An Update to Our Photos

Happy Golden Week #awaji #japan

A photo posted by Julie (@loslemleys) on May 1, 2016 at 9:26pm PDT

Picasa is a thing of the past and all of our photos have been merged onto Google Photos, which I'm not so crazy about, so starting 2016, all our photos will be on Flickr (until that gets replaced by something).

We just finished Golden Week, and we traveled down to First Backpackers Inn to camp on Awaji Island.  It was a beautiful night on the beach with friends.

Now, we have four full weeks of school left and less than 6 weeks until we leave Japan.

Flickr Photostream

A Trip to Koyosan

Many of our friends have travelled to Koyasan, and we've tried to book the easy two hour trip away, but we've always tried to do it last minute, and failed to book our stay at the Koyasan Guesthouse Kokuu.

First, before I go further with our visit to Koyasan, this little guesthouse deserve some props.  It is the first time we've stayed in a hostel like place since 2000 when John and I backpacked around Europe.  Koyasan Guesthouse is simple, but super well designed for visitors.  We stayed in "capsule" style rooms (one of us each with a kid).  There were also 3 family rooms.  They had a good, fresh breakfast of eggs, fresh bread, yogurt and fruit.  They also had a bar where we able to have a couple drinks before dinner.  They had curry for dinner every night, but we opted to eat at a local restaurant (Shunsai Kameya - 100 meters to the left of the hotel), which was really good!

Now, let me share our opinion of Koyosan with kids.  I would say that I wouldn't go with kids any younger than ours (8 &5 ), although we've had friends that did and survived.  There was a lot of walking for the kids and not a lot of exciting things for them to do.  (When asked what their favorite parts of the trip were - they both answered, staying in the capsule room).

They were troopers as we took long walks through the town and the cemetary and even did a night cemetary walk with us.

Koyosan was serene and a quaint town.  We stayed less than 24 hours there, so we did miss a few things.  Many people go and stay at the temples to learn more about the buddhist culture and experience shojin ryori cuisine.

Our favorite part was walking through Okunoin cemetery with over 200,000 memorials.  It was beautiful and so peaceful.  Moss and tree roots actively reclaiming some of the older markers and memorials.

Jizo - Protector of Children

Laos - Best Trip Ever with Kids

As we were having a beer watching the sun set over the Mekong River, I looked over to John and said,

I think this is our best vacation, ever, with kids

And it was.  Laos is an amazing country, but also on top of that, our kids are now at an age, where we are not lugging strollers or diapers or special snacks or worrying about naptime or finding food that they can eat.  And it was glorious.

We started our trip in Vientiane.

Well, actually let me back up a bit... this trip seemed like it was doomed the week before we left. Five days before we were to fly, Lola got a big case of the chicken pox.  They had just crusted over, so we were able to fly, with our polka-dotted girl:

Then, the night before we left, I realized that I didn't have my AR (Alien Registration) card which I need to get in and out of the country, and am supposed to have on hand all the time.  Luckily, 3000¥ ($27USD) later, and a dozen "Gomenasei" (sorrys), I was released from the immigration office and able to join the rest of the Lemley crew to get on our flight.

Back to Vientiane...  as soon as we arrived at the airport, time slowed down.  The airport was small and calm.  No one was yelling "taxi" or really paying any attention to us at all.  We got taxis to the Ibis Hotel  - where we luckily scored a family room which was perfect - queen for us and bunkbeds in a joining room for the kids.

Vientiane was great - we stayed right on the strip, so we could easily walk to many cafes and restaurants.  And we could walk to the night market and Mekong River within minutes.

We headed off to the Buddha Park for a morning with the kids which was great and our other highlight of Vientiane was meeting up with a friend who teaches there.  It was great to catch up and she took us to a fantastic restaurant Lao Kitchen, which we wouldn't have found on our own, and our love for LAAB began.

