Japan

Sorry gang, it's been nearly a month since my last post and I don't really have an excuse- I'm just lazy. Anyway, thought I would fill everyone in on our trip to Japan. We went over the Chinese holiday in the last week of September. I guess I was expecting more similarities to China but other than the fact that they also eat with chopsticks, it was an entirely different world. Civilized, clean, polite, modern, and yet ancient and traditional at the same time. Since the primary purpose of the trip was Disneyland (of course) we really only spent one day exploring Tokyo. We took the train/subway from our hotel near DL right into downtown Tokyo. Totally convenient and no need for a car rental- which was good because they drive on the opposite of the road from us westerners! We first explored a traditional park in the middle of the city. Lots of green spaces for the kids to run and for our nature starved children, it was perfect. We then took a tourist boat along the river that runs through the city to our next stop at a Shinto temple. It was definitely not as interesting as the Buddhist temples that we see in China- not as ornate but still worth seeing. Then we walked around a popular shopping area with traditional Japanese souvenirs. The coolest thing was seeing many of the local women dressed in their kimonos out for a stroll. Both young and old were dressed in traditional costumes (saw some men dressed in theirs as well) and they honestly were not doing it for the tourists, but for themselves. Finally, we were blessed with both the kids falling asleep on the walk so Sev and I found a very local restaurant down a back alley and enjoyed lunch. We made friends with some of the locals, shared some beers and some sign language since their english was not so good, and had a blast pointing to everyone else's dishes in an attempt to order- no english menu of course!

And the next 3 days after Tokyo were spent at Disneyland and Disney Sea. It rained a lot and it was really crowded but we still managed to enjoy it. The craziest thing was that 80% of the people at both parks were adults- who were there without children! And 99% were Japanese. We hardly saw any other westerners which really surprised us. By the way, the kids wore the same costumes for Halloween so we got a lot of use out of them. And thanks to mom for making Grace's Snow White dress! So here is a brief compare/contrast of Japan and China based on my limited experience in the land of the rising sun:

1) People line up for things in Japan/ Not in China

2) Cars stop when pedestrians cross the street/ Not in China

3) It was extremely clean for a big city/ Not in China

4) People stopped and took pics of the kids/ Same in China

5) Hardly anyone spoke English/ Same in China

6) Starbucks opens at 8am/ 6am in China (thank heaven)

7) Lots of scary stuff on the menu/ Same in China

8) Tokyo was ridiculously expensive/ Shanghai is relatively cheap

9) Japan continues to practice whaling (unfortunately)/ The Chinese continue to eat dogs (also unfortunate)

Overall, we really did enjoy Japan and would love to go back and explore the country outside of Tokyo. Enjoy the pictures!

A busy shopping area in old Tokyo

Ladies out for a stroll in their Kimonos

Making friends at a local restaraunt

Waiting for the monorail to go to DL

Snow White- meet Snow White

Tinkerbelle and Peter Pan (note the girls in the background snapping pics of Audrey)

Audrey's 2nd Birthday

Our little baby turned 2 last month! And by the way, the terrible 2's have come on with a vengeance. You know it's bad when at the end of the day, I reflect on the fact that Audrey was more challenging than Grace! We celebrated with a joint birthday party with two other kids, Greta (also from Minnesota) and Oran (from Ireland). Since all three kids were turning 2 within 3 weeks of each other and we all have the same friends, we thought it would be best to just get it all over with in one shot. Bring on the Winnie the Pooh cake! Our friends have a great apartment with a rooftop balcony that overlooks the city so we were able to do an old fashion BBQ out on the deck. I'm also including some pics of a recent fieldtrip that I went on with Audrey and her class to pick "oranges" which turned out to be green. But they tasted pretty good anyway.

The Birthday Girl

The rooftop BBQ view (it's pretty funny because we don't even live in "downtown" Shanghai and yet our little suburb is more urban than Minneapolis/St Paul combined).

Audrey- looks like she's pretty excited for the cake (and that's my wine, not hers).

We didn't request the fruit garnish on the cake- just an added Chinese bonus!

Picking "oranges"

Audrey and her teacher enjoying her favorite lunch- noodles and eggs

Polish in Shanghai

Ok, now I'm just a blogging fool! 3 posts in one day. Sev has very recently broken into the local Polish community in Shanghai. Yes, believe it or not, there are about 200 Poles living here- compare that to the estimated 20,000 Americans. But being just 1 of 200 is actually turning out to be a big advantage. For example, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, was recently in Shanghai and Sev managed to talk his way into a small meeting (about 30 people) with the guy. He actually got to meet him- this is the man who is responsible for negotiating with America on the new US missile defense system in Poland. Basically, it would be like me getting to met Obama. The following week, Sev & I were invited to an invitation only event at the Polish consulate to celebrate their independence day. It was a lovely cocktail party at the consulate which is in a beautiful old villa in an exclusive area of old Shanghai. For reference, the US consulate is located in a mall. Yes, a shopping mall. And believe me when I tell you there is no charm whatsoever. Anyway, upon entering the villa, you definitely feel like you have landed in Poland. The house is decorated with traditional Polish furniture and rugs- I seriously felt like I was at my mother-in-law's house. The party was fun- free flow booze and Polish vodka of course! They even had traditional Polish food but because it was made in Shanghai, it didn't taste quite right...oh well. Now once a month, all the Poles in Shanghai get together at an Irish bar (yes, Irish- there's no Polish bars here so it's the next best thing). And these are the nights that Sev gets home about 3am but hey, can you blame him? After all, it isn't often he gets to speak Polish & act like he's in Poland so when the opportunity arises...

Sev and the PM of Poland (the one with the brown hair and NO pin on the lapel is him- the guy with the pin in the background is secret service- cool).

What's a Polish party without the booze?

I just liked this picture of us...