Salt and Sesame

Work work work!

2009-02-02T17:08:00.002+09:00

Happy New Year n' all that! I'm afraid my posting has fallen by the wayside for the past couple of months, despite possessing a brilliant little bubba whose daily shennanigans would no doubt make for fascinating blogging... and oh how I would love to upload a thousand pictures of my buddha-baby for you to drool over! She is quite scrumptious if I do say so myself.

I am, however, trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of work, work, and more work. I woke up to myself and realized that my poor husband really needs my help in order to grow our imports/wholesale business, and I have been wearing my President hat every day since mid-December. We now have 4 employees (real humans - Kentaro used to exaggerate and count our pets when his suppliers in Japan would ask) and are on the verge of new accounts, new products and new madness in the warehouse. Maybe a new warehouse too, as the old one is getting TIGHT.

We were approved by the naval base to sell a certain line at their stores, and now we have our own vendor badges which allow us access to a part of Guam we had previously never seen! Pretty cool.

I am still at DFS one day a week, and still teaching English at the Japan Club, but the rest of my time finds me in our warehouse, typing invoices and pulling orders whilst trying to entertain Miss S and convince her that the warehouse is not a boring place to be.

And in baby milestones - Miss S is now rolling both ways, saying 'Mama', and warming hearts everywhere.

She's Just Lovely

2008-11-25T21:36:00.003+09:00

I am smitten with my baby. 100%. When I'm not with her she is all I can think about, which is why we have decided that I will cut my work hours back yet again from part-time 5 days/week to just one day.

Mom aka Grandma Brown aka Babu has been babysitting since I went back to work at the end of October, and suffice to say that it ain't been easy. Miss Sakura is quite particular about when she wants to nurse, and if I am not there to perform the task then she makes her displeasure very, very known. NOOOOOO to bottles and other attempts to distract from what she wants. It makes sense that an almost 4 month old would want to be with her mother 24/7. Didn't you?

We celebrated Baby's First 100 Days by dressing her up and taking pictures. Traditionally we would take her to a shrine and have her blessed by a priest, but this will have to wait until we are back in the land of shrines. In the meantime we were able to take adorable pictures of Sakura in her kimono (she will wear the same kimono in her 3rd, 5th and 7th years, as is the custom), although when I say 'in' her kimono, it was actually just draped across her.

She's a bouncing baby and is more the size of a 6-9 month old at almost 4 months. She is growing like a hulk and all of her adorable clothes are getting used far too infrequently (sometimes just once!!) I am rather tired of the sumo comments, as I am of people assuming that my healthy little girl is a little boy!

At any rate, she's just lovely.

The Day Sanity was Restored

2008-11-05T13:17:00.002+09:00

Minutes after Obama's declared (projected) victory, facebook statuses (statii??) were updated around the world and I learned with glee but no surprise that my political views are 100% supported by my friends, be they in Australia, Japan, Austria, New Zealand, England, Canada, Guam or the US. This outpouring of support for the new President has really touched me and inspired in me a hope for a new direction for the country which I am starting to call home. Again.

In an otherwise crappy year, Sakura's birth and this victory stand out as 2 wonderful highlights. I look forward to positive change and I look forward to the new face of the US which Obama will represent.

Blogging with one hand

2008-09-16T12:38:00.004+09:00

Well there are no surprises as I'm sure everyone (all 3 of you) who reads this blog knows that we welcomed Sakura Bella into our lives on the 9th of August!

But what may be lesser known is the story of her birth, so I shall endeavour to divulge a shortened version of that here.

On the day before 8/8/08, I tried everything known to man to induce babies, as I wanted Sakura to have a cool birthday! She was due on the 12th, so I figured she was probably ready to come out anyway. So I had a ridiculously hot curry, followed by a whole can of pineapple, a long walk around the neighbourhood and a few cups of raspberry leaf tea before bed. The 8th of August came, and the 8th of August went... or got as far as 11pm when I started having cramps and Kentaro hit the sack. I had never experienced any Braxton Hicks, or 'practice' contractions, so I figured I was probably having a few of them. They were annoying enough that I couldn't sleep, and by 3am they were downright painful, but after googling all I could about 'false labour' I seemed to fit the bill, because of the location, duration and frequency of the pains. I called the birthing centre just in case, and they told me it was false labour and to please stay home. I called them again at 6am to tell them I hadn't been able to sleep all night because of the pain, but because the cramps weren't coming close enough together and were not located in either my lower back or abdominal area, I was advised again to stay home. At 9am Kentaro awoke to find a very unhappy India. I told him we might as well drive to the birthing centre so they could at least do a physical assessment even though we would probably be turned away again. This first time mother stuff is so difficult because it's so easy to overreact! So in the car we went, and even stopped by the post office to check mail on the way. We got there, and they all confirmed my first mother status as I walked in, with knowing smirks on their faces. Then they measured my cervix and found it to be 8cm dilated, and I felt like giving them all the finger!!! I then decided I'd better call my parents! They rushed over, and at noon, I was given the go ahead to push, and another 3 hours later Miss Sakura Bella popped out!

And with my insurance with DFS, the whole birth cost me $50, which I reckon is a bit of a bargain for the world's cutest baby.

Welcome to the Family, Chibi-chan!

2008-04-30T19:54:00.002+09:00

Our little green-eyed blue-eyed white devil.

A few thousand words' worth

2008-04-15T21:05:00.004+09:00

By popular demand, a 'bump' shot - you can't see it? Aww, too bad ;P

My sexy fisherman
'Tora', one of the four kittens we've raised from birth
Kentaro's baby bumps

My English class at the Japanese School

Me and Takayama (the pro-wrestler who features in 'Kill Bill')
Cat sitting Jango Brown (he lurves Cookie)
Our avacado harvest (round 1)
'Tenshi', another of the four

My quarterly entry...

2008-04-02T12:56:00.003+09:00

Well for those few of you who still read my blog, apologies again!

But never fear, for I do predict a resurgence of my blogging motivation, and it will probably occur sometime in mid-August, along with the arrival of Little Miss Babyguchi. I have every intention of making Salt and Sesame a gratuitous baby pic fest, and to show how serious I am I will start now:

Ain't she cute?

Other things that have kept us busy since my last post in January include but are not limited to:

1. Taking in a mega-feral cat and her 4 newborn kittens and figuring out what the hell to do with them.

2. Hitting the beach with style in our new shiny yellow kayak.

3. Gathering and grating coconuts to make kelaguen.

4. Harvesting our avocadoes and bananas.

5. Behaving like Guamanians in general.

6. Hiding news of Babyguchi until late March when I finally got my first ultrasound and felt ready to broadcast her existence.

I have had requests for a good 'bump' pic but so far have only taken a good one of Kentaro. I will wait until mine is better than his to post it.

Hugs and kisses.

Umm, Happy New Year?

2008-01-13T10:43:00.000+09:00

Don't you hate it when you turn around and realise you haven't updated your blog for a few months?

And there's no good excuse, either. What have we been doing?

Well let's see:
Halloween came and went,
as did Thanksgiving.
Then I had some out of town guests for a few days,
then my birthday,
then Dad's birthday,
and just before Christmas, Kentaro and I landed a ripper case of food poisoning after dining at a local Japanese restaurant. It knocked us both around for a good week or so and ensured that we weren't able to eat a damn thing on Christmas Day, which was a huge tragedy as my parents whipped up their Christmas extravaganza.
Solon and Jess flew in for the festivities and flew out again on Solon's birthday,
New Year's was a complete non-event as we were still feeling under the weather,
and Solon and Jess were kind enough to fly in again just for Kentaro's birthday on Jan 3rd (a very conveniently timed layover on their trip back to Oz after their head-splitting tour of Japan).
And here we are on the 13th and I'm reckoning it was probably the dullest holiday season of all time, much much worsened by the fact that we both worked every bloody day throughout the whole period.

