After 10 months...

We are heading back to the states for our summer home leave!  I am not sure who is more excited –– our family & friends or Visa.  It is weird to think we haven't been back in 10 months. On one hand it seems so long ago and on the seems to have flown by.

Last summer we had only been living in Japan for 4.5 months before we came back. So it really wasn't all that long. I think after 10 months of living in the "bubble" coming home will be strange in some ways.


So what  am I looking forward to? (Besides the obvious family and friends)

1. Target, Gap, Old Navy, Kohls, the mall, and heck, even Walmart. Bring it all on. The clothes in my closet are begging for some new friends.
2. The cereal aisle. I may even sing a tune as I stroll down the aisle. 
3.  The deli counter. I will kiss the deli person as they give me real turkey and real cheese. 
4. Whole grain bread
5. Being able to order a real salad
6. Panera, Chipolte, Chilis, Danny's BBQ, Sunny Skies, Dairy Queen, Osers... and the list goes on.
7. Mexican food!
8. Sweet tea
9. Borders, Barnes and Nobles... any bookstore filled with English books. I may cry when I walk through the door. 
10. Getting my eyebrows waxed
11. Being able to walk through a store and know what everything is
12. Walking down the street and not having everyone look at me as if I am from another planet (Although I do have to say I don't get as many looks as Matt or the kids with my dark hair)
13. Grass -- I am so tired of concrete.
14. Reading street signs, billboards, heck anything!
15. Drive thrus
16. Going one day without saying "Wakarimasen" (I do not understand)

Hmmmm, from the looks of that list I may gain 50 pounds this summer. 

What am I not looking forward to?

1. Flying by myself with 3 kids for 18 hours each way.
2. Remembering which side of the road to drive on.
3. Driving everywhere. I actually enjoy all the walking and the train. You don't realize how much time you spend driving in a car until you have other means of transportation.
4. Living out of suitcases for 8 weeks. By week 4 last year, I was done. 
5. Sleeping in 12 different beds in 4 different states over 8 weeks.
6. Trying to see and make time for everyone and everything in the short time back. Our calendar looks like a road map.
7. Dysfunction
8. Poor customer service and then being expected to tip them. 
9. Jet lag
10. Being away from Matt for 4 weeks.

Only 5 days!  Watch out America... here come the Jacobs'!

On the boat and on the plane... We'e coming to America!

After almost 5 months, we are on our way back to America for 8 weeks of visiting family and friends. I am very excited and also nervous at the same time. Living from house to house out of suitcases will not be easy. Sami is already being the drama queen at why we can’t just stay in our house in North Carolina. I guess renting isn’t fully understandable to a 6 –year-old.

Our flight back to the states isn’t as easy as when we first made our journey to Japan back in January. Northwest has cancelled all flights directly into Osaka (apparently Osaka charges too much for their fees) so we now have to connect through Tokyo. Then we have a 6.5-hour layover in Minneapolis before we finally head to Raleigh. Add on top of that I am by myself with the 3 kids (Matt doesn't join us for another 2 weeks) and you have one heck of a traveling experience.

It’s hard to believe that we have been living in Japan for almost 5 months. Some days I have to pinch myself to really believe that I am living there. Time has sure flown by, but at the same time it feels like we have been living there forever. Many of the other expats have told us to enjoy everyday because time seems to fly by faster than any place else they have been.

I am just amazed when I think about all the things we have experienced in just 5 months–– going to Hong Kong and Thailand, hiking up mountains, climbing the spectacular cliffs that jet out over the Japan Sea, making friends from all over the world, going to our first auction fundraiser (handmade area rugs and floor rugs from the Middle East) learning how to speak a different language, taking trains everywhere and learning how to drive on the other side of the road are just a few. I can only imagine what all we will experience over the next few years. This truly is an experience that the kids, as well as Matt and I, will remember, and learn from, forever.

So the next 8 weeks will be full of visiting friends and family all over North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and even Missouri. We have beach trips, camping, sleepovers, shopping and camps for the kid all planned. We can’t wait.