Monday, August 31, 2009

Fujisan

Sorry your not getting any good images... I really don't want to open them and resize and save to jpeg... to much time will be lost :) But up top is a pick of us at the very top. We found a place that blocked the wind and snuggled to keep warm. Brian bought this $4 Hot Chocolate and it was awesome cause it was a great hand warmer... tasted like crap though. We should've not opened it and just continued to use it to warm our hands. Below is a pic of us at the top. Yay for us. We took approximately 4 hours to get to the top, but that was with a 30 minute unnecessary break cause Brian ran into a friend from his ship and we stopped to chat. Average is 5-6 hours, and fast is 3 hours. I think we did good for our first time.

So there is much to update on, but I will have to do one post at a time, cause I am just not interested in posting about everything all at once... SOOOOO, to start... last Saturday (Aug 22) we climbed Mt. Fuji. It was pretty awesome. Everyone talks about climbing Fuji as if it was something they did once and will never do again. It usually rains on people and isn't much fun, but we lucked out on some great weather! It was pretty darn cold at the top, but we were fine.

A little Japanese for you.... When you meet someone they will generally call you Barkersan (Mrs. Barker). So when I heard people calling Fuji Fujisan, I thought they were funny cause we don't call our mountains Mr. Fuji. But actually San is also another way of saying mountain. So there you go.

Some wise words from a Japanese man on Mt. Fuji... As we were hiking up a man started talking to us in English. His English was pretty darn good and he said, "Hello Mr. Navy!" (Brian was wearing a Navy shirt). We asked him how many times he has climbed Fuji and this was his answer. "Ahhh, many times, yes. Many times. I think Fujisan like pregnancy. After pregnancy my wife say it is too difficult and she doesn't want any more baby, but then after few years pass, she want baby again. I climbed Fujisan many times and every time I climb I think, 'why am I doing this?' and I tell myself I won't do it again, but then the next year comes and I go again. So, Fujisan like pregnancy."

So there you go, wise words from a Japanese man on Fujisan :)




Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Off to Okinawa!

Brian has finally made it back home this week :) I am happy to have him home even though it will only be for two weeks...

I am taking a class in Okinawa and Brian has taken leave so he can join me. We leave on Sunday, and my class starts on Monday. It is only in the evenings from 5-10pm and all day Saturday so that leaves the entire day for exploring! We will be taking lots of pictures and spending lots of time at the beach. I am going to stock up on sun block, and make sure I take a bath in it before we leave the house. It is freaking hot there and I will likely come back with twice as many freckles even after using sunblock :)

Other news... I got a new job today! I applied for this job in June... a long time ago. Anyway, finally today they called to say I was chosen for the position. Of course we are leaving town in a few days so I start as soon as we get back on the 31st! Which is actually really great cause Brian will be going back out to sea and this will keep me busy. It is a graphic design position on base with MWR marketing and I will be working from 8-4:30 M-F. AWESOME hours because when Brian is not out floating around in the ocean our work schedules will be very similar and we can have all weekend to go anywhere we please without having to ask for a day off. Yay!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Family


OK, I just have to give a little rant about family from my perspective and the things that I have been learning. The reason why I am posting this blog is because I called home and of course there was yet another party happening. Mom said they were all waiting on Julie and her family cause they were late. Julie called at 6pm to say they'd just left the shop, they were working, but they were on their way.

First of all, parties at the Hicks' house are pretty much never for a "set" time, but there is a general... "we want to eat by...." Julie was late. Why? Because they were working. Respectable, BUT how important is that? Does the job have to be finished today? Is it so imperative that you put it before spending time with your family? Is anything that important? Should anything be that important?

Let me start by saying, I have also made this mistake plenty. I, just like many others, say that family comes first, but have done things differently at times. Having Brian in the Navy though has really put life into perspective for me, and I praise God for that! I see now how important time with family is and how much we need to cherish moments with each other. Life is breezing by and someday I do not want to look back and wish I had taken more time to spend with someone (ahem... Brian). I easily get caught up in saying, "Just let me finish this real quick..." Yeah... real quick. As soon as I am done, whatever was happening is done too and I missed it. If I don't set work (my job, school, photography...) aside while Brian is home we will never have time together. I have to soak up my time with him and enjoy every minute of it, cause he is only around for a couple weeks at a time.

