Maloney Adventures

Nusa Dua in Bali, Indonesia December 24-28

2012-02-07T11:47:00.019+09:00

On Saturday, December 24, our driver took us from Kuta to Nusa Dua. He stopped along the way for Phillip to run into a grocery store, and he even helped Matthew to find a bathroom. We entered the gated hotel area in Nusa Dua and found the Grand Hyatt. In a word - beautiful.

View from main lobby of Grand Hyatt

We were escorted to the Club lounge to check in. We sat in the lounge and were served cool towels, drinks, and snacks. We learned that President Obama had just stayed at the Hyatt a month earlier. Cool. Then, we checked into our adjoining rooms that overlooked the gardens. We could actually see our rooms from the lounge area.

Check in at the Grand Hyatt

View of our rooms from the club lounge

We played at the pool and the beach. Then, we took showers and headed to the daily happy hour for drinks and appetizers. This would definitely be a daily event for us! The kids really enjoyed feeding the fish and ducks, especially Jessica.

We watched a crane patiently stalk his fish prey. Then he dove in to get it. He twisted the fish around in his mouth and swallowed it whole. National Geographic material! We also enjoyed meeting folks from several different countries.

The crane finally got his fish.

This guy looked like a cross between and lizard and a komodo dragon.

Matthew had been feeling a bit ill. He was very congested, and his belly hurt. Phillip took Matthew to the doctor on site at the Hyatt. Yes, a doctor at the hotel. Amazing. He confirmed a sinus infection and gave him antibiotics. He also thought Matthew's belly was likely upset because of travel and gave him some medicine. After room service, we changed clothes and walked to the Hyatt ballroom for the 11:00pm Christmas service that was put together by the Christian churches in Bali. This was a moving experience for us. The pastor started by having folks stand up by country. There were people there literally from all over the world. The service included traditional bible readings and songs, yet they also had local bells and a Balinese dance done to song. Our favorite song of the night was "Jesus, Born on This Day." This song will forever remind us of Christmas Eve in Bali. I kept thinking about how hard it can be sometimes to be Christian in the US. Imagine how difficult it would be to be Christian in a non-Christian country. At midnight, we had communion and candlelight singing. I am so grateful to celebrate the birth of Jesus with my family and in this incredible setting of God's children from all over the world.

Bell choir during Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve Service at Grand Hyatt

We found the next 3 days to be very relaxing. On Christmas Day, we played at the pools and the beach, met a lovely Japanese couple at the happy hour, and then went to Salsa Verde (an Italian restaurant on the beach) for dinner.

Hot tub

My boys!

My girl!

Christmas dinner at Salsa Verde

On December 26 & 27, we had quite the mix of rain, sun, rain, sun. We walked to a big open area called Bali Collections for shopping and for lunch. When the sun was out, we would go to the pool and beach. When it was raining hard, we would play cards and watch Christmas movies. When I think of Nusa Dua, I will always remember the relaxing family time. On December 27, our last day, the sun came out in the late afternoon so we were able to grab some photos on the beach.

I have said this before ... Jessica makes friends everywhere we go. On this night, she met a Chinese family that lives in California.

We so appreciate the wonderful Hyatt staff for making our stay special. One lady was with us every day, smiling and calling the children by name. We were sad to say goodbye and leave the club lounge one last time.

December 28 was a LONG day. We had a 3:15am wake up call in order to make our 6am flight from Bali to Kuala Lumpur. We then had a 5 hour layover at the KL airport. We had to get special approval to go from one area of the airport to another so that we had access to Starbucks, McDonalds, and other shopping during this time. Alas, we boarded the flight for Osaka. This flight was a little better than the original one. The food was still bad, but most of us slept for a while, and the cabin was a comfortable temperature. The bus from Kansai airport to our the Kobe Bay Sheraton on Rokko Island was a welcome ride. We were once again happy to be home around 11:00pm.

We had such a wonderful Christmas vacation. Interestingly, it was a bit like having 3 different vacations. First, we were in the big city of Kuala Lumpur. Then, we enjoyed the busyness (lots of people, loud music, lots of shopping, and big waves) of Kuta. Finally, we arrived in Nusa Dua to relax and listen to birds and ducks! We are so very thankful for the many gifts God has given us, including the opportunity to have another amazing adventure. More importantly, we are so thankful for the gift of Jesus Christ.

May peace and love be with you always.

Tina

Kuta in Bali, Indonesia December 20-24

2012-01-27T12:56:00.018+09:00

We arrived at the Denpasar (Bali) airport Tuesday evening December 20. We were greeted by a driver sent from the Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta. Interestingly, we walked through a dark parking area, through piles of dirt and holes, to get to the car. Jessica got really scared and started crying. We loaded the car with Jessica on my lap in the back seat between the boys. We were on a narrow road with lots of cars and motorbikes. The driver told us that we were on a back road to avoid traffic on the main street. A few minutes later, he said we are now on the main street. I must say that there was not much difference in road conditions. We did, however, begin to see lots of shopping and lots of people. After a while, we arrived to a gated security area entrance to Hard Rock Hotel Bali. Security guards checked the front of our car and the trunk. Then, we proceeded to enter the hotel to hear loud rock and roll music and cool hotel employees telling us to "Have a rockin' evening!" It seemed appropriate to have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.

On Wednesday, we had fun at the pool and at the beach. The boys were really digging the waves. In the afternoon, Jessica went to the kids' club, while Jacob and Matthew went to teen club. Matthew told the lady working in the club that he was "eleventeen". She laughed and told him to come on in with his brother. The teen club had a pool table, lots of computers, wii, xbox, ps3, a movie theater, and a "hang out" area with a bar (non alcoholic). Very cool. Phillip and I worked out and had 60 minute balinese massages. Amazing. After showers, we decided to eat at the hotel buffet.

On Thursday, a driver picked us up to go our boat adventure to Lembongan Island. The boat ride was about 50 minutes and was so rough! People were getting sick at a table close to us. We took the sea sickness medicine. I am not sure if it really does anything or just has a placebo effect for most people. At any rate, Matthew and Jessica both got pretty nauseous. Luckily, we made it without full blown sickness. The boat hooked up to a pontoon. We snorkeled, went down the water slide, went off the diving board, had lunch, went in a semi-submersible, took a banana boat ride, and then .... went parasailing! I must admit that I was a bit scared, but it was so cool. Matthew went first as he was the most confident. Jessica and I went together, and I think that might have been good for me to have her with me! We snorkeled a little more and then settled in for the boat ride home. Fortunately, Jacob, Matthew, and Jessica all slept the entire trip back. We boarded a bus back to our hotel.

On Friday, we hung out at the pool for a while until the rain came. The kids all went to the clubs in time for movies. Phillip and I went shopping and then went back for more balinese massages. Why not? We played at the beach and pool again. Jessica met a new friend, Hailey, from Perth, Australia. It made me laugh to see the girls sitting up at the pool bar eating their "chips" (fries). The family headed out for one last Hard Rock Cafe dinner.

Saturday, the boys walked to Waterbom Water Park. Jessica and I finished packing and then went to the pool. After a quick lunch at KFC, a driver took us to Nusa Dua for the third and final leg of our Christmas vacation.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Kuala Lumpur December 18-20, 2011

2012-01-11T11:15:00.010+09:00

On December 18, Matthew left his rugby training a little early so that we could catch the bus to the airport. We had to take the 12:18 bus because the next one was already full. So, we were all checked in and ready by 2:30 for a 4:55 flight! Fortunately, we were able to hang out in the Sky Club with snacks, drinks, and lots of computer time. Alas, we boarded our 7 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. (Somehow I did not remember the flight being that long when I booked it!) We flew Air Asia, which is known as the Asian low cost airline. You have to pay extra for food, blankets, and even to book your seat in advance. Enough said. The service was not very good, and the food was terrible. Worse, though, the plane was hot. We always bring jackets because flights are usually very cold. Not this one. The kids are great travelers, and we bring books, games, computers, & snacks, but this flight made us all grumpy! We finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur. Then, the real ride began... We had to take 2 taxi cabs to fit us and our luggage. Jacob and Jessica stayed with me, while Matthew went with Phillip. (We thought it would be safer to have Jacob with me.) These cabs went so fast (roughly 150 km per hour - that's 93 miles per hour!). They were weaving and passing people, and this was a 45 minute drive. They made NYC cab drivers look tame! We were very happy to arrive safely at the Sheraton Imperial about 1am. Whew. Of course, at this point, the kids were hungry. Phillip and Jessica went to the concierge to ask where to go. The concierge walked them to a convenience store to find snacks because he felt it was too dangerous for them to go alone at that time. I am going to like this hotel service!

On Monday, we got to know the train system. We went first to Batik Batang for breakfast and walked around the shopping area. They have bears that are painted for each country. So cool! We took pictures with all the ones of countries where we have been, and also where we want to go in the spring. After a bit of shopping and sight seeing, we went to McDonalds for lunch. Hey, we try to go to McDs in every country! Oh, importantly, the kids also found Gatorade in US flavors.

We then took the train to Chinatown and Central Market. This was like a giant flea market with all kinds of high end goods, shoes, clothes, as well as souvenirs and jewelry. During a rain storm, we stopped in to have the boys' hair cut. The boys enjoyed the shampoo and head massage. Too funny. We did a little more shopping and then got on the train headed to the hotel. We stopped at the Yellow Cab Pizza Company. Yummy! We finished off the evening with a dip in the pool, showers, and watching English speaking TV in bed. :)

On Tuesday morning, we took the train to the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world and 4th tallest building in the world. We took pictures and walked around the KLCC mall. This mall was gorgeous, and the stores were all completely high end, like Coach, Chanel, etc.

After lunch, we packed up our hotel rooms and went up to Club level for a few last photos of the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur Tower, and the city.

We got a van from the hotel and headed back to the airport. This ride was certainly more comfortable than the one from the airport. After about a 40 minute delay in a crowded airport, we were on the airplane. Next stop? Bali!

Peace and Love,

Tina

December update 2011

2012-01-07T18:16:00.013+09:00

Grandma left on November 20. That night, when we sat down to dinner, Matthew looked at the empty seat where she always sat. Then he burst into tears and said, "Grandma". We do miss her!

On November 24, Jessica's class had their annual music concert and art show. Jess was so much fun to watch as she sang every word with confidence and a smile. She also was very proud of the art work that she had done over the past few months.

Jessica with friends Kan and Luka.

On November 26, Matthew had soccer clinic, while Jacob had basketball games - both at our school, Canadian Academy. Then, the expat adults got together for a big Thanksgiving feast at the Fitzpatricks' (who live right above us). Their kids stayed with ours downstairs for their own party. Jacob was in charge! The food was amazing, and the company terrific. It gave us a little feeling of home.

The next morning, Matthew realized he had left his backpack at CA on Saturday. Jacob went with him to get it before rugby training. However, it was not there. The whole family went back later in the day to look. No luck. On Monday, we checked the school lost and found and the police. Still no luck. I kept thinking it would show up. It is Japan - home of the most honest people in the world! We never found the backpack or any of its contents.

This next week brought a stomach virus to our home. Jacob started it Monday, and then I got it Thursday. Matthew got sick Saturday, and then Phillip on Sunday. Jessica was the only healthy one! Matthew was so sick on Saturday. Yet, he somehow made it to play in the rugby tournament on Sunday. He was so weak at first and had to just nibble on crackers. I was so proud of his effort. He even scored twice! That Sunday afternoon, I was on a mission to wash everything in sight - clothes, sheets, you name it - and spray the house with Lysol. Unfortunately, I washed a jacket that had Jacob's iphone in it. Really? We just lost 2 phones in 1 week? (After getting an extra phone from a friend and going to the Apple store, everyone is back on line!)

Of course, St. Nick came to visit on December 6.

On December 9 & 10, Jacob's Canandian Academy basketball team won the league tournament. They dominated every game. So, now CA has won baseball and basketball championships this school year!! Hey, wait, I know that coach!

Jacob with Joesh and Kai

December always brings fun parties.

Jessica went to a birthday party for 3 classmates - Kan, Fabi, and Chiho. For our baseball friends and Cardinal family, it is interesting to note that Kan's last name is Taguchi. Yes. Kan is So Taguchi's son, born in St. Louis during So's playing time there. So has just finished his career where he started it here in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes. So, his wife Emiko, and Kan are all very friendly and kind. Jacob did not complain at all about walking his sister home from this party! :)

Other parties included ...

...Cookie exchange, bunko white elephant party, as well as Japanese Tea at the Ritz in Osaka. (My pictures at the Ritz are not very good, but they give an idea of how lovely the hotel and tea were.)

... a lovely coffee morning at the home of our British friend, Sandra. I just love the way she says "coffee at mine".

.... and finally a party in Jessica's class on December 16. I am so glad that Jessica is still young enough that I can help with parties! I organized the party and was overwhelmed by parents' participation and generosity. We had so much food and drink! We also collected money for teacher gifts, and had about 20 parents show up to help at the party!

Jessica with her friends Denise, Alex, Chiho, and Karina.

We spent Saturday just hanging out and packing for our winter break trip. On Sunday, December 18, we are off to Kuala Lumpur and Bali!

Peace and Love for the Christmas season!

Tina

Surprise! Nov 1 - Nov 20

2011-12-13T15:39:00.019+09:00

Phillip had spent 10 days in the U.S. The children and I were expecting him home around 10:30pm on Tuesday, November 1. Arriving home this trip, he had to fly into Nagoya, take a train to catch the Shinkansen bullet train, to take a bus to Rokko Island. Whew. I noticed on the Delta website that the plane had landed quite a bit early. I waited for his call. Indeed, it looked like he might make it home around 9:40pm. OK, this makes it very difficult to get 3 kids in bed to sleep! So, we agreed that everyone could read until Dad came home. Then, we would need to try and go right to sleep. I told the children that Dad had hurt his back and needed help with bags, so I went over to meet the bus at the Sheraton to help him roll the bags to our apartment. The kids did not know that I left a camera in the foyer on my way out. The kids did not know that Dad’s back was fine or that he needed help with more than just his bags. They also did not know that Grandma was making a surprise visit! We made our way home and left the bags in the hallway to walk into the apartment. Phillip went first into the kitchen. Jacob came out to give him a hug. Then, Jacob said he noticed a shadow peeking around the door from the family room. (He later said that he thought he was hallucinating!) He raced over to find GRANDMA! They shared a big hug. Matthew ran over for a hug with HUGE eyes and a smile just as big. Then, Jessica realized what was going on and screamed. We all had tears in our eyes. Yes, we had kept the secret for several weeks, and now the wonderful secret was revealed. Grandma is here!

Grandma was a trooper and got up early to see the kids off to school. She had told me on the phone that she did not want to do a lot of tourist attractions like we did last year. Rather, she wanted to spend 2.5 weeks just hanging out with our family. So, she and I went to the fitness center where she got a temporary membership. We decided to go the “water world” as Phillip has so named it. (The part of the gym with pool, hot & cold tubs, and saunas.) I swam laps while Grandma did the walking belt. This belt is made of material like a life jacket. It allows you to walk in the water and do laps for cardio exercise. After our laps, we sat in the hot tub and enjoyed the sauna. Grandma decided to try the Japanese process of hot sauna – cold tub – hot sauna – cold tub. This is supposed to increase muscle recovery and strengthen your heart. We had a great time, and then headed back to the apartment for lunch and to start baking. The next day, of course, was Jessica’s birthday!

We started Jessica’s birthday celebration on Thursday morning with coffee cake and presents.

November 3 is Culture Day in Japan, so Phillip had the day off. We took the train to Sannomiya to look around in shops and met friends at a French restaurant for lunch. We were looking for outfits for our Halloween costume party on Saturday. (Note most of the expats were gone the week before Halloween because of school fall break. So, the party was planned for November 5.) We decided to go as players on the new Hyogo Storks professional basketball team, which a friend coaches. Grandma was to be our official. We found team shirts and decided we would make something for her to wear.

On Friday, Grandma and I spent the morning at the fitness center again. (This will be a theme for the visit.) This time, we went into the equipment part of the gym. While I was on the elliptical, Grandma walked for a while and then rode the bike. We did a few of the nautilus machines and some stretches. Fun workout! We visited the stores that Grandma remembered … Gourmet City, Kobe Grocers, and her favorite 100 yen, which is similar to US dollar stores only with more selection. (With today’s exchange rate, that would be more like the $1.25 store!) We also visited the Costco outlet store on the island.

