Sayonara Nippon

It's with a heavy heart that I write this last post.

We will forever be changed by the rare and unique opportunity to live in Japan for the past three and a half years. The friendships we've made, the memories we have, the obstacles we've overcome, the culture and sites we've experienced, will never ever be forgotten.

Final Days...

Our final days were spent saying goodbye to dear friends.

Ready to go home, but will deeply miss these faces and places.

Sayonara party

Most expats tend to have a huge sayonara party when they leave Japan... a great reason for a nomikai (all you can drink party) at a local restaurant followed by intense all-night karaoke. I didn't want that. Not only because I was pregnant, but because that just wasn't me.

I wanted a small get together with my girlfriends. Seemed like the perfect excuse to get dressed up, leave the kids at home, and indulge in an all-you-can eat dessert buffet at the elegant Sir Winston Hotel. So that's exactly what we did.

It's hard to find good dessert in Japan - it just doesn't satisfy a U.S. sweet tooth. But the Sir Winston Hotel did not disappoint. You have 90-minutes to eat unlimited cakes and a variety of sweets. Each month the restaurant has a theme and they start you out with a sample of their monthly specials. This month was strawberry --- perfect!

Thanks ladies for a beautiful ending to such an amazing adventure. Life in Nagoya wouldn't have been the same without you.

"The beautiful thing about moving away from your home country is when you meet new people they truly meet the real you, no strings attached. They have no preconceptions because of where you come from or who you are related to."

Last Festival in Japan

There are countless local festivals in Japan because almost every shrine celebrates one of its own. We really enjoyed going to these festivals. We'll miss everything about them... yukatas, lanterns, bananas on sticks, tacoyaki stands, carnival games, fireworks, but most importantly spending time with good friends and being fully immersed in the Japanese culture. Ok, let me rephrase that, we'll miss almost everything about the Japanese festivals - we will NOT miss the crowds, intense summer heat, or mosquitoes. I swear I'm allergic to the mosquitoes in Japan - I swell up and get big welts!

 

Our last festival, and Elodie's first kiss. She'll surely miss her Shaun-Shaun.

Surprise baby shower

I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that I wasn't going to give birth in Japan. That probably sounds odd to people in the U.S. reading this, but remember that I had Elodie here and had a wonderful experience. It's what I know, it's what I'm used to, and I love my doctor. So I wasn't thrilled about being 10 weeks away from my due date, traveling across the world, and having to find a new doctor in a new city.

My friends surprised me with a baby shower the week before we were leaving for the states. It was so nice to be able to relax, not think about the stresses of moving, and just hang out with my girlfriends and have a good time. I am so lucky to have met some pretty amazing women here. My experience in Japan wouldn't have been the same without them.

Selling our stuff...

Who would have thought selling items would be so difficult? I'm pretty sure I've told you in previous posts that people in Japan tend to not like used items. This obviously makes selling your stuff in Japan extremely difficult! So we were pretty limited to the small expat and foreigner community. Dealing with such a small community of people left us not having much room to negotiate on the price, or the timing of getting rid of our stuff. Joe complained about selling our couch too early, but at least we didn't have to pay someone to come and take it at the last minute.

You can't exactly set your junk out on the curb here - you literally have to pay someone to come and pick up your garbage. This generally costs more than what the item is even worth. Plus, who wants to pay to get rid of garbage? We were left with a lot of random odds and ends, so we were scrounging at the last minute trying to demolish everything and anything we could to fit inside regular tiny Japanese garbage bags. If there's ever a next time, I think we'll just ship everything. ;)

Tokoname

Tokoname is a small city south of Nagoya known for its pottery. It's actually one of the six historic pottery towns in Japan. Tokoname has a long history and tradition of pottery making, dating back 900 years!

There is a "pottery path" filled with traditional houses, workshops, galleries, and buildings with unique character and charm. The path has remained unchanged, keeping its pottery-town atmosphere unique to Tokoname. Visitors and locals come here to shop, and enjoy the sites and history of this small, charming town. 