Here's to 2008!!!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T10:55:00.000+09:00

Bidet-ing my time

2007-10-28T11:47:00.000+09:00

After living for 3 years in Japan and spraying all over the country, I thought I would have used enough Japanese toilets, in all their 'squat', 'Western', and 'washlet' gadgety glory, to be able to avoid the incident I had yesterday.

Kentaro and I went for one of our regular Saturday Guam drives (guruguru Guam doraibu), and happened upon a nice Japanese golf resort in the middle of the island. It reminded us of a typical onsen resort, with its landscaped grounds, cafe-restaurant, lockers, and shoji-screen decor. Except there wasn't an onsen, boohoo.

We thought we'd spray here before leaving, and headed towards the restroom. Upon completion of business, I reached down and fumbled for the flush mechanism, my hands grasping a strangely shaped knob. I turned it, and got the surprise of my life when water came JETTING out of the bowl, completely saturating my shorts and half of my top. My first instinct was to run away, but realising that that would just create an even bigger mess, I bravely fought the jet and reached in to turn it off. I then followed my instinct, grabbed a confused Kentaro, and hastily exited the facility, leaving my water-drenched stall as a warning for its next visitor.

*blush*

Premature Pumpkin Death

2007-10-27T11:32:00.000+09:00

Well nobody told me that a jack-o-lantern will decompose into a soggy mess within 3 days of lighting a candle inside it!

We thought we were so ahead of the game by carving out our big pumpkin last Monday. I gutted the gourd and roasted its delectable seeds while Kentaro carved out a terrific design, and we put it, lit, on display in our window, chuffed that we were all prepared for trick-or-treaters come this Wednesday.

By yesterday the thing was growing a forest of mould inside, and the outside was buckling and seeping ooze which threatened to overflow onto the floor. It earned itself an untimely date with the dumpster. D'oh!!!

Kentaro is still armed for Wednesday night with a black cat and a truckload of candy (I will be at work, of course, leaving him to fend off the deluge of kids that will no doubt come a-knockin').

BYE BYE!!!

2007-10-21T11:42:00.000+09:00

Thanks to my two TV ads that play every 15 minutes, 24/7 on the local 'Visitor's Channel', I have become somewhat of a reluctant celebrity on Guam.

I do a promotional spiel for 'Hafatel', a Guam-based cellphone service provider, which has me reading a very predictable script in a swimsuit top. But people almost never recognise me from this one - although a co-worker did approach me one day and stared at my cheek, wondering to himself, "Wow, she really does have a big mole there, just like the Hafatel commercial." I gave his culture the benefit of the doubt.

My other ad has me introducing the endangered ko'ko' bird, aka the 'Guam Rail', and this one is unscripted. I man-handle the little bird all throughout as I'm waffling on in Japanese, and at the end I grab its little beak and make it bow goodbye to the viewers whilst saying "Bye bye! Bye bye!" like a 2 year old. Watching it afterwards I was surprised the bird didn't try to peck my eyes out. But I guess my true personality shines through in this one, because no matter where I go, I hear:

"Oh look, it's the ko'ko' girl!"

Or better yet:

"BYE BYE!!!! BYE BYE!!!"

Piss off.

Like Pigs in Mud

2007-09-23T10:40:00.000+09:00

Last weekend, I had a real, 2 day weekend.

So we decided to take advantage of this momentous occasion by booking ourselves into the PIC Hotel in Tumon, using the voucher Mr. Nole gave us as a generous wedding present in May.

PIC has been around since I was a kiddo and was always in the top 3 list of places I wanted to go (the other 2 places being McDonalds with the wicked indoor playground, and Jones Beach Resort). It is famous for its water & activities park. Waterslides and pools abound, with other activities including archery, tennis, snorkeling, kayaking and hourly aqua aerobics! It has a very 'summer camp' feel with extremely genki staff smiling and encouraging guests to join in and have fun.

I checked in solo last Friday afternoon while Kentaro was off doing a plum-wine tasting at Cost-U-Less, and enjoyed a few hours reading books and painting my nails in our beachfront room.

We dined at Jamaican Grill, which is just about our favourite restaurant on island, and ordered the works - ribs, jerk chicken, Jamaican and red rice, kelaguen salad, a "jerk" burger with curry mayonnaise, and for dessert a Jamaican Grill take on the 'banana split' which was more like a challenge to unearth the lone banana under 3 pounds of ice cream & whipped cream with a cherry on top. Thank God we only had to roll across the road afterwards to return to our hotel room.

Saturday was the best day EVER for 2007 (excluding the wedding festivities of course).

The Boy and I reverted to age 10 with the greatest of ease and spent the day running up, sliding down, running up, sliding down, running up, sliding down backwards, losing mat and bruising ass, running up, surfing down on knees, ad infinitum.

We also heartily enjoyed the 'floating bridge' - a series of 10 foam squares linked together extending out over the centre pool. The real kids had a pretty easy time with this as the object was to walk out across the bridge, U-turn and come back. The kids weighing 60kg and 80kg had a harder time as the squares tended to sink under our weight, hindering balance. This game had us busy for a good hour and a half, and after a bit of staring I really forgot we were the only kids over age 10 lining up to try again. Though the 80kg kid only ever managed to do a good impression of an elephant tripping on a banana peel, the 60kg kid conquered the floating bridge on her 62nd try and showed those kids a thing or two.

We became adults again at lunchtime when we dined at Hanagi. I have never seen a Japanese buffet that includes ALL of: udon, soba, tempura, tonkatsu, tsukemono, teppanyaki, sushi, sashimi and goma ice cream, and I riked it arot.

All in all it was a ripper of a weekend. Now back to 6 day working weeks.

G-Day

2007-09-02T13:36:00.000+09:00

Kentaro's green card was finally approved and arrived in the mail last week. Woohoo!

After 6 months of waiting it was rather anti-climactic, and given that he has been working for our company anyway it doesn't present any immediate benefits except for us being able to leave the country should we need to. He wouldn't have been able to leave Guam during the application process without nullifying his application.

However we can all breathe a sigh of relief now that this most recent challenge has been hurdled. How nice that we now both have valid visas to live and work in each other's country should the need arise!

August weather is cloudy and rainy and I'm ready for it to end! It's a real bummer when my one day off a week can't be a beach day because of lousy weather!

Our new house is ab fab, and we are looking forward to hosting a family member temporarily - Casper is going to spend a month with us while the parents go on the honeymoon they never had.

That's all folks!

Our House

2007-08-10T10:42:00.000+09:00

From the front.

From the back.

The House is Warm

2007-08-05T13:51:00.000+09:00

We held our Housewarming Party last night.

Thank you to the parents, Judy, Dottie, Doris, Becky, Hiro, Mohammed, Rowena, Minako, Sachiko, Saori & kids, and Naoko & kids for helping make it a fun occasion!

Playing House

2007-07-11T19:38:00.000+09:00

Well I seem to be doing a bunch of grown-up things recently. It must be my time. I bought a cat, tied the knot, committed myself to a gruelling work schedule, and now I have a house to call my own.

Kentaro and I have entered the wonderful world of home ownership, complete with loans and common area fees, and the freedom to lay down tatami flooring and shoji screens wherever we so please. Yatta!

Following ever so subconsciouly in my parents' footsteps, we have purchased a Perez Acres townhouse all of a 2 minute walk from the townhouse I grew up in. It's not new or flashy - but has comfort and nostalgia in spades, plus is right next to a pool and basketball court. AND there's a bloomin' avacado tree in the front yard. When we saw that our eyes lit up - for different reasons. I was thinking, "GUACAMOLE, ALRIGHT!!!" while on Kentaro's mind was, "CALIFORNIA ROLL, YATTA!" I think we'll make a lot of both. :)

Tagged

2007-07-03T21:23:00.000+09:00

I have been tagged by Laura.

