Japan June 14-21

Back from Japan!

Our last week of school was last week, it was a busy week, but all went well. It was hard to say goodbye to some amazing friends, some for just the summer and others for longer. We are very sad to see Lee-Anne and Mike go.
We went to a BBQ on Friday night, came home to pack our bags and left Saturday morning for Japan.
We flew Cathay Pacific for the first time which was great, perfect seats and everyone was very nice.
We arrived at Narita airport at 9:30pm and went to our airport hotel for the night. Madi was of course a perfect traveler, loved the plane and dealt with all the travel so well.
The next morning we activated our rail passes and took a bullet train to Kyoto. We travelled almost 600km in about 3 hours! The train was really nice, we had more room than you would on a plane!
We arrived in Kyoto, took a subway to near our hotel and found our hotel without a problem. The train/subway routes are crazy in Japan, so we were very proud of ourselves for figuring it all out!We got settled and then spent the afternoon exploring a bit of Kyoto, wandering through the covered shopping arcade, quickly realizing how EXPENSIVE Japan is!!
We found the downtown area and wondered there as well before heading back around 8 to the hotel.
The next day we went to a few shrines, temples and gardens. We were able to see and experience some of Kyoto, there is so much to see that we knew we could never see it all.
That night we found ourselves at an Irish Pub and met up with some other travelers and a few others who taught in Kyoto. We had a good time swapping stories with them.
The next day we did a bit more exploring and then took a bullet train into Tokyo.
We were extremely fortunate during this part of our trip. I taught a beautiful little Japanese girl named Miki, and her mom was beyond wonderful and when she heard that we were going to Japan, she immediately booked her family vacation to make sure that they would be there when we were. She then invited us to stay with them at their hotel! Oh my! We were very excited to be able to spend time with this incredible family in their home country!
We were able to figure out how to get to the hotel very easily because Naho had it all organized and knew exactly what to do! We were SO excited to see them! We were shown to our room…which was mind blowing! We were on the 23rd floor with a view of Tokyo people would kill for, the room was huge and had a massage chair…oh my…we have decided that this is a chair that be in every room when you travel! We would come back after a long day of walking and carrying our 10kg angel and it cured all!!
That evening after getting organized we ventured out for dinner…we found a TGI Fridays….(do you expect anything less from me!?) It was delicious!
Then we came home to the massage chair and a restful night.
The next day we went on a Tour of Tokyo that Naho had figured out for us! It was perfect, the bus picked us up at the hotel and took us to some of the big sights. We saw the Tokyo Tower, the palace grounds, a shopping area with a temple, through the high end shopping district and to a pearl making demonstration.
When we got back to the hotel Madi was exhausted so she had a nap with Daddy, who was happy to oblige! I was then able to go and have a very nice visit with Naho and the girls. Miki was unfortunately not well, but this gave Naho and I time to get caught up.
That night we went down to the famous Tokyo corner at Shibuya, the one that is in all movies that show Tokyo, we watched for a couple of hours, all the people go buy, the fashion, the shoes! Just the sheer number of people was incredible!
The following day we attempted the famous fish market, arriving at 9:30am, it was already finished. So we headed to the famous Onsen (A Japanese Bath), but it was closed until May. Striking out twice, we headed for the Sony building, it was fun to see all of their products and some that are not yet released yet. Steve had a great time and there was an area for Madi to play,
So it was great!That evening we went to a place called Ropinggi hills. From what we understand it is an area that was designed to be a self sustaining development, one where you could live, work, go to school, shop, everything, in this contained area. It took 17 years to finish and is beautiful, a bit odd, but neat! We had dinner down there and explored the area.
The next day we went to TOKYO DISNEY!!!! This was the ultimate highlight of the trip! Miki was feeling better, so Naho and the girls took us to Disney for the day! Tokyo has the Magic Kingdom, virtually identical to Orlando’s, but of course everything was in Japanese!!
It was so much fun to go with Madi and the girls. For Madi everything was “Wow”. She went on several rides, Dumbo, It’s A Small World, Peter Pan, and a few others. She Loved them all!!!
We watched the parade, the kids loved it! We of course, also loved everything, we had a blast sharing Disney with Madi and experiencing it with Naho and the Kids as well as being at Tokyo Disney, which we never dreamed we would be able to do. We loved that we were reminded again of the “Magic of Disney”.

