Thursday, August 23, 2007

The new normal

We had a much better, more relaxed, more normal day today. First, Arno woke up at 6:45am (okay, okay, he did have a brief shout at 4 a.m., too), so we didn't feel like we were underwater for the morning. Then a trip to Japan's immigration office to sign yet another set of papers and legalize our long stay here. And the weather was much cooler - like maybe in the 70s or 80s.

Around 10a, we met another recent arrival here, Susan Mulcahy, and her children; they took us to the Tokyo American Club for a swim in the wading pool. The TAC, as it's called, is culturally, um, limited - a tired kids' menu of mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets in a country where the average restaurant meal is unbelievably fresh and delicious - but damn convenient when you want to take your children to a swimming pool and rooftop playground, or if you want to use the English lang library.

From there, I took Lucinda and Arno to our new fave bakery for a sugared donut. Then we strolled over to Lucinda's school to meet her kindergarten teachers (first day tomorrow!), then to the playground in nearby Arisagawa Park, where Lucinda bonded w/a 6 yr old Malaysian girl in pink clothing. The children seemed more relaxed tonite than they had since our arrival 1 week ago - and that's a big relief.

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