On Saturday, we took the train to Jacob’s basketball games at Marist International School in Suma. Grandma laughed when she saw the official and said, “I wonder if he has an extra shirt I could wear.” I said, “Ask him.” Well, she did! Amazingly, he went into his office and brought out 2 shirts from which she could choose! He said that I could return it when I come back to Marist in December. Only in Japan! Then, he told her to wait one more minute. He returned with a new whistle and told her it was a gift from him. Unbelievable. Needless to say, Grandma looked the best of any of us that night at the party!

Over the next 2 weeks....

We celebrated Christmas (complete with a small Christmas tree and Christmas music) and Matthew’s birthday (complete with ribs and coffee cake).

We watched Jessica play soccer and then win 4th place in a Japanese gymnastics league tournament.

Opening Ceremony

Jessica with her friend Isabella at the gymnastics tournament

Jessica won 4th place in her age group.

We cheered on Matthew as he played in a rugby tournament. We watched Jacob play basketball and perform in the middle school play “Murder in the Knife Room”. Yes, he actually got to play the part of "Diehard Alabama Fan." The wardrobe was easy, and I think he also found it easy to stay in character! :)

We spent lots of time hanging out as a family, having dinner on the balcony, and playing Euchre and Pictionary. Jessica and Grandma did lots of baking, too. Grandma and I spent tons of time in the fitness center – the gym and the “water world”. I think my favorite day was when Grandma raced a very nice Japanese woman wearing the walking belts. She said, “I just had to beat her.” True Maloney spirit! Most of all, we just enjoyed spending time with Grandma. We are so very blessed to have such a wonderful mother (to Phillip and to me too) and grandmother. I often say that I pray that one day my grandchildren will love me as much as my kids love her.

Thanks for making the long journey again Grandma!

Peace and Love,

Tina

Fall break in Saipan: October 20-27

2011-11-22T16:42:00.015+09:00

On Thursday evening, October 20, the kids and I caught the bus to the airport, checked in, and of course, had noodles at their favorite noodle shop. It has become tradition. :) Our itinerary was to fly from Osaka to Saipan via Guam. We left at 9:00pm, gained an hour, and arrived about 1:45am. Fortunately, the four of us had an entire row on the plane. Matthew and Jessica could both lay down across 2 seats. Jacob and I were tall enough to use the "head wings" that fold in to "catch" your head when you fall asleep. After snacks, we all settled in to nap for about 60 to 90 minutes. Once we arrived, we were able to quickly go through Customs as we were the only Americans arriving on that flight. The Customs agent was very friendly and asked us if we wanted to go outside before we caught our connection. Really? After I told him we only had about 25 minutes, he sent us over to check in with a lady sitting at a table. She checked our passports again and crossed our names off of a list. We waited for 4 additional Japanese people to join us at the table. The lady called to a gentleman to open a door behind her. Then, we proceeded to the other part of the airport where our passports were checked a third time. We were amazed to see that all of the shops were open. It was now 2:00am! As we approached our gate, the gate agents motioned for us to come forward. I noticed that the sign said "Rota". I asked if this was the name of the airport in Saipan. I was informed that Rota was another island (of the Northern Mariana Islands) and that we would be making a brief stop there before landing in Saipan. Ummm. Continental failed to tell me that little detail. At any rate, we boarded the little commuter plane, had cookies from Guam (delicious), and then landed in Rota. A few of the Japanese passengers were confused as the flight attendants only spoke English. They thought they were supposed to get off the airplane. The flight attendant was able to explain to them to stay on the plane by using motions with their arms and hands. (We now know how this feels!) After a quick flight, we arrived in Saipan at about 3:45am. We got our luggage and were met by a driver from our hotel, the Pacific Islands Club. When we got into his van, we saw a sign laying in the front seat that read "Phillip Maloney." The children all said, "Hey you picked up our dad!" Phillip had arrived in Saipan from Tokyo at about 12:30am. The drive was short, and we arrived at our hotel at about 4:10am. We checked in and walked to our room. On the walk, the kids devised a plan. We set our luggage in the hallway, took off our shoes, and burst into the hotel room yelling "Happy birthday Dad!". Phillip awoke from a sound sleep to give hugs and kisses. Then, he was fast asleep again. Amazingly, after all of the excitement, we did all get to sleep right away until about 9:30am on Friday. Then, the fun really began!

We started our Friday with a buffet breakfast. We immediately started all of the many activities offered at PIC. We went from the rock wall to badminton to archery. Then, we decided to hit the pools. The slides were so much fun. We also had fun with water polo, water basketball, and water volleyball! Then, we discovered "Point Break" which allows you to "surf".

After a long fun day in the sun, we discovered the Seaside Grill which faced the beautiful sunset over the ocean. They offered daily happy hour - half priced appetizers and drinks, including smoothies! From here, we made our way back to the pool and then to play ping pong. We grabbed a few snack items and headed to our room. What a great first day!

We sat at this table at The Seaside Grill every day and enjoyed happy hour smoothies!

On Saturday, we took a van to catch our boat to Managaha Island for a morning of snorkeling. As we arrived, we saw a sign that said, "Jellyfish. Swim at your own risk." Well, that does not sound good! I asked if they were poisonous and was told, "No. They just hurt." With Phillip leaving the next morning for Cincinnati, we decided to stay and try our luck. After all, there were lots of people in the water. Within 10 minutes, all of us were stung except for Matthew. We had to stand in line to get the medicine put on our stings. The man spoke the truth. It hurt! I decided this would be a good time to teach the children about "making lemonade out of lemons." We got stung and could not back into the water for an hour. However, we could walk completely around the island in less than an hour. It was truly gorgeous. We also got to see some items left over from World War II, including 2 cannons. The water was very clear, so we then watched fish from the bridge and even saw 3 sharks!

Once the boat returned us to the shore, our van driver was there waiting. We were starving, so we actually went through the McDonald's drive-thru to get lunch!! Yes, we have managed to find McDonald's in almost every country we have visited. After eating our take out lunch at the hotel, we quickly headed to the pool. We played there, climbed the rock wall again, did archery, played mini-golf, played tennis, went back to the pool .... PIC is truly full service. I was amazed that they even had socks and sneakers that we could borrow in addition to the tennis rackets and balls! After our nightly happy hour smoothies and more pool time, we showered quickly and headed to dinner at the buffet. We caught the end of the evening show (put on by the Club Mates) and then went to the pool bar for karaoke. I think the kids got a kick out of watching Mom and Dad sing! Jessica and I also did a duet. Then, we called it a night.

To note, PIC "Club Mates" are young adults who are stationed at each of the activities to teach and oversee, but also to get to know you and make sure you have fun. By day 2, most of the club mates were calling us by name. Also, the guys would jump into the pool and play basketball or soccer with the boys if they saw my guys alone in the pool. The club mates really made this vacation even better.

Phillip left at 4:30am on Sunday morning to start his journey to Cincinnati for meetings. The kids and I watched a little college football (on the one ESPN station we could get) before going to breakfast and hitting the pool. I was able to get wi-fi and watch part of the Alabama-Tennessee game sitting by the pool. Nice. We hung out all day making our way to all the activities again, but we spent most of our time at the pool and on the slides. We also went sailing and snorkeling off the beach that afternoon. We ended our day with smoothies, buffet dinner, club mate show, and of course, closing down the pool.

On Monday morning, our friends the McCarys and Neelys arrived. Once they made it to the pool, I found myself going down the water slide alone. Hey, what happened to my play mates?

With Phillip gone, it was especially nice to have friends there. We introduced our friends to happy hour smoothies, and then headed into town to Tony Roma's for dinner with the McCarys. Interestingly, we were able to take 2 cabs to the Duty Free Shops mall for free. We just had to go inside the mall, sign in, and get a shopping card. The mall was full of very expensive shops, like Prada, Chanel, etc.... so we walked right on through the next set of doors! We walked about 2 blocks to the restaurant and enjoyed yummy ribs! Then, we just grabbed a bus back to our hotel. Of course, the Maloneys put on bathing suits and played in the pool until 10pm closing time!

Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same with fantastic activities all day, happy hour smoothies, buffet dinners, and closing down the pool. On Wednesday night, the club mates did their Polynesian show, which was fantastic. At the end, they had a dance contest. Yes, 3 of the 4 Maloneys participated...Jessica... Matthew... and MOM! Jacob enjoyed taking pictures. (Note pictures below are only of the two best Maloney dancers!)

We closed out our last night at PIC by singing Bruno Mars songs at the pool bar with our favorite club mate, Dee.

Matthew climbed the rock wall every day. I bet he climbed it 40 times in 6 days. There are 4 levels, and of course, Matthew mostly enjoyed level 4. All the club mates knew him, so they did even require an adult there when he came over to climb!

We spent some time at the pool Thursday (10/27) morning before showers and cab to the airport. We flew back through Guam where we had Domino's pizza for dinner. Once again, our family had an entire row on the airplane. While our flight landed a little early, we just missed the bus to Rokko Island, so we had to wait about 50 minutes for the next one.

It was nice to be home. We absolutely loved Saipan, and especially the Pacific Islands Club. We just wish Phillip could have been there with us the entire week. We are so thankful to have had friends with us to share our week's adventures.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Fall update - September and October 2011

2011-10-20T16:47:00.019+09:00

The family settled back into life in Japan very easily. It was wonderful to see friends again and catch up on summer activities. Friday nights are family favorites because we meet outside Macsy’s restaurant to eat, drink, talk, and watch the children run around river mall. The weather in August and September has been very hot, but so was summer in Cincinnati! Early October brought lovely fall weather – cool breezes and bright sunshine.

First Day of School August 18, 2011

Jessica has gotten off to a great start in 2nd grade. Her teacher, Ms. Vos, has left to adopt a 4 year old girl from Russia. Ms. Vos has been waiting for this little girl for 3 years! We were told that a US citizen sent an adopted child back to Russia on an airplane a few years ago. Net, it is harder for US citizens to adopt from there. I cannot imagine having to wait so long! So, Jess has a long term sub (Ms. Ramani) until January. Jessica continues to do a great job reading and is also working on lots of math. She actually tested into Japanese “B” class for her language class. Only 2 kids in 2nd grade made it! She loves to chat in Japanese with people. I suppose this is a good thing since we live in Japan, and she has good friends who are Japanese. Jessica goes to soccer clinic on Mondays with her friend Alex (whose mother is from Japan and father is from England). Alex helps Jess if she does not quite understand what the coach is saying. Jess has piano and gymnastics on Tuesdays. She goes to gymnastics with her friend Isabella (whose mother is from Brazil and father is from New Zealand). When the coaches asked them if they spoke Japanese, they both said, “chotto”, which means “a little”. At least they have each other!

Jessica and her friend Alex

Jessica and the biggest stuffed bear ever!

Matthew has found that 5th grade is pretty tough. The 5th grade teachers have said that their goal is to prepare these kids for middle school, and they are certainly pushing them hard. Matthew spends hours on homework, including on the weekends. However, I have already seen improvement in his writing skills in just 7 weeks. Amazing. Matthew has piano on Tuesdays, and soccer clinics on Wednesday and Thursday. He continues with rugby on Sundays. He has only had one tournament this fall so far. He played in 3 games and had 3 tries (scores)! Interestingly, he played against a team from Sydney, Australia. They were pretty surprised to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy on a Japanese team! After Matthew scored one time, a few of the Australian boys yelled, “It’s the American!”

Matthew with some of the Australians

Jacob has a busy schedule in 8th grade. He is in the 8+ math class and loves it. He decided this year to take Spanish instead of Japanese in anticipation of needing Spanish in the US when we return. His class is small, and his teacher is really fun. All MS and HS students here are required to take design technology, which combines a bit of math, computer science, and architecture. Very cool. His extra curricular activities keep him busy, too. He has middle school play practice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school. Then, he has had baseball practice on Tuesday and Thursday after school. Young Life events alternate weeks on Thursdays and Fridays. Of course, all games are on Saturdays. The CA baseball team did great this year, losing only one game (in the tournament). Jacob hurt his shoulder in the first game of the season and didn’t get to pitch for a couple of weeks. The doctor had him come back slowly to finally pitch a few innings during the tournament. He did get to play at first base and at shortstop throughout the season. The team won the league tournament in the last inning of the final game. It was so exciting! What a great way to end MS baseball. Now … on to basketball!

Canadian Academy Falcons - 2011 tournament Champs!

Phillip has travelled a ton. But, he has somehow managed to help coach baseball. This was a thrill for him. Now, he has been asked to be head coach of the MS basketball team! This will require some scheduling changes for work, but he is going to make it happen. He is very excited about coaching the boys.

I have been substitute teaching in middle school and high school PE classes. This has been great for me as it allowed me to get to know a lot of these young men and women. (I tried very hard not to embarrass Jacob.) I am not taking Japanese language lessons anymore. However, there are 2 lovely Japanese ladies who come to my apartment about twice per month to speak English! We just talk about children, school, vacation, .... anything! It is fun for all of us. I have also been spending a lot of time at the gym and in the pool. We have such a great fitness center here, so I decided that I need to take advantage of it!

Fall break is approaching. We are headed to Saipan on October 20!

Peace and Love,

Tina

Singapore August 4-10, 2011

2011-09-21T12:51:00.025+09:00

On Thursday morning, August 4, the children and I loaded the bus to return to Kansai airport. We checked in and went for noodles, of course! Yes, noodles are served any time, day or night. We boarded Singapore Airlines and started our journey to Singapore to meet Phillip. This airline, much like Thai Air, is just terrific, even for those of us in economy class. The flight attendants are polite. They serve you food, drinks, and help you with your TV monitor. The flight was pleasant, and we arrived in Singapore without issue. We got Singapore dollars from an ATM and headed out for a cab. We only had 2 big bags, but they would not fit in a regular cab. Bummer. Oh, actually, who cares? We had to take the Limosine taxi service! While Singapore is very expensive for many things, cabs are not one of them. It was only a few dollars more for the limo cab.

We arrived at the St. Regis hotel around 5:30pm. Wow! Phillip had left a key for us at registration so we headed on up to the room. Phillip joined us shortly after. We called the butler to bring hot chocolate and cookies for Jacob, Matthew, and Jessica, while Phillip and I went downstairs for the wine tasting with cheese and crackers. Nice! Then, we just walked around a little bit and grabbed pizza. Oh yes, I did say "butler"! We ordered hot chocolates, lattes, apples, and cookies every day. One night, we arrived to our room to find that the butler had already dropped off apples for the kids with a note! The service at the hotel was first class from the butler to the cleaning staff to the concierge...everyone...and no tips! Oh, and every bathtub should have a TV! This is by far my favorite hotel ever. Fortunately, Phillip was there for meetings, so we were able to stay in one room at a Corporate rate!

Phillip had to work on Friday. I had actually been suffering from an infection since Monday, and the antibiotics were not helping. The concierge told me about a doctor's clinic in the building right next to the hotel. The doctor changed my medicine and then I went back to hotel to take the kids to the pool. However, I just kept getting worse. I was in so much pain that I was in tears. So, I called the doctor. Ten minutes later, he called me back and had ordered a van to take me for an ultrasound. He was worried about kidney stones or some type of growth in bladder or kidney. The van took me over. I had the tests and waited for results. The van drove me back to the doctor's office, free of charge. The results looked normal, so the doctor put me on 2 antibiotics at the same time. I could not have asked for better care. While I was gone, the kids had walked to McDonalds for lunch and then back to hotel to play and watch TV. I called a couple of times to check on them. I truly had nothing to worry about. Singapore is such a safe country. The laws are very strict, so the crime rate is almost zero. Phillip made it home around 6:30pm, so we just walked to Tony Roma's for dinner. Matthew was especially thrilled about the ribs.

