One Month in....

I can't believe we have already been here for over a month. The time has flown by. We have I think really settled into a routine with school, work, and daily life. Sebas has decided he loves school and has made some great friends. Unfortunately, being an expat community, three  of his new friends are soon moving on to their next assignment.
We have still not explored outside of the city yet. There is so much to see and do here, that we are waiting for a little better weather to settle in before traveling. However it better come soon because someone is dying to ride the Shinkansen. We are thinking of heading to the beaches of Okinawa for spring break, but Guam is another possibility.
The culture shock for me is starting to wear off a bit. It no longer seems unusual not to be able to read anything, and I am able to understand a bit of the language. Sebas will be translating for us soon. He knows things in Japanese that he misses in English. We have found where to get things from home (for a large price: almost $7 US for a box of instant oatmeal!)
Eating here has been a bit of a challenge. Sebas will try anything and John will eat nothing. Most people eat out or buy premade meals which are available everywhere for a good price. We hit the grocery store daily and buy for the day. It is so different from the stock up Costco mentality. I am actually enjoying that. The restaurants, while friendly rarely have highchairs and are usually smokey and quiet. Our kitchen is quite small and the oven and microwave are the same unit, which has proven challenging since it is the size of a few loaves of bread. Maybe at the end of this I will have figured it out.
I have really started to like urban living. Not having a car is awesome. A huge amount of stress has been left in the garage. The smaller quarters really make you notice what you have, what you need, and what is just filler. Hopefully these realizations will translate when we get home. If they do, we are going to have one hell of a garage sale.
I promise to update more and hope everyone is well.


For Joe: Thanks for the call out. FYI the only thing cheaper in Tokyo than the US is smokes, about $3 US. Coffee runs about $5 US for crappy drip! with no refills. For that price the beans should be ground on the thighs of a Cuban virgin.