But the public toilets could use some innovation! This is the ladies' room in a public park: you squat down, hold tight to the bar on the wall and go. At least toilet paper is provided.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Design tune-up, please
This is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Using your cellphone, you can check the precise location and arrival time of the next metro bus on any route.
But the public toilets could use some innovation! This is the ladies' room in a public park: you squat down, hold tight to the bar on the wall and go. At least toilet paper is provided.
But the public toilets could use some innovation! This is the ladies' room in a public park: you squat down, hold tight to the bar on the wall and go. At least toilet paper is provided.
Old house, new house
Wow, I haven't finished a blog post in several days - it's hard to keep up with the action!
Our furniture arrived last Wednesday, and I was swept up by the busyness of unpacking and organizing. (Which still isn't done, oh well). I want to show you where we live now, and to compare it to our house in Seattle.
Here's Seattle: a 100-year-old house with lots of color inside and out, a minivan and a big, green backyard. Plus fantastic views of the Cascade Mountains and Lake Washington.
Our Tokyo house is a few years old and triangle-shaped, with beige stucco on the outside and oatmeal-colored wallpaper and beige wall-to-wall carpet on the inside - totally bland, which is standard for expat rentals. The only bright color in the picture is our red mailbox.
And here's our Tokyo living room and kitchen - which look more like our apartment in New York.
We are relieved to have our rugs and paintings to brighten up the house and soften the expensive, insane-asylum decor.
Our furniture arrived last Wednesday, and I was swept up by the busyness of unpacking and organizing. (Which still isn't done, oh well). I want to show you where we live now, and to compare it to our house in Seattle.
Here's Seattle: a 100-year-old house with lots of color inside and out, a minivan and a big, green backyard. Plus fantastic views of the Cascade Mountains and Lake Washington.
Our Tokyo house is a few years old and triangle-shaped, with beige stucco on the outside and oatmeal-colored wallpaper and beige wall-to-wall carpet on the inside - totally bland, which is standard for expat rentals. The only bright color in the picture is our red mailbox.
And here's our Tokyo living room and kitchen - which look more like our apartment in New York.
We are relieved to have our rugs and paintings to brighten up the house and soften the expensive, insane-asylum decor.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Great food
Blaine had an 7-course lunch today with some government officials, at a restaurant near the Tokyo Tower.
Walnut tofu
Deep friend tofu with sweet miso sauce and egg custard
Simmered daikon radish and beef
Crab and spinach with ginger vinegar, eel-pressed sushi and caramelized chestnuts, plus persimmon with sesame sauce
Bean soup with tofu
Boiled rice with taro
Jelly made of pumpkin
We'll have to go back, and I will take pix of the best dishes.
Walnut tofu
Deep friend tofu with sweet miso sauce and egg custard
Simmered daikon radish and beef
Crab and spinach with ginger vinegar, eel-pressed sushi and caramelized chestnuts, plus persimmon with sesame sauce
Bean soup with tofu
Boiled rice with taro
Jelly made of pumpkin
We'll have to go back, and I will take pix of the best dishes.
Neat building
Tokyo is not known for beautiful architecture, but I did see a neat building on a walk the other day.
It's the Prada shop in the high-style Omotesando neighborhood, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.
Found: local produce market
It is shockingly expensive here to buy fruits and veggies at supermarkets that cater to expats. As in, $8 for a small bunch of grapes or $1.50 for an ear of (admittedly delicious) corn.
So my big discovery this week, thanks to a friend in the neighborhood, was a produce market for locals.
All the signs are in Japanese, and the prices are incredibly cheap - easily half of what I'd spend elsewhere. Now I need to figure out how to cook all of the curious Japanese veggies, like that bumpy looking cucumber or that green, spiky thing (fruit? veggie?).
Fortunately, Blaine's WashPost colleague and translator, Ako, is taking me at a grocery store near her house for a full supermarket briefing. Photos and details to come...
