ChampNChums

Happy Anniversary!

2008-05-20T14:16:00.002+09:00

Today is our third anniversary. I am the luckiest woman on Earth.
Peter, you're wonderful and you make me so happy. I Love you now more than ever.

Winner!

2008-05-20T14:14:00.003+09:00

I won second place in a photography contest this week!
The prize was a webpage, which is here:

My Website!

The winning photo can be seen on that page. I'm super proud of myself!!

Peter Update - He spent a weekend in Perth, Australia and a weekend in Hobart, Tasmania. Now he is on his way home! I'll see him soon!!

Celebrate Children!

2008-04-28T20:47:00.006+09:00

May 5th is Children's Day, a holiday for celebrating the health and happiness of Japanese children. It is also a day for children to honor and give thanks to their parents. Traditionally, May 5th was celebrated as Boy's Day, a day to honor young boys, and families with sons hang carp streamers outside their homes. For those of you who are worried about fairness, girls also have a holiday, Girl's Day, celebrated March 3. The carp streamers are called Koinobori, and they look like colorful fish-shaped windsocks.

One carp is flown for each boy in the family, with the largest one (usually black) representing the father, and smaller carp representing each son. The youngest son is represented by the smallest flag. The carp represents strength and determination to overcome obstacles, qualities demonstrated when it swims upstream against swift currents. It is a spirited, energetic, and powerful fish. These traits are also desirable in young boys, which is how they came to be a symbol of Boy's Day.

An impressive display of carp flags is flown over the Higa River just north of my house, where I took these photos this weekend.

Peter Update - Peter has been participating in the Marine Corps Martial Art Program (MCMAP). From what I can tell, it is just a mishmash of various forms of martial arts designed to teach marines how to fight with their hands should the need arise. Peter has now reached the second level of the program, gray belt. I believe there are five levels total. Black belt is obviously the highest, and Peter says there is no hope of him ever reaching it. We're into the countdown days of this deployment!

Kyoto AGAIN!

2008-04-19T15:19:00.009+09:00

Peter Update: Peter recently spent about a week doing a training exercise in Djibouti. According to him, this was the most fun he's had yet on this deployment...which means I probably don't want to know what he did! Only about six weeks left on this deployment! We're getting closer!

Kristin Update: Meg and Moira came out to visit about two weeks ago and we took a trip up to Kyoto and Tokyo. Pictures speak louder than words, so here are a few photos from our trip. I'll try to get some of the Oki photos up soon!

Another geisha photo.

The cherry blossoms were a little bit past their peak, but we did get to see a few nice weeping cherries. We got luck and stumbled on some that were lit up beautifully at night!

These photos are torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. There were literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of them spread for 4km up a mountain...we had a great morning hiking around in the woods enjoying the shrine.

These gates were set in a beautiful forest...the walk in the woods would have been pleasurable even without the shrine!
There were many little side shrines as well...buy a baby torii gate for only $40!

The candles were in one of the little side shrines at Fushimi Inari.

I assume these two statues are Buddhist...but I don't know much about their meanings, I just thought they looked cool.

Spring has definitely arrived in Japan...just about everything was in bloom, not just the cherry blossoms!
In one of the gardens I found a crane.

We spent a single evening in Tokyo, which is a lot like New York or LA.

The city lights were beautiful at night!

Weddings Japanese Style

2008-03-27T17:03:00.006+09:00

There is a shocking lack of Japanese culture in Japan. When I was sitting in the States with my National Geographic I was picturing a place where everyone wore kimonos and commuted in rickshaws and sat on the floor eating noodles with chopsticks. I expected gilded temples and buddhas and pagodas.

But Japan is extremely modern, and in the process of modernizing they Westernized as well. My first impression of Okinawa was neon. There were so many lights that I couldn't even find the stoplights. There were modern concrete and glass buildings and traffic jams. The first "attraction" I was taken to was a giant ferris wheel on top of a mall. We drank Starbucks coffee. Aside from the fact that the signs were in Japanese, I could have been on a street in LA.

Oh well, I thought. It's probably just this part of the city. I assumed that if I drove away from downtown I would find "real Japan." Well it took a significant amount of driving, flying, train travel, and walking to get there, but I found "real Japan" in Nara this last trip.

This is a traditional wedding at a traditional shrine in traditional Nara:

Complete with kimonos...
And a rickshaw...It's a beautiful country if you know where to look!

It's Been a While

2008-03-15T22:36:00.003+09:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. My excuse is that I've been busy (it happens when you work three jobs and go to grad school at the same time), and Peter's excuse is that he has unreliable internet access. So here's an update:

Peter spent about six weeks doing sustainment training in Kuwait in January. That meant he spent a lot of time sleeping in a tent and herding sheep and camels off the firing range so he could practice shooting his rifle. Since then details about his whereabouts have been pretty hazy. He is back on his ship and they are sailing somewhere, but not headed home yet. He spent a few days in Dubai, and I believe that was the last time he was on solid ground (although who knows what he isn't allowed to tell me). The bad news was that his deployment was extended by a month, so now the earliest I will see him is June. I am planning to fly back to the States to see him when the boat comes in, but that depends on my work schedule.

I have been busy working, studying, and traveling. I decided that individual tutoring in the classroom for college algebra was taking too much of my time, so I filmed my entire series of college algebra lectures and posted them online. The thought was that now I can send the videos out to students and "tutor" without leaving the comfort of my home. It was a great plan, but it was a lot of work. I am in the midst of my Masters program. I recently finished a course on curriculum and lesson planning, and now I am taking a research class - because it wouldn't be graduate work without research.

I also spent the past two weeks visiting with my parents, who came to visit me in Japan. We spent the first week hanging out here in Okinawa, where their sightseeing was slightly hampered by an order restricting Americans to the military bases. Luckily, the restrictions were lifted a couple days before they left, so they did get to see a few of the sights. We left Okinawa together to travel to mainland Japan, where we visited the cities of Nara, Himeji, and Kyoto. The photos included in this blog are some of my favorites from the trip. If I am feeling bloggingly enthusiastic, maybe I will post more soon.

Love to all,
Kristin

PS - To anyone who is interested, my brother has a blog too: sdelalla.blogspot.com. Check it out to see some of his artwork - he's pretty amazing!

Thanks... belated

2008-01-19T03:34:00.000+09:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to write and say that I was finally able to look at all the Christmas videos that you all made for me. Thank you. I wish I could look at them on ship but, the connection is way too slow when I'm there. Anyways, thank you all for your support you have no idea what it means to me. I love you all.

ILY OXXX

Peter's vacation

2008-01-12T00:59:00.000+09:00

That's right, I said it. "Vacation". I have read the paper cover to cover everyday I've been here. I have had a hot cup of coffee from a very prominent coffee chain while I read that paper. I have great food. I have hot showers and flushing toilets (that don't smell like shrimp I might add). So, all in all I have confirmed with myself that I am on vacation. There is only one thing missing of course...

ILY OXXX

Kristin's hug campaign

2008-01-06T02:39:00.001+09:00

Hey everybody. Sorry I don't get on here more but, it's hard on ship. The reason for this post is that Kristin really needs a hug this week. If everybody who can could give her a hug from me that'd be awesome. If you're not there, please just send her an email to make her day. I really appreciate it. Semper Fi.

A Thanksgiving Post from Peter

2007-12-07T07:47:00.000+09:00

I am Thankful for many things.

1. My family of course. They love and support me no matter what.

2. My friends. Who are merely an extension of my family.

3. The Marines. Because without them none of us would have number 4.

4. A country where I can be thankful for whatever I want… and express it freely.

Be thankful for what you want but, always remember somebody paid a price for it.

Last and most importantly…

Her. I am so thankful for her. She has helped me grow in so many ways I can’t begin to count. Her smile brightens my day. A few words in an email keep me going day in and day out. Her Love is why I choose to fight for my country. Because without Love like ours… life isn’t worth it. Semper Fidelis. ILY OXXX

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T23:03:00.000+09:00

When I hear the word Thanksgiving, the first thought that pops into my head is PUMPKIN PIE!! Followed by turkey, mashed potatoes, greenbean casserole, pretzel jello salad (it's heavenly and my family only serves it during the holiday season), spice cookies, corn pudding, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and....well basically as soon as the weather gets cold (or slightly "chilly" here in the tropics) and people start talking about the holidays, I start thinking about stuffing my face. It's the only time of year when I will voluntarily bake.

But eating until I puke is not the point of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is about being thankful.

There are a lot of things I am thankful for. Here are some of them:

My Amazing Family (all of whom really suck at holding still for photos):

(My perfect husband)

(The best parents ever)

(My favorite brother)

(The above two photos seem to be the only two photos I have of my favorite inlaws)

(And my favorite sisters-in-laws)

My Wonderful Friends:

(My Colorado Friends)

(Rebecca - The Bestest Pal Eva - My Almost Sister)

I'm thankful for friends who still care enough to keep in touch regularly, even though I have been gone for a decade (Megan, James, Jessica's Family, Tara).

And I'm thankful for Rachel (far right) - who had her brain bashed in by a reckless driver this summer, and is getting a second chance at life thanks to her wonderful doctors, supportive family, and her own personal miracle. I'm so glad you're still here Rach.

I'm also thankful for all my Okinawa friends, but I don't have room to post the hundreds of photos I have of you guys. It's nice to have a family away from home though.

My Neurotic Animals:

(The Fierceness)

(The Queen Bee)

(The Goofball)

(Bigfoot)

(Lover Boy)

I have a nice apartment with ocean views in a nice neighborhood on a tropical island.
I have plenty of food to eat, even when it isn't Thanksgiving.
I am not only employed - I have four jobs.
I had the opportunity to go to college.
I have the means to go to college AGAIN so I can get ANOTHER degree and ANOTHER job.
I have two cars.
I can afford to travel.

But the biggest things I am thankful for this year are Peter.

I am thankful he is mine.

I am thankful we have such a happy marriage.

I am thankful that he is on a boat right now, and not in The Sandy Place (he was supposed to be).

I am thankful that he has the means to communicate with me almost daily.

I am thankful that he had the opportunity to train extensively before he deployed, so that he will be better able to do his job.

Hopefully next year, I will be thankful that he is HOME.

Running Around Like a Chicken With My Head Cut Off

2007-11-18T10:24:00.000+09:00

I have been very bad at keeping the blog updated lately. I have just been too busy to keep up! But before I talk about my busy life, let me give you a Peter Update.

Peter Update: Peter is on the boat now, and they shipped out a couple of weeks ago. They were near Hawaii, but he was not allowed off the boat. Peter has been sick quite a bit on the boat. For the first few days he had the flu because his flu shot made him sick. Then he was sick with diarrhea. Other than that, there isn't much to report. Things on the boat are pretty dull right now, which is fine by me!

Kristin Update: I am back in Okinawa now. When I got back, I had messages on my answering machine from students wondering why I wasn't in class. Turns out I am teaching a class of twelve students this term, and no one thought to inform me! In addition, no one told the students that I was on leave the first week of class, so they all showed up to class and I wasn't there to teach them. So I spent the first week home sorting that problem out. This class is the largest and smartest math class I have ever taught.

In addition to teaching, I also went back to school to get my teaching license. So I am studying to get my Masters in Secondary Education and a teaching license. I will figure out what state to get certified in when we get closer to PCSing. School is eating up a lot more of my time than I expected though. My first class, Communications, was three weeks long, and during that time I had three presentations, three papers, and several homework assignments due. This week I start my second course, The Art and Science of Teaching.

And I'm still subbing and tutoring (although the tutoring is minimal this term).

As if that weren't enough, I also joined the Navy Cheerleading Squad and Dance Team. I won't be on the sidelines cheering, but I WILL be the halftime entertainment during the Island Army-Navy football game. And entertainment it will be - I'll be doing HIP HOP. So if you're on island, come have a good laugh at my expense. And if you aren't on island, well I'm sure there will be Youtube videos. Dancing is fun, but the practices are eating up all my free time, and I will be relieved in two weeks when the game is over with. At the moment, I'm busy to the point where simple things like grocery shopping are stressful, just because I'm never home when the stores are open!

Fall Leaves - Which Don't Exist in Okinawa!! (This photo caused quite a stir with the Japanese ladies that developed it)

So Happy Together!

2007-10-17T00:46:00.000+09:00

We just realized that it's been a month since we last updated the blog. We apologize.

So lets recap the last month.
1) Peter rode on a boat to "Yemen."
2) Kristin worked a lot.
3) Rebecca visited Kristin in Okinawa. They made bingata.
4) Now we are together on leave in Colorado.

Now we're going to go enjoy our fifteen minutes of being in the same hemisphere. We'll talk to you all later.

Military Life

2007-09-16T21:56:00.000+09:00

Over the past few days I have been helping our good friends Andrew and Lauren get ready to move back to the States from Okinawa. The military has a pretty extensive check out process before a move, and one of the first steps along the way is de-registering your car. Of course, with typical military planning, all subsequent steps require car transportation between remote offices. This meant I was a taxi all week. During the car rides they asked some good questions that I've been thinking about all week.

The first question was "Did you know what you were getting into when you married the military?" The answer is both yes and no. My military stereotype involved lots of moving and a frequently absent husband. Did I expect Peter to get deployed? Yes. Did I expect him to be gone for over a year, while I was left alone in a foreign country? No. Did I know I would have to move a lot? Yes. Did I know I'd have to give up my job when I moved, and that it would be hard to find a new job? No. Did I know I'd have to make new friends roughly every six months because everyone else in the military moves frequently too? No. In my mind, everyone else was going to stay the same while we moved around.

The frequent farewells are one of the hardest things for me to deal with in the military. I've only been doing this for two years, and I already feel like I spend a significant portion of my time managing my e-social life with all my absent friends. The rest of my social energy is spent making new friends. I have very few good friendships where I'm currently living. As soon as they reach "good friend" status they move.

Another thing that I didn't realize about being a military wife was that in addition to having to sacrifice my home and my job and my friends, I would also have to sacrifice my identity. In all things military, I am a "dependent." At the doctor's office, I am identified by my husband's social security number, not my own. His rank determines what clubs I can enter and what friends I can have. I use an ID card with HIS name and rank when I go grocery shopping. His name is on our cars and bank accounts. I am just a tag along. This was really hard for me to deal with, so I went out and got a government job that issued me my own ID card with MY social security number on it and my own rank: contractor. But it took significant effort on my part to be someone other than Peter's shadow.

The next question was "How did Peter ask that sacrifice of you?" The answer to that one is simple: he didn't. Just like Peter volunteered for the Navy, I volunteered to be a Navy spouse. I'm proud to be his wife. I'm proud to support him. Even when he's deployed and I'm stranded on an island using his social security number to schedule my medical care, I don't regret it. I never have. I LOVE him, and if I have to marry the Navy in order to be married to him, then so be it.

The last question was "Are you counting down until you see Peter again?" The answer to that one is also no. I'll see him in roughly a month, and then he's gone for a LONG time. Instead of counting down the days, hours, and minutes of this deployment, I think it's easier to count up. It boosts my morale to think of how many days I've conquered without him rather than to think of how many I have left to get through. I do count down to mini-goals, like when I'll hear from him again (hopefully by Friday, and if I'm lucky I'll have an email from him tomorrow), or how long until the SPED teacher gets here so I can teach normal-intelligence, mentally stable children again (hopefully four days). I try to find weekly things to look forward to, because I still have 10 months to go, and that's a long time to wait. But I've made it through nearly 100 days already.

I Love you Peter!

Roommates

2007-09-03T05:22:00.000+09:00

We've all had to live with roommates. Some at college, some while we pretended to go to college, etc. We all know the sacrifices you have to make with a roommate. Shoved into an 8 x 12 foot room and sharing a bathroom, only a small space to keep ALL of your stuff. You're forced to keep everything shoved into that small space otherwise you'd never be able to walk down the two foot gap between your beds or find your bed.

There are of course certain things that you must do to keep the peace while living with a roommate. Keeping your things cleaned up, keeping the music down, not turning on the lights when you come in at four in the morning. You know, common sense things. I abide by these unspoken laws (right now, my room is actually pretty messy on account of me). However, I have not experienced any of the common courtesies displayed towards me. As I write this my eardrums are being blasted by about 100 decibels of horrible R&B music. The mess in our room? Half my fault right now and the other half is his. Usually, it's all his fault. The bathroom? Only gets cleaned by myself so, it hasn't in the last month (okay we weren't here but that's besides the point). My roommate came back here to the room several times while we were out for training and I know for a fact that he didn't clean anything because it was indeed messier than what I left it.

Sorry, this was a rant because I'm fed up. Some people are just so ignorant.

A hard act to follow

2007-09-01T02:30:00.000+09:00

Wow, those are hard blogs to follow. Especially given what I did the last month... nothing. I guess I should start by congratulating my wife on her hard work and the spirit and drive that she's shown in the face of adversity (namely me being gone and her having to carry the groceries up the stairs). I can not express how proud I am of her that her teaching career is skyrocketing, she's making new friends (even ones who don't speak the same language as her) and she is starting ANOTHER career in writing/photojournalism. She is the shining star of the military wife and I feel she deserves some public recognition. I Love her so much.
Now for my exciting month. I can pretty much sum it up like this. We sat, sweat, ran, sweat, sweat, sweat, sat in humvess, sweat, sat some more, the AC in our tent broke (again and again), slept a little, sweat and sat. That was pretty much my month of August. Interrupted by a mortar shoot about halfway through and various vehicle chases at Ft. Irwin. My platoon also managed to get three role players fired and get three E-4/5s busted all the way down to E-1. It was a busy month of sitting. Of course the hardest thing about all of it was the lack of communication with my wife (who handled it quite gracefully I might add).

This is the military life. Welcome to it.

ILY OXXX

WAHOOO!!!

2007-08-31T21:52:00.000+09:00

Check out Page 5 of this week's edition of Stripes Okinawa, where I had an article AND a photograph published.

My Fantastic Article

It was a total ego boost, which will probably make me unlivable for a while because I'm pretty much my own biggest fan when it comes to my creative pursuits. This is the first time I have gotten paid for doing something creative, and it's the first time I've ever had any professional acknowledgment of a photograph.

AND to top my day off, I heard from Peter today for the first time in several weeks. He is doing well, and I'm sure he'll be posting a blog soon.

More dancers, because Obon was this week and I haven't gotten over the Eisa dancing yet.

More Eisa Photos!

2007-08-25T15:08:00.000+09:00

I don't have much news this week because I have been working like a maniac. I was put in as the moderate/severe special ed teacher at the middle school, which will be full time until the new teacher moves to the island. Then I'm teaching two college classes in the evening and tutoring as well. So unless you want to hear about math, there isn't much to say! But here are the rest of the promised Eisa photos:

This is me with a clown and a drummer after my dance lesson.

This is a drummer.

These guys were clowns. Or at least, they looked like clowns to me.

A Tripod Makes the Difference

2007-08-20T20:54:00.000+09:00

On Saturday night I was all settled in for an evening in front of the television when I heard noise outside. I went out on the balcony to investigate and there were about 100 Eisa dancers parading down my street. Eisa dancers are traditional Japanese folk dancers that perform to drum and shamisen music. I ran back inside, grabbed the camera equipment, and followed them down the street.

They stopped at a small park. There seemed to be a festival happening. There were tables set up, food, drinks, paper lanterns, and the dancers were performing. I was lurking on the outskirts of the park, trying to find a good location to take some photos without disturbing the celebration, when a lady in a kimono came over and invited me to come join the party and take photos. I think the large camera bag and tripod might have given my intentions away.

Not only was I the only American at the party, I also was the only person not formally dressed. Most of the ladies were wearing kimonos. I was wearing a pajama top and jean shorts. I tried to keep to the fringes and take my photos without intruding any more than I already was. The dancing lasted for about 15 minutes. When the dancers left, I followed them to see if I could get some to pose for photos. They started eating dinner, and I didn't want to interrupt their meal, so I waited outside the park again.

Kimono Lady

Kimono Lady saw me again and literally dragged me across the park to seat me front and center at the guest of honor table. They brought me food and tea, and found someone who could speak English to translate for me. They told me the names of each type of food on my plate. They offered me lessons in how to use chopsticks.

Male Dancers

They explained that the party was a function for the employees from the hospital down the street from me. They told me the names of the dances. I asked if I could take photos of the dancers. They thought I wanted to learn to dance. They brought me out on the dance floor and gave me dance lessons. It was SO FUN!!

Female Dancers

After the dance lesson, the party broke up. I asked my translator if he could ask the dancers to pose for me, and he found someone in each costume. They introduced lots of people to me, and when they found out that I am a teacher they all wanted English lessons. They said they will drop by for tea after work, and that they are honored to have an American friend. I was honored to be allowed to join their party. It was one of the most amazing cultural experiences I have ever had.

Note: There are more pictures but Blogger is not allowing me to upload them...I'll add them later when it cooperates again.

Sand, Sun and no sleep

2007-08-14T12:05:00.000+09:00

Many of you here in the states have had frequent contact with me since I have been stationed here at Camp Pendleton. I have had a cell phone which I use frequently and internet access which I use even more. So, talking to Peter has not been hard.

However, all good things come to an end and the last ten days Peter has been "indisposed". I had my cell phone with me mind you but, it didn't work out in the middle of bum fuck nowhere (please excuse the language, I've been hanging out with Marines and it's kind of gone downhill). I have spent the last ten days "training" which really just means going with out sleep, food and water for extended periods of time while running and firing a weapon. It was fun and also made me realize that I REALLY don't like guns but, that's a different subject. Let me tell you about my week shall I?

Day one: wake up before the sun. Bring gear to staging area. Bring gear to different staging area and load on trucks. Wait three hours. Load on bus. Drive north three to three and half hours with crazy lady bus driver. Get lost on Fort Irwin. Drive to same spot three times and finally on third time realize it is correct spot. Offload bus. Move from hot ass sun into hot ass tent with Battalion (a Battalion is roughly 500-600 guys). Procede to sweat off balls in hot ass tent from 1300 to 1700. Load on 7-ton truck and await movement to real camp. Midnight- get woken up to be told we are spending the night in hot ass tent.

Day two: wake up with sun. Load on 7-ton. Drive on dusty road for about an hour to Forward Operating Base (FOB). Horray FOB tents have A/C (will cover this more later). Unload gear, set up sleeping area.

