TOKYO SUMMER, COMPANY HOUSING, LIFEGUARDS, VOLUNTEERING, FIREWORKS AND FESTIVALS!

16 Aug 94

At a bar-b-cue in Tokyo with
NTT colleages.

Hey!  Guess whose mum’s got a ......typewriter!! This is great!  Finally I’ll be able to whip up some long overdue letters.  However, to start with I’ve just got to finish off and send out this 2^nd part of our Japanese Adventure.  Well, here goes....

Now, how far did I get last time.  Hold on a tick while I find a copy of the last tree-killer and see...Ok, didn’t get too far at all really, did I?

Well, we’ve well and truly settled in now.  We finally have all the essentials, except an ironing-board (but I’m not too worried about that I need to say! J  Oh, by the way, for those of you who are reading this and who are not computer nerdies, this simple symbol is a sideways smiley (apparently the only easy way to do one on the computer).  So of you see one, try and give a smile, cause even if you don’t think what precedes it is funny, you can’t let a good smiley go to waste! J

Staying cool in Tokyo!!

Oh, that’s right, there is one essential we don’t have yet, which we are desperate for and that’s an air-conditioner.  Thos of you from the cooler climes, most places this ‘newsletter’ gets sent to, wouldn’t think that an air-conditioner is essential, but try living through a Tokyo summer without one and you’ll feel the same way we do.  Closest to the hell fires I’ve felt here on earth! Actually, it’s more like taking a sauna, fully clothed, with a few million people... around 18 million!  After I take a shower and before I dry myself, I’ve already started to sweat and feel like taking another shower!  J  The rainy season was worse, that was like taking a sauna, fully clothed in the rain with a few million people!! We were quite lucky this year though, so we’ve been told, the rainy season came and went this year within a couple of weeks.  Last year it was declared closed several times and in the end, because it kept raining, they never actually closed it officially!  The couple of typhoons that we’ve seen lurking around Japan recently have brought very little rain to us and many parts of Japan are now in the midst of a drought!  Also, over the past few days we’ve had bushfires over some parts of Japan and because of the water shortage the fire fighters are making breaks rather than using water to put out fires.  Beginning to sound a lot like OZ!!  There has been no property damage or injuries thank goodness.  

Well, that’s enough gasbagging about the weather, I’m beginning to feel like a weather broadcaster! J  Now I’d like to write a little about life in a Japanese Shataku (company housing), if that’s Ok? J  I’ve never actually lived in an apartment before, but even if I had, living in this apartment block would still be an experience.  Since I’m home during the day often, I see a lot of the wives and their children.  The wives all seem to get on and work well together.  By that I mean that there are several communal tasks that we all have to perform over certain periods together.    For example, approximately once a month we take turns in cleaning the outside area of our blocks in groups of two units, usually the next door neighbour.  Then we take turns and for one week each unit must clean up the garbage collection area once the rubbish has been collected.  We also mow the lawns and weed the grass area together every couple of months and the children’s play ground area is cleaned every couple of weeks.  Usually only families with children need do this, but since I have Spike I volunteered! J  Actually, Spike does use the monkey bars to do his chin-ups on, so I guess it works out Ok.

I quite enjoy pitching in to do these activities, since I get to gasbag with the other wives and feel more a part of the whole ‘family’.  Of course only the wives do these tasks (except the lawn mowing) since the husbands are at work from morning till often midnight during the week.  The families here seem to have accepted us pretty much and I’ve (Spike too but at the moment he’s too busy with work and also his Japanese lessons so he usually doesn’t join in) been invited to concerts, taken to parks and invited to their homes several times now.  I guess it helps to have a bit of spoken Japanese to be included in these activities.

Japan is now in the midst of a recycling boom.  Almost everything is re-used or recycled.  Our household rubbish needs to be separated into burnable and unburnable piles.  Then glass and tins are usually collected separately (however, not in our suburb yet) and we have to take our milk cartons and Styrofoam trays to recycling bins.  It takes me most of the day just to put out the rubbish!! J  Also when we put out the garbage for collection it has to either be in a bin or under a council provided net.  The reason for this is the plague of enormous black crows now sweeping (or should I say swooping) the country.  J

The only problem I have with this sudden concern over the amount of garbage that Tokyo is producing is the fact that they seemed to have missed the point.  If they didn’t wrap consumer items in layer upon layer of paper and then plastic, half the amount of waste would be reduced.  The Japanese have always had a ‘thing’ for wrapping using paper, and have always been expert at it, but now when plastic is being used so widely to wrap things, it’s time to stop and think if it’s all so necessary.  One blatant example is the humble bottle of sauce or mayonnaise.  The bottle itself is actually ‘wrapped in plastic’, Laura Palmer style! J A bit excessive I feel.

