A Few Funny Things Happened

On Wednesday we went to Tamagawa Pre-school. This is the school Willem went to when we were here last time, so we all go together and spend the day at the school. At lunch time we usually split up and eat with different classes. I (Christy) ate with the four year old class. I think I got the best table company. One little boy entertained me throughout the meal with his questions. Of course there was the usual "Why are your eyes blue?". Then this little boy came up with some new stuff. First he asked me if Alina (the previous teacher) had a cold. Alina has been gone since mid-December. That is one bad cold. Then he asked me if I had had a baby. I said yes, over two years ago. He said "oh two years ago a baby came out of your mouth." I said "not quite", and left it at that.

Later that evening we were on our way home on the train. Xavier was upset as we got on the train because he refused to eat his dinner so we refused to give him candy. An older Japanese man who had some sake after work generously gave his seat to Terence and Xavier. He was very concerned about Xavier and he also thought he was cute. So for the 15 minute ride he tried to comfort Xavier and pet his head and hand and talked to Terence about the challenges of parenting. This man also had three sons. He was really very sweet. I got to thinking about what he would tell his wife when he got home. You see blond heads are very rare here and to see three of them in various sizes is virtually unheard of. So he tells his wife I gave up my seat on the train to a little blond boy, then behind me was another little blond boy slightly bigger and next to him was bigger blond boy. Will she believe him or think that he had way to much to drink.

Willem's Journal

Here is the promised entry from Willem's journal

1-23-09
Today we got up and ate breakfast. Then we got on the train and went to Ochanomizu. We went to the Christian bookstore. While we were there I did a lot of stuff. I figured out how an old time music box works and I saw a movie all in Japanese. I also got a traditional Japanese comic book Bible. After that we went to Yoshinoya. It is a restaurant. It is like McDonald's. It is a traditional Japanese fast food place. First you order your food and about three minutes later it is right in front of you. We ordered rice with beef on it. Then we got on the train and went to Asakusa. We were in the back of the train and looked out the back window and saw the train pass the stations. When we got to Asakusa we walked to the drum museum. It was awesome. Some drums we got to play as loud as we wanted and some we couldn't play. There was one that made this loud weird noise when you wiped a wet towel over it. Then we went to Mos Burger. It is a restaurant. We got some plain strong coffee. Daddy gave us some but we didn't know what it was until we tried it. Tai hated it. He kept saying BLEH! BLEH! BLEH! the rest of the time we ate. Then we went to the temple. In front of the temple is the Lightning Gate. On one side there was the Thunder God and on the other side was the Wind God. Then between the temple and the Lightning gate were lots of vendors selling everything from crazy toys to ice cream. Once we got to the temple there was a huge Japanese Lantern hanging in front of the door. The door was locked so we couldn't go in. After that we walked all the way back to the train station. Then we rode the train to Shibuya. On the train we were at the front. We saw almost everything the driver could see. Once we got to Shibuya station we went out and saw the statue of Hachiko. We took a few pictures of the statue but then the camera died so we went up to Starbucks to see the famous crossing. It was crowded! Sometimes people were still crossing when cars were driving. The we went home.
Fast Fact: Hachiko Plaza is a big meeting place

Not Covered in Ash

We were planning on posting a blog entry here from Willem's journal, but we figure you may want us to set your minds at ease about the volcanoes that have been erupting here in Japan.

Yes, apparently Mt. Asama, which is about 90 miles from here did erupt this morning and did rain ash upon some parts of Tokyo. Oddly enough, we were in downtown Tokyo this morning and didn't notice anything. In fact, we didn't realize anything was up until we were watching the news this evening. Unfortunately, the news was in Japanese, so we had to check the internet for English news about the eruption, and most of the English stories seem pretty scary. There was a second eruption in the southern part of Japan.

Looking back on the day, something did seem a little out of place this morning. While we were on the train, Terence looked out and commented that there were some pretty dirty cars out there this morning. As a rule, people keep their cars pretty clean here. I can't say for sure the cars were covered in ash, but it is a possibility.

Apparently the eruption could continue for a while, but they don't seem to be expecting anything that could harm us.

Also we have a praise from Sunday. When we arrived here there were no children coming to Sunday school. To encourage more interest we decided to do a mini musical with the children. Our first practice was Sunday morning. We had two families come to the practice and one family even stayed for Church and fellowship time after.

We will post Willem's journal tomorrow.

Things our Boys Notice

We have discovered that we are slipping back into our Japanese ways without even realizing it. Sometimes it takes the boys to notice these things. The other day Willem was listening as Christy was talking to one of the preschool teachers about the previous week's lesson, which the other teacher had missed. Willem, who had been at the class, wondered why Christy said "Maybe we sang the ABC song and read the story about Samuel." Later he asked us why Christy would say "maybe" for something she knew very well she had done. We explained to him that in Japan it is not usual to speak in such definite terms. Although she was speaking in English, Christy phrased it in the way the Japanese do, but she didn't even realize that she was doing it until Willem pointed it out. I wonder how many of these idiosyncrasies we will bring back to the US with us when we return.

