Helpers

We heard a little bit about "helpers" on our house hunting trip and since we've moved here have learned they seem to be a big part of most expat's lives.

To give you a little bit of background, here is an excerpt from one of my guidebooks:

"Domestic help is abundant in Tokyo. These resourceful and hardworking individuals come from the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India, often leaving their own families and children behind in order to work to send money home to support them.  Many hold higher degrees and were once teachers in their home countries, but by working in Japan they can have a consistent job and earn four to five times the salary they would back home. You will find that many helpers are well qualified and that they will cook, clean, babysit and manage the household."

Basically, a helper is a babysitter/nanny that goes above and beyond. The going rate seems to be around 1,500 yen an hour (around $15 US) which seems reasonable.  You can either hire someone part time or "sponsor" a helper full time, which sounds like a complicated process involving visas and contracts.  If you decide to sponsor a foreign worker, you are guaranteeing their employment and wages. You also need to provide them with paid vacation, Japanese health insurance and typically one trip home per year. The minimum wage in 2008 (when my guidebook was published) was 150,000 yen per month ($1,500).  Some people have their helper travel with their family and I've heard of people leaving their children with their helper so they can travel as a couple.

So that is some background for you. Having full time help sounds like a real luxury! Since I am not working and able to stay home with the girls we won't be sponsoring a helper.  A friend who is leaving Tokyo kindly passed along the information for their helper, Vicky, who has grown to be a part of their family.  We have had her watch the girls twice now and she seems great.  She comes prepared with fun activities to do with the girls like origami and balloon animals, and seems to 'get' Lizzy's firecracker temperament. So far we have only used her in the evenings, once so Joe and I could attend a new member mixer at the Tokyo American Club and once for date night. It's nice because after she puts the girls to bed she cleans, does laundry, irons, etc.  I know it is the norm here but I just cannot get used to that!  So nice to come home to a clean house after a night away, and only be paying ONE fee versus paying a babysitter AND a cleaning person.

We don't have her regularly scheduled, but I think the plan for now will be to have her come over twice a month for date night and then maybe once or twice a month during the day so I can run some errands kid free.  We feel lucky to have found someone we like right away, Annie was so tired tonight but wanted to stay awake to see Vicky.  They also made me a bouquet of origami flowers that Annie said "would be a good present for mommy." :)  I miss my Burbank babysitting co-op but this is a good trade!

Manrikiya

We went out to dinner last night for our first real meal in Japan as a family.  We decided to go to Manrikiya, a noodle shop in Azabu Juban on the recommendation of Stephanie.  Joe is going to be replacing Stephanie's husband Jay at Disney in a few weeks, and Stephanie has been so helpful showing me around Tokyo this last week. She has been so friendly and generous with her time considering the fact that they are moving across the world in less than 2 weeks! 

Joe got home early from work last night and I was at the ELC playground with girls so we decided to walk from there. We didn't bring a stroller so it took us about 10 minutes, but it's an easy walk down the hill into Azabu Juban. 

We were seated right away at a table by the window and got some menus, which luckily had english translations. Since this area has a pretty heavy concentration of expats, most restaurants will offer an english menu.  

The inside of the restaurant was very cute and pretty small, maybe 8 tables or so and a bar with some stools.  It was all probably less exciting to Joe but I was the super dorky first timer taking lots of pictures of everything.

We decided to order the spicy sesame ramen noodle soup, spicy pork fried rice and an order of fried dumplings. I'm sure there were some less spicy things on the menu but I had remembered Stephanie telling me the sesame noodles were her favorite so I went with that.  I also hastily ordered because Lizzy was already being an unpleasant customer less than 2 minutes after sitting down.

A dumpling and spicy pork fried rice

Spicy sesame noodles. Believe me, super delicious.

The verdict: Delicious!! I usually don't like super spicy food, and while it was hot, it was not overwhelming at all and the flavors were so well balanced you almost didn't notice the spiciness. I've been known to cry while eating spicy pad thai from Pei Wei back in the US, but there were no tears here. Lizzy ate an entire (giant) dumpling which we *think* had some pork and veggies in it, a whole plate of rice and some noodles from the soup. Annie complained that the noodles were too spicy, but also ate a small plate.  We ended up ordering a bowl of "extra" noodles to put in the soup because we had so much delicious broth left over, and extra noodles were a nominal cost. 

