Kimono Kapers

The American School in Japan held a Winterfest and we signed up for the Kimono Photo Booth.

We were treated like movie stars.  They did our hair and make-up. Loved it!

Fancy, Schmancy Hair!

Harajuku Sisters!

We chose our kimonos and they put them on us.  It took about 1/2 hour for all of the wrapping and binding and layers. 

Thank heavens we had dressers to do it for us!

It took them about 5 minutes to dress the guys.  

Lots of waiting around for them. . .Sorry!

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali!

We were invited to a Diwali Festival in October.  It was quite a cultural event/party.  They had booths of Indian goods, ongoing performances of Bollywood and traditional Indian dancing and musical numbers--not to mention the delicious Indian food!  And, of course, we had to dress for the occasion (at least the girls).

Mango Lassis, butter chicken and kebabs. Yum!  Although we weren't fond of the "soda" that we bought and gave to the kids that turned out to be alcoholic.  Um, whoops!

And, of course, we enjoyed the Naan bread. . .and a Naan bread-headed creature.  No way.

Manon can't resist a good costume character.  In fact, when she was, like 3 years old she stopped an Easter egg hunt when she broke through the tape barrier and ran into the center of the field to give the Easter bunny a hug.  So cute!

And Griffin couldn't resist either.  Seriously?  When else do you get a chance to pose with a piece of walking Naan bread?

Met with my friend Minori who danced with her Bollywood troop that night.  They were fabulous!  Here is a picture of them.  I'm looking forward to dancing with them in the Spring.

Too much cute stuff to buy!  We girls got earrings and fun Indian clothes.

And crazy pictures.

.

Griffin didn't want any Indian stuff, so he bought a drink from the vending machine. Cool thing is, it was HOT lemonade--HOT.  Out of the same machine that we used to buy a COLD soda. What IS that? How do they DO that? Fun, though. 

Happy Diwali!

Typhoon Tokyo

Nice thing about being close to the Embassy--lunches out!

Japanese Ramen--this ain't yo Mama's ramen.

As big as my head--literally!  But super tasty.  I couldn't finish it all.  

It was the bowl that never ends. . .

Nagano Bakery--my favorite location for delicious baked goods.  (Un)fortunately it is on the way to the Embassy, so I always have to check in to see if they have pain au chocolat.  They pretty much sell everything EVERY day. I was lucky enough to score my fave this week.  :)

Typhoon Phanfone hit on Monday morning--SAME DAY that we were scheduled to receive our boat shipment.  LOTS of rain and (as you can see) quite a bit of rain.  Btw this is the view from my balcony.  Those persistent Japanese workers delivered the boat shipment anyway.

Later that day--blue skies.  Craziness!

Then the Typhoon hit inside.  In the form of our boat shipment.  Argghh.  So much stuff, so little storage space.  No more clothes for me, that's for sure! Which is good, because I'm sure I wouldn't fit into anything made for the typical Japanese stick figure physique!  AND couldn't afford it. 

Games anyone?  I mean it GAMES ANYONE???  All of those piles of stuff are supposed to fit into that one miniscule cabinet there. Yea, right.

But I was VERY happy to get my KitchenAid. I celebrated by making my favorite zucchini muffins. 

Yum!!

On the way to a night at the theater to see the musical Chess. It was fabulous!  

Then found these fabulous signs on the way home. Just asking myself, why didn't they just ask an English speaker BEFORE ordering the expensive signs.

Truly amazing plastic foods.  Notice the ice cream cone INSIDE the ice cream sundae.  Marvelous!

Coke and dumplings. Good combo!

Voila!  The Tokyo subway map.  Super DUPER complex and daunting.  Luckily they have numbers for the stops so you don't have to try to decipher between those crazy Japanese names.

Made it home without getting lost, though.  

Halelujiah!!

Little India

Welcome to Little India! 

(in Kuala Lumpur)

So, we spent the evening in Little India since I have a kind of an obsession with India--the food, the dancing, dress, culture, etc.  It was FABULOUS!

Check out the gorgeous mannequins modeling the saris for sale.  There were also MANY real people in Indian garb.  So much fun!  We almost felt like we were there.

And the jewelry. . .Mamma mia!

Rows and rows and rows of bangles--Claire's on STEROIDS.  

We had to buy some to match my new sari, of course.  Luckily, they were cheap.

So, I walked into this sari shop, just a little starry-eyed.  The smooth operator salesman said, "I know just the color for you."  Black and gold.

I'm such a sucker.

The tailor made the top for me and adjustments to the sari by the next day.  

Look out Marine Ball!  I'm ready!

Colorful arches and fountains galore. (I'm not going to say gaudy--just. . .BRIGHT.)

The exotic flower shop--gorgeous and smelled heavenly.  

We ate dinner at a local Indian place.  The atmosphere was nice and the patrons were mostly Indian, which bodes well.  The food was good, but VERY spicy.  Which was probably a good thing since I tend to have no self-control where Indian food is concerned, but could only take so much before my mouth was burning.  Thank heavens for the mango lassi!

Ended the evening with henna tattoos (temporary) on the street.  I couldn't wear my shoes home since the henna needed to dry, so I walked barefoot on pretty dang dirty sidewalks to catch a taxi and then up to the hotel room.  I'm sure people thought I was crazy. 

 Maybe I was.  Crazy happy.