I've been MIA with my MAN

Glenn came home for a few days for a port call! We've been on a stay home vacation for the last few days and it has been wonderful! A few pictures:

Grilling: something that never happens when the guys are gone. Charcoals? What?

Day trip to Yokohama.

A trip to the beach with Stella-bear. She loves digging holes and is afraid of the waves. Always makes for a fun trip.

Brewery in Harajuku, Tokyo. Fun times!

New favorite

This guy kept moving on me, so I didn't get a good pictures, but his jacket says..

IN THE QUIET OF

THEN NIGHT

WHEN

I'M GONE 

PERFECT

That is perfect, buddy. :)

Misono Orphanage

On Sunday, I volunteered with AOSA (the Atsugi Officers' Spouses' Association) to work at the children's festival at Misono Orphanage. The orphanage is home to about 120 children from tiny babies to the age of 18. Adoption is not very common in Japan so the majority of these children will live here until they are considered adults and move out on their own. This was my second time visiting the orphanage. Last time, I simply played and fed some of the babies.

The festival is held each year by the staff and older children for the younger children. We didn't understand everything that was going on, but the children seemed to being enjoying all the food, candy and toys they were receiving!

Tori and I were the AOSA representatives and we gave out cookies to the children and staff that other AOSA members and the Junior Sailors Association had made. They really seemed to enjoy the 'hand-made' cookies!

Misono is a Catholic orphanage as you can see by the nuns. One of my favorite pictures of the event was one of the Junior Sailor Association members teaching one of the sisters how to drink a Capri Sun!

There were several organizations from NAF Atsugi. They were grilling lots of American foods including hot dogs, hamburgers and short ribs.

It was a great event and I was happy to be a part of it!

Scary...

Here's an article from Japan Times about NAF Atsugi...seriously scary Erin Brackovich stuff going on around here...

Click on the link to read the entire article.

Is the Atsugi tragedy finally drawing to a close?

By STEPHEN HESSE

During the 18 years I have been writing this column, few stories have haunted me as much as that about the Japanese-owned incinerator that, for more than a decade, fumigated the U.S. Naval Air Facility at Atsugi in the Kanagawa Prefecture cities of Yamato and Ayase.

Between 1998 and 2007, I have written six columns* on the incinerator, first known as Jinkanpo, then as the Shinkanpo Incineration Complex (SIC) and then, before it closed in 2001, as Enviro-Tech.

Today I still have videotapes of the incinerator spewing out black, oily smoke that U.S. Navy scientists found to contain a toxic mix of chemicals including tetrachloride dioxins, cadmium, mercury, nickel, chromium, arsenic and lead.

Sadly, the story did not end when the incinerator shut down. U.S. military personnel and their families who lived on the base during those years continue to suffer health effects, and for years they have fought for recognition and medical help from their government.

Finally, last month, the U.S. Senate passed a bill approving comprehensive legislation to deal with potentially hazardous environmental exposures on military installations. The bill is called the Examination of Exposure to Environmental Hazards During Military Service and Health Care for Camp Lejeune and Atsugi Naval Air Facility Veterans and Their Families Act of 2010.

Envirosax

My mom sent me an awesome care package last month with a pouch of Envirosax. I absolutely love them! They are reusable shopping bags that roll up and she got me the set of 5 that come in their own little pouch. I keep 4 of them in my glove box to take to the grocery store or commissary. I keep one in my purse all the time for when I am out shopping. Saves me a couple yen at the stores that charge for plastic bags!

They are big enough that I can even fit Stella's 20 lb bag of dog food in them and still use the handles.

Even Stella loves the cute colors! Here you can see the size they are rolled up, the pouch they go in and the unfolded bags.

Thanks mom!

AOSA Luncheon

Last Tuesday, we had an Atsugi Officers' Spouses' Association luncheon with the Atsugi Wives Association (Japanese wives). The AWA ladies planned this event and had a Japanese martial arts demonstration.  The food is always wonderful and it's neat to meet new people. Most of the Japanese women don't live around here though. There husbands live in temporary quarters during the week and come home on the weekends. Here is our table:

After the lunch and demonstration, I had a 2 hour meeting with the Japanese and American association's executive boards. I am now one of the vice presidents of our non-profit group. It was very interesting to see how the Japanese women run their meetings. So formal! And so long! It's going to be a fun year!

If it's on Fox News....

...I guess it's news?

US Officials: Might send carrier to Korea

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is considering dispatching the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the waters where North Korea allegedly sank a South Korean warship, defense officials said Wednesday.
The deployment of the nuclear-powered carrier, one of the world's largest warships, would represent a major show of force by the U.S., which has vowed to protect South Korea and is seeking to blunt aggression from North Korea...

U.S. weighs sending carrier to Korean peninsula
WASHINGTON --  As tensions escalate on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. is weighing whether to deploy the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea, where North Korea allegedly sank a South Korean warship, U.S. defense officials said.
Such a deployment would be a show of force by the U.S., which has vowed to protect South Korea and is seeking to blunt aggression from North Korea. An international investigation last month blamed North Korea for torpedoing the Cheonan warship in March, killing 46 South Korean sailors...

We'll see how the rest of the year turns out for our men and women out there. Stay safe!

Updates from Glenn

A few excerpts from his emails this week. He's doing well, working hard!

Your furniture looks fine.  Should I ask how much you spent?

My memorial day didn’t seem like Memorial Day.  To answer your earlier question, they do nothing different for meals or anything.  I got to wave in the rain, though;).  That’s all I really did today: wave, maybe a bit of paperwork in between, wave, dinner, wave, blah blah blah.  Good day all around.  Luckily not a ton going on.  Ooh, and I got my gas mask today.  WAHOO!! 

The flight schedule ended up getting cancelled, but we had a movie with everyone, so that was fun.  Now I’m going to go run before I go to bed.  Oh, I tried out that other video game your brother got me for Christmas.  It’s pretty good.  I will waste plenty of time on that; I’m sure of it.

Now I’m watching the Twins (when the satellite isn’t cutting out) and doing some work I won’t have to do again till next quarter.  Also we had burritos for dinner, which always makes me happier. 

I’m glad your beer party was fun.  That sounds neat.  Weird that they do all these cool things after we leave. Jerks. 

These are all from different emails so they probably don't make sense together, but he's keeping busy. I miss him a lot, but the busier we both are the faster the time passes!

Making it possible

Here are a few pictures from last month. Just another crazy night out with the ladies while our husbands were gone? busy? I don't even know any more. Gone seems more normal than home!

Deployment would be difficult without friends by your side. More like impossible.

I rode by bike to the front gate to meet them. Base rules require you to wear a helmet at all times on a bicycle! Although, at this point, I was doing more walking than riding.

Love you girls! Looking forward to a fun summer in Atsugi!

New addition to the Smith household...

New furniture! What? Did my title make you think of something else? Weird.

There was a furniture bazaar at Camp Zama (the US Army base near by) and I went without Glenn and a wallet full of yen. I didn't really plan on buying any furniture since I've bought 4 other pieces since we've been here, but this little guy was so cute and I fell in love with the wood grain on it. Most of the pieces I've bought have been painted except for the buffet in our dining room, so I thought something different would fit in the mix. What do you think Glenn? The up close pictures make it look more orange-y because of the flash, but the room picture is a better representation of its true color.

The doors all slide and are removable as well: