Typhoon Jebi

Thanks to Typhoon Jebi, which is coming our way this afternoon, we are home today, ironically on Memorial Day back in the US. (Very Alanis Morisettey-use of the word ironic, I realize). But I can get you/us caught up on our trials and tribulations here in Nagoya!

The whirlwind that was week three here in Nagoya: our shipment (my bed!) arrived Tuesday, which meant the joy and struggle of unpacking and figuring out where to put all...this...stuff. And we got rid of so much stuff! Hey Americans: you have a lot of stuff. It's nice, however, to sit at a table and sleep in a bed again. And most--most--of our stuff made it rather unscathed. Wednesday-Friday, the gang of Pearlz left Nagoya for school retreats up in the mountains near Nagano. Gary and Emmett went on the 7th grade trip (because Mr. Pearlz is Emmett's homeroom teacher), I went camping with the 9th graders, and Des was at a different campground with the 10th graders. It was a blast: beautiful, the kids were great, and we got to be out in nature: hiking, kayaking, canyoning, mountain biking, geocaching, etc. But first off, the move:

before shot:

Day one!

Borrowed comfort

Today (we're getting there!):

Bookshelf over the balcony

One injury: a broken and fractured foot for this Bartle antique. Mom reminded me that it's just stuff, but I am in the market for a wood foot doctor here in Nagoya. I'm a big believer that scars add character!

NOW! For the real fun, pics from our trip. (Des took no pics. I'd like to think it's because he was having too much fun. I'm happy to report he came home with his cell phone, so that's all good!

From Hakuba, where I was camping with the 9th graders. We did get evacuated at 1 am from our campsite on Thursday night, due to the craziest thunder and lightning show I've ever seen. It was scary...it shook the ground! 

View from the bus on the way to Nagano

Rather self explanatory

Kids getting instruction on how to set up tents

I'm intents! It's confirmed!

Pretty contrast in colors

 Geocaching with a group of impulsive 14 yr old boys. It was fun...until it wasn't. I think we covered 6 miles in 2hours. They found it annoying I wouldn't run from site to site.

Scoping out the mountain for the future...

Local taxidermy...not a specialty here, obvi

View from the bridge next to our campground.

Pano from our hike

Hanging with the locals

Weekend number 2 in Nagoya

While many of our NIS counterparts head to music festivals in Osaka and Tokyo this weekend, the Pearlzes are still in heavy-duty set up and back to school mode. We spent the week, and the weekend, getting ready for school to start....gulp...tomorrow! It's been a whirlwind...new teacher orientation ended Monday, everybody reported back Tuesday, and we've been head down trying to get set up and figure out all these new systems in order to stay one step ahead of the students next week. The boys have been bored out of their gourds with no tv, friends, dog, etc, but they have been troopers! They are appropriately nervous and excited for school to start tomorrow.

Here are pics of our weekend...couch and school supply shopping at the 100 Yen store (one billion times better than the dollar store in the US); and Gar and I took a great 2 hour walk through the giant forest park right next to our house/school. Emm and I practiced his walk to/from school, through which he has to go through dragonfly alley. He also took some pics of some things we found amusing while poking our noses in nearby stores. We're blogging from our neighborhood Starbucks, as our bottomless wifi at home seems to have found a bottom.

 Missing Burta Reynolds, so we turned Emm into a cat; 

 First lake near our house

 Abandoned baseball field in the park; planning for Peca playing and kickball matches

 Gar in mid-stretch 

 G enjoyed the extensive labeling at this park

 Beautiful man-made lake; lots of fast runners passing us by

 cool cloud!

 Jeff Dungan tried to get G to upgrade this hat (I think the new one is in the shipment...)

 Tried to snap this dragonfly; much cooler looking mid flight!

 We enjoy the colorful tile roofs of the neighborhood

 Ample signage to pick up your poop; gardens everywhere!

Pretty street; this is the size of the neighborhood roads!

 At the fancy lifestyle store...why snood? 

 We think Aunt Katie will approve of this level of sun coverage

 Just fyi

strange message from a drinking vessel

So, we live in Japan now

Hey again loyal readers. Sorry for the 4 year lapse--won't happen again, or at least not soon.

Here are some pics from our first week in Japan. We are almost over jet lag, and excited for our real beds to arrive after our shipment clears customs.

In no order:

1. One thing I notice is mascots. Maybe our ward (like a district of a city) used to have a lot of squirrels? I have seen zero, but that's the mascot anyhow. I took this pic while waiting for our residence registration to get done. Turns out we also get a stipend for the kids. A few hundred bucks per quarter, nice!

2. First dinner out was okonomiyaki. Grill it yourself savory pancakes. Pretty meh, we thought. But fun to go out with new colleagues. Boys are only teacher kids among new staff, so they have been troopers. Bored some but helping out with classroom setup too. Other kids will be around as of next weekend.



3. It's weird how much baseball we have been seeing. The big summer tournament for High School teams is on all the time. Even soda can be named for crappy American teams:

4. This looked cool:

5. Hard to read, but this old dude I saw on a gym tour is sporting an Oregon Project shirt.

6. This name is not a euphemism. Actual marshmallows, I think.

7. These had better be the bomb for $39!

 8. The store called Donki has great costumes, as poo head and squid head discovered.

9. At a random corner downtown, we saw a mini replica of Mannekin Pis. Denis--how about it!?

10. obvi

11. Learned the ropes on subway today. Pretty chill. People here let you get off before they board. Unlike in some countries (cough, cough, China).

12. On a walk near home, several ponds to be enjoyed.

13. Safety Bear.

14. Hill near home makes for a great hike. Gary has been up it 3 times already.
We went Thursday in honor of Ellie B, who loved her some mountains.

15. This morning we powered up at Mister Donut. So good. Sarah caught D with his mouth full in this shot.

16. Hey South America fans--you can get Inka Kola here. so come visit!

17. This pig hosted us well, in so many ways, for lunch today. Tonkotsu!

18. The view from the empty lot next door. Storms are coming, and should be here for a lot of August. Could be a wild drive to IKEA tomorrow.

Bed now. We are happy and healthy and have AC and like our new school so far. One more week of prep and then school for real on Aug 20.

Love, G