A Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood

A view of the neighbourhood from our front door

I feel like I have finally settled in here in our new apartment and neighbourhood. At first, everything looked virtually the same to me and I had to really pay attention when Karlee and I went on walks. I knew that if we didn't retrace our steps back exactly, we would be wandering around Fukuyama for hours with basically no way to communicate with people or get ahold of Dustin. It doesn't help that there are no street names and as of yet I don't have a cell phone.

Our canal

It took the kids almost a week to adjust to the time difference here and actually sleep through the night once again, or as close to through the night as William ever gets. It took about the same amount of time for me to recognize distinctions and uniqueness in our neighborhood as well. I now have no fear of getting completely lost and not being able to find my way back home, which is great because it allows me to wander down little paths and side streets and truly discover our city.

We live in a quiet residential area surrounded by beautiful traditional looking houses and the occasional blocky apartment building. There is a canal that flows right behind our apartment which makes a nice landmark for orienting yourself if you do get a bit turned around. It takes us about 20 minutes to walk to the main bus/train station and downtown, and amazingly there are rice paddies throughout the city surrounded by houses. In Winnipeg there were canola fields right up to the city limits, but I have never seen them in the middle of a neighborhood.

Random rice paddy tucked between houses

Though Dustin and I did not request to be placed in a city, we have been very happy with Fukuyama. It is a small and laid back city that has a older, more traditional feel. Very rarely do tourists come here and I can get virtually everywhere by walking or biking. I am sure that the honeymoon will end at some point and we will start noticing the more annoying aspects of our city, but our first impressions have been very good. This really feels like a place that we can call home.