Spring and Golden week

The weather is getting warmer, and the flowers are blooming (although the cherry blossom has transfered into green leaves).

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a hanami party with the Dutch society next to the Ashiyagawa (river), we were supposed to go with the 3 of us, but Reo got fever so I went alone.

After that I had 2 more hanami parties, one with my work, and one with my family in Tarumi, kenkouundoukoen.






Besides the Hanami parties we also had a Tulip party. North of Osaka there is Expo park (were the 70's expo was held), from April 11th until the 29th there was a tulip festival , a dutch tulip festival with dutch food, beer and Japanese ladies in traditional dutch costumes. We went there together with Boukje and her husband, Rick, Frederic and his wife and brother in law and of course with Mayuko and the little one.... REO







If you want to read a bit more about the tulip festival, then check out Boukje's blog, or Rick's blog.

Saturday the 25th was the day that my GOLDEN WEEK started. And because May the 5th is Children's day, or actually Boy's day (there is a girls day the 3rd of the 3rd, march 3rd. They don't have months as January, February here, but they just have 12 months. １月、　２月、　３月, etc), for this day we received a kabuto specially for boy's day from Mayuko her parents:




Kii-Katsuura
For our golden week holiday (Reo's first holiday), we went to Kii-Katsuura. Kii-Katsuura is a small onsen/fishing place south of Wakayama ken (which is about 4,5 hours by train south of Osaka ). We stayed there for 2 nights, and had a great time.

We left Monday morning around 9.30 and had a very nice ride to Kii-katsuura, Reo did great as well. Arrived at the hotel, Mayuko went to 1 of the 7 onsen that the hotel has (the hotel is located on a peninsula so we needed to take a boat). For dinner we had a buffet, with a lot of Maguro (Tuna). The food was nice but not too special. In the evening I also went to one of the onsen (the first time for me to go alone, the other time that we went to a hotel with onsen I was a bit chicken-shit to go naked with other man.... I know everyone has a trunk, but still... I wasn't used to show my body to strangers... But surprisingly I had no problems with being naked together with other man this time...), after this I really enjoyed going to onsen; I went to 5 of the onsen in the hotel in the following days.

The next day we woke up early for breakfast and for onsen, this time Reo went in the onsen as well together with Mayuko. He was a bit scared so he hold Mayuko tightly the whole time, but he wasn't crying at all.


Later in the morning we went to Nachi no taki, a beautiful place where the tallest waterfall of Japan is (133 meter) but before that we went up the Daimonzaka a 600m long stone-paved stairway with 200 cedar trees that are about 800 years old.

When we came back to the hotel we had a short nap, and then went back to Kii-katsuura for a lovely Maguro dinner at Playboy where we almost ordered a whale dish, but the oksan (the chef's wife) told us that the taste is a difficult to eat for us so we decided not to eat it. Coming back in the the hotel we went to the onsen again, I took Reo with me this time. I really enjoy going to onsen, but I had some skin problems on my chest these days so the salt in the water wasn't very nice for my skin...

The last day I went to the Tuna market, to see all the big fish... and they were indeed big. What a great time that was haha.

We left the hotel, bought some souveniers, plus a Tuna and Whale bento(lunch box) (which didn't taste very nice) and left Kii-katsuura around 1 to be home again before dinner.

In overall we had a great holiday and hope to go again somewhere during the summer holiday.

Here are some photo's;

Reo Dancing

Overwork

I don't mind to overwork so now and then... but when I am also overworking in my mind it's getting a bit too much I think.

On March 20th we had a mini presentation, and graduation ceremony for 3 of our students. We practiced for about 3 weeks everyday for the mini presentation (the 3 little pigs) and the kids were amazing. The days before I told them that they needed to stop playing around and think about their last day, but on the day itself... WOW. After the presentation there was a small graduation ceremony witch went fine although it was very sad to say goodbye to 3 of the kids... last week 2 others decided to stop this school due to certain reasons.

Due to certain reasons we have had a lot of meetings the last couple of weeks, and actually 4 of my co-workers will stop working there (there only work 5 persons, so I will be the only one left... and I just work there 2 months :( ) So it's been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, and it probably will stay like that until my new co-workers will known what they have to know.

