Happy Japanniversary!

One year ago Matt left our happy American comfort zone and embarked on the beginning of a great adventure. Hard to believe Matt has been in Japan for a year now.

I can picture the morning clearly. We had to leave at a bright and early 4:15 am to take Matt to the airport.
He was to be in Japan for 3 months and then the kids and I would join him at the end of January. We made it through saying goodbye with only a few tears and then went to the Waffle House as a little treat to ourselves. I remember looking at the kids thinking, holy $#*%. What was I going to do with them alone for 3 months? But hey we made it!

Matt was very good about appearing as a guest blogger during those 3 months. It was nice being able to get an idea of what I was in for.

Of course I think deep down some of it was trying to freak me out a bit.
And while he was off enjoying his new adventure I was back home plunging the sink and toilet, trying to get ready to move 12,000 miles away, and doing all this exciting stuff.








One year... Happy Japanniversary Matt!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is my hubby's 34th birthday. I keep joking with Matt that we need to fly back to the states on our birthday so it will be 37 hours long instead of the 24. However he said that we can just celebrate as if we are in both time zones. I liked that idea.

After my horrible experience of birthday cake making two years ago, and with no place to buy a traditional birthday cake, I was not willing to risk trying a cake without a trail run. So I opted to make a blueberry cheesecake instead. As with many things, this is not as easy as one would think as graham crackers are rarely found here and one will spend much time working metric to US standard conversions. In the end the cheesecake turned out quite good. And Sam's idea of having tea light candles around the cake was quite the added touch.

Happy birthday Matt! We love you.

Life in Japan... Part 2 (From Matt's own words)

Now that I have been in Japan for a few weeks, I thought I would give everyone an update. As I have said before, everyday is an adventure. I will pick a few of my adventures to share.

Taking a hike
A few of my co-workers had an extra ticket for a famous hike done once a year in Kobe. The hike is 56 kilometers (for those who only understand English measures that is 31 miles). Being the competitive person I am, they were able to talk me into it. I figured my feet would hurt, but I would be able to make it. They forgot to mention the hike was up and down 4 mountains!!! We started a 4:30 in the morning before even the sun was up.


They let me borrow a head torch as my English friend would called it (a flashlight that attaches to your head) and we set off.

Along with 3000 Japanese people. Trust me it got worse.

This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

If they told me I was going to be mountain climbing – I would have surely declined.

I did get some great views from the top of the mountain.

I started at 4:30 in the morning and I finished at 7:00 at night.
Finish line! I was so sore, I could barely move for four days. I thought I was going to need a life insurance quote. I vow to never do this hike again.


Every Day Life
I am getting more used to day-to-day life.

Food
A lot of the Japanese business men eat at these noodle bars or stand up restaurants that have different types of meat on a stick. These places are everywhere and fairly cheap.


Not all Japanese eat Sushi all the time like people think, although there are many sushi restaurants in Kobe. Here is one I went to. It had the biggest sushi I have ever seen. It is not like they give you a knife. You just have to pick up the whole thing and put it in your mouth.


Yummy!!!! There is a little rice under there, you just can’t see it.

Trains
I have got to enjoy a few packed trains. I am sandwiched over by the door. They actually had a train person push the last people in to shut the doors. This is normally not how busy the trains are, but it does happen.


Restroom Life
At work I go in the toilet that says western style. The alternative is a squatty Potty.

On the western style they have little directions to show men how to use the toilet seat. I am surprised most women have not put these in American houses. I am not sure what it says, but I think we get the point.

The controls for our toilets at the house take a college degree to figure out. I know what the button on the top right hand side does. It squirts water on your bum!

Goodbye for now!

Well I could go on for pages, but it is getting late. I will send another note shortly. Time is going by pretty fast. I am not sure that Alexis would agree with that. I am trying to keep myself really busy and I am working crazy hours. Hope everyone is doing ok.

Take Care!

Hungry Anyone?

Dinner - Raw Tuna w/ fish eggs


When all else fails... order pizza!


Healthy snack - Grapes


Dessert - Cheesecake anyone?


An afternoon treat - Crepes... yum!

