Welcome to the American Kindergarten!

First of all, I just have to say that Japanese children are incredibly adorable. And I have the pictures to prove it. (But I'll get to those in a minute.)

Casey is working at the American Kindergarten here in Miyazaki. He gets to teach and run around with these little cuties all day long. And they love him.  Whenever I have the chance to get over there, they always seem to be yelling "Mr. Bondo! Mr. Bondo!" (Japanese almost always ends in vowels, as far as I can understand.)

The main focus of the Kindergarten is to show love for the kids, let them have some fun play time before they enter the rigorous Japanese schools, and to immerse them in an English-speaking environment.

Bridger and I go over to the Kindergarten sometimes to take Casey lunch. We also made it over there a few times last week to take some pictures of the kids during lunch and for the monthly birthday party (for the kids whose birthdays fall within that particular month).

So cute. And look at that lunch! It has a face! The kids have some seriously creative lunches around here.

September birthday party!

Mr. John entertaining the kids.

Casey and Bridger entertaining the kids. :)

Told you they are adorable.

The Japanese Shopping Experience

There are several things that make us stand out among the crowd here in Japan and label us as real, 100 percent Gaijins (aka people who are so not Japanese and are a bit out of place in these parts.) There's the white skin, our louder-than-usual personalities, our TMI level differences (the Japanese people are very private and reserved), and our complete and utter inability to understand how to drive on the "wrong" (oh, okay, just the left) side of the road. Okay, that's not entirely true: Casey is a champ at it, but I'm too terrified to try. 

But perhaps the biggest thing that makes us feel completely "Gaijinified" (yes, it's a new term I just created) comes when we do our weekly shopping.

Yes, I said it: Weekly shopping!

Now for those back home in the good ol' U.S. of A. who go to Walmart and pile mounds of groceries into their larger-than-life carts, the way we shop wouldn't seem all that strange. But for the Miyazaki locals and store employees, we are a bit of a sight to behold.

As it turns out, the Japanese people seem to buy their groceries for a day rather than for a week (or a month!) They go to their local super market, take a basket, grab a few items for dinner and head home. 

And then we come in...

We take a cart (Picture the Walmart cart. Then picture a cart that might be its baby. Then picture that baby's baby, and you have yourself a Japanese cart.) Okay, I'm exaggerating, but there just isn't a such thing as a "normal" sized-cart over here. Instead, you take a basket, or two if you are the Bond family, and place them in a basket-holder on wheels. I should give the basket-holder on wheels a little bit of credit, as it does have two basket spots. But that's all you get.

(Taken from www.tune-in-tokyo.com/2009/04/suupa/)

We move from aisle to aisle, piling our two little baskets sky-high and make our way to the check-out counter. And then the cashier looks at us, looks at our cart, gives a giggle, and checks out our groceries. 

(Yes, yes we are not from around here. How did you know?) 

Don't get me wrong: They are incredibly kind and sweet to us. We just know we look ridiculously goofy. 

You then pay for your food by placing your cash into a tray with both hands. They cashier then picks up the money from the tray and puts it into the till. I've asked a few people why the tray is used, but it seems to just be the polite, customary thing to do. 

But anyway, another difference here is the fact that the cashier puts the food back into the basket after it is rung up. The customer then walks over to a long table and bags his or her own groceries. And we don't do the whole "fruits in one bag, breads in another" sort of thing. As long as any meats (which we don't really buy here, as they are two to three times more pricey than in the states) are separated from everything else, it's a "shove as much as you can in a single bag" sort of activity.

But, as it turns out, this can be a dangerous way of bagging groceries. We found this out the hard way when "Plop!" our eggs smashed onto the store floor in front of everyone checking out. Did I mention we're Gaijins? It was one of those moments where you just want to run for your life, abandoning all you own or have just purchased, but you figure you'd better stick it out and pretend it's not as awkward as it really is.

So...there you go - a typical shopping experience in Japan. Well, hopefully we will have fewer egg incidences in the future.

Towering Shaved Ice and Aoshima Island

We woke up yesterday thinking "We really need to explore Miyazaki now that we're all settled in here." Our friends must be mind readers because they soon called to see if we wanted to grab some lunch and shaved ice. We aren't the type to turn down food, so we were totally up for it.

We ordered what I can only describe as a noodle-type soup. Not really sure what it was. I should ask Casey, but I'm too lazy at the moment. It was a mixture of Udon noodles (noodles that are fat like worms, which is exactly what they remind me of every time I see them), sweet bread (soggy, as it was in the soup. Yeah...ew) and broth. Casey's had shrimp.

We then ordered the shaved ice. And this is what we got...

Apparently this place is known for its towering shaved ice. It was amazing and delicious. Well, the mango kind was delicious. The white kind was sweet bean flavored. And it had sweet beans in it. So it tasted like...well...beans and ice. Yeah...

Anyway, this restaurant also had traditional Japanese tables, which look like they are for preschoolers but are actually for adults. Notice the absence of chairs and the flooring, which is also traditionally Japanese. They are called Tatami Mats. These are also in our family room.

After our yummy food and brain freezes, we headed down to Aoshima Island with Shane and Noa. We looked like the giddy tourists we are and took hundreds (literally) of pics. A bridge connects the mainland to the island. As you walk toward the shrine on the island, you can look over the bridge to see what is called "Devil's Washboard." Shane, who is from Miyazaki, said the locals call it "Ogre's Washboard." They look like manmade rock walls to keep the water in check, but they are actually completely natural. Interesting, huh?

Devil's Washboard

We finally made it to the shrine and, once again, went picture crazy. We also got to perform a traditional Japanese ritual, where we took water in one of these cups with the long handle. We bowed, poured water on our hands, drank a little (well, kinda. Casey and I are kinda still scared of the water here and generally prefer bottled...shhh, don't tell!) poured water back on the handle, put it back, and bowed. Look at the dragon faucet! Doesn't get much cooler than that!

Entering the shrine

The shrine

Colorful mini taxis to the island.

Each wooden piece has a prayer on it.

Part of a ritual where you throw a shell. If it breaks, your marriage will be blessed.

And we also ran into our friends from the ward, the Shibiyamas and their friend visiting from England. They are an awesome couple, and he is actually our branch president. Anyway, we just had to get a picture with them. :)

(L-R: Us, Noa, Shane, English friend, Ayano, Noeru)

And one more thing: I went to the restroom in what is called the "Jungle Bathroom" and it didn't disappoint. When I was almost finished, I looked up to see a gigantic spider. I mean the biggest I've ever seen in my life (three inches long and two inches wide or something?) in my life. I froze with complete panic and tried not to scream as I ran out of the bathroom. Ha!

All in all, this place was completely beautiful and our Saturday totally and completely rocked. We can't wait to do more exploring!

Korea

A few weeks ago, we decided it was time to do a little exploring, so we jumped on a bus and then a plane and ended up in Busan, South Korea! Okay, that's not exactly how it went down. Actually, we knew before we even came out to Miyazaki that we would need to go to Korea to get our visas approved (loooooong story.....but I'm too lazy to tell it). Initially, we thought Casey would be the only one to go. And he did. Casey took a trip to Busan for what was supposed to be a quick day trip. However, he soon found that he had to stay in Korea because the visa processing took longer than he'd expected. He also found that we all had to be in Korea to get the business done. So the next week, Bridger and I joined him for a good ol' Korean adventure!

We boarded the early morning highway bus in Miyazaki at 5. We then took a flight out of Fukuoka and landed in Busan that afternoon. As we flew over Busan, my first thought was how HUGE is was. Holy cow. It seemed to stretch on forever, at least from the sky. It was easy to see that everything was quite condensed, with building right up next to one another, as is the case in Japan as well.

Once we landed, we took the light rail train into the city. As we passed building after building, I came to the conclusion that Busan was a bit "Disneylandish." Ha! Many of the buildings are colorful and odd-shaped.  A lot of flashing signs can be seen on the streets. Things are just really decorated there for whatever reason, and I seriously loved it. Oh, and there are so many businesses and buildings that it just adds to the Disneyland effect.

But anywho, we soon found the subway station, which turned out to be quite handy. (Oh, how I wish Miyazaki had a subway!) Casey is a fantastic navigator, so we got along just fine. It's a good thing the navigating wasn't up to me, as I am completely useless in that department.

We only had the equivalent of one day in Busan and wanted to make the most of it, so we began sightseeing even before we were able to check in our bags at the hotel.

Later that night, we walked around the city. And it was a blast. As it turns out, Busan is quite a fun, party place when the sun goes down. Kinda like a mini Vegas with lots of people walking the streets, loud party music playing, several street vendors and outdoor cooks. We walked around for a while and then realized we were starving. It's kind of an adventure to eat out in a foreign country, but we decided to be brave and walked into a cute, one-room restaurant. And it didn't disappoint! First of all, our server knew English (which was just so nice to communicate with someone for a minute!) Second, we got to eat the best food I've had since we came to Asia: Pork in plum sauce, pork in...some other spicy sauce, Kimchi (which, apparently is fermented vegetables...yeah...surprisingly good), and some sort of beans that were relatively hard, but pretty tasty. I even tried seaweed (The only nasty part of the meal.)

We then got ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Yep, that's right - a familiar company! But get this: We barely walk out of the shop and I take a lick and.....oh no!....it plops on the ground. Stinky Stinkersons. So Casey makes me kneel by it so he can have a good laugh and take a picture (while people stare at the foreigner and her fallen ice cream). I then make Casey walk back to buy me another one because I don't want to admit what just happened. Well, as we know, Karma's a...er..."beast." ("G" version right here.) Casey walks back into the shop and walks out 10 seconds later with the remains of his ice cream in a cup. Apparently he took a lick and it started to fall, so he did some sort of swatting action to save whatever he could before it hit the ground. He then grabbed a cup and ran out as the workers watched him. Soooo....he walks back out and is like "Yeah, we're not eating ice cream tonight."Don't be too sad because we went to another Baskin Robbins the next day and got more ice cream. So all was well. 

Getting long-winded again, so here's the short version of what else we did there. We walked around the fish market, which was interesting. Lots of dead, dried, skinned (or not) fish lying in rows. Narrow roads. Lots of stinky smells. We also walked around the underground shopping center that is really popular in the city. We took a walk to a beautiful temple and got lots of pics. And Bridger was constantly being poked, prodded, and "goo-gooed" at by the natives. And once again, he just gave them grumpy faces. He doesn't seem to really appreciate all the attention he gets here.