Sensoji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo. A must see if you ever go. It is always really lively down there. After this gate there are shops that line the street up to the temple. We grabbed some red bean treats that were freshly baked, so good. It was cold that day. I like this temple because it has a lot of nice gardens and areas to walk around. It's really crowded at the bottleneck at the gate, but once to the actual temple the crowds thin out and it is quite a peaceful experience.
Tokyo Sky Tree
Early plum blossoms.
We went to an okonomiyaki restaurant for lunch and met up with a friend from NYC who is currently living in Tokyo with her hubs. It was really fun to catch up, and she showed us around the area. It is the place to go if you want to see the plastic food that a lot of Asian restaurants use to model the food they serve. Japan makes everything cute, beautiful, but it is all functional. There were so many adorable and beautiful things we saw that you could completely justify buying because it was functional.
My first time having okonomiyaki, and not my last. It is a savory pancake. I had cabbage, pickled ginger, and minced pork in mine I think. I remember the pickled ginger and it was perfect. I am trying to recreate it back home now. The restaurant was amazing. It was an authentic Japanese restaurant with the tatami mats, kotatsu, and you cooked your food right on the table. It was a hole in the wall looking place that you would have passed if not have been looking for it, and what a hidden treasure. It was a delightful dining experience.
Law school wives.
That night we went to Ryogoku Stadium to watch some sumo! It was the highlight of the trip. It was so incredible to watch. We got there in time to see the marching in of all the wrestlers. I did not know this, but sumo is only during January, March, and September in Tokyo. There are matches in a few other cities around the country, but it is something that you would have to plan your trip around, if you wanted to see sumo. We just got lucky and happened to be going during the sumo season. Ellen and I are not sumo experts in any way. We had been watching some during the trip, so we did recognize a few of the names. It was so fun! We had a great time trying to pick the outcome of the match, and really got into it. This is something that my parents really enjoyed while they lived in Japan. Now we understand why.
Outside the stadium after the match.
I filmed an entire match from start to finish to share the experience and what the sport is like. Some matches got really intense there were a couple where the wrestler knocked his opponent out of the ring so hard that he fell on the people sitting around the ring. My favorite was when they would throw the salt, for good luck. I thought it was chalk or something to help them grip the floor, but no it is all about superstition. I love it!
Ellen and I ended this day exhausted. The trains that day, jeez. It took us forever to get back to our cousins. I think I even fell asleep on one train. It was still really fun. We even stopped in a pet shop and got to love on some puppies! My heart was melted and I wanted to take them all home with me. Why am I such a sucker for puppies, or baby animals in general? I introduced Ellen to Max Brenner Italian Thick hot chocolate. So nice being in hot chocolate drinking weather. This country is so incredible, anything we would have done would have knocked our socks off. But it was a great last full day in Japan together.
Remote learning is over for now, thank goodness. We have been doing remote learning since March 20. We are experts at google classroom, zoom meetings, and google meets. It's been rough, but we did it! This post is long and detailed about what each kid had to do everyday for school. It was intense. The kids did wonderfully. Their teachers are amazing! They worked around the clock to learn all the new technology, meeting with students individually. I received personal phone calls from them asking what they could do to help and also talking to my kids. I am so grateful for the teachers they had this year. All three kids participated in remote learning. Each grade/teacher did something different. What they all had to do was answer and attendance question by noon, read for thirty minutes a day, and I-ready (an assessment program that helped determine where they were in math and reading). Third Grade: Cosette's assignments were what she was doing in school. She completed two huge
Today was a big day for me in the my motherhood book. First, Cosette lost her first tooth! It was really funny how it happened. I was nursing Raphael, and she came into the room looking upset and said "Mommy my tooth fell out". She had no idea that you lose your baby teeth and then your adult teeth come in, so it was a little bit of a shock to her. Her tooth actually had not fallen out, but was extremely loose. I got ready to pull it out and was prepared for all sorts of screaming, but lucky for everyone in the room, her tooth came on out without me pulling hard on it. I think the experience was a little shocking for her, but she is excited that the tooth fairy is coming tonight. She is also a little self conscience about the gap her lost tooth has made in her smile. She has been giving me closed lipped smiles so I cannot see her teeth. It was a proud momma moment for me, just because she is getting older and all these firsts are happening. It's exciting for me t
We made it to Manila! We flew over the US and the Pacific Ocean to get here. Our total travel time was 55 hours. It was long but surprisingly not bad at all. Cosette was an angel and the Haneda Airport in Tokyo was like a hotel. If those two things had been any different attitude in writing would not be so positive. This odessy of a journey begun way before our first flight. Packing up our apartment for our subletters took a lot longer than we supposed it would. So instead of being refreshed and ready for the long trip over we were tried and I did not want to get out of bed. We got enough sleep to keep on going till our flight from NYC to San Fransicso where we tried to rest. That flight for me was the worst. Cosette did sleep but was up for a lot of it. The plane was cramped and Lyndon and I were seperated by the aile. Thankgoodness for kind and patient people who sat next to us. Playing at the San Fransico airport. Our flight to Japan was awesome. We had a
Comments
Post a Comment