So my big discovery this week, thanks to a friend in the neighborhood, was a produce market for locals.
All the signs are in Japanese, and the prices are incredibly cheap - easily half of what I'd spend elsewhere. Now I need to figure out how to cook all of the curious Japanese veggies, like that bumpy looking cucumber or that green, spiky thing (fruit? veggie?).
Fortunately, Blaine's WashPost colleague and translator, Ako, is taking me at a grocery store near her house for a full supermarket briefing. Photos and details to come...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Six years after Sept. 11
Every year on the anniversary, I think about my experiences on Sept 11 and Sept 12, 2001. I was standing on the corner of Chambers and Church Streets with hundreds of other people when we heard a confusing, roaring sound as the South Tower fell. People were shouting "Run!", and I nearly vomited in fear as I sprinted up Broadway with smoke and debris billowing up behind me. I was far enough away - 5 blocks - to be totally safe.
Here's a photograph taken by my Columbia journalism school friend, Ting-li Wang, who was shooting that day for The New York Times. I am with Jeremiah Johnson, a public radio reporter, on a 28th floor balcony overlooking the Trade Center. This picture was taken shortly after the collapse of WTC Building #7.
We went to the top floor of this apartment building and knocked on doors of apartments facing south. A frightened couple let us in. They listened to our radio, used our cell phones and fed us a dinner of canned mushrooms, beans and beer. The electricity went out and we had nowhere else to go. Ting-li took her images back to the NYT. Jeremiah slept on the floor and gave me the couch.
At 6 a.m. the next morning, Jeremiah and I held hands and counted out loud as we walked down 28 flights in pitch-black darkness. I snuck closer to Ground Zero in a trash truck and joined a group of reporters to see the North Tower. I spent the rest of the day arguing with police officers to try to get back to Ground Zero, but I finally gave up and interviewed firefighters about what they'd seen.
Here is the top of that grim story, from my old life:
Newsday (New York, NY)
September 13, 2001 Thursday ALL EDITIONS
HEADLINE: TERRORIST ATTACKS; 'The Pile' Holds Out Little Hope; Rescuers frustrated in search for survivors among the ruins
BYLINE: By Jessica Kowal; STAFF WRITER
Ground zero at the World Trade Center is a nightmarish jumble of steel and pulverized concrete and human remains.
The skeletons of buildings are laid out over several blocks, thousands of tons of steel compressed into what rescuers have begun calling "The Pile." Those who saw the wreckage were unanimous in the view that, despite a few rescues, the Twin Towers have become a horrific cemetery.
It seemed impossible that victims survived monster blasts and tumbling steel and concrete, firefighters, doctors and volunteers said yesterday. Jennifer Svahn, an attending vascular surgeon at Beth Israel Hospital, walked through the core of fallen buildings ready to help victims. Amid the gloomy, sooty, ashy heap, there were none.
"There's a morgue down there, and body parts," Svahn said. "It's a crematorium."
Early in the day, reporters were brought to the corner of West Street and Vesey Street, directly across from the charred stub that is One World Trade Center.
Six floors remained of the 110-story tower, with girders sticking up like forks and white window shades fluttering out of broken panes. From high up a half-mile away, both towers resembled scorched souffles, a grim blackness caving in on itself.
Office documents had flown out of file cabinets and off desktops and littered the ground, their edges burnt. Handwritten memos, lunch and limo expenses and paper covered with Chinese characters were found...
---
I also think about journalist friends who were much closer and could have been seriously hurt, like Willie Rashbaum of the NYT, who was with Mayor Giuliani, and Greg Smith of the NY Daily News, who dove down subway steps when the first tower fell. I'm glad they weren't hurt.
Here's a photograph taken by my Columbia journalism school friend, Ting-li Wang, who was shooting that day for The New York Times. I am with Jeremiah Johnson, a public radio reporter, on a 28th floor balcony overlooking the Trade Center. This picture was taken shortly after the collapse of WTC Building #7.
We went to the top floor of this apartment building and knocked on doors of apartments facing south. A frightened couple let us in. They listened to our radio, used our cell phones and fed us a dinner of canned mushrooms, beans and beer. The electricity went out and we had nowhere else to go. Ting-li took her images back to the NYT. Jeremiah slept on the floor and gave me the couch.
At 6 a.m. the next morning, Jeremiah and I held hands and counted out loud as we walked down 28 flights in pitch-black darkness. I snuck closer to Ground Zero in a trash truck and joined a group of reporters to see the North Tower. I spent the rest of the day arguing with police officers to try to get back to Ground Zero, but I finally gave up and interviewed firefighters about what they'd seen.
Here is the top of that grim story, from my old life:
Newsday (New York, NY)
September 13, 2001 Thursday ALL EDITIONS
HEADLINE: TERRORIST ATTACKS; 'The Pile' Holds Out Little Hope; Rescuers frustrated in search for survivors among the ruins
BYLINE: By Jessica Kowal; STAFF WRITER
Ground zero at the World Trade Center is a nightmarish jumble of steel and pulverized concrete and human remains.
The skeletons of buildings are laid out over several blocks, thousands of tons of steel compressed into what rescuers have begun calling "The Pile." Those who saw the wreckage were unanimous in the view that, despite a few rescues, the Twin Towers have become a horrific cemetery.
It seemed impossible that victims survived monster blasts and tumbling steel and concrete, firefighters, doctors and volunteers said yesterday. Jennifer Svahn, an attending vascular surgeon at Beth Israel Hospital, walked through the core of fallen buildings ready to help victims. Amid the gloomy, sooty, ashy heap, there were none.
"There's a morgue down there, and body parts," Svahn said. "It's a crematorium."
Early in the day, reporters were brought to the corner of West Street and Vesey Street, directly across from the charred stub that is One World Trade Center.
Six floors remained of the 110-story tower, with girders sticking up like forks and white window shades fluttering out of broken panes. From high up a half-mile away, both towers resembled scorched souffles, a grim blackness caving in on itself.
Office documents had flown out of file cabinets and off desktops and littered the ground, their edges burnt. Handwritten memos, lunch and limo expenses and paper covered with Chinese characters were found...
---
I also think about journalist friends who were much closer and could have been seriously hurt, like Willie Rashbaum of the NYT, who was with Mayor Giuliani, and Greg Smith of the NY Daily News, who dove down subway steps when the first tower fell. I'm glad they weren't hurt.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Chopsticks
Lucinda has learned to use chopsticks after living in Tokyo for only 3.5 weeks! In this picture, she is eating eel and rice in a tiny restaurant at the fish market.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Saturday morning at the Fish Market
Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market (Tsukiji Shijo) is the world's largest fish and seafood market. It's a favorite first stop for tourists when jet lag wakes them up the first morning at 4 a.m., because the market opens at 5 a.m. and holds a daily tuna auction after 6 a.m. (My Seattle friend, Julie Weed, took her family there on their weeklong trip to Tokyo.)
We weren't organized for the jet-lag trip, but we went to Tsukiji today and saw plenty - even if we did arrive at 10 a.m.
We took the subway
and wandered into this enormous market with cobblestone pathways splitting hundreds of tiny seafood stalls.
This man had abalone, squid and octopus in his stall.
Motorized carts zip around carrying boxes, ice and fish guts
A few thousand TONS of seafood are sold here every day. We saw hunks of halibut, frozen slabs of tuna, sacs of salmon roe, King Crab legs, eel (Lucinda's favorite), and bags of dried sardines. (The prices are in yen, of course, and $1 = 115 yen if you want to do the math.)
At a restaurant this weekend, Blaine and I ate this snail-like mollusk raw and marinated in a vinegary sauce - very chewy and a bit gooey.