I have been to some of the shops in Tokoname several of times; but I have never walked the historic pottery path. Knowing our time in Nagoya was coming to an end, this was a must-do on my list! Thankfully Yumi went with me, showed me around, and enjoyed shopping for pottery together.

Those of you who know me well know that I collect pitchers. This was the PERFECT addition to my collection. It has a unique design and is loaded with beautiful blue and turquoise colors; but most importantly, it was handmade by a local artist in Japan - and it will always remind me of our incredible journey living abroad.

Last aquarium visit

Elodie's favorite place in all of Nagoya is the aquarium. We have an annual pass, so we tried to take advantage of every opportunity we could to use the pass before leaving Japan.

Luckily her besties joined us on our trips out there. These kiddos have so much fun together!!

Job offer

The week after we got back from vacation, Joe got a job offer from Boeing in Charleston, South Carolina. HE TOOK IT!!!! Our end date was just around the corner anyway (October), so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try something new. Neither one of us have really spent any time in the South, so this will be a great way to experience another part of our country. And let's be real here, I wasn't thrilled about going back to all the rain in Seattle anyway.

The timing for the job offer wasn't perfect though. My due date was just a short 3 months away... and considering Elodie was 3 weeks early, we knew we had to leave Japan as soon as possible.

We had about 4 weeks to sell almost everything we own, make travel/hotel arrangements, pack the essentials, and try to squeeze in all of our favorite restaurants, sites, and time with friends. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

 

Elodie is surely going to miss her friends, and Joe and I will too. You know the TV show "Friends"? That's what our life felt like sometimes. Our closest friends living next door in a highrise apartment building downtown. Even though I'm ready for the journey back to the U.S., I know I will miss this.

FIJI

I remember looking through a wedding magazine years ago and seeing an advertisement for Fiji. I thought to myself, I will go there one day. :)

Fiji is actually only a short 2-hour flight from New Zealand, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go there. What better way to unwind from our adventures in NZ than with a relaxing stay in a tropical paradise!?

We stayed at the beautiful Savasi Island Resort. This peaceful, private resort is surrounded by a natural coral cay on one side and a lagoon on the other. You can literally snorkel right outside your door.

The small resort has only eight villas, each completely private with its own unique space and style. We stayed in the charming Boat House. The villa sits right on the water and has its own private pool.

Our days were filled with sunshine, relaxation, private beaches, stunning sunsets, and private dining with outstanding gourmet food. A truly tropical paradise!

 

"Ma" (the staff leader) was a wonderful host. She and rest of the staff made sure we were well taken care of. They treated us like family and made us feel at home. The moment we were greeted by "Ma" and her wonderful staff, we knew we were going to have an outstanding vacation.

Joe had the opportunity to go sport fishing one morning - and came home with a big Marlin! He gave it to the chef, who cooked it up and served it for dinner. The whole experience was pretty incredible.

You can see all of our FIJI pictures on shutterfly here.

You can also view our New Zealand albums on shutterfly: North Island and South Island.

Goodbye paradise, we'll be back again.

NZ Day 16: Kaikoura

Our last day in New Zealand was by far the best day of the entire trip (for me)! This was the day I got to swim with wild dolphins off the coast of New Zealand! Swimming with dolphins has always been #1 on my "bucket list." I always thought I'd end up doing it in a contained environment like Sea World... never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have the opportunity to swim with hundreds of dolphins in their natural environment.

We took a tour through Dolphin Encouter. This 3.5 hour tour takes you out by boat to spot pods of dusky dolphins. Once the pods are found, the boat anchors and you're able to get in the water and swim with the wild dolphins in the open water.

The dusky dolphins are residents of the coastal waters off the coast of Kaikoura all year round. The dolphins are incredibly interactive and playful. You can swim so close to them that you can literally reach out and touch them, although they're so fast that they'll never let you do that!

