February 29, 2008

This morning I became brave and went over to Purdy Gym to participate in my first yoga class. This is Yoga for Relaxation, but, boy, was it a challenge! The reason I'm taking it is to increase my flexibility. When I went through my Wellness class, that was my worst feature. They say that if you have better flexibility you are less apt to have accidents and can catch yourself if you trip or fall.
I could barely do anything correctly in class, and, even though you seem to be standing still, I broke out in a sweat, and I was worn out by the end of class. The friendliest person I met, Yoshi, was incredibly flexible (also quite young), but they say not to compare yourself to anyone else, and do the best you can. This evening I hurt so badly I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to go back to this class, but I'm sure I will, and just not push myself quite so hard.
This evening, Dennis, Devon, Jim and I went to the CPO club on base for their surf and turf buffet. needless to say, I had "turf"! We had a wonderful time eating, talking and laughing.

March 1, 2008

Jim and I took it easy today, and I was so sore I didn't mind. Those of you who have spent any time with me know how sore I must have been to not mind this!
We did go to the NEX and Commissary in the morning after breakfast. We walk over there and take a taxi back.

March 2, 2008

I was feeling much better today, and the weather was beautiful. Awhile back I bought tickets to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, and we decided to use them today.

It's really not very far from here, but does take about half an hour by train, because you have to change trains at Kanazawa Hakkeiai.

We weren't sure what to expect at this park, so when we got there we walked around the park to familiarize ourselves. It's a bit of an older park, but was very clean and neat. They have a roller coaster that is very cool, and even goes over the bay a little.

We found the aquarium and spent about four hours there. It was a magnificent place, and, again, I saw sea creatures I had never seen before. I am very surprised at how many aquariums there are in Japan. We've been to many, and only were disappointed once. I love the dolphin and seal shows, because, of course, they're in Japanese, and I try like crazy to understand what they are saying. I usually can't. They have many of the same tricks they do in the States, but sometimes they throw in something I've never seen before, and that's fun to see.

When we were done with the aquarium, Jim agreed to go on the roller coaster with me, so we walked to the other side of the park where it is. We were definitely the oldest in line. When we found out we were in the front seat (you just go in order, no choosing), the young people around us clapped and laughed. It was a great ride, scary, but not deathly so, and when we got off, we were greeted and lots of clapping again! It really was fun. We did buy our picture from the ride, and I have it hanging over our kitchenette sink. It makes me smile each time I look at it!

Before leaving the park, we found ice cream and each had an ice cream cone. They have the best ice cream over here-it must have a high fat content.

When we got back to Yokosuka, we decided to eat dinner at Club Alliance. It's a very easy, relaxing place to eat after a day out.

February 26, 2008

This evening a group of us went to a Thai restaurant to celebrate the February birthdays. There were 10 of us in the group, including Bethany, myself, the Birthday Boy Jim, Birthday Girl Deven, Dennis, etc. The restaurant is about 4 blocks from the hotel, and you take a very small elevator to the 2nd floor to get to it. It's not a large restaurant, and the service is impeccable. I swear you step out of the elevator into Thailand!
I made reservations for this dinner several days in advance. I was given permission to bring a cake for dessert. The commissary makes delicious cakes, so that is where it was ordered. I brought along "birthday plates" and "birthday napkins" to add to the festivities.
My favorite food at this restaurant is a coconut creamy soup, and chicken satee. There are many other things that can be ordered. One has to be careful to not get something too spicy. Jim did, and he said his mouth was on fire! I also love their iced Thai coffee.

February 27, 2008

Today was my Japanese class. As usual, it was fun. We're studying the use of a different verb for "there is", which differs if you are human or a thing. It's much more confusing than it sounds.

In the afternoon I had the color retouched on my hair. I go to the NEX for that. I like the woman I go to, but she's a spitfire. She won't do children's hair because she hates kids! I won't say she's as good as my hairdresser in Silverdale, Cynthia, but she's adequate.

February 28, 2008

Today was my class with Chieko at the gym. I already feel I'm getting more stamina, and don't feel like I'm going to collapse before the end of the hour!

February 23, 2008

Today is Saturday, and, as most Saturdays, we didn't sleep in, even though we intended to! I wake up at 5:30am on the dot. Poor Jim, I know he'd like to sleep in, and I'd like to let him, but living in one room, there's no way I can go through the process of getting up, getting clothes on and reading without waking him. If I lay in bed, I get very restless, and just can't lay still. I love getting up and reading in the morning.

After several cups of coffee, Jim makes us a wonderful breakfast of bacon and eggs. Today we had no plans for afterwards, so we walked over to NEX so that I could go in and pick out a few things (magazines, vitamins, toothpaste, deoderant) that I like to pick out and then have Jim buy them. I do rather miss my independence in this area!

After taking them back to the hotel, we stayed and watched a movie I had gotten from Netflix and took a nap. To be quite honest, we are both so used to going somewhere that we get a little anxious just staying in the room and don't do it very well. This was a rainy, gloomy day, though, and neither of us could get our act together to suggest doing something.

