A week after saying "goodbye" to Jessica I feel for the first time like I can share a few thoughts without watering my keyboard. It was very difficult to hold her in my arms one minute and then to walk away knowing things will never be the same. I cannot explain my feelings other than to say that the 18 years of raising Jessica seemed to pass before me as I held her and then when I let go it seemed as if I was releasing Jessica into her new life. Surprisingly it is not the distance in miles that pulls so hard on my heart, but rather knowing things will never be the same. This of course is not a bad thing. We raised her to stand on her own and to fight the good fight, and we trust in our Lord to watch over her all the days of her life. Having said that our family is definitely going through a readjustment phase. Meghan and Cole talk or email Jessica daily, and fortunately Cari and I are included. We are so thankful to see how much these siblings love one another.
Cari and I came back from Japan only to once again say "goodbye" to Natalie, who is like a daughter to us. She headed off to England for her new life at Essex University. She is missed dearly and all I can say is thank goodness for Skype and email which has allowed us to stay in touch across the oceans with our daughters and to hear of their great adventures. More later....
-Kurt
Monday, September 20, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Finding Our way
Cari and I have now been in Japan for 9 days and for the most part we have felt a lot like Dorthy in the 'Wizard of Oz' when she looks at Toto and says "were not in Kansas anymore". Trying to manage this behemoth city in the intense heat and humidity just about took the joy out of this whole exploring Japan adventure, but I am happy to report that all it took was a change of scenery to get us back on our feet again.
Monday we left our little hole in the wall studio (Cari calls it 'the cave') and joined the millions of people making their way to work. The train was so crowded to the main station that when the doors opened people just fell out like over packed sardines. We then hopped on the 'Romance Train' (a nicer train with reserved seats)and headed out of Tokyo to the mountain towns in the Hakone area for a much needed reprieve from the big city. It did not take long for us to appreciate the green hills and beautiful valley views as we took cable cars, trains, buses and even a gondola to our little guest house. The area is known for hot spring baths (onsen)and our guest house was no exception. It's like a hot tub that stinks due to the sulfur. Sorry, but that really does sum it up. The other big attraction to this whole mountain region is visiting a special sulfur hot spring where you can eat black boiled eggs. Now I can't speak for you, but if someone told me they had a tourist plan to get thousands of people every day to take tour buses to the top of a mountain and then have them walk 15 minutes up a winding path all to eat black eggs that were boiled in smelly sulfur water I would have to say they were mad, but that is exactly what happens day in and day out. There are even a couple restaurants and two large souvenir shops to boot.
The rest of our 3 day adventure was spent taking walks, eating traditional food and doing some souvenir shopping for those back home. It rained the last 24 hours from a typhoon that was near the area, but with our trusty umbrellas we seemed to manage quite well.
Tonight we are back in our little cave enjoying the fact that we have shared so much in this life together and that Jessica is safe and sound in her new school. God is so good and we praise Him for His abundant love.
Good night and enjoy the pictures.
-Kurt
Monday we left our little hole in the wall studio (Cari calls it 'the cave') and joined the millions of people making their way to work. The train was so crowded to the main station that when the doors opened people just fell out like over packed sardines. We then hopped on the 'Romance Train' (a nicer train with reserved seats)and headed out of Tokyo to the mountain towns in the Hakone area for a much needed reprieve from the big city. It did not take long for us to appreciate the green hills and beautiful valley views as we took cable cars, trains, buses and even a gondola to our little guest house. The area is known for hot spring baths (onsen)and our guest house was no exception. It's like a hot tub that stinks due to the sulfur. Sorry, but that really does sum it up. The other big attraction to this whole mountain region is visiting a special sulfur hot spring where you can eat black boiled eggs. Now I can't speak for you, but if someone told me they had a tourist plan to get thousands of people every day to take tour buses to the top of a mountain and then have them walk 15 minutes up a winding path all to eat black eggs that were boiled in smelly sulfur water I would have to say they were mad, but that is exactly what happens day in and day out. There are even a couple restaurants and two large souvenir shops to boot.
The rest of our 3 day adventure was spent taking walks, eating traditional food and doing some souvenir shopping for those back home. It rained the last 24 hours from a typhoon that was near the area, but with our trusty umbrellas we seemed to manage quite well.
