From the Heart of Tokyo 東京の中心から

Botanyuki 牡丹雪

牡丹雪が降りました。　Peony snow was falling.

On Saturday when we woke up it was snowing in Tokyo.  And not just any kind of snow... peony snow!  My friends wrote on Kay-chan's board about the botanyuki.  My jisho (electric translation dictionary) says this is peony snow.  Huge snowflakes.  It was lovely.  It snowed all morning long.  Snow is unusual in Tokyo.  It maybe snows one or two times per winter, without much accumulation.  But Saturday's snow was special.  It was packing snow, so Jonah and his friend  went out and made a cute little snowman.  Snowman in Japanese is 雪だるま．yuki-daruma. (a daruma being kind of a crafted round man of wood) But I didn't know that, and years ago, I decided that the way to say snowman is yuki no hito  雪の人　(literally "snowman")  which is totally wrong, but I don't know why.  It works for me.  SEE FUNNY SNOWMAN PHOTOS   

The botan (tree peonies) are such a comfort.  When Tokyo is wrapped in cold air, and there are no other flowers around to steal the attention, these hardy but beautiful flowers flourish.  When all the fragrant young fragile flowers of spring and summer have gone off to wait for warmer weather, the botan lift their bright faces to the sun and bring unselfish joy to our daily life in winter. 

They remind me of women who would no longer be considered young, but are still, oh so beautiful, doing their everyday things, and giving so much to the people around them.  Winter Flowers.  冬の花

On the right is one of my favorite people in the whole world, Matsui-san.  She is my Japanese Teacher  日本語の先生松井さん。頭がいい人です。彼女のレスンはいつも元気で面白いです。　Her lessons are always lively and interesting.  I'm learning so much from her.  松井さんから良く習っています。

On the left is Oshinoumi-san. おしの海さん。　He is a gardener who works near my home.  Sometimes I meet him at lunchtime and we have a language exchange while eating our bentos. Oshinoumi-san doesn't speak much English, so it's perfect for me.  One time, he told me all about the peonies.  I didn't understand everything he said, but he is very knowledgable and his enthusiasm for his subject is apparent, and I picked up enough. 

土曜日に起きたときに雪が降っていました。牡丹雪だよ。その雪は特別です。大きくてきれいでゆっくり降りました。　これは東京で珍しいです。多分毎冬で一回二回雪が降りました。でも、大体雪は蓄積しない。土曜日は違います。そしてジョナと友達は雪だるまを作りました。かわいです。　写真を見てください。

クモのようです

Like a spider

日曜日に日々や公園にフリスビーを遊ぶに自転車を乗りました。行きながら(I'm sure there's a better way to say it) このビルをみました。あの時に８人は上だでも、カメラを取っての時に半は上に下になりました。　面白かったです。

On Saturday, Kusachi came over to play frisbee. Monica was babysitting, but the rest of us rode our bikes together to Hibiya Park.  On the way there, I saw this sight.  I vaguely heard Martin say something about Spiderman, but, riding a bike, I couldn't get my camera out fast enough, and 4 of the 8 were already down.  A cool scene, nonetheless.

　＊ここから翻訳をしてください。＊Martin's arm is still recovering, though for the first time, I see him catching and even throwing with his Right again.  So, for awhile longer, I am the best.  Then Kusacchi and Jonah, about the same.  But then, to be honest, Jonah is probably better than the average kid.

くさっちとジョナは同じですいい。　　

Some day, I mean to learn more about Hibiya Park.  I remember that it was mentioned as a gathering point for refugees in the book I read about the Great Kanto Earthquake and Fire of 1923.  It is a mature park, but laid out in a functional way, probably in the primiere central spot in the city, having a little of everything.  I skate by there every Sunday, in fact, I fell there (I don't fall often) last Sunday during City Run and the family makes it over to play frisbee once in a while, or walk around, there is so much going on, mostly well dressed couples, concerts, tennis, a few homeless people,  huge fountain, rose garden, pigions, war memorial from the U.S., lots of kids running around... and us, playing frisbee like fools.