There were three major negatives to this experience for me: 1) I got awfully seasick, 2) the water was freezing, and 3) I had to do it alone because children were not allowed on the boat (so Joe and I had to take separate tours). But it was the experience of a lifetime, and I'm so glad I took the risk and jumped in the water! Anyone who knows me understands that sharks are my #1 fear... so this was probably the most terrifying yet thrilling thing I've ever done in my life!!!

Well... that wraps up our New Zealand vacation. We truly had an incredible trip, and I'm so glad we took the time to explore both islands. It was certainly an adventure. :)  New Zealand had everything we expected and more - quaint towns, stunning scenery, outdoor activities, friendly people, cozy cafes, and delicious seafood.

After a jam-packed two and half weeks in New Zealand, we decided to get some R&R time in Fiji before heading back home to Japan... stay tuned.

NZ Day 15: Kaikoura

Kaikoura is a small coastal village about 2 hours north of Christchurch. A large mountain range sets the backdrop of this small town and extends all the way into the Pacific Ocean. The views here were stunning.

The main attraction for this small town is marine life viewing. Many come to see whales, dolphins, seals, and birds... us included. It's really the only thing to do here besides sit back and soak up the views and sea breezes on your own private beach.

There's a peninsula walkway nearby that is home to seal colony. Here you can watch them in their natural habitat. This was of course a must-do on our list! We saw several seals, some out in the open and others hiding in bushes and under trees. You could get as close as you dared - although it's recommended that you stay a good 30-feet away.

Kaikoura was a really peaceful coastal village and a great place to end our trip. Elodie loved it here too. In my next and final NZ post, I'll tell you about our adventure swimming with dolphins in the open water.

NZ Day 13 & 14: Jackson's Retreat & Arthur's Pass

Do you see the pink highlighted route above? That's the drive we were about to embark on. So we literally had to drive from the glaciers on the west coast, through the mountains, to a city called Kaikoura on New Zealand's south island upper east coast. Google maps estimates this drive to only take about 6.5 hours, but we knew that driving through the mountains would take a lot longer than that. So we planned this drive in 2 days. Another consideration we had to think about was that there's not a whole lot of lodging in between those two places. So we stopped just west of Arthur's Pass and stayed at Jackson's Retreat.

Ok, so there's a reason why there's only one or two places for lodging along the way... because there is seriously nothing there. No local towns, no local restaurants, no local anything. Just mountains, and valleys, and rivers. We had planned on eating at the restaurant located next door to Jackson's Retreat, but unfortunately when we got there it was closed (forever). Soooo, we had to drive quite a long ways in the middle of no where just to find some place to eat. I don't even remember where we ended up going to be honest... some seafood restaurant on a lake down country roads that were wayyyyy out of our way. One of the main reasons for getting a campervan was to have food with us at all times, but we totally failed on preparing meals for this leg of the trip - whoops!

There wasn't a whole lot to do at Jackson's Retreat. We went on a short hike to see a waterfall, and that's about it. It rained most of the time anyway. But we did see a pretty rainbow.

So the next morning we had a serious case of cabin fever and were ready to get back on the road and to our next destination! We were excited to see what the famous Arthur's Pass was all about.

Arthur's Pass is supposed to be one of the best roads in New Zealand. It's actually a tourist attraction listed in the Lonley Planet guidebook as one of the top must-drive-roads. People are drawn to it for it's snow-capped mountains, picturesque valleys, rivers, etc.

We were expecting some out of this world scenery! Sadly, we were sort of disappointed. Once we were on the other side, Joe and I looked at each other and said, "that's it?" I mean, sure - yes it was really pretty! But considering everything we had already seen and done, it just didn't blow us away.

If this would have been the beginning of our trip, I think we would have been really impressed. But because were were on our final leg of the trip and had already seen some spectacular sites, it was just okay. I probably sound like a spoiled brat saying that! Sorry! If we were going to do it all over again we'd either skip this route all together, or we would have done all the driving in one day.

I'm sad to tell you that we only have one destination in New Zealand left to write about! But we're going out with a bang, and I can't wait to share with you what's up next... my favorite part of our NZ trip: Kaikoura!