Day 3.

chika okazumi  portrait | 11

Today is Day 3 of Life in Japan. I don't know when I'll stop counting the days we've been here, but I know I'm too early to stop now.

Anyway: How did we get here, say you?

Over the last couple years, Amos' work had asked him to apply to open positions in Japan. Same company, similar work, only in Japan instead of the States. He had always said no because -- for a variety of reasons -- it hadn't been the right time. We were seriously dating the first time he was asked. We were engaged the second time it came up. Then the third time they came around, we had been married just over a month. He asked me what I thought about it. I said Go ahead! Sure! Why not?

Within weeks he had applied, was interviewed, and was formally offered to position. They gave us a week to decide. At that point, things got real. We had to (quickly) wrap our heads around actually living in Japan right now, not just hypothetically living abroad at some-ambiguous-and-comfortably-future-point-in-time.

A week. We only had a week to decide if we could move out of Seattle, leave our tight knit community, our friends and family, our humble but homey apartment... and if I could leave my fulfilling (and stressful and actually pretty happy) job.

You bet we could? Wait, I mean: You bet we could! (I did and will continue to vacillate between the punctuation on that sentence.)


On January 3rd, I gave notice to my job.
On February 3rd, we moved out of our first home.
On February 5th, we boarded a plane for Nagoya, Japan.

On February 13th, we'll have our 6 month wedding anniversary.

Yeash. And Yay. And I need a glass of wine, which is where I'm headed right this second.

I'm writing this from our temporary home at the Marriott Nagoya Associa where we will live on the 30th floor until our belongings arrive, which is expected in three to six weeks. I'll be filling you in and keeping you up to speed, and - who are we kidding! - cluttering up the electronic pages of this blog with thoughts and thinking in between.

I'm actually quite excited to be back. A little nervous, truth be told, about many of the new things coming my way, but ready.

Until then,
Sarah