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Hmmm well twiddly dee dee, let's see... I'll try to stick to random facts, as the random habits might be a bit revolting to readers.

1. I was named after my wonderful Grandmother, India Olean Brown.
2. I was officially enrolled in and due to commence a Masters of International Communication at Macquarie University when Kentaro dropped out of the sky and proposed, whisking me off to Florida.
3. I lived in a weasel/cockroach/giant spider/flea/jumping mini spider-infested 80 year old barnhouse in rural Japan for one year, and loved it.
4. I sang solo at the Sydney Opera House in an emerald green ballgown.
5. I can devour a jar of Nutella in one sitting with a single chopstick. And I do.
6. I am a regular face on Guam's Visitors' Channel.
7. My cat Cookie is a furry black talking machine. She spouts kitty talk 24/7. Funny stuff.
8. I can kick your ass at Mario Kart 64.

Now comes the tough part. I don't think there are 8 people I know who blog and would actually do this, so I'm cutting the number to 2.

Natalie and Libby. You're on!

All work and no play...

2007-06-21T19:50:00.000+09:00

makes India a dull but responsible adult!

Well I was bound to end my lady-of-leisure lifestyle sooner or later, it's just a shock to the system after all this time!

It has been a long while since my last post, but we have been very very busy!

My Personal Shopper position has turned out to be more of a concierge role, but I am serving high-spending customers and have the chance to meet some real characters. Predictably falling in line with my experience, those who spend the most (eg dropping $20,000 on one watch) are the most nonchalant and friendly about their purchases, while those who spend in the lower end of the ultra-high spending category are often trying to impress somebody, whether it be the friends with whom they travelled here, their partners, or themselves, and can be more challenging to deal with.

My duties as concierge include serving delicious coffees and chocolates, and quality-testing these products thoroughly.

The teaching is also going well. I have some lovely adult students at the Japan Club of Guam (Job #2), and my kids at the School (Job #3) are good on most days!

Kentaro is not letting the fact that he still hasn't received his green card slow him down at all. As President of Sekiguchi Trading (Job #4), I have hired/enlisted him as my slave and he is doing my bidding all over town. Our sake is now available at all the major supermarkets and most of the hotels in Tumon. The next step is to broaden our product line and advertise advertise advertise!

Speaking of advertising, my 5th job as Japanese-talking face on the Visitor's Channel is starting to get me smiles from strangers and phony requests for autographs from co-workers.

Episode 1 of the Guamazing Race features Monday night, which will no doubt earn Kentaro and myself even more fame on island. Episodes 2 and 3 follow the next two Mondays. I can't wait to see us sweating like jungle pigs as we truck up and down the mountainous south of Guam.

My parents have purchased local membership at the Hyatt hotel, so on my day off we can lounge around the pools there and pretend that we're on vacation in paradise instead of just living here!

Mr & Mrs Sekiguchi

2007-05-01T19:47:00.000+09:00

It's all on now!

2007-04-28T22:41:00.000+09:00

The first wedding guests, Solon and Andrew, arrived at the crack of dawn Friday and were followed in the afternoon by my wonderful grandparents, aunt & uncle from the States.

There have already been quite a few memorable occasions and many many more are predicted!

It has been far too many years since I have gathered together with my relatives and we are all definitely feeling the love. I couldn't ask for a nicer family!

Kentaro, Grandma and I were good sports tonight when asked to get up and bellydance at the local Persian restaurant...

Countdown

2007-04-23T22:34:00.000+09:00

Well, this wedding of ours is finally just around the corner.

We have been so busy settling in to our new lifestyle here in Guam that I've had little time to cultivate my inner Bridezilla.

Our first guests (Grandma & Grandpa Brown, Aunt Mickey & Uncle Wayne from the States and Solon and Andrew from Oz) arrive on Friday morning. Gary from Hawaii flies in Sunday, leaving Jess, Jen, Mike, Nhu, Phillip, Alex, Toshiko, Yoshiko, Miho, Yuki, Mayu, Soichiro, Marcia & Ross flying in Monday, the day of the BIG FIESTA. On different flights of course.

Tuesday is the main event with the ceremony kicking off at 5pm, at the Hilton.

Then the rest of the week will be spent snorkeling, shopping, eating, swimming, drinking, touring, relaxing and more eating.

Good times and exhaustion for all.

On a work-related note:

I will continue my part-time roles as English Teacher at the Japan Club of Guam and Japan School of Guam and pick up a third FULL-TIME position at DFS as a Personal Shopper/Concierge in their VIP lounge. It will be a rough transition back to the world of full-time work after this extended period of early retirement, but I am happy knowing that I'll be speaking lots of Japanese because I don't want to lose it.

Wish me luck!

卒業おめでとう！！！

2007-04-23T22:19:00.000+09:00

ワンさん、やった～～！最初から最後までよく頑張りました。尊敬します！

My wonderful friend Wan Lu graduated from her Post Grad International Education degree after 2 years of hard slog! Congratulations!!!

She's half my size and looks half my age but is in fact 4 years older. Check out these gorgeous graduation pics:

Mahi Burgers

2007-03-26T00:04:00.000+09:00

We are getting used to this tropical lifestyle and taking advantage of what it has to offer.

Sometimes we like to stop at the local fish shops to see what the professionals bring in.

For $20 this delectable dolphin was ours (and no, it's not a real dolphin):

Fish enough for the whole week! What a luxury it is to have a fish burger, with extra fish.

Pity I ate a few fish burgers before going to my neighbor's poolside fiesta, which was full of fiesta delights such as red rice, barbecued chicken and ribs, chicken kelaguen, velvet cake, coconut pie and Dottie's famous choc-chip brownies. Of course I didn't let a mere busting gut prevent me from feasting. As I was told by one of the young fiesta-goers, "This is a fiesta! We come here to eat!"

Um yeah must think about that wedding dress I need to fit in a few weeks...

We love-a fishy...

2007-03-25T23:45:00.000+09:00

Kentaro's latest theme song is this, by Rather Good, which he hums whilst slicing and dicing his latest catch.

He has also proven himself to be quite the Gatherer, locating bounties of breadfruit, calamansi, papaya.

Our Catch & Snatch of the Day looked like this:

It was very tasty, and free.

Glad I don't need to worry about doing THIS on my wedding day...

2007-03-25T23:43:00.000+09:00

I'll be doing my own make-up, but not this.

ME LOVE COOKIE!!!

2007-03-14T17:41:00.000+09:00

It must be sorrowfully admitted at this point that our beloved cockatiels and the namesakes of this blog are not with us in Guam.

Had we known we would be moving to Guam I would have left them in Florida for a few months, as it is possible to import pet birds from the US to Guam, but not from Japan to Guam. And had we moved to Australia, customs there wouldn't have taken them either. So all that paperwork and hassle not to mention dollars to get them to Japan, for diddly.

But we have learned many things the hard way, sigh, and our little feathered babes are enjoying themselves at the German-themed village in the mountains of Akaiwa, Okayama Prefecture. Say hi to them if you're ever in the neighbourhood! They are surrounded by hamsters and guinea pigs in the air-conditioned comfort of the barnyard staff room. *sniff*

On a happier note, we decided to invest in a pet that is international-move friendly. Welcome Cookie to our clan!! It's a shame, she would have looooved Salt & Sesame I'm sure.

Guam shots

2007-02-19T21:48:00.000+09:00

I used to collect shells on this beach with this old guy when I was a wee widdle one.

Kentaro's introduction to the art of palm tree sprout collecting (we planted it in front of our townhouse, see below).

Home sweet home.

Pool, SWEET pool.My man, the sushi chef.
Walking off the margaritas on Hagatna Bay.

Happy Valentines...

2007-02-14T21:41:00.000+09:00

Oh man, does it get better than Ferrero Rochers, pink champagne, strawberries and teddy bears?? (Thanks Mom).

