November 2005 Old Blog Posts
November 30
Happy Anniversary!
Well, it was our anniversary yesterday. Three years of wedded bliss. OK, not bliss every single second, but pretty close! I can't believe that it's been three years since our wedding day. Honestly, it seems like it just happened a few months ago. I told Hans last night that I'm still very happy with our wedding and wouldn't change a thing about it. It was exactly what I wanted and dreamed of. I wish that we could have a wedding every year! Though I think we'd be living in a cardboard box and selling pencils if we did! Nope, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Not too much to report from Honshu...sorry, I have to correct an earlier entry when I said that we live on Hokkaido. Thank God my husband is the smartest man on earth and got me all straightened out on that issue. I think that I did actually know that, it had just slipped my mind that day. Hey--I'm pregnant. A lot slips my mind from day to day. I need to have a pen and paper nearby at all times to jot down lists and ideas as they come, otherwise, they are lost to the void.
We dropped Josiah at Mariska's last night for a couple of hours and walked down to a little Japanese restaurant just outside the gates. I say "little" and I mean "little". Many of these Japanese restaurants are tiny little holes-in-the-wall with barely enough room to seat a dozen people. I have been to this particular restaurant before with the wardroom wives--we don't know what the darn place is called, since the name is in Japanese and the wait staff doesn't speak a lick of English. I'll call it the "Brown Restaurant" because that's how I think of it. The only other restaurant close by has a red lantern out front, so that the "Red Restaurant" to me.
Anyway...Hans and I walked down to the Brown Restaurant last night and had supper. Hans had some sort of beef stew bowl with thick sobu noodles. I had tempura shrimp on a bed of rice. It was pretty good. The place itself is just charming. They play sappy romantic American music, like Sinatra and it's very small. They have two low tables with tatami mats, where you remove your shoes and sit cross-legged on the floor, and four or five tables with chairs. Sitting on the floor is not really an option for me at this point, since it would take two or three strong men and probably a 2x4 to hoist me back up. Not to mention that I literally couldn't get close to the table and probably would spill rice all over my belly!
We had a nice dinner, a good conversation about the past and future and a nice walk back home. My wonderful husband also brought me flowers from Yokosuka. The picture doesn't do them justice. What a guy...what a guy. Sigh.
Today has been pretty quiet. Feeling tired. I think I'll try to take a nap this afternoon when Josiah finally winds down and sleeps. I was trying to fold paper origami cranes all morning for the ship's Christmas tree (competition) and after a couple of hours, I had to give up. I mean, honestly, how can something so small be so complicated? I say that, and yet, I'm a mother. Haha. It was my sanity or the cranes, so I scrunched up all the paper and threw them out. They would have been some pathetic, strange looking cranes anyway.
Got a call from Mariska this morning that Drake and Lily woke up with conjunctivitis. Oh, joy. Enjoy the pictures.
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November 28
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, a few days late! Josiah and I have just been too wrapped up in spending time with Hans to be able to blog. Sorry about that. I think that we talked to most of you on or around Thanksgiving though. I hope that everyone ate until satiated and beyond and that everyone enjoyed their holiday.
We have been doing a lot of running around, getting some things done that needed to wait for Hans' approval, signature and muscle-power. Boring things, like getting new bank accounts set up and getting a new carpet for the living room. Well, that wasn't really boring for me, but probably not very exciting for Hans. Although, we did shop for said carpet at Ave, and it was the first time he had been there. I'm sure that I've described it before as being the "Japanese Wal-Mart". It's an enormous store with homegoods, hardware, garden center, etc. on one side and a large grocery on the other side. We took time to wander through the grocery on Saturday. It's so hard for me not to make horrific, grossed-out faces when I see some of the food the Japanese eat! Hans bought some bowl noodles, kind of like ramen, but in a bigger bowl. They had one entire side of one aisle full of different varities of bowl noodles.
We were actually looking for something for Josiah. He's become fond of a Japanese snack that we've had at his modeling shoots. I think that they call it a "rice ball", but it's basically a triangle of sticky rice wrapped with seaweed. You can get them with various fillings, but Josiah likes the kind filled with salmon. Surprisingly, he'll even eat the seaweed, though usually not all of it! It really makes a mess as you can imagine, what with all that sticky rice, but it's so nutritious that I'm happy to feed it to him. He's been pulling a Ghandi on me lately, refusing to eat just about anything. I feel like I'm dealing with a little sultan or something, like I have to prepare delicacies and present them to him on silver trays--just to get him to even put a bite into his mouth. Maybe if I started bowing as I approach and retreat from the booster seat...
Anyway. We had a great Thanksgiving. It would have been great sitting at home in a typhoon eating stale bread as long as Hans was here with us. However, we didn't have to eat stale bread, and that made our Thanksgiving even better. Josiah and I had been invited down to Mariska and Alexis' place for dinner. Since the ship was in, they ended up inviting a bunch of the single people from the wardroom, so they had a full house. They cooked three turkeys and we had the usual side dishes. I made a green bean casserole. We ate and ate. And ate. And then, we had pie. Mariska and Alexis are amazing cooks, to say the least. We ended up hanging around, chatting and letting the kids play, until about 6:30 p.m. I am very thankful that we have friends who can stand in as family on these occasions.
Not much else is going on. We did get Josiah a train table, finally, though it's not really a train table at all. We don't really know what it is, we suspect that it's a piece of outdoor furniture, but it's a slatted table about 3' wide and 4' long and about 12" off the floor. Just right for him now and we'll get him a real Thomas table when we get home. We attempted to drive out and find the mythical Toys R Us store that exists somewhere near Yokohama, but we didn't have much luck, so we resorted to a makeshift invention. Josiah is just happy to have his train up off the floor. We ordered some final Christmas presents for him--Gordon, Rusty and the Sodor Fire Station. I think we may be done now! Hans is getting up to speed on the "world of Thomas" and made a new track configuration for Josiah. I think that once Joe gets his real track set and a few buildings, he and his Daddy will have a very fun time with it.
We got our Christmas tree on Friday. First, let me say that there was a "day after Thanksgiving" shopping event at our exchange on Friday morning. Not exactly the exciting affair that you have at home at Target or Wal-Mart, but exciting enough to rouse most of Yokosuka to get up and be in line at 7:30 a.m. Alexis, Mariska and I got up early and went, just for the heck of it. There were some good deals to be had, but I just enjoyed shopping without having to worry about Josiah! Hans met us there later and we picked out a nice tree and brought it home. I never had a real tree growing up, unless maybe Grandma Kuehl had one (not sure, Mom or Dad can verify?). We always had an artificial one at home, and frankly, I can see why. If I even walk by the tree too swiftly, needles fall everywhere! It is nice in terms of looks and scent, but I'm not sure that's enough to cancel out the irritation of the needles tracked all over the house. Our poor tree looks a little lopsided too as I had to put all the ornaments on the upper half of the tree. The bottom half looks naked, but it was entirely necessary as I would have been picking up both needles and scattered ornaments pulled down by little hands!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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November 22
Enoshima Aquarium & THE MIRACLE!
First, the miracle, since I'm sure you're all dying to know! Due to bad weather in Hong Kong and the difficulty of navigating the port there, Hans is coming home! I don't want to break OPSEC, but let's just say that I've known since Sunday and that I'm going to be seeing him very, very soon. He'll be here for Thanksgiving! He'll be here for our anniversary! Thank God for acts of God, I guess. I'm a very, very happy girl!
Well, I caught you all up on Saturday and the petting zoo. Mariska and I, in an effort to kill time (her husband got back yesterday) decided to try an adventure on Sunday too. We took a map and tried to find the beach in Zushi. A bit of a nervewracking experience, because the map wasn't that great and we really haven't driven anywhere besides the road between Zushi and Yokosuka. I don't suppose that one could get too lost on Hokkaido. After all, it is an island. But anyone who knows me knows how panicked I get even a little bit turned around!
There was an event at the beach in Zushi that Mariska wanted to see. Some sort of festival with horseback archery demonstrations. We managed to locate the beach, which is amazingly close to Ikego and very easy to find. It looked as though the event was finished though--they were taking down the targets, so we just kept driving and ended up following the signs to Enoshima Island and the aquarium. Our XO's wife had gone there with her kids, otherwise, I would have had no idea whatsoever that an aquarium existed at Enoshima. By the way, history buffs, is there a reason why Enoshima sounds so familiar to me or is it the similarity between Enoshima and Hiroshima? Just wondering if anyone knows?
