Lego Land!

Three trains, one bridge, and an hour and a half later we arrived at Lego Land.  Any little boy's fantasy!

There were several different places for Marley to build with the legos and make things but there were also rides, movie theater, and a jungle gym area.  The rides were pretty fun, the first we had to save the princess and shot and kill villans along the way.  Marley didn't quite understand this part and just kept asking where is the princess was? The second ride you sat in an airplane like seat and peddled as you went around in a circle.  This was his favorite.

I experienced my first 4D movie.  We weren't sure what to expect and since it was all in Japanese we weren't sure what was even happening haha but it was too loud for Marley so we only lasted a few minutes.  In that time though we were blasted with fans and sprayed with water.

 

The things that people are able to make out of legos are crazy though! The amount of time and preparation that went into making the city and major attractions were incredible!

Deckss is the place we were at with Lego Land and the Ferris Wheel and Spherical Ball behind us:

 Night time

 Some Shrine (Couldnt read the sign that told us what this was)

This next picture is of Downtown Tokyo : pre-disaster

And then Godzilla ATTACKS!

After Lego Land we walked around and found the first Mexican food restaurant yet in Japan!  It wasn't quite the same as at home but good enough!

Today's lunch and game

Today's lunch was probably the most interesting and unique yet.  And it was surprisingly something we made at the house!  We had precooked and vacuum sealed ears of corn, soba noodles with guacamole, cherry tomatoes, and some nuts.

The corn was interesting to say the least.  First, being precooked it was not the greatest but by vacuum sealing it the corn got a warped looking like someone had suck the air out of each piece of corn so it looked deflated.  It was pretty tasteless but overall just the idea of corn was good enough for us!

Soba noodles with guacamole was a stretch though at first.  Kelly had made the soba noodles intending to put soy sauce on them.  But we didn't have any bread or crackers for the guacamole so it was either use the guacamole on the soba or eat it with a spoon.  Turns out soba noodles and guac aren't a bad combination! I dare even say I'd eat that again!


Marley, Kelly, and I played "Tracey is an Alligator" for close to 2 hours today! It consisted of him and Kelly going into the kitchen and closing the door, using it as an elevator, and then they would get off at different floors where an alligator was hiding.  I would jump out and chase him around with my arms out chomping at him.  There are only so many places to hide in the living room here and yet he never got bored.  My favorite one was when he got out of the kitchen and walked around trying to find me.  I snuck into the kitchen and hid.  Kelly said maybe there was no alligator on this floor and he should come back in and try another floor.  As soon as he closed the door i jumped out.  I've never seen his eyes and smile get so BIG!

Desserts

Our definition of dessert and the definition in Japan are two opposites! We think of sweet and rich, while Japanese people think of bean paste....

The bean paste is usually green or purple.  And it is a weird consistency of gooey/sticky yet firm.  Its also a little gritty.  We had a doughnut last week with bean paste in the middle, not nearly as good!  Marley likes it, tells us it tastes like chocolate.  Then again he tells us the fruit outside which smells awful also smells like chocolate.

We have tried this dessert twice now, once in the doughnut and once in just a block chunk.  Each time Seth says its different and not really a dessert.  Yet he continues to buy it.  He bought another one for dessert this afternoon.  This time it came on a stick, several round green balls of bean paste with purple bean paste spread over the top.  This is us "enjoying" dessert...

Thankfully Seth has a pretty big sweet tooth and we get real desserts after Marley goes to bed.  This is tonight's dessert!  Good old 7-11

Daycare

We visited an all Japanese speaking daycare/preschool yesterday.  It is only a 10 minute bike ride from Tsuda College which is amazing compared to the 45 minute commutes to the other schools they are looking at.  We brought along one of the Tsuda College contacts who speaks English to help.  The place itself looks like heaven compared to the school we visited last week!  It has a gate all the way around the premise to secure roaming children, a pen with chickens and ducks, slides that come down from the second story of the building and lots of attending staff.  The lady in charge spoke some broken English but it was difficult to communicate.  She did say though that the children are free to go from inside activities to outside play as they choose.  It is mostly a schedule free day besides lunch and a little time for songs/books.