After that, we had to get home so I could make my famous deviled eggs for the party that night with our friends from GMIDEL and ISUZU.  I got a lot of practice speaking Japanese with these nice people.  とても楽しかったです。

The Weekend's Various Good Things

週末の色々良い事物

 

先週の土曜日の一日中子供の学校の行事に参加しました。　　色々事物はありました。娘と学生は音楽のコンセートをしました。　息子と音楽を作りました。多い学校の両親は世界の各地から料理を付きました。ゲームをあそんだり、買い物をしたり、おいしい食べ物をたべたりしました。楽しかったです。それから疲れたが教会に行きました。

日曜日にスケートしました。すばらしいスケートの家族に会いました。　それから家でクリスマスのツリーを飾りました。

Saturday was Holiday Happening at our kids' school.  This is the yearly fundraising event for the school and it is really great.  All the parents get involved, with lots of volunteer preparation for weeks ahead of time.  There's so much going on.  Monica performed her clarinet with the Middle School Band and Jonah is part of the elite group that performs Handbell Chorus.    

Many vendors also come and offer all kinds of neat things.  I was glad to meet Sushi Jeff there, selling his framed photos.  Here's his website.  His photos make me want to throw my camera away.  But... I suspect it's not just the camera.  笑。

My friend Rebecca's family is very involved in Taiko, and I really enjoyed watching and listening to their perfomance.  After that, she whipped off her taiko apron and put her other apron back on and ran back to the Chinese Food Booth which she was running. There was lots of wonderful food from all around the world cooked by the school parents, a truly international community. 

Here's a few more photos from Holiday Happening.  Oh, look at the time, we have to leave to make it to church this evening.  Let's check back with Sushi Jeff and see how he's doing.  Looks like he's had a good day.

Sunday morning came a little early and I joined the City Run at the Tokyo Station midway point, instead of at the Ueno start point.  I'm glad I got to meet this very cool family with three daughters.  I've met Dad before, on some Long Run or other, but these little girls were so impressive in their first City Run.  They are really good skaters, and went all the way from Ueno to Goal.  The parents are really supportive, and I was impressed that they were all wearing helmets.  You know how I feel about safety.       See my skating story.

Goal at Gaienne has been transformed by the cool weather.  The ginko trees are blazing yellow.  It is quite impressive and the crowds flock to our usual quiet end point at this time every year.

Christmas is truly right around the corner, it seems like its coming too fast, but maybe that's because of those four days in Saipan over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  HeeHee.  Anyway, time to set up the tree.  Whenever we take that pitiful thing  out of the box, I can't help but think of how we used to do it in Tennessee.  Go to the Christmas Tree farm and pick out a live tree with a root ball.  After we enjoyed it for the Holidays, we would plant it in our yard.   Every summer when we drive by our former home, its amazing to see the beauty.  All around our two acre yard there are trees from various previous years growing taller and more lush.  Each of these spent a holiday with our family.  Getting the ornaments out is such a nostalgic time for the kids.  My talented mother made many of them, so they are very special.  And there's an ornament from each of our four children's first Christmas Tree.

$5.16/gallon

スクータの物語

  Page down for the English translation of this story.　　If you think its a lot better than my usual Japanese writing, its because I used it as a lesson with my sensei, Matsui-san.

最近東京の天気は変わりやすいです。　先週台風が来ました。　　

でもそれから、何日かきれいに晴れました。日曜日スケートにすばらしい天気でした。

私のスクータのエンジンはかかりにくくなったので、月曜日修理やにもって行きました。

友達は店を見つけて、地図を送ってくれました。　彼女は店の人に電話をして、日本語で何が要るか説明をしてくれました。

いい天気だったので、スクータ置いた後で地下鉄に乗らないで店から家まで歩きました。

火曜日もいい天気だったので、日本語のレースンの後でヨガのクラスに歩いて行って、それから修理や歩きました。　

修理の人に日本語で話すことに成功したと思います。　私がいったことは：下に見てください

家に返るとちゅうでガソリンを入れました。

水曜日、私はスクータで町中を飛ばしました。　帰た時、雨が降っていました。

Recently, the weather in Tokyo has been changable.  Last week, there was a typhoon.  But since then, we've had several sunny days.  Sunday was wonderful weather for skating.

My scooter has been starting hard, so on Monday I took it to the repair shop.  My friend located the shop, sent me a map so I could find it, and called the shop to explain what I needed done.  It was such a nice day, that after I dropped off the scooter, I walked all the way home instead of taking the subway.  Tuesday was another beautiful day.  After my Japanese lesson, I walked to my yoga class and then to the repair shop.  I think I did fine talking with the repairman. Here are some of the things I said that he seemed to understand.

月曜日： （Monday)　getsuyoubi: 

今日はパメラです。  konichiwa pamera desu.     Hello, I am Pamela.

友達は電話をしました。  tomodachi wa denwa wo shimashita.  My friend called you.

