Christmas! Yay!

So I uploaded these in the wrong order but here was our Christmas! My favorite part is Brian's lovely old manish socks... In the pic is our friend Melody from Santa Barbara... she has been living in Tokyo for the last year and she visited us for the holidays since she didn't go home. Brian had to work at noon on Christmas so we had a nice breakfast and then we had our good dinner on the 26th. Lots of fun!!
Don't you wish you were there for me to make you breakfast...?

Mmmmmm... tasty! Raw cinnamon rolls!

Christmas morning!

ipods! Yay!

Yay for silly Japanese ornaments!
and for Japanese shirts... what does it say?
Ohhhh... stockings.... :) Yay!

My New friend

Yeah, it's true I got a rat... Well, he's not ours. He was at the shelter on base and they needed a foster home for him for two months while he recovers from heart worms. So! I volunteered! It is just too quiet when Brian is gone. Although I volunteered for this while he was gone, but we didn't actually pick him up until after Brian got back.... and now Brian is here for a month. Oh well. It's nice to have a little animal, even if he is just a kicker dog :) Don't worry I haven't kicked him. Wanted to, but haven't. 

The Curry Festival

So this is another video from a while ago... this is the Curry Festival. I went 2 weeks after I got here with some girls I met on base. Brian was gone so he missed out, but it wasn't that exciting so oh well. There were a lot of people. Honestly, I did not eat any curry... I had some curry at a restaurant the week before and it wasn't really that special so I opted out. I did try something that someone bought. Can't remember what it was, but it was weird. It was a little dough ball with some creature in the middle. Not quite a dough ball I guess, but a ball of some weird stuff fried together. It was edible, but nothing I would seek out again. This is just some random festival... I am a little nervous to go to a festival that is on a holiday. Can you imagine way more people than this? Eeks. As for the bus and train. The previous video is from the train the first week we were here. My story (Brian wasn't there) was about the bus. It's not always packed. Just certain times of day. The same thing as having lots of traffic in SD at 5pm. Most of the time I am on the train it is fairly empty and there is a seat for me. Don't worry though, if any of you come visit I will be sure to take you out at the proper time so you can truly experience the sardines!

Our first experience on a very busy train...

This was two weeks after we got here... time is going by quickly. We were on a train and it was very busy. This was the first time it happened. It has happened many more times and much worse. I was waiting for the bus the other day and when it pulled up and the doors opened, there was literally no place for me to get on, and there were about 5-10 of us at the stop. It was pretty crazy, and somehow we al squeezed on the train. It took about 5 minutes for everyone to squeeze on and there was a woman with two small kids, I thought they might get trampled, but they lived! It was sardines before I got on, I don't even know what you would call it after we added 10 people to the bus. It was no fun at the next stop when people from the back were trying to get off at the front... it was quite the experience.

A new Car!!!

We now have a car! Yay! I would post some pics, but it is too cold in the other room and I just don't feel like dealing with it right now. So hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow :) So yes, we have finally gotten a car. There are definitely places you can live here in Japan where you would not need a car, but lucky for us I chose one place that we do. It takes us 30 minutes to walk to the train station from our house. it's about a 15 minute train ride to go to base, and then once we get off the train it takes about 20 minutes to get wherever it is we need to go on base. So by the time we leave and get where ever it is we are going it has been well over an hour. Cause sometimes we have to wait for a train. 

Needless to say we are very happy to have a car. Taking the back roads it takes 25 minutes to get to base. I could take the yoko yoko and get there faster (the toll road/freeway), but I am a little nervous that I might get lost. Not to mention the fact that due to the itty bitty roads by my house we almost landed in a Japanese person's car this morning. Brian cannot drive cause he has been gone so much he hasn't had a chance to get his license. So am driving him to work early this morning and clearly our roads are just too stinkin' narrow. As I rounded the corner and saw this car, my instinct said to swerve right... bad idea. I didn't really swerve right, but since I was thinking swerve right, so I didn't swerve at all, and then we just both hit our brakes and stared straight at each other (me and the other car). The roads are just small so you have no other option than to be in the middle. Don't worry mom, we are fine, I am a very good driver :) Even in these foreign lands... I think I should buy a wig to wear while driving cause I am sure this guy went straight to work and told everyone that he almost got hit head first by some crazy redhead. And then of course someday they are going to see me walking down the road and say, "Look! There she is!" Julie, David, Vanessa, Marisa any other redheads who are reading this... we need you here in Japan. This whole redheads will take over the world plan isn't going to work over here... Me and Curty cannot do it alone!

The Great Buddha

Us and the big ol' buddha. Fantastic huh? This was our first real outing in Japan.
Good Close up. Come on Brian, your supposed to smile on three... we are still working on that one.
Much better. Look at all those people! Actually there really weren't too many people that day.
This is me... washing my hands with the "holy water" before I enter onto the big Buddha's territory. I wonder... where do they get this so special "holy water"...

FACT: Big Buddha has his own Big Buddha slippers hanging on the wall to his left. Sorry, thought it was kinda weird and a little dumb and didn't care to get a pic... if you look real close you can see them in the video when I look over at Brian. They are under the roof hiding in the shade.

Oh, the influence of movies...

After watching the movie Dirty Dancing in the Navy Lodge we of course felt the need to attempt "The Lift". I just wanted to see if Brian could pick me up from my armpits... we didn't even try to do the jump/ hold from the waist thing. 

Our first outing, Just outside the main gate of base.

The flight...

Food

So since we have been here I have eaten a plethora of crap! Pleas do not misunderstand... there is great food here in Japan. But we can't afford to eat out everyday. So for the last 5 almost 6 weeks I have mostly been living on frozen dinners and quesadillas. It's a good thing I love quesadillas. Our stuff has finally arrived here. It all was delivered yesterday. Yay! However, I have not felt like cooking 1) because I have no one to eat with (Brian is still gone) and 2) There is just too much crap everywhere right now for me to feel like making even more of a mess just to cook a meal. Seriously, who cooks a meal when they haven't even unpacked yet? 

