A Week of Firsts

Well, we knew that we would be in for a lot of firsts: moving to a new country, starting new jobs, going to new schools and many others. So, in short, here is a list of some of our firsts from this week:

August 30^th: first lunch at the Official residence. After about one month at the Embassy, I had my first lunch at the Ambassador’s Residence. Formal, with place names, and a printed menu and a full agenda, I busied myself eating with my formal manners, taking notes of the conversation and generally enjoying the interesting job that I am fortunate enough to have!

August 31^st: First earthquake. 4.7 on the Richter Scale; 4.0 on the Japanese scale (and they know what they’re talking about); epicenter Yokohama (20km away from Tokyo); as for our take on it- Crista “I heard a big bang and felt one sharp drop. After that the building (the Embassy which is built on rollers or something similar to absorb the shock of an earthquake- the shocks do not feel as strong but it moves slightly for quite a while afterwards) swayed for about a minute. The swaying made me feel a little car-sick, but otherwise it was ok.” Pablo, Jeremie and Manu: “There was an earthquake?? We were in the pool and didn’t feel anything!” At home: Nothing fell off the walls or fell over, but a few of our photos advanced towards the edge of the bookcases they were lodged in. The feeling around Tokyo: “Oh good, it was about time we had an earthquake!” All in all: we are happy to have the first one under our belt, we will be heading out to the earthquake training centre soon, and are getting our quake kits on Monday!

Sept 1^st: First Reception. After a full day of wondering what I should wear to a reception on board a friggate, I settled on a suit and headed off for my first reception. I was a little nervous, I had a few contacts that I had invited, but until they got there the only people that I knew were my colleagues- all of whom had guests of their own that they were talking with. Once my guests arrived, I was happy to show them around the HMCS Regina, introduce them to the Canadian sailors aboard, and show them to the Canadian kitchen party that we had organized. All in all it was a fun evening, and I found out that a suit is totally appropriate to wear on board a Canadian friggate if ever you need to go to a reception!!

Sept 1^st: First Contract. Pablo took the long train ride out to Nissan for his first contract with his new company. The day was interesting- allot of interaction with a team of engineers looking to improve their performance in English. They worked on lots of drills to improve arguing a point, interjection, negotiating, describing etc. At the end of the day, in typical Japanese fashion, Pablo, his colleagues and their Japanese students went out to a bar for a nomikai, a “drinking meeting”. My culturally sensitive husband joined in for a couple of beers, but mostly enjoyed the company of his students and marveled at how different their personalities seemed from earlier in the day. Later on, after a look to his watch, Pablo realized that if they didn’t leave immediately, they would have to take a very expensive 2 hour car ride back into the city!!!! With his palm pilot in tow (he has a map of all of the Tokyo trains on it) he managed to get everyone back to downtown Tokyo before the last train!!

Sept 4^th: First day of Homesick. Well, it’s official- it wouldn’t be a trans-oceanic move without a little homesickness. I think that after a month of meeting new colleagues, seeing families arrive and leave, getting the boys settled in, finding out where to buy our groceries etc. I finally started to feel lonesome for things that are familiar, people that I know and am already comfortable with, and a place where I feel comfortable. It kind of felt as though I was “on” all the time. After a couple of days I felt, better, but I can see now that it is hitting the boys! Our little ones who are happy when they are swimming in the Embassy pool and running around the Embassy ground, have been a little upset now that a new routine, with new friends, and a new school have shown up on the scene.

Sept: 5 First day of School: Tuesday arrived and off we all went to meet Jeremie and Manu’s new teachers, and see what classes they would be in. The boys were excited to see the inside of their school, and to hear about how delicious the menu is going to be all year long!! After finding their teachers and getting in line with their classmates it was time for Mom and Dad to leave. Later that day, at about 3:30 we went back to pick them up. As expected lots of things are different at a new school, but the saddest one for the little ones as their first day wrapped up, and as the temperature reached 35 degrees, is the fact that there was no water fountain anywhere in the school!!!! Needless to say the first thing on our list of things to do that day was to get these boys a celebratory back to school drink, and buy them a big water bottle to carry back and forth to school!

Sept 6: First day on the bus!!! WOW WOW WOW!!!! What a bus!! These guys go to school in style!!! We went down to the stop to wait for the bus, and after a five minute wait what did we see but a navy blue coach pulling up towards us, with individual seats, curtains, and everything!!! The boys stepped up, and a few seconds later they were on their way!! At the end of the day, we were happy to see them home safe and sound. The only thing is, poor Manu missed the bus…. at least at first he did!! After school is over, the boys come down from their classrooms, and head out towards the exit (you have to know that the entrance and exit to the school is a narrow gated courtyard that is overflowing with parents, nannies and preschoolers waiting for the school children to exit). The street in front of the entrance, though, is so narrow that the parents can’t move out of the way even to let the children exit. Needless to say, there is more than a little bit of confusion at the end of each day.

Well, following all of this confusion, the bus supervisor counts to make sure that each of the kids are present and accounted for. On the first day, she realized that she was missing four children. Since the street is so narrow, though, she couldn’t have the bus park out front to wait. So while the bus with all of the other children circled around the school, she went on the hunt for the ‘missing’ kids. She found them, as the bus came around the corner. They got on the bus and left…. Only to find out that they still did not have Manu!! Jeremie had come up to the front to let her know, she called the school and found out that indeed poor Manu was sitting in the principal’s office crying, and the bus rounded back again to the school to collect their little passenger!!! Manu now pays very close attention to where the bus is!!

Well there are certainly more firsts in store for us, but now that everyone is settling in to their new routines, maybe things will settle down for a while!!

Love you all!! Crista, Pablo, Jeremie and Manu!!