying for burgers for a while. I doubt I'll eat anything else today.

I guess that is the extent of my day off. Still have to pack, but I think I'm going to go and have a little nap now. Or just curl up in bed with my book for a while. I love laying in bed with a good book. Speaking of books, I definitely have to make a trip to the used book store - my pile of finished books is falling over. Need to make room. And then I can get credit to get more books. I still have a ton to read, but there are a few I want to get. I'm working my way thru Sue Grafton's alphabet murder series. They are great train reading. It doesn't matter if you skip a paragraph. Also wanted to see if there were any more titles by Cathy Kelly. She writes women stories. Kinda romancy, and the characters are really good. Quite easy to identify with them. It is nice to be reading again - I hadn't been for a long time. Hopefully it will help me keep my English vocabulary up to speed. I swear I'm becoming more brain dead with the English language every day.

It feels like summer here still... well, not still, now. It is really hot! I hate 30 C. Well, if I were still on the beach I'd love it, but when you're running around in dress clothes it sucks.

The vacation glow is starting to wear off. I had an absolutely horrid day today - mainly due to work related muck-ups caused by coworkers. My stress levels went thru the roof. And I could feel myself turning grumpy and it was aweful. I wanted to just slow down and take my time walking so I could regain some non-stressed composure, but I was late, so had to run like a maniac. Argh.

Met Hiroshi after work though and we went to the cheap Italian place for dinner. After getting food in to me I felt much better. The salad was wonderful. Then we had a small pizza with a bit of cheese, lots of mushroms, some squid and ricola (which is an herb, and I'm not sure what the English name is). Hiroshi ordered spaghetti with squid ink - which is disgusting. It is black and icky. I have tasted it once where it was ok, but it tastes like melted Crayola crayons. The two mini-pieces of pizza were enough for me though. Don't know why I wasn't starving. Probably the darn heat.

Ah well, tomorrow I can relax and do nothing with Hiroshi all day. Well, I have to pack for an intensive course I'm doing and go over those materials, but other than that I am free to sit on my butt all day. Hallelujah!

I forgot to talk about Mars and the moon. Well I think it was Mars. I was coming home from work the other day and all these people are looking at the moon, which seemed kinda silly. I mean it was full (or alsmost full) but what's the big deal. People were taking pictures. Then I realized that there was an airplane that appeared to be just underneath it... only it wasn't moving. Aha! A very bright star is beside the moon. One of my colleagues later told me it was Mars. And I didn't whip out my camera. Man. And it has been overcast the last few days, so I haven't had a second chance. Oh well. It was pretty cool though. Knowing nothing about astronomy, I have no idea if North Americans got the same view or not.

And, whatdya think about my weather girl? I think she's great, although the platform shoes she wears in the evening are a bit strange. Might change her to the kimono weather girl, but this one has more outfits. That means she's more fun to look at... and I have a feeling most of you can't tell the difference between the different kimonos. All I know was that today was way too bloody hot for September. Give me fall!! I want to bypass summer all together. That's what vacation is for!

I'm peeling like crazy, which means I am losing my tan, which sucks. Or maybe it means I just need to go on another vacation ;) Went to the gym tonight for the first time in ages and it felt great. I did some laps and aquawalking in the pool. Tomorrow I'll do some weights. Other than that, nothing is new. Just work *sigh* When can I go back to some place tropical?

Ok, I finally got blogger back up and working. What a royal pain in the butt - I haven't been able to post since Thursday, and now my fingers are sore from typing :) Lots of reading material for you all.

On the weekend Hiroshi and I just relaxed... well the weekend being Sunday for us. We both worked on Saturday. We went for a nice flipflop walk together. I miss my flipflops from vacation. Wearing them makes me relaxed. We took a leisurely stroll down to Gyu-kaku which is the yaki-niku restaurant (korean barbeque). We had a very yummy dinner which included scallops (very yum) and satsuma imo (sweet potato). The potato was scrumtious - we ordered more. Then we continued on to the game center so Hiroshi could play Gundam for a while and then went to the video store.

We rented Bowling for Columbine which was just released on video here. All I can say is WOW! What an exceptional movie - well, documentary. Hiroshi was also amazed (and yes mom, he's more amenable to coming to Windsor permanently now that he's seen how safe Canada is, and no we never want to live in the States). If you haven't seen this already, get yourself to the video store.

