Sumo

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted again, oh man! But enough about that, let me tell you about sumo!

SUMO

I've always wanted to go to a Sumo tournament to see the sumo wrestlers in action, so when I saw that the tournament was in Tokyo, I bought a ticket for a single day (the tournament lasts all day from 9am - 6pm for two full weeks) and went to check it out! The arena was practically empty when I arrived around 11am, but it filled to the max capacity around 4pm. The reason being, there are many different ranks of sumo wrestlers and the simple explanation is that the amateur wrestlers competed in the morning, followed by the intermediate levels wrestlers in the afternoon, and then the professional athletes in the late afternoon. I didn't care who was competing, to be honest, I was interested in the way they competed. Before their match, the sumo wrestlers sat on a mat on the side of the ring. Once it was time to compete, they entered the ring and they both did a series of symbolic movements, most of the time in unison. They rub their hands, clap them, then move their arms outward to their sides, palms up, and then place them on their knees. From there, they lift up each leg (so high for some!) and slam it down. (If you are lucky enough to be my mom or my sister, you have seen these very movements demonstrated for you, by yours truly, over Skype). If you don't know the background about sumo, this may seem odd! But these specific movements are deeply rooted in about 2000 years of tradition, purifying themselves and telling the gods they are unarmed and ready to sumo. Another part of the tradition, is that the wrestlers themselves are taught to be extremely disciplined, respectful, and honest, which I got to experience first-hand (read on!). After all of the movements, the sumo wrestlers throw salt on themselves as well as the ring, also as purification acts. Then they crouched down on lines in the center of the ring and then, SUMO! Sometimes the wrestling took a few minutes and more often, only a few seconds. Most of the time, the preparation took longer than the actual wrestling! It was all so exciting to watch!

I stayed for about 5 or 6 hours and then went to pick up Jackson and Jacob from school, where I proceeded to tell everyone about how cool my experience was. For once, my chatty demeanor paid off! One of the teachers at the boys' school has connections to the sumo wrestlers and asked Joe and I if we'd like to accompany her to a celebratory dinner on the last day of the tournament. Are you kidding?! YES! So about 10 days later, we went to dine with the sumo wrestlers!

Joe and I with Hakuho san

We arrived and were sat at a table near the front of the room, thanks to Masami Sensei! (the teacher), while platter after platter of food was placed on our table. Soon, about 10 sumo wrestlers of varying rank, including the Yokozuna, or Grand Champion, Hakuho is his name, entered the room. Sumo wrestlers are like celebrities in Japan and in fact, the Yokozuna = Hakuho, is said to be touched by a god. So everyone was in awe, including Joe and me. Hakuho won his 31st tournament just a couple of hours prior to the dinner, so we were all mesmerized by him. There were many congratulatory speeches, all in Japanese, of course, which were fun to listen to and hear the crowd respond to, and then Hakuho himself spoke. Even though we couldn't understand a word he said, I instantly picked up on the fact that Hakuho is very humble, respectful, and just plain nice. He must truly be making the sumo gods proud! We were lucky enough to get a picture with him, another big thank you to Masami Sensei, and I was so giddy just to stand next to him! (He's really cute, too!) All in all, I was able to check another thing off my bucket list while having a wonderful time and learning so much about the sport of sumo wrestling. Because as I like to say, when in Rome...

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Shimoda

Hi there!

This guy loved the beach!

This is the last post before you are up to date on our happenings in Japan! Ok, let's talk about Shimoda, this cute little beach town about 2-3 hours south of Tokyo by train that we decided to travel to during Joe's week off from work in mid-August. We booked our room at the White Beach Inn, which is located directly across the street from the beautiful Ohama Beach, about a month in advance and were ready for some rest and relaxation on the beach. The only problem was that when we arrived a typhoon warning was in full effect. At that point, that meant that we could walk on the beach but couldn't go in the ocean. And for good reason! The waves were HUGE and the water came much farther up the beach than usual and with the kiddos in tow, we wouldn't want to get near the water. So we spent time exploring the town the first day.

