Rediscovering our rhythms...

Well, we seem to be more than halfway through our jet-lag adjustment, although it still hits at unexpected moments (with sudden exhaustion or ravenous appetite attacks). Brendan, I think, has done the best job of readjusting, with Charlie coming in a close second- but then, he had 2 days to get his act together before going back to work last week, so it was kind of necessary, poor guy. Unfortunately, about the time we all felt like getting out & getting some exercise this past weekend, it started to rain, then the heat kicked-in. I thought that southern Japan would have gotten us acclimated to summer heat, but that wore off pretty quickly. The past 2 days it's been close to 90 degrees (or over) outside, so we've only been venturing out for necessary trips in the car :( A good thing was that Charlie convinced Brendan to go swimming Sunday afternoon, so at least they've gotten some exercise. (Brendan has become somewhat agoraphobic since coming home from Japan, so this was a big deal.) My brand-new bathing suit is on the slow boat from Mizumaki to our town (jettisoned as unnecessary baggage after our trip to the onsen), but I've promised the guys I'll go swimming with them when it arrives. The other fun thing that happened Sunday afternoon was that our college-age friend Ck came over to dinner so that we could plan "Camp Ck" together...

Most summers we have "Camp Mom" interspersed with 2-3 weeks of summer camps for Brendan- computer camp or the programme at the science museum. For various reasons, all of them seeming quite reasonable to us, Brendan didn't want to do any of the summer camps, but this left us with the dilemma of finding mom-time throughout the summer. After we brainstormed ideas, we decided to ask Ck, who has been a favourite sitter of Brendan's since Ck's freshman year of high school (& whom Brendan missed very much this past year, Ck's first at college) to do "Camp Ck" 2 days a week. He had been looking for summer work & decided that this would be a good start :) so this week saw the beginning of both "Camp Mom" & Camp Ck". When we discussed the summer plans with Brendan before leaving for Japan, he became decidedly "moofy" at the thought of yet another summer with a daily schedule of activities. He, of course, would be perfectly happy to play Adventure Quest & Dragon Fable all day, interspersed with movies & lego-ing. We started the daily summer schedule thing 4 or 5 summers ago, at the recommendation of Brendan's psychologist, to help him learn to self-regulate & to give us both a sense of accomplishment over the summer. It's ended-up being summer homeschooling, really, & I have felt very good about doing it. He's always retured to school in the fall with little loss of skills & the transition to a school schedule has never been a problem since we've kept to one over the summer. In fact, Brendan basically learned to read over the summer he was 8, since that's when his visual abilities really kicked-in, & thankfully we were ready to jump in & facilitate. We've done so many fun projects over these past summers, too, which has made the time really memorable. Two summers ago I taught Brendan to weave on the small loom & he wove scarves for his dad & grandparents as Christmas presents. Last summer I taught him to use the big loom & we wove a blanket!

Needless to say, I'm convinced that continuing with this summer scheduling is a good thing, but Brendan... took some convincing. It wasn't hard to get him to agree to reading every day (especially when he realised that he was behind on his manga reading :). And, when we came to actually plugging things into our weekly schedule on Sunday evening, I acknowledged that he's older now & can handle more free time. So we put in more free time, such as half an hour before lunch & from 4:00 to dinnertime, & that seemed to satisfy him very much (I think that the acknowledgement did more than the actual extra time :). While Ck was over to dinner on Sunday we brainstormed a list of things they could do together (including field trips, since Ck drives). In the evening I typed everything to post on the fridge & Brendan & I set our schedule for Monday, Wednesday, & Friday of our first week. It probably helped that we had appointments first thing Monday morning & at the end of the day as well (been away 3 weeks, you know!). Brendan participated in the scheduling with little sign of "moofiness" about it all.

