Christmas, New Year's, and Happiokai!

Akemashte Omedento Goziamus! (Happy New Years!) This is the biggest holiday in Japan. The Japanese take several weeks off around the holiday to spend it at home with their family, eating, playing games, and generally enjoying one another. There's a tradition too of taking a bath with little oranges to cleanse you for the New Year, as depicted on Hannah Jane's little attendance book from Japanese school, but I don't know any Japanese people that actually do this! (This didn't stop Hannah Jane from asking if she could do this, something I deferred with a simple "we'll see" and then hiding all the "little oranges" (tangerines) in the house. Rick and I on the other hand rang in the New Year, now in our middle ages, by cozying up with a movie in bed, and falling asleep with it on WELL before the Japanese began ringing the temple and shrine gongs to bring in the new year at midnight. (But just being in bed together this year, and not half a world apart, was enough celebration for me!)

One reason we were so tired is we'd braved the blizzard conditions driving 3 hours back from a very fun overnight ski trip on the west coast of Japan. As a matter of fact, you could clearly see the whole coastline of the Sea of Japan from most of the slopes! It's a pretty odd feeling swishing down through the snow as you look out onto the beach. But pretty neat too. We had plenty of snow, wonderful food, and a nice room and onsen (hot springs) to boot. And the highlight of the trip was Hannah Jane did some skiing!

She liked it, though on the way home she told her Daddy she wanted to learn to snow board next....Rick was pleased. We're heading out next weekend with both fighter squadrons to an extended ski weekend at another resort which should be even more fun.

So we're making use of our time left here at Misawa though we don't know when or where we might go next. We'll get some news by the end of January/beginning of February and hopefully we'll know by then or shortly after. Stay tuned......

In the meantime, here are some photos to wrap up what we've been doing. Enjoy!

Happiokai!
At the beginning of December, Hannah Jane performed with her schoolmates in the annual school winter "play", a Japanese tradition. Every class is featured a few times, making for a very long morning of sitting with your knees tucked under you, on the hard floor, sitting shoulder to shoulder with every parent and grandparent of the school. We were lucky in our strategy to try and give ourselves the most room and something to lean against by choosing a place against a wall that was erected to get the students back and forth to the stage without being seen. Still, five hours--uninterrupted--sitting on the floor is a long time! But it was definitely worth it, as the kids had been working hard at the plays, dances and music. Here is Hannah Jane playing her melodian with her class (a melodian is like a little piano powered by the air they blow into a tube -- they can rest it on their desk or hold it in their hands as they do here):


And here she is in her dance with some of her classmates and friends:

A Christmas pageant, this was not! (for those photos, see below). Nor was it suppose to be, obviously. But I wasn't sure what to expect when we received a note from her Sensei just after Halloween telling us what she would be in the winter play. My note said, in English/romanji, "Bo Peep Bo Peep." I thought, how nice of Sensei to write that in English for me! She must have seen the photos of Hannah Jane in her "Little Bo Peep" Halloween costume and made her Little Bo Peep for the school play! (Not!!!!!) "Bo Peep" , my translator told me, when I showed it to her, was the name of a Korean girl band's song--and dance-- which she encouraged me NOT to view on YouTube. So of course we did....and were a little surprised.... What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz-tV5na89U
(This by the way is the Japanese and much more PG version --watch the original Korean version for a little more "surprise. Here is Hannah Jane's class version:




Their version of the "shake" (complete with tail, just as you see it in the video) was cute -- or at least Hannah Jane's was. One parent told me my daughter had the only cute "little girl" shake, while the rest were more of an "M-TV" version. As for her daughter's dance she said to me, "At least your daughter had more clothing on!"

After many more little dances and mini-plays which were actually cute and educational, even though we didn't understand a word, the whole class congregated on the stage for the big finish -- the singing of the school song!



This was then followed by a surprise visit from "Santa-san!" Santa was English and so required a translator for the many questions he got from the children: "Why do you wear red?!" ('cause it looks good on me!) etc...

We were relieved when they finally dismissed the class and we were allowed to retrieve our children from their classrooms, at 1pm! After a much-needed bathroom trip we celebrated with a lunch at Hannah Jane's favorite restaurant, "Kappa Sushi" (Kappa, again, being the little creatures that eat children if they get to close to the rice paddy canals). Rick and I split a beer.

So a week later, we had the church winter play, a story loosely based around the music of a Christian folksinger who sung "Go tell it on the mountain" from every continent/area of the world (thus the girl in the hula skirt behind Hannah Jane who played the part of -- surprise -- an angel):
"Go tell it on the mountain" (in Mexico, Hawaii, Africa, etc....)

