Goodness

As many of you know, we were not affected by the earthquake or tsunami at all. Well, actually I guess we were affected. The earthquake moved Japan 8 feet closer to America. The lower part of our island had a small tsunami, but nothing too bad. Everyone in our prefecture is actually quite shocked that we didn't feel...well, aftershocks.
There has been a ton of news coverage of Japan and the tsunami, nuclear reactor problems, etc. We don't have TV, so most of our sources have been online or the TVs on we have seen in stores, etc. I just wanted to share this article, called In Tragedy, Japan impresses the World. I have seen several articles about how impressed people are with the way the Japanese people are handling it, and I wholeheartedly agree. One reporter interviewed a Japanese man who spoke of his anger over the tragedy, yet he never raised his voice. People here aren't looting or cursing the government. They are sad and upset, yes. But they do what they need to do. They call it "Japanese Stoicism", which I think is kind of a weird way of putting it. I'm not sure how I would put it--maybe unfailing politeness and considerate determination? Whatever "it's" called, there is really no way you can describe the Japanese attitude. They are the kindest people, and the main reason we came back to Japan. The country can be crazy at times, but the people are amazing.
We're praying that this country gets a break from any other disaster for a while. Meanwhile, we are building up our food storage! Thank you for your love and concern.

More Cake!

I just noticed that there has been cake in all of our posts recently--so now, more cake! March 3rd was Girls' Day in Japan, so since there are girls in our household, we received some sweets from our landlord and students to wish us good luck and health.


Fun! I always love Girls' Day, because the stores decorate really well and always have big displays of pink--strawberries, candy, cakes, etc. They also blast the Hinamatsuri song everywhere, which I personally think is kind of creepy dark music, but I'm sure the lyrics are nice.
On a side note, we sometimes take walks to main downtown Kanonji, where there are several shops and the post office. The street lamps all have speakers attached to them, and they are usually blasting really cheesy English songs from the 70s. I think it is so funny--like who is in charge of the music here?

This week, we have all been sick, too. Fox and the kiddos have decided to be polite and wear the customary sick masks:

I haven't worn one--tsk tsk! Maybe if I found one in pink?

Happy Birthday, Cash!

Cash turned 4 on Sunday! To celebrate, he and Daddy made a castle cake. Then, we went to a cool park that has huge rolly slides. Afterwards, Cash got to go to Toys 'R Us to pick out a special toy. He chose a Transformer. He had a fun and busy day!
Cash is such a fun kid. He loves playing with Coco and is so sweet to her most of the time. He spends a lot of his time playing "school" or "workshop" or just entertaining himself by making random objects have conversations. The other day, his red playdough and his yellow playdough got into quite an argument! He is always eager to help, loves having friends over, loves learning new words, and is excited to go to preschool starting in April.
We love our Cashy boy!

A Few Pics

Okay, we are going to try blogging once a week! It's been hard, because my camera zoom is broken, so I haven't been taking many pictures. Here are a few from last month.

Our first week here, our landlord came over and brought us dishes, a heater, and then asked Coco if she liked cake (Strawberry shortcake suki?). Of course, she said yes, and he dashed out the door. Little did we know that he was going to the awesome cake shop across the street to bring us back one of these beauties:

We were so thrilled! Japanese shortcake is really moist with tons of whipped cream and strawberries. Yummy!

Coco lounging on our futon:

We have since upgraded to a bed. Yep, we are wusses, but mommy is the devil when she has to sleep on the floor next to kicking toddlers. My sanity has been preserved!

Church is now a 45 minute drive away, in our old city of Marugame. Not too bad, and we have gotten to church on time pretty much every week. Yay! Here are the kids getting ready to go:

This picture pretty much sums up their personality--Cash is happy, and Coco is Ms. Mischief.


Things have been going great! I have picked up a couple of adult classes, which I love teaching. I have also finally got myself in gear and have kept us in or under our grocery budget, which seems like a little thing but I am completely thrilled! The secret is simple: shop at 5 different stores on their sale days and cook almost everything from scratch. Easy, right?

