New things...

This week has been filled with all kindsa things-

Friday Zeph drove our car for the 1st time while here. We got lost going somewhere really easy, we almost ran over a small Japanese child and at some point I had to get out of the car to direct Zeph out of a really small space that is called a street. If you stretch out your arms, that would probably be wider than this street was. No joke.

It's gotten better as the week progressed.

Last Saturday Joey and Juliana had a little welcome gathering for us and we met some really nice people who hopefully we can become friends with. Kids everywhere, it's kinda like a circus... a fun circus though.

Sunday we visited our new church KBF in Tokyo where we also met some awesome people. The church service was not what we're used to. That's okay though. We feel like we should be there until led somewhere else. The people are so warm and kind which was a really nice intro to a new church.

So would you like to hear about the food??

Oddly, enough we haven't had anything that is gross or un-recognizable as food yet. I thought the food would be an issue (as I don't like seafood) but we've had some amazing food thus far.

Here are a few things...

Gyoza- last Sunday in Tokyo with Joey. Ridiculously cheap and tasty. They are fried dumplings with pork/veggie goodness on the inside. 500 yen- ($5) for 12 dumplings, soup and rice. Not bad.

Mon Chalet- Chris and Amanda took me to this place right here by the apartment- French food- Awesome battered-like veggies (not tempura) with rice and salad & a drink.

Eden- Zephs favortie place- I think- Traditional Ton Katsu restaurant that specializes in pork fried in Japanese bread crumbs served over a mound of cabbage and comes with miso soup and rice. There is a tasty sauce (A1 like) that you pour over the pork and cabbage that makes the dish.

Kaiten Sushi- You sit by a conveyor belt that has all kinds of sushi and you can pick from that or you can order from a little computer thing at your table. $1 per plate. You can't get that at home and its better.

Kan- Italian place- really hidden little treasure in our city- Curry Risotto with baby shrimp, tomatoes and asparagus. With an amazing starter salad and a drink. 1000 Yen ($10)

Becco (something like that)-This past week I went to the Hanno train station with the girls and there is a little Italian place in the station that was great! For 850 Yen ($8.50) lunch menu- A medium (by US standards) sized Margherita pizza with salad and a drink. Leftovers indeed. So good though. (btw there was a Starbucks in the station too...best Cafe Latte I've ever had- no joke).

Lapin Noir (the black rabbit) - No they don't serve rabbit. Its a super cute bakery/cafe by the apartment- All organic type of place. The smell of bread is amazing walking into this place. Great little pastries, bread and lunch sets- Zeph had an awesome carrot soup here and I had a tasty little pizza thing.

Chateraise- Bakery/Ice cream place across the street ( very dangerous). Best ice cream ever! Thats all I have to say. Choco taco type of things, ice cream- cream puff things- strawberry taco thing. Its just dumb how good it is.

They do also have McDonalds... which we have only had once. It was good. Same as at home except you can get Gingerale as one of the drink options. Kinda cool.

Ordering is pretty easy based on where you go. Luckily we have had Chris, Amanda, Joey and Juliana with us so they do the ordering. A lot of places have pictures so you can point but I think we are also starting to pick up some words so we can survive when they all leave :(

Amanda has shown me how to make several things- Curry, Yakisoba, Udon, Cream Cheese stuffed chicken and some other yummy things.

Our Visa stuff seems to be working out so thanks for your thoughts and prayers for that. We may not have to leave the country after all (which was a possibility). Zeph went to Tokyo with Joey this past week and filed some necessary paperwork. Now we just have to wait and then file mine once his goes through.

Alright those are the highlights. More next week.

We are officially in Chichibu, Japan!

