Horses! Yay!

So I had a super fun day today! I went to Tama Hills (an Airforce base about 2 hrs away) and I had a great time! A new friend, Brook, went with me and we both really enjoyed the horses. I was really trying to build some relationships with the people there and I think we did a good job of that. They had a lot to do today because they have some kind of inspection tomorrow so first we helped paint two arenas, had lunch, finished painting and then rode. Not only did the director buy us lunch, but we also got to ride for free. They said they need volunteers to work there so I am sure I will be going at least once a week to get in my riding time. I am not sure that I will always get to ride for free, but it was nice to do it today. 

Basically, on base is the Outdoor Recreation. I met the man in charge of it today, and he is American (and a civilian). Outdoor Rec contracts certain things out so, basically the people running the ranch are Japanese (some speak English, but the main guy in charge does not have such good English). So the ranch is funded in part through the military, but it is totally run by this Japanese man. He gave me a mini lesson today and I gave my friend a mini lesson. It felt SOOOO good to be on a horse again, I cannot even explain. They do ride English so it was interesting riding English for the first time in probably 3 years, and after not even been on a horse in 4 months. Either way, I think I did alright. I know I looked like crap at first, but then I got used to it again and felt better. 

I am very excited to go there regularly. It will be nice having one more place where I can regularly work on learning Japanese and I definitely needed a good place to ride. It is now just one more thing to add to my weekly list of things to do, which seems to be filling up quite quickly... and now Brian will be back soon, what will I do then? Brian is supposed to be back sometime early next week. I am SUPER excited to have him back, and am really hoping that the ships' schedule doesn't change. As much as I try to not get too excited because I know things can always change, I am already excited. He has only been gone four weeks, but it always seems like so much longer here in Japan. Time is going by quickly and yet the time that Brian and I spend apart does seem like forever. Such is life I suppose. He is coming back, and his ship is going into drydock, which means that he will not be going out to sea for a good 3-4 months (no matter what)! So that will be quite nice having him around for such a long time without a break... in fact, I might end up getting sick of him... maybe I will have to live at Tama Hills half the week with the horses.... Ha! Yeah right.