Is it already the end of the year??!

So now that the girls are finally aware that it's NOT OK to pull leaves off a tree, I was actually planning on finally starting the nice family tradition of setting up a Christmas tree (from IKEA), and wrapping gifts (wrappers also most likely from IKEA), etc...

And what do you know, the Japanese quarantine folks find a tiny bug in one of the hundreds (thousands?) of trees that IKEA has imported and banned ALL of them from being sold to the Japanese public. So IKEA-J sourced trees from elsewhere that met the requirement of the Japanese customs but made it very clear that they would now be in limited supply. It was sold out in a couple of days after they went on sale at the later date.

Anyone knows from where else we can get a live tree in Japan? We have no room to store those plastic or nice blue fiber optic ones.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Healthy-o

I'm staring indecisively at this huge package that arrived yesterday. It contains what's touted as the healthy alternative to the microwave oven (actually it's supposed to cook healthier than conventional cooking) but WHERE IN OUR RAT HOLE kitchen am I supposed to put it???

For starters, it is larger than most microwave ovens. Secondly there is some pretty demanding space requirements, i.e. no walls and such within 5-10cm of its periphery (maybe because while cooking some of the steam it uses is emitted?).

So our bright red HEALSIO continues to remain in its cardboard box.
It wouldn't be for too long though, because the box is pretty massive too, and is taking up precious apartment space. Also the girls have taken a love for jumping on it. I wonder whether the warranty covers product damage even before it's taken out of its box.

They grow up quick!

Here are a few photos of the girls taken on our last week or so in KL, with compliments from Uncle Steve.  Our own more recent photos are still stuck in the camera, but rest assure they'll be posted soon!

Girls love all things that sparkle

The girls dance and play hide-and-seek at Starhill KL (this photo was taken somewhere between Starhill and JW Marriott KL) after some dim sum brunch.

 Dinner time! 

The girls at our regular and favorite dinner hangout, Yau Tuck Teng... or is it Mo Tuck Teng... can't remember.  So much for doing some PR for them.  Anyway, it's at the 2nd level of a corner coffee shop right across Secret Recipe at Taman Tun Dr Ismail.  And the food is fantastic!

See you again soon, KL! 

With suspicious-looking red-haired guy at the KL International Airport when it was time to say goodbye to our family in Malaysia.  We'll be BACK!

Sorry

I've been so slow to update the blog since returning to Japan.  We're still trying to settle down, and that involves getting a larger harddisk!  I've got so many photos to share, but no where to download them to.  From where can I get a 1TB laptop??

Actually, even that will max out in a couple of years.

Back in sushi land

And of course the first meal we got right after we landed was airport sushi!

We've been back for 3 weeks now and it's still difficult to say that we're fully settled down.  More specifically, the girls are still not back to their regular sleeping routine yet, and our apartment still looks part warehouse part toy factory.

The kindergartens within the vicinity are full with long waiting lists (i.e. getting premier tickets to watch that Star Trek movie would be heaps easier) that the city hall officials gave us no hope of her starting kindy this academic year.  We're considering the international kindy option.  Yes, it'll cost a bomb but we think we should be able to manage if she doesn't go full time.

Our current apartment faces the sea.  It's a bit like living on a beach resort except that it's also not.  That's because right on the other end of the coast line is the city of Chiba and at night, it glows with lights!  It's quite hard to believe that this will be our home for at least the next few months.  Is it too much of a good thing?  In a few months, we shall see!

Little M is down with impetigo, the poor thing.  It doesn't help that she also caught a cold.  Bigger M got impetigo at about the same time two years ago so she's immuned... one less thing to worry about.  The scabs are finally healing and falling off, and so is the discomfort.

Nihon ryouri

I love our meal times here in Malaysia!  That's when I get to think through the many options we have and come up with something that, at that moment, the stomach feels is superior above the rest.  Nasi lemak!  Penang laksa!  Char kuay teow!

But there was this one day when tummy shouted "Japanese!"  Sure, it's a just a couple of weeks more before we can get our hands on seriously authentic Japanese food, but it's quite hard to resist when the kids also join in with your tummy to chant, "udon! udon! udon!"