At the end of the work day (noon), these men cleaned their enormous knives
Here's one last pic, of Arno smiling next to a bloody, dead fish! Charming.
We weren't organized for the jet-lag trip, but we went to Tsukiji today and saw plenty - even if we did arrive at 10 a.m.
We took the subway
and wandered into this enormous market with cobblestone pathways splitting hundreds of tiny seafood stalls.
This man had abalone, squid and octopus in his stall.
Motorized carts zip around carrying boxes, ice and fish guts
A few thousand TONS of seafood are sold here every day. We saw hunks of halibut, frozen slabs of tuna, sacs of salmon roe, King Crab legs, eel (Lucinda's favorite), and bags of dried sardines. (The prices are in yen, of course, and $1 = 115 yen if you want to do the math.)
At a restaurant this weekend, Blaine and I ate this snail-like mollusk raw and marinated in a vinegary sauce - very chewy and a bit gooey.
At the end of the work day (noon), these men cleaned their enormous knives
Here's one last pic, of Arno smiling next to a bloody, dead fish! Charming.
Friday, September 7, 2007
School update
A note about the kids' schools:
Lucinda's first 10 days at Nishimachi International School have gone very well, and I'm encouraged that she'll feel fully integrated into her new surroundings, with her new classmates, in the next month or so.
Lucinda, at 5, can be stubborn about small things when she feels anxious about changes in her life, which generates a certain amount of drama. This is true even though she usually enjoys whatever she tries, whether it's a playdate with a new friend, or eating sushi or seaweed.
We weren't sure how she would handle the start of kindergarten in Tokyo because she loved Parkside, her Seattle pre-K, and misses her Seattle friends and the rhythm and familiarity of the games she played with them.
To our delight and relief, though, Lucinda has been totally mellow about school here, ready to get dressed and out the door in the morning, and joyfully talks about the reading/math/art/music/Japanese skills she's tried that day. (On Friday she made clay in her first pottery class.) Her teacher, Penelope Amies, seems warm and plugged into the kids, and we are gratified that the good-for-Lucinda vibe we got from our visit to Nishimachi in June matches the reality in September.
Arno, who will be 3 in November, has started a bilingual (English-Japanese) program at the Willowbrook International School. He is in the "Umi" (Ocean) class, where the teachers speak English in the morning and Japanese in the afternoon. To symbolize the language change, the teachers Makiko and Sharee hang Japanese tapestries outside the door and in the classroom.
Arno is an easygoing kid, and he's been cheerful when I drop him off for his first days of school. He clings a bit, then trades his Crocs for his yellow, Velcro-ed New Balance "indoor shoes" - how Japanese! - and scans the small classroom for something to engage him. One day it was the astronaut costume, and another day, when the teachers put homemade red playdoh on the art table, Arno grabbed a big hunk of it and said, "Bye, Mom." No drama there.
Lucinda's first 10 days at Nishimachi International School have gone very well, and I'm encouraged that she'll feel fully integrated into her new surroundings, with her new classmates, in the next month or so.
Lucinda, at 5, can be stubborn about small things when she feels anxious about changes in her life, which generates a certain amount of drama. This is true even though she usually enjoys whatever she tries, whether it's a playdate with a new friend, or eating sushi or seaweed.
We weren't sure how she would handle the start of kindergarten in Tokyo because she loved Parkside, her Seattle pre-K, and misses her Seattle friends and the rhythm and familiarity of the games she played with them.
To our delight and relief, though, Lucinda has been totally mellow about school here, ready to get dressed and out the door in the morning, and joyfully talks about the reading/math/art/music/Japanese skills she's tried that day. (On Friday she made clay in her first pottery class.) Her teacher, Penelope Amies, seems warm and plugged into the kids, and we are gratified that the good-for-Lucinda vibe we got from our visit to Nishimachi in June matches the reality in September.
