First Day of School

Today was Koby's first day of school ceremony where he found out who his teacher would be. His teacher turned out to be a female and is the assistant principle. Koby had to get in front of the whole school and tell everyone his name.

In this school it has so few students that they combine 1&2 grade, 3&4 grade and 5&6 grade. Koby has (4) 3rd graders and (2) 4th graders for a total of 6 kids in his class.

He did good, and kind of just watched the other kids and followed their lead, it was a short day and basically only the first day ceremony and a lot of speeches.

Last Day of Vacation

Tomorrow is the big day of school, All of the kids were outside playing today getting the most out of the last day of vacation.

We visited with the local policeman and his family today. Yasuko is becoming fast friends with all of the women of the town. Even though we don't know everyone here, everyone sure knows or has heard of us.

The only foreigners in town!

Feeling ill

We got our phone installed today, now we will not feel so isolated. Yasuko was busy calling everyone and giving them our new telephone number, we also got our terminal adapter for the Internet service connected also, but still need to choose a provider before we can get online.

The weather is getting steadily warmer and the snow is melting fast. Snowman came over today and visited again, he brought me some books to read, including a couple learning to speak Japanese books, a novel and Conspiracy and UFO book, that will keep me busy for a while.

We drove about 10 minutes from here where there is a natural spring that ice cold water comes up from the ground. We collected (2) 2 liter bottles, the water tastes great, with no taste at all, just like water should. (no taste no smell), No chlorine, no fluoride and no heavy metals.

The kids and myself were sick at our stomachs today, but Yasuko was un-affected. Koby and Evan both threw up, while I went to bed early. It must have been something that we ate, but I cannot figure out what it could have been. We all felt better the next day.

Fox

We borrowed a truck today to go get some groceries that we needed, it was my first time to drive in Japan in more than 12 years. I have to keep reminding myself left side, left side. Since we drive on the left side of the road here.

The kids stayed at a neighbors house and played with their kids, and ended up eating dinner with them also. We saw our first red fox crossing the road as we were coming back from the store, it looked like he had a hurt leg and was limping.

As far as bears, there are no worries, Mr. Ikeno was born and raised here and says he has only seen one his entire life and that was five years ago.

It was another beautiful day getting warmer and warmer.

Normal Schedules

Another beautiful day, we are finally into a normal sleep and waking schedule. The kids usually go to bed between 9:30 and 10pm and wake up between 7:30 and 8:00am, while Yasuko and I are in bed around 10:30pm and up at 7:00am.

Koby has to be at school at 8:00am so waking up at 7:00 will be plenty of time to get ready and make it to school. It helps when you can throw a rock and hit his school from our house.

Exercise

The weather during the day is nice, no jacket needed but a long sleeved shirt is advised. The snow is melting fast and soon there will be none to see except on the mountain tops.

We are still working on getting Internet access and a vehicle. It is a very nice place here, but without a vehicle, you are kind of stuck to a very small area.

We went for a long walk up a mountain today, and got a great view of the town we live in. Stupid me forgot to bring the camera, but I will go back again and get some pictures.

Evan and Koby had a good time, but Evan's little legs get tired fast.

Higashikagura

We learned today that there is a dairy right up the road from our house (walking distance) where we can buy fresh cow milk straight out of the cow. We can buy 2 liters for about $3 but we have to heat it up before we drink it to kill any germs there might be lurking in it. You have to remember this is straight out of the cow, not homogenized or pasteurized. So we pasteurize it ourself and then refrigerate it, the only drawback is it has to be used within a few days or it goes bad.

We had large snowflakes coming down today, but the weather is getting so warm that it is melting faster than it is sticking. Koby's school playground used to be covered with snow when we first got here, but now it is almost clear.

We took a bus into town today, it costs $3 for all of us. We visited the library and checked out some books for the kids, I looked through the very small english written section and got 2 of the thickest ones I could find. I will be able to read all of the english books in the library in about 3 months haha.