Kawagoe

First, check Beth's blog for updates on Amanda!

Sunday we took the train to Kawagoe, a nearby Edo-period historical town.

cleaning hands at a shrine entrance

garden of the seven Buddhas

garden of the seven Buddhas

Love

A lot of people have asked lately how the cats are, and how they're getting along. Well, we were a little nervous in the beginning about adopting an "older child" (Doraemon is 12.) But he is a real joy, and oh-so-snuggly.

Doraemon & Ralph

Ralph & Doraemon sleeping beside our bed.

Jeff & Doraemon

A typical scene:

Check the Moxons' blog!

Today is the big day for Beth & Mike, our friends in Tokyo.

Check their blog: Moxon Family

We're so excited for them!

Rumors and Tokyo pics

Rumors are that matching has started, and referrals may arrive next week. All I can say is we may or may not be in.

Here are more photos from my Tokyo adventure:

matcha latte (made with powdered green tea) - delicious!

Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower

Tokyo!

Someone gave me the most perfect weather for what may be one of my last solo adventures for a while.

Kompai!

My friend Beth leaves tomorrow with her husband to meet their daughter. She managed to squeeze me in for a stress-relieving lunch outing in the city. The Expectant Mama

Kompai!!

The Zipliner

Someone was cutting loose in Costa Rica during these freedom months: Florida (Aussie) Fliss!

shizukana (quiet)

Nothing too much to report. Our April 06 LID group people reported these vague nuggets:

• Someone with LID 4/12/06 said "the girl in the matching dept. said we should get a referral in the next month or two." I'm thinking the "girl" was someone from her agency.
• Someone said their agency expects matches around the 27th-ish. That's all I know - see, it's very vague!

Tomorrow I go to Tokyo to see friend Beth who's leaving Friday for China to meet their daughter. We're meeting at Kiddyland, a kitschy kids' store in Harajuku. Then lunch & beer! I'm spending the night at Yoyogi Youth Hostel just for fun and to do some quiet sightseeing.

Jeff is out of town, so the boys will have their robot feeders, and maybe a visit from nice neighbor, Shannon.

My head was spinning today after my lesson with Yukari-sensei (my Japanese tutor.) I'm learning so much! I can really talk with locals more now, and it's nice to make that connection.

tanoshikatta

(It was fun!)

While our husbands worked, Casie & I jumped in the Spacio and hit the countryside. We went to the Daiso (a fun & cheap variety store) and a 100-yen (about $1 per plate) sushi-train restaurant in Ome. Then we drove into the hills, and took a cable car up to Mt. Mitake (Mitake-san.)

Eating at the a kaiten-zushi (conveyer-belt-style) restaurant.

This one was "Koppasushi" in Ome. People also call them sushi trains and sushi-go-rounds.

Casie figured out special ordering. See the little train on right? It zooms out to you with your special order. Casie is "atama ii" (smart.)

Wasabi for sale on Mitake-san


Something yellow & sweet is blooming, even though light snow was falling.



Me & Casie on Mitake-san. On a clear day/night, you can see Tokyo city from here, but the view of the mountains and Mitake Valley is breathtaking enough. Jeff has the GPS, so we winged it on the way home and found ourselves on some rural backroads, but eventually got home. Tanoshikatta, Casie-chan!

Filler

You'd think after 4+ years of waiting for this kid, I'd have everything ready and organized, be an expert on child development, medical care, attachment, etc. I used to imagine leisurely reading in a rocking chair, just learning everything I possibly could about the little munchkins.

The reality is, I have read a lot, asked a lot, observed, babysat, gone to classes, listened to podcasts, acquired baby stuff, put the crib together, filled a suitcase with stuff for the trip. But I still feel disorganized, and at some point we have to just do it. We do have a lot ready. Today Handyman Keith came to install a baby gate at the top of the stairs, secure some furniture (most of our walls our cement, so better to use his drilling skills.) I think traveling to China and a little around Asia has been some of our most important preparation. I'm torn about language - enjoying learning Japanese by immersion (and study), but wanting to learn more Mandarin (then there's the issue of regional Chinese languages & dialects.)