Jacob and Daddy and the huge waves on this side of the Pacific

The weather was nice even with the typhoon nearing, so we walked around the cute little downtown area and explored Perry Road, named after Commodore Matthew Perry, who in 1854, formally opened Japan to the West after many years of isolation. There we discovered buildings that have been preserved since the 1850's to look just as they did to Commodore Perry. Inside them though, were nice clothing and antique shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. We also rode the Shimoda Ropeway which is a tram that took us essentially from the train station in Shimoda to the park at the top of Mt. Nesugata. We all had a wonderful time exploring all the attractions there. We walked through beautiful gardens, saw a Japanese horned beetle exhibit (which interested all of the boys, but definitely not me!), looked out over the ocean, visited a shrine to Ragaraja, the Buddhist deity of love, who I just have to say is the scariest-looking Buddha I've seen (I thought that was odd seeing he is the deity of love!), and took a long hike around the mountain. This by far made up for the fact that the beach was semi-closed. In fact, this is a must-see if we go back to Shimoda!

Perry Road

The view from the top of Mt. Nesugata

Buddhas dedicated to the safety of children near the shrine to Ragaraja

The next day, the beach was completely closed, which meant no one was even allowed on the sand, let alone in the ocean. We were bracing for the typhoon to hit, so we stayed near or in our hotel. Even though it was raining off and on, we were still able to walk around and find crabs and Jackson and Jacob were able to enjoy the kiddie pool the hotel had set up on its grounds.

I got so much joy out of watching
Jackson play in the sand

The following day we woke up to discover the typhoon had weakened and also traveled north of Shimoda and that the beach was open! We were surprised and so happy! The sun was out and we were ready for that R&R I was talking about! We rented an umbrella and enjoyed our last two days in Shimoda on the sandy beach. The water was a different story. The lifeguards were being, cautious, so they set up two flags about 50 yards away from each other on the beach. If you wanted to enter the water above ankle-deep, you had to be between those two flags. There were hundreds of people between the flags! I guess it made sense since the waves were still pretty big but it was hard to enjoy our time in the water with so many people in such close proximity. Instead, we walked along the beach picking up cool seashells that the strong tide had brought in the day before, buried each other in the sand, took naps and read books. We also found this AMAZING little taco hut near the beach that we ate at at least 4 or 5 times during our time in Shimoda. Mexican food is difficult to find here in Japan and the tacos and burritos (and margaritas) were so good!

Ohama Beach, Shimoda

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Home and Back, Kamakura and Hanabi

Hello!

Happy birthday, Jacob!

Even though we traveled back to the US for three wonderful weeks in June, I won't go into much detail about our trip. After all, most of you live there and we even got to see some of you, woo hoo! So just a short recap: we flew on the nonstop 787 Dreamliner from Narita International Airport in Tokyo to Denver International. We spent a few days in Denver recovering from jet lag and catching up with good friends. Then we went to Colorado Springs to visit Joe's amazing parents and to celebrate Jacob's second birthday. Jackson and Jacob had so much fun swimming in the kiddie pool, while the adults relaxed in the backyard. Then it was on to Rapid City, SD to see my awesome parents. We had such a wonderful time and I know Grandpa and Grandma B did too when I said, "ok, I'll see you later!", and I went shopping or to have dinner with girlfriends while they looked after the little dudes. I'm convinced that my boys have the absolute BEST grandparents in the world on both sides. After spending about a week in South Dakota, we headed back to Colorado where we saw Joe's family again before flying out to Texas to see my brother, Lucas, get married. It was the most beautiful wedding! He married a great girl named, Reyne, and we were so happy to welcome her to our family. They were both so truly happy. From there, we flew back to Denver, stayed the night at a hotel near the airport and the next day we flew back to Japan. Whew! So even though we were in the US about three weeks total, we spent a lot of time traveling! I wouldn't have had it any other way, as long as we were able to see our loved ones.

