Sunday, July 16, 2006

The Gift

A couple of days ago I received the gift of a lifetime. It arrived as all our mail does, weary from the long journey and looking a bit like the underdog after a schoolyard scuffle. Though I knew as soon as I lifted it off the shelf that there was nothing normal about what I was holding. Confirmation to that theory came as soon as I walked back outside. Maggie let loose a grin that defines love and a twinkling of eyes that revealed what I now understand to be layers upon layers of excited planning.
History is no stranger to the “one look” story line. You know the ones. Relationships are built upon them: “oh I just knew the moment I laid eyes on him”, or “one look man, and I knew”, ect ect ect, right on down the line. If you don’t believe me, go rent “When Harry Met Sally”. But for the sake of this story’s fluidity I am going to ask you set aside your skepticism and just believe. Let’s see, where was I?…Oh right, the grin.
For you to truly grasp that grin I must take you back a few months. You see, the idea for this present came on one of those one of a kind days. Our wake up call that morning was the rumble of engines eager to put motion to a day only consistent to any other on this Sound - a place where the Tasman Sea enters Fjordland National Park New Zealand, and is met with a landscape so unique and dramatic that Caption Cook named it Doubtful. As if our excitement was not enough to roust us from our bunks, the deal was sweetened when our caption’s voice came over the PA promising penguins. Night people became morning people, and all filed up on to the main deck clutching their cameras and hoping for flightless birds. Coffee was ready but ignored as people’s eyes adjusted to this maritime marvel. It was shortly thereafter that we met Chris. For me Chris stood out on this deck of point and shooters solely because he wasn’t. His hands were steady and his eyes were fixed down through the viewfinder resting motionless against his belly. He was calm amongst the flutter, shifting slightly with what seemed to be habitual motions. Then click, the shutter closed with a loud sound unmistakably exclusive to a Hasselblad. Quite simply put, I lit up and Maggie took notice. The three of us talked for the better part of the ride out to the sea, stopping periodically to ogle over the world’s largest and smallest dolphins, to take pictures, to enjoy our surroundings, but mostly we just enjoyed swapping stories with our eccentric new friend. In my memory, that day stands out as one of the highlights from our honeymoon, and Chris and I are still exchanging emails. It is clear to me now as my inspired fingers type away, that Maggie’s attention briefly strayed from Fjordland’s splendor that day in order plant a seed. A seed that was clearly in bloom two days ago as our car twisted its way back toward our borrowed coastal home. Maggs held the box on her squirmy lap, but could not hold her excitement much past the threshold of the house before she flung open the blinds, handed me my knife, and gave me permission to start my birthday a week early. With a combination of really wanting to see what was inside, and not at all wanting to see what would happen if Maggie had to wait another week, I obliged. I traced my knife around the seams of the box and opened it to find a Hasselblad medium format camera. I think I felt my heart skip a beat. I know Maggie’s skipped a couple. As I mentioned before, this was the gift of a lifetime. It is exciting to know this camera will be a part of years of documented memories. But for me the gift was that grin and everything behind it.

Monday, July 10, 2006

White Flag and Bed Bugs

With fish-like flopping and flipping, I have come to a decision. This place is not that bad. Somewhere along the way, amidst the moldy shoes, and the multi-legged bed fellow (I will get into that later) I have found my stride. It is not that swimming against the tide has tired me out; it has just simply become boring. Japan, with all of its quirks is not going to change because I see it as bass akwards. I am not really sure why up until now I thought that it should. People are going to be parking their shrunken cars on blind curves long after I am gone, so I think it’s time for me to chill-out, and slow down. Better yet, I say join them. It is kind of liberating to be able to, at any given moment, on any sized road, simply flip on your hazards and stop. “Wow that was really cool shrine, I think I need a picture”, (Flip the red triangle and all is absolved). “Shoot Andy, I have to use the bathroom, would you mind stopping?” ”Not at all (flashers on), be my guest. I will wait right here.” It never seems to matter that the mini-mart in which she is bathroom poaching has an empty parking lot. People just are not to be bothered with proper car stowage. In Japan, hazards are the diplomats of the road. One just flips them on and they have full immunity; you park where you want. I guess no matter what size rock you throw in the river, the water will find its way around….Or something. Funny thing is, even as you completely block one side of the road for your own self-serving needs, you still receive a smile and nod as they drive by. So, in my over-worded way, I’ve reached this conclusion: With a little tolerance, a couple more local phrases in my arsenal, and the right pair of borrowed prescription specs, Japan is looking alright.