So as I am eating my crappy frozen dinner, I felt like I might vomit. Surprisingly this is the first time I have felt this way. But I just could not finish it. I look in the fridge and there wasn't much there. No tortillas left. My bread has gone bad, and everything else would just not be good alone. The bread actually was an unfortunate event. I thought the last two times I had it it tasted funny. Almost like a banana, which is really weird I know. So when I pulled some out of the bag and took a whiff to make sure it was still good... it wasn't and I realized that the weird banana like taste from before was probably mold... I think my friend may have also eaten it while it was slightly moldy... sorry Melody! So after sadly taking inventory, I realized my only option at having a happy stomach would be to eat some ice cream and cookies! And it was quite fantastic!

It has been getting cold at night...

The FUNNIEST thing I have seen in Japan

So this morning I witnessed an event that I will cherish for life. Every time I think about it I laugh! Ha! So I am on my way to base to deal with some paperwork stuff. I am getting off the train, it's about 8:30am and there are tons of people everywhere. Luckily I was going in the same direction as the crowd. 

As I am walking I look down and see a girl in some crazy pointy healed boots. Not unusual at all. I begin to ponder what life is like as a Japanese woman. Everyone is so fashionable. They look great, fantastic right? Not quite. Is fashion really so important that you must give up your own comfort. We aren't even just talking about comfort here, we're talking about real life feet problems, back problems, leg problems, all the crap that happens to your body when you where the oh so cute shoes. Don't get me wrong, I like heals as much as the next girl (well, maybe not as much), but there comes a point when you must stop and think, "Hmm, I am going to be walking an awful lot today, maybe I should be practical and where comfy shoes". Right? Shouldn't women think that? Don't they? Apparently not. Cause every woman I see (well, at least most) is wearing some kind of heal. And a lot of them are high ones, with the skinny end that you could probably use as a weapon... 

So as I am pondering all these thoughts and just truly wondering how they can do it day after day so painlessly graceful... BAM!! The girl who's shoes I am staring at all of a sudden crashes to the ground (almost to the ground)! We were going down some stairs and she must have sensed what I was thinking, cause all of a sudden she trips, arms flail out to the side like she is preparing to take flight. Hits the next step, falling faster as she goes. Her arms reaching out to those around her to hold her up. She practically had both her arms around two men that were walking beside her, used them as support and somehow never made it to the ground, but finished the staircase still standing. She frantically apologized and said excuse me and the men just looked at her weird. Just imagine the staircase was packed. People everywhere. It's no wonder this girl never hit the ground, and it was good that she didn't cause she could've been trampled by the herd of Japanese people.

I couldn't help but laugh the whole way to base. It was really the funniest thing I have every seen. And what perfect timing as I was wondering why it is that they wear such impractical shoes... So graceful and yet not. Wish someone could've been there with me cause it was freaking hilarious!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Treeee...

Yes! We got a Christmas tree! Yay hurray! They were selling some on base and I had a friend give me and the tree a ride home. There is no way I would be able to take that thing on the train…. Or the bus…. Or walk it aaalllll the way home. Soooo good news… I met with the internet people today and signed the paperwork. They will be coming out on Monday to set it up! Yay! I will finally have internet at home and then I can actually post pics and video! Oh the long awaited pictures! I think I will need to start taking more now… Another good piece of news is that our stuff will be getting here next week! That is if it arrives on time. Hopefully we will have it all by next Thursday! Hope so! Finally I will feel settled! Can’t wait! And Brian is underway again and he will also get back next week! Woohoo!

Funny story… the other day I was meeting Brian at the train station. He had just got off work and we were going to go explore. Well, right as I called him to say I was there, this Japanese man walks up to me and starts talking to me. I don’t know what he was saying, but it is very rare for them to approach you without you first saying something. Very rare. Not to mention that this guy was invading my space! He was saying something in Japanese and then he says, “English?” I said yes. But then he would just say a few words in English and some in Japanese. NONE of it made any sense at all. Not one bit. He had a creepy smile on his face and he pet me, and ugh! It was too much. I said “Arigato” and quickly walked away to find brian laughing wondering what was going on. I think he was complimenting me on my hair, but I have no idea. I really think “his cheese slid of his cracker”. Definitely not a full deck of cards in that stack. Had a few tools missing in the shed. A few ingredients short for Thanksgiving dinner…? Ok that’s enough. Anyway, that was definitely a first. Though I do get some stares, I have never had someone approach me like that. Creepy.

After One Month in Japan...

I have learned this:

-Japanese people are very kind and helpful when you ask for help
-If the first thing you ask someone in Japanese is if they understand English most of the time they will not help you much.
-The train systems are a bit intimidating at first, but very useful (and not dirty!)
-There is a reason why all Japanese people wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off
-The garbage trucks, when they stop to pick up trash instead of making a horrid beeping noise they play Fur Elise (Beethoven)
-Nobody shakes hands... just bow
-Japanese have an amazing ability to fall asleep on the train and magically wake up when they need to get off (doesn't work for American's, I tried and missed my stop by about four stops one time)
-Everyone loves a redhead, or at least they love to stare (even people on base, which is weird cause you know they have seen a redhead before)
-Everyone here is petite, and I don't just mean short cause some are tall. I used to blame it on the fact that they eat with chop sticks and it slows down the whole eating process, but they are pretty darn good with their chop sticks so maybe it's just genetics
-I have yet to fully experience this, but they are apparently all great artists, and from the few I have seen draw it is true.

Anyway, that is all I can think of for now, but it has been a good month. I still don't have internet at home, but hopefully by next week. I have an appointment to fill out paperwork on it on Thurs. Brian is back out to sea which stinks cause he just got back, but he will be here for Christmas so that will be great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well Happy Thanksgiving to all you in the US! Brian got back yesterday from his 10-day out to sea that turned into a 16-day. We are going to have Thanksgiving tomorrow with some people he knows on his ship. Yes, we will be eating Turkey! This will be my 2nd Thanksgiving celebration here in Japan. I suspect we wil have all the usual Thanksgiving dishes. Here on base our grocery store is pretty much the same as in Ca, although I am sure the fish they sell is much fresher.

