This morning, Cliff told me Andrew finally arrived in Tokyo. Andrew is one of Cliff’s best friend’s grandson who is going to attend Japanese University. I met Andrew a very long time ago when Cliff and I were just dating at said friend’s party, and at the time, he was just a little boy. Anyhow, I am very excited to see Andrew again after all these years. Worst case, he’s some shy, pimply faced kid with glasses. Better case, well, anything outside of that. Since he has just arrived, I know he hasn’t started classes and he’s probably looking for places to explore. This morning Cliff and I had this conversation:

• Cliff: Andrew just arrived in Japan
• Me: Who?
• Cliff: Remember Andrew?!? I told you he’s coming for school?
• Me: Oh yeah… excitedly So when are we getting together? Will he come for the weekend?
• Cliff: I don’t know. Probably not.
• Me: Well, let’s get together for dinner Friday (darn! I have rehearsals) maybe Sunday brunch?
• Cliff: Okay. We can talk about it later.
• Me: Why don’t you give me his email and I’ll contact him directly.
• Cliff: Mmm, no. I’ll take care of it.
• Me: Don’t you have more important things to do?
• Cliff: silence

Mrs. Robinson. Paving the Way for Cougars

I know what is happening here. I felt like maybe I should have reminded Cliff my last name is Wright not Robinson. Am I a bit Pavlovian at the sound of lawnmowers on a summer day? Maybe. Do I like to surround myself with attractive people. Guilty. Am I living vicariously by reading the Twilight series? Yesssss. But do all these things warrant his reluctance to letting me get my hands on this young man? I should hope not. I don’t think of myself as a cougar anyway. Puma, maybe, but cougar, no. Will let you know when and how the reunion goes.

I finally broke down and started reading the Twilight series. I’m hooked. As I get older, I find myself relating to vampires more and more. Who knows? maybe one of these days I’ll start dressing in torn up black clothing and paint my face white like they do on Harajuku Street:

Girls from Harajuku

GOING TO CHINA

On a completely different topic, Cliff and I have decided to go to China with Chase. So this will be the first in my “China” series.

I hate filling out applications so you can imagine my dread when Cliff brought home 12 pages (6 for Chase and 6 for me) of Visa application forms. Then, I had to get color passport pictures for Chase and myself but these are not hard to get because there are photo booths everywhere in Tokyo. Most thoughtful husbands delegate this application process to their eager-to-please assistants at the office, but in Cliff’s world, everyone’s an assistant.

Visa Application

I checked the website for the Chinese Embassy (which happens to be a couple blocks down from our apartment) and in addition to the application you need:

• Passport with enough pages
• Alien registration card
• Photocopy of Passport & Alien Card
• Photocopy of Hotel Reservation Certificate
• Photocopy of 2-Way Ticket
• Visa Fee (for American citizens it is 15,000 Yen or $181.29)

I don’t have a Hotel reservation certificate or 2-way ticket, but whatever. When in Japan, one quickly learns you never have the right or enough documentation and you will often be coming back at a later date. I did notice that the Visa fee for Japanese citizens is 3000 yen and for any other citizen it is 4000 yen. WTH? Just another example of how the Chinese are fleecing Americans. Maybe I’m being too quick to judge. Maybe our visas get us on the fast boat to China.

[insert Chinese gong sound here]

Until next time…