Homecoming 2019

 Homecoming (hoco) is a tradition for high schools in the United States. (Maybe other countries too.) All those dance parties are new to me. It’s very interesting. First I couldn’t understand why high school kids dress like adults and act like adults. I thought that they should enjoy the youth, not trying to become adults sooner, but then Brittain told me that it’s natural that the kids want to experience adult celebrity life. Yeah, that’s right. I wanted to dress fancy and go to parties with friends and a boyfriend. I thought Yukine’s choice of dress was too adlutish and too showing. But you know, it’s a party! When I started this blog, there was no way I would know if this day was coming. She is a still baby Kobuta (little big) but she is certainly  a beautiful grown up lady. I can see that she enjoys her high school life. She made many new friends, studies hard for her future, and is having fun all those events. She shares all stuff that happens to her. I feel I am
very lucky to have her as my daughter.
アメリカの高校生は年に1回、ホームカミングというダンスパーティがあり、最後の年にはさらに、プロムと言うダンスパーティがあります。今回、喜音も遂にホームカミングへ！
大人っぽいドレスに慣れないヒールを履き、お化粧してみて、大人のセレブみたいに！
私には最初、何故こんな早く大人になろうとするか理解できなかったけど、確かにティーンの時は大人っぽくなってみたかったもの。ドレスも大人っぽすぎじゃないのか？とも思ったりしたけど、一年に一回、青春、まぁいんじゃないの！
母とは全く違う高校生活。娘から色々、学びます！

Summer Memories with Chuba and Aunt Chieko 2019

Peace Arch: Canada 🇨🇦 boarder

The Butchart gardens in Victoria B.C 

I know the timeline is messed up but I definitely wanted to write this memory here so bear with me. At least, I have some more energy this year to write new posts in this blog so could have been worse. That also tells me that the kids got older and more they grow, more we have free time lately.

Anyway! Grandma Kirino AKA chu-ba came visit us with her older sister aunt Chieko this summer in July. Main reason was that Chu-ba wanted to show aunt Chieko Canada this time, especially Victoria B.C. Originally my brother Toshiya, was also planning to come, but he’d got a big commitment at his job and he could take day offs. Alas, Japanese salary man... we booked hotels back in January before he knew he couldn’t make it this trip. Despite that unfortunate, we had great time in Canada! On the first day, per chu-ba’s request and as tradition, we stayed at Casino hotel. Brittain and the kids spent time at the pool and the ladies tasted the casino atmosphere. Both chu-ba and Aunt Chieko are patrons of pachinko (Japanese game machines kind of like pinball games) so they enjoyed the casino here, even though they didn’t understand what’s going on because they can’t read any instructions. I, on the other hand, hardly played those games over there or here, BUT odd enough, I won the slot about 100 Canadian dollars! So I treated breakfast for everyone next day :) it worked perfectly! Next day we stayed near Vancouver downtown. We went to Capilano suspension bridge and Granville island. I
was a bit surprised that chu-ba decided to go to the bridge, because she never liked heights or those scary things. She said she had to have any new experience before she dies. She is a tough woman! On. The third day, we took ferry to Victoria. I always enjoy Victoria. Many flowers, beautiful European style of buildings, and lots kind of different yummy food! This was maybe 4th time in Victoria for me? But we went to The Butcher’s Garden the first time. It’s expensive but it’s worthwhile! Man! Beautiful! Breathtaking amazing gardens there. They were just beautiful!
It was a quick 4 days trip but so much fun! Other thing that aunt Chieko loved in the United States? Thrift stores! Lol They almost lived there. They certainly visited every one of thrift stores in our neighborhood. :D
時系列がちょっと前後してしまいますが、これは書き記しておきたいので。
この夏、うちの母、こと中ばぁと中ばぁのお姉さん、千恵子おばちゃんがシアトルに来てくれました！今回はカナダにも行きたいと言う事で。当初は、うちの兄も来るはずがどうしても仕事を休めず仕方なし断念。女二人ではるばる来てくれました！いやー、英語喋れないのに、二人だけで海外に来てくれるガッツは本当に尊敬。というわけで、シアトル観光は喜音、奏大に任し、Uber で色々回ってくれた。大きくなったもんだなー。
そして待ちに待ったカナダ旅行！
初めはカジノへ。カジノのファンシーホテルに泊まり、子供、ブリトンはプールで楽しんでる間、女性陣はいざ、カジノへ！パチンコセミプロ(冗談)の二人、カジノはやはり、言語分からずとも楽しんでたご様子。しかも！なんと、全くギャンブルしない、私、スロットで約カナダドル100ドル儲けました！！と言う事で、次の日の朝ごはんは御馳走できると言うラッキー付き。
他にもバンクーバーのグランビルアイランド、キャピラノの吊り橋へ。そして、ビクトリアB.Cへ！ビクトリアでは、ブッチャートガーデン、お買い物、海を見たり、毎日忙しく、そしてカナダを満喫してまいりました！
それから、千恵子おばちゃんのアメリカでのお気に入りは、リサイクルショップ巡り。毎日欠かさず行った気がする。笑

