Bed Time Songs

Every night at bed time we read a few stories and then sing songs. Sara is becoming much more involved in our bed time routine. I hope you enjoy the kids singing some of their favorite bedtime songs.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Row Row Row Your Boat

Oscar Mayer

The Bear Song (RJ made this song up for Sara because she would ask to sing the Bear song and we did not know one. She loves to dance while he sings it for her.)

Yes I realize I have been posting a lot this week. I am off from school for winter break and I feel like posting more. I hope you have enjoyed the updates. Once my parents arrive tomorrow (December 29th), I may not blog until after they leave, it depends on how tired I am at night.

RJ or Francis??

Every night when Daddy finishes bath time, he combs RJ's hair. But there is always more to it that just combing it (those of us that know Mitch, understand what I mean when I say that there is more to it). He asks RJ "who do you want to be tonight?" Sometimes it is Tucker (that means the front of his hair is spiky) or Jono (one of our Australian friends who recently went home who wears his hair all messy like. One evening he said he wanted his hair to look like Francis. Hope you enjoy the video.

My Attempt at Ikebana

I have made a go at a new hobby..Ikebana. Ikebana is a Japanese art of flower arranging. I forget the name of the school of thought I am learning, but it is a lot of fun. There is a formula to the design which includes lots of angles, triangles and measurements. It is right up my alley.

For my first class (I go twice a month with my friend Sara), I had not purchased my bowl yet, so I had to use a mixing bowl from the kitchen. The flowers were pretty, but I knew I had to get my bowl.

This is my New Year's Arrangement. The New Year holiday is very important here in Japan. Jan 1-3 is a holiday from work. Everyone goes to the temple at sunrise on New Year's Day to pray and ring the temple bell 108 times. My flower arrangement has 5 yellow round flowers which symbolize the rays of sunshine. Sorry you can't see them all, the flowers are now in the entry hallway so that they do not die from the heaters in the house, so there wasn't enough room to stand back far enough to capture all of it. It is fun to greet our guests with the pretty flowers right by the door.

This is a close up of some of the flowers. I do not know their name, but I thought they were interesting looking.

What a Wonderful Surprise

I came home from work today (watching my favorite Christmas movie "Miracle on 34th Street" and having a discussion with our Japanese students from the local area) and found a large box on the table. I said to Mitch "oh, did you get another package today?" He said "No, it has your name on it." I was so excited!!! My wonderful friend Sheri (whom I have known since my softball days of high school) sent ME a care package. So of course I had to tear right into it (who cares that daddy had lunch ready). She sent some wonderful things!!! Flavored rice (we eat plain white rice A LOT), cake mix, muffin mix, goldfish, Oreos, fruit by the foot, animal crackers, biscuit mix, pancake mix, Hersey Kisses and M&Ms, Grips, and a pooping penguin (yes, I do plan to share with the kids) and some candy canes.

This is all the fun stuff we have to eat now!! And RJ is proudly showing off the pooping penguin.
THANK YOU SHERI!!!

Sara being Sara

We have these mesh baskets that we use to sort our dirty laundry and they are kept in the wash room. Well, Sara decided to empty one and bring it into the living room and play in it. I thought you all might get a kick out of seeing it so here are the pictures I took.

She was very excited about her new toy and liked having her picture taken.

寿司 vs 刺身 (Sushi vs. Sashimi)

Well, I finally did it....I tried some traditional Japanese food. Now before we get into exactly what I ate, lets have a vocabulary lesson. Sushi is a Japanese dish made of vinegared rice with a topping (fish, egg, shrimp). Sashimi is raw fish. Now you are wondering which did I have to eat....Sashimi.

It is traditional to have a End of Year party with the staff of your school. The cost was 8000 yen per person (which is about $75). I figured it was be good for me to attend so I paid up and waiting for the big day (Friday, December 7th). The day before I was invited out to lunch with one of my co workers Keiko and her friend (the students were taking finals so they had half day and so the lunch hour was a bit longer than usual). She told me we were going to a Japanese sushi restaurant but at lunch time they served a set lunch. I figured that was ok. Then she asked me what I was going to do if they were serving raw fish. "I guess I can try it" hoping that they were serving cooked fish that day. So when we got there, Keiko asked what was being served and they said Salmon (I of course asked, "is it cooked" and the ladies assured me it was. Thank God). Let's just say I tried sashimi that day and it was ok.

Now back to the end of the year party...I was so glad that I had tried sashimi before arriving....

