The Simpson Journey

Four Simpsons on a journey through life and locations

Author: Jenny (page 2 of 3)

Hong Kong (part 2)

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Apologies! After the last Hong Kong post I realized I left out some other pictures we took while we were at Ngong Ping village and  Tian Tan Buddha! The architecture and details really were amazing.  Some areas prohibited pictures to be taken and would not let us enter but here are a couple more pictures!

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Day 2 in Hong Kong started out really slow since it was raining and most of the things we had planned to do were outdoors. We wandered around the courtyard and the mall below the hotel a bit. We found some delicious donuts at the grocery store bakery and enjoyed some coffee. Eventually, and after a wardrobe change, we decided to venture out and head to Victoria Harbor and Victoria peak even though it was still drizzling.

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In order to get to Victoria peak we needed to take a taxi to the Harbor, then a ferry across to Hong Kong island.  The ferry was very fun.  We had to purchase small plastic tokens from a vending machine to use for the ferry.  We boarded and got on the lower deck.  It was a fun 10 minute ride to Hong Kong Island and was very cheap something like $2 for kids and 3 for adults. We caught a sunset while on the ferry on the way home.  The last picture in this group is the Star Ferry boat.

 

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Victoria peak was highly recommended by the tourist blogs and research I did. One other cool thing is that there is a tram that goes straight up the mountain. When we arrived at the tram station the line was so long. We were afraid we would be standing in line for 2 hours before we even got on the darn thing. This is where my research paid off. From what I read you can take a taxi up the mountain and ride the tram down to get the tram experience. We aren’t huge on waiting in unnecessary lines so we found a place to hail a taxi (read more about Hong Kong taxi’s later) and headed up the mountain. In general taxis in Hong Kong had proved to be very inexpensive,  but the the trip up the mountain was a little more pricey than the local trips we had taken.  The cost was the equivalent of about $30 USD but totally worth it. The road was very winding and the driver dove pretty fast. Maybe it was just me who was being tossed around a bit because my seat belt buckle was stuck and I could not fasten my seat belt. We eventually made it up to the peak and walked around the tourist area a bit. My research also told me that there was no need to pay the extra fee to go to the special viewing deck. Just down a path there was a lookout! By now the weather was cleared up a bit and we had some great views of the Hong Kong Skyline on Kowloon and the bay. Very cool. After walking around a little bit we were ready to head back down via tram. We waited in a much shorter line and bought tickets for our ride down.

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Ok, I admit I did not understand the hype of riding a tram down the mountain but it was quite crazy. Everyone jammed into these 2 train like cars. There was enough space for about 30 people to sit on wooden benches, and another 20 people stood in the aisles. Once were loaded we headed down the mountain. It was much more of a thrill than I anticipated becasue a times you felt it was quite possible for the tram to race down the hill out of control. The Maximum Steepness: 48 % Track Gradient: 4–27 degrees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Tram  We even caught a bit of the ride on video for you.  I enjoy roller coasters more but this was a unique ride. 🙂

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Near the tram station is Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden and Hong Kong park. It was nice to be out in nature a bit but it was very hot and humid. We were quite uncomfortable climbing stairs and being bitten by mosquitoes. We were disappointed to find out that the Conservatory and aviary were closed for the day. We followed the paths found a waterfall, lake and lots of cute TURTLES.

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If you didn’t know I have become quite fascinated with turtles lately. Actually, I have always thought turtles were quite cute. My fascination only increased when we went to Mexico in 2012 and we actually got to swim with sea turtles when we were scuba diving. Consider yourself warned: I may end up getting a new pet in the near future. I am researching breeds of turtles that stay small. The pet store near us has a “Stinkpot musk” turtle that I am currently considering!