Tillamook creamery 

Annndddd, Chu-ba came alone again in August! I begged her to come and stay longer because we couldn’t spend time much together last time she was here. I really really appreciate her generosity to come again. She did A LOT to us: making food, cleaning house, and cleaning yard (by the way, aunt Chieko also worked our yard, even tho she stayed only 10 days...Japanese people, you guys are working too hard!)
そして、あまりにも短い滞在だったので、頼みに頼みこみ、母にはもう一度来てもらいました。もっと長く一緒にいたくて…私のわがままを聞いてくれてまた来てくれた母には本当に感謝。ほとんどは家の事手伝わせてばかりで悪いことさせてしまったけど、ちょっと近場のオレゴン州へ小旅行もしました。オレゴンでは、チーズ、ミルクの工場へ。あとは、海岸のリゾート地へ。これもまた違くて面白かった。

Seaside OR. Seafood over there was so fresh and good!

Second day of school

Why is it “second day of school”, not the first day? Because we forgot to take a picture on the first day of school. lol  We barely keep up our schedule every day... I don’t know how we survive everyday...
Anyway, Yukine is now in 9th grade, a freshman in high school and Kanata is in 6th, the last year of elementary school. After Kanata, we will be completely done with the elementary school. That’s crazy!!!
If Yukine was in Japan, she should have been in the last year in a middle school but here, it’s 4 years of high school. I can’t believe that we are parents of a high school kid. My heart is still in 20’s though!

新学年二日目の写真。普通は1日目に記念に写真を撮るのが恒例なのですが、すっかり忘れて二日目、と言ういい加減な親。でも一応撮ったので、多めにみていただいて…苦笑

私らの学区では、高校四年生。なので、喜音は今年から高校生です！こちらでは、高校一年生をフレッシュマンとよび、2年がソフモア、3年がジュニア、そして最後の4年をシニアと呼びます。大学も同様。と言うわけで、喜音はフレッシュマン。
奏大は小学校最後の6年生。これは日本とも一緒ですね。でも、来年からは制度が変わり小学校は5年までになるらしい。だから、奏大が中学生になる時、五年生も同時に持ち上がり、いきなり、奏大の学年は中2になります。どうなるかなー。

もうすでに10月。今二人とも問題なく新しい学年、学校には慣れてやっているよう。

Europe Trip 2018-2019

Europe had been on our bucket list as a family trip destination for a while. Especially for Yukine. It started when she was around 5 year-old, she was very interested in Queen Elizabeth I and the history around Europe. (Maybe "history" is too strong word.) She lost the interest later on but once she got really serious about ballet, her interest switched to France. She is taking French as a second language at school. Also, the D.C family trip in 2017 made me want to see the root of this country - the arts, architectures, and histories with my eyes. Another big reason that I personally wanted to visit Europe was to re-union with one of my best friends for the first time in a decade. I don't know what Brit and Kanata was thinking about Europe but they wouldn't say no to visit new places :) Brit and I thought it could be the last big family trip together, if we didn't do now, we wouldn't be able to do this forever, since the kids' activities are getting busier and busier every year, it is getting harder to find the dates that everyone is free. I am so glad that we did this trip. It is definitely a core memory for us as a family. And I hope the kids will remember this trip for rest of their lives. Anyway, there are so many things that I don't want to forget and want to write down here... but there are limit of space so, here are some highlights.