Day two night: 2100, all others are going to bed. My platoon (whiskey 3 or simply W3) gets called on to go retrieve some vehicles that have broken down. 2330, find vehicles as they are towing each other up dusty road. Drive ten miles an hour back to FOB. 0130 Get back to FOB. Sleep. 0330 (or about there I'm not really sure) wake up shivering due to A/C in tent being EXTREMELY cold.

Day three: wake up with sun. Eat. Hydrate. Attend BS class on something stupid (I honestly don't remember what they tried to teach us). Sleep. 0330 (or somewhere) wake up shivering again despite sleeping in fleece, pants and socks.

Day four: wake up and load humvees for overnight training, and I quote "we're only going to be out one night". Pack two pairs of socks and two shirts just in case. Around 1500 get told that we're not going back to the FOB and will be out on the range for the remainder of the week. Training site has no AC tents I might add.

Day Five: Shoot machine gun. Don't remember much else from that day.

Pretty much Days four through eight are the same. Wake up before the sun. Eat. Train. Get stopped in middle of training due to "black flag" conditions meaning it's too hot to train. It got to be thirty degrees hotter where we were than downtown Baghdad. During black flag we move to the shade usually, underneath a humvee. Yes, UNDERNEATH the humvee. We also take off our flak jackets and kevlar which are our protective elements that weigh a lot and keep body heat in. Enjoy coolness of not having flak and kevlar on. Get told to put flak and kevlar back on due to "hellfire" status. Meaning helicopter pilots are such bad shots that even though we're miles away they might still hit us. So there were are in heat deemed to hot to train or wear flak and kevlar... with our flak and kevlar on because some stupid Army pilot might miss his target. Army, they'll take anybody.,

As if this isn't enough to make you mad. We were waking up before the sun and training until mid afternoon. Then stopping due to the heat. Then we would train some more in the evening. Then we would sleep until about midnight and wake up to train at night. The back to sleep around two or maybe three. Then wake up before the sun again. So there we are. Weapons Company, tired, hungry, stinky, all of us have athletes foot (most people brought one pair of socks for the "one night" training that turned into five or six days, hotter than Baghdad and pissed off because we're sitting around not training. God I love the military sometimes.

Tiffany

2007-08-13T22:27:00.000+09:00

This is a shameless plug for a home for Tiffany. Tiffany is a blond girl who likes long walks on the beach and the occasional steak dinner. She is good with children. She does not like cats. She enjoys rawhide bones. Here's a photo of her:

I will personally fly her to America and deliver her to your doorstep if you want her.

Poor Tiffy is only about four years old, and she is onto her sixth home now. Her first owner was abusive. He kept her locked up in an un-air-conditioned unventilated shed during the heat of summer (which is miserable in Okinawa. He only fed her sporadically. Sometimes he would smack her when he gave her food.

The neighbors noticed the abuse and took Tiffy in, but they had four small children in military base housing, and Tiffany was just too much dog for too small of a space.

So then Tiffany moved in with me. I was a foster parent for her, in charge of finding her another home.

She got along great with Peter.

She got along great with Rambo.

She did not get along great with cats. When my cat moved to Oki, Tiffany had to find a new foster family. Unfortunately in Okinawa there are a lot more pets looking for homes than there are homes looking for pets. Potential dog owners are typically in the market for a puppy, not a three year old dog. We were excited because after a few months, Tiffy's foster family was talking about adopting her.

Then they moved to a different apartment that did not allow pets. Around the same time, Tiffany "escaped." She was caught by animal control and spent most of the summer at the kennel, waiting for me to reclaim her.

But I still have a cat. And Tiffany still does not like cats (as we proved when she tried to eat my cat). Now Tiffy is living in an animal shelter and awaiting another foster home. We are hopeful she will have someplace new to live next week. But a new foster home is not a permanent home, and the poor dog needs a place to call home. So if you know of anyone looking for a dog, recommend Tiffany!

Back to Tomorrow

2007-08-10T20:52:00.000+09:00

I am back in Japan again. The was a rather large spider waiting on my front door. I lost him in a flurry of suitcases, and then rediscovered him in the linen closet this afternoon. I chased him around with a dust pan (the nearest good spider smashing object) and it took about numerous attempts to stun him enough to flush him down the toilet. Jungle spiders don't die as easily as Colorado spiders.
I am not sure whether I am happy to be back in Japan again. This summer has been an emotional roller coaster for me, and I associate the end of my summer vacation with the end of my summertime problems, but the fact remains that Peter is still deployed, even though I am back home. In the few days that I have been back, I have learned that it is extremely inconvenient not having a husband around. For example, I had to haul my three extremely heavy suitcases up three flights of stairs all by myself. I'm a weenie, so that meant I unpacked them at the bottom of the stairs and hauled them up in about six different trips. I had the same problem when I went to the grocery store. There I was, standing at the bottom of the stairs with a car full of groceries and no one to bring them up for me.

Another problem I had to deal with was my car. The battery died and I had to jump start it to get it to the shop for repairs. That was all well and good and I dealt with that, but once I got to the shop I realized that I didn't have my husband around to give me a ride home. I was lucky and they did the repair immediately, otherwise I would have had to call a cab. These problems would all have been surmountable with planning, because I do have friends around who might kill spiders and carry things up the stairs for me, but I'm not used to planning things like that around my friends.

I was a bit worried about my pets while I was gone. I have a dog who hates humans and has a history of escaping and a cat who spent the summer experiencing typhoons firsthand. So I was doubtful whether either of them would be there when I got in. But both pets were waiting for me, safe and sound, and surprise! a third pet was waiting for me as well. A dog that I fostered about a year ago was dumped by her new owner and the kennel called me to see if I would take her again. Her name is Tiffany, and she needs a home. She is a wonderful, sweet dog, and I will blog more about her later, but if anyone back in the States would like to adopt her, I will deliver her in October. Here is a photo of her:

My Calling

2007-07-31T10:43:00.000+09:00

For those of you who are curious about Peter's pig...read the entry below this. For those of you who would rather not read about animal abuse, here are some happy animal photos. I love animals and I always try to take photos of them. Especially my pets.

This is Sienna sticking her tongue out.

But aside from the deer photo I posted last week, I seem to have really bad luck with animal photos. For example, here is a giraffe making out with a pole.

And just in case you were wondering what a giraffe's tongue looks like...

Or here is a horse that needs braces...
I always seem to catch them at that awkward awful moment...

I think my calling in life might be ridiculous animal photos...rather than serious artistic photography.Let's not think about what this bison is trying to do.

PETER'S POST FOLLOWS: DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!

Not for the squemish... (or PETA)

2007-07-31T10:04:00.000+09:00

Okay, everybody apparently was almost as excited as I was about my adventure last Thursday. We got to save (or kill depending on your viewpoint) pigs. That's right the military was able to spare the $52,000 so that thirty seven of us could practice our techniques on something other than a human. It was a blast. Unfortunately for all of you the first thing they told us was "no picture taking". So, my digital camera remained in my pocket the whole time. I can tell you that we practiced all of our skills. Everything from stitches to chricothyroidotomys to central line placement. Okay, so I'll never really place a central line but, I got to put one in this time. It was awesome. I learned a lot and now I feel 100% better about doing what I have to do. First, they put the pigs down (no they didn't feel a thing the whole day) and had us intubate and place the central line. For those of you who don't know a central line is where they cut your throat and open up a jugular vein and put an IV directly into it. Then we did some stitching. Then we did the cricothyroidotomy's (we will call them cric's from now on because that is way to long to spell out each time). A cric is where you (again) cut the throat open to the adam's apple, cut a membrane their and put a tube into the hole so that there is a definite airway. Then, I turn around and the pigs bowels are spilling out of his side. We got to play with them a little and then put them back inside. Then we moved onto hemorrhage. The instructor cut the pigs thigh and we controlled the bleeding using direct pressure and gauze. Then we moved onto MASSIVE hemorrhage. For a definition of massive hemorrhage versus plain hemorrhage a massive hemorrhage is when you cut a major artery (i.e. the femoral, it's in your thigh). A person can bleed out from a femoral bleed in a minute or so. That's a lot of blood. So, the instructor had us go about fifty feet away and then proceeded to cut open the femoral artery. We used direct pressure initially but, as we are taught direct pressure is not enough to control this type of bleed. We then used a substance called quick-clot. It is a sand like substance and will form a clot in a persons body. Very cool. Also, very hot. The chemical reaction can burn you if you don't wear gloves. Don't worry though it doesn't burn on the inside of the body (crazy). Then, while I'm holding pressure on the quik-clot waiting for the clot to form I hear a loud CRACK and turn to see.... my instructor cutting off the pigs front hoof with some hedge shears. It was crazy. My other teammates jumped on it though and stopped what little bleeding their was and bandaged it up. Anyway, at the end of the day our pig was still alive and I got to see an autopsy of the pig and it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. If you all want to hear more just write me an email or give me a call. The coolest day of my life. Also, I'd like to say that no animals were harmed during the procedure... but, that would be a flat out lie wouldn't it?

O' Beautiful!

2007-07-27T10:33:00.001+09:00

Between the new camera Peter bought me for my birthday and the photography course that I am taking this summer, I have taken a lot of photos of Colorado scenery this month. I thought I would post some of them for the benefit of those who don't live in Colorado.

The two tall peaks are Long's Peak and Meeker Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Both the photos above were taken from our friend Meg's cabin. The photo below is another shot of Long's and Meeker, taken from a rock above Meg's cabin.

I love this tree. It nearly died a couple years ago when Meg and Peter sat on it and knocked it off it's precarious perch on the rock. They propped it back up with a boulder and it doesn't seem any the worse for wear.

The next photo was taken at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It's one of my favorite places in the Springs. This photo doesn't do the park justice.

This robin photon was taken at Garden of the Gods too. It's a bit of a relief to see normal American birds that I can identify. In Okinawa, we name the birds ourselves because it is nearly impossible to find their names.

The red rock formation that makes up Garden of the Gods extends the length of the front range between Colorado Springs and Denver. This is another red rock that I discovered north of my house, randomly hanging out on the side of the road. I'm sure other people knew it was there, but it felt like a magnificent discovery to me.

And speaking of hanging out on the side of the road...here's a deer I found:

There's so much wildlife in Colorado! We regularly see deer, fox, and coyotes in my parent's yard, and sometimes we see bears, elk, and porcupines as well.

Colorado has picturesque roadsides...this is another side of the road animal shot:

I love horses. I think they're beautiful, sweet animals. Unfortunately, I never learned to ride, and there is a severe lack of horses in Japan. One day, when I am an internationally best selling author (or when I win the lottery, whichever comes first), I am going to have some pet horses.

My sisters-in-law have moved to a condo in downtown Denver (aka LoDo), so I've spent quite a bit of time there this summer.

There is an amazing variety of things to do there. I even found this crazy bike!

I'm trying to stock up on photos from home so that when I'm back in Japan I have something to look at when I'm homesick. I may even frame some of these and put them on my wall!

PS - NO HARRY POTTER SPOILERS!!! I'm nearly finished with Book 4. It will probably be another week before I'm ready to discuss the new book.