On the way back to the hotel be decided we should eat some traditional Chinese/ Hong Kong  food.  We looked through the menus at the restaurants in the mall at the base of our hotel.  We ended up going to Tim’s (yeah I know it is a really authentic name)  for some traditional Hong Kong food: Peking Duck! None of us had ever had this dish before but when we told the hostess we were interested in eating Peking dusk we were immediately treated like honored guests.   We were all happy to rest our weary feet and quickly dove in to the celery and scallions dipping them in a  sauce provided.  Soon after our duck arrived on a platter, with it’s head still attached.   It was all eyes on the chef as he carved the duck right at our table.   We were very surprised that the restaurant manager, several servers, and other tables were staring!  The chef presented us with the platter of sliced duck and we were given some thin crepes.  It was at this point that we realized WE HAD NO IDEA how to eat this meal.  Thankful for google (Again) we quickly learned how to properly eat the Peking duck, wrapping the thin slices of duck in the crepe, adding the celery and scallions and hoisin sauce.  So I guess we weren’t supposed to have eaten all those vegetables they had put on our table.  oops!  Soon the server realized our error and brought some more out.   The Peking duck tasted really good, the fatty skin was crispy, meat was tender and flavors were good.  Upon further speculation we feel that there should have been more meat on the duck but then again we had never eaten a whole duck before.   Maybe they are much leaner than a chicken!  Hmmmm, thoughts to ponder.   The remainder of the meat was stir fried with rice and brought over at a later time.  Over all it was a great meal and we left the restaurant full and happy!

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For your reading pleasure:  This is a tutorial on how to eat Peking duck:

http://www.worldhum.com/features/how-to/how_to_eat_peking_duck_in_beijing_20071128/

 

Thanks for reading!  Look for more Hong Kong posts and other posts too…. we have so much more to share!

 

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Kindness of strangers

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We recently became proud owners of bicycles.  It turns out it is a bit more difficult obtain a car.  We walk lots of places and take subways a lot.  Buying bikes has allowed us to get to and from places much quicker.  We all got the proper gear: helmets. lights, and a bell.  Tokyo is a bike tolerant city.  There are not very many “bike lanes or bike paths” but drivers are very aware of bicycles. The left lane (they drive on the left here) is mostly for left turns or parked taxis.  Often times bikes are also allowed on sidewalks.   We have our preferred riding order. Caleb leads, followed bu Anna, Zeke and I.

Last night we decided to ride our bikes to a restaurant to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary! Since we weren’t sure exactly how to get there, we ended up going a bit out of our way to cross streets safely.  We were almost to our destination when we needed to ride our bikes up on to the sidewalk from the street.  What  we didn’t know is that there was a sizable lip on the driveway entrance.  Caleb managed the transition just fine but Anna tried to turn into the driveway and her bike slipped out from under her.  I will let you know she is just fine. As her bike tipped over she  fell into the sidewalk. Caleb, Zeke and I  pulled our bikes aside to help her but even faster than we could help, several pedestrians stepped in to help. We were overwhelmed with the fact that 3 or 4 strangers  immediately rushed over picked up her bike and made sure we were all safe.  One kind lady also brought her band-aids and a small package of kleenex!   Annabelle recovered AMAZINGLY.  After some hugs, and wiping her tears we rode off to dinner.  She has a scrape on one elbow, a small bruise on her leg, and said today her back and neck were a little stiff.  Praise God for protection and for the kindness of strangers.

 

(We didn’t stop to take pictures of our injured girl, but here are some pictures of us on our bikes from the other day!)

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Zeke is proud to pose in front of the Ferrari car dealership with his Ferrari bike!

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Hong Kong Day 1 (of 4)

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We are barely feeling settled into our home and our routines but we took a vacation anyway. Caleb had a work event in Hong Kong that would require him to be gone over the weekend. With one flight and 2 nights hotel paid for we decided it was a good opportunity to have a little vacation. Caleb took a couple days off of work so we could spend some time together  and explore Hong Kong.

Day 1: Our trip from our apartment in Japan to the airport ended up being quite crazy. We got up and ready to leave the house for our 9:25 am flight. Of course we had a couple last things  to throw in the suitcases but we headed out the door in what we felt was plenty of time. Instead of riding multiple trains, or one taxi the whole way, our plan was to take a taxi from our apartment to a station that ran a train that went directly to the airport. It seemed like a great plan until…….