Luckily, we had made plans to have dinner at Chili's on base with Deven and Dennis. We walked onto base, then took a cab because Chili's is way on the other side of the base, next door to the Navy Lodge. It really is a nice addition to choices of where to eat on base. They have good drinks, and sometimes the food is good, but they are still learning how to make everything work. It's still a very new restaurant here.

February 24, 2008

This morning we took an MWR tour to the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo for brunch, and then to an orchid show at Tokyo Big Site. It was nice because we didn't have to get to the bus until around 10am (still woke up at 5:30am, though!)

Bethany and one of her co-workers named Dave went along, which was fun.

The brunch, as usual, was great. I don't know if I ever mentioned that this is an American Services hotel, and you have to show ID and be escorted by a service member to get in. Jim always has to sign for me. The brunch is always over-the-top, and you just can't eat everything. It's wonderful to have a wide choice of very good food.
At one of the serving tables there's always an intricate ice carving that's fun to look at. It's quite an elegant, fancy place, but you can go in jeans and be OK.

Jim and I have gotten into the habit of stopping off at their little casino either before or after brunch. I almost always either win something or don't lose, and Jim always loses. It's fun, though.

The bus then took us over to Tokyo Big Site, which we'd never seen. It's a big dome, with an amusement park next door. It was a very windy day, so it was comfortable to be inside. We love flowers, and this was very fun for us, although in the end we wish we had made a different decision in what to see first. What we did was go through the vendors first, which, because of the crowds, took a lot of time. Through it, though, we learned that there were vendors from all over the world, which we hadn't realized walking in. The orchids were breathtaking. We were actually grateful that we don't have a house and couldn't buy anything, because we would have! I did buy some plant hangers that I'm using on our deck to hold pots of begonias and something that I know the name of but can't think of right now.

After walking through the vendors, we sat in the resting area, which were the seats of the dome. It was fun just watching people, which is one of my favorite activities over there. I did make one vendor mad because I inadvertantly, in my clumsy Japanese, told her I didn't like something (kawai) instead of saying it was beautiful (kawei).

When our resting was done, we walked over to where the flowers were being judged, and this is where we should have started. They were out of this world, and we ran out of time before we could see them all. Next year, if we're here, we can come on our own, and do this correctly.

The rain had stopped, but the wind was still there when we walked out to find the bus. It wasn't quite where we expected it, but we found it by recognizing others from our tour.

February 25, 2008

Monday is Monday, beautiful weatherwise, of course! I had my training with Chieko. She's now making me walk fast around the stairwell (a large area) between each weight machine I do. Already I feel less out of breath. Otherwise, not much going on today.

February 20, 21, 2008

These two days were spent doing the usual. I had my Japanese class on Wednesday. We're starting to learn kanji, which is difficult, but fun. Now I know that kanji have more than one purpose. One is to mean a certain word, the other is a sound. But, many kanji make the same sound, so I don't know how they chose which one to use when writing. Right now I'm concerned with understanding what is written, so I won't worry about that yet. Part of me believes that they have such a difficult writing system to keep people from understanding them. They are, essentially, a private people.

I also started working out, and, although I could be in worse shape, I did get out of breath easily. I do need to do this!\

February 22, 2008

Today Deven and I went on an excursion together. We want to take an obi decoration class, where you learn how to fold and tie an obi to make a beautiful decoration, a tabletop or wall-hanging decoration. I, just by luck, have bought two beautiful used obis for $10.00 apiece, so I wanted to show Deven where I had bought one of them.

We took the Keikyu train from Yokosuka Chuo station to Keikyu Kamata, a couple of stops north of Yokohama. It takes about an hour to get there if you get on an express train. During the middle of the morning, which is when we went, you have no trouble getting a place to sit.

I had been here once before with Bethany, but I got turned around at the station and had to call Bethany at work to find out how to find the craft store area. She got me headed in the correct direction. However, going the wrong way wasn't entirely a bad thing. Deven and I went in a small women's wear store, in which the owner even went out and got us cups of coffee. I ended up buying a pretty apron, and I know Deven bought something, but I can't remember what.

We finally found the store I was originally looking for, and it has gorgeous fabrics for making kimonos, plus all other kinds of fabrics, also. I found the corner of the store where I had found the used obis, but there were none to be had. However, Deven started trying on some used kimonos they had, and she bought a beautiful one for a very good price. They didn't speak any English, so it was an interesting experience, to say the least.

After that, we were hungry, and stopped in a local Chinese restaurant and ate lunch.

With all this, we still made it home before Jim got home from work. I think Dennis starts work earlier than Jim and gets home earlier, because he was already home.

It was a very fun day!

