'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. 

Japan's Greatest Natural Disaster

On March 11, at 2:46 pm, the country of Japan suffered a horrific tragedy. An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit off the Northeast coast of Japan, causing a catastrophic tsunami and crippling the city of Tokyo and northward. It is estimated the initial tsunami wave was over 30 feet high, and came over six miles into shore. Over 120 strong aftershocks have occurred and it is expected that will continue for days and possibly months. A nuclear power plant North of Tokyo is in a state of emergency with at least two of the reactors being completely unstable. There has been almost 1,000 people declared dead, with the numbers climbing by the hour. In one city alone, there are over 9,500 people reported missing. Towns have been completely taken off the map. This has been declared the worst natural disaster in Japan history, and Japan's most difficult crisis since WWII.

There are no words to express how much all the email and Facebook messages, instant messages, and phone calls asking about our safety, have meant to my family.  I know many of you have asked where we are in relation to the disaster zone. My family and I live in Kobe, Japan, which is Southwest from the disaster area. We are 267 miles from Tokyo and 402 miles from Sendai. Sendai is the closest city to where the epicenter of the earthquake was located. I know those miles do not seem very far, especially to those in the United States. Our distance in miles would be similar to driving from Cleveland, Ohio to Cincinnati, Ohio. However,  Japan is very mountainous, making distance almost two and three times farther.

 We did feel the earthquake where we live. It could be described as feeling like you had just gotten off a boat. The initial quake lasted several minutes. Matt was at work and the kids were at school. The kids' school was very proactive and implemented their "duck and cover" earthquake plan.  I was at home and you couldn't feel it as much here as elsewhere because of our location tucked towards the mountain. We have several friends who live in a 32-floor high-rise apartment building, where you would physically see the building swaying back and forth.

Kobe has been able to feel several of the aftershocks. Our house is located 1/2 way up the mountain, cushioning the aftershocks.  Our friends who live in the high-rise buildings have had a few rough moments riding out some of the most recent quakes.  We have been told rolling blackouts may be implemented throughout the large cities to help conserve power and to reroute power to the North to help aid in the search and rescue efforts. We are making sure we have all our cell phones charged in case this happens, as most likely the Kobe area will be part of this plan. We are monitoring the nuclear power plant issue, however being located almost 300 miles from the plant, our biggest worry would be the wind direction. I am the outreach ministry leader at our church and one of our mission partners have suffered much damage, so we are working to get a team together to help in the recovery efforts when the time is right.

Caterpillar, my husband's company, has been in constant contact over the past day, giving us updates when appropriate. The U.S. Embassy has also been giving us information and keeping us updated on the latest news. We are being watched even if we are not in the disaster zone. So mom and dad, PLEASE do not worry. We are being watched.

I have an earthquake application on my iPhone. As soon as I saw the initial 7.9 magnitude report I turned on the television to see if there was any news. I sat in front of the television for hours watching everything unfold. It is so surreal sitting here knowing the horrible images we are all seeing is happening where I live. While Japan is not my home country, and we have only live here a little over two years, Japan has become my home. It is no secret how much I love living here. I have fallen in love with the people, the culture, the country, and my heart aches watching all of this unfold.

I feel guilty for going on with our day-to-day lives, while so many are suffering. I feel like I should be doing something. I try not to think of the "what ifs". I try not to think about living in one of the world's most earthquake prone countries. I tell myself it won't happen here. But it could. It did 16 years ago. I try not to think about my husband, my son, seven other adult chaperones, and almost 60 6th graders sitting in the Sendai airport exactly three weeks before this earthquake and tsunami. This is what the Sendai airport looked like shortly after the tsunami hit.

I cannot close my eyes without seeing all the devastation. I doubt many people in this country have slept much the past few days. The next few days will be full of more heartbreaking images and devastation. I just have to keep reminding myself of Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

So I ask you,  please pray for this country. Please pray for the people who are located in the North. Pray for those who are helping in the search and rescue efforts. Pray for those who are battling the scary issues at the nuclear power plant. Pray for those who have lost loved ones, their homes, their jobs, their towns. Pray for the leadership of this country. Please pray for the foreigners who don't know how to handle a disaster such as this one. Please pray for Japan.