念願のヨーロッパ旅行を終え、もう早5か月が経とうとしてる…いつもながらもっと早く書きたかったんだけど。年々、時間がなくて自分に余裕がなくなっている気がするのは気のせいではないはず。

ヨーロッパはアメリカに引っ越してからいつか旅行で行きたいと思っていたところ。喜音が５、６歳の時、なぜか急にエリザベス一世に興味をもったのが私の中の初ヨーロッパの歴史に真剣に触れたときかもしれない。その後、喜音はバレエに本腰を入れ始めてからは、学校でもフランス語をとったり、なにかとフランスに興味が移った。かなたは特に大きな思入れはなかっただろうけど、戦争の歴史が好きで、アンティークものがなぜか好きな彼はそれなりにヨーロッパに行って、古いものを見つけてみたかったんじゃないかな。私は、というと、ワシントンDCに2年前に行ったときに、この近代アメリカを作った人たちがもともと来たところという原点を見てみたかった。そしてもう一つ、一番大きな目的は、親友の英理に会う事。英理は保育園からずっと一緒で、中学、高校で一番近くなったかな。大学で英理はカナダ留学し、その後、英理は結婚してドイツに。私はブリトンと結婚し、アメリカに移住してからは二人とも海外生活族だから、なかなか会うことができず早10年以上が経ってしまっていた。だからこそ、すごく会いたかった。泊まるところまで提供してもらって本当にありがたい。そして、本当に会えて色々話せてよかった！！

本当に書きたい事ばかりだけど、ひつまずはざっと振り返ってみようかな。

First Meal in Europe. Dutch breakfast. The little round ones were dutch pan cakes. Those were yummy.
ヨーロッパ初のご飯はアムステルダムで朝ごはん。ダッチパンケーキにチュロス、ワッフル。

Amsterdam. Indeed we are in Europe!
アムステルダム。ヨーロッパって感じだー

This was definitely my highlight! Meet with Eri for the first time in over 10 years! We have known each other since preschool. I was so so happy to see her and her family in Germany.
英理との再会。これは私にとってこの旅の ハイライト。本当にあえてよかった。そして、泊めてくれて本当にありがとう！！！

At downtown Düsseldorf. The winter market was still up. 
ドイツ、ドュッセルドルフのダウンタウン。まだクリスマスマーケットが残ってた！

Der Koln Dom. Massive, incredible Cathedral.

Construction started August 15, 1248. Most are rebuilt after WWII but still amazing and beautiful architecture. Brit told me that those small towers like things are called "Flying buttress" which support the heavy walls so that the cathedral can have a beautiful main vault.
ケルン大聖堂。第二次世界大戦でほとんど焼けてしまったから今のものは再建されたもの。それにしてもすごい迫力。中のおおきな大聖堂を作るため、Flying buttressという周りにあるこのいっぱいの塔みたいので壁を支えてるらしい。

Another winter market in Koln Germany. Kanata wanted to eat the salami (?) stick. He said that was the one of best salamis he had in his life. We are lucky here again that we missed the European Christmas, yet we could feel some of the mood :)　ドイツの町、ケルンでの冬のマーケット。かなたはこのサラミが人生で一番のおいしいサラミだったらしい。他にもがレットっぽいもの？いろいろドイツならではのものがあった。

