We live on the 27th floor of an apartment building called the Entente. We have a foyer, family room, kitchen/breakfast room, 4 bedrooms, and 3.5 bathrooms. This is quite large for Japan - even the wealthiest Japanese live in small apartments or small homes. The Entente was developed to accommodate foreigners (spoiled Americans!).
Japan is very safe. Many young children take the train alone to get to school. I even left Matthew and Jessica alone one day for about an hour to go to cell phone store and grocery store. I was not a bit worried. Much like Terrace Park, no one seems to lock doors. Japan is also very clean. The taxi drivers wear gloves and have linen on the seats. The toilet is truly a favorite. It has a heated seat, 3 different sprays and a dryer. Jacob asked if we can get a flat screen in the bathroom! LOL!
Some of the summer vacationers are starting to return. We met 1 neighbor and 3 other nice families (2 of which live on the island). The families are from Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, and New Zealand. Wow. Isabella (3rd grade) came over and asked Jessica to play. Then, Matthew asked her brother Thomas (6th grade) to throw the football around. Cassia invited me to sit and talk. We played for quite a while downstairs in a "common area" that has restaurants, shops, and shallow water where the parents hang out and kids play. We then went to their apartment for snacks and Wii. Cassia's husband (Andrew) is the head coach of a local professional rugby team The Docomo Red Hurricanes. Matthew came running over to me at the river mall and said, "I am going to play rugby Mom. They wear helmets!" The McCormicks have invited our boys to try Club rugby. That should be interesting. I am open to it now that I know they do wear protective head gear! It was great to see the kids playing with other kids. I must also admit it was very nice to meet 2 ladies (who spoke great English) with whom to have conversation! We will see the McCormicks again this weekend.
In addition to the Japanese language and new foods, we will need to get used to the metric system, and shoe sizing in centimeters. It is customary, as well, to leave your shoes outside the door or just inside the door. I really like that custom.
On Wednesday night, we went for a family bike ride. In searching for where to get on the green belt, we found a bridge and rode our bikes over an area of the Pacific Ocean. That was a bit of a rush for me just looking at the enormity of the ocean. I was on a bike just above it! We found industry on the other side of the bridge, so we just turned around. There was a lot of lighting on the bridge and we saw many folks walking and riding bikes. I imagine that many workers walk that path every day and night. We did find the green belt and found parts of the ride extremely beautiful. I think we will really enjoy this path. We went to a Chinese restaurant but decided to do take out because people were smoking in the restaurant. I am not sure we will ever get used to that.
On Thursday, we joined the Entente fitness club. The kids can go on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. We enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool and the hot tub. (Note that they have swim caps that all must wear in the pool.) They also had a cold bath for adults only. It was 17 degrees Celcius - that is 62.6 degrees Farenheit. Yikes.
On Friday, I took the kids to the water park. There were 2 big slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and a couple of kid play areas. We had fun, though it was certainly nothing like the Beach Water Park in Cincinnati that the kids love. We had 3 overall observations. First, we were the only ones there that were not Japanese. People looked at us. Some of the high school age boys laughed at our boys. It is tough when you cannot even understand what they are saying. Jacob and I talked about how it must have felt to be the only African American or the only Japanese child at Terrace Park Elementary. I think we will learn valuable life lessons on our journey. My second observation was that no one was overweight. Ok, now that is also quite different from the Beach Water Park! My final observation was that everyone is quite conservative (even with those thin bodies). I only saw maybe 3 little girls in bikinis and only 2 adult women in bikinis. Many of them had on bathing suits with shirts or even swim jackets. We decided not to eat at the park because we could not figure out what food was available. McDonalds was a welcome feel of home after the park. We have been here for 10 days and made 2 trips to McDonalds. We have agreed that we will slowly pull ourselves away...
We are off to the Osaka aquarium and shopping at Ikea today. I hope to post more pictures now that our good friend Nick gave me directions on how to post a slideshow! Finally, it was wonderful to talk to Grandma, Julie, and Dawn this week. Jacob also enjoyed skyping with Jeffrey.
We miss our friends and family back home.
Peace and Love.
Tina
Peace and Love.
Tina
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