朝で寒い時　初めにくい  asade samuitoki hajimenikui  It's hard to start in the morning when it's cold.

**should have been エンジンはかかりにくくなりました。 enjin wa kakarinikunarimashita.

明日か。いいですよ。  ashitaka? iidesuyo.  Tomorrow?  That's great!

何時に来ますか。  nanjini kimasuka? What time should I come?

火曜日：　suiyoubi: Wednesday:

きれいになりました。　　kireininarimashita.  It's become clean!

新しいのようです。　atarashi no youdesu.  It's like new!

ありがとうございます。 arigatougozaimasu.  Thank you very much.

On the way home, I filled it up with gas.

149yen/liter......with exchange rate $1.29/liter

4 liters/gallon = 5.16 USD  ($5.16/gallon)

Wednesday, I rode my scooter all over town.  It runs great!

It was raining again by the time I got home.

Wednesday my girlfriend and I ate bibimbap at a Korean restaurant.  It was just as delicious as it looks.  And all this for only 1050 yen! 

That's two scooter tanks of gas.

　　　　　

Helping 助けとなる。

This is Hina.  We met her about a year ago through a program at church.  She hangs out with us in order to be exposed to native English conversation.  She's a delightful girl.  Last weekend, she went out to dinner with us and some others.  In all, there were 7 English speakers, plus Hina.  She said she "got" about 30 to 40%.  Sometimes she hesitates when she speaks English, but she's doing so well with a good vocabulary and very good pronunciation.  Her frequent emails to me are 95% correct. 

It is a mutually beneficial relationship.  Often I practice my terrible Japanese on her and she is always patient with me.  This time, she was kind enough to take our grown son on a tour of Meiji Shrine and Harajuku, two extremes, in close proximity.  He said it was very interesting and a unique opportunity. 

Steve was always close to Monica, who was born when he was 11.  Now that she can almost look him in the eye, she kept a close eye on him, always checking if he needed anything during his visit, though he did pretty well on his own.  I think he was impressed with her Japanese which is coming along finally. 

And this is Kana.  She has totally perfect, accent free English.  She works at TAC, and M & J see her often in the bowling alley.  Recently, Monica had an assignment for her Japanese class to interview someone about their family.  It was to practice words like uncle and mother, and ages of people, and hobbies and whatnot.  She chose Kana, who helped her very much.  かなさんは面白くて、親切かったです。  すばらしい微笑だね。

Ark Hills Matsuri アークヒルズの祭り

This is my friend, Eiko-san.  She lives and works in my neighborhood.

こちらは私の友達えいこさん。　彼女は近所に働いて、住んでいます。

See a few more photos from the festival on my homepage:  Matsuri

What else happened this weekend?  Plenty of good family time. Monica was gone ALL DAY Saturday with her Volley Ball team to Yokohama.  Sunday morning was rainy, but then it stopped, so I skated a little.  No good photos, but here's one from last weekend.

Yes, that's Kawahara-san on his skateboard.  I'm always surprised he can keep up with us, but he's pretty good. 

Jonah has been after us to let him roast some marshmallows.  Finally I remembered to buy them when I went to the International Market.  (I don't think there's much call for jumbo marshmallows within the local community, but Nissen had them.  So, after Martin's steaks last night, he finally got his chance.  よかったです。

Ginza Apple Store 銀座アプル店

The Japanese people are so sophisticated with their personal electronics.  Text messaging and internet access via cell phone on the long daily train commutes, the latest cameras and computers, and of course the ipod.  Look around on the subway and you'll see the telltale white cords, the sublime expressions.   

About two years ago, Monica bought her ipod with her own money, did all the work of learning how to load her CD's in itunes on the computer, everything, then lost it on an airline flight in the U.S.  Eventually, she got another one, which she really enjoys during the long bus rides to and from school everyday.  Well, recently, something happened to the computer, which messed up her ipod.  Mommy's good friend, who himself is an Apple Genius, diagnosed the problem.  He told me to go to the Ginza Apple Store to have it reset.  Meantime, Monica borrowed my ipod mini, which they had given me for Mother's Day so I really had an incentive to get hers fixed.  Seems I've become pretty attached to my little blue mini.  (Though I never wear it when I could be listening and practicing Japanese.)  Dad has a shuffle, which works well with his commutes and business travel.