Happy Australia Day!!!

2007-01-27T19:53:00.000+09:00

(we got a new camera, yippee!!!)

First Blog of 2007

2007-01-17T16:48:00.000+09:00

Happy Bleated New Year, here are some fainting goats!

Kentaro and I have officially lost our camera.

The last picture we took with it was on New Year's Eve when his whole family was gathered around making mochi balls. It's a Japanese thing. Whether it got mushed into the mochi and gobbled up with the rest of the food we're not sure, but that was the last time we saw it.

We braved the cold that night and headed to Saijo Inari Jinja where 60,000 other residents of Okayama decided to take in their hatsumode, or first shrine visit of the new year. Thinking we could beat the crowds we left the house at 10pm, only to get stuck in some very uncelebratory traffic. It took us 3 hours to drive 15km, and we would have walked had it not been zero degrees outside.

We made use of the time by creating all kinds of resolutions for 2007. Ours are rather broad this year, along the lines of: Get a job, find a place to live, get married, settle down, etc.

It was definitely worth braving the cold, crowds and fatigue once we clamped our chattering mouths around a hot taiyaki and prayed to the fox gods for a healthy and prosperous 2007.

Wish us luck, and best of luck to you too!

Guam Guam Guam

2006-12-31T16:06:00.000+09:00

There could not have been a better place to be this year for Christmas, for us.

Thanks to Mom & Dad, the most hospitable and generous people on the planet. Loving your work! And thanks to the Butthead & Jess, for getting your butts (and your heads) to Guam in the nick of time.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

2006-12-07T14:42:00.000+09:00

Kentaro and I are doing our best to eat up and create more physical insulation to combat the chilly temperatures. Japanese houses, unlike my ex-house in Sydney, are the same temperature inside as outside. They only prevent drafts, and some aren't even too good at that.

Here are some glimpses into our first week of December...

Salt and Sesame learn their Japanese names

2006-11-16T13:29:00.000+09:00

Salt = Shio
Sesame = Goma

Shio-chan and Goma-chan have been a right pain in the oshiri for the past few weeks. Getting them from Florida to Japan was an effort far more difficult and costly than I could have imagined, but thankfully they withstood their tough journey and have arrived on the other side genkier than ever.

It is cuter than words can describe to see them perched on the maple tree in the backyard of Kentaro's mother's house in Okayama. They have never until now been able to get in touch with their wild birdy roots, and they are revelling in bark-biting and grass-grabbing to their hearts content.

Kentaro and I are also pleased to be in contact with real nature again after 9 months living next to Mt Refuji.

Five Things we have done since coming back to Japan:

1. Had some kind of nabe (hot pot) every night.
2. Bicycled around Okayama soaking up the atmosphere and slurping up the noodles.
3. Taken a business trip to Tokyo and (hopefully) established some contacts that will provide us with an opportunity to work. We need jobs. Desperately.
4. Spent quality time with Kentaro's mother.
5. Frozen our butts off. It's cooooold!

Allow me another wee proud sister moment...

2006-11-10T20:06:00.000+09:00

and read this article. (I particularly liked the description of family background in his interview).

Finally have the memory card...

2006-11-10T16:19:00.000+09:00

of the pictures we took in Guam this September. Here's a few!!

Cleaning up our act

2006-11-06T10:11:00.000+09:00

Sold the Ford, vacated the apartment, closed the accounts, shipped the birds, had the mother of pigouts, flung our nasty, smelly sandals into the Atlantic and now we sleep, to wake and leave on a jetplane.

To those we couldn't see this time in the States, and to those to whom we bid a too hasty farewell, you are in our thoughts.

May the next chapter of Indy & Ken begin!

Kissing it all goodbye

2006-10-20T06:34:00.000+09:00

Ahh the yard sale. I could (and should) write a book about the amazing and colourful characters the humble yard sale can attract in South Florida. Holding the sale this time on glamorous A1A we were wondering beforehand if we would even get any bargain-hunters or whether the New York snowbirds would spurn our attempts to flog great crap at low, low prices. Thankfully our fears were abated by a stream of steady customers who paid US to haul away our bits and pieces.

A mid-30s blonde rocked up with her sugar daddy and proceeded to riff through a trunk of my old clothing with such fervour that 10 cars stopped to see what the fuss was about. She ended up buying the whole trunk, and when her daddy handed over cash for the sale, she insisted he was ripping me off and handed me another fistful of cash after he turned his back. Apparently he gives her an $8000/month allowance but it is just never enough!

A seasoned biker couple stopped by and bought ALL of Kentaro's tools then decided to stay for an hour or so and tell us about their travels across the U.S. I convinced the wife that she needed my big purple gypsy skirt and she bought it despite the fact that she hasn't worn a skirt in years. I guess those sales wench days paid off!

An absolute bomb of a car pulled up and a little ol' Jamaican grandma jumped out and made a beeline to my Italian black felt hat. She bargained me down until the price was right for her and then plonked the hat on her little shrivelled face and I so WISH I could have taken her picture as she looked hilarious. I think I wore that hat to the Golden Slipper in Sydney when Catbird won... hope she finds the same luck from wearing it!

Half way through the day Kentaro and I tried a spot of visual merchandising and divvied up the 'guy's stuff' and the girl's stuff' onto separate tables. No sooner had we finished our displays than a couple rocked up and flew like magnets to the appropriate table. The girl oohed and aahed and promptly swiped up most of my Japanese girly memorabilia - candles, fans, norens and the like. The guy got some shot glasses and a hammer and Kentaro and I smiled, pleased with our successful marketing. The rest of the day was smoother and we know what to do for our last attempt this weekend.

And Kentaro sold his Toyota today! Now if we can just sell the Ford, we will really be starting to wrap things up.

How original are you?

2006-10-17T08:02:00.000+09:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
56
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Back again and ready to go.

2006-10-10T11:10:00.000+09:00

Apologies for the lull in blogging - the current times are tumultuous for Indy and Ken and we feel poised ready for a great leap into the known but unpredictable.

Guam was great. Then came a 10-day whiz around Japan. From north to south we visited Atami, Aomori, Shiga, Kyoto, Kobe and Okayama. We were wined and dined by the owners of a few very prestigious premium sake breweries and then had free time in Kyoto and Okayama for a few days catching up with family and friends.

This gruelling 'business trip' back to Japan provided us with even more fuel for contemplation over whether or not to stick it out in our current unsatisfactory situation. We opted to not, and are currently packing ourselves up and selling all big belongings such as our cars and furniture.

We will be leaving Florida as soon as loose ends are tied up and will go back to Japan. My only regret for leaving earlier than scheduled is that I have not had the chance to see so many of my wonderful relatives as I had planned to.

Kentaro has not lived in Japan for over 10 years and has misgivings about his worth to Japanese companies. They are ruthless for disregarding any work experience not undertaken domestically. They are also infamous for taking a worker and sucking out his spirit little by little until only a shell of a man returns at midnight to his family every night. Of course this only applies to Japanese nationals - my job prospects will be much brighter, albeit limited to teaching more bad Engrish.

We're just gonna play things by ear, which is all anybody can ever do! Wish us luck.

Takeuchi Shuzo's award winning sake, Shiga

"Chindongya" strolling musicians & moi, Atami Onsen

Cooling off with some kaki-gori at Kiyomizu-tera, Kyoto

Kentaro's niece, Mayu-chan, practising fountain-dancing, Okayama

That's right, I used to have friends! Wan Lu and Evelyn, Okayama

Butthead Bingo

2006-09-11T22:11:00.000+09:00

Well it appears as though my little buttmunch picked the winning combination.

And what will the winner receive?

A whopping 10 grand, if you please!

You can buy 10 more Gucci dogs!