We had a really wonderful time, loved Tokyo and are so very thankful to have been treated with such kindness and generosity.
Next week we teach summer school (boo!) and then we are off to Chiang Mia for a week and a few weeks from now we fly home!!!
The Teacups
Family shot on "It's a Small World"

At the end of the day Madi and Aki crashed

Main Street with the castle in behind!
Miki, Madi and I with Walt andMikey

I am having a blast, Madi, not so much

Ropinggi
Daddy and Madi at dinner
About to enter Tokyo DISNEY!!!
Family shot at the entrance
The Girls!

Japanese Breakfast, we all tried everything!
The map of the subway lines...oh my!
Sony Building
Madi at Ropinggi with beautiful flowers

Shibuya corner
Madi and I at Shibuya
Neon Lights!
A view from Above

The ornament I bought for our tree
Eating Japanese rice crackers
Shopping street and temple

View from Tokyo tower

Palace grounds

Tokyo tower in the distance

Madi with her new Paddington Bear
Our beautiful room with Steve in the massage chair
The train station we always used
The view from our room
So darn cute!

Washing our hands before entering a temple
KFC in Kyoto, the Kernnal...Oh dear!
Picnic lunch
Buisness men travelling by push bikes (see behind motor bike)
Steve and I people watching while Madi napped in her stroller

A beautiful laneway

The people we met at the Irish bar
The famous "food street" in Kyoto

So sweet
Just before she falls through the back!

in our Komonos!!
Somebody just had a chocolate cookie...too cute

On the train
The bullet train

Around Singapore

Jos's Surprise birthday party

Year End Party

On May 23rd we had our year end party. It was a great night with friends, a bit sad to realize that so many were heading home. But really fun to celebrate the end of a great year!

Crazy Singapore weather
The pouring rain, floods the fields so fast and rains so hard for about an hour and then stops, the field drains in about 30 minutes and it all dries up!Beautiful sunset outside our window in our condo

Chili Crab…what an experience, a Singapore specialty…it was messy, but sooo good. I got an injury trying to crack open the crab, it hurt for days! And to top a great night off, the bill was paid for by the owner, whose kids were taught by one of our friends!

Steve and Madi and I went for lunch at the Hawkers.

PYP Conference in Bangkok May 2008

foot massages after a long day (one hour for $12.50)
Steve and I having a drink

A night out with everyone
An ice bar with vodka shots
Jen, Christina and I out for a lovely dinner

Jen, Christina, Edna and I at Cabbages and Condoms for dinner Steve and Jen

Bangkok
We went away last weekend to Bangkok for a conference, I went to a reading and writing and Steve went to a Science and Social Studies. We arrived in Bangkok on Friday night and went out to a few nightclubs. This was fun because we never get to check out the nightlife in a new city because we have Madison . But several friends were with us on this conference, so it was great to go out and explore.
Saturday morning came way too quickly but off we went 8:0 to 4:30, all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday! Saturday after the conference we were able to go to a night market and check a few things out and then I enjoyed a fantastic dinner with some girlfriends while Steve went out for another night in Bangkok with a few friends.
Sunday after the conference was much the same, shopping, great dinner and then a wonderful foot massage, all the while drinking Thailand ’s amazing fresh juice and cheap beer.

Monday after the conference we headed to the airport and flew out at about 8:30, arriving in Singapore after midnight. Tuesday morning at 7am we were up again for a full day of teaching…oh my!But, all things considered, it was a great weekend and well worth going, it is not often that one gets to say that they are going on conference in Thailand ! The farthest I ever got was Toronto !!
Anyway, that is it for now, four more weeks of school and then summer school and Japan and Chiang Mai and then HOME!!! YIPPEEEEE!!

Still missing everyone lots and looking so forward to seeing you in 8 weeks!!!

Madison!

Family shot in Macau
Madi and Mommy
Steve and Madi playing at the airport
Totally wiped out after a day of exploring in Macau
On the bus with Dad in Singapore

Bath time!
Madi and Mommy hangin' out

Madi is so good at pretending, she is feeding George the Monkey
Madi helps mommy grocery shop

Madison

She is getting so big and learning so much, I know I say that every time, but it seems that as the weeks go by she is able t do so much! She is really focusing on talking these days, which is so fun! As of today she is really trying to say words, by syllable, not always with success, but she is adorable trying. Her list of words keeps growing! She is making such an effort to communicate, I think by summer she will be real little chatterbox!

Elton John

Elton John came to Singapore !! A One night only show! We were a bit surprised that he was coming and even more surprised that we were able to get tickets. We went with several other people and enjoyed a fantastic show by a true legend.