Our first month

Everyone keeps telling me to write down everything that’s different in Japan—because it will seem like normal by the end—so I wanted to write down some things we’ve noticed during our first month here.

Outside you’ll see little old ladies sweeping the streets in the mornings. Young moms riding bikes carrying two kids—one in back and one in front. Clothes hanging out to dry everywhere—most Japanese have washers but not dryers.

nori (dried seaweed strips) Emily saw it and said she really wanted to try some because everyone at school brings it in their lunches. Emily liked it until I told her it was seaweed. She wouldn’t touch it for a few weeks, then started asking for it again. (note: we take cold lunch a lot b/c hot lunch is $5 a day!!)

Squid Anyone?

The bread and fruit here is amazing! Much better than in the United States—but the fruit is only in season. They don’t import. So I will only be able to buy grapes in the fall etc…

The egg yolks are a deep orange, so we now eat orange scrambled eggs instead of yellow. Also, eggs are not refrigerated here in the stores. Scary!

Mochi. Dried rice in a hard square. You microwave it for a minute and it blows up in the microwave, like a marshmallow. The kids love to watch this, then you eat it all gooey and warm. It’s really bland..after all, it’s just rice!

Emily also lost her tooth last week. She was so excited to find out if the tooth fairy brings dollars or yen. The answer: yen, of course!

Really, it's not that good...but don't tell him that!

6 months old!

Emily's school bus.