Home in Boston

We are home in Boston and have been here for 2 weeks.  After quite a bit of excitement, many discussions and debates we are back in Boston for 4 months.  We leave for Singapore in June.  With a new baby expected in May.  Yes, a lot has changed in a short few months with more to come.

I have been working on my graduate school applications for several months.  The whole process was pretty daunting.  I wrote and re-wrote my personal statements several times.  After all that writing, I had no interest and not much time to blog.  Because of the pregnancy, I had several medical appointments as well.  The medical care in Japan is quite a bit different then the US.  There is a more hands-off approach in Japan, which was nice, but not reassuring with my history.  Nonetheless, everything is fine so far.

About the time we realized we had to move back to Boston (due to a change in job requirements for Kurt), we started making Japanese friends, E's comprehension of Japanese started increasing by leaps and bonds and I also had a less murky understanding of the spoken language.  I imagine that if we had been able to stay the full year, E would have been past the stage of repetition and finally creating her own Japanese sentences which she was on the verge of accomplishing.

Nevertheless, we are planning to return to Japan in the summer of 2014 and E will start at the local Japanese school on Saturdays.  She has shown a profound interest in learning languages recently.  I have a basic understanding of French which I am teaching her and we are staying with friends currently who are fluent in multiple languages.  I suspect that if I can encourage her language and science learning, she may become a multi-lingual scientist since these appear to be her favorite topics and natural strengths.

When we arrived home we faced the daunting challenge of replacing the 13 year old Hyundai Elantra.  Really, replacing it was not difficult.  Finding something we agreed on and an amount to spend was much more challenging.  My biggest requirement was All Wheel Drive.  I hate driving in snow and heavy rain/wind, 2 things we get pretty often in Boston.  Plus I could see the usefulness of a vehicle with the capacity to allow visiting friends and family in nearby states.  Although much of our travel is by air these days, I expect that with 2 kids that will change soon.  Kurt would like to have a more fuel efficient vehicle, one of the 40+ mpg varieties.  But the price and lack of space seemed like a big loss to me.  In the end, we agreed on a pre-owned 2012 Subaru Forester.  I expect this will be the vehicle E learns to drive in and we give her when she goes to college.  Hard to believe, but that's only 10 years away.

We still have to find a suitable place to rent for the coming year.  Our condo is rented out until June to a graduate student.  We are planning to put it on the market in May and buy a house in the next year.  Finding a place has been difficult because there is not much moving in winter.  We've been told to hang on for 2 more weeks and things will open up.  I surely hope so, being 26 weeks pregnant and mostly homeless is rather disconcerting.  I am so grateful we have friends willing to take us in.

Today we are expecting a blizzard of monumental and historic proportions.  And indeed, it has just begun to snow in earnest the past hour.  I am looking forward to the land of soft, white pillows and fluffy snow angels.  I'm not looking forward to the after effects of sheeted ice on concrete.  But it sure is pretty watching it fall and very comforting that we have no need to be on the road today or tomorrow.  Sunday however, we are going skiing in New Hampshire.  Well, everyone else is skiing.  I'll be photographing the beautiful scenery in between warming up in the lodge.