Rigdon Review: Our Adventures Abroad

 I've been sick since the day after Thanksgiving and am finally able to rise above the congestion and hacking cough to document the day.  Isn't it crazy that you can't just be sick anymore?  I know what you all are thinking....Did she have COVID?  The answer, no.  But if I did, it would have caused quite the ruckus around here.  However, there has been a surge in COVID cases here (when I say "surge" I mean, in our town of ~150,000, there were around 40-50 cases that popped up out of the blue....and I'm sure the numbers are different now but our "surge" is different than, say, Arizona's surge).  Because of this, our Thanksgiving plans which included having a few families from our church over, were canceled and suddenly we were left with a wide open day.  This "surge" also made it so that our kids could not go to school for a week (typically they would have had to go to school Thanksgiving day because...ya know....the Mayflower didn't...

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...