This was the first course. It was at my seat when I arrived. Not too bad I thought. Starting on the left we have dipping sauce (soy sauce). Then we have cab meat with miso sauce on green vegetables. next is shrimp (cooked), a yellow vegetable, 2 different kinds of cheese, and greenery. Next was a gelatin with some fish in it. And in front was some tofu with wasabi and something pink. I did eat or at least tried all of it.

On to the second course. Shrimp (cooked but the head and legs are still on it), tuna and snapper (noticed I didn't say they were cooked). So I put a lot of wasabi in the soy sauce and started dipping the fish. I have to say it wasn't all that bad. I was expecting slimy, chewy things and it was tender and edible. Now don't get me wrong, I won' be ordering it in a restaurant because I didn't think it had much flavor, but it was ok. The tuna was better than the snapper.

What was left of my second course. Everyone at my table was watching me to see if I was going to eat the sashimi. It was quite comical.

Third course - oyster with miso and uzo sauce, white fish (cooked), slice of tuna (raw) and the little round brown thing is a Japanese potato. Not bad. I gave the oyster away but ate the other food.

On to the fourth course (I was wondering the same thing, how many courses will there be??) This had to be the most disgusting dish I have ever laid eyes on (worse than the pie floaters my mom said I had to eat in Australia) Let's start at the bottom. I think that was some sort of tofu. It didn't have much taste, but I ate it. The brown thing was a mushroom, not bad. The pink thing was fish (snapper I think) in a vinegar sauce, pretty good. The white things on top were onions (I am learning to eat and like raw onions - are you happy G-Papa). Now on to that blob sitting in the lower left part of my bowl. It is the intestines of some fish. I had no interest in eating it. But I am sure it was a hot topic at all the other tables (is the American going to eat it?) So over walks one of the young male teachers whom I play badminton with during testing days. And it seems that he wants me to eat this thing (although when he first asked it came out, "I want to eat you"). So then we have a long conversation and he gets me to cut it in half. Then he says he will eat 1 and I will eat 2. So I said you eat 1 & 2. Eventually I end up eating a small portion of one half and he ate the rest. But that wasn't the end of it, he came back over with his and wanted me to eat it...I said no way!!! It was quite hilarious.

Here are all the drinks I was nursing while eating all of these new foods. (I am sure Rosa Leigh is enjoying reading this blog much more than I am writing it). In Japan you are not allowed to pour your own drink. Which I think translates into you can't order your own drink either. So we start off with beer and someone fills my glass, not knowing that I don't care for beer. Then when I am not drinking it, they start asking me what I like to drink (sake, sho chu?) I said I would like some Sho chu. So they brought me a glass of sho chu and water....I was hoping for a fruit drink mix. So then I figured out that the place had orange juice so I get someone to order me a sho chu with orange juice. Much better. Then they figure out that I like this drink and several of the teachers brought me one. I think I ended up drinking 4 of them. Not bad for my first Japanese Drinking Party (that is what they call them here).

Now back to the food....The 5th course arrives and I am in heaven. BEEF!!! And it is cooked!!! Very tender and delicious. It was served with a few small vegetables. I ate this course very slowly as to savor all of it!!

On to the 6th course (no, it still has not stopped). This is sushi. The topping is crab meat (cooked), salmon (not cooked) and some fish eggs. I manged to eat everything except the eggs...I think I am getting use to sashimi....

By now I was very full, but then they brought out a dessert plate. Very small portions here in Japan which is very nice because then you can sample a lot of different things and not eat too much. We had a slice of pink grapefruit, a strawberry and a small slice of cake (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) Oishii! (that means delicious in Japanese). And as a piece offering, the young man who got me to eat the fish intestines brought me his dessert plate. I couldn't eat anymore so I told him he could enjoy it.

These were some of the ladies who I sat with for dinner. Keiko is the lady in blue. She kindly lent my family her small Christmas tree so that kids would feel like it was more like Christmas. The lady sitting to her left (your right), Miya, works in the office at my high school. She often helps me in the copy room when the machine gives me an error. She very fun to talk to and she has been reading my blog lately.

These two guys are the life of the party. The one on the left is the young man who offered me his dessert plate. The gentleman on the right organized this years party. He asked me to give a short speech at the beginning of the party so he gave me a Santa hat as a gift.

All functions in Japan have a set beginning and ending time. So as the party came to a close, it is traditional at our high school for all the teachers to stand together in a large circle and sing the school song.

I had a great time at the End of Year party. I look forward to another party with this group of teachers.