Spike and I have become favoured play things of the local kids too.  We often have visits from kids and can be found in front of the shataku ‘playing’.  Actually, we have intrigued the kids with our juggling antics!  Juggling seems to be almost non-existent in Japan these days and the only people who know a little about it are the grand mothers who used to juggle as children (before super Nintendos came into our lives).  We’re a bit rusty at the moment from lack of practice, but the kids seem to love it anyway.  We often have parents standing on their own balconies sneaking a peek too!

As most of you probably know, Japan like a lot of Asian countries depends a lot on the bicycle as a mode of transport (not so much for recreation, as we do in the West).  Everyone from very small children to grandparents own and ride, bicycles to school, the train station, the local stores, to work etc.  So, most Japanese are excellent riders (unlike myself) and have good balance, especially the children.  Which brings me to my next point, like hoola hoops were a craze (and probably still are) in Australia, the Unicycle is all the rage over here!  Every child seems to have one and ride it adeptly.  They aren’t all that expensive and Spike and I have been toying with the idea of buying one. It’d be great to be able to ride and juggle at the same time!  I’ve often been called a ‘clown’ now I could really become one! J  The Japanese already think we’re quite strange, imagine what this could do for our reputation!

Well, duty calls and I have to get on with dinner before Spike gets home. J  It’s about 6.45pm now and he’ll be starving when he finally gets here, at about 7pm.  So will I be for that matter!  See you again when I get the chance.  Ciao!

Hi, back again.  It’s Thursday night and I’ve just returned home from a free trumpet concert which was held at the local golf driving range.  I was invited to go with the family living below us on the 2^nd floor and their neighbours.  It was really enjoyable being out with the families, and the concert was quite good too.  Also, on my return I had a call from my ‘good mate’ Shiho, so I’m feeling great at the moment and in the mood for some more Japan tales.

Enjoying a picnic with Keiko, Mrs Aibara, Hajime
and Nobuko.

These days I fill my time with going shopping, visiting friends, aerobic-ing, swimming and doing volunteer work.  Since going to the pool in Japan is such an experience, I’ll try and describe it for you.

Upon arrival you are told that everyone must wear swimming caps and no-one is allowed to bring beach balls, read by the pool, wear tanning oil, jump or dive into the pool or wear any jewellery into the pool.  Ok, then after you change your guided through a small maze, where ‘sheep dip’ style, you pass through one pool after another.  The first shin deep to clean your feel.  The next pool was waist deep and the last, a shower system which squirts water at you from every known direction.  Once you have passed through the maze, you eventually arrive at the pool side to find several (four per pool) lifeguards!  Two sit on tennis umpire style chairs, and two walk around the pool side.  Considering one pool is only 25msand the other a kids pool, I find this a little excessive!  They rotate shifts every 30 mins and go through a flutter of hand gestures when starting or finishing a shift.

Now this may seem like a bit of over-kill to you, as I first thought, but wait till you hear the rest of the story!  There is a strange phenomenon which takes place in Japanese pools which necessitates the evacuation of the pool and the lifeguards to protect the people.  At exactly 10 mins to every hour, for 10 mins, the water itself turns into a crazed homicidal monster and would attack all swimmers if it were not for the lifeguards evacuating the pool!  After this 10 min period, the water settles down again and everyone can enter the pool again without risk!  In fact it’s nothing so dramatic, they just impose a rest period for the ‘safety’ of all swimmers.  I don’t need this! I go there for a certain length of time and chose to swim for a certain amount of time...aaagh!  It drives me nuts how the Japanese love authority and regimentation!  I don’t see why it’s necessary for a person who has been in the water for 5 mins, to get out and rest for 10 mins! HELP!  I’m drowning in all this discipline!  The other point I forgot to mention is that if it rains at all, they evacuate the outdoor pool and close it.... what are they worried about!  That someone might actually get WET!! J

With Centre Volunteers.