Wastin' away again in Guamaritaville

2006-09-05T22:14:00.000+09:00

Not even the rural Mino or the beachy Pompano could prepare me for the slow pace of life here on Guam. Time in this place just draaags by and can be measured in such pleasures as sunsets, sake sets and Spam omelettes.

The wedding plans are coming along nicely although eloping to Vegas is emerging more and more as a financially viable alternative. We'll see.

Check out my Dad's blog for pics of their new pad. It's boonielicious.

Crikey, what a bummer

2006-09-05T22:06:00.000+09:00

May he rest in peace, the mighty Crocodile Hunter.

And from an interview on June 21, 2001:

Terri Irwin says:
Steve always says, "Whatever you do, keep rolling!" I tell him "They aren't going to show it if you die." (laughs)

I hope that video is kept safe to protect the privacy and dignity of his family. I can't believe there are polls on the internet asking people whether they think the footage should be shown or not.

Poor Terri, Bindi and Baby Bob.

Us in August

2006-08-29T02:17:00.000+09:00

1. At Kentaro's company dinner at a fab Italian restaurant in Boca Raton.
2. 2 minutes walk from our place in Pompano, just south of a cute lighthouse.
3. At a Thai temple in Homestead.

Ernesto Shmernesto

2006-08-28T23:11:00.000+09:00

Well wouldn't you know. I plan one trip away and the next thing I know there's a hurricane primed to hit my departure point at the exact time of departure.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wish me luck.

I knew it wasn't me! (I hoped!)

2006-08-28T04:38:00.000+09:00

Kentaro loves to roller blade, and he's damn good at it. I picked up a $25 pair of blades from Target when I got here in an attempt to join him in his hobby, and it was a painful experience every time as he left me wheezing in the dust. Now I haven't skated or bladed since the days of Skate 2000 (over a decade ago) so I expected to be a bit rusty, but nothing prepared me for the asskicking that I suffered every time we went out blading. Last weekend we hit the 5-mile circuit which circumnavigates a big airfield and the Goodyear Blimp base. It was close to midday when we set off, and I immediately started to struggle. Half of the way around and my lungs were threatening to burst out of my chest. Three quarters of the way around and I told Kentaro to give my regards to my mother as my eyeballs filled up with blood and steam billowed from my ears. I then stopped and threw the biggest hissy fit of my life, stripping off my instruments of torture and pegging them as far from me as I could. I told Kentaro to get the car and come pick me up because "THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM PUTTING MY FEET IN THESE @%@#ING PIECES OF #*% EVERY AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!" A lady who had watched me struggling in bemusement came by and commented, "You should try some better blades honey, where'd ya get yers, Target?" The next day we visited Sports Authority and I bought the nicest pair of blades I could find, and the second purchase I've made for myself since coming here (the Target blades being the first). Now I am extremely dangerous, having overnight become a speed demon who can't brake. Kentaro and I spin around the 5-mile circuit like Tassie Devils and whip dust in the faces of everyone wearing blades from Target.

Why do they all start with 'D'?

2006-08-28T04:27:00.000+09:00

Last night we had a wee sweet tooth and headed out in the car to track down some fat & sugar. Surely that wouldn't be too hard in this country right? Wrong. Just a little bit of cake and a cappucinno was what we craved, but after driving for half an hour we realised our only options were Denny's, Dunkin Donuts, and Dairy Queen. We actually entered the latter but after hearing one of the customers complaining that her 'Blizzard' was too watery, we decided to head in the other direction where I remembered seeing long lines in front of a roadside icecream stand. Fifteen minutes later we were back at my imagined dessert oasis, only to find that it was another damn Dairy Queen. We thought to hell with it, and joined the back of the line. Two minutes waiting and we decided to abort the operation, afraid that upon consuming the product we would begin to look like the customers, a horrifying prospect. Luckily Publix was right next door, so we dropped in and bought a tub of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie meets Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and sated our sweet teeth to the maximum.

Pompano and Circumstance

2006-08-08T08:26:00.000+09:00

Our new place. :)

Scenes from the road

2006-08-08T08:02:00.000+09:00

Driving anywhere around these parts is a visual feast if you're into garbage mountains, shirtless hobos and gorgeous waterways.

Our favourite restaurant

2006-08-06T07:50:00.000+09:00

Cabo Blanco, in Hollywood FL, serves up the meanest deep-fried seafood platter you could hope for. Golden chunks of fish, calamari, mussels and octopus underneath a vinegared red onion salad with tartare dipping sauce and we are in seventh heaven. That and their shredded beef with rice, beans and plantains has Kentaro and I heading down there almost every weekend! We wash it down with Inca Cola and Cristal Peruvian beer.

They have a hokey Peruvian band that plays there more often than not and we are consistently the only non-Peruvians in the joint. The waitresses struggle to serve us in English but we all laugh. It is by far the most rewarding cultural experience I have had since coming to South Florida.

We love Cabo Blanco!

Going, going, gone!

2006-07-30T22:15:00.000+09:00

Sunday is the last day we have to sell up our old stuff in Coral Springs and hand in the keys.

So on Saturday the pressure was really on to get rid of our remaining huge objects, the things we couldn't feasibly bring over to our new place to sell later on. In that category we had the king-size bed, wooden entertainment centre, coffee table & bookshelf.

Countless advertisements placed in local classifieds and the internet had not been fruitful, only full of fruits, who would call and then try to sell us THEIR stuff, either that or crack on to Kentaro.

We had even tried posting signs around the place but they aren't too visible on the huge roads here. Then Kentaro had the great idea of converting a huge old plastic table into a sign by painting our details right on to the table top. Well, that plus me sitting out on the road worked a charm, and we had loads of people traipsing up the flights of stairs to check out our junk.

The little bits & pieces were gone in seconds and before we knew it we had buyers for the bed and entertainment centre. Of course a lot of people came and said they would be back later but never returned. We didn't let these people take any goods before payment with one surprising exception. A Broward County Sheriff's Office employee came by in his black BMW to snap up my racketball rackets but was short a bit of money and said he would come back to pay the balance in 5 minutes, which he did not. May his rackets malfunction and bop him on the head!

We're heading back there this morning (Sunday) to sell the remnants. Gotta remember to put on sunblock before sitting out on the road. My tan lines from yesterday's effort are horrendous!

New place rocks

2006-07-27T11:25:00.000+09:00

Now that we've tidied up a bit and Kentaro's claustrophobia has abated, we are beginning to enjoy our cozy new beach abode. We have a little swimming pool if we don't feel like getting sea-salty, and the fun fish watching at the intracoastal waterways brings out the kids in both of us. I can leave our place and walk to the left or the right, guaranteed to be blessed by sea breezes and views of exxy, trendy houses and the occasional happy family on vacation from Canada. The tourists will increase in numbers until the 'winter' season here, by which time this place will truly be rocking. There are many hotels and apartments around catering to Florida's standing as Snowbird Central, USA. The demographic is already different to Coral Springs, with the average beach-dwelling Pompanoian 20 lbs lighter and 3 shades tanner than their Walmart-loving Coral Springs cousins. We'll have to adapt again to our surroundings and shed the layers of fat we put on as an attempt to fit into our old environment.

Had my locks sheered

2006-07-19T06:54:00.000+09:00

Nothing drastic. Just a wee snip snip of the nasty split ends which have started to plague me of late. My last haircut was December 05 in Sydney, at the lovely salon I have gone to since I was 18. Back in the disposable income days I could afford to spend upwards of $150 to plonk myself down on the salon seat and lap up 3 hours worth of streaking and blowing. Today I am in a different position and chose to emphasise the extreme contrast by getting my locks tended to at the cheapest place around. Today I got my haircut at Walmart after picking up pizza dough, tomatoes and an avacado. My lock sheerer was one Ms. Sherlock who has lived her life oblivious that she was predisposed to her calling through name. She was an outstanding example of Walmart's human resources, impressing me with her dazzling wit and snipping dexterity. For the bargain price of $12.50 I had my tresses butted at with dull scissors whilst being hypnotised by my hair artist's belly swaying gently over her knees. She had problems understanding my responses to her small talk which was made clear to me when she exclaimed "Oh your Japanese fiance can speak Japanese too?" after listening to my conversation on the phone. All in all it was a good experience and I will consider going back to Walmart in another 8 or so months when my split ends are threatening to mutiny.

