Ella's diary (I)

(June 20)

Alex and I are having lots of fun in Japan. We live in Osaka near the Universitywhere our Mom works. Daddy takes us to parks and on shopping trips everyday. We ride on a monorail or train to get around. Alex and I race to see whocan push the elevator buttons first. The elevators take us up to the trainplatforms.

We have been to day-care twice so far, and next time we will stay all day! It'sfun to be with friends, and the teachers are nice.

A week after we arrived we went to Hiroshima for 4 days. There is a nearbyshrine on an Island called Miyajima. The shrine gate is very tall and when thetide goes out people can walk around its base. We stayed at the Universityguest house which had a huge room with tatami floors where the whole familycould sleep together.

This past weekend we visited my Mom's friends in the mountains near Kyoto.Here we are sitting on the steps of their pizza restaurant, and walking around bythe mountain streams.

(July 6)

It's fun to live in a small place because there are lots of little areas in which toplay, yet we are never far from each other.

Alex and I like to paint and do exercises from my workbook when we are not outat a play park.

We go out almost every day on errands in our double stroller. We change trainsand elevators several times on our way to grocery shopping or school. Alexand I are getting better and better at knowing which buttons to push in theelevators, and how to put the tickets in the turnstiles.

It's starting to get very hot and humid here in Japan. Luckily our apartment hasair-conditioning, but outside we need to keep our hats on and drink plenty ofliquids. Here I'm sharing my frozen ice with Alex, while we rest in a shadedpicnic area.

On the 4th of July we visited Osaka castle with my mom's cousin Akane-chanand her husband Kojima-san. It was another hot day. I used my umbrella tohelp shade me from the sun.

Inside the castle we took an elevator to the 5th story and then walked three moreflights to the top. I wasn’t so happy with all the climbing and walking, but at thetop of the castle there was an observation deck, which was set up so that evenWally could see out. The cool breeze felt good up there. We walked all aroundthe tower, and looked out in all directions over Osaka. The best was when Ispotted a shop that served ice cream. But my mom told me we’d get some extraspecial ice cream if I waited until after lunch.

After another train ride, and a stroll through some busy streets in a district ofOsaka called Namba, Alex and I fell asleep in our stroller. When I woke, wewere at a restaurant where they made okonomiyaki, which is like a pancake butfilled with assorted meats, fish, and vegetables. I wasn’t feeling very hungrythough. Alex and I were both not happy with the heat. Things got better whenwe went to Kojima-san’s tea shop after lunch.

The shop was down the street from the restaurant. Kojima-san’s family hasproduced tea from Uji for generations. The menu at this shop is a mix oftraditional teas and modern variations. I had a yummy sesame flavored icecream served in green tea. Mmmmmmm…

Alex and I also had a fun time going to the second floor of the shop, where therewas a window so that you could look out over the store and at the crowdswalking along the street.

(July 28)

During the second week of July we went to Awajishima, an island in the inlandsea connected by a bridge to Kobe. The ride there by train and bus took over anhour, and we went by some brand new apartment complexes that were madeafter the Big Earthquake of the early 90’s. We stayed in Awajishima for a weekand went on an excursion to Himeji castle, and Soshazan, which is an importantmountain temple. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any phone pictures.

We mostly hung out a lot in Osaka and in Awajishima with Dan and Susan. Danliked to tease Alex and make him giggle. It worked!

Most days during Mama’s conference at Awajishima, we just walked around thehuge hotel. It was built on a hillside overlooking the sea, at a place where a largeamount of dirt had been dug up to use as landfill for the nearby internationalairport. The hotel was sprawling, with long concrete hallways connecting theconference area, and restaurant and garden areas. The walls were curved,with disconnected pieces, and there were waterfalls and pools and ramps all overthe place.

Soon after the Awajishima trip, we stopped in Kyoto on our way to Tokyo, wherewe have been staying for over a week.

We arrived in Kyoto on July 15 in time to see the Gion matsuri (festival), whichgoes on for about five days, and culminates in a parade through the old center oftown.

There were huge crowds at the festival on the “yoiyama” (nights before theparade) and during the parade itself. From everywhere you could hear thesound of small bells attaches to long ropes hanging from the floats. They sounda little like sleigh bells, but they have a steady rhythm that goes along withchants.

And like all festivals the streets were lined with food stands and drink vendors.There was grilled corn and squid, tako-yaki (which are round pancake like thingsfilled with octopus), and all kinds of drinks, sweets and cakes.

On July 19 we went to Tokyo, to stay with my grandparents. They are so busyand their apartment has all kinds of papers and books scattered around that weare not supposed to move, because they might be important.

My grandmother (Oba-chan) is always going out, even on weekends, and oftento a place called Chiba. But Oba-chan also likes to buy groceries and cook forus when she comes home in the evenings.

My grandfather (Oji-chan) likes to sit at his desk in the living room and work at hiscomputer. Every now and then he makes faces at Alex and me and makes uslaugh.

Unlike in Osaka, there are no play-parks nearby, but my grandparents’ apartmenthas a rooftop wading pool. Alex and I are getting more and more used to thewater, and have learned to float using life-savers.

After the pool, Alex and I take a bath together. Alex is no longer afraid of bathsthe way he used to be. We both love pouring water in and out of different sizecontainers. Alex and I sleep together on two futons put together. We have funjumping down from the couch onto the futon together, but my parents are alwaystelling us to stop and go to sleep.

When Oba-chan comes home late from work, Oji-chan sometimes takes us outto restaurants nearby. We all say “Kampai” and raise our glasses before meals.

Alex and I spend a lot of time together. Alex sometimes forgets to take his shoesoff at the entryway, so I help him out. I’m also teaching him words like “high” and“low”, and how to jump off the bottom stair.

Here are some self-portraits I’ve been working on lately.

(August 9)

This past weekend we visited Chiba where my oba-chan works. (Once I made ajoke about Chiba. My grandmother offered to bring something back from Chiba,and when my mother asked what I thought she should bring, I said, “I think sheshould bring some Chee back!”

At Chiba there was a monorail train that drives under the tracks. Daddy said thatpassengers had to ride upside down on the upside down train, but I didn’t seeany evidence of this.

We spent the day at the zoo and amusement park. There were all sorts ofdifferent monkeys, some with long hair looking like pandas. They swung aroundon jungle gyms with great ease.

There was a fountain where we cooled off at noon.

After that we went to a park where they handed out mats to sit on and wewatched hanabi. In the US they call them fire works, but I like the name “fireflowers” better.

Obachan said they shot up more than 1000 hanabi in 3 minutes for the finale.The sky filled with golden streams of light.