The Talandis Family in Japan

Talandis Family News Update (February 2012)

February was a busy month for our family. Lots of stuff has been going on lately with all of us, so instead of multiple posts, I’ll just put everything here together. 

Bionic Mama Gets an Upgrade

My wife Shinobu had a heart attack about six years ago. She was given an ICD (Implantable Cardio Defibrillator) to jump-start her heart in case it when hay-wire. This month it came time to replace the device, so Shinobu spent 10 days in Toyama University Hospital (where Max was born) getting her upgrade. Check out this photo collage: 

1: Shinobu and I just before her surgery. It was a simple 1 hour procedure. She received a local anesthetic and was awake during the change. The new device was put into the same spot as before, just below her left solar bone. It is a bit smaller than the old one, but a bit fatter, so her techno-bulge is a bit more pronounced. Oh well! 2: A nurse takes care of Shinobu just after her surgery. 3: It was all thumbs up- everything went very smoothly. She had to stay in bed for only about an hour, then she was able to move about. 4: The next day I took the kids to visit. Of course Shinobu really enjoyed this time; most of the time she was lying around watching TV or the movies I put on her iPad. 5: The kids enjoyed hanging out and relaxing on her bed. Luke usually played with her iPad, and Max liked to watch TV. 6: Papa, on the other hand, did some video editing on his Macbook. I was working on creating a highlight reel of Shinobu’s swim team’s recent meet. I also put movies on her iPad for her to watch. 

Now my wife is safe and sound at home. This is something she’ll have to do every 5 to 7 years. Our hope is that the technology will continue to evolve, and this will get easier as the years go by. She’ll have to go in for checkups regularly to make sure everything is okay, then eventually will be back to her regular schedule of one check-up every two months.

Max Sings, Dances, and Acts on a Big Stage

Yesterday Max participated in her first ever school recital. It was a big production- her nursery school/kindergarten rented out a big hall in the neighboring town for a big three hour extravaganza. Each class had to perform four numbers: a choir-style song, a musical performance (with harmoniums, drums, and xylophones), a short play, and a gymnastics demonstration. Check out the collage: 

1: All the students from Max’s kindergarten gathered on a big stage at the Osawano Bunka Hall. The sign says, “Sugihara Kindergarten School Recital”. 2: During the musical performance, Max’s role was to wave some pom poms. Cute! 3: Max did some bridge-walking during the gymnastics demo. She has been practicing a lot for this at home. It’s amazing what she can do! 4: Max acts on stage as a wolf in her class’s short play. They acted out a traditional Japanese folktale. 

What a great time! Max’s school really pulled out all the stops. The auditorium was packed with family- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and lots of crying brothers and sisters. The kids were nervous, but they did a great job, especially with the music and gymnastics. 

Luke trains with an Olympic swimmer

Recently Shinobu took Luke and two other of her YBG team members to a nearby town for a swimming workshop held by a member of Japan’s Olympic team in the recent Beijing games. 

Shibata Ryuichi, who swam in the 200m butterfly in a lane next to Michael Phelps, was the main attraction. He talked about how to swim the butterfly more efficiently and then practiced with over 100 local swimmers in the pool. Luke got to meet him and got a high-five when he showed off his stuff. That must have been cool! Go Luke! Here’s a photo of Luke with Shibata-san and fellow YBG team mate, Chiaki. 

Papa’s new job

My big news is that I got a new job! I’ll be teaching English speaking and writing at Toyama University starting in April. This job came up very suddenly; I heard about it at the JALT conference this past November, applied in December, then waited and waited and waited… It became way past time when most schools decide on their staff for the following year, so I convinced myself they had passed me by. I was all set to keep on with my current routine (which I was happy to do, actually), when suddenly, on my birthday (January 18th), I received an invitation to interview for the Tomidai (Toyama University’s nickname) position. I did, it went swimmingly well, and I was offered the job an hour later. Amazing. I was floored. It all went so smooth, like destiny clicking into place. 

Last week I had a meeting with my predecessor, Bill Holden. I checked out his (my) office. It’s a good space, with a view of the tennis courts behind the Humanities building and near a side entrance which I can use to escape easily if need be. Bill was in the midst of packing up his stuff, so the place was covered with stacked boxes and books. It was great to envision working there. There is a sink, so I’ll be able to ride my bike to work and take a sponge bath, like I did when I worked at TCFL. We also walked around campus, with Bill showing me where I’ll be teaching. He answered all my prepared questions and was very kind and helpful. Here are some shots from that day: 

1: A shot of the Humanities Faculty building, where my office will be and where I’ll teach the bulk of my courses. It was a cold, snowy day. You can see the tennis courts in front of the building. Bill says they are quite noisy once the weather picks up. 2: My office. Besides a desk and shelves, there are two soft chairs and a sofa. I’ll use this as a meeting area in case colleagues or students come by for a chat. 3, 5: A couple of the classrooms where I may be teaching. Rooms haven’t been set yet, but this is where Bill taught. I have requested computer labs, so we’ll see if that pans out. 4: The entrance to the Human Development Faculty building, where I’ll be teaching two classes. 

Again, it was great to be able to check out my new digs. I’m currently working on filling out syllabus forms, planning on what I’ll be teaching. Next week (on March 7th) I’m heading back to Togaku for my final day of work. I have a short 45 minute class during the annual Open Campus event. There will also be a ceremony to say good-bye to outgoing teachers (Clair and I) and welcome our successors. It’s going to be a bitter-sweet day! 

Winter break is over; time to get back to work

I’m back in Nagareyama and after a very nice winter break. Work starts again for me tomorrow. My main job will be to wrap up my classes for this school year, which ends on January 16th. Then I’ll be free to work at home until April. I’ll be very busy with several projects, but I’ll have time to look ahead to that later on.

Looking back, I really enjoyed my time off with family. I was off from December 20th until today. Some of my highlights you can see in the photo above: 

• A big road trip to Tokyo and Osaka with the family, including camping out in our small Nagareyama apartment, a day at Disney Sea, a long drive to Osaka, and then a fun day at Universal Studios. 
• When we returned to Toyama, winter was in full force. We had a few big storms, and it was winter-wonderland time again. 
• Luke & I went snowboarding only once, but it was an awesome day with perfect conditions. I’ll take one perfect day to five mediocre ones any time.
• Our neighbor’s daughter, who is in Max’s class at kindergarten, came over a lot to play. 
• Lot’s of swimming. Lots!!! With long, exhausting sessions like this one. I trained with Luke for five days straight after we got back to Toyama, and by the last day I could barely move. I was smashed. Then we took six days off for Christmas and New Years. After that we did another 4 days. I felt tired but not smashed tired after the 2nd cycle. I’m encouraged by this progress.
• Christmas was very white and peaceful. It’s not the big deal here as it is in the States, but we had a nice time going to church on Christmas Eve (with Luke altar-boying and acting in a play at the party afterwards) and opening presents in the morning. We also went shopping at a Toys-R-Us later in the day, and the kids enjoyed that. Surprisingly they didn’t want anything big. That was interesting…
• Most days were spent at home doing year-end cleaning and working on updating this blog. We got the back storage room cleaned and organized, a new bookshelf for the kids made, and rearranged the living room to make space for Shinobu’s beloved kotatsu. We also all got haircuts at Shinobu’s parent’s barbershop, which was nice!
• Getting this blog moved from Wordpress over to Tumblr was a MAJOR job, but it was a total blast. I’ve really enjoyed the hard work and now look forward to staying in touch all the more this year with this new & improved set-up. I won’t go into details, but it’s safe to say I had fun geeking out!
• New Years was also peaceful. We did the typical routine, which I wrote about here. 
• Finally, as if to cap things off, we had a lovely afternoon with my colleague and friend Theron and his family yesterday. Now I have the secret to awesome pizza and look forward to making it more! I’m especially excited that his six year old son Jonah has hit it off with my kids. I hope they will continue to be friends.

So that’s about it for winter break 2011-12. Time now to focus on wrapping up this school year. I’ve got a lot of work ahead in the next 10 days, but I’m also looking forward to it. 

Final Fall Fun

Today the weather was awesome, and we made the most of it. With December ready to roll in next Tuesday, I can’t imagine we’ll have many (if any) more chances to enjoy this sort of day. It was my first day back home after two weeks at work, and I’ve got to return tomorrow for another two week stint. So today was a “carpe diem” moment for me.

In the morning everyone went to Luke’s elementary school to watch him participate in an annual community event to honor and support the elderly. Each year the school puts on a show for the senior citizens of our area, with each class doing some song and/or dance number. Luke’s 3rd grade class did this old Japanese disco sort of thing. It was really cool! Luke was front and center on the stage, and he really did a great job. He looked like he was in his element. I could tell he has some of his mama’s dancing ability, for sure. Shinobu was really psyched to see him nail all his moves. I had Max on my shoulders, and we danced along to the music. In five or so minutes it was done, and then we left! This was how it went- there was a lot of audience turnover before/after each number, with family members coming just to see their child. Pretty funny.

In the afternoon we went to Tenkomori park, which is about 15 minutes drive south of our home. Shinobu hadn’t been there before, and I wanted her to go up on their big tower-like observation deck. It’s up on a mountainside, and the view is killer. The leaves are pretty much past peak, but there are still a lot of nice colors to see. We had a nice walk around the park, went to the top of the tower, then walked for a bit on this rope-way thing. That was fun but a little scary. Then Luke and I played some aerobie while Mama and Max had ice cream. Of course we took lots of photos and really soaked up the nice weather. It was a real nice time!

I’ll be back in two weeks, and I imagine by then we may even get some snow! We shall see. Gotta get those leaves raked before I leave tomorrow…

Kiss this winter good-bye

Wow, is it hot here in Japan these days. We haven’t had a flake of snow since the end of January, and it feels almost like spring is here. Weird! I’m especially bummed because no snow means no snowboarding! We had a great January, and things were looking up for a long season, but in the past few weeks all has come to a screeching halt. Luke was supposed to participate in a kids giant slalom ski race today, but the event was cancelled… Oh well. Here is an article from today’s Japan Times that talks about this national heat wave. Notice that in Shizuoka yesterday, the temperature hit 26.8 degrees celcius! That’s 80 degrees fahrenheit for all of you living in the States! 80 in the middle of FEBRUARY???? Wow. What’s the weather like where you are? Please leave a comment below! Let’s enjoy chatting about the weather!

Early heat wave spurs warnings

Kyodo News Temperatures shot up to summer levels Saturday as warm air moving in from the south set record highs in more than 105 places throughout Japan, prompting the Meteorological Agency to issue an avalanche warning.

The agency said the unseasonal heat wave could cause avalanches and mudslides in snowy regions, and that violent winds and tidal waves would pose a danger in northern areas through Sunday. The heat shocked many on the Pacific coast, where Shizuoka hit 26.8 and Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, hit 26.1 in the afternoon, making their winters feel like early July. Tokyo logged 23.9, its highest this year, just after 2 p.m. The sudden surge in temperatures is already being blamed for cracking a frozen lake in Ishikawa, Fukushima Prefecture, where two people fishing went missing. Meanwhile, in Yurihonjo, Akita Prefecture, a mountain stream flooded four houses as meltwater and heavy rain caused it to overflow. Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture logged a record high for February of 23.6 as early as 1:40 a.m., the agency said. On the northern Pacific coast, strong winds forced the suspension of train runs in many areas. Erimo Cape in Hokkaido was hit by 128 kph winds at around 2 p.m., while Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, recorded 121 kph gusts at around 11:30 a.m. The Japan Times: Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009 (C) All rights reserved

Update: February 17th

Woohoo! Finally, it snowed! We got about 25cm last night (10 inches). Boy, was I a happy camper this morning when I opened up the living room curtains. Actually, now I can brag that I’ve managed to turn Murphey’s Law in my favor- by taking the trouble to blog about this recent heat wave, it’s only natural that it should snow that very same evening! Ha! It’s like when you go out to the park for a picnic and you don’t want it to rain, so you shlep around an umbrella ‘cause you know if you don’t, it’s going to pour… Here is a picture of a happy me this morning before heading off to work: 

Happy new year 2009!

Happy new year, everyone! We  hope you had a good time. We’re enjoying some relaxing family time this year. We don’t have any special plans, other than going over to Shinobu’s parents house to eat traditional foods. Maybe we’ll go to a Shinto shrine later in the day, or perhaps we’ll go shopping. Max has the sniffles, and the snow is not great, so we probably won’t go to a ski area.  Anyway, here is our “nengajo” for the year, our new year’s card. This is the tradition here- everyone sends them to their circles of family and friends. Special volunteers deliver them. Later today we’ll get a huge stack. It’s a nice way to stay in touch with people you don’t often see. Our card features some highlights from our past year- our family trip to USJ, Luke doing sports, Max growing up, and other various cute stuff. 

Speaking of new years… What are your resolutions, if any? I’ll blog about this topic in the coming days. I have some ideas! Oh! And you may have noticed I’ve updated this site’s design. I hope you like it! I’ve tried to make things better organized and easier to find. For example, I’ve redone the categories so that you can find posts that feature any one of us, or give you a list of posts with videos or slideshows. Let me know what you think!

Buying our 1st stock

Hey all, how’s it going? I have some fun news to share: in the depths of this economic crisis, Shinobu and I bought our first stock! After the big crash last week we borrowed $5,000 from her mom and bought 35 shares of Apple, Inc (AAPL). I am now a part owner in that great company! :-) We found a securities company here in Toyama (Nomura) through which we got the stock. It was very easy- set up an account, dump money into it, then give them a call. Once we get our security code mailed to us (any day now), we’ll be able to trade from home via the Internets. Apple has been growing by leaps and bounds the past few years, as many of you know from my frequent propaganda mailings (which worked for some, but not for others- you know who you are!!!!). They are a leading tech company that makes great stuff, and they’ve been doing very well even though other tech companies haven’t. Earlier this year their stock was trading at over $200 per share. Recently, thanks to the multiple crashes, the price went down to under $100. Time to buy! Shinobu really snatched on this opportunity, and thanks to her mom, we were able to create some cash. Naturally we are very grateful to her and will repay with interest!

The only down side of this purchase was that the moment we bought it, the stock was at its highest point in the past few weeks (116). Apple came out with new notebook computers last Tuesday, and I thought that that announcement would send the stock up, but instead it went down! Complicated story… Anyway, we’re now checking our “portfolio” (he he) each day, and it’s kind of exciting. Lest you think I’m crazy to invest in such hard times, I’ll have you know that I basically have followed the advice of Warren Buffet: “A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” This is a fantastic article, and I highly recommend you read it if you’re interested in a hopeful take on our current economic disaster.  Anyway, that’s about it. We’re now excitedly checking all the financial news with renewed interest. We’ll see how it goes. Like Buffet, I’m extremely confident that things will turn around, especially with O in the White House. It’s nice to know we’ll be able to benefit from that. Oh, and don’t forget- for your next computer, buy Apple! The new MacBooks are amazing! Don’t believe me? Just check out this fascinating mini-documentary on how they made the new machines.    

My busy mornings

Hey, instead of a video clip, I have something new this time: a “Voicethread” featuring photos and commentary from a typical morning at our home. Voicethreads (from Voicethread.com) are a new and cool way of sharing photos. Not only can you hear (or see, if I had used a video camera) me, but you can also leave text, audio, or even video comments (if you have a camera attached to your computer). So, have at it, folks! Click the big triangle play button below and check out how I spend my busy mornings. Click the Comment button to leave your own words or voice. Lets see if we can get a bit of a dialog going!

Hey! What happened to April?