Consignment shops and travelling skirts

2006-07-12T05:42:00.000+09:00

There is a plethora of 'consignment' shops in South Florida. I had to double-check with the owner of one to make sure I understood the system. You give them your junk, they sell it and give you a percentage of the proceedings. Fair enough. With our upcoming move it seemed the right time to offload clothes, bags, shoes and jewellery for which I paid an arm and a leg to ship from Australia. Some of the stuff had been shipped from the country of its birth, to Australia, to Japan, back to Australia and then to Florida. Have you travelled more than my Klimt-design 3/4 length denim skirt? (Sorry mom, but out it goes!)

This is how much this skirt has travelled though it's painfully obvious how many continents I have completely missed so far:

Click here to make your own map!

To the beach

2006-07-11T04:38:00.000+09:00

We will be leaving Coral Springs at the end of the month and relocating east to Pompano Beach. This move is brought about by a few reasons, the biggest being that CORAL SPRINGS SUCKS! It is populated by the type of people who loiter at Walmart and we are sick of the sirens and random explosions from illegal fireworks and car exhaust pipes.

Our new abode is fully furnished which means that we are madly trying to jettison our junk before we move. Over the weekend we created a series of colourful fliers and posted them at the garbage drop-off points at a few local apartment complexes. The first people who entered our apartment were taken with Kentaro's 3-panelled geometric painting and his buckskin couch and before we knew it we were $500 richer!

Last night we sat on the floor with our plates placed precariously on the big orange kayak and dined on ribs and corn, our weekend favourite.

It will be a great relief to sell our stuff and move to the new place which is a 'turn key' meaning that that's all you have to do and you're up and running. All utilities are set up for us and included in the rent, which is much cheaper than what we're currently paying. AND we're a 2 minute walk from the beach, and on the other side, the intracoastal waterways. We will be sacrificing one bedroom and one bathroom for this but hopefully it will be worth it. Not to mention easier if/when we decide to blow this US popstand and never look back!

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-05T11:59:00.000+09:00

Boom! Smack! Pfffffft Pow Pow Pow!!!!!!!!

Today we were blown away. The people watching at Fort Lauderdale beach was top rate. With mouths agape we were treated to a mind-boggling display of bikini-clad American bodies in all shapes and sizes. My favourites were the 2 drag queens dressed in American flags who hovered too close on their roller blades to 2 policemen. One of the policemen was startled when his vision was obscured by a giant prosthetic bosom and yelled out, "Stay away from me!" only to have one of the queens snap back, "Nooooo, YOU stay away from MEEE!!"

And the fireworks - well we left before the public show but have been enjoying all the backyard launches all evening. I had no idea how seriously these people take their fireworks! Tents were erected on all major roads selling fireworks imported from China from $1.50 for the little fizzers up to hundreds of dollars for the big bangers. According to the news reports it is legal to SELL these fireworks but according to Florida State law, 'anything that flies or explodes' is illegal to launch... Ummm perhaps the 5 million residents of Florida failed to watch those reports...

Your cheeks will ache after this one...

2006-06-25T07:33:00.000+09:00

Japanese toilet humour

Happy 34th Anniversary!

2006-06-25T06:15:00.000+09:00

To my two and only.

Oh what a wonderful week!

2006-06-24T00:09:00.000+09:00

It's fun to go to work one day and be asked, "How was your week? Anything new?" when you are able to reply:

"Yes actually, I tracked down a long-lost best friend from 17 years ago!"

Kathy was my best friend in Guam and the main reason I didn't want to leave. I don't remember crying at any time during the farewell proceedings except for when I had to say goodbye to her. We had shared the essential bonding experiences for 9/10 y.o. girls, ie stuffing men's shirts with pillows to create pretend boyfriends, dressing up in kimonos and dancing to the soundtrack of 'Disney's Electrical Parade', and the ultimate experience, watching 'Beaches' enough to feel like it was made for us. After you do those things with somebody it is very difficult to leave them.

She also left Guam and moved to Florida and we corresponded for a while but it gradually petered out.

Many times during the past 17 years I have wondered what she was doing and where she was. Then when I came to Florida in February I googled her name until I was blue in the face, and even called a few false leads to no avail.

Then last week I realised there is a much easier way to track down a human. Peoplefinders.com will charge you $9.95 to retrieve somebody's telephone number with no questions asked! Alright! I gladly forked out, and the next thing I knew I had reestablished contact with Kathy!

She is as cute and wonderful as ever and is still in Florida (though at the end furthest from me, a good 10 hour drive!) so we are making plans to meet up in the future.

Yay!

Typhoon Lagoon!!!

2006-06-19T03:04:00.000+09:00

On Sunday after feasting on a $3.99 all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet where the quantity of donuts made up for the quality of the scrambled eggs, we heaved our bloated bods into bikinis and boardshorts and headed to Typhoon Lagoon. For 4 hours we were crushed, plunged, jetted and gushed by all kinds of waterslides until all we could do was drive to the nearest sports bar and get stuck into a dozen wings and a bayou & bleu burger. Whew!!!

Just a spoonful of sake makes the Disney go down...

2006-06-17T23:49:00.000+09:00

Today we drove up to Orlando, the home of the Happiest Celebration on Earth TM, to do a sake tasting at a 'Japanese-style' Restaurant.

Folks around these parts care not about the finer details of authenticity when it comes to things oriental. Japanese restaurants are run by Thais, Thai restaurants by Vietnamese, and Chinese restaurants by - well, I haven't seen anybody pretend to be Chinese before but it could be out there. The interiors of these restaurants are as 'Asian Fusion' as you can get, with big buddha statues next to Zen-inspired water fountains and random kanji inscribed on antiqued scrolls hung from bamboo rafters. Throw in a gaudy mural of Mt Fuji and Tanaka's your uncle.

The sushi chefs will often introduce themselves with a 'Hi, my name is Got and I'm from Japan,' and show little embarrassment retracting their nationality when Kentaro questions them in Japanese. The locals couldn't care less as long as they get their Lobster Bombs, Mexican Spiders and Dragon Rolls, which are essentially sushi rolls created to suit American tastebuds. They're easy to make. You first create a normal sushi roll, and the quality of the fish doesn't matter too much because next you deep-fry it and smother it in mayonnaise and sweet sauce. "I LOVE Japanese food, it's SO LIGHT!" choruses around the room and Got smiles because he knows what he's doing.

After the tasting was finished we went to Downtown Disney and amused ourselves freaking out the Japanese tourists. We don't tend to get many in South Florida so were pleased to be able to perform our little show, in which I only speak really loud Japanese, as fast and colloquial as possible, and Kentaro only replies in English. This causes double, triple and quadruple takes by the bamboozled Japanese tourists (the other tourists couldn't care less and probably figure I'm talking Spanish), who stare at me like I stare at the tourists over 400 pounds covered in tattoos. There was one of them actually though he would have only been a measly 300 pounds, and he was covered in DISNEY tattoos complete with a Mickey Mouse shaved into the back of his head. Kentaro wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to break the camera.

***AND DEAR LORD I JUST GOOGLED FOR THIS GUY AND FOUND HIM - SO HERE FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE IS THE 'DISNEY TATTOO GUY'***

Hmmm I have nothing more to say after reading his website. Bye.

For Goodness Sake!

2006-06-13T22:38:00.000+09:00

Over the past 4 months I have spent living with Kentaro, we have attended a number of sake tasting events at which we get to educate the American public about the wonders of fermented rice.