Today we ate sushi for the first time since we have been here. The most "fishy" we got was shrimp. I know, I know, we're wimps. It was a cool place though. The sushi is made and it goes around the whole place on a conveyer belt and you grab a plate as it goes by. Someday when we get internet at home I will be able to post the pictures and video...

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! Wish we could spend it with you guys! Eat a big bowl of ice cream for us! (that is definitely one thing I am thankful for... there is ice cream here in Japan!)

A Lovely Getting Lost Story

This weekend I went to the Tokyo area to stay with a friend that I know from Ca. She was throwing a Thanksgiving thing on Saturday and I stayed the night and went to church with her on Sunday. Sunday night I got off the train at about 10:05pm. Kinda late. Before I tell you how I got lost I must say that I just moved into my place on Friday. I had walked to the train station only twice and had not walked home from the train station at all yet.

So, it's after ten and I knew I would probably get lost (expecially cause it was dark) but I figured I would find my way. As I was walking I came upon the first intersection. I felt confident in the direction I chose, and then not too much later I came upon another intersection. This one I was not sure where to go. I chose one way and after five minutes knew it was wrong. I turned around and went the other way. I walked on that road for a good twenty minutes hoping to see something familiar. Then a train passes parrellel to the road I am on. I immediately knew I was going the wrong way. I turned around and at this point was getting a little worried.

There were cars and taxis going by here and there. I thought of flagging down a taxi, but I couldn't do that cause I only had 500 yen (about $5). So there I was at yet another intersection pondering how I was to get home. I was trying to read the signs and then a car pulled up to a red light. I looked at the car and thought, "Maybe I should ask for directions..." I must have stared too long, cause the next thing I heard was the guy locking his doors. Great, I thought, I am scared of them and they are scared of me. I continued walking, retracing my steps, deep in thought. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign with a person on it. I thought it was a real person watching me, and I just about had a heart attack. Yeah, yeah, I know very funny.

I decided at this point I was not going to make it home unless I tried to ask for directions. Luckily I remembered the name of the road I live on. So I see men walking and of course I didn't want to ask them. Then, there was a girl crossing the street. So I said, "Sumemasen, Nagae Doko des ka?" (Where is Nagae). through her broken English and my broken Japanese and a lot of chirades we decided that I would walk with her cause she was going in the same direction. At the point where we needed to part ways she said to go straight and then I would run into the intersection for Nagae. At that point I didn't know where I was, but I was VERY grateful for her help. So I walked on. Maybe five minutes later I was able to recognize my surroundings and I made it home safely. I got home at about 11:40. It took me twice as long to get home since I got lost, but it was exciting!

I am very grateful for the kindness of Japanese people. And I am also very glad that this is such a safe country! Don't worry mom, that doesn't mean that I am not going to take certain safety precautions. I am slowly but surely learning Japanese and finding my way around! That way when some of you visit we won't be getting lost!

Underway

Brian: I'm on my first underway in Japan and so far it's been ok. Underway is what we call going out to sea. We don't exactly deploy over here because we're already constantly forward deployed here in Japan. So instead of having to deploy for six months at a time we constantly go out for a few weeks here a few months there, but the most the ship is ever out for is about 4 months. We're docked right now so yesterday I went to a really cool aquarium and tomorrow I'm going to Universal Studios. I have duty today so I have to stay on the ship until tomorrow morning.
Everyone's been really nice and helpfull so far and It's a little bit better than what I was expecting. I've been asked if I'd like to be a SAR, search and reascue, swimmer and be on the VBSS, visit board search and seizure, team for the ship. I think they want me to be the offical ship photographer and we're going to have a cruise book this year which is just like a school year book, so I've been taking alot of touristy pictures for it wherever I go. We have a really cool Bible study on Wednesday nights and church on Sunday and through those I've been able to meet a small group of Christians on the ship. God has been really blessing me alot here. I just can't wait to get home to see Joy again and see the house she picked out for us which she's already living in as of today I think.
We still haven't been able to sell our truck back in San Diego so if you know anyone who wants a truck please let us know. It's a really nice 2002 red Toyota Tacoma. We'll sell it for pretty much anything we can get right now. So please pray about that, that we find someone to buy our truck.
By the way; here's a picture that I did not take of a jelly fish from the aquarium I went to the other day. When I get back I'll put some of my own stuff up. I just wanted to put some kind of visual with my post.

Hayama

Soooo, I am moving into my place on Friday, which hopefully I will be able to get internet hooked up pretty quick and can get some cool pics up for you guys! Our house is in Hayama. I had no idea it was a nice area until after I signed the paperwork, but apparently it is the vacation place to be. I guess the emporer's son lives there...? Crazy. So come visit and you can stay with us in Hayama and get a nice vacation.

There is a lot going on right now. I am just trying to figure out what I am going to be doing with my time while I am here. I am going to teach English, but I am also going to do photography with the families on base, and I am thinking about getting my master's degree while I am here. And of course traveling... so lot's to plan and I will keep you updated as things progress. But for now that is all, just figured it's been a while and I needed to say something.

Fashion

So today, I went to Yokohama with a friend. It's just a special city with a big mall. And outside the mall there is a farris wheel and some other special rides. Pretty cool. The mall interestingly enough had a lot of stores that we have back in the states. You know those special expensive name brand stores that I can't even remember the name to at the moment...

All I can say is very fashionable. Everyone. Everywhere. I even noticed it on the plane ride here. I'm sure none of you would be surprised if you saw how I was dressed that day, but let me tell you I felt kinda weird standing next to a Japanese girl all decked out in her fashioness. A lot of the people on the plane were dressed quite nicely. I, on the other hand, looked like I had just rolled out of bed (which technically I did, at 6am that morning). All I wore were flip flops, work out pants, and a baseball t-shirt. For a 12 hour plane ride who wouldn't want to be comfortable? Well, apparently the Japanese. I dunno, maybe they are comfortable in those clothes... Brian was a step up from me. He at least had on jeans and a t-shirt. He looked like he had actually got dressed that day.

