Random thoughts

One week after I had the interview for the Community Liaison Office (CLO) Coordinator position, I got the conditional job offer (i.e. I have to pass the security clearance in order to work). So I quickly filled out forms for the clearance and sent them in. It could take two to six months or more if I am unlucky. Well, there is nothing I can do so I will just have to wait. So after the security clearance forms, I took my auditing exam, which was a little difficult to prepare because it was a bit boring. Then yesterday and today, I went to the US Embassy to shadow meetings of a lady who was visiting from Washington, DC. She works in a Family Liaison Office (FLO). She also taked a lot about the CLO program and there was a lot of information to absorb. The good thing was that because we met each other, I would be more likely to contact her if I need help in future. And I got to meet many people in the process, which was what my future boss wanted me to do. The downside of my two days work ...

Searching for a job in a country where you speak the language is time-consuming at best if the economy was good. But, if you were to look for job in the US now, I am sure it is stressful. Looking for a job in Japan is equally stressful because Japanese economy is not doing well. Plus, the inability to conduct business in Japanese, I have very little chance of getting a job here. Don't forget it's financial crisis that caused the downturn, and the ex-Lehman Brothers and Bern Stearns bankers are also searching for jobs in the field that I just started to work in. With the reality in check, I decided to try my luck within the US embassy in Tokyo as an EFM (Eligible Family Member -- DOS has many acronyms and I finally am familiar enough to apply for a job there). There are about 25 positions available to spouses who are under chief-of-mission (ambassador). How many spouses? I don't have the exact numbers but my guesstimate is about 100 or more. Tokyo is a big embassy with many ...

Believe it or not, I started going to the gym. It's not as bad as I had imagined, probably because my trainer,Corei, is really nice. After the initial interview, she realized I am really new to the gym, its vocabs, machines and everything about it. Since, the gym I use is at the American Navy base in Negishi, (her husband is with the Navy), there were procedures to follow so that the gym won't be liable for anything happened in there. Use at your own risk I suppose. So I signed so many pages of contracts, disclaimers, more contracts and something like a vow (my expectations of myself, of the trainer etc.) I don't know how many trees were used for making those papers because I decided to exercise. Anyway, Corei came up with exercises (tube exercise or something along those words) that were not difficult for me to give up the next time. So I went back to the gym without her. The first time, I did that, I didn't remember most of what I did with her. So I walked for 13 min ...

I started cooking Udon noodle soup at home. We could buy ready made udon noodle from a store that freshly make various kinds of noodle and other ingredients for noodle. I added pork, sauce, and some vegetable, voila there's Udon noodle soup. Zey loved it and so did everyone. And here is a photo of Rob eating the noodle. Before my dad and brother arrived, Rob had to go to Nagano for overnight school trip. That night was the first time, we (my mom and I), felt the earthquake at home. It was not a big one but still scary for us. My dad and brother arrived from Burma a few days before Zey's birthday. I went to pick them up at the airport, which is about one and half hours from Yokohama by airport bus. It was quite cold for them, especially for my dad. On 21st November, we celebrated Zey's birthday. We had friends, colleagues and neighbors and it was a lot of fun (a lot of work too. Athae (my brother) and I cooked many Burmese dishes. We baked cake, cookies and test baked cake a...

October 12th was a public holiday because of the Columbus day for the US and Sports day for Japan. So Rob decided to go and surf in somewhere north, about 160km away if I remembered correctly. Before Rob left, the rest of us decided (I decided) to go out for a walk so Zey didn’t have to see Rob’s leaving. We first walked to a playground that is a few blocks away and Zey did some climbing, jumping while my mom kept telling him not to do this and that. Then we walked through a tunnel (Zey loves tunnel) and walked through a neighborhood I had explored earlier with Khin. With a nice cool weather, it was a great stroll around here. I thought of Colleen and Stephen especially. What always impressed me is the Japanese’s love for plants. Even in a tiny little space, they have several plants mostly in pots. There are some big houses with big gardens as well. They love pruning plants too. I will find another time to show a picture of neatly pruned bushes. Khin fell asleep during the walk and sta...

In September, our friends Jen, Scott and Lynda came to Yokohama from Tokyo. From Yokohama, Phil and Greg joined the fun but my mom didn't come. So seven adults and two kids (Zey and Khin) went to China Town in Yokohama for Dim Sum lunch. China town is really famous here and packed during meal times. Because there was seven of us plus two, we had to sit at two tables which were not next to each other. Rob and I sat at different tables. So we sat there, talking and eating happily while the Chinese waitresses brought one Dim Sum after another, chosen by us. Khin slept a bit while we ate so I happily put her down in the stroller and kept chatting away. Zey was mostly with Rob so I wasn't sure how much he ate but typical Zey, just happy all the same. Eventually, the waitresses were getting tired of us ordering more, of course they didn't say it but that's the impression some of us got. After lunch, we went to a Chinese temple. I picked up some info about it then got bored as...

We walked to many places at the beginning as we didn’t have the car or bicycles. Homes super market is about 10 minutes walk from our house. It’s like Home Depot, Target and Safeway together. On the second floor, it has furniture. We liked the rocking chair but it was over $1500 so we didn’t buy it. But we had a great time talking to a salesman without understanding much of it. What we grasped was that the rocking chair and its whole set were built in monasteries by hand and that’s why it was quite expensive. Another thing we notice was storage spaces in many unexpected places. Japanese homes are small so they are good at using space very efficiently and they don’t buy things in large quantity like the US. One would wonder there’s no market for Costco but there are two within one hour from here (it’s considered close enough here). We haven’t been there yet though. We decided to keep Zey for the rest of August at home (about two weeks) and he was quite a good boy most of the times. Duri...

We arrived in Yokohama 12th August 2009. It was a smooth trip from LA. I bought a portable DVD player from Target before we left DC and that was especially useful on the plane. Khin barely cried and fellow passengers were pleased with us for not having loud kids. Some even came and said "great kids, and can't hear any crying etc." Of course we were glad. Who wouldn't? On Thursday 13th August, we went to the FSI, Yokohama. Both Rob and I (separately) talked with the director there, trying to convince him that I should also be allowed to study there. In retrospect, the decision has been made for awhile but I wasn't sure why we spent a few hours that day talking about it. In any case, the FSI is on a hill, about 10 minutes walk for me from our house. On Friday, 14th August, all the students and their families except dogs and cats, went to Tokyo to the US embassy for a check-in. My mom took Zey and Khin and went with other kids and the director's wife who kindly k...

I have been meaning to share our experience in Japan with family and friends but somehow until now, I haven't found the time to do it. Now that both kids are asleep and Rob is out of the house, I could finally sit down and write. (I like talking to my hubby when he is around). Then I thought for awhile what I should do; write an email or create a little free website or write on Facebook or just write better captions for photos. Too many options to choose from which makes me think of my usual mistake. For example, when I go to a super market and see so many different brands of one product (let's say cookies) I want to buy, I usually end up buying sugar free or diet or fat free products (sugar free in this case). I guess, coming from Burma and not being used to having too many choices still makes me perplexed sometimes (short attention span probably contributes to it too although I call it decisiveness). Anyway, here we are with another technology, Blog. I am not a blogger usuall...