As you may know Japan subway system is extensive. It really makes it possible to get just about anywhere without a car. We got to the subway station just fine, looked at the maps, followed the signs, went to the right platform but we got onto the wrong train. We found out later that one train would  turn into an airport express train. We were NOT on THAT train! After some time checking the subway maps on our phone, reading the scrolling announcements that are displayed in the subway cars (mostly in Japanese, with occasional English) , and having a fair amount of panic we decided it would be best to get off the train and get onto another one. At the station we determined we  indeed had been on the wrong train and needed to wait another 10 minutes to get on the correct one.

We finally got to the airport and knew we were cutting it really close for our flight. We tried to check in on-line, at home before we left but no luck, we tried to check in at the kiosk at the airport, no luck. We followed to signs to the ticket booth for Japan Airlines only to be directed to another counter for their partner airline. As we finally got to the correct desk we told the receptionist we were in a big hurry and needed to get our tickets right away. We got to cut in line and we got our tickets but our seats were spread throughout the plane. At this point I think we had 20 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off. The kids had been doing really good with our chaotic morning but Zeke was REALLY starting to panic now. We rushed to security and were able to get through fairly quickly! Next, we headed to immigration. The line was pretty short and we were feeling like everything may work just fine. When we got to the counter we were turned away because we had not filled out the proper paperwork. We exited the line and began to fill out the papers. I had so much adrenaline pumping through my veins that my hand was shaking while I was attempting to fill out the papers and needed to start a new form because I switched the kids birth years. Sometimes having 2 kids with birthdays in the same moth is hard!   Once we got the paperwork filled out correctly we had to reenter the line. Soon after, someone asked us if she could cut in line because her flight was about to leave. We found out she was on the same flight as we were. I guess we weren’t the only ones running late. After getting through immigration we ran, fast,   all 4  of us carrying backpacks and rolling our carry on roller bags, down the 5 moving walkways to the gate. You should take a minute to visualize this.  It is quite hilarious!  I am sure we turned lots of heads! As we arrived at the gate out of breath we told the attendant our flight number and she informed us OUR FLIGHT HAD BEEN DELAYED! It was only then that I noticed the hundred people waiting next to the gate, all staring at us! We caught our breath and waited in line for an additional 15 minutes before boarding. The flight went fine and the kids did great even though our seats were spread throughout the plane. So happy to have older kids! There is no way this would have worked if they were younger!

Hong Kong Geography

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Hong Kong International airport is on Lantau Island and since this was 30-45 minutes from our hotel.  We decided to do some sightseeing on Lanau Island right away. I had done some research ahead of time to see which things we should see and do. On the top of the list was visiting Tian Tan “Big Buddha” From the airport we to took a taxi to the cable car station. Luckily we were able to put our luggage in storage there. We bought tickets for the cable car. It was an amazing experience. We got in the gondola type cable car and off we went on our 3.7 km journey through the mountainous Island. At one point they stopped us because it was windy. That was a bit freaky. Our car didn’t move much but we just sat there for a couple minutes dangling in the sky watching as clouds rolled over the hill in front of us! The cable car ride took about 25 minutes for us to get the Ngong Ping village which hosts the Tian Tan Buddha.
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Ngong Ping Cable Car is a visually spectacular 5.7km bi-cable ropeway. As the first of its kind Hong Kong tourist destination, the cable car journey begins from Tung Chung, crossing Tung Chung Bay to reach the angle station on Airport Island and turning about 60 degrees in the air towards North Lantau. Visitors looking for something to complete their Hong Kong tourist attractions list will enjoy some of the best views during their joyful 25-minute ride: the vistas of the distant and vast South China Sea and the rolling grassland slopes of North Lantau Country Park from the cable car slowly take over from the hustle and bustle of the city. The journey also offers a breathtaking panorama of the Hong Kong International Airport, verdant, mountainous terrain of Lantau Island, Tian Tan Buddha and the 360-degree view of Ngong Ping Plateau.

