We had a great time, but there were some downsides to our trip. It was unbearably hot, Minnesota hot, in Kyoto. I (stupidly) thought it would be too much of a hassle to bring Jocelyn's stroller (which is this big monsterous thing and we were taking 3 trains to get down there), so we brought this weird sling-like contraption someone bought me for my baby shower. This is not your normal baby sling. It sits over both shoulders (it's supposed to distribute the baby's weight more evenly) with a pouch in the front. However, I neglected to note that the overall color of the sling is black and the shape of the sling keeps the baby nestled into your warm body, thus making the opening like a small oven which bakes both mom and baby so that you nearly suffer from heatstroke before you decide it isn't safe to keep the baby in there when its so hot and spend the rest of the trip manually carrying around the baby until your arms fall off. Thank god Jocelyn wasn't as big as Caitlyn or there is no way we could have made it through the whole trip. In fact, we spent a good portion of the trip looking to buy a cheap stroller or another, safer sling. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any such thing in the entire country of Japan. Even Sanwado's (the Japanese Wal-Mart) cheaped stroller was over $200. So, we suffered accordingly.
One interesting thing to note is that the Japanese appear to not bring small babies out into public. I noticed that here in Misawa, too. The youngest baby I've seen out and about had to be at least 6 months old. Everywhere we went, Jocelyn was popular than the actual attraction. People stopped us on the street to make a fuss over her. When we went to Ryonji Temple (a Zen Buddhist Temple famous for a particular type of zen rock garden), you are supposed to meditate on this rock garden and many Buddhist pilgrims go there to do just that. When we entered the garden with Jocelyn, nearly every single person gathered around us to coo over her and take her picture. It was like she was this mini-celebrity. It reminded me of when I took Caitlyn to China. She was a lot older, about 18 months, but most Chinese had never seen a white baby, not to mention the fact that Caitlyn is blond with blue eyes, so we got stopped all over the country so that people could just touch her or take her picture. So now there are multiple pictures of both my children floating around Asia!
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3 comments:
i didn't even leave the house for 2 weeks after Yelena was born. Y'all is crazy! and by "y'all" I mean "you".
hee hee hee. That is hilarious. Maybe we can see the rest of Kyoto when I come and visit in March! With whatever baby equipment is necessary.
I think it was very kind of you allow Mom to return instead of turning her into your permanent mamasan.
Dad
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