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Hello Everyone. When I first got to Japan, it was my intention to blog each day’s activities as they occurred. As you may have noticed, it didn’t quite happen that way. But have no fear, you shall still get an accounting of each day and every detail my foggy mind can summon up…..........all in good time, as they say.
But now, UltraMom is finally home again, safe and sound after an arduous journey across sea and land. Three boys (Two very small and hairy and one very large and moderately hairy) were very glad to see me. I do, however, have mixed feelings about being home. On the plane ride home, Heather and I started making a list of the things we would, and would not miss about Japan. Here, for your entertainment and enlightenment, is a partial list:
We are glad to get home to: western-style toilets in public places, complete with hot water, soap and paper towels; other soda choices besides coca cola; wider (not so thin) roads; being able to understand what people are saying:)
We miss: heated floors and heated toilet seats; vending machines everywhere that dispense your choice of a wide variety of hot or cold drinks, including hot corn soup and milk tea; grocery store pastries filled with melted cheese (Heather especially misses this one); sticky rice, Japanese curry, Japanese ramen noodles, Tomoko’s chilli, and melty kisses; no tipping in restaurants or really anywhere (Heather, the waitress, has mixed feelings about this one), plastic models of food menu items outside restaurant windows with prices displayed; a great recycling system for both garbage and water; being able to walk to the ocean; being able to walk or catch a great mass transit system to just about anywhere you need to go; interesting markets and shops, and giftwrapping; Yuri’s welcoming hospitality, Motoji’s garden-field and noodles, Mitsuhiro’s karaoke singing, Yukiko & Makoto’s friendliness; playing CatchPhrase and Cranium with Kristen, Todd, MJ, Yoshi, Jonathan, Sachiko & Jim and Kristen’s informative Tokyo tours; and most of all sharing love, fun and laughter with two of my favorite children. Miss you Bob and Tomoko.
UltraMom