"I just can't wait to be king"

I have never seen a kid as keen on Lion King as Alex is. I mean, seriously, he would watch it over and over again if I let him. He surprises us with all these phrases and moves that animals do in the movie, and we just crack up. Like "Don't turn your back on me!" or "he is on top of the food chain". Singing "Can you feel the love tonight?" is the highlight of my day--imagine Alex doing it.

When we go to parks, he always wants kids to play Lion King with him--some have to be hyenas and someone has to be Simba or Scar. Don't get him started to talk about Lion King play we saw at the Animal Kingdom in Disney World. He pretends he is the parade and the play and everything in between--the most important part is that you HAVE to wave at him while he is passing by.

Tonami Clan Memorial Tourist Village

On Saturday, we went to the nearby attraction--Tonami Clan Memorial Tourist Village. It's a pretty big park with a historical museum, a supermarket (?) and different fun things for kids to do, such as pony rides and go-carts.

It was quite empty, I must say. Therefore, I am not convinced that Japan is overpopulated:) Not up here, that's for sure.







Mark and mama







There were specific statues of horses with which kids could play.











For the rest of them this rule applied:) Gotta love Japanese translations. Sometimes I wonder if they do that on purpose just to entertain us.

Looks kind of freaky to me. Until now, I did not see how many legs this cat has...

Only Katya was allowed to go on a pony ride since she is school age.

Although, Alex is merely 2 inches shorter than Katya, he was only allowed to pose for the picture sitting on top of this pony.

And then we took a ride on this pony cart. One guy was leading the horse, the other one sort of hanging (pushing? haha) the cart. These guys kept asking Robert about his height. Finally, I told them that he is 189 cm and they were SHOCKED. These sort of things just make me smile. Yes, most Japanese are a lot shorter than Robert (and even me).

Finally, I just had to post this video I "accidently" shot when Katya tried go-carts for the first time.

I guess she forgot what to do with the other foot.

Lyana

Earthquake zone

Living in Japan means living with expectations of feeling an earthquake any time day or night.
Our first earthquake happened when we were still living at the military hotel. It was a very strange feeling--I actually thought that Alex was kicking the side of the couch or something. Looking later at the Japanese Meteorological Agency website, it turned out to be a 2.0. A couple days later, we felt another one--at night. Robert didn't even feel that one, but I actually woke up at 2 am. I think that one was around 2.5-3 in magnitude.

I guess, it's better to have these small earthquakes all the time. When they are infrequent, that's when we should expect trouble.

Here is that website that you can check out just for fun. If you click on Previous Information above the map, it will show you earthquakes in the past couple days--you'll seehow often they happen.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

We are in the very North East corner of the main island.

First day of School--three weeks late:)

This has been a very different first day of school for us. If you ever live out of your suitcases for two months, you'll know what I am talking about. Nevertheless, we were very excited about the beginning of the school year.

Pictures have the wrong date on them since our camera is still set on the US time:)


Katya's first day was on Aug 31st. She got to go to Cummings Elementary School which is specifically for kids who live in the North area of our base and several houses from the main base. The school is very close to us, so she gets to walk or ride her bike every day. For the first two days, we all walked together to school (about 7-10 walk). On the first day, I was very surprised to find out that kids are not allowed to enter the school until the first bell rings at 8 am. So if you show up at 7:50, you have to wait outside by the entrance to your classroom. Only if it is raining, then kids can go into the lunch room. I guess we'll see how it all works out when it's snowy and windy:)



Katya loves her teacher--Mrs. Smith. She is in 1st grade. And there only 16 kids in her class. Their mascot is Siberian Swan since these birds pass our area when they are migrating.

Mrs. Smith kept calling Katya--Katrina since that's her full name. I had to ask her a couple times to call her Katya. Because for the first week, Katya was known as Katrina, most of the kids in her class call her Katrina. She doesn't mind. I kind of do:) We'll keep working on it.



Oh, I have to mention that Katya has a very unique class here--Host Nation Culture class. It is taught by Mr. Kumaga--a Japanese native. So far, Katya has had a ton fun in that class. He teaches the kids different Japanes traditions (like how to bow), how to make food, and different phrases.



Another class that Katya really enjoys is PE. She only has it twice a week (in FL she had it every day!). But what's really different is that the teacher practices with kids not only what to do in case of fire but most importantly in case of earthquake:) Seriously, their gym has a very tall ceiling, and that's their main concern if we have a strong earthquake.



Ever since we got our unaccompanied luggage, Katya has been riding her bike to school. Great way to get some extra exercise!



Well, we better finish now. We have another early morning tomorrow if things go as they have been going for the past three weeks.

Dried squid

Yes, that's dried squid in my teeth. Tastes like beef jerky that's been left in the bottom of the fish tank too long.

It's been a month!