Besides work, everything is doing fine. Reo is doing well, and Mayuko is very happy with her Nanocare that I gave her for her 31st birthday. Tomorrow we will probably go to Akashi koen, to have a hanami party (cherry blossom viewing party).

New season, new challenges, new chances

Hiking Mt. Maya

Because there was no Futsall today, neither there was last week though, I decided to do some exercise; Hiking.

I have already hiked up Mt. Maya twice but both of them were with friends, this time I decided to go by myself... why? Because sometimes it can be very annoying when you want to continue and your friends want to stop every 10 minutes to take a break. It was a very nice hike today, although it was a bit difficult because it rained the whole day yesterday the paths turned into water streams, and everything was very slippery. Owww... and I took the wrong road haha.

If anybody want to join me next time, then please contact me... but do know that I do not want to stop every 10 minutes.


The Mountain wasn't so high, but when you go off the main road it's pretty hard I think.


Jumping over rivers was fun.


Can you see the red line in the middle... well I was supposed to take that road, but I took the one north of it.

Wireless Internet (hehehe part 2)

Well, here is the second part of the mission called; Wireless Internet.

My wife received a phone call from the modem's company, but I wasn't there and also Reo was jumping around in the room, so he gave us a call back today. We were on the phone for about 1.5 hour, but he couldn't help us :( . The information he gave us was so different than the explanation we got from the paper, so I couldn't understand too much of it anymore, and my wife isn't a computer freak at all.... so she got a bit pissed off as well.

After the call, my wife and I had a small discussion about it, and she even said I shouldn't play around with things that I don't know... which of course pissed me off again so I started trying it by myself again.... and then....



IT WORKED!!!!

I don't know what I have done... but it doesn't matter anymore. After F##king around for about 9 hours I can finally use wireless internet.

Red Cliff

Yesterday I watched the movie "Red Cliff", an interesting movie that looks like it comes straight out of a video game (Dynasty Warriors from the Playstation). I don't know anything about Chinese history, so it was even more interesting to see it... (I do want to know more about Chinese history, though).

In the movie there are 3 actors that I really enjoy watching at; Takeshi Kaneshiro, Nakamura Shido, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. The first actor Takeshi Kaneshiro is of both Japanese and Taiwanese (Hoklo) ancestry. Kaneshiro can speak with varying degrees of fluency in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese, and is probably most know of his part in the movies; Returner, House of Flying Daggers, and The Warlords.

Nakamura Shido is from orign a Kabuki actor, but started acting in movies when he was 30 years old. A couple of movies that he acted in are: Ping pong, Neighbour No. 13 (my favorite), Fearless, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Death note.

I don't think Tony Leung needs in introduction, does he? Anyway, if you don't know who he is please have a look on his page on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Leung_Chiu-Wai

So if you have the time, I would recommend watching this movie especially if you like to watch sword fighting bloody movie.

Trailer:

Kanji DS game

As you could have read in a couple of posts ago... I failed to pass the JLPT 2 test last December, so I am going to take it again upcoming July.

I really have to work on my Kanji, and after searching for a kanji game for months... I have finally have found the perfect learning game (IMO); Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft.



You will start from level 10, which is basic kanji (so basic, that I had forgotten a lot of them) and you can do tests from 10, 20 or 40 minutes. I think that if I will practice this game everyday for about 20 minutes, I should be able to increase my kanji knowledge a lot before July. (here is a full review of the game)

My Japanese teacher (sensei) also made a schedule for me, what to work on and how.

今から本当に頑張ろう！！！

p.s. what reminds me... It would be nice to do the JTEST as well in may... for a level check. Boukje? are you in? can you bring me a pamphlet from school for me? :D

Wireless Internet (ahum part 1)

Reo is starting to put everything in his mouth, and is pulling every cord that he sees... including the one from my precious MAC.
So we had decided to buy a wireless router the other day. We bought one yesterday, a Planex MZK-WO4N...

I followed the instructions, I change some stuff that I needed to change, I searched for advice on the internet, but after trying to connected it for 4 hours last night, and 3 hours today... I failed to let it work.

Meaning, we need to call the "give me your money, I will do it for you in 30 minutes... sometimes 2 hours if they have nothing to do" guy. The sales woman told us, it's going to be around 20.000 yen... grrr

So yeah, this is what I did in my weekend! How about you guys

A new Job

As some of you might already know, I started a new job from the beginning of February. I am again teaching English, but this time I have my own class, with the exception of different kids in the afternoon class, and I have to work from Tuesday to Saturday. So I have 2 days off, instead of having only 1 week off with my previous work.

