The last few months of 2009

October through December were fairly quiet months for us here in Tokyo. With the weather beginning to cool down, we tend to become hermits!

Ainsely and Greg visited Tokyo in October and we had the chance to catch up with them on several occasions which was lots of fun. I took Ainsley to our favorite coffee shop in Harajuku “Snob’s Heart Café” which has delicious coffee and some of the best cakes in Tokyo!
http://www.cafe-master.com/yamanote/harajuku/snobs-heart-cafe.html#menu



We did have the lucky chance (thanks Marjon!) to attend the Bledisloe Cup final at the end of October. Even though Australia lost to the All Blacks, it was very exciting to watch the game and cheer the Aussies as they played their best against the powerful New Zealand lads. We also enjoyed watching our first live Haka – the Australian players must feel terrified after watching it! ;)
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/about-nz/features/haka-feature/haka.cfm



One weekend in December we spent a long afternoon exploring Ginza, and to refuel, we enjoyed a fantastic Korean meal at a restaurant called Hantejiya – so spicy!
http://www.ramla.net/casual_restaurant/hantejiya/index_english.htm


On our last Sunday in Tokyo before flying to Australia for Christmas, we went for a 3 hour walk along the Tama River, which is in our neighbourhood. We soon shed our many layers as the sun was shining so brightly – large dose of vitamin D! The river was roaring after the heavy rain Tokyo had received, and the birds were enjoying the sun, the gentle breeze, and the steady flow of fish to be caught.

Tsukiji Market - Tuna Auction - LIVE!

Tsukiji Market

This morning, we woke up REALLY early (4:45 AM) to get ready to go to the Tsukiji Market in Tsukiji, Tokyo. Thanks to Annmaree and Owen for encouraging us to get out of bed so early - it was a truly unforgettable experience!
This 24 hour market sells food products such as fish, vegetables, fruit, meat and flowers. Many tourists go there each day to watch the very lively 'tuna' auctions (see next post). It is an incredibly busy place, with little vehicles zooming around with fish deliveries, old men on bicycles with big baskets full of fish, and wheelbarrows overflowing with fish being pushed by muscly blokes! Hmmmm... note the overuse of the word 'fish' in that last sentence? Well, that's because Tsukiji is the LARGEST fish market in the world! I have never seen so many fishy things. I was quite shocked by the vast quantities... and my "what are we doing to the planet?" voice screamed inside my head as I watched a seller tease and taunt a live crab, and looked into containers full of extremely undersized fish! I much preferred the fruit and veg section, where we were tempted to buy a very big box of tomatoes...
Hunger pangs struck us around 7:30 AM, and we ventured into one of the market stalls to eat sushi with rice. I had 'Maguro Salmon Don' - tuna and salmon on rice, and Ale had 'Maguro Don' - both were extremely delicious, though I still feel very guilty...

Welcome back!

It has been a looooong time since I last posted to our blog. Basically, as soon as I started my Masters at the beginning of March, life ended. Work was busy too in that we moved school (that is, packed up and moved across the road) at the end of March. This last week, I have been sick with Influenza Type A - not allowed to leave the house the whole week as I am contagious. Have never been so ill - the muscular pain I experienced was incredible! I am feeling a lot better now though, and hopefully this weekend, we can run around and do all the things we need to do before leaving next Tuesday for Italia - yeah! This summer is looking to be a hot one in that we have lots of things planned - so, there should be a few interesting posts coming up :) For now though, let me tell you about DisneySEA.


Last week, Alessandro and I went with two of my colleagues and 82 5th graders to DisneySEA. It was raining... in fact, it rained the whole time we were there - from 10 AM until 6:30 PM!!! The boys were SO excited to go around in their groups and have fun to celebrate the end of Elementary School. Annmaree, Ale and I had a wonderful time exploring the park too - we were determined to go on all the scary rides - and we did!!!


We began with '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' in which we explored the depths of the ocean in research submarines designed by Captain Nemo. Next, we went on a 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' - I screamed a lot, and there is a photo which depicts my terror! The 'Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull' is an amazingly designed attraction, and with Annmaree at the wheel of Indiana's Jeep, we were safe, except at the end when a big boulder was coming straight for us and... 'Raging Spirits', with its 360 degree turn was fast and furious, and Annmaree and I had to really psyche ourselves to take that challenge! To calm down, we relaxed on 'Sindbad's Storybook Voyage' boatride - the set designs are awesome! Ale and Annmaree talked me into going on a simulation ride called 'StormRider' - I closed my eyes in order to NOT get motion sickness. Finally, the ride I said that I WOULD NOT GO ON, 'Tower of Terror' was presented to me as a challenge by a few of my cherubs, so, I took the challenge, and the photo shows my pure terror as we free fell way too many meters, and then rose again, to fall one more time!!! Everyone else around me was smiling for the camera - mad!


