Yokosuka Gazette - 1/17/14
This week in the Yoko Gazette:
I started my new volunteer job with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (hereinafter referred to as NMCRS) on Monday. I am excited about this opportunity because I have an actual job description, they gave me a resume-friendly list of job duties that I will perform, they reimburse for childcare while I'm volunteering AND they have a fridge full of Starbucks lattes free for the taking. And candy. Lots and lots of candy.
You may remember that I was doing volunteer work for a new organization here in Yokosuka, YESS, a program that would help incoming spouses get sponsors. While the idea of this group is fantastic, they are still in their infancy and I don't have the patience to sit around while they debate different forms of organization and elect heads of still more sub-committees. Oh, and get into heated arguments at meetings that are supposed to run an hour, but end up taking three. Too many personalities, too many oars in the water at once and no compass. Irritating.
NMCRS has been around since 1904, so yeah, they're pretty settled. I am excited to sit in the office and do quasi-clerical tasks with a few other grown-up women. The main concept behind NMCRS are quick, no-fuss, no-interest loans, thus the "relief" in their name. Sailors can come in twice a year and request up to $500 and NMCRS will cut a check in minutes and send them on their way, no questions asked. After the second time though, the sailor has to sit down with a counselor for a few minutes and talk aAtbout budgeting. And if it happens again, they are required to sit down and take the hour to make a full budget with a counselor. I'm hoping to train to become a counselor.
What I love even more than the job title and the free Starbucks is the fact that every Navy base has NMCRS, so I can take this job back to Norfolk, or DC or San Diego or wherever we end up next.
So--that took up my Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday was the 7 Lucky Gods tour in Kamakura. Here's the deal: you buy a little board and then you walk, train, ride the bus all over Kamakura and get seven stamps at various temples/shrines. The final, eighth stamp is at the temple at Enoshima. The tour was full-up but welcomed folks who wanted to tag along just to see the shrines, so my friend Stephanie and I signed up to tag along. And promptly got separated from the group...apparently, they just wanted stamps and she and I wanted to actually spend time exploring the shrines/temples.
I'm glad we didn't chase them around, because the Rachel & Stephanie Temple Tour was much more fun. We just blindly wandered up the road from the first temple and managed to see two other big temples, a couple of smaller shrines and wound up at the big shrine in Kamakura. At the big temple, we paid a few Yen and viewed hundreds of peonies in their little straw huts--they were all protected by half-moon enclosures of straw, plus the ground beneath them was covered with a mat of straw and many of them had paper parasols over them as well, in an effort to keep them warm.
At another temple, we listened to the monks chant and ring the bell and then witnessed them all, in their robes and wooden shoes, walking from the bell tower back to their private quarters. We had a bunch of Japanese people shoot pictures of Stephanie and me, and we ended up having lunch at a Japanese restaurant where the proprietress spoke German. It was NOT actually German food as I initially reported. Stephanie and I both had curry.
It was a lovely day with a lovely new friend and she and I both rubbed Buddha's belly, so we figured that was enough good luck for us! Here are a few pictures, untouched. I need to get them into Picasa and edit them, sorry...
I started my new volunteer job with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (hereinafter referred to as NMCRS) on Monday. I am excited about this opportunity because I have an actual job description, they gave me a resume-friendly list of job duties that I will perform, they reimburse for childcare while I'm volunteering AND they have a fridge full of Starbucks lattes free for the taking. And candy. Lots and lots of candy.
You may remember that I was doing volunteer work for a new organization here in Yokosuka, YESS, a program that would help incoming spouses get sponsors. While the idea of this group is fantastic, they are still in their infancy and I don't have the patience to sit around while they debate different forms of organization and elect heads of still more sub-committees. Oh, and get into heated arguments at meetings that are supposed to run an hour, but end up taking three. Too many personalities, too many oars in the water at once and no compass. Irritating.
NMCRS has been around since 1904, so yeah, they're pretty settled. I am excited to sit in the office and do quasi-clerical tasks with a few other grown-up women. The main concept behind NMCRS are quick, no-fuss, no-interest loans, thus the "relief" in their name. Sailors can come in twice a year and request up to $500 and NMCRS will cut a check in minutes and send them on their way, no questions asked. After the second time though, the sailor has to sit down with a counselor for a few minutes and talk aAtbout budgeting. And if it happens again, they are required to sit down and take the hour to make a full budget with a counselor. I'm hoping to train to become a counselor.
What I love even more than the job title and the free Starbucks is the fact that every Navy base has NMCRS, so I can take this job back to Norfolk, or DC or San Diego or wherever we end up next.
So--that took up my Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday was the 7 Lucky Gods tour in Kamakura. Here's the deal: you buy a little board and then you walk, train, ride the bus all over Kamakura and get seven stamps at various temples/shrines. The final, eighth stamp is at the temple at Enoshima. The tour was full-up but welcomed folks who wanted to tag along just to see the shrines, so my friend Stephanie and I signed up to tag along. And promptly got separated from the group...apparently, they just wanted stamps and she and I wanted to actually spend time exploring the shrines/temples.
I'm glad we didn't chase them around, because the Rachel & Stephanie Temple Tour was much more fun. We just blindly wandered up the road from the first temple and managed to see two other big temples, a couple of smaller shrines and wound up at the big shrine in Kamakura. At the big temple, we paid a few Yen and viewed hundreds of peonies in their little straw huts--they were all protected by half-moon enclosures of straw, plus the ground beneath them was covered with a mat of straw and many of them had paper parasols over them as well, in an effort to keep them warm.
At another temple, we listened to the monks chant and ring the bell and then witnessed them all, in their robes and wooden shoes, walking from the bell tower back to their private quarters. We had a bunch of Japanese people shoot pictures of Stephanie and me, and we ended up having lunch at a Japanese restaurant where the proprietress spoke German. It was NOT actually German food as I initially reported. Stephanie and I both had curry.
It was a lovely day with a lovely new friend and she and I both rubbed Buddha's belly, so we figured that was enough good luck for us! Here are a few pictures, untouched. I need to get them into Picasa and edit them, sorry...
Cemetery
Bamboo
Rubbing Buddha's belly
Here come the monks!
This building was private, so I'm guessing their rooms and living spaces.
So crooked, but so beautiful!
I love pictures of the hand washing stations.
At the big shrine--I can't wait for cherry blossom time!
Peonies!
Look at how tidy each little enclosure and mat is...
Hope some of Buddha's belly rub rubbed off on my readers! Konnichi wa for now and stay tuned for next week's installment. We have the hail and farewell tonight and on Sunday, we are going to Tokyo to see sumo!!
Comments
I'm happy about the volunteer job, it sounds like something you are going to enjoy.