I realize that in the normal world people have different situations and you are with those that you love all the time. BUT how much quality time do you spend together? Leave your work at work, turn off your freaking cell phones, and have fun with the people you love! We shouldn't have to be without someone to realize how much we love them or wish we had done things differently when they were here, but sadly it seems that is the way it is.

What would you do if you knew your spouse was leaving for 6 months? Wouldn't you cherish every moment? I have not gone through a 6 month deployment yet, and Lord help me when I do, but I know right now that when Brian is here I am going to enjoy it.

Ask someone who is older... maybe at least in their fifties (sorry mom, but it is considered older). Ask them what they remember from their younger years. Do they remember that job that so desperately needed to be finished that they missed the family camping trip for, and they are now glad they skipped it? From my experience, everyone I meet only wished they had taken more time to slow down and enjoy things. Enjoy people, enjoy relationships, don't let "stuff" take over your life. In the end, that "stuff" disappears and your family is still there, only now they are irritated with you because you have never taken the time for them! Seriously, this is the basic idea behind the movie Click. Watch it... it is sad, but good :) Also, this is a great song about this too. One of my favorites... yes, I love country :) Listen to it.

I am VERY grateful for this experience of being a military wife. It has opened my eyes to enjoy things that really matter. Especially because I know we will never be in one place long enough for my job to really matter much anyway, so even more reason to not poor every drop of my life into it. Please think about these things. What does family mean to you? Do you live your life that way?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Neighbors


So it was getting pretty warm (up until today...) and a few days ago I was working on the lovely task of mowing the lawn. Brian and I do not have a lawn mower, but one nice thing about the military is you can rent stuff like that on base. Rent as in for free... more like borrow really. We have to return it the next day.

As you all know, I am quite capable with outdoor maintenance stuff (thank you Terry). I have mowed our lawn here plenty of times and for some STUPID reason was having a really hard time getting the lawn mower started the other day. I was giving it all I had. I would try try try and then go get a drink, try try try again and go get a drink. A blister burst on my pinky and I thought I should give it a rest and try again in an hour. So Shugo and I go on a walk... I return feeling ready and able. Failed again. I tried over and over and over and over and over. Another blister burst this time on my middle finger. Apparently my hands have gone soft... I figure there is no way I can get this damn thing started so I better go ask Shin (the neighbor) for help. In my lovely Japanese I said, "Takashite onagaishimasu" I have no idea how to spell it... anyway, so he came over. At first he looked like he was inspecting it and I thought maybe he thought it was broken. I tried to tell him I just couldn't start it. Language barrier... then all of a sudden he says, "Choku?" The choke! DUH! I completely forgot about these stupid things having a choke. Of course I look on the mower and it says in English "push to prime". Idiot. So I puh it and then Shin starts it no problem. Stupid American.

So I mow the lawn, pull a few weeds, decide it was too hot to continue and go take a shower. When I got out my doorbell rang and Hiromi (Shin's wife) brought me a icee thing! I took a picture of it. It was so hot that day, it was really nice of them to make me a shaved ice thing. It was really good too :) THEN... my neighbors are seriously the nicest ever... two days later (yesterday) when I got home, I noticed that all my weeds were gone. I was growing quite a lot... we have a bit of gravel around the side of our house, and you might have thought we had a garden... or our own personal forest. I saw Shin with a weed eater out behind our house a ways so I knew it was him. I of course thanked him. Seriously though, we have the nicest neighbors ever, a BIG step up from our SD neighbors :)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

All American Rejects


Yes the All American Rejects came to Yokosuka, Japan for us :) Not us meaning me and Brian... the military... Of course any of you who know me are probably thinking... "Yeah? Do you even know any of their songs?" Well, as it turns out... I did! I just never know who sings crap... now I will forever remember. So, cool thing about the military is this concert was free. It was shorter than a normal concert, but hey, it was free. Below is my friend Lauren. The pics are actually hers. She got a new camera and was going to town with it trying to get as close as possible.