During the day, we also enjoyed lunch at 'New York Deli', strolled through the streets of 'Venice', and watched the show 'Big Band Beat', but mostly we were there for the adventure! When we all arrived back at St. Mary's at 8PM, there was lots of excited chattering between sons and mothers, but the teachers were yawning ;) We highly recommend DisneySEA, and we're looking forward to going again next year with the new 5R.

Thanksgiving weekend in Tokyo

What a great weekend! Last night we celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends from school. Brad and Rachael kindly invited us to their home, and we shared a traditional Thanksgiving feast together, along with some good Italian wine :)

Today we woke up late, and decided that we needed a hearty breakfast - or brunch, as breakfast time was well and truly over. We headed up to Takadanobaba (on the Yamanote Line) to 'Ben's Café'. For 1000 yen/person we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, and toast - on the terrace - with fleecy blankets to keep us warm :) The coffee was also very good - we both needed espresso (in Ale's case a double espresso) to give our day a kickstart! If you ever visit us in Tokyo, we will definitely take you to Ben's Café for brunch, or even coffee and cake - the cakes were very tempting...

Whilst enjoying our brunch, we noticed another couple with a gorgeous puppy native to Japan - the Shiba. They let us hold 'ChaCha', and she settled into Ale's lap and curled up ready to go to sleep :) I am sure we will see ChaCha grow into an adult dog, as they dine there most Sundays, and we will be adding 'Ben's Cafe' to our list of favourite spots in Tokyo ;)

Da Pisa a Tokio

On August 9th, we bid a teary farewell to Mary and Peter at the airport in Florence. We were excited and nervous about embarking on this journey and new chapter in our life together. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so we had time for a few coffees and photos :)




We waited patiently to board the plane... boarding began, and then stopped. "There will be a 10 minute delay in boarding due to a technical difficulty with the plane" - never comforting words just before stepping onto a giant mechanical bird! A few minutes later, the people who had boarded (well, they were actually waiting on the bus which takes you to the plane) arrived back in the departures lounge. Confusion reigned supreme! An Italian airport, a German airline, lots of English speaking passengers... too many languages. The airport staff did their best... which in my opinion was lousy... but finally we were informed that our flight was 100% cancelled due to the fact that one of the plane doors wouldn't close. While we were glad that the airline considered our safety first, we were a little peeved and stressed due to the fact that we weren't going to be able to take our connecting flight to Tokyo. Oh-oh!

After being informed that our flights would be rescheduled, we all piled onto a bus and were driven around to the arrivals terminal to collect our bags. After 30 minutes, we were on our way to line up to secure new flights... and a room at a nearby hotel for the evening (all at the airline's expense, thankfully). We waited in the line for about 2.5 hours, during which time I ate a dodgy sanger and a big bag of chilli chips - Ale looked on, amused. After obtaining our new flight times and a hotel room, we took a shuttle bus to a 3-star joint near the airport, checked in, and then enjoyed a wonderful buffet dinner. The next morning, after waking up very early to call my boss in Tokyo to tell him not to meet us at the airport, we indulged in a buffet breakfast, and were then whisked away to the airport (take two) for our flight to Munich, and then on to Tokyo. We arrived almost 24 hours late - now I know that I am famous for my 'better late than never' approach to life, but this one was way beyond my control, OK?

We touched down, took a bus from Narita to Shibuya, then a train to Yoga, and checked into our hotel. After a long, hot shower we... took another train and then walked to my workplace, announcing "We're here!"

Che viaggio! - What a trip!

Greetings from Tokyo!

Life has been very hectic since our arrival here on August 11th. After a few weeks we found a great little apartment not too far from where I am working (a 10 minute walk), and we have been busy over the past couple of months settling into life in Tokyo, and doing exciting things like buying refrigerators, discovering the cheapest place to buy coffee for our moka... important things like that. I have also been very busy working with a class of 28 boys! Anyway, we are both well (well, I am still recovering from the flu) and happy, and we look forward to each weekend so that we can go and explore Tokyo together.

Ale has been very busy organising the garden. Yes, we have a 50sqm apartment (2 levels - mezzanine floor - very cool), AND a tiny garden... that was more like a jungle when we first moved into the place! One afternoon I returned from work to find Ale wrestling with roots and weeds and vines and very scary-looking insects... he removed all the foliage by hand to leave just the dirt and rocks... and that night it rained!!! So, after a few days of rain we actually had a rather dirty swimming pool... but then when the sun came out and the ground dried, we quickly paved the space with slate tiles and pebbles to create a peaceful outdoor space for plants, our herb garden, and for us to relax - very zen.

This photo shows Ale in gardening mode, and there are other fun snaps on our Flickr page - enjoy!