Japanory

Devon Days

24^th July – 8^th August 2008

Again, much the same as last year!

The pony centre again. Different pony, same child, but a little larger than last year.

Becky Falls. Tim hadn't been there before as he left the UK early again and I'd taken Rhiannon on her own. He was amazed at her agile clambering up the rocks. He's a bit of a helicopter dad. Actually, he's a massive helicopter dad, so this was hard for him to cope with! But Rhiannon was so pleased to share such a lovely place with her Dad.

Lots of shopping. I stocked up on clothes again both for me and Rhiannon. And of course an outrageous amount of clotted cream!

Visited my lovely friends in a tiny village called Bow. Their boy is a month younger than Rhiannon and they used to be great friends, but he's become very "boy-like" and refused to play with her. Such a shame – it made the visit quite tricky.

The usual trips to Okehampton (where I grew up) and the wilds of Dartmoor.

I'm still hoping my sneaky plan for when Tim goes back to Japan via his mates in Milton Keynes comes off. For fear of jinxing what will be an incredible surprise and treat for Rhiannon I still cannot tell her. If it doesn't happen, she will be too disappointed for words.

England Here We Come!

Tuesday 15^th July – Tuesday 12^th August 2008

It's time for our annual trip back to the UK.

We're all flying out together, but Tim will be returning to Japan a couple of weeks before us. However, I have a cunning plan for those last days that I cannot tell Rhiannon about in case it doesn't happen. More about this later…

I am not particularly looking forward to this trip though. For some reason I've developed a not entirely irrational fear of driving in the UK again after several "road rage" stories in the press. Driving here is so polite and Zen-like that I don't think I could handle the aggression in Britain.I also feel the need for a proper holiday after not having one since last year. The trip to the UK doesn't feel like a real holiday.

Other things that are bothering me about going back to the UK are the rules regarding driving: Rhiannon MUST have a booster seat - which means we will have to get one as soon as we arrive, but we can't take her with us as we don't have one... Gah! The price of petrol seems to have gone through the roof: here it's the eqiuvalent of about a quarter of the UK price. Apparently speed cameras are everywhere and are out to get all drivers. Perhaps I read the wrong papers, but it seems the UK is going slightly crazy at the moment. Hopefully the Health and Safety brigade haven't banned clotted cream...

Tim's parents have decided to emigrate to the USA to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren. This has been on the cards for a little while - not long, but not a sudden decision, either. We tell them well in advance when we will be in the UK as they hadn't settled on their moving date and we hope to see them before they go. Especially as they haven't been to visit us after many promises fallen through.

They left the UK a week before we arrived. Tim was stoic, but that's got to hurt.

We arrived on Mum's birthday, much to her delight. Jetlag isn't too bad – we go to bed very early and wake at about 6am for the first couple of days. A quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on British goodies and have fish and chips for dinner. Heaven!

A weird thought shot through my brain for a moment; "Goodness, there are a lot of gaijin here!" Hah! The other very noticable sight was how large the Brits are and how incredibly untidy they (and I suppose we) look compared to the Japanese.

My best friend drives down from Wales for a few days – I should call her my sister really; she isn't, but we've known each other for over 40 years and she feels like my sister. The two of us made our regular pilgrimage to Lainston House for a catch-up gossip and to pretend we are very posh for a few hours.

On the Saturday my brother and his family come over and we all head off to celebrate Mum's birthday at our favourite lovely riverside pub, The Mayfly.

Actually, most of the first couple of weeks mirrors exactly what we did last year!

This time, however, my boss took me for a manic drive across country to an extremely smart house for a business lunch. I've spent ages trying to recall the name and even longer searching for clues on the internet but it escapes me for now. Anyway, it was very nice.

On the Sunday we took a trip to The Hawk Conservancy Trust. I love this place, especially when wonderfully ugly vultures wander around!

Then we drove down to Devon for the rest of our holiday. We're spending longer there this time to get some sort of proper holiday. Apart from totally re-doing the kitchen and windows and doors...

Something Strange Down the Drain

Saturday 5^th July 2008

Tim's outside washing the car.

Our cat – who usually makes himself scarce during the day – was loitering around a drain grill near the driveway. He was watching it intently. Something was down there. And it was something alive as otherwise Raymi wouldn't have been so absorbed. Incidentally, Raymi doesn't miaow – he squeaks. A ridiculous noise for such a big cat and gives rise to his nickname Squeaky Fluffybum.

Anyway, he was squeaking at whatever was down the hole. He wanted it. Whatever 'it' was.

Now, as we live in a big city, you'd think it was probably a rat. But no…

Tim very bravely lifted up the grill and scooped this out.

He didn't have a clue what it was so yelled to me, as I am, in his mind, the font of all natural history knowledge. At first glimpse I thought it was a bloody great scorpion, but on closer inspection it appeared to be a small, very cross crayfish.

Raymi took one sniff and scarpered! And Tim popped it back down the drain.

Summer Holidays: Aikido, Gymnastics and Pink Hair

June 30th - July 11th 2008

We have nine weeks of summer holidays. NINE WEEKS! In my day, it was only six…

Nine weeks!

We're actually planning to spend most of it in the UK, but have a couple of weeks to kill first.

Rhiannon's asked to go to some extra Aikido lessons. They last for an hour and a half and with a small group, they can learn new and exciting techniques. Involving large sticks! By doing these few extra hours on the mat, Rhiannon attained her orange belt – 8^th kyu. I'm so proud of her.

