Kana's apartment

On Friday I went to Tachikawa to visit Kana. The train ride is about an hour and a half from Yokohama. When I got there we went to the French restaurant she used to work at. It was a really cute little place and the food was amazing.
We went to her place later and hung out that night before I had to leave the next morning. I needed to be back in Negishi by noon because I had a lesson at one.
I took some pictures of her place before I left. Her main room was about the size of my dorm room in Pullman, but a little bigger.







This is standing near the bed facing the other direction. Notice her refrigerator, microwave, and toaster oven.







When you go through the curtains, toward her door, the kitchen and laundry are on the right and the bathroom is on the left. Looking straight ahead you can see her door and the washing machine/dryer unit. Yes, they are both in one. Kana says the dryer is not very good. All apartments have a small space and bar outside to hang clothes to dry.







Looking to the right you can see her small kitchen. She had some things sitting out when I tried to take the picture, but insisted on moving them because it was "messy". There isn't enough room to be messy!












Last, but not least, is the bathroom. I think the one in my dad and Cheryl's 5th wheel is bigger than this. (In fact, Kana's apartment could fit in their 5th wheel now that I think of it) The faucet for the sink has a turney knob that changes the water flow to the shower. Kind of like the directional nozzle you put on the faucet outside for your hose. The shower is very, very small.












I think I'd go crazy living in a place this small. Its cozy, but so so small. When you look out the window all you see are the apartment buildings next door. Its depressing. Maybe Japanese people can put up with it because they are never really at home anyway. They are workaholics.

Gauge

I just finished eating a juicy and tasty peach (my new favorite thing) in celebration of the knitting gauge for my new project. The gauge called for 14.5 sts 21 rows = 4" at 10.5 needle size. I am not sure what the 21 rows thing is about and I also didn't have 10.5 needles, so I decided to try my 10s and do a relaxed knit (I have a tendency to pull tight). I just finished about 6" of my gauge and decided to measure. 14.5 sts was 10 cm (my gauge measure tool is in metric because I bought it here in Japan) so I had to go through the conversion. Its 3.93"! Yay!! That means I can finally starting knitting my cute little hat. I am not sure what my project will be after that. Maybe another hat since I have enough yarn. I think I am getting ahead of myself!
I guess the one thing I didn't say here was that I finally finished the prayer shall. It took me over a year and I didn't really "finish". Since I had decided to give it to Kana, and I was going to her apartment on friday (more about that later), I had a lot of pressure to finish. Well... I didn't. I had to finish at her place and didn't have the supplies or time to do the pretty fringe/tassles on the ends, but she liked it and that is all that matters. It was a big project... I think I'll stick to prayer socks or prayer scarves from now on! :)
I'd actually like to knit things and sell them, but I don't know how or what or if its worth it. I guess if I came out even I'd be happy. Knitting keeps me busy. I've also discovered that it keeps me from eating anything I shouldn't!
I'll get my camera and attach a picture now of what the shawl looked like; all 73"+ of it!!

I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture.






Folded in half.






Kana bundled up.

Go Fetch

Go Fetch

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Update on "What should I make of this?"

This is the conversation that followed from the first email. I don't want to talk to her via email anymore. Although I want to tell her to find another teacher, I feel an obligation to help her because she needs knowledge in Christianity. I asked my bible study to pray for her last night and the pastors wife suggested to me this morning that has caused Satan to attach this relationship. Anyway, read the conversation and share your opinion.


I am sorry that you were not satisfied with the lesson.
Phyllis does have a lot more knowledge and experiance than I do. I promise that I did study the book before our lesson, but I did not know what to expect from your lesson.

I am firstly an English teacher. I've been a Christian for a very short time and don't know everything from the Bible. Now I know that need to do much research before our lessons. Please try to understand that I don't know everything.

I will work better at giving you what you want. Please tell me what you want to do. I am your teacher and am here to help you.



Lori

______________________________________

Hi, Lori

That book is a discussion book and I don't expect you know everything. I just want you are able to reply my basic questions.

For example, at our last lesson, I asked you the meaning of the following sentence and you didn't answer.

"Abraham pestered God over what it would take to
spare the city, negotiating God down from fifty righteous people to only ten"

Now I checked it in web site and understand the meaning why fifty to only ten. Even my Japanese non-Christian friend knows this story. This is a very famous story in bible. I really wanted to have your answer when I asked. If you didn't know, I wanted you study inadvance and explain me. It's our textbook.

2^nd, I want to discuss the meanings, because that book is a discussion book. Unfortunately, my English is
not enough to discuss about this matter, please help me.

For my understanding, getting \3,500 is worth 3 hours
work here. I want to request our lesson is worth \3,500. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like that in my last lesson.

For my understanding, getting money is not only just for money, but also improving both characters and enjoying it, because we had a chance to meet among thousands of people. When I don't feel those, I feel it's very expensive. I know this is my opinion and you have yourown opinion.

______________________________________-

Noriko,
Please try to be careful about how you choose to say things. The things you are saying can be a little upsetting.
I am sorry that I couldn't answer your question. I do not know the details of the story and I do not want to tell you something that is incorrect. Please try not to compare me to other people.
I will try my hardest to give you what you want in your lesson. I want to continue being your teacher. Please don't judge me and give me another chance. I know now we need to be clear about what you are expecting in your lesson. We should have a discussion about your expectations on Monday.
Hopefully we can enjoy this lesson and not be upset about the mistakes I make. It would be best for us to talk about this in person.

I will see you Monday.

Lori

Beware!

Anyone want to see a picture of the THIRD monster spider I've had in my kitchen in a week? This one I actually killed myself, but not before soaking everything in my kitchen with bug spray.
I called the housing office and they will come fill in the gap between the wall and my cupboard soon.

What should I make of this?

I am trying not so be upset about this email, but I really don't know how to take it. This gal is a student of mine, but she is not really studying English. Her text is a book called the "Purpose Driven Life". It is a Christian book and her last teacher was a much more knowledgeable Christian than I am.

I'm writing this mail because I have been thinking about one thing since our 1^st lesson.

You might be upset or find offense with this mail. If so, I'm very sorry.

But I think it's better for us to ask you if our lesson continues.

I had taken Phyllis lesson over 1years. I enjoyed it very much. Yes, she is a extremely great person. My Japanese friend, Miyuki Smith, who gets married with American in Base agrees too. I give her high marks for her diligence. Even though she knows bible very much, she always prepared and studied next chapter, that I respect her.