We ate it many times in Lao, but was always too excited
 and forgot to take pictures when it came to the table.
Image Credit: wikipedia.com

After two nights in Vientiane, we rented a van and headed up to Vang Vieng.  It was lovely!  We stayed at Riverside Boutique Resort and had a lovely view.  The hotel wasn't the most child friendly place - we felt like we had to keep the kids quiet at the pool, but it was central and nice.

They arranged two kayaking trips for us, which were fantastic.  Our friends also arranged a ziplining day with their older kids and they said it was amazing. The food was great in Vang Vieng with cheap, delicious street food and many western options as well - we had falafel and hummus (which is not always easy to find in Kobe) twice and Mexican (Amigos) to mix it up one night.

After a few days in Vang Vieng, we headed up to Luang Prabang.  We stayed out of the city at Villa Santi Resort & Spa, (they also had a hotel in the city) which was good for the kids, because we could spend the afternoon at the pool.

Luang Prabang was great - there were many excursions outside of the city (Waterfall trips, Elephant Sanctuary), but we had already done a lot of outside adventures in Vang Vieng, so we stuck to the city and did shopping, eating, and templing.  The highlights of Luang Prabang was Living Land Farm, which was an interactive experience where we went through the process of rice.

John and the guys went on a day motorcycle excursion with MotoLao and they had a fantastic time. The night market was fantastic (much better than the one in Vientiane) as well as the artisan and small boutique shops on the main street.

Laos is a beautiful country.  The Lao people we interacted with were kind and welcoming.  We always felt safe in Lao and never felt taken advantage of and bargaining was minimal.  We were rarely hassled or asked to buy anything.  The food was fantastic (although in Luang Prabang we didn't find as many gems as we did in Vang Vieng and Vientiane).

Laos is a country we definitely want to explore again!

Kop Chai Deu

Kop Chai Lai Lai

Recruiting Season as an International School Teacher

Photo Credit: Travel by Moyan Brenn via FlickrCC

Most of our family and close friends know that we are leaving Japan at the end of the school year. This is our seventh year at Canadian Academy and it's been a good run:
Our family of babies has transformed into a family of funny, independent elementary schoolers...

John and I both changed our jobs within teaching with more courses, certifications and determination.

We have enjoyed our time in Japan... but it is time.

We got into international teaching to travel and see the world as we got to work at some of the best schools in the world. We are ready for new adventures, new jobs, a new culture, a new home.

The international recruiting thing is quite a process.  Let me share our past few months with you... and where we are now.

First, it takes a LONG time to revise a resume, get recommendations, writing a bio and/or education philosophy statement. It's really hard to sell yourself on one piece of paper for one database. This is what John and I both worked on over the summer.

Next, we paid for SEARCH Associates to represent us in our recruiting and add us to their database. We also signed up for the Bangkok job fair in January, but we hope that we will already have a job by January and not have to go. *fingers crossed*

Third, we contacted administrators that we know and want to work with again and are at schools that we want to work at. We have some criteria and have narrowed down our "top" schools... I'll share that in another post.

And now, we wait.

The crazy thing about recruiting as an international teacher is you pretty much have to give up your job to get a new one.  We have sent in our resignation letters for June 2016! [I still feel like this is so crazy] It actually felt really REAL when we saw our own jobs posted on the database... there's no turning back now.

Every morning we get an email from the database of new jobs posted that day and the database allows us to search schools and jobs.  It also allows us to see the profile/packages of the schools which varies immensely.  Most schools have early decisions bonuses in October, so more will be posted then, but many schools have to receive contracts by December, so that is more the definite date.  This date is even later in Europe.

So now, we dream ...  We are enjoying the daily job notifications over our morning coffee.  John and I have gotten really specialized over the past few years (Librarian and Tech Coordinator/Coach), so it's tricky to find a perfect match.

But even with this, our conversations have ebbed from Africa to South America to Asia to Europe... It's fun to imagine ourselves somewhere new next year. It's fun to research more about the school and living in that country. Hopefully we'll have a contract in the next two months. For now, it's fun to dream and think about how lucky we are to have the opportunity to be somewhere else in the world in 10 months.  But for now we wait...

