February 14, 2008

Today I finally had my meeting with a possible personal trainer, named Chieko. We met at the Wellness Center office of the Fleet Rec Center. She's Japanese, but speaks English very well, is 45, and very kind. I told her that my goal is to gain stamina because I want to be able to climb Mt. Fuji and, when they get a scuba instructor here, learn to scuba dive. I told her my main goal was not to lose weight. I wish you could have seen her face when I told her that. She said, "Why not!?!" I told her that every time I focus on working out to lose weight, I don't lose weight, get discouraged, and quit. I want to now work out to feel better, tone up, and gain stamina.
I thought at first that I would be able to get away with meeting with her for 3 sessions, but she doesn't work that way, so I agreed to stay with her, have 2 sessions a week, for as long as I feel I need it.
I feel great that I've made this commitment. I have the gift of time over here, and I feel this is a perfect way to use this gift.
Since this is Valentine's Day, Jim and I decided to spend it in the room, and he made me a romantic dinner.
I have to confess something funny I did, though definitely not on purpose. We don't buy each other much for Valentine's Day because we do so much for each other all the time. However, Valentine's Day here is a day where women give men gifts. I went to a store I love and saw this beautifully wrapped little box, with some writing in Japanese. I assumed there were chocolates in it. When Jim opened it up, it was an empty box. A beautiful empty box. I'm glad he saw the humor in it, but I did feel badly. He deserves much more than that.

February 15, 2008

I worked out by myself today, and tonight Jim and I went to a movie at Fleet Rec Theater. We always eat at C-Street Grille at Club Alliance on the way home. Movies start at 6pm here, and it's just a nice walk from the hotel.

February 16, 2008

This is a long weekend, and Jim and I, not being ones to sit around, went to stay two nights at a town southwest of hear called Shimozu. It took about 3 hours to get there by regular train, with several transfers. It was a beautiful weekend, so lots of people were out and about, so we had to stand on the trains most of the way. At one point an alarm went off, and I thought I had leaned on something I should have. It turned out that someone in the toilet hit a wrong button. They don't stop the train when the alarm goes off, but at the next stop, the conductor did come by to see what had happened.

After Odawara we took a train that followed the coastline for quite a ways. It was gorgeous. There were some tunnels, but not as many as on the Shinkansen. Jim and I were able to sit, but not together. I sat next to a woman who didn't speak English, but was kindly willing to listen to me try to speak to her. We were able to communicate a little. Jim sat next to a gentleman that spoke English, and he wanted to speak to Jim.

Shimizu isn't a big town, and is right on the coast. The train station wasn't large, and I was disappointed because there was no information office. That's where I get my ideas for what to do in an area. Because we didn't know quite where the hotel was we took a cab to it. We could have walked. I'm sure we were the only Americans in the hotel! Because of our name and I had made a reservation, they didn't look surprised when we walked in. I was surprised happily because it was a very nice smaller hotel. It just wasn't that expensive. Here you normally get two single beds instead of a double or queen. Our room was bigger than the one Bethany and I shared in Sapporo, and it was nicely appointed. Of course, there was no English TV. We have learned that that's what to expect when we get off the beaten track. Believe it or not, the world doesn't revolve around English speaking people!
We got there early enough that we felt like exploring. Jim had done some investigating on the computer before this, so we had some ideas.
First off, there was, right across the street, a station for a little railroad that ran between Shimizu and Shizuoka, the big town of the area. We went over there, and the attendants at the window were very helpful. They could speak no English, but they could tell that we were sightseeing, and they gave us tourist pamphlets in Japanese. At the same time, they told us how to get to a neat area near the ocean, so we walked there. I just love walking through the areas, and it is so safe over here, that I never feel afraid. Like I said the weather was gorgeous.
After walking about a mile, we found the area, and it was neat. Mt. Fuji was out and you could see it like it was "right there". It was so beautiful. There was a very nice walk along the water, and we walked over to where a ferry that goes between this peninsula and the next was coming in. People were fishing. As the sun went down, the temperature dropped rapidly, and the wind picked up. We headed inside the mall, and found a McDonald's. As we were sitting eating, I noticed some teenage boys taking pictures of us with their cameras. I didn't say anything, but when we were leaving, I asked Jim for our camera and took a picture of them. They laughed, did their "peace sign" thing, and posed. It was a neat moment. I know they hardly get any Americans here.
We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a convenience store to buy instant coffee for the next morning. You only get tea here in the hotels, and we're addicted to coffee.
Back in the room, we pored over the tourist brochures and books, and then watched some CNN in Japanese, and went to sleep.