Aachen Cathedral in Aachen. The town is located between Germany and Belgian. Such a little cute town. It's apparently famous for hot springs too. We just hopped off the train before the transit and walk to the cathedral for about 30 mins from the station. It was too early in the morning so that we could not go in to the building. Alas... It is claimed as one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe and was constructed by order of the emperor Charlemagne, who was buried there after his eath in 814. It was too short to see all of them.. The town also seems to be interesting. Ahhhhh we needed more time! We definitely have to come back to Europe again!!!　なんとこれはカール大帝（７４２－８１４年A.D)が立てたとされ、彼の遺体が壁に埋められているというアーヘン大聖堂。アーヘンというドイツとベルギーの間にある小さな町にある。なぜこの今では何もないところにこんなすごいものが建っているのか不思議だが、実はこの町、温泉でも有名らしい。ブリトンがこの大聖堂を見たくて、電車の乗り換えの一時間半の間だけの下車。行ってみたものの、まだ朝早すぎて、（１１時開門らしい。）大聖堂の中には入れず。。もっと時間あればな。。絶対またヨーロッパ戻らなきゃいけないよね！！

Behold! Here are Belgian Waffles in Belgium! It seems like there are many kinds of Belgian waffles. The most famous are those two: the Brussels waffle and the Liège waffle.Liège waffle is the one people thinks it's the Belgium waffle - a richer, denser, sweeter, and chewier. Both are super good of course. ベルギーで本場ベルギーワッフル。みんなが思っているベルギーワッフルはLiège waffleという種類らしい。他にもいろいろな種類があって、全てが重くて甘くていわゆるベルギーワッフルと思っているものでもない。

Parc du Cinquantenaire. We visited Royal Military Museum and passed the
Arcade du Cinquantenaire. Beautiful peaceful park. Since it's cold winter, not many people out there but it must be a great fun gathering spot in summer.　ブリュッセル公園。大きな凱旋門があったり、他にもミリタリー博物館や、美術館などがある。私たちはミリタリー博物館へ。

Grand Place with the Christmas lights. It was a breathtaking. I never seen such those fine beautiful buildings before. I just wanted to be there for a long time and observe those each architectures. For people who don't know about Grand Place, the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by opulent guildhalls and two larger edifices, the city's Town Hall, and the King's House or Breadhouse building containing the Museum of the City of Brussels. This is definitely MUST- SEE spot.
ブリュッセルのグランドプレイス。まだクリスマスライトも点いてました！それはそれは言葉では言い表せない素敵さ。とにかくひとつひとつの建物の建築が凝っていて、すばらしいの一言。ぜひ一度は見ていただきたいところです。

Manneken Pis - Well, if you are in Brussels, you have to visit this little guy. It's significantly small. If you don't pay attention, you will easily miss it. ベルギーにいるならば、やはりみておかねば、小便小僧。

Here we are in Paris! First bread in Paris. It's just a bakery near our hotel but everything was tasty.

The building behind us are Conciergerie,  formerly a prison but presently used mostly for law courts and other court houses and stuff. The river is the Seine.

Notre-Dame de Paris. We are very fortune to see the original building before the tragic fire...Inside is also majestic as well. We did not have a chance to climb up the towers.

ノートルダム大聖堂　あの悲惨な火災がある前のオリジナルな建築を見れたことは本当にラッキーだったと思う。素晴らしい、本当に神秘を感じる大聖堂

The Sainte-Chapelle - The Royal Chapelle. 
It's just awe inspiring! Incredible! Cannot describe with words how awesome those stained glass windows are! This might be my best of all in Paris. You will have to go and see them. You will not be disappointed. Human made so many dumb stuff and are hurting this mother earth but people who made this building should be recognized forever in the human history. セント・チャペル　－ステンドグラスが世界的に有名な教会。ロイヤルファミリー用のチャペル。さすがだ。言葉もでない。こんなステンドグラスみたこともない。一日ただ。ずっとそこに立って眺めていられる。細かさ、光の芸術に本当に脱帽だね。

French Crapes - their crapes are much different from Japanese ones. There are so many variations from savory to sweet. But those are indeed a full meal. I've gotten hamburg one. It was delicious and fill you for sure. You use utencils to eat those, not like walking around and eat with hands. Also, there are so many kinds of skins, like made by buckwheat etc.フランスのクレープ。日本とは違ってちゃんとしたご飯ね。本当にいろいろ入ってるし、メインディッシュ系からおやつ系まで。フォークとナイフで食べるし、持ち歩ける感じじゃない。皮もいろいろ。そば粉とか。