The village was cute and filled with shops, a tea house, theater, restaurants, cultural demonstrations, shrines and statues. We even saw cows! They were resting in the grass near some of the statues. It was funny to watch tourists cautiously walk up to pose with the cows that were very tame and used to people  So of course we followed along and took pictures of the cows too 😉IMG_1021 After walking around the village a bit and looking at the shrines we headed up the 262 stairs to get a better look at the huge statue. It was pretty incredible to see this piece of culture. To find out more visit this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan_Buddha

Here we are at the entrance!

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The climate in Hong Kong is quite tropical.  We were all quite tired and warm after our busy afternoon.  We decided it would be best to head towards the hotel to unwind a bit.  From Npong Village we took the cable car back to the station and then figured out how to get train tickets. We bought a pre-paid sim card for my phone and used the change to purchase subway tickets to our hotel. It was only a 30 minute train ride and the station was in the basement of our hotel / mall so that was super convenient! Caleb’s work event was in Kowloon at the W Hong Kong,  a luxury hotel with an outdoor swimming pool on the 76th floor!

Instead of switching hotels midway through our trip to save some money we decided to make things easier and enjoy the extra comforts!  It was a nice hotel with lots of little extras. We discovered the basement levels of the hotel connected to a large shopping mall complete with ice rink, movie theater and grocery store.  We picked up some snacks and headed to our room .  The kids were impressed with the glass elevators  that had lights in the floor!  Most of the time there was a concierge waiting to push the elevator buttons for you.  The room was nice and we were happy they were able to find us a room with 2 beds.  (Although the beds felt quite small.  I think they were somewhere between a full and queen size)    The kids got changed right away because they wanted to check out the pool!    They insisted on wearing the fancy robes. 🙂  They are such silly kids.  I think they kind of looks like scientists on their way to the lab!  The kids spent an hour or so in the pool while Caleb and I sat poolside with a drink!  We were all we were all ready for bed soon after.
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People Matter part 2

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As promised I wanted to finish up my people matter post! (but of course it’s later than I hoped to be posting this)   I mentioned in our last post being in a new city, away from all things familiar makes you have a new respect and gratitude for friendly, kind, and familiar people.

In our last weeks in Minnesota we were so happy to spend some time with family!  Caleb’s parents (Loren and Colleen) came to visit.  We were in over our heads with things that needed to happen prior to moving.  They pitched right in and helped with everything from putting the kids to bed, to  repairing water or insect damage on a window ledge using a sticky bondo substance, and painting walls.  Thank you Loren and Colleen for your help, prayers, and support.  We made sure to add a little fun and went to Valley Fair with the Boston Scientific Family Fun day!

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My parents (Tom and Julie) are helping us maintain long term valuables.  They are  tremendous help by fostering our sweet dog Shadow and storing our van wile we are gone.    3 days before our move I drove with the kids to Madison to drop off the van.  It was a great time to visit with my family.  My brother Nick even came to see us for a bit and help with the transport of the van back to Illinois.  We got to stay in a great hotel with pool and had a great visit.  Thanks Tom and Julie for the prayers, support, hotel stay, storing our van, and caring for our dog! 

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Sadly Caleb was stuck with the dirty work of spraying the ceiling, and multiple other moving tasks.   Thanks Caleb for letting us go to Madison and spend time with my parents!

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Caleb has loved the Ultimate Frisbee community in Minnesota.  He has played on leagues and at pick up games.  It was always a great source of joy for him. Thanks to Plaid Pickup Ultimate “Game to 100” for giving him something fun to do in the weekend we were gone in Madison.

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We also had some dear friends invite us over on our last nights in Minnesota.  Thanks to Scott and Amy Whitmore for sharing your new home, a delicious meal, and your wonderful friendship.

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In our last year in Minnesota we discovered we had fun friends just across the street.  Thanks Pete and Lesley for the evenings of friendship, laughter, hot tubbing, and for feeding us one of our last MN meals! Totes! (twice).