As for the bed fellow, well, my tolerance only goes so far. A few mornings past, at 1:30 to be exact, Maggie leapt out of bed with the fury of Christmas morning. The light came on, the covers stripped to the floor, and I was left squinting in blurred confusion. “I think I was just bit by something.” She said “See that, those three little red marks (pointing toward the second piggy from the left), I wonder what it was?” Unfortunately, not for lack of trying, no three toothed critter was uncovered. Lights were turned back out, freshly shaken covers were righted, and we found our way back to lala land.

Act two:

At 6:30 that same Sunday morning it was now Maggie’s turn to wake to the whoosh of flying bed sheets. This time we hit the floor simultaneously and turned back to the bed.

Centipede! Three and a half inches of leggie unpleasantness was in the center of our bed, and still chewing its mouth full of my thigh. Mad as hell and not really sure what to do next, I broke the cardinal rule: I turned my back. Just for a moment mind you, and only to get a smacking implement. But when I turned back in my best well-braced battle pose, the ‘pede was gone. We are talking seconds. But that fact was of no comfort to either of us at that moment. Long story short, we destroyed our bedroom. Thanks goodness for late rising neighbors, because on this morning, Victoria did not have any Secrets. In a blink, our entire room was staged out on the patio and we were back through the sliding doors to hunt down our feisty interrupter. This task proved not to be easy. For the little monster blended pretty well into the baseboard. Thankfully, find it we did and needless to say that bug did not see 7:00am. The damage had most-certainly been done though. I think it took us three hours of steady coffee intake and Scrabble playing to remove the shakes.

I now look back on the day with nervous chuckles. But mostly what sticks in my mind is the response of our teacher friend Tom, when I told him about our irksome wake-up call. He just looked at me with brows a furrowing and said in his best science teacher tone: “Hmm, centipedes are not hunters, you must have provoked it.”

Cobblestone Mumbles

Fuji, the pride of Japan, the signature jewel in this far away crown beat me up today. My already roughed-up frame (weary from 3 days of the stomach flu) switched back and forth up the side of this fragile moonscape. Sadly I only made it an hour of the necessary four needed to summit before I planted a germy kiss on Maggie and watched as she rejoined the line twisting up into the mist. It is now an hour later and I am sitting in a window side corner of the Mt. Fuji coffee shop. My agenda is fixed. By my calculation I have five hours before Maggie walks onto the cobblestone street that I am overlooking, and during this time I plan on as little movement as possible. If it weren’t for my unfortunate inability to grow moss on my back, I very well might be mistaken for a sloth. Prior to my planting I equipped myself with the following: a book, pen, and a pile of blank postcards. No doubt each will be started as all postcards are, with good intentions of a grand excursion depicted, but destined to end with a blurry, choose your adventure of an event; letters franticly getting smaller in size, crowding the stamp, obscuring the name and address, and finally coming to close with my name crammed in the very corner that the postman covers with his barcode sticker. Heaven forbid the recipient have more then one friend traveling my region of the world.

If the fore mentioned fails to keep me engrossed for the duration of this experiment I will certainly not be bored. The beauty of Japan for me comes in the watching of people. Out the window is an ever-changing flow of color. There is no real harmony to their movement. Consistency is only found in their hand held technology. Photos are being snapped, but with no real specific direction. Each family, in hushed agreement decide that the moment is photo-worthy, but seem to be grappling with that conclusive something in the background which will mark this event as unique to the one adjacent to it in the family album. Just the smiling faces of mom, dad and the Japan allotted two kids. Each poised with a tilted head and the mandatory flash of the peace sign. And it is pretty fair to say that someone in the shot will be holding the family’s long haired dachshund. On any other day, where the clouds and ground weren’t so friendly, I would think that these weekend point and shooters would be directionally unified. But today is not that day. There is no discernable backdrop and honestly this makes my on-looking so much more rewarding.

My out the window gaze is broken by a cute little Japanese grandma asking me with earnest words that I don’t understand, but gestures that I do, if she and her equally cute better half can take my picture. You see, the clouds have opened a window to Fuji’s summit and for reasons that are baffling to me, this duo wants me and my blindingly orange coat as an enhancer to their photo. Of course I oblige, flash a bewildered grin, and with the click of a locally made shutter I become part of this couple’s trip to Fuji. As is customary, what follows next are a back-breaking exchange of bows and the warmth of gratitude which is unique to Japan.

