Good BYE

This is the last post folks.Thanks for coming a long for theride. I will end this blogwith a picture of the little man who was the inspiration for this blog. My son Henry Lukoma. He still only has one name. So Lukomas can you help him out. HE needsto get his signature Lukoma 3 or 4 names. Just enough so that he has to remove one when he gets a passport.Lukomas reading this will know what I mean. I certainly do: seeing as my full name is:
Anna-Clare Basanyukira Lucia Namuyomba
Lukoma!
Phew it can't even fit on one line.
And in case you wondering Kojja's full name is:
Henry Victor Kasozi Lukoma.
By the way I love this picture.It looks like Henry-kun is saying ONE TIME!!
ACL

Last JAPANESE day

23rd August
Our last day began with a lovely breakfast atMcdonalds. Kojja had his special tamago burger.It is an egg burger with bacon and cheese I believe and it is only available until September. After breakfast I went tomy yoga class and Kojja had the pleasure ofbaby sitting his lovely nephew for onehour or so. The last baby sitting session was apparently a smashing success. Henry-kun didn't cry. He was mersmerized by a woman playing music in the department store. I met them walking home and Henry-kun was fast asleep.
Then we got ready for the airport. We were lucky to speak with Mummy. Also the night before we talked to Phina and Carol Wamala. I think it has been almost 10 or 11 years since I last saw Carol. The phone calls really made my day.
A kind colleague drove us to the airport.It was a very necessary ride. Kojja had an outstanding amount of luggage.2 huge bags, 1 big carry on, a backpack,a bag with souvenirs and his walking stick from Mt. Fuji. Luckily he checked in very easily and they allowed him to take his walking stick.
We kept in contact via text messages up until he boarded his flight from Kansai international.His route was very mad. Haneda to Kansai Kansai to Dubai and then finallyDubai to New York. His bags were checked all the way to New York.
You can see us at the airport and notice my fuschia pink dress. Forever 21 has come to Japan and that is my first purchase. Very reasonable but chic clothes. Kojja is wearing a t-shirtI gave him with very non-sensical Japanese English phrases on it.
I left the airport feeling very sad.This was actually a first for me.Not the sadness but the fact that I was the one left behind. In the past Kojja would always be the one left behind when I went to college. I now totally understand his feelings. I will really miss my little brother.

ACL

JAPANESE BBOYS

22nd August
We went to an awesome bboy or breakdance festival in Harajuku.
The dancers were just so talented and the music was great too. Henry-kun even had to clap his hands after each performance.
There were all sorts of stalls and food food for sale. I was also particularly impressedby the graffiti artwork. It was done live on site.
After the break dance event we walked to Shibuya. And we also happened upon a special clothing store called Billionaire's Boys Club. The brand is designed by a famous musician in America called Pharell. He also has another brand called ice cream.Both brands are very niche and collector's item like. We saw both stores and snuck in this picture before we were told we couldn't take pictures. The stores just looked so cool and the prices were very HOT! 80 bucks for a t-shirt...

ACL

Host Family and Puppy Love

22nd August
Henry-kun was so thrilled to play with the dog at my host parent's place. We all went for a walk in the morning. Henry-kun was holding the dog's strap and being very attentive. Here you can see him playing with the dog inside. Their interaction was very cute.
I was surprised to find Henry-kun could climb up the stairs all by himself. He suddenly disappeared and when I looked up I saw him playing with kojja upstairs.
You can see some of my host family in the picture.That is my host mother, brother and father. Some members were away for the day so Kojja didn't get to meet them.
Well Kojja had one more day left in Japan and he was lucky enough to get his birthday wish: watching break dancers all day long.

Midnight Ice cream

21st August
Kojja turned 20 on the 22nd of August. We spent the evening of the 21st at my host parent's house in Takasago. At midnight Kojja ate his birthday ice cream. I was asleep until 1150pm.

I woke up just in time to say Happy birthday.
The next morning at breakfast my host mother surprised Kojja with this beautiful cake.

The Japanese writings ays He n ri. Which is the Japanese spelling of Henry.
The cake was delicious and we had a very relaxed time there. Kojja also enjoyed watching season 3 of Lost.
ACL

Home Birthday Party for Kojja

Sunday 16th August

We had an awesome house party for Kojja's 20th party. The mix of different people present was so interesting. We had one friend who is in a band, a teacher and a former fashion designer. My co-worker also joined. The menu was a mix of Japanese and Western fast food. We had sushi, KFC, and Mister Donut. The KFC was so delicious. Kojja claims it was just as good as KFC in Gabs. YAY!

Then Henry-kun put on a dance show for us. He danced to Michael Jackson's Gotta Be Startin Something and Beat It. His moves were really smooth. And he even sang along at the part which goes "YEAH YEAH!"

Next up was an excellent Birthday cake. It was tiramisu, chocolate-chip, chiffon cake. YUMMY.I hope Kojja remembers his Japanese style birthday. I sure will.

ACL

Yukata vs Kimono

We got all Japan-esy and wore Yukata at the Hotel. But we didn't get to keep them. Luckily Kojja received a gift of a Kimono (genuine Samurai wear) from a friend. In the last two pictures you can see Kojja in his Kimono. He is holding the walking stick we bought at Mt Fuji. Nice prop don't you think?

ACL

Hayama Beach

July 14th

After many hours spent relaxing and watching movies on Kojja's computer we finally headed out to the beach on Friday. We set out very early and when we got there the beach wasn't too crowded. My neighbors were also joining us and they brought their children so Henry kun had some buddies.

Kojja played catch with some random people at the beach. We just relaxed and also went swimming in the sea. Henry-kun wasn't a big fan of the beach. He only liked playing in the sand.

The hotel we stayed at was really gorgeous. The rates were wonderful because it is a conference center. In the 3rd picture you can see Henry kun and Kojja at the hotel.

A very lovely breakfast was set out for us on Saturday morning. Buffet style - my favorite. Here Buffet style is called Viking - go figure.

ACL

Diehards

July 10th

This day will always remain in my heart. We decided to be diehards and climb Mt. Fuji even though a typhoon was scheduled to arrive. also we experienced an earthquake up there. For the most part the first 4 hours of climbing were idyllic. I started wondering what the big deal was.

Well at about the 5th hour my altitude sickness hit very seriously. At one point I couldn't breathe. Kojja stayed with me the whole time and slowed his pace to match mine. I was so touched by his patience and kindness. We finally got to station 8.5 and then the typhoon hit and we walked down the moutain for atleast 3 or 4 hours in serious heavy rain. YIKES. So now we can say we have been up Mt. Fuji. Once was enough - thank you very much.

The second picture shows the sunrise at Mt. Fuji.

ACL

Afrolicious

On Saturday I decided to spot an Afro! What do you all think?

And Kojja returned from his host family's house. In the second picture you can see Henry kun, Kojja and his two host parents outside my apartment. From this day onwards Kojja started his adventures in Yokohama and my apartment...

ACL

Mizu Asobi or Water play!

July 8th

My very kind co-worker invited the two Henrys and I over for lunch and some water fun for Henry. He loved it so much and infact refused to eat before he played in the water. This little boy loves water and he had the time of his life playing with the two little girls there too.

In the second picture you can see my two co-workers. The lady in the red shirt is Sasaki-san. She cooked us some lovely Japanese food for lunch. The other lady is Saito-san and she prepared home made pizza for us. All so yummy and so beautifully arranged on the table.



ACL

Buddies

July 7th

At daycare Henry Kun is trying very hard to make the Japanese Cheezu or Cheese sign but he only managed one finger. The girl next to him is his best buddy Coco-chan.

ACL

short break

We will be on vacation for a week with little or no internet services so see you all soon.
Wish us luck as we climb the real Mt. Fuji this coming Monday.
ACL

Yoshinoya

August 4th 2009

Yesterday evening Kojja and I tried out a local Japanese fast food restaurant. It is called Yoshinoya and serves the most delicious rice bowls with beef or pork or chicken. Kojja opted for the chicken with egg and rice. Yummy.
I spent the afternoon relaxing because I had a half day of work. First I took a latin dance class and then I went to the stone spa. The dance class was so much fun. The teacher is hilarious. I wish I could take the class more often.
Kojja has a new buzz word it is HILAR. It is short for hilarious. So I promised I would find a way to work it into this blog. So next time I think of something funny I will describe it as HILAR.

Time is flying. Soon Kojja will be done with classes and relaxing in my humble abode. It was cool just chilling with Kojja yesterday after dinner. We walked through Yokohama stadium and just chatted about his stay here so far. Kojja met the World Champion Break Dancers. They are a group at Waseda. So lucky for Kojja he is studying at Waseda and even got to dance with them this week.
That's all for now. Henry-kun is doing great. He has learnt a new trick. It involves him opening the freezer and stealing pieces of ice. You should see the classic expression on his face when he realizes the ice is freezing cold!
ACL

Slide aRt

Yesterday afternoon I thought I would expose Henry-kun to some art and crafts. We signed up for a free art class at the department store near my house. Well at first my young man was so curious and attentive. He sat down and nicely listened to the instructor's lecture. Then after 5 minutes he spotted the indoor slide. That was it for his art class. Nothing could stop this man. He was having so much fun that I ended up completing his art project for him. It was a lovely eco-friendly pencil making class. I made two pencils and hopefully when he is older he can return to art class. Goes to show that venue is very important when planning for young kids. Henry wasn't the only child who was lured away from the art and lecture. Notice some kids waiting in line for their turn on the slide. My boy is now fairly athletic and very confident on the slide. We are fortunate enough to have a slide in our complex. And even more fortunate that the playground is visible from our veranda. That means that when Mummy comes home tired and ready to sleep - Henry-kun hears kids playing and we must go out to join them. I keep telling him he has only one more chance to slide. Once more turns into 30 more. He can slide for 30 to 40 minutes each time. PHEW...