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We are beginning to make connections in Tokyo.  The kids attended one week of suIMG_0807mmer school at Tokyo International School (TIS).  It was a wonderful opportunity for them to be around other kids, get familiar with their school, and have fun learning.  Anna made quick friends with a girl named Ashley.  Since she also got on the bus at the same stop I got to know her mom Emma as well.   Emma and her kids were in Tokyo visiting from Taiwan.  I was so happy to meet a friendly mom who spoke English!  We spent a couple afternoons with the kids at the American club and at a kids gym place.  Sadly, they returned home to Taiwan just days after we met them. When they left Emma shared a box of Traditional Taiwanese Pineapple cake with us.  Such a sweet and tasty gift!

IMG_0773 IMG_0912Emma told us about this cool gym place, I think it’s called Nandemo; its like a community center that is all free for Manato-ku residents.  We filled out the registration card and got to use the whole center. They had a craft room, a toddler kids room, a gym (with unicycles, soccer, small kids climbing structures, and other equipment you could check out).  You can also check out video games to be used on their system.  In the video game room their is one play station.  The check out a game from the front desk, then need to set the timer on the basket for 15 minutes. When

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the timer goes off its the next kid’s turn.  What a cool idea! While we were there Zeke spent A LOT of time trying to ride a unicycle.  There were lots of smaller kids zooming around this gym.  Zeke’s determination paid off and eventually he was able to ride a short distance!!!! Way to go Zeke!!!!

We have attended two churches in Tokyo so far.  We have not settled in to a “home” church yet but are  we are encouraged to know God is here and people who love him are here too.  The kids also attended a week of VBS at Tokyo Baptist Church.  I was a week full of fun songs, snacks, crafts, and more. I spent a couple mornings volunteering in the craft station.  We made friends with another nice family who was in Tokyo for 6 months from Texas.  Elizabeth Clark and her husband are both professors and have spent time in Tokyo 10 years ago. They returned this January with their 3 children to stay for 6 months.   The kids and I made quick friends with them and spent a couple afternoons after VBS hanging out.  Sadly they are leaving in a couple weeks as well.

We are hopeful that we will continue to make connections and hope to keep in touch  with many of you from the US.

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People Matter… part 1

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One of the hardest things to leave in Minnesota was our friends and  support network. We have now been in Tokyo for a little over a month and it is safe to say we miss our people.  We are thankful for technology and have been able to keep in touch with some people via google hangout video, facebook messenger and facetime!  We even have gotten a piece of personal mail, which is incredible also for the fact that most mail we get is in Japanese!?!!

As we were busy packing and preparing for our big move I continually reminded myself “PEOPLE MATTER.”  Our to-do-lists were never ending and we were stressed out but we knew people were more important than things.  We tried to prioritize people as much as we could.

We felt so blessed our small group and some folks from Mercy’s Care team were willing to help us prepare our house for rental. Thank you small group!
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Our dear friends Annetta  and Barnabas Howard offered to host a going away party for us.  When Jess Carlson also offered the help I knew they would get the job done!   Life was chaotic for us but  they handled it all beautifully.  We are so blessed by all the hard work they put in.  We had so much delicious food left over I didn’t even have to cook for a week! Thank you Annetta, Barnabas, Jess, Brett, and everyone who came to our party! I know there are some pictures that we missed 🙁  But we are thankful for everyone who came out!

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There are also a couple people who stopped by in the last couple days before we left…. notice Caleb and I are looking pretty tired and sweaty from working on all the house stuff. Thanks friends!

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I have so much more to write, more people to thank but I am going to post now with the goal of posting “People Mattter Part 2” within one week!  Stay tuned.  As always THANKS FOR READING!

 

 

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Christmas in July- Our furniture is here!

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We got our rental furniture yesterday and got about 15 packages of things we had ordered on Amazon! Including Caleb’s new fish tank!!!!
IMG_0741IMG_0747What a happy day!  We were given the option to ship our furniture from MN via freight shipment (which would take 2 months or more to arrive)or rent furniture for our time in Japan.  We decided we would rather go with rental furniture to make sure we got things that fit well in the space.  When we arrived in Japan the company had provided us with temporary furniture. It enabled us to live in our apartment without needing to live in temporary housing while we waited for other things to finalize.

