So much for radiation exposure

Not to say that we want to go to a Ball at the Nuc. plant, but I am now not as concerned about the exposure.  My lovely little girl whom I am trying to protect from a higher likelihood of cancer in future years just received a head CT.

Zap.

We made brownies late last night and, in order to prevent burns from the big bad oven, I put Ioanna in a high chair with arms and pulled it up to the counter so she could not fall forward.  Instead she stood up and just fell off.  Flat on her face with a nice big bump on the temple.  She took the longest breath I have ever seen (I may have too), cried a second then snored (really) and passed out on my shoulder for a couple seconds.  Then she woke and screamed some more.  Jon got home just then (thank goodness) and decided to offer her a cookie to see if she would vomit (sigh).  Instead she watched the many pretty daddys circling around her, at least she really did not realize what the cookie was, or could not pick which one to grab at.  So off to the ER we went.

The nice thing about an ER visit during an evacuation departure...no wait!  There was one unlucky little girl there with a badly broken finger and us.  Io was very quiet for a while and then became quite giddy (at 10pm when she is usually quite grumpy if she is not in bed).  With the passing out, the giddiness, the height of fall and the bruise location, the doctor recommended a CT scan to check for bleeds.  Since the alternative was waiting for her to pass out and hence suffering further possible brain injury (with the hope she would not) I decided to go with the CT.

Zap.

So my kids are playing outside this afternoon.  (Actually the radiation levels have gone down and the base nuc. guys said it was safe enough.).  If she does get cancer later in life I can now blame it on bad parenting instead of natural and unnatural disasters.  At least I was able to put her to sleep for the scan so she was not sedated.  Yeah me!

Otherwise here is the current update.  DOD families are now cleared to leave, our paperwork is in and we are now waiting on orders which should come soon, today even.  We will see.  We are now likely to fly into New Jersey, but with no tickets I still cannot say for certain.  Jon is essential personnel and will be staying in Yokosuka.  Amusingly he was in charge of picking a team to go south to Sasebo and fix the ship we moved down there.  The selected Japanese gentlemen were happy until they found out Jon was not going down to be in charge.  Nice to know they like him. :-)  The ships are now gone so he is working normal-ish hours again, mostly doing paperwork.  The kids are actually seeing him before we go, which is very nice. 

Alexandra started back at school on Tuesday.  One classroom of first-graders of about twenty kids.  No homework and no 'teaching' just lots of playing, which she needed.  Many of the teachers have evacuated.  A's teacher did, but she is early on in a pregnancy, so she rightfully went soon after the radiation was detected.  Other teachers just left, which they are not suppose to do.  The teachers are essential personal, just like Jon.  They are not suppose to leave until the base is evacuated (or at least all the dependents are).  Right now we are have a voluntary departure and the teachers are suppose to be here to teach the children still here.

The main reason The Man okay-ed the departure was to clear out young (under age 2) children and expectant mothers.  (Also so shrill housewives would not be distracting their husbands with phone calls during the emergency.) It was not due to danger to adults.  There is still a commitment to the remaining students.  But some teachers have remained parents have been asked to step in and together they will keep the remaining students a-learnin'.

As for Alexandra, I was thinking of enrolling her in a school while we are gone, but since I don't know how long that will be and since we wish to do some traveling while we are stateside she is being homeschooled for the next month.  Thor graduated from preschool and is suppose to start Kindergarten on April 8th; they said they will hold his spot for our return.   (At least I think that is what they said, my translator left the day before.)
He has a orange hat now and is very proud of it, it is much better than the yellow hat.

We are packed and ready to go.  I even repacked everything.  I may repack the carry-ons again just because it is that fun.  All the chairs are lying on the floor so dizzy little girls do not fall from them.  Instead she can just trip over them like her mama.  I am trying to empty our fridge just enough to leave Jon with a usable amount of food but I have pretty much run out of meal ideas plus I have a hankerin' for some sushi so we may go out tonight.  The kids will probably get fried chicken, you know because that is what you go to the sushi joint for (actually they have killer fried chicken and french fries!)...  or maybe we will try a ramen joint...  or maybe both, the portion sizes are small here!

