This new year and year end were different and special for me, because Harper came and visit me and met my relatives for the first time. I took a day off to pick up Harper at the airport on Dec 25th, Christmas day, and after that, I worked until Dec 29th. I started the full-time position 6 months ago, so I didn’t have any paid holidays and was busy without my direct boss who was on vacation. As usual, whenever Harper visits me, I am busy at work, but this time was much better than the last time as far as scheduling goes.
The next day, Dec 26th was a sort of big day for me at work because there was my last bi-weekly meeting with other managers. It was 4 hour-long with light meal provided and a lot of presentation and discussion. I will miss the team and the challenges I faced. Anyhow, it was a really nice meeting and I received a lot of warm farewell from my colleagues and bosses.
While I was doing that, I hoped Harper could wonder around tokyo or take a rest and meet up with me in Shinjuku after work, later for dinner. I drew a nice map with the direction from my apartment to my work with a lot of details and landmarks. I thought I prepared everything he needed for the day. However, I forgot to give him the key….. I left my cell phone for him, and had a long meeting, and when I was finally able to call him, he told me that he hadn’t left the apartment yet. I felt so bad..and was going to go home first. However, I had 4 hours to go before getting off, so I decided to finish my work on time and go home as quickly as possible. I also told him it was ok for him to go out without locking the door for a little bit in my neighborhood. It is a pretty safe neighborhood, and he can get his favorite Mos Burger!! It was raining heavily as well.
To make up for it, I took him to a nice restaurant in Shinjuku. It is a macrobiotics restaurant and serves nice course dinners. Harper had a white fish and I had a scallop as main dish and we both had a wonderful appetizer and dessert.
Harper had no problem wondering around in Tokyo and has a pretty good sense of direction or he just doesn’t care?? He just needs books, gadgets, and a cell phone. He came to Shinjuku to have lunch with me everyday! He liked a pasta restaurant which serves spaghetti dishes with chopsticks. We had a lot of noodles this time.
On Dec 28, we had a party with my Japanese friends who went to Cornell and also Harper’s juggling friends who happened to perform in Japan. We went to a nice Izakaya/ Japanese pub and had a great meal and drinks. Those ladies gave us nice tea cups as our marriage celebration!!
Dec 29th was my last working day and also the last business day at my work. Beside myself, there were a few people got transferred or quit, so there was a farewell party at my work after the business hour. It started around 11 pm because our business hour is until 10:45 pm, and Harper got to meet them! We had cans of Chuhi (Shochu with juice) and beer and some pizza and snacks. After that we went to a hookah/ shisha bar with “all you can drink” deal with 3,000 yen (about $28?). Harper and I got so drunk and could not stay until the end. We left around 3am and took a cab home.
The next day, we were just hang over and wondered around my neighborhood to recharge our energy for our Yamanashi trip. New year is a big family gathering time in Japan, just like Christmas in the US, so the train ticket was sold out quickly. Luckily we got tickets for next day.
The early train tickets were sold out and we got later ones, so we were able to have a relaxing morning. My dad picked us up at the local train station and drove us to my grandparents’ house where my grandparents don’t live any longer. It is a typical farm house with bathroom separated from the main house, and the entrance floor is not covered, but soil exposed. My parents had a new bathroom built inside of the house, but just toilet, so bathtub-bathroom is still outside in a separate hut.
There is no central heating at the house, but individual heaters in rooms, so it was pretty cold there. We couldn’t leave Kotatsu/ heated table with a blanket covered and read some books or watched TV drinking a lot of hot tea.
We ate a lot of Sashimi and we are totally Sashimi-ed out… New-year-eve noodles, homemade pickles, a lot of dishes..with a lot of drinks.
On the Jan 2, we went to a restaurant and had a dinner party with my relatives. All of my uncles and their family came and met Harper for the first time. Again, a lot of food and drink, and a lot of translation (just me) used up my energy..but I had a great time with them. They didn’t know what they thought about Harper first because of language barrier, but sharing drinks and food and laugh, they just loved him!! Harper learned some useful Japanese expressions at the party..
Okay, it’s getting long again, so I will write more in my next entry.
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