Buddhist temple in Kamakura

Ok, back to life in Japan. Our first trip out of Tokyo, once we were settled in again, was to a town called Kamakura. It's such a cute little town; it reminds me of a Keystone, South Dakota or a Manitou Springs, Colorado, if you're familiar with either of those towns. There was one main street lined with shops where you can get nice souvenirs and little restaurants where you can find all kinds of different cuisine. At the end of the street, was a Buddhist temple. The temple was beautiful, they always are, but the main attraction was about two miles in the opposite direction, because there in sits the Great Buddha. Standing (sitting) at over 13 meters (44 ft) tall and weighing in at 121 tons (267,000 pounds), the bronze cast of Buddha is great indeed. The sculpture's story is pretty cool, too. It was built in 1252 and has survived many natural disasters. You can read more about it below. (I'm not sure why the format is funny, but I wanted to make sure the picture was big enough so you can read it.)

The Great Buddha

Side view of the Great Buddha

A sign near the Great Buddha telling its story

Tokyo Skytree

A couple of weeks after we visited Kamakura, we saw the most incredible fireworks (or hanabi, in Japanese) display. Japan has these cool festivals throughout the year to celebrate various events or seasons where there is usually food, music, and men and women dressed in traditional clothing - yukata (similar to a kimono), in the summer time. The festivals in late July across Japan also feature incredible firework displays. The one we attended was near the Sumida River, the river that runs through Tokyo, and also near the Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan (634m or 2080 ft tall). We went early to find a spot on the grass in a nearby park, laid out our blanket and bared the heat to see the display. The hanabi began at 7pm sharp and continued for a full hour and a half. Both Joe and I thought we had seen some cool fireworks before, but nothing compared to these. There were hanabi in all different shapes and colors. Some even had an ombre effect to them where they would light up going from dark to light colored. There were smiley faces and hearts and even Hello Kitty! (Of course none of our photographs do them any justice. The one below was about the only one that is in focus!) They were definitely worth the wait and the heat! When we were visiting Japan last summer, we had tried to check out this same display but they were rained out after 15 minutes because of a torrential downpour (that's a whole other story!). We were happy we went back this year to see the fantastic, full display.

Hanabi

Next stop is a little beach town called Shimoda that we vacationed at in mid-August (the weekend before I climbed Mt. Fuji). Then we are up-to-date!

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Seoul, South Korea

I promised I'd catch you up on what you missed during the last three months (rather, what I neglected to tell you!), so here is a little bit about our trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Namdaemun Market

Insadong (yes, those signs say:
FREE HUG)!

Joe needed to attend a work conference there in early May, so Jackson, Jacob and I decided to tag along. It was a short flight, less than two hours from Tokyo, so no jet lag, yes! Before we left for our trip, I received some invaluable tips from my friend, Angela, whose family is from South Korea and who also studied abroad in Seoul during college, about where to go and what to see. Once we hit the ground, Joe had a day before his conference started so we starting our sight-seeing. First we went to the Namdaemun Market, which is this cool, ancient, outdoor marketplace that has been in existence for over 600 years! You can find almost anything you're looking for there from clothing and shoes to kitchen items to tasty treats. From there we explored a multi-level department store called Shinsegae. We ate authentic Korean BBQ at one of the restaurants inside, grabbed a cool treat at another spot, and let the boys run around in the rooftop park. After that, we went to Insadong, another cool, outdoor shopping area. This was my favorite place we visited in Seoul. The area had a very laid back feel to it and we were able to pick up great souvenirs there.

