Celebrating being here one week....even in the rain!

We started by putting the new humidifier for C & C's room together. Good thing the instruction manual comes with pictures--tho C & C had it figured out faster than Mommy and Ama.
It was a very rainy day but that didn't keep us inside. We bundled up and walked off to the Early Childhood Center of the American International School of Japan where Ama's friend, Judy, is the principal. It is a wonderful place and we really enjoyed taking a tour and seeing all the kids at work and play. Someday C & C will fit right in.
Maja then went to lunch with a new friend, Marcela, and learned lots about life here--a good connection for sure given the challenges moving to a completely new place always provide. Marcela, from Argentina, has been here for 10 years and her biggest tip was to just pronounce words like Spanish for the letter sounds are almost the same and everybody thinks she speaks Janpanese better than she knows she does.
With Brenda back to make meatballs for C & C, play with them and put them to bed, Maja and I went off to discover the local sites and given they include the most expensive and largest development/shopping center/hotel complex in the Asian world complete with an art museum, the Mori Art Museum next to the 53rd floor Tokyo City View and Roppongi Hills Observation Deck, we had no trouble entertaining ourselves. And Ama even picked up H.E. (His Excelency) Wasswa Biriggwa, Ambasador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda in the bar to buy our wine and two martinis with a dinner invitation in the pretend future. He was with an Australian car salesman (Japan exports a million used cars a year) and his Japanese wife probably planning a Ugandan used car invasion. :)
So given enough bar talk and alcohol, Maja and I went off to dinner at a Japanese grill in the complex--very upscale and very delicious. A meal we were both ready for, both the just good mom/daughter conversation and the good beef which probably wasn't Montana range fed!
And now I'm off the the Grand Hyatt to meet my friend Ruth who is coming to spend the day and night with us and will no doubt be full of good tips and ideas to make the most of Japan. She lives outside Tokyo and teaches English to adults, takes fabulous photos and embraces new adventures better than most. Ever onward indeed!




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