1978: Where did the year go?

Like everyone else we are saying, "where did the year go?". It seems only a few months ago we were preparing to celebrate Christmas '77. Christmas '78 is going to be really an exciting one for us - our first Christmas in the States since departing for Japan in 1975.

Early this year we bought a townhouse in Walnut Creek, California. Beth and Scott, and Jill and Jodi Casselman (young friend from Travis days) are living in it while attending school and working part time. It has been our home away from home on our frequent trips back to the States this past year and this Christmas we plan a family Christmas back in the good old USA.

Our trips this year have been confined to California. Our summer vacation plans went down the drain when Northwest Orient went on strike, and all the world was travelling. Our discount tickets couldn't be honored. The girls spent the summer in the States with friends and also with the gang in Walnut Creek. Tim worked as a lifeguard at our club here in Japan. I adjusted to a much smaller family and didn't like it!

In october we flew back to the States for Ann and Megan to have braces put on their teeth - a painful experience for them, but great for Dick and me. We filled our tummies with gourmet food, shopped and saw friends.

Dick is still instructing for Japan Air Lines. He loves instructing plus the great thing is that the simulator is located Haneda rather than the far-flung Narita Airport. He still flies the "Silk Route" and enjoys the challenge of landing at all the different airports plus doing my shopping - another challenge!

The youngest three - Tim (16), Ann (14), and Megan (13) are continuing to do well at St. Mary's and St. Maur's. They keep me involved and busy - and so the days fly by.

Blessings, holiday wishes and love from us all -

1977: Christmas

We are approaching our third Christmas in Japan, and this past year has been even more exciting for the Finaly family. Early in the year we moved to an older home with a lovely big garden and a unique charm that appealed to us. It is just around the corner from our old house and still convenient to everything.

One reason this year was special is because Beth and Jill Casselman (a good friend of ours and Beth's) spent four months with us this summer. They ran a summer day camp at our club plus toured Japan. All summer long our house resembled a youth hostel with the children's many friends coming and going (the record was eleven!). It was fun - even when Dick tripped over bodies in futons (Japanese sleeping quilts) all over the house. Right now Beth and Jill are in Europe for three months - seeing all they can before they return to school in January.

In August Dick and I, Tim, Ann and Meg made it 'round the world! What an experience. We spent most of our time in London, Athens, and Corfu and thoroughly enjoyed sharing this trip with the children. Our stops - some of them very brief - included Anchorage, London, Paris, Athens, Corfu, Cairo, Bombay, Karachi, Bangkok, and back to Tokyo all thanks to Japan Air Lines.

We had a nice surprise when we arrived home. Dick was asked to be an instructor -- meaning more time at home and more money. Fantastic!

Scott is busily applying to colleges, and it looks as though he wil probably end up in California. He has had an exciting year with his modelling and photography - through which he met Pele and Beckenbauer, the New York Cosmos soccer stars -- plus making money. He also was a lifeguard at the club all summer. At the moment he's preparing for a hunting trip with Grandpa in Vermont.

Ann and Meg went to California for several weeks this summer. Tim was on a swim team, and is now on the St. Mary's swim team plus playing rugby for the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club with Scott. All the children are improving their Japanese and Ann and Scott are almost fluent.

We look forward to another interesting year here and wish you all a very merry christmas and a wonderful new year.

1976: The Oriental Way of Life

I can hardly believe our stay in Japan is over a year old. It has been an interesting year - one of adjusting to the oriental way of life. You live differently, drive very differently, shop differently, must talk differently - combination simple English, simple Japanese, and lots of sign language!! (Getting truly fluent in Japanese takes years, although the children astound me how easily they seem to be understood. I always try to take one along when I go shopping.)

It has been a year of travel for all seven of us - especially Beth with twelve Pacific crossings under her belt. We did make it to California, New York, Vermont, this summer, and some of us to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Jakarta.(Yes, we made it for the 4th of July and the Bicentennial celebrations)

Dick is still enjoying the flying and especially his route, which has taken him as far as Saudi Arabia, but mostly to Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Karachi, and Bombay.

The children have all switched schools this year - except Beth who is still enjoying the University of the Pacific. Scott and Tim now attend St. Mary's International School in Tokyo, and Ann and Megan go to St. Maur's International School in Yokohama. They are still struggling with the more varied and intensive studies, but seem to be making the grade. (I find it staggering what they have to know, but what an education!! ---- if we all survive!)

We all wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas and a truly marvelous 1977!

1975: Konnichiwa from 70 Mameguchi-dai, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan

I can hardly believe it myself, but here we are residents of the Orient. Dick started working for Japan Air Lines february first, beginning with a training program which lasted six months. When this training was over, Dick returned to Walnut Creek to help pack and get us moved.

We left Walnut Creek early in September, spent about four days at Stanford Court in San Francisco doing last minute shopping, sightseeing, and gourmet dining. We left on Flight 1 for Tokyo on September sixth.

Our first assignment was to find a house and get the children squared away in school. We found a "western-style" house on a bluff overlooking Tokyo Bay in Yokohama. It's a far cry from our Walnut Creek "digs", but it's not bad - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a living room with a balcony, dining room, kitchen, laundry room and a small Japanese garden.

Dick is flying as a Captain on the "silk route" and loving it. He gets to Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Karachi, Tehran, and Ceylon. He finds it exciting and enjoys the sightseeing and shopping as well. We all look forward to getting to see all these places. He's away about half the month, and the rest of the time he's free. We are still trying to get settled - having drapes made here, woven hades made in Manila, rattan furniture made in Hong Kong - and I have a list yards long of things for Dick to make, extra shelves, etc.

The children are going to the Yokohama International School, which is a member of the Geneva International School Association, and are finding it a bit rigid. There are only about 350 children in 12 grades. They're in with a really competitive bright group and hopefully they'll inspire our gang. Our Beth is back in the States going to the University of the Pacific. We miss her a lot, but she'll be here for Christmas, and we should like to have a get-together in Hawaii at Eastertime.

We had a sad time in September shortly after we arrived here. (We had been in the house two days.) My mother died. She had been ill for some time, but it still was a shock. We all returned to Nevada for the funeral and returned here October first to start our residence in Japan.

Each day is an adventure. You never know what might occur. It certainly is proving to be an education for us all, and I'm certain there are many more...