Happy New Year

Glenn and I are headed up to Tokyo this afternoon to ring in 2009. We're spending the night at the New Sanno, a military only hotel which is having a new years party. The hotel is also close to Roppongi, the party area of Tokyo, so depending on the party we might be hitting that up to. On Thursday we're looking forward to exploring Tokyo more and seeing some new places.

Have a happy new year everyone! It will be 2009 here long before it is back in the states!

Our House in Japan

Here is a slide show (maybe, if it works) of our house in Japan. Only a few pictures cause it is so tiny! Glenn and I are going to a store tonight to buy paint so I can paint a few of the rooms. I'm so excited to be able to paint! Yippee!

PS. Did you notice my headboard? I made it out of cardboard boxes, duct table and an old curtain panel. Nailed it to the wall 24 times and glued buttons over the nails. I'm pretty proud of it. And when I say I nailed it to the wall, I totally mean Glenn. Thanks, love.

So I think I figured out the slideshow. You'll have to let me know if it doesn't work. I went to the hardware store today and looked at paint. A) It's way expensive and B) There are like 10 color choices, but I bought a small bottle of one I like, I guess I'll test it out. Anyone know if you can order paint online? Probably not cause of the whole hazmat/flammable thing.

Christmas Morning

I never posted any pictures from Christmas, but here is the family on Christmas morning. I'm wearing my new coat. Loves it!

I'm working on posting a slideshow of pics of the house although it is proving more difficult to figure out than I thought. Hopefully soon.

Merry Christmas!

It is already the day after Christmas here, but still Christmas in the states. Glenn and I had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and hung out with friends last night. Since most people here are away from their families, you have to try hard to be alone. Everyone gets together, cause it's not Christmas without a bunch of people around, right?
Glenn and I signed up for a Skype account as well so that we could do video chats with my brother and his family down in Louisiana. Our account name is JapanSmiths. If you have a Skype account, you'll have to give us a call! It was great to be able to talk to my nephew and see him in the video.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Miss you all!

Happy Birthday Emperor

Today is the Emperor's 75th birthday! Glenn and I went to Tokyo today to see him give his birthday greeting. We waited in line for an hour lined up with 1000s of other people outside the Imperial Palace gates. After awhile they began releasing different lines at a time. I was impressed with the organization of such masses of people. We finally went through the gates and along a road til we got to a large opening. We stood in front of a long building with a glass-enclosed balcony and waited for another 40 minutes. Not only is the Palace only open 2 days a year, it was only open from 9-11:10 am today. We were there for the first of 3 greetings the Emperor gave today. He spoke for about 5 minutes and our guide later translated that he basically said his health is doing better but not well, the economy is doing poorly but hopefully better next year and thanks for coming out for his birthday. It was a neat experience.
We also visited the Tokyo Tower. Think Eiffel Tower of Japan. Since today is a national holiday it was pretty crowded and it is the 50th anniversary of the tower. It was pretty cloudy out so we couldn't see very far. On clear days you can see all the way to Fuji-san.
Lastly we went to the Meiji Shrine. It is a beautiful shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife. That is the great-grandfather of the current emperor. It is a huge area of Tokyo with a forest surrounding it that was hand planted by volunteers to wanted to dedicate a shrine to Emperor Meiji. A lot of historical sites in Japan are not very old because of WWII. Our tour guides are always particular in how they discuss the war. They usually just say "when the Allieds bombed" or "when we lost the war" or things of that nature. The Meiji shrine was built in the 1920s but was not destroyed by the war.
Glenn and I are looking forward to a Christmas with just the three of us (Stella) and Christmas dinner with other families in the squadron. I'm not sure I can stretch out present opening til 2 pm like Lawson family tradition since there are only 2 of us, but I'm going to try! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Leave

Glenn has been on leave since the Christmas party so we have been trying to get out and explore Japan a little while we can together.
Last Friday we took the train up to Yokohama and did some exploring. Yokohama is the biggest city near us and is the second largest city (don't quote me on that) next to Tokyo. It is a big commercial port since it is right on the bay and is only about a 30 minute train ride from Atsugi. This is also where we change trains since it is a big connecting stop for other train lines. Glenn let me wander around the train station a little since he has done it several times and I was trying to navigate for the first time. Important things to remember, we live off of the Sotetsu line and get off at the Sagamino or Sagami-Otsuka stops! I'm still working on all the other stops. :)Here is Glenn in front of the Landmark Plaza shopping center. The mall looked quite similar to malls back home on the inside- Gap, Banana Republic, JCrew. I was really surprised how many American stores there were, but from what I hear, much more expensive. This is the tallest building in Japan coming in at around 70 stories. Also, if you click on this picture of Glenn, look at the name on the sign. The majority of the convenience stores in Japan are either 7-11 or Lawson Station!

We also saw Motomachi, a shopping area, and I tried Mochi balls. Mochi balls are made with a dough that is created from pounding rice. Then they are filled with all different types of fillings. I had one with banana on the inside covered in chocolate powder. Glenn had a mango filled one and carmel machiatto mochi ball. They are served frozen and you have to wait about 30 minutes fo them to soften up to eat. They are delicious! We also visited the Chinatown in Yokohama. Here I am in front of the Chinese temple. Before we left, we walked along the boardwalk and saw the bay. We saw a few statues, but Glenn didn't feel like walking all the way to the other end so I could see the statue of "Statue of Little Girl With Red Shoes On". Why not, Glenn?? Japanese translated into English is often pretty funny we've noticed.

On Sunday Glenn and I signed up to go on an MWR tour (Morale, Wellness and Recreation or something). We visited 3 different places north of Tokyo. A sake brewery, a washi paper making place and an old edo town called Kawagoe. Here I am tasting the sake out of the press before it has been pasteurized. This is called namazake and is much sweeter. I liked it a lot better than normal sake. We got to walk through the factory and see the process go from whole rice to polished rice to steaming and pressing. Then we got to taste the different types of sake: pasteurized, unpasteurized, filtered, unfiltered, etc. They even had a sweet one that is served warm that kind of tastes like oatmeal. Apparently it only has a little bit of alcohol in it so it is served to everyone including kids.

Glenn wasn't a huge fan of the paper making place, but I enjoyed it. It reminded me of girl scout camp with the screens and the paper sludge. We pressed flowers into it and we'll get postcards back in a few weeks.

The last place we went was the Kawagoe castle town. This town is called a "Little Edo" because it represents the Edo period architecture which was mostly destored in an earthquake and WWII. They have tried to preserve this time period in the Kitain temple and surrounding area. There is also a Gohyaku-rakan garden which has 540 statues representing the desciples of Buddha. Each statue was in a different pose and making a different face. One was even picking it's nose.




Lastly, Glenn is really excited cause the Vikings came is on live here. It's 8 am on Monday, but it's on! We're headed to Tokyo tomorrow to see the Imperial palace and family.

Christmas party

Tuesday night was the squadron Christmas party. It was so fun to get to meet all of the other families and wives finally! Glenn started his Christmas leave yesterday as well so he has been home all day which is nice. We spent most of yesterday running around trying to get things done on base like getting the car inspected and registered. Some of the offices were closed on Wednesday afternoons so we have finish that up today.
We also went to MWR to look in to some trips around the area while Glenn is on leave. We signed up for a sake brewery tour for Sunday and we're going to go to Tokyo on Tuesday we decided. The Imperial Palace is only open to the public 2 days a year- Dec. 23rd the Emperor's Bday and January 2nd- New Years so we are going to go on Tuesday. I'll post pictures when we get back!

For those of you that sent boxes and packages for Christmas, we got them all yesterday, good thing we have a car now, we had 6 boxes! Merry Christmas!

We bought a car!

Glenn did get his license yesterday and we bought a car! A 1998 Mazda Demio. This isn't the one we bought but it looks just like this:

We couldn't drive it home yesterday cause we have to take the title to get the liability insurance on base, then we have to get temporary tags so we can drive it to the Autoport on base to have it inspected then take it back to the dealership to show it passed inspection and get our Y plates. Phew! It's going to take us awhile to get all that done. Also buying a car in Japan is the fastest thing in the world! You pay cash, get a receipt and a title and you are done! It took us longer to get all the cash out of the ATM!

Since we were already off base last night, Glenn and I also went and had sushi for the first time since we've been in Japan. We went to a sushi-go-round where the sushi is put on small plates that go on a conveyor belt around the whole restaurant. Each colored plate is a different price and you just take what you want and stack them up! Then when you want to pay they just come write down what you had. Glenn and I weren't entirely sure what we were doing, but everywhere we go is a new adventure!

Tonight is the squadron Christmas party so I"ll post some pics tomorrow!

Coming along...

Things at our new house are coming along. Glenn and I decorated our Christmas tree last night and hung up curtains in the living room. I'm so glad I bought things for a house I had never seen (like the curtains) cause I love them! I bought a few things based on the pictures of the housing that I had seen. I figured I might need them.
We still don't have a driver's license or a car yet so Glenn and I did a lot of walking around base yesterday from the O Club for brunch to the commissary to the NEX to the Home Store, but we managed to find most of the stuff we needed including twist nuts so I could hang up my new IKEAchandelier that I have had for over a year and never hung up. Also, I am obsessed with IKEA if you didn't know that already.
We just need to find a floor lamp cause the living room has no overhead light and we only have one floor lamp. We are also planning for the Japanese furniture we will eventually buy like a console table by the front door.
Glenn had an early flight this morning so I'm hoping that means he'll have time this afternoon to run to the Safety office and get his driver's license. We looked at cars on Saturday and found a couple we like, but we obviously can't get one without a license and we have to get the liability insurance from some office on base. Hopefully tonight we will have bought a car though!Stella looks a little creepy in this picture cause she was mesmorized by the blinking light on the self-timer. Merry Christmas!

Also, in case you didn't know, our Vonage is up and working fantastic. Our number is 507-316-0980!

Tuesday 10 on Friday

** Update: I thought of a 10th item on Saturday morning at 8 am...you'll see...

Everything is Japan is going well so far. I even slept til 6 am today which is better than the last two nights. I still don't have my luggage yet, which has my Vonage adapter in it so I haven't had a chance to call anyone yet. It was suppose to get here yesterday, which it didn't, so I'm going to call today when they open. I've met some of our neighbors and I am still getting the rest of the boxes unpacked and adjusted to being a housewife. I even made dinner last night.

This week's Tuesday 10... 10 things it is going to take awhile to get used to around our new house.

1. The plug in the bathroom has a cover. Random.
2. We don't really have a backyard since we live upstairs, we have a sideyard. It is fenced in, but you have to go out the front door, down the steps and around the corner. This is the unit behind us, you can see their side yard. I don't really know what I'm suppose to do with a sideyard. Also, it looks more like a cage than a yard.
3. All the floors are linoleum. We brought 2 big pieces of carpet for the living room and bedroom. The bedroom looks like it has wall to wall carpet now and the living room has a large area rug, but the rest is linoleum. Stella is not a huge fan quite yet.
4. These are our house keys and storage room keys. They look like big dog tags.
5. The keys go in a slot where the arrow is on the round knob. You turn the back half of this knob and it turns the deadbolt. Apparently they keys are magnetized and that is how each key is unique.
6. 3 phones. We have 3 separate phones now. Glenn has a cell phone. We have a DSN number for onbase and local Japan calls and we have our vonage phone (well we will soon) for calls to and from the states. I guess it will be 4 when/if I get a cell phone too.

7. Every room has it's own thermostat so supposedly you only heat/cool the room you are in.

8. Often time when I open a website it looks like this. Fine for websites I have used in the past, but sometimes I have to wander around til I find the elusive "English" button.9. Trash. We have to separate our trash into two different cans. Burnable and Non-Burnable/Recyclable. I have a chart above our trashcan cause I can never seem to remember which goes where.

10. The music. At precisely 8 am everyday the National anthem is played followed by the Japanese national anthem. At sunset (I think), the revelry is played and at 10 pm, Taps is played. Or that might be vice versa, but either way. And when I mean played, I mean pumped through the loud speaker system base wide. During the anthems you are suppose to stop walking, pull over, etc for the duration.

Have a good weekend!