Honestly, I think this whole coming to Japan thing is Brian's crazy idea of turning me into a more "fashionable lady". Crazy? I think not. I asked him if that was his plan and he could only laugh. Then I asked him what he would think if I never wore jeans and a t-shirt again...? Not quite his plan. I guess he just wants me to dress up "once in a while". Well, just wait till he gets back. I now have a purse, a nice jacket, and I will have to put on some earrings and a nice outfit and take him out to celebrate his birthday. Eh. Peer pressure kids. It's tough stuff.

The Results are in

So I decided to live off-base. I went and looked at the on-base housing one last time and realized that the house they offered actually has about the same sized yard as the house off-base. So off-base it is. I am a little nervous, but who wouldn't be living in another country when you don't speak the language? I know that everything will be fine though. The thing is we only get one move. The Navy will only move our stuff once and I know some of you are thinking, who cares, right? BUT Out here NO ONE has a truck. There are very few SUV's too. So moving on our own would be difficult and expensive. With that being the case I would rather live off-base. Ha! On or off-base the housing is paid for. Off-base though, we could actually make money. They pay for our rent (the exact amount) and they they give us an extra allowance for utilities (and utilities here are very expensive) BUT since I picked a newer house we will not be spending as much on utilities and we will be able to pocket the leftovers. So off-base I think will be better and we will be able to really make the most of our time here.

Tuesday I went off-base with a friend to look at a house she might live in and then we went to look at the Navy housing for me. Well, we got a little lost trying to find the train station. Let me just say it is EXTREMELY difficult to ask for directions when the other person is speaking another language... I did listen to my Japanese lesson that morning, but I couldn't remember how to say station (and sweet Brian took our Japanese phrase book with him... I am sure he needs it more than I do). I seriously think we asked for directions from 4 different people. Most of them do speak a little English they are just reluctant to use it. But one of the guys was telling us to go through the tunnel ahead, and he did use the word tunnel, but I thought he was saying something in Japanese. Luckily my friend caught what he was saying. We did finally make it to the train station and we got where we needed to go, but it was confusing for a bit.

So it has been exciting to say the least finding our way around. Today I think I might go visit the 100 yen store (basically the dollar store back in the states). I heard it is interesting so I will have to check it out. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and just so you all know, I am writing from the future. I am 17 hours ahead of Ca time. Easy way to figure it out is ad 5 hours to your time and then switch it to day (or night). So for some of you, I got your advice after I made the decision. And most of you who said to tell Brian Happy B-day, I got it on the 12th. That's ok though cause I didn't get to talk to him on the 11th so you're all in the clear!

I NEED your opinions!!

So I am trying to decide where to live. Here's the deal, the main concern we have is that our dog will be out here in a few months and we need to have a decent yard for him. Also, we plan to get a second dog so he isn't lonely. That is our main concern. We know that if there isn't a large enough yard he will be bored and turn into a bad dog. There is on base housing that we could get the biggest yard possible in Japan, because off-base there just isn't much as far as yards go. So far I have only found one place that even had grass. SO here are the perks of each...

LIVING ON BASE: good yard, surrounded by Americans who speak English, dog park nearby, as much AC/heat as we want (paid for), lots of other dogs to be friends with, 30 minutes to main base, limited job opportunities on base but near big city so I could work off-base (teaching English), easier to meet people and make friends

LIVING OFF-BASE: smaller yard, actually able to fully experience Japanese culture, 30 min to main base, near private beach where I can let dogs off-leash, I was told I could make good money teaching English there cause people have more money in that area (but maybe the guy was just trying to sell me...), within 5 minutes of 2 HORSE RANCHES!!!! (which I have been told countless times that there are no horses within hours of this area), the housing is paid for by the military but we do get a set amount for utilities. Since the house is new we would be making money by having a lower utility bill.

We came here to experience the country, and that is what we want to do. I know that if we live on base we will still go off-base and experience the country, but I know that it will not be the same. I want to have Japanese neighbors, but at the same time due to the language barrier I am a little afraid of getting lonely and bored being so far from the Americans. Yet I know there are plenty of people who live off-base and love it. Some say the only way to go is living off-base, but we have heard the same things about living on-base. I am sure either way we will be happy, but either way our lives and experiences while we are here will be entirely different.

PLEASE let me know your thoughts!! I have to make some sort of decision by Wednesday! And it is Monday mid day right now! Brian is gone and I emailed him, but I don't know if he has access to internet or not. I don't know how to get ahold of him at all really so he's not going to have much say in the matter... Leave a comment!

I really need to Learn Japanese

So yeah, I really need to learn Japanese. Or at least more than what I know. Brian and I have been out and about a few times. I went today with a new friend and we got a little lost... We didn't go the wrong direction or anything, but we were quite confused and probably switched trains more than necessary. The problem is most everything is written in Kanji and Katakana and I can't read that. I can only read the stuff that is written with actual English letters. So you can imagine how difficult it might be looking at a train station map and wondering what train to get on when a) we can't read where we are, and b) we can't read where we are going.

I know a few key words like Please, Thank you, hello, and excuse me. The main phrase I know is do you understand English. Well, so far everyone says no or they say a little, but continue to speak in Japanese. I think I need to show more effort for them to show more effort. I KNOW they have to be lying though. Seriously, I was told they study English 3 years in middle school, 3 years in high school, and 3 years in a University. That's a LOT. SO when they tell me they don't understand I have a hard time believing them. But how can I complain, I am in Japan.

We have met some very helpful people. A few have actually approached us and offered to help. I am sure we obviously looked confused. But more often than not I find myself frantically saying, "Sumemasen (as I point at the train)" and then say the name of the place I am trying to go. Then they usually say yes or no and I know whether or not to get on. "Sumemasen" (I am not sure if I spelled that correctly), it means Excuse me. It is quite interesting.

I find that the most difficult thing is that I keep wanting to speak Spanish. I do not know that much Spanish, but when someone is giving direction in Japanese I catch myself saying "Si" instead of "Hai" (or however you spell that). I have also said gracias instead of Arigato. Hopefully they did not think I was being racist in some strange way. So it has been fun finding our way around a different country. A little scary at times cause we really don't know what we are doing, and not being able to read Kanji makes it quite difficult. But it is fun!