Prayer lanterns at Jogye Temple

I knew Joe was going to be working almost all of the time we were in Korea, so I was prepared to explore Seoul by myself with the two dudes. Let me just say what a huge fan I am of bus tours. They are the perfect way to check out a new place, especially with kids. I know they are a super touristy thing to do, but I don't have to tell a taxi driver where to go in a foreign language (that I don't know), I don't have to pay for a taxi each time we go to a different place and the tour group leader keeps an eye on us! All while he's explaining Korean history to us! Score! Our first bus tour took us to the Jogye Temple, the Gyeongbok Palace and the National Folk Museum. To the right, you can see the rows and rows of colorful prayer lanterns that were hanging out side of the temple. There were also thousands of white ones in memory of the passengers who were killed in the Korean ferry boat tragedy. Below, is a depiction of what a changing of the guard would have looked like during the Joseon Dynasty (between 1392-1897). Below that, is the actual Gyeongbok Palace. Can you see the pagoda in the background? I was struck by the juxtaposition of my surroundings; an ancient palace, beautiful, rolling, green hills, and skyscrapers. Very cool.

A reenactment of the changing of the guard
ceremony at Gyongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace

A sea turtle at the
Coex Aquarium

Let me tell you a bit about our hotel... We stayed at the beautiful InterContinental Hotel in Gangnam (you know that song, Gangnam Style by Psy? Yep, that's where we were!) The service was excellent and the people were so extremely helpful and forgiving of my sometimes crazy kiddos. Besides that, there was an entire shopping mall, complete with Aquarium (and Starbucks!) in the basement of the hotel! It was amazing because we were wondering what to do on the following rainy day. Jackson and Jacob had a great time checking out the marine life, while I enjoyed my iced chai tea latte. Joe had a bit of time away from the conference that afternoon and wanted to catch up on some zzz's, so while he and the boys napped, I was able to sneak across the street from the hotel to a place called the Bongeunsa Temple. In 2010, I journeyed to the most sacred Catholic cathedrals in Italy; it only took being in this compound of Buddhist temples for a few minutes, for me to realize I was in a place just as spiritual. It was moving to see people, monks included, so deeply practicing their religion. The architecture of the structures and the history of the 1,200 year-old temples were so significant to me. And once again, the compound included almost forest-like land, but was surrounded by skyscrapers.

Inside one of the Buddhist temples
at Bongeunsa

Inside another temple at Bongeunsa

The Great Statue of Maitreya Buddha
32m (105ft) tall

The view from the hill behind the Maitreya Buddha

A pond and gazebo at the
Secret Garden

Feeling rejuvenated, the next day Jackson and Jacob and I jumped on a another bus tour to check out the Changdeok Palace Palace including the Secret Garden and the N Seoul Tower. The Changdeok Palace was the secondary palace where the last king spent much of his hard life before the fall of the Joseon Dynasty. The structures aren't nearly as intricate as they are at the Gyeongbok Palace and the king remained in just one or two rooms instead of living comfortably throughout the compound. The nearby Secret Garden was a place the kings and queens often visited on vacation during the summers to fish and frolic in the sun. It was beautiful, even on a rainy day. Jackson and Jacob enjoyed running around in circles at the top of the N Seoul tower, but I was able to get them to stop for just a second as I snapped this (dark) picture. Only 10,031km (6233 miles) to Denver! At 237m high (777ft), you are able to get a 360 degree panoramic view of Seoul and the surroundings areas, but because it was cloudy and rainy, we weren't able to see quite as far into the distance. It was still great seeing the beautiful city through the clouds. The walls of thousands of colorful "love locks" at the N Seoul Tower were cool to see too! There were many couples, young and old, placing their special love lock onto the wall, making a wish and tossing the key over the edge (even though you're not supposed to!).

Jackson and Jacob at the top of the
N Seoul Tower

Jackson in front of the "love locks"
wall at the N Seoul Tower

Overall, we had a wonderful time in Korea. We explored Seoul, took in some history, did some shopping, and ate some amazing food. We are definitely looking forward to returning there some day.

The next stop, in retrospect, the US: Colorado, South Dakota and Texas.

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Fuji san

Hi there!

Ok, I know, I know, I haven't posted in like 3 months... Will you forgive me? I promise to start updating more frequently and to catch you up on my life happenings you've missed. Deal? Ok... Let's talk about Mt. Fuji! (By the way, the word "san" is mountain in Japanese so Mt Fuji is referred to Fuji san here) I climbed it on Friday night and into Saturday morning, woo hoo! It was one of the most amazing experiences.

