Taking A Break

After almost of month of "guys" traipsing in and out of our house, we have decided to take a break. They will finish painting the upstairs early next week and then we will reclaim our house, if only to find the things that seem to be missing. A random shirt, my camera battery charger and cord (this is why there have been no pictures), etc. These things and more seemed to have fallen into one of the many boxes that have been opened and shut again in the mad search for what we need.

We want to unpack, organize and otherwise feel like this is a home. Which means unpacking books, hanging artwork and maybe even putting down a rug. And you can't do that with guys with heavy, dirty boots walking around - even if they are very considerate and clean up nicely after themselves.

So, the work will go on outside (painting the outside of the house), while we stay in, trying to get any site of cardboard to disappear. We have about two months to deal with the stuff we have before more arrives from the last of our storage facilities. Then, we will start all over again....what joy.

Ouchy

"Don't touch me!!" Ariana screamed at the nurse as she received the third of four vaccinations. Afterwards, walking out with four band-aids and lots of stickers, she looked up at baba san and I and said "that was not fun".

No.

It was not.

Swag

I have welcome swag.
From the Welcome Lady.
Apparently everyone who moves to our lovely little town gets a visit from Dee, a very friendly, very talkative lady who arrives at your house carrying a large picnic basket which she proceeds to unload, covering your table with a seemingly never ending supply of pamphlets, papers, magazines, business cards and gifts from local businesses who want your patronage.

She arrived yesterday just after the electricity went out (a whole other story), so we sat in the dark and heat while she gave us our voter registration cards, told us about parking in town and divulged information on just about every service in town by way of business card or coupon, often accompanied by a recollection of a personal experience with the service.

And gave us lots of refrigerator magnets, which Ariana proceeded to grab.
And a yard stick.
And a cup filled with pens and pencils.
And several jar openers.
And a t-shirt made out of bamboo.
And a packet of seeds.
And a trowel.
And a ruler.
And an empty paint can filled with candy.
And maps.
And a screwdriver.
And a calendar.
And a nail file.
And plant food.
And an ice cream scoop.
And a ruler.
And picture hooks.
And facial cleanser.
And shampoo/conditioner.
And many little notepads.
And a reusable bag for shopping.
And yet another ruler.
And a insulated coffee mug for dog walking or driving into town to visit one of the lovely establishments that have provided us with the one of the aforementioned items.

After reviewing every single piece of information with us over the next hour and a half (during which time the lights came back on) organizing and filing as she went along, she conveniently put all of the coupons into a plastic bag ("to keep in the car so you have them right with you!") and left us to wonder at what we should take advantage of first.

We now have certificates for free dinners at a couple of restaurants, free chocolate (mine!!), free lawn fertilizer, free plants, discounts off of spa treatments (also mine), a big discount at a hardware store (which we may use to buy a generator so we no longer have to suffer when the electricity goes out) free passes to museums and more information than I will ever be able to read.

Our Guys

The roof guy.
The molding guy. Who just happens to be the roof guy and we like him so much that we wish he did everything so we would only need one guy.
But he doesn't.
So, we have the plumber guy.
The tree guy.
The septic tank guy.
The phone guy.
The electric company guy. Who we don't like at all because he turned our electricity off because "I got things to do". (See below)
The cable guy. Actually two cable guys. Because we needed two visits because the office guys are dumb. But the technician guys are not.

It seems when you buy a house, you start collecting guys. Guys who will come to your house, tell you what is wrong (alot) and then tell you how much it is going to cost to fix it (alot).

Or, guys who come to hook something up and then tell you they can't.

Or, the guys that tell you they will be there between 10 and 12 and don't show up until 7.

Or, the guys that tell you they will come and never show up.

Or, bad guy guys who come to the house to turn off your electricity for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON and when you get on the phone with the company, and are put on hold for 15 minutes of torturous phone "music", they tell you they don't have time to wait around and pull the plug on the power.

While you are standing right there.

