First employed to unemployed (for the now at least...).
Then Miss to Mrs., single to wife, Metcalf to Lauer.
Next came home-owner to landlord and subtenant.
And finally Elizabethtown to Japan, Okinawa to Tokyo.
What a whirlwind!
I have hardly had time to process all my thoughts. Last month, in preparations for all of these transitions, I was so busy I didn't time to think or feel. I was overstimulated by busyness and emotionally apathetic to what was happening, knowing if I paused to consider it all it would take me days to process it! And now, well now I have more time for sure, but it sort of feels like it all just sort of happened and I'm adjusted, ready for this new chapter. Not quite sure how that happened. If you know me very well, you know I think critically and feel deeply. So analysis of anything is typically a very thoughtful and heart-felt process for me. I thought that, once my life slowed down a little, the deep analysis would begin. And yet it hasn't. Or at least, hasn't yet. I have so embraced these changes that they already feel a part of me, a welcomed part of life.
Not to say it's all been easy! Some of these transitions have been a lot smoother than others, for sure! Resigning from Manheim Township High School, where I've taught for 7years now, was very bittersweet. I absolutely loved my colleagues and my students. I felt like I played a significant role in that environment, which cultivated my feelings of success, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Teaching is a hectic life though, at least it was/is for me, so I can't say I didn't welcome summer break coming 2 weeks early for me! :) It was nice to step away for a break and I'm excited as I anticipate where I may end up working come August when we return to Washington D.C. (another school? public? private? a science museum?).
Miss to Mrs., single to married, Metcalf to Lauer has been a much more joyful transition for me! I have absolutely LOVED being Mrs. Benjamin Cody Lauer. I have felt nothing but undivided attention, devotion, care, grace, and provision from my new husband in the past 13 days in which we've married as we've journeyed through these transitions together. He's ever asking how I'm doing and what else he can be doing better - today I told him he had to stop doing that because I felt guilty never reciprocating the sweet gesture! :) When he ran an errand for a few hours yesterday, I realized that was the first time we'd been apart for more than a bathroom break since our wedding! I have felt so blessed to have had TIME together, time to relax on the honeymoon, time to set up a new apartment in Tokyo, time to explore the city, and time to just be together until the next transition when his internship begins next week. Married life has certainly been a sweet transition!
Moving away from Elizabethtown was much harder. I'd made a home there for the past 11 years, almost as many as the 18 years I'd spent growing up in Kentucky. I went away to college in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and then just...stayed. A wide and deep circle of amazing friends kept me well rooted. Cleaning out my house was painful; it evoked memories of every Derby Day, Homecoming, Holiday Dinner, summer cook-out, girls' dinner, etc I'd ever hosted. I realized I was almost the last of a big group of college friends to move away from Etown, our college town (except for sweet Kelly :). I was losing a 5minute run to my friend Melissa's house to borrow a mower or table or some tool I didn't own. I was moving out of the first house I'd ever bought, a house which had well served its purpose in hospitality to friends and family. I was moving out of a house with a beautiful haven of a yard, where I landscaped and started my first real garden, to move to a huge city and a small apartment, from the suburban life I'd always known, to a very urban life I am not at all familiar with. I chose this move and am glad I did (see married life paragraph above :) but still it is a more difficult transition.
Leaving Elizabethtown took us newlyweds first to Okinawa for our honeymoon and most recently to Tokyo, Japan, where we will be until August 15th while Benno has his internship (he can tell you more about that later :). What a difference "place" makes! Okinawa - a beautiful, tropical island in southwest Japan, closer really to Taiwan and China (perhaps even the Philippines) than the 4 main islands of Japan. Such a paradise that place was! Such a PERFECT honeymoon location, particularly for weary individuals, such as we were upon arrival. Glistening waters of all different shades of blue and green, changing colors with each new depth. Abundant diversity of fascinating sea creatures, especially for a biologist! Sunshine and warmth, yet coolly moderate temperatures (26C = 78F), made ideal weather for long walks, lying by the pool, and swimming. Unique foods made meal-times interesting: tiny sea-grapes that burst sweet flavor in your mouth, salty shabu-shabu pork fried above open flames, gourmet sauces of all different exotic flavors, and sweet & salty Okinawan chinsuko cookies that reminded me of Girls Scout Shortbread cookies. It was magical, to say the least.