Remember I told you about Lake Towada? Well, here are a couple photos from that trip. Alex and Katya commandeered an alligator from another family. Katya's in the oversized life vest in the one photo and Alex is the pink dot on the allligator in the other photo.

Vending machines. Who doesn't love vending machines, like when you've got a craving for some chocolate or a hankering for some chips, or perhaps you just need a helicopter. I've noticed you can get just about anything from a vending machine. At the mall there is a vending machine with ramen noodles and yakisoba! Complete with chopsticks.

Here's just a random picture of a garbage truck driving on the wrong side of the road in Misawa. It sort of gives you a glimpse of the city streets as we see them. I probably shouldn't put the picture on the right in because it's not oriented correctly. No, the japanese do not post road signs on their sides. For some reason it uploaded like this even though it was saved correctly. Anyway, these blue signs are all over the place on the main roads. They are a welcome sight for lost Americans because they are in English too. These signs weren't always present. They came as a result of lots of feedback from Americans living in Japan who needed help finding their way around.

Okay, a few more fun photos. So you know how the family looks now,

Here's happy Mark. Everyone (even strangers) tell us he is the happiest kid they've ever seen.

Here's playful Katya in a balloon cage. At the mall in Hachinohe is this play area which inludes this cages of balloons being blown around by fans.

Here is my beautiful wife. I'm sure you would agree. (PS Katya took the photo)

And of course Alex. Always teasing.

Well, that's it. Apparently there were no good photos of me, but I'm sure you'll all be better off not seeing any of those anyway.

Till next time,

konbanwa

Robert

Some of the little known facts

--This is what it all looked like the first day we arrived at Misawa. As I came out of our hotel, I took this picture. It was almost 4:30 pm. Any guesses about what happens at 4:30 pm every weekday (I am not sure about the time on weekends)? Wherever you are on base at that moment, you will hear two anthems played over the radio. First--Japanese. Absolutely beautiful and kind of sad, I think. And then--American. Very proud and chipper:) So if you are driving at that moment, you simply slow down and put your car into park for two minutes or so, even in the middle of the road. If you are outside, you do what you are supposed to do when your anthem sounds. This picture was taken near the place where two flags are flying high side by side--Japanese and American. It's pretty cool.

--I miss our van that is left in storage in Orlando. Well, actually, it's in South Carolina by now.



Our new van is a Honday Odyssey that doesn't have sliding doors. I think it's about a size of Mazda 5, if I remember correctly. It has over 101K km which is what? 70K miles or so. It has

almost no trunk space, unfortunately, so if I leave my stroller in the trunk, I can't go shopping with kids. It's a 96 and was only $3000.

It does have an additional trunk thingie on top where we can put some recreational gear or wet stuff. And the biggest plus right now is that I can recognize it in the parking lot because of that tall thing on top. (Although, because of it we didn't fit into one of the underground parking garages at the mall. We noticed just meters before we went under, thankfully).

--We live on base, but in the North area. It's about 10 minutes drive from our area to the main base where the Commissary and the BX are. In fact, everything else we use on base is there--Robert's clinic, library, places to eat, etc. The only great things that are really close to us in the North area are Katya's school and Alex's preschool.

Obviously, any sort of house is better than the hotel room at which we stayed for two weeks. If we had waited for and off-base house (a four-bedroom), we'd have to live in these conditions for at least three more weeks... just couldn't do it. No A/C either.

--Our home is townhome style and is about 1435 sq feet. Three bedrooms are upstairs. It also has a nice hill in the backyard, which will be just perfect for kids to use for sledding. Most townhomes are still empty since they just recently remodeled them half a year ago. Officers and enlisted live in different areas in Misawa. Most families in three bedrooms houses have no kids or have two kids.

--It is very safe here on base. Kids can play outside, and I feel very safe about it even if I am not right there with them. I could potentially get in trouble though if someone sees Alex playing without parental supervision, since you have to be five to be able to do that. I'll let you know if I do.

--Here are some more pictures of our place:

This is our backyard-hill.

--Speaking of trouble. On the second day of me driving here in Japan, I got a ticket on base! I got pulled over for "failing to stop". WHAT?? Seriously. I guess I rolled through the stop sign. Actually, I remember thinking in my head, "Yeah, that's a good enough stop.". It was 90% a complete stop, but I got pulled over. And then there I was with all three kids, sitting and waiting, and waiting and waiting, and not sure whether or not I am supposed to come out and go talk to the policeman (like they do in Ukraine) or wait for him to come to me. I don't know, it is Japan after all. So finally, a police WOMAN came out and gave me the whole lecture about failing to stop. Katya and Alex loved it:) Then she went back to her car and I (seriously) waited for another five minutes while she was checking something. At that point, I felt like I didn't care anymore about whether or not I'll get a ticket or how much it will be:) Anyway, the end of the story is that I lost three points (you can lose up to 12 before your license is suspended). I had to go to the Security Forces Office where they simply told me that my husband has to let his commander know his wife got a ticket.

