Our First Night

We're on our third whole day in Japan. So far it's been a really cool experience. I feel like I've spent a lot of my time sleeping. Probably because I do it in stints. I can't seem to sleep past 4 or 5 am. I think my body is still trying to figure out the time difference. So, I wake up (along with Tom) early in the Morning and then I'm tired again a few hours later. Fun times!

On our first night we went to dinner with a friend of ours that is also out here for temporary duty. He's been here a couple of weeks already and will go home next week. He's been here before, so he showed us around a little bit and showed us a cool Thai place to eat. It was absolutely delicious! We all ate different things, but tried all the dishes. Every time I tried a different dish, I thought it was so good! We'll definitely return to try that place again. They also gave us the most unusual dessert afterwards. It was a strange combination of sweet custard-like stuff combined with a gelly-like substance. We thought it was probably partially for soothing the heat from the food. It was really good, just unusual.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours just walking around. When I saw a store that was interesting, I just wandered in to look around. For anybody that loves to shop, you would absolutely love this place. I'm not a huge shopper, but I love the different culture in the stores that I would visit. There are also quite a few dollar-type stores. Very fun to walk around and see what's available here vs. at home. Another cultural thing here is the number of scooters and bicycles. They are everywhere. I've included a picture of a scooter parking lot. It's near the shopping areas and the train station.

I've also included some pictures of the outside of our motel as well as a couple on the inside for anybody that is interested. Everybody should also check out Tom's blog. He'll also be posting regularly all our experiences!

We're in Japan!

This is a picture of us right after our plane rides (Do we look tired enough?).

I was going to write this blog last night (at least our last night) and then again this morning, but I ran into a couple of problems with that. First we were exhausted. We flew in around 5:00 in the afternoon here (that was midnight back home). By the time we got to our motel room it was around 9:00 pm, so by the time we went to sleep it was around 4:30 a.m. our time. I was okay, but Tom was a walking zombie (it's not uncommon for me to stay up pretty late). 2nd our laptop has a power cord that wasn't adaptable to the outlets in the walls here. They don't have 3-pronged outlets. Tom bought an adapter at the navy commissary today while he was at work. 3rd I was having a little problem with the language in google. It automatically changed to Japanese. Needless to say, I don't know how to read Japanese. It would bring up English when I searched, but all the screen links were in Japanese. It took me a little while to figure it out. So here we are!

The plane rides went well. The only problem I had was actually getting off the ground. My plane was suppose to leave around 1:00. First it was delayed by about an hour and then when we were a actually taxiing down the runway we had to turn around and go back because someone put a bag on the plane that wasn't suppose to be there. Tom and I were on different flights because it saved us about $600. My flight was suppose to get to Tokyo about 10 minutes before his. I was a little concerned, but it turned out fine. We only got there about 30 minutes later than we were scheduled to and after I went through immigration and got my bag he was there waiting for me. The flight was about 10 hours long and we had 2 meals and a couple of snacks. I don't eat that well at home! The food was pretty good too. Plus I could watch movies the whole trip. I rode with Delta and they have this cool On-Demand like setup. Everyone has their own TV and you just go in and select the movie you want. I watched 4 different movies. It was actually pretty enjoyable. Along with my puzzle book, the time flew pretty fast. So much better than my trip to the Philippines!

The shipyard had a bus and escorts waiting for us at the airport with a bus. We all just climbed into the bus and were driven to our respective cities. There were two different cities that people stayed at. I think we lucked out we ended up in a pretty nice hotel in a town called Yukosuka (pronounced Yukoska) within a 10 minute walk to the naval base where Tom will be working. The other place was an hour train ride away. The bus ride took us a couple of hours from the airport to the base. We passed through about 10 toll booths along the way. I heard someone say that if we drove by ourselves the tolls would cost around $150. Insane! For the entire ride, all we could see were buildings everywhere. We were passing through different cities, but there wasn't a break between them. One huge freakin' town. Although the type of building changed a little the further we got from Tokyo. In Tokyo the buildings were mostly high rises and they changed to pretty normal city building as were were driving.

Our motel room has 2 twin beds instead of a queen. I'm not sure what they accomplish by doing that, but oh well. So, not cuddling for me unless we want to revert to our pre-marriage cuddling on our twin beds (yes that's as far as it went). Our room also has a couch, a desk, TV, small refrigerator, & microwave. We're happy about the fridge. A benefit of the Navy's relationship with the Mercure Hotel is Tom gets all his laundry done for free, plus a free breakfast buffet every morning, and a free drink every day. However, I do not get these benefits. So, we've got to figure out how we're going to get my laundry done. Another benefit is Tom gets a daily allowance for his food. If he doesn't use it all we just get to keep the extra. If we're careful we should have enough money to pay for both our food and have some extra left over.

Tomorrow is Tom's first real day at work. He had a training class this morning, and is currently taking a nap. Jet lag. Lucky for me there is a mall across the street from our motel and many little shops around. We also brough many movies and the laptop. So I should have plenty to keep me occupied while he's working!

This is a picture from our motel room window (I'm such a skilled photographer you can see me in the reflection)!

Ready for Japan?

Jake bathed & ready?......check

House clean?.....check

Laundry done?.....almost

Flight, shuttle, and ride arranged?.....check

Packed?....Ah, crap! (any volunteers?)