Cursed

The curse of bad car luck continues in Japan! Ack! For the past 2 years, every time Fox and I would leave our home and drive out of Logan, something would happen to our car (well, cars--3 cars died on us!). We had so much car trouble every time we tried to go someplace, and now that bad luck has followed us to Japan!
Yesterday was our first evening off, so we drove 45 minutes to Marugame, our old city, to go to a R.S. activity (me) and to hang out with old friends (Fox and kids). On our drive back, we were stopped at a light, and some guy on his cell phone rear-ended us! Can we never leave home without a car incident? Maybe our luck is turning, though, because our car was not damaged at all--it is a tiny Jeep-like thing with the spare tire on the back that acted like a rubber bumper. So, yay! And no one was hurt! But still...come on car gods!

In other news, we had 3 earthquakes this week! They were all little, but Fox has never experienced earthquakes before. He's been quite shaken up this week! Literally.

We are still doing great and can't wait to share pictures once we figure out how to get a cord for our camera!

P.S. Fox and I had to speak in sacrament this morning, and Fox gave his talk in Japanese--go Fox!!

We're Alive!

Hi everyone! We haven't posted in a while, but we are alive and safely settled in our new city of Kanonji, Kagawa, Japan. I wish I could post some pictures, but sadly, I have no idea where the cable for my camera is.
Our trip to Japan with 2 toddlers was a great learning experience for us. Mainly, only bring carry-ons that you can carry. 8 carry-ons and various blankies and lovies made going from flight to flight very tricky! Luckily, there was a nice Japanese family on board with kids, too, and they helped us out a ton. They let our kids play with all their gadgets and helped carry our stuff. We are forever grateful! Also, the midnight flight was a good choice--our kids slept several hours!
We are still exploring our city, but we live within easy walking distance of my favorite stores--MaxValu for groceries, Daiso for household and craft stuff, and Shimamura for clothes. Yay! We are also a couple of kilometers away from the beach and a huge sandy park. Our apartment is bordered by the fire station, the high school, city hall, and a new nice library with books for children in English. Double yay!
Most importantly, there is a beautiful cake shop across the street called "The Establishment". It sells cream puffs and tons of French pastries and is lit up in twinkly lights at night, so that is the view from our window.
We are so happy to be back and having an experience this time in a country that is no longer very foreign to us. It makes for a much easier transition, especially with kids. I am patting myself on the back for learning Katakana before we came, which means I can read words like "shampoo" and "soap" on all the various bottles. Now to actually learn the language this time!

Coco Turns 2!

Yes, this post is very late. I get really frustrated with Blogger if it doesn't upload my pictures immediately!

Cosette turned 2 on November 19th! Craziness! Here are some pics from her special day:

Opening up her present, a My Little Pony:

Coco is not a cake eater, so we had ice cream sundaes instead.

The fabulous Dave and Amber braved the snow and came to visit!

The next day, Coco's grandparents came for Thanksgiving, so we did another little party. Here is Coco with her Grandpa Rick:

And birthday girl pictures with Mommy and Daddy:



Some Facts about Cosette at 2 Years Old:
--She is pretty much the same as she has been since 6 months old. Very mischievous but also very affectionate.
--She's been potty trained for 2 months, even at night! I credit the cloth diapers!
--She is very very stubborn, which is probably why she is potty trained. She holds it for as long as she wants to hold it!
--She is obsessed with Scooby Doo, spiders, and monsters. If you ask her to tell you a story, it always involves, "Once a spider crawled up my back, and it was scary...and it went in my ear!"
--She spends a large part of her day gathering various cloths and covering any cat or stuffed animal with a "blankie" to put them to bed.
--She wakes up every morning with a hug for everyone and a loud, "Good morning, guys!"

We love our little Coco and can't wait to see how she does on our adventure to Japan!