Open House

Jude had open house at his school last night.  His teacher created a scavenger hunt for the parents.  We had to locate Jude's seat in the classroom, figure out which drawing on the bulletin board was his, and figure out which writing assignment was also his.  It was really easy to locate all of the items, especially his writing assignment.  His read:

"I live with my mom and my dad and my ant is Jooich.  I like to woch tv.  Who am I?"  

(Since he's only in the first grade, his teacher allows phonetic spelling.  Jooich = Jewish.)

He is too funny!  

Shaken awake

So, I was sleeping so nicely and soundly when a rather large earthquake/aftershock woke my ass up at 10:34 PM.  When I opened my eyes, I knew exactly what was happening, because the bed was shaking and the mirror attached to my dresser was shaking loudly.  Luckily, Jude was in bed with me, and I covered him with pillows, just in case.  It was much shorter than the big one on Friday, but probably the strongest aftershock we've felt since.  Also, the epicenter was much, much closer than the ones before.

Here is a map of the epicenter courtesy of JMA:

My heart rate shot up and that fight or flight instinct kicked in again.  Husband came into the room as it was happening.  Just as soon as he stepped into the room, thankfully, everything stopped shaking.

I must admit I'm still startled and my anxiety levels are quite high.  I don't think I'll be going to bed for a while, so I decided to blog.

I know this useless blog is a good way for you to get updates on us, but writing about our situation seems to be good therapy for me.  And, it's a good way for me to chronicle what's going on for Jude.  Someday I'm sure he'll read this and fully understand why I am the way I am.

So, as I sit here writing, I just want to thank you for all of your love, support and concern.  I didn't realize how many people care about us!  It's heartwarming to know so many of you are thinking of us and concerned about our situation.

I am also updating often on Facebook.  So, if you know me, you know I have been keeping you up-to-date as information becomes available.  I will try to continue doing that, so you won't worry.

I know you are seeing all kinds of horrific images on the news, but we are far away from the devastation up North.  And, we are about 40 miles away from Tokyo Bay.  So, there is no need to worry about a tsunami impacting us.

However, we are watching the nuclear reactors.  Our air is being tested often, and currently it is safe.  If things change, I will let you know.

As a precaution, I did go out and buy several large rolls of Duct Tape.  If I have to shelter in place, I will be able to seal off all windows and vents from the outside.  I also have large plastic trash bags I can use to cover the windows and vents.  Thus, keeping our apartment free from radiation in the air.

So, again, I've taken a preemptive strike to protects us from what may lie ahead.  Remember, I am my father's child!

I have seen the news and am aware that several foreign companies are now evacuating their employees.  As of right now, there are NO indications that there is a need for us to evacuate.  If the need arises, I know the powers that be will get us out of here.  If we are evacuated, I can be packed and ready in 5 minutes.  I'm not sure where they would send us, though, but I would certainly tell you as the information becomes available to me, but I  don't think it will come to that.

Again, we are okay, just shaken, literally!

But, as I sit here and blog, my pulse is getting back to normal and my anxiety level is going down.  I am starting to feel normal again.  (Okay, we all know I'm not normal, but at least now my heart isn't going to explode out of my chest!)

It's 12:33 AM.  I could turn on the TV, but all I see is death, destruction and a catastrophe like I've never seen before.  Remember, I've been through hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, but I've never seen anything like this, and I hope I never see it again!  The level of destruction up North is unbelievable, unfathomable.  I'm just glad Sister moved away when she did, because she used to live up north.  (She now lives in Kuwait.)

So, I'll continue to keep you updated.

And, as of right now, we are okay! I'm scared, but prepared.

Dearest Sister

Sister has been missing in action, literally.  Several months ago she moved to Kuwait to be a teacher at an international school.  Well, we didn't hear from her for several months.  Then, out of the blue, she e-mailed me on my birthday.  This was my reply:

Hey Sister!  We were beginning to wonder if you were taken hostage by a sheik and turned into a sex slave!  

How's life in the desert?  

Merry Christmas...wait, scratch that...Happy Hanuka and Happy New Year.  Since you don't celebrate Christmas, we didn't get you anything...but we ate a shit ton of bacon and thought of you.   

Yes, my sister is Jewish.  She's the only half-ass Mexican Jew I know, so that makes her pretty special.

Guam, the 2nd time

This time when we went to Guam, we bought some cheap-o under water cameras. Here are some of the keepers:

Jude and I snorkeling without the snorkel.
Me, relaxing in the pool.

