Sam's poem

While I have more photos to put up, I am too lazy to do that today. But, Sam, inspired by our apartment, has written an eloquent poem that he wants me to put on the blog.  He says, though, that he will still miss Japan.  Here is the poem:

"Moldy Vat of Water"

Mold, mold gross and sickly
Makes you sick.
Stay at home in mold,
green or black
Gross as a rat.
Taints your food and starves you,
mold, mold, gross and sickly
Makes you sick.

by Sam Pash

Meanwhile, in other news....

Graham starred in his school musical on Friday night. He did really well.  In many scenes he got to lay on the ground while a young lady fawned over him. The girl was played by Graham's girlfriend, Seung A (Sam), so Graham didn't have all that much acting to do for the part!  But, he was very cute and we enjoyed seeing him on stage. :)


Sam has been chosen as one of three kids to represent his school in a race at the annual sports festival against the Japanese School (the festival is called Undokai).  The principal remarked, "You would not think to look at Sam that he would be fast, but he is one of the fastest kids at school!"  A funny way of putting it, but then this is the man who told my friend (who has two little adopted Chinese girls who are itty bitty), "Why are the girls so small? Maybe you are eating all the food!"  My friend is Dutch and so asked me to confirm that in English what the principal had said is NOT a favorable thing. :)

We are all starting our preparations to return home. We will not miss the apartment--except for the fact that it can be cleaned in a matter of minutes due to its small size--but we will miss Japan, and especially Tokyo, very much.  It's hard to believe that the year is almost up.  We are growing fat from trying to take advantage of all the lunch and tea and cake settos before we leave.  And, we'll miss all the lovely new friends we have made. But, so many are leaving Japan anyway. Our Finnish friend is returning to Finland, our Dutch friend is moving to Shanghai...people are still scared of the radiation which seems to be becoming more of a problem here in Tokyo as tea leaves in Kanagawa have cesium and produce from Ibaraki remains tainted.

Well, Sam has just given me a new poem to put on the blog.

"Organisms"

With my microscope I can see a circle sickening others up...STOP.
This apartment is dusty and dirty...STOP.
No matter the mold it is all molder....STOP.
Regenerates itself....STOP.
Finding a victim....STOP.
Be Careful!...STOP.
STOP!!!!

Tea time in Tokyo and more odds and ends

 

Sid and his tea.

 

Sam and the chocolate cake that goes with his tea.

 

Melinda and her tea.

 

Another view of the tea house.

 

Our friend, Yukio Maeda's daughter playing the koto (a traditional Japanese instrument). We got to see some koto masters play also--a rare treat.  

 

Tea at Enoshima.

 

Melinda at the lighthouse at Enoshima.

Odds and Ends

 

Sam and Mama boat around the moat at the end of Cherry Blossom season.

 

Graham learns to shave.

 

After the second shave, Graham's face was a mess. He has not been able to shave in weeks.

 

In Japan, it is easy to run out of clothes and end up in your wife's pink t-shirt. But, in Japan, where so many men wear pink, nobody will even notice.

 

One of our tea and cake shops seen from the outside.

 

We went with friends to the Ninja restaurant.

 

Marisa and Sam at the tea and cake shop shown above.

 

There are many, many little French bistros and cafes and cake shops in Tokyo. Here are Sid and me at "Anniversarie" near Sam's school.  The lemonade is very strong lemonade stuff in the bottom of the glass and then they bring you perrier to pour in and mix with a little glass stirrer.  This particular little place has the best chocolate cake in town.  It is in Omotesando.

 

After a long day, Sid and Sam go to sleep.  Which one should I carry to their own bed?

 

For Mothers' Day we traveled outside Tokyo to Enoshima. Just outside of Kamakura, Enoshima is a cute little beach island complete with little beach shops and beach food.  The beaches in Japan open July 1 and close August 31, so there are no swimmers yet.  But, we saw surfers and plenty of people out on boats enjoying the sunny day. This is a view from the shrine complex.

 

The shrine at Enoshima is somewhat unique as it has this place for lovers to hang their wishes or good luck charms. They sell these pink ones at the shrine.

 

The pink wishing spot.

 

Graham....still looking cool in his shades.

 

We had a snack at a little restaurant on top of the hill overlooking the ocean and sailboats.

 

Still in Enoshima.

 

At the end of the day we went up in the giant light house on Enoshima. From there we watched the sunset. The pictures are not totally clear, but we could see the sun setting over Fuji-san.  It was very lovely.

 

"I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can...."

 

If you look closely you can see Fuji-san on the left.

 

Fuji-san sunset.

 

Mt. Fuji.

 

The lighthouse was very, very tall, much larger than it looks here. We went up by elevator, but Sam forced me to climb down the stairs on our descent. You can see the stairs here snaking around the lighthouse. It was terrifying. Fortunately, a very nice young Japanese couple stayed with us so that I didn't get left behind a million feet in the air.

 

After our day at Enoshima we ate a beach restaurant. Sam and I had vegetable tempura, Sid had regular tempura, and Graham, always the most adventurous, ate a fish and snail plate.  To get back to the station you walk over the sea on a little pedestrian bridge where these stone lamps light the way.  I put down my backpack to take a picture of this and Graham started saying, "Mom, mom, lift up your bag!!! Lift it up!!!"  When I did I saw that a big millipede thing had crawled under it. I would have hated to take that home with me!