The Mamachatti

We're gearing up for what will be our first move inside of Japan since we moved here over 8 years ago.

Look what we got

Keys

Ready or not, moving day is here and we say goodbye to one home and hello to another. It's a new chapter in our life in Japan.

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

How's it going — the packing?

It's going. I have stuff that's super heavy, so I try to put it into smaller boxes

But even the small boxes that they brought, I feel...

I'm trying not to make them too heavy — I need mini boxes.

So these are the boxes that are—oh my goodness—filling up all over the house.

This was the deciding factor for having four kids

Is that they could all play one game of Minecraft together.

Oh yea! (Not Really)

With 5 kids, oh imagine that.

I wanted 5 kids or 6...

You want 5 or 6 kids Anna?

Yea, but... I want four, I want four

You want four?

I want 2 girls and 2 boys so that they don't fight and they can play together.

There's nothing easy about a move,

but when you have 4 kids and you're a foreigner, things get way more complicated.

Today we have to sign some more documents and get a parking spot

And I have to call around and see about uniforms for the girls new middle school.

At the beginning of the school year you can buy it all in one location

Well now it's the middle of the school year

So I have to go to three different locations to buy all their things.

Our pile of boxes is still big but it's dwindling,

The moving company delivered 130 boxes

and now our job is to pack our things in them before they arrive on moving day in just a couple of days.

The clock is ticking and the pressure is palpable.

Did it. Now what's going in it?

Stuff, Honey. Stuff.

All kinds of stuff.

A lot of baking supplies.

Because that's my happy place.

The kitchen is getting packed away.

But we have to leave essentials out — like coffee.

Coffee is an essential.

If packing everything wasn't bad enough, one of the biggest pains of moving as a foreigner is calling to setup utilities and internet.

It's all in Japanese, and it's time-consuming.

[Phone call in Japanese]

Never in my life have a had a phone call quite as long as that—

Just trying to setup the internet, oh my goodness!

And they go through all the options and what it's going to cost this month

The optional services and how much they're going to give a discount for it each month

And then they confirm all your information and then they explain all the other options

And oh my goodness. My brain is about to explode with Japanese.

[More phone call in Japanese]

The internet alone took me an hour and seventeen minutes just to schedule service

so we enlisted the help of some good Japanese friends for the other calls we needed to make

You have a headache?

All this paperwork.

We got the water setup and got the power setup

Yea- and cancelled for here.

Moving in October is in the middle of the Japanese school year,

so we're trying to keep as much normalcy as possible for the kids routine,

but it's almost impossible to do.

What'cha working on there Anna Cakes?

English English!

How's English going? Good.

Does everyone come to you for help?

Yes

I would imagine so.

And Sarah's working on a project too. What's your project Sarah?

Origami.

Sarah is the origami queen.

That is cool, way to go.

So I'm out jogging today and look who's with me.

And me! And me! And me! And Becca.

Here we go.

It's underway.

Let's see—they're probably going to school daddy here, we'll see.

We just completed a 3 km jog and look at Anna.

Anna is like way the yea up there.

She was like "can I jog ahead?" Sure.

Kids are certainly full of energy and creativity,

and when life is in a tight spot, you might be surprised with what they come up with on their own.

Whoa!

That was cool.

OK, let's do one slow motion.

Sarah that was amazing — you shot it all the way up to the ceiling!

Wow! Look out!

You about got a haircut.

I almost did!

When you know your time is short, you experience things in a different way.

How many mornings did we wake up to this view?

Now, we were only a couple days away from this being yet another chapter in our history.

But we didn't have time to sit and think about it, because the amount of work there was still to do was honestly overwhelming.

The boxes are filling up everywhere.

And the mama chan who has been working hard.

OK, taking down the curtains.

Careful!

Taking down Becca too. Yea, really.

You guys packing, packing, packing?

Just throwing everything in.

Throwing everything in?!

Look at these seashells!

Seashells from the sea shore?

I made this all by myself!

I think I got this when I was 8 or something.

I don't need this anymore. Trash.

And out here there's all kinds of- oh my goodness!

It's just- it's for real.

Well this is a big moment here. We're going full-on paper products here.

Packing all the plates now.

Yep.

Did you guys find a place to do your homework alright?

Um hum.

Nothing like having to move on a school night, huh?

My goodness!

[Reading in Japanese]

What is this Sarah? What's going on?

It's the last day sleeping in this house.

This is it girls.

Alright, well pleasant dreams tonight.

Our house is literally about done.

Look at that.

All the boxes over here.

Let's take a walk up the stairway and see how the girlfriend's doing here.

Kids are in bed, the parents will party! Or keep working.

We're calling it for the day. Oh we are.

So what are we going to do now?

Well— I don't even care.

We're going to sit... Just close my eyeballs.

And watch something and relax.

One of my first orders of business this morning: getting coffee.

We packed our coffee maker, so I've got to go out and get some coffee to start this day.

Here we go. 7-11 coffee this morning.

Well... 7-11 coffee today.

You do what you got to do when you got to do it, right? That's right.

Our last breakfast here guys! What a crazy thought, is it not?

What are we going to do without a table at our place?

Yea, we're not taking this table. But we'll use the other tables we have until we find just the right one to put there.

You girls look like you're eating at Olive Garden— you've got your salad and breadsticks.

How are you going to take that?

I don't think we'll take those.

One final bask in the sun here this morning.

With all of our boxes here.

Oh my goodness!

Getting ready to go, huh?

Yep.

Last day to walk to school from here.

Crazy, huh?!

Cra-cra

Well guys, you're off to school. What did your friends say?

Let's walk together.

They wanted to walk with you guys on your last day to go. That's nice.

God bless you girls. Have a great day today.

Bye! Bye.

We'll see you later, in a new place.

Well guys, here we go.

Let's go. Sarah's a little sad.

Yea, it's a little sad.

Well here we go. The kids are gone, the movers are about to arrive.

And everything is packed up, ready to go.

The kids, it was a mixture of sad and happy this morning.

Sarah especially thought it was sad.

All the things packed up.

Boxes.

Ready or not, it's time. Here we go.

It's been a good run here. It's going to be a great run at the next place.

So, I think your work is done, huh?

I think—well! The moving TO is done,

The unpacking there has just begun.

Just begun but look, they cleared out this corner so fast.

It took me days to fill it. Oh my goodness.

I know and look— it hasn't even been 5 minutes.

You're fast! Wow.

Well, it took us weeks of preparation, huh?

Well, two weeks because we've only known one week that we were accepted in the [new] house.

And it only them 15 minutes to load all of my boxes.