When I sat down at my penthouse table I was alone. The floors had the shine of a new day and I had interrupted the first brew of coffee for a cup. Now, my spot is a symphony of slurps. Lunchtime has snuck up on me and happy chins are poised perfectly in their well practiced intake position. In the States this tableside infraction would certainly be met with a scolding from mom, and a rap on the knuckles from pop. Though here, the slurping of noodles is a salute to the cook, and by the sounds in this room, the cook’s got skills.
Ahhh, from that happy sound, to the best view of the day: For out the mist with legs a shakin’ emerges the birthday girl. My work here is done. I offer up a hearty thanks to all of you reading for helping me pass my day and distracting me from my gurgling gut.

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

New Addition

Congrats are in order for Andy's sister and her family. A couple days ago we recieved the call from a proud sounding pappa that Kara had given birth to a baby boy on the 3rd. He weighed in at a healthy 9lb 2oz. There was talk about the name Benjamin Samuel or Benjamin Stuart, but nothing had been set in stone quite yet. As for the rest of the family, they sounded pretty pleased. This little guy is welcomed by two older brothers (Andrew and Nathan) and two older sisters (Maddie and Bethany). Yes, they now have five!

Report on the Birthday Weekend - part 2

Sunday we pulled our sore bodies out of bed and headed off to Tokyo to meet up with my Aunt Janet and Cousin Paige Cordell. They were in Japan with their Alaskan Taiko Drumming group.

The word taiko (太鼓) means simply "great drum" in Japanese. Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums (和太鼓, 'wa-daiko', "Japanese drum", in Japanese) and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming (sometimes called more specifically, "kumi-daiko" (組太鼓). -from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko

Paige and her crew did an awesome job. It was also amazing to see her talking and joking with all her new Japanese friends in Japanese. In her Elementary school they start teaching the kids Japanese in kindergarten and have several native Japanese speakers on staff. The AK Cordells have even hosted a few of the Japanese interns that have come through their school. Happily one of those interns met up with us at the festival. Janet introduced us to Huck (he loved the book Huck Finn) with a tear in her eye. He was a much missed friend and became our tour guide for the afternoon. He led us to the Meiji Shrine and paraded us through the oddly dressed Japanese Hipsters that hang out near its entrance. Janet took oodles of pictures.

After dinner we parted ways for the night. We had gotten a night at the military hotel, The New Sanno. We had heard so many great things about the hotel. It was kind of a mixture of Motel 6 prices with much higher quality and comfort. We are really looking forward to going back there for Andy's birthday in a few weeks.

After our night of luxury we went down for some breakfast and a healthy portion of coffee before heading out to the train to find Tokyo Disney. We were to meet up with Janet and Paige at Splash Mountain around noon. The day was a blast. There was some rain in the morning, but nothing too terrible. We saw marching bands, screamed through Space Mountain, wondered what they were saying in the Haunted Mansion (it was all in Japanese), and snacked on flavored popcorn. It was amazingly like the Disneyland in California with a Japanese twist. You'll have to look through our pictures (Cordells in Japan) for the visual. Also, there will be some better pictures of the Taiko festival once we sort through Andy's photos.

After dinner we had to head back toward home. Andy had a full day of work staring him in the face and needed a full night of sleep. It was fantastic to see family and we look forward to more visitors this coming year.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Report on the Birthday Weekend - part 1

Saturday morning started promptly at 1am. We had to grab our packs, put a little something in our bellies, and get over to the base to catch the bus up to Fuji. We arrived to see a dozen bleary eyed outdoorsy types lounging on the couches and waiting for directions from our fearless leader, Tetsuya. After we had filled out the necessary forms and the bus had arrived, we all loaded into our seats and tried to get a few more blinks of sleep on our 3 hour ride. As the bus approached the base of the mountain, I opened my eyes to see an amazing view of trees and mountains resting under a light blanket of fog. The sky had that just-after-sunrise glow and the air smelled fresh and cool. At the base we were equiped with walking sticks and shown how to direct the future customers toward the beginning of the trail. After all, this was the training trip for the Fuji hike leaders. When the true hiking season is open, everyone will pay their 1000-1500 yen for an official Fuji hiking stick which is basically a tall stick that may or may not have a bell and flag attached to the top. The point of the stick, other than helping you navigate up the side of the mountain, is to record how high you get up Fuji-san. There are small huts all the way along the trail where you can pay another couple hundred yen to get a brand stamped onto your walking stick. It has to be an amazing money maker for them since most everyone I know that has gone up Fuji owns one of these sticks and is proud to show off their many stamps. So, off we went. There are 10 stations to go through to get to the top, but most people -including us- start at station 5. Sadly, Andy had been fighting a nasty stomache flu for a few days and didn't have the energy to make it past station 7. He really wanted to go with me to the top since it was my birthday, but in the end had to go down and cheer me on from the coffee shop. I hooked up with a couple other people in our group and continued up to the top. Now, whoever said Fuji was an easy or fun hike must have been delusional. Fuji is a moonscape covered in loose volcanic rock that doesn't necessarily provide the surest of footing. Of course there are the spots where you are scrambling like a mountain goat over the larger rocks... It took me about four hours to get to the top, 15 minutes to look around and start shivering at the top, and another two and a half hours to get back down to Andy. My legs were shakey and exhausted, but I felt pretty proud of the accomplishment.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

A Birthday Hike

A couple months ago, as I was looking through the Yokosuka Focus magazine, I saw an opportunity I couldn't pass up. The Outdoor Rec Dept was looking for people to help them lead trips up Mount Fuji this summer. I told Andy what I had in mind and he decided to join me at the orientation meeting. The hike up is pretty easy - just a bunch of switchbacks you follow to the top. The difficult part is the hike down - there's a lot of loose volcanic rock that can be tough on the knees and there's supposed to be one tricky spot where you cane asily take the wrong trail down (there are oodles of trails that go up and down Fuji). Clearly it sounded like a great challenge and we both signed up for the training hike. Our two options for hiking dates were June 17th or 24th. Well, the 24th just so happens to be my birthday and what better way to celebrate a birthday in Japan than to hike Mt Fuji? We've already been to the store to get our snacks and water for the trip. Now all we have to do is get a few hours of sleep before we are due to show up at the bus. It'll be an early morning - we've got to be there at 1.30 for our 3 hour ride to Fuji Station 5. The hike starts there. I'm figuring we'll be at the top sometime between 9am and noon and my fingers are crossed for clear skies. I'd love to get a few photos to share with everyone. However, if it isn't clear, one of the many trips this summer is bound to allow us a great view. I'm hoping in particular that the overnight trip up Fuji in July is clear. Can you imagine how amazing the sunrise will be?

There's a saying in Japan, "A wise person hikes Fuji once, but the person who hikes Fuji more than once is a fool." Call us fools. There are about 10 hikes on our calendar. We probably won't help with every hike, but I'm certain we'll make the trek more than once!

School's Out For Summer!

It's June 23rd and I'm sitting here in our little apartment lounging on the couch at about 8 am. A week ago at this time I was emptying my classroom and wondering what I'd be doing when the next school year began. I had asked my principal if there was any way I could be kept on at the school as a full-time teacher. Working part-time as the art teacher next year just wasn't going to pay the bills. If I couldn't get full-time work we were planning to head back to Seattle earlier than originally planned. My principal was understanding, but didn't want to lose me. He crunched numbers for projected enrollment and tried to find something for me. Meanwhile, the school over on the main base was also looking for a spot for me. When they came up with a 1st grade spot they called my principal and asked if they could have me he really started rallying to find me a spot at Ikego. Last Wednesday he surprised everyone (including myself) at our end of the year BBQ by announcing that I was leaving my part-time art position to find full-time work. He then took back my going away gift and welcomed me on board as one of the new classroom teachers for the fall. I blushed while everyone clapped and asked what I'd be teaching. My response..."You know as much about it as me." It was a great feeling to see everyone so excited about my return and to hear their hopes that I would be joining their grade level team. I even had a 2nd grade teacher lead me into the principal's office to tell him that the 2nd grade really needed me. On Friday morning Walt (my principal) walked into my nearly empty room to announce that I'd be teaching 1st grade next year and that the room assignments would be in my mailbox by later that same morning. As soon as the other teachers saw the room assignments the came over the wish me congrats. I even had a parent come up to me in the grocery store a few days ago to tell me she hoped her son would be in my class. It has been amazing to see how much support these people that I've just recently gotten to know are sending my way. I'm really excited about the team I'll be joining and they seem to be just as excited. A few were already gathering supplies and classroom materials for me as they cleaned up their rooms last Friday. Vanessa, a former 1st grade teacher who will be teaching 1st/2nd split, is planning to give me a call later this summer to go over to the school and help me get all set up. With all of their help on top of the help that Linda, Andy's mom, has offered (she was a 1st grade teacher for years), I am bound to have a successful year.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Sunday BBQ

Today we opened the typhoon shutters to see a beautiful sunny day. We did our morning thing and got the BBQ going just after noon. The funny thing is that every time we get it going our Japanese neighbor kids come outside and zoom their bike and scooter back and forth past us until their mother steps out and tells them to calm down and stop pestering. Then she will step outside onto the patio and we'll try to communicate with the help of our pocket translators which, for her, happens to be her phone. Today the conversation started with: "Are you married?" -yes. Then she makes the pregnant belly motion with her hands. -I shake my head no and we both laugh. She says something in Japanese and we move on to basketball. Who knew there were basketball fans over here? She mentions Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and a bunch of teams that only Andy knew anything about. Her husband plays center on a basketball club here. He's probably 5'6". I don't remember where the conversation went from there. Adam, the new diver on Andy's team, came over and tried to put his poptart on our grill. Last week he did grill his frozen fish sticks. In short, cooking isn't exactly his greatest skill. Pretty soon our chicken and peppers ala Ted Warren were ready. We put the lid on the BBQ and went inside.

Baby Blankie

There's a new baby on the way. Andy's sister is pregnant and due to give birth to a baby boy in early July. When we heard the news we thought it would be nice to test my new knitting skills and make the newest addition a welcome to the world gift.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Workin' Girl

During the month of March all people who submitted applications to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), but have not yet filled a position, receive an email asking them to update and resubmit their application by early April. If you fail to meet this deadline your application would be thrown out. Clearly I resubmitted. (Thank you Donna, Lisa, Jake, and Peggy for being my references!) The biggest difference made to the application was a switch listing myself as a local hire as opposed to an over-seas hire. Local hires don’t receive near as many benefits as their counterparts, but they are more likely to be employed. Two days after I made that switch I received a phone call from the principal at Ikego (one of the Navy housing areas attached to Yokosuka). He was looking for an art teacher and I was a perfect fit. Another two days later was the interview and then the paperwork process began.

Yesterday I reported for my first day. It was a teacher conference day so I had a chance to touch base with the teacher I was taking over for and meet some of the other teachers. I looked through the materials closet and over the plans for the week to come. I start with the kids on Monday.

Visit the school web page at http://www.ikego-es.pac.dodea.edu/ You can even see the classroom where I’ll be working with the kids.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

playing hooky


Well friends, Japan has given up its winter grip. Locals say that it has been the coldest winter in the past ten years. Having no idea whether or not this fact is accurate, I always agree. Working under the assumption that the locals are right, Maggie and I are trying to make the most of our newfound spring weather. We have cleaned, the doors to our shanty have been open, and the bats are slowly leaving the cave.
To celebrate finally having the house to ourselves, Maggs and I took to our make- shift outdoor patio (parking space too small for even a Japanese sized car) and had ourselves a BBQ. It was great. We had burgers, grilled spicy peppers (ala Ted Warren), and couple of bottles of cold Mexicana suds. If I could have clicked together my steel-toes and imported all of you over, the day would have been complete. Next time. With bellies full of lean ground goodness, we capped our day off with a game of scrabble and a nap. All and all a pretty great April Fools Day.
Sunday was a wash (literally). We went to the gym, watched some sports on the tube, and generally just had the feeling like we had been cheated out of one of our weekend days. We both agreed that we needed to rectify this fact so we vowed to make the most of Monday if the weather was a bit less sassy. It was and we did. Exhausted from my fifteen-minute workday, I met up with Maggie and we headed up to Kamakura to check out the blooming cherry trees. Kamakura has been our escape from the blandness of Yokosuka. It is a little coastal town with a whole bunch of Japanese charm. Following a reliable tip we rode the train an extra stop and took a leisurely sun soaked stroll back to Kamakura central. This stretch of road is beautiful: Skinny streets lined with cherry trees, brooks alive from Sunday’s grumbles, arching bridges, and the usual clean that we have quickly learned to appreciate about Japan. The morning and early afternoon was spent with us exploring the temples and shrines that were built back in the time when Kamakura was the capital of Japan. Mind you, I have no earthly idea how long ago that was. One of the highlights came after hiking up a Washington Monument amount of stairs. Winded and with burning legs, we located the top and were immediately treated to not only an unhindered view of Mt. Fuji, but the drumming and chants of a monk who very well might have been around during Kamakura’s capital days. It was quite a sight to see. Enshrouded in a cloud of incense this bald little man sat on the floor of this hillside house of prayer, belting out notes that were seismically low. For about fifteen minutes he did his thing. Maggie and I sat captivated, eating fishy crackers, and looking down at the puffy cotton candyesque trees that surround this sacred spot.
We reached the bottom of the hill with silent steps. Each of us so lost in our own thoughts that it took us a while to notice the wind had picked up and was showering us with pick and white cherry blossoms. Fearing a downpour we kicked it into gear. We needed coffee and a bit of French charm (for those of you who fell that is an oxymoron please keep it to yourselves). Each time we escape to Kamakura we eat at a fantastic French restaurant run by a Japanese man fresh out of a French culinary academy (and a job on staff at one of Gérard Depardieu’s restaurants). He is not much older then we and speaks a perfect Japanese and French. Being that I can’t speak either, Maggs does all of the ordering for us. Watching them try to communicate using fragments of three languages makes it more like dinner and a show. We drank the rest of our coffees and scraped the remaining nibbles of homemade apple pureed thingy (menu words not mine) off of our plates, said our good byes, and happily headed home. Playing hooky has never been so fun!