Stupidity is So Bloggable

I love my husband. I really do. But sometimes he doesn't make the wisest decisions.

Friday night he went out to dinner and drinks with some people from work. Apparently after some yummy Indian food and while the beer was a flowing he agreed to participate in a 51 kilometer walk on Sunday. Yes I said 51 kilometers. And for all us Americans who stink at the metric system, that is 31.69 MILES.

I got an email Saturday night saying that Matt was having to stay the night at someone from work's house because they had to be at the walk at 4:30 am, with flashlights, and the trains do not run that early. The walk would take 12-15 hours. I informed him to make sure he took his cell phone so someone could call the ambulance when he passed out. While Matt is in decent shape, you need to keep in mind he hasn't trained for this and he wanted to take a taxi back home from a morning run.

Interestingly enough, someone failed to mention to him that the walk started at the bottom of Rokko Mountain in Suma and ended near Osaka, all via the mountains.

Matt managed to finish the walk in 13 hours. He said there was 3,000 people in this walk and there were only 10-20 westerners. They ate granola bars and got water from vending machines along the way and basically did not stop. His feet and ankles were already swollen. I can't wait to hear how he feels the next two days. I guess maybe this is why Japanese people do not worry about what they eat nor is there a rush on diet pills at any time. Who needs to diet when you walk 30 miles on a weekend?

Matt sent me a few emails during the walk. Here are his pictures, with his own captions. Try not to laugh too hard. Even though it is kinda funny.

What was I thinking?

Holy Sh--. This is nuts. I am just over half way. Up and down mountains.

Finish line - That is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. My whole body hurts.

Greetings From Matt (As Written by Matt)

I have had a couple weeks to get settled into Japan, so I thought I would send a note.

When I got to Japan I was able to move right into the house. The house is really nice. For Japan standards we are living in a very wealthy area. I see a lot of very expensive cars driving around. The rental furniture in the house takes some getting used to. I have slept more nights on the couch than in the bed.

The commute to work is about 1hr 20 min one way. This was a good reason to justify getting an i-phone. I typically leave the house about 6:00am to catch the 6:09am train. I have to switch trains one time and take a 15 min walk up hill to get to work. This will be a good way to lose a bit of weight. In the humid summer, I will be needing a shower by the time I make it to work. I have been leaving the office around 6:00 pm, which gets me home around 7:30pm. A couple days I stayed at the office until 7:00pm and many of the Japanese stay until 9:00pm.

The job is very involved, so I won’t bore anyone with the details. I am basically managing the development of the product we will sell starting 2012.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced is grocery shopping. I went to the store yesterday for nearly 2 hours to get what I wanted. I bought some lettuce to make a salad and wanted to get some Italian dressing. I found the dressings, but have no idea what was in the bottles.



I bought something that looks like it could be Italian, but have not yet tried it. I wanted to get some barbecue sauce but finally gave up after staring at the shelves for a while.


There is no problem finding rice of all sizes and colors


Or fish heads to make a good fish head soup.


Overall, I have found the groceries to be about 3 times more expensive. (Alexis will do MUCH better as she will find all the cheapest markets and stands to shop.) And so far nothing I have eaten could be called a colon cleanse product.

I went on a bike ride the other day. My plan was to go up the mountain to the other side. I realized the mountain looks a lot smaller from the bottom.


This is about the point when I stopped pedaling. Because, I thought they were going to have to take me away in an ambulance. Even my friend John would not make it up these hills.


I did walk up the rest of the way pushing my bike. I never did go to the other side. On the way down I had to stop to let my brakes cool off.

I need a new plan for biking. The next day I tried to go running instead. There is a beautiful river coming out of the mountain less than ½ mile from the house.

I followed this river clear down to the bay. The water looked clean enough to drink. You cannot find trash on the ground anywhere.


It was pretty easy running down hill. Next time I might take a taxi back up the hill to the house.

There is a pretty big night life in Kobe. Although many of the places will not let westerners enter.



The girls have a different way of dressing? Many wear high heal boots and very short shorts or skirts. If they were in the states, I would say they look like hookers.

Overall it has been a great adventure. I definitely miss the family and wish they were here already. But I can figure out some of the tricks before they arrive.