A Time of First Meetings

So after about 20 hours of traveling, we have finally arrived to New York City! The journey itself went pretty well all things considered. I think we were really lucky, that the longer of the two flights (Narita-->JFK) was pretty empty, so we got the whole first row in the middle to ourselves as well, not just our seats on the side. Unfortunately, since it was the first row, the TV and food tray were built into the armrest, leaving us only two seats to "stretch out" on. But hey, that's still two seats longer than we would have had, if the plane was full, so I'm OK with it.

There was a little rushing in Narita, because our flight was a little late (10 minutes or so), then as we tried to get through immigration, we forgot to fill out the embarkation cards (again) mainly because there were huge signs of "MILITARY, TAKE ONE" right next to them. As we are not military, we didn't take any, and had to go back and fill them out. To my defense, I'm used to dealing with immigration into the US, where, if you're not a citizen, you fill things out as you come in, and keep the paperwork in your passport until you leave. Japan is the opposite. Then, when we were almost at our gate, James realized that we left his backpack behind at a pre-immigration check point. So off he dashed to retrieve it, and I went ahead to our gate, finding that pre-boarding for families just started. I boarded the plane with Rini, frantically telling to whichever ANA employee that would listen what happened, hoping to help James out from afar, knowing the possible problems he'd face at the immigration check point. They called to the check point to notify them of his return, but it seemed it wasn't really necessary, as James joined me in the aircraft within ten minutes.

Rini didn't seem to have any problems with the pressure change of taking off and landing. She also enjoyed the flight as much as it was possible in the circumstances. Outside her naps, she slept a good 3+2 hours or so, and in the bassinet to boot, so I think both James and I got a little rest.

I also had a chance to finish two movies, Billy Elliot and Hitchcock, both of which I liked very much. They had The Hobbit, too,but I dared not start such a long movie, in case I couldn't finish it.

The food was good, and I was really pleased with the Baby Meal ANA offered. I forgot to take a picture, but it had some hot watery rice (please excuse my bad memory of the proper term) with some steamed/cooked vegetables, as well as regular baby food in a jar, yoghurt, senbei, 100% vegetable juice, and water. I've also prepared some apples, strawberries, a banana, raspberry pancakes, and cheese at home for the flight, so we were pretty well set.

We landed in JFK a little late due to such a heavy fog, that the captain decided to abort landing twice. I could barely see the landing strip once we did touch down, so I wasn't surprised at all at the multiple attempts.

We got through immigration smoothly and our luggage came pretty fast as well. To our surprise, James's mom was waiting for us at the gate, and it was a very happy reunion. Rini was shy only for a little bit, and warmed up by the time we arrived to the apartment. Then we just relaxed, and let Rini explore her new environment and get friendly with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are some pictures I took from last night:

Grandma feeding Rini her dinner: fried rice! YUMM!!!

Playing with Grandma after shower.

First hugs from Grandpa. It took a little time to warm up, since Grandma already had a couple months of Skype on her side.

The night passed by alright: Rini stayed up until about 10 PM, slept until 1AM, stayed up again until 3AM, and has been sleeping with only minor interruptions of feeding since then. Well, I'm off to create several events on Facebook and contact our friends to set up meetings. Updates on our trip here will come whenever I get a quiet morning to myself.

A Visit To Bunny Island

Yesterday we went to Okunoshima, more commonly known as Bunny Island (being named because of the abundance of fluffy little bunnies) with some friends.
The way you get there from Fukuyama is you take the Sanyo-sen to Mihara (that's where we were meeting up with our friends), then transfer to the Kure-sen to Tadanoumi, then take a ferry to the island. It was a bit of a hassle to get to, because our train out from Fukuyama station was 15 minutes late. It's quite shocking, I know.
Now, generally this would not be a problem, however, the Kure-sen from Mihara runs really, and I mean really, infrequently. The train leaves from Mihara to Kure between 9AM and 2PM at 9:29, 11:15, 12:52, and 13:25. Yes, that infrequently. The train we were taking from Fukuyama was stupposed to arrive to Mihara station at 11:09, but it was late, so we missed our train out to the ferry. Since we already came this far, and we wanted to be back in Fukuyama by 4:30PM to meet some friends for a last-minute hanami, we decided to try and catch the 12:30 ferry we were supposed to catch by taking a taxi to the port. It cost us ￥4000, but we got to the ferry on time, and met up with our friends after all. The ferry tickets for round-trip cost ￥600/person.

She's coming for you, bunnies!

The welcome sign of the island.

We had some lunch as soon as we got off the ferry, as both Rini and our friend's baby were quite hungry by now, not to mention us, adults. Already we saw at least ten bunnies around us, and while I set up our lunch, James tried to acquaint Rini with them with some success. After our lunch, we walked to the abandoned factory near by. While the island is now famous for being overrun by bunnies, during the war poison gas factories operated here, testing the effects of the chemicals on rabbits. After the war, the rabbits were let loose, and lived here ever since. Of course, the bunnies seen today are many many generations down the line from the test bunnies, and having no natural predators, there are literally hundreds of them if not more.

