TOKYO

I was able to take a whole day and go to Tokyo with my friends Keisuke and Katie! I had a blast getting to know them while I was there! It was awesome to have Keisuke to navigate us through Tokyo and help us know what trains to take. He was a great tour guide, and so patient while Katie and I took a million pictures! It was so much fun! 

One of our stops was to a Japanese Garden that was in the middle of a City! It almost felt like another world, it was so beautiful! You'll see a lot of tree pictures because trees are my favorite! God made them all so unique! 

This is my friend Katie, who is awesome!  I love her! I'm so glad I got to meet her while I was there. Hopefully we will be able to hangout in the States! 

I can't remember what the part of Tokyo was called but the crowds everywhere are so unbelievable! It's like a sport navigating through all the people.

This is in Shibuya and it's the biggest intersection in the world! There is a second story Starbucks that looks over it, and people just sit there and watch. There is this many people every time the lights change! It blows your mind every time. 

This was such a beautiful view. At the end of the day we got to ride a train that went over Rainbow Bridge! Rainbow bridge is the one in this picture and at night it's beautifully lit. Since the Earthquake they haven't lit it as much, to save energy. I had such a blast that day and want to go back to Tokyo! It always amazes me how many people there are all around, but everyone knows what to do so everything runs so smoothly. 

Love you all,

Em

NEW THINGS TO FIGURE OUT

When moving to a new place especially an apartment there are so many things you have to learn how to do.

Such as laundry...

I have learned how to hang everything up to dry. They don't have many dryers here in Japan because usually there isn't enough room so everyone hangs their clothes out to dry on their balconies. That is definitely on option but this is another! We figured out that in the shower room (yes there is a whole room for showering) along with the vent there is another setting which blows hot air out and serves as a dryer it's not as fast as a normal dryer but it does the job! It's definitely a solution for now... maybe someday Sarah will have a real dryer again.

On the balcony we have so much room, so we put the freezer out there! We are so happy to be able to have the extra freezing space! 

Sarah and I set out to go to the grocery store which was on a different island. From the apartment to the store it's about a 20 minutes walk. After getting the groceries we had to carry them all back home. We realized very quickly that it's very hard to carry the bags and are trying to come up with another solution because that's out of the question for Sarah to do with all 4 kids. 

Ever seen anything like this before?? Yeah me either... This is totally confusing! What are you suppose to do? You see this kind of thing all over Japan! 

I'm so happy I was able to get these blogs up for everyone! I hope you enjoy them! If so leave some comments! It took a lot of work to get these posted... 

Love you all! 

Em

VIEW FROM THE APARTMENT!

I'm blown away every time I look outside! I love waking up to these views every morning! 

This is the normal view!

This was absolutely breath taking! I love sunsets! 

I had to take one at night because I also love the city lights! I could stand there for hours looking at them.

This was on Sarah's and my way to the grocery store! It was nice to see some green and walk under trees! 

Everywhere you look there are more and more apartment buildings! It's amazing how many people they can fit into such small areas! 

EXPLORING NEW PLACES!

The first night Sarah and I took the kids out to eat and we got to explore a little bit! It was really fun to get out and look around! 

This playground is right in the middle of all the apartment buildings! It's going to be a wonderful place for Sarah to take the kids! The nice thing about it is there is NO dirt! Here in Japan it is hard to find a park without dirt! We want the kids to have fun but they get so messy! I had to take a picture of this one because it made Sarah and I so happy! 

This is a picture of how tall the apartment building is. I like taking pictures from weird angles. I thought this was a pretty cool view of the park and apartment! 

Right outside the apartments is a canal which has a walkway all the way around the island! The kids are going to have so much fun walking and riding their bikes around! 

Here is a better view of the canal! We got to watch while a boat went by! The kids really enjoyed that! We are all excited to keep exploring in these last days that I am here! 

MOVING ON UP!

On moving day we were all up early and so excited to finally be able to move in! As Calvin kept saying, "we moving to Japan today?" We have been talking about moving for so long and it's hard for him to understand that we are here in Japan, but we were moving to a new house.

We set up camp at Honda Galen while people started coming to help move everything from the attic of the school out to the truck!

Here is some of the stuff that everyone carried! We were so thankful for all of their help! It went so fast!

The guys were trying to fit as much as they could in the truck. They did a great job at using every inch of the truck!

This is my friend Katie who is a summer intern that just got here last week, who I have become good friends with! She is so sweet I have really enjoyed getting to know her! She among several others came and helped us pack!