On Saturday, we went to Little India to meet one of Phillip's colleagues. We went to a 75,000 square foot store called Mustafa Centre. It had everything. Unbelievable. After lunch at an Indian restaurant (of course), we headed back to the hotel for a while before taking a cab to the Night Safari. This was simply awesome. We walked around for a while and then took half of the tram tour. We saw the Creatures of the Night show, and then decided to take the full tram tour. We are so glad we did as we saw some different animals, and the animals were actually doing different things this time. We were quite curious about why the adult female elephants were swaying by the sleeping baby elephant. Then, around the corner, we saw the adult male elephant swaying in the same way! We were also amazed by how close these animals came to the tram. At one point, Matthew leaned in on me because a mother tapier was right by his leg!

We woke up on Sunday to pouring rain, so we decided to enjoy the hotel for a while. We went to the fitness center and played tennis as a family. Then, after showers, the weather cleared up. We took a cab to One Raffles Place. We started at the sports bar on the 60th floor. The Maloneys can find a sports bar in any country! We played golf, watched soccer, and enjoyed the view. We headed up to the 62nd floor rooftop when it opened at 6pm. The view was spectacular. We just had a couple of drinks and walked around enjoying the view and conversation. Then, we had dinner and headed back to the hotel.

We spent the day Monday on Sentosa Island. We rode the segway, skylift, luge, and zip line. We also enjoyed the Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom, as well as Underwater World and Dolphin Lagoon. This was so much fun. The bummer was that everything was an individual price, and for us, this is times 5 people. This adds up pretty quickly. However, this is a lovely place to spend the day.

Before dinner, we stopped at a fish reflexology place. This was wild! There were small, medium, and big fish. At first, it tickled so much that we all laughed out loud. This was a cool experience.

On Tuesday, we played at the hotel before heading out to the Singapore Zoo. The zoo is next door to the Night Safari. We are zoo people, and this one did not disappoint. I think our favorite animals were the orangutangs. They were so playful and fun to watch. We were again amazed at how close we were to all the animals. Matthew and Jessica enjoyed the water park at the zoo, and then we went back to enjoy the hotel pool one last time.

We ended our evening enjoying a Singapore Sling cocktail with dinner to celebrate the country's national holiday. We took a cab to the airport and hung out until our 1:20am flight. Matthew fell asleep in the waiting area and does not even remember walking on to the plane! We arrived at Kansai, caught the bus, and then entered our apartment about 11:30am on August 10... we were home as a family again at last.

What an exhausting and amazing summer!

Peace and Love,

Tina

A brief return to Japan August 1-3, 2011

2011-09-21T12:31:00.009+09:00

Our family arrived back in Japan on August 1. Phillip helped us get our luggage out to wait for the bus. However, then we said goodbye to Dad again as he stayed at Kansai airport to fly to Singapore for meetings. It was nice to get home to sleep in our own beds for the first time since June 8. However, we did all get up at 4am on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! It was also nice for me to be able to put clothes away in our own closets. Ahh, the little things in life.

On Tuesday, I was busy unpacking, doing laundry, paying bills, etc. The kids went down to River Mall to play. After about only 20 minutes, they were back in our apartment, and Matthew's leg was bleeding like crazy. I got him in the shower to clean off so that I could assess the injuries. I called our nurse friend, Mary Gail, to come take a look. We agreed that he would need stitches. Then, the craziness really began. I asked our front reception to call the local hospital to see if a doctor was on call to do the stitches. After about 20 minutes of questions and translations, I was finally told that they had 2 emergencies so I would need to wait a long time. Also, I should bring someone who speaks Japanese. Great. So, then front reception tried 3 other hospitals to find one available. Mary Gail drove us over. A Japanese man met us at the door and directed us to the waiting area. I filled out some paperwork, and then we went in to the exam room. The young doctor spoke some English and consulted his iphone to help with the words "local anesthesia". The older doctor who came in spoke good English and consulted to determine which injuries needed stitches. Matthew ended up getting 4 stitches on his leg (2 on each side of his knee) and then 4 stitches in the arch of his foot. The shots were awful. You could hear Matthew screaming all over the hospital. He absolutely broke my heart! After that, the stitches were easy.

The administration staff was gone, so they asked me to leave 20,000 yen that night and to return the next day to settle up with the exact amount. Funny. So, friends took us back over the next day for the doctor to check, clean, and re-bandage the wounds. Matthew got a tetanus shot, and then I "settled" the bill. One of the nurses spoke English, and our friend who drove us is Japanese so the language barrier was much better.

I am so thankful that the injuries were on the leg and not the face or head. While I really do enjoy living in Japan, it still scares me to think about facing a true emergency.

Matthew began healing, and I started packing. Thursday - off to Singapore!

Peace and Love,

Tina

2011 Summer home leave Part 2

2011-08-23T17:10:00.015+09:00

More fun in the USA - July & August 2011

Phillip came back to Cincinnati on July 1 for 6 days. Our dear friends, The Mays, came to visit us from Clemson. We had such a great time. The highlight of that visit was a night at Kings Island. We got to stay until midnight! They left on Tuesday, and then Grandma arrived on Wednesday for a week. Grandma's visits are always special. We also got to spend an evening with Jeff, Annie, Bradley, Brian, and Kevin Lewis.

Matthew and Jessica both made swim champs in all 3 of their individual events. Matthew – 25 Free, 25 Fly, 100 IM; Jessica – 25 free, 25 breast, and 25 back. They got to swim in both team relays as well. These were 2 very long days, but very exciting. Grandma was with us to enjoy and be proud! During the swim meet, Jacob pitched a complete game to beat Deer Park in the baseball playoffs. Huge victory! I had a friend texting me the entire game. It is tough not to be in 2 places at once.

We finished the swim season with the annual swim awards banquet. This one was sad as Coach Soozie officially announced her retirement. Soozie taught all 3 of my kids to swim, but more importantly, she taught them to always give their best effort. Rather than to concentrate on winning, she encouraged them to concentrate on getting better as an individuals. The coaches awarded Matthew the 10 & under "coaches award" for always working hard, offering to help in any way, and always be so positive and smiling. Coach Soozie surprised us as well by presenting me with a basket of Cincinnati goodies. She thanked us for coming home to swim this summer. Finally, a 10 year old girl, Kennedy, gave Matthew the "Tony the Tiger Shark" award. This is handed down each year by the previous year's recipient. Kennedy said, "I thought about it, and asked all my friends. We all agreed to give this award to Matthew because he is always cheering all of us on." I had big tears once again. It was a very emotional night. I was very proud, sad, and happy.

On Friday, we moved out of Martha’s place and watched Jacob's team win the semi-final game. His friend Alex pitched a great game, but when his elbow hurt, Jacob came in to close out the final inning. We stayed with our friends, the Powers, for one night (summer stop #8). Val and I stayed up talking until 2am. The hours went by quickly. Then, we had one more night at the rental house. The AC did not work, so we pulled the mattresses together in the family room and borrowed some fans. It was a little bit like camping – just the four of us. Friends offered us their homes, but with Jacob leaving on Sunday for a service trip, I wanted to have some time just the kids and me.

On Sunday, July 17, we moved over to the Bortz’s beautiful home for our final week in Cincinnati. (Summer stop #9). Jacob’s baseball team lost in the regional championship on Sunday. While disappointing, I think this was an amazing accomplishment given the number of players out for vacation, as well as a pitcher injuries.

Jacob left that night for the Son Rise Mission trip to New Orleans. His bus broke down on the way home, so he arrived about 20 hours later than expected the following Saturday. However, he had an amazing week of devotion, prayer, friendship, and service. We are thankful for this opportunity. While he was gone, Matthew, Jessica, and I had a fun week of visiting with friends, playing, and shopping.

June and July were a whirlwind of activity – swim meets, sleepovers, baseball games, sleepovers, gymnastics, sleepovers, doctor visits, sleepovers! I did not actually sleep for a few weeks. I think it was a combination of jetlag and adrenaline.

On Tuesday, July 26, the time had come to say goodbye once more. There were definitely some tears, but this summer, it was a little easier. We know that time goes quickly and that our friends will still be here next summer. We also now know what to expect in Japan – our friends, our apartment, our school. The tough question, though, was … would all of our luggage fit in the rental Traverse??? Our bags doubled while shopping in the US! We were able to squeeze the bags in and drove to St. Louis to stay with Joe, Linda, Patrick, Daniel, and Grandma for one evening. (Summer stop #10). It was nice to get to celebrate Patricks’ 21st birthday!

We left early on Wednesday morning to fly from St. Louis to Minneapolis to Seattle where we met Dad. He rented a truck so that our luggage would fit! We were very excited to finally get to visit our good friends the Montgomerys. (Summer stop #11). They moved from Cincinnati to Seattle 5 years ago. We joked that our family had to move to Japan to get to visit in Seattle. What a beautiful city! We saw several lakes and mountains, including Mount Ranier, and lovely water falls. We went up in the Space Needle, had fish and chips, took a ferry ride, and walked around Pike’s Place. We were also happy to be at Safeco Field to cheer the Mariners to victory. More importantly, we got to spend time with friends. Paul and Tricia are wonderful friends and wonderful hosts. Our children got along great and had a fun visit. We spent 7 weeks and 5 days in the US, and this was the perfect way to complete our summer adventures.

We will be forever grateful to all of our family and friends who helped to make the summer such a memorable one.

Peace and Love,

Tina

2011 Summer Home Leave Part 1

2011-08-23T17:08:00.015+09:00

Fun in the USA - June 2011

After Matthew finished his final performance in the 4th grade play on June 8, we shared hugs and goodbyes and headed to catch the bus to the airport. We had booked this flight last November in order to use upgrades and Skymiles points to be able to fly business class. This is quite a treat! We flew from Osaka to Seattle to Minneapolis to St. Louis. We got our rental (Chevy Traverse) and headed to Phillip’s brother David’s house. (Summer stop #1). Total travel time? 23 hours. The kids did great. Everyone got enough sleep to hang out with David, Jane, Conrad, and Annie for a couple of hours before going to bed at 1am! We had pizza and strawberries. Yum! We laughed that the bowl of strawberries would have cost us $30 in Japan!

On Thursday, we bought Jacob new baseball cleats at Dicks Sporting Goods and drove to Farmington to stay at Grandma’s house for a couple of days. (Summer stop #2). I was very excited to go to Walmart! ☺

On Saturday, we drove to Phillip’s brother Joe’s lake house. (Summer stop #3). Linda was a wonderful host as always. It was so nice to just hang out there and catch up with family (Linda, Uncle Jim, Aunt Helen, Aunt Shirley, cousins Keegan and Jack, and of course Grandma!). We rode in the boat and did some tubing. Matthew even caught his first fish.

Jessica with big cousin Daniel

Jacob and Daniel were pretty crazy on those tubes!

Sunday morning came with a lot of excitement. We packed up the Traverse and headed to Cincinnati. First stop – the Milford Skyline! We were so excited to see “Welcome Maloney Family” on the sign and to see friends there waiting for us. Immediately, the kids went home with friends, so I hit Walmart and Target to find a cell phone.

Matthew was happy to see his best buddy Braden.

We stayed at the Vianello’s rental house for a few days. (Summer stop #4). Friends had gotten us mattresses, linens, kitchen items… there was even a bottle of wine in the fridge! Seeing what our friends had done really brought tears to my eyes.

We hit the ground running on Monday. I drove Jacob to St. Xavier HS football camp. I drove back to take Jessica to swim team. Matthew went with a friend to swim team a little earlier. The warm reception by friends and the swim team coaches was just so sweet. Phillip arrived on Monday. That night, Jacob pitched in his first baseball game back with the Grizzlies. He did awesome! The smile on Jacob’s face as he walked off the mound at the end of the first inning will be etched in my mind forever. I think he was so happy to be back with his Cincy friends, and I also think he was relieved to have that first successful inning behind him. He had a great game, got the win, and the fun had begun!

Matthew finished out the week at football camp with Jacob. They loved it! I think they both enjoyed being back on the football field again. On Friday, Jacob’s team lost in the final game of their tournament. Matthew won the St X Bomber award for always giving his best effort and for being a great teammate and competitor. He raced his player coach Nate, a St X senior, every day after camp. I got a great picture on Friday.

We started all of the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, etc visits. Amazingly, on Wedneday, June 15, we ran into a friend Holly at the orthodontist. She invited us to stay at her home for 5 days since her family had to go out of town unexpectedly. We accepted! (Summer stop #5). Their house is just spectacular complete with a great game room in the basement. We had a blast and are so appreciative of their generosity.

On Friday night, we had dinner and stayed with our dear friends the Petermans. (Summer stop #6). Phillip returned to Japan on Saturday, June 18.

We went back to the Vianello house until June 24 when we moved to Martha’s house. (Summer stop #7). Martha is the mother of a good friend of ours and offered us the opportunity to stay at her house for 3 weeks while she was gone. It was nice to be settled for a few weeks.

More summer leave adventure to come in the next blog ...

Peace and Love,

Tina

Sayonara friends - May 2011

2011-08-19T11:17:00.013+09:00

We have discovered that the life of an expat is quite an emotional roller coaster. We all cried last summer as we told our family and friends goodbye before leaving Cincinnati. We cried for a while after arriving in Kobe because we missed our family and friends, our home, football, reading signs in English, …. Our life in the US. Then, we started making friends, enjoying the Canadian Academy school and the adventures that we were experiencing while living in Japan. However, May arrived. The tears began again as we had to say goodbye to friends who were leaving their expat assignments in Japan either to go on to new assignments or to return home. There were parties, lunches, happy hours, Sayonara dolls to sign. This time, we were saying goodbye to folks that we may never see again. The bonds you form here are very strong as we are instant family, and we can stay in touch via facebook. Yet, the reality is that everyone moves on with his/her new lives, new jobs, new friends and the miles apart are real. So, yes, May and early June were pretty sad. Yet, we were also happy to be heading home to Cincinnati for 6 weeks! Did I mention the emotional roller coaster? One thing I have noticed as an expat (and have discussed with many of the expat moms) is that the “highs” are higher and the “lows “are lower than ever before. I am not sure why. Maybe we tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves a little more being so far away from home.

Temple Sale and margaritas

Sayonara party at Macsys

In addition to all of the goodbyes, we had some fun.

I got to go to Fushimi Inari with some friends. Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of Inari, located in Kyoto. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. Since in early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business. Importantly, Inari is the god of rice. Merchants worship Inari for wealth. As for the 6 of us, well, we just enjoyed the beauty of walking through the torii gates up the mountain path. We were also very popular with the Japanese middle school students! They enjoyed practicing their English skills on us, so we were stopped several times for interviews and pictures. :)

Jessica finally got into a gymnastics program on the Island. We had been told last fall that there were no openings for her age group. So, with April as the start of the Japanese school year, the gymnastics school had try outs. We got Jessica all signed up, and the big bonus is that she gets to participate in the group with her 9 year old friend Isabella. The bonus for me is that I get to catch up with my friend (and Isabella’s mom) Cassia every Tuesday night!

Matthew and Jessica performed in the piano recital organized by their piano teacher Otake-san. They both played great and looked just gorgeous!

On the opposite end of gorgeous, however, was Matthew’s role as the Trunchbull in the 4th grade play! The play consisted of scenes from different Raoul Dahl’s books, including Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George and the Marvelous Medicine, etc. Matthew had a great British accent and did an awesome job as mean principal Trunchbull from Matilda. He even walked along the front row of the audience of other students, pointing and saying things like “You, grow up faster!, You, detention!” I think Matthew had a lot of fun being in character! ☺

Matthew as Trunchbull

Jacob concluded his first year of middle school sports with volleyball. The Canadian Academy has finished first in its league in baseball, basketball, and soccer. They did not do so well in the volleyball tournament. Yet, Jacob really enjoyed learning a new sport and, of course, hanging out with his middle school friends.

All 3 kids finished the school year with terrific report cards, good friends, and a whole lot of memories!

Jessica and Mrs. Vest (1st grade teacher)

Matthew and Mr. Wilson (4th grade teacher)

Springtime in Kobe - May 9, 2011

2011-05-10T17:31:00.018+09:00

Springtime in Kobe brings beautiful sunny days (before the rainy season) and gorgeous cherry blossoms. It also brings a very important set of holidays for Japan called Golden Week. Japan celebrates the Emperor’s birthday, Constitutional Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children’s Day all in a week. Many people travel so tourist areas are very crowded. Matthew had a rugby tournament scheduled, so we decided to stay home and take a couple of day trips. Unfortunately, Matthew’s rugby tournament got rained out. However, our day trips turned out to be fantastic adventures!