You may have noticed I spoke fairly little about the ship deployment and such...sorry I have bunches to say about that, but loose lips sink ships and whatnot.  Just ignore whatever sensationalist crap CNN has to say and you should have a basic idea of what is going on around here. 


Oh and for those of you wondering, the brownies are quite tasty.  Due to maternal guilt Ioanna has had some  and loves them!  Also, I have not yet found out why the Japanese man was in my friends apartment.


We'll be seeing some of you soon and sorry to miss the rest of you!

At least the Plum Blossoms were pretty

So Everyone hears about the cherry blossoms blooming in Japan.  Beautiful, relaxing, peaceful, blah blah blah.
  What they don't mention are the Plum Blossoms.  They are so pretty and everywhere and very unique looking and have their own festival.  Best of all I actually get to see them!   I have waited so long to go to DC and see the cherry blossoms and then made it to Japan first and now it seems I will not be seeing them still.  Next year I will see them.  Oh yes, I Will See Them.

The news as of now is that "voluntary  departure" has been authorized.  That means that the Navy will be evacuating departing non-essential civilians.  First go the military families then the DOD Families.  I am not sure how long it will take to get anywhere, one to five days?  I am also not sure where they are sending us to, but it is a 30 day min. evacuation departure.   I was thinking of enrolling Alexandra in a first grade somewhere, but now I think I may just homeschool her for a month or two.  That way we can take advantage of the unscheduled time stateside to visit both sides of the family.

Have I mentioned that the navy can run a war but not an evacuation.  Maybe that is a good sign, maybe it means we don't retreat much.  Either way I am disappointed and my confidence shaken.  Not that I ever counted on The Man to fully protect us, but it would be nice if The Man could make up His mind and #### or get off the pot.  (Sorry for the #### just a bit frustrated).  I understand that the sailors and the ships and then the relief mission are top priority.  That is as it should be, but a nice little "we assessed the situation and you are currently safe.  We will start our relief mission and then work on the base issues" would have been nice and gone a long way towards keeping the shrieking housewives happy.  What do you expect the wives to do when there is no information except what is seen on the news (when we can understand it) and there are young children at home and husbands leaving with very limited warning.  The Navy wives are used to that last part, but usually the threat to the family is not there...except ya know the typhoon in October and that whole N. vs S. Korea stand off...but still.

So we hang out inside, bags packed and waiting.  I just saw on Facebook that they are changing bag limits to 50 lbs for an adult and 30lbs for kids, but only if you are going to a specific airport.  So I would like to know...do you really expect me to repack and remove things and just how am I suppose to know what airport you are sending me too if you don't tell me squat???

Jon we be in Japan at least through Monday and then he does not know what to expect: perhaps a trip to south Japan, perhaps stay here and catch up on paperwork, perhaps a jump across the drink to the west coast. He is super-important so he gets to stay and be irradiated for a bit longer at least.  Lucky boy!  I'm glad we have skype though.  You old people had it hard with the letter writing and phone numbers with city names in them, good songs though...no offense of course:-) really!)  Man, now Pennsylvania 6-5000 is in my head...punishment for the above I suppose.  Sorry.  We are lucky to have all this technology (hmm but that does include nuc. plants a whole different blog)

Me, 2 Kids, 1 Baby, stroller, carseat, 3 checked bags, 5 carry-ons....Its an Adventure.  Perhaps we will see Korea or Germany or Washington State who knows a hanger in Bahrain?  Well, that may be unlikely.  What other disasters are waiting for us...I don't know if I can stand the excitement.  I 'm gonna go knock on some wood now.

tootles

The Current Norm

Life is settling into a tension-filled schedule.  We know how the day is suppose to go and are following it, but always with a worry in our hearts.   The big question right now is whether to evacuate.

The Navy detected very low level radiation, akin to a transpacific flight, but have shared the precaution that we should stay indoors and seal obvious airflow into the houses, if we want.  We are not playing at the playground after school and Sullivans elementary has recess inside right now.  Thor, Io and I bike to school in the morning but that is only for two more days then school is done for the year.  (Thor will be a kindergartner in April!!!)  We cover up and I wash out clothes each day, this radiation is easily absorbed by water.  I even bought some masks just in case...the Japanese pharmacist I bought them from went to school in Rockford, Il for a while.  He even knows of Woodstock! 