This is for you to see what the nature looks like near where we are.

Thank you for listening. Sorry for a lengthy post. I hope in the future I will learn to categorize my blogging better.

Do pobachennia.
Lyana

Happy Birthday to ME:)

It has been eleven years since I first came to the United States. Eleven years. Wow. On that day, my whole life changed.

The strange thing is I did not experience a culture shock when I first came to the US. I must say, I am definitely in a culture shock here in Japan. I know this will pass, so I just have to be patient and take in everything slowly. Like driving, or parking, or shopping, or not being able to read anything, or be able to understand what I am eating, or taking kids to the bathroom with an Eastern style toilet.

Speaking of toilets, tonight, we went to a restaurant that prepares various kinds of ethnic food. Our meal was great. But in the middle of it all, both Katya and Alex decided that they HAD to go to the bathroom, right then. You should only imagine (although don't try too hard) how difficult it is to make your kid go potty on the toilet that is is very narrow and you have to squat FACING the toilet to go. So of course, neither of my kids couldn't do that sort of trick especially wearing pants/tights. I had to hold each one of them under their arms (they weigh around 50 lbs-23 kg or so), trying to remember when was the last time I went to the gym to work out those arm muscles. Then of course, Katya had to fall into that toilet and get her whole foot wet. Alex was even messier but we won't mention that. Sorry for my graphic description of my BIRTHDAY dinner. Not exactly what I expected.

Actually, the restaurant was quite unique. It has a special room for kids and family, where you have dining tables right in the same room as the area for kids to play with some toys and inside slide, playpen and walker. We were the only ones there, so it woked great. And if felt good to take my high heels off and eat all dressed up but barefeet-haha.

The highlight of the evening was having my birthday cake--made from scratch by Robert. It was delicious, but so rich. Yum! Somehow, we didn't get any birthday candles--we couldn't exactly use "3" and "0" candles from Robert's birthday:) So our birthday pictures have me blowing on cake with no candles (I'll have to post pics later).

Well, gotta go join the rest of the family watching "Mary Poppins".

Lyana

Kyaking and Japanese bumper cars

I love four day weekends because before and after there are 4-day work weeks! Labor day weekend there was an end-of-summer bash at the base beach on Lake Ogawara. I tell you it was great having an old-fashioned American BBQ, complete with baked beans and potato salad. We went paddle-boating (I went with just Katya and Alex. We didn't make it more than 30 yards and I turned around for fear my legs would turn to jelly.) After that, I took them in the canoe. We stayed out there for a little while, enjoying the tranquility of band playing back on shore. Most of our time at the party, however, was spent riding the bumper cars: battery powered cars (like the ones outside K-mart, except on wheels). Katya and Alex actually were pretty good drivers. Check out the video on www.facebook.com/watsondds

On Saturday I took Alex and Katya to Lake Towada, about an hour away. Originally only four families were going, but as word got out, eventually about half the branch was there, about 15 families. We rented several kayaks from outdoor rec. It was a blast. Lake Towada is the third deepest lake in Japan and is basically volcano lake (part in the crater, and part in the outside rim). On the way we went through Oriase Gorge. I think the best way to describe it is it's like Going to the Sun Road in Glacier park, except not so cliff-side. The entire way (about 10 miles) was enveloped with a canopy of tree limbs, almost like going through a tunnel. Actually, we did go through a tunnel later (a real one through the mountain) on our way to the light festival in Towada. The Japanese definitely have a flair for festivals. We had "dinner" there too. I'm not sure what exactly I was eating, but it was covered in some type of msg-laden sweet/soy-ish sauce. If I find out, I'll let you know.

Oh, great news! Our unaccompanied baggage came. That's just the stuff like clothes, toys, fans, TV (no furniture) that we sent out early so we'd have something here. In about 3 weeks we should get the rest of our stuff.

That's it for now

Sayonara

Robert

We made it!

Konnichiwa! We have a new blog. It's titled "Watson Sushi" and it will feature bitesize morsels from our many adventures here in Japan (get it? sushi = bitesized). Here's a photo of us in the plane flying over the Pacific. 6 hours Orlando to Seattle. 10 hours Seattle to Tokyo. 1 hour Tokyo to Misawa. Three days. We're happy to be here. We arrived on the 13th of August and now I'm just finally getting around to starting this blog. Here also is a picture of the front of our "townhome." We live on base at Misawa, near the shore of Lake Ogawara (Google it). Very beautiful. I'll get some photos out soon enough. Anyway, that's it for now. I've already stayed up way too late.

Konbanwa (Good night)

Robert