July 20, 2010 The Move

As most of you know, our family decided in late January that we would move to Kobe, Japan this summer with Phillip's job at Procter and Gamble. We also decided that I would take a 2 year leave of absence with the company.  Even though Phillip has been going back and forth since March, it has not seemed real to me. I was still enjoying Cincinnati friends, the children's school, activities, sports, and my work. Now, we have arrived in Kobe. This is real. The journey has begun for Maloney Adventures Abroad.

This is my first time to blog.  Hopefully, I will learn as I go!

Getting Ready for the move

While June was fun for us to spend time with friends and enjoy Jacob and Matthew's baseball and Matthew and Jessica's swimming, it was pretty stressful. We had to decide for all of our belongings which of 6 buckets the item belonged: pack with us in suitcases, air shipment, sea shipment, storage, Goodwill, or trash. Also, Phillip was out of town a lot of that time, and my oldest brother passed away. We sold our house and our van. Very stressful. Not a lot of sleep. I honestly think I only survived because of wonderful family and friends and many, many prayers!

Then, the movers arrived July 6. We had a brutal last week of cleaning, purging, packing, and saying goodbye to wonderful friends. I cannot thank our friends enough for everything they did for us - taking us to dinner, having us over for dinner, taking our children for play dates, helping to clean out the house and do various chores around the house in preparation for sale..... more importantly, for spending time with us, praying for us, and providing words of encouragement. A special thanks to Dawn and Melissa for the awesome going away party and for all the many, many things you did for us. Also, thanks to the Petermans not only for a place to stay, but 7am breakfast before our departure flight on July 11! I cannot possibly thank Jeff enough for doing everything from fixing a faucet to returning our internet box for us. To all of our friends - Thanks and we miss you!

One last goodbye to our Terrace Park home

Enjoying Hawaii

At last, we arrived in Maui. We stayed with Phillip's brother and family at a beautiful condo in Hanoi Kai overlooking the Pacific Ocean and multiple pools. Wow. This was our first trip to Hawaii, and I honestly think it could be the most beautiful place on earth. We snorkeled, did boogie boards, hung out at the pools and beaches, and experienced a luau! The week went quickly, and we headed out to the airport.

The move trip

On Sunday July 18, we flew from Maui to Honolulu. After a 4 hour delay, our flight was canceled. Delta sent us to the Marriott Waikiki Beach. We had a suite with amazing views. Late that night, we still had not heard about our flight. We called the front desk and were told to catch a 7:30am shuttle for the airport and that more information would be delivered to our room. The next morning, I found a piece of paper slid under our door which read: "To Whom it may concern. Delta flight 677 canceled 18 July. Shuttle bus 7:30am." That's it! Where do we catch the shuttle? When is our flight? The shuttle never showed, so we took a cab. Once we got to talk to a Delta agent, we found that we were re-routed through Toyko to Osaka (Kansai airport). Alas, we boarded the flight for 10am departure. The kids had so much fun in business class. It was like an amusement park - food, drink, their own movie screen, reclining seats, slippers, and oh yeah, those cool things that cover your eyes for sleeping!

We went to Sky Club in Tokyo at 1:10pm and were told that we had to take a bus to Terminal 2 to check in with Japan Airlines for 5:20 flight. So, we left our backpacks and headed to check in. This all went just fine until we tried to take the bus back to Terminal 1. The driver would not let us on the bus. He pointed to our flight # and terminal # and he said (in Japanese) that we had to stay. After trying multiple times to explain that we had to get our bags, he finally let us on the bus and said, "no lounge. come here." Well, once we were back at Sky Club with our boarding passes in hand, we, of course, stayed to enjoy the sushi, snacks, and drinks. Then, we just hoped that the same driver would not pick us up.... well, he did. Fortunately, there were no additional issues!

We finally arrived at Kansai on Tuesday, July 20, at about 7pm. (Note we crossed the international date line.) We took a 1 hour bus ride to our apartment building. Phillip and Jacob ran inside "Daiei" or "Gourmet City" to get milk before they closed at 9pm. While waiting outside, Matthew said, "I just think Terrace Park is my home. I want to go home." That boy just breaks my heart. The kids checked out the apartment and settled in for the night.

We are really here.

In the words of my daughter Jessica, "Peace and Love."

Tina