Everyday People

So here we are at the end of another year - and what an amazing year it's been!!! The first few months we were flat out planning for our wedding trip in NZ (nine months ago today actually). It was a great couple of weeks and when we got back to Japan we had one more wedding party. Before the hangovers had dissappeared, we realised we would be parents before long and started preparing for the baby. Summer was great, as we enjoyed the beach and camping. We then got ready to move into our new house in November. Now, at the end of December, we are so happy in our new home, and any day now we'll be blessed with a baby boy or girl. Thank you all for making this year so great for us, it's because of our amazing family and friends that we can be so happy and look forward to many more years of happiness!!

The contractors finally finished the house with this gorgeous entryway. The name plate was designed by Aki, knowing that I'd love the Silver Fern on it! (トロッター = Trotter or Torottaa as the Japanese pronounce it)
　

This month was very busy for both of us. Aki has been enjoying herself since she finished working. She has been visiting friends or having friends visit almost every day. As for me, it was a busy month at work as we planned for our Christmas party. The party was really fun and the kids were surprised when they saw I wasn't Santa this year.....in fact, they didn't know who Santa was (it was the father of a new girl, so the kids hadn't seen him before). We had to do the usual rush of Christmas shopping and celebrated Christmas on the 23rd. Anthony, Fumiko and Liam came to our house for a massive lunch. In the evening, we went to Aki's family home for another huge meal. Needless to say, I wasn't very hungry the next day! The 25th was a normal working day for me, so again, it felt very strange. Hopefully we can make it home for next Christmas, especially seen as we can't get back this summer for Steve and Roshannas wedding. The last few days have been full of more food, food and food. Friday night was my works end of year party, Saturday night we had all you can eat Chinese with Aki's family and today we had another huge lunch with some of Aki's friends!!

Christmas Day (23rd) - Lunch; Liams present; Dinner; Ready to burst

Imagine 忘年会 (end of year party) - Natsumi, Miho and Aki; Emi, Me, Nobuko and Shuhei

Let's eat some more!!!!

This New Year we will be staying at home, just in case someone decides to pop out, so I'm looking forward to a relaxed holiday watching numerous movies and playing Mario Kart on the Wii (my Xmas pressie from Aki). I'll be sure to post pics of the baby here as soon as possible so check back soon. Have a safe and very enjoyable New Year holiday!!!

Forward Movement

It's been a very busy month but we're glad to say that the move to the new house went great. We are so happy with the place - it's looking very different from the first time we came to have a look at it. The inside is now finished, so now there is now just a lot of work to do outside. The garden has been totally ripped out so we can start from scratch and have a nice looking garden by the time spring gets around. Moving day went very smoothly as we had plenty of help, so we got everything from A to B in about 4 hours. Aki was very busy over the next week organising everything and getting through the many boxes. We are now feeling very much at home and are excited to start our family here!

Boxes packed before the move; Enjoying lunch after the move; View from balcony - beautiful sunsets!; Tatami room; Babies room; Our bedroom; Bathroom; Kitchen; Living/Dining; Dining/Living; House from outside.

Our car arrived a few days after we moved. I was stoked to be able to go for a drive for te first time in Japan. Surprisingly, I've only driven it the one time but Aki has been going out in it most days. There was a bit of a question mark over how I would be getting to work every day, as we're a bit further away and there's no train station nearby. However I'm glad to say that I've been riding my bicycle still as it's only a 30 minute ride from door to door. If I don't bike I have to take a bus and two trains and it could take 45 minutes to 1 hour, so biking is definitely the way to go.

My work route (Our old home is marked 'Uchi', Anthony's place is 'Home'); Our car (Nissan Note).

Aki is now at 34 weeks, very big, and very ready for the big day! We'll be staying at home over the New Years break, just in case anything happens before it should. Otherwise, December is a busy month as usual, as there are plenty of year end parties to attend as well as Christmas stuff. I'll let you know how it all goes later in the month.

Changes

October was a busy month that saw the hot weather give way to a more temperate climate. To start the month Liam had his annual sportsday. He was so fun to watch with his energy levels peaking, making him dance to all the other classes dances and he couldn't sit still for 5 seconds, especially during the relay race! He also did a great job doing a reverse flip on the horizontal bar and jumping over the horse.

I had started playing more basketball recently after overcoming two badly sprained ankles in the last year. But a few weeks ago, while playing a game, I strained my calf and became crippled yet again. The worst part was that we only had 5 players for the game so I had to play out the remaining 3rd and 4th quarters. After leading during the 3rd, we eventually fell behind and lost by about 8. I was very gutted, but that's the way things go. Fortunately it was a long weekend too, so I had an extra day to recover before going to work. Now I've got a cool calf sleeve to wear and I should be back playing next week.

Mark decided to call it quits in Japan and head back home via South East Asia. We had one last weekend to chill together where I'm afraid to say, he took the bowling title away from me. Congrats bro, but I'l be practicing for the rematch!

