Blogs are like Christmas letters

I have not written in awhile and I know exactly why.  I have reached the 4 month mark.  I have been living in Japan for 4 months as of December 17th.  Every time I move I hit a funk and it is around the four month mark.  Everything that was so exciting and new just seems hard now.

As an example, in an effort to hang pictures on cement walls we tried, cement nails (bad, chipped chunks from the walls),  3m special hooks (didn't work for many of our frame styles), and finally settled on velcro.  This did the trick and we had all of our wonderful black and white pictures up that we love so much.  The first one fell, broke the frame and glass.  I went around, pushed on the others to secure them into the wall and yet we lost two more.  More broken glass.  This is not the biggest deal in the world right? Go to the exchange, get new frames, but they don't have what I need.  I'll go out in town! Nope, pictures seems to be different sizes and I haven't found a store with pre-made frames besides the dollar stores.  There is a framing shop on Zama, the Army base where Casey goes to school that is about 45 minutes away..  I finally find the place and it is only open W-F very specific hours and the wait is long.....It is our best option, and what we are going to do, but in the mean time I will look at the two remaining photos that are hung way too high without the two that normally hang underneath.

This is just one example in a long line of silly little things that come up and frustrate me as I try to run our home.  I want to share this with you all because it seems to me that Facebook and Blogs could give someone the impression that every day is a new adventure and our lives are a total blast.  There are days I long for my full time job dealing with middle schoolers in the halls of Brandon and the familiar comfort of friends you can walk in, grab a glass of wine and even help fold underwear if that is what they are doing.  (As I write this I can picture about three new friends who will point out where their wine glasses are the next time I am over and hand me a laundry basket!)

The great news is that this phase I am in has happened at every move we have made and ends at around month 6!  That is when I start running around yelling, "We only have 2 1/2 years left and we still have to see (fill in the blank here)!"

Highlights of December include an impressive amount of parties.  One of my favorites was a great party thrown by the Japanese Navy called, Mochi Pounding.  I had heard about this since I came here and when I found out that Ryan's flight landed during this event, we decided to hire a driver to pick him up so we wouldn't miss it!  Gary had to get on stage and hit rice with a mallet in a large wooden bowl wearing a Happi coat.  It was brilliant!  The food was amazing and the mochi is so yummy.  It makes this nice soft, chewy paste that they fill with sweet black beans or roll in this "dust" that tastes like crushed peanuts to me but I think it is a different bean of some sort.  Yummy! Ryan loved being greeted by a driver with a sign, gloves and cap.  While he was here we had a great time showing him the sights and introducing him to his new home.  I was glad to have both of my children with me when the Sandy Hook tragedy struck and they allowed me to snuggle them most of the day as we went from watching the news to watching many movies.  What a horrible tragedy.  My English students all bowed and expressed their sincere sympathy to all of us and I extend their condolences to you too.

We ran around all over the local area but the highlight had to be seeing the snow monkeys!  They are absolutely amazing.  These are wild monkeys that live in the mountains but during the snowy season they gather at the hot springs that are so prevalent in our volcanic land.  I think you can catch glimpses of them all year but this one area brings in about 100 monkeys.  You could get right up next to them and they were not at all tame, but also just so not interested in people.  Fantastic.  Well worth the 45 minute snowy hike to get to them, the 45 minute snowy hike back down the mountain,  the three falls I made onto my rump and the panicked run to the bus when we realized it was picking up on the opposite side it had dropped us off!

We had spent the night before in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese hotel, that had onsen baths.  These are natural hot springs and the morning before we left I had sat in one of them and stretched.  I think that is why my falls did not cause any serious damage!  When you arrive at this hotel you change into a yakata.  This is a three layer outfit.  First comes a cotton robe, then a heavy layer and finally we had a sweater type layer on top.  Our shoes had come off at the check in desk!  You wear slippers and this outfit for your whole stay.



We ate dinner and breakfast at a table on the floor and spent the night on mats that were rolled out for us.  Our beds were thin pads on the tatami mat floor, our pillows were made of buckwheat and the comforters were thick plush down.  The bath in the morning was a great way to loosen up my stiff back!! Our hosts were wonderful and we will be going back again and again I am sure.

It is January.  Ryan is back at school after a wonderful visit home-ish.  Casey had two weeks off for vacation.  It was great and now she is getting back in the swing of things.  She will be in Korea in February for a drama Far East event and will miss a week of school.  We are trying to help her stay on top of all she has going on! This moth has many fun events coming up.  I am going to Odwara castle with the friends I usually cook with and having a day with the Japanese Officer's wives in Tokyo to see a Sumo Tournament! In between those fun events are change of commands, laundry, Gary traveling, mopping floors, a hail and farewell party at our house, and missing all of my family and friends back home.  More soon I promise!