On Saturday, April 30, we decided to go to the Hanshin Tigers baseball game. We are fortunate to live in the same building as some of the players, including the starting pitcher for that game. He and his wife were kind enough to help us get 5 tickets. This was critical as the home games are typically sold out. We took the train about 20 minutes to the stadium in Koshien. The train literally stops in front of the stadium. Our seats were along the first base line (closer to home plate), and we had a sweet family sitting in front of us: Mom, 3 kids, and Grandpa. The fans were absolutely fantastic. They were dressed in yellow and black, wearing jerseys, hats, ponchos,… you name it... as long as it said "Tigers". There was a band and a cheering squad (mascots) that kept chants and cheers going throughout the game. Everyone had these “clackers” to keep the beats. We cheered and sang and clapped and laughed. I did have a few interesting observations. First, the stadium serves sushi and sake along with your American corn dogs! Next, the beer vendors were all pretty young Japanese women with Asahi “kegs” on their backs. No cans or bottles. Just kegs and cups! I also thought it was interesting that the relief pitchers were brought out onto the field in carts.

Then, in the beginning of the 7th inning, we saw people start to blow up their balloons. Luckily, we were informed and bought the special balloons from a vendor on the way into the stadium. 7th inning stretch…the band plays the Tigers’ fight song… the mascots lead the chants… and then everyone lets go of the balloons which not only looked cool but also made a cool whistling sound. Imagine thousands of balloons flying in the air! We won the game, and at the end, everyone let go of another set of balloons. The players of the game were interviewed on the field. Most everyone stayed. They cheered and waved big flags. Unbelievable. Phillip and I both thought this felt more like a college football game than a baseball game. What a great experience!

On Monday, May 2, we took a bus to Universal Studios Japan. One word: patience. We had a great time. We just had to learn to enjoy ourselves while standing in line! Some lines were anywhere from 30 minutes up to 115 minutes. Yikes! We got to ride most everything though. Phillip, Jacob, and Matthew discovered the "singles" line which did not have much of a wait at all. Jessica just was not ready to ride alone, so she and I endured the lines. The boys rode the “Hollywood Dream” roller coaster 10 times as compared to the 3 times for the girls. Oh well. Jessica was like a movie star the way everyone stared at her. (We only saw one other couple that was not Japanese, so we must have stuck out in the crowd!) The people would point, giggle, wave, and say “kawaii” which means “cute”. I teased Jess by saying, “They think you are Hannah Montana!” ☺ We finished the day with an evening parade and bus ride back to our apartment.

We celebrated Mother’s Day on Friday, May 6, by going to our favorite restaurant called Kochan. Again, we were able to take the bus and then a 2 minute walk. The chef cooks right in front of you. We had soup, salad, fish, tofu, vegetables, and beef. YUM!

One of the things that we really enjoy in Japan is the public transportation system. It is just amazing to be able to take the train or a bus almost anywhere. For this reason, we actually decided not to buy a car. P&G and the Canadian Academy are on Rokko Island, along with grocery stores, hair salon, family doctor, orthopedic, restaurants, … It is really wonderful to walk or bike most of the time, and then to take the train or bus when we go off the island.

We are enjoying springtime in Kobe and also looking forward to summer in Cincinnati.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Family update - May 6, 2011

2011-05-06T14:54:00.019+09:00

As I write this, my heart aches for Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and all of the people who were affected by the tornado. I grew up about 90 miles northeast of Tuscaloosa, and spent 4 awesome years of college at the University of Alabama. I watched video in horror to see the huge tornado rip through the town. I saw how close the tornado came to Bryant Denny Stadium and to the AOPi House where I lived for 3 years. I thought about how scared the students must have been and wondered where they went to take cover. It is truly hard to comprehend the devastation. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of Tuscaloosa, as well as the other areas in Missouri and the South that were hit by tornadoes.

As for us here in Kobe ....Time is going by very quickly. It is hard for us to believe that we have been in Japan for almost 10 months. The weather is nice, and we enjoy sitting out on our balcony overlooking beautiful Rokko Island.

The children continue to grow up before our eyes.

A big highlight of our spring is that we now have a teenager in the house. Yes, it has happened. Jacob turned 13 on April 23. Thirteen years ago, Jacob was born and changed our lives forever. It is hard to say who has learned more - Jacob or me! We continue to share so many wonderful memories together .... from his first smile and first step to his first soccer goal and first touchdown to his first day of middle school and playing the lead in the MS play ... We are very proud of Jacob for his accomplishments in school as well as in sports. But we are more proud of him for following God and for being a kind and caring young man. Phillip and I are excited to continue to grow together with Jacob through the teenage years to adulthood. We're honored to have this opportunity.

I am reading a great book called Age of Opportunity - A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens. It is just fantastic. It really helps parents to look at themselves first and then the child. There are many sections that make me stop and really think. Here is one of my favorites. "These are the moments God made parents for. You are God's agents on the watch. You have been given an incredibly high calling. You are God's instrument of help and preparation as this child makes his final steps out of the home and into God's world. These moments make your life worthwhile. Here you will make a contribution that is worth infinitely more than any career or financial accomplishment." Wow. Now that is a mission. I am thankful that we still have 5 years with Jacob at home.

Jacob stays very busy: Monday- basketball clinic, Tuesday- MS volleyball, Wed - basketball clinic, Thursday- MS volleyball and Young Life, Friday- soccer clinic, Sat - MS volleyball games. Oh yeah, then he has school. Whew! Thank goodness for a day of rest on Sunday!

Matthew is really enjoying his time here. He said last week, "I love school, Mom." Wow. This is the same child that cried for weeks and told us how much he did not want to move. We are blessed that Matthew has a wonderful teacher, Mr. Wilson. He also has a great group of friends. They are smart and kind, and of course, many of them love to play soccer! Matthew has finished his after school leadership club. He is now working on the 4th grade play, playing piano, doing a soccer clinic on Fridays, and playing rugby. Unfortunately, he has had 2 rugby tournaments rained out. We hope to get one in before we leave for the US! Matthew's class recently completed "animotos". His was for pollution. He created a video of words and pictures. Then, he put it to music. He chose "Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone." It was really emotional to watch the ugly pollution and then the beautiful "cleaned up" water and animals while listening to that song. He then wrote and performed his own song, "Pollution is Bad". The 4th grade teachers chose Matthew's animoto to share at the school assembly. I was very proud! Matthew also just won the Motomachi Art Show Mayor's award for his artwork. Way to go Matthew!

Jessica continues to live up to the saying "7 going on 17". She is full of energy and always quick to help keep things in order, especially her brothers! She is reading, reading, reading. Jessica is enjoying piano, science club, and hanging out with friends. She seems to always have a play date or a party! She is looking forward to doing gymnastics in Cincinnati this summer as we were unable to find a program here with openings. We recently had a student-led conference at school. I think she could teach the class!

Phillip has not had to travel much the past couple of months, and it has been wonderful. Although, he does spend many evenings on conference calls. Oh well, the time zone is what it is! Phillip still finds time to play baseball and soccer with the kids. I know that I am very blessed to have a husband who spends time with his children. He is headed to Cincinnati on May 8. He may want to check his suitcase for extra baggage (children)! Everyone is getting excited for our trip home.

I am enjoying my time here as well, and I am very blessed to have found such wonderful friends. The expat community is just fantastic...moms supporting moms. I have really enjoyed subbing at school. I have subbed in Jessica's class several times, but I also got to sub for Matthew's class once. This was just terrific. I was proud that Matthew was happy to see me, and he even sat with me at lunch. He told me after school that he wished I could sub again. I am cherishing the moment! Phillip and I are also excited to join the Young Life parent committee. We are thrilled for the opportunity to work with other concerned parents, the Young Life leaders, and the young people ages 6th grade through 12th.

We have all certainly had our ups and downs, but we are doing great. We are thankful for our family, health, safety, home, work, friends, and so many blessings that God continues to provide to us.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Phuket, March 22-26, 2011

2011-03-30T16:13:00.006+09:00

We took the 70 minute flight from Bangkok to Phuket. The hotel transfer van met us with bottles of water and cold wash cloths that smelled a bit menthol, but refreshing. The Laguna Beach Resort was quite pretty, but the best part of the hotel was definitely the pool. It had a great slide and a cool sports area with basketball goals and water polo goals. The kids headed to the pool even before we could get checked in. We spent the afternoon relaxing along the beach, playing in the waves, going down the slide, and playing in the pool. We met a nice family from Pakistan. Jacob and Ali (age 14) hit it off, and we would end up hanging out a bit with them. (I kept wondering what it was like to live in Pakistan.) We had great phad thai at a local beach spot, and then had more Thai food that night at a beach restaurant called Tom Yam Goong.

On Wednesday, we went on a speed boat tour to Phi Phi Islands, famous for their soaring limestone cliffs and surrounding crystal clear waters. We got to visit all the sights including Viking Cave and Maya Bay, where "The Beach" was filmed. We snorkeled at Pi Kei Cove, played at Monkey Beach, had a picnic at Bamboo Island, and then snorkeled again at Mosquito Island. The Thai lunch was fantastic. Our guide was great, and we had a very nice group of 11 along with us. It is funny how we tend to meet nice couples from the UK on our adventures. This was no exception. We saw beautiful mountains and caves. Our favorite part was definitely the snorkeling. The fish were very colorful and would come right up to our faces. Matthew and Jessica enjoyed naps on the boat on the way home. ☺ This is the sign of a good day. Once we arrived back at the hotel around 5pm, the kids went straight to the pool. Do you sense a theme here?

On Thursday morning, we met the baby elephant Nina who lives at the hotel. She was so cute. We were amazed by how she could do “high 5” with her trunk, but we were more amazed to watch her cut and peel bananas with her trunk. Wow. We then went on elephant rides on an adult elephant, Cindy. The other elephant, Natalie, was sick, so we took turns with Cindy. This was very cool. We were pretty high up there for the bumpy ride. Our bare feet sat on her back to feel her rough skin. Afterward, we got to pet her and feed her bananas. We are really enjoying our animal adventures.

During our dinner on Wednesday night, the children had voted to stay at the hotel to play in the pool and the ocean on Thursday afternoon and Friday. This was very relaxing. We all enjoyed the slide. Phillip and Jacob played a lot of water basketball. We also had a family water polo match with the Ali’s family. It was a friendly game, thankfully! On Thursday night, we walked along the beach to the Sheraton Grand Hotel for a buffet dinner. The walk home was just lovely… the soft sand… the sound of the ocean waves. When I first arrived on Tuesday, the sound of the ocean was a bit scary to me as I thought about the tsunami in Japan. I was thankful that by Thursday, the ocean took on the peaceful sound in my mind again.

On Friday, we spent the entire day in the pool and in the ocean. We decided to spend our last evening at a restaurant called Lotus. We actually picked out our live lobster and sea bass that were cooked for us to eat. This really disturbed my big-hearted Matthew. He just didn’t wanted to think that we just saw these fish alive and now we were eating them. He was also disturbed when we left the restaurant to see that there were only 2 fish left in the fish tanks. Yikes. Interestingly, when we sat down to dinner, a 2 year old Russian girl (Sophia) came over to Jessica, hugging her and climbing up to sit by her. It was so adorable. The dad finally had to just take her away!

We had a 4:40am wake up call to make our flights on Saturday. I found myself excited to get back home. Our thoughts and prayers have been with Japan during the time we were gone, and we followed every detail on CNN, BBC, or NHK. It was time to go home.

We loved Thailand, and are very thankful for the opportunity to spend time together as a family and have another Maloney adventure!

Peace and Love.

Tina

Bangkok, March 19-22, 2011

2011-03-30T15:45:00.006+09:00

We left early on Saturday, March 19, to take the bus to the Osaka airport. I must say that I was happy to be going away for a few days with my family. Yet, our thoughts and prayers would be with Japan the entire time.

We got to the airport a little early so Matthew was able to enjoy his udon noodles. This is a Japanese favorite! I could tell even at check in that we were going to enjoy Thai Air. This airline company is actually happy to have you flying with them, even in economy class! Every seat had its own “on demand” movie system. They quickly served drinks and meals to all of us. The service was fantastic.

We arrived in Bangkok 45 minutes ahead of schedule. The Bangkok airport was huge. We made it through customs, got our bags, and then found our van driver to head to the hotel. We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton on Sukhumvit 15. This location is very close to lots of shopping, restaurants, and BTS train service. We checked in and headed down the sidewalk, weaving our way through the “markets”. We got advice from local folks to eat dinner at a local “open air” restaurant called Suda’s. The Thai food was really good, and we ate 7 plates of food plus drinks for about $33.

On Sunday, we grabbed a taxi to go to the Grand Palace. Ahh. The fun began. The taxi driver kept telling us he needed us to help him by stopping at a government Gem Gallery. We reluctantly agreed. We had to walk around for 10 minutes. Then, the driver could take us on to the palace. He warned us not to listen to anyone outside of palace as people try to scam you. We took his advice. We were amazed to find see this huge, beautiful structure that was actually constructed in the 1700s and served as the official residence of the King of Thailand since the 18th century. Now, it is used for many royal ceremonies. We took off our shoes to go inside Wat Phra Kaew, the temple containing the Emerald Buddha. Many were on their knees in prayer. Wat Phra Kaew is the most revered Buddhist shrine in Thailand, and the Grand Palace is the spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom.

We then took another cab to the weekend “Chatuchuk” market. Yes, you guessed it. We had to stop at another government shop for 10 minutes. We discovered that on Sundays the Government will give taxi drivers a coupon for free gas if they bring their passengers to their shops – lots of jewelry, tailor made clothing, and souvenirs. We finally made it to the market. Imagine over 35 acres and 5000 stalls offering everything from clothing and souvenirs to food to live animals! It was overwhelming. When we left the market, we found our way to the BTS train. This was much easier as it took us very close to our hotel without having to stop at another government shop!

After a quick shower, we went to the marina for boarding the Loy Nava dinner cruise. We enjoyed cruising along the Chao Phraya river. We saw how many families live along the river, using the water for bathing and washing clothes. We also some beautiful sights, including the Grand Palace majestically lit up. The food, service, and entertainment were just terrific.

On Monday, Phillip had to do some work, so we played at the hotel pool (on the top floor of the hotel), did some shopping, rode in a tuk tuk, and enjoyed Big Mama’s Pizza – the closest we have had to American pizza in a while.

We enjoyed this big city of 10 million people and did not find it as scary as I had feared. I think the key is to be aware and smart - put money and wallets in front pockets, take children by the hand. While I did always feel like people were trying to scam me, I never felt in danger for myself or for my family at any time. We would definitely recommend the trip!

Tuesday morning … Goodbye Bangkok. Hello Phuket!

Peace and Love,

Tina

March 12, 2011

2011-03-13T15:01:00.007+09:00

We got up Saturday morning just after 6am to find our computers bursting with messages, positive thoughts, and prayers. We were overwhelmed by the love and support. We are so very blessed to have wonderful family and friends. I was also very touched by hearing from friends from high school and college...friends I haven't talked to in many years. We definitely feel the love across the world here in Japan. Thank you.

At this point, we learned that the Shinkansen was working on time, and that Hiroshima and Miyajima were untouched by earthquake or tsunami. We decided to go on the trip, though Phillip and I felt guilty. How could we go on a vacation trip while all these people are suffering? How could things go on as normal with all the devastation so close by? We knew that we could not physically go help right now. If we stayed home, we would likely watch CNN all day. We knew that we needed to continue to pray and ask others to pray. So, we left at 7:30am. The trip turned out to be a good distraction for a while.

The bullet train "Nozomi" was fun for the family. You don't have to go through a line at security. The seats are big. We turned a row around so that our family all faced each other. The train goes FAST - 300 kilometers per hour!