There are to be rolling blackouts twice a day for the rest of the month. That was suppose to start three days ago.  I have yet to have one, though nearby neighbors have had them.  Perhaps our little section is just that much better about conserving energy.  Oh Yeah!     We are going to do most of the shopping on base since local stores will be having trouble with supplies. At this point though the base stores are fairly well wiped out for now.  Still quite a bit, but limited amounts of everything since they cannot depend on refrigeration all day every day.  Between overstocking for emergencies and buying items to send up north, only the most unessential items are still at the stores.  Our local train line is out of service for now, but we do have a car and the bikes as needed. Alexandra is at school at the base but Thor's last week of preschool is on a day to day basis (and none today). Luckily we have gas for cooking and the water also comes without power, so mostly we are unaffected.  Plus, I can check facebook on my phone...so important you know!

The base was limiting gasoline to 10gals a turn and now 5gal.  That just means more annoying people will go through twice I suppose.  There are lots of stations running out in town. Luckily we drive so little that I only filled up to 8.5gal.  Due to the (low) radiation in the air Jon is driving to work right now, so we are using a bit more, but even that is only 10 miles a day.

I heard the intercom go off again Tuesday morning...lots of"Japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami japanese japanese tsunami"  Then the English saying that the tsunami alert had been lifted.  Worry then relief.  Now it goes off with no English translation, but they are just sharing the latest version of the blackout schedule.  Occationaly our cell phones will buzz with a funny buzz.  That means an earthquake is about to hit (about 2 to 10 seconds warning usually).  There are still tons of quakes through the island, but we only feel a few a day here; maybe one today, Wednesday, but I did not feel it.  Civilians are not being allowed to go north and assist until the shakes subside.

Right now everything is just waiting.  Although it is obviously a different story up north, for us the Earthquake and Tsunami are done.  Little damage at all.  There is just the general increase in the number of recent quakes.  The thing everyone here is worried about is the radiation.  I know two Americans who have left and my neighbor and his daughters family have gone to the in-laws for the time being.  We have started to add more iodine to our diets, just in case (though it turns out we are a bit low anyways).  That will help if there is a radiation spike.  Otherwise I am trying to keep the kids busy without running around outside.  Tempers are a bit short right now.  At least the Navy has become a bit more communicative recently.  They caught a lot of flack at the town hall meeting for not sending out an "everything is ok we will give you more info later" message  (You can facebook Command Fleet Activities Yokosuka if you want base updates)

And so now I sit, and wait for Jon to get home...and roll some beeswax candles because we don't have many right now.  They smell so nice :-)  I check facebook much too often, but I am stuck inside so the opportunity is at times to hard to resist.

I really like it here.  The country is lovely, the plum trees are blooming, people are friendly and so welcoming, especially if you bow and have a spattering (like 'hello' and 'goodbye') of Japanese.  The climate is quite nice and it is starting to feel like home.  I would really hate to have to leave after only just arriving (and before the cherry trees bloom).  Jon's intern has been called home and she is bitterly disappointed.  Yes, natural disasters, blah blah blah, but the opportunity she is losing... and she only finished the welcome to Japan classes Friday.   Her moms is relieved though...as I am sure my Mother and Mother-in-law will be if I come home, or rather, if I bring the grandchildren home :-)

Oh highpoint today, Ioanna was cleaning the toilet for me...with her toothbrush!   Hmmm, sweet girl.  Luckily I just happened to buy her a new one at the store this morning so not so bad.

Different things about Japan
~ You don't hand payments to cashiers, you put your cash or card in a little plate.
~ When they ask people to conserve energy, the public actually listens!
~ When referring to themselves, Japanese point to their nose not their chest.
~Streets are not labeled, you find addresses based on the area, then area section, then block number then house number.   Out of towners are screwed. 


P.S. Did I mention the worst part of conserving energy is turning off the toilets so the seat is cold!!!  I am so bringing a toilet when we move back stateside.

I know why your here...

Yes, normally you would know better than to check back so soon after a blog from me...but then there is an earthquake and everyone wants to know about it.  So here I am ever so kindly updating you on what is going on.  Yeah it has been a long day, how can you tell?