Arno, who will be 3 in November, has started a bilingual (English-Japanese) program at the Willowbrook International School. He is in the "Umi" (Ocean) class, where the teachers speak English in the morning and Japanese in the afternoon. To symbolize the language change, the teachers Makiko and Sharee hang Japanese tapestries outside the door and in the classroom.
Arno is an easygoing kid, and he's been cheerful when I drop him off for his first days of school. He clings a bit, then trades his Crocs for his yellow, Velcro-ed New Balance "indoor shoes" - how Japanese! - and scans the small classroom for something to engage him. One day it was the astronaut costume, and another day, when the teachers put homemade red playdoh on the art table, Arno grabbed a big hunk of it and said, "Bye, Mom." No drama there.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Reading material
I've finally finished a magazine story that's been on my desk for months: C.J. Chivers' piece for Esquire mag about the Chechen terrorists' siege in 2004 of a school in Beslan, Russia.
Chivers is a former Marine and a phenomenal reporter; he's a Moscow correspondent for the NYT and is married to Suzanne Keating, a Brown grad.
His story, called "The School" is quite gruesome, but very powerful. It won all sorts of awards. Worth printing out and reading over time.
Chivers is a former Marine and a phenomenal reporter; he's a Moscow correspondent for the NYT and is married to Suzanne Keating, a Brown grad.
His story, called "The School" is quite gruesome, but very powerful. It won all sorts of awards. Worth printing out and reading over time.
Typhoon Fitow
Our first typhoon is here - Typhoon Fitow, with projected winds of 80-100 mph and up to 20 inches of rain. It's pouring outside!
We've had rainy weather for a few days, and I've noticed something curious: In NYC, people mostly use small compact umbrellas. But here, when the forecast says rain, Japanese people carry these long umbrellas with a very curved rain shield and a curved handle.
People hang them on an arm and whip them overhead to handle short, frequent rainshowers.
The sameness of style - among women and men, children, seniors, teenagers - is remarkable.
This is what you see outside office buildings and restaurants.
And many businesses (including this, at Starbucks) provide plastic bags for umbrellas in these contraptions.
We've had rainy weather for a few days, and I've noticed something curious: In NYC, people mostly use small compact umbrellas. But here, when the forecast says rain, Japanese people carry these long umbrellas with a very curved rain shield and a curved handle.
People hang them on an arm and whip them overhead to handle short, frequent rainshowers.
The sameness of style - among women and men, children, seniors, teenagers - is remarkable.
This is what you see outside office buildings and restaurants.
And many businesses (including this, at Starbucks) provide plastic bags for umbrellas in these contraptions.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Japanese lessons?
A friend asked if/when I'll take Japanese lessons. Answer: Once the kids are reliably in school for full days and once I've gotten a handle on household stuff. Which is to say, in the next month or so.
Blaine took several weeks of lessons in Seattle, but I bailed out after one week because studying soaked up too much time before the move. So for now, I can say exactly three things:
"Ohayo gozaimashita." This is "good morning," said politely... But I just realized, as I checked the spelling, that it is not a generic "hello" - and I've been using it all day! Embarrassing. Must switch to "konnichiwa."
"Arigato gozaimashita" This is "thank you", said politely, but sometimes I screw up and say "ohayo."
And "sumimasen", which is "I'm sorry" or "excuse me" and which I use constantly, like when the stroller bumps into someone's foot.
I can also say "My name is Jessica" ("Watashi no namae wa Jessica desu"), but I don't know any Japanese people to introduce myself to! Maybe someday that will come in handy.
Blaine took several weeks of lessons in Seattle, but I bailed out after one week because studying soaked up too much time before the move. So for now, I can say exactly three things:
"Ohayo gozaimashita." This is "good morning," said politely... But I just realized, as I checked the spelling, that it is not a generic "hello" - and I've been using it all day! Embarrassing. Must switch to "konnichiwa."
"Arigato gozaimashita" This is "thank you", said politely, but sometimes I screw up and say "ohayo."