So yesterday, after a bit of misunderstanding about what each of us thought the words "come down now & eat breakfast" meant (I could hear obvious sounds of playing upstairs...), we were both on track for my first-thing (& much-needed) appointment with the chiropracter. Brendan does really well when we visit her office & we brought one of our japanese magazines (featuring the Kamen Rider & Geki characters) to read to each other in the waiting room. It was fun to tell her about our trip, too :) Then, since we were out, I planned to do something we've never done before... take Brendan shopping for shoes. (Did I ever mention that we left Brendan's sneakers in Tokyo after our first week in Japan? We didn't even notice until we were packing for Kyoto, & he was outgrowing the sneaks, anyway, but it's left him without anything but sandals to wear...) It didn't hit me until afterwards that Brendan had never been shoe-shopping before. Until recently I could just buy them through Land's End & it was a pretty good chance that they'd fit. But he's now at the very end of the youth shoe sizing & has a wide foot as well, so I didn't think we were going to get away with the long-distance thing any more. The main hazards I envisioned for shoe-shopping were the strong smell shoe stores often have, crowds, & his being triggered by various people in the store. So, we got there just after they opened to avoid crowds, which worked. He didn't seem to notice a smell, which was a bonus. However, I forgot the "desecration" factor, sigh. Anything made of dead animals is "desecration" to Brendan & he was instantly repelled by the first "genuine leather" verbiage he saw on a shoe box. I assured him that many of the shoes would have no leather & we looked specifically for that sort of shoe. It took a while, & some false starts (he has depended on the loop on the back of Land's End's kids' shoes for years to pull his shoes on, & most of these shoes had no loop) we ended up in the men's shoe section (he's official now) & found what he was looking for. Skate shoes with some blue on them (very important :) in size 6.5. Hooray! Our reward for getting through this was a trip to the manga & anime store to get the most recent "Hikaru no Go" manga & dvds. We drove home for lunch in a very good mood. Success on our very first trip to the shoe store!!

After lunch we had our quiet reading time (Brendan started catching up on past issues of Hikaru...) & together reading time (we're still working our way through "Eldest"). Then we tackled his room, partly because the house was being cleaned today & you couldn't find the floor, & partly because he couldn't set up his new nezumi incense burner on his dresser until we could find the top of his dresser. No joke... Charlie had donated the biiiig box he'd brought home from work last week, with all of his vacation mail in it, for us to put cast-offs in. We really needed it, too. In the end (after clearing & wet-sponging), the InuYasha & Gundam action figures, his incense burner & crystals, & the necessaries like light, fan, & alarm clock, are all that remain on his dresser. It's amazing :) Next to tackle (another day...) is his desk. After a quick trip to the orthodontist (changed wires, asked about Japan :) we were home & finished cleaning his floor for vacuuming pretty quickly. Then we finally watched our Pythagoras Switch dvd, purchased in Japan (I have Brendan's computer set to region 5, so we can watch anything from Japan on it). It is absolutely awesome- 20-some minutes of Rube Goldbergs, many of which we'd never seen before on YouTube. There's an accompanying book &, at this moment, Brendan & Ck (having watched the dvd this morning) are working on their own Rube Goldberg contraption in Brendan's room :)

This morning Ck arrived a little early (very kindly) so I could make a regular appointment with my therapist. They've been having fun with the solar energy kit I bought, playing Incredible Machines on the computer, & now, after lunch, they're making their own. I showed Ck the fridge calendar & list & they worked on it over lunch. Brendan is obviously having a great time with Ck & I am actually updating the blog. A recipe for success, so far...!

Japan Day 18- Kyoto...

Today, our last full day in Kyoto, we decided to visit the castle across the street, which we've been looking at the whole time (from our hotel window) we've been here :) We had decided to save it for a rainy day (this is the rainy season in Japan, after all) since it's so close. However, japanese weather reports must be different than ones in the US because yesterday's prediction of 100% chance of rain led to an hour or 2 of drizzle right at the end of the day. Today's prediction of 60% rain led to none at all... I'm not complaining, though :)

We had brekkie at our usual cafe (Brendan wore his new geta for the 1 1/2 block walk :) then came back to the hotel to get ready to walk across the street to Nijo-ji Castle. This castle was built in the early 1600's by one of the first of the Tokugawa shoguns, & features not only impressively large fortifications & rooms, but "nightingale floors". These are floors that squeak musically when you walk on them, so that no-one can sneak around the place unheard. They still work & are really pretty amazing (& sound neat, too). The castle walls include 2 different palaces, one that you can walk through, & some beautiful gardens.

