Preparing for the big move

Less than a week to go. It is hard to believe that we will be moving next Friday. At this point we start saying things like..."this is our last Sunday in Japan," "this is the last time we will go to this park" "this is the last time I will go on this run" and knowing me, this will probably be my last blog before we move.

Last Saturday our day was jam packed. In the morning I went on "my last run" with my friends Jodi and Corry. It was a beautiful clear day, and so we decided to do a photo log of the run so that I could remember it. Here are just a few of the pics (the whole album is on facebook):

As soon as I got home from running we had to hurry and get ready to go to Sakuhinten at the yochien. I have no idea what that word means, but basically all of the kid's artwork was on display. Here is Cailey with her teacher, her picture is the top right:

Then they created a sceen from Peter Pan out of milk cartons, empty bottles, toilet paper rolls, etc. It was pretty impressive.

We left Sakuhinten and went straight to a lunch with Shane's former boss (who retired about 6 months ago) and his wife. They wanted us to meet them at this restaraunt named Ukai-Toriyama but we had no idea what we were in for. First of all, it took 2 hours to get there. Navi said it was only 48 kilometers (about 30 miles) away, but in Japan that takes 2 hours! When we finally got there is was well worth the drive. It was in possibly the most beautiful setting I have ever seen.

The restaraunt had about 50 private Japanese style huts. Here was ours:

The view while we were eating was amazing. Here it is with the window opened:Here is the guy grilling the salted fish they served for one of the courses. By the way, you were supposed to eat the whole fish, head, and all. I ate everything (even skin and bones) except I just couldn't do the head and tail. Nakajima san and his wife:Very nice people. Nakajima san always took very good care of Shane and our family while he was his boss.

The drive home took even longer on the way home because of traffic. It was one of those pull-your-hair-out drives of slowness. But we did see an LDS church on the way. It was one of the new designs they are using in Asia now. I had to take a picture.

Last Tuesday was our yochien walking group Christmas party/our farewell party. Here is pic of the gift exchange for the girls:

At the end of the party, they gave us a scrapbook of messages written from each of the kids to Cailey and Bryant. It will be a treasure to us to remember our friends here. They also went around a circle and said something to us. These are the women that I have grown to love so much. We were all crying. I am going to miss them so much.

Wednesday my friend Yayoi (one of my friends from the walking group) invited me over to her house for lunch. I went early and watched her make it. It was a delicious meal and we always have so much fun talking. She has been a great friend.

Thursday was Sushi. These same incredible women went with me for one last very Japanese lunch. We went to have sushi at the kind of restaraunt where the sushi goes around on plates in a circle and you choose the one you want. It was actually pretty good.

Today was the ward Christmas party and tomorrow we will say goodbye to everyone in the Yamate ward. 3 of the 5 of us have to give talks at church (Cailey has the talk in Primary). Tomorrow evening all of the Primary presidency and families will have a dinner together. It is hard to say goodbye to so many incredible people.

For some reason I had the song "It's a small world" stuck in my head yesterday (maybe because we recently went on that ride at Disneyland). I thought about the line "there's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all." Maybe this has been the most profound lesson that I have learned from living in Japan. There are so many good people in the world. We all have the same hopes and desires for happiness. I am so grateful to have lived among the Japanese people!

Whirlwind

Life is pretty crazy when you find out you are moving with a little over a month to get ready for it. Each day we try to tackle another one of the logistics of moving from one foreign country to another. My days have been so busy that I have to stop at times to do the breathing exercises that I used to teach the teens in tobacco cessation. Since so much has happened in the last few weeks, I will use this post as a brief recap.

On November 18, we went to Tokyo Disneyland. Luckily this outing was already planned before the whole moving thing came up. My good friend Jodi Jensen watched Isaac the whole day, so we just had Cailey and Bryant. The kids are the perfect age for Disneyland.

Cailey's favorite ride was Pooh's honey hunt.
Bryant loved the Buzz lightyear ride.

On Saturday the 29th we did our Thanksgiving dinner with the Jensen's. They invited us to their house along with another family that they are good friends with that live a couple of hours from here. Our kids ended up getting along really well with their kids and the Jensen's have 4 boys (ages 8-15) that my kids just love. We ate dinner in the early afternoon and kept eating and talking until around 4:00 (isn't that the great thing about Thanksgiving?!). We went on a walk around Minato Mieru park and Yamashita park which are both famous parks right on the ocean in Yokohama (the Jensens live about 5 minutes from these parks). After the walk we went back and played games. Is was such a fun day and a break from all the stress that I really needed.

Sunday was our primary sacrament meeting program. Somehow the kids always pull it off. Two Sundays before I was not sure it would go too well. After an emergency primary presidency meeting and lots of prayers, they did a great job. There were even many tears during the last song (I am a Child of God). Here is a picture of the Yamate ward primary.

The next day, December 1, I did my final cooking/english class with the yochien moms in my neighborhood. At their request we baked a whole chicken and I showed them how to make gravy from the juices and mashed potatoes. Luckily, this meal was second nature to me thanks to my mom and dad. They absolutely loved it. Since it was our last class, all of the women also brought a typical japanese side dish to share with me. We went around and they each had to explain to me how they made it in English. They also gave me a really nice cookbook of Japanese dishes with English translation and lots of pictures (I think Josh would be jealous). I am going to miss these ladies so much.

One last outing to tell about. This was yesterday. My friend Jodi knows a lot of the English speaking members in Tokyo because she teaches seminary to her oldest boy and meets with some of the moms in the Tokyo wards for support. One of her friends took us to a dish shop that was really a warehouse with some of the coolest Japanese dishes that I have ever seen. I now have a setting for six of all the Japanese dishes I need for a typical meal. With my new cookbook from my friends, I am all ready to host a Japanese dinner. Anyone want to try? Another fun thing about this outing was the company. There were 7 of us American Mormon gaijins shopping and having lunch together. Among the women were Sister Evans and Sister Stevenson (wives of the area presidency). Jodi knows sister Evans really well from when they lived in Nagoya years ago. The Evans were mission presidents and in the Jensen's ward. Needless to say, these were all very nice women, and we had a great time.