Well, it has been a while since my last letter to you all updating you on life in Japan.� As you hopefully already know (since you all should have recieved the original announcement), our daughter, Lydia, was born on August 5th.� She�s 4 weeks old already!
As you can imagine, Lydia has been keeping Roland and myself quite busy.� She continually tests our creativity in finding new ways to make her happy. She eats a lot, cries a lot, and doesn�t sleep much.� But of course we are absolutely in love with her and thrilled to have her with us (especially since she�s so cute, even when she�s screaming!).
We have been in Japan 3 months now.� We still speak no Japanese � unfortunately it is not a language that you can just �pick-up� without really trying.� And we haven�t had the time to take any classes yet.� Now that Lydia has arrived and we are getting used to her needs and her �routine� (if you can call it that), we are hoping that we can start taking some classes soon.� It is really a bummer not being able to communicate, especially since people are really so friendly here.� It would be nice to be able to return the friendliness.� Also, as I said in previous emails, we know it will really enrich our time here.� If we are spending these 2 years in such a new and different culture it would be a real shame not to acutally have at least an understanding of the language!
The food here is still really impressing us.� One great thing about not being pregnant is that I don�t have to be so careful with what I eat anymore.� I can finally be a little more adventurous with the japanese cuisine now.� (before I was limited to more familiar foods!) And Roland and I can finally go to the sushi place that we�ve had our eye on since I can eat raw fish again... though we haven�t actually had the chance to do that yet!
Our experience with maternity care in Japan was amazing.� Everyone should come to Japan to have their babies! I stayed in the hospital for 5 days (that�s the standard).� My room was like a small hotel room � a single bed, desk, night stand, TV, mini-fridge, sink, and small bathroom.� Everyday the nurses checked on the progress of mother and baby.� They got me medication or creams if I needed them.� The answered any questions I had.� They used a computer translation program to translate everything they wanted to say to me in advance. It was so cute � they�d always come to my room with a sheet of paper with lots of english sentences. Of course they were always oogling over the cute little western baby that Lydia is.� And they told me that she has a good �spirit� � that just means she cries loud!� Meals were brought to my room everyday at 8:30 am, noon, and 5:45 pm. The food was incredible.� Tuesdays and Fridays are french cuisine days.� The other days it was mostly japanese � really yummy (and nothing overly wierd).� The presentation of the food was wonderful � each meal looked like a gourmet dish.� Visiting hours were until 9 pm, so Roland came by everyday after work and hung out until then.� When it was time to leave the hospital there was a big departure ceremony where the nurses presented us with various gifts (a blanket with the hospital logo, a piece of the umbilical cord in a fancy box, a newspaper from August 5th, and some other stuff).� Then they escorted us out of the building (all the nurses and midwives).� The head midwife carried the baby and handed her to me once I was inside the taxi.� As we drove off, they all bowed.� It was something else!
Well, as far and Japan goes, the weather has started to get really nice.� We survived through the rainy season and then through the really hot and humid season.� Now the weather is less humid and really wonderful.� September through November are supposed to be spectacular weather here in Fukuoka.� We�ve been having a few typhoons lately � or at least typhoon warnings.� It�s really funny when a typhoon is on the way because people really batton down the hatches � businesses close, the subways and trains are very delayed or stopped all together, no one is out on the streets.� In our experience so far, people get all prepared for a big storm and then nothing really happens except for a little rain and wind.� So we were thinking people were just over-reacting about the storms.� But last week a typhoon really did hit Fukuoka.� It was so noisy all night and day. Roland couldn�t get to work and his plant was shut down anyway. Bunches of trees in our park were ripped out or twisted.� The roof of the tennis court next to our building go ripped off.� So now we�ve successfully experienced our first typhoon.� It was pretty cool from the safe-haven of our apartment!
My mother is coming to visit for the month of October.� Roland and I are looking forward to showing her around and doing some local traveling while she is here.� It will be especially fun for Lydia and me to have some company! And I�m sure Roland and I will enjoy having a night or two away from the baby while grandma looks after her. :)
All the best to you,
Rebecca, Roland and Lydia