The aquarium was pretty small, but the kids had a good time. They did have some really cool tanks set up. I got a decent picture of the enormous, two story tank. They had a dolphin tank and a turtle pool and the usual variety of rays, sharks, penguins, etc. It was no SeaWorld, but it was nice enough. We went through all the displays and let the kids admire the fish, then had ice cream on the patio overlooking the ocean. I think Joe liked the seals the best, however, I have no pictures of him getting excited over the seals because he was outside of the stroller and letting him loose requires two hands, two legs and all of my focus. Lily stays next to Mariska at 17 months old, sigh...why can't my child? Maybe it's the boy vs. girl thing. He's just got too much to do and see.
Yesterday was our rescheduled shoot for Combi in Tokyo. We had to be there at 10:45, which was nice as we missed the worst of rush hour. Joe and I both had a seat all the way up there, and I didn't feel a whit guilty about putting Joe in his own spot. He was very well behaved all the way up, until Mommy put him into the backpack and went to put the shoulder straps up and bonked his head on the luggage rack. No serious injuries were sustained, but there was a lot of unnecessarily loud screaming and every Japanese person in the train was giving me a dirty look, as if I had purposely decided to nail his pretty little head against the luggage rack!
The shoot went very well, maybe because our agent met me there and communicated with them and kept them moving in a timely manner. Joe did two shots in a carseat in the back of a van and then he was done. He was competing against another little boy, but I think he's got it locked. Josiah was in a much better mood. As soon as we left (on time, thank goodness), he fell asleep and slept on my lap all the way home. Combi gave us money for a cab to the train station yesterday so that we didn't have to connect on a bunch of subways, and we took a subway from Zushi station to Ikego, too, as a treat. I didn't get any pictures of the shoot because I was busy making faces, singing dippy songs, etc. to get Josiah to laugh and pander for the camera. They wouldn't have been too interesting, anyway, just him in a carseat.
Anyway, people. I have to go. As you can imagine, I have a lot to do before my husband comes home. I want him to think we live in a sparklingly clean home all the time, a home without Cheerios and trains all over the floor!
I'll probably post a Thanksgiving entry and pictures. Suffice it to say that we'll be thinking of all of you that day and wishing we were home.
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November 19
I Kissed a Goat!
Not me, Josiah. Josiah kissed a goat today, and a girl too, come to think of it. He and his little girlfriend, Lily, had a big makeout session today. Lily was crawling all over him. I guess he may as well get used to the girls throwing themselves at him! It is pretty cute how she comes up and kisses him or tries to get on him while he's in his stroller and kiss on him. Maybe he tastes good. Maybe I didn't get all that chocolate out from behind his ears!
We went to a little festival today on base. The way they advertised this event, I thought that it was going to be something much, much bigger. They had some food, cotton candy, a few games for the kids and about four blow-up jumper things. Only one was really appropriate for babies, unless you dared to put your little one in with the 3 and 4-year-old crowd in the next level jumper. I didn't want to take a chance that Josiah would get an elbow in the eye or something, and I happen to like his teeth just as they are.
The highlight of this event and the whole reason that Mariska and I took the kids was the petting zoo. As I said, the way they advertised it, I was expecting some pretty exotic animals. Kittens at least (I so miss petting Kittens). There were about 12 goats, two sheep, a dog, some guinea pigs, hamsters and about 25 terrified rabbits. I mean, I really felt sympathy for those rabbits. Their poor little rabbit hearts were probably about to combust in terror from all the toddlers chasing them around the pen! And there were so many parents and kids crammed in there that I'm wondering how many of them turned into rabbit patties.
Josiah just about passed out with excitement waiting to get in and pet the animals. He promptly ran up to the goat and introduced himself by kissing it squarely on the mouth. He has seen goats before at a friend's birthday party, but that was quite awhile ago. He also enjoyed cornering the rabbits and made friends with one caramel colored one who must have decided to just stay in one spot rather than risk going back into the fracas! Joe didn't seem to like the black and white rabbit that I caught to let him pet--there's a picture of him running away. Apparently, he's very finicky about what sorts of rabbits he likes. He also took a quick look at the hamsters. Then, it was back out to love the goats and sheep again. Surprisingly, he didn't pay very much attention to the dogs. Usually, he goes crazy whenever he sees a dog.
That was our day, in a nutshell. Enjoy the pictures!
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November 17
Mmmm, Chocolate!
Just a quick note today. I'm posting pictures and wanted to explain why my kid is such a mess. He's learning how to use utensils, and though the pictures seem to tell a different story, he's doing quite well at it. That night he was having grilled cheese, veggie and pudding. He ate almost all of the pudding with his spoon. I guess he just had a little trouble figuring out where his mouth was! Most of the mess on his hands came from shoving all the remaining pieces of grilled cheese into the last of the pudding. I guess he was trying to make trifle or something. He went straight into the bathtub after that meal.
The picture of him asleep in his carseat is from Sunday, after we had lunch in Yokosuka and visited the 100 Yen store. He had a cookie, which deceptively looked like shortbread to me and turned out to have an evil, hidden center of gushing chocolate...which he managed to smear all over his face, behind his ears, in his hair and all over his clothing and carseat. And then he fell asleep and added some nice drool into the mix.
Grandma Donna sent him some new "Thomas" things, a neat carrying case for his trains, with individual little cubbies for each of the trains and cars, and a "Bulgy" the bus. You all may or may not know that you can flip the railroad tracks over and have a highway for vehicles on the other side. I know, so much to learn. Anyway, those pictures are from today. Enjoy!
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November 16
I saw a model eating a sandwich...
That's for my husband, who always sees thin women and says "Get that woman a sandwich, stat!". I really did see a model eating a sandwich today AND drinking a soda. I suppose she's having a saltine and a cigarette for supper!
What a day...ay caramba. We had to go to Tokyo for Josiah's modeling job. We were to be there at 9:00 a.m. Rush hour is not fun, as I'm sure I've described in the past. The Japanese are so very polite except when it comes to giving up the priority seats meant for handicapped, pregnant women, the elderly or mothers with young children. I can't tell you how many times I have stood there across from them, pregnant and lugging Joe around and they just seem to conveniently ignore me. And trust me, they are not any of the above things. Grrr. So I stood on the train for over an hour. Josiah refused to sleep and instead made huge quantities of noise. Big deal, you say, you're on the train. But you've never been on a Japanese train. They are silent. You could hear a pin drop. They are all contained in their neat, quiet, calm little lives. So, my child making a little noise on the train is a big deal. Also, everyone is trying to sleep. They all get on the train and promptly begin to read or they sleep. Somehow they always manage to wake up at their station.
Anyway, back to the saga. Rush hour on the train, rush hour at the transfer stations. You've never seen such a crush of people. I have nothing in Minnesota to compare it to. Maybe State Fair on Labor Day, but even then you can at least go to the beer garden or see some trout or watch KARE-11 do the news. There's nowhere to hide in these stations--I was literally swept away on a tide of intent, silent Japanese workers. I'm lucky that I got into a current that was going the right direction.
We finally get to the area of the shoot. However, no one knows where the restaurant we're meeting at is...not the taxi driver, not the police. This happened to Hans and I in the exact same neighborhood on our trip to Tokyo. It's like the Bermuda Triangle or something. Honestly, the Japanese don't put addresses on anything. I don't know how anyone finds their way around! Finally, the police help me locate the place--which was approximately three blocks from the police station! Ummm, OK. Good to know that the police are familiar with the locale, although with the crime rate being pretty much nil, they probably pretty much eat donuts and drink coffee all day. Klompers.
The job was supposed to be from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. I was a little late, no big deal. But we sat, and sat, and sat. Imagine trying to restrain a hyper-active 18 month old for hours. It isn't a pretty picture, of mommy or of toddler. We changed locations from the restaurant to a park. They still hadn't taken any pictures of Josiah. 1:00 is getting closer and closer. None of the Japanese people doing the shoot seem to speak English. I keep asking if they are going to take any pictures of him. They tell me that my agent said I had to stay until 2:30...um, OK. I stay until 2:30. Still, they haven't taken any pictures of Josiah. I tell them that I won't stay any longer than 3:30 and at 3:30, they all come out of the shoot and tell us that they're wrapping anyway--the "light" isn't any good. GREAT. I just spent the last six and a half hours sitting here with an antsy, tantrum-ridden toddler for nothing. I mean, we still get paid, but all that angst wasn't worth what we're getting.