It was a really warm day, although the first breezy one we've had, which was nice. But it was awfully warm to be walking around outside. We made our tour in about an hour, then Brendan & I were too hot & tired to continue. Brendan had found the castle too creepy to go into, so Charlie stayed outside with him while I visited. After we finished looking around the grounds, Brendan & I got a cold drink & walked back across the street to the hotel, while Charlie toured the castle.

When Charlie got back he offered to walk to the "kon-bee" for lunch supplies & Brendan & I took him up on it :) I regained some energy after lunch & really wanted to look around the neighbourhood, so I got the map the concierge had given us when we arrived & headed out on an adventure. We had decided that we wanted some green tea candy to take home with us, so that was my goal... I had my umbrella, in case of rain, but ended up using it to shield myself from the sun, as many, many Kyoto ladies do (I was right in fashion :). It was really nice just to walk around & enjoy Kyoto's bustle. The schoolkids were out by then (they go to school half a day on Saturdays), so there were a lot of them on their way home. There were also loads of people on bicycles & crossing the streets could be rather hazardous if you didn't stay sharp. (Bicyclists may ride at the edges of the sidewalks as well as in the street, & they all cross at the crosswalks with the pedestrians, which made walking around very interesting...) I found an urban mall-ish place & enjoyed looking around. No candy, but a few more gifts to bring home :) On the way home I turned onto a narrow side street instead of following the main road & found the relative quiet very enjoyable. Homes blend seamlessly with businesses on the side streets, & the traditional Kyoto houses (many with shops in front) were interesting & beautiful.

Back at our room, I found that Charlie & Brendan had built a fort with bedding & chairs, & were having a kleenex-ball fight :) Since I hadn't found the candy, Charlie was thinking of going out in a different direction, but then got the idea to go downstairs, to the shopping level of the hotel to look for some. Bingo! It was lovely & cool there, we found just what we were looking for (& a bit more), & we were back in our room in half an hour. Brendan & I decided to watch an InuYasha movie on the laptop, & Charlie started consolidating things & packing his duffel while we watched. I did some re-organising as well, & discovered that we may just get everything home :) (at least, it will probably fit in our duffels) After a walk to the "kon-bee" for dinner (& a discussion of which was better: present-day security systems or nightingale floors?), we ate & watched tv again for a bit. Japanese shows seem to last only 15 minutes, which makes for quite a variety. We caught a programme featuring a quadriplegic poet on NHK educational tv, & an odd comedy called "Man Power". Brendan got himself into jammies around 6:45 & wanted to get into bed, but Charlie tempted him with a game of Uno (no sense in having him up at 4:00 am again from going to bed too early). He finally rolled into bed at 7:15 & was asleep by 7:30.

Tomorrow we catch the shinkansen back to Tokyo for one night, then hop on a plane back to the US on Monday. Brendan told us today he can't believe the trip is almost over. Charlie & I have been marvelling at how easy it's been to navigate Japan & how comfortable we've felt here. We all could easily stay longer, & I don't have the feeling I always get when on vacation, that I just want to go home now! We're tired, but not exhausted, which is pretty amazing. I'm already looking forward to coming back to Japan... :)

Japan Day 15- Kyoto...

Well, we seem to be getting accustomed (body-clock-wise) to being in this part of the world, because we all slept past 6:00 am today :) We went for breakfast at the coffee shop we discovered yesterday, called the "Colorado Cafe" (in Kyoto, Japan- go fig...). We all had the morning special of coffee or tea & lovely thick slices of toast, baked right there. Charlie added a "healthy salad" to his breakfast- it was coleslaw, really. Brendan had his first cafe latte, to mixed reviews (more bitter than cafe au lait :).

