Happy Halloween

Last night at 10pm I received an email asking if Gian and Mia wanted to go "Trick or Treating" with the French kids, well Mia thinks she is too old :-) but Gian was up for it so we had to then find him a costume. Well that wasnt easy, not in America now :-) but we found a mask, anyone who knows Gian will also know he is Michael Jackson mad at the moment so we thought that would be appropriate. Anyway the RDV was 4pm in the lobby so I sent Mia with Gian so I could stay to give out the sweets, 2 mins later they were back... there was only 2 other (small) girls going so Gian was "NO WAY"!! I managed to convince him to come with me and we went down. After 10 mins there were about 6 kids but we picked some up more from the flats on the way and by the end there were about 15... Gian has just come back with his friends Nicolas and Jonathan and asked if they could go to some other buildings, good luck I say as the Japanese don't really seem to into it... oh well a bit of fun for the kids :-)

1st Visitors - Helen, Jacob and Pauline 18-30 Oct 2009

My dear friend Helen (and Jacob/Pauline) left us today, they are flying as I write this. We had a fantastic 2 weeks together. Thank you all for making it so much fun, it was a pleasure having you here.

They arrived on Sunday 18th October and we went straight into sightseeing, showing them Ginza and Ichigaya. Everyday we did something, the beach at Odiba, amusement park at Tokyo Dome, fish market at Tsukiji, temple at Asakasa, bike ride to Ueno etc etc. We had so many laughs, many at my expense :-) last night me, Helen and the kids all went to do some Karaoke, how much fun is that!!! excellent!! please be aware all our visitors that this is not optional and EVERYONE must sing along,. They say laughing is the best medicine, well me and Helen are definitely not under the weather. :-)

We already miss them terribly, it was very strange having them here, felt like I was in Switzerland somehow. I now realise how much I miss all my friends "back home".

Oh well I am going to tidy the flat, go shopping and make the bed up, next lot of visitors arrive in 6 days.

Tokyo Marathon 2010

The number of applicants for the marathon and 10km race in Tokyo 2010 exceeded the quota just two days after the registration had started. Therefore, they said all entrants were to be decided by a lottery system. I am happy to say that Graham got an email yesterday to say he has a place so can run in the Marathon. yea!! we are all very happy :-) Now he has to start really training although he still has time, the race is in Feb 2010.

http://www.tokyo42195.org/2010/index_en.html

Typhoon hits us, nobody hurt all OK!!

Well we are having fun experiencing the different weather in Asia... Earthquakes, typhoons... I will miss so many things when we have to leave this wonderful country but that isn't one of them...

We are all fine, the kids had the day of school as their school was closed so they were happy!! we stayed in the flat and although at times it was loud it wasnt too bad if you just stay inside. I hope that is the last Typhoon I see while we are here....


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125496688015372437.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_world

Cooking course

Today I went to Omatesando to do a cooking course, this is organised through the AFJ - Association des Français du Japon http://cms.afj-japon.org/index.php?id=45 it was an easy morning, watching Akiko prepare different sauces etc for the meals. She showed us how to do some of it and then we helped. I was expecting to be doing alot more "cooking" but I still really enjoyed it and then we ate together. There were 5 of us in total, 3 ladies I hadn't met before who were all very nice and my lovely neighbour Anne. It was useful and interesting to find out a bit more about some of the sauces, ingredients etc as it is hard knowing what you are buying sometimes.

We made Riz au thon (sashimi with rice and a lovely sauce)
Furofuki daikon, pot au feu de navet "oden" à la sauce miso (Japanese radish again with a good sauce)
Glace au thé vert (yum but I cant make this at home as we don't have an ice cream maker but really tasty and good for you... ish)

Kyoto 2nd - 4th October 2009

Metro - Tokyo

I will try to take some photos the next time I go on the metro before 9am as it is unbelievable... it is sooooo crowded but still organised... very Japanese...

more info to come soon..