Episode 3: 1st Japanese Anniversary

Today is our one year milestone. We have officially been Japanese residents for one year now! Darin, ironically, is in Chennai, India this week for work. Last week was a plant wide shut down and holiday so he was able to be home. That was nice since we had only been back in Japan for a week and he is gone this week.

The kids and I celebrated this afternoon by going to a movie, "Night At The Museum 2". No, it wasn't in Japanese. There were Japanese subtitles however, but the movie was in English. The theater is in the RINK building just a few minutes walk. I do love the conveniences this place offers. Makes up for all that isn't.

This week has been busy. We made a trip to Costco to replenish our food stock, played in the river mall just about every day, recovered from jet lag, Caden got his first bike and Nathan got sick. Good times.

Nathan is better now. It was just a two day virus...fever and sore throat. He has since resumed his normal activities not excluding annoying his brother. Caden loves his bike! There are pictures and a couple video clips on the smugmug website.

School starts this Thursday for Nathan. I think he is looking forward to it. He has already reunited with his friend, Jamie, who just returned from his home leave.

We are all looking forward to this new year. Now that Caden has adjusted (along with the rest of us) we would like to do more exploring and traveling. I plan to continue my brush painting classes, Japanese language lessons and weekly women's group at church. Life will be busy, but time will fly by and it will be summer again.

Episode 2: Driving and Earthquakes

This was a week noteworthy. Darin became an official licensed Japanese driver! Yea! And, I drove for the first time Saturday!

Yeah, not so good. I almost hit a pedestrian and a parked van. Not at the same time though. The near misses did not occur because I wasn't paying attention. I was fully aware of my driving...I just didn't happen to see the man or the parked vehicle. It happens. After the second near miss Nathan commented he would rather walk back home. I love my family.

Just to make things clear, pedestrians have the right of way. That's great for them, but not for drivers. They come out of know where then zip across the street without warning. Even so the driving issue is a bit troubling. I have only one week to legally practice my driving before my permit expires. I take my test in September. I'm still not convinced I should drive at all. Neither is the man I almost met.

Hit and runs aside, while we were out driving we stopped at "The Price Club". It is a international grocery store (like a mini Costco) where plenty of goodies from home are available like jello ($2/box) and macaroni and cheese ($3/box). I was most pleased about finding my Peanut Butter & Co. "Dark Chocolate Dream" peanut butter. It was twice the price for half the amount I can get at Walmart, but hey...it's chocolate! I also found the organic shampoo that I just purchased during home leave. However, here it is about $20 for a bottle. Not sure I'll be buying it here, but it's nice to know I can.

After church Sunday I was trying to help the kids get in the van. Because there wasn't room to open the passenger door I opened the driver's door. I wasn't going to drive. I just wanted to put down my purse and Caden's "bikepike" (backpack). When Caden saw me opening the door he screamed, "No Mommy, don't drive" Don't drive!" Two-year-olds can be so humbling!

There was a 7.1 earthquake Sunday evening off the coast of Japan. Yes, we DID feel it. I couldn't figure out what was making creaking noises in the ceiling and in our closet. When I got up to investigate I looked into our closet to find our clothes swaying back and forth. I checked out the earthquake website (www.earthquake.usgs.gov) to find there had indeed been one.

It is Tuesday early morning and I am, as I am typing, being gently swayed back and forth by another earthquake. I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with this geographic area…and residing on the 16^th floor during such an event. We are in a typhoon advisory as well. Never thought I would miss the Midwest thunderstorms and tornados!

Episode 1: We're back!

Back by popular demand. Episode 1 begins with no one being voted off the island...yet. (However, I know who is getting my vote.)

We successfully arrived in Osaka (Kansai International Airport) Saturday Aug 1 at 8:30pm (6:30am CST). Although I still hate traveling we had much better luck with this journey than we did going to the U.S. The connecting flights were a bit challenging to make. We had to run (not a pretty sight) to make both planes to Tokyo and to Osaka.

On our flight from Tokyo to Osaka I was able to see Mt. Fuji. The top was the only thing visible as it was surrounded by clouds. Very cool.

After arriving in Osaka the last part of our vehicular journey was an hour bus ride to the Sheridan, the hotel just catty- (or kitty-, depending where you originate) corner across a big courtyard-like area to our apartment. Our neighbors, God bless them, came to meet us at the Sheridan to help us tote our luggage back home. We could have done it on our own, but it would have been cumbersome so I didn't hesitate to accept their offer to help.

After our luggage was off the bus, accounted for and we all had a bag in hand ready to head for the apartment building it started to pour. I didn't much care as we were hot and sweaty anyhow. Nathan tried to convince me that since he was already wet it should count as his nightly bath. I agreed he was wet, but explained the rain did nothing more than relocate his dirt.

Everyone has been on a different sleep schedule. The first couple of days Caden wouldn't sleep more than three hours at a time. The first night I don't think he slept at all. I heard him riding his trike around the house, playing with his cars and occasionally his sweet little voice (as some have described it) amplified through his keyboard microphone (Thanks for that gift, Angie!).

We are slowly getting adjusted to the time change. Yesterday the kids slept until 1am. The kids and I were all asleep by 4pm the previous day so sleeping through until 1am was a great accomplishment. This morning we were all up by 3am. Darin has been taking the kids for bike rides every morning at 3am. Might as well, they're up.

Sunday Darin stepped outside our apartment door and heard a loud noise that sounded like an alarm. He went to the open window near the elevator in our hallway (the Japanese typically don't air condition hallways...saves money and energy) to see what it was. He said in disbelief, "I think it's cicadas!" It was. Weirdest thing. There are so many you can see them flying from tree to tree. They look like small birds. And they are SO loud! I had to speak into Caden's ear for him to hear me outside. The sound is the same intensity as a smoke alarm and is quite annoying. I can't believe it. I've never witnessed such a thing. Last year when we arrived it was in the middle of August. Either the cicadas had already peaked by then or their population increased exponentially this year. Weird.

A big apology to everyone we missed seeing during this home leave. It was unbelievably busy and hectic. Much more than I expected. Hopefully next year we will be better prepared and can visit with more of you.

I'll do my best to keep up with the emails. After receiving such a positive response the pressure is on! Enjoy the rest of your summer!