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