Mt Maya in The Fall

Yesterday my neighbor and I agreed to meet some of our friends at the top of Mt Maya to give them a change of clothes and shoes. (They were doing that horrific wonderful 56k hike I did last year)  The plan was to walk to Sannomiya (about 7 km) and then take a bus to the Mt Maya Ropeway and take that up the mountain.

Everything was going as planned until we hit the ropeway. A worker told us "Wind!  Danger!" and that the ropeway was closed. I started to panic a bit as we had sandwiches, clothes and shoes to switch out at the top. After a horrible game of charades and some help from a guy who spoke great English, we discovered we were going to have to take a tram part way up and then hike it to the top. It took about 35 minutes to hike to the top, and other than the billion steps we had to climb, it was a beautiful hike. The leaves are all changing so we had some great scenery. We even commented some of the leaves on the ground were so perfect it was almost like they were purposely placed there.

While waiting for our friends, we took in the view.  Just another reminder of how beautiful of a country Japan is and how lucky I am to be living here.

The Burger Pit

Earlier this fall I had been told the cafeteria manager at the kids school had opened a "real" burger restaurant near our house. We were very excited as the typical "burger" in Japan actually tastes more like meatloaf.  So today Matt and I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk 15 minutes with Chris to The Burger Pit.

The restaurant itself is small. There are a few tables and then counter-like seating all around the cooking grill.  It was impressively clean and decorated with lots of Canadian flags and posters. (Jeff the owner is from Canada).

The menu was in Japanese an English and full of pictures. The menu features several different burgers, grilled chicken (which looked amazing) and grilled tofu.  And even more exciting than a real burger, was fresh-cut, homemade french fries. As for drinks, you can get many different sodas, Canadian beer and wine, Japanese draft beer and imported beer, such as Sam Adams, Corona, Guiness, and Budweiser.

The burgers are grilled right in front of you, which makes the ambiance of the place pretty cool.

All three of us ordered a regular cheeseburger set, which included homemade fries and a soda. The burger came topped with fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles. The owner said he prides himself in using fresh ingredients.

After we finished our burger, Chris got to mark North Carolina on the the world map, showing where we lived before we came to Japan.

So Kobe now has a real burger shop. All we need is some good Mexican food and a buffalo wing shop and I will be a happy little expat.

Shichi-go-san Festival

Shichi-go-san is a festival celebrated on November 15 to mark the growth of a child as they turn three, five and seven  years old. In Japan, these ages are considered critical in a child’s life. Particularly, at the age of seven, a young girl celebrates wearing her first obi, while at the age of five a young boy celebrates wearing his first hakama pants in public. The age of three marks the first time where both boys and girls are allowed to let their hair grow. 


Typically Westerners are not allowed to participate in Japanese ceremonies. However in Kobe, a special ceremony has been arranged just for the "gainjin" children when they turn three, five and seven.  Sami was so excited to be able to participate this year as she turned seven in June. 


The boys wear haori jackets and hakama trousers, while the girls wear a special ceremonial kimono. We had to be at the temple at 8:30 am for Sami is be dressed by one of the Japanese helpers. It took about 20-25 minutes for them to get her dressed in the kimono.

 All Sami could say when she was done being dressed was that she couldn't breathe or sit. 

We had almost 90 minutes before the ceremony so we walked around the temple grounds taking pictures. 

 The funniest part of the day was watching all the Japanese people take pictures of us. I felt like we were famous and they were the paparazzi. Sami was even interviewed for two TV channels. Imagine how that went considering the language barrier. 

The ceremony began at 10 am. The kids filed into the temple after drums sounded. We really didn't understand what was going on, but it was pretty interesting to watch. 

You can see many more pictures here.