I still can't believe that I would go to Louvre... I cannot believe that I stood in front of the glass triangle. As I've heard from many people. it's a massive museum. HUGE! We went to a night. No way you can see all of them in a day. This is one of 'have to come back some day" locations for sure. ルーヴ美術館　－変な話、まさか自分がルーヴ美術館に行く日がこんなに早く来るとは！なんとなく、２０代の頃、ヨーロッパは引退した後かなって思ってたから。聞いてはいたけどでかい。すごい。絶対に全部なんて見切れない。。ここはまた来なくてはリスト決定。

You know what it is.. Mona Lisa. Kanata had no interests in arts what-so-ever. Even though the kiddo was impressed by it and felt lucky that he could get to see the real actual Mona Lisa!

Since when I was a kid, somehow I really liked this picture.

Hotel De Nord Our hotel. We fell in love with the tiny, super cute guest house type hotel. The kids got a room and the parents got another room. It was an attic suite room. Oh and their breakfast is amazing! Bread is absolutely yummy! We would love to go back next time when we will be in Paris! Highly recommended!

The Palace of Versailles - A bit away from the Paris downtown. Took a train for about 45 mins. You will definitely need a full day, maybe  two days if you want to explore the gardens. Yukine and I had sooooo much fun over there. Kanata? He slept on the benches in the building most of time there... Poor Brit had to stuck with him... Sorry. This is the another "need to come back again"items in the list.You can tell that this whole entire place was spend countless amount of money in them. Building, Architect, furniture, garden...everything is just beyond impressing! No wonder working middle class people complained and eventually it lead the French revolution.... ベルサイユ宮殿ー広い、綺麗、きらきらしてる！！！中はさらにすごい。本当にでかいし、全ての調度品が見るからに金がかかっている。さらに今のように電気やら断熱やら、機械やらがない時代。そんなときにこんなものを税金で作り、毎晩のようにパーティしてれば、市民も改革起こしたくなるわな。。。

You will get the best bread anywhere and everywhere in Paris. They never disappoint you. My sandwich was very new to me. It had some kind of raw beef.

The Palais Garnier - Opera House. Yukine's favorite. She was super excited to see this in Paris. There was no show because of the new year season. But she was still pretty happy to see inside of the building. Before we headed to this trip, we watched the movie "The Phantom of the Opera". That was a good idea we did. It was more fun to see some of feature at the opera house, like the phantom's room or so. オペラハウス　オペラ座の怪人で有名なパリのオペラハウス。世界三大バレエ団の公式会場のひとつでもある。喜音にとっては夢のような場所。この旅の中で一番楽しみにしていたところからも知れない。ヨーロッパに来る前にオペラ座の怪人の映画も見てきたため、いろいろな場所がなじみがあり、それもよかった。建物の建築だけでも見事なもの。

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile: We couldn't go inside and top of the Arc because there was the yellow jacket protest going on. The Arc was surrounded by tons of police cars, the atmosphere around the area was very strange...Most of stores and boutiques, restaurants on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées were closed or more like barricaded with ply woods... It might be lucky to see the historical moment and real Paris issues, not only the beautiful side of the town.凱旋門ー本来なら、上に上ることのできる凱旋門だが、私たちが行ったときに限って黄色いジャケットの人らによる抗議運動がおこなわれていたため、閉鎖。シャンペリゼ通りもほとんどの店などはしまっており、板でバリケードまで作っている異様な雰囲気だった。残念だったけれど、この芸術、歴史に満ちた街にもいろいろ綺麗だけではまとまらない問題があるのだろうと感じた。住むのは大変なんだよね。

The Eiffel Tower I am not sure if it's always lighting up or it was just during the holiday season but every 30 mins, the tower is brightening up with lights. It was stunning. You feel Paris when you see this tower. I didn't go in the park or the tower but even only seeing it from a bit of distance, it has its power to attract people all over the world.