I found Hiroshima to be a very pretty city. We ate okonomiyaki (specially made the Hiroshima way). Then, we spent quite some time in the Peace Museum, where the history was detailed. There were many very sad displays, including pictures and items that belonged to those who died when the bomb was dropped. I found 2 sections to be incredibly emotional. First, there were 2 models that showed Hiroshima before and after the bomb. The entire city was destroyed except for an elementary school and part of a dome. To see this in model form was just awful. Another section had stories and personal belongings of innocent children who died: school clothes, lunch box with food inside that was completely charred, a sandal that still had a little girl's foot imprint. The stories were just awful... children burned to the point of no recognition, dying in agony, ... helpless parents. We walked around peace memorial park and stopped by the children's memorial to see the statue of Sadako. We talked as a family about peace in the world. This is the message of Hiroshima today.

Hiroshimiyaki

Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims

Peace Memorial Park

Atomic Bomb Dome

Sadako- Children's Peace Memorial

We took a train and a ferry to see Miyajima, a small island less than an hour from Hiroshima. Miyajima is most famous for its giant torii gate which at high tide seems to float on top of the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan's three best views. While officially named Itsukushima, the island is more commonly referred to as Miyajima, Japanese for "shrine-island". This is because the island is so closely related to its shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, in the public's mind. Like the torii gate, the shrine's main buildings are built over water. The area was just beautiful. There are deer that walk around freely. You can pet them and take pictures with them. There are many shops and restaurants. Miyajima is famous for oyster season, so we, of course, had to eat them - grilled and fried. We took the train home. An exhausting day after an exhausting night. While we are glad to be able to see 2 very famous sights in Japan, we had a sick feeling in our stomachs all day. The best part of the day was just being together as a family and really appreciating time together.

That sick feeling continues.

We have only been in Japan since July. Yet, this country is our home right now. We have developed such a great respect and fondness for the Japanese people. I hope that the world learns from the Japanese culture of honor, pride, and discipline even in the face of this horrible crisis. We feel so badly for the people of northern Japan. It is truly unimaginable that this can be happening just a few hundred miles away. We have actually heard several Japanese people compare the current disaster to that of Hiroshima - complete devastation. Yet, we can go on with life as usual? School... work...doing laundry.... going to the grocery store. It is frustrating to feel like we cannot help. We can help though. We must keep praying for those who have died, those who lost loved ones, those still trapped and trying to survive, and those who are working so hard with search and rescue and managing the nuclear plant emergency. Our financial donations will also be very important.

I cannot fully express my family's gratitude for your prayers, messages, and support. Thank you. Please continue to pray for Japan.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Emotional Day - March 11, 2011

2011-03-13T13:50:00.019+09:00

Wow. Where do I begin? It has been an emotional weekend. I will separate my weekend thoughts into 2 blogs.

Friday, March 11, started out as a usual morning. I was making lunches for the children while they ate breakfast. We talked about plans for the day and weekend. But, March 11 has special meaning for our family as it marked the 5th anniversary of Joe Maloney's death. Phillip called his mom. We all miss Grandpa very much.

I spent much of the morning and early afternoon preparing an emergency kit for our family. There was a class earlier in the week that talked about how to prepare for an emergency, so a friend and I decided to get these done right away. We shopped in the morning, and then put everything into bags after lunch. I was just headed out to exercise when I stopped to check my email on the computer in the breakfast room. I heard creaking noises, like someone walking really hard on loose hardward above me, and beside me, .... I felt like I was swaying. I looked at the chandelier. It was swaying. I saw the door moving back and forth, back and forth, and then I heard doors slam. The movement continued for what seemed like a very long time. In reality, it was probably 4-5 minutes. I called a friend, and asked, "Is this an earthquake?" Phillip called from P&G to check in. My text started beeping as a set of 9 friends were talking over text about what we were learning, how scared we were, and what we should do. I felt sick. Fortunately, my friend Megan (with whom I made the emergency kit) was at the school. She was sending us texts of what was going on there. The kids were in "duck and cover". They were given the all clear, and then they went back into "duck and cover" during an after shock. After the next all clear, the kids were dismissed at 3:25pm normal time. I called Jacob to tell him to get his brother and sister and come home together. Matthew called me in tears and asked, "Mom, are you ok? I heard the Entente (our apartment building) was moving. Are you ok?" I reassured him and asked him to stay with Jacob and Jessica. Our dear friend Megan had about 25 kids walking home with her as she was the only parent there at the time that was heading our way. The kids arrived to find that the elevator was stopped for safety. They walked up 27 flights of stairs to our apartment. These hugs were the best ever. We were so very happy for this reunion.

I had turned on CNN via Slingbox. I could not believe my eyes. 8.9 magnitude earthquake? 8.9? Now, the tsunami. The after shocks continued. This poor city of Sendai, the closest city to the epicenter. A city of a million people. Devastated. The airport under water. Sendai Airport. Sendai Airport. My son, Jacob, along with his entire 7th grade class was in that airport 3 weeks ago in route to the annual ski trip. Sendai airport. I felt sick again.

We were pretty much consumed by CNN the rest of the evening. We realized that the US would be waking up to this news, so we sent emails to family and friends. I updated my Facebook status.

In January, our family planned a trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima for this Saturday, March 12. This is the only weekend without middle school sports except for the spring break. So, we bought our tickets for the shinkansken (bullet train) and trolley/entrance fees for those 2 areas. In preparation for the trip, I had been reading a book called Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes. We needed to finish the book on Friday. So, I read just before dinner. Sadako was 2 years old when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. She was a very active little girl, and a very fast runner. But, at age 11, she developed leukemia. Sadako wanted to make 1000 paper cranes so that the gods would heal her. She died at age 12. Our book said that she did not get to the 1000, but her friends finished these and buried the cranes with her. (Other accounts said that she did actually finish the 1000 cranes.) This was a very sad story to tell on what had been an emotional day already.

All 3 kids came to lay in bed with me. Our night came as the US morning began. We started getting calls, email messages, FB messages. I worked to communicate on the computer for a while, as Phillip fielded calls and sent out messages as well. No one slept very much that night. Phillip and I continued to follow the news throughout the night. We felt additional after shocks. The children were restless.

It feels so surreal. There is so much tragedy right now just a few hundred miles away from us. We have felt the earthquake and the after shocks, and we have been scared. But, we are ok. No damage. No injuries.

We have found the people here in Japan to be very kind and caring. We continue to pray for all those affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plants. They need our prayers and our support.

March 11, 2011. Another day we will always remember.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Cool Japanese experiences - March 9, 2011

2011-03-09T17:11:00.008+09:00

Over the past couple of weeks, I had the opportunity to enjoy some very cool experiences in Japan.

There is an organization here called "CHIC" which stands for Community House & Information Centre. This group offers a number of opportunities to help folks settle in and enjoy Japan - coffees, trips, furniture sales, cooking classes, Japanese language classes, and even a grocery store tour! I enjoyed our recent trip to Kitano Tenmangu. To what, you might ask? Geisha and maiko (the apprentices) host "Nodate" (an outdoor tea ceremony) beneath the plum blossoms during the Baika-sai, which takes place at Kitano-tenmangu Shrine each year on February 25. Basically, we get to go to a temple, see beautiful plum blossoms, and wait in a very long line to have Geisha and maiko serve us tea during this once per year event! We took the train to Kyoto and a taxi to the temple. I could smell the plum blossoms from the street before we got to the temple. We entered the gate and got in line with about 700 of our closest friends. I enjoyed taking pictures of the pink and white plum blossoms and looking at the various people who were there. Alas, it was our turn. We sat on our knees to enjoy the traditional tea ceremony. I was intrigued just looking at the Geisha and wondering about their decision to follow this career. Then, we walked around the temple sale searching for treasures.

On Saturday, February 26, our family headed out on the train for Arashiyama (western part of Kyoto) to visit Monkey Park. Located in the Arashiyama mountains, the entrance to the monkey park is just south of the Togetuskyo Bridge. We hiked uphill for about ten minutes, and then we found an open area with over a hundred monkeys roaming freely. The views of the city were spectacular, but the monkeys kept our attention. There were very specific rules for visitors that we read on the internet and that we got with our tickets: 1) Do not stare the monkeys in the eyes, 2) Do not touch the monkeys. 3) Do not feed the monkeys outside. Ok. Got it. However, outside, there was a board posted with a 4th rule: 4) Do not make load outside. Excuse me? Not sure about that one! We walked around and took pictures. Then, we went inside a building where we could feed the monkeys through a cage. Most were gentle, but a few of them were pretty anxious to grab that apple! I was fascinated looking at their hands, which looked so much like human hands. We went up to a different area where the monkeys looked younger and were running around and playing. This was very fun to watch. They wrestled like normal human siblings. :) As were getting ready to leave, a strange thing happened. The kids headed down to a playground. Phillip and I leisurely walked behind them. All of a sudden, a monkey stared at me and started following me. I made Phillip walk between us, but little monkey dude kept following and staring. I must have reminded him of an old girlfriend! Phillip and I stepped up onto the slide platform. Then, he stepped right up there with us. So, I went down the slide to escape! Thank goodness my bottom fit. The slides in Japan are very skinny! The monkey then walked down the hill to get closer to me. Where is a monkey ranger?!?! Phillip stayed right by my side. Finally, after a very long 7-8 minutes, the monkey walked away. Yikes!

This past weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), we had the opportunity to watch Jacob's middle school soccer team play in the end of season tournament. Jacob has played goal keeper on the A team all season and did so during the tourney. The team was undefeated for the season, but had a couple close games against Osaka. On Friday, the two teams tied. On Saturday morning, our overly confident team lost to Nagoya. This turned out to be the best loss ever. It fired the boys up to win the next game 9-0 and then win the final game (against Osaka again) 5-0. It was awesome to see those guys come together as a team. Go Falcons!

Until next time... Peace and Love,

Tina

Another beautiful day - February 22, 2010

2011-02-22T15:25:00.004+09:00

Today is Tuesday, February 22, 2010. It is another beautiful day in Kobe, Japan. I am so thankful for another day - a day of good health and safety for my children, my husband, and for myself. Two world events have provided reminders of what is important in life and how quickly it can all be gone.

Last night, right before bed, I was reading CNN.com. (I try to read news sites so that I can keep up with what is going on in the world.) I saw an article about a boat sinking in Vietnam, killing 12. My heart pounded. I clicked on the article to read that a junk boat sank during the night in Halong Bay. The boat trapped the people inside, and all 12 died. While I don't know which company's boat this was, I do know that it was just like the other 40 boats that dock in the same area of Halong Bay every day. I also know that this is just like the junk boat that we stayed on in October in this very same location. This 2 day , 1 night junk boat trip, in fact, was our family's favorite part of our stay in Vietnam. (I remember fondly the night on the top deck, laying under the moon and stars, talking to Matthew about how fortunate we are.) I felt shocked... these tourists came there to vacation, to enjoy family....This made me very sad. I also felt thankful to be sitting in my breakfast room in Kobe, Japan.

Late this morning, I was leaving our fitness center and walked by the TV in the lobby. CNN had breaking news about the major earthquake that just hit Christchurch New Zealand. We have a dear friend who is from New Zealand and is actually visiting his family there right now. I raced up to our apartment to get my cell phone to call his wife who is still here in Kobe. Her husband was in a cafe at the time and is ok. He said the city looks like a "war zone". This same location had a major earthquake in September. They have been experiencing "after shocks" ever since. Now this earthquake is even worse - 65 confirmed fatalities and major damage. We must keep the folks of New Zealand in our prayers.

So now... life here in Japan.

After a miserably hot July, August, and September, I must say that October, November, and December were just gorgeous. Then, January had some wicked wind which kept us pretty cold, but now February has been sunny and upper 40s / low 50s. Ok, we did have the one "snow day". It was in the 30s and snowed lightly all day. It was pretty cold with the wind, but nothing really stuck to the ground. School and business carried on as usual. The next day, we were back up to 42 degrees again. So, no complaints.

We are in the groove with school and work, just like we would be living anywhere, I guess. It is pretty funny, though, that last week (after 7 months here), I had one of those "Wow, we are really in Japan" moments. I took the train to Sports Depo. On my way back, I was walking along the street, listening to Asian music, looking at all the signs in Japanese and trying make out some of the words. I boarded the train, listening to people speaking in Japanese, and noticed that I was the only non-Japanese person on board. I got the usual stares. I guess I don't notice it too much any more, but on this day, I was somehow more aware.

Yesterday, I went with friends to a "temple sale". This is like a big flea market that is held monthly with different booths of "treasures". You can negotiate with some more than others. I have become very fond of kokeshi dolls and became the proud owner of a few more of those, but could not bring myself to make any major purchases (like a gong, or a temple bell). Kokeshi dolls are Japanese dolls handmade of wood, with a simple trunk and an enlarged head. They are really quite cute, and you can find some with the artist's signature on the bottom. Jessica, of course, loved my treasures, but the boys asked, "Is that it?"

Quick update on the children....

Jacob was away on a middle school ski trip last week. They met at the school at 4:45am on Wednesday, took a bus to the Itami airport, flew to the Sendai airport, and then took a bus another 90 minutes to Shizukuishi. They went skiing and sledding for 3 days, and returned to the school Friday night at 9:40pm. No phones. No contact. Well, we did have a friend who chaperoned that kept us up to speed on important things, like "Everyone is healthy and no major injuries." This was all that I needed to know. I was a bit worried about Jacob since he had only skiied twice before this trip. It was a long way away...no contact... I missed my son! I think I hugged him a hundred times Friday night and Saturday!

Matthew continues to do well is school, sports, and social life. His teacher just asked him to play one of the lead roles in a 4th grade play in May. He was thrilled. He is also excited to start leadership club next week. Matthew continues to play piano and is already excited about the next rugby season which starts April 3. We just filled out the application and health report. Well, I should say that one of the ladies at our front reception filled them out. Some of the translations were hilarious. The health report asked about immunizations, and current status of things like his mental health, his circulatory system, and his digestive organs. Funny.

Jessica also continues to do well is school, dance, and social life. Her dance club had a performance last Friday. Very cute. Jessica is also still taking piano lessons.

Phillip has been in Seoul, Korea, for the past 2 days, and I am looking forward to having him home the rest of the week. He stays very busy with work. When he is not traveling, he often has late night conference calls or work dinners somewhere around Kobe or Osaka. With the time difference between US and Japan, it feels like the Japanese folks are always on call. We have determined that it is just the way it is.

While I do miss my P&G friends in Cincinnati and the work that we did together, I am still enjoying being at home right now. I love being here when the kids get home from school, helping them with homework, and meeting their friends who come over to play. I am still taking Japanese language lessons, and can read Hiragana and Katakana ... well, for the most part. I also enjoy spending time at the school, and with friends I have met here. The network of expat moms here is amazing. Everyone is so kind and helpful. It is funny; living in the apartment building is like living in a dorm. Someone may send a text, needing a can of chicken broth. Within seconds, a child has been sent on delivery of the needed item. Everyone is also very supportive of each other as we all have those "blah" days and need an understanding smile. This network of families has made a world of difference for me and for our family.

We are beginning to experience one of the tough parts of expat life. Friends are leaving. This goes on pretty much consistently. Folks are here for a year, or 2 years, or 3 years. You make a connection - a friendship. Then, they leave. We have learned that a few of our new friends are leaving to go back home or on to another international assignment. It is an emotional roller coaster. As with anything, we just have to enjoy the time we have together.

May your days be filled with gratitude, joy, and lots of hugs.

Peace and Love (and big hugs from Japan),

Tina

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-27T12:48:00.015+09:00

We arrived home New Year's Eve at about 8:50pm. We raced to the grocery store to get milk, fruit, cereal, and bread for breakfast the next morning. Then, we went to our apartment to find that Santa had visited while we were gone! What a great way to come home from vacation. We stayed up late playing XBox Kinnect. We were laughing aloud to ring in the new year. We had decided to treat New Year's Eve as our Christmas Eve, and then New Year's Day as our Christmas Day. This turned out to be a wonderful plan. Phillip was off work until January 5. The kids were out of school until January 11, and Grandma was still here. We had a lot of fun. It was very difficult to tell Grandma goodbye on January 10 after a 2 month visit. We had explored parts of Japan and Australia together, celebrated Christmas and New Year's, watched kids' sports, plays, and musical performances. We shopped, played Encore and Pictionary, worked on a Great Barrier Reef puzzle (which is still not complete), explored Japanese, Korean, Brazilian, and Indian food, and simply had a great time. It really meant a lot to us that Grandma would make the long journey here and then spend so much time with us. So, saying goodbye was not easy. Grandma and Phillip had their bus tickets from Rokko Island to the airport. It is a 55 minute ride on the bus each way, so the plan was for the rest of us to say goodbye from the apartment. But, Jacob got his own money out to pay for the bus ride. He insisted on going along on the bus for those last few minutes together with Grandma. We all have very special memories of our time together.