Who says being a model is glamourous? No way. Methinks Josiah's modeling career is about to come to a grinding halt. I guess we'll see. They were talking about rescheduling his portion of the shoot, so I suppose we'll be obligated to do that, but after that one, I think we'll be on hiatus for awhile.
Not much else to report. We're just hanging in there, kind of going through the three week slump. I can get through two weeks without my best friend, but the third is when I seem to fall apart. The dreaded three-week slump. Days like today just make me want to throw in the towel and get on the next NWA flight out of Narita.
Thanks for listening. I'll add photos soon.
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November 11
Veteran's Day
Just a quick message this morning to thank all the veterans in my life. Happy Veteran's Day! I'm very proud to be the granddaughter, daughter and wife of vets! And now that I'm living the military life, I can see what sort of sacrifices and hard work go into being an American soldier. It's certainly not a job that one takes on to achieve glory and a big paycheck!
Thanks guys...you're all my heroes!
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November 10
She really does love Wellstone...
Wow, Josiah's music teacher really is a Wellstone-hugger. Literally. She's from Cottage Grove. We discovered our shared "heritage" today when Josiah showed up for class in his Gophers jacket. She was listening to the St. Olaf choir when we walked in, yah, I could hardly believe it. Josiah and I were first to class (being the good students that we are), so we stood around talking about Minnesota. Good times.
I was having a pretty good day, being that I was able to listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" all the way to the base, thus avoiding having to listen to (a) Japanese people discussing something that happened in Japan in Japanese; or (b) shamisen music; or even worse: really, really bad American music that the Japanese seem to enjoy. Horrible, horrible stuff. Stuff that would normally make me break out in hives and switch the station right away if I were home and had the luxury of many American stations filled with almost-as-bad music. Seriously, not to get off topic, but does anyone besides me and that guy I'm married to (I think his name is Hans, I seem to remember his face--blonde, blue eyes, 6'2", right?) find that there is just NOTHING new worth listening to anymore?
Class went really well. Started off kind of bad because some little wanker wanked Joe right in the head with a cowbell or something. Right in front of me, too! Joe immediately started to cry, which I would have too--cowbells are hard and pointy. The other child's mother was appropriately horrified and made her son apologize to Joe. Let's just put it this way: this kid was old enough to know better. The class goes up to three or four-year-olds. It's so hard to restrain myself, but I just keep in mind that if I handle it graciously, maybe when Josiah hits another kid with a maraca, karma will come around.
We marched around in a circle to a strange song by Neil Diamond. One I've never heard before. I wish she would have played "Sweet Caroline" or "Comin' to America". Then, we played guitars and handbells. Josiah did really well, a lot better than last time. He actually plucked the guitar and rang his bell a little, and mercifully stayed in my lap the entire time, which is what he was supposed to do last time. The teacher was right--third time is a charm. I can't wait to see what next week is like.
We got our first train today. God bless Amazon.com. I cannot express to you all how much I am in love with the good people at Amazon. Josiah now has a red "James" engine and tinderbox and an expansion pack for when his original figure eight kit finally gets here. I guess I should have just ordered it off Amazon instead of messing with eBay. Must be my cheap gene.
Enjoy the new pics, including a couple of your hostess. Self-portraits, of course, so don't expect too much! I tried to get one of Annika too. There's a couple of the hawks--they are much scarier and bigger than they appear in the pic, and of course, Josiah with his new choo-choo.
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November 09
Darn this beautiful face!
No, not me! Josiah, the demi-god. The audition yesterday must have went well, because we had a message from the agency that he'll be working again on the 15th or 16th. Another shoot for Combi, except that this time they'll be shooting strollers and highchairs rather than clothes. Poor Josiah...it must be so rough being so darn handsome. It's all his father's fault.
Not much new to report from Yokosuka. We had the audition yesterday, which went O.K. (good enough to get the job, I guess). The audition process is actually pretty quick and painless. They just usher him into a room full of people, he cavorts for the camera for a few Polaroids, they do his measurements. Now I just have to keep his head shrouded in bubble wrap for a week.
I took him for a little ride on the trike tonight with Mariska and her kids. It didn't last very long because he was much more interested in Drake's bike and training wheels. He wanted to chase along behind Drake. Josiah was so klutzy tonight--I'm positive that he inherited his slyph-like grace from me. Well, I guess his Daddy isn't exactly a ballet dancer either, but anyway. Poor Joe literally ate dirt tonight on one of his falls--he face planted into some mud. He had an enormous smudge of mud in his hair and on his forehead, and I think he tripped and fell six more times on our tiny little walk. He's just in too much of a rush to consider things like uneven pavement, sticks and blades of grass. You know, things that trip him up.
Mariska made us enchiladas, and by us, I mean herself and me. The kids had the proverbial chicken nuggets. God bless whoever developed and marketed chicken in nugget form. What did kids eat before that? I sure don't remember having chicken nuggets--of course, nuggets were a luxury item at McDonald's. In the Kuehl household, it was hamburger or cheeseburger, possibly fish fillet at Lent (and ONLY Lent). McNuggets were just not an option. It's only in recent times that I've begun to appreciate how much money my parents probably saved over the years by implementing little policies like the hamburger or cheeseburger policy. It costs about $8 for Joe and I to eat at McDonald's, and if Daddy's home, it's closer to $12. That adds up. Kudos, Pete and Jan.
Good enchiladas, though I'm going to be paying for it tonight. Pregnancy-induced heartburn is a vicious thing. I never had heartburn before I was pregnant with Joe, and then only during the last few weeks. If what the old wives say is true, a lot of heartburn means that you'll have a baby with a lot of hair. That's just what I deserve after years of telling people that babies that emerge with tons of hair freak me out--babies are supposed to be bald! I will get a baby with a full-on Joe Dirt mullet!
We could see our breaths tonight when we went for our "trip"/walk. Cold weather is just around the corner and I'm loving it. I just wish that my warm, fluffy Kitten was here to share it with us! I'm trying to get some pictures of some of the local wildlife, most especially the hawks that congregate around here. There are crazy amounts of seahawks in our development. Someone told me to be careful never to let Josiah stand around outside with a hotdog or chicken nugget (!) because they've been known to swoop down and take food from people. They're pretty cool, though--some wicked looking hawks. I know Pete and Jan will appreciate them, as they appreciate any animal that can tear a small animal or child to shreds. I'm tempted to get some sturdy sticks, whittle a sharp end on them and stick a hot dog on, and plant them in our backyard, just to see if the hawks would all come and fight over them. I just may try that yet, on one of my bored days. Don't worry grandmas, we'll keep babies safe inside!
And that's the news from Ikego, where all the men are gone, the women are good-looking and the children are above-average.
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November 07
Trains & Trikes
Josiah got his first tricycle today. I had been debating over whether to get him a "scooter" type of vehicle, you know, one that he would sit on and shuffle along with his feet. They actually have a Thomas scooter at the exchange. I just decided that he would outgrow that too quickly, so why not go right up to the trike? He can't quite reach the pedals yet, so he can scoot along on that for awhile. He was pretty excited about it, see the pictures. He has a little trouble getting onto and off of it, but luckily for him, his personal assistant (aka: me) is always standing by with a helping hand.
We had a busy day. Mariska doesn't have a vehicle yet, so I offered to drive her into Yokosuka to get some things done. I had rather a long list, too. We ran around from one end of the base to the other with the van full of three carseats and two strollers, baby bags, purses, sippy cups and related baby paraphenalia. Josiah managed to get his cup to leak an entire serving of apple juice all over him, so I had a nice, damp and sticky toddler to handle. We went to McDonald's and to the park, to the exchange and the post office.
My mother-in-law has so sweetly loaned me her "A Prairie Home Companion" tapes to listen to. We are actually able to listen to the live show over our TV, but TV is so iffy here. For one thing, the programs are never on at the same time every day. It's so very, very irritating. You count on being able to watch "Trading Spaces" or whatever at 4:00, and it's there for a couple of days, then it's on at 8:00 a.m. instead. With no warning whatsoever. I told Hans today that I think the government gets its kicks knowing that they are driving us starking raving mad with their inconsistancies...but geez, that's a whole 'nother blog.