Getting Adjusted

We have been here about a week and a half now and are starting to get into the swing of things again. For Christy and Terence the adjustments are more a matter of getting back into the way of doing things in Japan. For example, we have to separate our garbage here. We have burnable and non-burnable garbage, as well as a variety of recycled trash, each of which gets picked up on different days. Add to this the fact that in our neighborhood you now have to put your burnable trash in special yellow bags and the non-burnable in special pink bags, which we didn't know about at first. I had the distinct privilege of going out near midnight last night to retrieve my burnable trash from the garbage collection site because the city wouldn't pick it up. Each bag also contained a note telling me to use the approved yellow bags.
The boys are having a great time learning about Japanese culture and food. Last weekend we visited Jindaiji temple, which is a nearby temple famous for it's soba noodles. Around the temple there are all kinds of traditional shops selling snacks, meals and souvenirs. One shop we often went to was a paint your own pottery shop. We made each of the boys their own tea cups with their names written on them in Japanese. We also ate noodles sitting outside by a little pond with Koi and a waterfall. Our final stop that day was the hospital where Tai was born last time we were in Japan.
We are also spending a lot of time teaching at the pre-schools. The boys are welcome there too and are having fun helping the kids in English class and learning Japanese language, games and stories. We also are enjoying getting to know the children at the schools and getting reacquainted with the teachers we remember from before.

Back in Japan

Well, we made it to Japan. Our flights went well, with no delays and easy transfers. All the boys did great on the flights. Even Xavier did quite well. All together it was 24 hours of travel door to door. We are starting to get settled into our new apartment. Our big adventure today was a walk to the local department/grocery store to buy groceries and some other things we need. We were pleasantly surprised to find there were very few things we needed to get because the the people of Nishi Kunitachi Church of God had come to clean, set up and move things into our apartment the day before we came. They even stocked our fridge with a few items we would need.

There were a few interesting things that happened on the trip. As we reached cruising altitude on our first flight, Tai looked out of the plane window and said "Hey, this is better than Google Earth." Also, while we were on approach to Narita airport, Xavier took a look out the window and noticed we were coming lower to the water and started to get somewhat upset. He calmed down after we closed the window, however. All the boys loved going through Tokyo on the bus in the evening, seeing all the neon lights, Tokyo Disney Resort, and the Tokyo tower. Even Xavier took lots of pictures of the tower with his toy camera.

Tomorrow we look forward to worshipping at Nishi Kunitachi Church of God and seeing the rest of the congregation. Another pastor will preach, so we don't have any responsibilities right away.

One last thing. Contact with us will be a little difficult at first as we don't have a phone or internet connection yet. That should be hooked up sometime next week, so forgive us if we take a little long replying to emails.

Packing and Preparing

How do you pack for 9 weeks with 3 kids in a small apartment in another country with no clothes dryer and cold weather and no car and airline luggage limitations?
That's been challenge we've been dealing with recently. It all started months ago as we began to think about and gather items for the boys schooling that would be easy to take along. Then we began "The Pile" of things to go to Japan. One corner of our room was taken over with luggage, books, warm clothes, and much more.
At this point, we're feeling pretty confident and relieved. With the exceptions of a few items being washed and dried, everyone's clothes are packed, luggage is all chosen, and even the carry on bags are mostly packed. This is actually very good for us because most times we take a trip we are up till 1:00 the night before packing and preparing.
Some people have asked how we plan and pack for such a situation. One thing we have going for us is we are familiar with Japan and what is available, so we know what we can and can't get there. For example, we know there is a great chain of stores that sell inexpensive fleece jackets for the whole family. We know that the Japanese version of anti-itch cream is much better than the American version. We know it is better to get winter pajamas for the boys in Japan if they don't have enough. We also know that shoes are critical because we will be doing a lot of walking, and shoes in Christy's and Terence's sizes are virtually unavailable. We know the clothes we pack need to be warm for cooler temperatures, but not too bulky so they will air dry faster, because we won't have a clothes dryer in Japan (most people don't).
In the last week we found out that we will have a different, slightly bigger apartment with three total rooms (not including bathroom) instead of the two room apartment we had before, so the boys will have their own room. We learned we'll be going by bus from the airport, which is a bit of a disappointment for the boys who were looking forward to their first train adventure. It is a relief for us, however, as we won't have to worry so much about maneuvering luggage and 3 sleepy boys through train stations. We also learned that our church family in Japan will be cleaning and preparing our apartment for us before we arrive.
Things are coming together.