For the kids, CA's 2nd quarter just ended last Friday, marking the half way point in the school year. All 3 children have done very well in all classes, and all seem to enjoy learning Japanese.

Jacob started his middle school soccer season on Saturday. He played at goalkeeper for 2 games and at midfielder for 2 games. Phillip and I spent 4 hours in the cold! They won all 4 games. He just started with a Japanese basketball club on Mondays and Wednesdays. The coaches only speak Japanese, but he is going with a good friend who speaks fluent Japanese. That should help. Jacob goes to Young Life on Thursday nights. YL is led by a wonderful young couple here on Rokko Island. It seems to be a good group of kids.

Matthew has a break from rugby until April. He is continuing with 2 clubs: baseball and dodge ball. Saturday soccer just ended. He leads a very busy life with school and friends. I commented to Phillip just watching him last weekend that Matthew's 4 best friends are Japanese, Korean, Indian, and American. He is learning from them, and growing to respect differences that people bring. What an amazing learning that I hope he remembers for a lifetime. I have enjoyed having them over to get to know them a bit as well. Good for me, too.

Jessica continues to grow up before my eyes. She is reading at the highest level in her class, and her teacher consistently reports on Jessica's leadership. I have been fortunate to be able to substitute teach in her class a few times. How fun for me to get to know her friends a little better too. She is doing jazz dance club and just finished Saturday soccer. Oh, and she finally lost her top front tooth after Grandma left. We had tried to get that thing out since early November!

Friday is culture day in first grade. Jessica just completed a book for her culture day project. She chose to teach her classmates about Christmas in the US. My role in the USA booth is to tell the children about how America gained its freedom, and then to teach them "This Land is Your Land." (I have to teach it to 12 different groups!) One mom is wearing a coon skin cap and fishing. Two moms are bringing black eyed peas on tortilla chips, buckeyes, and chocolate chip cookies. You gotta love American culture!

Thanks to family and friends for your cards, calls, and email messages. We so love keeping in touch and hearing about what is going on at home! Just remember, "No worries, Mate!"

We had a very exciting 2010, full of adventure. Phillip's year was also full of travel. He visited Canada, Switzerland, Japan, China, Singapore, Korea, Australia, and Vietnam in the last year. Wow.

No January blog would be complete without a top 10 list. So, here is one from our family.

Top 10 events of 2010 for the Maloney family

10) January 2010: The Alabama Crimson Tide won its 13th NCAA college football championship. Phillip and I were at the Rose Bowl to enjoy it, and on the phone with kids at home in Cincinnati with Grandma. We were all screaming and jumping up and down!!

9) May 2010: 6th grade play and 6th grade graduation at Terrace Park.

8) March 2010: We had a wonderful spring break with the Bradys in Fort Myers... the last annual meeting for a while.

7) July 2010: We had a great time in Maui with Uncle Chris, Keegan, and Jack. This was our first trip to Hawaii.

6) August 2010: Jacob, Matthew, and Jessica started school at the Canadian Academy, making friends with students from Japan, Korea, China, Europe, Phillipines, India, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, USA ... literally from all over the world.

5) October 2010: Jacob pitched 2 complete tournament games, and scored the winning run in one game to lead his middle school baseball team to tournament championship.

4) August - December 2010: Matthew played rugby in an all-Japanese league, and did very well scoring, tackling, and becoming friends with his Japanese teammates.

3) December 2010: Everything about visiting Australia ...snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, seeing Steve Irwin's Australia zoo, feeding kangaroos, holding koalas, walking on the Harbor Bridge, touring the Opera House,...

2) November-December 2010: Grandma visited us for 2 months!

and the number 1 event that occurred in 2010 ....

1) July 2010: We moved to Japan!! It was a tearful goodbye, but we are very blessed to have this opportunity.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Merry Christmas Mate! December 31, 2010

2011-01-06T14:44:00.017+09:00

The third and final part of our Australian adventure....

Our flight from Brisbane to Cairns was delayed, so we arrived in Cairns at the stroke of midnight to bring in Christmas morning. I am not sure, but I think I saw a sleigh and reindeer while we were making our landing! We arrived so late that the rental car agency left our van in the "car park" with keys under the mat. We loaded up and headed on the 25 minute drive to Palm Cove. By the way, Phillip loves driving on the round-a-bouts. I think he may run for governor of Ohio when we return using the platform of replacing all stop lights with round-a-bouts! Ha. It was dark and rainy. We found our apartment building, but Phillip and I could not get the after hours code to work. Good grief. It is 12:45am on Christmas morning. I did not want to call the Island Views emergency number. Then, I finally remembered that the lady told me “hash” before the code. Hash? Ahhh…. The number sign….. Alas, the code worked! Our tired bodies got a bolt of energy when we walked into our apartment to find 3 bedrooms, 2 family rooms, a kitchen, and a big balcony with grill, table and chairs, couch and a stunning view of the ocean. Who can sleep now? Well, we finally settled down around 2 something….

We found a church on Christmas morning. I always love to hear the Christmas story and sing Christmas songs together as a family. It is the best way to celebrate Jesus’ birth. We wanted to eat what Australians eat on Christmas, so our restaurant search began. Many restaurants serve a 3 hour, 7 course meal, full of seafood. The cost was between $110 - $140 per person. Yikes! So, we found a restaurant that serve these foods ala carte – just one course would be fine for us Americans!

On Sunday, we went to Tjapukai Aboriginal Park. We learned about the aborigines (think our Native American Indians). They showed us via performances of dance, theater, and demonstrations. We learned about their weapons, their laws, and medicines. Then, we all got to throw spears and boomerangs! Very cool. Matthew learned to play the didgeridoo, their musical instrument of choice.

On Monday, we took a beautiful 35 minute drive to Port Douglas. (We ended up making this gorgeous drive 3 days in a row!) We did a full day private tour. (Yes, the Maloneys did a private charter tour. With 6, we almost fill up the land cruiser any way!) Neville was a delightful man, and he connected with the children right away. He told them to call him “Uncle Nev”. We experienced the Daintree River, Daintree Rainforest, Mossman Gorge, Cape Tribulation. Amazing. We saw crocodiles, lizards, butterflies, and birds on our river cruise… We had a barbeque lunch in a jungle… The boys ate ants with Uncle Nev in the rainforest… We swam in the clear waters of the Mossman Gorge. It was definitely a full day! We saw lots of plant life, but we were surprised that we did not see many animals.

On Tuesday, Phillip, Jacob, Matthew, and I went on the Reef Sprinter to the Low Isles. Most of the reef tours are full day boat trips that include a long ride out to a reef, lunch, snorkeling, long ride back. The Reef Sprinter idea is to take a 15 minute speed boat trip out to the reef, snorkel for 1 hour and 45 minutes, and then take a 15 minute boat trip back. Home before noon! This is all about the snorkeling. It was very fun. We saw lots of coral, fish, and 2 sharks. Then, we picked up Grandma and Jessica to go into Cairns to see the marina and do some shopping.

On Wednesday, the entire family took that beautiful drive back to Port Douglas. Grandma was very nervous because she had never snorkeled before. We picked Quick Silver as it included an underground viewing area, as well as a semi-submersible vessel to allow all to see the fish and coral, even if you did not snorkel. The boat was huge with 3 floors. It took 1.5 hours to get out to the Agincourt Reef (along the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef). We got our lycra suits on. Grandma took some time to put her face in the water, and then she headed out into the ocean with her snorkel buddies Phillip and Jacob. Matthew, Jessica, and I followed behind them. We had a great time snorkeling, enjoying the seafood buffet, going out in the semi-submersible vessel, and then snorkeling some more! We were all very proud of Grandma! On the boat trip back, we met a lovely couple from England. We talked the whole way back about cricket, rugby, the royal family ... they were wonderful with our kids. We found out that they had 5 children and 4 grandchildren, so no wonder they were so good with kids! It turned out that their apartment was right behind ours, so they rode back to Palm Cove with us. I love the wonderful people that you meet along each journey.

For our last day on Thursday, we took the Kuranda Skyrail to Kuranda to see the rain forest, Barron Gorge, the cute little town, and of course, the wildlife sanctuary where Jacob, Matthew, and Jessica got to hold koalas. They are so doggone cute. Then, we got to pet and feed more kangaroos. We headed back via the Kuranda scenic skyrail. We picked up pizzas and ate poolside that evening. It was a lovely evening and a wonderful way to end our trip as we headed out to the airport on Friday morning. Wow. Two weeks just flew by.

Going to Australia was truly a dream come true. It is a beautiful country with friendly people. We enjoyed many of their sayings, like "G'day, Mate", "Nana", make sure your seat belts are"done up", etc. However, my favorite Australia saying is as much an attitude as it is a saying. "No worries, Mate!" We heard this from so many people. The great thing is that the people really mean it - Don't worry. Things will be just fine. So, our family has adopted "No Worries, Mate!" as our attitude for 2011. During this holiday season, we continue to be so very thankful for good health, safety, family, home, and the opportunity to have such wonderful experiences.

So from our family to yours, "Merry Christmas, and No worries, Mate!"

Peace and Love,

Tina

Crikey! December 24, 2010

2011-01-06T14:21:00.007+09:00

Crikey!

As I head into the 2^nd part of our journey, I must say how much I have enjoyed being in an English speaking country. It was great to speak to people in English and have them understand us, and so great to hear and understand what others are saying… and to be able to read the road signs, and package labels, and directions, maps, TV, … Don’t get me wrong. The Japanese people are very friendly, and they all try to help you. It’s just hard when you do not speak the language. Being in an English speaking country added even more fun to our vacation. (Interestingly, we saw a Customs agent trying to explain directions to a Japanese couple. Jacob said, “That is us in Japan!” So true.)

We left Sydney on Monday afternoon and arrived at the Maroochydore airport in the Sunshine Coast just over an hour later. We headed to the Sebel Resort on Hastings Street in Noosa Heads. We had a 2 bedroom apartment, which would prove to be great for eating meals “in” instead of everything “out” at restaurants. We actually went to a Cole’s grocery store right away to stock up. Did I mention how nice it was to read the labels? :)

On Tuesday, we walked across the street to Noosa Main beach. It was lovely with some waves, so we had a great time. The boys played football along the beach and in the ocean. Imagine that!

On Wednesday, we loaded up and headed to Beerwah to the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. This was a huge highlight of our adventure. It rained all day, but this did not slow us down! We started with a Warrior show that included some scary crocodiles and the whole crowd yelling “Crikey!” We saw koalas actually awake, moving around on branches, and eating leaves. We saw elephants, tigers, komodo dragon, skinks,…. But, …well, …is it possible to fall in love with a kangaroo? I think I did. There were 2 areas where the kangaroos roamed freely, and we were able to pet and feed them. There was “Roo Heaven” and “Red Kangaroo Heaven”. Wow. They were so cute and gentle. I think we may have taken 50 pictures just of kangaroos! One kangaroo even climbed up Jacob shirt. In the second area, we saw 3 mommy kangaroos and their little joeys. One joey hopped out of the pouch, turned around, and did a somersault back into the pouch. Simply mesmerizing. Steve Irwin really did a lot to protect the wildlife. It was evident in every inch of that zoo – it felt a bit more like an amusement park than a zoo. The animals have so much space to live a bit more like they should. We found ourselves sad that Steve Irwin died at such a young age, but his legacy lives on in his family, in the zoo, and in the wildlife all over Australia – all over the world.

On the way home, we stopped at Target. Yes, TARGET!! It was so fun to find American type clothes (some simpler designs and bigger than a size 2 like they have in Japan!) We stayed a long time and found a few more Christmas items!

We saw some clear skies on Thursday, so we decided to hit the beach again. The girls (Grandma, Mom, and Jessica) also found our way to shop along Hastings Street. The street is filled with shops and restaurants. Just brilliant. (I picked up that word this week. I love it. You just have to use it sparingly for when something truly is brilliant.) On Friday, December 24, we packed up and headed to Brisbane to then fly out to Cairns for the 3rd and final part of our journey.

Peace and Love from Down Under,

Tina

Dec 16-20 Am I dreaming?

2010-12-25T17:52:00.008+09:00

I grew up in a small town in Alabama. My parents owned a gas station / convenience store and worked very hard 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We never went on vacation, and only rarely would we be able to make a trip to Tennessee to see relatives. I rode on an airplane for the first time as a junior in college when P&G flew me to Orlando for a job interview. Going to Australia was a dream - a fantasy. Phillip and I have been very fortunate to be able to take our family on vacation throughout the last 14 years. Our favorite vacation destination is Disney World (where we have gone 6 times!). We have also gone to Outer Banks, NC and to South Carolina to visit friends (and Alabama, Tennesee, Missouri to see family). So, we have not ventured very far from our Cincinnati home. With the move to Japan, we have been given an amazing opportunity to see parts of the world that I thought would never be possible. So, as I sit on the balcony of our vacation apartment in Palm Cove, Australia, overlooking the ocean, I keep thinking ... "Am I dreaming?" I want to share part of my dream over the next few blogs.

We started our journey on Thursday, December 16. We got to the Osaka airport to find that our JetStar flight had been cancelled. We had been re-routed on a flight that would get us to Sydney about 2 hours later than anticipated. JetStar is interesting. You get one small water for international trips and nothing for domestic. You have to buy water, soda, snacks, even blankets! We learned about this before we left, so we brought our own.

We arrived in Sydney on Friday, Dec 17, at about 1:30pm. A car took us to our hotel by Circular Quay. We freshened up a bit and went over to the Sydney Opera House where we did the essentials tour. Pretty amazing architecture. This originally planned 2 year project turned into a 14 year project. We saw the theaters, learned about the history, and even got to experience a rehearsal. Even the kids liked it! We enjoyed the beautiful evening along with many folks who sat outside along the harbor, sharing drinks and dinner.

On Saturday, we took the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. Upon arrival we took a skyrail up to the top and the walked our way back down. This could possibly be the best view of Sydney, and it was certainly a wonderful animal experience. There were koalas, red pandas, tigers, etc, but the best part was walking through the kangaroo walk-a-bout where we were able to pet those cute little roos. After we returned to the Quay we walk across the Harbor Bridge. Wow. It was breathtaking. We closed out our evening with even more breathtaking views atop our hotel. We just stood there together in awe. Jacob and I both broke into tears as the reality of where we were sunk in. We talked about how very blessed we are to have good health, safety, family, friends, and the opportunity to have these experiences together. Matthew saw a bright star and told us that he was sure it was Grandpa smiling down on us. :) This time together - just talking, with our arms around each other,... and looking at the beautiful Sydney harbor - is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. It was fitting that my favorite movie "It's a Wonderful Life" was on TV when we returned to our rooms.

On Sunday, we spent some time walking around “The Rocks”, eating pancakes and shopping at the weekend Farmers’ Market. We then took a bus to famous Bondi Beach. It was a bit chilly but this did not stop the Maloney kids (including Phillip) from playing in the ocean. The beach and surrounding shopping area were both lovely. We took a bus ride back in the pouring rain. The rain slowed down a bit, so we walked into the garden where thousands of fruit bats fly around each night. Totally weird. We then took a ferry to the other very famous beach in Sydney - Manly. We just looked around a bit, grabbed dinner, and took the ferry back to the hotel.

On Monday, we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens. We got to see those fruit bats hanging upside down in the trees. Some of them flew around. We took lots of pictures. Their heads are so big that they look like little "fox" heads. The Botanical Garden was full of lots of beautiful vegetation. As well, the path led around the Sydney Harbor where many people were walking and running. We went to Macquarie's point where the former Governor's wife would sit and look at the harbor. It is one of the very best places to take pictures as you can get the opera house and the harbor bridge in the same photo. It was very windy, and one of the local weathermen was there doing his broadcast. He filmed Grandma taking our picture, balancing herself in the wind. Then, he came over and talked to our whole family. We had to fly out that afternoon, so we don't know if we made the evening news or not!