The people we have met at these events are usually already a bit tipsy having consumed the wine available at neighbouring booths, and typically fall into two categories: those who exclaim at the top of their lungs, ''SAKE!!!!!! EWWWWWWWWW!!!!! GROSSSSS!!!!", or those who exclaim at the top of their lungs, "SAKE!!!!!! ALLLL RIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!!"

Australia tres, Japon uno!!!

2006-06-13T00:43:00.000+09:00

"Like bananas and smurfs in a blender" *

2006-06-12T22:24:00.000+09:00

So are the Socceroos versus the Blue Samurais in the World Cup.

What with all my Aussie friends around the world harping on about this game I thought I'd at least try to find it on the TV and wasn't hopeful seeing as we don't have cable.

But I found it! The reception is awful and the commentary in Spanish but it's not gonna stop me from whooping the obligatory war cry as I watch the game in my undies on this rainy Monday morning.

Wonder if I can get the birdies to join me... 'Oi oi oi!!!'

*Quote by Gemma of Maebashi.

Here today, Guam tomorrow

2006-06-12T21:58:00.000+09:00

Chasing birds and frozen custard

2006-06-11T07:00:00.000+09:00

We visited Green Cay Wetlands the other day, which is an area run by the local sewage treatment authorities but is surprisingly beautiful and just a stone's throw from where we live. A few acres of wetlands is circumnavigated by an elevated boardwalk from which you can spot the local fauna. Oh the animal watching down here is so much more lovely than the people watching! There were heaps of herons, tons of turtles, and even though we visited during daytime we were lucky enough to spot an alligator surfacing for a midday snack. 'Twas fine family fun for all.

Today we had another typical Florida day - a sleep-in, followed by a big cooked brekkie, a trip to the local veggie markets, and an ice cream on the way home. 'So thick we serve it to you upside down!' is the boastful slogan of Ritter's Glaciers. We had ours done Butterfinger style.

2006-06-09T21:45:00.000+09:00

I miss this kinda TV

What with all the sleazy talk shows and nasty news reports available 24/7, it was nice to flick to Japan and remember that innocent, hilarious TV is still out there!

In my neighbourhood...

2006-05-30T22:38:00.000+09:00

Dog snatch from gator's mouth
Sydney Morning Herald
May 30, 2006 - 1:01PM
A man took his dog for a run near his Florida home and ended up prying the pooch out of a 2.13-metre alligator.
Michael Rubin took Jasmine, a six-month-old golden retriever, and his other dog, a border collie named Frisbee, on a run at a construction site near his home.
Rubin thought the area was far from the alligators that prowl the nearby Everglades.
During the morning walk, Jasmine ran ahead of Rubin to the edge of a pond on the site. Rubin heard a yelp.
He ran to help his dog and saw her head in the mouth of the alligator. He jumped in the muddy water, which reached his neck, he said, and began beating the beast with his fist.
He said that when that didn't work, he grabbed on to his dog as the alligator started to take it underwater.
"I thought she was dead," Rubin said after the ordeal.
"But, at that point I wasn't going to let him have my dog."
Rubin yanked at his dog, finally prying her from the alligator's mouth. He then rushed her to The Coral Springs Animal Hospital, which confirmed Jasmine was treated for cuts and puncture wounds.
Jasmine was in a good condition, but quite sleepy, and was sent home with pain medication, Rubin said. Frisbee was not injured in the attack.
"She was very lucky," he said of Jasmine. "And I was very lucky."

Kentaro called 5 minutes ago to tell me to look this one up on the internet as he had heard it on the radio. I was pleased to see that SMH has cottoned on to this news even before the local newspapers. This is one of the fortunate tales, as most end in gator poo.

What flavour Pocky are you?

2006-05-30T22:22:00.000+09:00

what flavor pocky are you?

Just had to do this quiz. Pocky was a sweet part of my life in Japan, and continues to sugar-coat my existence here in Florida as a best-seller at the Morikami.

Fugu, Iguanas and Herons, Oh My!

2006-05-22T22:17:00.000+09:00

On Sunday we headed down to the intracoastal waters of Fort Lauderdale with our 2-seater kayak strapped to the top of Kentaro's Toyota. We always pray that the thin blue straps we use to secure it on top of 2 foam pads are going to hold. Other kayak owners seem to have much sturdier roof-rack contraptions, but we have been OK so far. It's funny to drive around with the kayak though as everyone on the road struggles to not be in front of or behind us.

Kentaro used to live right on the waterways but now that we're in suburban Coral Springs it's a bit of a hike to get there. Just getting the kayak off our balcony, down 2 flights of stairs and up onto the car is so much of an effort that we're tired by the time we get in the car.

But upon our arrival to Wilton Manors Waterways (Wilton Manors is the gay mecca in Fort Lauderdale, hence there are a multitude of trendy restaurants and nice houses), we perk up as it's a gorgeous place to spend a Sunday.

First we search for fishies and crabs (Kentaro goes around turning over rocks to find them) and yesterday we were able to combine efforts and catch a baby checkered pufferfish. So cute. Then we let him go and start our kayak trip.

We usually go on a 2 hour course with prime real estate and iguana viewing aplenty. I love just watching the huge lizards but Kentaro likes to poke them with his paddle to make them move. You'd expect such a ferocious looking creature to hiss and attack like a little raptor, but they just waddle away slowly looking for the next hibiscus bush to munch on.

Yesterday we also found a baby heron presumably waiting for its mother in a tree. It couldn't fly so was glued to the spot as we paddled directly underneath it.

We haven't spotted a manatee on our recent kayak excursions though there are supposed to be huge groups of them in the intracoastal waters. Though I am just as happy not seeing a huge dark shape looming underneath, as no matter how many times Kentaro assures me that alligators don't swim in saltwater, I figure that there's always a first. Every day here there is news of another alligator attack and I don't wanna join the statistics!

There's an alligator report on TV right now, being followed by a pre-hurricane season special report, announcing that for the next 12 days, shutters, flashlights, generators and batteries will be tax-free.

Where am I living?

It's raining bread!

2006-05-13T02:00:00.000+09:00

Hallelujah say the little birdies and squirrels which scamper around on the ground and wait every morning for me to throw them a piece of bread and the seeds which didn't make the cut for Goma and Shio, spoiled little buggers that they are.

It is nice to be able to enjoy some wildlife that isn't vultures right on my doorstep. My favourites are the Blue Jays and Red-head Woodpeckers which brighten things up as the parrots in Australia do.

And all over the area are beautiful white herons. I was recently sitting in Kentaro's parked car for 10 minutes and allowed to enjoy a one-man show of a heron on a dragonfly eating rampage. I have never seen anything like it. This sleek little birdie went to town on the dragonflies with such precision and gusto that I was whooping and cheering him on as dragonfly after dragonfly got gobbled up without even knowing what was happening.

On the topic of Florida birds - Did you know that wild flamingos are pink because they eat carotene-containing shrimp and that in captivity those shrimp are often substituted with carotene-rich veggies like carrots, beets and red peppers? If they didn't eat them they'd turn white! Wayyyy! But most zoos these days apparently opt for some additives in the bird pellets. Hmm I wonder if I could turn my cockatiels pink...

Such are the interests of my life.

How American Are You?

2006-05-09T01:04:00.000+09:00

You Are 41% American

America: You don't love it or want to leave it.But you wouldn't mind giving it an extreme make over.On the 4th of July, you'll fly a freak flag instead...And give Uncle Sam a sucker punch!

How American Are You?

Lucky I don't have to take the Citizenship Test - I'd probably fail! Today marks a quarter of a year in Florida, woohoo!

Headline Blues

2006-05-08T01:57:00.000+09:00

Just watching the news here makes Kentaro and I depressed. Every day. I'm not talking about news of the war in Iraq, natural disasters in Bangladesh or people starving in Africa. It's the local news that chills us to the bone because it's literally in our backyard.