On July 1 we went to the warehouse of Tokyo Lease so look at the used furniture selection. The warehouse was 2 stories and stocked full of furniture.  Couches were turned on end, , coffee and end tables stacked.  It was amazing.  Most items had a laminated tag to show you what the item looked like when put together. Tezuka- san is a very sweet woman from Tokyo Lease that  had been our main contact regarding the temporary furniture, providing estimates, and making sure everyone from  relocation company, our contacts at Boston Scientific, and global workforce mobility were all on the same page.  She met us at the retail shop, where they sell and lease new furniture, and drove us 20 minutes to the warehouse.  Because we were able to choose from the used furniture collection we were able to furnish our entire apartment, and add items like a blender, rice cooker, patio furDSCN2372sniture, area rugs and book cases and stay within our allowed budget! We are so excited to have our new (to us) things!!!! I am ready to make this place feel like our HOME! 

I took some pictures of our place for you to see.  Yes, we are still unpacking, we have clutter and dirty dishes!  🙂  I hid some of the stuff from the photos I admit it!  We live here! 

Here is our apartment BEFORE (with temp furniture) Click for slideshow!

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Here is our apartment AFTER (with our new furniture)

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Shopping in Tokyo

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Hello All I am so sorry it has been so long since I have updated the blog.

We have been here just 3 weeks and are beginning to feel a bit  more comfortable.  Many people have asked “Are you finding food? ” “What do you miss?” and “What are you eating?  I figured I would write a little about our experiences shopping so far.

Grocery Shopping:  We live in an international friendly neighborhood.   We have an “International Market” within 15 minutes walking.  There are 2 grocery stores/ markets, a convince store and a discount chain store store all within 5 minutes walking.  There are lots of opportunities yet we find most if all prices are higher than we have experienced which makes us especially happy for the company providing us with a (COLA) Cost Of Living Adjustment . Here is a  (not so)Fun fact: a package of bacon is ~$12

The Discount chain store near us is called Don Quijote it is unlike any store I have ever been in before.  In our neighborhood the store is 6 floors.  It has 2 fish tanks near the entrance and has a HUGE variety of goods including: spectacles for the aged, high brand items, luggage,  snacks including 3-4 flavors of kit kats (so far we have seen raspberry, green tea, dark chocolate and , original) , luggage, toys, food, bedding, liquor, cosmetics.

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To add more variety to the store there is actually a roller coaster located on top of the store!  We can see the coaster from the balcony at our apartment! Only in Tokyo!!!!!

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can you find  the “Half Pipe” we see from our balcony?

Fun Fact #2: In 2005, Don Quijote began building a “half-pipe” roller coaster on the roof of its eight story Roppongi store. Roppongi is a heavily populated area in the core of Tokyo, and many residents and businesses were upset with the idea of having a roller coaster in their neighborhood because of the spectacle, noise and crowds it will likely create. The project was completed in 2006 but due to increasing pressure from concerned groups in the area it has never been operated. As of 2016, the structure still exists. Don Quijote has not announced what future plans they have for it. [8]

 

 

 

We are IMG_0562all happy to find English printed on a package.  Here are our kids at our first trip, on our first night at “Family Mart”  I am SO thankful for kids who are excited for our adventure!

We all miss some things.  I think the kids miss their traditional American Breakfast the most.  Even cereal is expensive here! Prior to moving they were very lucky to have hot breakfast  made by their parents 80% of the mornings in their life.   Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, waffles, breakfast burritos and occasionally cereal with milk.  They had it good!    Here Caleb and I often skip breakfast but offer the kids some of the good familiar foods:  Yogurt, eggs, toast, fruit.  A traditional Japanese breakfast may include Miso soup, baked fish, rice, eggs.  We may never adapt 100% and diet varies wisely but we are trying to figure out what works for our family in this stage. 

We finally found pancake mix and Zeke was happy to help out to make breakfast that day.  Although it isn’t like the Aldi “just add water pancake mix” and the Aunt Jemima Lite syrup we used  to buy.  Pancakes are still a treat.  

IMG_0584We are also trying to learn how to use the ingredients of traditional Japanese dishes.  We have increased the amount of rice, vegetables, ramen noodles while decreasing the amount of meat we traditionally cooked with.  Lucky for us the past 3 years we have began to eat a much cleaner diet in which we tried to consume less processed foods. This makes cooking in a foreign country a lot easier.  Produce, grains and meat look much the same here as they did in the US.