Sorry.  Anyways...

Thank to all of you who have sent a note or message to check in with us.  We are doing just fine.  It was scary, we were all a bit shaken. 

hmmm sorry again (kinda)

The week has been fine.  Thursday was way busy.  Ioanna is waking up, or rather not going to sleep, at night so we were tired and missed the alarm, Jon dropped Thor, Io and I at pre-school, then drove himself and Alexandra to base, then came back to give me the car and biked back in..all before noon.  Thor, Io and I drove onto base to meet Alexandra and go to the school playground.  We try to do this once a week so the kids can play with the friends we met while living on-base at the Navy Lodge. 

I left Al and Thor with the other moms to go to the Outdoor Rec and rent sleds for our trip to sled on Mt. Fugi on Sunday (now canceled btw).  Did that and returned about 2:35 (thank goodness).  I met up with the other playground moms and was about to hear why one lady woke up in her nightie with a Japanese man standing in her bedroom when another mom said "Hey did you feel that."  And then it started.  I did not recognize the first movement since I just picked up a wiggle Ioanna, but after that you could feel them, and see them.  The ground moved and we all found the kids and got them off the play equipment.  Alexandra says she did not feel it at first because she was already swinging on the monkey bars (and ignoring me telling her to get down).  Probably true!  So we gathered the children and heard the Sullivan's School announce an evacuation.  The teachers already had those kids pouring out.  At some point a mom started telling everyone to get off the blacktop and onto the grass, which we did.  I still don't know why, but why not. 

You may have noticed that I have just typed quite a bit and did not mention the earthquake stopping.  That is because it did not.  It was still going.  The first one I felt in January lasted about 30 sec.  The aftershocks I have been feeling last about 1- 2 min.  That big one and the one just after lasted 5 to 10 min.  (I wasn't really timing to the second.)  It registered as an 8.9 at the epicenter and we felt it as a 6.5-ish earthquake.  We gathered, kids played, kids cried, some moms did too and then it stopped.  It felt like walking on a trampoline that other people are walking on; the ground was just not firm under your feet.  All told after about 30 min everyone started to head home.  We made a quick pot stop at the apartment tower just in case it was a long drive home.  Over heard a boy from one of the higher floors tell his dad that all the statues fell off the shelves.  Those higher floors sway a lot!  As we went back through the playground to our car I did notice that all the Asian moms were still there with their kids playing, just the American born moms went home.  Wide open spaces are the safest place I guess :-)

We drove around to the front of the base and through some aftershocks.  I could see all the plants on the hills shaking.  We took a detour past SRF, the building where Jon works.  Alexandra was very worried and wanted to know if he was OK (plus I wanted to see him).  The employees happened to be waiting outside, evacuated for the second time so we were able to see him and reassure Alexandra a bit.  We then drove home.  There was no power to any of the traffic lights, good manners and the occasional policeman ruled the roads.

At home we discovered the power was out, however we still had water and gas (which we switched off after making some hot chocolate).  Jon made it home on his bike about 30 minutes after us, he aggravated a minor foot injury biking through some earthquakes, but he made it.  According to his co-workers a) this was the biggest quake they had ever felt and b) the power plants are nuclear and shut down preemptively to prevent possible trouble.  I may have mentioned the intercoms that play music every day at 4pm.  They also play the various city warnings for when there is trouble.  All along the drive and then at home I could hear them.  First it was all in Japanese, or I could not hear the English while driving.  At home I was finally able to listen to Japanese chatter and then FINALLY an English translation.  (btw I am writing a note of thanks to the City of Yokosuka)  It said there was a tsunami on the way and to evacuate to higher ground.  Crap.

So Jon stayed calm and said we were fine and Japanese people went on walking their dogs at the park across the street, and I packed us all into the car.  This was about 4:30pm 

In the past week I have met two lovely ladies and more importantly I have driven to both of their houses, up the hillside.  They happen to live on the same road so following the premise that everyone who meets me loves me within moments, we went a visiting.  First stop was the mom of a classmate from Thor's preschool.  The two boys have hit it off (mostly since they both speak English) and we had a playdate there the day before.  Our second stop was going to be a nice newlywed I met at my knitting group.  She is fabulous, but has no kids and so was option two.  Luckily the classmate and his mom was home and she let us all in without a second thought.  The other nice thing is that she is Japanese and could understand the radio chatter. 

We stayed and played.  They had just taken a cab home from swim lessons.  In Japan most buildings have parking garages above them instead of space wasting parking lots.  The concrete was rippling and moving and she decided not to go get her car when they evacuated.  Can't say as I blame her.   There was cereal and cheese and crackers for dinner.  One small aftershock was felt.  We chatted.  The phones mostly did not work, too many calls going through.  She did not know her husband was 'trapped' on the Carrier because they were not letting anyone on or off, which Jon was able to tell her.  She managed to get through to her mom down south and we used our phones to check the web a bit.  Later her husband got a call through.  We stayed there until about seven, at which point the kids were cranky and Jon and I felt that the tsunami was no longer a worry.  I am forever going to be indebted to her, even though I would have done the same saying it was no trouble, it was such a huge relief that when we appeared she let us right in.  BTW to make your flashlight give off more light put a plastic bag over it and it becomes more like a lamp.  She pulled that bit of tv tidbits out of her head and it works awesome!

So we left and took 30 min to drive just over a mile.  (I did know second route avoiding the really bad lights).  We got home and went to pull out the candles, realizing that they were left behind as non-transportable flammable items.  Luckily I had one long burning candle (Thanks Aunt Jean), matches, and a few of my Halloween ghost votive candles snuck their way into the shipment and were sacrificed for their light.  The kids went to sleep in our bed and Jon and I dove into our phones a bit before going to bed around 9:30.  It was dark after all.  With the last of my battery charge I put my quick update on facebook and skype figuring that many of you would check there first.  (Brie you are awake much to early!)

Io once again slept fairly horribly and Jonathan let me sleep in so I did not get back to many of you until the past few hours.  My apologies.  The day was a mix of comforting the children, skyping and e-mailing, normal daytime stuff and wondering if 'that was an aftershock'  Alexandra keeps saying she can feel the earthquakes in her head, which I understand.  Sitting here I occasionally glance at my water filter to see if the shaking I feel is in my head too, or has a manifestation in the physical world as shaking water.  Once or twice that water is actually shaking.  These aftershocks are strong at the epicenter, 5s and 6s, but by the time they reach us it is only a 1 or 2. 

She would not play outside today, not that I blame her.  They kids did not actually notice any of the little quakes, played right through most of them.  They are disappointed about the lack of sledding tomorrow as are Jon and I.  I am going to start paying attention to the news tomorrow.  I have heard the edges and but will delve when there is some time.  The nuclear plants are having some issues.  One's building exploded but the reactor is fine and they are pouring saltwater on it to keep it cool.  They will fix it.  The tsunami caused most of the fatalities and is a horrible thing, the earthquake caused things to explode or collapse, but not as much as a decade ago.  The rules for building structures are very good and the Japanese have a habit of tearing down old houses and building new.  Bridges and tunnels, roads and train tracks are being inspected so that people can start moving around the country again.  The Regan aircraft carrier and it's battle group plus some of our ships are going up north to help.  (Our carried is having a big maintenance job done and would take 2 days to close up and get out so they send the Regan from Ca.  Got here is one day.)  The carriers can make enough water for 5,000 people for a day in about 15min and had medical facilities.  The other ships have helicopters to move supplies and people where they need to go. 

It is very late here and I am tired, and Ioanna will probably be waking up soon.  Let me know if there is anything else you want to know (or any painful grammatical errors, I am only proof reading once) and I will try to update every few days.  There probably (hopefully) won't be much happening here.  Life will get back to normal, as it always does.  The news will let us know some of what happens up north. 

And no, I still don't know what happened when my friend woke up with a Japanese man in her room.  I'll let you know when I find out :-)

Much Love,
Christine

Told you I would start slacking!

Well turns out I only write regularly when Jon is `not` home...but here I am again.  Jon is not gone, just working his new normal of ten hour days again.  So...