My Birthday Celebration Continues

I am so excited to be living in a foreign country for my birthday. Why you ask? Because my wonderful Husband waited to the last minute (as usual) to get my presents and had to order online so they keep showing up a little at a time each day. I am in book heaven. So far I have received My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, The Notebook, The Pact, Everyone Worth Knowing, and Anybody Out There. He says that there might be a few more showing up. Plus my mother-in-law sent me the current copy of Lonely Planet - Japan so now we can travel in style here in Japan. I received a beautiful scarf from a co worker and one of my students (a 3rd grader) gave me an origami book with the instructions in English and Japanese. Guess what you are all getting for sovereigns :-) I have received a couple of cards as well. My mother has made and will bring with her some skirts for me to wear this coming spring/summer for the hot sticky days. Life as a 34 year old in Japan is good!!

RJ's Acting and Singing Debut

RJ's school had their Christmas party today (Sunday, Dec 16th) and there were several performances. His group was the first. I apologize in advance if this blog entry is too long. I decided to only load the videos where RJ is actually involved. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did. I actually had a few tears in my eyes as I noticed my little boy growing up. We were so proud of him for performing. He did get a bit nervous when the audience started clapping, but he pulled himself together for a great finish.

This is the narrator introducing the play.

This is RJ's solo.

After RJ sang, his wife, Karen, reads his letter and sings "White Christmas". Then mom passes the letter on to one of the kids who reads it and sings "I'll be home for Christmas". Then more of the kids get up and sing "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

Then some more kids sang "Santa Claus is coming to town."

Then Mom, Dad and all 8 kids sang the National Christmas anthem of Japan "All I want for Christmas is you".

Then they leave the stage.

For those of you wondering about Sara, here is her debut....Apparently she isn't into public performances...yet.

December's 12 on 12

For those of you waiting, here is my December's 12 on 12. They are in no particular order, just some random pictures I took.

The way the school system works here, the students pretty much stay in the same classroom all day unless they have a special class to go to (like mine). They do not have lockers to put their things in so all of the stuff stays at their desk all day long. Of course on exam days, the stuff is all out in the hallways. So this is what the typical classroom looks like.

Pizza is popular here in Japan, but be careful what you order. Their idea of toppings can be a bit different than ours. This is a local Pizza Hut. Yes, they do have delivery service, however they ride scooters to deliver.

Walking into school one day I noticed that there was something up on the 3rd floor. So on my way to class I diverted my path to the 3rd floor and found these incredible pieces of art work that the 1st grade students had done in art class. They are not full size masks, but I thought they were incredible the amount of detail some of them had.

Do you see what I see? There is a student standing outside on the window ledge on the second floor. This is very common during cleaning times. Once a month they have long cleaning days and you can find many students outside washing the windows...only in Japan

Do you remember my piece on parking in Japan, well here is an addition to that segment. I hope the owner of the mini van leaves on a regular basis otherwise that car is not going anywhere (actually Mitch and I think they must be from the same apartment, how else would that work out)

This is the local drug store just down the street from our apartment. RJ loves when we have to go there to buy toliet paper and stuff because the owner always gives him and Sara some fun band aids.

This is the bakery that is just outside our apartment building. In my first couple of days in Himeji, Sara (teacher Sara) and I would go there looking for breakfast. We came across some interesting things such as pizza bread and hot dog rolls. I do have to say they tasted ok, but now that we know where the grocery store is we have not gone back into that bakery.

This is the shower/tub room. Why are all of our clothes hanging in there? You see, this is also our dryer. On warm days, Mitch is able to hang our clothes out side to dry but now that the days are shorter and colder, we have to dry inside. Hope no one wants to take a bath during the middle of wash day...

Twice a month Mitch gets to take our "large garbage" across the street and sort it out. I had planned to take a closer picture on the morning of "large garbage" but I was afraid of the garbage police that were standing guard. Throughout my morning walk I see many different areas that are for "large garbage" collection days and the signs are all in Japanese only. But in our neighborhood, there is an English translation just for us Shirasagi residence. I guess they got tried of having to resort for all of us because we couldn't read the signs.

This is the local gas station. It sits just across the street from the taxi stand that is oh so helpful for giving directions to our apartment. In case you can't see it, the price for regular unleaded is 165 yen. That is for one liter and there are basically 4 liters in one gallon...no quit complaining about gas prices :-)

These are the stairs that lead up to the park that is near our home that RJ and Sara enjoy going to to play on the spinning pumpkin. There are the same stairs you saw earlier in the "large garbage" picture. Daddy helps Sara climb these stairs as they are very steep.

This is a picture that I took from the front door of our apartment looking north east. I took it because there is a "river" of homes that goes up through the mountain pass there in the middle of the picture. I know it is hard to see, but I just can't help think that that is a water way of some kind and someday something bad is going to happen to all those homes.

Stay tuned for next months. Hopefully it will include some things that we find while traving with my parents who will be visiting us from Dec 29 - Jan 4th. And don't worry I haven't forgotten about the sign test, I just want to make sure I know all the correct answers before I post it.

Birthday Celebration

It seems that my birthday has started a bit early this year. On Tuesday, I received a package from my friend Tracy. She graciously agreed to send me some things I am missing as well as a few things for the kids for Christmas. A box of Bisquick was at the top of my list and the highlight of my week. She also included some packets of Hot Apple Cider mix and hot chocolate with mini marshmellows. I am in heaven as I sit here enjoying my drink. And hopefully Mitch will make the much anticipated sausage gravy and biscuits for me for breakfast SOON!

On Tuesday night, Mitch and I got a babysitter (actually 2, thanks Heather and Sara) and we headed out to dinner and off to Kobe. Every year since the big earthquake in 1995 which killed 6000 people, the city of Kobe has had a lights display (luminaries). It was very beautiful to see and experience this event. Mitch will write more about it on his blog.

The highlight of the night for me was finding a bottle of Pepsi. You see in Himeji, even though there are vending machines on every street corner, there is no regular Pepsi. They have Pepsi Twist or Pepsi Nex. But no regualr Pepsi. Those of you who know how much I don't like Coke can appreciate how wonderful it was to find a bottle of Pepsi. Now to clarify, I have had regular Pepsi since I have been here. There are a couple of resturants that have 'drink bars' and they have Pepsi, but when you just want a Pepsi, you don't want to have to drag your whole family off to a resturant. I was thinking of asking my mom to bring me a couple of bottles with her when she comes, but then Mitch had to go and ruin it for me by reminding me that she can't carry more than 3oz of fluids in her carry on luggage. So you can imagine the delight when walking around all the vendors in Kobe and coming across a bottle of regular Pepsi. I only got 1 bottle as it was 300yen (about $3) for a 20oz size bottle。And yes I am saving it for that one night when I really want a Pepsi and I don't want to have to drag my family off to a resturant.

The flowers in the picture are from my classes at Shogai University. One class had a end of year party/birthday party for me on Wednesday and gave me the beautiful flowers. My other class presented me with the wonderful plants (the one on the right) along with a couple of gifts for the children for my birthday/Christmas. I felt very honored that they did this for me.

We are back!!!

For those of you wondering why there have not been new updates to this blog or Mitch's, rest assured, we are back. We had some technical difficulties but we are back on line. So feel free to give us a call whenever (you can leave a message if we are sleeping) and be sure to check back soon for more blog entries.

Have a great week!

All Bundled Up

Today, I made it home just as Mitch and the kids were pulling up on their bike from RJ's school. The first words out of RJ's mouth (as usual) "Can we rides our bikes Mommy!!??!!"Since the sun was still up and Daddy hadn't started dinner yet, I had no choice but to say yes.

Once they were on their bikes, I had to take some pictures. They were all bundled up because it is quite cold here already, but that did not stop them from riding their bikes. I know I am their mother, but aren't they so cute!!!

Sara's Show

Some people have been asking if Sara is talking yet, so I took a video of what she can do. So with no further ado......

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hammes Family in Himeji, Japan. The kids received new outfits from Grandpa Pat so we dressed them up and headed out for dinner.

I hope this blog finds everyone happy and healthy for Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all my family and friends, especially those that have called or written since we vanished off the planet USA.

We really are having a great time here in Japan, but we do miss everyone and the comforts of home. Luckily there is a wonderful restaurant here in Himeji that cooked a traditional Thanksgiving feast for all of us.

We had turkey, seafood macaroni & cheese, peas w/ bacon, corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, candied sweet potatoes (and yes mom, Mitch ate those and he loves them), sausage stuffing, carrots, creamed onion, salad, some chicken stew thing, pumpkin & cranberries.

Sara wasn't too sure about everything, but at least she tried some of it. Luckily dad brought fruit snacks.

We enjoyed all the company (most everyone from Shirasagi was there as well as some Japanese friends)

Lucy, Jodi & Jono, Katie & Joe

Karen, Sara, Suvanya, Heather, Colm (he is from Ireland)

Adam, Steve N, Marie & her boyfriend.

Maya, Julian & Taube, Steve H

Dessert was just as delicious as dinner.

RJ and Sara really do love their friend Maya. She is headed to Phoenix next week to live and work for at least 3 months. We are sure going to miss her.