A New Home, New Season

Cake cutting ceremony.  That's my lil bro to the left!

Wedding week in Hawaii was something I never want to live through again!  Of course the wedding turned out great.  But man, so not worth the drama.  Deep down I wanted a small, private beach wedding.  But how those things morph into something else!  Still, I was really, really happy to see my family again.  Not just my immediate family (especially, my dad who came in from work on his ship to walk me down the aisle), but a handful of my aunties and uncles and cousins.  It was like a really tiny family reunion.  I was really happy that Aaron could finally meet them.  I wish that more of them could've came, but it was a lot to ask for them to fly in from whatever part of the country they live in.

Immediately after the wedding, we had a mini-staycation in Koolina, the west side of Oahu.  My uncle works at one of the resorts there and he got us a great deal.  We had only four days, and we were still so busy with post-wedding stuff that we didn't really get to enjoy the hotel all that much.  Still we made the best with what we could.  We went to Roy's, our favorite restaurant, and swam in the pool and the lagoons.  There are four lagoons at Koolina.  Most people stay in the lagoon in front of their hotel.  We were smart enough to do some walking and we found one that was much cleaner and less crowded.  I wish I took more pictures!  But it was exactly what we needed after a really stressful and exhausting week!

The view from our hotel lobby.

After all the chaos was over, Aaron and I finally flew back to Sendai and moved into our new apartment.  Unfortunately, Aaron had to leave immediately the next morning for a work trip.  I didn't see him again for another two days!  What a way to start married life!  Our new apartment is small, but nice.  We didn't have much furniture at all.  We've been here now for about two weeks and I still haven't unpacked everything.  I still have an entire suitcase of clothes that needs to be put away, but I have nowhere to put them!  More than half the closet is already filled with all of Aaron's jackets, coats, and work shirts.  He had an entire large suitcase of nothing but t-shirts!  I'm waiting to buy either some storage bins or another dresser to put it all in.  And more hangers.

We spent all of last weekend shopping for used furniture.  We were mostly unsuccessful.  We found a used recliner chair for $40 that we thought about using as a makeshift couch, but I realized immediately after purchasing it that it would not do.  We were stuck with it though and tried to look for other couches.  We found some nice ones at Hard Off (a used furniture store), but they were either out of our price range or too big for our apartment.  The few that we could afford were too small or too dingy looking.  Finally, we went to a real home store and found a new loveseat for under $200.  It was the best deal we could find and it was the right size too.  We took it!  Unfortunately, it won't be delivered to our home for another week!  Until then I'm sitting on the floor.  Aaron can have the recliner.

Since we have a really small space with two people living in it, I've been spending my days trying to create systems for each room in order to maximize our space.  I'm finding ways to rearrange the furniture so we have much more room to move around and more places to store stuff without making everything look so cluttered.  Still, we've got lots of clutter!  No where to put stuff, ugh!!

I'm just waiting for the day our couch comes in and when we finally get my dresser.  Then I'll feel like I can do something with this place!  But I'm enjoying the challenge.  It's kind of nice to play house, or Extreme Home Makeover: Japan Edition.

*~*~*

This Wednesday,  a group of Aaron's coworkers and the two of us went to a place called Ogawara.  It's outside of Sendai and is famous for it's cherry blossoms.  I'd been there once before with Nobuko many years ago.  But after a really disappointing cherry blossom season last year, I was really looking forward to some hanami.  After we all hopped into a few cars and carpooled there, we all walked through the trees and took pictures.

Cherry Tree Lane?

On the plane coming back to Japan I watched Saving Mr. Banks about how Disney acquired the rights to Mary Poppins to turn into a movie.  In it, the author lived on a street that was lined with cherry trees and Cherry Tree Lane is mentioned in her books.  Well, walking down the row of sakura trees made me think that this was the REAL Cherry Tree Lane!

There were about a thousand sakura trees lining the river.  Aaron and I walked about halfway before turning around.  We got hungry.  There were food vendors at the site, similar to a carnival, so we walked down the line of vendors looking for something good to eat.  Aaron got a yakisoba.  I bought some yakitori.  It was tasty, but not filling enough.  Not long after, the whole group moved on to a Chinese ramen shop nearby.  There I ordered something adventurous.  I don't know the name, but it was Chinese, with thick noodles and very little broth and came with a small bowl of rice.  (I should've took a picture.)

All this took place on a Wednesday morning before Aaron had to start his day of work.  After the drive back, we parted our ways.  He went to work and I took a nap.  Haha!  But after my nap, I was very productive in continuing my quest to turn our apartment into a real home.

This upcoming weekend is another eventful one that I'm looking forward to.  More shopping for furniture, but also Easter Sunday and Captain America 2 finally comes out here!  It's going to be fun.

Hello. Goodbye.

My last few weeks at Ayashichuo Christ Church was a whirlwind!  I was so busy cleaning, packing, teaching, and preparing for the wedding, it was hard for me to keep track of everything.

Our new teacher, Ryan Munchinsky, came in just in the knick of time!  After a lot of issues trying to get his visa, he finally got it and hopped on a plane from Canada.  We showed him around a bit and introduced him to everyone.  He's eager to learn about the culture and the language.  I think he's going to do a great job!  Hopefully, much better than I did!

Ryan at Thursday Bible Study.

I spent the last week saying goodbye to everyone.  I gave my farewell speech at the Sunday church service and some students showed up to give me some presents.  I received many cups.

My students, Isa-san and Mayumi, presented me with a bouquet of flowers.

Some kiddos wrote me cute letters in English.  One of my student's mothers made me some towels.  On Wednesday night, we had a mini-dinner party.  Kyoko made quiche and triange spring rolls.  They were so delicious!  Manami Sato made a dessert with custard.  Also very yum!

We took one last photo together!

It was a really crazy week of hellos and goodbyes.  Somehow, miraculously, I was able to finish it all.  Praise be to God!  I was surprisingly very sad to say goodbye to the students.  But I know I will see them again.  I am still living in Sendai, after all.  But now I'm off to a new adventure!