Image Credit: Travel Journal by Kasaa via FlickrCC

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 30

#30 - A quick summary of some of our favorite things we didn't write about (sorry about the all the food - we love to eat and food in Japan is good!):

Yakisoba - literally "fried noodles", it's sometimes served with a bit of pork and pickled ginger.

Image Credit: www.photoree.com
I'm just realizing I never posted about "plastic food"

It's an easy go-to meal, especially if we can't read the menu and the kids enjoy it too.
Something we haven't tried (and don't have a lot of interest in trying), but can be found in most convenience stores is the yakisoba sandwich - a massive carbo load. "Yakisobapan"

Image Credit: www.ifood.tv

Gyoza - fried dumpling (potsticker), usually with minced pork filling.  Eat these fast around Maximo.  He loves them and will try to eat more than you!

Creative Commons Image by Roger T Wong via Wikimedia

Takoyaki - a ball shaped pancake (like a fritter, but not fried) with octopus on the inside. Another thing I like "nashi" (without) mayonnaise.  It's usually covered in a sauce and bonito flakes.

Image Credit: www.mamaloli.com

Painters Outfits

Image Credit: www.flickr.com by Kelly McCormick

The shoes being equally as awesome (we've never tried them though).  I'd love to know the history behind this uniform.

Image Credit: www.news.3yen.com

Wasabi Almonds - I can't believe I don't have a picture of them.  We get them from a local sake brewery.  They are so, so good!

Momoji (cakes) - Momoji are maple leaves.  In Miyajima, they specialize in these little cakes, which have different flavored centers.  I like custard and chocolate, but bean paste is also yummy!

Image Credit: www.21food.com

Kobe Beef - It's so good.  We're going to take you to our favorite place!

Image Credit: www.keioplaza.com

Robotoyaki - translates to "fireside cooking".  Picture yourself sitting up against a display of food.  Behind that is the cook who will prepare what you order (or point to), then serve it to you on a paddle (yes, like a flattened boat paddle) as he reaches over to hand it back to you.

Image Credit: www.nationmultimedia.com

There are also many places which we haven't even begin to talk about, but we didn't really want to spoil it for our family. We want them to experience these places first hand, in real life, not through photos on our blog.  Barely off the plane, I'll whisk them off to Hiroshima and Miyajima (as long as the typhoon stays away).

We'll also go to other amazing places, which are all day trips from our house:

Kyoto - including the Golden Pavilion and Nishiki Markets (KNIVES!)

Arashiyama - we'll see the monkeys, bamboo forest and walk around town

Miyajima - oysters, deer, the beautiful torii gates, many temples, a great little island!

Nara - Todaji temple, more deer, gardens, parks.  Japan's first capital city.

I've enjoyed writing these posts, even during a hectic time of the school year, with multiple trips.

Hopefully, in the future, I will add in a few more "Living in Japan" posts to our normal posts which are smattered with pictures of our kids and our travels in Japan and throughout Asia.

Come to Japan... it's an amazing place.
No we're going to try to squeeze in all 30+ of these posts + more into 14 days.  Let's see how we do!

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 22

#22 Money - Japanese Yen

Image Credit: www.eftrends.com

In Japan, the currency is the yen noted as ¥ or 円.  At the time this is being published, the rate of the Yen to the U.S. dollar is about 100¥ to $1.  One of the easiest things to do (and something we did for the first few years we were here when taking money out of the ATM machines), is to just cover up the last two digits to figure out how much you are spending.  Seriously, those zeros sometimes get confusing.

Bills
The 1,000 Yen note is about $10 USD.

Image Credit: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/

The 10,000 Yen note is about $100 USD.  And referred to as "an ichiman"

Image Credit: http://currencyguide.eu/

(There is also a 2000¥ note, but the aren't commonly found when you are out and about shopping for things).

