Day 7& 8 - Getting into it

The snow is really melting, enough to try out the new wheels, but not ride, just push it with the mooch in the basket. Its like a mary poppins bike, huge handlebars with the mooch in a big basket in between. Its still a bit slippery on the road so until it dries out a bit more Im a bit scared to ride. He also needs a helmut, which I havent got yet. It is so easy to get around here and things just are available. I waited for less than 5 mins for a bus to the city, which only takes 15 mins and costs less than $2. Its easier to catch the bus as there are few elevators at the stations and finding them can be a trick for those stations who do have them. Both the bus and train systems are excellent. However, I havent strayed far from home yet so the day trips have been pretty easy.

I met a friend in the play park, she happens to live right next door. I guess its likely when there is only one blonde headed foreigner in the park nearby, she is bound to live nearby...she happens to be very friendly and nice, so maybe we can hang out and she can tell me her Tokyo tricks.

Did I mention my stomach ache has gone away so now Im back into the full swing of eating. Japan just does the best food. It is so easy to throw together a feast without much sweat. We are still cooking with one pot and waiting for all our spices etc to come from home so we have Japanese food every night. I made a huge bowl of kimchi flavoured soup noodles with thin slices of beef, shiitake and enoki mushrooms, carrot, chinese cabbage, spring onion, and a few other bits and pieces and a plate of sushi (not in the noodles) and it took about 10 mins to put it all toegther and cook up the soup noodle, yumness. I love Japanese food.

I am coming along with my childcare research. The myth (?) about the hourly changing of nappies and clothes has been busted, the lady looked at me in horror when I asked her if it was true. It must be in some areas but not this one, thank goodness. You do have to take home your own dirty nappies (so you can check how many wee's and poo's). There is no myth about the cost, it is very expensive for the private foreign ones and works on a sliding scale according to your income for the public ones. It is still a lot more affordable to go the public one and the mooch's Japanese will be so good, he can help me!!