“Sumimasen” has become our new favorite word as we commit every accidental faux pas, but thankfully, everyone has been super nice and polite. I’ve even made a native Japanese friend!
The biggest news is we have a house! We moved into a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse on the north side of base. It has a yard that Miles absolutely loves.
We have officially landed in Japan! The plane ride was long but when it finally went after 47 hours of delays, the ride wasn’t too bad.
Miles did great with the ride! Didn’t seem to get bothered by it at all, which was a huge relief. Speaking of huge relief, the crazy boy held his pee the entire flight!
When we landed, we were blessed to see a familiar face: our friend Ricky. He was such a lifesaver. He drove us around the base, helped us check into our temporarily housing, get new housing (we secured a really great 3 bed 2.5 bath house on base with a yard), get our 4EJ international driver’s license, and best of all where to get cheap and delicious sushi off base.
Our first day was so exhausting, especially after such a long plane ride, so we called it by 7:30pm and passed out. The next day, Miles and I woke up by 4am feeling like our was 6 out 7 am because the sun was already coming up!! Land of the rising indeed! The sunrise here is at 4:15am!
Day 2 started with a cup of Joe from the vending machine in our hotel. The vending machines are everywhere and they have completely novel and fun drinks, most of which are really delicious.
In the morning, we headed off base to see some shops and convenience stores. Yes, convenience stores! In the US, these types of stores are generally grungy and boring, but in Japan they’re so different and fun. Just see the pics and videos below:
Next stop, supermarket!
Portland may have been a bust but Seattle definitely was not! Surprisingly it didn’t rain at all (I’m now 95% sure they tell us it’s rainy to keep us out) and the city was so walkable and fun!
Miles got very tired, which is great because tomorrow we hop onto a 12 hour flight to Japan, during which we want him asleep. Next post will be from Japan!
Portland, OR was a bit of a bust. Lots of homelessness and most things were closed down or just unsafe to be. We loved our dog friendly hotel though!
After the night in Portland we headed up to Seattle. Once we made it to the hotel, we dropped off our things and headed for the beautiful Cascades.
With a few days until we get to Japan, we are taking a road trip up the west coast to Seattle where we will fly out of. We left our California home and headed out in the Subaru!
We hiked Northern California around the beautiful Mt. Shasta.
Miles slept most of the trip in the comfy back of the Subaru. When we got to Medford, OR, we stopped for delicious tapas. The best one in my opinion was the saffron butter shrimp, but Leanne says the grilled octopus was her favorite.
We stayed the night in a tiny eco-home we found on AirBnB. It was so lovely.
It was a great first day. Now for the next stop: Portland!
When you are moving internationally, it is important to cut down on the amount of things you have. Especially when you are moving from a country with relatively large homes (USA) to a country with relatively small homes (Japan). As such, we cut down our possessions significantly. It is amazing how much junk accumulates in just a few years, even when you’re being careful!
I’m excited to “start fresh” though, and redecorate our new home in Japan in a Japanese style. Any Japanese interior design tips or inspiration would be amazing!
After the sad farewell to the Chens, Leanne and I stayed back to squeeze out a few more days with family before we head to Japan. Even though Aliya and Kaden were in school, everyone else has work, they all still took time to spend time with us and make us feel special during our short time home.
If there is one role I play for the Rawji’s, it’s undoubtedly tech support. I spent a full day setting up all the new tech to bring Mom & Dad to the current year 2023, with new gadgets and gizmos. To be honest, the short break after the full beach day, Disney, and Universal was needed! But the break *would* be short lived.
Aliya, Kaden, Zahra, and Mom the week before had gone to Discovery Cove to meet dolphins, swim in the reef with sting rays and fish of all kinds, relax on the lazy river, and refresh with pineapple ice cream. Mom wanted to re-create this experience with Leanne and me, and by goodness she did!