Lori, I want to ask you to reduce my lesson fee, or increase my lesson time.

Japanese Surnames

I got this from japanese.about.com

Ever wondered what the Japanese equivalent of "Smith" is? Here is the list of the top 10 most common Japanese surnames. It is said that more than a hundred thousand different surnames exist in Japanese, but roughly speaking one out of every
ten Japanese has a surname that is listed here.

Click here to learn more about Japanese names. To see a list of the top 500 Japanese family names ordered by frequency, try here.

1	Satou 佐藤
2	Suzuki 鈴木
3	Takahashi 高橋
4	Tanaka 田中
5	Watanabe 渡辺
6	Itou 伊藤/伊東
7	Nakamura 中村
8	Yamamoto 山本
9	Kobayashi 小林
10	Saitou 斉藤/斎藤

Raining

I woke up this morning and it was raining. I don't think I've seen any in over a month. It made me so happy. Maybe other people look outside and say "oh no, its raining!" But for me, I said "Yes, it raining!!"
Looks like it's stopped now though. Sad.

Panorama of Yokohama

I found this awesome panorama of Yokohama at night. If you find the Yokohama Bay Bridge, we live to the right of that in a slightly darker looking area.
Enjoy.
http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen5/f23_yokohama.html

Military Post Office

It was only a matter of time before the Navy gave me something new to rant about. I've been married to it for just over a year, but I am certainly learning how things work (or don't work actually).
Recently I've been having a lot of issues with my mail. When we went back to the states in May I put a hold on our mail. When we came back, I had two months of magazines and other strange things that gave me the idea that they had a bunch of my mail stashed in the back. In July I ordered a table cloth and curtains. The curtains were from Walmart and the table cloth was from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I ordered them on the same day. About a week later my curtains came. I kept checking for my table cloth but never saw it. One day I got a "second notice". The date was not that day and the mail people said I had nothing. About a week later I got a "final notice" so of course I am thinking "WTF?" I gave it to the postal people and it was my table cloth. That was about a week and a half ago, but the Yokohama post office's date was 7/27. It had been there over 2 weeks!!
Tracy bought me some knitting stuff and sent it to me on August 8th. Today I got a "second notice". I obviously never got the first one or I would have claimed it. I've been checking my email everyday! Today is the 21st and the Yokohama date on the box is the 13th! Holy crap. Thats ridiculous. Now I know that if it takes forever for us to get a package it is because our postal workers are letting it sit in the back room collecting dust.
Maybe when I open th box I'll see that they already knit something for me!

Spider-phobia

I always knew I was afraid of spiders, but now I've decided I truly am arachnophobic. I had a spider in my kitchen last saturday that was maybe about 3" in diameter. I got my neighbor, Craig, to come over to take it outside. Unfortunately it escaped.
This morning (tuesday) I walked into the kitchen and there was a new one, with the old one dead. They were on the side of a kitchen cupboard. I called Grandma trying to find a good way to get rid of it. I finally got off the phone to try to kill it. I went into the kitchen with the broom and just couldn't do it. I started crying, nearly hyperventilating, a telling myself I couldn't do it. This went on for 5-10 minutes before I gave up.
I went next door and their nine-year-old daughter, Renee, wanted to come over and try to kill it. She missed a few times before it managed to escape under the stove. I sprayed a ton of bug spray on the sides and under the stove to kill it... or at least keep it from coming out again.
I know I sound like a big weeny, but I am really, really afraid of them. Cockroaches are still worst, but I have no choice but to kill them.
When I was a kid my mom freaked out about spiders. I swore I'd never be like that, but now I can't help it. I am not much younger than my mother was when I remembered her freaking out over them. Maybe someday a psychologist can solve my arachnophobia.

Lori, the Japanese television star

Okay, so maybe not. I can pretend, right? Its funny that someone can never have the desire to become popular or famous, but still love the opportunity to be on tv. I come from a generation of people who will do nearly anything to be on tv. I find that very sad, but I am still surprised how happy I am to tell people I did filming for a show.
So, here is the gist of what happened on Friday. I traveled to Tokyo and met my Ladies English School boss. He was there to translate or me. My Japanese is terrible. They had a small room set up as my English school. The board behind me actually said "ローリ ['Roori'] English school" I had to talk about English on shopping bags in Tokyo. I'll tell you, some of the can be hard to understand. It is called Engrish. (For some funny examples of Engrish go to Engrish.com)
The filming took 1.5 to 2 hours and I was reimbursed for my transportation to Tokyo (1400 yen). I don't yet know when the show will be on tv, but I know it is on TV Tokyo on a show called "Symbols" - the website is in Japanese. If you search the website on google, you'll get the option to translate the site. Unfortunately the translation can be hard to understand and much of the site is in graphics.
I talked to Kana and she said Yuichi has a dvd recorder. I hope that when it is on television, he will be able to record it so everyone can see it.
Did I forget anything?

I like cute stuff

And this is the cute thing of the day.







As I was about to post this, I saw the video of the China Airlines plane on fire in Okinawa. I think China just has some bad karma. Poisonous pet food, lead in paint, exploding airplanes... Wow, I'd hate to be Chinese.

Tired of Blogging

I know I have to tell you about last Friday still, but I am tired of writing on here all the time. Why do you all yap at me for once. Being in Japan makes it kind a hard to know what is happening in Washington.
Oh, I have a question first. We got a call on skype last week and I couldn't answer it. Does anyone recognize this number? 425-275-4130 I looked up in the reverse directory, but it an unlisted number. All I know is that it is a landline Lynnwood number. If anyone has a clue (which i obviously do not!) please let me know. Thanks.

Grey's Anatomy

I decided to just download the final two episodes of Grey's Anatomy and watch them tonight. Well, actually i was watching the second to last and Danny called me. Next week I will be with Kana so I will miss it on television here. Now all I have to say is "aaaaahhhh!!!"
You know, I really disliked Isaiah Washington after what he said when ABC fired him and I have never been that fond of his character, but now I am really mad at him. I didn't think that Christina and Burke should get married, but she was so upset it broke my heart. Oh, if Danny would have done that to me.... (I'll leave that sentence for you to finish yourself)
I think Calli and George's grand idea to have a baby is crazy. I know from discussing it myself that it shouldn't be something you just decide one day, especially after the marital problems they have!! Of course that is what makes it a drama aka night time soap opera.
I don't even have a clue about Meredith and Derek. I had the feeling that what she said to the wedding guests was meant for him as well. I guess we'll find this all out next season. Hopefully AFN doesn't wait 300 years to put it on here. Some of us are hoping it is popular enough to start showing before January.
One last thing... The writers of the show seem to know what they are doing. They know how to get "lonely housewife" riled up. Although I would never be so delusional to think that the story is real, I can understand the situations they are in and think how I would feel. Even if you don't watch the show, I am sure you would be amused to see me cry when something is really sad and yell at the people in my computer screen.