Not to jump the gun but I really loved the food and could see myself eating at this restaurant regularly! It was also very relaxed and felt like a good place to bring kids. Most restaurants in Tokyo have lunch specials so maybe we will have to check it out mid week sometime. 

Annie had to stop and see "her hamster" at the pet shop on the way home. Lizzy kept squatting down and yelling , "Hi Doggy!!"

Walking home after dinner.

First Days in Tokyo

We've been in Tokyo about a week and a half now and things have settled down a bit. The girls got on time after only a week and we've been out walking exploring our new neighborhood everyday. I'm going to try to start posting things as often as possible because I would really love to keep these memories and experiences for the girls to look back on since they may not remember much.  My goal is to post weekly at a minimum, with updates and small snippets of Tokyo life. We'll see how it goes! And most of you have probably seen a lot of the pictures on instagram, sorry about that. 

So far we have been VERY pleased with our apartment choice, mainly because of the location. The girls and I have been frequenting Robot Park, right next door as well as the playground at the American School in Japan downstairs, which is only open to building residents. 

The girls love the big slide at Robot Park! Conveniently located next door to our apartment.

View of our building from the playground.

Domestically, it's been a little challenging but nothing too horrible. I had my first hurdle at the grocery store on the 2nd day trying to purchase detergents for the dishwasher and washing machine. Every single thing was in Japanese (imagine that!) so it was pretty much impossible to decipher what was bleach, fabric softener, detergent etc. I ended up just making some educated guesses and our clothes and dishes seem fresh and clean so I think I got it right!

Challenge one of many. Luckily the concierge from downstairs came up and put English labels on most of the buttons, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

As far as groceries, I've been doing most of my shopping at 2 Japanese stores, Gourmet City in Azabu Juban, a cute little shopping area near our apartment, and LINCOS, a more upscale store located in the Roppongi Hills complex. Both are very short walks from home, and the prices are reasonable. But, it's easy to lose sight of the cost difference from the U.S.  10 eggs for about $2.50 doesn't seem like a lot until I realize I usually paid $1.50 for a dozen back at home. At the same time, it doesn't help to analyze the cost difference, because it is what it is and we have to eat! 

The big challenge with grocery shopping is navigating the small aisles with a stroller AND a shopping basket. They don't make big carts that fit kids, and in Gourmet City I have to leave the stroller outside because the store is SO small and there is only an escalator itto access the 2nd floor. LINCOS is a bit easier because the aisles are wider and there is an elevator. So, shopping trips are small and daily since I can't carry much while pushing the double stroller.  For now, it works, and helps control the amount of waste.  Back home we were constantly dumping high chair trays full of uneaten food down the garbage disposal, forgetting about those half eaten boxes of cereal in the pantry, or those frost bitten chicken breasts in the back of the freezer. Here, we buy what we need and eat it pretty much right away.  We'll see if it continues that way. 

Gourmet City in Azabu Juban. Open 24 hrs.

 

Tiny shopping basket full of expensive groceries! This trip was $14.  Think I got a small head of broccoli, a can of mandarin oranges, a small bag of pasta, some garlic, some cucumbers, a small package of kraft cheese and a chocolate bar (how did that get in there?) 

Dinner! Bowtie pasta with broccoli and grilled chicken.

I haven't been brave enough to take the girls out to a Japanese restaurant by myself yet, saving it for our first dinner out as a family. Joe has had a work dinner almost every night since we've been here so maybe I will have him share his expertise on Asian cuisine, he is a big fan!!

So far we are really enjoying ourselves and the girls seem to be adjusting well.  Food wise, it's been a lot of pasta and grilled cheese at home, and maybe the occasional fast food meal, but we are really hoping to expand our culinary wings soon.  Well... maybe not too wide based on this article from CNN: 40 Japanese Foods We Can't Live Without .

L.A. to Tokyo Flight or 12 Hours with Pingu

The 15 passenger van picked us up right on time at 8:15am for the 40 minute drive to LAX.  We had so much luggage that the van was the only car available that could fit it all.  Joe got most of the items loaded while the girls had breakfast and ran around a bit.

We had the skycap help with the luggage and ended up checking 12 pieces.  Having this much stuff was a big mistake and in hindsight, we should have tried to have only three or four suitcases with us for the trip.  It was really difficult moving around the 600 pounds of junk.  Auntie Julie showed up while checking in all the luggage, which took about 20 minutes.  That was fine by us because checking in next to us was the US Men's Water Polo team, all of whom I found more attractive than my husband.  Julie and I kept trying to make comments that they would over hear about how we were single and just helping out with these kids, but they didn't hear us I guess. (Just kidding, I love Joe.) :)

Just the essentials!  Water Polo backpacks on the right. "Oh hey guys, I'm normally much prettier than this when I have makeup on and my relationship with my husband is purely a business arrangement."

 We hung out with Julie before security for about 20 minutes and said our tearful goodbyes.  It sure was great having Julie to hang out with the last two years and the girls will really miss getting to see her every week.  We can't wait for her first visit!  We cleared security quickly as there was basically no line and then headed to the United lounge for a bit to grab some snacks and some drinks.  It was pretty crowded but we were able to get four seats together.  The selection was pretty weak but the girls had a couple of mini doughnuts and some juice and were happy.

After about 30 minutes we headed for gate 77 in terminal 7.  We gate checked the umbrella stroller we had with us and made our way onto the plane.  We were in Business First, which is United's business class offering on their 777.  It is a 2-4-2 configuration, which is normally not great, but as it turns out, it was just about perfect for our needs.  We had the middle 4 seats and the girls settled right in.  It was nice that the in-flight entertainment was turned on as soon as we boarded and Annie settled in watching Monsters Inc and laughing very loudly for most of it. She definitely does NOT realize how loud her voice is when she has her headphones on and kept yelling questions out to Joe.

Getting ready to takeoff! Please keep the champagne flowing.

Lizzy was a big fan of the warm nuts.

Annie the pro flier explaining to Lizzy how things work

Food was pretty good! I actually liked a lot of it better than Singapore Airlines

Miss Independent

Girls got kids meals. Apple sauce, chicken strips, baked fries

Lying in Lizzy's seat with her

The girls were really good during the flight, and it was definitely the easiest 12 hour flight we have done with them.  That was largely due to the fact that this was the first long trip we have done since Lizzy started watching TV.  They each slept for about an hour at different times and keep themselves busy with the movies, stickers and snacks on the plane.

Lizzy started a meltdown with about 8 minutes left in the flight when she realized Annie had finally fallen asleep on me (great timing, Annie!) and she just HAD to sit with Mommy right NOW. So we had to wake Annie up and move her to her own seat so I could hold Lizzy and calm her down. She did calm down but after we got off the plane she started a meltdown that would last until we were through customs, baggage claim and in our car to our apartment. All in all about an hour and a half but it felt like an eternity. I was feeling pretty mentally drained by that point and was ready to be at our apartment and get some sleep. It was around 4:30 pm Tokyo time when we finally got ALL the bags loaded into the van, which was only a little past midnight LA time but I was exhausted and the girls were DONE. Staying up past midnight with barely any naps.. not a pretty sight. I know people were staring at us in the airport as Lizzy flipped out in the stroller and I just stood there with glassy eyes.

We made it! Playing dress up before bedtime

We finally arrived at our apartment and Mutsuko-san from Joe's office was there to help us get our luggage up to our apartment and get us settled. I think she showed me a few things regarding the hot water and light switches, but I was feeling very much like a zombie and still had to deal with 2 cranky girls so it was kind of a blur.

Since Joe and I couldn't decide on furniture during our pre-move trip, Tokyo Lease just put temporary furniture in, as well as basic kitchen supplies, linens, appliances, etc. We had everything we needed including some food items to get us through our first 24 hours. We all went to bed around 9pm and woke up around 1am the next morning ready to start our first full day in Tokyo!