Thursday, September 17, 2015

Coming Up for Air!

I knew life would be crazy and super busy once school started, but I thought I would update our blog before we had been here 7 weeks!  

Everyone seems to be settling in pretty well and adjusting to the new lifestyle.  Our new lifestyle includes a lot more exercise (biking and walking) and a lot less riding in cars.  (Maybe once a week!).  It also includes a lot less junk food and a lot more veggies.. YAY JAPAN!

Nathan is settled into an international preschool and seems to be enjoying himself.  He will start Japanese school in April.  Nikki started third grade at Japanese school and is enjoying all the preparations for "Undokai" or sports day coming up in October.  Undokai is a big deal in Japanese Elementary School.  Jordan and Kloe have settled in at CAJ, Jordan did well in his first Cross Country meet, and Kloe has joined the choir and is learning to play recorder.  Mark is spending his days studying Japanese at the local YWAM base, as well as shopping, cooking (quite well!!) and cleaning.  I would not survive without him.

We visited the church that meets at CAJ once, then we went to our old church in Ome another Sunday (it's too far to go to every Sunday).  Then we found the church we have decided to call home.  It's a church that meets in a house, and is pastored by a really sweet couple.  He is Japanese and she is American.  It's a good mix of foreigners and Japanese and everything is done in both languages right on the spot.  Which is GREAT for brushing up on our Japanese!

We experienced our first earthquake early last Saturday morning.  I jumped out of bed and ran for the kids because I was concerned that they would be freaked out.  Turns out it was the strongest earthquake in our area since the big earthquake in 2011.  It's the strongest one I have ever felt in all our time in Japan.  It was very short lasting thankfully, and had stopped by the time we got the kids out of bed.

Today we had an earthquake drill at school.  Those kids are experts at diving under their desks.  :-)  Nikki has a seat cushion for school that doubles as an emergency hat they put over their head in an earthquake.  Pretty ingenious.

Our house has turned out to be as big of a blessing as we thought.  I can walk to school in less than 5 minutes, which is good, because I am practically living there lately.  Nikki can walk to school in two minutes as well.  The river is nearby and the kids enjoyed playing there this summer.  It is lined with biking and running paths too.

I am LOVING my job.  My 6th grade homeroom consists of 7 girls and 5 boys and they are the BEST kids ever.  They still have a sweetness about them, and they are enthusiastic about learning the Bible with me.  It's so fun!  My math classes are larger and a little less personal.  I have finally learned all of my students names.  WE have many nationalities represented but what I didn't realize was how many Koreans we have.  I feel so bad as it has taken me a long time to get their names.  Wonjun, Songjun, Jinwoo, Yoonjin, Yonjoo, Jihye, Sungwon, Hyeonseo....  see what I mean?!!