Tonight's storm

I am so glad this one waited until an hour after I was home to start. My friend Amy thinks one might have hit her house. She said she heard a sound similar to when you degauss your computer screen. Hopefully most of you will know what I'm talking about and yes, I spelled it right. She said everything in her house is working. I told her about the time that Doug's motherboard got fried in one of the Ohio lightening storms, but I didn't get to ask her if she felt anything like and electrical charge. I think she would have mentioned that. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised. Her house is just a few away from mine and I'd swear one strike was so loud it could have blasted your ear drums... and thats coming from a band nerd who spent a good amount of time with very loud instruments.

The point of this blog was to show you a cute picture of Mocha when she got freaked out because of the storm. She crawled inside my purse. Later she crawled into my nightshirt. There won't be any pictures of that last one. This isn't that kind of blog!














I am sure you all want to hear about my day in Tokyo and filming for the television show. I promise I'll get to that.

One year

As of today (Aug 16th) I have been in Japan for one year.
To celebrate, Japan gave me a 5.4 magnitude earthquake at 4:15 this morning. Our bed doesn't have a very substantial base, so the shaking woke me up. It lasted for a good 10-15 seconds then stopped. After 5-10 seconds we had another brief shake.
I went online just now to look it up and I guess we had another (5.3) at 8:20, but I didn't feel that one. I must have just got out of bed. Both were nearly 40 miles east of Yokohama.
The funny thing is that I was sitting on the couch last night thinking about how I hadn't felt an earthquake since last month. That was the one on the other coast that caused a good amount of damage in Niigata prefecture.
Anyway, all is well. Maybe I can start predicting earthquakes.

Yokohama weather

I found this interesting bit of information from the Yokohama city website. It shows average temperature and precipitation by month.
Interesting Tidbits of Yokohama
Here is information from a historical almanac about the month of August. I am not sure if the information is from this year (because honestly I haven't seen any rain), but it still gives an accurate idea about our weather. It is incredibly hot and humid.
Yokohama, Japan Climate

Thumb thing

I find random things on the internet and post them on here because I think they're cool. Maybe because I've got no one at home to share them with. Honestly, this one is pretty cool and insanely pratical. You should check out the site though. They've got some neat items.
The Spoon Sisters

Cute bunnies!!

I want one!!



Oh, come on! You know they're too cute and irresistible. How can you NOT love them?!

Ice cream

Japan makes some strange things. Here is a website of many strange flavors of ice cream you can find here. There are some I'd try and others that would make me sick. I've actually had one kind too (I wasn't too adventurous- it was cherry blossom).
Some I'd like to try: curry, tulip, cheese risotto, persimmon and miso ramen.
I thought of some people when I was going through the list. Tracy, I thought you may be interested in red wine ice cream. The chili pepper and cold sweat ice creams made me think of Doug and Grandpa Harry.
Go to this website and see what grosses you out the most. 101 Frightening Ice Cream Flavors From Around the World

Pictures of Museum and Park

Here they are!! I found a new quick and easy way to upload the pictures onto the web and make them into a slideshow. The old way was that I'd use Photobucket to upload them 10 or 15 at a time, which took forever! Then I would have to log onto slide.com and choose which photos I wanted.
This new way takes less than 10 minutes. I connect my camera, start Picasa (a google, photo-editing software) and that automatically adds the photos. Then I create a web album through Picasa. The photos are added to my google account online and I can attach the slideshow right to the blog. The downside is that all the photos go in the slideshow once I add them online, but I could work around that if it was a big deal.
Anyway... The pictures came out a little funny because of the setting I was using. Things look a little ghost-y. I guess that is appropriate since the museum is of typical life in the Edo period (1603-1867). The museum was a recreation of a small village of the time.
After the museum we went to a near-by park. It was called the Kiyosumi Teien. Teien means park, but it is related to a designed garden. I was built by a very rich business man and owned by many other wealthy families.
Enough talk, here are the pictures.

I need help with this...

I have this pet waterer for Mocha. It comes apart into three different pieces. The top is removable but the only whole in the water container is at the bottom. It is very small. Obviously the bottom comes off as well.
My problem is that no matter how much or how little water I put in, the water sits so long that the bottom of the container turns green and there is no way I can get into it to clean it. I guess I could change the water every 12 hours, but I think it would be much nicer if I could just find a way to clean it. If anyone has tips or ideas, please share!
I have small bottle cleaners, but the angle makes it impossible to clean the inside.

Travel to Tokyo

I just got home from a long but fun day in Tokyo. I have tons of pictures and I promise to get them on the blog as soon as possible. Be looking for them!

Yum!

I found this website and it has my name written all over it.
Hope you can find some great recipes on it too.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/

How cool is this?

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago from my Ladies English school boss. He was recently contacted by a Japanese television station who is filming a program where they need a native English speaker to say a few things. They asked him for a beautiful woman and he called me! :)
I would get paid 6,000 yen for an hour to say 10 words. I'd have to travel to Tokyo, which would cost me about 1,400 yen, but I think that is a pretty good profit for 10 words!! Looks like they'll want me to come to Tokyo on the 17th.
After I finished telling Danny this in email and I was about to write this blog, I got an email from a student wanting my lesson. She wants to meet every two weeks and lives in Yokohama. I wrote her back and asked her when she wanted to meet. I haven't begun to feel overwhelmed by the amount of students I have yet, although I've got some major sucking up to do on Sunday to Yutaka...

New pictures

Danny kindly gave me permission to post these pictures on the blog. Tracy has seen them already because Danny sent some to her, but I've got the rest and I am sharing them with all of you. Enjoy.



A beautiful sunset.












Another beautiful sunset.










Radioactive Danny...










I love the colors in this one.

