Day One!

I did take a few pictures today, but I haven't figured out how to upload them on this computer yet. So maybe next time...

Anyway, we had an early start today. The kids were all awake by 2 or 3 this morning and were hungry. So I made them some breakfast (cold cereal) and entertained them best I could (movie: Robots) and at around 6am this morning, I finally was able to crawl back into bed to catch a little more shut eye while John watched the kids, when I was so nicely awoken by the fire alarm sound and the PA system saying there was a fire on our floor. So we gathered the kids up as quickly as possible (me, half dazed and starting to feel the effects of jet lag)and waited outside until they let us back into the building. We never saw any smoke and the firemen didn't stay too long, but still....that is no way to wake up.

Today's activities consisted of us getting a mailing address, exchanging dollars for yen and buying a car. So we set off to look at cars, and bought one within an hour for $5,000 with taxes, insurance and some Japanese tax included good for two years. Very good deal! It's a 2001 Toyota Estima and it was one of the nicer cars we saw and is in excellent and very pristine condition. Pretty much every car you see here is at least 10 years old or older, so the 2001 is considered practically new here...so funny. Our sponsors drove us around today between two of the bases to show us where to shop and stuff. It was so fun to drive out in the town, but we haven't really seen much yet as we had errands to run first.

A few funny things since we have been here:We went out in town to a little mini mart (like 7-11) to get the kids a snack and drink. Well, Ben found the "candy" section and insisted he wanted a particular candy he found. My friend warned him that it was a dessert, but that it was a type of fruit or plum of some sort. He said he still wanted it, so he bought it for him and it only took one bite and he didn't bother us with any of the other candy stuff anymore because it was so bitter. I tried a bite and I must say, my tongue felt zapped from the bitterness for while.

When we also got in my friends van yesterday, the kids were all in the back and for a while, Ben was complaining how hot it was and that he wanted something "freezing" to put on his forehead. I know it is hot outside and humid here, but I didn't think much of it until 10 or 15 minutes later when I crawled in the back, I realized the HEAT was turned on full blast and it was twice as hot in the back...poor kids....bad mommy for not listening!

By 2pm, the kids and I were pretty tired and so we headed back to the hotel to rest, but somehow we all stayed awake until 7pm (which would be like 4am in Utah) and I have NEVER had my kids fall asleep so fast. Let's just hope they wake up at a more reasonable hour in the morning.

Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings for now. We have church in the morning and I'm pretty excited to meet the members out here and make some friends. It's always a blessing to have an institution like the church where you know you can meet people and feel like part of a community and even a family instantly. It makes moving to different and unfamiliar places so much easier.