Wild Boar Scare

I had a wild boar scare today! I heard glass and cans rattling and clinking outside my kitchen window around lunch time. At first I thought it was a workman next door, but it seemed so close! I decided it might be one of the gigantic black birds( similar to a crow, only enormous) pecking at my recycling bag. I went out the door and around the corner but saw the hind quarters of a mammal coming out of the bag instead of a bird body! I quickly turned around and scooted Gil into the house and closed the door. I grabbed my camera which was in my back pocket and snapped a couple photos of the creature as it tried to extricate itself from my recycling bag. It was clearly NOT a wild boar. But what was it? It did not appear to be aggressive as I shooed it out of my garden. It climbed through the fence and ambled across the street to the neighbor's and I lost sight of it. Later, some people brought my new car over and explained it all to me through a translator, after which, I showed them the photos and asked if they knew what it was. They said a 'racoon dog', but noone could explain why it was hairy in back and seemed bald in front. They thought perhaps it was ill. I will keep an out for such creatures in the future and thank my lucky stars it wasn't a wild boar!

Sake Breweries

I'll give you a little break on the signs, although I've got a lot of them stocked up. Just wanted to let you know that we made it down to Nada, the famous area for sake breweries. We stopped in at 2 of them, for a tasting. Some is good and some is not so good. Got a full explanation on how the rice is polished etc... The one that I like (Which also happens to be the cheapest! who knew?)was sweet, I can't remember the name, but the guy said that its good for digestion and anti-aging. There you go! I guess I'll have to get on a sake regime for health. No wonder the Japanese live so long! Here's a photo at one of the breweries and a photo of the Hubb walking through an underground tunnel to get across the road. Thank goodness this was before we did all the sake tasting!

Fun With Signs 6

I promise this will be the last of the signs having to do with dogs........unless I come across something fabulous! The first 2 were on the streets. The last one was on the street, but directly in front of a little pizza shop. Obviously I can tell what it means, but I thought you'd get a kick out of it!

Fun With Signs 5 / Ikebana

I had my first ikebana class yesterday and came home with 2 arrangements, both of which will look better once the flowers have opened. The first is cherry blossoms and the 2nd is flowers. The sensei is a sweet little, older Japanese lady with pretty good english. Once you have your ears tuned in to the accent she's easy to understand; but it does take some concentration.

For sign 5, this was found alongside a street. Any guesses?

Fun With Signs 4

This is the last of my sign photos, unless I take some more today. This sign is found all over the area, alongside the streets. In fact this particular one was just a few yards away from the "cat napping on a silk pillow" one.

I'm also trying to photograph some of the clothes with things written in english on them. They don't seem to care if the words go together or make any sense, as you will see. I'll start to post them soon. Today is my first ikebana class. I'll post a photo of my arrangement, good or bad.

Fun With Signs 3

I took this one at night, might be why its kind of blurry. The building behind it is a grocery store. Alongside the building, between it and the street is a concrete sort of stream/ditch. There is often water running/trickling down it from the mountain and apparently it fills up during the rainy season (although its pretty much dry right now). There is a tall railing so that you can't fall into it. The sign is on the railing. Your thoughts?

Fun With Signs 2

Sorry this one came out sideways. I don't know how to change it once its on there. Anyway, this sign was on the side of the street, on a small tree with bushes around it. What's your guess?

Fun with Signs 1

I'm starting a new feature, I think it'll be fun. I've been taking photos of various things while I'm out and I've got a small collection of sign photos. I'll post a photo of a sign and you can give your interpretation of the meaning. I've got my own ideas, but I'd like to hear yours. The first is a sign outside a little park. It has no grass(none do as far as I can tell), only sand. It has a slide and maybe a swing. Mothers and toddlers seem to hang out there during the day. Give me your thoughts as to its meaning. (I don't know if you can tell, but the dog is crying.)

Command Center

Just thought I'd show you what my command center looks like. When you read about me not knowing how my phone works, or not being able to open the front gate or whatever, you'll now know what I'm dealing with. I tried to do a photo by night, because its so spectacular when its all lit up, but I don't think its going to come out very well.

PS We aren't homeowners anymore.

Domestic News

Well, the domestic help was here from 9am to 5pm. She cleaned alot of stuff and ironed every one of my husband's shirts (winter as well as summer wear). Gilbert really fancies her. He was able to jump up level with her face! She doesn't come cheap, however. She says she is also able to take care of the kids or Gil while we're away. I guess that could come in handy, Gil wouldn't have to go to a kennel. But...we'll see.
I drove by myself yesterday. No problem. I signed up for an ikebana class at the community center and will be volunteering there now, for a few hours every other week. I go for training tomorrow.
We bought a tv this past weekend. Had to pay with cash as we don't have a credit card yet. Have you ever had such a wad of cash that it would not fit in your wallet or pants pocket? Not to worry its all gone now! I've never lived any where, where the money just flew out of your possession so quickly. I guess its because everything is sooo expensive. They say we'll get used to it, but I don't think so.
Met one family of neighbors on Saturday. Very nice. The guy works at Nestle. They gave us some chocolate. Yum! Yum!
Thanks to everyone for your comments and e-mails. Its wonderful to hear from friends and loved ones far away and to catch up on the news.
I'll write more later when something happens. I've vowed not to go out of the house today so that I don't spend any money! Expecting it to be pretty quiet and boring.

Settled at Last

Sorry it took so long, but all boxes have been opened and almost everything is in its place. I'll include 2 photos. The first is from the living room looking towards the dining room and front hall. The other from the laundry room towards the kitchen and nook area. (The bedrooms aren't quite ready for photography yet.) 2 things arrived broken (bird bath and glass shelf) and 1 bike is missing a piece that holds the front wheel together. Several items that were marked for storage have made their way to Japan and some things that I wanted to bring here are not here. Hopefully they are in storage and not lost!

The first week of school has been a smashing success for both kids. They like everything about it! From the classes, to the teachers, to the food and the friends. The girl even went to a sleepover this weekend! This is going to be great for them. They really thrive in an international school situation. Its just so much nicer and welcoming and friendly, than the school system they came from. Nobody gets bullied or picked on or left out.

My domestic help starts tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes.

We're in! School tomorrow!

Yes, you heard right! The kids are in! They'll get on the bus tomorrow morning and spend the day at school! The boy is anxious to go, the girl is a bit more apprehensive. Everyone at the school was very nice and helpful. I think they're really going to like it. Its not quite as big or modern or plush as they've been to before, but they'll do well. Its going to be great.
Another exciting thing happening tomorrow is the arrival of my sea shipment! They are to come early tomorrow morning to take away the rental furn. and a couple hours later our things will be delivered. That should keep me busy for awhile. It'll be nice to have our own beds to sleep in! And enough cooking utensils to actually make something from scratch! It'll be interesting to see how they get the stuff in and up the stairs etc... Maybe I can get some house photos posted soon. Let me know how it was, getting back to work/school after the break.

Osaka

Yesterday we thought we'd like to explore Osaka. So we bought tickets to the end of the line at the train station and waited to see where we ended up. Luckily, it was Osaka. After a brief stop at the Hilton hotel for a potty break (check out photo) and tourist map, we set off for the science museum. It was a nice museum, plenty of interactive exhibits. I think everyone enjoyed it. Had lunch at a Japanese restaurant called the Organic Tomato. It was good and the waitress was extremely nice and helpful. She new a little english and we were able to order meals that were very tasty. Afterwards, we happened onto another shrine, open for the new year holiday. This time we noticed that some of the fortunes tied to trees were in english, so we discovered how to get them and we each got our fortune. The boy's and mine were good, hubby's was so-so and the girl's wasn't good at all. So she spent some money at the cow statue in hopes of changing her luck.(see photo)Today we decided to split them up, so the girl and I went shopping (again) and the boys went to the top of the mountain.(photo) Later, we took Gil for a walk. (photo)

Cleaning Slippers

Maybe they had these in the states, but we'd never seen them before. We got them for the kids. They can clean the floors while walking around. Genius idea!

ZOO

Went to the local zoo yesterday. Very interesting. Got to see some unique animals, ones you don't see in every zoo, like pandas, koalas, gorillas and a host of smaller monkeys. However, some things made me a little sad. For instance, many of the enclosures seemed sort of the old fashioned, cement jail cell type. Too small and nothing like the animal's natural habitat. Some of the enclosures were more modern. Perhaps they're in the process of updating them, slowly. Also,many of the animals from warmer climates were shivering or huddled together for warmth.(at least that's what it looked like to me) And lastly, the meat eating animals looked terribly under weight. You could see their ribs and their sides were sunken in. They were all pacing furiously from one end of their cell or habitat to the other. Maybe it was feeding time. I thought that maybe with all the wild boar running rampant through the area, they could catch them and feed them to the animals! Also interesting from a safety standpoint, was how little security there seemed to be. We were very close to some of the animals and it seemed as though if one wanted to, it could climb right out of the tiny, dry moat that surrounded it. And the petting area only had one gate at the entrance & exit. Not the double gates that we're used to. Maybe we're just used to over doing things. Too much emphasis on safety, comfort and food!p.s. The koala photo is side ways.

Bread, Syrup and Wild Boars

Just a few quick, interesting tidbits here. First off, apparently there are wild boar roaming loose in our area. We have to be careful when putting out the trash and recycling. There is a blue net they put over it so the boar can't get in. They have been getting into people's gardens and tearing them up. In the park there is this sign. It appears to be a boy getting surrounded by wild boars and another kid shouting something like "Hey, there is a couple of boars surrounding you". I always keep an eye out for them.
The next interesting grocery item is a loaf of bread. You never have to worry about it getting moldy before you can use it up. It only consists of 6 slices!
And lastly, this cute little bottle of syrup! Its got a cute mommy bunny carrying a cake. There was a box of pancake mix in our air shipment, so I bought this bottle of syrup down at the grocery to go with the cakes. It was next to some expensive bottles of pure maple syrup, so I decided to go for the knock off bottle that was a little cheaper and had the cute bunny. Got our pancakes cooked up ready to pour on the syrup and low and behold, its some kind of whiskey!! Now I ask you, what kind of whiskey is in a cute little bottle like this?
Go figure!

Driving and shopping

As you know from an earlier post, there is a car in the garage. (We had thought we would probably use it only on trips into the country or far away.) As you may or may not know, the Japanese drive on the opposite side of the road that we Americans drive on. And the whole car is backwards. However, I'm determined to master it. Since I get up alot earlier than your average citizen here, I decided to get out early and practice driving before there were many others out on the roads too. The first day, I just sat in the car in the garage. The 2nd day, I actually pulled to the end of the drive and backed back in. The next day I went to the end of our street. Finally My husband got up with me and I got out on an actual road. Hard to remember to keep to the left and pull way out to the middle when making a right turn. And some of the streets are exceptionally small. I almost always turned on the wipers every time I tried to put on my blinker to make a turn. And I'm still not sure which mirror to look out of to see what I want out that the back or to the sides. But with my hubby's help, I drove around in circles for about an hour and was feeling pretty good about it. This morning we decided to try to get to the school. I had to get out on some pretty big streets and bridges with lots of lane changes and other cars coming in from the sides. Luckily traffic was light due to the early hour and the holiday and I did pretty well. We found the school and it seems pretty easy to get to. I think with a little more practice I'll be able to do okay. I just wish I had some little old beat up car instead of a nice van. I'd be alot more comfortable. Oh well.
Also today, we took the train down to the big shopping area. Today is supposed to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year; equivalent to the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas back home. The amount of people out was incredible. I tried to get some photos, but its hard to see the hordes. Thre were lots of sales and many places had 'Happy Bags' for sale; A sealed bag with a price on it. I guess you don't know whats inside until you buy it and look inside. Although we did see some people sneaking a peek in some places and at others, people were blatantly opening them and looking inside. I bought one but haven't opened it yet. I'm saving that for something to do later. I'll let you know if it was anything good. (P.S. This is the small world clock on the Sogo building. On the hour it opens to reveal the puppets and plays the 'Its a small world' song. This only enhances our feelings that we must be living in Disney World-where everything is cute and nice and the prices are sky high!)