Safe and Sound

2007-07-25T12:50:00.000+09:00

Carina is alive and well and having a temper fit in my apartment. After seeing her a few days ago, our friends put a live animal trap out with food and toys in it, and my cat was a sucker and walked right into it. She is not pleased.

This is a picture of her trying to eat Tinker. Or maybe that's an exaggeration. She was just meowing. But now I know exactly how many teeth she has.

Humans ruin all her fun. She was enjoying her freedom, and now she's stuck inside again. But the rodents of Okinawa are happy and so is Kristin!

Deep Breath!

2007-07-23T14:36:00.000+09:00

First, a cat update. I have been so upset about Carina getting lost that I haven't been able to find anything positive to blog about. Every time I logged on and saw the photo of her all happy thoughts went flying out of my head. On top of the fact that Rina is an indoor cat living outside, she is lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood and a Category 5 typhoon hit the island two weeks ago. It's been stressing me out to the point where I'm losing sleep. But yesterday I got the news that Carina has survived the typhoon and has taken up residence in my friend's yard, so she seems to be doing well. She's probably eating lots of birds and thoroughly enjoying herself. That makes me relax a little.

In this photo, Carina is relaxed a lot.

Aside from worrying about the cat in the typhoon, I have also been insanely busy. I was the "Matron" of Honor in my best friend's wedding last week. The title made me feel old and frumpy. I have come to the conclusion that being in other people's weddings is much more stressful than being the bride in my own wedding. As a bride, I could delegate all stressful jobs to someone else. As the Matron of Honor, I was the one the stressful jobs got dumped on. I think the only job more stressful is being Mother of the Bride. Rebecca's mom is worthy of sainthood. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that for a looooonnnngggg time. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and I had a blast. Here is a photo of the happy couple.

Okay fine, here is a serious photo of them. Congratulations to Rebecca and Andy.

Yes, he is an Air Force Officer, and No, the Enlisted Navy wife does not approve. But hey, we can't all have my good taste.

I also entertained my friend Megan all last week. She flew in from Utah especially to see me. She brought her 18 month old son with her, and I got to practice parenting skills. At least, I practiced parenting when he was happy and didn't have a smelly diaper. Here is a photo of him trying on my shoes:

Unfortunately, I don't think they go well with his outfit.

It has been a busy few weeks but I will try to update more often now! Have a great day!

Good luck rodents

2007-07-07T22:29:00.000+09:00

It finally happened...

Her name is Carina

She has been unleashed upon the world. Small rodents, other cats and dogs across Okinawa, watch out. She's a mean one. Apparently, she clawed her way through a window screen. I must admit, the Marine Corps would probably want this cat because she definitely knows how to improvise, adapt and over come. She also is a master of intimidation. She will hop on the couch in front of the dog, lay down, outstretch her paw... and flex her claws at him. The look of total fear on the dogs face is nothing short of priceless.
At any rate, she is out and roaming free and she has so wanted to be. Unlike when Kristin lets her out, this time she seems determined to stay out. She is somewhere around our friends house and refuses to come near anybody. I can only assume the terrors she has unleashed upon the neighborhood animals. I can picture her sitting on a fence line tormenting some dog that is tied up just out of reach of her or stalking some small animal only to pounce, bop it on the head and run away. So, if you happen to be running around Okinawa and see her, try and pick her up. My wife would appreciate it.

I Just Can't Help It...

2007-07-03T04:52:00.000+09:00

It's another spider blog. I know, it seems like my whole life revolves around insects and dogs.

I was totally looking forward to coming home to Colorado where it is too cold and too dry for many bugs to survive. There aren't dinner-plate sized spiders here, invisible mosquitoes, or mutant roaches that just won't die. But! In my absence, the spiders seem to have launched an invasion of my room in my parent's house. I have killed a spider almost every day since I have been home. I have a rule that spiders are not allowed in the vicinity of my bedroom. In Colorado, that means they die if they enter my room, my bathroom, or hover too close in the hallway. In Japan, that rule pretty much extends to the entire apartment. The apartment is small enough and the spiders are big enough that I feel threatened even if they are at the far end of the living room. My rule was justified the other day when I went to say goodnight to my mom and found a spider crawling across her in bed. I rescued her, and then doubled my efforts to keep my own room spider free.

I can't remember if I've mentioned Japanese mosquitoes before. They're tiny little things...so tiny that they're hardly noticable until well after they're gone. But I am apparently much more allergic to their bites than I am to American mosquito bites. I get huge welts and tend to look like a victim of abuse for weeks afterwards. In Colorado, my parents live high enough that there aren't many mosquitoes. I must be tasty though, because at least two of them found me. Now one of them is dead. The other should probably be put on the endangered species list, because I doubt there are more than two living at this altitude.

Speaking of altitude, I spent the weekend up on top of a mountain near Rocky Mountain National Park. Our friend Meg has a cabin up there and I went up to help give it a fresh coat of paint. I felt like I owed the cabin a little TLC since that's the place where Peter proposed. It is a small log cabin that the family built by hand. Here is a photo of the view at the cabin (unfortunately I couldn't find any photos of the cabin itself because I'm always standing on the porch when I take photos - I'll keep looking and update later if I find one):

It is rustic enough that the only bathroom facilities are an outhouse behind it. I have no problems with the outhouse, however Meg likes to tell a story about the time she went to the bathroom and discovered a packrat living behind the toilet. It was dark, and she "discovered" the rat when it startled and came flying out of the outhouse at her. After hearing that story, I always approach the outhouse with caution. Especially at night. I make a lot of noise and bang the side before opening the door. Well Saturday night I made my usual rukus and then opened the door to see legs disappearing under the toilet seat. My first thought was "dinner plate spider!" and my second thought was "mutant cockroach!" Even after I remembered that Colorado bugs are much smaller than Japanese bugs, there was no way I was going to use the facilities with an unknown insect lurking under the toilet seat. So I took the toilet seat off and chased the bug around the outhouse. It was a cricket. I won.

Enough about bugs already!! I'll write more soon!

A New Cast of Characters

2007-06-27T11:51:00.000+09:00

This blog is not complete without pet stories. Since I am lacking firsthand stories about my own pets, (who are happily hanging out at a friend's house in Okinawa) I am going to talk about my parent's pets instead.

This is Sienna:

She's a 100 pound doberman who can't sleep without her Blankey. She holds Blankey in such high regard that she will mope in the laundry room when Blankey gets a bath.

Sienna also thinks she is a lapdog:

This is Sienna trying to fit in my dad's lap. She is a bit large to be a lapdog.

My parents have two cats. Their names are Neptune and Romeo. They like boxes.

They like boxes so much that my mom leaves boxes around the house for cat beds.

Neptune is a very small cat.

But he has very large paws. In fact, he has an extra toe on each foot. He is a skittish cat. He's afraid of almost everything (but not as bad as Rambo!).

Romeo is not afraid of anything. He loves everyone.

I just realized that all these photos have pets sitting on my dad. Apparently he makes a nice pillow. But the pets do sleep other places too.

This is Neptune sleeping in the fruit bowl.

Have a good day!!

The future is today...

2007-06-25T08:57:00.000+09:00

I just wanted to let you all know that tomorrow is here right now. Twenty years ago having a phone you carried with you, your own computer or a personal navigation system were only for the rich and famous. Today alone I have sat in a car that spoke to us and told us where to go, talked to my wife via a cell phone (somebody's SECOND cell phone I might add), and also drove in a car while me and another guy both had laptops in our lap. The whole situation made me laugh and I thought I would share it with you all. I miss you all and hope to see you soon.

Home Again Home Again!

2007-06-24T07:27:00.000+09:00

I'm back in Colorado for the summer!!

This is Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods - taken by my dad.

On Tuesday I had the longest three hour plane trip ever. I left Okinawa at 11am and got in to Colorado at 1pm three flights later. I didn't sleep the night before so that I could sleep on the flight over the Pacific. But then the guy in front of me put his seat back so far that he practically had his head in my lap and I couldn't move, much less sleep. So I have been sleeping a lot since I got here. And spending money. And eating greasy American food.

But seriously, you don't realize how convenient American shopping is until you spend five hours walking around a Japanese store looking for salt and pepper shakers and then come home with a pair of flipflops two sizes too small. I went to Barnes and Noble and spent roughly $60 in less than five minutes of shopping. After that I cut myself off, but I couldn't tear myself away from the books so I spent another couple hours reading in the store. Then I went to Hobby Lobby and was so overwhelmed by the craft selection that I couldn't make any decisions.

Driving is an adventure again too. I drove roughly three blocks to my best friend's house (it's on the far side of a hill and I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to the top of the hill without being adjusted to the altitude). In the process I stalled the car, managed to turn the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker at every turn, and had a really really hard time staying on the correct side of the road. But me, the car, and the squirrels all survived.

I'll check in again soon!

More On Pete

2007-06-16T15:36:00.000+09:00

I have been avoiding the subject of Peter's deployment, but this week he DID deploy, so there will be more Peter updates on here now (as was the original intent of the blog). Some, like the one below, will be from him. I'll try to fill in the gaps since his internet access will be sketchy.

Peter says to reassure everyone that he is fine. His flights were uneventful, to the best of my knowledge, and no, I haven't heard the story of the lost boarding pass yet. I'll let you know when I do, because I'm sure it's amusing. He described the area where he is working as "hot, dirty, and full of dicks - I have testosterone overload already." He has a temporary room until he joins his company, and that room has no key. He doesn't have a roommate or an address yet. There are only two pay phones out there, and neither works well, so Peter probably won't be making many phone calls, but he does have internet access in the lounge and he hopes to get a laptop this weekend, so check back here for more updates. He spent the day today working in the clinic treating soldiers who got heat exhaustion on their fifteen mile hike. Apparently that was fun.

As for me, I'm doing much better than I expected. I have lots of support from friends, family, and coworkers, and I've been keeping busy. Yes, I have been eating, and if you doubt that I'll start keeping a food log on here. I have also been sleeping, although slightly less regular hours now because I'm not working. I am also indulging in the usual lonliness therapy - a pint of Ben and Jerry's and a pedicure.

We Love you Peter!

I'm herrrrre!

2007-06-16T12:21:00.000+09:00

Hello all,
Well, I made it here in one piece. I'm in beautiful secluded 62 area at Camp Pendleton. I have joined my unit and look forward to all the work that lies ahead of me (not really though, I just lie to myself to keep my spirits up). The flight here was uneventful except for a misplaced boarding pass in Osaka which gave me minor heart failure. I should have access to computers most of the time when we're in the rear but, I don't expect to be here very often. I will keep in touch with you all as often as possible through this. I miss you all and thank you to those of you who are looking after Kristin.

The Gardens of Nijo

2007-06-12T12:58:00.001+09:00

There were big gardens at Nijo castle, which are apparently as much of a tourist attraction as the palaces are. There were gardens at each palace, between the palaces, and then orchards between the outer and inner fortifications.

The backsides of the walls around the castle were gentle slopes covered in trees. It made the inside of the palace seem much less like a fort. In both the photos above, the outer wall of the castle is just behind the trees.

There was a pond in the garden between the two palaces, complete with waterfall. It was so serene there.

This next photo is a little wildflower (aka weed) I found on top of the main watch tower.