Since updating you last month we have had more adventures of course!
Also I had the warning about using kids names on the web, good advice which I should have used from the start.  The past posts will be updated but my eldest is now Al, the middle is TJ and the youngest is Io.  And onto it we go...

  Al & TJ and Io and I headed off on our first solo foray on the trains...off to the mall.  We paid a bill at the 7/11, because in Japan all the utility bills have barcodes and almost any place with a scanner will let you pay the bill there.  Talk about easy!  There is a Shinto shrine at our local train station.  Very nice tree behind it, maybe the reason for the shrine.  Had a nice time and the kids did not complain too much about all the walking.  They seem to be getting used to it.  Also discovered a new favorite candy.  Melty Kisses.  Seriously good.  Luckily (and I normally do not like this) they are all individually wrapped so you have to think about each one that you are eating instead of letting one after another melt in your mouth.  Send me your address...I'll send you a box (or two, no need to be cruel!).

TJ, Io, a friend (who happens to speak Japanese) and I went to register our driveway...yes that is right we have to prove that since we have a car, we also have a place to park it.  It is illegal to park on the streets overnight in Yokosuka, and much of Japan.  So we hopped on the train going opposite from the mall and went for a ride.  Off to the police station we went managing to not get lost along the way.  Yeah us!
I, of course, did not bring the car registration so it was a futile trip, but I now know where to go next time, and I did score a broom.  Outside they use an old-fashioned broom-brush branch broom, and I have a ton of little rocks in my driveway but could not find an outdoor broom until that day.  Now the rocks are gone, and since Japanese tend not to show public amusement at people, I did not get any funny looks on the train. 

I also went to our second Preschool tour.  This was the one!  TJ is now enrolled in Mabori Kaigon Preschool and Kindergarten.  It is the local Japanese kinder. but my neighbors daughter volunteered to be my translator.  (She even rewrote my application into Japanese)  Aoi  (ah-oh-ee) has a son in TJ's class who speaks a hint of English plus the other two English speaking kids in the school are in his class also.  One is fluent in both Japanese and English so he is the little translator. :-)  TJ now wears button up shirts and zipper shorts to school every day.  Previously he has refused all but elastic, but now he gets to wear shorts in winter so that makes up for it.  Did I also mention the tights...it gets cold here man! There is a little blue hat, jacket and shorts plus a white shirt to wear to school.  When the kids get there they change into a different pair of shorts (elastic) and cover the white shirt with another blue smock.  I have to hand wash that smock almost every night because he gets it so filthy!  At lease I can get blackmail money from the pictures some day.  The children have mud to play in and a garden to grow and lots of room to run around, plus we can bike there in three minutes.  Lots of good stuff about this school, including the fact that I am alone with Io to enjoy her babyhood again.  That boy can be exhausting!

Jon returned home safe and sound and fairly tired.  Caught the bus to base and we picked him up there.  There was a little welcome home party.  Ya know the kind where the kids get a bunch of presents:-)  

So TJ has started school and I am 5 year-old-less during the day.  It allowed me to go on a field trip to the post office with Al and get a few more things put away...still looking for those dressers and bookshelves.  I did find laundry sorters, who knew what a relief that could be?  I even had a haircut.  Woo-hoo! Now it is time to start going exploring, small jaunts, but I should be able to get around a bit with the baby on my back.

A couple weekends ago Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to Yokohoma.  Let me be more specific, Jon decided it was time for us to go on an adventure to the big camera shop turn toy store in Yokohoma!  So Saturday afternoon we hopped on the train and took off on our first real family outing.  Everyone enjoyed the train since we managed to get seats.  The kids looked out for cave trolls (lots of tunnels out here) and Io amused herself by amusing the Japanese...who all LOVE her little blonde smillyness!  We arrived, found our way and got lost on the 6th floor (toys).  They have all kinds of stuff here that aren't on the shelves in the US.  They also have all kinds of stuff here that is either twice as much or half as much depending on the toy.  Jon and TJ went gaga over the transformers and such.  Al just loves the many manga girls in very short skirts who look so pretty on all the posters...actually Jon likes that too!  I am saddened by the lack of wooden toys here, but it is an island and they are Shintoists so I guess I understand.  Plus we already have enough toys, so it is for the best.  Instead I try to remind myself that all the children I know can wait for their birthdays to get really weird random stuff from Japan.  Hello Kitty sushi set anyone?  (actually I gave Genny dibs on that one, but can get another if needed).