Let's climb Mt Fuji!

Most Japanese people consider themselves followers of the Shinto religion (as well as the Buddhist religion) where they essentially worship nature. In the Shinto religion, Fuji san is a deity. So each year between July 1st and roughly September 10th (the only time of the year that the trails are open to climbers because the weather is warm enough), millions of people make their pilgrimage to Fuji san. (The trails were pretty crowded!)

My amazing friend and organizer of our trip, Chun, has climbed Fuji san eight times so when she asked me if I wanted to join her, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to climb the most picturesque mountain in the world while crossing something off my bucket list. Chun said the only way to climb Fuji san is at night so you can see the sun rise from the top... I said, why not? So a group of seven of us put on all of our gear and off we went by bus from Tokyo to the 5th Station of Mt Fuji. We arrived around 6pm but waited until around 8:30pm to start climbing. Here in Tokyo, I live at about 30 meters above sea level (about 100 feet) and the 5th Station is just over 2000 meters (about 6500 feet, which is the distance above sea level I lived at in Denver!) so we had to take the time to acclimate. Then we started our ascent in the dark. We climbed up and up and up to the 6th Station, 7th Station, 8th Station, 8.5th Station, and everything in between. There are little cottages, as they are called, in between the official stations where you can stop and rest, go to the bathroom, buy food and drinks, and most importantly, catch your breath! I am honestly surprised you don't have to have actual rock climbing equipment with you when you "climb" Fuji san! The reason why the mountain is so picturesque is because the timberline is so low. We started hiking on dirt but as we ascended, the ground became covered in lava rock of all different sizes and colors (Mt Fuji is an active volcano, after all) and then huge boulders which we literally had to climb up by making sure our feet and hands had secure places to go to support our weight. I definitely got a cardio workout in as well as some serious strength training - my legs and booty are still sore! As we were ascending to the 8.5th Station, something awful happened... It started raining. And I mean raining. You know those waterproof pants I bought specifically for this journey because the guy at the store said they were waterproof? Yep, not waterproof. Same with my gloves and even my "waterproof" jacket didn't hold up. So, I was wet... and freezing. We made it to the 8.5th at about 2am and we still had almost three hours until the sun was set to rise. So we decided to pay 3000 yen, about 30 dollars, to go inside the cottage there for 3 hours. Side note: some people hike Fuji san during the day, pay to sleep in a cottage and wake up just before sunrise. This is one way to do it, but apparently sleeping isn't really something you can do with strangers on all sides of you, crammed together like sardines. Besides that, people (like me and my group) are coming and going all night so it's anything but quiet. Anyway, we didn't pay to sleep, we simply paid just to have a structure over our heads and to get dry and wait until a) it stopped raining or b) the sun rose. Well, because I was wet and freezing, I was like, there is no way I am going back out there and if I do, it will be to go down! But, after taking off all of my wet clothes, borrowing a warm, dry fleece from one of my generous fellow hikers, and laying on the heated floor of the cottage, I was good to go again!

The sunrise from the 8.5th Station

We saw the sun rise through the clouds, although it wasn't the amazing sunrise everyone makes the journey to see with all of the rain and fog, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. I remember thinking, I am here, I did this, and I am nothing in the grand scheme of things. Not like I don't mean anything, just that I gained so much perspective that my problems aren't huge, this mountain is huge, these clouds are huge, this world is huge, you know? It was such a huge moment for me! My friends and I were overcome with joy. Let's keep climbing.

The view from the 10th Station

We ascended to the 9th Station, which is very small structure that you can't even enter, and then to the 10th Station. We made it! I made it! There is a Shinto Shrine at the 10th Station as well as a few large structures where you can rest and eat. We did just that. Also, I purchased a little wooden stick at the 5th Station that I got "stamped" all along the way, so I got my final stamp at the shrine at the 10th. Now, usually people get to the 10th Station of Mt Fuji, end their pilgrimage and start their descent. But we were going all the way... all the way to the 3776m that Fuji san is known for. And I'm so glad we did. There is a little post office along the way to the"real top", which I LOVED. I was able to purchase an official "certificate of successful ascent of Mt Fuji" which the postal worker postmarked with the date. It is now one of my most cherished belongings. They also had one of Japan's well-recognized red mailboxes out in front of the building.