Next, she wants me to dye her hair pink. OK, why not? Let's get the rebellion over and done with now. By the time she's a teenager she won't be able to do anything to bother me... famous last words, eh?!  Besides, it's fairly temporary and with 9 weeks to fade, we should be OK for back to school time.

During the second week, I've enrolled her in a Gym School being held by ICan Gymnastics who run the silly-o'clock lessons at school. This week, however, the days are being held at another international school which has real gym equipment. Rhiannon will get to go on asymmetric bars, the beam, mini-tramp and mats.

After the first day she came back in agony having discovered muscles she didn't know she had! She had an absolutely brilliant time (and I think has developed a bit of a crush on one of the trainers there!).

On the Friday, I went to watch. The first thing I saw when I went in was my daughter doing a cartwheel off the end of a beam! EEK!

I was extremely impressed with the ICan team and their philosophy. And very pleased that Rhiannon enjoyed herself so much. I've agreed that even though she won't be continuing the early morning lessons at school, she can go to any holiday schools they hold for the sheer opportunity to use this specialised equipment with qualified teachers.

Two weeks down, seven to go…

Breakfast in Bed

Monday 30^th June 2008

It's the first day of the Summer Holidays. Tim's gone to work and Rhiannon allowed me to sleep in!

She woke me up with breakfast in bed. How sweet! It was tea and toast.
 
I took a sip of tea. It tasted a bit odd, but I thought it was just me being half asleep. I woke up a bit more and noticed a greasy film lurking over the top of the tea.

Rhiannon was looking anxiously at me. Then she said "Can you taste the special ingredient?"...

"Mmmm, yes dear, what is it?"

"Cheese!"

What??? "Err, ah yes, but why darling?"

"Well, I know you love tea and you like cheese too"

Can't argue with that logic, can you? (I discovered much later Cheesy Tea was something she'd heard on Spongebob Squarepants – or as he's known in Japan, "Spongey-bobby Something-impossible-to-pronounce-let-alone-spell")
  
I moved onto the toast – it was a mixture of marmite and golden syrup...

Luckily she didn't stick around to make sure I ate and drank the toast and tea.

 

In case you are wondering about the safety of Rhiannon (aged 6) boiling a kettle of water – she didn't have to. As electricity in Japan runs at only 100V it would take about a week for an electric kettle to boil. Instead, we have one of these rather fabulous contraptions which dispenses hot water at the press of a button.

A Girls’ Night Out

June 2008

The Tuesday Coffee Morning Girls have decided we need a well-deserved night out on the town. What fun!

Peggy chose the restaurant – a wonderful fish place. To get there, though, was a bit of an adventure. All four of us met in Shibuya then walked. And walked; luckily this is Peggy's stomping ground so knew where we were going. We eventually found ourselves in an old street that, from first impressions, looked quite historical and attractive. Until you realised there were several groups of gaijin men around. Peggy then announced that we were just up the road from a series of the infamous Love Hotels! Never mind; not interested.

We entered a tiny, cramped restaurant that apparently has a fabulous reputation. Sadly, I cannot remember the name now. It is usual here to ask the chef to serve whatever's best on the menu, or a set meal – which is the same thing really.

We started with sashimi that was the best I've ever tasted. The chef gamely tried to tell us what the various fish were, but even though we had our Japanese friend with us, it was hard to translate. It didn't really matter as it was all delicious and melted in the mouth. We had real wasabi too. It came as a fresh root and a small pottery dish with spikes inside. Thank goodness Yoko was with us as she knew what to do and expertly grated the sinus-clearing green condiment.

The restaurant was so small and so cramped that we were sitting almost on top of the neighbouring tables. As is common in Japanese restaurants, all the dishes get delivered to the table as soon as they are cooked. Soon we had to balance plates precariously around us while we ate dish after delectable dish.

Once finished, we extricated ourselves from the overcrowded eatery and headed off somewhere else. Next stop was a very posh bar high above the Shibuya streets. This was where we discovered that Deb was terrified of heights, so we poured a drink down her and left – the place had glass walls, not a good choice from someone with altophobia (apparently this is a word…).

We found another bar – you can't call them pubs as they have a very different 'flavour' and style.

I don't remember much else, apart from Deb and Yoko heading home while Peggy and I were having a deep conversation about the trials and tribulations our children are going through at school (there's bullying - I don't want to write about it just yet). We decided to find somewhere other than the street to talk and quickly found a basement bar which had only just opened, so it was empty.

I got home at 5am and watched the sun come up.

This is something I haven't done for years!

Another School Concert

Wednesday 25^th June 2008

Rhiannon is performing in the end of term school concert. It's held in a theatre near the school.

Taiko starts the show off with a rousing set run by the effervescent Moko-sensei.

Then there's some Irish dancing, a choir and finally my little girl comes on stage with a handful of other kids. This is a pint-sized ensemble of budding violinists going by the name of Fiddlesticks.

Even from far away I could tell Rhiannon was petrified. Later I discovered she'd actually been sick with nerves. (She's 5th from the left with a blue flower in her hair.)

She soon gave up playing the violin as she hated performing so much. What a shame. She still loves to play it – it was just the enforced stage performances she couldn't handle.

Oh, and the practising required to become proficient…