This photo is of a path running through the orchard between the outer and inner walls of the castle.
Japanese gardens are built for serenity and peace. They are not nearly as showy with flowers as American gardens are. The flowers are accents, and they spend a lot of time making the trees, dirt, and rocks just as pleasing to the eye.

Whew, It's Not a Temple Photo

2007-06-07T20:14:00.000+09:00

I have more Kyoto photos today!

There are two palace complexes in Kyoto. One is the Imperial Palace, which was the Emporer's residence when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. It isn't open to the public. The other is Nijo Castle, the official Kyoto residence of the Kyoto Shogun (the local feudal lord).

Nijo was built during a time when the Emporer's power was weak compared to the power of the shogun. The Imperial Palace was a very modest, easily defended construction. Nijo was built to flaunt the power of the shogun in the Emporer's face. It actually consists of two palaces. The first one, Ninomaru Palace, was built to be the residence of the shogun at about the time when the capital of Japan moved to Edo (Tokyo).

It was rarely used as a residence, but the shogun did stay there when he happened to be in Kyoto, and it was filled with elaborate paintings and carvings as a status symbol. There were more than 3,000 paintings inside, which are in the process of being restored. I couldn't take photos, but to my untrained American eyes, the paintings looked a lot like this (from Ginkakuji):
The carvings were on the outside, and they looked like this:

So elaborate!

There is a second palace further inside the walls, Honmaru. The Emporer paid a visit to Nijo and this was built later as a place to entertain him. It was not open to the public, but apparently it is even more elaborate, because the shogun was trying to make his palace more impressive than the last one the Emporer visited. I think the shogun may have had some vanity issues.

These palaces aren't nearly as visually impressive as the castles we saw later. However, they were uniquely designed inside because the shogun that built them was paranoid. The floors are specially constructed "Nightingale Floors" that squeak when people walk across them, making it impossible to sneak up on the shogun to kill him. I don't mean squeak the way the floor in an old house squeaks. These floors emitted a high pitched squeak that almost sounded like a bird call. The castle also had false walls and secret rooms where the shogun's body guards could hide to protect him. There were also several moats and a maze of walls and gates separating the palaces.

Outer Gate

Ninomaru Gate

Inner moat and "dungeon" (it just looked like a watch tower to me)

These palaces had beautiful gardens, but I will post those photos next time.

Clearly I am Not Over the Spiders Yet

2007-06-05T14:56:00.000+09:00

For the past few weeks, one of the gigantic spiders was sitting on my neighbor's window. This window happens to be directly across from my parking space. So every day I got a nice view of him. And every day I congratulated myself on the fact that the spider was not sitting on MY window.

Then he disappeared.

I noticed his absence and double checked my car. Giant spiders on my neighbor's windows are cool, but giant spiders in my car are not okay. But there were no spiders and I went on my way.

Guess where the spider was?

On my front door!! Three flights of stairs are quite a hike for a spider! (Or for a human with grocery bags). I was impressed by his dedication. But the dedicated spider is no more. I refused to enter the house until Peter disposed of it.

I also refuse to speculate on what will become of me when I find giant spiders while Peter is deployed.

There will be more Kyoto photos when I have some time to get more scanned in. Here is an Okinswa sunset photo to tide you over in the meantime:

Summer in Okinawa

2007-06-03T12:16:00.000+09:00

It's officially summer in Okinawa. How do I know this? Because it is so humid that our air conditioning blows steam. There is a little cloud around the AC unit. The humidity also condenses all over the windows. By condense, I don't just mean that it steams up the windows. I mean that our windows have their own private rain storms on them. Our cars heat up so much that the AC can't cool them down before we get to our destination. I can't wait to get home to Colorado, where the air is cool and dry!

The Not So Silver Pavilion

2007-06-01T21:49:00.000+09:00

Are you sick of temples yet? It took roughly three days of non-stop temples before they started blurring together for us. This is Ginkakuji. The Silver Pavilion.

It was built as a retirement palace for the son of the shogun who built Kinkakuji. Like father like son. It is called the Silver Pavilion because it was originally supposed to be silver plated. But I guess something happened to cancel that plan.

The real attraction at Ginkakuji is not the pavilion. It is the zen garden.

That is sand, meticulously raked into a pattern representing ocean waves approaching Mt. Fuji. That's right, the cone is sand too. I'm not quite sure what happens when it rains.

This brings up a cultural difference between America and Japan. I can't think of many Americans who would take the time to meticulously place each individual grain of sand. Or who would want to spend the time arranging beautiful sand, for that matter.

Here is another cultural difference (an another tourist attraction at Ginkakuji):

This is moss. Apparently there were fifty different kinds of moss at this temple. We don't know what they were because we couldn't read the sign. However, the moss is very well tended. There were swarms of caretakers on the grounds. There to SWEEP the moss.
To pick up leaves off the moss. The effect was very calming. But it required a lot of work.

Here is the most exciting tourist attraction at Ginkakuji:

US!! We were a school project. There were large groups of Japanese school children there, looking for people to practice English with (and probably admiring the moss and the sand). They asked us questions, like "Where are you from?" and "What do you like about Japan?" They took photos of us. And then, they whipped out a packet of essays - in English - about Japanese culture. They presented the essays to us, then gave them to us as a gift. We were impressed.

Here are a few more photos from the temple:

The watercolor paintings on the inside one of the temple buildings.

The Japanese students, peeking at us through a window.

An arial view of the pavilion, taken from the top of a hill on the temple grounds.

And speaking of the temple grounds, here is another view of the moss.
Ginkakuji.

More photos to come over the weekend, but my posting will be slow next week because I'll be working full time. A math teacher at the middle school is going to be out for the rest of the year (only two weeks really), and I have made a good enough impression that I was asked to take over her class. This is a milestone for me, because it means I've graduated from being a sporatic substitute to a long term sub who can be trusted with a class of my own. The only downside is that my first long term assignment is with a SPED class and I was not born with enough patience for most of those children. Next week will be an adventure!

Temples, Temples, Temples!

2007-05-29T08:09:00.000+09:00

This is Kinkakuji. In English, this is the Golden Pavilion. It is a Buddhist temple, originally built as a retirement residence for a shogun. Yes, it really is gold. Goldleaf on Japanese lacquer, to be specific.

In the 1220's this was the site of a villa for shoguns. Shogun Yoshimitsu built the pavilion in 1394 when he retired. After his death, the site was made into a Buddhist temple. The pavilion is the only building remaining from his time. It never ceases to amaze me how OLD buildings outside of America are.

Despite appearances, that isn't a rooster on the roof. It is a Chinese phoenix.

The gardens around the temple are absolutely stunning.

The path around Mirror Lake.

One of the small islands in the middle of Mirror Lake.

The iris around the edge of the lake was in full bloom. They were some of the prettiest flowers we saw on this trip. We were about a month too late to catch the cherry blossoms and azealas.

In Japan, a holy site is not complete with just one temple building. There is always a slew of mouments, shrines, and temples in the area. Here are some of the other sights at Kinkakuji:

This is another small pond in the area, named An-min-taku. It is located on the hillside above the pavilion. The pagoda stands on an island in the pond. Notice how GREEN the scenery was!

This is a small monument that obviously has significance, but there was no English sign to explain things. The largest rock appears to have a Buddha carved on it. We frequently saw rocks like this around Kyoto, and wondered if they represent graves.

Last but not least, these photos are the inside and outsite of a shrine on the premises.

More photos to come - I still have ten rolls of film left!

A Kyoto Secret

2007-05-26T11:23:00.001+09:00

Our first night in Kyoto, I noticed a small old-fashioned wooden gate with a tile roof in the alley between the two modern buildings across from our hotel. It was locked. This intrigued me. There was nothing marked on our map, and I wasn't about to create an international incident trying to see what was on the other side so I let it go.

But the next day, the gate was open. We weren't sure if it was a public place, but curiousity got the better of me (why would you put a fancy gate on an alley?!) . I made Peter guard the alley entrance while I tiptoed between the buildings. Before I even got to the end of the alley I could see a giant tree with a shrine at it's base.

(Clarification: The tree in the picture is NOT the giant tree.)

Ohhh how cute! A little shrine hidden between the buildings! I called for Peter to come with me. This is what we found at the end of the alley:

Huh. Perhaps I underestimated a bit.

It was a full blown Buddhist temple complex. There was a massive temple along with several administrative buildings, cloisters, and live monks!

(Cloisters - at least, I think that's what these were)

It was like a secret little part of Old Japan. The only sign with English was next to the first tiny shrine, and it told the life story of an artist named Gyokudo Urakami and his son Shunkin, who settled down and eventually died in Kyoto. Most of the sign spoke about artistic achievements that meant nothing to us as stupid Americans with no knowledge of Japanese history. However, Guyokudo's accomplishments seem to be summed up by the line "Along with his clan duties, Gyokudo played the koto (a Japanese harp), recited poems, practiced brush callingraphy, painted while under the influence of alcohol, living free from worldly cares as a man of literary significance." So this massive temple is in honor of a dead drunk artist?

Well no, actually, the signs neglected to mention the fact that a famous shogun who united most of central Japan committed suicide on this site after one of his generals betrayed him. Google provided that information later. That guy was named Nobunaga, and I believe that this is his grave (although nothing was labeled in English):

There were numerous other graves behind the temple, but this was the largest. There were also lots of wooden sticks with writing on them. I have no idea what they meant, but they were pretty, and if anyone knows what these mean I would appreciate enlightenment.

The temple held more surprises, unfortunately I do not have pictures because photography was not permitted. Unsure whether tourists were allowed in the main temple building, I snuck up the stairs to peek in the windows.

In retrospect, taking a picture of me sneaking up the stairs next to the red sign that I can't read probably wasn't wise. But when I looked in the windows, there were English signs telling tourists not to take photos. We decided that meant it was ok to go inside. The inside of the temple was almost solid gold!! There was a massive statue of Buddha in the center, with all kinds of treasure stacked around it. The altar was draped with heavily embroidered, expensive looking brocade. Three massive drums at the back of the room made me wish I could see a ceremony at the temple. It took my breath away.

We later found the temple on a map - it is called Honnoji. More photos tomorrow!!

A Quick Pet Update

2007-05-25T21:44:00.000+09:00

This is my cat. As you can see, she is very dignified.

Yesterday she fell in the toilet. After that she was less dignified.

Photos of Kyoto!!

2007-05-25T12:41:00.001+09:00

Last week Peter and I took a trip up to "mainland" Japan (yes, I'm aware that Japan is an island country) to see some of the sights. Over the next few days I'm going to be posting photos (as promised!) of some of the highlights of our trip. Peter and I took more than 500 photos in five days, but I promise I won't post all of them.

(A heron in the Kamo River)

It was a fantastic vacation where almost everything worked out exactly as planned and all the attractions either lived up to or exceeded our expectations. We spent three days in Kyoto and two in Osaka, with a daytrip West to Himeji Castle, one of the most spectacular castles I've ever seen.

A watch tower and the outer wall of Nijo Castle in Kyoto

Kyoto is one of the former imperial capitals of Japan, and one of the only cities in Japan whose original cultural buildings survived the bombings of World War II. Although most of the cities buildings are now modern, there are literally thousands of historic Buddhist Temples, Shinto Shrines, and traditional Japanese gardens hidden in the city, in addition to an Imperial Palace, a Shogun's Palace, and tons of traditional wooden buildings. Our first night there, we walked a couple blocks along the Kamo River and one of it's canals behind our hotel.