Have a look at a few of our pictures located on the right of the page. The woman in the kimono was just a fun gift from the photo gods.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Knitting is not just for old ladies!

When I first arrived and Andy was working the long hours of actual dive time over Christmas, I had to find something to occupy my time while I waited for work to drift my way. I first spent my time running and then looked to the list of classes offered at the community center. Tea box covering...ballet...Japanese...bonzai...knitting... I clearly picked knitting.

When I mentioned going to the class in front of one of the divers, he promptly asked, "What are you...85 years old?!" And then, when I took my knitting into the Starbucks on base, the gang of teacher's husbands that hang out there in the mornings made comments that they felt they were hanging out at a nursing home when I pulled my project out of my bag. I just smiled and started on a new row.

My first two projects after the intitial scarf project were the dish rags you see in these two photos. My current project is a bit bigger and I will definitely be sure to show it off when it is done. In fact I might need opinions about finishing touches. Get your opinions ready!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

White Day vs Valentine's Day

I got home this afternoon after a day of substitute teaching with bags of groceries holding all the goodies sure to make a fabulous dinner. Andy had been craving hamburgers and, with him suffering from a nasty strained muscle, it seemed like hamburgers would be a perfect dinner. When I pulled into our parking spot Andy was there to greet me and help me lug the grocery bags into the apartment. When we stepped into the house I was delighted to see that Andy had cleaned and bought flowers for the table. Today is White Day.

St. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14, and White Day one month later on March 14. It is said that St. Valentine's Day was imported to Japan in 1958 by a Japanese confectionery company. In Japan, it is only the women giving presents - mainly chocolate - to men, but not the other way around. Men are supposed to return the favors received on Valentine's Day one month later on White Day, a Japanese creation. White Day is believed to have been introduced by a marshmallow manufacturing company in the 1960s. The white marshmallows gave the day its name but other kinds of presents such as candy, flowers, etc. have become more popular over the years.

The real stinker about this tradition is that women are very good about giving valentine chocolates to all the men in their lives...a boss, a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, significant other, etc. and in return women generally get just the one gift from their significant other. Of course, the men generally spend a lot more on that one gift...

Saturday, February 25, 2006

photo albums

We recently learned how to add photo albums to our blog and wanted to point them out. Right here, on the side of the page under the photo albums title, are a few pictures from the two of us added just so you all can get a better mental picture of what we're up to in Japan. We've still got to take more pictures of our everyday lives, but these are a few of our adventures. Enjoy!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Workin' 9 to 5

Well, it is more like 7 to 2:30, but you get the idea.

Since I arrived I've been hunting for work of my own. Something to keep me busy when Andy is working, to provide a pay check, and to provide a fabulous letter of recommendation for a future job back in the states. I joined the English Teachers' Networking Group and have been hoping to pick up a couple students in the afternoons. I submitted my paperwork to substitute teach here on the base. Heck, I even signed up with a modeling firm in Tokyo. (Even Andy came along and signed up for that one!)