  After shopping and not buying too much stuff to carry home we went to a resturant.  Until this day I did not realize how spoiled we are in Yokosuka.  This close to the Navy base there are translated menus and really good plastic food replica of restaurant menus.  We picked a nice looking place that smelled good.  They had a menu, could not tell you what was on it though.  So we pointed to a couple pictures and a couple random lines in the menu and hoped for the best.  We did not quite get it, but at least dinner was edible and varied.  There was a decent soup with ramen noodles and seaweed.  Then there was the yakitori (bird on a stick) and the pork version of the same.  But in Japan they do not just eat the meat, there was meat on a stick, liver on a stick (Al liked that even after we told her what it was), cartilage on a stick, skin on a stick, fat on a stick.  All cooked and edible, kinda.  Just not quite what we had in mind.  I did like the salad dressing though!  So after dinner Jon got us lost going the total wrong direction to the Toys R Us.  But I did finally get a winter coat when we found an LL Bean so it worked out (for me at least). 

Jon had his first big drive in Japan this last week.  He has been biking about 4 miles to work almost every day, not rain nor sleet nor windy day keeps him off the bike.  It helps that we only have one car and he wants me to have it for emergencies. Great for getting in a workout, but he has not had as much practice driving with the Japanese. So he went off to the airport in Tokyo; talk about jumping into the fire!  He managed to get there but missed some turns on the way back. It seemed like he was showing his new intern around the area...yeah...that's EXCTALLY what he was doing...a tour.  Sure.  But he did not crash and did get her to the Navy Lodge.  He also drove us out to his boss's birthday party, which was a nice bit of grown-up time (plus the kids, but still).  We had a chance to meet the new girl (the only female engineer in engineering btw).  She seems very nice and exuberant.  Very excited to tour around and party in Japan.  His poor intern thinks she is making out on a government funded vacation to Japan for three months.  The girl has never been on a ship.  I almost feel bad for her, but if she actually works hard she will learn a lot from Jon.  If not at least Jon will be amused getting a lot of work out of her crawling through bilges and fuel tanks.  And I get to hear the stories with his embellishments.  Most of you have heard Jon's stories...the embellishments are the best part:-)

Thus far we have had sushi and tempura, hot Soba noodles, food on a stick, meat grilled on a little hot grill in front of you (dif. from the hibachi grills), a steak dinner at Family Garden (local Italian joint) and some surprisingly tasty meals at a tea house down the road.  We have not hit all the food types yet, but slowly will get there. 

So if I had written the blog as often as I planned there would have been more fun/boring details, but hey, you now know we are still alive so that is what really counts right?  Though if I wrote more often perhaps my postings wouldn't be quite so long. Hmmm.

Next time...We have a playdate and Al goes to the Aquarium and who knows what else...

More different things about Japan:
  They wrap everything in plastic here  I bought two carrots...they put them in a bag and then a bag.
      Luckily they also recycle everything here so I don't mind too much.
  Those SARs masks are for allergies too.  It is hayfever season with the bloomings and more people are wearing them than usual.
   Going really slow feels(25mph) really fast on narrow roads with drivers that change lanes all the time.
  Also it does not feel as slow because there are no mph on the speedometer to compare it too (vs driving in Canada)
  The Seahawks are crazy.  I had to take Io's granola bar away because I saw one ready to swoop at the park.
  Japanese bath (soaking) tubs rock!
  If a head of lettuce (for example) is pricier than the one next to it, it is because it was grown on the island instead of China
   I find I am not ~quite~ so opposed to things made in China now that it does not have to go around the world to get to me...unless it is in the base commissary, in which case it went around the world twice. 
  If I bow to you when I talk to you one the phone, at least you cannot see me and laugh, unless it is on skpye and then I am screwed.  (btw just look up my name if you want to skype some time!)
  New furniture tends to be a little bland here, but the antique is beautiful, and the price proves it!
 Al's new Japanese word...ichi kudasai  "one please"   Mine is Mizu "water"


Have a lovely tomorrow!
Christine