Kamo River Walk

On that short walk, we found a Buddhist Temple, a garden, and a Shrine, none of which were marked on the map. These "discoveries" were one of our favorite parts of Kyoto because they felt like our own private temples, with all the beauty of the tourist attractions and none of the people. It was like learning a secret.

This is one of the streets we walked along. It could be anywhere in the world.

This is the temple we found on that street.
And this is the shrine we found along an alley off that street.

This is a Japanese Maple in the garden we discovered. Fact of the Day: Japanese Maple leaves are red year round, not just in the fall.

More photos tomorrow!

Where Has Kristin Been?

2007-05-11T22:14:00.000+09:00

I have been doing two things lately: Working and Sleeping. Sometimes I get to see my husband, but the moments when neither of us are working or sleeping are rare lately. I have three part time teaching jobs. They tend to be boom or bust, depending on the term. Apparently the past month has been a boom month for all three jobs so there hasn't been much time for blogging. Or writing, or crafting, or maintaining friendships. I learned today that one of my best friends is in Malaysia. Go figure. Once I get caught up on some sleep, I'll blog more. Next week we are going on vacation to Kyoto, so I'll definitely post pictures from our trip. In the meantime, here is a picture of some of our local "weeds."

This is a gladiola. It was growing on the side of the road.

Smoke Decks and Slidey Rug

2007-04-26T15:25:00.000+09:00

Peter's deployment is starting to loom in the near future. It's like an alarm clock ticking in my head. Sometimes it goes off and I snooze it and stick my head back under the covers. Sometimes it goes off and I have a meltdown before I snooze it. That happened this week. I had a nice rant about how much I hate the Navy. And now, since I can't spend the next year and a half hating the world and expect to maintain my sanity, I am going to find something nice to say about the military.

So here it is: I like Smoke Decks. Little covered patios far away from buildings where the smokers can go light up. I am allergic to cigarette smoke. Every time I went to smoky bars in college I would have to suffer with a stuffy nose for a week. My only attempt to smoke a cigarette was caught on film as a series of photos of me violently gagging every time the cigarette got within arm's length of my face. It's one bad habit I will be safe from. But the military has a large population of smokers. So I appreciate it that they give them nice gazebos with chairs and trash cans where they can go smoke at a safe distance from my face. And that's the best I can do with military appreciation today.

In other news, my cat has a new favorite game, Slidey-Rug. She races across the room and jumps on a rug at full speed, making it slide across the tile floor like a sled. Eventually it gets bunched up and stops, and if this happens abruptly she does a face plant into the floor.

Evidence:

Scream Like a Little Girl

2007-04-17T15:19:00.000+09:00

I like to think I keep my cool around small creepy creatures. Insects. Snakes. Spiders. Amphibious Slimy Things. I get along well with them on two conditions:

1) They do not invade my personal space. This includes landing on me, attempting to bite or sting me, and taking up residence in my bedroom. Or some critters are not allowed to enter my apartment period.

2) They do not sneak up on me.

Yesterday morning I woke up to find a dead roach on the floor. It was small by Okinawa standards (only about 2 inches long) but large by my standards. However, it was dead. Laying on it's back, legs folded up, wings splayed out. Not cool that it was in my house, but nothing really to get worked up about. At first I decided I would just leave it for Peter - husbands are good at cleaning up gross stuff after all. Then I remembered that he will be deploying soon and I should probably be a big girl and clean it up on my own.

I got a nice wad of papertowels so I wouldn't have to touch it. I scooped it up. I flipped it over to look at it and congratulate myself on my bravery. Then IT MOVED. I screamed. I threw it across the room. I ran in the opposite direction. It took until I was safely hidden in the bedroom before I realized that it was just a bug. Plus only one leg had moved. So I crept back out and checked on it. It was laying upside down on the floor again. If you don't have any experience with roaches - they fly. This one did not. It just landed on it's back on the floor again. So it must have been close to death. But it still took me nearly half an hour to get up the courage to attack it with a shoe. And then longer to pick it up again and safely deposit it in the toilet. Mission accomplished.

In an effort to recover from the trauma of the nearly-dead-but-not-quite roach I am posting a picture of something soft and cuddly. In the foreground is a stuffed animal. In the background is my cat, back when she was still sweet and cute.

A Grown-Up Moment

2007-04-14T22:48:00.000+09:00

Last night I was admitted to an alcohol serving establishment without being carded. It wasn't cheating on my part either - we were at a wine tasting event. This is a first for me. I'm twenty-three, and most of the time I am mistaken for a twelve year old. I usually consider it an accomplishment if I can walk into a PG-13 movie without hassle. I'm marking the day on the calendar.

My glory didn't last long. Tonight I went to a Deal or No Deal mock up and got carded again. My streak as an adult was over. I didn't even win anything.

It snowed in Colorado yesterday, so here's a spring photo to make the people back home feel better (or jealous).

Casanova

2007-04-14T09:58:00.000+09:00

Peter has been highly amused by my neck troubles. It really is not that bad, but my range of motion has been limited. Specifically, I can't look to the left. So Peter likes to come up behind me on the left side and try to hand things to me, just to make me turn my entire body to see him. Since he is amusing himself at my neck's expense, I thought I would amuse myself here at his expense.

This is a photo of Peter the Romantic Cow (taken at our Bachelor/Bachelorette party)

The only injury I have had in Japan that was traumatic enough to require a doctor was a concussion last summer. How did I get the concussion? Peter gave it to me while trying to be romantic. He was on duty at the hospital that night. I came by in the evening to have dinner with him and keep him company. He grabbed me and dipped me to kiss me... and dipped my head directly into the stone windowsill in his office. I spent most of the rest of the night laying on the floor of his office. Luckily, the ER was right down the hall. Admitting that my concussion came from a kiss was embarassing enough, but since both of us worked at the hospital at the time we were friends with the ER staff. By the next morning, the entire hospital knew about my concussion and Peter had aquired the nickname Casanova.

Days When I Shouldn't Get Out of Bed

2007-04-12T14:14:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I pulled a neck muscle while getting out of bed and couldn't turn my head all day. I suppose I probably deserved it for snoozing my alarm too many times. But is was still not exactly the way I wanted to start the day. The fact that I can injure myself while doing nothing makes me think that ignoring my New Year's Resolution to work out more often is probably a good thing. Imagine the damage I could do with a weight machine. Anyway, I have learned my lesson. Clearly getting out of bed is dangerous, so I have decided to be lazy.

The pets are stongly in favor of this plan. This is a photo of them taken several hours after the alarm went off, and they still hadn't pried themselves out of bed.

Jeopardy!

2007-04-05T15:23:00.000+09:00

Alex Trebec and the Clue Crew from Jeopardy! travelled around the Asian military bases last week and held contestant auditions on the military bases. Peter and I went to try out.

Round One is a pre-test. If you can remember enough trivia under pressure to make it to Round Two you are pitted against other potential contestants. You ring in to answer questions, and the people with poor reflexes are elliminated. Round Three is an interview.

Peter and I didn't make it past Round Zero - Following the Directions to the Test Site.

Clearly, the people too stupid to find the test aren't worthy of taking the test. We went to the wrong location on the wrong day. We did, however, find the Alex Trebec autograph signing. At least I got an autograph for my effort!

Alex is the first famous person I've "met."

I Don't Know That I Don't Know

2007-04-03T16:09:00.000+09:00

There are times when I am so utterly clueless that I don't know where to even begin asking questions. Most people feel that way about math. I feel that way about small children. If you want to make me uncomfortable, hand me a baby. Someday we'll have kids and I'll either get over it or we'll get a nanny.

But one place where I never expected to have that clueless feeling is...while shopping.

But I did. That's right. I admitted it. I had DIFFICULTY spending money.

Obviously, there is a language barrier for me here. I only know a few words of Japanese and I certainly can't read it. They have three different alphabets!! But there is usually enough English around for me to get by. (In fact, there is a surprising amount of English used in advertising, which makes me wonder if knowing English is "cool" or a sign of social stature. Or maybe it just works it's way into society because they are all multi-lingual.)

The biggest way the language barrier affects my shopping habits is by making it difficult to locate stores. There are buildings all over the place that I am afraid to walk into because I can't tell if they are shops or houses. Once in the store it's sometimes hard to find things because I can't read the signs. The only way I am going to find the shoe department is by walking through the ENTIRE store (Peter thinks this is a good thing). There are also a few products that I would never buy because I don't know what they are and the directions are in Japanese. But those also aren't products I'm looking for, so I don't miss them.

Last week, I decided that we needed more drinking glasses. Our current set has been biting the dust for a year now and it got to the point where we needed to wash a cup every time we wanted a drink. So I went to a store that I know has a home section. The hunt began. In America, I would be looking for 6oz. or 8oz. juice glasses. I found the dishes. I found wine glasses. Beer mugs. Champagne flutes. A can of Campbells Tomato Soup and a can of SPAM. A knife rack and a picnic basket. Pokemon chopsticks. Insanely ugly huge glasses. But where were the juice glasses?

Answer: In a box labeled "Stacking Iced Coffee Glasses."

Additional Note: Next time I need soup I should look next to the champagne flutes.

Here is another example of Japanese-English that almost makes sense, but doesn't:

(Clicking on the picture will bring up a bigger one that is easier to read).

News I Didn't Want

2007-04-02T15:31:00.000+09:00

Peter's name was put in for deployment again. So as of this fall this blog will be back to it's original purpose of keeping friends and family reassured that Peter is alive.

I did not post much this week for several reasons. The first was because it was hard to find things to say that did not touch on the topic of Peter leaving, and that couldn't be discussed until the important people had a chance to hear about it. If you're an important person and you didn't get a phone call yet, it's because there aren't enough hours in the day when Peter isn't working and you would be awake. The second was because I am having a hard time finding nice things to say. Particularly about the military - but at least this time they gave us warning more than a few days in advance.

It's a bummer.

This is Rambo, helping unpack Peter's seabag after his last deployment got cancelled.

This is Why We Don't Go Shopping

2007-03-26T09:56:00.000+09:00

Last weekend Peter and I both were in the mood to spend money. This rarely happens, but when it does we should not leave the house with our wallets. Last time, we ended up with a new computer. This time, it was furniture. A carpet for our bedroom. A new computer desk. And an entertainment center. But the entertainment center was only $40 so it hardly counts!! The act of buying it all drained our mutual desire to spend money, so when they offered delivery and assembly for $40, we turned it down. It seemed ridiculous to pay as much for delivery as we did for the actual piece of furniture. To make a long story short...we should have paid the fee. I have been assembling furniture all week. Peter and several of our friends helped too. We actually wore out our screwdriver set. I took some photos now that it's all finished. First, the old set up, so that you can appreciate why the new furniture is exciting.

Notice how the TV doesn't actually fit IN the entertainment center. I would also like to mention that the cabinet on the left side has to be pried open with a knife. But hey, it was free, and you get what you pay for right? That is the old desk and kitchen table too (also all free).

Here is the new furniture - complete with a semi-normal dog sitting in front of it.

The entertainment center. Helping to build this was the most use I've gotten out of my engineering degree since I graduated.