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to figure out the day's plan. Along with our Lonely Planet Kyoto guidebook, we are also using 2 books by Diane Durston, one with walking tours of Kyoto (a gift from our friends, the Scotts- thanks guys!) & one called "Old Kyoto", lent to us by our neighbour (thanks Joe!). We decided to make a short trip (3 stops) on the subway to the Gion district, which is the famous geisha territory in Kyoto. At 10:00-ish in the morning we were not likely to run into any geisha, but there were a lot of historical places to see, including some shinto shrines. Brendan was bothered a bit by tics, but setting kekkais helped, & the thought of visiting shrines motivated him quite a bit, too. He says he feels much better, tic-wise, after visiting a shrine (& he certainly copes better for a while). The subway wasn't busy at all & the signs were in english as well, so it wasn't hard to find our way. I had found some shops to look for in the "Old Kyoto" book, which features places that have been run by the same families for generations.

Our first stop was the Tatsumi Shrine, in Gion, a shrine dedicated to the arts. It sits at the top of the triangle of streets that borders the Gion district & is right next to the historic Shimbashi Bridge. It's very lovely & Brendan payed his first respects of the day there.

From there we walked a few blocks to the Yasaka Jinja, which dates from 1660. On the way over we found a shop selling a favourite omiyage from Kyoto, little candies in miniature obento boxes. They are really cute & the candy is really delicious (not the bland kind we get in the US). We got some to take home as gifts & some for us, of course. They also had fans there, not terribly expensive, & Brendan had been wanting a fan that was more japanese (than the Snoopy one we found at the 7-11 in Tokyo). I decided to get one, too, since it was pretty hot & muggy. (We did some damage at the drinks machines, too, due to the heat).

The Yasaka Jinja is a shinto temple- well, really a whole bunch of shrines. It was amazing. Brendan kept hitting us up for coins to put in the boxes (in denominations with 5 in them, for good luck :) so he could ring the bells & pay his respects. He had a wonderful time walking around there finding all sorts of shrines big & small. Charlie & I enjoyed all of the different, beautiful things to see in & on the shrines.

The lanterns were amazing...

And we were excited to see a miko, a shrine maiden, walking around. A very InuYasha touch!

After our visit to Yasaka we wandered back in the direction of the subway station looking for someplace to eat on the way (it was after noon by now). We headed into a couple of places but Brendan backed-out just as quickly because they were too smoky or smelled of fish. We did find one of the places in the "Old Kyoto" book, that sells things made from antique fabrics, so picked up some omiyage there. The owner put 5 yen coins in each gift before wrapping it, for good luck. We also saw 2 women wearing kimono as we walked back to the subway. Not finding a suitable place to eat, we finally decided to take the subway back & go to the convenience store again for bowl noodles & onigiri to take back to the hotel (& get more for dinner). I am enjoying being in Kyoto so much that I no longer feel deprived by not eating out :) Anyway, the onigiri are really good here- I got a little container of japanese pickles, too, & they were delicious. Charlie has discovered inarizushi- pockets of sweetened, fried tofu stuffed with rice- & he loves them, so he got more of those for his lunch.

We spent the afternoon hanging out in our room. Charlie had read about a small garden near the hotel that dates from 700 AD (!) & we thought we'd take a walk over, but Brendan was pretty ticcy in the afternoon, so I decided to stay with him & Charlie walked over to check it out. I have been doing some hand-sewing while we're in Japan, making some of the omiyage bags designed by Kumiko Sudo (from her book by the same name), so I was content to sit & stitch the afternoon away while Brendan alternated between Adventure Quest & tv for distraction from tics. We put on the NHK educational station at 4:30 & watched through dinner. It was a lot of fun- not just Pythagoras Switch, but other nifty shows (some were pretty goofy & gave Brendan serious giggles, which was neat). One even showed how aburage, what inarizushi is made from, is made! After dinner we played Uno together & Charlie planned tomorrow's trip, based on the weather (it looks to be the only non-rainy day for the rest of our visit). We're hoping to go to Uji, just outside of Kyoto, the tea-growing region. Ryokucha wo kaitai!! (I want to buy green tea!).