Really? No! (& two posts in one)

Okay, this is like a "Where's Waldo" game.
First background information. This is our weather channel. We see this screen 24 hrs a day.
Now, lets find the truth. Yes, it is Sunday, August 5th at 11:16:52 PM. Maybe that is why I fund this so funny. It is safe bet that we've gotten 0.07" of rain in the last 5 days and that humidity is 69%, although I'll tell you it feel much higher.
Let me promise to you, it IS NOT 113 degrees. It didn't even get that hot while the sun was shining!! I believe is actually about 80 degrees. The high... 325 degrees?! The boiling point is 212 degrees. We are in a lot of trouble. The wind speed is 1-96 mph! Forget earthquakes; our house might blow away. And don't forget, this is updated in realtime!

I apologize for my obnoxious sarcasm. :)

UPDATE: I checked today and the channel said that the temperature equipment was out of service. Boy am I glad they told me that!!

Cute or Creepy?
I finished painting this today, but I don't know if I like it. Should I keep it like this (a ceramic Garfield) or try to change it? I haven't sealed it yet...


ANOTHER UPDATE: I finished touchups on the cat and decided to keep it brown and orange. It is now sealed and sitting in my kitchen window, but I think I am going to move it upstairs.

Now I've earned it

I can't complain about my students canceling now. I just majorly screwed up. I was ready for my lesson at 130. I spent a lot of time thinking about it because it was at a odd time. I was going about my business and whatnot. I looked at the clock- 1:15. I've got 5 or 10 minutes til I leave. Then I looked at my phone or my watch. It was 1:50. I missed him. He left just as I realized what time it was. The security guard told me that he waited for 20 minutes. He didn't call me because he didn't have his cell phone. I feel so stupid. Needless to say, the clock is now in the garbage and I'm going out to buy a new one.
Gotta go. I have a student in 10 and I don't want to miss the second one of the day.

Family Cruise Day

So, over a month ago Danny's ship had a family cruise day and I completely forgot to write about it or post pictures. I made a slide show, so here they are.

Lori as a cat...

... in a comic.

Very, very frustrated

The title says it all, does it not? I am supposed to be teaching a lesson right now, but didn't know that the student had canceled until about 10 minutes ago. Apparently she called the owner of the school one hour before her lesson to cancel. I can't have students canceling that close to the lesson. They don't seem to understand how much they affect my day when they cancel at noon for a 1 o'clock lesson because they are "sick". I put that in quotes because a lot of my students seem to get "sick" right before their lesson. They are adults and I expect more responsibility from them.

Unfortunately I can't do much because they are coming to me through a school and not directly. I would not allow this to happen otherwise. Now I have no choice. If it were up to me, they would have to pay for at least half of their lesson if they canceled less than 12 hours before the lesson. The only exception would be life or death emergencies or serious accidents. I would express this to my boss, but I don't think he'd understand or accept it.

They've been doing this to me a lot lately and I am at the end of my rope. I would have changed my plans for the day if I knew they were going to cancel on me. The thing that frustrates me the most is that I can't do anything about it. Even if my boss did understand, I don't know what i should say and how to say it. Because of the cultural differences I know it would be easier to say something wrong.

Very, very, very, very frustrated....

Should this surprise me?

I actually had a good day today (so far). Not that my days are generally bad, but there are psychological things you never consider when you have to live in a 2 1/2 bedroom home by yourself for at least 6 months of the year. I can promise that my life is drastically different when Danny is gone. I'd like things to stay as level as possible, but it just isn't gonna happen.
This morning I got my lazy bum up and had a pretty decent breakfast and had somethings to take care of before I left the house. Since Danny ordered some name tags for his uniform on Tuesday when he was here, I had to go to Yokosuka and pick them up. I'll likely send them to him next week. Anyway I wasn't gonna drive for two hours to spend 5 seconds actually getting the things so I made as much of a day out of it as possible.
First, I stopped at a convenience store (Lawson or Familymart - I can't remember) to get "lunch". Then I went to the mall to get some English teaching books from the bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually found what I was looking for! I bought enough to get my parking validated and headed to the base. I got Danny's name tags and then went to the commissary.
I ran into my friend Shannon and her family while I was there. She had to help me find cream of tarter and corn syrup. I really hate that store. Nothing is placed where you think it should be. For example, the corn syrup wasn't in the baking isle, but with the actual syrup which, sorry, I thought was stupid. What I wouldn't give to go shopping at Haggen in Bellingham even though it was a little too expensive when I was a student making less than $100 a week!
On the drive there and home I was listening to podcasts about Harry Potter and another on teaching English. I recently discovered the joys of podcasts and I really love them. I also think the money I spent on my iPod was the best I have spent in quite a while. Boy did I harass Danny when he got his too. Since I made $210 dogsitting I though I'd put that money to good use. At least now I know why everyone makes a huge deal out of iPods. They're pretty great.
Briefly wanted to explain to everyone what I've alluded to before, but never actually explained. So, you know that Danny's ship had to leave when we had the typhoon scare a few weeks ago. They left on Friday but weren't supposed to leave until Monday. They went to Korea and came back this Tuesday. They were supposed to stay all of Wednesday, but things changed. They got to stay the night, but liberty expired at 7 am and the ship left in the afternoon. So I didn't get to spend that day with Danny and he'll be gone for a while, but I am still planning on going with him to Rhode Island for school in a few months. In fact, I was thinking about getting a MAC flight back to Seattle and staying for a little while before flying to Providence. It will be about $1000 cheaper to fly there from Seattle rather than Tokyo. That drops the price from about $1300 to between $300-$500. A lot more reasonable if you ask me.
I've yapped enough. Don't expect to hear from me for a few days unless something really exciting happens. :)

Old Posts

I know some of you don't get a chance to read everyday, so don't forget to go back and see what you missed. :) Between Danny and I, we've written over 200 posts in the last year.

Lonely Lori

I am happy Danny was here (no matter how short the time) and sad that he is now gone again.

This morning's storm

This one is really scaring the piss out of me. It is right over our house. I know this because the flash and the rumble that was so loud I had to plug my ears came at the same time. I could hear the lightening rip through the sky and then hear the insane boom at the end. The tv signal died and it was insanely quiet in here. Then iTunes wouldn't play so I almost started screaming at my computer so I could get another sound beside rain and thunder. Ugh, finally got it to work. Now I think I'll go get my iPod and headphones so I can drown out some of the sounds. Oh, and my book too.

Storm (part 2)

It is getting a lot closer and raining harder. I am getting wet sitting out there. The house is rumbling too. Maybe this is a clue I should go inside and watch it from someplace safe.

