Saturday, September 18, 2010

Watch Out Japan!!!

So, in AOB (Area Orientation Brief) this week they had a driving portion of the training. We sat through a half day of lecture about Japanese driving laws and then had a power point flash card review to get us ready for the written portion of our driving tests. I told a friend that I was going to not only take the written portion, but also the driving version of the test on Friday. He was amazed and asked how...I told him that if I got 100% on the written test, then I would get to drive in order to get my license. Well, out of over 120 people in the class, I was the only one who got 100% on the written portion...once they announced that, many people had comments...mine was BooYaaa! Others said..."She cheated....Looked off someone else's test", and another said "Master's Degree". But it didn't matter. I got to drive and got 100% on the driver's portion too...now those that know me probably aren't surprised, but it was a difficult 50 question test and over here, they drive on the left side of the road...so it wasn't an easy task. But, watch out Japan, Here I Come! This is a picture of me with my brand new Japanese Driver's License! Booo Yaaaa! Now I just need to get a car...


Kamakura

Becky and I were in AOB all week. Which is our Area Orientation Brief or training on how to live in Japan. The week long training included a trip to Kamakura to get experience on the trains and around in town. Kamakura is about 20 minutes away by train. It was an awesome town, very unique, full of character, and quaint. I can't wait to go back and explore some more!
Many pictures below are of the largest Shinto Shrine in Kamakura which was built by the first Shogun leader YoritomoMinamoto. The Shogun were Samurai who were first charged to protect the Emperor, but later took political power. It was amazing to see something built in the 1100's. It was super intricate and absolutely amazing!



At the Shrine, the people leave offerings, such as these barrels of Sake.
This men were there to participate in the formal parade of the Samurai Archers.
Part of the ceremony to bless the rice crops and the Samurai's.

The symbol on the ends of the beams are the symbol of the water goddess (the black and white). It is painted on all the beams to protect the Shrine from fire since it's made mostly of wood.
These are fortunes...there is a tradition here where you pay for your fortune and if it's one that you don't care for, you tie it on the strings to offer it to someone else. You can also put yours up there if it's your perfect fortune and you don't think that you can get a better one.
Here I am standing in front of the Temple. The blocks of wood behind me are offerings of horses, which was an ancient tradition. You write your wish on the back and hang it on the wall. After the wall gets full, they take the wood blocks and burn them while blessing the smoke as an offering.
We were lucky to have toured the Shrine when the Yobusame Festival was happening. It happens twice a year to celebrate the planting and harvest of rice. It consists of Samurai on horseback while doing archery. They ride and shoot targets. It started with a blessing of the arrows and offerings. There were thousands of people there during the week...imagine what it would have been during the weekend. Included some pictures of the Samurai's and horses below.


We had to stop at this famous store where they serve dove shaped cookies...apparently they're all the rage here. The store was packed with school children buying boxes of them. They were surprising in that they were crunchy and light...but yummy!
Everything here is just so serene...I just had to include my photo of the secluded staircase.
We avoided the rain all day...until we got back home to Yokosuka. Here we are waiting for the base shuttle back to the Navy Lodge. We were definitely ready for some warm and dry clothing!

Out on the Town

The local tradition is to head to the Chu-Hi shack for TGIF. Chu-Hi is a local drink, kind of like vodka that packs quite a punch...it was a bit sweet for me, so I just had one and finished the night with some beers. These are my friends Diane and Karin...and this is a friendly guy that decided we were lots of fun.
Here's the whole group on our way to Budweiser...the local Karaoke bar. It was nice to chat and socialize with people outside of work for a change.
Cheers!
This friendly local man decided that he wanted to join our friend who was singing. He of course brought his own harmonica to provide back-up.
My new friend Shekita and her daughter Dallas went to a Japanese ballet last weekend. We got all gussied up and headed to the theater. We are lucky that this theater is so close in Yokosuka and it actually has big named performers. The ballet was different...more like a drama in the first half and then more Russian ballet style for the second half. The men's outfits were the highlight of the show...flesh toned and extremely form fitting. You will just have to come here and witness it for yourself...just don't have a mouthful of food...it may just make you spit it out in surprise!

