Oh, Did I mention we are back in Japan?

Thanks Mom, for calling me a slacker...:-)

So yeah, we have been back in Japan for like three weeks now.  I may have forgotten to mention that since I have not updated since we evacuated.  Sorry 'bout that.

In other news, We are back in Japan and glad to be home.  The trip stateside was an unexpected bit of fun of course.  We stayed ~3 weeks in New Jersey with Jon's parents.  The kids were thrilled to see the older cousins three whole times during our trip!  Plus they met and played with the baby cousins too.  Which they loved, but the elder two are the same age and hence more exciting (sorry Jeff, yours will grow:-)  As an added bonus we also saw Great-grandpa Cies (Dadju) and the extended family on the Greek side (for Greek Easter, which means yummy food!)  We also had a mere 5 days in Illinois with my family.  There was a wonderful family gathering for Good Friday (one of the traditional extended family celebrations for someone I am sure) and there were much loved cousins and chickens to play with.

Alexandra was 'homeschooled'.  We went with the unschooling method of learning for the most part, but threw some math and time and writing in there for good measure...also that girl can consume some chapter books!  You would never know she could not read in October.  Thor was on break from school for part of it, but really he is in PreK/Kindergarten and we like Waldorf methods where academics don't start until 1st grade anyways; conveniently this is the same philosophy the Japanese follow.
The plan (HA!) was to fly to NJ, stay a couple weeks, fly to IL stay until recalled, then fly back to Japan from Chicago (since that is the layover).    In reality after being told it would be a week before departing, we had two days notice that we were being evacuated voluntarily departed. The flight to NJ was on March 29th.  We still figured a couple weeks there and then to IL for the brunt of the evac. departure.  We stayed an extra week in NJ so we could be sure to see all the cousins and I bought a one way ticket to Milwaukee for each of us for the 25th of April.  Since the layover between NJ and Japan is at O'Hare, Jon confirmed that we could depart to Japan from Chicago and just do the first leg on our own (no additional cost to the gov).  Instead the week before we left to IL the DOD announces they are bringing the departed home by the 2nd of May.  That sucks since it significantly cuts down on time in IL, but those are the breaks.  During the hubbub of paperwork Jon has to file and refile they decide that we have to fly home from NJ...they don't want to cut out the leg of the flight and on and on and on blah blah blah.  So here we are getting ready to go to IL, having to decide if it is worth it to fly out on Monday, fly back on the weekend and then fly to Japan, though O'hare, on Monday.  Could Jon convince them to fly us from O'hare, is it worth the hassle, do we pack to fly to Japan for a quick trip...lots of angst and all.

Net net, there was another set of one-ways purchased, We went to IL, the kids and I saw the lovely Detroit airport (nice one btw) returned to NJ on Saturday, drove ~3hrs for Greek Easter on Sunday (and back again) and then flew to Chicago and then Japan on Monday/Tuesday.  Fairly annoying, but it turned out well in the end and hey, more stories to tell.

It was great to spend unexpected time with the families and we did enjoy the trip.  I wish there could have been more time in Il, but at least we saw everyone at least once! (BTW I wish I had said it at the dinner table, but thank you so much to my Parents and Siblings, neices and nephews, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins who  skipped Good Friday service to come and have a family dinner and see me and the kids. I was so thrilled to see all of you and love you very much.  Being so far from all of you is the only downside to marrying a man who earned a degree in Ocean Engineering.  {{{hugs}}})  (Sorry for the sap trap there).

The plane ride home was long, but the kids did sleep for a portion of it and watched Shrek for the first and second time, so that was fun for them.  There were lots of women and children on the return flight, but many others returning home or visiting Japan.  Though the plane was tight, it was heartwarming to see a full flight of people headed to Japan.  Once we landed my gallant husband braved the Tokyo traffic to pick us up and drive us home.  I say that not really in jest.  There was another mom I talked to who, after landing, had to wait another 3 hours for the base bus transport because her husband was scared to drive the hour to Narita airport.  Seriously?  Man up!  Plus going straight home instead of adding another leg to the trip was really nice.