Wow, its been a long time since I posted anything in this blog! Perhaps you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to this past month or so. Well, of course we’ve all been busy. Here’s a quick update on what happened with us during April 2008, from young to old:

Max had a tough month health-wise, and by extension, so did we all. She seemed to always be in cold-mode, with a cough, runny nose, and sneezing that came and went like a rising and falling wave. At one point it got so bad that she had to be hospitalized for two nights! Turns out she caught a stomach virus thing that prevented her from being able to eat. She couldn’t even drink milk, so she was on an IV for a while. This helped her recover quickly, and we were so relieved when she came home. Of course Shinobu and I were exhausted (we took turns staying over night with her in her room). This led eventually to us catching colds as well! Bad Max! :-)

Luke

Luke was the only one who didn’t really get sick. His big news was starting elementary school (school begins in the spring in Japan). I’m currently working on a video of that opening ceremony, so look for that soon. His (and our) schedule changed- he has to wake up at 6:30am and leave the house at 7:15am sharp. He walks the mile to school with other neighborhood kids (they don’t do school buses here). That means mama and papa have to wake up earlier, too. No more late-night TV. We all try to hit the sack around 10pm now. This has actually been a very good thing.

Oh, and some other cool Luke news: He participated in another swim meet, and won 1st prize in three events! Of course, he was the only kid in his age group to swim, but hey! A win is a win is a win. He got to stand on the podium, hear the music play, and receive a certificate. Basically, Shinobu is training him on a pace ahead of other kids. He’s doing stuff now (like the 100 meter individual medley) that boys usually don’t attempt for at least another year or two. We’re hoping he gets ahead of the game and can flourish in the coming years due to all the extra experience he’s gaining. I think he really loves these competitions because we always buy him a new Wii game afterwards! After that last meet, we went and got him the new Lego Star Wars game, and we’ve enjoyed playing it a lot together.

Shinobu

Besides dealing with Max and suffering through a cold, Shinobu’s life has really gone according to her basic routine. She is totally family centered, so she has stayed real busy getting Luke adjusted to elementary school. In addition, she has reorganized our private lesson schedules. We now have all of our young students come to our house. This saves us a drive to the community center, where we were renting a room a few nights each week. I REALLY like this new system. It has saved us time and energy, and we can offer our students a better service since we have computers, the Internet, and a lot of extra materials at our home. Shinobu has really taken to teaching English, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she does more of this in the future. She’s a natural teacher and does a great job. It’s really interesting to see her work- she teaches English like she taught aerobics, if that makes any sense! No, the kids are not doing jumping jacks and counting off! He he he… I mean she breaks things down into manageable, easy-to-understand bits, like she used to do when teaching a combination of dance moves. She really is awesome, and she knows it, too! :-)

Papa

Me? Ha! I am so so so busy these days, as usual. April is a killer month, as I have to deal with getting a new school year underway. I set things up at work so that I don’t need to spend a lot of time and energy on lesson prep, but at the beginning, there is always extra stuff you need to do to get the big balls rolling. On top of that we had the Max situation at home, and a job opportunity suddenly appeared that really took over what little creative energy I had left. Yes, I have applied for a new job, for an associate professor position at Okayama University. They need an English teacher with e-learning experience, and since that is right up my street, I decided to go for it even though I don’t have a lot of publications. We shall see if it works out or not! By the end of the month everything came to a head, and that’s when I got really sick. I had a strep-throat kind of thing for a while, and I’m just now getting over it. Fortunately the weather has been great lately, and I have been riding my bike to work a lot. I’m feeling better, and hope to put more creative energy into this blog very soon.

Oh! One cool thing that happened in April was my participation in a Web 2.0 conference in the States via Skype. A professor at Penn State University gave a talk at an event about the changing nature of education in the 21st century, and during his presentation he chatted with me via Skype. I was able to talk about how I use Web 2.0 in my teaching. It was all very cool, and I ended up with a good experience. I really enjoy presenting and hope to do more of it this year.

So, that’s about it for now. I’ll be posting some video clips soon, so stay tuned for those. Take care, everyone!

Happy new year!

Here is our annual new year’s greeting card. Sending these out to everyone you know is a tradition here, as this article describes. The small photos on the card tell the story of our year, starting with Max’s birth in March. Hope you all have a great 2008!

Back to “normal?”