As I mentioned earlier, I also spend one day a week doing volunteer work at the local senior citizens centre.  I was introduced to the centre by my ex-host mother and have been going there for several weeks now (Spike always tells people I’m a paying customer there, but he’ll get his one day!! J )  I help out on Fridays with the handicraft program, assisting the elderly with their sewing, knitting etc.  The oldest lady there is 94 and the lady I help out is 90 years old...and she won’t let you forget it either.  She’s so proud of the fact, it’s so cute!  I guess if I lived to be 90 and be as healthy and with it as her, I’d be damn proud too!

With some of my lovelies that I 'help'!

Tanabata no Hi - Firework Fun!

In Japan, summer not only brings unbearable heat, but numerous festivals.  I guess they’ve got to have something to take their minds of the heat! J  Recently we had a festival called ‘Tanabata no Hi’.  On this evening every year, two particular stars on either side of the milky way meet in the middle.  One is the prince and one the princess star and on this day if a wish is written on a small piece of paper and attached to a bamboo branch the wish will come true...or so the story goes.  We waited and watched, as we ate and lit fireworks, however we never did get to see this phenomenon because of the clouds.  As far as I can tell, since this festival lands bang smack in the middle of the rainy season, it’s been a long time that this phenomenon has been seen.  It was a good excuse to have a party though, and the kids, having no idea what the celebration was about,  just ate, played and kept saying “Happy New Year” and “Happy Birthday” to each other! J

 

The next was about a week later, and a festival I’m still not quite sure about, called Kimodameshii.  This time the festival resembles Halloween and the kids enjoy trying to frighten each other.  All the children from the 12 blocks of Shataku get together in the park at about 6pm and form several groups of around 5-6 kids.  They then walk around the Shataku grounds, when it gets dark, being randomly frightened by groups of ‘ghosts’ (Dressed in white sheets and masks).  The ghosts jump out from behind bushes shining torches in their faces and saying ‘help us’ over and over again.  The groups of little children being escorted by an adult of course, never cease screaming at every new group of ‘ghosts’, which is strange of course since they know that their path is going to be crossed by howling spirits.  I’ve asked someone about this ritual and, it has to do with the children showing their bravery and persistence (I think).  Once again the children seem to live it anyway!

Waiting patiently for a massive
Fireworks display!

Summer also brings large firework displays all over Japan.  Tokyo has displays every weekend as far as I can tell and recently we joined some of Spike’s colleagues on a trek to see some fireworks.  As with any large event in Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of other people were also there!  Luckily the display was close to our suburb and we only travelled 20 minutes by train to get there.  When we arrived the park was almost already full and we made like Tokyoites and tried to find a little space to call our own.  The fireworks display was indeed spectacular and it lasted for about 1 ½ hours.  It was a great sight and night, but as always we arrived home totally exhausted. J

Speaking of being exhausted, I think I deserve a well earned break after that marathon! J Ciao!

Hi, back again. This time I’m coming to you live (well at the time I hand wrote this) from the Musashino Sports Centre Library.  I’ve finally worked out how all these Japanese people who don’t have air-conditioning survive the days...they spend most of it at the library!! Not reading or doing research or anything silly like that, but getting some precious shut-eye.  Since the nights are so hot and it’s difficult to get a good night’s sleep, they all decide to get a good day’s sleep!! So I’m going to make like a local and get some shut-eye, talk to you later.  Boy does this lounge feel comfy – nighty night!

Hey!! Guess what...Guess What... Guess What!!! We’ve now got an AIR-CONDITIONER!! It’s just heaven! I’m not going to leave the apartment now till Autumn.  I’m hibernating!  It was a ‘gift’ from one of my best friends here called Mari.  I met her at the local pool one day and we’ve just it it off.  One of her family members had two spare after a house was demolished (whose, I don’t know!) and so she gave us one.  It’s quite old but still works well enough for us.  However, like most things in Japan that are free initially, it ended up costing us around $350 to have it installed.  The same goes with our free fridge that we were given, we ended up paying $100 for delivery!  Of course these are a fraction of the prices of new items, so we’re not complaining (though it might seem it after reading that last sentence J)

Spike seems to be doing well at work and I guess the major complaint he has at the moment is that they are re-furbishing the tennis courts there, and he won’t be able to play for a month or so....so sad!  Actually, he’s very lucky because before this he was able to play every weekend and sometimes after work, which is rare in Japan.  The work he is doing now is related of course to what he was doing in Brisbane, however it is in a slightly different area which is making it a little difficult.  The other problem is the Japanese love for instant results.  They have a staff meeting once a week and at every meeting you are expected to have some results.  In this area it is very difficult though to keep churning out results regularly and it places a fair bit of stress on Spike.  Like I said though, he is coping well.

