Taking Yourself With You

In middle school one of my teachers said that you take yourself with you where ever you go.  I have an aunt who has always said  you have the potential to be happy anywhere, or miserable, it is your choice. Since I have been out on my own, I have started to understand these concepts.  I'm sure there are some places that I would rather live than others, and Japan is one of those rather live places, but at the end of the day, our life and family is the same here as it would be in any other part of the world.  I do not deny that we will have some amazing experiences and that we have already had some amazing experiences, but once we were settled and all was really said and done, we live here.  We are not on vacation. Even though we have the opportunity to find joy in the things we are able to do, we have most of our dinners as a family in our home, and spend most of our evenings in our home.  I am so grateful Sean took that week off of work so we could have a stay cation and do the tourist thing.  Financially we can't play every single day.  The weekends are pretty awesome, and every time we leave the house it is an interesting experience.  I guess my point in sharing this is, I have felt like we worked so hard to get out here, that I'm not allowed to have a few days where I miss my family, or feel uncomfortable or stressed.  There will be good and bad days just like any other place in the world.  I've had to remind myself that we moved, across the world, and it's alright to feel a little out of place.  In comparison, I am actually handling this so much better than when we first moved to Omaha in a number of ways.  I'm much more confident in the individual I am, and I am much more outgoing than I use to be.  I had so many troubles starting conversations and once they were started, continuing them.  I have a little bit of maturity on my side.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to grow, and to be out of my bubble, again.  

Waiting Game 

We were told our TMO ( our movers) would be here the 18th, it's now the 29th and we still have not heard from them yet.  We have loaner furniture that my baby and pets have lovingly used so I'm hoping the expenses are kind to us when we return them.  I have never wanted to vacuum before, it is not like its a need I feel ever, but now that it is gone I sort of wish I had my vacuum, especially with Ely crawling everywhere.  I miss my daughter's nursery, mostly her crib.  We never really felt comfortable with co sleeping,   I know some people swear by it and it works well for them but we totally were all about baby having her own sleeping space.  I have several " I was such a good mom before we moved" moments.  Ely was sleeping in her own bed like a champ before we moved and had several good habits that are now gone (she won't nap unless I'm laying next to her, plus, having her nap on a bed is SO nerve wracking)!  Life happens, and we are just going to have to rebuild those good habits.  We didn't want to repurchase everything, so we only have a few cooking items.  We have cut watermelon, potatoes, zucchini, onions, and a few other items with a pizza cutter.  Not having our stuff has been an adventure, but also a big eye opener as well.  We have so much STUFF that we realize we don't really need or miss at all.   With the few items we do miss there are so many other things we have coming that we noticed we are excessive with.  I don't really need 10 purses taking up closet space, or a ton of lotions, and makeup.  We have already downsized considerably, and will have to do some more once our shipment arrives.  

Culture shock and awe's

  I'm not sure what it is, I don't like making generalizations, but I've seen this specific trend whenever we go out-  Japanese women love my baby. They love to hold Ely and they are not shy about asking or taking, and I secretly kind of love it.  Take my child and speak Japanese to her all you want ladies!  Babies are fun ice breakers like that. I think one of my favorite moments since we have gotten here was speaking with a Japanese woman in the lobby of our church meeting house.  We both belonged to different wards, but we started talking and I loved the whole experience. I was lucky she spoke some English because my Japanese is lacking immensely.  First we started talking about Ely, and then she shared with me a little about her family.  I think she said she had  5 boys and one daughter and some grandchildren. She picked Ely up and some other women came over and were playing with her and pointed to her eyelashes and said something in Japanese regarding them.  I want to speak Japanese so badly!  Years and years of French and growing up with a Spanish speaking mother doesn't mean much out here.   Japanese is hard, romantic languages come so easily to me, and this is nothing close.  I'm so determined to be able to carry on conversations before we head back to the states. I hope to be able to speak it decently by then.  

I had an embarrassing cultural ignorance moment at one of the restaurants we were eating at. Our server was holding our baby (seriously someone always asks to hold her) and I was trying to get my shoes back on and dig through our diaper bag for Yen to pay.  At some locations you eat  sitting on floor on a raised surface, when you walk up onto it you take your shoes off on the lower level.  When we went to pay  I felt a little rushed so instead of handing her the money I placed it on the counter which I guess is a big no no. Sean said I basically threw it at her, which was not what I was trying to communicate at all, I was just frantically setting it down while I was putting my shoes on.  She took it but Sean indicated to me that you are suppose to give money by either placing it on this fancy little tray or hand it to them with two hands.  I did neither because she took it before I could do it correctly, but she was still really nice & I think she knew what our conversation was about and could tell I was embarrassed so I hope I didn't offend her. While we were there Sean told me I had to order the cold noodles, he had eaten there before when he was here by himself.  They were good, I guess you dip them in this cold soup/juice and then slurp them up.   Definitely different than anything I've ever eaten before, but still really yummy.  

Another fun place we were able to go to was Bollywood Dreams in the American Village.  It was pretty awesome, in high school I was obsessed with Bollywood and anything oriental dance related.  I'm quite fond of curry, and the curry there was SO good.  They also had huge naan bread that we didn't think we could eat together, but after trying a smaller piece we decided we had to get the gigantic naan bread next time because we devoured it pretty quickly between the two of us.  

It was a fun atmosphere, there were televisions that had continual Bollywood music videos playing and posters all over the restaurant of Bollywood movies.  We are adding it to the list of places we must take family and friends when they visit.  

 Visiting the sea wall never gets old, it is one of my favorite things to do here, it's free and beautiful.