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Greatness

"I have never been the kind of person who has defined myself by a career or a job... People used to ask me that during the course of the campaign: ‘Is it hard for you to have stepped off the track and devoted your life to his dream?’ But the truth is that I believe in this man as our president, and his vision for the country. And if that meant stepping away from my particular job . . . that’s a small sacrifice to make.”

Michelle Obama, Nov 26, 2008, in her interview with Barbara Walters.

Background from Wikipedia:

Alma Mater: Princeton University, Harvard Law School.

According to the couple's 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618... while [Barack Obama] had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate.

I want to dedicate this entry to a friend who has recently been taking a lot of heat for expressing her enjoyment in being a stay-at-home-mom and supporting her husband on the domestic front.  As you can see from the universally popular upcoming First Family, staying at home and bringing up your own children is the new cool!  :D

Kefir

Several weeks ago, our friends S&S gave us a few kefir grains and instructions on how to make our own kefir drink. It's funny that they are called grains because they look like cauliflower and are rubbery in texture. Kefir grains are a combination of bacteria and yeasts, like yogurt.

In Japan, I remember watching infomercials on TV about something being similar to, but is even healthier than, yogurt that comes from Russia. I think it was kefir. According to Wikipedia, it is becoming increasingly popular due to new research into its health benefits. Many different bacteria and yeasts are found in the kefir grains, which are a complex and highly variable community of micro-organism.

Making a kefir drink is really quite simple. I just add milk to the grains and leave it to ferment in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. When we feel like drinking it, I just pour the stuff out into our cups, rinse the grains with cold water, put it back into a clean container, add milk and leave it for another 24 hours or so. It's a little sour, like yogurt, and it's more so the longer we leave it in the fridge. It tastes great with honey though.

The kefir grains keep multiplying so they never actually run out. I'm happy to give some away to whoever who wants to try it!

Why I think MObama is cool #2

From Barbara Walters Special, Nov 26, 2008, ABC.

Why I think MObama is cool #1

... and why I think BObama is cool for recognizing and acknowledging it...


From Barbara Walters Special, Nov 26, 2008, ABC.

Say "Cheese!"

Marisa finally gets her own toothbrush (in pic: the green one on the left).

For weeks now, she would observe Minori brush and then open her mouth for daddy to brush hers too! When we finally got her her own toothbrush yesterday, she knew exactly what to do and how to use it.

She still only has got four little pearly whites, but they will clean little peraly whites!

Minori is 3 and a half!

The older sister started going to a German kindergarten about 2.5 months ago. Everyone there speaks German so she's really picking up the language. The kindy experience is also great in the sense that she's so much more independent. She is now capable of dressing herself up, putting her shoes on, brushing her teeth (we still do a brush over after that) and going to the toilet on her own.

At home, whenever she's willing I try to get her to help out with some of the household chores, like laying out the table for dinner, putting the dirty dishes into the dish washer, hanging out the clothes to dry, and watching her baby sister. I think her favorite is helping to bake -- and afterwards, eat -- what she calls "corn flakes cookies."


She's become technologically savvy too (aren't all kids these days?!). It's amazing that using a TV remote control is so instinctive to her (and her 13-month-old sister!). So is turning on the CD player, Skyping, watching videos on YouTube (she knows how to get the videos to Full Screen!) and manipulating the electronic dictionary. In this photo, she types her own name into the dictionary to find out what it means.


Here's a picture of Minori and her own little walnut cafe! Not sure whether she'll be the little helper or competitor to her uncle when we return to Japan.

Marisa is ONE

This entry is long overdue. Marisa turned one on Oct 7.

It's amazing how quickly her first year went by (with the packing, moving, traveling, adapting, etc.). Still, watching her achieve her milestones has been and is still extremely fascinating. It never gets old, even when we've seen it before.

Marisa started walking at 11.5 months old. Now at 13 months, she's running. Once the passive one, she now knows how to exert her will, sometimes a little too loudly (thanks to the example shown by her older sister *sigh!*). Just several days ago, she unexpectedly said "real" words, like "apple" or "Elmo" and stunned us all! Like I said, it never gets old.

Dancing seems to be a passion at this stage. Her favorite tunes are in the Mary Poppins soundtrack, and more recently in tourism TV commercials of exotic places like Montenegro, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. I think she likes the ethnic drum rhythms. This morning, she did some fancy footwork that looked like salsa to a South African commercial on CNN! I rolled on the floor laughing when I should have grabbed my videocam instead!