Anyway, I can listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" on Sunday evenings, which I love. Even though Garrison Keillor's politics make my husband grumble, I still love his stories and wit. Most of all, I love hearing anyone talk about Minneapolis and St. Paul and say "Go Gophers" or whatever. I remember so many occassions of being in the car with my parents coming home from some trip and listening to "APHC" on public radio. I just link it with a darkening winter landscape and being safely in the warm car with my family and hearing my Dad and his chuckle. So, thanks Donna. Now I can listen anytime I want. We really don't have American radio in the car, so this will help when I'm driving too.
I took a couple of pictures of Josiah with his loaner train, too. For anyone who is wondering, the list that I've posted on this page is a list of the Thomas items that Josiah has or is getting for Christmas. Just thought it might be useful for Grandmas and Grandpas...the world of Thomas is enormous. He is still enjoying his train video, which I can recite word for word.
My husband is still alive. Talked to him briefly last night. Love those calls from the ship--all the beeps interrupting our conversation, the nice delay, and the fact that there are 17 people standing within a 3' radius of him, so he can't get mushy at all. Oh well. At this point, I'm just so happy to hear his voice. I don't really care if we talk about kites or kumquats.
Oh, I was thinking about a train from my childhood today...guys, remember the little train at the Butterfield Threshing Bee? Wasn't that just the best? I still love the sound of a steam engine and whistle. I really look forward to bringing Josiah to things like that someday. I may have to make a trip home (from within the States, Jan, talking in the future, not this summer) just to be able to take him and Annika.
Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know...we're calling her Annika. Surprise!
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November 03
Music Class
We had our first music class today.
Let me just say that toddlers seem to have a knack for figuring out exactly when their parents are rushing to get out the door. Josiah and I were up at 6:30 a.m., did our regular morning thing, had to be to class at 9:30. He played with his Tinkertoys in his room (he doesn't assemble, just hauls them around in his dumptruck), happy as a lark until it was time to go. Then, just as Mommy is getting stressed, he throws a tantrum and doesn't want to put his shoes on. Lord, give me strength. All of you know that patience is not something I have a surplus of...!
I've started to understand why you see toddlers in strange outfits or without shoes on, or dragging blankets or still using pacifiers. I used to think "Jeez, parents, have a little gumption and tell them no". Having a child sure is changing my perceptions on a lot of things. Now I'm beginning to realize that you don't argue with a 17 month old. If he doesn't want to wear shoes, he's just not going to. He's comfortable with that idea, why can't I be? That's what I have to change--my level of discomfort at being perceived as a wantonly lazy parent. I know a 3 year old who is constantly wearing nothing but Spiderman and Power Rangers costumes--I know I've thought on more than one occasion that Josiah will not be doing that. How much do you all want to bet that I'll be reshaping my ideas on that eventually, too?
Music class could have been a lot of fun, but Josiah was half-awake and cranky. The teacher definitely looks like the kind of hippie you'd expect--Daddy will be so excited to learn that Josiah is learning about music from a whale-kissing, Dukakis-hugging moon maiden. Or as we say in Minnesota: a whale-kissing, Wellstone-hugging moon maiden. Anyway. She had baskets and buckets and drawers of every imaginable noise-making muscial instrument: bells, recorders, maracas, xylophones. Unfortunately, Josiah doesn't quite grasp the concept of sharing and/or that ALL the toys aren't for his personal use. He got pretty mad when he was only allowed to take two clicking sticks and couldn't have the entire basket. He was doing a little better by the end of the class, and the teacher assured me that most new ones are completely into it by the third class. He is on the young side, too. The class is for 16 months-3 years.
I was just mortified at his behavior, though I'm sure the other mothers understood. Josiah is usually so sunny that I've gotten a little spoiled. So when he throws public tantrums, I just want to crawl under a rock. We're going to go meet Mariska, Drake and Lily at the park in a couple of hours--Josiah needs all the socialization he can get.
On a happier note, I got my Pottery Barn order today! It was super-fast, less than a week. I am happy, happy, happy with Pottery Barn. Gap and Old Navy, on the other hand, still waiting, almost two months later. Grrrr. The Pottery Barn is the baby's bedding. I'll have to take a picture so everyone can see how beautiful it is. God bless Pottery Barn!
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November 02
Life as Eeyore & Trip to Daiei
So, Halloween was a bit of a bust for Josiah. He's been sick for a few days, nothing serious, just another cold. I can tell he's been feeling cruddy, because there have been mornings when he just wants to nest on the couch and watch a cartoon or two. Usually, he's tearing up the living room, eating breakfast, watching cartoons and playing with his toys. I think he's on the far side of the cold now, so he should be back to normal soon. I used Zicam for the first time and I really have to recommend it to everyone--it does seem to have headed off my cold before it started.
Halloween is not a major holiday in Japan, but it is becoming more popular. At least, that's what I was told. In Yokosuka and out here at Ikego, the gates were opened to the Japanese at 5:00 p.m. on Monday evening. We had swarms of little Japanese children running around Ikego and some friends in Yokosuka said they went through something like fourteen bags of candy in an hour! I set up a table with my two other neighbors (one unit is currently empty) outside of our townhouses. We put all of our candy out there in three bowls, brought out our candles, decorations and jack-o-lanterns. It was dark by the time we got everything set up, so I don't have any pictures of the evening.
Josiah dressed up as Eeyore again. I have to say that it was a cute costume. He got a lot of compliments. It was chilly out on Halloween night--I actually went and got my wool coat out--I'm so glad to get some wear out of my winter maternity coat! Josiah didn't really trick-or-treat. He just ran up and down the sidewalk amongst the bigger kids. There is a little park with just a slide that is very close to us--he did laps, running down there, sliding down the slide, running back to the house. Of course, with Mama in hot pursuit. I'd had enough of that around 7:00, plus it was bedtime, so Eeyore got into his pajamas and hit the hay. He enjoyed one sucker, and trust me, that was plenty. I think I will be scrubbing stickiness off things for weeks. The only place that I like giving Josiah a sucker is in the bathtub. Where DO I get my obsessiveness about being clean? Hmmmm.
By the way, the photo shoot was pretty much a bust. Josiah was in a horrible mood and refused to cooperate or even to smile. He just wasn't feeling good, but I didn't feel like I could cancel. They make you feel very locked in, like if you cancel, you should feel most ashamed. Anyway. There were only two kids there, and the little girl that Joe was shooting with wasn't too happy either. The photographers ended up quitting early, so we only worked for two hours. I feel sure that they were able to get decent enough shots, it's just that Josiah certainly wasn't a pleasure to work with, not like the first time. Oh well. I'm sure it was obvious that he wasn't feeling too well.
Walking home from the train on Monday, I stopped to admire a tree covered with fruit that I'd never seen. I've looked at it before. I couldn't tell if it had oranges or some sort of orannge-colored apple on it. As I was standing there, an elderly Japanese lady came out of the house and I pointed at the tree and sort of gestured that I was curious what the fruit was. She disappeared and came back with three pieces and gave them to me, then her husband appeared, and speaking quite good English, told me they were persimmons. He was tickled that I could understand his English. Persimmon is a tough word, having an "r" in it. The Japanese have trouble with "l" and "r". I often wonder how they would pronounce my name. I think they avoid it. I've told the people at Joe's agency to call me Rachel, but they always call me Mrs. De For, no matter how I urge them. Anyway, the point is, they were so very kind to share with me. I've never even had a persimmon--how does one go about eating it?
Joe and I have been keeping busy, which is good. It helps to pass the time until Hans gets back. Today we went to one of the malls in Yokosuka, called Daiei (Die-ay). We met our friends Mariska, Drake and Lily. It's so hard to describe the malls here. I need to take pictures, so everyone can see. It's different, how they're set up. There are some smaller, individual stores, but the larger department stores have an open floor plan, though there are really different little stores all over the big department store. Does that even make sense? Instead of going into a bunch of stores, you go into one large store containing the smaller stores.
The toy sections are crazy. I honestly don't know how the salesclerks can work there--it is super-loud with all the video games and music. There are arcades everywhere. It is color, sound, light overload--the Japanese seem very fond of this. We ate at KFC. It was finger Ling-Ling good (oh, wait, that's China). Joe, Lily and Drake played for an hour in a kid's play area. I promise I'll take the camera next time. We paid 500Y for them to play for as long as they wanted, plus they got a balloon and snack when they were done. Josiah loved the little room filled with balls and the room full of blowing-around balloons. He went crazy over the balloons. There was a cool plexiglass slide with lights and running water inside of it, a bouncy room, oh, all kinds of cool stuff. I'm sure we'll be going back soon, so I'll remember to take the camera next time. Promise.