I have been reading all the posts about Riverton High School and hometown football, so I was feeling a bit homesick for a night under the lights. Me and a couple of friends went to Kinnick High School (our local school on base) versus Yokota High School (the local air force base). Unfortunately, Kinnick didn't perform so well...0 to 42. Not good, but my game time nachos were! I also thoroughly enjoyed the band's halftime show!

Beach BBQ & Mt. Takao Beer Garden

I went to a BBQ at Zushi beach, which was really interesting. People travel from all over to come to the beach and they bring canopies, grills, four-wheelers, chairs, and all kinds of stuff. It's quite an ordeal, but it's a great way to spend a Saturday! The beach was packed, but I managed to take the photo below. There were tons of windsurfers and people on wave runners. They didn't even seem to look out for the swimmers. It's interesting that the swimmers don't mind the jelly fish, which according to the locals come and hang out all summer long. If you're lucky, you only get minor stings which itch for awhile. I didn't hang out in the water or even on the sand, because it was so hot that it burnt my feet even when I was wearing sandals! I spent my time under the tent eating delicious jalepeno burgers, stuffed habenero peppers, and drinking beer. What a wonderful day!

I got invited to go to Mt. Takao Beer Garden, which took about 2 and a half hours to drive to. It's funny, because if you are a passenger in a car, you can drink as long as the driver is sober...and I do mean sober. Just one drink and a person can get in trouble for drinking while driving indicated and the punishment is 3-5 years of hard labor and fines up to $15,000. No thank you! The beer garden is accessible by ski lift, cog train, or hiking. We chose the train this time, but I definitely want to hike it sometime soon!
We enjoyed the beautiful sunset and moon rise while waiting to see if we could get in. For about $30 you can eat and drink all you want for 2 hours. What is better than that?
Here we are waiting to get lucky and be allowed to enter the beer garden. We had to wait just to see if there was room for us. We made friends with the people who took this picture for us and they gave us their tickets...which was good for us since they didn't allow anyone without tickets into the beer garden. Over a thousand people were waiting with tickets and there were many more without tickets (like us) who were just hoping to get lucky.
This is the entrance to the beer garden...we had to wait like 2 hours before going up like 100 stairs to the actual beer garden and food. Thank goodness our new friends gave us their tickets!
These are the great views of Tokyo as seen from the top...I can't wait to see it during the daytime! We were actually on top of the mountain looking out across Japan.
Friends having fun...
This is Karin, Tiffany, Yuki, and me.



Fun with New Foods!

Here are some pictures from new foods I've experienced lately... The first one is called Monjakaki. They bring out a bowl of foods like cabbage, sprouts, other veggies, and pancake batter. You have to follow the directions to use the oil and spices to make your own meal on the table. It's really fun, just make sure you have English directions!
This is me flipping it over when the timer runs out. Bam!

Yeah, so this looked really gross...see bowl below.
Soft boiled eggs are really popular here...I had to throw it on the grill just a bit longer.
And here in the Finale! Delicious!
I was feeling adventurous one afternoon and decided to try an Indonesian restaurant. The first course was soup. Yum Yum! Challenge of the day: Almost all restaurants here have their entire menus made of plastic food sitting out front...like a visual menu. There is even a special factory near Tokyo that makes the different foods. One of the 3 pictures below is plastic...which one?
This was my 2nd course with chicken, fried rice, an egg, and this piece of crunchy rice cake type thing that was really good.
This was a bowl of fruit with coconut milk. Mmmmm good!
I tried this fish while I was at the Mt. Takao Beer Garden. I was a bit hesitant because it was a WHOLE fish...head, body, tail. Eeeeewwww! But, I ate it all without much expectation of greatness...and what did I find you ask? It was very good...hard to get over the fact that it looked at me while I ate it, but very good. I will even each another, so WATCH OUT fishies!
I was craving Thai food, which didn't live up to the Magic Kitchen standard, but that's a high bar to reach! After dinner we were served dessert, which was this green liquid with basil seeds and ice cubes. The seeds were surrounded by a gelatinous substance and crunchy on the inside (see picture below). It was actually very refreshing, and I will be sure to have more.


Happy Eating!