First Week in Hamamatsu

What a whirlwind week its been since arriving in Hamamatsu! After over six straight weeks of purging through all our possessions in Honolulu, giving things away, selling stuff on Craigslist, packing, cleaning, moving, saying goodbyes, traveling to Japan, buying LOTS of stuff to set up our new apartment in Hamamatsu, getting banking done and applying for an alien registration card … finally we are pretty much settled in again. Praise God! Through it all we have been SO blessed!

Welcomed home

We spent four nights at Elisabeth’s parents home. And we were well taken care of. Noah was doted on by grandpa, grandma, Aunt Joanna and the three girls live there as part of the family: Emiko, Youko and Mami.

The Fowler home

Noah and Grandpa Ben in his office with three computer monitors!

Grandma Chany, Bebe and Noah going out in the cold for a stroll.

Noah loves Aunt Emiko! She makes him laugh!

TEN Flat: fantastic new digs

When people think of living in Japan, they probably think of cramped living spaces. But not so with us! We left a one bedroom apartment an old building in Moiliili for $1150 a month. But God put us into a much larger two bedroom apartment in Hamamatsu for only $670 per month! We have been so blessed. So many people gave generously to us both in Honolulu and here in Hamamatsu. We have been overtaken with blessing!

My desk is already set up with all my computer stuff in our master bedroom which has a niced sized closet. The church had a desk and chair I could use.

Noah now has a room of his own for the first time! It’s great for putting him in there and letting him cry himself to sleep. We are trying to train him again to be able to sleep through the night … something he hasn’t been able to do since we moved out of our old apartment four weeks ago.

The tatami mat room works as a great living room. It even has sliding doors which will make it great to use as a guest room. I’m so thankful for the old digital piano that the church lent me. We’ve had some good worship times already using it. Thanks, Gloria, for the soft and rocking chair! We decided on an orange and dark brown theme for the living room.

Here’s Bebe in our new kitchen/dining room just before we had our first dinner in the apartment (take out from an Indian restaurant which is just a few doors away from us). Yummy!

Brand new appliances, again!

Back in 2006 after our wedding, God gave us brand new appliances (refrigerator, oven and washing machine) in the Moiliili apartment. And now He’s done it again: almost brand new appliances (refrigerator, oven and washing machine). And we’re not talking about cheap appliances. We got top of the line stuff! One of our relatives is friends with some people who work for Corningware who were relocated to another area. So they just gave away their appliances and we got them for free!

This high tech washing machine is also a dryer … an all-in-one machine.

Our snazzy refrigerator is ambidextrous. The top level can open from either side! The oven looks like your ordinary microwave oven but it can also grill and bake. On our first morning we baked frittata for breakfast. Hopefully Elisabeth will be able to bake pies, cakes and brownies in there, too…our secret weapons for hosting parties.

Ofuro

Sunday was our first night in the apartment. But the gas man was not coming until the next morning (Monday) to connect our gas. So we didn’t have any hot water. We weren’t sure whether to take a bath that night or not. In the end we make about 10 pots of boiled water in our electric kettle which made about 2 inches of water in the tub. After a very quick and COLD shower, we jumped into our shallow tub of hot water and used a tupperware container to scoop the hot water over us. It felt SOOOOO good!

Hamamatsu Church of the Savior (HSK)

On Sunday we got to go to HSK, the church Elisabeth’s parents planted 25 years ago. Sunday was a special day because it marked 31 years of being missionaries in the Japan for the Fowlers.

Here is Elisabeth’s sister, Joanna, praying for her parents, Ben & Ruth Fowler (my favorite in-laws).

Hiro and Sara with Noah

Mami, Masayo and Bebe

Other first week highlights

Had a fantastic anpan … it was so fresh the bread was still warm and soft.

Weird English translations never cease to amuse me.

In Japan you have a choice of drinking sweat or cow piss!

You also get a choice of small or large flush when you’re done using the toilet!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the very sanitary bidet feature of our toilet. … I tried it today and couldn’t help but wonder how they keep the little spout germ-free!

Apples are HUGE (look at my iTouch in comparison) and delicious! But green peppers are super tiny.

Today I got to have a delicious bowl of ramen (in Tonkotsu flavored soup) with my new friend, Hiro.

Elisabeth’s Dad’s Birthday Dinner

Tonight we celebrated Bebe’s dad’s 61st birthday in our apartment … our first dinner party here.

Truman, Elisabeth, Ruth, Noah, Ben, Mami, Youko, Emiko

Of course we had to take one crazy picture … keyword: constipation.

Happy Birthday, Dad-in-law!

Thanks!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading through my LONG blog post! We have a busy week and are so grateful for all the Lord has provided for us and everyone who has helped us so generously. Tomorrow the mattress we ordered will be delivered. It will be great to sleep on a bed after a week of sleeping on futons on the floor. And tomorrow I’ll finally be able to get back to work on my business.

Whew, it’s 11:27pm. Can’t believe I was able to stay up so late! I think we’re finally conquering our jet lag.