It is a huge building.

The view from the stairs...

After taking a few pictures of the factory, we tried to befriend a few bunnies outside. Though supposedly you can buy rabbit food for a ￥100/cup at the hotel lobby on the island, we brought our own food (cabbage and carrots), since our friend, who has been on the island many times before, said the bunnies prefer it. Though the bunnies are really friendly and will come close for food, they generally don't let themselves being pet.

The only place Rini could sit without sitting in bunny poop was the road, but few people were around, so it was fine.

Well, hello there bunny! (^_^)

The clear, clear sea.

Next, we started walking towards the museum. As we walked along the coast, it surprised me just how clear and beautiful the sea surrounding the island was. Right there I made up my mind to come back in the summer and enjoy the tiny beach that's available for swimmers. The only problem is, there probably won't be too many bunnies around then, as they get really lazy in the heat and prefer to stay in the shade. For this reason, it is said that the best time to visit the island is in April and May, with the added bonus of seeing baby bunnies around this time, too.

Taking a rare family photo along the coast.

Near the museum, there are some big bunny ears that try to simulate how bunnies can hear. I personally could not hear anything special, but James said it was interesting.

We didn't go into the museum, because our time was nearly up, so instead we hung out near by and fed the rest of our cabbage to some more bunnies.

We visited the small gift shop which had lots of plush bunnies, bunny key-chains and phone charms, the obligatory senbei (Japanese crackers), and other bunny related things. Finally, it was time to go, and just before we got on the small ferry back, I snapped a picture of the ferry schedule for future reference. The first big column is for the ferry coming to the island, in the order of Tadanoumi, Bunny Island, and one more stop, and the second one is for going back, stops being in reversed order. The times in grey are for the ferry that can transport cars.

We missed the ferry we were planning on taking back, missing our train in the process, but luckily we met some friends on the island, who owned a car, and we got a ride home to Fukuyama. So in the end we were able to join our friends for hanami with being late to the festivities only a little bit. We even acquired a balloon on our way to Castle Park.

Overall, it was a nice and relaxing day, with good friends and adorable bunnies, and we hop to visit the island again soon.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place...

The closer the day of our trip to New York gets, the less enthusiastic I am about it. I'm not talking about the people, because I can't wait to see all of our family and friends, but about the impending ~20 hour journey with a 1-year-old, the jet lag, and the rushing around, trying to get everything done madness. I really wish we could stay longer, but I'm down to less than two days of vacation until August, which I need to hold on to desperately, in case Rini or James gets sick enough that I would need to stay home from work. 

I have been working like a crazy person, and thank goodness I like my job, otherwise I might have gone nuts by now, but too much of a good thing is still too much, and I really REALLY would like an actual vacation. Being lazy in a new place, taking strolls with my sweetie, talking about everything and nothing, and watching Rini play... that's what I would like. If only I had a time turner and a teleportation device...

However, amidst all my whining, I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of people! I know we're not arriving at a really convenient time and that all the people we wish to see have jobs and things to do, which, as convenient as it would be, won't go away just because the T. family is coming back to New York City. So I'm trying my best to plan, to accommodate as many people as I can, as much as I can, because that's just who I am: I need to plan and organize, otherwise I fret and worry, and time flies by, and I'll feel like I could have done better and/or wasted less time, if I just planed a little more and better. 

Which is why (RANT ALERT) I can't help, but feel guilty about feeling relieved, when someone, who I planned to visit on a daily basis, decides she doesn't want to see us... at all. All because I can't give in to a ridiculous demand the way she wants me to. I tried to compromise, but when she wants something that my husband is specifically against (and with sound reason), I can only go so far, and if it's between meeting her demand versus siding with my husband, I'll choose my husband 100% of the time. That's just the way things are, and I feel saddened by the fact that she can't respect this and my relationship, and would think that I would hide something from or lie to my husband just to cater to her wishes. Of course, this makes me ::insert sarcastic tone:: a bad person, who has never EVER helped her out when she needed it ::end of sarcastic tone::, and it does not matter that there were sound reasons why I would not help, like I was having my own problems, or I didn't care to carry the responsibility of her ill-thought-out actions, or that I didn't (and still don't) want to get mixed up in anything shady, just so she could make quick and easy money. I wish I didn't know anything about that part of her life, but when that's all there is to her life, it's hard to avoid. I may be family, and family has a responsibility to one another, but that bond lessened considerably, when I entered into a family of my own, and they come first... always. So when she decided that if she couldn't have everything, she would rather have nothing, I guess I'll just have to learn to live with that. I'm tired of being emotionally bullied and abused, tired of feeling like a worthless person, and I will not crawl and beg, because I never did, and never will. I try and give as much as I can, and change when I can, but if someone doesn't want my company, they only need to say so, and I'm out of there. (END OF RANT)

And with that I'll go a make a nice breakfast to my family because they'll be awake any minute. Then I'll make some picnic lunches, and get ready for a nice day on Okunoshima, or bunny island, as it's most often called, because supposedly there are so many bunnies there and they are so nice and tame and friendly. I'll try and post pictures later.