Since arriving in Japan this year, we have unfortunately had no chance as yet to escape Tokyo.  In September though we should, if things go well, spend a couple of weekends in the countryside.  It should be much cooler there and it will be nice to ‘get back to nature’, if only for a short time.

Well, it’s that time again...the mind is blank and I haven’t the energy to dredge any further.  I hope you have enjoyed reading my little newsletter.  Until next time remember, ‘the world really is WONDERFUL!!.’

All our love, Maria and Spike.

AIRPORT MADNESS, MAKING A HOUSE A HOME, AKIHABARA, CYCLING, RUN IN WITH THE LAW, NTT!

23 May 94

Well, we've been here now for just over two weeks and this has been the first real time I've had to write.  I've actually just gotten over a bad stomach bug which has had me bedridden for the past 3-4 days.  It feels great not to be in pain and to actually have food in my stomach (instead of down the dunny bowl, head first J) !

Farewell at Bribane Airport

Spread Eagle at Brisbane Airport!

Farewell at Bribane Aiport! Best Mates
Andrew, Shiho, Simon

Since we left, probably the most exciting thing that has happened to us, was at the airport before we left!  We're not sure if any of the group of people who were sent to make sure we left the country heard, but Spike and I were paged several times and severely reprimanded for apparently holding up the plane.  We were soooo embarrassed as we were running madly to catch the plane before it left. I still had tears streaming down my face from the many farewells L we had to make, and was dropping bags, left, right and centre.  Spike was running behind me picking them up, as usual being very supportive.  By the time we were actually safely on board every inch of space in out luggage compartment was taken up by other passenger's luggage, so we had to sit with all our many bags and jackets either on our laps or at our feet - not very comfortable for a 9 hour trip.  We were too meek to ask the stewardess to help after holding everyone up for so long, so we just put up with it.  After a while the stewardess took pity on us and packed away one of our bags into the staff locker…. too kind!

We couldn't believe it!  We were sitting on the plane thinking to ourselves, if this is how the rest of our stay in Japan is going to be…. we want out! 

Then, when we arrived at the airport, the next chore was to arrange for our unaccompanied baggage to be delivered.  Unfortunately, we were told that they had never heard of the company we used (they were supposed to be their agents!) and had no idea what we were talking about!  Spike and I just looked at ourselves, totally exhausted, bedraggled, carrying 30 kg bags each and thought…. HELP!  We decided that 10pm was possibly not the best time for clear thinking and agreed to wait till the next morning to arrange for customs clearance.  We still had a long way to go before we could hit the sack.

The next point of interest was after we finally made contact with our transport company, we were told that our 10kg of rice that we were importing (on the recommendation of the vice-consul) had been confiscated by customs!  You won't believe this Shiho, they said it had 'mushi' (bugs) in it!  We were very sceptical.  As far as we're concerned, we feel as if we've provided the customs officers with good quality Aussie rice for a few days! ;-) I hope Mr K fared better with the 100kg's of Aussie rice he was taking back to Japan a couple of days later!

Just hang on a tick, I've got to go and be a good little house wifey (can't get used to this!) and hang out the washing!  What did I say?!  Back again! It’s Friday now and I've resumed the letter at about the same time that I started yesterday (around 2pm).  I'm sitting here watching this wonderfully BAD samurai drama.  If there's one thing Japanese are good at, it's making bad samurai dramas!  Well, if you think about it, we're also very good at making 'bad' tough Aussie drama's like 'snowy', 'rush' etc.  Hey, come to think of it, the music for this film sounds vaguely like the music from 'snowy'! Aahh, it warms the cockles of my heart!  Actually, if you don't watch it and just listen, the only difference (apart from the Japanese language) is, instead of the sound of the horse hooves clip-clopping along, you have the 'ching' of the Japanese swords.

Here's the Kitchen!

We spent the next few days at my host sister's home trying to arrange for our apartment to have the essentials connected.  The only thing that we still haven't been able to do is to get the telephone connected.  It's too damn expensive to buy a new telephone line (around $1400 !!), so we've been waiting for someone to leave NTT so that we can buy one 2^nd hand.   We have a prospective seller, but won't be able to get the line till 3 June… we're waiting patiently.

Trying out the Bath!

When we first saw our apartment we were in two minds.  The rooms are quite big and it's relatively new, but the kitchen and bathroom were a bit of a disappointment.  Also the place was quite dirty, to put it mildly.  After spending days scrubbing out our house in Brisbane before we left, we were less than pleased to find out that we had to scrub this place top to bottom too!  That was a few weeks ago now, so it's all just a bad memory (and a few sore elbows and knees). 

Settled into our apartment!

Last week we bought a few of life's essential items - you know the kind of things you just can't live without - like TV, video and stereo J!  We've spent quite a bit of money on these items, hoping that these will be with us for years to come.  We paid extra to get a multi-system TV and video so that they can be used anywhere in the world.  I feel right at home now, and have been watching many of the Red Dwarf tapes we brought with us….. I was going through a bad period a while ago having RD withdrawal symptoms.  Spike's also in 7^th heaven as he can now finally borrow some 'anime' videos!  Just today we joined the video store across the street (literally) and spike borrowed Dragonball Z and I borrowed…. yep you guessed it…. a Monroe movie!  Nothing new there!

Spike at the entrance to our apartment.

Spike and I finally have two bikes now and I zip around everywhere.  Spike rides to and from work which only takes him 5 minutes.  The other day I had a funny thing happen to me on the way to the shopping centre… when we first moved into our unit we were using my host mother's two bikes to get around.  They're both about 20yrs old and looked it.   The other day I had a run in with the local law enforcement.  I bowed to the nice policeman, as I usually do when we ride past the local police box on the way to the shops or station.  It happened to be at changeover time and the two policemen were out front.  As I rode up to the box I looked at them and said 'Good morning'.  One guy replied and quickly afterwards the other yelled something at me.  Once I stopped, he walked casually over to me all the time eyeing off my bike.   I was concerned that he might think I had stolen it.  'New bike, huh!'  he said to me casually.  I replied 'yes' and he asked how much I had paid for it.  I told him $150. I was wondering if he might ask to see a receipt for it or something.  The he replied ‘Oh! That’s cheap.’  I told him I wanted the cheapest I could get since we were only here for 2 years.  He then said, ‘Well, It’s a good bike anyway....look after it won’t you!’  I said ‘Yep! And he laughed as he walked away. I couldn’t believe it, he just wanted a chat! I’d almost wet my pants!! J

I’ve also made friends with the local bus director (for want of a better word).  He’s the guy that stands around at the interchange waiting for the buses to arrive and then directs the traffic around them as they leave.  This is just a minute walk from our apartment.  The apparatus he uses while doing this is a glow in the dark baton and a whistle.  He blows on that thing like his life depended on it!!  Since it’s only just round the corner and this goes on till midnight at least, he drives us crazy while we’re trying to get to sleep!  We always say g’day to him on the way to and from the shops, and these days he’s taken to saying ‘itterashai’ and ‘okaerinasai’ to us.  These terms mean ‘off you go’ and ‘welcome back’ and are usually used by family members seeing off and welcoming someone back home.  Very cute!  The other night Spike went out on his own, and he started chatting to him in Japanese, not realising he couldn’t understand him.  Spike said he had no clue as to what he was saying and felt very embarrassed.  He was able to tell him in Japanese that he didn’t understand, and the guy just laughed.

That happens quite a lot when people speak to me in Japanese and then start speaking to spike, assuming he understands as well.  Spike doesn’t like it at all and it upsets him that he can’t speak Japanese yet.  Well, it’s only be a couple of weeks, so I don’t think he should worry yet! 

Staying Cool!!

With the money Spike gave me for my birthday, I went shopping yesterday and bought some CD’s.  Oh yeah, when we were walking to the station from my first host family’s house, we stumbled across a great bar called the ‘Soul Kitchen’.  It plays all the kinds of music we like and has a great atmosphere.  As we walked by we stood out the front looking at the price board, when a half tanked Japanese guy raced out and started saying something like ‘come on in’ in a bad Japanese accent.  He also carried a guitar he was just playing on.  We hadn’t planned on going in, but were eventually convinced.  I think that they thought it was good to have a couple of Gaijin in their bar for their image.  Anyway, in the end we talked to the owner about where to buy the type of music we like and what radio station to listen to. He was very helpful, hence my new CD’s.  Anyway, the reason behind this story is to let you know how damn cheap they are here! I bought imported ones and they were only $20!!  There were some imported ones there for about $10!!  The most expensive one I saw was around $25.  I guess our CD Collection’s going to do some growing here!