Here is a dish I created with chicken, ramen noodles, bean sprouts. swiss chard, and soy sauce!  It tasted great and we are all getting better at using chop sticks!  

We do see some intIMG_0585resting ingredients at super markets, like bumpy cucumber vegetables, small pineapples, packages of green squishy jelly stuff, octopus, fish heads and those famous green tea flavored kit kat bars.  One of my first outings with the kids on our own was to find ice cream.  We found a Baskin Robins in the building under Tokyo Tower!!!!! With my shopping challenges and adventures I made it my goal to try to figure out to make chocolate chip cookies.  I was successful (mostly)  I found all the ingredients or ones that worked. I need to find a different chocolate chip for next time and adjust the amount of flour I used but overall it was a success!  We all enjoyed the taste of home! 

 

 

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Lifehouse Church

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On Sunday we walked to Lifehouse Church.  It was a breath of fresh air to be greeted in English and asked if we were new as soon as we walked through the door.  We were quickly taken to the kids area and got the kids all checked in.  I know Z & A were very happy to be around English speaking kids as well.

When we were searching possible neighborhoods to live in there were a couple considerations we made:  Distance to church, Crossfit, and kids school.  We knew we would be relying on public transportation for many things but proximity to these things were most important to us.  Christianity is not a major religion in Japan.  I believe something like only 2% of  the Japanese practice Christianity.  I had researched churches online and was interested in Lifehouse.  On one of Caleb’s trips to Japan for business he visited Lifehouse church.  He attended a late afternoon service, which was more of a young adult service.  This week we attended 11 am church (their first service of the day) and it has kids programming.

After getting the kids checked in we took an escalator down to the auditorium.  Worship had already started some people were jumping around, the music was pumping, lights flashing, and a fog machine was going.  It was much like a night club!  The songs were sung one verse at a time, in Japanese then in English, the sermon was delivered in the same way. It was pretty easy once you got the hang of it.  Although I knew none of the songs.

The sermon was given by the senior pastor and really hit home for me.  He talked about how God was like a river.  His grace, and love for us never runs out.  Being 6,000 miles from home it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, stressed and frustrated.  In this moment I was reminded that God is the same at the beginning of the river as he is here now with me.  That He will not grow tired and stop loving me.  Immediately after the service we were met again by Toni, a very friendly and welcoming woman that has been with the church from the beginning.

We were led upstairs to get some more coffee and met more friendly people! The story of this church is amazing, we found out that they are currently doing a building campaign to raise money to purchase a long term home for their church.  Wow, does that sound familiar.  They currently rent the space for Sundays only and pay $10,000 per week!  WOW!  They also have to set up and tear down everything every week!  We know what that is like, on a much smaller scale.  When we moved to Minnesota we were part of a small church plant in Minneapolis.  We stored amps, and music equipment, and kids stuff in our living room and helped haul it to the community center for church on Sundays.

We were very blessed by our experience at the church, we left refreshed and will be back again another week!

To read more about Lifehouse Church visit their site here

 

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Day .5 Tokyo

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We arrived as scheduled at NRT Airport in Japan.    As we debarked the plane Zeke excitedly commented “Hey look the carpet is red, just like in Grandpa Loren’s Vision!!!”  We truely feel that god has paved the way for us on this journey.  In the days before we left Loren shared with us that he had seen a vision of  senturies walking with us as we entered Japan, they had laid out a red carpet, our way was paved and our mighty God was protecting us!  What an amazing vision!

Sentury
noun, plural sentries.