After the play we were invited for cookies and tea afterwards and to view the posters the children had all made in their different Sunday school classes, showing Jesus' birth. Here Hannah Jane is standing next to the poster her preschool class drew, showing the purple monster (by her right arm) she drew to depict that no one was afraid (For the angels said, "Lo, do not be afraid...for I have brought you tidings of great joy....) And from this, our daughter thought to draw....a monster.... for whom everyone should not be afraid.....
Other Christmas events: Rick's work's children's party where we got a present from Santa: (Santa had a real beard even!)






We decorated the Christmas tree with Daddy this year (it was his idea to put Rudolph up top):

We made a homemade gingerbread house with our friend Cassidy on Christmas eve day:






And on Christmas morning, we opened (just a few) presents............

Barbie!!




Then just 2 days after Christmas we went to a "Princess Tea Party" for a class mate, where the girls wore their favorite dress-up costumes and picked out their own cakes from a favorite Japanese cake shop in town. They had so much fun, and the Japanese really got a kick out them .
That's about it for now. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned for news on where we'll be going next.....on the next great adventure!

We're still here.......

We're into our fourth year here in northern Japan, and we think we're turning Japanese (just a little).

OK, we only wish we were. Only one of us even understands the language very well (guess who?!?!) We hope to be returning to the states next spring, but in the meantime decided to go for what seems to be the requisite Japanese-dressed family portrait....Ta-dah!! It was kind of a joke at first but turned out to be very fun and educational. This is the only time I've worn traditional kimo in Japan, and probably the last! It was fascinating to watch the studio people go to work on Rick and Hannah Jane (who had a blast by the way -- she got a fan and a "sparkly purse"!) but when it was my turn, I became exhausted! And someone dressed me! A Japanese spouse in our squadron came to a Christmas party in Kimono and she told me then that they (Japanese women) may go to school to learn tie obi -- that's just the "belt" that goes around the kimono. While mine was being tied I was standing as still as I could, arms stretched out straight, for a good 10 minutes or so. When done I felt like I was wearing fifty pounds of fabric! At least I didn't have to sit in "mother's pose" for the whole photo shoot (which took maybe 10 minutes of the whole hour-long session). That's coming up on Saturday when we'll attend Hannah Jane's "winter play" at her school, a Japanese school traditional that involves the children performing random dances and plays and the parents sitting extremely close to one another--on the floor--for 4-5 hours, starting at (in true Japanese tradition) EIGHT IN THE MORNING (yes, on SATURDAY). Hannah Jane educated us tonight on the three "poses" we were allowed to sit in while watching the play -- needless to say, none of them involved a lazyboy (or even stretched legs!). Stay tuned....maybe I'll even get it together enough to post some photos!

Thanks for "watching" and stay tuned for news on when and where we'll live next...coming up soon!

Turning Japanese (or "You Know You've been in Japan too Long when....")

You know you've been in Japan too long when......

1) you think anything below a 7.0 earthquake is not a big deal
2) Your Japanese-schooled child wants to read her english books from right to left, back to front
3) the same child claims favorite foods are seaweed and squid (cooked or raw) -- but won't touch macaroni and cheese (and asks for green tea instead of apple juice)
4) You pay more attention to your socks and slippers than your shoes because they will get seen more often then not.
5) You start bowing while in the car to other drivers ....and to other Americans!
6) You sit on the floor in "mother's pose" automatically, and without pain (sitting on the floor with knees bent, legs tucked under you with feet underneath your butt)
7) You think spending $8 on a beer is cheap
8) You go back to the states and keep driving on the left side of the road
9) You automatically take off your shoes when you walk inside pretty much everywhere you go.
10) Your daughter asks to wear "her kimono" instead of her school uniform some days.

Post-tsunami Japan: Otsugi

This is a blog that I've put off writing but need to write. It's about a tsunami-effected town I visited in late June that has seen little recovery effort and is still greatly suffering.

I went with a group of women from the "Misawa Officer's Spouses Club" to deliver backpacks and school supplies to kids at an elementary school and bring what brief entertainment or distraction we could. We started out at 5am and drove a twisty-turny 5 hour route to a small town along the coast that should have been about 3 hours or less, if not for the damaged roads. We had to go through the mountains and back down to the coast. Shortly after we came out of the mountains, we saw this:
As we drove on the piles got bigger





And then we began seeing the remnants of buildings.....




Finally our caravan stopped at the meeting spot of our host, a Japanese professional flutist whom we were told is well-known and loved by his country, and his translator. He brought us to city hall:
This is the town of Otsugi, in Miyako prefecture. It has a beautiful view of the ocean which our host told us came roaring at them so high that survivors say from a distance, it look like a mountain. Half of the town's government officials, including the mayor, were swept away when the tsunami hit -- the clock on the building shows the exact time. There was a meeting going on on the top floor. A surviving town official we later met was able to get to the roof of the building where he clung all night as fires burned all around him. Down the road one of the elementary schools is black, all the windows broken and burned out. All this was relayed to us from the musican, whose house sits right across the road:









Here he is telling us he is sorry that he cannot make us all some tea......