It's amazing... the places she's been before she turned one. Berlin is a good example. More on that in another entry!

Extreme make-over!

BEFORE

• 40+ year house that was passed down from one generation to another
• a favorite parking spot for cyclists who needed to hop onto trains at the nearby station but didn't want to pay for parking
• the piece of land received many unreasonably good offers during the bubble economy in Japan but no one in the family had the heart to sell it
• daddy used to say: "we're just waiting for the earthquake or typhoon to bring it down," but the house withstood almost everything, so they had to do something before somebody got hurt!
  

AFTER

Several days ago, my dear friend (and a wonderful photographer and cook!) Hani took this picture of her family at that same spot. The place has transformed into something worthy of visit from someone living all the way in Yokohama! It is now a 6-floor apartment with a cozy little cafe on the 1st floor.

* Hani, thanks for letting me use this photo! I love it... your boys intently looking at one direction (presumably at something that interests only boys) while Aimee-chan is just happily sleeping in her stroller!

BEFORE (2002)

There were always persimmons in the house. The persimmon trees that grew in the garden had the sweetest fruit. This one was over-ripe, but still good!

AFTER (2008)

We'll be seeing less of persimmons now and more of coffee... and tea and rare cream cheese cake and pudding and walnuts. Kurumed Cafe ("kurumi" is Japanese for walnut) opened on October 1, 2008 to serve up specialty coffee. Owned by my brother-in-law, this place, I was told, features a fancy interior and a cozy environment for families with children. Hani said that her family enjoyed themselves!

BEFORE (2002)

AFTER (2008)

That person in the 'Before' photo still bums around the place like this... some things you just can't make over.

New blogger format, Obama, etc.

Gosh I really need to get used to this new Blogger format.  I thought I have made several new entries and now I'm not sure to where they have gone.

We've been closely following the American presidential race and the fact that Minori can say and recognize Obama and HClinton even before she even turned 3 proves it (is it too early to tell that she's a non-American Democrat?).  With Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, a candidate's wife that looks like Barbie, an ex-beauty queen running mate thrown in, it's just so full of drama and fun.  At least more so than the political scenes from our countries.  Besides there's no underestimating how much impact the American president (and First Lady) can have on the rest of the world.  Was it an ex-French premier who said that the foreign community should also have a say as to who the next American President should be?

Yesterday while cleaning up after breakfast I casually asked DH who he'd vote for if he were an American, and he replied "Obama" without any hesitation.  This is coming from someone who 90% of the time either tries to sound tactful by not taking sides or to refuse giving an answer.

In our household we vote for integrity.  And even a preschooler knows who has it.

In memory of our beach time...

Summer has officially ended :(. Actually with daily lows of below 10 degrees, it's starting to feel like winter.

Here are a few pics we took over summer of Warnemunde, a touristy beach town about 20 minutes by train from where we live. It overlooks the Baltic Sea right across Sweden and Denmark. We were there practically every weekend that was not rained out.



There's more to Warnemunde than surf, sand and sea...

You can tell just by looking at her face that her heart skipped a beat as she came down this long and steep slide! 

How to talk

I'm almost done with what some book critics call the "parenting bible." I'm usually a little skeptical with books that claim to be a bible of some sort but this one came so highly recommended by "real" people that I just had to give it a shot.

It's a thumbs up.

I particularly like the authors' style of asking the reader (presumably a parent, or nanny which brings me to another review later on the book I'm currently attempting to read called The Nanny Diaries) to put him/herself in the child's shoes to understand what the child could potentially feel if spoken to in a certain way.

Also, apparently there is a correct way to praise, and it is not "good boy/girl" or "that was brilliant" etc...

Another surprise: Saying "I'm proud of you!" doesn't necessarily make the child feel good about him/herself!

Imitating everything she sees

If you are a Disney fan, you'll probably know Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from Disney's animation of Alice in Wonderland.

These are the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in our family.

Mary Poppins and robin singing "Just a Spoonful of Sugar."

Our own "Mary Poppins" and little sister's plush chicken singing "Just a Spoonful of Sugar."

Playing the big sister

The older sister acts like one.
The little sister is thrilled!