I live this sign because it has Toyosu in Japanese and English! Jon did such a great job navigating us from Chiba to Toyosu!

This is a view from the bottom of the apartment complex!

We were all so excited to finally be able to see the apartment! Chris and Jon found the apartment when they were here in April to help up north and Sarah had seen it earlier this week. The kids couldn't wait to see their rooms!

Olivia was such a big help with standing at the elevator and pushing the buttons for everyone and she also pulled several carts down the hallway! She us amazing and growing up so fast! We were all so proud of her.

Here was the start of the boxes... the pile kept growing and growing! The good thing was that everything fit through the hallways, now we have a lot of unpacking to do! Sarah and I were very excited to get started at making this apartment a home.

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to put up new posts! We didn't realize that we wouldn't have internet for awhile once we moved in... I'm currently sitting in front of a grocery store because I happened to find free internet here! That is almost unheard of here! 

Love you all!

Em

We Love to Color!

There are several things that we do to pass the time away and coloring is definitely one of them! Annabella is the coloring girl. When she grows up she wants to be a mommy who colors pictures and sells them and gives half of the money to the poor and the rest is for her family. She could sit and color for hours on end, this is my kind of girl! 

She wanted her picture taken with her picture!

These are color by number! Such a great way to color! We all love sitting down and coloring for awhile to complete a picture! 

When I told Annabella I wanted to take pictures for my blog she wanted to take one of me with a picture! I love this girl! She is so fun to color with! 

Beautiful Scenery!

Yesterday I had some fun taking pictures of the beautiful scenery! I love seeing gardens here! Each one is so different! I can't wait to have my own garden someday! 

Here you can see all the unique coverings they have come up with! 

I love this one! It's fun to see the different rows that they make! 

There was a whole forest of bamboo! They are so tall and beautiful! 

I know this one is blurry but I still like it! You can see the different trees/bushes that they have here and the unique houses! I promise I will get a better picture of the old Japanese houses, but for now this one will have to do. 

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love you all,

Em

Things I've Noticed...

Here in Japan they do things totally different than in America. I've been able to capture a few of these things and would love to share them with you!

It can be very hard to find your shoes when you're at a party! Since everyone takes their shoes off there are usually piles of shoes to sort through at the end of the night. 

When you are walking around on a sunny day you will most likely see lots of people walking around with umbrellas! They love to shade themselves from getting any sun! They think that American's are so beautiful because we have such pale skin! I can't imagine seeing anyone walking around in America worried about getting some sun.

There are bikes everywhere here! This is something that I love! Everyone is so active whether it's riding their bikes or walking everywhere, they are always moving. 

Most mornings you will see the futons and rugs airing out! They use these giant clips to secure them so they don't fly away. 

Believe it or not but this is a 2 lane road! There are definitely smaller roads than this one but it amazes me that people get through here! There are always places to pull off so you can let others pass, but even with those it gets nerve racking to try and drive on them. 

When I went to Chiba City we were walking around and I saw the parking garage that is set up like a vending machine! You drive up, pay the guy, drive your car into the spot and then get out and the machine takes your car. They give you a ticket that shows what number your car is and then when you come back all they have to do is type that in and your car comes down! 

The circle part is a turn table so when you back up you stop on that part and it turns your car around so you can go out into traffic easier. They come up with every when you don't have a lot of space! 

Here is a picture of a building that is being remodeled. They always cover up whatever they are working on so there won't be pieces falling in the streets and it looks cleaner. I feel like this is such a great idea! 

This is a picture of the drink machines that they have here. They are literally all over! It's very nice because you know that you can get the kind of drinks you like where ever you go, but it looks funny to see a whole street lined with drink machines.

Because we didn't get the apartment when we wanted to it has enabled me to see where they used to live in Chiba! I lived in Karuizawa for 2 months with them when I was here 4 years ago when they were in language school. At that time the living situation was very different than Chiba where they lived the last 2 years and did their college ministry. I always wanted to come back and be able to see Chiba and meet all of their friends that they have made. God has blessed me with that opportunity in the past week! I can't tell you how many times we have been out and about shopping and run into someone that notices them and are so excited that they are back! Obviously we stick out like sore thumbs here, but it is so neat to be able to see the relationships that they worked so hard to build for those 2 years are still strong! I'm so thankful that I have been able to be here and Chiba and I'm excited to be able to move with them to Toyosu on Monday! Being able to see where they are living is such a huge blessing when we are going to be across the world from each other. I will be able to picture them in their home and on their Island! Thanks for reading!

Love you all,
Em