So this video is actually really funny because when they started the main singer was laughing about how he had never seen so many kids near the stage. Young kids, we're talkin' babies. This is a family thing here... hence the "free". So at one point someone apparently lost their two year old and they gave a note to the singers to announce that whoever lost their kid... he/she was found and is over by the drink booth or whatever. He thought it was hilarious. He said nothing like that has ever happened before. I am sure it hasn't and I tried to catch a little video of his talk about it, cause it was pretty funny :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Dear Mr. Smith...

OK, I have a HILARIOUS story for you all. This is a good "welcome to the military" story. I will tell it as well as I can without making it too long...

I went to Okinawa to take a class... it is a week long and the main place to stay was booked so before the class I emailed the school site director about other suggestions on where to stay if your on a tight budget and she emailed other OU students about it. This man... "Mr. Smith" (we will call him) emailed me back and he was super helpful and got me a room at the Gateway Inn on base. He is a senior chief in the Navy and works there and was able to pull some strings. I met him when I checked in and said thanks, but I wanted to send him an email and say thank you again because I am going back at the end of the month and will need help again getting a room.

Well, apparently I did not email the correct "Mr. Smith". Oops. I got an email back from a MRS. Smith and she was pretty clear about wanting to know who I was and why her husband was getting me a room at the Gateway Inn.... yikes, who the hell did I email? The thing is I got an email from a "Smith" about a new address and thought it was his... I don't know any other "Smith". So I sent it to the "new address".... bad idea

We literally emailed back and forth about 10-15 times to find if we were talking about the same man. The problem is I don't know this guy's first name... I met him when I checked in, but there are only last names on uniforms. I realize now that we corresponded through his work email and there is no reason that changes unless you change commands, so clearly I should have used the same email... hindsight...

It turns out her husband is white and the guy I met is black... THANK GOD, what an easy way to clarify. I told her that I am a happily married and very loyal wife and that regardless of whether we are talking about the same guy or not, THERE WAS NOTHING FRISKY GOING ON. SHEESH! In the end she apologized and said she is just a new military wife struggling with it all. Understandable to a certain degree, but CRAP! If she has that bad of trust issues she is going to shove her hubs right into cheating... Yes, the military is very well known for its cheating, but not everyone cheats and not everyone has trust issues. It is a bad assumption. So for those of you who fall into that ignorant category... I hope this story helps clarify and educate you that such ignorance and assumptions are not very useful.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Long time no post...

This is me surfing... I am GOOOOOD :)

OK, so it has been a really long time since I have posted a blog.... reasons why?? There are just too many. For a bit, I didn't have anything to post about, then I had stuff to post, but no time, then I had stuff to post, but didn't want to take the time... the reasons go on. I have been a little lonely lately and spending time on the computer only makes things worse, so that is another reason. Brian has been out to sea, back for a bit and out again. He was around for a good 3-4 months straight and it has taken some getting used to him being gone again. But finally! I feel back to normal without him... doesn't that sound nice :)

So what have I been up to?? I quit my job at the Teen Center. My last week there I got to go on the surf camp trip to Chiba. I learned to surf :) Yay. I did stand up a few times and for more than just two seconds. There just weren't any good photographers ready to capture it...


I went to Okinawa for a class for my degree. I didn't get a rental car cause I didn't want to spend the money. Well, the base was enormous! And it was REALLY hot. So there was not much site seeing while I was there. I will say though that the water is crystal clear and there are nice fishys... wish I had some goggles :) I will be going again at the end of the month for another class though and hopefully Brian will be able to come for a few days and we can explore together :)

I have lots of funny little stories of life that has been happening, but we are just so far behind I cannot update everything. I learned some Japanese though while on the surf trip. Takashite! means help me! Good to know. The reason why I liked learning this though was because I remember this lady yelling it once when I was walking Shugo. He got a little close to her wanting to say hello and she yelled help me about 5 times... it was pretty funny even when I didn't know what it meant :)

So that is my life lately. Sorry for keeping everyone out of the loop. Life is different here in another country. ESPECIALLY without my horse. I am ready to go back to the states and be able to ride anytime I want again. Too bad we are stuck here for a while though :(