My new friend Yaoyao came over today with her two-year-old daughter. Yaoyao is Chinese, now Chinese-American. She is fluent in Mandarin, English, and Japanese. I liked hearing her positive perspective on adoption from China by foreigners. Best of all, her daughter is adorable, and got along very well with Doraemon & Ralph.

Groceries. Middle-right in the orange & red package is "kaki pi." When I tell my off-base friends "Kaki pi ga daisuki desu" (they're my favorite), the jubilant response is always "good with beer!"

Ralph scoping out the fridge.

Our tracking calendar

Bowling with my tomodachi (friends)

Bottom line: getting ready and organized, but having "relax time" too!

onsen wa nani desu ka?

What is an onsen?
It's one of Japan's best experiences!
Today 2 friends and I went to Moegi-no-yu onsen in nearby Okutama.
An onsen is a natural hot spring. Think about all the mountains in Japan and the seismic activity that created them (friction, tectonic plates, lava, volcanoes..... a lot of hot water is the result!)

This is one of the outdoor baths at Moegi-no-yu. It's on a mountainside and overlooks the Tama River valley. Before getting in the hot spring, one has to strip naked and take a thorough shower in a large room. No swimsuits or clothes are allowed in the onsen. It sounds intimidating, but it's really wonderful and relaxing. Different onsens have specific mineral contents and pH, so they have various "medicinal" properties. My friends & I had a fun time talking and turning into big prunes. Most onsens have separate baths for men and women.

The yellow spot on this map is Okutama. It's an hour drive from Yokota. Tokyo city is the busy-looking area north of the bay. Yokota is between Tokyo city and Okutama. We really have the best of both worlds here in Tokyo Prefecture: big city to the east and tranquil mountains to the west.

Moegi-no-yu

Haiti and the adoption community

There's a lot of talk in adoption communities about the earthquake in Haiti. From what I understand, when families adopt children from Haiti, they are matched with a child, then it might take a long time to actually bring the child home.

Some of those Haitian orphans who are matched with families abroad are being evacuated to safety. I don't know all the details, but have read a few personal stories on internet groups. Some of the children are missing (or were taken back by the birth parents, who want them to be safe.)

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those - adults, children, and animals - affected by the earthquake.

A related topic is "how many children will ultimately be orphaned" after the dust settles. Of course people want to help, and many people want to adopt. However, it's very complicated. From my observation over the years, it all boils down to two questions:

1. Is the child truly an orphan? Imagine you are the birth parents who were separated from your child in such a disaster. Maybe at the time you couldn't do much. But later you could search for the child, and the child had been adopted abroad.

2. Is the adoptive family trustworthy? How thoroughly have they been checked out, and what are their motives for adopting? Do they really have the resources and stability to support this child? Have they thought it through?

And of course, does the child want to be adopted (if old enough to decide)? Are adoption laws and procedures in place for both the orphan's country and adoptive family's country? How cooperative are these countries (how much red tape)? How does the orphan's culture view adoption, especially transracial adoption by foreigners? Are corruption, bribery, and child trafficking very common?

So it's not as simple as swooping in to rescue a needy child. That's the case in any type of adoption.

The Disneymoon

We had a 3-day weekend, and got a good last-minute hotel deal at Tokyo Disney. It's about two hours away by train. The resort has two parks: Disneyland and Disneysea. We chose Disneysea. It's not a waterpark, but has a nautical theme. Our favorite part is Mermaid Lagoon:

This is the top of Triton's Kingdom, an "underwater" cave with Jumpin' Jellyfish, Blowfish Balloon Race, Ariel's Playground, a Little Mermaid live show, etc.

Tiny riders on Scuttle's Scooters


Descending to the Center of the Earth (a.k.a getting spit out of a volcano!)

shizen (nature)

A few sunny mornings ago, I was walking in our neighborhood and took these photos.

Fuji-san

ki (trees)

yashi (palm trees)

The kids at this house told us a worker truck backed into the tilted one.

I hope they don't remove it.

We're happy to have palm trees here, but don't be fooled: it still gets cold!

By April, this street behind our house will look like this:

Can't wait for Hanami (blossom viewing season)!

