While Mom Is Away...

Dad saves the day!

I have spent the past month back in Japan with Emily. No, she didn't miss her mommy so much that I had to rush over here to tuck her in at night. In fact, I am pretty sure she would have been okay if I didn't come back (to her defense, sharing a room for 4 weeks with your mom probably isn't all that grand). It was always planned that I would come back for the end of the school year to help her get ready for prom and then close out the school year. So while I have been over here having a wonderful time missing my family immensely, Matt has been holding down the new fort back in Texas.

I have to say I was very nervous leaving for a month. I have never been away from my kids that long, ever. Matt is always the one traveling for weeks at a time, so the idea of him being home with Chris and Sami alone for a month was downright scary. The beginning was a bit rocky with Sami (AKA Drama Queen) sending me texts of her picture so  I could always remember what she looked like, and telling me how daddy didn't understand her problems and she was sooooooo (her words) alone with just boys. I guess she decided staying with boys wasn't so bad as I rarely hear from her unless I am Skyping to Matt or Chris. She tells me she is just sooooooooo (her words) busy and can't talk.

Matt hasn't just done an okay job while I have been gone -- he has nailed it. Baseball games, movies, bike rides, baking cakes, making dinner, celebrating both the kids birthdays, going to the pool, playing sports, going to football practice, seeing movies and even taking Sami on a shopping spree.

I admit, Matt drives me crazy most days. He can be extremely stubborn, works too much, has no idea where the laundry hamper is located, forgets almost everything I tell him and drives my car when rain or hail is expected. But after the past month, between all that he has done and allowing me the opportunity to come here and be with Emily without worrying about what was going on back home, I love him more today than the day I fell in love with him almost 20 years ago.

'Twas the Night Before Texas

'Twas the night before Texas,

And all through the hotel,

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even a... forget it. Nothing rhymes with hotel.

It has been 4.5 years since we moved to Japan.  I remember nervously putting our "babies" on a plane and heading to Japan, not having any idea what may lie ahead. 

Tomorrow evening Matt and I will put our youngest two children on a plane and embark back to the United States on a new adventure to Dallas, Texas. Our oldest daughter will follow at the end of June.

I have to admit, I am in serious denial about this move. In some ways it is surreal. Maybe it is because I have so many people tell me how difficult repatriating is supposed to be and I don't want to deal with it.  Maybe it is because I am leaving my first-born child behind for three months, when we have never been apart for more than a week. Or maybe it is because I have fallen so much in love with Japan, the culture, and the friendships I have built, that the idea of leaving is hard to think about. But the reality is, in less than 24 hours I will be in the air over the Pacific Ocean, hopefully sleeping with the help of a few bottles glasses of wine. 

Our goal when coming to Japan was to embrace the culture and gain as much as we could from this experience. I think we have not only achieved, but surpassed that goal. We climbed Mt Fuji with our older two kids and 16 other Caterpillar ISEs. We have been skiing, camping, white water rafting and road tripping throughout Japan. We have learned to embrace onsens and eat raw fish. We have experienced some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, ziplined through jungles, ridden on elephants, visited seaweed farms, hiked thorough Vietnam, crawled through the same tunnels as soldiers in the Vietnam War, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef and saw cows walking down the streets of some of the poorest areas of Asia.  My family has been blessed over and over during our time here. 

There are some things I never thought I would experience, like the 2011 earthquake and getting stitches in a rural Vietnam clinic by someone who was probably the village vet.  I went on two disaster relief trips to Tohoku shortly after the earthquake and the experiences I had during my time up North will be ones that stay with me forever. I am already thinking about ways to get involved in missions and service trips in parts of South America. 

I will take away many lessons from my 4.5 years here. The Japanese language is hard. I will never be fluent, or even close.  Japanese beer is way stronger than US beer. Everything here is a process, and if you think it should take an hour you better double that. Forget clothing style, anything goes, especially Little Bo Beep wear. Most people do not speak English, yet they will go out of their way to help you. Taking the train everywhere is way easier than driving, Japanese people can find a reason to smile in the midst of the worst tragedy. And people leaving is a hard reality of expat life and unfortunately it is now our time go. 

Most importantly, I have learned that when you pack up your three children and move to the other side of the world where you know no one, cannot speak the language and drive on the opposite side of the road, the people around you become your family. And boy are we going to miss our amazing family here in Kobe. 

In Japanese, the word for goodbye is sayonara. I do not believe in goodbyes, so as we board the plane tomorrow, heading to what I hope to be another amazing adventure, I will bid this beautiful country and all my friends ja mata, or as we say in English "see you later". Because anything else, I hope, is false. 

Dear Mom: Change of Address

Dear Mom:

It has been almost 7 months since we spoke last. I hope you are enjoying your "vacation" and are having fun being reunited with all of your family and friends that you haven't seen in a long time. I know I promised you I would start blogging again on a regular basis, but life got crazy shortly after my last post. So let me take a few minutes to catch you up on "The Jacobs' Family Adventures".

As you know this was to be our last year here in Japan and we have been anxiously waiting to find out what and where was next. At the end of November Matt found out about a job opportunity in the Mining Division. After a few weeks of interviews, waiting and alot of praying Matt was offered the job. Put down your golf club and your old fashioned just for a minute, because I would hate for you to spill or break your club from shock. Ready? We are moving to Dallas, Texas at the end of this month. I know you and I talked at length this summer about Dallas and I firmly believe "There Is No Coincidence in Life, Only a Purpose". And as hard as it will be to leave Japan, there is no doubt in my mind that this move is exactly the path that God wants us to be on.

