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.

packing day

Tomorrow is our big traveling day. Terran, Sierra, and I are going to Japan with my mom. Almost 14 hours of direct flight from Newark to Narita. I am planning on a shopping spree in Japan so one carry-on size suit case and a duffle bag should accommodate the three of us. I did this before with Terran and that was hard so I am expecting a very very long day. Some things we need to pack:

a couple of days worth of diapers and pull-ups and wipes
vitamins for Sisi
vitamins for Terran
vitamins, calcium, and fenugreek for me
tylenol (since I don't know what other drugs I can give them if they get sick)
aquaphor
butt cream
infant tooth paste
day cream, night cream, spf moisturizer and make-up for me (in japan, I need to look immaculate to step out the door at all times)
books for terran
magazines for my friend
clothes of course
infant cereal and couple of cans of soy formula for Sis
Snacks for Terran on the plane
Food for Sis on the plane

OK, maybe I need a bigger bag....

zui hao de shi guang

We watched a film by a Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao Hsien, last week which, despite earlier skepticism, I really enjoyed and thought often about afterwards. The title in English is "Three Times" but the Chinese translates more as "Best of Time". The title was simple enough that even I could read it. Yay!

So when my parents came for a visit a couple of days ago, I asked my dad (a Taiwanese) if he knew of the director (he did), and recommended it for him to watch it. It's a series of three love stories taken place in 1966, 1911, and 2005. The theme of each era is different and the relationships varies according to that era. 1966 shows an innocent youthful love, 1911, an unfulfilled love between a courtesan and her client, and 2005 a seemingly passionate yet somewhat lonely and empty love. As I watched my dad watch this film, I saw a huge grin on his face. So I said do you like it, and he said I can almost feel that time, 1966, when I was in high school. We were like that, he said, referring to the main male character in the movie. Quiet, reserved, cool - then he laughs, hahaha!
I've been to Taiwan numerous times but never quite saw the countryside the beautiful, serene, and romantic way depicted in the movie. To me, it was just hot, sticky, and boring. But to my dad, it seems to have brought back the feelings of his youth. He's 60 now, and a successful executive of a company. Despite his age, accomplishments, and a very business oriented mind, he still has that young boyish laugh, youthful silliness, and energetic attitude towards life. With those characteristics of him combined with a photo that I remember I saw of him from his teen days in Taiwan, I can almost picture him as a young man in that pool hall setting.

Just like my dad's youth was around 1966 and he could "almost feel it", I related closely to the 2005 story. How so many relationships were formed by whim. How body came before heart. How loneliness loomed regardless. I could "almost feel" that one.

Patrick saw the film in a completely different way. The main male and female characters in each story is played by the same actors. So the couple in 1966 is played by the same character as the couple in 1911 and 2005. He saw the film as a series of reincarnations which gives a whole different meaning to the film.

The pace is definitely slow. At the beginning, I thought I wouldn't be able to sit through it. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Visit website

Growing Up

It seems like my kids suddenly grew up a little bit in the last 2 weeks. Sierra grew 3 teeth. She started eating cheerios and bread and fresh fruit. Now that she knows the texture and flavor of real food, she seems reluctant to eat baby food. She is physically more active. She hold her arms out to be picked up. She grabs my hand and puts it on her waist to be picked up. When she sits, she scoots a bit from here to there by moving her butt and pushing with her arms. She loves to eat so she's getting quite fat!

Terran suddenly started peeing in the toilet today. I told him to tell me if he needs to pee. So I put him in his underwear and all day today, he told me when he needed to pee. No accidents at all today. I've never had success even remotely close to what happened today. Amazing! Hoping for the same result tomorrow!!!

Hooters

I knew that Patrick went there for lunch with his buddies every once in awhile but I've never been. As I was complaining about my allergies and my stuffy nose, Pat suggested the we go to Hooters. He said that it will take care of my problems.... So after we cleaned up the mess from the day, and put the kids to bed, we sneaked off first to get decongestant and half a dozen boxes of tissue paper then to Hooters.
Pat ordered Corona from a pretty lady with nice rack, and I got water to take the decongestant. We sat down with a plate full of spicy wings. And oh was he right! After a couple of bites, my nose was clearing. And as long as I kept eating, I felt so great! This little outing would not have been a great big deal 3 years ago but with 2 kids now, we hardly ever get to do this. Patrick's parents are here for the week and we've been able to go out at night without little ones climbing over us.