And then they leave.

Which leads you to spend many, many, many minutes listening to more torturous phone music trying to get someone to come out and fix it. Since you have a well for water, which requires electricity to get it to faucet level, you no longer have running water and because the promised "there by 7 guy" never shows up, you therefore end up spending the night at the house of the only family in town you know. Since they have also just moved in and are still waiting for their stuff to arrive, you are asked to bring your own sheets and towels. Which you think you can do until you realize the ones you have been using are in the washing machine. Which means you have to find more sheets in the hundred or so boxes that are littered around the house. Which means you end up finding the sheets that have been in storage for three years and take them, trying to blot the idea that you will be sleeping on sheets that have not been washed in three years.

Which leads you to wish you were back in Tokyo where these things just don't happen.

The Inquisition

Twice or three times a week, we cross the US - Canadian border. This involves interacting with immigration inspectors who quiz us on a variety of topics. Failure to answer may result in being asked to vacate your car and join them in a little room for, well, I'm not quite sure but I know it wouldn't be pleasant. Some of the guards are more inquisitive than others. So far, this is a sampling of the questions we have had to answer:

what is your citizenship? (this they ask as they are holding our US passports)
where do you live?
where are you going?
how long have you been in Canada (US)?
how long will you be there?
whose car is this?
why do you have your father's car?
does he know you are driving it?
(to Ariana) are these your real parents? (yes, I wanted to reach out of the car and strangle the inspector, who was a young, bright eyed blonde woman, but I didn't want to risk being arrested)
are you carrying anything in the car?
any guns, fireworks or liquor?
where were you born?
where are you staying?
what are your intentions here in Canada?

I can't say the US guards are any worse than the Canadian ones, it's more a question of personalities. Some are very laid back and the others are more militaristic. Either way, I'm always relieved when I make it to the other side.

Summer Vacation

With a very temperamental internet connection, I have decided to take the month off, returning to write when we are in our new house. Have a wonderful July all............

Canada oh Canada

A most confident boatwoman out for a ride with her bubba...........


It really is beautiful up here.

Tess and I take a walk every morning, most days before the others are up. It is so peaceful. We are the only ones on the beach and all we hear is the gentle surf and 'early bird' birds. Except today, there was a large white dog on someones porch who was barking his "good morning". Of course, Tess had to return the greeting.

We are on Lake Erie, in a small colony of about 23 houses. Most have been in families for generations, so most people know each other. The ones that have been recently sold are spoken about with the qualifying "you know, the old (fill in the name here) house". During each walk, I study the houses, the gardens, every detail filed away for when we finally get to our house in CT. There is much to be done and I'm getting ideas. What color to paint the house so as to make the most of our woodsy locale, which flowers to plant in the garden. You see, while not on the beach, we are in the woods, which is where the "not beach side" side of the houses are here.

In fact, the house we are in is not on the beach, but one house away and on every side are trees. As I look out the window, a bunny hops by, amusing both Ariana and Tess.


Ariana flashing for the camera. It is really tough to get a husband, child and dog to look at the camera at the same time......
the view from the beach.....
this is the most crowded it has been - a weekend of course. During the week it is mostly empty.

"mommy, is this our car?"

It surprises me that Ariana isn't more confused than she is. In the past 3 weeks, she has been in three different beds, three different cars, two different countries. First in NY, then in Canada, now in Florida and soon back to Canada for most of the summer until we close on our house.

Our house.

Yes, we found one in CT that we really like. The contract is being worked out now and we hope to close at the end of July. Never in a million years did I think I would be living in a rather rural part of the state. At the start of our search I was adamant about wanting to be able to walk into town and not be dependent on a car. We looked at houses in "walking" communities and all I could think of was how crowded everything seemed. I didn't like the idea of looking straight into my neighbor's house or hearing their conversations.

I wanted space.

I have it.

