Dear friends and family,
We arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday September 29th 2009 after a crazy summer that included me working full-time in Manhattan and Nick working full-time in Tokyo (with a brief stint in Cluj Romania). We're looking forward to establishing some semblance of a normal family life and routine even if our surroundings are anything but "normal" for an American family of four.
We decided to create this blog as a vehicle to stay in touch with all of you despite the time difference and the distance. We'll try to keep it updated with posts and with links to photos.
So far we are doing quite well. We love our house — everything is electronic so you can prepare a hot bath upstairs from a panel in the kitchen downstairs (which I did by accident yesterday) and I’m sure Chloe will just love getting potty trained on a toilet that has a gazillion buttons. We also love the neighborhood. There is a big park nearby complete with a bike path, a skate park, an outdoor pool, soccer and baseball fields, and a children’s playground, among other things.
There is also a university nearby so there are tons of young people, tons of families, take-out joints, bars, and people biking everywhere. I love that people bike holding umbrellas in the rain, people bike with a baby in the front and a toddler in the back, people bike to the grocery store, to work, to bars, to restaurants, their kids to school and, best of all, no one locks up their bikes. I have not seen one lock anywhere.
We’ve started our Japanese lessons, which I am quickly realizing may be crucial as we have been blindly guessing about everything from the control panels in our own house (the toilet flush is not the button that power washes your bum) to items at the grocery store (bean paste did not go over well with Chloe as peanut butter). We’re also eagerly awaiting for our furniture to arrive (last night Nick discovered that one cannot open a bottle of wine with a wooden chopstick).
All in all, we are doing great. We miss all of you and we’d just love for everyone to come visit. We have a guest bedroom and lots of space. In the meantime, please call or write. We’re 16 hours ahead of Cali, 14 ahead of Illinois and 13 ahead of New York. That’s right, we’re in the future :)
Here is a link to some pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/FromBklynToTokyoViaCali#slideshow/5389686005153998674
Lots of love,
Jessie, Nick, Chloe & Tessa
We arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday September 29th 2009 after a crazy summer that included me working full-time in Manhattan and Nick working full-time in Tokyo (with a brief stint in Cluj Romania). We're looking forward to establishing some semblance of a normal family life and routine even if our surroundings are anything but "normal" for an American family of four.
We decided to create this blog as a vehicle to stay in touch with all of you despite the time difference and the distance. We'll try to keep it updated with posts and with links to photos.
So far we are doing quite well. We love our house — everything is electronic so you can prepare a hot bath upstairs from a panel in the kitchen downstairs (which I did by accident yesterday) and I’m sure Chloe will just love getting potty trained on a toilet that has a gazillion buttons. We also love the neighborhood. There is a big park nearby complete with a bike path, a skate park, an outdoor pool, soccer and baseball fields, and a children’s playground, among other things.
There is also a university nearby so there are tons of young people, tons of families, take-out joints, bars, and people biking everywhere. I love that people bike holding umbrellas in the rain, people bike with a baby in the front and a toddler in the back, people bike to the grocery store, to work, to bars, to restaurants, their kids to school and, best of all, no one locks up their bikes. I have not seen one lock anywhere.
We’ve started our Japanese lessons, which I am quickly realizing may be crucial as we have been blindly guessing about everything from the control panels in our own house (the toilet flush is not the button that power washes your bum) to items at the grocery store (bean paste did not go over well with Chloe as peanut butter). We’re also eagerly awaiting for our furniture to arrive (last night Nick discovered that one cannot open a bottle of wine with a wooden chopstick).
All in all, we are doing great. We miss all of you and we’d just love for everyone to come visit. We have a guest bedroom and lots of space. In the meantime, please call or write. We’re 16 hours ahead of Cali, 14 ahead of Illinois and 13 ahead of New York. That’s right, we’re in the future :)
Here is a link to some pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/FromBklynToTokyoViaCali#slideshow/5389686005153998674
Lots of love,
Jessie, Nick, Chloe & Tessa
No comments:
Post a Comment