November 18th, 2005

Sorry its been so long. I always seem to put off updating and then its too late! So I shall update now. Its going to be a long entry. So lets see.

On Halloween Chris dressed up as a 'Beach Bum'. He got to go trick or treating with kids. I Will see if I can get him to update about that. I wasnt there so Im not sure what really went on. He seemed to have fun.

On the 3rd and 4th of this month, we went to Osaka and Hiroshima to file for my Dependent Visa. It was a whirlwind of travelling. We went to Osaka on Thursday because it was a national holiday. When we were looking for a hotel, we stumbled onto this weird one that wasnt on our map. We went in and turns out it was a love hotel! Eek! So we found an actually hotel. On Friday morning we got up really early and went to the Consulate as soon as it opened. We got our marriage certificate translated and notarized in English. Then we went to the Train station and rode the bullet train (Shinkansen.) to Hiroshima. There we had lunch (McDonalds because we were in a hurry) and then took a cab to the immigration office where I filed papers for a change of status. They told us we would get notification that my visa was ready in a couple of week. Then we took a bus back home to Izumo. Bus ride was 3.5 hours but wasnt that bad. Beautiful countryside. Reminded me A LOT of Hiawassee. It was a very fast and busy trip so we didnt really get a lot of pictures (I think I took maybe one or two).

Last Friday the rotary club threw Chris a "Welcome to Izumo" Dinner. We decided that he would go alone since these parties are very expensive. About $60 per person and we had just spent about $800 on the trip to Osaka/Hiroshima (train tickets are $$$). So Chris went and they pestered him until he came home and got me. Fortunately, since it was the Rotary club we didnt have to pay anything. It was at a chinese restaurant and I really didnt like much of the food at all, but I DID try everything. It would have been rude not to, and like someone mentioned before, none of it is likely to kill me. They gave us Shark fin soup. Thats really gross btw, tastes like really really fishy egg drop soup. The party was really just an excuse to talk about the English Speech contest that was to take place the next day. But thats ok. It was kinda fun, kinda boring.

The next day was the speech contest. Chris was a judge along with Rusty and Lisa. He will also have to talk more about it. I was just there to watch. Although, I did get to go sit with the judges as they 'deliberated'. No one is sure why they made me go, but I did! The contest was kinda boring. Some of the girls had TERRIBLE accents. Sounded like they were trying to talk around marbles or something. There were two girls that were very good though. Chris's student won the contest. She's very good at English and had a really good accent. The second place girl was good too, she had a worse accent but her intonation and rhythm was spot on. After the contest the rotary club gave the judges 5000 yen and took us out to lunch (again I was included and so was Rusty's girlfriend Satoko). It was a good lunch. I like the restaurant we went to. Its called Viking Style but its really just a buffet. Its funny.

This week I didnt do much of anything. We bought two heaters and that is exciting because it is really cold in the apartment. One is like a fan, but its a heater. And by that, I mean it simply pushes heat out and is good to sit in front of. It also oscillates. The other is my new favorite thing in the apartment. Heh. We got it last night. Its a space heater and we can stick it in the bedroom and it heats it up within 30 minutes or so. Plus I can turn it on in the mornings and have a warm sleep. I was actually sweating because of it! Yay! Its not as cold here as it is in Georgia right now...but we dont have an insulated apartment which means its a lot harder to get warm. I am not looking forward to when it snows.

YEsterday I recieved notice that my visa came though! We will go to Hiroshima in a week or two to get everything finalized. Im so glad I can finally stop worrying about it! I will get my work permit too so I can start looking for a job. Yay! About time!

Also, Im really excited because we are finally going to start fixing up the apartment. We havent yet because we had other things to worry about. We are going to get rid of the bed a week from monday! Im excited because we have been sleeping on Futon for about a month and a half now if not longer and the bed is just taking up space. Then we are going to switch the rooms around and we can finally be sleeping in a bedroom instead of a study! When you guys come to visit, you will be staying in the soon to be study. Also! We are getting rid of the most horrible couch you can imagine. I think we will take it over to teh Friendship house and let them use it. The couch is so uncomfortable and an eyesore. Plus with the couch, you cant use the kotatsu table properly. So we are going to get those little floor chairs and some kotatsu futon and that will help make the aprtment look nice. Plus we will get some shelving units, a towel rack, and somewhere for me to keep my clothes. So things will be nice. Im super excited. It'll take awhile, but I will take pictures when its done. :)

Speakign of the Friendship house, we are going over there on WEdnesday for a Thanksgiving dinner. Before anyone asks, there are no turkeys in Japan so they dont do turkey. Its very sad but true. Rusty is going to cook barbeque chicken instead. I will be bringing stuffing! It should be a really nice get together. :)

So thats about it for me! People ask me about Christmas and what we want. Honestly I dont know. Most of the stuff we will want will be things we cant have here. So clothes and that kind of thing isnt really something we need. Mostly entertainment things like CDs, Movies, video games are what we want. Some food is good too (but Im not sure thats a good christmas present. Heh). So anyways, I dont really know what I or Chris wants for Christmas or whats goign to be done about it. Chris's parents will be here over Christmas though so it should be nice. I guess I will need a tree or something. Heh. They have started brining out Christmas decorations though. This morning they were putting up a light tree (tree made out of lights) so I will try to get a picture when its done and at night.

So thats the entry! Sorry it took so long. I will try to be better!

Love you all!

Edit: Because you guys dont seem to have a good grasp of Japanese geography, here is a map so you can see. Also, we werent anywhere near the earthquake. It was in northern Japan, we are west Japan. It was on the ocean, we are on the sea. We dont get a lot of natural disasters because there is no room for weather to really run in the Sea of Japan. :) So no worries! No earthquakes for me...yet!