Just want to mention that there was a huge rushing sound there for about two minutes and the rapture did flash through my mind, but I think it was just some drag racers.  At any rate I am still here, so either I'm not going or it did not happen.  Not to surprised either way:-)

Back to the story.
We are home.  The kids are back in school.  Thor is now a Kindergartner, A is still in 1st grade.  Io is desperate to go outside whenever her siblings do.  The weather is currently lovely, but it is suppose to rain all of June.  Not having Daylight Savings Time is odd.  The sun rises about 4:30am and sets around 7pm.  It is strange to wake up at 5am and have the sun already up, it makes me feel late.  We missed the cherry trees blooming, but saw the wisteria and azalias and now it the time of Iris festivals.  The house still has no dressers, but we do have a couch and carpet and tv now.  I love it all except the tv.  The tv-less time in the house was so nice...no begging for shows less fighting and screaming.  But now there is Disney again a couple times a week so all is well in my children's world.  On the plus side Io mostly ignores it so I don't have to worry about her getting any screen time. 

We had an awesome day at two nearby parts the weekend of my B-day.  First was the Sledding park, there is a big hill with plastic grass holders on it.  The city loans out sleds that the kids can (hey!) sled down the hill on.  It is great fun for all.  There is also a skate park there.  We brought A's scooter with and she went on the park (not sharing with T).  Jon bought Thor his very own scooter so now they are rockin' the skate park with all the other kids.  Then we left there and went to Kanazaki Park.  It is like a state park with a beach and trails amphitheater and various things.  We hiked 20 min to the short slide park.  It was up-(steep)hill the whole way, but so worth it.  The playground set is about 1/5th of a mile long and leads to these slides.  The slides are made up of a series of many small rollers, aka like the old conveyer belts that dad moved the green bean boxes on.  There was a web-like trampoline and a climbing wall for kids.  Way Awesome.  There is another play area with longer slides that we may hike to soon...it is another 15 min past the first one!  The walk back down was short, especially with the kids whizzing down on the scooters :-)  I had to go back up and find T's dropped jacket, but that means a quiet walk back to the car during which I was able to examine all kinds of plants.  They had jack-in-the-pulpits growing right along the trail, and ferns galore and beautiful trees.  Very nice.  By the way, informational signs found on trails are not nearly as interesting if you cannot read them, but we stopped to try anyway.

Hmm what else...things are generally back to normal in Yokosuka.  Everyone is trying to conserve power, so fewer lights on in homes and stores, but AC mostly won't be an issue for a couple weeks yet.  The base commander seems very surprised that usage is creeping up...perhaps due to all the families that are coming back???  Sigh.  Fresh produce is still available they test it and certain areas may no longer produce.  I hate to think of the farmers who have lived on the land for generations being told that their soil is toxic and they may no longer farm.  Land is so \precious here...where can they go?  It is the story for anyone who owns land in the evacuation areas, but so much more for the farmers who have more than a house lot and really know their land. 

The air and drinking water are clear.  I worry about the seafood, but the kids and I don't eat it much anyways and none of us, Jon included, are fond of the filter feeding clams and such.  It is clamming season here,  there are kits for sale in the 100yen shop.  I would love to take the kids out to try it, but feel guilty collecting if we won't eat them.  Perhaps we will go and just give them to some one else. 

There have not really been earthquakes since we returned.  I have only felt one and it was small.  A worries about it, but she seems to be able to put the worry aside and play with the friends.  One benefit to the evac. is that many families have not returned yet.  They are finishing the school year state-side, so her class is down to 16 kids, one of which is a neighbor boy whom they are fond of.   I finally had the parking spot certified.  I had a whole day at home today (except for kid pick-up).  Jon is on a trip this week, but returns tomorrow (Saturday) presumably with local honey.

We are getting back to normal.  It is a relief.




Things I have noticed in Japan.
1.  They do have buttons are some of the cross walks (standing around for 10 minutes gets you looking for such things)
2.  It is a HUGE complement to tell a native speaker that they speak English well.  They never believe you.
3.  Everyone sweeps the street in front of their homes, and scrubs the stoop (guess who was chastised).
4.  You really have to watch when driving since a car may be parked in the driving lane along almost any curb.
5.  American kids are really loud, I was actually shocked to hear a Japanese toddler throw a tantrum.  It was the loudest noise I have heard from a native child!

PS I have seen multiple articles about this lately and would like to inform any who care that I double space after my sentences not out of ignorance (anymore) but out of habit.  Plus I think it looks nicer.