Me at the post office near the "real top" of Mt Fuji

At the very top of Fuji san, 3776m, there was a little weather center and a marble post basically stating that we were at the top. The weather was so crazy up there! Even though it wasn't raining anymore, the wind was insane! Move over Cheyenne, Wyoming, haha! I swear I actually saw weather happening. The clouds would blow out of the crater of the volcano from every direction. Clouds that I would see over the horizon on my descent, I'm sure of it. From there, we hiked around the crater we were looking down in to (I wish I could have gotten a picture but they were just white because of all the clouds). After returning back to the "real top" we began our descent around 9am.

At first I thought, ahhhhhh, this is nice! What a nice break on my blistered heels and no more huffing and puffing. I was able to practically jog down the mountain with ease on the soft lava rock (there is a different trail you descend upon). That lasted for about an hour. Then I just wanted down off that mountain! The terrain became rougher and I slipped falling backwards with almost every step I took. The glory is in climbing the mountain! Can't there be a gondola or cog train to take us down? Besides embarking on one of the most physically demanding adventures I've ever done by climbing Fuji san, I climbed instead of slept that night! I was just tired at that point, but realized I had to do it. I had to get down if I ever wanted to see my bed and pillow. The one thing that made up for the descent, was when I realized that I was literally coming down out of the clouds. I could see the clouds below me for so long, but noticed at one point that it was getting foggy. Not fog, clouds. (I guess fog is clouds!) I enjoyed a few minutes of the descent anyway!

My climbing friends and I drinking celebratory sake
Group selfie photo credit: Naomi King

At about 1pm, we reached the 5th Station where we started the night before. It felt so good; we celebrated by drinking sake! Then we took a bus to an onsen, which is a Japanese hot spring turned public bath, which felt great on my sore muscles, and then to a hardy dinner. Then it was another 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Tokyo and another 2 trains and 2 blocks to my bed. I did it.

A lot of people say Fuji san is something you do once, but never again... personally, I cannot wait to do it again! What a cool experience! But, it might be Joe's turn next year... We'll see!

Thanks so much for reading and forgiving me for such a delay in posting! I want to leave you with an interesting question: I wrote that there are Stations and cottages (and a post office!) where you can eat and sleep and such. Those places obviously have employees who make and serve the food among other things. How do the workers get to work everyday? A question I am still wondering... Any guesses?!?

Until next time,

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Fun facts/differences about Japan

A lot of people have been asking me, "so, what is Japan like?" Well, I could answer in a number of different ways here. Tokyo is the biggest metropolis in the world with almost 40 million people living here. So we are acclimating to "Big City" life for one. We walk and take public transportation everywhere, mostly because parking is such a hassle! I also must go grocery shopping at least every other day or so because I can usually only carry two heavy grocery bags full home with me. Gone are the days of shopping for the week in the "big city" of Denver, or going to Target and/or Costco and filling the back of the Jeep with a month supply or toilet paper, paper towels and diapers. I think I was a City Girl in a past life though because I actually really enjoy this change! I like going to the store and buying what looks good and going home and cooking it for dinner.

Fancy toilet buttons. Oh, and TWO toilet paper rolls!

Here are a few other differences about Japan that I find to be fun and maybe even a little quirky. The first one, are the toilets. The toilets, you say? Oh yes, they are serious about their toilets here. They are so fancy! They are like regular toilets but have a thing called a Washlet on them that makes it so you can be sprayed when you're done going, if you'd like, and also so they flush automatically. Oh, and would you like a booty massage while doing your business? That's only a push of a button away. These buttons are not recommended to be utilized by children. Jackson was ah, surprised to say the least, when he got water sprayed on his little booty by accident! One time was all it took though - he hasn't touched the buttons since.