Brian is gone. He left today. Lucky us we are already experiencing how often his ship's schedule changes. He wasn't supposed to leave until tomorrow, but Friday night we got a call saying they might leave Sat. So Sat we were kinda waiting and wondering if we would get a call... by Sat evening we got a call that said he would leave Sunday (today). And they did. He is supposed to only be gone for ten days, but with how much I have heard his schedule changes I am not going to set my heart on anything. I know some of you are thinking it is crazy that he is gone so soon. We did just get here a week ago. BUT we are lucky. There are many families that the husbands (or spouse in the military) came over a month before, and then the family gets here and they are on their own for the first month. Or other families come and the husband (or father) has to leave the next day. SO not only are we lucky to have been able to travel here together, but also because he was able to be here the entire first week. It is no doubt an adjustment, but we are having fun, and making the most of this opportunity.

Sorry that we have no pictures or video. It will be coming soon, I just can't access the internet through my computer right now. Hopefully we will have our own house soon and then I will have wireless internet and can show you plenty of pics and video! But for now you can make do with some really long posts!

Am I being transformed already?

So today we are going on a "field trip" outside the base. We have been off base, but today we will actually have time to get on the train and go somewhere. We call it a field trip because the area orientation class that we are in scheduled time for our little "field trip". I am really excited cause this time we got some yen and we finally will be able to eat this tasty looking food. The transforming part is this. I have a lot of things to carry. A camera, wallet, Japanese phrase book, map, and who knows what I might find along the way.

For those of you who may not know, I am not a purse person. I don't use a purse, I have never used a purse and I don't even own a purse. BUT today, I am sort of wishing I had one. So for all you friends that have tried to get me to get a purse (Nichole, Kristan, Liz, Amber, Danae...and whoever else I may be forgetting) please know that it was not your influence, but Japan's. Not saying that I am going to buy one. But if ever I was going to buy one I am closest to doing so now. Ew.

Day 2

So day one went well. Brian checked into his command. I went with him and got to see his ship. Smaller than I thought it would be. Brian said the guys on it are "weird". Not quite sure how he meant it, but I am sure part of the reason is they spend all their time on a little ship. Hopefully Brian won't turn into a weirdo. He has never been on a ship before and I think it is quite a different life. Nothing he has ever been interested in, but oh well.

We went off base and walked around. The food looked great! But we had no yen. I was starving too so it wasn't helping. Seriously, yesterday morning when we walked out of the hotel it literally smelled like rice. I guess that means we are in Japan. I still can't sleep past 4am. I was super tired last night, and it took all I had to stay awake until 8:30. I was trying best I could to force myself to adjust to this time. Even though I woke up super early at least I got in enough sleep and slowly I am sure I will be on the right time.

This whole week we have "area orientation" stuff. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have an idea of where we will live and hopefully have a car too. Apparently this is the time of year that cars are expensive cause not many people are moving here. A lot of people (I am talking about military not regular civilians) move here during the summer time so they don't have to yank their kids out of school. So cars are expensive and by that I mean they are $2-3,000 (the ones on base anyway). The cheapest we found was $1,000 so we will probably call on it and try to talk them down. We do drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is also on the opposite side. We will be taking a test to get our drivers license on Friday! Apparently pedestrians have a ridiculous amount of right of way. They sometimes just jump in front of cars practically. I was told that one woman was here for only two weeks and she hit a person! Yikes! I will be driving EXTRA careful here! That is the last thing I want to happen.

Japan!

Wow! We finally made it! That was just about the longest day of my life. We are here though safe and sound. So stop worrying mom. As far as the flight goes, all I have to say is next time I am taking sleeping pills. I couldn't sleep! Thank God they had movies to watch! I watched Swing Vote, Devil Wears Prada, WALL-E, Kit Kittredge (The American Girl), Batman (the new one), a few episodes of The Office, and I think that is it. Needless to say my eyes were burning by the time we got to Japan. Once at the airport we had to wait for a bus to take us to base (a 2 hr drive). They took us straight to the Navy Lodge and we were in our room by 8pm (4am CA time). Needless to say it was a long day. I passed out on the bed and Brian went to get food. He, of course is still sleeping. It's about 4am here, making it about noon in CA and I just can't sleep when my body thinks it's noon even if I was up late the night before.

So let's see... what else... We have internet in our room, but it's not wireless and the little du-hickey on my laptop that connects the ethernet cord is busted soooo I am sitting in a computer room that smells like someone was secretly smoking in... and this means I won't be posting any video or pics for a while.

Brian is going to check into his command today. He doesn't have to until Thurs, but his LCPO (dude in charge) suggested he check in early so as not to waste anymore leave. And he said they would give him the week to go through all the orientation stuff we need to do. That starts Monday morning. So still not sure what to expect. It was dark by the time we got on the bus, so I haven't even got to see the country yet. Today I guess we will be going grocery shopping, but we don't have a car... There are taxi's on base, but I don't know how much that costs. We'll figure it out. Maybe we will find our way to the beach at some point.

Well, this is definitely the beginning of some adventure so hope you all stick with us!

 Yeah hurray! This video has finally uploaded on the third try! So real quick.... Kansas was great! It was a lot of fun visiting with Christy and Dan and their kids. Definitely worth the trip seeing as I will not know when I will see them again. Today has been quite the long day. It began this morning at 5am with a call from Japan. It was good that I got the call cause I needed some questions answered, but it was early. Since then I feel like I have been on the phone all day long calling everyone and their mother to give them our new address and/or cancel my account with them. And for those of you who are wondering we will be using mom and dad's address for now cause that is all we have. I was warned about the address that we were given that would go to the ship. Apparently, mail takes a really long time to get to us if we send it there. So good riddance to America! See you all when we return!