Sister and I relaxing in the pool. Jude took this picture.

Jude and I hanging out in the pool.

Jude about to go down the slide.

Back to Paradise

Since I'm sort of on vacation until the next school year begins (in April), I've decided to go back to Guam. Because of Husband's work obligations, he cannot go with Jude and I. So, Sister will be going in his place.

Wish me luck!

Technically today is her birthday

Happy Birthday, Sister!

So, you're like 40 now, right? Just kidding! You don't look a day over 35! Just kidding! Just kidding!

My sister wears me out

As you know, Sister recently visited us. She lives up north in Akita Prefecture (she also teaches English) and decided to come down for a visit in the early part of August. She also accompanied us to Kyoto.


Well, on the way to Kyoto, a classic Sister moment occurred. It went something like this: We woke up at 4 AM on Thursday morning to catch the first train into Tokyo station. Since I live in the suburbs of Tokyo, it takes about an hour to get to Tokyo station, which was where we were headed. We had to be at Tokyo station by 6:30 AM in order to catch the Shinkasen, the bullet train, to Kyoto. Luckily, we made all the trains without any problems. However, at Tokyo station I mentioned to the group (Husband, myself, Sister, Rin (Husband's cousin's daughter), and Jude) that I would be the keeper of the Shinkasen tickets. Since the tickets were smaller than a credit card, I was afraid they might get lost as we hurried through the train station. Well, when I mentioned I would keep the tickets for everyone, Sister said, "Who the hell do you think I am... I'm not a fucking moron...I can keep track of my own damn ticket!" So, with that, I handed Sister her ticket and prayed she wouldn't lose it.


Thirty minutes later we found our seats on the Shinkasen and got comfortable for the 3 hour train ride to Kyoto. After about 15 minutes, the train conductor came through to check our tickets and stamp them. I carefully removed the 4 remaining tickets from my wallet and handed them to the conductor. Sister, on the other hand, couldn't find her ticket.


Yes, I know, Karma is a bitch!


I desperately tried to tell the conductor, in my half-ass Japanese, that Sister had lost her ticket, and we would try to look for it. The conductor responded by saying, "I come back soon."


So, Sister emptied out her purse and her suitcase and searched everything she had, in hopes of finding the missing ticket.


Since I had paid for the tickets in advance (they cost about 25,000 Yen or $250 each), I had a receipt showing payment for 5 consecutive seats: A, B, C, D, and E. I was hoping that the receipt would be sufficient, and Sister would not get kicked off the train.


After another hour of so, with Sister still searching and searching, the conductor returned. I informed the conductor that we still hadn't found the ticket, but I showed her the receipt for payment of the 5 tickets. She told me to show the receipt at the train station in Kyoto.



After another 30 minutes or so, Sister put her hand in her bra and discovered the missing ticket. That's right! Sister had put the ticket in her giant bra for safe keeping. Unfortunately, SHE IS A MORON! And she had forgotten where she had put the damn thing!


All we could do was laugh our asses off! In fact, we are still laughing!

Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan

Rin has left the building

It's official, Rin's vacation is over. She is headed to the airport with Husband. Here are a few more pictures from her visit. Enjoy!
...wearing a Yukata at a festival in town...

...on the train...

...with the giant Buddha...

...in Kamakura...

...still in Kamakura...

...in Harajuku...

...in Roppongi...

...in my English class in Ome with Sister...

The lost car

This is a classic Weenie moment, so enjoy!

Sunday night I walked down to the parking lot to get in my car and go pick up Sister from the train station. But I couldn't find my car. It wasn't there in its usual spot. So, I went back upstairs and asked Husband if he had parked it in a different location. He said it was next to our van in the parking lot. I assured him that it wasn't there. We assumed my car had been stolen. But since I didn't have time to deal with the stolen car (I needed to pick up my sister at the train station), I hopped in our mini-van and headed for the train station.


As I was driving to the train station, I thought about all the possible scenarios for the location of my car. How could it have disappeared? Could it really be stolen? Surely my car would not get stolen in Japan, I thought to myself. So, I recounted all of the previous days' events. Then, it struck me like a lightning bolt: THE CAR IS STILL PARKED IN THE BASEMENT. HOLY SHIT!!


You see, on Saturday I went grocery shopping. I parked in the loading dock in the basement, so I could unload my groceries, and then take them up to our fifth floor apartment. After I unloaded the groceries, I returned back to the basement to take out the trash, but I never moved the car. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I didn't drive, Husband did. So, I never realized the car was missing until Sunday night when I had to pick up Sister.