Off we go...!

On your mark... get set...

I have packed for 2 days straight, now. Tomorrow morning we fly to Japan! I have become so disconnected from "regular" life & "blog" life that I'm no longer sure what I've posted or when, but it's all been a necessary part of getting this family off on the trip of our lives :)

Last Friday was the last day of school for Brendan, although he chose not to go on the class trip to an amusement park the day before, so it was an interrupted end of the week & year. The week started off on a really rocky note- Brendan's anxiety went right through the roof & he's needed a lot of assistance getting through his days, but things eased-up as the week went by, thankfully. We did go to school on Thursday for his last OT session, first thing in the morning, & so he could give his OT, Ann, her end-of year gift (this year I tie-&-indigo-dyed scarves for everyone). It helped to keep a sort of schedule on this day off school. After OT we went grocery shopping together & had a very mellow day. I think it set him up nicely for a good last day, which can be a bit hairy with it's very different schedule. Cherie, Brendan's consultant teacher, & I planned things carefully in advance so I'd know when to get him each day last week, & I was "on call" for an early pick-up if necessary. He made it right through to 1:45 on Friday which was stellar :) Cherie gave Brendan the bubble-blower in the picture above & he finds it delightful :) All of his teachers liked their scarves & the place had a decided 60's-era look with them all wearing their tie-dyes in various ways. There's a new bubble-tea place that's opened right on the way home, so we stopped for tea as a treat after school. (We tried it out earlier in the week, for a bubble-tea & sushi snack after school, so we were ready to go back :) Brendan has developed a taste for the gooey, tapioca-based bubbles (I have loved them for quite some time) so it's another fun thing we can share.

Over the weekend I started-in with pre-packing activities: gathering things & making lists. One major thing that has happened in our lives over the past couple of weeks is that there was a small fire in Charlie's office early on the morning of June 1st. He happened to be the doctor on call & so got the message at 2:15 am that the building was on fire (!) & a request to come & help the firefighters navigate any hazardous wastes in the aftermath. That was quite a day... Although the fire was nicely contained to the room it was in by the sprinkler system, & no medical records were lost (& very little actual damage done to anything, really) the fire smouldered for a few hours before igniting, so the smoke damage was pretty extensive, & of course, there was water damage from the sprinklers. So 10 doctors have been office-less ever since, practicing out of various offices in the community where someone's on their day off or sick. They've been meeting every morning to get assignments, & only seeing the patients with the most need, while the university found them a temporary site. Saturday morning Charlie spent a few hours shifting things from his smoly office to the temporary space. Yesterday was the first day at the temporary offices & things were predictably chaotic. On one hand, it's made things much busier for Charlie right now (as he's trying to pack & get ready for Japan) but on the other, he's soooo ready to get the heck out of the country :)

On Sunday we had our annual Religious Education Sunday, where the kids & teachers do the service. My Sr. High kids usually do the sermon, since they're the oldest of the bunch, & this year we also had a "bridging" ceremony, where we acknowledge a graduating senior & wish them well on their way to college. It was a fair amount to put together, especially with Japan on my mind, but it was absolutely wonderful. I had warned my graduate, Chaz, that I would get emotional during the ceremony, but wasn't prepared to be moved to tears by what he said in his part of the sermon, where he talked about the important place the church & congregation has had in his life & how much he'll miss us. It's such a joy & honour to be part of the lives of our children & youth... My goddaughter was the other Sr. High participant, & we'll be doing her bridging next year. It's pretty amazing...