Home Alone

  Well I dropped Joy off at the airport today to see her sister in Kansas.  Her flight left early this morning so I've been home all day by myself.  I did the usual things a guy does on a Sunday; I went back to sleep and slept in for entirely too long.  I went to Home Depot for some stuff to repair a screen to our kitchen window that Sandy (Joy's dog!) ruined.  I got about half way finished before I stopped to watch The Unit on NBC.com, but I need Joy's help anyway so I can get the screen tight enough.  In case you didn't know The Unit is a very cool t.v. show about a secret elite military unit.

  Last night we went to see the movie Burn After Reading with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.  It was

 a good movie and was pretty funny but had a weird twist at the end.  Tomorrow night I'm going to see Miracle at St. Anne.

Leaving San Diego

  So since Joy and I are leaving San Diego pretty soon we decided to finally take a walk down the pier in Imperial Beach.  I grabbed our new point-and-shoot camera so I could take some photos to post on this blog since I haven't done it yet myself.

  Here are those photos along with one of us with our decaying Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.  I think they look cool with mold and flies coming out their mouths.  I just wish I had some dynamite or something to blow them to pieces before we have to leave because I don't have a hill I can roll them down.  Sometimes I just wish I was a kid again... although maybe it's better to be grown up because I get cooler toys to play with.

  -Brian

The New Grass!?!

  The picture below is actually the spot where I buried Joy after I killed her and her stupid dog (my friend is taking care of her stupid horse).  I didn't have enough room in the back for a dead stupid horse too.  My sister Amie knows, now the rest of you know.  I only use Joy's name on the blog so that people think she's still alive, but she's not she's in the ground.

  Ok that might actually freak some of her family out but don't worry she's still alive and although she might not be "normal" she's at least her normal self.  Sorry if I freaked any one out but hey, it's almost Halloween and we're going to miss Halloween because we'll be sitting in an airport or on a plane to Tokyo.  I've also been home half the day bored watching Youtube and reading The Total Money Makeover (only got through one chapter).  Joy's in the shower singing, maybe I should make a video of that.

  Some of you probably wonder what it is that I do at work now that I'm not at BUD/S anymore...  Just so you know BUD/S stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training.  There were originally Navy Underwater Demolition Teams or UDT's then in the 60's the SEAL Teams were created and the UDT's were decommissioned but they still teach the basics of both the UDT's and SEAL teams at BUD/S which is why they call it Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training.  

  Ok back to where I left off...  Now I'm in a holding unit called X-Division (X-Div) while I wait to be re-assigned to my next duty station, which is going to be a Destroyer named the Lassen out of Yokosuka, Japan.  There are about 30 guys in x-div and we all get assigned random jobs around base.  Mostly I've been getting the "good" job of cleaning the x-div barracks I don't even live in, but I say it's good because I get off around 12 or 1pm everyday while some guys don't get off till 4pm.  I have to do things like take out trash, sweep, clean urinals and anything else a janitor might do in the civilian world.  But I'm in the United States Navy and your tax dollars are paying me to live my dream of being a janitor.  So thank you to those of you who actually pay your taxes.

  Well Joy's finally out of the shower now so I better go.

Yay for grass!

We have been waiting for these little sprouts for a week and a half now.I am very relieved to finally see them. You see, our lovely dogs (who are no longer with us here in SD) loved to lay in the same place all day, day after day. The end result was a dead patch of grass. As the patch turned to dirt, the young pup (Shugo) found it fun to dig in that area, only making it worse. So when they left we (by "we" I mean Brian) put new soil down and seeded it. I realize it will not be perfect by the time we leave (next Friday). BUT my hope is that our landlord will see the new growth and realize that it is going to turn into beautiful thick grass like you see in the background. We had to give an extra deposit cause of sweet Sandy, and I would like to get it back... I don't know what I did, but I can't undo it so this is now underlined...

Spaghetti Anyone?

So last night we were making spaghetti. I asked Brian to strain the pasta while I got the rest of the stuff together. Well, I started to hear water pouring, and then nothing. I heard a big shppptsh (I am not sure how to spell the noise it made). Anyway, turn around and there it goes, all our spaghetti down the drain. We accidentally bought angel hair pasta and I think that is why it well down the drain so fast. It was very quick. Pretty funny. At least we still had pasta to cook, so dinner was just postponed for another 10 minutes. And the second batch did not slither down the drain!

The Empty Nest

It is true our nest is empty. I think I got some good videos and plenty of pics. Basically, Brian and I spent 5-8 hours organizing and packing. Two guys did the rest. It was awesome. We only packed what we did cause I wanted to feel like there was some order to it all. I had no idea what to expect. So we did as much as we could, staying up till midnight the night before (I realize that is not that late, but I was very tired). So they were supposed to come anytime between 8 and 5pm. What are the odds they will come at 8am right? So we set our alarm for 7am wanting to get up wash the dishes and one last load of laundry (that was going with them). Well, two minutes after my alarm goes off the movers call and say they are on their way! So we rushed through everything. The guys got here and we continued to pack a few things while they were working on the other room. Let me tell ya these guys work freaking fast! I honestly only saw each of them take about a 5 second break to chug some water. All I know is they have got to sleep extremely well at night.

So basically we had nothing to sleep with last night. We went on base and got a "kit" that had some cooking stuff so we don't have to eat out for the next two weeks. But I was so excited to find this place that someone told me about (but everyone that I asked where it was looked at me like I was crazy), I was so excited we both forgot to ask about blankets. I was going to borrow some from a friend, but she was out and by the time she got home I didn't want to go anywhere. So we will have to get blankets from her today.

So very exciting stuff! It is starting to sink in a little bit that we are actually leaving. Now that our stuff is gone, our dogs our gone, our horse is gone, there is not much left for us. I am excited and nervous. Not sure what to really expect. I am ready though, that is for sure. I will be posting video later. I got some cool ones, but they are long so I need to figure out how to edit them. I only have my laptop now which does not have as many cool applications as my desktop...

Family

So we had a fun time in Auburn. It was really nice to see everyone one last time. Who knows when we will be back. As of right now we are due to be in Japan for the next three years. BUT Brian is thinking about becoming an officer which would most likely mean that we would only be there for 2 years. Either way we will probably only come back to visit once (maybe twice if we're there for three years). The saddest thing was leaving my beloved animals. I will never see Sandy again. She is old and will most likely be dead by the time I go back. Shugo will be meeting up with us soon, but it was still sad to part with him. And Almond... oh Almond, I will miss him a lot. I really don't know what I will do without horses in my life for three years. First thing when we get there I am going to find a horse ranch somewhere...