Lately I'd been getting frustrated with unemployment. All the connections I'd been making weren't leading anywhere and I was worried that I'd be stuck not contributing to our savings. Then, all of a sudden, I recieved two calls from the modeling agency asking if I was available for a couple possible jobs coming up. Then, two days later, I got a call from the middle school here on base saying that my subbing paperwork had gone through and that they'd be calling me soon for help. Then, I got an interview with an English school in Yokohama. Woo hoo!! Things were looking up.

Finally today I have my first day of work! Yeah!! I'm subbing at the high school on what might just be the easiest day to sub ever! Yokosuka is hosting the Far West Wrestling tournament and has schools from Japan, Korea, and Guam in attendance. And, since it is such a big event, the teachers were all encouraged to take their classes over to cheer on their team. Basically, my day has consisted of taking attendance and then walking the group over to the gym. I'm sure that I'll be working much tougher days here, but this has been a fabulous first day back at work and I hope to be scheduled for more sub work next week.

Now that work has started coming my way I have my fingers crossed that it will continue with force.

Wake and Waddle

Blog thoughts for this here Thursday in a Japan: Which by the way, happens to be one of two scheduled trash days for our neighborhood. That’s right, we, like all of our pint sized new friends, each Monday and Thursday take part in a ritual that I have coined “the wake and waddle.” For on these days, regardless of your waking hour, you can blearily head to the street and watch people carrying many grocery sacks (of the plastic variety) to the trash drop. Which, mind you, looks much more like an oversized raccoon trap than a refuse receptacle. Until this sighting we were simply just filling Glad bags and hoping that someone would impart their waste knowledge upon us prior to our guestroom becoming over run. I would have thought one of the divers might grunt the garbage instructions in passing. However, clarity clubbed me and my fleeting grumbles on this topic as soon as I entered their guestrooms. So I promptly filled them in on what I had just discovered.
Now knowing not only when we could dump our adult sized monster accumulation of a trash, but also where and how, Maggie and I rushed into action. With a glance and a grin we were in action, transferring all of the trash from big to small bags. One became many. Then out the door we went, waddling with the best of them down our narrow lane toward the capybara trap turned trash cage. Unfortunately, getting it open required both of our brains and a secret knock.




CAPYBARA

The word capybara means “rat as big as pig”

Origin: Central & South America
Height: Up to 2 feet tall
Length: Up to 4 1/2 feet
Weighting up to 145 lbs the capy eats only veggies and, if offered, has a weakness for melon.

Capybaras are quite swift on their feet and will also have no problem swimming if they happen to fall into your pool. To take that image a bit further, if once in your pool, the capybara needs to take a capynap, it is able. For they have the ability to sleep in the water by keeping their nose above the waterline. Thus answering the “do capybaras float” question. The capybara’s lifespan is about 10 years in the wild and, like me, if they are threatened they would much rather dive in the water and hide rather then scuffle. Unfortunately for them (not me) one of their many natural predators is the anaconda.

If you have always had the desire to buy your kids an illustrated book on capybaras please don’t fret. “Capyboppy” by Bill Peet just happened to be my favorite childhood book and can be purchased by clicking on the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0613100263/sr=82/qid
=1140085456/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-0398662-3858240?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Friday, February 3, 2006

The shakes

Just a couple nights ago, as we were sitting in bed watching back to back episodes of 24, we lived through our first Japanese earthquake. We heard today that it ranked 4.7 on the American scale. Basically it wasn't enough to scare us into running for the door frame, but we did look at eachother with big grins on our faces. It was kind of exciting!

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Oscar


Saturday morning we woke up to the sound of children squeeling. It's a sound we're pretty used to by now seeing as the kids next door are very enthusiastic, to say the least. Andy got up, went to the window, and came back to report that it was snowing! Our first snow in Japan... We immediately bundled up and went for a drive over to the base. Our agenda was to make some calls and take a picture of our little car. There were a couple requests for a visual record of our little green monster, Oscar. The snow didn't last very long but even today as we drove across base there were a few snowmen hanging out in front yards fighting against the sun.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Rainy day update