The kids are anxious, yet excited. This has been the longest place they have ever lived. They have grown up here. We came with a kindergartner, 4th grader and 7th grader. The kids will be in 5th, 9th and 12th in the fall. Sami and Chris will start school for the last 9 weeks in Texas and we are leaving Emily in Japan to finish out the end of the school year. Don't worry, we have her staying with a good family that will make sure she is okay. I will be coming back to Japan in May for prom (there is NO WAY I am missing that) and will stay until final exams. I will let my friend put Emily on the plane to come to the states. Yes, I know I will owe her big for that one.

For me the move will be bittersweet. I have fallen in love with Japan and I think this will be the hardest move I have had to make. Wait I mean the second hardest. The first was leaving you of course. But I am excited to see what the next adventure holds. I mean, what can go wrong with cowboys, rodeos, Tex-Mex and FOOTBALL! And yes, unfortunately this means there is a chance Emily could become a Longhorn. You will just have to learn to tolerate them if so. Maybe I can watch Matthew McConaughey bongo on the Texas sidelines up close and personal.

I think the hardest part of this whole move is you not being here to talk things through. I never thought I would miss hearing "I am not telling you what to do but...". I really could use that right now. Dad is way better at not giving his opinion. You two always evened yourselves out.

I will try to be better about blogging in the coming weeks. We will be living the "Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and staying in a hotel for 6 weeks starting this Thursday. We have to buy two cars and move a household across the ocean. Life will be busy, but I am sure it will present some great bloggable moments. After all, it is our family.

I miss you.

Love,
Alexis

Kicking Some Mt Fuji Butt

As Dora would say "We did it!  We did it!" Matt, Emily, Chris and I, along with 16 other people, climbed and conquered Mt Fuji. What an amazing experience.

We left on the "Team Caterpillar" bus around 11 am. We stopped several times along the way for food and bathroom breaks before finally arriving at the 5th station around 7:15 pm.

My family at the rest area

It was recommended to be at the 5th station (2,305m) to get your body adjusted to the elevation change for at least an hour before starting. So we all grabbed some noodles, drinks, got all our gear ready to go and took lots of pictures. You could feel the adrenaline pumping through the 20 of us, and the other hundreds of people there.

My family at the starting point.

Our crew of 20!

 Our plan was to hike the Fujinomiya route, but somehow we wound up at the Fujiyoshida route instead. Little did we know that this was the most popular, most crowded, most steep route. We had figured 5 hours to the top. It took us 8 hours.

There were little stations several places along the way. At these stations you can sit and rest and at some of them there are people stamping walking sticks and selling food. Some had sleeping mats. Each of these places were so crowded.

Man stamping walking sticks at one of the stopping stations.

The 7th station. Only 1076m to go!

We climbed through the night. At the bottom it was a very comfortable mid 70s temperature. The higher we went the colder and windier to became. By the time we reached the top it was freezing. I am very glad we hiked at night because we had no idea what was next and what we were in for. It was pitch black besides the light from people's headlamps. Of the 8 hours, probably at least 3 of them were scaling up different rocks and boulders. It was hard. One of the coolest parts of hiking at night was looking ahead  or behind you and seeing nothing but lights and the outline of people. It was like a scene from the kids movie Antz.

Hundreds and hundreds of people hiking the Fujiyoshida trail.

At the 7th station Matt and the kids wound up in a different group than me. This was probably around 11 pm. In one way it was nice because I only had to worry about myself, but on the other hand I was always worried how the kids were doing, especially as you saw people throwing up along the way.

The part I was most worried about was the altitude. You hear horror stories of how sick people get from it. Surprisingly I never had an issue and I never needed to use my asthma inhaler or the oxygen we brought. The group I hiked with was very cautious though and when we started to get a headache or our hearts raced we would stop to adjust.

The whole goal of hiking through the night is to arrive at the top by sunrise. Sadly all the other thousands of people have the same idea. It was like being at a rock concert at the end trying to get through the trail to reach the top.

Almost to the top

Matt took this awesome picture at sunrise.

Sunrise at Mt Fuji

As we got closer to reaching the top, our group really thinned out. By the end I was just hiking with Mary Gail and I felt bad for her as I kept whining how I hiked all that way to not find my family for sunrise. The ironic part was we busted our tails to make it to the top to find Matt and the kids, to only have him stopped just below us. But it was okay, because Mary Gail is pretty cool to share the sunrise with too.

Just after sunrise I found Matt and the kids and boy was Emily and Chris tired. I really am so proud of them. How many 11 and 14 year olds can say they climbed all night long to the top of Mt Fuji?

Chris & I at the top

My family at the crater of Mt Fuji

O-H-I-O

The decent down took just under 3.5 hours. The ground was very sandy and rocky. It was killer on the knees, but the views were breathtaking.

Our decent down

The top is very bare and sandy. Once you hit about station 6, there is more trees and such.

All in all we climbed for 12.5 hours. It was a long, hard climb. People asked me if I thought this was harder than that blasted 56k hike. At first I said no, but the more I think about it, it is just different. They really can't compare as the surroundings for both are just so different.  I am glad I did it. I am glad my kids did it. It was an experience of a lifetime. But I will say this... NEVER AGAIN. 

You can see many more pictures here.