How my house is (probably) different from yours.

We live in very comfortable circumstances compared to when we lived here as missionaries and later as a young couple with Kate.  For as Western as our place is, there are plenty of things that are VERY Japanese.  For instance:

1.  Our house is an apartment in Tokyo, not really a "house".  It is five stories high and houses three apartments.  Scott's office is next door, seven floors.  There is a busy street right out front, plenty of shopping and hole-in-the-wall places to eat, yum!  I've learned a new Japanese word Shokugo Ramen--after dinner ramen!

2.  Our front door is an elevator door.  There is another way to get out with a fire escape, but the elevator opens straight into our genkan.  Once inside, I have to use our key to get the elevator to stop at our floor and open the door.  If you happen to visit, you have to call from the outside gate.  I have a video feed of the interior of the elevator so I know who is coming.

3.  This is two train stops down.

4.  There is a subway entrance/exit we can see from our family room window.  See large gray rectangle--roof of said entrance.  That would put us right on top of the subway.

5.  This is our yard/garden.  

6.  We can see the Tokyo temple out of one of our windows.

7.  We have two refrigerator/freezers because Japanese ones are too small.  It has so many drawers, it is hard to remember which are the fridge and which are the freezer ones.

8.  My microwave, steamer, defroster, toaster, multi-use thingy has instructions all written in Japanese--my kanjis are severely lacking.  I don't know which button to press to get what I want done.

9.  Our A/C slash heater is in centigrade.

10.  Lastly, in order to have a car in Japan, you must prove you have space to park it.  Check, thank goodness.  Now to just get a license....

Just kidding...

This is ours.

What we do have in common with most of you is that our "house" houses our beloved ones.

The last month...

Craziness.  Family together for a last few weeks and then scattering to the world one or two at a time.  Thanks to Camille for bearing it all and "holding down the fort".  She truly is a champ.

Last time I counted, I had been to the airport seven times in the three weeks until we left.  The final time was to leave with Emma to make the BIG move to Tokyo.  The first to go was Joe.  Maybe Elder Whiting is the better title at this point.  The boy has been gone now for 3 weeks, and it was gut-wrenching to say, "Adios".  He appears to love it and so it is not so hard to bear the void he left, "as long as he is happy," so they say.  He has been a joy and we will miss him.

Dad (Scott, Sparky) left a few days later and more tears.  Little Sam really did seem out of sorts without the males in his life.  Five women had a hard time keeping him and his little sister Grace happy all the time.  Thank heavens Ammon arrived!

Abby left the day before we did and must be having the time of her life as we haven't heard anything from her.  Maybe she forgot her phone charger--that is the likely scenario.

Then us, Emma and I.  Wow, we just moved from Hawaii a year ago and here it is again.  Emma is being a trooper, maybe it is the excitement of city life in a foreign country, but she is truly is happy.  Maybe it has something to do with the business class seats.  The excitement started to wear down after the second hour on the plane in Portland with constant updates as to why they hadn't been able to fix the mechanical problem--it was just a light on a dashboard for heaven's sake!

The upside to an overnight layover--one last steak dinner before moving to $100 a plate beef country.  The downside?  Handling nine pieces of luggage between the two of us.  Yes, we had to get our bags, take the shuttle to our motel and do it in reverse the next early morning.  We cheated.  We "borrowed" overnight a luggage rack that bellhops use.  We simply couldn't face unloading it in our room and searching for one the next morning to load up, so it stayed as is in our room with us.

Nothing to report about the flight.  Did it really happen?  I don't know, I was asleep for more than half of it RECLINING in my spacious pod.  But there we were all of a sudden in Japan.  We we spoiled and tried to avert our eyes from the economy class zombies, poor souls.

Scott was there patiently waiting as Emma and I were processed like fake cheese slices.  So good to be with him again!  We went adventuring, taught Emma how to use the train system and got Chicken Tikka Masala with naan bread for lunch in Shibuya.  I keep forgetting we look so different than everyone else until I see people staring at Emma and that long gorgeous strawberry blonde hair and "tall" nose.  "Hana ga takai, ne?!" we hear whispered around us.  I love seeing her face as she sees things for the first time.

So here we are--today to the American school to get her registered, then to Costco.  Wait, what?!  Costco!