Terran while playing with a patch of dirt outside the house. He loves this little corner and gets dirty here everyday. He's grown so much. About 6 months ago, he used alot of baby words, or made up his own words if he could not say the word properly. For example, a garbage truck was "ish-yaya", a blanket was "gingis", and pizza was "didda". These words were so cute that we didn't bother correcting them. But now, quickly, he is pronouncing each word carefully as they really should be said. So when I say "Terran, I thought that was called didda." He gets mad and says "No mama! It's PI-ZZA!"



We have enough outdoor toys to occupy our whole little back yard. We inherited them from Matthew, a friend who moved away, and also from our next door neighbor. Sierra has been loving this little bike that she likes to swing back and forth. Cutest little biker babe.



Terran figured out how to climb on top of the little red car. Sierra is always bewildered by Terran's actions.

Hectic day

It's Friday already and Patrick's parents are coming tonight! Since Monday, I promised myself to clean the house and get everything ready but I hadn't done a thing until today. I do have good reasons though. I had terrible allergies this week. I got it a bit last year around this time but this year it's bad. My eyes were blood shot red and my nose is either runny or stuffy. I look and feel groggy. I got some meds and it seemed to have helped a bit but I don't feel normal. I was also stuck absorbed in a series of books this week. I read a review in TIME magazine about Stephanie Meyer and her book, Twilight and its series. It's a Young Adult Fiction. The writing wasn't impressive, the details aren't there, and the romance, although some parts were interesting, was generally yucky. But I couldn't put it down and the 3 books which occupied my time while everything else, including my husband and kids went ignored.... I am glad that I am done with that for now.

To my surprise this week, I finally got a hold of the CD version of Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" from the library. I read the book a few months before, when he was introduced on Oprah - yeah, I read some of the books she introduces.... The book was a little too difficult for me to follow at times. Unlike his first book - Dreams from My Father - this one focused more on Washington, politics, media, campaign, elections, government. But when I heard that the audio version won a Grammy, I had to see what that was about. I've never heard a book on CD so I was just curious. I still don't understand what makes an award winning audio book. But I decided that I do like listening to the author read his own book. Barack Obama has become a great companion in the kitchen while I feed Sierra or cook dinner. He's also good to be with while I drive to the grocery store or run errands. But best of all, he really brought Washington to life, making government interesting, humorous, and personal. The message in his book is basically what he is bringing to his campaign trail now and it's good to see that consistency.

Despite my seemingly enthusiastic support for Obama, I am actually a flip flopper. At times, I tell Patrick not to vote in the general election if Hillary Clinton were to win the Democratic Nomination. He tells me that's impossible; that he's a democrat and will vote for a democrat this time no matter who the nominee (whatever...). But then at times, I see her on TV and think that she would make a great president. She may be a bit nasty now, but she is campaigning. At the end of the day, if she were to get the job, I think she will, or at least try very hard to do what she said she will do. I use to wonder why voters couldn't make decisions. Now I understand. And I am not even an American.

I use to think that I would probably never become a citizen of this country. I didn't see the point and to change one's citizenship is a pretty big deal. Not that I am at all patriotic to my own country. In fact, probably quite the opposite. I don't know much about the values of my country, and I probably don't quite fit in nicely to society there. But it's a citizenship that I was born with - wait a minute, on a second though, I was born Chinese, and Japanese is my second citizenship. Anyway, I think that now, there is possibility of switching over. I am more closely tied to this country and the people here than anywhere. Japan is a country of my childhood. I think America may be the country of the rest of my life.

Back to cleaning!

helvetica

I just watched a movie called "helvetica" with Patrick. Basically, its a documentary about the type font Helvetica - history, comments, thoughts, love, hate, whatever. It's somewhat interesting. I was into it for the first 45 minutes then my mind went elsewhere, started thinking about abundance of fonts and lack of hand written words.

