The Commerce Festival

There was a festival celebrating commerce right down the street from us. It was mostly food (or at least some things that people can eat). Here are some "fish sticks."

   Jack brought Mabel Monkey, and this is some of what we saw, like the "fish of commerce"(??).

And here is a good luck rake that people buy in hopes of raking in the money.

We ended up staying out later than we should've, but maybe the kids will live over it.

First day of school

Monday August 26th was the first day of school.  The school bus stops right outside our door. The kids love not having to wear uniforms.

Apartment Hunting

(Reid here.)  On Tuesday (July 2), Tenma-san (a co-worker) took Angela and I apartment hunting. We saw 3 apartments in the morning, and 3 in the afternoon. A couple or three of them were very large by Japanese standards and sufficient by American standards. 

---Bedrooms---  All but one of them had a tatami room - a traditional Japanese room which can be used as a living area AND sleeping area (because you pick your futon up in the morning). One or two had only two areas that were clearly suitable for bedrooms; and we'd have to be creative for the 3rd bedroom. 

---Bathrooms--- In most cases, the toilets were separate from the bathing area, which is very helpful with 5 people in the apartment. Two or 3 of the apartments had two toilets - a definite luxury by Japanese standards. And one apartment had TWO full** bathrooms - unheard of by all the Japanese I've heard from so far.  (** One of these full bathrooms had the sink separate from the toilet separate from the bathing area - so 3 people can be taking care of business at the same time!)  

---Kitchen--- All had a broiler "for cooking fish." (I doubt we use a broiler to cook much fish.) Ovens, on the other hand, are not the norm. (How do they cook a turkey for Thanksgiving?!?)  Two apartments had ovens.  And these same two apartments were the only ones to have a dish washer - of the electric sort.  Both the ovens and dishwashers are small. 

---Walls---  (I know: "Walls?!? "  but it matters.)  One thing that Novelynn has been looking forward to is decorating her room. That largely means she wants to  do something to the walls that appeals to her. As parents, we thought this was a reasonable request. But as renters, I'm afraid it may not be in the cards. You see, on at least 5 of the 6 apartments we saw, there was wall paper. In fact, it wasn't just wall paper, it was ceiling paper, too. We asked about hanging pictures, and the answer was a (very kind and round-about) "No."  Apparently, if the wall paper is messed up, then the walls must be renovated when we leave. They indicated that this might be quite expensive to do.  So I'm not sure what we'll do about this, especially for our oldest child.   If anyone has some wall decorating ideas that do not leave marks on the wall, we're listening!

---Parking--- Though we don't have a car, we do anticipate that everyone will have a bicycle. So we also had to think about parking for 5 bikes (though admittedly we didn't have to think about it too hard). But when space is tight, parking 5 bikes can be a challenge. 

We had two different real estate agents show us apartments. The first one was a man; he showed us three large, mostly practical apartments. The second was a lady; she showed us three very new- and clean-feeling apartments. The sets of three apartments left Angela and I feeling differently. After some discussion, we decided to go back and look at one that had an oven and dishwasher, and was reasonably large. It had a view of the surrounding hills out of the living room, it was located near a school bus stop, near work, near the train station, and near the heart of Hiroshima. We both had to go into the second viewing with careful eyes and an open mind.  After looking hard at it, and asking a lot more questions, we decided that it would be the place we could call "home." 

So our new apartment will be in Middle ward (Naka-ku), in the Teppocho neighborhood.  We found out that "Teppocho" means "Gun Town." That was an area of Hiroshima where they used to make guns… obviously before they implemented very strict gun laws in Japan. So I guess we'll have to wait a while longer before we get our concealed carry license, but at least we bagged a good apartment!

Sayonara, Little Rock!

(Written June 28 by Reid.) 

We are now really-and-truly on our way to Hiroshima. All five of us are sitting comfortably inside this large metal tube winging over the Pacific Ocean at about 550 mph (900 kph).  It's pretty amazing to think that this sort of thing is even possible - the sitting part, that is.  This past week has been a frenzy of final preparations. And though we all will miss our family and friends States-side, Angela and I have been looking forward to "just getting over there" so that we can slow down and back into some semblance of a routine.  

As for what the routine will be like, I can only guess. Certain things will be similar, for sure: a sit-down supper together most evenings, quiet summer mornings as I get ready for work and the rest of the family sleeps, going to worship on Sundays, goofing around on Saturdays, etc. But one thing will be completely different - transportation. I'll likely be walking or biking to work; we'll walk to the grocery store; the kids will ride a bus to school (an American experience, too, but one that we've not got to do… yet!); and we'll ride buses for longer-distance in-town trips, and trains to places outside of Hiroshima.   

Definitely NOT Little Rock. Sure, we'll miss the freedom that cars bring, but we'll get to be active travelers (walkers/bicyclists) and mass-transit passengers. 

The idea of being an active traveler and/or a mass-transit passenger appeals to me. I anticipate this will give us (or at least me) more time to process things and people as we move about our days. Being in a foreign environment will likely heighten both the need for and frequency of this processing our world. I hope that we learn how to participate in our routine in a mindful way, not in a not-thinking-about-it kind of way. God's made a lot of neat stuff out there, and put a lot of care into each and every person we'll walk, ride, pass by. I hope we learn how to take that in and appreciate it. So sayonara to our old routine in Little Rock (as familiar, comfortable and convenient as it was)!  

Our Pledge and Anthem

Reid here.

It's the last week of school. A Wednesday, so two more days.  I join my two boys and wife for chapel. Chapel kicks off another school day in the usual way at CAC: a few minutes to sing to our God, to talk with Him, and to each other about Him.  Good stuff.

And chapel ends in the usual way.

"I pledge allegiance
To the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the republic,
For which it stands:
One nation,
Under God,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all."

*small break*

"Oo-oh say can you see
By the dawn's early light... "

Then it hits me: "This is the last time for a couple of years that I'll say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing our national anthem..., in America, with my fellow Americans."

I took the moment in, looking around at all the people, singing with them, and singing to them.

On the drive to work, I said the Pledge and sang the Anthem to myself again, reliving the moment that had just passed, and thinking about the words I had said and sang.  As I prepare to head off to another country where the flag I'll see flying will not be the "Red, White & Blue," I count myself blessed to be an American, and will miss her while I'm gone. (But not so much that we're not going, because Japan's flag is red and white, and two out of three ain't bad.)

Getting started

Welcome to the Landes family blog!  We hope to keep you updated on our happenings in and around Hiroshima, Japan.