Being a red headed, pale white child was in his advantage here because he stood out! All the children were fascinated by him and the employees couldn't stop wanting to practice their English and play with him.  We spent a good 2 hours talking and playing and observing him.

At this time i was standing at the back of the play room watching when a little boy came up to me.  He was the cutest little boy ever! Probably about 4, longer black hair to his face, and super cute squinty eyes.  He held out a puzzle box and said something in Japanese.  I said konichiwa and smiled.  But he kept looking at me holding out the box.  I said puzzle, tried to get him to do it but he just kept looking at me.  Finally he walked away and emptied the box in the middle of the room.  Two minutes later he was back.  Looking at me, saying something, and holding out a piece of paper folded into an envelope with puzzle pieces inside.  I smiled, said thank you, and smiled some more.  He repeated this another 10 times.  Just coming up to me, saying things, cocking his head in confusion, and then leaving... He was adorable!!!!

We are going to try this place out on a trial run in two weeks.  Seth and I will drop Marley off 9am-11am.  Seth will leave while i will sneak to an upstairs
room.  This way if he does have a breakdown or problem and the teachers cannot figure out what is wrong I can help.  We'll try this for 4 days and see if he likes it and wants to continue.  Good thing I have a Kindle and can read for those two hours.

Sick boy

Marley hasn't been feeling too well the last couple of days.  Started off with a stuffy and running nose and today he woke up with a hoarse voice.  He said his voice hurt only a "yittle" (hes struggling with his Ls).  By the end of today you could barely hear him.

Seth, Kelly, and I made bets on whose going to get the cold and how bad haha

Campus

Marley and I have explored campus a little each morning.  His favorite thing to do is go in each building and ride the elevator up, and down, and back up, and back down.  He could and will do this for hours if we let him.  He has named each building the same name but with a different number depending on how many floors there are, Spiky Scamen 1,2,3,4.  We keep asking where spiky scamen came from but he just keeps repeating it

Here we go again

This is the front view of campus from the guard gate:

Right behind this building is a nice lawn, fountain, and pond.  In the pond is a giant orange fish! Marley and I named him Goldilocks

This is when you walk out of that main building

Bicycles

Whoever coined the phrase you never forget how to ride a bike was a .... L I A R!  Sure i remember the basics, sit down, put your hands on the handle bars, feet on the pedals.  But not about the lack of balance or the fact that japan sidewalks are only 2 feet wide!

Everyone in Japan uses bicycles as a main source of transportation because you can get around faster than with a car (due to the high traffic) and obviously faster than walking.  We ended up getting two from the university to borrow and they bought one with a child seat for Marley.  Today was our first day with them and boy was I nervous.  I haven't been on a bicycle since I was like 7! It is not as easy or care-free as the Japanese make it look! the bicycles are super cute, old fashioned, with a basket in the front.  Mine is even pink.  But that does not make up for the fact that I have no balance and cannot turn! We went for a brief stroll around to help me practice before hitting the actually street.  I fell into a tree and a ran into a wall...

I don't know how mothers do this with two infant children riding along.  One in front and one in back.  Makes me nervous just to have Marley ride with Seth.  It took a little bit of time today but i finally started to feel a little comfortable on the bicycle.  I didn't instantly start sweating when I had to get on tonight, which is a huge improvement!  The problem is though that the sidewalks are like 2 feet wide with people, other bicycles, and cars within inches of you.  There is no way i can maneuver that easily and smoothly! I kept having to stop and wait to go around or for them to pass before i started again.  Its going to be a miracle if I can get through this first week of bicycles without falling and breaking something or landing into a car haha

This is a picture of all the bicycles by the gate of the university!