Trash management

Sorting out trash is a big part of life here. Everyday of the week is designated to put out different kind of trash. I basically spend almost 20minutes everyday just to sort out trash. from plastic to can, to daily produce waste. The biggest headache i have is that i have to keep all kind of carton box, candy box milk and juice carton and other paper waste in the house until the day to disposal comes. On top of 2 small trash cans i have in the house i already have 3 big cans outside in the yard for sorting and waiting for disposal day. All milk and juice carton need to be washed, dry and cut and open it flatten  and carton boxes need to be flatten and tie up nicely and same goes to paper ,newspaper and candy boxes before disposing. Paper waste disposing day only come once a week so before the day i will have all this waste laying in the already small and crowded kitchen. Just another day after disposing those waste is pilling up again and this trash work seems never ending. Japanese packaging is so beautiful and they come in layers and layers of papers or plastic wrappers. I think half of my shopping goes into the trash. It is not the work that im complaining but the trash that i have to keep in the house stress me out a little.

First cooking

I am letting Yuta cook for the first time. He likes to help around in the kitchen but honestly you have to have extra time on hand to let the little one help. He also likes the kids cooking program on tv.  Today i decided is time to let him to cook with the stove with my guardian. We are cooking sweet potato cream soup today. We have been eating alot of sweet potato from the last trip to the farm. Made sweet potato mont blanc (a failure), extra sweet potato cream paste to wrap it in the pancake, stir fry sweet potato and this cream soup. After this first cooking experience he is begging me every time to let him cook.

Mount Fuji

Sunset with Mount Fuji in the background, nice. this was taken from balcony in 2nd floor. When the weather is good we could have this magnificent view. Yuta always says, "look, we can see the volcano again". Its moment like this i wish i have better photography skill.

Sweet potato digging

Another autumn harvest, sweet potato. Our first experience sweet potato digging. 

Its Autumn

Autumn leaves wreath we made from leaves and acorns collected at nearby playground. We were hoping to find some pinecones but there werent any around. so far we saw only 1 pine tree on the way to the train station and always wanted to collect those pinecones but the tree is in an unacessable location. we miss all the pinecone and squirels in our previous home.

A day to the beach

The japanese version of snow cone, "kakikoori"



 A hot summer day, we just got our new car and decided to go for a drive. A 30minutes drive from to seaside is just ideal for the husband. One of the reason we like living in yokohama is a short drive to the seaside and easy accessible to many of the sightseeing spot. Yokohama and Japan overall is foreign and new to us  so we are just like another tourist, there are so much more to discover and to see in japan for us.

The new habitat

 

This is our new habitat. Kids are excepting slowly that we are here to live here and not returning to houston but adjusting from living in an acrerage home to a 800sq ft is not easy. We always bump into stuff and furniture around us. We are so lucky to have that little backyard. We are planning to turn that into our little garden and vegetable cultivation centre. The front of the house is facing west, during the summer it was really absorbing the heat, you cant stay in without the aircond pass 10am. unlike in houston there is no central heating/cooling a/c. we only have 1 split unit in the kitchen/living area and 1 unit up in the master bedroom. you can hardly go upstair during the day, feel like you are trap in a sauna room. weather is cooling down now and we are expecting to enjoy our new cozy home more.

The trucks are here

 

Unloading the biggest problem, the husband's kayak. We are lucky to have some little space beside our car park and a small backyard. We have to just put the kayak outside at the parking space and i forsee that it wont be used for a long long time. That is the good thing here in japan, you can put almost stuff unlocked outside and they will still be there safe and untouched.

After 1.5 month waiting at last our stuff from Houston are here. Kids are so excited to get back all their toys and books. We can only 30% of our space in Houston and all the boxes are all overflowing the whole house. We spent 2 weeks figure out how to organise stuff and we are about 50% done. Of course there are still alot of unopened boxes laying in one of the room. I was a abit upset with losing the space for our classroom but after alot of moving and rearrange stuff around at last we made a small space in a room for classroom. I guess i will have to give up putting out work the montessori way and figure out what are the best way to keep our classroom working. I will at least take another 2-3 months  to finish with our unpacking and organising of stuff.

Earthquake

We had a quick but strong quake the other day. It was the 7th tremor we felt since we moved back. Tremor is becoming part of our daily life. I dont remember we had this much quake when we lived here 3 years ago. I only experienced one after shock tremor in 1.5years living in Chiba last time. For the first time Yuta witnessed what actually were going on. He saw his Thomas train track moving around on the floor. He still call earthquake tsunami after watching all the news about tsunami 6 months ago. Though buildings here are very well quake proof but  thinking of when he big one will be here and when one will really hit us scare me. With all these aftershock and tremor, i cant stop feeling that a big one will be here in near future. Just saw the news today that Yokohama has a very high chance of getting hit by a big tsunami next. Pray hard and better get ourselves all well prepare.

We are home!

finding treasure in the ice block. hours of fun.

It has been 1 month since we are back. Feel that we are really home now except that our stuff from Houston is not here yet so we are living with minimal tools, furniture and alot of mess in the house. Kids have hard time adusting to new environment and lifestyle  for the first 2 weeks but they are starting to like it here. Yuta loves everythig about trains here. He likes that it is automated here he is fascinated about pressing button, elevator button, toilet flushing button, bus bell, vending machines. We go out to play one or two times a week. Most of the play places are for babies to 1 year old until we found the log house. There are so many things to play in the log house from pre walker to grade school kids. With minimal tools i have now we can only do simple activities when we are stuck at home like sand box, coloring, water transfering, clearing the yard and the best thing is studying cricket. Summer is the season for beetle and cricket.

We just got our car last weekend, that at least makes going around easier at least on weekend. I need to get my japanese driving license which everyone said is "difficult" and expensive. but i know i need to get that.

Here we come Yokohama!!

We are ready to go. We just got everything moved out yesterday and it feels so quiet in this house suddenly. the only thing i have is 2  matresses, some dishes and this computer to keep us here till monday when we move to a hotel. 

After the months long preparation, farewell party with friends and in school, alot of explanation I think Yuta understand and acknowledged well of our moving by now. he didnt cry or feeling frustrated anymore when the mover came and take away all our stuff yesterday. but he still asked where is our big car.

We will be moving to Yokohama after all the consideration of facts and matters. It seems like a good place and more foreigner friendly place to live.

Few days to living houston, we have a rally of get to gather playdate, good bye party and luncheon. I think the kids are already worn out with the running around and not eating proper meal. After 3 years here yuta still doesnt eat french fries, eat burger and doesnt drink soda, which is definitely a good thing but is difficult when you go out.

im so looking forward to board on the plane by now. hectic months ahead before we can settle down again.