August 27 - Starting to feel like home

The children have started school, and the sea shipment has arrived with our furniture and other personal belongings. Now, it feels like we are actually staying here!

2010 First day of school

School

Jessica's first grade teacher is Ms. Vest. She is the "Mrs. Concannon" of first grade here. She is very kind and caring, and everyone says she is a great teacher. Jessica is proud to ride her bike to school with her brothers. Actually, she is fine to ride home by herself. She is also proud to do her homework. She has math, spelling, and reading homework every day. Jessica will get a chance to be star of the day in November - much the way that she did in Terrace Park last year! Here, you get to be line leader and do show and tell every day of your "star" week. Jessica is just growing up before my eyes. I really enjoyed reading her class list which shows the true diversity of the school: Kan, Owen, Kikuno, Kazuya, Emi, Rhia, Lily, Jessica, Andrew, Fabi, Cherin, Varisha, Case, Yoto, Laura, Teren, and  Sakura. Jessica will have a spelling test on the names of her new friends!

Matthew's teacher is Mr. Wilson. (His son is Jacob's good friend Andy.) Matthew was very excited to get Mr. Wilson and as well to have 3 new friends that he had already met in his class: Jack (from Cincinnati), Kyler (from North Carolina), and Asuka (friend he met playing baseball). Matthew has about 45-60 minutes of homework each night, and typically includes reading, spelling, and math. He is playing rugby on Sundays, flag football on Thursdays (on the same team as Jacob), and will start futsal (soccer) next Thursday (just one hour per week).

Jacob has Mr. Chambers for advisory (homeroom). Then, he has 8 periods which alternate throughout the week so that he has every class 3 times per week. His buddy Andy has 4 classes with him, so that is a bonus. He has about 60-90 minutes of homework each night, and he is already writing the Hiragana alphabet in his Japanese class. Middle school baseball started this week, and he will have his first game on Saturday. Jacob is also playing flag football. Oh, and guess who is now on the coaching staff? You guessed it. Phillip could not help himself.

I have been to one new parent orientation, and (of course) I am already committed to be the first grade PTA representative. I also plan to substitute teach while I am here. My first impressions of the Canadian Academy are very, very positive.

Settling in

Did we really ship all of this stuff? Our sea shipment arrived last Friday, and I am still unpacking and trying to get organized. Our furniture looks big in this apartment. The funny thing is that we brought 3 televisions. The only one that is even hooked up is the one for xbox. I do anticipate watching ESPN and college football in just a few days, though. (Roll Tide!)

Night out

Last Saturday, we attended our first professional rugby game to watch the Docomo Red Hurricanes play the Kobe Steelers. The stadium is pretty small, so we were right by the field and could hear every hit. Wow! It is cool to learn about a new sport. After the game, we went with the coaches and players to a Brazilian restaurant to eat dinner. Check out the size of these dudes in the picture! They were very friendly, though.

I hope to complete the unpacking in the next few days. We have 2 baseball games on Saturday and then we will be sporting our yukatas and happi coats in the afternoon and evening at our first Japanese festival. Stay tuned for next blog to see Phillip in a komono!

Peace and Love.

Tina

August 17 - Learning as we go

The Canadian Academy interviews and testing went well. We are ready to get started, and we all have a lot to learn about the school. I have to buy indoor shoes for all the kids. They must wear these at all times while inside and use these for gym/PE (cannot mark up the new gym floor). They change into outdoor shoes for recess and departure. School lunches are over $5.00 each. Yikes. We will definitely figure out packed lunches.

We had a very busy and fun weekend. On Friday night, Phillip and I went to dinner with a couple that we met our first week here. We walked a couple of blocks to a Korean restaurant, where our friend Andrew said to the owner, "omakasecheman", which means "I am putting myself in your hands." The food just kept coming. I am not sure what all we ate, but it was fantastic. We are very fortunate to have found terrific friends here already. Cassia is from Brazil, and Andrew is from New Zealand. Their kids are great as well. (All the kids stayed at our apartment. At one point, they got a call from the apartment below because the kids were running. Jacob responded by saying he was sorry, and that we were used to living in a house!)

On Saturday morning, Phillip and the boys went with our friend to his professional rugby team training. In the afternoon, we hooked up with a different family (Suda is Indian; Akemi is Japanese) with 2 boys (Akira - 7th and Asuka - 4th grade) who play baseball with the Japanese youth league. They did some baseball drills and then played wiffle ball. The boys just hit it off. It is amazing to see how the children can connect so easily.

