New House in Kitakyushu

Hello All,

Sorry for the lack of postings, but it as been a busy time for us. We just moved to Kitakyushu City in Kyushu Island. The house was partially furnichised, so we really lucked out. We then went home, and let the kids go back to their old school for a few days. They really enjoyed it. One day we went with the bigger kids to pick the rest of the sweet potatoes from the field. Hanano stayed home with grandma, but the rest of went to work. It was a lot of fun, and some pretty good work for me. 2-3 hours of using a hoe to dig up potatoes will make you a little tired.

They actually gave us 4 bags of sweet potatoes to bring home, so I used the BBQ and cooked some on a wood fire from a tree I trimmed in the yard earlier this summer. They were pretty good! So we brought some back to school from the teachers and also to a cousins house for their dinner.

We came back to Kitakyushu on Saturday, and a friend invited us to their friend farm to plan onions, so we went to work on another farm on Sunday. We planted the onions, and then we had a nice little lunch. We went for a walk, and Joe fell down while running, and I am sure they could hear his screams for miles on the walk back to the cars first aid kit. I got him patched up, and I started working on a bunch of downed trees with a chain saw, as the kids played and Hanano took a nap. Boy it felt good to use the chain saw for 2 hours. Talk about a good stress reliever. The owner of the property told us we could come and use the land any time, and even told us that we could plant a section of the land that he is not using for some veggies. I think that this was a great connection, and we are going to get together again next month after New Years. He seems like a really nice guy, whom we will be good friends. He actually used to be the captain of a ferry, and before that worked with Japanese tuna fishing fleet. Hence his traveling the world, he actually speaks a bit of English. NICE! My Japanese is just not at the point where I can have any pure Japanese speaking friends at this point. Although I can understand a lot, I just do not have the ability to make clear concise sentences in Japanese.

Well today is the 3rd here in Japan, and we are getting ready to come back to the States for Christmas. We will be gone longer than most Japanese for their vacations, but with all we need and want to do, it seems as if 3 weeks will not be enough.

Talk to you soon,
Steve

PS: Picks of the house will be on Picasa soon.