He was able to joke with us like this, surrounded by the loss of his town-- along with his friends and family. The only thing that remained of his next door neighbor's house was the foundation -- three generations gone, from age five onward. And while he took time off to show us around his town that day, the body of what he hoped was his father was getting genetic testing. That day he was not at home but had driven back to his house in hopes of saving his neighbors...only to be turned around by the oncoming wave. Our host told us that the wave was over the tower-like structures here, in the background:As we're standing here, gawking and photographing, a Japanese photographer who'd accompanied our group stumbled across somebody's old photo album:






It's somebody's wedding album.


I'm standing there, trying to hold it together and not doing a good job, so I start walking back toward our car. It's hot -- really hot. And the hot wind is kicking up tons of dust and debris and we're all just covered in it, and something blows up against my leg:
So then I lose it.

In awhile, everyone gets back into their cars and we start heading toward the elementary school where we're going to drop off the backpacks and hang out with the children for awhile. Along the way, we pass this guy:

In the heat of the day, dressed in the uniform of the gas station, this guy is pumping gas by pedaling a "hand" pump, since there is still no electricity in town. By this point, it's been more than 100 days since the tsunami. There's not even shelter for him to sit under while he pumps all day. There are still no temporary homes for people to live in -- only the shelters that were set up right after the tsunami. We later visited one, but first we stopped off at the elementary school.




We drove onward through town, passing a sign directing us to five different schools in the area:









The school that we went to was high on a hill and now held the (surviving) students of more than three elementary schools. Three principals met us at the door smiling like we were celebrities, welcoming us inside. I did not bring my camera, but it was actually a happier setting than I expected. Students waved at us happily as they passed by, some practicing their english...."HELLOOOO!!" Things were orderly and "school-like" with cheery posters along the walls and colorful decorations here and there. But along one wall of the great center room were funtons and blankets, evidence that some students and even teachers were living there. A few dozen students had lost at least one parent and at least one dozen had lost both. But those stories were not told and we did not inquire but instead unloaded our donations we'd brought. As I watched the first of us bringing in the loaded backpacks and lay them in rows along the floor, I started to feel incredibly inadequate. What these students needed was a lot bigger than school supplies. Hopefully, I'm thinking, the government is working on it.
Turns out that's not quite the case.

Aaahhh...Vacation!

Hawaii!!!!

After a couple of weeks off and one base exercise (where oddly enough they practice preparing for something like a deployment which they just returned from, or say, a RARE NATURAL DISASTER), we were able to get away for a family vacation. Needless to say, it was very welcomed and truly wonderful. Here are a few highlights:Our rental house in Maui. Turns out visiting Hawaii AFTER a tsunami is a great time go! I guess people were a bit nervous to travel -- we got this house on "Vacation for Rent by Owner" for a nice discount. It came complete with pool and fruit trees! (see below).

Hannah Jane jumping into the pool at our rental house in Maui where we spent a week. Apparently all she needed to learn to swim after endless swim lessons and random afternoons in the base pool was a luxury house in Maui with her own pool to practice in! The house also came with a few acres of fruit trees including mango, avocado, fig and bananas. We ate well that week.







Daddy and Hannah Jane resting after a little boogie boarding in Maui (see video below!)




Above the clouds at sunset near the top of Mauna Kea where we went to look at the stars at the observatory. We picnicked in the car because it was so cold at the top!

Hannah Jane tries boogie boarding with Daddy -- success! (mostly......the first time went better but I didn't have the camera running then...)

Here is the balcony off the master bedroom with the "magic hammock" HJ loved. This overlooked the pool and further out, the ocean (see below)








And here's the view from the edge of the balcony (the vines growing along it and even through the hammock is passion fruit!)



From Maui we took a small (9-seater!) plane over to the Big Island where the airport is in the middle of a lava field. Here's the jeep we rented to handle wherever we might want to go (and for fun -- see goofy picture of HJ in back enjoying some chocolate from the rental car agency)




And here's the goofy picture of the monkey enjoying the open top ....and the chocolate...


















Our digs at the Hilton at Waikola Village.The place was so big (three separate hotels really) that there was a monorail and Disney-esque boat ride you could take to get to your property. Or the spa. Or the beach or waterpark or shopping or dolphin pool or lagoon (complete with sea turtles that swam in from this inlet -- Mary bumped into two of them while snorkeling!) or one of nine restaurants. While on this part of the island we used the jeep to climb Mauna Kea to see the stars one night and on one other dinner outing, but otherwise we were pretty happy to stay put!
Under a "waterfall" at the pool -- you swam under these after sliding down one of the slides to get to either the bar or one of the jacuzzis.