Storm

Yes, this is happening as I type. It's a little disappointing because there are so many clouds and it is far away, but it is getting closer so maybe I'll get some better video later.
Don't worry. I am under cover of our front porch. I promise to be safe. Plus, its raining and I don't feel like taking a shower.
Kinda reminds me of summers in Ohio. Now if only I could read my book without getting wet.
P.S. If you listen really close, you may hear me whisper "woah!" under my breath.

Yikes

Good golly its getting hot here. It's now officially summer.

funny image

Found this image online which may be pretty funny for anyone who is familiar with Harry Potter. Yes, it is spelled wrong, but it's some strange online cat picture phenomenon.
Maybe I am only posting this because I am lonely and bored. Since there is only one person regularly reading my blog right now, I'm sure you'll understand.

The book (part 3)

... I finished it and I LOVED it!!


Now I can finally read all those things online written about the book.

For my husband...

Happy Birthday Danny!!

Wow

Wow, wow, wow. They chose me!! Hehe.
FYI: my nights will be a little busy starting next week.

Oh, and Harry Potter is starting to get really interesting. I am in Chapter 30! Gotta go to bed soon...

Interviews are depressing

And the sad thing is that it wasn't even a real interview.
I was called by this English teaching gal to come meet a bunch of her female students at her house. They asked me a bunch of questions, including my age which sadly caries a "unqualified" stigma to it, and generally wanted to know about me and my teaching style. Then, she whisks me out the door so another teacher, a slightly older man with a Japanese wife along side (major brownie points), can get the same kind of questioning. I am doomed.
Now, to avoid depression, I will immerse myself into my Harry Potter book although it isn't exactly a happy book and I'll be depressed when it is done and I see who dies. :( Someone cheer me up. Maybe I could get a nice care package... hehehe.

Even more about my lessons

So, just about everything was screwed up today. I was supposed to have a lesson at 1:30 but she sent me an email last night after I went to bed to say she wanted to cancel. I was waiting this morning for the gal who is giving me the new lessons to call me. Of course she never did. I called her at noon and she told me this group of students were going to go to lunch, but not all the students were going to be there (because she told them I couldn't come become of my lesson) and now I have to wait until next week -after this gal has already left for the states and I have no idea what is going on- to meet them. Now she wants me to meet some women at 9 tonight. I have a feeling that if students want to meet me at nine o'clock at night, they are going to want lessons at unreasonable times of the night.
Sigh... at least I have my Harry Potter book. What am I going to do when I finish it?!
Probably read it again!

The book (pt 2)

I got it in the mail today!!! I've had it for 3 hours and I've finished 5 chapters (85 pages). I could hardly stop to eat dinner (but didn't want to get food on my new book). I promise not to give anything away... :)
I should be finished by Saturday. Don't expect to hear from me much until then!!

UPDATE: It's almost 10 o'clock and I just finished chapter 9. I am taking it to bed with me and I'll finish at least one more chapter before I fall asleep.

Update on lessons

I am tired of being underpaid....
I thought I could start getting a decent paycheck by taking on some groups and new students. All is not lost, but things are getting progressively more difficult. That group in Kamakura (the one about an hour from our house that is twice a week) was supposed to work out. I was really excited about it. The guy who owns the school called the woman who passed the group on to me and said that his students said they didn't think they could learn from me. What is that supposed to mean?! I am a perfectly good teacher and their lessons wouldn't change. I am upset about this, does it show?
Someone explain this to me. Oh, and while you're at it please tell me what it is about my personality that makes people walk all over me. I won't get into that now though.

English teaching

I may have mentioned to you before that I was offered a job teaching a group of adults in Tokyo (Ebisu to be exact). I have been told by my boss that the company was looking for a discount and that the lesson may be canceled. Right now they are paying 3500 yen and hour, which is dirt cheap. I was supposed to have the trial lesson as early as tomorrow, so if it happens it will be a while. All I can say is that it would make for a long day. The lesson would start at 8 or 8:30 in the morning for an hour and I would have to travel for about an hour to get there.
Last week I attended and English teacher's networking group in Yokosuka. It is a group offered through the Fleet and Family Support center. The moderator of the group gave me information about a woman who is leaving Japan and has tons of students she needs to give to other women. Last night I went with her to Kamakura (about an hour away from Yokohama) to see a class of about 9 to 19 year olds. There are four groups and the lesson lasts one hour each. It is a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it last night and I look forward to taking it on. There are tons of other groups and private students that I still have to make a decision on. I'll keep you updated.

Harry Potter!

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any information you will read here, even if I did write. It is not guaranteed that I will not give away any information about the newest Harry Potter movie. If you don't want me to spoil anything for you then stop reading! I hope that anyone as obsessed as me will already know what happened in the movie because they've already read the book and/or seen the movie. In case I never mentioned it before, I am one of the many nearly insane Harry Potter fans.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, I (literally) just got home from seeing the 5th Harry Potter movie and I have to say that it was the most amazing movie I have ever seen. Sure I've got small complaints, but all-in-all AMAZING!! I loved the special effects, especially the fight scene in the end first with the Death Eaters and then the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort. The part where Fred and George set off fireworks was especially good too. I believe there was a new director for this movie and I wholeheartedly approve. The visuals were amazing. Oh, forgot to mention that I really loved the night shots of London. Very beautiful. My only complaint is that I really like the original Harry Potter song (mainly the music from the first movie) and I would have liked to see that more (or rather, hear).
So, for the important part... All I have to say about Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) is wow! There is something about the character that has always pulled on my heart and to me, Radcliffe is Harry Potter. There are times I just want to reach into the screen, or book, and just kiss him. He really has changed a lot since the first movie and in a totally good way.
Sorry Danny, you know how it is. Don't take it personally! :) Oh, I could go on forever...
Maybe I should just leave it at that because I may ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. J.K. Rowling is so talented and I am amazed at her ability to create a world out of a book that people never want to leave. I can't count the number of times I've just wanted to be sucked into the story and be a part of it forever. So, some people may think I am crazy, but I know there is someone out there who understands what I mean.
By the end of next few weeks I will be able to read the last book. It feels so daunting and I just don't know if I can take it. Sure, I can read the stories over again as many times as I like, but its just not the same when you already know what happened. I am sad it is the end. I will say how I feel about the book when I am done, but I promise not to say what happens. Someone might get mad at me...
After I finish the book then I've got to wait until November of 2008 before the next movie comes out. Darn it. Why did they have to put the movie and book release dates so close together?!

