Baby's First Bender

At just shy of two months old, it was high time for Ez's first proper party. Plus, we've got some friends over here that were looking forward to meeting our small wonder.

The occasion was a double b-day bash for great peeps Rachel & Rene. We made our way up to Ibara for the first time since last year's good time hangi event. And once again, this year did not disappoint. Despite the rain that attacked in waves, on-and-off, we made do and had a very excellent bbq. Complete with delectable food, a singalong jam session, good conversation, and rounds of sake, it was a fitting way to say sayonara to a load of great people we've met in Japan.

And we got to pass Ez around too...

B-boy Rene & Ez make fast friends.


Good Kids.


The Birthday Pair.


And the irrepressible Gary gets the music going.

The Sisters' Sojourn

Visits in Ez's honour continued in May.

This time we welcomed my mom, who just couldn't wait a couple of months to meet her newest grand treasure, and she brought along her sis' - who's also quite fond of small people - to keep the travels interesting.

They both took to Ez like he's the world's newest amazing gift - which he is. They also took to the Pretz that we offered, and decided it's another of the world's amazing gifts - which it is.

For Ez's part, he seemed quite happy to make more friends, but at times they had to compete with his imaginery companions who lurk on the ceiling, particularly around the lights. Then there were also those captivating 'beeige' curtains.

As for the 'rents, we were sure glad to have T & P's help for near 3 weeks. We ate delicious veg. food with no dishes to do. We got pleasant breaks while they took Ez for his much loved strolls around the neighbourhood. And we had plenty of laughs.

Thanks so much Miss Kitten & Ladybug...

Here's Ez getting the love from his grandma.


And here's more love from his graunty.

School's Out FOR--EVER!!

Well for Japan anyway...

Yes, that's right. It's all over. No more teaching uninterested, half-wit (bad teacher!), mouth-breathers a subject they have as much interest in as I have for J-Pop, and expecting they actually try.
I, for one, am all through trying.

Yeehaa!

Of course, that's a somewhat unfair characterization. Only somewhat though. I met lots of stellar students who really made me feel like my help was worthwhile. However, these students don't change my overall impression...

Instead, I'm left clicking my heels that my time teaching in this educational wasteland is over.

For the record, here is my very last class in J-Land:



And here's some of the good guys:





Now, on to bigger and brighter things.
That'd be taking care of my remarkable son.



Ahhh, yeah.

Take it away, Mr. Mom.

A Parting Gift

Just finished watching my last sumo tournament in Japan. I'm sad to say sayonara to sumo (don't think the CBC carries it...yet), but at least my last basho did not leave me disappointed. My boy Hakuho won his second straight tournament in dominant style going undefeated, and laying out yokozuna Asashoryu once again. In my post about the Fukuoka basho last November I noted that Asa is unstoppable. Well, he was, but Hakuho was out with an injury that time. Now my boy is firing on all cylinders and Asa looks in need of a tune-up.


With Hakuho's two straight tourney victories, he was rightly promoted to top dog yokozuna (grand champion), and looks set to ratchet up the Mongolian rivalry with fellow yokozuna Asashoryu. Finally somebody's cracking Asa's dominance and making sumo really exciting, and I gotta go...drat!
Maybe I should have recontracted...
Yeah, right.

Congrats Hakuho!

Saturday Surprise

A few weeks ago I was coming back from the drug store, with a new pacifier for Ez in hand, when I noticed a white bearded foreign looking man coming down our small street. It took a few seconds to register his identity as he wasn't in his usual surroundings. Sure enough it was Miss Yaki's dad making a surprise visit to meet his new grandson on the eve of Mother's Day no less. Apparently he'd bought his plane ticket the day after Ez was born, and had made it from Toronto, through Vancouver, to Osaka, through Okayama, and then finally right to our door without so much as a hint of his imminent arrival. It was a stellar surprise.

Ez and his grampy took to each other right off. Grampy was so taken with the young man that he was more than happy to take him off his parents hands at three in the morning near everyday. It seems grampy's clock left T-dot time, but never really made it to J-land time. He was stuck somewhere in the middle with heavy eyelids at 7pm, and waking refreshed around 3am.


Anyway, it was great having him here. It was perfect timing. He got in some early bonding with his grandson, and did dishes like a man possessed.

Thanks again Craigers!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Today was great as Ez and I shared a b-day. He clocked in at two weeks while I hit a backwards 13. We celebrated our day with generous vittles supplied by our friends Dave and Rachel. Don't think they realize how much the veg lasagna and blue cheese salad was appreciated as a b-day meal. Anyway, the good times continued with a few beers for me and warm milk straight from the source for the little beaver.

Here's to the first of many fantastic Aprils to come!!

Ez's First Visit

Despite his far flung foreign birth, Ezra's first official visit was from family afterall. The timing was right as cousin Dr. Tiff was in J-land for an ob/gyn conference. We decided if anything went wrong we'd be able to call in our own ringer to get things figured. Fortunately, everything went well, so only a family visit was required.


