Check out the shoes

Jonas looks pretty serious in this picture. This picture was taken Tuesday afternoon with my cell phone. I think it is crazy that the cell phones are so advanced here (we can watch TV on them), yet it has taken 4+ weeks to set up internet service in our home. The supposed date for internet is Monday -- and that is if everything goes well. Including we must be home to receive the modem.
Jonas has adjusted to the time difference well. Within a half week, he was pretty much on the right schedule. The first few days he did wake up in the middle of the night and play for an hour or two. Our flightS went well. Jonas got many compliments from the passengers and flight attendants. They said he is a great baby. I was relieved that he never had any melt downs on the plane and it actually was not that difficult flying with Jonas to Japan. Our only complication was a delay from Kansas City to Chicago. So our international flight to Tokyo left without us and we stayed the night in Chicago. On the positive side, we got to see some friends in Chicago and our luggage arrived in Tokyo a few days late. So...we did not have to deal with transporting it from Tokyo to Akita. It was delivered to our doorstep for free. That was nice. But the day was pretty miserable since we started out in KC at 8 AM and by 3 PM had barely landed in Chicago and had to deal with some sour United agents. Well, Jonas did not seem too bothered by it all, but I was a bit sour too by 3 PM. I have to say, avoid flying United if you can. Throughout the whole ordeal, most of the customer service was awful. A couple of people were helpful, but for the most part, they were difficult to work with.

Jonas is having fun playing with the other kids here. There is a great play area in the shopping mall/convention center (our email center!) that Jonas loves. For some reason Jonas has decided to hug other kids when he is playing with them. Some of the kids don't mind, but others are bit freaked out by it. I guess he is friendly and likes hugs. When he hugs me he pats my back, which I think is sweet.

More updates coming soon...

Internet

All:

So on Monday, we finally, at long last, should have Internet access at home. Many things move very slow here. It's like living in the South again. So once its installed, we'll be updating this blog daily. Maybe even hourly. I'm sure the demand for news about us must be that high.

Jonas is adjusting to daycare fairly well, and Tricia and I are going to all of our schools and teaching classes. So far, so good. All the kids are pretty excited to have us in class, and Jonas is definitely a curiousity for them. It's interesting. For years, the Japanese have focused mainly on learning to read and write English, while focusing less on speaking. So they can read fairly complex paragraphs, but are petrified to ask the most basic of questions.

On Friday, I was paired with the head of the English department, who is less than a year from retirement. He's a funny guy, but barely speaks any English himself. In Japan, the students stay in the same classroom all day, and its the teachers who rotate from class to class. So I was waiting for him to come get me for our sixth period, and he never showed up. I sat there, and sat there. Then finally I checked the lounge area, and there he was, asleep in one of the leather recliners. I thought about waking him up, but instead, decided to find the classroom and start on my own. When I found the class, I asked, Sasaki sensei des ka? A student in the front row replied, "Coming sooooooon," and everyone laughed. He showed up about 20 minutes later, and I told him everything was fine. It was pretty funny. He thought it was hilarious.

Apartment

Note that Tricia does not actually enter Jonas' room; that's just his door. I think she intended to go to that room last, but as you will see, was interrupted. Also, Jason is not asleep. He's just laying there.

Japanese Baseball

An action-packed video of Jason watching baseball on his cell.

JET Speech

A snippet from the opening ceremonies in Tokyo.

Below are random photos of our life and surroundings in Akita City, Japan. There will be more in the future, but for now, until we get Internet in our home, this is the best we can do, posting from the unbelievably sunny main room of aL*Ve, a sort of hybrid between a mall and convention center in the middle of Akita City. It has wireless, but you aren't allowed to plug in your computer (which Tricia found out when a police officer told her to unplug from the socket; incidentally, the police here are kind and helpful as opposed to abrasive and intimidating. They don't carry guns, and they don't have much to do. Bike theft seems to be the main crime here, and I suspect most of the thefts are incidental, as nearly all of the bikes (called Mama Cherry) look the same (see pic below)). Life here has been good, and will get much better once Tricia and Jonas arrive. Our city has about 300,000 people, but feels much bigger. The city and people are far less spread out than comparable cities back home, and makes the place feel more vibrant, which I like.

Our supervisors greeted us at the airport with homemade signs welcoming us. The shorter of the two is Jason's supervisor, Naoko (NOW-oh-ko), who has the exact same Subaru as we did back home. We got a chuckle out of this. The other is Yoko, who helped us get our phones and took us all over the city shopping. They both have been very helpful and generous with their time, and made the transition much easier. Notice the baby Jonas in the corner of the sign.





Pictured below is the train/bus station and city center, which looks drabier in this picture than it actually is in real life. Below that is a house across the street from our apartment, and below that is our small but comfortable apartment. The living space here is smaller, but more than enough, as we have two bed rooms, and living room, and a separate kitchen and bath area.




















Our local grocery store. A short bike ride further is the much swankier "Gran Mart," which also has a McDonalds. But this place is cheeper and closer.



Fruit is expensive, while fish and most vegetables are cheap. Two small melons cost 1000 yen, or about $9.50.



Also in our neighborhood. Have yet to try the pizza or the ice cream. But seeing as its world famous, it must be great. Apparently, the Japanese love to drizzle mayo all over their pizza. In fact, them seem to love mayo on all their junk-type food, which is a good reason to avoid it.





This giant sign is on our bike route to downtown. To get perspective of how huge it is ("ridiculously large" is how our Japanese teacher put it), look how small the cars below are.



The famous Japanese karaoke bar. We went with a group of people, and I was underwhelmed (Tricia enjoyed it more than I). Instead of it being just a huge bar, each group gets its own personal room, and the whole deal just seemed more performance-oriented than fun-oriented. Still, its popular. This picture was taken on a Wednesday afternoon, and the parking lot was packed.



Kanto Festival. Akita City's big event. Guys hold giant poles affixed with lanterns and parade up and down the street. Unfortunately, it was so dark, we didn't get any good pics of the actual parade. But this is some of the post-parade fun.












A couple more shots of the Tokyo fish market.




A typical row bikes. Tricia and I each have one. They are very useful.



Our local dance/aerobics instructor, who apparently was trained at Universal Studios.



Coolbiz is not as cool as you might think. Its an indicator to all the men that they need to wear short sleeved shirts to endure the heat, but wherever it is they work, the air conditioning, if it exists at all, will not be turned on.



The soccer kids at my base school.



The exterior of my school, which is ancient and hot. Tricia's school (photos to come) is new and modern, and air conditioned throughout.



And finally, a picture of these girls, who have been terrorizing me for the last hour while I've posted this. They like to run up to me and shout something in English, and whenever I respond with some Japanese, like calling them "genki" (energetic), they roll around on the floor and laugh. They've also taken my cell phone, my mp3 player, and keep looking at the computer to see what I'm doing.

Jonas - Kawaii

Kawaii means cute in Japanese.
Jonas is having fun with my sister and her family in Missouri. We miss him a lot and can't wait for him to join us in Japan soon, but he does look happy and is always having fun during our video calls. Today when I called him he got really excited and said, "Mama." He waves and says "bye"at the beginning of the call, so he thinks bye means hi and bye, which makes sense since we wave for both. Our co-workers are excited to meet Jonas soon. Jason's supervisor has two kids and she said they can't wait to meet Jonas too.