So cute

Now I want to learn to crochet just so I can make this. You can't tell me it's not cute.

The book!

Now I get to start checking my mailbox everyday!

Dear Lori Kohlbeck,

Thank you for shopping with us.

Your order is now packed and ready to leave our warehouse. The details of your order appear below.
For further assistance, please email us at service@barnesandnoble.com.

We appreciate your business and look forward to you visiting us again soon at http://www.bn.com

-- Barnes&Noble.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is packed and ready to leave our warehouse:

Bill To: Lori Kohlbeck
Ship To: Lori Kohlbeck, PSC 472 Box 136, FPO, AP 96348

QTY PRICE TITLE SHIP DATE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 $20.99 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7)
ISBN:0545010225 Jul 19, 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------
$20.99 Net Product
$4.98 Shipping & Handling
--------
$25.97 Total Shipment
$0.97 Credit Card
$25.00 Gift Card

Carrier: USPS


Don't anyone think about ruining it for me. It will probably take over a week to get here. They should have sent it a few days ago...

Nothing happening

Just because it's been a few days since the blog has been updated, I just wanted to say that nothing is really happening around here.
I did feel the earthquake earlier this week. Since it was on the west coast, it wasn't nearly as strong here but it did last for quite a while and shook differently than others I've felt. It was rocking side ways and felt like the house was on a shallow pool of water. Anyway, no damage here and I didn't even get up from the couch while it was happening. Does that totally make me sound lazy?
As you know, the typhoon didn't really happen here, but the weather has been pretty mediocre ever since. Very little rain, just constantly overcast. Blah!
I spent majority of my day yesterday babysitting a three month old boy. His twin sister, mother and a friend with her one year old went to Tokyo to the embassy so Aidan was with me from 930 til 7 pm. I hardly even found time to eat. It was a lot of work.
Gotta drive to Yokosuka today. The Fleet and Family Support Center offers an English teacher's networking group every month and I am available to go for the first time since I started teaching last December.
I got a call from Danny a few days ago. Unfortunately, I did most the talking but it was really great to hear from him anyway. I'll be happy when he is home again.

Japan Extension

Hey Everyone,

Since Lori posted about the extension, I figured that I should explain a little more since I'm the one actually doing the job onboard. What I've talked to my CO about is call the Division Officer's Sequencing Program, or DOSP. What it basically means is that when I’m done with my first tour (October of 2008) I’ll move onto a second tour job onboard. The biggest benefit (other than rolling to shore duty 6 months early) is that there will be no re-qualification period. This means my current qualifications will remain in place and I’ll be able to progress to new qualifications more quickly. In the end, there’s a good possibility that this will help in career progression (assuming the Navy becomes a career). Nevertheless, it’s basically the best of both worlds. We get to stay in Japan a little longer (what I want to do) and I get to roll to shore duty earlier and spend more time with Lori (what she and I both want). Anyway, if you have any questions that are more specific that what I’ve posted, please let me know.

Lame

That was the most pathetic storm I have ever seen. If they hadn't have told us it was coming, I wouldn't have even noticed it was here. I was actually kinda looking forward to a storm... :(
My weekend would have been better if Danny were here.
My life is boring.

Man-yi

My grumbling gets louder as the rain continues to fall outside and the storm moves closer to Yokohama. We've gotten about 3" of rain today, which is just less than half the rain we've gotten so far this month.
I had to spend a lot of my day out in the rain today. Had to move my plants and other things inside because they were "potential projectiles". I stood outside with one of the dogs I am watching this month because he refuses to do his business in the rain. I took him out about 6 times and he'd never go. Hate to see what I'll find tomorrow morning...
The NEX, Commissary, and other things including the on-base chapel will all be closed tomorrow. Lucky for me I went out in the rain today to get groceries and gas for the car!
I honestly just hope that the weather is nice where ever my husband is!

Japan extension

This isn't official yet, but I want to let everyone else know that Danny is extending in Japan for an extra year. He will stay on his ship, but get a second job at the end of his original 27 month tour. We will leave Japan in the October of 2009 instead of 2008. This also means that we get to go to his shore duty 6 months earlier than most other people since this second tour is 12 months instead of 18 months.
We really like it here in Japan and am excited about staying a little longer.
Have questions? Ask away.

'Tis the season

Its that time of year again.... grrr.






















Typhoon Man-Yi Strengthens as It Heads Toward Japan

Mt Fuji Pictures (pt. 2)

When we stated out the climb, I believe it was about 5 am. We got up at 1 and left Yokosuka before 2. The weather was clear but cloudy. By the time we started climbing, it was pouring rain and windy. Of course, my jacket is not waterproof and Danny's "goretex" from Korea didn't work so well either. We didn't make it to the top top because it was close due to bad weather (sleet coming down sideways) and snow buildup. It was also -25 degrees Celsius. We didn't have the right gear to take that on.
Our group was supposed to stop climbing at 1 (1300) no matter where we were, but I think Danny and I were already back down where we started by then. They say it takes 4-5 hour to get to the top and 2-3 hours to get back down. We took a lot of rests near the top. Most of the other people from the ship were up there so we stayed around and chatted for a while. Thats when we made our decision to go back down and think that was just before 11.
The bus wasn't supposed to leave until 5 or 6, but we left by 3:45. After a quick rest stop we were back in Yokosuka by 6:30 or so. I really have a hard time saying for sure because I didn't look at my watch much.
Well anyway, here are Danny's pictures.

Mt Fuji Pictures (pt. 1)

Here they are! Danny and I climbed Fuji yesterday and had a blast. It was certainly hard and the high altitude and rain made things difficult. The pictures say alot. Here are my pictures. I've got Danny's too that I'll put in a later post.
P.S. I am sorry that so many are sideways. I rotated them but they still posted wrong. Can't say I understand why. If you click on the slide show, the slide.com show will open and all the photos will be correct.

Happy 4th

It may be a little early for all of you, but it is tomorrow in Japan (does that count, should we celebrate it when it is the 4th in the states?!) so I wanted to wish you all a happy fourth of July.