While we were up on the weekend my mom was doing a project for her psychology class. It was about facial recognition and whether you would be more likely to recognize someone if you saw a short video of them or a still photo. This is my niece Trinity. I LOVE how her little nose wrinkles up and then she says, "You mean hate food?" Hilarious!

Off to Auburn

So tomorrow afternoon we are headed up to Auburn to drop off the dogs. Sandy is going to live the remainder of her life (however long that might be) with my parents, and Shugo is going to stay with my friend until he is ready to be shipped to Japan (which if all goes according to plan will be in March). Mom and Dad are going to have a last going away BBQ thing on Saturday and then we come back Sunday. Very quick trip. Hopefully I will get some fun picks and footage. I am really liking the video on my camera. The video here is Sandy's favorite thing to do. We walk to the bay (about 6 blocks) and she will just get in the water and lay down. I like to call her swamp dog, cause it's kinda swampy. And she gets swampy. Basically the dogs end up smelling like dead nasty fish. Lots of fun. Ok Never mind about the video. It won't upload... maybe another day. This is her happy face.

Sad Awesome Possum

So on Sunday Awesome Possum returned. This time he returned to the front yard and sadly he was found dead. In a pile of dog pooh. He was not playing dead this time. His hair looked like he had been in someone's mouth (probably just got hit by the sprinklers). I guess that is just the life of a possum in the city...

Things you just don't want to hear

So this morning as Brian is getting ready to leave for work he says, "Oh, so yesterday before you got home, I had the dogs in the front and they started barking at someone. I went to tell them to shut up and this lady was taking pictures of them... There was a man with her, but he was standing in the street. I didn't think much of it cause I thought they were just passing by. After they left our neighbor came over and told me they were taking pictures. I said I didn't think it was a big deal, and he said he thought they were doing more than that..."

What does that mean? They are trying to take pictures of our house and our dogs so they can break in and steal our stuff? Hope not. Our stuff should be gone in about 2 weeks anyway. The Navy is going to come pack it all up and ship it out as soon as the right paperwork goes through the system.

Regardless of whether or not our stuff is here, that is creepy. What is more creepy is that the dogs are my only protection this week. Brian is out of town, and (I am sure this might offend some of you), but I have no weapons! We left them with Brian's parents since we cannot take them to Japan. Not that I would want to kill someone, but if they were breaking into my house to steal my stuff and possibly kill or rape me, you better believe I would shoot them. I do have a baseball bat and two protective dogs, so I am sure I will be fine... just don't sneak up on me.

Annoying neighbor

Please realize that this video was taken with a little point and shoot camera... just imagine how loud this idiot is in real life. This was a very mellow "episode". It happens regularly, usually twice a day. Usually I am not home long enough to catch both, but if I am home all day, it happens about twice... Can you say possessed? 

New Toys!

Soooo since we are going to Japan we decided that some new equipment is necessary. First of all we only have one nice camera. Which means that since I am trying to do business with it, Brian never gets to use it. So we got him a Nikon. I will never touch his Nikon cause I know nothing about it. He already had lenses cause he has a film Nikon. So yay for him he can take it whenever and wherever he wants. 

And of course we needed to get a nice little point and shoot cause we never do happy snaps, cause it is too much of a hassle to lug out the big camera. Not to mention when we are in public our nice camera just draws way to much attention. Especially when we just want to snap a few snappys. The good news for you is that now you will see some more snaps of our everyday life....AND video! I am most excited about the video! Yay! I will quickly learn how to post a video and you will see what we do around here.

Awesome Possum

This morning I found a cute little awesome Possum in the yard. Well, actually Shugo found it first. I think he was up on top of the fence and then fell off into the yard, cause he crawled very slowly and I doubt he would have gotten as far as he did crawling before Shugo found him. I think he was running from the neighbors cat cause soon after awesome possum was spotted the cat jumped on the fence to come get his prize, but Shugo was not about to let that happen. I heard Shugo bark as if there was an impostor in the yard and Sandy soon followed. I look out the door and see them both looking and sniffing at something, but I see nothing. I go over to check it out expecting to see a baby bird or something and there it was the cute, little, baby, awesome possum. Playing dead of course. He was doing a good job too. Eyes were closed, mouth open, stiff looking body. I am sure if he moved at all Shugo would have jumped on him. Since he seemed dead the dogs were happy just sniffing and waiting for movement. 

I put Shugo in his kennel, told Sandy to stay away, and went and got my camera. Of course he did not want to play dead for me. He slowly made his way back under the fence most likely to be eaten by the neighbors fluffy cat...

Funny Story

So Brian had "watch" the other day which means that he sits on base in front of the barracks checking ID's and making sure everything is ok. When I picked him up he says, "So I think I have an ingrown hair on my eyebrow and I was trying to pull out the hair while I was on watch, but I didn't have a mirror and there wasn't a mirror in the bathroom... can you look at it?" I look over and even in the darkness of the car with only the street light I can see the whole he created on his little brow. I just started laughing. I said, "How did you pluck out that much? Did you do all that damage with your fingers?" Brian - "Yeah, I thought I was pulling out a lot of hair, but I didn't think I was creating a hole..." So hilarious. It's not that bad, but definitely noticeable. I don't think that our mac quite captured the essence of his half missing brow.