Hello hello,

It is a day full of clouds and periodic drips. Ah, Japan is a grab bag of quirks, and as it is with any new adventure, knees get skinned. We are doing pretty well. I have been here a little over a month, Maggs a bit under, and taking strides to make our icebox of a house homey. It is funny; we can get a cell phone that will double as a shaver, but still wake up in a fog of our own making. It seems that this island full of little people fail to value the need for insulation. Yesterday morning I checked our indoor thermometer and was taunted with a 38-degree greeting. Not the end of the world, but it does make it that much more difficult to get out of bed in the morning. We are taking Japanese classes once a week, and are also learning how to cook without an oven. We have a wok and a stovetop….we are yet to go hungry. For all of you who have lived on a base, or grew up in a military household, you know the perks of base life. The creature comforts of stateside life are all available at the commissary and usually at a fraction of the cost. We have a gym to work out in with an Olympic sized pool (oddly enough on the second floor), and a full weight room/machine room where you can sweat under watchful eyes coming out of your own flat screen. If woodworking is your thing we can use the base's tool room full of the newest line of Home Depot's finest. Maggie has already gone in with plans of furnishing our place with shelves and bookcases of her making. So when all of you come over for a visit, you will surely be wowed by her creations.
As for work, my diving career began in fifth gear. I pretty much climbed right off of the tarmac and onto our dive barge. We worked right through Christmas, diving mostly on battle ships. I have been in the water twice. Distilled down, I am an underwater janitor. You can check the PLU records, but I would say with an archer’s accuracy, that I am the first one to use my History degree in this way. The Navy contracts us to clean the props, routers and running gear. Occasionally we run what I call an underwater Zamboni over the hull to get rid of hard-shelled sea critters. But the Zamboni is not put in the water all that frequently due to the fact that it is a pain to move it around. The ships go into dry dock for all of their big maintenances. Because of this, it is important that the running gear is sparkly clean when these giants come out for all eyes to see. Our cleaning has practical purposes too. Clean running gear makes the ships that much more stealth-like for when they are out at sea. Truth be told, it is pretty awesome being under an 1100 foot boat. The Kitty Hawk has four 27-foot props with edges that you would not want to cuddle up to. Yes, the water is chilly, and no, the visibility is not so good. But I like the challenge, and it allows us to live abroad for a year or two.
Unfortunately though, our diving has gone from fifth to first. And yes, that’s been as jarring as it sounds. We were given 10 days off for working on Christmas. I would have been happy with the steak lunch that we barbequed in-between our morning and afternoon Christmas dive, but the vacation was nice too. Now we are working half days and waiting for the next ship to come into port. I am sure that a year from now I will welcome the short days. But now I am itching to keep busy.
All right, my fingers getting as tired as your eyes, so I will leave the rest for another blog blurb. I hope all of you are doing well…know you are missed. Do us a favor and turn up the heat in your homes a degree or two for us. Right now we are opening the fridge in order to warm our hands.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

A hard day's work


Andy's dive barge moored along side the C-ville. If you look closely you will see him on the gunnel (above the #7).

The U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. Home to Andy's Christmas day first dive. If you look closely you can see his bubbles.

Gardening Imperial Style



Can you believe it? The palace has its own team of bonsai tree trimmers.

Home sweet home



Photo of our modest new digs. It is a large one bedroom.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

2 weeks and 6 days

It's been a pretty amazing start for our new adventure. We enjoyed a fantastic Japanese dinner on Christmas Eve at a restaurant where everything on the menu was written in characters instead of letters or pictures. Luckily we had gone with friends who know the language. Then on Christmas we invited one of the divers over to our apartment for holiday paninis and a game of scrabble. Andy had even got his first dive in as part of this team. AND it was on the Kitty Hawk which is one of the largest ships in the world. We got to enjoy a Japanese New Year and see the 20 year olds all dressed up for Come of Age day. For the New Year everyone has three days to go to temple, toss their lucky goyen (5 yen coin) into a box, ring the bell, and make a wish. Your three days begin at midnight on New Year's Eve and often there is a long line at the temple to make wishes at soon as the clock hits the new year. For Come of Age day anyone turning 20 years old in 2006 dresses up in traditional kimono and goes to the temple for a blessing and celebration. They tended to continue wearing their kimono for the rest of the day so you saw people all dressed up wherever you went. We've gone for sushi and have enjoyed sumo on tv. We've been off to visit Tokyo and see the amazing way people cross the street at intersections. The people watching is fabulous over here. So many of the young men look like they are straight out of an animae cartoon with their stylish clothes and funky hair. The other day we saw a guy that could have been David Bowie's Japanese twin! Another funny thing we've noticed is that the houses here aren't insulated. Everyone heats their home with a kerosene heater and/or has one of these great little tables with a built in heater underneath. They also make these table covers that help hold the heat in and keep the people sitting at the table warm. I'm sure we'll find a few other funny little things soon...