So we gave in and settled for a pretty decent Japanese lunch here.  The best part: it satisfied our year-long craving and yet didn't change our desire for some seriously authentic Japanese food when we return to Japan!

The restaurant: Sushi Zanmai, 1Utama, Bandar Utama.

Hanging out in PJ

Despite being jet-lagged and sick more than half the time we've been here, we've still thankfully managed to attend parties, hang out with friends, and eat out a fair bit. I think we've had more social activities here this month than a whole year combined in Japan. And it's no wonder that Minori is asking over and over whether we can "ask daddy to come to Malaysia... I don't want to go back to Japan!"

It's an irony. We've heard over and over that the country is unsafe, we hear about all kinds of crimes on a daily basis, well-meaning friends and family tell us that it's "better for the children to be in Japan" ... and yet the people here seem happier. Most people whom we have met, whether friends or just people we bump into in the same apartment elevator or the makcik who comes to clean my mom's apartment once a week have been so friendly and nice, and the girls have picked up on the good vibes.

Could it be that the lack of security causes the people here to take it less for granted and appreciate more the simpler things in life?

Trading outdoor walks and playing in parks with indoor play in PJ, which is cooler (temperature-wise!) and a wee bit safer.

Back!

I realize our blog is going stale!  The last few weeks have been mad so much so that blogging, important as it is, hasn't exactly become a priority.

It's been weeks of packing, moving, battling jet-lag, getting sick, basically just living our crazy and hectic lives!  We're now in Malaysia, enjoying a few stormless days finally.  Minori is back in the same Malaysian kindergarten she went to last year for 2 weeks.  She's been bugging me about sending her to kindergarten since the moment we touched down KLIA.  Who would imagine that this is the same girl who would cry her lungs out and then sob in her sleep at nursery a couple of years ago?!  English is the medium of communication but she picks up some Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin too.  The kind teachers are full of praise and encouragement for her.  She's so blessed to have this Malaysia kindergarten experience.

I bring Marisa to a playgroup once a week.  Although she didn't complain the first time around... this is my angel second daughter, remember?... she obviously was more comfortable at the second session.  I'm looking forward to our playgroup again tomorrow!

It's so nice to be able to live in familiarity after months (even years!) of being the blur one.  I can't say it's complete familiarity... year after year, PJ/KL becomes less familiar to me.  But meeting with good old friends and their children, and just being in a sea of familiar faces bring about a kind of comfort that can't be experienced anywhere else in the world, no matter how exotic the location.  The novelty wears off.

 Passing down our friendship!

Picture of M&M with K&K (Kayden & Katelyn), adorable children of my friends Adeline and Li Hsing.

Fasching

Minori's kindy celebrated Fasching several weeks ago and it's taken me this long to make a blog entry on it and upload the photos!

For awhile I was in a bit of a fix about what Minori should wear for the party so that she won't feel out of place.  Buying her a bulky costume so close to returning to Japan was out of the question... right now, the last thing we need is clothing we wear only once to take up luggage space.  I wish I had brought her a kimono/yukata for occasions like this (it did cross my mind before we left Japan but I didn't think she'd be able to walk in it for awhile).

Lo and behold, the day before the party I found these wings and wand at H&M for less than €5!  They are light and able fit into our suitcase so we're bringing them back to Japan too!

On Fasching, 90% of the girls in her class came as butterflies, fairies, angels or princesses.  With girls, you can't go wrong with wings!

 

Vienna sightseeing

Sorry for the stall.

I'm having some problems trying to upload our gazillion photos here so I've put them on Facebook instead.  Please click here to get there!

Vienna - Day 3

Jan 20: We had lunch with daddy at the Naschmarkt. It's a traditional open market with stalls lined up in two to three neat rows for about several hundred meters. Between some of these stalls are built-up restaurants, which is a great idea for winter when people would rather be eating indoors.

Because we've been craving sushi recently and can't get anything decent in Rostock, we ate at a restaurant called Tokori, which serve up sushi, among other kinds of Asian food, although none of the people working there seems to be Japanese. Later we realized it's really not difficult to find sushi in Vienna... many of the run-down take-out outlets have it too. Tokori wasn't great, but was good enough to satisfy our craving for a bit of home.