ACL

UNO

Card games are so much fun. We had a couple of friends over for dinner and then played UNO.
Here you can see that Kojja was holding Henry-kun down. That is because he could barely sit still enough for the photo.
ACL

Expressions

Just added these three to show you the range of facial expressions this young man has.

It was especially amusing yesterday evening because he had too much sugar and then

started running around very haphazardly with a rather crazed and mischievous look in his eyes.

Kind of like that first photo. In the first photo he is saying ooooooh. Something had surprised him.

ACL

Bowling

Saturday July 25th

Had an excellent time bowling and singing karaoke in Yokohama. We also took sticker pictures again. YAY!

ACL

Mt Fuji is in Shinjuku?

Friday July 24th

These pictures are not posted in chronological order. Please start at the bottom! (sorry running out of time today)

So after we taught a seminar together Kojja decided he wanted to go climb Mt. Fuji with his buddies. Ummmmmm it was 5pm and the bus to Fuji was scheduled at 730pm. I had called ahead and booked his tickets but we still had to buy food and gear for the trip. Also Henry had left his sneakers at my house. So we jumped on a train and even took a taxi home. While Kojja run to my apartment I visited the 100Yen store and got all his supplies. Yes even a raincoat and a torch. The 100Yen store here is amazing. We also got him energy food and snacks.

Then we jumped into another taxi and got to the station just in time to miss our train. We finally got to Yokohama and caught an express train to Shinjuku. When we arrived at Shinjuku we took a wild guess and decided that the bus stop would also be close to the ticket office. Unfortunately the Shinjuku station is a vast maze. We were right to assume the ticket office would be near the bus office. But by the time we arrived at the ticket office it was 733pm. And you can guess what happened next! The bus had already left and on top of that there were no more buses for the night.

So we were stuck in Shinjuku with some very delicious looking Japanese style packed lunches called bento! We decided to make the best of it. So we found some stairs and sat down to enjoy the delicious food. You can see Kojja in the 4th picture sitting on the steps. His bento is all gone. It was really good. We sat there and just relaxed for about 30 minutes. Henry was in daycare overnight so we were in no big rush. And after 30 minutes a station master came to tell us we couldn't sit there anymore.

What next? I called my friend Tamiko who works right next to Shinjuku station. She joined us and we took sticker pictures or pirikura. That is in those cute photo booths for you guys Stateside! Picture 2 is an enlarged copy of one of the sticker pictures. Kojja decorated this one. You can choose all kinds of photoshop details to add on. For example our hats and Kojja's tiara are photoshopped. Then after you are done you have the option of sending one of the photos to your phone. Photo 3 is of Tami and Kojja outside the photo booths.

After that we went to Mcdonalds so I could charge my phone. It was on it's last battery stripe. Tami's co-worker Anthony joined us. He regaled us with hilarious stories. And even offered to take us on a drive. He had to go home and pick up his car and change first though. So Kojja and I headed to Shibuya and went to a cool internet cafe which had free ice cream and drinks and you could watch dvds, listen to music or read magazines and books for free too. They even had a spot for you to charge your phones. And just in case you forgot your charger - they had rental chargers!

Anthony picked us up and we went to Odaiba. That is the man made island in Tokyo. We ended up having late night Chinese but it was delicious too. Odaiba looks so beautiful at night.

So that was our crazy night in Shinjuku that was supposed to be a night spent climbing Mt. Fuji. Now we know - you have to get there atleast 30 minutes before your bus leaves...

ACL

Smart

Friday 24th July

Kojja got all spiffed up for Friday's seminar. Wow he sure cleans up good!

So we went to an Elementary school and Kojja was my assistant. He did

an excellent job and I am sure the teachers had fun too.

Then we started our mad adventure. The title of our adventure is

indecisiveness!

ACL

Internet Cafe

Tuesday 22nd 2009

Kojja had to edit and complete his first essay for his course. It was no easy feat trying to get Henry-kun to stay calm at the internet cafe we went to. Kojja brought his lap top and was typing away furiously as you can see. Henry-kun tried his luck on the computers in the cafe. His typing was rather fast but no real words were produced. For about 15 minutes Henry-kun happily typed away and then promptly lost interest!

We walked around the stores in Yokohama station while his uncle worked. When we came back Kojja had an epiphany of sorts and managed to organize his essay accordingly. It was a very late evening for all of us!

ACL

Bay Quarter Yokohama

July 14th

This place has an amazing view of all of Yokohama and even some of Sakuragicho. We watched some cruise ships and tried to take pictures but unfortunately our cameras were not co-operating. Also Kojja has somehow managed to use up all his camera's memory. Wow he must be taking a lot of photos. We sat outside the Bay Quarters Shopping complex where they have rather exotic chairs and benches. It was nice just having a relaxed chat with Kojja. Henry-kun had the time of his life playing with peoples dogs and running around. All in all it was a wonderful evening.

ACL