Just a neighborhood vending machine

The second, are the vending machines. These bad boys come about 6 or 8 to a city block and can provide you with a refreshing soda, energy drink, cold coffee, fruit juice blend or even beer. Yes, Joe likes to enjoy a beer on his walk home from work once and a while. The idea though is to drink your beverage of choice while standing near to the machine and then throw the bottle or can in the garbage can next to it. The cans have holes specifically designed just for these objects so that they don't overflow with household garbage and also so they can be appropriately recycled. How is Tokyo so clean when there aren't any garbage cans anywhere? I'm still wondering the same thing, actually...

This one is a touch screen!

Which leads me to the third fun fact, the recycling. This doesn't seem like it would be such a big change as we recycled in Colorado, but you have to recycle everything here. We have four, yes, four separate garbage cans in our kitchen to separate our combustible garbage (garbage that can be burned like, food waste, paper, and diapers (gross, I know), recyclable plastics including plastic wraps, bags and trays, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and other metals, glass and even clothing! I know Joe and I have asked each other many times, "What kind of garbage is this?" This is still going to take some getting used to.

The fourth major change is that they drive on the lefthand side of the road. I say major because even though I'm not driving here, it can really throw you for a loop when the bus or taxi driving makes a right hand turn! Whoa! Because they drive on the left here, everyone also walks on the left. My instinct is to keep to the right because we are usually the slow ones and so that people can pass, but this is wrong! We have learned quickly to keep left!

We experienced our first earthquake on Monday morning... Boy, was that a weird feeling! It was the first of many though, we are sure of that! Oh, and I unknowingly bought scented toilet paper the other day. I was not expecting that!

Until next time,

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL

Don't worry! We made it!

Cherry blossoms in Yokohama

Whew! I am so sorry for my delay in posting, but we have just been having too much fun here! Ok, ok, I can say that now after the 11+ hour flight, the jet lag, the new everything, the settling into a routine thing and the finding friends thing, right?! So speaking of all of that...

The flight was to be expected... LONG. My motto when flying with young children, is do whatever makes them happy. So, if that means watching Toy Story four times on the Nook, constant candy eating, or, as a Mommy, holding it so that your child can sleep peacefully for a couple of those long hours, then so be it! At one point Jackson told me, "Mom, I want to get off the airplane now." I chuckled long and hard to myself and then said, "You know, everyone else wants to get off the airplane too, but we can't because we're flying over the ocean right now. We only have about six hours left, so let's try to settle in." Oh my goodness. For the most part, Jackson and Jacob did very well on the plane, all things considered. The nonstop flight from Denver, to Narita International Airport, Japan left DIA around 12:30pm local time on Sunday, March 30th. By the time we arrived in Japan it was about 2:15pm local time on Monday, March 31st. The shortest or longest day ever? Hmmmmmm... Then we had to go through Immigration, which took FOREVER since we moved here, and aren't just visiting. Then it was onto Customs. That also took much longer than usual since we had a ton of stuff with us, also due to the move, and we also had to give them special papers informing them of our shipments arriving via air and ocean. Now it was about 5:30pm local time, which was about 2:30am MST. Yes, if you're wondering, the shortest day ever is actually the longest day ever. Then after all of that, we had to get on a bus from the airport to take us into Tokyo. If you're familiar with Tokyo at all in late March/early April, you may know that the famous cherry trees are in full bloom. That being said, there were no hotel rooms available in Tokyo for us. So we were on our way to Yokohama, I guess what you might consider a suburb of Tokyo (about an hour and a half, by train, away from our current apartment). We were all able to sleep a little on the bus ride, but this bus didn't drop us off at our hotel, oh no, it dropped us at a central location in the suburb. So we had to get a taxi to the hotel. Picture Joe and I for a second, with two very tired/cranky (we all were tired and cranky) and screaming kiddos, four giant, and I mean giant, suitcases, one carryon suitcase, two adult-sized backpacks, and two child-sized backpacks trying to get a cab (actually two to fit all of our stuff). Good thing we can laugh about it now, right? Well, we made it to the hotel. This flight schedule actually works well for adults traveling to Japan, by the way. We get to the hotel room, it's about 8:30 or 9pm local time, and we adults are beyond ready for bed. But let's talk about "schedules" for toddlers. Which leads me to my next topic...

