Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

Welcome to this Friday's edition of the Yokosuka Gazette, reaching a far-flung audience of 12 readers.  Thank you, faithful readers! What happened this week in Yokosuka?  Well, it has cooled down.  A lot.  We're like a bunch of old Minnesota farmers talking about the weather in these parts.  It's like the first day of spring in Minnesota, only it's feeling fall-like in the jungle that is Yokosuka.  Thank God for cooler weather, for not needing to schlep along a 40-gallon drum of water every time we go out the door, for not having to change clothes three times a day like Scarlett O'Hara, for less sweat and fluffier hair.  Thank you for cooler weather so that we can be free from the confines of this ugly house. Monday, had lunch with CDW's current CO's wife.  Will went to Miss Sara's (and he behaved all week long and didn't try to eat any of the babies or beat up any of the bigger kids, thank you Jesus, amen!), so I was able to go out alone with...

Or rather, less of a JLOD, then a good verbal scolding about my mothering skills in Japanese. Good news, lady...I don't understand a word you're saying!  What a blessing.  The background story.  Today, we went here: Kannonzaki...beach, I guess.   Keep in mind that the last time I was off base was the Great Wrong Lane in the Gate day.  That was two weeks ago.  Various things have conspired to keep me on base, one of which was my fear that I'd do something stupid and American like driving on the "wrong" side of the road again.  Or killing some Japanese person in the crosswalk.  Or swiping some random, lane-sharing motorcycle or scooter.  Dodging cyclists and illegally parked cars on narrow roads.  Stuff like that.  I can't read half the road signs.  We Americans get around here by a screwy system based on landmarks.  Seriously, it's like this:   Me:  "How do I get to IKEA?"   Person who ha...

Greetings from Yokosuka. I am pleased to report that we are officially in Phase III of unpacking, which is also known as the "hanging up pictures phase" or HUPP.  Phase IV of unpacking will follow, which is known as "fine-tune organization".  The acronym for that one isn't so great. (On a side note, you should see some of the acronyms floating around this base.  So-and-so is the CO of COMFLEACTSECNAVDEFCFAY7).  I kid you not.  OK, I sort of loosely made that one up, but there are some acronyms that are almost so long that I think they may as well just SAY the whole damn thing, you know?  For reals.) Let's see about some pictures, shall we?  This is prior to Phase III (as you can see, the pictures are still boxed). First order of business:  arrange books.  This is a nerve-wracking thing for me to do, because I'm never sure if the Peloponesyian Wars came before the Greeks and did the Greeks come before the Romans?  Hans' sp...

It seems like a great day to get our household goods, right?  Nothing bad could happen on Friday the 13th... At least it's not raining.  Yet.  It will be sure to rain at some point today.  Dear Japan:  thanks for screwing around with us every day, weather-wise.  It was sunny out yesterday and it has been a tiny, minute, eensy bit cooler so I thought "Oh, why not try to dry out my hair today?".  Yeah, no.  The minute I went outside:  twang!  All my little cowlicks flipped up and out.  Looking forward to getting the flatiron and showing those brats who's boss! I'm tired of fashioning it into various ponytails...it's just at that length where I have this stubby little ponytail like some kind of punk rat or something and my (WHY, oh why did I ever do this?) bangs are allllmost long enough to get scraped into the ponytail.  It all looks good until I walk out the door and then... Sproing!  I have tried headbands, bandanas...

It's 9/11 in Japan.  Flags are at half mast.  When I went into the vehicle registration office this morning, I went to write the date on the paperwork and said "Oh...it's Sepember 11th", and the Japanese woman behind the desk paused and said "I'm sorry". I was trying to explain to the kids the other night how 9/11 is my generation's "JFK".  Just as my parents and their generation will always remember where they were and what was happening when JFK was shot, we will always remember the instant our world was changed.  The anger, the fear, the sadness and uncertainty. I was on my way to class when the first news reports started trickling in.  I was on the shuttle bus from the farthest parking lot (read: free) up to campus to my classroom when NPR started saying something about reports that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  We had class for that one period, but after that, everyone either went back home or congregated in pl...

It is a beautiful day in Yokosuka...the sun is shining and it's slightly cooler.  The good Lord turned the burner back a little and it feels fantastic.  Maybe in another three months we can all stop wearing tank tops and shorts? If I ever get back to Norfolk, I promise to never complain (out loud anyway) about the heat and humidity. So...not much to report.  We actually had a decent weekend.  The new van isn't registered in my name yet and has temp plates on it, so we are allowed to drive it on base but not off.  Not that I want to drive off base that badly.  If we went anywhere, we'd likely take a train anyway.  I love my new red van, as much as anyone could love a 13-year-old car with pretty much NO options.  My kids both stand in front of the sliding doors, waiting for the doors to magically slide open.  Um, no.  Sorry, guys.  You actually have to push these doors open on your own.  Also, my apologies, but there will ...

On the way to the festival... The battleship Mikasa Uh...Captain Mikasa?  Hans? Double click to see the Okinawans in full regalia. "Monkey Island"   No, he's not in jail...yet. Mikasa Park is directly across from the base.  If you look closely, you can see our McDonald's in the lefthand foreground. The kids had fun with the water until the police came by and nicely said "NO".  That was the end of that...and we mommies know how easy it is to keep kids away from the siren-call that is water, right?     It was hot.  That's about all I have to say about the Okinawa Festival.  Damn, was it hot.  The heat here makes Virginia's sweatiest days seem mild by comparison.  All of the older Japanese ladies are covered head to toe, pants and long-sleeved shirts, hats.  I just can't imagine.  I had on full-length pants yesterday, but a tank top and my new, gigantic hat.  I s...