So much to tell but I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

We left on Sunday. LAX went ok. Our luggage wasn't over-weight and we didn't have to pay to bring Zephs guitar. Yay that!
They made us go through extra security because Zeph didn't have a round-trip ticket or a visa. No big deal...all in all. A little stressful at first but it was kinda nice to get escorted past the security line and not have to wait.
11 hour flight. Good food, good movies (Rach guess what i got to see before it came out on DVD?? Don't hate!), no turbulance and we didn't have to sit next to any annoying people.
Narita airport was easy and our luggage all arrived and was all there the second we walked up to the baggage-claim. We dropped all our stuff at a courrier to deliver the next day (and we got it the next day).
4 or so hours of train rides from the airport to our city. A very authentic intro to Japan.
By the time we arrived in Chichibu we had not slept in over 20 hours. No, we didn't sleep on the plane because we had our own TV's so we watched movies and played video games. Our own fault but we were still tired.

Chris and Amanda had a bed made for us when we got here and it was the best thing ever!!! BTW, they are the friends whose position we are taking over here in Chichibu :) We have been so blessed by them so far and I'm so glad they are here to help us get situated before they go back to Canada.
Zeph has taken me around to see his old stompping grounds from when he was here in 2004 and I love everything so far. The people are nice and the city is peaceful. The grocery store even has Chipotle Tabasco sauce... random I know but a little bit of home goes a long way.

Zeph has been going with Chris everyday to meet the classes he will be teaching and that is going really well... the only bad thing so far was Zeph falling down the stairs in our apartment building on his way to a class the second day we were here. He's fine... the wall not so much.

The food is good. Mostly because we've just been eating Amanda's cooking and it's awesome. Yesterday we had hamburger sushi at this place by the apartment. A piece of burger over rice with some ketchup.
Don't knock what you haven't tried people. It was good.
Tomorrow we are going to Mister Donut in the morning and baby sitting Hana (Chris and Amanda's baby) in the evening. Saturday we are going to a party and Joey and Juliana's and then Sunday church and Tokyo. Fun times!!

P.S. I'll keep it shorter in the future.

tomorrow is Plane Day...

tomorrow we leave. plane leaves at 2:10p.
We're slightly exhausted. This day has been crazy.

We are in go go go mode and I think this feeling of non-stop-ness is distracting from any realization of what is happening.
Saying goodbye to our best-friends today was hard. That we felt. Not fun.
Missing people is hard.
We are going to have alot of fun but today, tomorrow, the airport- no fun. Airports are made to make people cry- they are cold and the walls are too white. I think this is an excuse.

Originally, we wanted to take 3 check-ins and 2 back-paks.
After 2 and a half suitcases in and all of Zeph's stuff still in the closet... we decided to take a 4th and 2 carry-ons and 2 back-paks.
It will be a miracle if we can make it through check-in without hassle. This I don't look forward to.
Our paper-work never made it here so we will handle it in Japan...We're not worried about it.

We can't believe tomorrow is the day. 2 months ago we moved in with Zephs parents and it feels like 2 weeks ago! We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends...
There are way too many things to be felt in the moment. A little overwhelmed.

The good news is... my next blog will be from Japan!!!

ok so 7 days-

The countdown is here in its truest form and starting to show its lovely colors-

Things are rolling and being arranged. It's starting to settle in a little bit. Moments of deep breathing in have become more obvious in my day along side of "stay calm" reminders to myself.

I just keep reminding myself that we have time- Not sure if that's true or just a lie I am telling myself to keep it cool. If by 7 days you mean "time" then I guess we do.

We just need to be organized. I feel like I need to prepare to be organized but I feel like I don't have time for that- make sense?
Tomorrow I will begin organizing our clothes and start doing things on my check list.
We have visited with so many good friends and family so far and are sad that there are some that we won't be able to see before we go... We really do feel bad.

Paper work still has not come and I'm not sure it will before we go thus we will be traveling on tourist visas... not ideal but out of our control.
This week will be busy...super busy.

Our friends took us out last night- and it was kinda awesome- We are so blessed to know and be part of so many wonderful peoples lives. I want to pack you all in our carry-on. Not our suitcase, our carry-on. That's how much we like you.

Ok so yeah- one week.