I have had the thought a few times of posting on this blog the daily headlines to give others an idea of the kind of stuff that happens here, but then I'd be bringing y'all down too.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and the surrounding suburbs) have a combined population equivalent to Greater Sydney, but in a typical week or even month back home there wouldn't be a fraction of the heinous crimes that occur here in one day. Murder, rape, hit-and-run, drive-by shooting, fraud is the typical morning news report of the previous night's events. And the scenes of these crimes are all around us, not making for a fuzzy feeling as I'm eating my breakfast bagel. Oi.

But then you look at the people here and the crimes don't seem as surprising. I used to watch Jerry Springer and wonder if those people were actors, and if not where in the world they could walk around as accepted members of society. Eureka!

In speedy end-of-ad disclaimer voice: Of course these generalised views do not apply to all the people I have encountered here and there are certainly exceptions for example all the lovely people I work with and all friends and family in the States and yes I also realise that South Florida is probably not an accurate representation of the United States as a whole in terms of the moral quality of its citizens and no I am not depressed so don't worry, simply alarmed, befuddled and confounded.

Aloha

2006-05-02T03:01:00.000+09:00

Tonight we went out to a Hawaiian-themed restaurant called Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale and did the whole pina pina, mahi mahi, rabu rabu thing. What the world needs now is more Hawaiian-themed restaurants.

Ooh la la

2006-04-28T22:56:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday I started the day in my usual day-off-from-work routine. Big bowl of 4 cereals mixed together, coffee, genmai-cha and UPN news. I pondered the state of my lemon Ford as I watched Springer, Montel and Maury. I set out in the afternoon with the aim of taking my car to a few dealerships to enquire about trade-in deals. Honda or Toyota, baby, Honda or Toyota, that's Kentaro's mantra. It's not like I WANTED a Ford in the first place. Just seemed to check out better than the other options we had back in buying time. I drove for half an hour south, past about 50 dealerships and car yards. I made a left on Broward Blvd and drove straight into downtown Fort Lauderdale. I parked on Las Olas Blvd and walked into a bridal shop. I disclosed my budget to the staff and was directed straight to the sales rack. The wedding dress of my dreams was brought before my eyes and I wept with delight to hear the drastically discounted sale price. Well, I didn't really cry but I sure am glad that the dress shopping is already over because it's not fun to do solo!!

It's a Christos design from last season, and is 80% off because it was worn once in a fashion show.

Woohoo!

Fiance, check, dress, check...

Where I work

2006-04-20T08:41:00.000+09:00

I work at Morikami Japanese Gardens & Museum in the gift shop. I have 30 minutes for my lunch break which is enough to time to scoff a PBJ and power walk through the gardens, which are meticulously maintained and full of Zen-factor. It's a great way to get a breath of fresh air and relax before diving back into the chaos which is the gift shop. People just CANNOT GET ENOUGH of the store's goods. There is a fantastic selection of Japanese fountains, bags, bowls, dolls, chopsticks, lanterns, scrolls, jewellery, candles, candy, toys, books, cards, kimonos and more, and the wealthy suburban matrons who frequent the store seem well-versed in how to feng-shui a house. I have never come across a shop in Australia with a wider variety of Japanese merchandise. I have also never earned such a low wage in my entire life, with every penny I DO earn going towards my lemon car, which oh by the way broke down again last week. Sigh.

Happy Easter

2006-04-18T02:04:00.000+09:00

The easter bunny came for Kentaro this year for the first time, and had apparently hopped through Australia on its way to Florida because it brought a giant chocolate koala for him as well as the usual American fare. (thanks Mom)

Goma and Shio were thrilled to have a bunch of colourful new things to rip to shreds.

It was a good day had by all, with the morning chocolate pig-out followed by a trip to the beach and a buffet dinner.

Hamming it up at Costco

2006-04-15T08:24:00.000+09:00

The great American institution of bulk-buying is epitomised by Costco, the wholesale warehouse company that now has 471 locations branching out from the US to Canda, the UK and Asia, including one 5 minutes down the road from us.

'Costco became the first company ever to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in less than six years.' -taken from Wikipedia's Costco definition.

Kentaro and I both joined up at our local Costco thinking that we'd save a lot by buying in bulk, but have since realised that you can't walk out of the place spending less than $100 because 5kg of sliced ham, 2kg of salad, a barrel of cereal and a gallon of vitamins isn't actually that cheap. And not only can we not fit a pre-packaged 3 loaves of bread in our refrigerator, by the time we've gotten past 1 loaf the other 2 are already stale! Best stick to Walmart I guess.

(Photo taken last year at the Costco in Saipan.)

Our apartment

2006-04-15T05:53:00.000+09:00

Here is our humble abode. The first pic is taken from the main entrance, the second with my trusty Ford in the foreground. I wonder which part of this reliable machine will need Focus this week? So far it's been the tyres, the a/c and the transmission... The third picture is the view from our front door. It's a nice little complex with a pool, tennis court, racketball court and gym. The odd thing is that this is what the majority of south Florida looks like, with stand-alone homes few and far between. But the variety you don't get from houses is made up for by all the types of people you see. It's funny to think that no matter how different we are from our neighbours, our living space is near identical.

And then there were 3...

2006-04-09T03:04:00.000+09:00

Licenses that is. With the addition of my new Florida Driver's License which I obtained yesterday, I now have THREE licenses valid until at least 2008 in THREE different countries. I guess it's then also suitable that I look like THREE different people...

So to celebrate my super-validity and to mark 2 months since I became a born-again American, we went out for sushi!

Michelle's Wedding

2006-04-05T11:01:00.000+09:00

I was honoured to be a bridesmaid in Michelle's wedding held at Pearl Beach this February. No less an honour could have kept me away from my Kentaro for that long! He was waiting for me in Florida while I frolicked with the girls at the Hen's Night and wedding. It was a stunning beach service but I'll let the pics do the talking!

Just the two of us!

2006-04-05T05:06:00.000+09:00

It's amazing to ponder how my life has changed so quickly. Six months ago I was leaving Japan, enrolled in a Masters degree at Macquarie University with plans to live with my brother and study and work in Sydney. Had things gone according to that plan, I would now be one month into my degree in International Communication. My friends and family would be sick of hearing about my 3 years in Japan and I might possibly be concocting plans to go back there some day...

Meeting Kentaro has put a rosy light on everything I see in front of me, and given me so many options about where I can live and what I can do in the future. It is such a wonderful feeling to have found my partner in life, and to go to sleep deeply content every night. We make a great team. Woohoo!!!

Long-lost Laurie

2006-04-05T04:56:00.000+09:00

One of the best parts about living in the States again is being able to see my long-lost relatives. First and most convenient on the list was mom's half-sister Laurie, who works as a cruise ship singer on the Carnival Legend which departs weekly from Fort Lauderdale.

We met for the first time in March (and calculated that it had been 13 years since we'd last met!) and the second time on April 2nd, her birthday! Kentaro and I were honoured to have her be our first house guest even if it was just for a couple of hours! She was also just in time to meet Goma and Shio, who arrived on March 31st. Painting courtesy of Kentaro's procrastinations.

R.I.P. Mushymochi, welcome to Salt and Sesame!

2006-04-05T04:49:00.000+09:00

If I had a dollar for every time I started a blog and then abandoned it, I'd be able to buy about 4 Krispie Kreme donuts...

Mushymochi's young life was tragically cut short in October 2005 when I met my samurai lover Kentaro and wanted to express my new life with a new blog!

April 2006 finds me in Coral Springs, Florida, playing fiancee to Kentaro, sales wench to Morikami Museum (http://www.morikami.org/), and mother to Goma (sesame) and Shio (salt), our 2 new baby cockatiels. I dedicate this new blog to them!