Sayonara Nihon!

This was taken during my 5 minutes of fame at Naha airport. These girls were from a middle school in Osaka. They literally bum-rushed me for all sorts of pictures and this was the last one. We tried to get my girls in but they were too shy.

I treasure all of my experiences in Japan but it feels amazingly great to be home. From now on I will be posting to my other blog - American Gaijin at www.american-gaijin@blogspot.com. So check that out for stories about all of my current culture shock, jet lag, vacation pics and comparisons between Japan and the US. Please continue to post questions to this blog as I will be monitoring it indefinitely. Thanks for reading and sayonara!!
 

Finally home!!! My husband took this earlier today 

how long we had been on the plane at that point 

almost there! Now on a Boeing 777 with video screens in the back of each seat. 

Ashley on the 747 

first airplane from Naha to Osaka 

New pics

Here are some of the pics I had time to take. We had like no layover once we got to Osaka so pics were out of the question at that airport.

I'm home!!!

It feels so good to be back in San Francisco. I have some picures that I will post a little later. It's the middle of the night and I'm using the loudest keyboard I've ever heard so I don't want to keep everyone up. Just wanted to say that we are all home safely!

12 hours left

I got the "OK" from my doctor to travel tomorrow. I'm excited, hesitant and a little nervous. I've really gotten used to living over here. I'll miss my friends and the exoticness and the food. At the same time I will be able to go to the mall and hit a Sephora shop or actually have a fluent conversation with an employee at a shop or something instead of choppy sentences with a strangter and walking away knowing that there was some miscommunication.

All we have to do tonight is give our car over to my husband's friend and finish packing. Tomorrow morning a pre-arranged taxi-van is coming to get us at our hotel room and it will take us (2 tired adults, 2 hyper kids, 2 cats and 8 suitcases) to the airport.

I'll take pictures of the airports (Naha and Osaka) with my cellphone and post them here when I get some extra time. My new blog is American Gaijin at www.american-gaijin.blogspot.com and I'll post about my new experiences in the US and how they differ from Japan and then maybe some more personal posts that have nothing to do with the move.

I'm off to pack. You all know I'm Aviation Girl so I think the flight will be fun. :D

Going out in style

I've been waiting to get my nails redone so I could go home with freshly-done kimono nails. I got this specific idea from a Japanese Nail Max magazine. The originals had a dark pink, almost cherry red background but I wanted more of a spring pattern.

I go to Nail Cinderelle at the Mihama shopping center right across from A&W on the inside. They always do a great job but just like everything else in Japan, be prepared to pay a hefty price for beauty. A full set of acrylics cost 6500 yen (fills are about 3500 yen) and the design cost 3450 yen so today I paid 9950 or almost $100. Lesser designs like basic French manicures are about 2000 yen.