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Happy Anniversary!
Well, it was our anniversary yesterday. Three years of wedded bliss. OK, not bliss every single second, but pretty close! I can't believe that it's been three years since our wedding day. Honestly, it seems like it just happened a few months ago. I told Hans last night that I'm still very happy with our wedding and wouldn't change a thing about it. It was exactly what I wanted and dreamed of. I wish that we could have a wedding every year! Though I think we'd be living in a cardboard box and selling pencils if we did! Nope, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Not too much to report from Honshu...sorry, I have to correct an earlier entry when I said that we live on Hokkaido. Thank God my husband is the smartest man on earth and got me all straightened out on that issue. I think that I did actually know that, it had just slipped my mind that day. Hey--I'm pregnant. A lot slips my mind from day to day. I need to have a pen and paper nearby at all times to jot down lists and ideas as they come, otherwise, they are lost to the void.
We dropped Josiah at Mariska's last night for a couple of hours and walked down to a little Japanese restaurant just outside the gates. I say "little" and I mean "little". Many of these Japanese restaurants are tiny little holes-in-the-wall with barely enough room to seat a dozen people. I have been to this particular restaurant before with the wardroom wives--we don't know what the darn place is called, since the name is in Japanese and the wait staff doesn't speak a lick of English. I'll call it the "Brown Restaurant" because that's how I think of it. The only other restaurant close by has a red lantern out front, so that the "Red Restaurant" to me.
Anyway...Hans and I walked down to the Brown Restaurant last night and had supper. Hans had some sort of beef stew bowl with thick sobu noodles. I had tempura shrimp on a bed of rice. It was pretty good. The place itself is just charming. They play sappy romantic American music, like Sinatra and it's very small. They have two low tables with tatami mats, where you remove your shoes and sit cross-legged on the floor, and four or five tables with chairs. Sitting on the floor is not really an option for me at this point, since it would take two or three strong men and probably a 2x4 to hoist me back up. Not to mention that I literally couldn't get close to the table and probably would spill rice all over my belly!
We had a nice dinner, a good conversation about the past and future and a nice walk back home. My wonderful husband also brought me flowers from Yokosuka. The picture doesn't do them justice. What a guy...what a guy. Sigh.
Today has been pretty quiet. Feeling tired. I think I'll try to take a nap this afternoon when Josiah finally winds down and sleeps. I was trying to fold paper origami cranes all morning for the ship's Christmas tree (competition) and after a couple of hours, I had to give up. I mean, honestly, how can something so small be so complicated? I say that, and yet, I'm a mother. Haha. It was my sanity or the cranes, so I scrunched up all the paper and threw them out. They would have been some pathetic, strange looking cranes anyway.
Got a call from Mariska this morning that Drake and Lily woke up with conjunctivitis. Oh, joy. Enjoy the pictures.
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November 28
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, a few days late! Josiah and I have just been too wrapped up in spending time with Hans to be able to blog. Sorry about that. I think that we talked to most of you on or around Thanksgiving though. I hope that everyone ate until satiated and beyond and that everyone enjoyed their holiday.
We have been doing a lot of running around, getting some things done that needed to wait for Hans' approval, signature and muscle-power. Boring things, like getting new bank accounts set up and getting a new carpet for the living room. Well, that wasn't really boring for me, but probably not very exciting for Hans. Although, we did shop for said carpet at Ave, and it was the first time he had been there. I'm sure that I've described it before as being the "Japanese Wal-Mart". It's an enormous store with homegoods, hardware, garden center, etc. on one side and a large grocery on the other side. We took time to wander through the grocery on Saturday. It's so hard for me not to make horrific, grossed-out faces when I see some of the food the Japanese eat! Hans bought some bowl noodles, kind of like ramen, but in a bigger bowl. They had one entire side of one aisle full of different varities of bowl noodles.
We were actually looking for something for Josiah. He's become fond of a Japanese snack that we've had at his modeling shoots. I think that they call it a "rice ball", but it's basically a triangle of sticky rice wrapped with seaweed. You can get them with various fillings, but Josiah likes the kind filled with salmon. Surprisingly, he'll even eat the seaweed, though usually not all of it! It really makes a mess as you can imagine, what with all that sticky rice, but it's so nutritious that I'm happy to feed it to him. He's been pulling a Ghandi on me lately, refusing to eat just about anything. I feel like I'm dealing with a little sultan or something, like I have to prepare delicacies and present them to him on silver trays--just to get him to even put a bite into his mouth. Maybe if I started bowing as I approach and retreat from the booster seat...
Anyway. We had a great Thanksgiving. It would have been great sitting at home in a typhoon eating stale bread as long as Hans was here with us. However, we didn't have to eat stale bread, and that made our Thanksgiving even better. Josiah and I had been invited down to Mariska and Alexis' place for dinner. Since the ship was in, they ended up inviting a bunch of the single people from the wardroom, so they had a full house. They cooked three turkeys and we had the usual side dishes. I made a green bean casserole. We ate and ate. And ate. And then, we had pie. Mariska and Alexis are amazing cooks, to say the least. We ended up hanging around, chatting and letting the kids play, until about 6:30 p.m. I am very thankful that we have friends who can stand in as family on these occasions.
Not much else is going on. We did get Josiah a train table, finally, though it's not really a train table at all. We don't really know what it is, we suspect that it's a piece of outdoor furniture, but it's a slatted table about 3' wide and 4' long and about 12" off the floor. Just right for him now and we'll get him a real Thomas table when we get home. We attempted to drive out and find the mythical Toys R Us store that exists somewhere near Yokohama, but we didn't have much luck, so we resorted to a makeshift invention. Josiah is just happy to have his train up off the floor. We ordered some final Christmas presents for him--Gordon, Rusty and the Sodor Fire Station. I think we may be done now! Hans is getting up to speed on the "world of Thomas" and made a new track configuration for Josiah. I think that once Joe gets his real track set and a few buildings, he and his Daddy will have a very fun time with it.
We got our Christmas tree on Friday. First, let me say that there was a "day after Thanksgiving" shopping event at our exchange on Friday morning. Not exactly the exciting affair that you have at home at Target or Wal-Mart, but exciting enough to rouse most of Yokosuka to get up and be in line at 7:30 a.m. Alexis, Mariska and I got up early and went, just for the heck of it. There were some good deals to be had, but I just enjoyed shopping without having to worry about Josiah! Hans met us there later and we picked out a nice tree and brought it home. I never had a real tree growing up, unless maybe Grandma Kuehl had one (not sure, Mom or Dad can verify?). We always had an artificial one at home, and frankly, I can see why. If I even walk by the tree too swiftly, needles fall everywhere! It is nice in terms of looks and scent, but I'm not sure that's enough to cancel out the irritation of the needles tracked all over the house. Our poor tree looks a little lopsided too as I had to put all the ornaments on the upper half of the tree. The bottom half looks naked, but it was entirely necessary as I would have been picking up both needles and scattered ornaments pulled down by little hands!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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November 22
Enoshima Aquarium & THE MIRACLE!
First, the miracle, since I'm sure you're all dying to know! Due to bad weather in Hong Kong and the difficulty of navigating the port there, Hans is coming home! I don't want to break OPSEC, but let's just say that I've known since Sunday and that I'm going to be seeing him very, very soon. He'll be here for Thanksgiving! He'll be here for our anniversary! Thank God for acts of God, I guess. I'm a very, very happy girl!
Well, I caught you all up on Saturday and the petting zoo. Mariska and I, in an effort to kill time (her husband got back yesterday) decided to try an adventure on Sunday too. We took a map and tried to find the beach in Zushi. A bit of a nervewracking experience, because the map wasn't that great and we really haven't driven anywhere besides the road between Zushi and Yokosuka. I don't suppose that one could get too lost on Hokkaido. After all, it is an island. But anyone who knows me knows how panicked I get even a little bit turned around!
There was an event at the beach in Zushi that Mariska wanted to see. Some sort of festival with horseback archery demonstrations. We managed to locate the beach, which is amazingly close to Ikego and very easy to find. It looked as though the event was finished though--they were taking down the targets, so we just kept driving and ended up following the signs to Enoshima Island and the aquarium. Our XO's wife had gone there with her kids, otherwise, I would have had no idea whatsoever that an aquarium existed at Enoshima. By the way, history buffs, is there a reason why Enoshima sounds so familiar to me or is it the similarity between Enoshima and Hiroshima? Just wondering if anyone knows?
The aquarium was pretty small, but the kids had a good time. They did have some really cool tanks set up. I got a decent picture of the enormous, two story tank. They had a dolphin tank and a turtle pool and the usual variety of rays, sharks, penguins, etc. It was no SeaWorld, but it was nice enough. We went through all the displays and let the kids admire the fish, then had ice cream on the patio overlooking the ocean. I think Joe liked the seals the best, however, I have no pictures of him getting excited over the seals because he was outside of the stroller and letting him loose requires two hands, two legs and all of my focus. Lily stays next to Mariska at 17 months old, sigh...why can't my child? Maybe it's the boy vs. girl thing. He's just got too much to do and see.
Yesterday was our rescheduled shoot for Combi in Tokyo. We had to be there at 10:45, which was nice as we missed the worst of rush hour. Joe and I both had a seat all the way up there, and I didn't feel a whit guilty about putting Joe in his own spot. He was very well behaved all the way up, until Mommy put him into the backpack and went to put the shoulder straps up and bonked his head on the luggage rack. No serious injuries were sustained, but there was a lot of unnecessarily loud screaming and every Japanese person in the train was giving me a dirty look, as if I had purposely decided to nail his pretty little head against the luggage rack!
The shoot went very well, maybe because our agent met me there and communicated with them and kept them moving in a timely manner. Joe did two shots in a carseat in the back of a van and then he was done. He was competing against another little boy, but I think he's got it locked. Josiah was in a much better mood. As soon as we left (on time, thank goodness), he fell asleep and slept on my lap all the way home. Combi gave us money for a cab to the train station yesterday so that we didn't have to connect on a bunch of subways, and we took a subway from Zushi station to Ikego, too, as a treat. I didn't get any pictures of the shoot because I was busy making faces, singing dippy songs, etc. to get Josiah to laugh and pander for the camera. They wouldn't have been too interesting, anyway, just him in a carseat.
Anyway, people. I have to go. As you can imagine, I have a lot to do before my husband comes home. I want him to think we live in a sparklingly clean home all the time, a home without Cheerios and trains all over the floor!
I'll probably post a Thanksgiving entry and pictures. Suffice it to say that we'll be thinking of all of you that day and wishing we were home.
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November 19
I Kissed a Goat!
Not me, Josiah. Josiah kissed a goat today, and a girl too, come to think of it. He and his little girlfriend, Lily, had a big makeout session today. Lily was crawling all over him. I guess he may as well get used to the girls throwing themselves at him! It is pretty cute how she comes up and kisses him or tries to get on him while he's in his stroller and kiss on him. Maybe he tastes good. Maybe I didn't get all that chocolate out from behind his ears!
We went to a little festival today on base. The way they advertised this event, I thought that it was going to be something much, much bigger. They had some food, cotton candy, a few games for the kids and about four blow-up jumper things. Only one was really appropriate for babies, unless you dared to put your little one in with the 3 and 4-year-old crowd in the next level jumper. I didn't want to take a chance that Josiah would get an elbow in the eye or something, and I happen to like his teeth just as they are.
The highlight of this event and the whole reason that Mariska and I took the kids was the petting zoo. As I said, the way they advertised it, I was expecting some pretty exotic animals. Kittens at least (I so miss petting Kittens). There were about 12 goats, two sheep, a dog, some guinea pigs, hamsters and about 25 terrified rabbits. I mean, I really felt sympathy for those rabbits. Their poor little rabbit hearts were probably about to combust in terror from all the toddlers chasing them around the pen! And there were so many parents and kids crammed in there that I'm wondering how many of them turned into rabbit patties.
Josiah just about passed out with excitement waiting to get in and pet the animals. He promptly ran up to the goat and introduced himself by kissing it squarely on the mouth. He has seen goats before at a friend's birthday party, but that was quite awhile ago. He also enjoyed cornering the rabbits and made friends with one caramel colored one who must have decided to just stay in one spot rather than risk going back into the fracas! Joe didn't seem to like the black and white rabbit that I caught to let him pet--there's a picture of him running away. Apparently, he's very finicky about what sorts of rabbits he likes. He also took a quick look at the hamsters. Then, it was back out to love the goats and sheep again. Surprisingly, he didn't pay very much attention to the dogs. Usually, he goes crazy whenever he sees a dog.
That was our day, in a nutshell. Enjoy the pictures!
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November 17
Mmmm, Chocolate!
Just a quick note today. I'm posting pictures and wanted to explain why my kid is such a mess. He's learning how to use utensils, and though the pictures seem to tell a different story, he's doing quite well at it. That night he was having grilled cheese, veggie and pudding. He ate almost all of the pudding with his spoon. I guess he just had a little trouble figuring out where his mouth was! Most of the mess on his hands came from shoving all the remaining pieces of grilled cheese into the last of the pudding. I guess he was trying to make trifle or something. He went straight into the bathtub after that meal.
The picture of him asleep in his carseat is from Sunday, after we had lunch in Yokosuka and visited the 100 Yen store. He had a cookie, which deceptively looked like shortbread to me and turned out to have an evil, hidden center of gushing chocolate...which he managed to smear all over his face, behind his ears, in his hair and all over his clothing and carseat. And then he fell asleep and added some nice drool into the mix.
Grandma Donna sent him some new "Thomas" things, a neat carrying case for his trains, with individual little cubbies for each of the trains and cars, and a "Bulgy" the bus. You all may or may not know that you can flip the railroad tracks over and have a highway for vehicles on the other side. I know, so much to learn. Anyway, those pictures are from today. Enjoy!
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November 16
I saw a model eating a sandwich...
That's for my husband, who always sees thin women and says "Get that woman a sandwich, stat!". I really did see a model eating a sandwich today AND drinking a soda. I suppose she's having a saltine and a cigarette for supper!
What a day...ay caramba. We had to go to Tokyo for Josiah's modeling job. We were to be there at 9:00 a.m. Rush hour is not fun, as I'm sure I've described in the past. The Japanese are so very polite except when it comes to giving up the priority seats meant for handicapped, pregnant women, the elderly or mothers with young children. I can't tell you how many times I have stood there across from them, pregnant and lugging Joe around and they just seem to conveniently ignore me. And trust me, they are not any of the above things. Grrr. So I stood on the train for over an hour. Josiah refused to sleep and instead made huge quantities of noise. Big deal, you say, you're on the train. But you've never been on a Japanese train. They are silent. You could hear a pin drop. They are all contained in their neat, quiet, calm little lives. So, my child making a little noise on the train is a big deal. Also, everyone is trying to sleep. They all get on the train and promptly begin to read or they sleep. Somehow they always manage to wake up at their station.
Anyway, back to the saga. Rush hour on the train, rush hour at the transfer stations. You've never seen such a crush of people. I have nothing in Minnesota to compare it to. Maybe State Fair on Labor Day, but even then you can at least go to the beer garden or see some trout or watch KARE-11 do the news. There's nowhere to hide in these stations--I was literally swept away on a tide of intent, silent Japanese workers. I'm lucky that I got into a current that was going the right direction.
We finally get to the area of the shoot. However, no one knows where the restaurant we're meeting at is...not the taxi driver, not the police. This happened to Hans and I in the exact same neighborhood on our trip to Tokyo. It's like the Bermuda Triangle or something. Honestly, the Japanese don't put addresses on anything. I don't know how anyone finds their way around! Finally, the police help me locate the place--which was approximately three blocks from the police station! Ummm, OK. Good to know that the police are familiar with the locale, although with the crime rate being pretty much nil, they probably pretty much eat donuts and drink coffee all day. Klompers.
The job was supposed to be from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. I was a little late, no big deal. But we sat, and sat, and sat. Imagine trying to restrain a hyper-active 18 month old for hours. It isn't a pretty picture, of mommy or of toddler. We changed locations from the restaurant to a park. They still hadn't taken any pictures of Josiah. 1:00 is getting closer and closer. None of the Japanese people doing the shoot seem to speak English. I keep asking if they are going to take any pictures of him. They tell me that my agent said I had to stay until 2:30...um, OK. I stay until 2:30. Still, they haven't taken any pictures of Josiah. I tell them that I won't stay any longer than 3:30 and at 3:30, they all come out of the shoot and tell us that they're wrapping anyway--the "light" isn't any good. GREAT. I just spent the last six and a half hours sitting here with an antsy, tantrum-ridden toddler for nothing. I mean, we still get paid, but all that angst wasn't worth what we're getting.