Every window in our house looks out onto green. There are houses within sight, but far enough away that looking into their windows, or have them look into ours, is impossible. Past the house below us is a beautiful lake where we can keep a boat. It is peaceful. Which is exactly what I want right now.

Living in "the country" will require me to get over my fear of bugs. I am getting good practice up in Canada. When we first arrived, I had to summon baba san to dispose of even the smallest thing. When Ariana cried "there's a bug", I instructed her to put the word "baba" before any such sentence. Now, I am swatting them away with hardly a thought. I barely flinched when I saw a wasp at the pool yesterday, although I did suggest to Ariana that she get in the pool "NOW".

It's progress.

And now, some random pictures .......Ariana with baba san at the Museum of Natural History - Ariana is now officially obsessed with dinosaurs.....




Ariana with her friend Mia............


.....and watching an IPod with her friend Jack.....

On Leaving.............and Returning

It's 3am and here I sit in a hotel in Westchester, waiting to return to a normal sleep cycle. The process will be slowed down by a child who has the unique talent of waking up just as I am about to fall asleep - desiring food, drink, cartoons or just a playmate until she tires again.

I am happy I have flown my last 13 hour flight for a long time. I was in heaven in the Stop n' Shop, being able to read all the labels - a quick trip for some staples ended up being close to an hour as I gazed at all of the products that have been introduced since I left. Being literate is a wonderful thing. We are busy house hunting - the decisions are endless. We can't wait to see our old friends - it has been way too long.

But there is sadness too. Prior to leaving Japan, we had to say goodbye to our friends there. While we intend to keep in touch, the reality is we will lose touch with some - and probably not the ones we wouldn't mind losing touch with. Rather, the ones that were meaningful in some way. I left the women who listened during the last few months of our wait for Ariana; waited impatiently for our return from China; commiserated over the misadventures of potty training; sympathizes over the effects of "one too many" at Karaoke. The friendship were made quickly - and deeply, and I will not see them for a long time. And that is sad.

On the other hand, I am learning to love the east coast all over again, warts and all. I witnessed my first verbal fight on the street today - a male pedestrian and a female driver going at it for all to hear. I will have to get used to the dirty and rumpled dollar bills while fondly remembering the perfectly clean and crisp yen notes in Japan. Where does all of the crumpled money go in Japan? Everyone here is much, much nicer than I remember - perhaps because we are spending most of our time outside NYC.

And English - all the time.

Never Give a Four Year Old a Finger Bowl

During an absolutely delicious and mostly well behaved dinner in the dining room of the grand Fujiya Hotel in Hakone, finger bowls appeared at the table and Ariana thought she would save time by taking two of them without spilling a drop. I think we have a type A multi-tasker on our hands.

As our time in Japan is coming to an end, we decided to finally take a trip to Hakone. Only about an hour and a half from Tokyo, it was one of those places that we kept thinking "we'll go one of these days", but only now had the motivation to go. Despite the raining weather, it was a beautiful trip. After checking in at the hotel, our first stop was the open air museum.

A collection of sculpture placed in a gorgeous park, even the rain couldn't dampen our enjoyment of it all.



And, in typical Japanese style, there was a full supply of umbrellas to borrow if you were lacking one.

With Ariana taking one of her several naps during the day, Baba san did the pushing as we visited a Toy Museum and yes, Ariana woke up just in time to see an amazing collection of old toys.

To see all of Hakone, one must take a train, a tram, a gondola and a boat - Ariana almost missed out on most of the gondola ride, but woke up in time to wave at the others passing in the opposite direction.

And our room - what can we say about the Fujiya Hotel - it was fantastic. Very rustic in an elegant way. They have several different wings with different style rooms - it opened in the late 1800's and has hosted people from all over the world. It is a definite must see if you ever get there.

This was our room, with a great view of the train that passes by. On a single track, it moves slowly enough for you to see the sites - though not into our room as it stops running before dark. I would say I can't wait to go back, but I know that won't be happening for a very long time. In any event, it was a memorable trip.