Tigermama talks

Monday, October 30, 2006

150...er, let`s make that 60 things!

Sixty Things List
(The object of this list is to highlight the things that you have done).

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink - thankfully, it was a very small bar.
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain - more than one but none of the BIG ones.
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula-Yeah right! Who wants to do this??!!??
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree - we had a huge tree (or 2?) in the backyard when I was growing up and my younger sister and I used to circle it and try to hold hands...kind of a hug, I think.
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea - well, the storm was on the sea and I watched from the shore. Does that count?
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game - it was huge to the people on the team.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper - or a million.
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight - I was drawn into one with a toddler...am I proud of myself? Not really but it was fun.
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can - you mean like everyone does when he`s not listening? Isn`t that normal?
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day - this tends to happen when I`m around particular friends...isn`t that right Haley? "Develop the Depression!!" and all that.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country - heeheehee, Tigerpapa only danced with me once in our whole life together and he was a virtual stranger at the time.
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign - bad influence of a highschool beau. I`m sure all of you whom attended CCHS knows what I`m talking about!
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them - well, they came and sat with us...and cooked our food! Remember Lex?
54. Visited Japan :)
55. Milked a cow - with TG this past May, it was weird.
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero - doesn`t everyone?
58. Sung karaoke - and loved every minute of it. Any of you coming to see me will get to experience "Fun Karaoke Suzan".
59. Lounged around in bed all day - again, perfectly normal behaviour...isn`t it?!
60. Played touch football

I told you I would try my best to be interesting. Shall I post the rest of the things next week?

Ja ne.

Halloween Times Three.



We have had quite a busy Halloween season here at the Tiger household. I started working part-time for an English school and so was invited to their (huge) Halloween party. It was outside at a little park on a blazing hot day so we were a tad uncomfortable in our costumes but the kids had fun playing games and eating pizza.




("You call that a Pirate costume???")

Next, we went to a party at my friend Midori`s house. She runs a small English school and I teach for her once per month. She had arranged with her neighbors for the kids to do some trick-or-treating which was a novel experience for most of them. Halloween is not really celebrated here in Japan unless you happen to go to an English school and then you cannot avoid it! Anyhoo, we had lots of fun there too.





Lastly, a good friend of mine had a party at her house. There were lots of international couples attending and all of the kids had a blast playing together. It`s good for TG (Tigergirl) and TB (Tuberculosis...hahaha just kidding....Tigerboy) to get to spend time with other kids like them. They can see that they aren`t the only ones with a foreign mom or dad. Plus, they are all great people and fun to be aruond. Unfortunatley TB didn`t get to go to this party because he was sick. Poor little TB. We brought him back lots of treats however so he was fine with it all in the end.

So, that was our halloween experience here in Japan this year. On to Christmas!!!

Ja ne.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Obento Love

Clearly, I am not very good at this blogging thing but I will persist. Luckily no one reads this blog.....YET!

Tigergirl and Tigerboy`s yochien has obento days on Wednesday and Friday. This means I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual to put together something spiffy for their lunchboxes. I used to be stressed about this because I wanted their obentos to be just like the other kid`s obentos and there are a lot of "rules" and expectations when it comes to preparing the perfect obento. A typical mother spends about an hour creating every lunch into a healthy and enticing blend of cartoon characters, flowers, and animals......anything to make the lunch cute and appealing to her child. The teacher judges whether the lunch box is prepared according to obento rules: 1.) Handmade food 2.) Looks good 3.) Child likes it 4.) At least 4 colours present etc. Can you see why I was stressed? I even went so far as to go out and buy a magazine showing kids bentos and how to make them. The magazine didn`t get me far however because I couldn`t read the recipes...duh. Plus, I just don`t have the patience to create something like this:



Thankfully neither do most of the moms at the kid`s school. So, my obentos have evolved to looking like this:



(fried rice, fresh cucumbers, mini tomato, orange slices, gyoza w/sauce.)

And this:



(rice with furikake, steamed brocolli w/sesame dressing, fresh persimon, marinated chicken, cheese.)

It`s interesting how much the kids adore obento days. They ask every day if today is "Obento Day" and they get really excited when I`m making them. I suppose there is a lot of truth to the bento-as-showing-a-mothers-love ideal that is inherent in this culture. I`ll keep posting the kid`s obentos until you get sick of seeing them....or I get sick of posting them!

Ja ne.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Two weeks in one post!

Last week we went camping with some friends and had a blast. The "campground" (and I use that term loosely) was HUGE and equipped with two large playgrounds, a gym, tennis courts, a full water park with slides, 3 walking trails, a rocky beach, and bike rentals. I wish I had a camera (that works!) as I`d love to show you how EVERY SINGLE CAMPSITE had the same tent, the same canopy, the same tables, the same lawn chairs, and the same blue coolers....including ours. I guess the only camping gear availiable here on Okinawa is this particular brand.

The weather was gorgeous and we especially had fun at the water park. Too bad it will be closed from the end of September on. There are crazy unwritten rules about the proper time for bathing in Japan. I had thought Okinawa would be different but it`s not. So, even though temperatures remain in the high 20`s with sunny skies and lots of humidity, NOBODY will be swimming in pools and only the really crazy people will be swimming in the ocean. Luckily, I`ve always been crazy and its worn off on TP (Tigerpapa) and kids so we enjoy the water wherever (and whenever) we go!

The only negative aspect of the whole trip was the incredibly drunk and LOUD neighbors across the street who kept everyone awake until they passed out around 1am. I guess it`s another cultural difference because if you behaved that way in a campground in Canada, you would be warned and then kicked out. Oh well, we made sure to send the kids biking around their campsite as soon as they woke up the next morning (around 6am). Hahahaha.

This past weekend was pretty low-key. My church was showing movies about St. Francis since the feast of St. Francis is this week and our church is named for him. Anyhoo, I saw Francesco and Brother Sun Sister Moon. Both movies were really interesting and told about the life of St. Francis which, I must admit, I didn`t know much about. I preferred the first movie as it was more realistic (I think?!) and "darker" with much better acting. Anyway, if you are interested in learning about St. Francis, go on out and rent these dvds.

Sunday was a festival at the church including a really loud band, a crazy clown, and lots of food and beer. Fun was had by all...especially Kiana who was chosen by the clown to assist in a balloon-making endeavor.

Ja ne!