Who says being a model is glamourous? No way. Methinks Josiah's modeling career is about to come to a grinding halt. I guess we'll see. They were talking about rescheduling his portion of the shoot, so I suppose we'll be obligated to do that, but after that one, I think we'll be on hiatus for awhile.
Not much else to report. We're just hanging in there, kind of going through the three week slump. I can get through two weeks without my best friend, but the third is when I seem to fall apart. The dreaded three-week slump. Days like today just make me want to throw in the towel and get on the next NWA flight out of Narita.
Thanks for listening. I'll add photos soon.
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November 11
Veteran's Day
Just a quick message this morning to thank all the veterans in my life. Happy Veteran's Day! I'm very proud to be the granddaughter, daughter and wife of vets! And now that I'm living the military life, I can see what sort of sacrifices and hard work go into being an American soldier. It's certainly not a job that one takes on to achieve glory and a big paycheck!
Thanks guys...you're all my heroes!
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November 10
She really does love Wellstone...
Wow, Josiah's music teacher really is a Wellstone-hugger. Literally. She's from Cottage Grove. We discovered our shared "heritage" today when Josiah showed up for class in his Gophers jacket. She was listening to the St. Olaf choir when we walked in, yah, I could hardly believe it. Josiah and I were first to class (being the good students that we are), so we stood around talking about Minnesota. Good times.
I was having a pretty good day, being that I was able to listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" all the way to the base, thus avoiding having to listen to (a) Japanese people discussing something that happened in Japan in Japanese; or (b) shamisen music; or even worse: really, really bad American music that the Japanese seem to enjoy. Horrible, horrible stuff. Stuff that would normally make me break out in hives and switch the station right away if I were home and had the luxury of many American stations filled with almost-as-bad music. Seriously, not to get off topic, but does anyone besides me and that guy I'm married to (I think his name is Hans, I seem to remember his face--blonde, blue eyes, 6'2", right?) find that there is just NOTHING new worth listening to anymore?
Class went really well. Started off kind of bad because some little wanker wanked Joe right in the head with a cowbell or something. Right in front of me, too! Joe immediately started to cry, which I would have too--cowbells are hard and pointy. The other child's mother was appropriately horrified and made her son apologize to Joe. Let's just put it this way: this kid was old enough to know better. The class goes up to three or four-year-olds. It's so hard to restrain myself, but I just keep in mind that if I handle it graciously, maybe when Josiah hits another kid with a maraca, karma will come around.
We marched around in a circle to a strange song by Neil Diamond. One I've never heard before. I wish she would have played "Sweet Caroline" or "Comin' to America". Then, we played guitars and handbells. Josiah did really well, a lot better than last time. He actually plucked the guitar and rang his bell a little, and mercifully stayed in my lap the entire time, which is what he was supposed to do last time. The teacher was right--third time is a charm. I can't wait to see what next week is like.
We got our first train today. God bless Amazon.com. I cannot express to you all how much I am in love with the good people at Amazon. Josiah now has a red "James" engine and tinderbox and an expansion pack for when his original figure eight kit finally gets here. I guess I should have just ordered it off Amazon instead of messing with eBay. Must be my cheap gene.
Enjoy the new pics, including a couple of your hostess. Self-portraits, of course, so don't expect too much! I tried to get one of Annika too. There's a couple of the hawks--they are much scarier and bigger than they appear in the pic, and of course, Josiah with his new choo-choo.
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November 09
Darn this beautiful face!
No, not me! Josiah, the demi-god. The audition yesterday must have went well, because we had a message from the agency that he'll be working again on the 15th or 16th. Another shoot for Combi, except that this time they'll be shooting strollers and highchairs rather than clothes. Poor Josiah...it must be so rough being so darn handsome. It's all his father's fault.
Not much new to report from Yokosuka. We had the audition yesterday, which went O.K. (good enough to get the job, I guess). The audition process is actually pretty quick and painless. They just usher him into a room full of people, he cavorts for the camera for a few Polaroids, they do his measurements. Now I just have to keep his head shrouded in bubble wrap for a week.
I took him for a little ride on the trike tonight with Mariska and her kids. It didn't last very long because he was much more interested in Drake's bike and training wheels. He wanted to chase along behind Drake. Josiah was so klutzy tonight--I'm positive that he inherited his slyph-like grace from me. Well, I guess his Daddy isn't exactly a ballet dancer either, but anyway. Poor Joe literally ate dirt tonight on one of his falls--he face planted into some mud. He had an enormous smudge of mud in his hair and on his forehead, and I think he tripped and fell six more times on our tiny little walk. He's just in too much of a rush to consider things like uneven pavement, sticks and blades of grass. You know, things that trip him up.
Mariska made us enchiladas, and by us, I mean herself and me. The kids had the proverbial chicken nuggets. God bless whoever developed and marketed chicken in nugget form. What did kids eat before that? I sure don't remember having chicken nuggets--of course, nuggets were a luxury item at McDonald's. In the Kuehl household, it was hamburger or cheeseburger, possibly fish fillet at Lent (and ONLY Lent). McNuggets were just not an option. It's only in recent times that I've begun to appreciate how much money my parents probably saved over the years by implementing little policies like the hamburger or cheeseburger policy. It costs about $8 for Joe and I to eat at McDonald's, and if Daddy's home, it's closer to $12. That adds up. Kudos, Pete and Jan.
Good enchiladas, though I'm going to be paying for it tonight. Pregnancy-induced heartburn is a vicious thing. I never had heartburn before I was pregnant with Joe, and then only during the last few weeks. If what the old wives say is true, a lot of heartburn means that you'll have a baby with a lot of hair. That's just what I deserve after years of telling people that babies that emerge with tons of hair freak me out--babies are supposed to be bald! I will get a baby with a full-on Joe Dirt mullet!
We could see our breaths tonight when we went for our "trip"/walk. Cold weather is just around the corner and I'm loving it. I just wish that my warm, fluffy Kitten was here to share it with us! I'm trying to get some pictures of some of the local wildlife, most especially the hawks that congregate around here. There are crazy amounts of seahawks in our development. Someone told me to be careful never to let Josiah stand around outside with a hotdog or chicken nugget (!) because they've been known to swoop down and take food from people. They're pretty cool, though--some wicked looking hawks. I know Pete and Jan will appreciate them, as they appreciate any animal that can tear a small animal or child to shreds. I'm tempted to get some sturdy sticks, whittle a sharp end on them and stick a hot dog on, and plant them in our backyard, just to see if the hawks would all come and fight over them. I just may try that yet, on one of my bored days. Don't worry grandmas, we'll keep babies safe inside!
And that's the news from Ikego, where all the men are gone, the women are good-looking and the children are above-average.
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November 07
Trains & Trikes
Josiah got his first tricycle today. I had been debating over whether to get him a "scooter" type of vehicle, you know, one that he would sit on and shuffle along with his feet. They actually have a Thomas scooter at the exchange. I just decided that he would outgrow that too quickly, so why not go right up to the trike? He can't quite reach the pedals yet, so he can scoot along on that for awhile. He was pretty excited about it, see the pictures. He has a little trouble getting onto and off of it, but luckily for him, his personal assistant (aka: me) is always standing by with a helping hand.
We had a busy day. Mariska doesn't have a vehicle yet, so I offered to drive her into Yokosuka to get some things done. I had rather a long list, too. We ran around from one end of the base to the other with the van full of three carseats and two strollers, baby bags, purses, sippy cups and related baby paraphenalia. Josiah managed to get his cup to leak an entire serving of apple juice all over him, so I had a nice, damp and sticky toddler to handle. We went to McDonald's and to the park, to the exchange and the post office.
My mother-in-law has so sweetly loaned me her "A Prairie Home Companion" tapes to listen to. We are actually able to listen to the live show over our TV, but TV is so iffy here. For one thing, the programs are never on at the same time every day. It's so very, very irritating. You count on being able to watch "Trading Spaces" or whatever at 4:00, and it's there for a couple of days, then it's on at 8:00 a.m. instead. With no warning whatsoever. I told Hans today that I think the government gets its kicks knowing that they are driving us starking raving mad with their inconsistancies...but geez, that's a whole 'nother blog.