When I realized the location of the car, I called Husband on my cell phone and told him to check in the basement.


When I arrived home, I drove under the building and there it was. IN THE LOADING DOCK! I quickly moved the car and ran upstairs.


I think Husband wanted to choke me. Luckily, Sister was there as a witness! Husband mentioned that he was about to call the police and report a stolen car. I can't imagine how the story would have turned out if he had!


Just another day in Weenie's World!

Visitors

This week is going to be extremely busy. On Monday, Sister is coming down from Akita Prefecture (Japan) and staying with us for about a week. Then, on Tuesday, Husband's cousin's 14 year old daughter comes to Japan (I'll call her Rin).

So, Rin will be here August 4-18. I'm very excited to have her come and stay with us. It might be a little awkward to have a young teenage girl staying with us, but I'm up for the challenge. After all, I'm young at heart, and Rin is very sweet. So, we should get along great. I've got tons of things planned for her visit here. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all of us (Husband, me, Jude, Sister, and Rin) will be going to Kyoto. It should be a blast.

So, if my blog posts are few and far between, you will know why. But I'll be taking tons of pictures with my new camera and downloading them daily, hopefully.


But now I'm must go grocery shopping and continue cleaning my apartment. I hate to have a messy apartment when visitors come!

This is for Sister!

Okay, you mentioned that I never, ever write about you on my useless blog. Well, that's just crap! I have written about you here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here , here, here, here, and here! So, there!


Now you have your own label, titled Sister (duh!). To read articles where you are mentioned or pictured, click on the Sister label located on the right-hand side of the blog.

(Or, click on each 'here' to read what I wrote about YOU!)

The Emperor's Palace

On January 2, the Emperor of Japan opens the gates to his palace (pictured below). He allows people to enter into his private garden. Then, he steps out with about 15 other important people and waves to the crowd of about 1 million. This special occasion only happens once a year.

So, when YaYa and PoPo were here, we took them to see the Emperor's Palace. Here are some pictures from the event.

(Here's a view of the Palace from the outside.)

(Here I am going through the gates into the palace garden.)

(Here is PoPo going through the gates.)

(Sister waiting in line to be patted down. Security was very tight, as you can imagine.)

(May I present...the Royal Family...I'm not sure who is who. In fact, I'm so short I didn't see anything except for the guy standing in front of me. Husband took these pictures. Look at all the people!)

Yoyogi Park Adventure

One Sunday afternoon, we took PoPo and Sister to Yoyogi park to see all the crazy people. Unfortunately, all the crazies were in hiding, except for the Rock-a-billy guys.

(Sister eating Udon noodles.)

(PoPo and I on the train to Yoyogi Park. As you can see, we were both plugged into our music.)

Karaoke with my family...

Since PoPo loves to sing, we thought it would be fun to take everyone to sing Karaoke. We went to the local place down the street called Shadox...I think that's the name of it. You can order food and drinks while you sing your heart out.

We sang for about an hour. We all realized that we are much worse at singing than we had ever thought...except for Husband. He's the only one of us that has any singing talent.

(Sister is not gagging because PoPo is singing in the wrong key. Sister had had a cough when she was here visiting.)

Just another day in Weenie's World!

Dinosaurs in Tokyo!

Since Jude had been a good boy, we decided to take him to the Natural History Museum in Ueno. Here are some pictures from the event: (Growwwwlllll!)(Walking through Ueno Park.)

(PoPo standing next to one of the only 2 complete Triceratops skeletons in the world.)

(YaYa standing next to one of the only 2 complete Triceratops skeletons in the world.)

Roppongi Hills with YaYa, PoPo and Sister

Roppongi Hills has a tower that is 52 stories tall. We decided to take my family here so they could see all of Tokyo, Japan. Here are some pictures from the event:

(YaYa and PoPo.)

(Me, duh!)

(PoPo, duh!)

(YaYa and PoPo pretending to like one another. Hee-hee!)

(The whole happy family, sorda! Jude fell asleep on the way there, and he was NOT a happy camper...as you can see.)

Menji Shrine with YaYa, PoPo and Sister

Here are some pictures I took of my family at the Menji Shrine in Tokyo. This was their first time here. I think they enjoyed it. (PoPo and Sister.)

(Us with YaYa and PoPo.)

(YaYa, PoPo, Sister, Husband and Jude. I was the one taking the picture.)

(YaYa and PoPo in front of the largest wooden shrine gate in Japan.)