The work is pretty fun, and the kids are adorable! I still have a lot of things to learn, on how to be more strict and teach them things in a more interesting way than just playing the same game over and over again. My co-workers are pretty cool, and from March-April another Dutch person (Boukje) will be working for the same company.

I took this class over, from a very nice guy from NZ and beside this class I also took over 1 of his private classes (1 doctor and 2 nurses). So yeah, I am very busy... as always lol.

Reo
Reo is doing great, he is first tooth came out about a week ago, and he is starting to walk along the sofa and table. I think it will take maybe 1 or 2 months before he is able to stand and walk by himself. Let's wait and see :D . He already had his first child desease about a month ago (the sixt disease also known as the 3 day fever), meaning he had fever for 3 days (highest was 40.4 degrees) so that was pretty scary.

Japanese
I got the result of my Japanese language Proficiency Test:



I only had 166 points out of 400... I needed over 240 points to pass the test...


Aaah, well I am going to take the test again in June, and I should be able to pass that time. Only 20% to go :D

'Drunken' Japanese Politician Quits His Post

I thought, let's posts something about Japanese politicians:






A Japanese minister who appeared to be drunk at a G7 news conference has quit.


Shoichi Nakagawa denied being drunk at the G7 news conference
Finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa stunned fellow politicians when he appeared on camera slurring his words, swaying and apparently falling asleep.
He denied being drunk and said a glass of wine on top of a dose of cold medicine was to blame for his bizarre behaviour.
But the minister said he was stepping down for health reasons.
He has been replaced by Kaoru Yosano.
"I have caused trouble to the people," Mr Nakagawa said.

Daddy and I

Daddy and I
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

December 2008

I say it over and over again; it's been too long since I have posted something on my blog. I've got 2 reasons for that:

*Time
I've been studying for months in preperation for the JLPT, and Reo is keeping us busy as well (in a nice way of course)
*Readers
Seeing the amount of comments that I receive makes me wonder if people actually read my blog and if it has any meaning to write on it... I mean a blog is there to share stories, but without readers there isn't anything to share, is there?

JLPT
As you can read above, I've been really busy studying for the JLPT. What is the JLPT you might wonder, well the JLPT stands for; Japanese Language proficiency test. There are 4 levels in the test:

Test content and requirements summary
Level Kanji Vocabulary Listening Hours of Study Pass Mark
4 ~100 (103) ~800 (728) Beginner ~150 60%
3 ~300 (284) ~1,500 (1409) Basic ~300
2 ~1000 (1023) ~6,000 (5035) Intermediate ~600
1 ~2000 (1926) ~10,000 (8009) Advanced ~900 70%

I went for level 2, and I have to say that it was bloody hard so I'm not sure if I passed or not. But I will take the test again in July and will take care that I will pass it that time. Passing this test makes it easier for me to find a job in a Japanese environment because I am not planning to stay an English teacher for my whole life!!!

Reo
Reo is doing really great and he is starting to crawl from the living room to the kitchen and back, and likes to explore things (especially by putting everything in his mouth). Mayuko is doing great and she is really making a lot of effort for Reo and me (it's commonsense when you are married I think, but still I want to say that I am proud of her). It's such a pleasure to see him growing day by day!!

Work
Well, yesterday I finally got my contract for my new job. I am going to work for an international kindergarten not too far from here. My working hours are from 9.45 until 18.00 so that means that I can sleep in until 8 in the morning (hihihi). The morning class is a very nice small class, and in the afternoon I will have different kids every day. I am a bit nervous to start this job but I think I should be able to get used to it pretty fast.

Birthday
Yesterday was my 24th birthday (yes, I'm Jack bauer now), and enjoyed my day with Mayuko and Reo. Mayuko made a very nice dinner (kobe beef), a birthday cake, and gave me a nice belt and an organizer for next year. I'm also very happy with all the messages and the phone calls from my family.

I do have to say that when you are getting older, it seems that other people care less about it... I expected a bit more but guess there is nothing to do about it than except.

I hope to be able to update my blog a little bit more next year, but please give some more comments... a reason for me to write on my blog.

does he look like me? or like Anpanman?