And "sumimasen", which is "I'm sorry" or "excuse me" and which I use constantly, like when the stroller bumps into someone's foot.
I can also say "My name is Jessica" ("Watashi no namae wa Jessica desu"), but I don't know any Japanese people to introduce myself to! Maybe someday that will come in handy.
Blaine's latest
Blaine has a fun story (Wednesday) about South Koreans who lie on their resumes about college degrees to get ahead in Korean society and business. Even a Buddhist monk did it!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Done and not done
Accomplishments from the first two weeks in Tokyo:
1. Both kids are in fantastic schools
2. I've taken the bus and subway - and I'm walking around the neighborhood enough to find shortcuts
3. Finding cheaper shops, where Japanese people shop, to replace the expensive expat haven, National Azabu Supermarket
4. Successful separation of our trash into "burnable", "unburnable" and "recyclables" - and putting the right trash out on the right day
What I still need to do:
1. Buy a mop, broom and serious cleaning supplies
2. Open a bank account (it takes weeks to receive necessary immigration papers)
3. Get money from an ATM machine with my WaMu bank card
4. Find the Tokyo equivalent of Mutual Fish, Seattle's best fishmonger
What I miss most about Seattle:
1. Our big, green backyard
2. Friends we really know, who really know us
3. A house with colorfully painted walls
4. Driving a car to buy groceries
5. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods
6. A disposal in the sink
7. Views of the Cascades and Lake Washington from my office
What's better about daily life in Japan:
1. Thin plastic containers and the use of soft plastic or paper to replace the heavy, hard plastic that dominates American grocery and beauty packaging.
2. Smaller, more rational food portions.
3. Milk, ice cream, cookies and chocolate taste less sweet.
4. Seeing and trying new things
1. Both kids are in fantastic schools
2. I've taken the bus and subway - and I'm walking around the neighborhood enough to find shortcuts
3. Finding cheaper shops, where Japanese people shop, to replace the expensive expat haven, National Azabu Supermarket
4. Successful separation of our trash into "burnable", "unburnable" and "recyclables" - and putting the right trash out on the right day
What I still need to do:
1. Buy a mop, broom and serious cleaning supplies
2. Open a bank account (it takes weeks to receive necessary immigration papers)
3. Get money from an ATM machine with my WaMu bank card
4. Find the Tokyo equivalent of Mutual Fish, Seattle's best fishmonger
What I miss most about Seattle:
1. Our big, green backyard
2. Friends we really know, who really know us
3. A house with colorfully painted walls
4. Driving a car to buy groceries
5. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods
6. A disposal in the sink
7. Views of the Cascades and Lake Washington from my office
What's better about daily life in Japan:
1. Thin plastic containers and the use of soft plastic or paper to replace the heavy, hard plastic that dominates American grocery and beauty packaging.
2. Smaller, more rational food portions.
3. Milk, ice cream, cookies and chocolate taste less sweet.
4. Seeing and trying new things
Sunday with the children
On Sunday morning I took Lucinda and Arno to the Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Hall, a five-story activity center near the Shibuya train and bus station. It's not fancy, but it is free and had great activities inside.
We took the bus and walked to this enormous cement building
Lucinda hop-scotched and hula-hooped
Arno played the drums in the instrument room
We made a silly horse and dog out of clay
And dressed up in kimonos.
Superfun! as Arno likes to say
We took the bus and walked to this enormous cement building
Lucinda hop-scotched and hula-hooped
Arno played the drums in the instrument room
We made a silly horse and dog out of clay
And dressed up in kimonos.
Superfun! as Arno likes to say
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Lunch with Arno
Last Friday, while we waited for Lucinda to finish school, Arno and I lunched on raisin bread and apple juice and watched teenagers practice baseball at a nearby field.
Great food
With Blaine still in Seoul, I hired our first babysitter and escaped from the kids on Saturday for a movie and supper.
