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
Happy Birthday! You deserve a night out! You never know what will be next when it comes to kids. I personally appreciated all the little details about the toilets. It's very fascinating. Ha ha ha! The LARGEST toilets I've ever come across were in Texas. Kennedy fell in! They have a saying, "Everything in Texas is bigger." I guess this includes the toilet seats. That was an adventure too! Thanks for sharing, it made for a good giggle!
ReplyDeleteAre you serious? They have bigger toilets there? That's kind of funny.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we've got to practice more.