DSC01131
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

kieke boe

kieke boe
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

KIEKE BOE

Summer 2008

Hello everyone,

Here a summer update live from the worlds greatest city, Kobe.

It's been a pretty hot summer this year, guess it will only get hotter in the future (if you do not believe in the Day after tomorrow I guess). The weather was a bit hard for the baby tough, especially for his skin because he is mecha mecha (very very) chubby.

Beside his skin, that we are a little worried about, Reo is doing super. He is growing fast, and I think he will become smarter than Mayuko and I are... His neck is also pretty stable, so with our help he is able to sit down, and do sit ups. He is now about 6.5 kilo.

My summer holiday started from half July, and I will go back to the schools tomorrow. I had 2 summer jobs, and they actually make me not wanting to go back to the elementary schools. I am kind of getting tired of traveling to different schools, teaching 800 kids a week, and a lot of teachers/kids just don't care about English. It's a fun job to do, but after 2 years I say: GIVE ME ANOTHER JOB. A well, just another 6 months to go and I will do something else than this (that's my intention though).

I have also decided that I will be doing the JLPT 2 this year, even though the change that I might not pass is a pretty big I will do my best to prepare for it. I does mean that until December, I should at least study 2 hours a day (14 hours a week + 14 weeks is almost 200 hours)... fewww If I do fail, I will take the test again next July. I WILL GET JLPT 2 BEFORE NEXT SUMMER..

There was also a pretty dramatic accident a couple of weeks ago near our house. A river started to flood, and 4 people died.


I have a lot of photo's from Reo, and if you want to see all. Then please visit my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34591504@N00/

Have fun, and if you have any specific questions on how life in Japan is... FIRE them :D

Happy Birthday, 1 month old

Happy Birthday Reo, tomorrow you will become one month old.

Life has changed so much, after he has been born. I want to go home a.s.a.p. , responsibility has tripled, life has got more meaning then before in my opinion. The wife is sometimes complaining a lot towards me, but I can understand that with certain things, and in the other way she is still very sweet to me. I though I would really become on the background, but that's not the thing.

Reo is sleeping very well, even though he got his crying hours (especially between 10-1 in the evening), drinking a lot of milk, becomes cuter and fatter every day.

Today we went to Tarumi Kai Jinja (temple), to pray for his health and future. We sat on a bench, and the priest was walking around, saying stuff in Japanese, and reading text from a book and our names (DEEEVIIEEE SUTOKUUHOFFF , which makes me feel good that we decided to not change Mayuko her last name).

We have been at her parents place for about a month now (it's normal in Japan to go to the parents after the baby is born, to get support and learn how to do certain things... which I think was very nice, because now we can go home with a good feeling).

Anyway, here are some photo's.

The baby is born! Good morning little boy.

On Friday, May 30th at 10.34 A.M. in the Tanabe FrauenKlinik in Kobe Japan, our little boy was born. He weighted 2970 gram, and was 50.5cm tall when he came out. He already gained about 200 gram in the last week, and he is getting milk from the breast.

His official name is Reo Terao 怜朗　寺尾、but feel free to call him Reo Terao Stokhof in unofficial matters.

He is now already 9 days old, and is a very sweet and smart boy... meaning he doesn't keep us awake all night. He has some things of me, and some things of my wife.... which is one of the most interesting thing of having a mixed child... what's his Japanese side and what's his Dutch side. I will let you people decide your own opinion, because I'm not really good in that.

Our life has changed huge since the day he was born, and there are a lot of things we have to learn, and have to get used to, but we are enjoying every day with our little boy. Before I was happy to go home after work, but now I am really really looking forward going home again, and seeing Reo again. Holding him in my arms, watching his 1000's different expressions, and giving him milk by the bottle when Mayuko is too tired.

A couple of difficult things are, the fact that he is soooo small and fragile and taking a bath with him is a bit hard. Another thing is, but I guess that's also a funny thing is when changing diapers, is that he sometimes urinating straight up... almost in your face.

We will enjoy our time with him, and will do all our best to raise him in a proper way. If anyone has any advice for us, feel free to do that.

Last but definitely not least. I want to thank all our family and friends for their heart warming congratulations, and we will try to post as many blogs, photo's and other updates on the net for your guys...

A happy happy Birthday for our little son Reo Terao (Stokhof)