Rigdon Review: Our Adventures Abroad

As we settle in to life in Japan, our lives are becoming more and more consumed with typical, daily life-type things.  School is the thing that takes the most time out of anything else, and it's no joke.  That being said, we do not regret the decision we have made to put the children in to Japanese school, and if I'm completely honest, they don't regret it either! The process of getting kids into school here is lengthy and quite exhausting.  It's possible that this is just how it is for me as it is not what I am used to.   It began with meetings at city hall.  Many..many..many meetings at city hall with us expaining just why we wanted our kids to go to local schools instead of the American schools on the military base.  We had the opportunity to tell countless people that we CHOSE to come to Japan.  We sought out the opportunity to move here, and we did so so that we could have an immersive experience.  School is crucial for the children's im...

 We've spent the past several weeks getting settled into the house.  Finally, last week Thursday evening after the kids were in bed, and in between them getting up 73 times a piece for a drink, a snack, a bandaid and to discuss the upcoming election in order to avoid sleeping, I blurted out, "We are doing something this weekend.  We are going to go and see something." I then offered to plan it all, and didn't want to tell anyone what we were doing.   Last Saturday we awoke up (anticipated) rain.  No problem, my plans were solid "Ok in rain" plans (plus it was supposed to be clear by 11am).  We got up, got ready and were out the door by just after 9am.  The PLAN was to hop on a train, take it 20 minutes north, hop on a ferry and go visit the nearby island of Itsukushima, often called Miyajima island (Shrine island).   How the morning ACTUALLY panned out: I got us on the train. Headed in the wrong direction. We got off on the first stop. B...

 It's been a hot minute. Life's a whirlwind, not just for us.  We know that.  We aren't  immune though, that's for sure. As previously mentioned, we were in a hotel for a LONG time.  We stayed in a hotel for 10 days prior to flying here, and then we got the experience of 14 days in quarantine in a hotel.  Following that we had to stay in that hotel until we found a place to live.  Which...took awhile. Lots of hoops to jump through, guys.  Isn't that just how it is when you are dealing with the U.S. government?  "But wait!  I thought you were living off base in Japan?"  Ah yes...but because our contract is through the U.S. Gov, we have to take 12 extra steps to do everything.  As we have gone along, I am understanding more and more why these checks and balances are set up, buuuutttttttttt still....everything takes for.eh.ver. Example?  This story was big news all over Japan.  And it was a family that was supposed to be...

 I mentioned previously that our definition of adventure has changed since embarking on this journey (which began months before we arrived at the airport to take off).  We have decided, as a family, that we have to look at the ENTIRE experience as an adventure, even if the adventure sucks sometimes.  Even if, occasionally, it is a bust.   We had a bust this last week. Monday, Labor Day.  American holiday but not a Japanese holiday (obviously..?).  BUT...with a Super Typhoon Haishen coming our direction, our prefecture closed public schools, so Holland also had no school that day. The typhoon wasn't expected to hit hard, really we were supposed to get a bit of wind and rain, so we decided that as long as it stayed like that, we would go to Hiroshima (45-60 minute drive).  Keane has been wanting to go to a Pokemon center since he found out we were moving to Japan, and there were a few other things we thought would be fun to check out. The weather co...