I found Sydney to be every bit as beautiful as I had seen in pictures and on TV. However, the picture I will now hold in my heart is the view of the harbor from atop the Intercontinental Hotel, and the feelings of love and appreciation that go along with it.

Peace and Love from Australia,

Tina

Dec 3 - Grandma is here!

2010-12-02T18:49:00.005+09:00

Grandma Maloney was scheduled to arrive on Friday, November 19. However, her flight from Minneapolis to Seattle was a bit late, and she missed her Seattle connection. Delta sent her to Honolulu for the night to fly to Osaka the following day. Honolulu is great, but not when you are alone, tired, and do not have time to enjoy! She made the flight on Saturday and arrived in Osaka. Phillip met her at the airport, and they took the 57 minute bus ride to the Sheraton on Rokko Island, about a block or so from our apartment building. The kids and I met her there with welcome signs and lots of big hugs!

There was no rest for the weary as Matthew had a rugby tournament on Sunday. His team finished third. He scored 1 try and played amazing defense, including a game saving tackle! :) Grandma was very proud. I told him after the game that I am proud of his play, but I am more proud of his courage. I am not sure I have ever told him that before. But, once again, as I looked out at about 400+ kids ages 6-12, and saw this single blond head, I was very touched by his courage and drive to go out there and play as the only American (English-speaking) kid. This certainly must build character and confidence. He has one more tournament on December 5. Then, we are done until he moves to Grade 5 team on April 1. The team season is coordinated with the Japanese school fiscal year which starts in April. All of his teammates will start grade 5 then, so he will move up with them.

Grandma got to see Jacob as Dracula in the middle school play "Drac's Back". He was very charming as Dracula :). She also saw Jacob play basketball and sing in the choir's winter concert. She saw Matthew and Jessica play soccer, and next week she will see Jessica sing in her winter concert. The kids LOVE having Grandma here. Jessica took a picture of Grandma dressed in yukata (summer kimono) and submitted for a Japanese photo contest! :)

Jackie and I took a trip to Chinatown, Meriken Park, the Kobe Tower, and Harbor Land. The highlight of this trip was enjoying a drink while sitting in the revolving cafe at the top of the Kobe tower, overlooking the ocean and Kobe ... just beautiful. We also enjoyed the Brazilian Restaurant and ate more meat than we have consumed in weeks! Delicious! Last Sunday, the kids and I took Grandma to the Oji Zoo, one of our favorite places here. The Giant Panda was sleeping, but the kangaroos, tigers, lions, jaguars, and elephants did not disappoint. Jackie and I also went to Kyoto, the capital of Japan. The Kyoto train station alone is amazing enough to make the journey, but we visited temples and the Kyoto Tower. This is the most lovely time of year with the multi-colored leaves. This was truly breathtaking. And... We made this trip without getting lost one single time!

I forgot to mention that we bought Grandma a Japanese bicycle. It has a basket, bell, light, fenders, reflectors, and a built-in lock. Truly Japanese. We ride our bikes a lot to get to Canadian Academy for school activities, performances, and sports. It had really been fun.

We celebrated Matthew's 10th birthday on November 23. He got a rugby ball and a new soccer ball. Does this surprise anyone? We also celebrated Thanksgiving with about 12 American couples and 1 Australian couple last Saturday. We had turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie,... just terrific. It was as close to home as we could get. We definitely miss our family and friends back home, but we are blessed to have found terrific friends here.

This weekend? 60 degrees and sunny. Soccer, basketball, and rugby. Fun.

Peace and Love,

Tina

Nov 18 - update and random thoughts

2010-11-18T17:08:00.000+09:00

It is hard to believe that we have been in Japan for almost 4 months. I have grown accustomed to everything being in a different language. I tend to use a bad version of Japanese words and use my arms and body as if I were playing charades. I can ask the right questions, but it is very hard to follow the answer! I went to the post office yesterday. I was able show her the envelope, and well, she had to show me how much I owed by typing it on a calculator. Common here, I guess. I know just enough Japanese to be polite and to get myself to the toilet. "Toire, doko desu ka?" Hey, first things first!

Fall break in Vietnam (follow up) - I posted a few pictures here. Please see my facebook page for the full photo album. What a great adventure!

Shin Kobe

Our family went along with some friends to Shin Kobe Ropeway and Kobe Nunobiki Herb Park. We took a bus about 30 minutes to Shin Kobe where we rode on a ropeway (cable car) up into the mountain. The view was breathtaking, overlooking cities and ocean, and the leaves in yellow, orange, and red. We got to the top and walked around to see the herb garden. The brochure says "a pleasant place and time with herbs". OK, I laughed too. Flowers, herbs, spices ... maybe not up my alley, but still very cool. We hiked down the mountain along a waterfall. Really beautiful, but lots of huge spiders!

School and child update

The Canadian Academy has a very cool part of their program called reflection. The idea is that kids reflect on what has gone well and where their opportunities are so that they can continue to improve. The children do this weekly in many classes. In its simplest form, Jessica does a reflection in first grade every Friday. She writes: one thing I did well this week, one time I took a risk, one thing that was hard for me this week, and one way I was helpful to others. Then, a parent writes one observation from the week. Another example is in 7th grade, Jacob writes a reflection each week on how his project team has done - what were their goals, did they accomplish them, what went well, what didn't go so well, what are the goals for next week. I think this is a very cool concept. Imagine if we all learned from our successes and failures each week!

Jessica is doing great. Even her brothers say, "Wow. Jessica is a great reader!" She is playing Saturday soccer and starts street Jazz next week. Jessica lost a tooth on Nov 1. She wrote a note to the tooth fairy that said, "Dear Tooth Fairy. I am English. It is my 3rd tooth I lost. How much money will you give me? Love Jessica. (also signed in Japanese). My tooth is in this (with an arrow and a picture of the little bag), but it might slip." The tooth fairy does indeed come to Kobe, Japan and pays in Japanese Yen! She went through a growth spurt a couple months ago. Her jaw grew and her teeth now have gaps. Seriously. One morning, Matthew said "Jessica's teeth look different." Her top left front tooth is so loose, but she does not want to pull it. She does not want to "have a gap and talk funny". Jessica enjoyed her 7th birthday with three friends - making pizza, doing nails, and having a sleepover.

Matthew loves his teacher. He says that he is best teacher ever. He is doing very well and continues to really excel in math. He plays Saturday soccer, Thursday flag football, and rugby. He starts baseball next week. Matthew's rugby team has made it to the semi-finals of their end of year tournament. They play 2 games on Sunday - semi finals, and finals (hopefully) or consolation game. (See youtube video Matthew rugby 2010 for a few highlights from their first tourney of the fall. The link is also on my facebook page.) Good luck Matto!

Jacob is also doing very well in school. He continues to love math as his favorite subject. He starts on the middle school basketball team and has practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He still has play practice on M,W,F after school until next weeks's performance. He plays the part of Dracula in the play "Drac's Back!" Jacob's flag football team got third place in their tournament last weekend. He is growing like crazy - almost as tall as I am, and his feet are only 1/2 size smaller than Phillip's!!

Random thoughts

I just have to share a couple of funny quotes.

One of the great things about living here is that we get to have dinner together as a family a lot - really as long as Phillip is in town. We have great conversations. One night, we were talking about someone's new baby. Matthew asked, "If we had a baby here, would it be Japanese?" I was laughing so hard that I almost spit my food out! (Oh, ... and no, we are not having a baby here.)

Separately, Jacob's PE/Gym class had a badminton tournament. In the semi-finals, he played against an 8th grade Korean kid whom Jacob knows from playing baseball together. He has quite a personality. During baseball, if he made a strike, he would often throw his arms out and yell something in Korean. Just a character (in a fun way). Anyway, Jacob won this game at PE. The kid then yelled, "How can I lose to an American?" Truly, one of my favorite comments of the move so far. Funny, though, Jacob then lost to a Japanese girl in the final game! :)

Grandma Maloney arrives Friday evening to stay with us until January 10. I look forward to sharing some great adventures together!

Peace and Love.

Tina

Vietnam

2010-10-29T19:47:00.000+09:00

We had a wonderful week with family in Vietnam during our first excursion out of our home base in Kobe. We spent a day in Hanoi, 2 days on a junk boat in Halong Bay, and then 4 days at China Beach in Da Nang. Things did not go smoothly the whole week, but we recognize that we have had amazing vacations through the years. We have always been fortunate that everyone has stayed healthy and that our weather was always very good. We also learned this week that even with the bumps,... vacation is about sharing time and experiences as a family. I will share some highlights and try not to write too much!

We left Saturday morning at 6:33am on a bus from Rokko Island. (The next 2 buses were already full, so we had to take this one.) Matthew immediately felt car sick (and the ride was 50 minutes)! We made it to the airport before Vietnam Airlines opened. I hung out with the bags, while Phillip walked around with the kids. Alas, we checked in and headed to Sky Club. Our flight was fine, and we all tried to take naps. Once arriving in Hanoi, we found that people stared at us even more that in Japan. One lady watched Jessica the entire time we were in line for customs. She finally just reached out and touched her hair! She looked to be very "grandmotherly", so Jessica just smiled at her. A car took us to our hotel in Hanoi's Old Quarter. The chaos began as soon as we left the airport. Try to imagine busy streets with about 70% motor bikes, 20% cars, and 10% bicycles. We saw entire families on motor bikes, with 1-2 children between Mom and Dad. They never stopped. We basically had to grab our kids' hands and just run to get across the streets. The cars and motor bikes were very good at anticipating where you are going. One hesitation could be trouble. There were many, many small shops and people following us around to sell things. It was quite overwhelming. One lady was in my face and kept repeating "cheap for you baby". Yikes!! Phillip really enjoyed the constant negotiation, though. Jacob had a very bad stomach ache for awhile. When we stopped to get a Sprite, a young man walked up and touched Matthew's hair!

On Sunday morning, we embarked upon a 3.5 hour bus trip to Halong Bay. Poor Matthew was car sick the whole time. We stopped about half way at a big shop and met a family from Cincinnati - just 5 miles from our old house in Beechwood Farms! Crazy! We made it to the Huong Hai Junk boat. There was a couple from London on the boat with us, and then 2 other gentlemen from London joined us later. It was almost like having our own family boat ride! We saw beautiful mountains, ate wonderful seafood, walked through a cave, and kayaked to a beach where we climbed a mountain for an amazing view. The kids jumped off the 3 floors of the boat and played in the water before dinner. After dinner, we hung out on lawn chairs on the top floor of the boat and admired the full moon. I loved just laying with Matthew and talking about what a wonderful life we have and how very fortunate we are. We had fun spending the night on the boat. There was actually a shower in the middle of the bathroom!

The next day we took a bamboo boat into a monkey cave. This could be the highlight of the trip! I bet there were 40 monkeys playing around on the walls of the cave. Very, very cool. When we got back to Hanoi, we had about 30 minutes to shop before heading to the airport. The flight to Da Nang was only an hour. Matthew could not stop crying. He felt so sorry for one of the men that had followed us around. He just wanted to go back and give him money.

The Furama Resort van picked us up, with cinnamon-scented washcloths, bottles of water, and fresh fruit. Wow! The resort was just beautiful. We did get to play in the ocean on Tuesday, but after that the ocean was closed because of high winds and strong undercurrent. This was a bit of bummer. We had lots of rain, but we did manage to play on the beach, swim in the pools, go to the spa for nails and hair, and get a couple of excursions in .... we went into the city of Da Nang. Not very impressive, but we stumbled upon a very cool place to eat called "Bread of Life". An American couple started this restaurant and training for the deaf who are very overlooked and isolated in Vietnam. Most cannot do sign language and do not go to school. The cooks and servers are all deaf. They come to work to learn sign language and a skill, and they are paid for their work. It was a blessing for us to be there. The next day we went to Hoi An. Very cool town. Lots of shops and bargaining, but it was cleaner than Hanoi. Also, we did not have people following us around. We discovered that many families live right there in their shops, sleeping on cots. The families would come outside to eat together along the streets in the evening. This is very tough life for Vietnamese people.

We met up with friends from Kobe. This was fun as they have 3 kids about the same age as our 3 - the 9 year old is actually one of Matthew's best buddies here. This was a great balance of just family time and friend time. During the week, both Matthew and Jessica got a little bit sick... but we made it through just fine. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen!! :)

As I write this, I am sitting in the lobby of the Furama Resort in Da Nang. Our car comes at 7:30pm to take us to the airport. We fly through Hanoi, and then arrive back home in Kobe at 6:40am Saturday. I will post pictures tomorrow.

As I reflect upon the week, I am again very thankful for my family, our health, our friends, our safety, the opportunity to see another country, and so many, many wonderful blessings that God gives us each and every day.

Peace and Love,

Tina

October 19, 2010 - The Adventures continue

2010-10-20T09:17:00.000+09:00

I need to start this blog where I ended the last one. Jacob. He is doing just fine and back to basketball and running around. The first middle school dance? Well, Jacob told me that it was fun and that everyone just danced together. The story from a couple of kids here in our apartment building? In their words, "Jacob was very popular. All the girls wanted to dance with him." Maybe it is the blond hair and blue eyes! He does stick out in a crowd! :) Uh-oh. I hope he doesn't read this blog entry!

Last week, I had my first adventure to the doctor. My symptoms started on Wednesday and by Thursday morning, I was miserable. I had aching sinuses, stuffy nose, sneezing, ... my nose even hurt to touch! This usually means I have my annual sinus infection. I checked with a friend on where to go. Then, I asked the front reception to call the doctor to ask about hours. There are no appointments here. You sign in. They can tell you about how long you will wait. You can stay to wait or come back by that time. So, I found that the doctor was only open 9am-11:45am. At this point, it was 10:30 and they thought the wait would be about an hour. I rushed over (just about 2.5 blocks!) to sign in (after taking my shoes off at the door, of course). Only one of the receptionists spoke a little English. I waited for a while and then decided to go buy groceries during that waiting time. Once I returned, the doctor called my name immediately. He was Japanese, but he did speak a little English. The clinic was very small, and the back area looked more like a small emergency room rather that a doctor's office. There were a couple of beds and curtains to separate them. We sat at what looked like a counter. He asked me my symptoms and if I had a fever. He looked in my throat, and then prescribed antibiotics. That was it. No check for temperature, blood pressure, weight ... nothing! I had to hope that I was good at my own diagnosis! I went back out to waiting area. They called me up to check out of the office and gave me my medicine there as well. Fortunately, the antibiotics did work, and I feel great!

My next adventure was on Friday when I went for my first haircut in Japan. Imai-san has owned his own salon here for 12 years, and he speaks very good English. Upon arrival, someone took my bag and led me over to a chair. Imai-san came out and we talked about what I wanted with my hair. Next, a woman walked me over to the sink. I sat down. She put a towel over my legs (to keep me warm) and then reclined my seat. She put one of those eye covers on ... you know, like on the airplane. The pure enjoyment began. She washed my hair for such a long time. The water was perfect - not too hot or too cold. She massaged my head, washed, and washed ... I literally almost fell asleep! The great thing here, too, is that they wash your hair to start the appointment and then again after you have cut and color, so I got to do it again! Wow! I can hardly wait to go back. :) The surprise was that the cost was actually very much in line with what I pay in Cincinnati. Bonus. (Boys' haircuts are much more expensive here.)

Phillip arrived back home on Saturday evening after 12 days in Cincinnati and St. Louis. He managed to attend all P&G meetings and dinners, see several friends in Cincinnati, go to St.Louis to see his brothers and friends, have dinner with his mom, go to Columbia to see the Missouri Tigers play, and go to a Bengals game. Whew. We played and stayed up late on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Jessica and Dad took a 3 hour nap together. Much needed and very sweet. We are very happy to have Dad home again.

Peace and Love,

Tina

October in Kobe

2010-10-08T14:20:00.000+09:00

In the past couple of weeks, I have had a few little adventures. You see, any time we leave our home, we can easily end up in adventure land .... you never know what will happen!