Hmmmm...looks like that's all we've downloaded so far -- stay tuned for more from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Oahu.............thanks for visiting!

Iraq and Back.....



He's BAaaacccckkk!!
After 230-some days, Rick finally arrived back in Misawa from Balad Air Base, Iraq. Hannah Jane and I went out to meet him....AT MIDNIGHT, on a Thursday night/Friday morning....IN THE POURING RAIN...only to be told their plane had been turned away due to the bad weather. This delay came after being told 3 days earlier that it would be this night...and before that being told it would be three days earlier, and before that being told it would be "just a little longer" due to the earthquake, and before that, "now 7 months instead of 6" and before that "6 instead of 4' and so on.... You can imagine how elated all the wives and sleepy children were to be told to go back home through the pouring rain and wait for word when the plane might indeed arrive. So home we went. And then the word did come with a phone call at 4am -- the plane was landing. Our guys were home. So back out into the pouring night we went with our signs, flags to wave, and the best smiles we had...at 4am. We did pretty well though -- here's Hannah Jane while we waited for Rick to come through the hangar door......












And here she is waiting patiently with her best friend Katie, whose Dad is one of the pilot's Rick sometimes flies with:












And finally, here she is with Daddy.....






She's telling him here, "Daddy, I'm four now!" (just in case he forgot.....)






After this, we grabbed Rick's bags and headed back home where at 5:45am we decided to skip trying to sleep and had a champagne breakfast instead. To plow through the day and stay awake as long as possible with the idea of getting to bed early, we unpacked a bit and later toured Misawa to see some of the post-clean-up earthquake damage. The waterfront is still in bad shape with roads wiped out and large equipment still turned over in the parking lots, but the trees and hillside built decades ago to guard against large tsunamis did their job. The trees were all leaning landward and you could see the waterline, but most of houses were saved (though some were indeed completely swept away) I unfortunately don't have pictures but I guess at this point you've seen so much footage -- it just seems like overkill...and like it's time to move onward. And that's what the Japanese are doing now. They've mobilized a lot of contract work through their own agencies giving a much need boost to the economy, and things just seem to be moving forward. Things here in Misawa are definitely more "normal" though the base is still on limited power and will be working to massively conserve energy for some time, but we have all we need in terms of food, fuel and decent energy supplies. Off-base we're even more "normal", not under the same energy constraints being on the economy, though we'll continue to do our part. We're just incredibly happy and lucky to all be together again and to have all that we do - including our health (more on that in another blog, another time....) I hope to post some more "post-deployment" photos soon to show you what we've been doing with Rick's two-week "reconstitution leave" which is only now ending. In the meantime, thanks for tuning in and as always, thanks for your support!
take care.......Mary

We're home and homebound!

Hey all, sorry again for the delay in posting -- we are now "home" in Japan! And happy to be so. But the bigger news tonight is....

Rick is homebound...right now!!!

As I type this, I wait at 10:45pm for the clock to reach 11:30pm when I'll head to the base to watch Rick land...at midnight! In true military form, they are sending our spouses back to us after nearly 8 months.....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Which is WILDLY convenient considering we are all currently single parents with no babysitter willing to sit until they clear customs at "o-dark-thirty." No kidding -- we're told they land somewhere around midnight and should be ready to pick-up by 1:45....in the morning. Hannah Jane is coming with me which means tomorrow will be so much fun....I can't wait.

In all seriousness though, I'm grateful to be getting Rick back after not seeing him for eight months, and grateful that we're now rested and pretty healthy, and that our house here in Japan is still here! It turns out Misawa did lose both property and people in the tsunami, but the loss and damage was greatly reduced apparently due to the building (or lack thereof) Misawa did after a giant tsunami decades ago that took most of it's coastal property. Houses (and people) here in town were swept away but we did not have nearly the destruction they had further down the coast...and for that I am extremely grateful. There are still a number of volunteer projects going on to help with the clean-up and I'm looking forward to jumping in. But first, I'm going to go get my husband and just enjoy having him home for awhile.

Rick gets 2 weeks reconstitution leave and then at the end of June we'll go on vacation to Hawaii. Turns out Hawaii's a GREAT place to go just after a tsunami! It did reach the islands though I don't think it was too major, but the scare probably ran people off because we got a really nice place in Maui at a greatly reduced price! So we'll head there for a week with a jaunt to Moloki and then onto the Big Island and finally Oahu (mostly because Rick needs to be in a big city after living in a trailer and tent in the desert). Then at the end of July we're signed up to climb Mt. Fuji -- that is if the travel restriction gets lifted! Right now Rick, the active duty member, can't travel within so many miles of the Fukushima power plant -- which we'd have to do on our way to Tokyo. Stay tuned....

I promise to post some pictures soon to show you, we really are OK...in the meantime, thanks for checking in!
take care, Mary