Phuket - Day 5
Well it was our last day of our honeymoon, and our first holiday together. (I don't count going to Canada as holidays - there is too much running around involved). We were up dark and early - the sun wasn't even up yet. Got all our things together and headed out to the airport. On the way there we saw lots of monks in their orange robes walking along the road. They were about the only people out!

We arrived at the airport and checked in. A woman escorted us to customs and then to the business lounge. Luckily there was a shop that sold stamps and had a mail basket. I don't know if those postcards will arrive at their destinations or not. Oh well. Not much shopping though. We just hung out in the lounge and had breakfast - fruit and sandwiches with coffee. Then we got on the plan for a quick jaunt to Bangkok. Of course we got champagne before we took off... just enough to make us promptly fall asleep after breakfast. I can't believe they served breakfast on a 1 hour flight!

Now I thought that the flight was just stopping in Bangkok - but we actually had to change planes! It was the same flight number, but we had to change planes. Weird. The transfer in Bangkok wa an absolute nightmare. Why didn't they have someone to escort us there? Anyone can make their way to the customes counter. When we got off the bus (bus takes you from the plane to the terminal), there were 400 people looking at one small TV telling us which gate to go to. There wer no personnel around giving directions. I asked someone and she replied quite snarkily back. Then tehre was about a one km hike to the gate. Wish I knew this before - I had trouble walking, and my feet even in flipflops weren't happy (sunburn was bad there). We went to the wrong business lounge and the lady at the reception desk yelled at us. We finally got to the right one, and asked where to put the trolley which had our carry-on and the receptionist replied very snottily "out in the hallway". Well, duh! But where? I was not happy. I grabbed a customer feedback form and filled it out on the spot. Not happy. But, after some coffee in the lunge and some yummy quiche things I felt better.

So about 30 minutes later we got on the plane that continued to Tokyo. Got champagne once again. This plane had nicer seats and better TVs than the one on the way there. Not like that mattered. Well, the seats did. Both of us slept almost the whole way back. It was amazing! I've never been able to sleep on a plane. Lunch on the flight back was delicious too. The main entree again was dry and bland. I had shrimp and rice. Not so great. But the rest was amazing. I wasn't that hungry anyway (darn baby quiches in the lounge!). The appetizer was smoked salmon with dill, and there was a nice salad, and lots of whole grain rolls again. After the meal there was a wonderful fruit and cheese tray that they rolllled down the aisle. There was a canteloupe that was carved into a big flower - very pretty. I just had some melon and a thimble sized glass of port - which conked me out for the rest of the flight. Donno what dessert was.

Hiroshi didn't get to eat. He boarded the plane and almost immediately felt nauseous. The flight attendant was really nice though and brought some medicine for him. They even offered to keep his meal warm for later and checked to make sure he was ok every once and a while. He slept all the way home and felt much better by the time we arrived (I didn't get sick until we got home).

Our luggage was first off the plane again, and we got thru customs very quickly. We slowly walked to get the train home. Then we arrived in Tokyo station and shock set in. Oh god, not all the people rushing everywhere. We made a point of slowly walking to our platform. Then we slowly walked home wishing we were still on the beach. And that was the end of the vacation. Well except for the sunburn lotion which exploded in the luggage and Hiroshi had a fit over (he says I should wrap everything in plastic bags - why bother. It's washable. Maybe I'm just lazy?). I got him to calm down - don't want to get all stressed again two hours after getting back in the country!

Anyway, it was an absolutely wonderful holiday and I couldn't have imagined a better honeymoon. I was always kinda sad that we didn't go right away, but now I'm glad we waited. One of the couples in the hotel were newlyweds (they had just had the ceremony the day before they arrived) and the guy was out doing things and we never saw the wife. *shrug* That'd be upsetting I think. As it was, we both are comfortable with each other, know that each other snores, know we have bad gas sometimes (Thai food *wink*) and if one person is tired we just change the plans. There was no tension. I did everything I wanted to do. I think Hiroshi did everything he wanted to do (ok, maybe he didn't want to buy jewellery, but I'm sure he enjoys seeing how happy I am wearing it... until his visa bill comes that is ;) nah, he should be happy). We both had fun, and I think we grew a lot closer. And of course, we're still being sillily romantic (I know, sillily is probably not a word). So now I'm glad we waited. And of can't wait to use that free ticket to go back again next year!!