Myspace Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Our bad cat

So, funny story...
Danny and I were in the kitchen and Mocha came in meowing and whining as usual. Instead of telling her to be quiet, I decided to pick her up. I was standing there and I heard this squeaky farting sound. The second time I looked at Danny and I said "is that you?!" and he looked at me and said "no, its her" and pointed at Mocha. At that moment I smelled the air and it smelled like cat fart (not that I know if it smells different than any other). So I dropped her pretty quick!
My mischievous little brat.
I told Danny if he was a cat, he'd do the same thing. I know he would!

I forgot to tell you

For a few weeks I would feel sick (upset stomach) if I had to get up in the middle of the night, usually about 3 am to yell at the cat or use the bathroom. Honestly, I thought I was pregnant. Yes, I am still on birth control. Anyway, I went to the doctor last week and he put me on some medication to reduce the acid in my stomach. I wasn't diagnosed with anything and it is only a 30 day trial and I don't think it is a big deal, but since most of you are my family I thought I better let you know. I have been feeling better and I'll let you know if anything changes. For now I am just waiting for my sickle-cell test back to see if I can climb Mt. Fuji on the 10th.

More complaint about Grey's Anatomy

This show gives me a lot to say, but my gripe this time is about Isaiah Washington. I know there was the whole deal where he made some anti-gay remark and had to apologize and go through counseling. I agree that he probably said something he shouldn't, especially considering he is on a very popular show and in he spot light more than other people. Things people say can be misunderstood and made to be bigger than they are, so I was a little bit unhappy when I heard that ABC fired him. I don't like it when the actor of a character changes. It just isn't the same.

I was unhappy about this, until today. I read an article online where Isaiah is claiming that he was fired because he as black and didn't act like a slave. His direct quote was, "Well, it didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn't speak like I'd just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime". There is something about this comment that really peeves me. There is racism in this world, but I like to believe many people in this world don't think blacks should talk and act like they "just left the plantation".

I've decided that Isaiah Washington is just too egotistical and after these comments I wouldn't want him on the show anymore anyway.

If you want to read the article I read, go here: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070629/D8Q268OG0.html

Phone

Between 8 and 11 in the morning our new land line (dsn) phone service will be working. Now you can call us and be able to hear us!
From the states, our number will be 011-81-45-281-4475. If you can't connect with that number for any reason, try 011-81-6160-242-4475. I know that looks like a lot of numbers. I can't explain the second number, but I know 011 is the international access code from the states, 45 is the area code, 281 is the Negishi prefix and 4475 is the last four of our phone number.
Please, please, please make sure you know what time it is here before you call us!!!

Its coming!!

Funny picture

43 Things

I came across this website that lets you browse ideas and choose 43 things you'd like to do. I have put together my list.

Seriously!!

Okay, so I know that many of you that read our blog don't watch Grey's Anatomy, but I have got to rant for just a quick second. Don't give me any idea about all that I have missed, considering that we are 5 months behind here and the season is already over in the states. 

I know that Merideth can't die because, well, she is the main character. I am just so peeved (so they are good actors...) because I just watched the second of the three part series "Drowning on Dry Land" and at the very end she is in a hospital room with Denny and the guy from the bomb disposal unit (who are both dead). She then asks if she is dead, I can't remember what Denny says, and then she says "Holy...". 

SERIOUSLY!! What is that all about?!

Okay, glad I got that off my chest. I can go to bed now. Its only 10 o'clock, but Danny's been out for hours. I guess not having to go to work at 530 am has its perks.

Pictures

Finally, pictures from the states! Danny has many better ones, but these are the only I have now. We went to a Mariners game while we were there to celebrate our anniversary. (It was against the Yankees and we won!!) The weekend before we left our families got together for a picnic. Danny and I cut and ate our year-old cake. It was pretty darn good. I honestly don't remember what it tasted like on our wedding, but I think it was better after being frozen for a year.
Enjoy our pictures!

Hanabi (fireworks)

Danny and I went back to Yokohama in the evening of the festival to see the fireworks. Here is another video I took of the finale. People say that Japanese fireworks are different than American ones, but I don't see much of a difference. During the show they would stop every few minutes to take a break. I am not sure what that was about.
Anyway.... Karera wa utsukushii desu (they are beautiful).

Catching up on videos and pictures...

The following video is from a few weeks ago when Danny and I went to Yokohama open port festival. Near Yamashita park there were dragon boat races all day long. I think many of the teams are affiliated with Chinatown, "chukagai" in Japanese, which is very close by.
Danny thought it would be cool if they could get a Navy team together. It certainly would get them lots of exercise.

Sorry that it is so jumpy. I guess I have a problem standing still!



There is more to come...

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my dad and father-in-law. Sorry you aren't even getting a card. (One is in a box we sent to ourselves in May and don't expect to get for another 2-4 weeks!)
We miss you guys and hope you have a good Sunday.

This weekend

I just want to let everyone know that Danny and I are leaving within the next hour or so and we are going to Tokyo to stay for the weekend since our anniversary is on sunday. We'll talk to you again when we get back.

Sorry

Hey, I know. We just had a weekend and I didn't post anything. Don't worry, we didn't do anything this weekend. Anyway, I am really too tired to post pictures right now. I am so exhausted from work.
Maybe later.
I'll take my computer downstairs and start working on them (at least download them onto my computer), okay?
Again, we're okay so don't be surprised if you don't hear from us too often. We aren't that busy, but at the same time there is too much to do. Chores are never done and spending hours on the computer just doesn't sound appealing to me. I'd rather read my book or take a nap.
If you wanna talk to us, just call. I know it is difficult to contact us. I have been working a little longer than normal. (This seems to be the time of year the kids keep hurting themselves.) Thursday is the schools last day, so you will be able to reach me almost any day after that. We hope to get a landline soon.

Where have we been?

No where really. I am just super busy and don't have time to write on the blog now. Most of my evenings are taken up with English lessons and my days are spent at the school or cleaning the house. Mocha (and Danny's) inventions for making a bigger and better mess are just getting more creative. The cat has a thing for dunking all her toys in her water dish and then fishing them back out. The most recent toy is a mouse that has a tail that is dyed blue. When she took it out of the water, she splashed blue dye all over the wall and floor. She also has this thing with the box of kitty litter. Not only did she drag it halfway across the dining room floor, but she also ripped the pour spout off. Ugh, she is driving me crazy.
We're alive so don't worry. I know I am about 2 weeks late on pictures of the states and now I have this last weekend to post as well. Danny won't be home tonight, so maybe I'll have time to work on them after I get home from my lesson at 9.