Coins

Image Credit: http://www.gjsentinel.com

500¥ - about $5 USD (it's about the size of a silver dollar)
100¥ is about $1 USD
50¥ is about 50 cents
10¥ is about 10 cents
5 ¥ is about 5 cents
1 ¥ is just like our penny (and feels fake and almost weighs nothing).

In Japan, the money is always clean and barely looks used.

Foreign debit/credit cards in Japan usually work at the stores, but not always at the ATM machines, which are plentiful.  However, the Post Offices have ATMs that accept foreign cards (and have "English" and sometimes "Korean"/"Portuguese" buttons for easy use).

One of the other issues with getting cash, as at least where we live, is that there are no ATM machines open late at night or early in the morning - so you just have to plan well when you need cash.

When you are here, you'll have no issues, as we have both foreign and Japanese bank accounts to get money.

And always, because Japan is so safe, you can easily walk around with money or ask for help when you are trying to figure out how much something is, because they are definitely not trying to rip you off!

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 20

#20 All You Need is Kobe

We live on Rokko Island, which is found in the city of Kobe.  While it is a large city (about 1.5 million people), it is nothing compared to Tokyo or even Osaka.

It is nestled between mountains and the ocean.

It's a great place to visit (and live) in Japan.

You can easily take day trips to Kyoto, Nara, Arashiyama and Hiroshima/Miyajima (which we will).

Photo Credit: www.asiarooms.com

There are a lot of great restaurants and shopping in Kobe, especially in the area of Sannomiya.

One of the best perks of living in Kobe is KIX airport, which is actually in the Osaka-area.  It is fantastic (and always super efficient and smooth) to fly in/out.  We can get from check-in to the gate in no time and usually can land, go through immigration, get our luggage, go through customs and get to the bus stop within 10-15 minutes.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 11

#11 Rokko Island

Rokko Island

Rokko Island is a rectangular man-made island.  There is a great 5 km (3.1 mile) "Greenbelt" path that encloses the residential area of the island which is great to run/walk around and is dotted with great views, playgrounds and planned plantings.  Outside of that, there are shipyards for containers and a few other commercial buildings.

Middle of Rokko Island

Within the residential area, there are restaurants, schools, parks, grocery stores, a water park... Anything one might need when living on an island.  Unfortunately, in the past few years, many businesses have left Rokko Island, so there isn't as much a variety of restaurants and shopping.

It is the perfect place if you are under 10 or over 60.

We get around on bike and by foot.  We are only 5 minutes from work and grocery stores by bike (and really anything else on the island).

It does get a bit boring and we often wish there were more restaurant choices on island.  We wish that it was easier to go out and buy a gift or get the kids new shoes (as it was when we first moved to the island five years ago).  But, the kids have a lot of freedom on island.   Maximo rides ahead of us on his bike and has a key to our apartment.  While there are cars, there are lights and crossing signals everywhere.  There are hedges separating most of the sidewalks and roads, so when you are walking with an unpredictable toddler, it is usually pretty safe.

Maximo walking home with his friends

While sometimes we yearn for more exciting (shopping and eating, mostly) options nearby, we never have to worry about traffic or being jammed on a train on a busy commute to work.  It's easy to hop on the Rokko Liner and head into Sannomiya (the heart of Kobe) and enjoy meals, shopping and all the things we miss in our day to day home-to-work-to-home life.

Lola in the River Mall

In the middle of the island, there is the River Mall, a man-made "river" which is great for the kids to play in when it's hot.  This is where most of the shops, hotels, restaurants can be found on island.

View North from our apartment towards Kobe

There is a decent ex-pat population on Rokko Island due to the two international schools and Proctor and Gamble.  It is one of the few places in Japan you'll regularly see many foreigners. Due to this population, the grocery stores have a wider variety of products and we can get pretty much whatever we want (for a price, of course).

The City and the inhabitants (especially the large population of retirees) do a great job of keeping the island beautiful and clean.  There are a lot of sculptures around island and there are flowers, trees and plants everywhere you look.