Discovery Cove was incredible. Leanne and I were accompanied by Aliya, Kaden, and Mom. Unfortunately the rest of the family had work and couldn’t come. We started the day with a nice breakfast, then snorkeled under the reef. Under the reef was hundreds of fish, massive sting rays majestically swimming about, and there was even a tank with sharks! SHARKS! Hours flew by in what felt like minutes just appreciating all of the beauty. After lunch (and ice cream), we headed to meet a real-life dolphin.
(This is obviously not our family but just pretend, I can photoshop it later!)
We headed to the lazy river. This was a long stretch of warm water (there were a lot of kids in there come to think of it.. did the water have a yellowish tinge to it? sorry Aliya!!) for which MOST people could use a pool noodle to relaxedly float down and around. I say most people because I was not one of those people! I think Kaden stole my pool noodle 3.. or maybe 4 times? And Aliya got me with jumps and splashes. Mom and Leanne steered well clear of the chaos 😛
On the way to the end of the lazy river was an aviary where we fed tropical birds from all over the world. Leanne loved this part (Leanne actually loved every part, but also this part). In the middle of the lazy river was a literal monkey island where a bunch of little monkeys lived that we got to see. Sea otters was next before we got to the end where we could enjoy being in the water while eating pretzels and cookies.
After the lazy river, it was time to meet a dolphin. Meeting the dolphin was such a cool experience. Our dolphin was one of the “silly” ones, and her personally showed in the way she swam to us upside down. Kaden made sure to ask the photographer for extra pictures so we got more time to pet the dolphin. He didn’t want the pictures, just more time with the dolphin, and I can’t blame him because so did I!
Then it was time to head back to the reef. Now having seen it once, I was.. still completely blown away by the majesty and beauty of the animals within the reef. Leanne looked like a kid in a candy store. Aliya showed me all around the reef. When I tried to take Aliya around the reef, I got so distracted by all the sea life under me I didn’t make it further than 5 feet from where I started. It was clear Aliya needed to the take the lead! And lead she did; we saw the fish, stingrays, sharks, hidden areas, eels, starfish, and just explored and explored. By the time we knew it, it was already 5pm and time to go. No pictures were taken because phone + water = bad news.
The day wasn’t quite over though, because it was a special someone’s birthday! Kaden!! Maa came over with tumbwadeezi and samosas, Zahra made delicious food, and we spent time together celebrating Kaden’s birthday. Gifts included but were not limited to: the aformentioned orbi gun (I got hit with this a few times), a periodic table of elements with pieces of the actual elements (except the radioactive ones!), and lights that float using.. either physics or magic. It looked like magic.
Yum! Subs!! Kaden challenged us to eat them with no thumbs 😛
Happy 12th birthday Tom DeLeone! I mean Kaden! Sorry, the jersey confused me for a second.
Magic or physics? You decide.. Actually the answer is physics.
Sadly, eventually, the week did come to a close. I loved spending time with family, especially since we’ll be moving to Japan soon. I’m ecstatic for the Japan adventure to come and have been enthusiastically watching J-dramas, anime, reading manga, and learning the writing characters while going through old photos of me and Zahra from our Japan trip. But I’m also going to really *really* miss family. As I said in the last post, I wouldn’t trade this week in Florida with everyone for anything.
Here’s some more photos from the rest of the week.
Aliya getting her early b-day gift and all the newest emojis and features!
A little shaken up after Zahra’s cRaZy driving!
Accidental twinsies!
This bear is just expressing himself.
The Chens flew to Orlando for the Chen/Rawji family vacation of a lifetime. For Ashley and Anna, it was the first time flying ever. The first night, we enjoyed some Indian style cooking at home and spent time together. It was like home, like we’ve all known each other all along!
The first day we went to the world famous Daytona Beach. For the Chen’s, this was the first time at a Florida beach! The water was so warm, the sky was clear, and the waves kept coming in! It was a perfect beach day and we all had a blast.