So, Saturday, we visited the Genius Bar at the Apple Store.  Well, what a cool deal!  Luckily, it was within the one year warranty period.  The genius reset the ipod, I got my mini back, everyone's happy, right?  Well, maybe.  Now Monica is convinced that she NEEDS a Macintosh computer.  And her little brother is quite sure that he NEEDS a Nano.

Weekend Fun 週末の楽しい

Martin is usually an adequate bowler, but because of his arm injury, he couldn't bowl with his right arm, so he tried with his left arm.  At first he got a lot of gutter balls, but then he got better and better.  He even bowled a strike!

   (MORE PHOTOS)

We had too much fun Saturday night.  So much, in fact, I was hours late for my usual Sunday morning skate, including Iwa-san as Skating Teacher to Doc-san's little girlfriend. 

ふくめていわさんはスケートの先生。

Promises ＆ Decisions 約束と決定

大島への週末旅行は楽しかったです。　

石井さんというマーティンの同僚は私達を野球チームの年次遠出を招待をしてくれた。

それは多くの新しい友達を会ったり、日本語を練習したり、おいしい料理を食べたりしました。　「くさやのぞいて」笑。　　文化経験はよかったです。

次月によこはまへ野球ゲームを見ることを楽しみにしています。

この週にたくさん写真を取った、ウェブサイトにそれらを置くことを私は約束した。

The weekend trip to Oshima was so fun.  Martin's colleague, Ishii-san invited us to join his baseball team's yearly outing.  It was a wonderful chance to make many new friends, practice Japanese language, and experience their culture in a beautiful place.  We got to help prepare and eat very good food.  (Except for the fish "kusaya" which is named for its bad smell and is local to the area.  We tried it... but we didn't like it.)

I look forward to watching the team play baseball in Yokohama next month.  We took many photos and I promised I would put them on my website this week.

Which reminds me... I still have lots of photos from the summer trip that I want to compile and share.  But I will take my time and try to do a good job as I teach myself how to do digital photo editing and website design.

Today, I finished a set about BABIES we visited this summer.  Here is a photo of my friend Vicki with her oldest daughter, Hannah.  There is so much love in this family.  However, none of their kids are babies anymore, so they didn't make it onto the baby page.  Soon I'll upload the photos from our very fun visit with them in August at the Lake Michigan shore.   

Another promise I made is to post the photos from my High School Class Reunion in August.  Here's Martin with one of my classmates, Kim.  It was a good time, and I think he enjoyed being the youngest and best looking guy there.  When I get those photos up, I'll expand the little BRHS website I made in order to help us stay better connected with our classmates. 

The start of the school year is a new beginning for the children, of course.  Just as New Years is a time for resolutions, when the kids go back to school is also a good time for us "non-working Mom's" to reassess our everyday life decisions. In my case, I am very lucky to have many good choices of how I'll spend my time while the kids are in school.  There are many opportunities to volunteer at ASIJ.  When we were in the states, I was working at the hospital and didn't have this chance.  I'm planning to assist Jonah's teacher as "Class Mom", work on the school website, help in the Elementary School Library, and a few other projects during the year. 

Besides volunteering at school I plan to:

• Continue my study of Japanese!!
• Volunteer at Church
• Yoga class
• Learn how to cook everyday Japanese food
• Improve my fitness with skating PLUS working out at TAC
• Ikebana class

It's just a matter of making decisions about how to spend my time and energy.

Weekend Activities

Martin suggested I take this picture of this "horny guy" and the four cute girls.  This was at the Azabu Juban Matsuri (neighborhood festival) Saturday evening. Super crowded but orderly and fun.  Lots of yummy food and cold beer.  Jonah went looking for the corn on the cob which they roast on a grill with soy sauce.  I had okonomiyaki.  We all bypassed the squid this time, but it sure looked interesting.

麻布十番祭りに行きました。食べ物はおいしくて、おもしろかったです。　ビルも。

The pool at TAC (Tokyo American Club) was a nice place to hang out on Saturday.  The weather was fine.  Many of TAC's members are ex-pats like us who've been away for part of the summer to our home countries.  Everyone is coming back, getting ready for school to start next week.

土曜日の天気はすばらしかたです。プールは込んだので、よかったです。　後でジョナの特に好きなレストランで食べました。 　

日曜日上のＣＲに参加しました。

Follow these links for Iwa-san's http://homepage2.nifty.com/iwa333/index.html 

and Hesaki-san's photos of yesterday's City Run Skate.

http://lumixclub.jp/photo/Lci?mode=guest&album=FNOMQTEJTW0fdOQY7gqF