The boys playing at a park near our house

Jet lag. Joe and I could have went to sleep after all of that and not have woken up until the sun was up but our two little dudes slept for a couple of hours and by about 1am local time, they were both awake. By awake, I mean up and ready for the day! This sort of behavior continued for the next several days until slowly they started sleeping until 2am, 3am, 3:30am, 5am and then we got to 5:30am and even 6:30am! Yes! I've read that for every hour in time difference, it takes that many days to acclimate. Well, it didn't take us 15 days, thank God!, but it did take us 6 or 7 days. Adjusting to time change can be difficult for anyone, but I feel like that is especially true for kids. That's all I have to say about that.

Dolphin show at the Epson Aqua Stadium

Joe had a week before he had to report to the office here, so we did some exploring as a family then and on the weekends following. We frequented several parks to see the beautiful cherry blossoms, boy, o boy, they were pretty (they're all gone now!), and also so the boys could run around and play. We also went to an Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Tokyo Mothers Group last weekend. My personal favorite family adventure thus far, has been to the Epson Aqua Stadium. (Shout out to Marine Life, circa 1992! Rapid City people, you know what I'm talking about!) We saw some amazing looking fish and the largest sting ray I have ever seen, as well as a dolphin show and a sea lion show!

Jacob checking out the fish

In the week or two that followed our arrival here in Tokyo, the boys were particularly fragile when it came to certain things, and I couldn't blame them one bit. Not only were we all tired but if we tried to push them too far when it came to exploring or trying a new food or any other unknown factor, they had complete and utter meltdowns. I felt really bad for them because we disrupted their entire world. It made perfect sense that they were having meltdowns! Children are so adaptable, but we honestly changed every aspect of their world in just a few days. They have a new house (which they still lovingly call "the new house"), a new school, new teachers, and new friends. We also can't drive anywhere; thankfully they love "going on walks", riding the trains, on buses and in taxi cabs. The list really goes on and on when it comes to everything new, although now they are welcoming our new adventures, I think!

Selfie at the aquarium

I was trying to prepare them for their first day of Japanese pre-school in the week leading up to their first day, and every time I said, "...and you're going to have new teachers," Jacob would say, "Hannah, Taffy (Kathy)". You see, Hannah and Kathy were Jacob's teachers at his school in Colorado and as far as he was concerned, teachers = Hannah and Kathy. Well, their first day at Japanese pre-school went great as both boys told me all about it on our walk home that day. While Jackson was chattering away about their trip to the park and about how he was running and fell and the names of their new friends, all Jacob could say was, "Not Hannah. Not Taffy. Not Taffy. Not Taffy." What a revelation in his brain, right?! Jackson and Jacob are now in their third week of school and it is going great. It is such a wonderful fit for both of them. Jackson is already bringing home some Japanese they are teaching him! I couldn't be more pleased.

J&J go to school M/W/F from 9am-1pm, which gives me such a great opportunity to go exploring. Although many of the days they have been at school thus far I spent at home unpacking boxes, I have been able to get out a little bit. I have even met a couple of new friends who I adore! The first friend I met here also has two boys about the same ages as J&J so we have already had a few playdates, dinners, and walks through the park. She also showed me a ton of places to go with the boys including pools, libraries with English books and children's centers. Soon, we are going to have a girls day visiting the Andy Warhol exhibit at Roppongi Hills, which I cannot wait for! The second friend I met, showed me a new place to explore with the children and also introduced me to the buses! They are even more confusing than the trains! Joe has been working long hours, as expected, and is even on his second business trip as of this morning, so I am very grateful for new friends!

Here's for friends! New and old! (I miss you, old ones!)

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.
XOL