My Adventure Abroad

In the Waterfall in the Jungle

Here we are, cooling off IN the waterfall! Our second day in Malaysia, Friday, November 25, was the best adventure ever.   While searching through Trip Advisor for off-the-beaten-path activities, I found Open Sky Unlimited (openskyunlimited.com), the outfit that we hired to take us into the Malay jungle.  Amos, our amazing guide, started this company when he realized that working in a bank was not for him.  Now he and his buddy lead guests on challenging hikes in the jungle.  But it’s not just a hike.  He picked us up at our apartment lobby at 6am, drove us an hour to a small colonial town locally known as KKB (Kuala Kubu Baru), took us to a restaurant for an amazing…

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Thanksgiving Malaysia-Style

It’s our Thanksgiving/Fall trimester break.  Who knew we’d have several days off around Thanksgiving just like in America?  We thought a lot about what to do/where to go.  John really wanted to go to Hong Kong.  He also wants to go to Seoul, South Korea.  I started researching Hong Kong but I just couldn’t put together a travel plan that I wanted to move forward with.  A very good friend of mine from my graduate school and television days is from Malaysia and I’d heard lots of stories about Kuala Lumpur and her family back there.  I started to look into Malaysia and it looked like a great place to bring the kids.  There are so many things to interest…

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Thoughts from the road

We have now been in Japan a solid 3 months.  We arrived on August 14 and today is Wednesday, November 23. (Okay it’s actually Nov. 30 now.  I’m so behind.)  I am typing this on the airplane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  The kids have a Fall break before the next trimester begins.  They are off school from today, Wednesday, and do not return until Tuesday, November 29.  This coincides with Thanksgiving break back in the US.  I was hoping someone from abroad would come visit during this time since the Fall tree colors are so beautiful but no one could make it.  So we are flying out instead. We took the cats to a pet hotel (in Japanese it’s peh-toe…

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Autumn Momiji

It’s Tuesday, November 29 and I’m so behind on my posts!  I have several posts started but none of them finished.  I aim to get one completed right now. One of the reasons that John and I have looked so forward to coming to Japan is to see the Fall colors on the trees.  John especially has been excited about the change in seasons since he had to leave seasons behind when he moved to California.  I heard that it has actually been raining in California recently and that is great news because the state needs every raindrop it can get. We went to three places to see Japan’s colorful Autumn trees.  Momiji is the Japanese maple by the way,…

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Kuromon Ichiba Market

Kuromon Ichiba Market is in downtown Osaka, off of the Namba station exit.  We found out by trial and error that this is a daytime market, not a nighttime street affair.  It is fascinating!  The narrow alleys are crowded with stalls and people and the sights and colors are all vibrant shades that pop out.  The smells wafting out from each stall let you know if something is being cooked for the crowd.  Fresh, premium fish can be found here.  Wagyu and Kobe beef are cut here in generous strips and grilled on the spot.  Thick pieces of fatty sushi sit atop little pieces of rice.  Huge crabs, whole or cut up, are on sale.  Fresh fruit and vegetables are…

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Birthday Japan Style

We survived birthday week!  Lots to celebrate.  On Sunday, November 6 Halyard turned 15 years old and Avalon turned 10 years old!  On Monday, November 7 I turned ???  Right in the middle of forty-something.  We decided to have our special birthday breakfast on Saturday the 5th because Avalon had plans to have a girls’ night sleepover at her friend Aimi’s (pronounced eye-mi) house from the 5th-6th.  So Avalon wasn’t even going to wake up with us on her birthday morning.  The special birthday breakfast menu highlights were pancakes, bacon, fruit and apple juice. After breakfast we convinced all three kids to hike up to Minoh Falls to see the autumn leaves.  I made sure to pack plenty of water…

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Fun photos

Fun times in Japan! This guy is the mascot of our city, Minoh.  He is a yuzu, which is a citrus fruit that is very popular in Japan.  There’s yuzu sauce and yuzu soda, alcoholic yuzu drinks and yuzu sweets… From the City of Minoh’s website: “The city’s mascot is a Samurai with a tender heart called “Takinomichi Yuzuru”.  He goes everywhere in Japan to promote Yuzu and the Minoh city. If you can meet him, you are very lucky! Pat softly his eyebrows of the trademark and the happiness will come to you.” Oh shoot.  Kaiyo didn’t know this and didn’t pat his eyebrows! This sweet treat is called taiyaki.  It’s a detailed fish shaped snack usually filled with…

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OC Connections & Japan Family Ties

TRICK-OR-TREAT.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN.  MISSING EVERYONE BACK HOME! Happy Halloween Eve!  It’s Sunday night, October 30 in Japan.  My kids are sincerely missing their American candy.  In fact, when asked by grandma what he wanted for his birthday, Halyard told her he wanted American candy.  Skittles and Mike-and-Ikes and Sweedish Fish… anything chewy that sticks in your teeth. The things at the forefront of my mind, and because it’s Halloween season I’m going to label them SPOOKY, are the constant Orange County references that I keep running into here in Japan.  I’m not talking about broad reminders, like someone knows someone whose cousin lives in Yorba Linda.  I’m talking about direct associations that have real relevance to me. This post is…

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Cat Cafe – for Cat Lovers

Today, Sunday, October 23, Avalon said her dream came true.  John and I took her and Kaiyo to find a Cat Cafe.  What is a Cat Cafe anyway?  It is a place where you can pay an outrageous amount of money by the hour just to sit in a place with a lot of cats wandering around and have a drink of coffee, tea, juice or cocoa.  You can’t even have a fun cocktail or champagne while you pet the furry felines crawling all around.  Actually at least half of them are sleeping soundly like lumps on logs.  I now want to open my own Cat Cafe in my house and charge by the hour and guests can come over…

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Undokai

Undokai is a nationwide Japanese school event that is also known as Sports Day or Sports Festival.   I would venture a guess to say that every school in Japan has an undokai.  And in fact, our Japanese school back home, Orange Coast Gakuen in Huntington Beach, had their own undokai too.  At OIS, undokai was originally slated for Saturday, October 8, but fears of rain postponed it to Monday, October 10.  This is noteworthy because October 10th is actually the national holiday known as Health and Sports Day.  This date in history commemorates the opening ceremony for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the first time that Japan ever hosted the Olympics.  Everyone has this day off!  Except us because we…

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