I saw Josephine eyeing some of the seaweed covered soya beans this morning and thinking to myself that well, they were a healthy thing to offer her I said, "Would you like some, Jozie?"
She looked up and said, "Um, no fanks, Mamma. I don't like dem. But you can have one. When you put dem in your mouf, den your face is going to turn gween like mine did."
;-)
Nice try.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Saturday, 29 January 2011
First ballet lesson!
Last week, Josephine had her first ballet lesson! I'm not sure who was more excited: me or her!? Anyhow, it took very little coaxing to get her ready in time!
We picked up our Japanese friends Mika and Tamaki and drove together to the venue.
The studio is mirrored all around with ballet bars to hold on to. Big windows on the one side above the mirrors letting the light stream in onto the well-polished wooden floor.
And then just perfecting the picture were 5 little girls with pale pink tutus on, white stockings, little slippers and buns in their hair. Not just any little girls....5 excited little girls!! And one of them...our Josephine.
Evie, of course, thought it was her moment to shine and so she ran from me into the middle of the room with her own little pink ballet skirt on, lifted her shirt up to expose her belly button to everyone watching and then proceed to do some of her toddler twirls and ended with a "headstand". It took a bit of coaxing to get her out of there, poor thing! I wished she could have joined in, but of course, she's still too small.
We picked up our Japanese friends Mika and Tamaki and drove together to the venue.
The studio is mirrored all around with ballet bars to hold on to. Big windows on the one side above the mirrors letting the light stream in onto the well-polished wooden floor.
And then just perfecting the picture were 5 little girls with pale pink tutus on, white stockings, little slippers and buns in their hair. Not just any little girls....5 excited little girls!! And one of them...our Josephine.
Evie, of course, thought it was her moment to shine and so she ran from me into the middle of the room with her own little pink ballet skirt on, lifted her shirt up to expose her belly button to everyone watching and then proceed to do some of her toddler twirls and ended with a "headstand". It took a bit of coaxing to get her out of there, poor thing! I wished she could have joined in, but of course, she's still too small.
getting ready at home
just about ready to go!
Evie in the front and little ballerinas at the back
Megumi-san is their teacher. She is a professional ballet dancer herself and walks so elegantly!
Japanese teacher for dinner
Last night we had Michael's Japanese teacher, Ito-san and her husband, around for dinner. I prepared something special and we had 3 courses! We had herb salads and mushrooms with parmasan for starters; bobootie and saffron rice for main course and some homemade strawberry icecream with fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate for dinner. Tea and some Rocher chocolates at the end.
Had a lovely time. Their English was quite good and so we were able to have a most enjoyable evening. Evie was already in bed when they came and Josephine was allowed to join us for a while as she had had a good midday nap earlier.
They brought lots of presents with them - quite a lot, I have to say (!) but quite usual for Japanese. Everything is so nicely packaged and wrapped. Mostly it was "sweets" (eg soyabeans or green tea & seaweed coated nuts). An acquired taste, but one which Josephine seems to have...well,....acquired quite quickly.
:-)
Had a lovely time. Their English was quite good and so we were able to have a most enjoyable evening. Evie was already in bed when they came and Josephine was allowed to join us for a while as she had had a good midday nap earlier.
They brought lots of presents with them - quite a lot, I have to say (!) but quite usual for Japanese. Everything is so nicely packaged and wrapped. Mostly it was "sweets" (eg soyabeans or green tea & seaweed coated nuts). An acquired taste, but one which Josephine seems to have...well,....acquired quite quickly.
:-)
Shimoda - day 2
On the second day we explored the Izu Peninsula. It was exotic and beautiful. Lots of coves, bays, beautiful islands and rocks jutting out. Our highlight on this day was a walk to a lighthouse. It was just so nice to be as a family, enjoying the nature, and doing things at our pace.
Josephine and Pappa visiting some fishermen at the end of a pier
fishing villages
start to our walk to the lighthouse
lots of aloes growing here - just like in SA at JBay
Josephine found herself a dried palm tree branch which worked well as a broom
the gates marking a temple/shrine ahead
Josephine loves climbing. Any challege (except walking!!) is up her street.
fishermen
Spot Fuji-san again? It "floats" on the clouds! Breathtaking!
Fuji-san smoking a pipe. Just cloud, don't worry! Taken from the car on our way home.
Shimoda - day 1
We had a wonderful wonderful time in Shimoda. It's on the Izu Peninsula which is about 2.5hrs drive from Tokyo.
For those who don't have time to read the whole long blog, here's the answer to the stone bed pending question: It was a bit of an anticlimax for me....I swung the door open, eyes darting around in search of stone....but, well, in all honesty there were no stone beds. Which I guess was a relief. Just tatami mats to sleep on (Japanese style beds which are very thin straw/bamboo mats on the floor with a lovely thick feather douvet on top for warmth). Anyway, these tatami mats were a bit hard, that's true, but not stone. I don't know what "stone beds" he was referring to. Probably a language mix up!
Anyway, we had a lovely time. Our highlights were:
1) the amazing scenery
2) lots of bays - little coves (like natural harbours) with crystal clear sea - turquoise and you can see to the bottom. Like out of a James Bond film!