After the beach, we enjoyed eating at one of Dad Rawji’s favorite Daytona restaurants, Salsa’s.
After eating and going to the Daytona Flea Market, we went to Buc-ees, the United States’ second largest gas station. Tyler loaded up on fudge and Aubrey fell in love with the Buc-ees mascot, for which her parents had to buy a little Buc-ee to take home. One of the cutest things was Aubrey saying “I love you Buc-ee” to the gas station mascot. Last stop before home was the Daytona Flea Market where Kaden, the birthday boy, got his early birthday gift of an orbi toy gun.
That evening, the “kids” went out while the adults rested up at home. First stop was Downtown DeLand. Unexpectedly, DeLandapalooza was going on. There were 22 concerts simultaneously going on throughout all downtown. While this was fun to sneak into and check out, after a little bit we were ready to move on to the next adventure. We headed for Gator’s Dockside where Anna tried gator tail for the first time.
Now it was time to rest up for Disney! The next day we headed out early to get as much of the day at Disney as we could. Magic Kingdom here we come!
The whole day was magical. Somehow, all 13 of us stayed together the whole day! So many rides, so many shows, so many parades (including a pleasantly unexpected rainy day parade), so many things to see and do. Aliya and Kaden helped me and Leanne buff up our Disney pin collections. We saw it all, we rode it all, we ate it all!
The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show over Cinderella’s castle. Though it was raining and eventually pouring, that didn’t stop us from enjoying the amazing show.
Time to get home and rest up! The very next day we headed for Universal Studios.
Diagon Alley, The Mummy ride, and all the other sites and attractions were incredible to see. Nothing like pumpkin juice and butterbeer!
That evening, Mom Rawji made “Marry Me Chicken” with pasta, as well as a Carrabba’s inspired dipping sauce for Publix white mountain bread. The dinner was a massive hit! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dad Chen eat so much in one sitting, but I could understand why because the food was incredible.
While Ashley was trying to put Aubrey to bed, she looked at Leanne and said “I want out!” Of course, Leanne said she should go to sleep. Aubrey then played her next trick, “I’m hungry” while holding her tummy. Hook, line, and sinker, Leanne was like putty in her hands. Leanne took her to the kitchen and got her a strawberry to eat. Aubrey ate the tiniest part of the strawberry then proceeded to play every game she could think of with everyone. Peek-a-boo, hide and seek, floor is lava, telephone, etc. etc. etc. We ended up all staying up a few hours later than we all expected just talking, hanging out, and playing with Aubrey.
This was such a fun and rejuvenating week in Florida. Spending time with my family on both sides was so fun, and only made better by how it felt like we had all known each other all along. Everyone felt at home and had a great time. I wouldn’t trade this week for anything.
As Leanne heads into the end sprint of studying for boards, a necessary and welcomed reprieve presented itself as the USAFP (Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians) went underway in Orlando, FL. Leanne presented multiple posters of research and case presentations. We both attended lectures and learned what’s cutting edge in family medicine.
But what fun is only going to lectures when you are 15 minutes away from the “Happiest Place on Earth”?
With any free time we had, we and the other residents and attendings headed to Disney or Universal Studios!
Universal Studios Islands of Adventure:
One of the residents planned a “Family Dinner” at Disney Springs’ T-Rex café. Yes, that’s right, about 30 full-grown adult physicians went to the T-rex café. The waiter, at first confused where our children were, later assured us that sometimes adults come here too.
Lastly, my favorite Disney park Epcot. The “Flower Festival” was in full bloom and all the famous Disney characters were beautifully sculpted and located throughout the park. I loved enjoying food and drinks from around the world!
March 5th, 2023 is the day Leanne and I completed the Napa Valley Half Marathon. This was my first-ever half marathon and I’m proud to say I ran the entire way.
This was a huge accomplishment for me and proved that if I set my mind to something, even something as crazy as running 13 miles straight, I can do it!