Sundays .... While Japanese people are very respectful of each other, religion does not appear to be very important to them. Many, many activities are all held on Sundays. We have very much struggled with letting the boys play rugby because training is always on Sunday mornings.

A big decision ... As background, most of our friends know that Matthew (9) has struggled most with this move. He has shed many tears, and just wanted to stay in Terrace Park with friends and play American football. He asked if he could at least play rugby (after watching Invictus!). I had told him he could not play rugby because they do not wear helmets. Well, as fate would have it, the first family we met here (friends noted above) was a rugby family. Matthew was so excited to hear that they actually do wear helmets. He has loved the practices and really, really wants to play. Jacob has decided not to play, which is fine since middle school baseball starts next week, and the boys are checking out flag football on Thursday. (Two sports at a time is more than enough!) So, Phillip and I spent much time thinking about this and decided to try out a plan. So, on Sunday, Matthew went to training and the rest of us went to Kobe Union Church (the only English speaking, interdenominational Christian church here). After church, we went to watch Matthew. Our plan? On Sunday afternoons, we have a family meeting where we take turns taking Matthew through the message and discussing. We hope that this will not only help Matthew to continue to learn on those weeks he is not physically at church, but will also help the rest of family to put our learning into action each week. We'll continue to pray about this and see how it goes over the next few weeks. There are not many children at the church, and no formal children's program beyond Sunday School. (There is now a youth director for middle and high school. I am sure that we will get to know him well, but he was out on Sunday.) It will be important for Phillip and me to ensure that the children continue to grow in their faith as we seek opportunities to interact with other Christian children. (There is also a Catholic church here where a number of Americans attend.)

On the rugby front .... this was the first time I got to see a training. Imagine Matthew as the only American kid (note tall boy with blond hair and blue eyes) on this huge turf field filled with Japanese kids playing rugby. It was amazing to watch him interact with the team when he cannot speak the language. With sports, there is definitely a language that goes beyond speaking. He seemed to understand what the coaches were asking him to do, and they would demonstrate a lot of the time. The boys would pat each other on the backs when they made good plays. The smiles were also universal. The coaches and teammates call him "Matt-o." Matto got his uniform, and his first game will be September 5.

The boys had their first sleepovers in Japan last night. We have open house at the Canadian Academy tomorrow, and then school starts Thursday. Our sea shipment arrives on Friday.

Please pray for us as we continue on our journey.

Peace and Love.
Tina

August 11 - meeting friends

The rental car company brought us a van that had been "deodorized". Let's just say that it still smelled like smoke! So, we had to wait a few days to finally get a non-smoking Toyota Corolla. A bit small, but worth the clean smell!

The weekend went quickly. On Saturday, we had a Maloney family wiffle ball game on a dirt field outside our building. The dirt fields are very common here. Running in the dirt (and rocks) can be challenging. It was easy for me to adjust, but not those crazy competitive boys! (Ok, I am competitive too, but I feared injury more than defeat at this point.) Matthew took 2 serious dives and walked away with just some scrapes. Jessica proved that she can hit! She wasn't much for playing the outfield though. The playground was too close by. We found Ikea and Sports Depot. Then, on Saturday night, we watched a 40 minute firework show from our bedroom balcony. Simply incredible. August is fireworks month in Japan, and Kobe hosts the 3rd largest show. We just happened to have a great view.

On Sunday, the boys played rugby for 3 hours while Phillip played softball with a Procter and Gamble team. Then, we went to the fitness center where Matthew swam 200 laps! Afterward, the boys climbed 24 flights of stairs. Are you kidding me? Matthew said that he wasn't really that tired, but he did sleep well, though. :)

Phillip took Monday off and we headed to the Kobe Oji Zoo. The drive should only take a few minutes, but the traffic was bad and the GPS was a bit challenging. We did find it though, and loved it. Our favorites were the Giant panda, koala, and the mother kangaroo with her little joey in her pouch. (see pictures). We noticed her belly was moving. Then, we noticed a little tail pop out. Then, a head. We watched for 15 minutes. This little face would pop out, and then the mom would "smack" the head back in! I assume this was for the child's own safety! The other amazing thing was how close we were to all the animals. The lions and tigers were just across the glass from us. Wow! It rained, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. This is definitely a trip we will make again.

We met new friends this week. On Monday, we had dinner with a nice Procter and Gamble couple from Belgium who lives in our building. (Kids in 6th, 4th, and 2nd.) Today, we met an American family, the Wilsons, (from Florida) that has a 7th grade son! Yea! Both of the adults teach at the Canadian Academy, and have been here for 1 year. They also have daughters in 5th grade and Kindergarten. We hung out most of the day. The boys connected right away, playing football and soccer on the new turf school field. The dad is also the middle school soccer coach. Cool. It turns out that Jacob and his new friend are the only 2 American boys in 7th grade. I am glad they have each other. The funny thing is that my boys showed up in Bama football gear, and these guys (dad and son) were in Florida gear. This should be fun. We are very happy to have new friends!

Tomorrow, we go to school for kids to have testing and interviews. Phillip and I will also be interviewed. The kids will be fine.... Let's hope Phillip and I do ok. :)

Peace and Love.
Tina

August 3 - still feels like vacation

We have been in Japan for 2 full weeks now. Yet, it still feels like we are on vacation. We had a conversation over dinner the other night about why that is. Here is what the kids had to say: we have to take an elevator every day; our apartment is only one floor; we are doing new activities every day; it is just our family. Pretty good comments, I thought!

We did get a rental car on Saturday. Phillip went down to reception to meet the rental car driver. However, at 10am, the phone rang here. I could only understand 2 words: Maloney and Orix (the rental car company name). I finally got him to give me his phone number. (I now know "denwa bango" means phone number). I called the front desk to call him to get him to our building. One of the "guest liaisons" at front reception helped to translate between Phillip and the rental car driver. (These folks are so important. I need help from them almost every day.) The van smelled so much like smoke - even just opening the door. We used Febreze and kept the windows down much of the time. We had requested a non-smoking car which has proved to be very difficult to get. The rental car driver plugged phone numbers into our Japanese GPS for the aquarium, Costco, Ikea, and our home. It speaks to us in Japanese, but we can follow the pictures!

The Osaka Aquarium was amazing. It is known for being one of the largest and best in the world. It lived up to that expectation. Our favorites were the whale shark, giant Japanese spider crab, and the beautiful mommy and baby dolphins. We then walked around the harbor shops. I continue to be amazed by the beauty here overlooking the Pacific. We then headed to Costco. Holy cow. It has its own parking garage, and it was packed. The escalator is flat so you can take your shopping carts. Hot dogs and pizza are as good here as in Cincinnati! Fortunately, Phillip drove during our adventures.

Osaka Aquarium

Giant Japanese Spider Crab

Having some fun with shark exhibit

The boys went to rugby training (practice) this weekend. They loved it. Matthew got to fully participate. Jacob's age group was a little further ahead, but he got to participate for much of the 3 hour training. We will decide this week about playing once we get all the club information. Jacob will play middle school baseball, so we will see.

The fitness center has been such a gift. We spent much of Sunday afternoon there. The kids enjoy doing laps and sitting in the hot tub. Phillip and I also get to enjoy the dry sauna as well as the wet sauna. I have not yet been able to get all the way into the cold bath (17 degrees Celcius....quite chilly!) Matthew swam 100 laps! (Each lap is 20 meters.) So, on Tuesday, I took the kids back to the pool. This time, big brother Jacob wanted to keep up with little brother. Matthew swam 132 laps. Jacob swam 120 laps. Jessica swam 10 laps. Here is the big news for those of you who know me well.... I swam 20 laps! After hyperventilating at a pool as a child (brown paper bag and everything), I have been quite nervous around water and don't like my face in the water. Jacob helped me to snorkel in Hawaii and do boogie boarding, but it was tough. Now, Matthew is helping me to swim. I did freestyle, backstroke, and breast stroke. So, I may not be up to my kids' level, but I am overcoming a huge fear. I hope to continue with the kids. We agreed that we all have to try new things on our adventure! :)

I truly believe there is a reason that we are here. Please pray for us and please stay in touch. We loved doing google chat with the Vianello family this weekend, and Facebook chatting with Dawn and Melissa. Modern technology is terrific. We miss you guys very much!