Aki's pregnancy is coming along well. The baby is kicking and moving so much. The doctor said that the baby has long legs, so hopefully it can be tall and make lots of money as a proffessional basketball player! Aki has been suffering from swollen hands, and to a lesser extent feet, but she's been very strong and is looking forward to the big day with excitement!

I finally got a Japanese drivers licence after 3 years and it wasn't worth the wait!! It was a very long procedure which saw me waiting 7 hours, having to go to the ward office and back in between because they couldn't accept my visa status on my Foreign resident card even though they could see it on my passport, and being told that they didn't believe a letter from the NZ embassy that showed I was in NZ for at least one year with a licence. So, I ended up getting a beginner licence and the whole thing actually took about 20 minutes (fill out some forms, take a photo, take and eye test) with the other 6hrs4omins just waiting!! There's some things that you gotta hate about this place!

Aki celebrated her birthday on the same day (fun birthday for her, waiting for me for 7 hours!). However, she was happy with the presents I got her - leather wallet, diamond earrings and a delicious dinner. After the licence fiasco we both went and got new matching cellphones. Both our phones had been playing up, mine was terrible - it had lost all sound including voice! We changed companies from Softbank (terrible customer service) to Docomo. The phones cost a huge 1yen and my plan is only 1000yen a month (about NZ$18 with the current crazy rates...I really need to send money home now!!) . After that, we went to an all you can eat Brazilian restaurant where the meat just kept coming and coming!!! It was probably the best dining experience I've ever had - friendly staff, great ambience, mouth watering food (the roasted pineapple with cinammon was heavenly!), and they kept my water full which sounds strange, but I get pissed off when restaurants give you piddly little glasses of water and you have to keep calling them to fill it up. They also gave us a free birthday desert, sang happy birthday, and put a photo on their blog.

At work, we had our Halloween party last week. It was a very fun, but tiring day. The kids had some cool costumes, including Ironman, Anakin Skywalker, Peter Pan, Jack Sparrow and lots of witches!!

We now have less than 3 weeks until we move to the new house, so it's gonna be busy with packing. When we move, we'll probably be without internet for a couple of weeks, so I'll post pics of the new house as soon as it's up and running.

One Fine Day

It's been a busy month as we started preparing to move house and getting ready for the baby! Aki is getting very big - actually, I've been getting very big since our marriage too, but at least she has a good excuse!! Her pregnancy is going well and the baby has started kicking a lot. I love putting my hand on her stomach and waiting for a little kick, just to say hi :)

I think she's pushing her's out and I'm sucking mine in!!!

We've been spending a bit of time at the new house to see what needs to be fixed before we move in. There's quite a lot of work to be done, but it's going to look really nice by the time we're finished. We're going to get new wallpaper in the Lounge/Dining/Kitchen room, toilet (it reeks of stale cigarette smoke!) and 2 bedrooms. We'll also put in a new kitchen and get a door frame replaced that was ravished by termites. In the tatami room, we'll be replacing floorboards that were broken and getting new tatami mats. The roof is a little rusty. so we'll be sanding it back and painting it fresh. When all that's done, we'll be getting it professionally cleaned. And finally, outside we'll be getting stuck into the very small garden to make it a place we can enjoy (hopefully a small outdoor living/BBQ area andmaybe a vegetable garden). Here's a few pics of the place to show you what it looks like before the 'Extreme Makeover!'

The front door; Our huge backyard!!; The throne - nice royal red colour don't you think?

Tatami room and one of the bedrooms

I had to dust off the tent as we went camping for only the 2nd time in three years. This time we went to Lake Motosu, near Mt.Fuji, with Hajime, Kei, Ryo and Nagi (Kei's sisters family met us there). It was the last long weekend of the summer, so it was quite busy as cars lined up early for the 8:00am open time. We got in early so were able to get a prime location, overlooking the lake with Mount Fuji in the background (when it wasn't too cloudy). The weekend was great as we enjoyed swimming in the lake, lazing in the hammock, playing with the kids, going to onsen and enjoying a non-stop banquet of delicious food!! Hopefully when we get our own car, we'll be able to go camping a bit more often in the next few years.

The lake shore was popular, but sloping and rocky - we camped back a bit in a much better spot; Me and Nagi going for a row, while Ryo catches fish; Me towing Ryo and Nagi in the boat; Dinner time - Yummy!; Nagi playing with sparklers; Me and Hana-chan got on really well; "Which one of you kids took my iPod!!!!!"; Relaxing round the campfire; Aki taking it easy

Last weekend, Ryo celebrated his 10th birthday. We had a great feed of sushi and he loved his present from us - a remote control helicoptor....it was so fun I think I'll have to get one for myself!

Make-your-own sushi style; Hajime and Nagi get ready to launch; The birthday boy

This month I'll be checking out Liams sportsday, spending a few days with Mark before he heads back to NZ and start packing for the big move. Tune in next month for all the latest news and pics. 土曜日は日本語の勉強します。すごい難しい、でもがんばれます!