And now we're to Tokyo. A flight from Naha, Okinawa, to the Narita Airport, outside of Tokyo, an express train into Shibuya, Tokyo, where we were met by our local contact, Izumi, who took us by taxi to our apartment in Setagaya, Tokyo. The area is absolutely amazing! It's totally new and we're immediately next to a complex of shopping malls - 4 of them to be exact, with 2-7 stories each! They have everything here: clothing, food, grocery, pharmacy, banks (where Benno has a pre-existing account)--we even found a dollar store! (Everything that is, except for an electronics store, but more on that later...). The train station is here too - all of this just a quick 5 minute walk (6 if you have to wait for the light) from our apartment. It's all new, trendy, and lively, especially from 5-11pm for some reason! Beyond that is a huge river with a 50km (31mi) walking trail. Let me just say I cannot wait to restart my daily runs there - so many places to explore!
Our apartment is a slightly different story. It is...cozy. 25 sq meters total (that's a mere 265 square feet!). It has a tiny bathroom and tiny galley kitchen (the same 7" of counter space as Benno's DC apt, except no awesome peg board to hang stuff on) and 2 tiny rooms (8'6" x 12' and 8'6" x 9', Benno insisted that we measure it :). It's actually quite suitable for our purposes for the summer...now. Let me just say, we're very grateful to have all of us this arranged for us and to have a place in such a nice area. It's just that, well, when we moved in, it took some work to get it functional for us (a major understatement!). Let's just say, if you are a cat-owner, do everyone a favor and please, please, please thoroughly clean out your place before you sub-lease it to anyone!!! There was cat hair EVERYWHERE - layers of cat hair dust on everything - the floors, the walls, the sheets, the loveseat, the furniture, the kitchen counters, the bathroom, you name it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how we were going to sleep here that first night and burst into tears when our wonderful host left. We managed, and spent the next few days buying as many cleaning products as we could find and scrubbing the place down thoroughly. It was at that time that I found myself extremely thankful for the small size!!! That, and Benno's amazing attention to detail and endurance - give him a filthy fridge and he is glad to carefully scrub it until it sparkles, even if it takes 45 minutes! Together, we made our first shared home sparkle...and then set out to make it livable. It was really only semi-furnished initially. Among our first purchases were plates, spoons, knives, and forks. Not to mention a kitchen table, as there was none here! Thank goodness Benno has a Japanese Amazon account that will deliver a small, cheap table to us in a few days - I can't wait to stop eating meals off of a bedside table!
All of these tasks were complicated by 2 things, 1)we were in Japan and therefore didn't know where to find anything, and 2) we didn't have Internet initially and so couldn't look things up. We required Internet immediately, mostly so we could contact you all :) That was much more difficult than we could've imagined! Coffee shops, even the local Starbucks, don't have free Wifi here like they often do in the States. And the Internet cafe took us the rest of the day to find. Once found, we contacted the amazing Izumi who set it up for us and we thought we were running...until we got home and realized our 3-prong laptop cords didn't fit into the Japanese 2-prong outlets. So off to find an electronics store. A full afternoon of searching later, we were set and could finally communicate with the outside world once again.
An adventure it has been! Full of so many transitions, bittersweet, frustrating, sad, and joyful. Change has never been easy for me so this is certainly a growing experience. But I am so thankful to have such a great support system, both far in all of you, and near in my dear husband. I'm excited to continue to share with you all of our continuing transitions...and promise to keep it shorter in the future!
Posted more pictures of our apartment, our area, and our Tokyo explorations on Facebook, but here's a few of them...
Hey, this is great news! We are thrilled to read your expressive account of the first two weeks of married life.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that the apartment was not clean. We are glad to know that your neighborhood is interesting to you with shopping and running paths!
Also are very glad that you have a few more days before Benno begins work.
Enjoy Kyoto, if you do go!
It must have been frustrating and a lot of hard work to get things up and running, but these are the memories that turn to great adventure stories many years down the road!! I have a feeling you will remember this time very fondly, even with the bumps in the road. Love you both lots and I am thinking about you as you get all settled in. I can't wait for the next blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you two are getting settled! Molly, be glad it was cat and not a bird that previously occupied your apartment. My parents once had an apartment (early in their marriage) where a bird had lived. My mom scrubbed wood paneling multiple times to get the feathers out of the grooves! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, it does look like his old apt. in Japan, but smaller. You are settling in well. What is that covered with a brown cloth?
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