Culture Group

I belong to the Tokyo Culture Group (TCG.) We are a small, informal group of Japanese and Yokota ladies. We get together once a month. Yesterday, the Japanese ladies hosted us in Tokyo city. We got to make paper at a paper museum, had a Chinese lunch, rode the last cable car left in Tokyo to Setsuko's house, and enjoyed casual tea ceremony and new year's games there.

Setsuko, Casie, Toshiko, and Pat

Kumiko, Ann, and Pat playing New Year games. We played a Doraemon boardgame, oji & hime (prince & princess) card game, and Fukuwarai (put the face together) game.

Ann playing Fukuwarai. The face sometimes turns out funny.

A perfect cup of foamy green tea. Setsuko has a special tea ceremony room in her house. She and her friend Hisako are well-educated in tea ceremony. You get to eat an o-kashi (beautiful sweet treat) before drinking to complement the tea's bitterness. The ceremony is calming, and the tea is delicious.

Setsuko loves music. She sings classical and opera music. Apparently, she has a soft spot for hippos, too.

Mochitsuki

My friend Tomoko invited me to mochitsuki at her son's school. It's a process of pounding cooked rice into a big glutinous ball, pulling it apart into smaller balls, then rolling them with flavors for a snack called mochi.

Rolling the mochi balls. Anko (sweet red bean paste) is in the pot.

Finished mochi flavors: soy sauce & seaweed, anko, and kinako (soy bean powder & sugar)
Below: pounding the rice. The mallet was heavy. Each child got to pound the rice 5 times.

Tomoko serving rice the children grew themselves.
Good okasan! (mother)

Afterward, I visited my friends at Maple English School and got this view of Fuji-san.

Shin-nen kai

My friend Cameron teaches English to a fun group of ladies, and I've subbed for her a couple times. They treated us to a Shin-nen Kai (New Year's party) at a fancy hotel. We had a multi-course traditional Japanese meal in a tatami room, followed by dressing in kimono and singing karaoke. During lunch, snow fell in the garden outside our tatami room.

Sashimi course. There was plenty more food than this, but this struck me as the prettiest (and most delicious.)

Cameron and me in kimono. They're complicated to put on. A kimono expert even came to help the ladies dress us.


This kimono and obi (silver waist tie) belongs to one of the ladies, and I got to wear it for the day.

Beautiful ladies

Gettin' jiggy in the karaoke room! Cameron could sing some Japanese songs. I sang "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." They sang many older Japanese love songs, as well as some dance beats.

It was a magical day.

Why the FAQs?

Because

1. People want to know. Believe me, it's been 4 years of wanting to share our excitement about adopting, but knowing that it opens the floodgates for questions. Most people are genuinely interested in how this adoption works and when it will happen. The FAQs are to help answer those questions.
2. People deserve to know. Especially my close girlfriends who want to talk openly about conception, pregnancy, fertility, adoption, birth control, etc. I find it's better to be up front than to have friends tip-toeing around topics of pregnancy and such. Maybe you have to be a woman to understand this. Plus, as a scientist and healthcare worker, I am so interested in all those things, too.
3. To be honest, it makes me uncomfortable to have people wondering about our reproductive organs. I'd rather they just know we really want to adopt our child.
4. I don't want people to feel sorry for us. Our decision to adopt is a happy one! I think most everyone who adopts would say the same thing. And if it never works out, we know we are successful cat parents. They give us so much joy. Hey, there could even be dogs in our future (if we're lucky.)

shumatsu (weekend)

Saturday, we drove into the mountains (toward Mt. Fuji), then visited Aeon Hinode Mall. This mall isn't far from Yokota. We like the 3rd floor food court for its view of mountains and Tokyo Summerland (water amusement park.) It also has a fun kids' play area.

My favorite adventure partner

Jeff at the Doraemon preschool in Hinode Mall. Doraemon is the blue cartoon character. He's a robotic cat sent from the future to help a boy named Nobita. He has no ears because a mouse chewed them off. He pulls out magic gadgets from his belly pocket to help Nobita. It's a great cartoon.

Fake food in the "Gourmet Museum" (restaurant row in the mall)

Sunday, the Okano family came to see us from Chiba (near Tokyo Disneyland.) They helped us with our Japanese, and we showed them American living. They also helped explain some of the Japanese cartoons and educational posters we have around the house. We had lunch at Yokota Chili's. Domo Arigato, Okano family!