3 Years in Sendai - 13 - How it all happened.

It has been almost 20 years now that my family has left  Sendai, Japan and relocated along the east Coast of the Malay Peninsular in the state of Terengganu. My wife Nancy, god rest her soul, passed away in 2008 in  a nursing home in Waterloo, Illinois where she succumbed to her illness of what the doctors there declared as Alzheimer's or in her case 'Rapid dementia'. it was through her employment as an ESl teacher at the University of Berkley that we were able to make our move from San Francisco to Sendai, Japan. Through a program set up by a private company called 'Pacific Reach', my wife was hired to teach in japan and the whole family was paid for to move to the country. It was a blessing in my life as San Francisco was becoming too expensive for me and my family to survive and we needed a change as a family unit as my wife and were headed for the bottomless pit of despair and there was not too many that we could turn to for real help. On looking back I have to say that Allah was looking in on us especially over my two children whose fate was hanging on a limb as our marriage was headed for the rocks.

The sketchbook that i bought and took with me to Japan

The move itself was not too much hassle as we had many help from friends who chipped in every which way they could to help make things easier and for this i am forever indebted to all our family friends in San Frnacisco including the Berberis family of George and Rosemary Berberis from San Jose, the Roethe Family of Peter, Tomi, Kai and Eli who lived across the street from where we were on 2nd, Avenue and Balboa. Then there were Davind and Diane Carlson and their son Tarik, Jack, Yuri, Jesse and Christie Hallock who were always there to make sure the kids had what they needed.There were also friends who were former members of the Zen center in SF.where my late wife and I were married. As a matter of fact we had a grand send off party given by the Roethe family at their home. I was moved by the presence of so many well wishers that i felt sad leaving behind so many of my extended family and friends who mattered in our family lives in SF.But it was time for the change and everyone felt that for us and wished us all the best in our future as a family unit. Thus happened my second Hijrah or migrational change in life and environment, the first was leaving Malaysia with my first wife and son ( The Pilot in Dubai) to Green Bay, Wisconsin sometime in 1973-4.

 A View of  The City of Sendai from Yasoen Park. Acrylic on canvass. 3ftx 2ft. (sold)

The new chapter in my life began when we arrived at the Koyo Grand Hotel in downtown Sendai after a grueling flight and train rides from LA to Narita, in Tokyo and later by train or the Shinkansen (Bullet train) to the City of Sendai. We were  lodged at the Hotel for three days until our proper home was ready to be occupied and in this we got so much help from my late wife's would be employers whose staff made sure that we had everything we needed and more. I cannot express enough gratitude towards these two gentlemen who were assigned to make things smooth for my family. And thus began our lives in the Great City of Sendai, the City that in 2011 saw the most tragic natural disaster to hit Japan in the form of an earthquake and followed by a mega Tsunami.  
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