The day after you arrive, we'll be at work, and you can go explore the island...you'll never be more than 15 minutes from our apartment.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 10

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#10 Trash Talk

Image Credit: http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent

In Japan, trash sorting and pick-up is serious business, as you can see from the above image. At first it's a bit overwhelming, but now when we go back to the U.S. in the summer, we're shocked by the amount we just "throw away", even with the recycling programs we have in Savannah and CT.

In Japan, the major trash sorting categories (as understood by a foreigner) are:

Burnable trash - this goes to an incinerator and is food scrap, non-recyclable paper, and other burnable items.

Pura - this is plastic packaging - plastic wrap, plastic wrap from snacks, packaging from meat in the grocery store, and thin styrofoam, labels from PET bottles.

PET - this is plastic bottles - mostly drink containers.  But on this day of recycling, we can also recycle glass bottles, aluminum and tin cans.

Non-burnable trash - Hard plastics, and other small (that can fit into a bag) non burnable items.

While we can recycle A LOT, it is difficult to get rid of things (especially large things) you no longer want.  You cannot just go to a dump and drop it off, or what was even easier in Peru, just leave it by the side of the road, where someone else would grab it or it would be collected with the trash.

This is sometimes very difficult, especially because living spaces are so small in Japan.  The only other frustrating thing about trash is finding a trash can in a public place (other than a train station) can sometimes be challenging.

In Japan, people are really good good about cleaning up after themselves.   We went to a big festival and were given tongs and trash bags to carry out our trash with us.  

Frequently, different groups (schools, apartment complexes) organize clean-ups where they don their gloves, tongs and a variety of different trash bags to collect trash around their neighborhoods.

Regularly we see people on Rokko Island picking up trash when they are out walking their dog in the morning, just because.

Japan is a highly populated country, and they have great systems in place for people to live in harmony as best they can.  In Japan, people really respect nature and cleanliness, and everyone contributes.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 9

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#9: Cosplay

Cosplay "costume play" is where grown adults dress up in (intricate & expensive) costumes with accessories that usually represent a character, from Manga (Japanese adult cartoon) or other sources.

Our island is often a playground for "Cosplayers" and photographers on the weekends.  The spaceship-like Fashion Museum and the Proctor & Gamble Building (which Lola refers to Monsters' Inc.), are perfect backdrops to pink and blue-haired sword-wielding futuristic warriors.

It's always entertaining to watch and I love the juxtaposition of kids playing in the River Mall with all these futuristic funky characters getting photographed in the background.

If you want to learn more about Cosplay, read here (or Google it yourself!).

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 8

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#8: Great advertisements/public announcements

Image Credit: http://wwwscriblets-bleets.blogspot.jp/

I often spend my train rides trying to figure out the meaning of the advertisements/public announcements.  Many times they are straightforward and easy to figure out the message (even when one is illiterate).  

But often times, I look at the posters and have no idea what the advertisement is about or there is just a really interesting/strange way of attracting people to the advertisement - not ones you would normally see in the U.S.  There are usually include cute animals or beautiful girls.

Sometimes the are funny because there are issues with English translation.

Here are some posted here at train stations.  I need to take pictures of more, because they are great.  

Image Credit: www.japantrends.com

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 7

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

Tiny beers

#7 Teeny Tiny Things

When we first moved to Japan, I was amazed by how tiny things were - tiny apartments, tiny refrigerators, tiny packages of meat/fish at the grocery store, tiny portions at restaurants, and more.  After a while, you really get use to it, and now when we go back home I'm shocked by how big everything is - cars, meals served at restaurants, stores, etc.

Tiny Taco

 It's hard in these images to really get the perspective of how tiny some things are, but when you'll get here you'll see.

You get used to the tininess.
A large house isn't needed.
A massive meal isn't necessary.
Everything is cute.
While many things are tiny... they are really efficient and/or of the best quality.

A tiny moving truck