Karlskirche

Since our apartment is in the city center, the girls and I decided to just check out the area which gave us enough to see for the day. The cathedral near our apartment, for example, Karlskirche, is a magnificent piece of architecture. Although throughout our stay we must have walked past it over a dozen times, each time we do it looks a little different.

A school near Karlskirche. Yes, even schools look this great here!
Faces and heads popping from walls and around arches seem to be a common theme in Viennese architecture.

Vienna - Day 2

Jan 19: When the girls and I woke up, the room smelled of coffee. There was already breakfast on the table. Daddy had jogged out to a nearby supermarket early in the morning to grab some coffee, milk, salami, cheese, lettuce and a baguette for our first breakfast in Vienna.

Carrie was right at the door just before 10am. She had come all the way from Zurich to spend the weekend in Vienna and meet us. Only a week before she was in the US (Hawaii just days before the Obamas' vacation, Seattle then Portland). Several days after Vienna, she was to leave for KL for the Chinese New Year. Oh and did I mention the day before today, she made a day trip to Slovakia? Where does she get the energy? The kids, she says. Kids that she can play with but do not own. I have not seen Carrie in years but she has not changed. She obviously still puts the Energizer bunny to shame and has retained her million watt smile.

Daddy headed off to work while the rest of us took a train to the Schönbrunn Zoo. We saw pandas, koalas, and more vicious species, and ate chestnuts and potato wedges. The girls barely napped -- with so much to see and zesty Aunty Carrie for company who can blame them?

The Schönbrunn Castle is in the background, right at the end of the row of pines.

Aunty Carrie took the overnight train back to Zurich. We're so thankful that she made this trip to see us. Our fingers are crossed that it won't be another couple of years before we meet again.

Vienna - Day 1

Jan 18: We left our apartment at the crack of dawn, for the train station for our 2.5hr train ride to Hamburg where we caught the plane heading to Vienna.  Arrived in Vienna, took more trains, walked in the blistering cold and slush with two sleepy kids, and found the hotel apartment that we were to call home for the next 7 days.  Realized that the apartment is located close to a beautiful church with a magnificent dome but was too tired to find out what it's called.  Got to the apartment, pulled out the sofa beds and collapsed into them for a well-deserved nap!

"This uncle"

Minori became a bit of a Wang Leehom fan after watching him a few days ago on CNN's Talk Asia. She was completely fascinated that:

"He speaks English and Chinese!"

"He plays the guitar and violin and piano!"

"He's just like Leo!" when he conducted the Hongkong Philharmonic Orchestra. To those who don't watch the Disney Channel, Leo is a character in the Little Einsteins who likes to conduct.

Conclusion: "I like this uncle. He looks like Uncle James" (later it was Uncle Steve). <-- time to get either her or my eyes checked.

Note: In Malaysia, children typically refer to someone older as "uncle" or "auntie" out of respect. In Japan, someone around Leehom's age would probably be "oniisan" (big brother) or "oneisan" (big sister).

Wien

We will finally get our opportunity to see what else is there in this beautiful continent of Europe besides Germany.  This weekend, we will all be going with Daddy to Vienna on his working trip.

With all the recent news about the cold winter and limited supply of gas -- I hope Russia and Ukraine sort this out real quick -- I'm hoping for the temperatures to rise above freezing point next week.  The weather forecast looks promising and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will remain that way.

In the meantime, my prayers go out to my friends in the US, especially in the Midwest, who are battling the unexpectedly severe winter conditions.  Think warm thoughts!

Bugged!

Our apologies for not posting much in the last few weeks. The truth is that we've been taking turns to get sick. There seems to be a throat infecting virus/bacteria going around Rostock... we've heard of friends and friends of friends getting it. In our family, the germs have made a complete round and come back to me again. Sick a second time in 2 weeks!!!

As soon as I'm back on my feet and back on track with my photo uploading, I'll set up a decent blog entry. In the meantime, I'm wishing our blog followers better health!