Peace and Love.
Tina

July 31, 2010 Our new home

Our new home is in Rokko Island, a man-made island in the southern part of Kobe, Japan. There is so much here that you really never have to leave the island. We have the Canadian Academy (the kids' school), Procter and Gamble offices, grocery stores, Family Mart, post office, bank, hair salon, doctors, hospital, restaurants, shopping, McDonalds, Starbucks, and even a water park! There is also a 5K "green belt" that goes around the edge of the island where many folks walk and ride bikes. However, when we do want to venture off the island, the train system is just terrific. Oh, and we are getting a rental van today. This should be interesting as the steering wheel is on right side of car, and we drive on the left side of the road. I think I will let Phillip drive today. :)

We live on the 27th floor of an apartment building called the Entente. We have a foyer, family room, kitchen/breakfast room, 4 bedrooms, and 3.5 bathrooms. This is quite large for Japan - even the wealthiest Japanese live in small apartments or small homes. The Entente was developed to accommodate foreigners (spoiled Americans!).

Japan is very safe. Many young children take the train alone to get to school. I even left Matthew and Jessica alone one day for about an hour to go to cell phone store and grocery store. I was not a bit worried. Much like Terrace Park, no one seems to lock doors. Japan is also very clean. The taxi drivers wear gloves and have linen on the seats. The toilet is truly a favorite. It has a heated seat, 3 different sprays and a dryer. Jacob asked if we can get a flat screen in the bathroom!  LOL!

Some of the summer vacationers are starting to return. We met 1 neighbor and 3 other nice families (2 of which live on the island). The families are from Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, and New Zealand. Wow. Isabella (3rd grade) came over and asked Jessica to play. Then, Matthew asked her brother Thomas (6th grade) to throw the football around.  Cassia invited me to sit and talk. We played for quite a while downstairs in a "common area" that has restaurants, shops, and shallow water where the parents hang out and kids play. We then went to their apartment for snacks and Wii. Cassia's husband (Andrew) is the head coach of a local professional rugby team The Docomo Red Hurricanes. Matthew came running over to me at the river mall and said, "I am going to play rugby Mom.  They wear helmets!" The McCormicks have invited our boys to try Club rugby. That should be interesting. I am open to it now that I know they do wear protective head gear! It was great to see the kids playing with other kids. I must also admit it was very nice to meet 2 ladies (who spoke great English) with whom to have conversation! We will see the McCormicks again this weekend.

In addition to the Japanese language and new foods, we will need to get used to the metric system, and shoe sizing in centimeters. It is customary, as well, to leave your shoes outside the door or just inside the door. I really like that custom.

On Wednesday night, we went for a family bike ride. In searching for where to get on the green belt, we found a bridge and rode our bikes over an area of the Pacific Ocean. That was a bit of a rush for me just looking at the enormity of the ocean. I was on a bike just above it! We found industry on the other side of the bridge, so we just turned around. There was a lot of lighting on the bridge and we saw many folks walking and riding bikes. I imagine that many workers walk that path every day and night. We did find the green belt and found parts of the ride extremely beautiful. I think we will really enjoy this path. We went to a Chinese restaurant but decided to do take out because people were smoking in the restaurant. I am not sure we will ever get used to that.

On Thursday, we joined the Entente fitness club. The kids can go on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. We enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool and the hot tub. (Note that they have swim caps that all must wear in the pool.) They also had a cold bath for adults only. It was 17 degrees Celcius - that is 62.6 degrees Farenheit. Yikes.

On Friday, I took the kids to the water park. There were 2 big slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and a couple of kid play areas. We had fun, though it was certainly nothing like the Beach Water Park in Cincinnati that the kids love. We had 3 overall observations. First, we were the only ones there that were not Japanese. People looked at us. Some of the high school age boys laughed at our boys. It is tough when you cannot even understand what they are saying. Jacob and I talked about how it must have felt to be the only African American or the only Japanese child at Terrace Park Elementary. I think we will learn valuable life lessons on our journey. My second observation was that no one was overweight. Ok, now that is also quite different from the Beach Water Park! My final observation was that everyone is quite conservative (even with those thin bodies). I only saw maybe 3 little girls in bikinis and only 2 adult women in bikinis. Many of them had on bathing suits with shirts or even swim jackets. We decided not to eat at the park because we could not figure out what food was available. McDonalds was a welcome feel of home after the park. We have been here for 10 days and made 2 trips to McDonalds. We have agreed that we will slowly pull ourselves away...

We are off to the Osaka aquarium and shopping at Ikea today. I hope to post more pictures now that our good friend Nick gave me directions on how to post a slideshow! Finally, it was wonderful to talk to Grandma, Julie, and Dawn this week. Jacob also enjoyed skyping with Jeffrey.

We miss our friends and family back home.

Peace and Love.
Tina