Yesterday I really revved-up into packing mode. There is so much to bring/document when you leave the country & do it for 3 weeks! I realised that I've never been away for so long on vacation... We had to have all of Brendan's & my prescription meds in labelled bottles with back-up copies of the scripts just in case. I had to clean out my purse so I could pack it, & take unnecessary stuff out of my wallet. I put together diverting activities (books, small legos, some sweets) in Brendan's carry-bag, which will be a surprise for him tomorrow. Then there's gathering computer games & movies to take. We decided to download a few more InuYasha episodes to my hard drive, too. InuYasha has been what's mainly holding Brendan together these days. Yesterday he was absolutely bedeviled by the intrusive OCD thoughts & things got very freaky at times. He watched one of the InuYasha movies & lots of episodes, too, for distraction. Good friends invited us over for dinner, which I was really looking forward to, but it was touch & go getting Brendan de-ticced enough to get in the car. We persevered, though, & he had a great time with his best buddy, & Charlie & I had a very relaxing meal & conversation. An much-needed bit of sanity...

This morning I got hard-core about the packling & preparing the house for our absence. I also called Tomoko, our japanese teacher, in Tokyo, in the morning (she left for Japan last Thursday). She had emailed me to see if we would like to go to the Studio Ghibli museum with her on Friday morning, worried that it would be too soon after arriving the day before. Our understanding is that you wake up really early for a few days until adjusting to a 13-hour time difference (I called her at 9:30 am & it was 10:30 pm Tokyo time) so Charlie & I thought we should go for it. It's not easy to get tickets to this museum & it's supposed to be wonderful. For us it will be a sort of pilgrimage, since it was the Studio Ghibli film "My Neighbour Totoro" that sparked Brendan's interest in Japan in the first place, 7 years ago, & here we are- going to Japan! About mid-morning, after working on my duffel bag & carry-on bag simultaneously, I realised that I would not be getting away with just one carry-on bag. Not with a laptop, a change of clothes, diverting activities & snacks, all of the prescription meds, wipes, & my japanese "cheat" book (useful words, phrases, & kanji that I've collected & pasted into a small binder). Plus, although literally half of my duffel is loaded with presents for Tomoko's family, I really do need room for my own clothes & stuff. Sigh. And then there's the overflow of presents still looking for a place to go...

Brendan & I took a break after lunch & watched a couple of InuYasha episodes. He watched another movie while I continued preparations... but after the movie the tics returned big time, so he's back with another movie & a snack. I can't help but think that the increased anxiety is directly related to our travelling tomorrow. He's been doing a great job of working on the mindfulness practise when the anxiety isn't too intense, but so far it isn't helping at all when he's in real difficulty. I really think that getting on the plane tomorrow will relieve everyone's anxiety quite a bit.

So- that's all from here! Next time I post it will be from Tokyo!!

Pokemon hats!

Here are big Pikachu & Pochama (aka Linus) wearing their new hats. Brendan has made both of them in just 2 days :) For the second hat, Pikachu's, he worked the starting-off row himself, which can be tricky. I have been doing the finishing (knitting two together around & gathering all the rest of the stitches to form the top of the hat) but I've been thinking about how to teach Brendan how to do this, too... He's ready to start one for Skitty, which will require a bit of thinking when it comes to finishing the top because of her ears.

Brendan's had a somewhat pre-adolescent day, with frustrations setting him off pretty regularly. He did (barely) manage to get through japanese lesson, which was good because it was really fun. We learned how to say "___ is ___ than ___" & had a riot coming up with sentences using the adjectives we know. I came up with "InuYasha is noisier than Sesshoumaru." & Brendan followed with "InuYasha is kinder than Naraku." We then degenerated into "Brendan is stinkier than dad." & "Brendan is more mischievous than dad." Brendan agreed with the latter statement, but did take issue with the former :)

Later in the afternoon Brendan was at loose ends & not enjoying it, so he asked me to read some "Eldest" to him. I suggested that he knit while I read, but he didn't want to. However, when I noticed that he was chewing his nails, I told him that I thought knitting was much better than biting his nails & he took the hint... & finished Pikachu's hat before dinner!

We are coping pretty well with the snowstorm that's hit the northeast US... Charlie made a fire in the fireplace which we enjoyed during japanese lesson this afternoon- very civilised. I still hope that Spring isn't far off, though :)