Tokyo

So here we are in tokyo. I can't believe I am so far away from everybody! It is 16 hours ahead of the time in Arizona, 15 hours ahead from Utah. William is really struggling with the jet lag. I can usally get him through the morning pretty well, but after he's taken a 3 hour afternoon nap and I try to wake him up so he'll sleep at night, he hates it. He fights waking up so bad, and then he is just a terrorl until I put him to bed at 8 or 9, then he wakes up at 2 and wants to be up for a couple of hours. Fun times. I can't wait until he gets adjusted.

The picture is from a little trip William and I took to the Meiji Shrine yesterday. Meiji was a beloved emperor in the 30's I guess. It was a pretty cool place and they were having this ceremony when I got there. You can buy these prayer poems, or get this wood thing that you can write a prayer on and hang it around this tree. People still go and bow and clap and pray in remembrance of this emperor. On the way back down the path, this huge group of people came by and all of them started talking to and waving at William. this one lady picked him up and all these other ladies crowded around touching his face and talking to him. People love seeing William. Everyone always smiles and waves at him and get a kick of him waving back at them. I hear this is how the Japanese are with children. I don't know if it is all children, or American white children or what, but he has never received this much attention in his life. It is funny.

Food is outrageusly expensive here. I went to the store the other day and apples were 2 dollars a piece! This teeny box of cereal was about 5 dollars. I spent 80 dollars the first time I went to the store, and all I bought was some sandwich makings that would make maybe 5 sandwiches, some fruit, some milk, some frozen garlic bread, a bar of soap and some shampoo. I think that is it. Anyway, I was shocked at how expensive it was. I found a more American store today where I actually recognized some of the food and was able to buy chicken and hamburger and pasta and sauce, even mac and cheese. That was nice. Another weird thing with the food is that it is all in such small packages. A pint of milk is the biggest milk I have seen anywhere. The biggest package of lunch meat I found has 12 pieces. The biggest loaf of bread has 8 slices. Strange.

We ate at an incredible restaurant the other night. Don had been there last week with a guy from work. This restaurant would do so well in the US. It is actually a Korean restaurant, called a Korean barbeque. You order cuts of meat, we got beef and pork, and they heat up this little grill that is right in the middle of the table. Then they leave you to yourself. You grill the cup up meat one at a time and they have 4 different sauces you can dip the meat in. Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe how good it was. You guys would love it. And I actually ate the whole meal with chopsticks. I have never been able to eat with chopsticks in all the times I have tried...it must be something in the water here that makes me able, I don't know.

Well, we are having a great time so far. Most everyone speaks some English so it isn't hard to get around. I hope everyone is doing well and that your kids are enjoying the new school year. Love you all.

Amy