Shugo

Shugo is such a good dog. Aside from the fact that if we leave him alone too long he ends up digging holes and chewing things. Usually, he just gets bottles of things off the washing machine in the shed. Things like laundry detergent, bleach, car oil, ya know all the healthy stuff for dogs to chew on. Miraculously he is still alive, healthy, and the lawn has not died from any spillage of these chemicals. Brian and I have become quite attached to this little booger. We have started the extra long process of taking him with us to Japan and hopefully all will go well. He has to be in quarantine for 6 months before he goes. And he has to get a million shots and stuff before the quarantine starts. In two weeks we have one last blood test and a few more shots and then he will be ready to start the quarantine. Which we will be taking him to my parents house for that since we will be leaving on Oct 31st. When he's ready they will just ship him to us. We are already training him to his own kennel. He sleeps there at night. And if he does something bad and we yell at him he usually runs in his little house. I'm glad he likes it, cause I was worried that since we didn't train him to it from a young pup he might find it to be a bad thing. But so far so good! Hopefully he will be with us in Japan, cause we really don't want to be without him for that long!

Commenting on Brian's Post...

Ok, I just realized I  did not address Brian's post that said I think he is a complete moron.... I don't! He obviously would argue otherwise. Seriously though, I am just not always the nicest when I feel I am being asked a stupid question. Maybe not a stupid question, but a question that I have already answered... therefore making the question stupid. Unfortunately I am not one of those sweet people that thinks there are no stupid questions. I wish I was cause then I would ask more questions myself and not be wondering about certain things in life like why do birds fly? No, I don't really wonder that... I know they only fly cause their bones are hollow... Ha! 

So just to clarify, I do not think Brian is a moron. If I did why would I have married him? Wouldn't that have made me a moron? And we all know that is not true. I guess I just have that affect on people... making them feel like a moron. I think it's a Hicks thing, cause I know my siblings like to make me feel that way when possible, and I have heard stories from their spouses too. So I conclude that it is the Hicks blood. I will be working on it though. Brian has seen improvement already. Yay for change!

Traveling Ideas...

So while Brian and I are in Japan we want to do some traveling. Mainly to all the nearby countries. We figure we might as well while we are there and it's cheaper. Any ideas? We seriously haven't hardly started researching it at all. We pretty much only looked at the map and thought... "China, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea (maybe?), and Thailand (?)." Let us know if you have any ideas. I am going to research it. Maybe we will be in China for Christmas. Then Brian could give me a Panda for Christmas! A cute little sneezing panda... sounds like fun! 

My First Time!

  Ok, so this is my first time blogging.  Joy gave me a hard time about not writing anything yet, so I had to finally do it (That's what she said)!  She even gave me a hard time about not knowing what the username and password was to log in, even though she knows I never use that username and password.  Is it weird that my wife thinks I'm a complete moron?  Anyways...

  We went to see the Ben Stiller movie "Tropic Thunder" at Naval Air Station North Island on Friday.  It was really funny, not the funniest movie ever but still pretty funny and it's free on base so it's even better.  I didn't like "Stepbrother" very much because it had so much cussing and they used the "F" bomb almost every five seconds.  I can stand it if it's used only a couple times but they said it probably a couple hundred times throughout the whole movie.  They say it in "Tropic Thunder" only a few times and they didn't just say it to try to make their jokes funnier.

  Nihongo ga skoshi wakarimas.  That means, "I understand Japanese a little" in Japanese.  Joy and I are listening to our Japanese lessons that her brother Norman helped us get (thanks Norm).  Hopefully we'll be able to speak at least a few phrases before we leave next month.  I took two semesters of Japanese when I was in junior college about 12 years ago but I forgot almost all of it because I've never had a chance to use it so I'm really glad we're moving to Japan now.  In the 6th grade my teacher taught our class a little bit of German so maybe Joy and I will go to Germany next.  Sorry there aren't any pictures, maybe next time I'm still learning.

True Story

Check it out... someday I will learn to get this on here and not have to send you to another link

So the movie was really good. We both liked it. Only thing is there is a lot of cussing. I'm not sure why some movies feel the need to overdue such things, but oh well. 

So Brian and I are working on all the lovely paperwork to get to Japan. It would be nice if it was as simple as here's what we need to do, lets do it, and it's done. Not so with the Navy. We think we know what we have to do. We go to do it, wait in line and find out we were sent to the wrong location. We go to the right place, wait in line, and find out we are missing some paperwork that we need to get from somewhere else. So a simple one trip deal turns into a million phone calls with a million different answers, and someday it will be done and we will be in Japan. We are just getting started with the paperwork and we really haven't had that many hang ups yet, but we do get different answers from everyone and it is difficult to accomplish things. Everything has to be done in a certain order. Hopefully we can get it all done this week. Or at least the important things. I will let you know how it all progresses...

Moo Cream...

Mootime Creamery... that is the plan tonight. It is similar to Coldstone I guess, but much better cause it's not so stringy. I really like ice cream. So we are going to go get some ice cream at the creamery and then go see a movie on base... the movie starts at 10pm... it will be a late night, but we have been wanting to see Step Brothers FOREVER. And tonight is the last night it is playing on base so we will go!

Two Barkers and a Blog?

I think I meant to say two barkers and a dog.... So I have read some blogs before, but this is my first time blogging, so bear with me. The purpose of this blog is to keep friends and family up to date on our Barker lives. So lets see.... for anyone who does not know, Brian is in the Navy, I am doing a million different things trying to figure out what to do with my life, and we have two dogs and a horse. The main question you need to ask yourself is... did we choose two barkers and a blog because we are two barkers and it is our last name? Or because we have two barkers (the dogs)? Well, I would like to introduce my family so here goes... not exactly sure how to upload pics where I want them, but above is Brian. He is sleeping. It is 1pm on Saturday. This is not how all Saturdays go, it just so happened that he had "Watch" last night and got home this morning at 7am. So he's catching up... next are the two dogs... Sandy and Shugo. Don't they look like perfect little angels? Then there's my horse (Almond).... and me with Brian. I really don't know how to get these stupid pictures in the order that I want them so you will just have to deal with that weirdness. Anyway, I am sure most of you reading this now know all this about us and you are most likely waiting for the punch line. So without further delay, we are moving to Japan. Brian got his official orders yesterday. As of right now we are leaving on the 31st of October, but we are talking about the military here and who knows what will really happen. We do not have our actual flight tickets yet so it could change, but most likely we will be leaving on October 31st! We are very excited and can't wait to travel! So that is it! We will keep you updated! Check in often for new pics and stories!