Unfortunately, due to obvious circumstances, their visit was too short. Only had time for some Japan trash talk, and a couple of meals out including the requisite okonomiyaki. Anyway, it was great to see you Tiffany & Keir. You've got an early spot in Ezra's scrapbook.

This Charming Man

He's here!!!

Ezra checked in on April 16th. Took his time and worked his mom over a bit, but she's already forgetting. We're both completely smitten.


Who wouldn't be? He's perfect.
And his mom is amazing!

He's the star of the maternity ward with his 9 pound frame, dashing good looks, and foreign parentage.
He's shown himself adept at sleeping like an angel so far. Here's one with his proud papa during one of his more awake moments:


We are so excited and fortunate to have this miracle in our life!

Japan the Strange

This past weekend we took a wander in our neighbourhood and came across the annual local music festival in all its glory.


This appeared to be some kind of woman on woman folk dancing. Everyone watching looked to be north of sixty, and the whole thing had a kind of local community class performs for local community feel. It is a city of almost half a million, but it usually feels like a very small town.

Further along the canal we came upon this picturesque scene:


The historic quarter of Kurashiki is indeed a beautiful spot, but look closer for the bonus. Those are community stalwarts dressed in traditional 'alpen' dress blowing away on their alp horns. The melodious mountain moans transport us to another place...like Switzerland.


The gentleman in the middle is none other than the VP of my school. Some years ago he traveled to Switzerland on behalf of the city to purchase the horns. It seems the city was looking for something special...or strange.

This past weekend was certainly not unique as our everyday life here has provided a veritable catalogue of the strange. I think it appropriate to note a couple of things that have become commonplace to me, but should be noted for posterity...or more likely, me looking back at this blog in the future.

The Foot Fetish:
I'm all for taking your shoes off when inside the house. It makes good cleanli-sense. It starts to wear after awhile though when so many other places require the removal of shoes often followed by the donning of ill-fitting, grandpa-style slippers. Understandable for temples, and the like. I prefer to avoid the slippers altogether in these cases, but understandable nonetheless. It's school that really irks. The entrance ways of the school have banks of cubby boxes, each with a name plate reminiscent of kindergarden. One for everyone; students and teachers. The exchange happens on arrival and departure. Indoor sandals for students. Indoor sandals, sandals with heels (best for men), sneakers, quasi-dress shoes or whatever for teachers as long as they're 'clean'. In point of fact, I think my outdoor shoes are cleaner. As I've noted before, the students clean the school here and do so in typical teenage manner; therefore, no cleaning. Anyway, this indoor/outdoor shoes is all symbolic anyway. The school has open air hallways and courtyards so one is always going outside. I even see teachers going to their cars wearing indoor shoes. People, those are your indoor shoes! Speaking of cars, some folks even take their shoes off in the car and store them away in a convenient tray that appears designed for this purpose. The car's an extension of home I guess. Still, it's a little awkward when a fellow teacher picks me up on the way to school and I have to scramble out of my shoes just to catch a ride.
This foot phenomenon reaches its strange peak during graduation ceremonies. Despite the fact that the gym floor is covered to protect its buffed finish, outdoor shoes are not permitted. Parents and guests bring their own slippers. The students are decked out in their uniforms with gym shoes (their indoor sandals not appropriate for the occasion), while the teachers sport black suits and white shirts with white ties for the guys, and pearls for the girls. On teachers' feet any 'indoor' footwear flies. The principal dons tails for this solemn occasion and cuts an imposing figure with white reeboks on his feet.
Strange indeed.
Miss Yaki's supervisor from last year was the best though. He took his shoes off in his car, but couldn't locate the necessary respect to do the same at school. He'd just roll in with outdoor shoes flying. Rebel.



The Uniform Fetish or Smell the Glove:
This is a nation of uniforms. School uniforms are not strange of course, but they serve a deeper purpose here as they ready the young for a life of uniforms. The salaryman wears the grey or blue suit. Formal occasions call for the black suit/white tie combo as noted above. Housewives wear bib-like aprons with floral patterns. Old ladies sport bonnets and long gardening gloves all over town. Grocery store employees wear full polyester uniforms from the paper hat down to knee high socks. Parking lot attendants stand at attention in uniforms that look like they may call for the rank of admiral. Then there's my favourite, the drivers. Bus drivers and taxi drivers in full uniform with name tags, conductor hats, and white gloves. Between them and the parking lot attendants, one can never be sure who the cops are.
As noted, with some of these uniforms come gloves. They're the hand equivalent to indoor shoes. They denote cleanliness. Campaigning politicians stand by the side of the road waving at passing cars with their white gloved hands. Regular people wear white gloves while driving (and probably remove their shoes.) Old ladies have gloves permanently attached to their bicycles to keep their hands warm and/or keep the sun's rays at bay.
And I call this strange place home...for now.

While I track down some photos of uniformed weirdness, enjoy this shot of a local eccentric's pad: