Sister found

So we finally found our sister. After 3 weeks of emails and phone messages from mom, dad, my other sister, and myself, asking her to please contact, it finally came down to calling her roommate to ask her to call us. She never called but emailed. I just don't understand....

My sister

We have been trying to contact my sister, Wako, via phone and email to no avail. I think we've been trying for about 2 weeks. She doesn't write or call us back.... My parents are driving me mad with their worries. This is not the first time it has happened. In fact, it's not the second time. But everytime they don't hear responses to numerous calls and email attempts, they worry. I am sure she has her reasons and maybe she doesn't think it's a big deal to delay responding. I am not sure. Has anyone been in touch with her physically or virtually?

photos

My parents and my kids at Yakashita-koen. It's my dad's favorite park and he goes there at least once a day. He came home early so we all decided to go take a walk before dinner.


My mom takes care of some kids at night once in awhile. She picks them up from daycare at 7pm and they stay til their parents come pick them up at 9pm. This is unthinkable for me but in Japan, it's typical for people to work really late, I guess. So on Thursday night, Terran had a blast with these 2 girls. He's been going to daycare in Chinatown with them so he loves it when they come over.


Terran and Sierra eating cookies after pm nap. Sierra generally loves food and she eats most things we stick in her mouth. Very different from her older brother....


At Yamashita koen, they use to have a small indoor sitting area filled with vending machines. Naturally this became a homeless hangout. Recently, they renovated this space to house "Happy Lawson". Half of it is a convenient store called "Lawson". The other half is still part of Lawson but they built an indoor playgym for kids and put some tables so families could either bring food or buy something at the store and eat there. It's nice to have a place like this.



My dad and Terran at Yamashita koen. He taught Terran to raise his hand when crossing street (just like other Japanese kids), so they are demonstrating it.

Photos

Most of the time Terran is not interested in playing with Sierra. But he will play with her once in awhile. I love it when they are like this. Sierra is usually entertained by watching him run around and do his thing.




They had an old train at the zoo and Terran loved climbing into it. He makes me pretend I am the driver and he's the passanger. So I pretend to drive it making all kinds of train sounds while other parents watch....



We took a cab to the zoo (because the entrance is on top of a hill) but we walked home and stopped by at Yokohama koen on the way. To me, Terran looks so mature here, but at home, he sits on my lap, hugs me, and says "I'm your baby".



Sierra has 4 beautiful teeth now so she has her own pink toothbrush. But she always perfers to stick mine in her mouth.... That's pretty gross. She is so attached to me now. When she sees me holding Terran, she looks at us with envy. If she's close enough to us, she will scream and tries to push Terran away from me.

Earthquake

There was an earthquake yesterday morning. Epicenter was somewhere in Northern Japan. According to the news, the center was in a countryside somewhere but 3 have been reportedly killed and about 200 injured. From the images that we see on TV, a large wooded mountain area seems to have totally collapsed; very scary.

For us, here in Yokohama, we had a magnitude 3 shake that lasted for awhile. I was trying to put Sierra down for her am nap. It started shaking while she was standing, supporting herself on the bed. She felt it and started laughing. I got scared so I grabbed her and rushed in to the living room, calling out for my mom. Terran was also in the living room and excitedly saying "mama, we're moving fast!" The kids really thought it was fun while I looked at the sea below to make sure there's no Tsunami coming our way. Since we are on the 20th floor of a steel framed highrise, the ductility of the material makes us feel as if we were on a boat, being swayed back and forth by the waves. I don't know how long the actual quake lasted. For us, we continued to sway for at least 3 minutes. It made me feel seasick. At that point, I yearned to go back to Lawrenceville, NJ. I hope for no more quakes while we are here.

These days....

Sierra has had a fever for the last 3 days. Now her face is all red and she has spots on her belly and back. I am hoping its roseola and that she will be done with it in a few days. Even though she doesn't have her usualy beautiful face, she still seems happy so I am glad....

We decided to send Terran to school for 3 hours a day so that he can play with some friends and learn Japanese. My mom takes care of some kids once in awhile at home. One night last week, a girl Terran's age came over and he had a blast. After that, Terran kept on saying the he wants to go to his friend's school. Since my mom knows all the caretakers at that school, he got in no problem. In exchange, they asked her to come work for them during the summer.... She hesitates but that is not my problem :) It's actually a chinese daycare in Chinatown but at preschool level, they do everything in Japanese. Terran seems to be liking it so far.

It's rainy season in Japan and there's been more rainy days than sunny days since we got here. Sun has been rare and when Terran gets up in the morning so when he sees the sun, he gets so excited.

Sashimi is so cheap and yummy in Japan. It's hard to take kids out to sushi restuarants so we just get sashimi from the grocery store. The fish is comparable or may be better than what we get at out favorite Japanese restaurant in Princeton, Ajihei - at a fraction of the price. Couple of nights ago, I went to Union, a grocery store in Motomachi, to buy some soy yogurt for Sierra. As I was wandering around the store, they had really nice sashimi for half off. So I bought enough for dinner for my parents and myself (kids were in bed). When I got home, I asked my dad if he thinks the fish is OK to eat. He says of course. He explained to me that the Japanese regulation allows the grocery store to have sashimi on shelf for just a few hours. After that time is up, they cannot sell it. So in order to sell the sashimi during that time, they start reducing the price.

photos in Yokohama

The first jet lagged morning in Yokohama. We were up so early without having slept much. I found familiar cartoon on youtube and they watched as they nibbled on breakfast.



Sisi and my dad (jiji). For some reason, she is really attached to him. She is so happy being with him and being held by him.



Terran loves Yamashita koen, a seaside park 2 blocks from my
parents' condo. He goes there every morning with my parents at 6:30am to exercise before starting the day. I take him there at least once during the day and he loves looking at the boats going by.


Terran at Yokohama koen, the nearest playground. It's too far for him to walk so I put him in a stroller to get here while Sisi sleeps at home.


The first weekend we were here, the city was celebrating the 150th year since the opening of Yokohama port. There was a festival at Yokohama koen, filled with vendors selling nick nacks and japanese festival foods. I took a walk there by myself while kids napped and ate a huge okonomiyaki. I wished Pat were there to share it with me but it was so good so maybe it was OK that I was alone. There were fireworks 2 nights in a row. We were able to see it from the balcony and it was Terran's first time to actually see fireworks. However, he remembered it from the books that we read at home and immediately recognized what it is saying "fireworks! same as in my New York book and my Little Toot book" (those are the 2 books that we read a million times that has some reference to fireworks).

Just to let Pat know that his work is paying off, the other day when we were at Yamashita koen and saw lots of jellyfish in the water, Terran asked me what they are and when I told him, he immediately asked "same as in aquarium?" To that I beamed and said exactly the same. He has a good memory and his setences are getting longer and more complex. You will be impressed when you see him in a month!

photos

Kids are napping and parents are out. I wonder if I can upload some photos before I get interrupted by any one of them. All these were taken in NJ just before we left for Japan.


I love this blurry photo of Pat and the kids; typical night at home.



I don't ever recall seeing a more beautiful face than that of my little Sisi with biscuit crumbs all over.



Terran and Sisi when we went to Howell Living History farm in NJ just before we left for Japan.



Pat and Sisi.


Terran and me.

In Yokohama

Kids have been slowly adjusting to the time here. We've been here for 4 days and they seem to have the nights and days in order. Just a little more fine tuning and they should be on track. Terran has been loving Yokohama. My parents live in a really great part of town. Two blocks from a waterfront park - Yamashita koen, a block from Chinatown, and a few minutes from high end shopping street - Motomachi. Also a block away from subway station with trains that go to Shibuya in 30 minutes. The area is kid friendly with lots of play areas and space to run around. Most of all, Terran loves all the trucks, buses, garbage trucks that zooms by. My dad has been a pretty good companion for him. He takes Terran on subway train rides and runs around with him at the park.
We were able to pack all of our stuff in one small carry on size suitcase so I decided to bring the huge double stroller. That has been a good idea since we've been taking walks around the area and the streets keep both Sisi and Terran entertained.
Photos to come.