(video taken on 30 June 2008)

10 months old

In a blink of an eye, Marisa turns 10 months old. She started to stand for a few seconds at a time today, without support.

Marisa is fast becoming a little chatterbox like her older sister ("papa," "mama," "ayee" @that's how she addresses her older sister, "bye bye," "paipai" @oppai in japanese meaning she wants to be breastfed, etc), and already knows how to play passing games and to make gestures (waving, clapping, tapping on her head, etc). A favorite past time is opening the kitchen cabinets to pull out the sieve or dance to her reflection on the oven window.

Daddy's dancer girl!

A dress and a bouquet (who cares if it's just parsley!).

Daddy was to complete the picture. Maybe she's been watching too much of that Anastasia animation on DVD where Anastasia dances with her father, the Tsar, in a scene.

As you can see far from being Tsar-like, daddy, still a bit dazed in pajamas, had no idea what hit him when Minori grabbed his hand and said, "daddy, let's dance like this!"

Apartment tour: Girls' room

Thanks to our lovely landlady Hanna, Minori and Marisa have a room in our rented apartment decorated just for them! It looks quite bare because the girls play out in the living room usually.



After bringing home a parsley plant from the supermarket, Minori took it, changed into a dress, and started dancing with it like it were a bouquet of flowers! Girls will be girls!

Has it been 9 months???

It's amazing how quickly time flies! Marisa has already spent more time outside the womb than inside. And from the way she observes her older sister, we can tell that she can't wait to grow up.

Daddy's soccer girl!

There are many places in the little town of Rostock where we can just sit out and enjoy the sun (and a kebab!). This video was shot in May in one of these nice parks.

Minori making daddy very proud!

Apartment tour: bathroom

It's huge and we do everything in it - shower, bathe, toilet, laundry and hang our clothes out to dry. Yes, I was also surprised to learn that in Rostock people don't use a dryer, considering that it's usually rainy. They love hanging their clothes out in the garden in spring, summer and whenever they can, according to my landlady, because the clothes smell very nice this way.

We live on the 3rd floor and there's no way I'm able to lug our laundry up and down three flights of stairs with the two little ones several times a week so we have a little portable hanger for our clothes in our bathroom. We live in the "penthouse" (hahaha!) so there's a huge window in our bathroom ceiling that brings in a lot of fresh air and sunlight. I absolutely love this bathroom!





We used to have to try all sorts of tactics to get Minori to take her bath every evening. Since moving here, she jumps at the opportunity to dip in the long bath with her little sister.

Nothing much has changed for Marisa in this regard. She has always loved her baths, and she still does!

View from our window

Timmy and Linda, our landlord's children playing in the garden.



A couple of times a week, hot-air balloons carrying advertisement fly over the apartment.


I think this photo was taken slightly before 10pm (yes, these days we're still wearing our sunglasses after 8pm!). The sky at sunset looks different every day from our apartment. Sometimes it's very blue and purple, yesterday we had streaks of pink. A favorite past-time now is to just sit on our couch and watch the sky.

No haircut for me today

The Euro 2008 ended yesterday. Before the game, fans here in Rostock (which is everyone I guess) flocked the bars and pubs to collectively watch the final match between Germany and Spain, and to get drunk. I think even outside of the country, Germany was the favorite to win (having won the cup three times before). Black, red and yellow everywhere.

But alas...

We still heard bad singing and drunkards shouting in our neighborhood streets after the game, but things would definitely have been louder if Germany had won. Still, I think I'll miss all the excitement that surrounded the games.

I had thought of getting a haircut this week (many German women have very chic short haircuts) but maybe not today. There's a very good chance the hairdressers are soccer fans... had better let them "mourn the loss" first.

Guten Tag

Dear friends n family:

I just want to post a quick "hi we're alive although we haven't been blogging or online in the last three months."

It's a long story that I'm very tempted to share but the bottom line is that we finally got our internet access yesterday. Once I get up-to-speed with things, I'll be posting photos and videos. Lots of them. Please check back soon!

Love,
The 4 of us

P.S. While typing this, Marisa just clapped for the first time! Oh these developmental milestones... we never get tired of them, first or second baby!

P.S.S. Weird photo taken by PhotoBooth application on our MacBook. How else to take family photo with just us. Please try to ignore the pajamas.