Tom and I are getting ready to leave for Japan in a couple of days. We're very excited and very busy. We're taking Jake to my cousin's house tomorrow (where he will be staying until I return). We both have different flights, but both flights leave Seattle and arrive in Japan within an hour of each other. If I had taken his flight it would have cost me almost double. I'll console myself with the money I save! We can't wait to see and experience the Japanese culture and see some friends that are there. Keep tuned for updates!

My Uncle Brent

A couple of weeks ago at church I witnessed a beautiful occurrence that really reminded me of my Uncle Brent. My uncle was an amazing man that unfortunately passed away a few years ago. My uncle is my Dad's youngest brother. He had down syndrome and one of the biggest hearts in the world. I remember hearing that when he was born they recommended to my grandparents to put him into a special home for his special needs. That of course did not happen, that is something that would never happen and something my grandparents would have never considered. My uncle actually helped the entire family. I think his beautiful example for us made us all better people.

In our ward we have a young teenage girl that has down syndrome. At church a couple of weeks ago I noticed something that was unbelievable. This girl has a hard time speaking and uses a little sign language. One of the girls in her age group took it upon herself to learn the Young Women Theme that they recite every week in sign language to help her. This was not something we was asked to do, she just did it to help someone that needed it.

I'd like to thank everyone out there that takes a little time out of their own lives to help someone else in need just out of love. I miss my uncle and thank him for his wonderful example in my life!

Chicken Gyros

Since I've been staying home with our dog, I've been trying to work on my cooking skills. This has always been something that I've wanted to improve. I feel like I've come a long ways in the past year and a half. Since I got married, I've been collecting cook books. My husband used to make fun of me, because I kept buying cook books but never used them. I've recently found out I can find a lot of really good recipes on the web, no purchase required.

A while ago my cousin Janssen made a blog about some recipes she had made that week. A lot of them sounded really tasty, including the Chicken Gyros (pronounced Yero..for those of you that don't know). Tom introduced me to Greek food when we got married. I'd never had a Gyro before. Now I love them. This recipe was amazing. It's pretty non-fattening too (not including the pita). As a warning, it is a little time consuming but pretty easy. It takes straining the yogurt (to get the excess water out of it) and peeling and grating a cucumber. The straining is what takes the most time.

If you like greek food or Gyros I totally recommend this recipe. The recipe also has a link for homemade pitas (which I did not make). They're suppose to be really good, maybe I'll make them next time.

For the recipe click here.

Here's a picture of me holding my Gyro.

Japan

A little while ago, Tom had the opportunity to volunteer to go to Japan for about 6 weeks to do a temporary stint on their help desk. I've always been supportive of anything that he felt he wanted or needed to do for his career. I also think that it is always a good career move to volunteer for anything that comes across your desk that is even remotely interesting to you. So, Tom put his name in for the experience. We've been knowing this was coming for a while now.

The only thing that has kind of made it strange was that I was always unsure weather I was going to accompany him. There was a part of me that would have loved going to Japan, but there was also a part of me that really wanted to find a job. If that happened, it was impossible that I could have asked for time off to go with my husband to Japan so I kept postponing the decision.

Recently I've come to the decision that there might be a reason that I'm not aware of that I haven't found a job. I just need to have faith that if I make the right decisions, things will happen in the best way for my life. So, Tom and I are looking for a ticket for me. Originally we were planning on riding in the same plane. Unfortunately, by the time we found out what flight that would be the ticket price was through the roof (it's a direct flight). So, we're probably going to buy a one-stop ticket for me on another flight. This will mean I won't be with him and it will take me longer to get there. But, we'll save a lot of money doing it this way.

Tom's leaving on March 1st and I'll leave somewhere around there too. He'll be there for about 6 weeks, but I'm only going to stay a month. We have some friends that have agreed to watch Jake for a month. That is a really long time to babysit a puppy. I kind of feel bad that I had to ask them for this favor, but I know I can trust them to take care of him while I'm gone.

Trip to "Point No Point"

A year ago our YW/YM youth group went to a place called Hurricane Ridge for our big combined activity. This is one of the few places in this area that gets regular snow fall. The kids got to play in the snow and have chili afterwards. Because Hurricane Ridge is in the Olympic National Park there was an entrance fee. Instead of just paying the one-time fee Tom decided he'd just buy the yearly fee. Have we been back, no of course not. This yearly membership is going to expire pretty soon, so Tom decided he wanted to go back. We were planning on doing this today. Unfortunately, when he went online to check the road conditions there the roads had been closed for the next 6 weeks because of a rock slide. Needless to say he was totally bummed. He'd been looking forward to this for weeks. So instead we decided to go to a place called "Point No Point". It is one of the most northern spots in Kitsap County (that is my county).

One of the benefits is it cut the trip by about a third. The day was pretty nice for Washington. A bit drizzly, but pretty clear. When we got out there, it was this cute little spot with a lighthouse and a beach. The funnest part of it was Jake. He loved the beach! Lots of things to smell and look at. We walked down the beach, while Tom took pictures of everything. Sounds pretty typical huh? While Tom was taking pictures he noticed a container ship that was just bookin' through the water. A little while later the waves from the container ship started hitting the sand beach (it's very exciting to have a sand beach, most beaches here are rock). The waves were pretty big and Jake hated them! Jake is not a big fan of water. He takes baths only because he absolutely has to, but other than drinking it completely avoids it at all costs. We have yet to get him to go play in the water anytime we go to the beach. The waves started coming in and almost got him wet a few times. He backtracked up the beach very quickly so his little feet wouldn't get wet and then just started barking at the water. It was hilarious! It was a great day and I really enjoyed it!