Anyway, I can listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" on Sunday evenings, which I love. Even though Garrison Keillor's politics make my husband grumble, I still love his stories and wit. Most of all, I love hearing anyone talk about Minneapolis and St. Paul and say "Go Gophers" or whatever. I remember so many occassions of being in the car with my parents coming home from some trip and listening to "APHC" on public radio. I just link it with a darkening winter landscape and being safely in the warm car with my family and hearing my Dad and his chuckle. So, thanks Donna. Now I can listen anytime I want. We really don't have American radio in the car, so this will help when I'm driving too.
I took a couple of pictures of Josiah with his loaner train, too. For anyone who is wondering, the list that I've posted on this page is a list of the Thomas items that Josiah has or is getting for Christmas. Just thought it might be useful for Grandmas and Grandpas...the world of Thomas is enormous. He is still enjoying his train video, which I can recite word for word.
My husband is still alive. Talked to him briefly last night. Love those calls from the ship--all the beeps interrupting our conversation, the nice delay, and the fact that there are 17 people standing within a 3' radius of him, so he can't get mushy at all. Oh well. At this point, I'm just so happy to hear his voice. I don't really care if we talk about kites or kumquats.
Oh, I was thinking about a train from my childhood today...guys, remember the little train at the Butterfield Threshing Bee? Wasn't that just the best? I still love the sound of a steam engine and whistle. I really look forward to bringing Josiah to things like that someday. I may have to make a trip home (from within the States, Jan, talking in the future, not this summer) just to be able to take him and Annika.
Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know...we're calling her Annika. Surprise!
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November 03
Music Class
We had our first music class today.
Let me just say that toddlers seem to have a knack for figuring out exactly when their parents are rushing to get out the door. Josiah and I were up at 6:30 a.m., did our regular morning thing, had to be to class at 9:30. He played with his Tinkertoys in his room (he doesn't assemble, just hauls them around in his dumptruck), happy as a lark until it was time to go. Then, just as Mommy is getting stressed, he throws a tantrum and doesn't want to put his shoes on. Lord, give me strength. All of you know that patience is not something I have a surplus of...!
I've started to understand why you see toddlers in strange outfits or without shoes on, or dragging blankets or still using pacifiers. I used to think "Jeez, parents, have a little gumption and tell them no". Having a child sure is changing my perceptions on a lot of things. Now I'm beginning to realize that you don't argue with a 17 month old. If he doesn't want to wear shoes, he's just not going to. He's comfortable with that idea, why can't I be? That's what I have to change--my level of discomfort at being perceived as a wantonly lazy parent. I know a 3 year old who is constantly wearing nothing but Spiderman and Power Rangers costumes--I know I've thought on more than one occasion that Josiah will not be doing that. How much do you all want to bet that I'll be reshaping my ideas on that eventually, too?
Music class could have been a lot of fun, but Josiah was half-awake and cranky. The teacher definitely looks like the kind of hippie you'd expect--Daddy will be so excited to learn that Josiah is learning about music from a whale-kissing, Dukakis-hugging moon maiden. Or as we say in Minnesota: a whale-kissing, Wellstone-hugging moon maiden. Anyway. She had baskets and buckets and drawers of every imaginable noise-making muscial instrument: bells, recorders, maracas, xylophones. Unfortunately, Josiah doesn't quite grasp the concept of sharing and/or that ALL the toys aren't for his personal use. He got pretty mad when he was only allowed to take two clicking sticks and couldn't have the entire basket. He was doing a little better by the end of the class, and the teacher assured me that most new ones are completely into it by the third class. He is on the young side, too. The class is for 16 months-3 years.
I was just mortified at his behavior, though I'm sure the other mothers understood. Josiah is usually so sunny that I've gotten a little spoiled. So when he throws public tantrums, I just want to crawl under a rock. We're going to go meet Mariska, Drake and Lily at the park in a couple of hours--Josiah needs all the socialization he can get.
On a happier note, I got my Pottery Barn order today! It was super-fast, less than a week. I am happy, happy, happy with Pottery Barn. Gap and Old Navy, on the other hand, still waiting, almost two months later. Grrrr. The Pottery Barn is the baby's bedding. I'll have to take a picture so everyone can see how beautiful it is. God bless Pottery Barn!
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November 02
Life as Eeyore & Trip to Daiei
So, Halloween was a bit of a bust for Josiah. He's been sick for a few days, nothing serious, just another cold. I can tell he's been feeling cruddy, because there have been mornings when he just wants to nest on the couch and watch a cartoon or two. Usually, he's tearing up the living room, eating breakfast, watching cartoons and playing with his toys. I think he's on the far side of the cold now, so he should be back to normal soon. I used Zicam for the first time and I really have to recommend it to everyone--it does seem to have headed off my cold before it started.
Halloween is not a major holiday in Japan, but it is becoming more popular. At least, that's what I was told. In Yokosuka and out here at Ikego, the gates were opened to the Japanese at 5:00 p.m. on Monday evening. We had swarms of little Japanese children running around Ikego and some friends in Yokosuka said they went through something like fourteen bags of candy in an hour! I set up a table with my two other neighbors (one unit is currently empty) outside of our townhouses. We put all of our candy out there in three bowls, brought out our candles, decorations and jack-o-lanterns. It was dark by the time we got everything set up, so I don't have any pictures of the evening.
Josiah dressed up as Eeyore again. I have to say that it was a cute costume. He got a lot of compliments. It was chilly out on Halloween night--I actually went and got my wool coat out--I'm so glad to get some wear out of my winter maternity coat! Josiah didn't really trick-or-treat. He just ran up and down the sidewalk amongst the bigger kids. There is a little park with just a slide that is very close to us--he did laps, running down there, sliding down the slide, running back to the house. Of course, with Mama in hot pursuit. I'd had enough of that around 7:00, plus it was bedtime, so Eeyore got into his pajamas and hit the hay. He enjoyed one sucker, and trust me, that was plenty. I think I will be scrubbing stickiness off things for weeks. The only place that I like giving Josiah a sucker is in the bathtub. Where DO I get my obsessiveness about being clean? Hmmmm.
By the way, the photo shoot was pretty much a bust. Josiah was in a horrible mood and refused to cooperate or even to smile. He just wasn't feeling good, but I didn't feel like I could cancel. They make you feel very locked in, like if you cancel, you should feel most ashamed. Anyway. There were only two kids there, and the little girl that Joe was shooting with wasn't too happy either. The photographers ended up quitting early, so we only worked for two hours. I feel sure that they were able to get decent enough shots, it's just that Josiah certainly wasn't a pleasure to work with, not like the first time. Oh well. I'm sure it was obvious that he wasn't feeling too well.
Walking home from the train on Monday, I stopped to admire a tree covered with fruit that I'd never seen. I've looked at it before. I couldn't tell if it had oranges or some sort of orannge-colored apple on it. As I was standing there, an elderly Japanese lady came out of the house and I pointed at the tree and sort of gestured that I was curious what the fruit was. She disappeared and came back with three pieces and gave them to me, then her husband appeared, and speaking quite good English, told me they were persimmons. He was tickled that I could understand his English. Persimmon is a tough word, having an "r" in it. The Japanese have trouble with "l" and "r". I often wonder how they would pronounce my name. I think they avoid it. I've told the people at Joe's agency to call me Rachel, but they always call me Mrs. De For, no matter how I urge them. Anyway, the point is, they were so very kind to share with me. I've never even had a persimmon--how does one go about eating it?
Joe and I have been keeping busy, which is good. It helps to pass the time until Hans gets back. Today we went to one of the malls in Yokosuka, called Daiei (Die-ay). We met our friends Mariska, Drake and Lily. It's so hard to describe the malls here. I need to take pictures, so everyone can see. It's different, how they're set up. There are some smaller, individual stores, but the larger department stores have an open floor plan, though there are really different little stores all over the big department store. Does that even make sense? Instead of going into a bunch of stores, you go into one large store containing the smaller stores.
The toy sections are crazy. I honestly don't know how the salesclerks can work there--it is super-loud with all the video games and music. There are arcades everywhere. It is color, sound, light overload--the Japanese seem very fond of this. We ate at KFC. It was finger Ling-Ling good (oh, wait, that's China). Joe, Lily and Drake played for an hour in a kid's play area. I promise I'll take the camera next time. We paid 500Y for them to play for as long as they wanted, plus they got a balloon and snack when they were done. Josiah loved the little room filled with balls and the room full of blowing-around balloons. He went crazy over the balloons. There was a cool plexiglass slide with lights and running water inside of it, a bouncy room, oh, all kinds of cool stuff. I'm sure we'll be going back soon, so I'll remember to take the camera next time. Promise.
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