Connecticut Report

Ole, Brazil!

2009-02-25T08:19:00.005-05:00

Though we don't see any snow these days, it is still below freezing point in the morning around here. Spring seems still far away.

If a warm weather resists to come to me now, I am moving closer to the warm weather.

I am gong to Brazil!

It happens that my good friend C and her husband M are in Brazil now. It is their routine to get away from a chilly weather of NYC and moves to the south during the winter time.

This year, they chose to go to Hawaii, Mexico, and on to Brazil for 2.5 months.

Thanks to the recession, I have had hardly any job offers since the start of the year. I have been telling my friends that I was bored. Pitting me, C & M invited me to join them in Salvador, Brazil where they would be staying at an apartment for two weeks. M rented a two bedroom just in case some of his friends decided to join them.

I don't know if anybody else is coming, but I've told them that I would either sleep on a couch in the living room or sleep with whoever would be sharing the room with me. (Ha!)

I am leaving on Monday and return after a week. I am so excited, for I've never been to South America. Ole!

Snowed in

2009-01-28T19:11:00.003-05:00

Snow started early in the morning and schools were closed today. School closing spread in a wide range from New Jersey to Connecticut. There was about 6 to 8 inches of accumulation.

It stopped snowing at around 10am and the temperature rose up to 45 degrees. Then it started raining. Before all the snow is gone, now the temperature is dipping below freezing point...

I didn't go out at all today. Reluctantly, I picked up a snow scraper just now and got rid of the remaining snow from our cars. Otherwise they would have been covered by ice by the morning.

Many towns & cities in this area have already exhausted their snow budget. Schools have spent all of their snow days.

I am tired of snow. Can't wait for the spring to come!

Presidential Inaugration

2009-01-20T13:28:00.005-05:00

I am so excited and happy to see Mr. Obama swearing in.

I don't think any inaugurations of other American Presidents had ever been awaited like Barak Obama's was by the world.

Personally, I have been waiting for this day since the Election Day in November. I hope things will gradually improve under the new President.

The speech was appealing. Am I the only one who thought that a part of his speech resonated with the speech of JFK?: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!"

I became even more hopeful hearing him speak.

I wish I could find the script so that I could directly quote what he actually said, but it is not yet available on-line as it's only an hour after his remarkable speech. Anyway, what made me more hopeful was that he said that he would leave the unilateral approach of the former administration and resume working with the world. I have a high expectation to this man. I hope President Obama will steer the U.S. to the direction that it is expected by many people and nations of the world.

As there are tons of problems lying ahead, and the problems were not created only yesterday, change may come slow.

By the way, majority of the people gathered in the National Mall was black. First, I thought, "Brrr... how could they stand the cold? Wouldn't it be better to stay home and watch it on TV in a heated room?" Then I realized. If I were an African American, I would have had to be there to witness a historic event to unfold before my own eyes.

Baking - my recent fad & SAT

2009-01-18T14:01:00.010-05:00

I guess the birthday cake rekindled my old taste for baking.
The day before, I found in the refrigerator Japanese sweet potatoes that began rotting. Kiniko had bought them saying that she would fix some "sweet potato cake," and never did. So I went at the task.

Being my concoction, it turned out pretty good. Wish I had used a little bit more sugar, but it is healthier this way.

Today I baked chocolate chip cookies --- using the dough that Shinako bought as part of her fund raising for her gymnastic team and that Kiniko thawed saying that she would bake, and never did...again!

It was not as much as baking. All I had to do was to make the dough into small balls, line them up on baking sheets and throw them into the oven.

Kiniko left this morning to go back to her college. Koi drove her. As it will be a 7-hour drive as a round trip, I was supposed to go with them. But I stayed home due to the weather.

It snowed this morning and Shinako insisted that I drove her to her new SAT class. The class was eventually cancelled because of the snow, though.

Two weeks ago, Shinako heard about the class from a friend and begged us to let her enroll. I was surprised to find out that there were such private classes offered. They are similar to cram schools or workshops that are prevalent in Japan among pre-college students (or pre-high school & middle school students and even among pre-schoolers!) They teach tips to succeed in entrance exams.

The course Shinako found is run by Andover, one of renowned prep schools in the States (that rejected Kiniko from entering years ago). I was aghast hearing the cost was $1200. I told Shinako that it was too expensive.

Shinako asked if I didn't want her to improve her SAT points. I said that I didn't if that would cost as much as $1200. She was persistent. (You know how she is.)

The class lasts for 15 weeks, and each class lasts for 5 hours. I did the math. Hourly cost is approximately $16. It may not be bad after all. Plus, I found the location was only 10 minutes walk away. I don't have to chauffeur her every time. So, I gave in and Shinako picked a Sunday course from 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

Kaplan that publishes many test related materials also offer similar classes. I found that they are offered in Ohio even though in limited locations. Is college admission process getting more heated despite the rising tuition?

Kiniko's birthday

2009-01-15T09:52:00.006-05:00

Kiniko turned 19 two days ago.

She requested me to cook "gratin" - a Japanized western dish with pasta, sauteed onion & meat in white sauce baked in the oven with some cheese on top. She loves the dish and even asks me to fix it on a sizzling hot summer day, which I turn down immediately. I am glad she was born in winter.

I thought there should be a birthday cake too, but I was too lazy to go shopping. So I decided to bake one. Baking sounds like more work to do but I was just too lazy to get out of my pajamas. Fortunately, there were all the ingredients called for at home. (Well, after all, I had to change and go out to buy some strawberries.)

Ta-dahhh!

I probably hadn't baked a cake since my days in Riyadh. Glad I remembered how. This is a Japanese style cake with whipped heavy cream & strawberries (and canned mandarin oranges to our liking).

Since Koi was away on a business trip, I sent him his portion via Internet. The actual piece ended up in Kiniko's stomach the following morning.

I guess I recovered some dignity as a mother on that day. Shinako was real jealous saying that I had never baked her a cake on her birthday. I promised her that I would bake one on her birthday - when she turns 19.

My Family Members

2009-01-15T09:44:00.004-05:00

Let me introduce my family:

Jodako - myself: a freelance interpreter/translator between Japanese & English.
Koi - husband of 20 years, a Japanese expat who works at a Japanese traiding firm in NYC.
Kiniko - daughter, 19, a freshman at a private college in PA.
Shinako - daughter, 16, a junior at a public high school.
Jordan - son (and a pet dog), 6 1/2

My first English blog!

2009-01-15T09:06:00.004-05:00

Well, this is something you have been waiting for for a long time??

As I have plenty of time thanks to the slow economy, I've made up my mind to write a blog in English too. Though this may not be synchronized with my Japanese version, or may not be updated as frequently, I hope to continue to please my English readers who doesn't have a privilege of having a command of the Japanese language or have a spouse/partner who is kind enough to translate my Japanese blog for you.

You have to excuse my lousy spelling and grammatical errors. I would appreciate if you would point those out to me in a comment.

I've already realized that writing a blog in English will contribute to improving my English skill...I've already looked up a dictionary a couple of times for some vocab.

Hope you will enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Jodako