Tonight we are back in our little cave enjoying the fact that we have shared so much in this life together and that Jessica is safe and sound in her new school. God is so good and we praise Him for His abundant love.
Good night and enjoy the pictures.
-Kurt
Friday, September 3, 2010
Pictures; Best Viewed in a Suana
Instead of boring you with several train station stories I will just let you enjoy a few more pictures. These pictures alone won't do Tokyo justice; for that you would need to be in a very hot and humid place surrounded by umpteen million people. Tokyo, we are finding out, is having their hottest summer on record.
The first slide show shown here is of the ICU campus and the slide show below that are some photo's of Cari and I living out our days at the fancy backpacker resort of Shrek Watta House and some random sites from where ever a train drops us in Tokyo.
-Kurt
The first slide show shown here is of the ICU campus and the slide show below that are some photo's of Cari and I living out our days at the fancy backpacker resort of Shrek Watta House and some random sites from where ever a train drops us in Tokyo.
-Kurt
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
First 24 Hours in Japn
We made it, and by saying that, I mean that our plane landed in Narita, Japan yesterday and today Jessica is in her new home at ICU. Everything else is a hot, sweaty blur of trains, buses and too much luggage. We were saved by an angel however; our Japanese exchange student Sumika took us from the busiest terminal in Tokyo to our final destination -ICU.
Jessica's dorm room is very nice and her room-mate seems like a winner. The campus is larger than we expected and the grounds look great when the sweat wasn't blurring my vision. I guess even for Tokyo standards it's unusually hot right now.
Our first impressions of Tokyo is that it's enormous and it makes Seattle look like a country town in comparison. Cari and I already got lost once on our way to find our remote city studio guest room that has a shared bathroom one might expect to find in place that charges half the going Tokyo rates. I sure am glad Cari sticks with me.
More later. Right now we are going to find something cold to drink and then sit under some air-conditioning for awhile.
-Kurt
Jessica's dorm room is very nice and her room-mate seems like a winner. The campus is larger than we expected and the grounds look great when the sweat wasn't blurring my vision. I guess even for Tokyo standards it's unusually hot right now.
Our first impressions of Tokyo is that it's enormous and it makes Seattle look like a country town in comparison. Cari and I already got lost once on our way to find our remote city studio guest room that has a shared bathroom one might expect to find in place that charges half the going Tokyo rates. I sure am glad Cari sticks with me.
More later. Right now we are going to find something cold to drink and then sit under some air-conditioning for awhile.
-Kurt
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Jessica Heading to Japan
"Where has the time gone?" has been said by a hundred generations of parents all over the world and now Cari and I find ourselves uttering these words almost daily as we prepare ourselves for Jessica's college departure. A departure that will take her to Tokyo, Japan where she has enrolled into a 4 year program at ICU (International Christian University)to study International Relations.
To say we as parents have mixed emotions would be an understatement, but as the days approach we are filled with excitement that God has designed Jessica with a sense of adventure and has given her a relationship with her Holy Father that allows her to enter this new chapter in life with little fear. Cari and I can rest knowing God is everywhere and that He has a love for her that is beyond our ability to measure.
Yesterday the bags began to be packed and the reality of her leaving really started to hit home. One really takes on the understanding that every minute counts. This time has been all about Jessica enjoying those last fleeting days of summer with her friends and family.
This Monday the 30th of August Cari and I will accompany Jessica to Japan (a first for all of us). My mother will be staying in our home caring for Meghan and Cole while we are gone. What a blessing!
Jessica will check into her dorm on the 1st and begin a week of orientation while her mother and I attempt to navigate our way through various parts of Japan playing the role of tourist. Then on the 12th of September we will say our goodbye's and probably cry like babies.
Let me take answer a couple of commonly asked questions.
-Jessica chose ICU after attending a college fair and realizing her college choices were not limited to the United States
-Jessica does not know Japanese and will be required to take 35 credits in that language during the first year
Our one and only request from our friends and family is that you pray for Jessica. We each feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives and give thanks to God for the gift of relationships.
-Kurt
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