February 17, 2008

Breakfast came with our room, but our first test was to find the dining room. We had to give up and as the front desk where it was. We then knew we had to follow the smell of fish. It was a Japanese breakfast bouffet, which always has fish of several sorts, rice gruel, almost raw egg, miso soup, little hot dogs, and, my favorite, lots of different kinds of very delicious breads. There's almost always a good selection of fruit. We were definitely the only gaijin at the hotel. We did find out that there was a baseball team sharing our floor, but I couldn't figure where they were from. I thought it was Eastern Japan, but I'm not sure. This level of baseball players didn't get coddled. They cleaned their own gear in the hallway.
Our first adventure after breakfast was to take the train across the street to Shizuoka, the Prefectural Seat. The train was one of the charming, small trains we find sometimes. They wind through the neighborhoods. I (Jim went along with me, was happy he did once it was over) wanted to go on a hike, and knew the train stop to get off at. We had to walk through very small streets to get to the start of the hike, and then I realized, of course, it was up a big hill! We took our time and got in some very pretty country. It was forested, with some large cedars. Every once in awhile we got passed up by someone running the trail. One man was much older than us. They do stay in shape here. Coming the other way we met several different hiking groups. There's nothing friendlier than a hiking Japanese group. I can now speak to them a little and they talk away to me, but I can't understand a word. I usually smile and say "Hai" (yes). They always wear either a vest with a cotton shirt under it (both men and women), often a floppy hat, almost always are retired, khaki pants, and good hiking boots. They always have hiking sticks, which I need to get. There was a gorgeous view of Shizuoka from the top of the hill. Up there were picnic tables and benches, so we rested awhile. A little from the crest of the hill there was a shrine. I forgot to say there were a few small farms, some with tea bushes, and a bamboo forest that was obviously being harvested. On the way down there were steps most of the way, and they were steep, so we picked the right way to do the trail. A different train station from the one we got off on was near the end of the trail, so we hopped on, and headed for Shizuoka.
It's a medium sized town, bigger than Yokosuka, but smaller than Yokohama. We found where the castle was, then decided to eat lunch. A couple of blocks over was a shopping district, and we found a Travel Host restaurant. Afterwards, Jim wanted to find a conversion plug so we could plug in our computer at the hotel and watch a movie before we went to bed. We stopped in one small shop that looked promising, and we were able, between my little Japanese and Jim's pantomime, to tell what we were looking for. They had nothing like it, but the shopkeeper told us that a street over there was a store that should have it. She actually walked with us to the store and stayed with us until we found what we needed. Talk about service. You do lots of bowing and saying "arigato gozaimashita" after that!
Next we walked over to the castle. I love castles because I can feel the history there, even though most have been rebuilt recently because of wars, earthquakes, or fires. This one had a moat, and a gardens with it. Japanese gardens are always peaceful and serene. We met a Japanese woman about our age who desperately wanted to talk English with us. She had to be fantastically wealthy, because at one time she lived on top of a mountain above Malibu with a view of the Hollywood sign. Her dad was connected to the film industry. She was now (unhappily, I think)living with her Mom in a very nice area of Shizuoka, and I bet her parents divorced and it fell to her to take care of her Mom. It made me think that it's better not to have had all that wealth and lost it than to start out humbly and gain it. Oh, we also found out her brother was a famous jazz artist, and knew lots of big names in that field.
When we parted, Jim and I decided it was time to return to Shimizu. We were pretty worn out. The weather was beautiful. Mt. Fuji was out in all it's splendor.

February 18, 2008

We really wished we had more time to explore this area. Of course, that's the way we feel wherever we go. We were in no hurry to return to Yokosuka, so we decided to put our bags in a storage compartment at the Shimizu train station and then head back to Shizuoka.
There we wanted to find a bus to Nihondaira Park. After asking a bus station attendant, he told us we were at the wrong stop, and showed us which sign to stand by. The bus took us to the bottom of another, bigger hill, near the ocean. We knew we were looking for a cable car when we got off the bus, which was in the middle of a neighborhood, with no signs that we could read. I told Jim I thought we should follow some people, and, by golly, I was right. Unfortunately the cable car started half way up the mountain! Jim agreed to climb the steps with me, and these steps were old! I don't know how far we climbed, but it was an effort. Finally we came to a gorgeous shrine. It rivalled Nikko. I had never heard of it. It was so fun walking around it, oohing and aahing, and then having an ice cream cone before getting on the cable car. At the top of that ride there was a nice park and gorgeous views of Mt. Fuji. It was breathtaking. We spent about an hour there, then took a bus back to the train station and, after stopping at Shimizu and getting our luggage, headed for Yokosuka.
It was a wonderful weekend!

February 19, 2008

I met with my personal trainer today and started my workout. I find her delightful. She's Japanese, but speaks very good English. She's not going to be easy on me, so we'll see how this goes. This first day she just wanted to see what I was capable of doing. I felt good, because she said I'm really strong for not having worked out on a regular basis.

We'll see how long I can stay committed to this! I want to climb Mt. Fuji, or I would never had started this!