One day a couple of weeks ago, I went with 2 ladies to the Vietnam Consulate in Osaka. We all needed visas for our families for upcoming trips to Vietnam. One lady had gone in spring and paid 5000 yen per visa. When she called a couple of weeks before we went, she was told 7000 per visa. Well, actually, once we filled out applications, we were told it was now 8000 yen per visa. Ummmm.... what can we do? We have flights and hotels... gotta pay it.

Another day, I went on the train by myself to a different part of Osaka (Shinsaibashi) to take our laptop to the Apple Store. I only had to ask 1 person along the way to ensure I was on the right trains. However, once I arrived at destination, there were numerous exits out of the subway. I took the wrong one and wandered around a bit. I asked 3 different people who gave me 3 different answers. I finally found 2 young women who worked at a clothes shop. They directed me correctly. I laughed out loud when I found the HUGE apple on the side of the HUGE building. :) I laughed out loud when I saw my name up on the screen at the genius bar - the only one in English. (See picture.) I ate at a Mexican restaurant by myself (pointing at the picture of food that I wanted) and walked around while I waited for the computer to be fixed ... only to find that it needed a new hard drive which would take 1 week. The trip back was uneventful. Then, that Saturday, I missed a call on my cell phone. The message was completely in Japanese. I understood "Tina Maloney" and "computer". So, I went down to reception for translation. Alas, the computer was ready in 3 days! I took the train back solo again, arriving in Osaka at around 5:30pm. Think about it as arriving in Chicago at that time of day. Trains were packed. Streets were packed. Most were dressed up, especially the ladies. I saw all kinds of super high heels, fish net, fur, skirts, big hair, and lots of make up. Wow. I quickly walked in my shorts and sneakers to the Apple store, got my computer, and went back to Rokko Island for a quiet dinner at home with my family! :)

Sunday morning brought a ton of excitement and action as we gathered around the TV (connected to US life via computer) to watch Alabama beat Florida!! Roll TIDE!

Last Monday, Phillip left for Cincinnati. This made for a tough week. All 4 of us shed tears at some point, missing our friends. I think it has been harder just knowing that Phillip is there and we are not. One morning, though, I woke up singing a song in my head. Don't call me crazy yet. I do have a 6 year old daughter, ok? I was singing Miley Cyrus "Life's what you make it, so let's make it rock!" She is so very wise. :) Well, maybe not, but it was a good little reminder!

This past weekend, Jacob's baseball team had their end of season tournament. He pitched a complete game (the first game). In the final inning, he hit a double off the back fence. He stole 3rd base. Then, the next player hit a ball in the infield that took a high bounce, so Jacob slid into home to score the winning run! He was mobbed by his Canadian Academy teammates from Japan, China, Korea, India, ... It was very cool, and much needed after a bit of a rough week for all of us. The team won the 2nd game, as well as the 3rd game (on Saturday) in pouring down rain (turf field). Jacob pitched another complete game. As I said on my Facebook status, I am not too sure that any kid is supposed to pitch two days in a row. I suppose it is ok as long as he doesn't keep doing it? I was caught off guard on that one. The championship game was rained out, but our team was the only undefeated one!!

Jacob, Matthew, and I got up at 4:30am to watch our Tide lose. The streak had to end at some point, I guess. They have played 2 top 10 teams and 2 additional top 20 teams in 6 weeks. We still have 2 top ten teams left to play. Tough schedule. I saw a quote last night on a friend's Facebook status. It was from Coach Paul Bear Bryant. "Losing doesn't make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder." Now that is inspiration.

Monday was Sports Day (a national holiday in Japan). It is a bit like field day. The kids were divided into Red or Grey team pending their birthdays. The younger children were partnered with older kids. Jessica got Jacob! Watching them together made me smile (on the inside and on the outside). Matthew got a senior girl (who looked to be Indian?). She was great with him.

On Tuesday morning, we made our first trip to a doctor here. No, not for Matthew ... it was Jacob! He actually hurt his knee during the first inning of the first game last Friday, but he kept playing. We iced it, and he took ibuprofen through the weekend. (There was no place to take him on Sunday or Monday.) He was still in some pain on Tuesday morning, so we went to the orthopedic doctor who was only a 5 minute walk away. We got there at 8:40am for 9:00am opening as it is only walk in. The doctor studied in Canada and spoke very good English. Yea! Jacob has a sprained patellar ligament and has to sit out of sports for a week, but he should make a full recovery! I wonder if this will affect his dancing at the middle school dance on Friday night? :)

Peace and Love,

Tina

September 25, 2010 - evaluation

2010-09-25T02:26:00.000+09:00

Last Friday, we hosted Phillip's work group at our apartment for a party. There were 24 adults and 7 children. There were 5 Americans (our family), 1 New Zealand gentleman (spouse of lovely young Japanese P&Ger and father to 2 beautiful daughters), and the rest were Japanese. I was actually pretty nervous as I wasn't sure what was appropriate to serve to eat, to drink, what to wear, how to interact. Well, everyone was incredibly nice, spoke darn good English, and we had a great time.

School is going well. All 3 children have made a lot of friends and seem to really enjoy school, even though there is a ton of homework (especially for Jacob).

Jacob has baseball or play practice every day until 5:30, and then does homework. He is usually up at 6am in the shower and then doing homework. He is doing well, though, and seems to really like his teachers and even the work.

Jessica is just learning so much so quickly. It is almost like I can see the brain waves each day! Her teacher wrote me that she has to keep moving Jessica up to higher reading levels every week. She is walking around the apartment speaking Japanese. It is just a joy to watch her blossom!

Matthew has a biography project to complete the class study of beliefs and values. He wrote a report and next week will do the presentation. Who did he get? Lou Gehrig - how cool is that? This has become a family project as we all love Lou Gehrig for being a man who loved his family, was a great teammate, was a hard worker, never gave up... do I need to go on? Matthew is ending his presentation with words from Gehrig's famous speech. "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." I encourage you to google and read the whole speech. What an inspiration. You will have more pep in your step today!

Matthew had a rugby tournament last Monday (Japan holiday - Respect for the Aged Day) on a dirt field. The sand is about the color of his hair, so it was hard to see where hair, face, and uniform ended and other began! (See pictures.) He scored 4 times in the 3 games, and played terrific defense. (I am going to try to learn how to post video.) Matthew loves this sport! He said it could only be better he could play all day all the time!

The new pictures: 1) I cooked a Japanese meal complete with the dishes, 2) sunset from our master bedroom balcony - breath-taking every night, 3) I found a cool new Japanese product, check out the picture on the label - 2 drops in your toilet and the bathrooms smells good again, and 4&5) Matthew at the rugby tournament.

So we have been here exactly 2 months. As a P&Ger, I feel like I need to do an evaluation. :)

What are the things we like about Japan? (OK P&G folks... strengths!)

1) We spend a lot of time together as a family. We eat dinner together. We have game night, movie night, go for bike rides, ... even running errands together is an adventure as you never know where you will end up! It is cool to have these adventures as a family.

2) The people here are so nice, kind, and helpful. They may not understand you, but they all try their best to help. We have also met terrific "ex-pats" like us from all over the world.

3) The school. The Canadian Academy is simply outstanding. The high school sends kids to the top universities in the world, especially in the US. The IB program focuses not just on learning, but also on application of the learning. Everything is connected with spiral learning so that the kids don't forget what they learned last month or last quarter. The teachers are so open with communication and pushing individual children as appropriate.

4) We are pushed out of our comfort zone. This has forced us to learn many different things - every thing from Japanese language to how to drive on the left hand side of the road to how to eat with chopsticks! Learning is good for all of us.

So, where are the opportunities?

1) We really miss our friends. We have met very nice people here, but it is just not the same. I know this needs time. At this point, I think 3 of us have had break downs as we consider the friends we miss. I know this is a normal part of transition, but it can be hard.

2) We miss Son Rise. We miss the messages, the people, the children's group. Living in a non-Christian country is eye-opening.

3) We miss football! We miss watching our boys play football and watching Jessica cheer. Phillip so misses coaching. Mariemont Youth Football was a huge part of our lives there...every July - November ... Tues, Thurs, and all day Saturdays....watching film on Sundays... Monday night coaches' meetings. MYF was (is) part of our family. We also miss watching college and professional football together with friends on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings. It is a bit weird to get up and watch in the mornings. We plan to get up Sunday morning to watch Bama kick off at 4:30am against Arkansas! Again, part of the adventure, right?

4) Everything here is so expensive. People tell us that we will need to just get over it, but it is hard to look at a quart of milk for about $2.60, or an apple for $2.10 or school lunch for $6.90. I won't even get started on the cost of electricity and water here. Yikes!

Ok, so this is our current evaluation. We miss home a lot, but we know we can learn and enjoy so much during our time here. Jacob's class wrote a letter to their teacher about a few items, including their goals for the year. Jacob wrote that he wants to make the most out of Japan rather than mourn Cincinnati all year. Wow. Pretty mature attitude. He is so busy with middle school baseball, middle school play, student council, homework, flag football ..... He has jumped in with both feet. I am very proud of him.

So we are off for a beautiful day - finally a cool 75 degrees and sunny!

Peace & Love,

Tina

September 8, 2010 - Enjoying Kobe

2010-09-08T19:13:00.001+09:00

The heat is definitely still on in Kobe. We have set records for highest temperatures recorded (hitting 99) as well as most days in a row of being above 90 degrees. I grew up in Alabama and lived in Orlando for 5.5 years. However, I have never been so hot in my entire life! Japanese folks carry umbrellas to guard themselves from the sun, as well as handkerchief-like cloths to wipe the sweat. Even the locals are talking about how hot it is. Atsui desu ne. (It's hot, isn't it?) The hard thing, too, is that electricity is very expensive, and the air conditioning is by unit by room. We can only really keep the air on in the bedrooms at night and sometimes in the kitchen/breakfast room while eating. So, we are hot even in our apartment!

Despite the serious heat and humidity, we are enjoying our time here. On August 29, the Maloney family attended our first Japanese festival here on the island. (See pictures.) All of the apartment buildings made floats that were judged. The Japanese folks dressed up in summer kimono (called yukata), and the kids wore happi coats. (Our kids had them on just long enough to take pictures!) The day kicked off at 1:30 when the Americans at our apartment building had appointments for Japanese ladies to dress us in our yukata and tie our obi (the big belt). The parade started at 3:30. The river mall area was lined with vendors with games and selling food and drink. There were stages for live performances. Lots of music and dancing. It got very crowded by late afternoon. We had a great time just hanging out with the Mang family and enjoying the culture. The festival went on until very late in the evening. Yet, everything was back in perfect order Sunday morning.

As a side note, it is very interesting to me that you can get alcohol via stores or vending machines any time and just pop them open to drink in the street! There are no open container laws. However, they have a zero tolerance driving law. Therefore, the people here drink in the street and on the train ... they just walk, ride bikes, or take the train to get home.

Jacob has now played 4 baseball games with CA and pitched in 3 of them. He is doing very well and enjoying his teammates. He is currently away at a middle school field trip until Friday afternoon (like Camp Kern) so that middle school students can get to know each other.

Matthew played his first rugby game last weekend. Check out the picture I got of him with a few teammates! He got to play 2 games, and in the 2nd one, he scored on a long run! In rugby, a score is called a "try". The coaches speak very little English, but they were saying "Nice try, Matto!". Matthew explained to me that it took him a while to get that one... you know, nice try.... but it was really a score! :)

We are still trying to find gymnastics for Jessica, but there is really only one good school on the island, and it is completely filled. She is enjoying school and playing with friends. She is still a trooper going to all of her brothers' games.

On Monday, I went into Osaka (the Chicago of Japan) with a friend. It was nuts. Crowded trains, people everywhere. Lots of shopping. She took me to a place called kitchen street where many shops sell anything you need for your kitchen (from personal to restaurants). It was completely overwhelming. I bought a few Japanese plates, bowls, and a serving tray. But, mostly, I watched people! That night, I made miso soup, rice (in our new rice cooker), and chicken with soy. We even used chopsticks!

Thanks to all for messages and calls from Terrace Park, Mariemont, Denver, and Farmington. I must admit that the first day of school pictures on the Terrace Park School website brought tears to my eyes. We miss you guys!!

Peace and Love.

Tina

August 27 - Starting to feel like home

2010-08-26T14:05:00.000+09:00

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!

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, Chrin, Varisha, Case, Yoto, Laura, Teren, & 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 every day. 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 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

2010-08-15T23:07:00.000+09:00

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 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. She is from Brazil, and he 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 someone was running up here. 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 (Dad is Indian; Mom 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. (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. Maybe an opportunity for Christian youth group on the island?)

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.

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

August 11 - meeting friends

2010-08-11T17:19:00.000+09:00

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 P&G 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 P&G couple from Belgium who lives in our building. (Kids in 6th, 4th, and 2nd.) Today, we met an American family (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. :)

August 3 - still feels like vacation

2010-08-04T12:00:00.000+09:00

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" 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 have 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, Japan deep (giant 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!

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!

July 31, 2010 Our new home

2010-08-01T02:58:00.000+09:00

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), P&G office, grocery stores, 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 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. One family has a boy in 6th grade and a girl in 3rd grade. 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. The father is the head coach of local professional rugby team. They 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 family 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 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 in Cincinnati! 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 you all!

July 25, 2010 First days in Japan

2010-07-25T20:03:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday, July 21, a relocation company representative took the kids and me on the train to get our alien registration cards. We then we to the bank. There are no joint accounts here. Our account can only be in Phillip's name. I can get an ATM card, but Phillip must order it and must sign for it. Seriously? Anyway, after lots of waiting around for the kids, I took them to McDonalds for some "comfort" food. Then, we got bad news, our air shipment was delayed.... bikes, computer, xbox, wii, books, board games, clothes... After Phillip got home from his long commute from work (P&G is across the street!), we went to Gourmet City to pick out dinner (Everyone liked the tuna, and we used our rice cooker for the first time). The store is literally on the first floor of our building. We forgot salad dressing, so the kids went back by themselves. They had to ask 8 people before someone knew what they wanted. They laughed really hard. I think we will all have to keep a good sense of humor. We visited our dear friend John Mang who lives 2 floors above us. He was kind enough to give us a key to his apartment and use of his wii and board games. This would prove to be critical for Thursday and Friday. (Most American wives and kids are still in the states for summer until early August, so there are not many kids here.)

On Thursday, the kids got a tour of the Canadian Academy where they will go to school. They really enjoyed it, and I think their favorite thing was the number of Mac computers the school had - everywhere. Did I mention that it is very hot here? 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) and humid? Our 15 minute walk to the school left us sweaty and with red faces. Nice intro. :) We tried to eat the hot dogs that Phillip had picked out at the store the night before, but we think they may actually have been fish dogs. Yikes! Then we got the news that the air shipment was delayed again. Oh, and the internet would not work on my laptop, and I could not figure out how to use our apartment phone. I am so thankful for the front desk of our apartment building. It is like having a concierge every day! They sent someone up to help with phone and connected me with English speaking rep at internet company (after I had tried on my own for hours!). They even read my mail for me!

On Friday, we learned the air shipment was sent to Anchorage. At this point, all 3 kids were in tears. Again, thank goodness for John's wii and board games! Thank goodness also that the kids can make up games and play together. Jessica said, "Well at least we have each other!" No truer words! (We do get Disney, Nick, and Cartoon Network in English.) We played some board games, listened to music, and taught Matthew to play Euchre!

On Saturday, John took us to the local cafe, to look for cell phones, and to Price Club. He also gave us a tour of Gourmet City. (He is quite the chef.) Now I know a little bit about what I am buying. Most everything is in Japanese. Good luck interpreting those pictures! Remember the "hot dogs"? Our air shipment finally arrived. Yoohoo!

Phillip left for Seoul Korea today (Sunday), so I am on my own with the kids for a couple of days. We just hung out at home today (did I say home?), played some games (a lot of xbox), and made Udon noodles and broth. I am very proud of the kids for trying different foods. I know it will make our experience more rewarding. We have been a bit shocked at the availability and cost of some items that we love. Matthew has not had strawberries since we left the US, and milk is 4X the cost in Cincinnati. I must say that English muffins have become a staple - breakfast, snack, and back up option for dinner that we don't like! :)

I start Japanese language lessons tomorrow. I am sure this is going to challenge my brain! :)