Handwriting has become an immensely personal tool. I began thinking about the people that I was close to in my adolescent days. I know the handwriting of my best friend. I know the handwriting of each of my family members. I still even remember the handwriting of the guy that I had a crush on. Fast forward to college. I think about my husband's handwriting through the little notes he left for me on post-its pasted on my dorm room door. At that time, I thought his writing was serious, a little immature, and extremely clear - basically, himself on a piece of yellow sticky. I can also recall some of my friends' writings. I think about a person's face and for those people that I've known for a long time, I can recall their handwritings. It's something personal that belongs to them and it makes me smile to just think about them.

The problem arises when I think about the people that I met after college. I guess there was never a need to exchange handwritten notes, and there was never an opportunity to see their writings. I just don't know what their handwritings look like. Even for those who I became very close to, I just don't know it and I wish I did.

These days, I only write by hand when I write a thank you card, or a card to include in a gift box (I write notes and make lists for myself but they don't count). I like writing by hand - it makes me a little nervous because I can't push the delete button like I do so often on the computer. I like it because if I don't know how to spell something, I just sort of scribble to fudge it. I also scribble when I don't know if the word that I just wrote is an actual word.

When my friend left after college, we promised to write to each other rather than email, just because we never get anything meaningful in the mailbox anymore. That lasted for a couple of years and correspondence seized for years. Now, 10 years later, we are using technology.

I've encountered problems with fonts. Every once in a blue moon, I receive very personal emails where it's just more than hellos. I read this email, understand it, but never quite get the sense of it. Sometimes, I don't even know how to trust it and question it's authenticity. When this happens, the only thing I can do is to touch the computer screen, to actually touch the words and to find some meaning - I can't say this really helps. If the same sentences were handwritten, I don't think I would question the content at all.

When I write an email to my husband, just to ask him to pick up something after work or whatever, I write "i love you" before signing my name. I do this just because I like saying it and I say it to him and also to my kids countless times during the day. When I say it, I think they can feel my words. But when I type it, it seems so empty - I don't even trust what I am writing. I told this to Pat and he says it's better that I type it then not, so guess I will continue doing it. But I just cannot convey what I want to tell him in those 3 simple words in a typed form. All feelings lost and only words remain.

Maybe I will handwrite my next blog entry. That means that I have to go find a pen and a paper. That's a lot of work in itself.

today

Today, I was trying to "fix" something on my blog site and now it looks bad.... What did I do?!

Today, Terran and I were sitting outside in the back of our Subaru, having cookies and milk, when he said "mama, you so pretty, love you". I melted and fell in love with him all over again. As he was about to come give me a hug, he stood up, bumped him head on the car ceiling, started wailing and the moment was gone. It was just the sweetest thing. I will always remember this.

Today, I decided that we will go on vacation to France (tagged to Pat's conference) in September. Patrick has been asking me for awhile and at first I said I don't want to go. But he started looking for accommodation for all of us and I said I'll think about it. My thought was, if it were just me and him, I'd definitely go. The only reason why I don't want to go is because it's so much trouble taking 2 little kids. But I began to think that if I keep missing these opportunities for vacations because of the kids, we'd never go anywhere. So even though I am still not looking forward to it all that much, we will all go. Besides, we are very experienced in making Patrick's conferences an excuse for vacations. I tagged along to Italy in 2004, where I accidentally became pregnant with Terran :) We tagged along to Hawaii in 2006. We tagged along to Los Angeles in 2007. And so now, its Nice in 2008 with a new tag buddy, Sierra. And definitely no chance of getting pregnant with 2 children in tow.



Terran and I on Sunday while playing outside.



Happy Sierra on a camping chair.



In 2007 when we tagged along to a conference in Los Angeles. Terran and I met up with my friend Patrick and he took this picture. Terran loved the beach so much and just started running around in circles. I was probably 5 months pregnant with Sierra.


In 2006 when we tagged along to a conference in Hawaii (Big Island). It was held at a resort and they had everything on the property including dolphins. Patrick took a break from work during the day to come hang out with us.


In 2004 when I flew out to Rome and met up with Patrick after his conference. We traveled to a few places including Cinque Terre. We met up with our friend Peter there and he took this picture. This is where we accidentally conceived due to a mixture of great food, great air, great location, and forgetting to take the pill! We named Terran after this place.

Sick

My poor Terran was sick this weekend. He started coughing on Saturday morning and continues tonight. It's stressful when a child is sick. It's terrible to watch him cough continuously, and it's terrible to watch him suffer all day. But it's really annoying that he won't listen to me and cries and screams most of the day. The docs banned all cold and cough medicine for kids so I can't give him anything. Well, I gave him Tylenol and that seemed to have taken some pain away temporarily. I let him eat whatever he wants and let him get away with things he would otherwise get in trouble for. Absolutely exhausted and hoping for a better day tomorrow....

A warm weekend

This was the first really warm weekend and we all had a grand time hanging out outside. Saturday, we lunched under the sun and strolled in Princeton. We have this big double stroller that Pat and I named "the bus". Sierra sits in the front and Terran in the back and with both of them in position, it's not an easy equipment to push. But it gives me great exercise to push that bus around so I am thankful for it.

On Sunday, we ventured out to Philadelphia Zoo. I never liked zoos when I was younger. But now with 2 children, anything that keeps them happy and somewhat educational is OK by me. Philadelphia zoo is the nation's first zoo. So I was imagining it to have lots of animals in small metal cages. But that wasn't the case at all. I guess they had done a lot of renovations and it felt more like a quaint park. Best of all, Terran loved it. In the middle of the day, Sierra got a little upset so I found a quiet spot to nurse her in front of the chimpanzee exhibit. As I sat on the floor with Sierra on my boob, I thought about evolution. Not so many women nurse their babies anymore. If generations of women stop nursing, would our breasts evolve to become useless for feeding? That was a scary thought since both Sierra and Terran used me exclusively for food as well as for a pacifier. Maybe evolution isn't so easy. I guess we'll be fine.

Since it's warmer and lighter now, I put Sierra to sleep and have been going out for a stroll around the neighborhood around 8pm. It's really the only time during the day when I feel finally alone. The past couple of days, I've stepped it up a bit from a stroll to a jog (with a little encouragement from Pat). I've never enjoyed jogging but this should be good for me and my big behind.... On that note, I lost 5lbs recently without really any effort! Maybe the jog will help shed more - and the dreaded mommy & baby exercise class tomorrow am.


At the zoo with Terran and Sierra on "the bus".

April

It's really peaceful when both of the kids are sleeping at the same time. I think the temperature outside is about70 today so I was able to take them out to the park after lunch. That must have tired them out. Yay!

Recently, I have been looking for my friend who I last contacted about a year ago. I am not that great at searching for people online. Her name is Jenny Chang and she now works at microsoft in Seattle. Do you know her? If you do, will you email me with her email? My email has not changed in the last 10 years. She apprently changed her email address and her cell phone number. I hate it when people do that. We don't have any mutual friends and I sent her a holiday card at her parents house with all my info but never heard back from her. She was going to visit me around this time last year. It was a last minute thing. Out of nowhere, she called to say she wants to come over the next day. So I said OK. Then there was a snow storm and her car broke down etc. etc. And she didn't come. I know her from college but our history is longer than that. As we were chatting back in 1997, we discovered that our dads worked for the same company and that we use to play as children on occasions. At first meeting, I found her extremely eccentric but after I warmed up to her, we became good friends. I miss her....

Sierra and I started mommy & baby exercise class. I was excited when I signed up for it but now, I dread going every tuesday. It's so hard! Needless to say, all the moms including myself, are FAT. Oh, except for one - mom of the twins. She's skin and bones.

Ooops. Peace interrupted. It's Sierra. She slept through the first 4 months of her life. Now she's happy to be up and playing. She's the most adorable thing and I get lots of comments on how beautiful she is. I usually carry her around in my ergo baby carrier - the best sling ever - so she is at people's eye level - or a little shorter since I am short. When a stranger comes up to say hello to her, she gives a hesitant smile. It's so cute.


Here is one who interrupted peace. No big deal since she was so smiley and peaceful when she woke up.

Baby pppttttt

So here is an update from yesterday's blog. Thank you Lloyd san for enhancing my skills! This is great.