A rooster in the garden

The other day I made the mistake of giving the abandoned meowing little kitten that hangs around our garden some food and water. He's now settled completely; made our terrace his home and is getting pretty creative about ways to make it inside. Then, today the neighbor's new - and fairly big - rooster got loose and also decided our garden was the best place to hide. The kids of course got all excited and had loads of fun watching the neighbor, me and Thoa running around trying to fetch it, with brooms and all. Luckily we managed to keep it outside. Then Hana got hold of the broom and was the scariest of all, chasing Kai and Yuuki all the way up to the second floor. As cute as she is, she really can turn herself into one mean looking old witch! Other than that, nothing new and all pretty calm.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Kuckeliku! Kokekokko!

Looks deceive...

Communication for Development

The other day when I entered the bathroom, I was greeted by the following message:

Looking like a perfect hand washing campaign I asked Keisuke how much he actually talks about the details of his job with Kai. As suspected - not at all. Maybe Kai is just a natural talent. Or he got fed up with the constant "wash your hands" nagging and acted it out all creatively.

Cyclo

The traditional public transport is now mainly an attraction for tourists or used on special events like when the whole family is going to the pagoda. Yesterday all kids in Hana's and Kai's school went for a cyclo ride around the block, to check out the Tet tree plantations, and for the fun of it.

Anna and Hana, with new teacher Erica, ready to go.

Tet holidays coming up

Next week Vietnam celebrates Tet, the Lunar (Chinese) New Year. This week all preparations are being made. Meaning it is virtually impossible to get through anywhere. Roads are jam packed, with people rushing here and there to get "everything" done, all motorbike drivers are busy transporting giant cumquat (a kind of small orange) trees here and there, just as indispensable as a Christmas three back home.

Here nothing is too big for two wheel transportation.

Yesterday, Hana came home with some tratidtional Tet food - banh chung, which she hade made in school and proudly ate for snack: a giant piece of sticky rice with mung beans and meet, cooked overnight in banana leafs. Actually not very yummy at all.

This year we will try what Hanoi is like during the holidays - supposed to be a very special experience, and very important to make sure you have enough food at home, as absolutely everything shuts down.

Sleep over

Last weekend we had Kai's best friend Hosea over for a sleep over again. On Friday afternoon they went straight from school to Kai's other best friend Yuuki for some serious play in his garden. Then home, a bath, dinner, movie with popcorn, a bedtime story and before 8.30 they had both passed out. On Saturday Hosea just refused to go home. Late afternoon Keisuke finally managed to get them both on his motorbike and drove him home. Somehow he managed to get Kai with him back home. It seems like this Friday both Kai and Yuuki will sleep over at Hosea's place. Ganbatte, Yuuki!

Best friends. Yuuki, Hosea, Kai.

Time flies

Can't believe we have been back in Hanoi for three weeks. We landed and rushed straight back into routines, with school and work and play. It's been a cold and grey month, but we have managed to have some fun, too.

Jungle boy in the garden.

Bye bye, miss Mandy! Fairwell party for Hana's first teacher who is moving on to Singapore. (fun party, although not so fun cause)

Desperately seeking color in a way to grey winter Hanoi.

Food!

As almost everywhere in Asia, food is delicious. Whether it's an Obento lunchbox for the train, an elegant New Years dinner, a quick bite at a small street restaurant, or at home. Its yummy. Both in Japan and in Hong Kong. And so think the kids.

Always-popular osoba noodles, somewhere in Tokyo.

Hong Kong style street food. Noodle soup and dumplings.

Waiting for the yakitori around the irori, the Japanese in-door bbq. Seems like our future house will come with one of these, too.

Gulping down dim-sum, part I.

Part II.

Do Not Climb

Well, I guess that was too good an idea, to much of a temptation...

Cubic

Big cities. Come with big houses, big cubes..

Urban architecture at its worst (best?).

Hong Kong

We ended also this trip as we usually do: With a stop-over at some interesting place on our way home. Now, time had come to Hong Kong. We enjoyed two days of walking around our Kowloon neighborhood, riding the ferry over to Hong Kong Island, taking the very steep Peak Tram up to the top for a walk through the forest and to enjoy the tremendous views. We even had time to visit various playgrounds. I don't think we even entered a shop - might we be the first tourists ever being that crazy?

Urban jungle. On our way from the airport.

Cool boy in Kowloon area. Got some kind of a ruff down-town New York feel to it.

Not ready to leave the playground just yet.

Crossing the strait, on the ferry between mainland and island. A penny for their thoughts.

Hong Kong by night. Just like on the postcards.

Kuro

Kuro is Miyata-san's dog and now I have, again, sort of, promised my kids they will soon get a dog, too. As soon as they are big enough to walk it by themselves. As soon as we move to the countryside so it's actually possible to walk it by themselves. Wonder when, then...

In Japanese Kuro means black, and this year I could actually understand quite some of what people were talking about, even say something little every now and then. Definitely a progress since last time - four years ago.

Escaping it all. Miyata-san's place

After too many days in too many big cities and shopping malls, we headed back to the mountains and spent two nights at Keisuke's friends Miyata-san and Wanda-san's place in Shiga. We got some more snow and enjoyed the silence and the space, as well as the company and some great food. A perfect way to continue the new year.

Hana and Kai

Lately, it's all about attitude. A two-and-a-half and a five year old, is about what I can handle...

New Years with family

New Years celebration is the big thing in Japan and you spend it with your family eating a lot of yummy food. As houses are small and Keisuke's family is rather big, they normally go to a nice hotel somewhere and hang out for a couple of days. This year we all went to a place next to lake Biwa, Japan's largest. We had some great food, made good use of the hotel's luxurious ofuro on the top floor, played ping pong and even did a little bit of shopping in the nearby mall.

Shabu-shabu on New Years Eve - which is actually not at all the big day. After dinner and some play everyone goes to bed early, what is important is to see the sunrise of the very first day of the new year. Keisuke and I managed to stay awake until 12.00, but it was just way to cool to get out of bed for sunrise next morning, no matter how beautiful over the snow covered mountains.

January 1st. View from our hotel window.

The whole family: Jiji, Shinjiro, Keisuke, Hana, Naoki, Anna, Baba, Kazune, Mary, Aoi, Kai, Kazumi, Harouka, Yoshiyuki, Setaro.

Ofuro

In Japan you take a hot bath in the evening. Period. Gandma "Baba" makes sure no-one misses out. And when it is winter time and freezing cold everywhere it is actually not bad at all.

Before you get into the hot tub, you have to scrub yourself carefully, as everyone will share the same water (normally, one at the time though). And it actually does remain clean. As long as you are clean before you jump in. The high-tech ofuro then, will make sure the water remains the same very hot 42 degrees - or whatever number you peg in, will even talk to you in case of any changes. We are definitely going to put one of these in our future house!

Tokyo

We also spent three days in Tokyo, hanging out with Keisuke's many friends, checking out the latest of the cool in Harajuku, strolling along Omotesando, watching people crossing the streets in Shibuya and much more. Atsuko and Damon hosted us at their lovely little house, and there was even time for a reunion party.

Going for a walk with Atsuko - who since we left already gave birth to a beautiful little boy! We just missed him...