I ended up in a Roppongi Hills' theater with 600 of my closest friends to watch Ocean's 13, starring the still-handsome George Clooney, the aging Brad Pitt, a plasticized Ellen Barkin and an entertaining, contorted plot that didn't quite add up.
Then I had a fantastic meal at a restaurant near Azabu Juban. I don't know the name of the place, but I could find my way back. Here's what it looked like:
Creamy pumpkin soup with croutons:
Five slices of tuna sashimi and a tiny slab of "milk tofu" with a bit of salad:
For dessert, red azuki-bean jam, forest-green "agar of mugwort", apple slices, and a swirl of whipped cream topped by clear, sweet syrup. Completely delicious.
My date was a book.
Price (not including the book or the babysitter): 3500 yen, about $30!
I ended up in a Roppongi Hills' theater with 600 of my closest friends to watch Ocean's 13, starring the still-handsome George Clooney, the aging Brad Pitt, a plasticized Ellen Barkin and an entertaining, contorted plot that didn't quite add up.
Then I had a fantastic meal at a restaurant near Azabu Juban. I don't know the name of the place, but I could find my way back. Here's what it looked like:
Creamy pumpkin soup with croutons:
Five slices of tuna sashimi and a tiny slab of "milk tofu" with a bit of salad:
For dessert, red azuki-bean jam, forest-green "agar of mugwort", apple slices, and a swirl of whipped cream topped by clear, sweet syrup. Completely delicious.
My date was a book.
Price (not including the book or the babysitter): 3500 yen, about $30!
Blaine's latest story
Here's Blaine's story about the S Korean Christians who went to Afghanistan to proselytize and were held hostage for 6 weeks by the Taliban.
The former hostages landed in Seoul this morning and Blaine was up at 6 a.m. to write about their return - and the alleged payment of $20 million to the Taliban to free them. Nice going, South Koreans!
The former hostages landed in Seoul this morning and Blaine was up at 6 a.m. to write about their return - and the alleged payment of $20 million to the Taliban to free them. Nice going, South Koreans!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Trailing Spouse
Blaine has been in Seoul, South Korea, since Tuesday to meet with experts and high-level government types to scout for story ideas. He planned to come home today (Friday) but was held over in Seoul for the joy of waking up at 4 a.m. on Sunday to slam together a deadline story about the return of South Koreans Christians who were held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Then he'll hop on one of the 17 daily flights between Seoul and Tokyo and be home by 7 p.m. or so.
This means that Lucinda, Arno and I have been together all week by ourselves, and I took them tonight to a typically small Japanese restaurant for tempura (shrimp, eggplant, sweet potato, squash and mushroom), rice and soup.
We also tried a new tofu dish: several blocks of tofu were delivered in a hot clear soup, with a side dish of shaved bacon (I think) and thinly sliced scallions and a small bowl of tempura-ish soy sauce. The waitress watched me fumble around with it and came over to explain that I should lift the tofu with a little strainer into the tempura sauce, add in bacon and scallions, mix and eat.
It was fantastic. Lucinda loved it, too, but Arno didn't like the squishiness of it. At least they love tempura and rice - our Japanese equivalent of mac n cheese.
Then he'll hop on one of the 17 daily flights between Seoul and Tokyo and be home by 7 p.m. or so.
This means that Lucinda, Arno and I have been together all week by ourselves, and I took them tonight to a typically small Japanese restaurant for tempura (shrimp, eggplant, sweet potato, squash and mushroom), rice and soup.
We also tried a new tofu dish: several blocks of tofu were delivered in a hot clear soup, with a side dish of shaved bacon (I think) and thinly sliced scallions and a small bowl of tempura-ish soy sauce. The waitress watched me fumble around with it and came over to explain that I should lift the tofu with a little strainer into the tempura sauce, add in bacon and scallions, mix and eat.
It was fantastic. Lucinda loved it, too, but Arno didn't like the squishiness of it. At least they love tempura and rice - our Japanese equivalent of mac n cheese.
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