By the way, Spike is pretty happy now that we’ve got the telly, cause he can finally start playing video games.  He’s champing at the bit, to go out and buy some new games.  They’re also cheap here!  We bought one the other day, just to test the system out for around $8!! We almost fainted!  In OZ we paid $100 just for one!!  I don’t know if Spike’ll ever want to leave Japan at this rate! J

We’ve been having Japanese food nearly every day while we’ve been here.  Spike didn’t like it so much initially, said it was too heavy, too much rice, but now is quite happy about it.  I’m having fun at the moment playing the little housewife role.  It’s fun trying to come up with a new menu every night.  I’m having a lot of trouble though reading cooking instructions on packages of food!

This weekend (Fri) we finally start to get a little of our money back, refund for our tickets, living expenses and pay etc, from NTT. Spike says we’ll be millionaires!! Wow, pity it’s not ‘dollar’ millionaires! J

I’ve just re-started this mess after a break of a couple of days.  Last night Spike and I were witnesses (after the fact) to an assault on a lady out the front of our apartment on the other side of the road.  We heard screaming at about 6pm but thought it was a couple mucking around.  When the screaming didn’t seem to stop and sounded more panicky, we raced over to see a woman crying talking to a guy who she’d pulled over at the side of the road.  There was a bike lying on the ground about 25 mts away and then we saw a guy walking in the other direction.  He appeared to be a little drunk, but was not running or panicking in any way.  We got a good look at him and then went over to see if the girl was ok.  She was hysterical and was crying lots.  We eventually had a group people who had gathered and eventually the police were called.  Spike was mad at himself for not running after the guy when we had the chance, but at that time we really didn’t know if he was involved or not, or what really went on.  Anyway, we gave the police a description of the guy and then were dismissed.  We were so shocked to see this happen in one of the safest countries in the world and also on a main road, well lit and around 6pm.  I’ll definitely be on the lookout now.  Although I’m rarely out late without my bodyguard, Spike said every time someone new arrived at the scene, they stared accusingly at him!  I’m not surprised though, those deep dark eyes, long unkempt hair and that bushy beard!! I’d be worried too if I wasn’t married to him!! ;-)



Tokyo Friends - Minami-san, Akemi, Yoko, Ken.

Spike’s enjoying work at the moment. Everyone in his office speaks English and are very nice people.  Two weekends ago, a group of us, about 7 went to Nikko, in the mountains north west of Tokyo, to visit the hot springs.  We went up in two cars and I was the only female in the group. I wasn’t really looking forward to going for that reason. The guys were looking forward to relaxing in the hot springs together chatting to each other, but I’d be alone in the women’s section, so had decided not to go in.  When I got there though, I changed my mind and thought I’d come all this way and not to jump in was silly, so I did.  It turned out well though, as the locals were really friendly.  It was good for my Japanese too, sitting stark naked in a huge bath with a group of women aged from between 2 yrs and 82 yrs, does wonders for your confidence and they are always keen to speak to a Gaijin.  They loved to chat and so did I in the end, and they were very kind with their compliments (which gives me even more confidence!)  We chatted the arvo away!  The guys ended up waiting for me to finish! 

You wouldn’t believe what just happened.  As I’m sitting here writing this, I’m watching a Japanese parliamentary broadcast and as they go for a break, the station puts on a filler, which happens to be shot in NSW!!  There were scenes on a wheat farm, sheep station, cattle station, a mob of kangaroos in the bush and then they showed a koala park in the Blue Mountains.  The scenes looked beautiful...all that open space and blue skies!  There’ve  only  been a couple of days when we’ve seen blue skies since we’ve been here.  On a very clear day and when we went to Nikko outside of the city!  Also today I went looking for pot plants to make our apartment a home, and came across a blue gum plant!  I was so shocked and felt so homesick, I just had to buy it.  I think I’ll use it as our xmas tree this year, its only about 1/12 feet high.  It’s so cute!  I’ve attached one of those koala bear clips to one of the branches. That’ll keep those Japanese guessing, they already think we’re pretty strange.

Well, I guess if I don’t send this soon, we’ll be back in OZ before it arrives!  So many things keep happening that I want to let you guys know, that it’s hard to know when to stop writing and send this mess.  I guess this is as good a place as any to stop. 









Love to you all.  Maria and the Hairy One! Xx