3) the Pacific here was like a duck's pond, but surely it can get much bigger waves when there are storms
4) the weather was gorgeous (about 14 degrees....a glimpse of coming Spring)
5) Japanese narcissuses were flowering (yellow and white bulbs growing wildly with a beautiful scent), palm trees, aloes, very tropical plants
6) our hotel: very lovely owners (friends of my Japanese teacher) who could speak English very well and gave us great tips
7) Evie, in particular, is a beach lover. She LOVES the sand, and LOVES the waves. She just sunk her teeny weeny toes into the wet sand and let the waves roll over her legs. She hollered and cried inconsolably when we had to go.
8) the water was actually quite warm! Definitely swimable.
9) Japanese dinner in the hotel - very Japanese with LOTS of tiny bowls with tiny servings of everything you can imagine (mostly veg & seafood), very high quality of food. Might not be our taste for every day, but the experience was superb.
10) lots of fishing villages; fishermen risking life on slippery rocks and islands to catch the best
11) lots of islands to see
12) a lovely walk to a lighthouse
13) a historic walk through an older village with traditional Japanese architecture
14) just the fresh salty air...beautiful views....a real breather for us.
15) white sandy beaches, protected bays, perfect for us
16) not a soul (except us) on the beach. Wonderful!!
I would say, at this stage, that we're starting to see Tokyo separately from the rest of Japan. Tokyo is never sleeping, a massive blob of concrete, always busy, expensive, yuppy, people always dressing to impress, lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, lots to do!, etc. It's also the place where obviously there are jobs for many and in that way it attracts masses. The rest of Japan on the other hand has natural beauty. The mountains are so unusual for me: they look like triangles - very steep, very forested, uninhabitable. There are lots of rivers, waterfalls. The coastline is dramatic, but peaceful. A worthwhile visit.
Here are some photos:
For those who don't have time to read the whole long blog, here's the answer to the stone bed pending question: It was a bit of an anticlimax for me....I swung the door open, eyes darting around in search of stone....but, well, in all honesty there were no stone beds. Which I guess was a relief. Just tatami mats to sleep on (Japanese style beds which are very thin straw/bamboo mats on the floor with a lovely thick feather douvet on top for warmth). Anyway, these tatami mats were a bit hard, that's true, but not stone. I don't know what "stone beds" he was referring to. Probably a language mix up!
Anyway, we had a lovely time. Our highlights were:
1) the amazing scenery
2) lots of bays - little coves (like natural harbours) with crystal clear sea - turquoise and you can see to the bottom. Like out of a James Bond film!
3) the Pacific here was like a duck's pond, but surely it can get much bigger waves when there are storms
4) the weather was gorgeous (about 14 degrees....a glimpse of coming Spring)
5) Japanese narcissuses were flowering (yellow and white bulbs growing wildly with a beautiful scent), palm trees, aloes, very tropical plants
6) our hotel: very lovely owners (friends of my Japanese teacher) who could speak English very well and gave us great tips
7) Evie, in particular, is a beach lover. She LOVES the sand, and LOVES the waves. She just sunk her teeny weeny toes into the wet sand and let the waves roll over her legs. She hollered and cried inconsolably when we had to go.
8) the water was actually quite warm! Definitely swimable.
9) Japanese dinner in the hotel - very Japanese with LOTS of tiny bowls with tiny servings of everything you can imagine (mostly veg & seafood), very high quality of food. Might not be our taste for every day, but the experience was superb.
10) lots of fishing villages; fishermen risking life on slippery rocks and islands to catch the best
11) lots of islands to see
12) a lovely walk to a lighthouse
13) a historic walk through an older village with traditional Japanese architecture
14) just the fresh salty air...beautiful views....a real breather for us.
15) white sandy beaches, protected bays, perfect for us
16) not a soul (except us) on the beach. Wonderful!!
I would say, at this stage, that we're starting to see Tokyo separately from the rest of Japan. Tokyo is never sleeping, a massive blob of concrete, always busy, expensive, yuppy, people always dressing to impress, lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, lots to do!, etc. It's also the place where obviously there are jobs for many and in that way it attracts masses. The rest of Japan on the other hand has natural beauty. The mountains are so unusual for me: they look like triangles - very steep, very forested, uninhabitable. There are lots of rivers, waterfalls. The coastline is dramatic, but peaceful. A worthwhile visit.
Here are some photos:
awesome view from our room! Can see big island in background and the water was turquoise.
our room. There is the Japanese table with an electrically heated blanket over it (to keep your legs and feet warm underneath as you sit on the tatami mats) On this side of the room (where I took the picture from, were also 2 single western style beds. But all 4 of us ended up on the tatami mats - the raised part of the room which is wooden "deck" with special "straw-type" mats on top. A bit like camping I think!)
Guess whose sexy feet these are! Michael's!! These are standard shoes you get everywhere as you have to take street shoes off. We got these at reception. Awful stuff, but at least we "blend" in as everyone has them on and nobody stares or thinks they're wierd. That helps, a lot! But in any other country, we wouldn't be caught dead in them. Not even an Ouma would wear those.
the Japanese narcissus. These were in our room.
Josephine having a ball
lots of islands and rocks jutting out of the ocean. Beautiful.
my darling hubby
tickle attack!
Evie's sinking toes! Too cute as she stood there like a statute not wanting to leave and enjoying the waves!
This was the very first wave that ever rolled over Evie's feet.
Evie kept saying "EVIE'S SEA!!!"
Evie still has the baby legs and walk. I love it!
Ours!
Pappa carrying his hearts
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