1.

a soldier stationed at a place to stand guard and prevent the passageof unauthorized persons, watch for fires, etc., especially a sentinelstationed at a pass, gate, opening in a defense work, or the like.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sentry

 

We arrived at our apartment around 2 pm.  It is spacious, with lots of windows, 2 balconies and 4 bedrooms.  It’s huge for Japan standards.  I am so glad that Caleb found this place.  James and russel from Japan Relocation were here to greet us and let us into the apartment.  The apartment manager went througn things with us: where trash goes, how our keys work, how to control the ac units, and told us about 2 alarm buttons we should never touch.  She spoke in Japanese and Russel interpreted for us.  The internet service people were alreay working on the installation and our temporary furniture had already been delivered and set up.  It was kind of like walking into a hotel.  It is mostly furnished, and we have temporary dishes, kitchenware, towels to use for the next month.  So helpful!  There are still many things to figure out like what do all the buttons for the toilet do.

We worked for a couple hours unpacking our suitcases a bit and made the beds.   Caleb walked to the “Family Mart” a convience store located just a block away and got us some food for dinner.  For our fist meal we had some breaded chicken, Rice balls, a pastry and spaghetti.  All the food is premade and packaged we didn’t have to cook!  The long day and travel were catching up to us as we were all about to fall asleep at the table.  We got the kids tucked in and Caleb and I sat down as he had a little work to do.  As I was talking to him I was literally falling asleep as we were talking.  I don’t recall ever being so exhausted in my life.

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We are on our way!!!

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It has been a wild frenzy of activity, packing, sorting, house projects and saying good-byes to dear friends and family.   Today at 11:40 AM CST our family of 4 departed Minneapolis International Airport with our 8  checked bags in tow.  Believe it or not I am writing this blog post from 38,000 feet in the air!

After just 3 hours of sleep last night, we actually made on the plane with all our stuff (Air shipment is coming within a week hopefully, more on that in another post)  At 9 am we pulled away from our Shoreview home.  Our business class seats are providing a great experience for our 12 hour flight.  With quite the extensive menu choices we will eat 2 meals, snacks, and get unlimited beverages and use of the tv and entertainment system.  The best of all is that our seats recline to lay flat.  We all slept 4-5 hours. Due of the time zone difference we will arrive  in Japan 26 hours after we left Minnesota. We will arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.

With tremendous support and help from Caleb’s parents we were able to get our home rent ready.   There was such a large list of projects to get done in addition to the sorting and packing of our items. We got to spend 6/12  at Valley Fair Amusement park together.  It was a good stress reliever for ALL of us to ride roller coasters.  Yeah you read that right…. 3 generations all on roller coasters together.  Lots of laughs, squeals and screams as we rode the “Wild Thing.”

We have officially passed on the property management to a local agent who will work with Boston Scientific’s preferred Property Management company.  The agent will continue to show the home, get a signed lease, and will also check in if issues arise in our absence.  I should have passed all of that on to the property management company much earlier.   Lessons learned!

Coordinating travel logistics with travel has been interesting. On 6/18 the kids and I met my mom, dad, and brother in Madison, WI do drop off our van.  We just paid off our Honda Odyssey and didn’t want to part with it.  My dad generously offered to store the van at my grandma’s house.  We met at an Enterprise car dealership in Madison so they could take my van and I could take a rental van back to Minnesota, and have a vehicle to get us to the airport.  Things worked out well and we had Pizza lunch before Nick had to take off and head back to Illinois with my van.  My parents, the kids and I headed to a nearby hotel with a  swimming pool, real bed and real food; all things I  was beginning to miss in our current state of moving chaos.  Caleb stayed home to wrap up some projects, he made great progress paining ceiling and walls of the kids toy room, draining the hot tub, installing a door.  Its amazing how all the projects at the end are so time consuming.   We even found a Japanese restaurant to eat dinner.  My parents first time trying sushi and they did great!!! Even used chopsticks with the help of “trainers”  We had a Dragon roll, spicy tuna roll, BMW roll, miso soup, and a chicken dish.  No one particularly liked the eel wrapped roll though.  The flavors and texture were just a little much I think.  I am so happy I got this chance to connect with my parents and brother before we took off.  We missed my sister but she is awaiting the arrival of baby #2  very soon!!!

I think I will wrap up this post for now.  As always thanks for reading.  I have our official mailing address please send me an email if you would like me to send it to you.   It may have been the wrong format if I gave it to you previously… oops.  More posts coming soon …..

 

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