And the desk. I built a large part of this myself.

Finally, this is one of the hazards of being a small person. This is me IN the entertainment center.

Round Two

2007-03-17T21:11:00.000+09:00

The cat's favorite spot is a rug on the floor of the bathroom. Last night Rambo slept on it. Round Two goes to the dog.

Today we bought him a new bed. It is sitting in the living room next to his old bed at the moment. There is also a rug and a mat by the door. And a blanket that fell on the floor. Rambo chose to sleep on the tile. Why do we spend money??

Today Peter and I realized that we have lived in the same house for over a year. That's a new record for either of us in the last five years. The shortest time we've lived anywhere was three weeks in California.

This is our neighborhood. I was taking photos of the sunset over the ocean and turned around for this picture. You can see the sunset reflecting in the windows.

Sibling Rivalry

2007-03-16T11:35:00.000+09:00

We have a cat and a dog. The cat is Carina. She was born in Colorado and raised in a college house populated by six girls, an assortment of boyfriends, and five other cats. On weekends, she endured a two hour car ride home to visit my parents and their assortment of pets - another two cats and two dogs. She is a dominatrix. She even intimidated my parent's doberman. This is Carina:

Don't mess with her.

A little more than a year ago, Peter and I adopted a dog. Such a cute little mutt puppy. We noticed that he was a little shy, but we didn't realize HOW shy until we got him home. He was born wild and was found scavenging for food on a construction site. Well intentioned people saw the construction workers abusing him and "rescued" him. They caught him in a racoon trap. He hates people, hates loud noises, and is terrified of the world. The first few months we had him he wouldn't come out of the corner and would start shaking every time we looked at him. His name is Rambo.

Here is Rambo looking particularly pathetic after a bath.

Our pets met for the first time in December, when we brought Carina back from Colorado with us. At first they avoided each other. Then we found them sleeping near each other and began to have hopes for friendship:

But lately, we have been noticing some signs of sibling rivalry. Like when Rambo began to be afraid to walk past the cat in the hallway. Or the time when I found Carina chasing him around the living room. Or when Rina started sleeping in Rambo's bed:

This week it all came to a head when Carina decided to use claws to impose her will, and Rambo snarled. Our meek dog snarled! Then we walked in the bedroom and noticed the distinct smell of cat pee....Carina had tagged Rambo's bed. Repeatedly. So much so, that when we picked it up, it dripped on the floor. Needless to say, the bed went into the trash, along with the rug under Rambo's food bowls (lion shaped, to give him courage).

The removal of bed and rug traumatized Rambo more than the smelly damp bed had. He has come a long way from the terrified puppy that we adopted, but he doesn't deal well with change. He paced around our bed all week. He went off his food. He wouldn't settle down at night. He has been having nightmares. This reaction is ironic, because he rarely uses his bed. I AM his bed most nights. But he didn't like the change. Last night he finally ate...for the first time in four days (although a roll of tape did disappear this week, maybe that was what held him over). But he also woke us up last night because he was wimpering so loudly in his sleep.

He was probably dreaming of the cat. Carina definitely won this round. The poor dog didn't have a chance. Neither did we, for that matter.

Happy Pi Day

2007-03-15T16:07:00.000+09:00

For those of you who aren't nerds, geeks, or number freaks, March 14th was an unofficial holiday celebrating the number Pi (π). Pi is an endless number starting with 3.14159.... and used to solve math problems involving circles. Since March 14th is abbreviated 3/14, it was dubbed "Pi Day." Happy Pi Day!! I was not aware that this was a holiday until I showed up to teach math yesterday and was berated for not bringing circular goodies to class with me. Apparently I flunked at both nerdiness and cool teacherness.

In other news, this is my mom's response to the Pokemon car photos I put up last week:

Mom found this car in Arizona. This beats the Pokemon car.

I had a busy week this week with teaching, because it was the final week of the term for my college Math class. I have grades to do next week, but other than that I'll get to take a little breather for a couple of weeks. I also got called in twice this week for substitute teaching. I taught Special Ed, Band, and Art. I learned that I am NOT cut out to be a Special Education teacher. I do not have the patience to wait for the kids to behave or the lung power to Make the kids behave. I also reaffirmed my lack of musical ability in band. The students were lucky - I didn't demonstrate any instruments. I just sat back and enjoyed the free concert. Art was my best subject of the week. I just sat back and colored along with the students. Here is my project of the day:

The assignment was to draw a school bus. Oops.

I have also learned through substitute teaching that I do not speak either Chinese or Japanese. Not that this fact discouraged any of the students from speaking to me in these languages. They were probably calling me names. Now you know what languages to use if you want to call me names.

The Color of the Ocean

2007-03-09T22:01:00.000+09:00

When we moved to Okinawa from Colorado, I was worried that I would miss the mountains. But instead, I just traded mountains for ocean. I have never lived near a beach before. Here, I can see the ocean if I stand on my front balcony and look between buildings. I can walk there in less than five minutes. And one of the things that I notice the most about the ocean is it's color. Every day it changes. Two days ago, the ocean was a really light sea green, and the sky was almost white. Yesterday, it was dark blue against a lighter blue sky. Today it was slate gray, and the sky was cloudy. I can't wait to see what it will look like tomorrow.

Odds and Ends

2007-03-05T14:13:00.000+09:00

On Saturday Peter and I went Japanese Shopping. This means that we randomly picked a building that looked commercial (sometimes it is hard to tell), and walked in to see what they sold. It is very hard to tell from the outside what we will find inside, so Japanese Shopping is always an adventure.

This store had a very large grocery store on the ground floor, and a mix of clothing departments on the second floor. A Japanese Super Target. Unfortunately, there were no cameras allowed, but I wish I could have taken some pictures of the groceries. The produce section was completely alien to us. The only things we could identify were the "exotic" American staples like corn on the cob and strawberries (which were $5 for about a dozen). We also recognized Goya (bitterfruit), which is well named. We learned the hard way to avoid that one. We spent a long time trying to guess what the vegetables all were. They also sold both ready made sushi platters and the ingredients to make your own sushi. The most exciting food we found was a display of LIVING shellfish.

On Sunday we had Game Night. Smithifer recently blogged that she knows that she is getting old because she eats meals with recognizable food groups and falls asleep in front of the TV. We have taken frumpiness one step further and have dispensed with all electronic entertainment. We now amuse ourselves with a board game party every weekend, that starts off with a balanced meal, progresses through dessert and a PG board game, and ends around 10pm when we all pass out. From exhaustion, not alcohol consumption. This week was Uno. I was the one that had so many cards in my hand that I had to start stacking them in piles on the table. It did not end well.

Japanese Humor?

2007-03-02T22:03:00.000+09:00

Japanese society appears to be rigidly formal. They have three or four degrees of formality for every basic phrase, which makes learning the language hard. They are polite and hardworking, and for the most part their public image comes across as stern. I find it intimidating. Then I came home and find this parked in front of my apartment:

That's right. It's a Pokemon car. Complete with ears:

And a tail:
It also has a speaker on the front that speaks in a Pokemon voice when a button is pushed. It speaks Japanese, so I have no idea what it says, but my neighbors thought it was awesome. They were really excited when I brought my camera down, and walked around pointing out all the features (especially the mouth, nose, and speaker). They even brought out camera phones which made me feel less like a tourist.

I'm glad the Japanese have a sense of fun too.

Oh How Far We've Come...

2007-03-01T16:35:00.000+09:00

I have spent the past three days substituting for 7th and 8th grade classes. I don't think I realized how far I have come since my middle school days. I still have my insecure moments, and my less than professional moments, and my completely airheaded moments. I don't think my self-image has progressed much from my high school vision of myself. Yeah, I graduated college and got married and moved to a foreign country and had lots of jobs, but in my mind "adults" are my parents' age. However, to middle schoolers, I am the supreme authority on everything. I am an adult. I am respected. And I see the difference that ten years can make.

This is me in my Freshman year of high school with two of my adults: Mom and Grandma.

I passed a student project in the hall today. It was a poster titled "How Babies are Made."

WARNING!!
STOP!!! DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT UNLESS YOU ARE AN ADULT!! THERE IS SENSITIVE MATERIAL THAT SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY MARRIED PEOPLE!!
WARNING!!

How Babies Are Made:

1) Two adults "get together." WARNING!! STOP!! NOT UNTIL AFTER MARRIAGE!! ADULTS ONLY!! WARNING!! STOP!!

2) Sperm fertilize the egg.

3) Nine months later, a baby is born. WARNING!! BABIES CRY A LOT!! BABIES ARE ONLY FOR ADULTS!! U MUST BE MARRIED!! WARNING!!!

There was another poster project next to it: "The Stages of Life."
According to this poster my age group (19-30) is the Young Adult group.
The life goals of Young Adults are "building stronger relationships with close family." If we don't build our relationships strongly, we are lonely.

Crying babies might be one of the side effects of building stronger relationships. After all, an awful lot of "Young Adults" have small children.

Math Spam

2007-02-27T14:36:00.000+09:00

After nearly five months of paperwork...I am finally a substitute teacher for the American dependant schools on this island. I had to go through finger printing, two background checks, a couple thousand pages of application materials (ok that MIGHT be a slight exaggeration), a couple ID checks, and then weeks and weeks of waiting. But today I subbed for a middle school science class, so it's official now! Horray!

In other news, my night job is paying off. I have successfully converted at least two math-phobes into nerds. Yesterday in my inbox I found a link to a math game website from one student:

What Math Freaks Do for Fun

And a picture from another student:

Instead of interpreting this as a commentary on how I make my students feel, I have decided to congratulate myself on the fact that two of my ten students are now surfing math websites in their free time. Let's just hope I don't hear about any math related suicides on the news tonight.

Edited to Add: Make that 3 out of 10 students that have become nerds. When I met with one of my tutorees today, he told me that when he busted out his math book at work, another one of my students started teaching him (or possibly just excitedly babbling to him) about math.

When Japanese Engineering Fall Short

2007-02-25T18:12:00.000+09:00

There are amazing Japanese mechanical engineers. For example, they make this:

A hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle

And this:

My amazing car....which is now owned by Meg. MEG YOU BETTER BE NICE TO IT!

Japanese electrical engineers are fantastic. They make things like this:

My husband's favorite toy.

There are even great Japanese civil engineers. I mean, they build skyscrapers that can withstand earthquakes. Down the street from me they are filling in the ocean so they have more land to build on. They move inconvenient rivers out of the way. They even built an island specifically to hold an airport! (Well ok, maybe that's a bad example, since that island and its airport are sinking into the ocean).

But....

Japanese traffic engineering SUCKS.

They hide stoplights in trees. They build narrow roads. They expect alleys to contain two-way traffic. They do not time their lights, so a single light can back traffic up for miles. They have no parking rules...sidewalks, the middle of the road, driveways, walls...they're all fair game. They like blind intersections. They build dead end roads with walls on either side, so it takes a fifty-one point turn to get the car turned around again. Roads rarely connect destinations. Sometimes they go in circles. Sometimes the stoplight will be red...with green arrows pointing in every direction. Sometimes they build telephone poles in the middle of the road. Sometimes they build poles or walls for fun, just to see if Americans will hit them.

They drive on the wrong side of the road. Except for when they drive on the right side of the road that is. The paint the lines so the lanes are too narrow...resulting in lanes that are merely suggestions. They don't have highways. Sometimes they build turn lanes...with no road to turn onto. But they rarely build turn lanes where they are needed. There are stoplights where there aren't intersections or crosswalks. There are only stop signs at about every third intersection.

And best of all...they don't use street names. Addresses are secret codes only known by the postman, and landmarks are required to drive to another location. These directions are usually along the lines of:

Take the first right. It's an alley.
Then turn left at the brown building. There is a green sign over the door.
Turn by the park. There will be some trees.
Park by the fence. Not the wall...Americans aren't allowed to park by the wall.
Walk down the street 100 yards.
You should see a building with a Japanese sign that has three characters and the first one looks like a fish. That's the one.

It takes a lot of luck to get where we want to be when we want to be there. Alive.

Next time, I'm taking one of these:

F-15

Look At Me!

2007-02-24T15:03:00.000+09:00

There are times when looking young is extremely inconvenient.

Like when I walk into my classroom on the first day of class and my students, who are typically older than me, look at me and see a good chum for their daughters.

Or when I walk into a bar, and the entire group gets carded because of me.

Then again when said bar "forgets" my drink....all evening.

Or when I say I'm married, and get shocked glances, and questions about my religion.

Or when I hold a small child, and get a lecture on teenage pregnancy.

But it has it's advantages too.

Like my cultish following of students who think I'm a child math genius, and are willing to give me lots of money to solve all their math woes.

I have seriously had so many comments this week on how "professional" I am, or how "mature." Well, duh!! Just because I LOOK like a sixteen year old, doesn't mean I AM a sixteen year old!!

The bird is a Japanese White-Eye. At least, I think it is.

The Plan that Backfired

2007-02-23T08:56:00.000+09:00

My strategy for dealing with Peter's deployment was to stay so busy that I wouldn't even notice he was gone. To that end, I got some jobs. My "real" job is teaching Math at the local community college, but it's only twice a week in the evening. To kill time during the day (and bring in some extra money!), I applied to be a substitute teacher at the local middle school. I'm still waiting to get sorted out on payroll for that job. Then, since my teaching job has the potential to get cancelled every 8 weeks, I cultivated a tutoring business for myself. The tutoring business is thriving to the point where I am going to have to start a waiting list. The problem with all three jobs is that they're irregular part time employment. It's boom or bust.

So I picked up some hobbies too...to fill in the times when I'm underemployed. I write. I make crafty things. Usually involving paper - cards, scrapbooking, origami. I take photographs. Word is getting around that I like photography, so now friends request photo shoots. I volunteer with an animal rescue group. Word got around that I can do crafts too, so my dog rescue efforts have extended to making and selling crafts to raise money for dogs.

I was successful at keeping busy. Peter didn't deploy, but I never have time to see him anymore. He'll just have to make an appointment.

These fishermen "ruined" my photo. I'm glad they got in the way.

PS - My boiled fingers are fine now.

Dog Days

2007-02-20T11:20:00.000+09:00

Finger Update: I'm too addicted to the computer to stop typing, so I'm sucking it up and dealing with it.

My husband, my dog, a couple of random strangers, and I spent the day tramping around in the jungle trying to catch a feral dog. There is a huge wild dog population on our island, and this particular puppy was "rescued," adopted by a family, and then escaped. Unfortunately, because she was "rescued" as a puppy, Mia didn't learn hunting skills needed to live in the wild on her own, so now she is dependant on humans to survive. She is happily living on a tropical beach, where she is fed twice a day by humans, sleeps in the sun, plays in the sand, and doesn't have to be confined by her pesky owners. BUT her owners are getting fed up with driving to the beach to feed her everyday, so a "rescue" mission was organized.

Mia (pronounced Maya)

We volunteer with an animal rescue group and we fostered Mia for a little while, so we helped try to catch her yesterday. She does not want to be caught. She was quite happy to take steak out of our hands, but she wouldn't let us touch her. She was quite happy to play with our dog...as long as the humans didn't get close. But after she ate our steak and finished playing, she disappeared into the jungle again. I wasn't about to crawl on hands and knees through impassible undergrowth where all the creatures I mentioned a few days ago live to catch her, so we're going to have to go back for round two. Hopefully we will catch her before anything happens to her. I have lots of rants about the problems associated with trying to "rescue" wild dogs, but I'll save those for another day.

Score:
Humans 0
Mia 2

I Cooked Myself

2007-02-19T21:27:00.001+09:00

Yesterday I boiled my fingers. On my right hand. It is extremely inconvenient. There will be no typing for a few days. There will also be no snide comments about my cooking skills.

It's a good thing one of us can cook. Chicken Parmesan by Peter. This is why I don't starve.

Wildlife Encounter

2007-02-17T13:29:00.000+09:00

I used to live on a hill in Colorado, where wildlife sightings were fairly common. We had deer, elk, foxes, coyotes, bears, and assorted small animals like porcupines and squirrels in our yard on a regular basis. Since moving to Japan, I have discovered a different variety of wildlife - the Mutant Invertebrates.

I have seen spiders the size of a dinner plate:

(No I did NOT take this picture...there's no WAY I'm putting my hand that close to one of those!!)

Snails as long as my hand:

(This one is my hand)

And Hermit crabs tenacious enough to climb three flights of stairs:

(Also my hand. This guy was most of the way up the stairs to my third floor apartment.)

I've also seen Lots and LOTS of fish:

(Ok, this was an aquarium, I cheated.)

Yesterday I found my first island mammal. First I almost hit one with my car. Then later that day, I found one trapped inside our trash corral (think dumpster, but it's a walled off place with a gate). It looks like a cross between a weasel and a squirrel. I had to google it. It's a mongoose.

(I didn't take this picture either. Horray for google images!)

So that was my new thing that I learned yesterday. Also, my story is 17,000 words long now. Horray for that too!

Brilliant By Accident

2007-02-15T18:57:00.000+09:00

Happy Valentine's Day...a day late. I was happy to have my Valentine with me this year.

Today I was trying to find a better organization system for my photos and I found a series of flower pictures that I forgot I took. They were amazing, if I do say so myself. I love it when I discover my brilliance by accident. Now if I only knew what I did, so I could repeat the accomplisment.

This is a tropical water lily in Riatea, French Polynesia.

In other news, my pets nearly gave me heart failure today. I went to run some errands and our back door was standing wide open when I got home an hour later. For normal animals, an open door is no big deal. However, I have particularly neurotic pets. Our dog is terrified of everything, particularly humans. We have a jusitified fear that he will escape and never come home again. Our cat is an American indoor cat, recently introduced to Japan. We aren't sure how she feels about living here. My first thought when I saw the open door was that the two of them teamed up to run away...and with an hour head start they would have been nearly impossible to find again. Luckily, they were both sitting out on the balcony looking sheepish. What a bunch of weenies.

I Knew Being a Nerd Would Pay Off Someday

2007-02-14T11:20:00.000+09:00

Quote of the Day: Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years.

Yesterday was a sad day. My "sexy" jeans (the ones that are really too tight, but I wear them anyway) got a hole in the butt. And since they're really too small anyway, a hole in the butt is extremely dangerous. Time to retire them. They were good jeans.

Last week one of my co-workers told me that I am lucky to be a Math teacher, because everyone hates and fears Math, so if I am the least bit nice I exceed all of my student's expectations of the class. I AM nice, and the result is that I have a fan club of students that think I'm their Math savior.

The lady I was talking to used to be an English teacher. She said English is the other way around. Everyone walks into English classes thinking that they already know everything, and that it's only a matter of time before they become wonderfully famous best-selling authors. If the teacher criticizes at all...well clearly she's wrong and is just being mean.

I think most other creative subjects are probably the same way. Obviously I am going to be the next great author to come along (as soon as I finish my book...only 15,000 words so far). And the next great photographer. And the next great artist. And clearly anyone who says otherwise is wrong. On that note, here's a photograph:

No need to criticize...I know it's perfect (especially the date stamp - that's class itself). I'm sure it will be published in my next best seller.

Hijacking the Blog

2007-02-13T16:01:00.000+09:00

Quote of the Day: The New England Journal of Medicine reports that 9 out of 10 doctors agree that 1 out of 10 doctors is an idiot - Jay Leno

The original intent of this blog was to reassure all the worried people out there that Peter was alive and well in the desert.

Well he's not in the desert. He has started a new job at a local clinic. The biggest trauma in his life at the moment is dealing with idiot doctors. Or possibly his half hour commute. I am sure we will be hearing an announcement soon that he has found a cure for the common cold.

Since he probably couldn't write a complete sentence and the only things he has to say are mean anyway, I am hijacking this blog. It is now mine. I will flatter myself with thoughts that someone is enjoying reading about my life. Please don't disillusion me.

I am posting this picture today in the hopes that author Patricia Wood, who said Hi to me yesterday, will come back and tell me what I took a picture of.

Who's the Boss?

2007-02-12T07:57:00.000+09:00

Quote of the Day: Cats have nine lives. Which makes them ideal for experimentation - Jimmy Carr

This is my Cat:

NORMALLY, she is well adjusted, mature, and lazy.

But last night, she decided to embrace her nocturnal roots.

Instead of doing this:

She climbed the walls.

Literally.

We have woodpaneled walls. I guess they could be mistaken for a tree.

But since claws on wood is not a pleasant sound at 3am, we forcefully removed her from the room.

So she howled.

Then it was quiet for a little while. We fell back asleep.

The shut door upset her. She started racing down the hall and flinging her body at the door like a battering ram. The whole house shook. There was more howling.

I opened the door again, this time, accompanied by a squirt bottle. She climbed the wall. I sprayed her face. The wall climbing adventure was over.

But that didn't stop her from finding every metal object in our room and noisily chasing them around for the rest of the night.

Conclusion: One very cranky human is going to get revenge on one very sleepy cat today. And if I have time, I might try to sand the claw marks out of the wall.

12:45

2007-02-11T12:15:00.000+09:00

Peter's plane leaves at 12:45 today.

Peter is not on it.

HORRAY!!!!

Stupid Quote of the Day:

Warning on a bottle of hair coloring: DO NOT USE AS AN ICE CREAM TOPPING.

Picture of the Day:

This is us escaping from the jaws of death. Or deployment. However you want to look at it.

Peter Leaves

2007-02-09T22:51:00.000+09:00

Stupid Quote of the Day:

Game show host to Peter Marshall: What do you like if you're a carnivore?
Woman: Um, I go to carnivals.

Photo of the Day:

Moorea. This suits my mood.

News of the Day:

Peter got his orders today. And plane tickets. He will be leaving on Sunday. He will be gone 302 Days. If things go as planned. But it's the military, and we all know they like to lie.

There was a farewell luncheon for Peter at the hospital today. A very large group of people turned out to wish him luck. Everyone had nice things to say about his impact on their lives, and the wonderful job he has done turning around problems in his department. By the time Peter gets back, most of the people we worked with will be gone. There were more tears than I expected, and none of them were mine. I was good at being brave. In public anyway.

We're setting up this blog so that everyone who wants to know can have the most recent news about Peter. And so that Peter can be reassured that I am eating well while he is gone, and not burning down the house in the process.