Happy 55!
Mac celebrated his 55th birthday in Japan by receiving 56 email hits from friends and family ON his birthday morning!! Thanks to you all for making him feel "HUGGED" while celebrating his birthday so far from home! Additional "thanks" to Nic for creating his FACEBOOK page! It has added a new dimension to his daily routine. If you look closely, there are 5 candles on one small cake and 5 on the other!!! After he blew these out, we quickly turned on the oven fan, the bathroom fan and opened the door to be sure we didn't set off the alarm or sprinklers! Prior to the "cake," he had celebrated by teaching all day and then attending the school's baseball team's game!! Natural for Bill.
 Earlier in the week, prior to this birthday celebration, I had been out house-hunting. The Housing Agency here on base took four of us out to meet six different realtors on that Tuesday morning. That afternoon, one of the guys, Ken, and myself went to look at two possible houses. The first one was very clean and remodeled. It was up, up, up a very narrow road and sat on the corner in a fairly large neighborhood. It had three bedrooms, an unusual thing for Japanese homes in Iwakuni, but a very, very small living area. There were a few "pluses" to this home, one being that it was only 15-20 minutes from the base. The second house we viewed was about 45 minutes from base and even the realator got lost trying to find it. Thankfully, Ken was with me, read the map and got us to the house. It was much older and had a LARGE balcony off of the master bedroom with a spectacular view; however, it was very smelly, older and I came away with bites on my legs, arms and face. Needless to say, it is not an option! The next day, Ken was checking out a "mansion"...a 829 square foot apartment in a high rise right in the center of town. I tagged along and fell in love with this BEAUTIFUL, modern, sparkling clean place. It also had balconies off the master bedroom, the tatami room, living/dining room and kitchen. It was an end unit and allowed for amazing views as well. I could go into GREAT detail about the beautiful wood on the floors and doors and other parts of this place, but it won't be ours! However, it did give me hope that we COULD find something that was more updated and comfortable. To complete this discussion of housing....we visited two additional "mansions" that belong to Mac's colleagues. Both were equally comfortable, sharing those breath-taking views and more updated fixtures. After viewing these, Mac and I are MORE open to looking at this type of shelter; however, we will continue to look for a house as well. All of this is extremely dependent on what is available when!! It is set up that you are responsible for constantly inquiring and being QUICK to view what is available. For example...on Saturday, Mac was at the phone shop, ran into another teacher who shared that his Japanese wife had heard of a big home that just had come onto the market. Mac came home, we got in the car, went to the realty office, TRIED our best to communicate with them, called the helpful teacher who came by, and found out that it had been rented THAT morning! So, even though it wasn't meant to be, it proved that you have to act quickly to secure a possible shelter! We continue to pray and know that "OURS" is out there somewhere!
Thus, Mac's birthday weekend had begun with looking at the first house I had seen! However, things got better Saturday night when we joined some colleagues at their high-rise! It was HER birthday as well, but she shared her spotlight with Mac! About ten people in all were there! It was fun to learn about others and feel like we were beginning to develop some social connections!
Then..Sunday, Suz (another colleague), went with us to Hiroshima's Peace Park. It was our first train ride!! The trains were quite nice and the scenery along the way...beautiful! Hiroshima is considered a BIG city compared to Iwakuni...and it felt it! However, Suz shared that it is a "laughable" city to the locals; as they compare it to Tokyo! Tells you a bit about the rural feel of Iwakuni! We so enjoyed the Peace Park and chose to stay outdoors (in the HOT and HUMID) rather than do the museum at this time. It was quite serene. There was a memorial happening in one area, but weren't really sure what was happening. After the park, we strolled through their outdoor mall...I forget what it is called!...and were visually impacted with all of the colors everywhere! The Japanese are quite taken with packaging of all different sizes, shapes and COLORS!!! We both laughed as we enjoyed a chocolate-filled croissant (somewhat French, we thought) and then went to a PUB...which was somewhat Irish! Surely, at some point, we will find the SUSHI bar and the typical Japanese cuisine!
Our days continue to be filled with the demands of paperwork and for Mac, lesson planning! Within this next week, we are fairly certain that some items will be more routine and allow for more exploration. We will finally get our DINGO on Tuesday...tomorrow! As with this, everything takes a new turn because we don't really know the language and they don't know much English, so some details are just not shared or explained!
I will post more pictures on facebook! Unfortunately, I have not MASTERED blogs and this one is giving me fits! If anyone wants to share any tips, please do so! Again, thank you all for comments and emails! It is SO nice to hear from everyone!!!
AND...here's to next Sunday's football game....GO COLTS!!!! May the outcome be better than yesterday's! SMILES AND HUGS!
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