Yesterday

There was a festival in Yokohama friday and yesterday. We didn't do much during the day, but I made Danny go back last night and we watched fireworks (hanabi, or flower fire, in Japanese). I have some video and pictures I will post soon.

Another decision of mine

After talking to many of my friends, I have to say I've decided that many navy wives have a way of sucking every last bit of happiness out of you. I guess it must be because most of us are bored, jobless, and spend most of our time locked up in our houses. Okay, I just started including myself in that statement and I don't feel like I am part of this group
Anyway, my assumption is that they get a sort of cabin fever. They make themselves somewhat crazy and invite ideas in their head of things that don't exist and also apparently loose all judgment.
Of course I am not going into details, but I am definitely tired of this already. I've heard of too many times when "friends" get mad about something minor and go berserk attaching the person they've decided they don't like.
I can't wait to go back to the states and get normal friends (and by normal I mean weren't crazy enough to marry and navy guy and won't go crazy anytime soon). I am also sad that a few screwy people mess up the image of us all.
Don't even get me started on the officer's wives that mess it up for the rest of us too...

Flowers

I took some new pictures today of my garden & I'm including some older pictures too.

The truth

Okay, after all those cute pictures, here is a real truthful picture of Mocha.

The girls goofing around

So, FINALLY, here are the pictures from the girls getting together in the states. Sorry it took so long.
I had a GREAT time with you gals. I am so glad we had time to get together.

I have an addiction

... to taking cute pictures of Mocha and sharing them for everyone to see.

http://www.slide.com/r/QFtGBkPYwz-GUMctkAftJT7cyvSO6tAp?
previous_view=mscd_embedded_url

I seem to have a lot to say

Okay, so I've probably been writing posts faster than you can read them. If that is the case, then just look to the list of previous posts to the right -------->>> and click on the one you want to read.
Yes, I am also aware that I haven't talked about our trip to the states or posted the pictures. Give me time; I'm getting to it.

My decision

I've realized today that I really need a hobby. Yesterday, a woman that I work with was selling a lot of StampingUp stuff for really cheap and I bought a bunch for scrapbooking. (I don't do card making, sorry). When we were back in the states I realized that I should get back into painting too. I really enjoy painting all those little wooden things. Who knows what I'd do with them when I was done, but I just need something to do. Knitting is fun, but it just isn't that exciting to me and not something I can spend a large amount of time doing. My project now was started last July!!
Step one- get a dining room table. THEN I can work on collecting craft stuff.
Anyone have some craft stuff they want to donate to me? :)

New layout

I am sorry if you don't like our new layout. I am playing with new things. There is a new option that lets us put our own image in the titlebar, but no matter how small I make it keeps stretching out and driving me crazy. I hope they will come up with a fix for it soon. For now, you just have to deal with it!!

Here is the deal with the car

When we bought the skyline we knew it wasn't in the best shape, but it was cheap ($700) and we needed a car. Of course, we didn't think that the new tires were going to be so expensive. It doesn't shock me that it is broken now. It is nearly 15 years old and has had more owners than the average American vehicle. Cars owned by Americans in Japan get quite a beating. It really sucks that we are loosing that money, but that is the way things go. Lucky for us, we already bought the new car.
The deal we've been going through now is that we were told the Japanese inspection (done every two years) had already expired. There is a whole long process attached to renewing it. Well, I found out today that was not true, but it does expire very soon so we will just finish the process on Monday after the brake pads are replaced (tomorrow). The new car was $1500 and in MUCH better shape. The funny things is that we bought it from the lemon lot, but it is not a lemon. That s just what they call the used car lot in Yokosuka. Weird, huh?
Anyway, a lot of details were made clear to me today and everything is pretty much sorted out. If we want to drive the Toyota starting tomorrow, we can!!

Oh, I forgot to tell you

We are junking the Skyline. The autoport told us that the radiator needed to be overhauled (whatever that means), the waterpump needed to be replaced and it needed new hoses too, I think. Anyway, it was going to cost us over $1000. We only spent $700 on it and were going to sell it for that much. The woman (an ET3 I think) that was gong to buy it is married with a very young daughter. Plus, the inspection was going to expire in October and it would never pass! Fortunately it won't cost us much, but we are loosing a lot of money on it.
We get our new car back on friday but can't drive it until monday when we take it to get the Japanese inspection. Then we will FINALLY have a car to drive.

Blah

Sometimes when I come home from work I just want to nap even though I am not tired. Then I don't want to get up when my alarm goes off and then I don't do anything the rest of the day even though I know I have to. This is an issue I noticed after we moved here, especially when Danny wasn't home (he has to take the home-to-work bus tonight, won't be home until 1830 and I leave shortly before then because I have a lesson at 1915 and won't be home until 2100). What do I do about this?
I've willingly joined a women's bible study, but it starts to feel like an obligation rather than a fun activity (especially when I won't see Danny AGAIN until I get home at 930 and he has duty the next day). This is why I don't do activities and it sucks. I have issues...

Awww...

How cute is this?

Well,

... replacing the thermostat and washing the radiator out didn't solve the problem. Great.

More about the car

Danny drove the Skyline into work today and dropped off at the autoport during his lunch break. After he explained what has been happening(the water boiling right out of the reserve) they think the thermostat is broken. He authorized them to fix that, but nothing more until talk to them again. Hopefully that is all it takes.

Japan for the uninvited

There is a toolbar that I downloaded for the internet called Stumble-upon. You have an account and it remembers your preferences and interests. Anyway, I found this page called Japan for the Uninvited. It has a collection of interesting things about Japan. Pretty cool! Find the box about Japanese pizza and you'll see all the weird things they put on 'em.

Kyodo-no-mori Ajisai Matsuri

I've got to go to one of these places: Hydrangea Festival

Our poor cat

So, anyone want to hear a story about how I accidentally almost seriously hurt, if not killed, our cat last night? It is a pretty short story...
I was doing laundry last night. I had just taken a load out of the dryer and put it in the living room. Then I went back and put the wet clothes in the dryer, grabbed a dryer sheet and started it up. As soon as I did there was this terrible sound coming from the dryer. It sounded like I had put a pair of shoes in. My load was very small, so I was really worried. I opened the dryer door and guess who shot out of the dryer and upstairs! Yup, Mocha. She probably jumped in before I put the wet clothes in the dryer. Danny was standing right next to me and he didn't know she was there either.
Mocha used to like climbing in the dryer, but I don't think she will anymore!
So, it wasn't a near death story, but I was really afraid I hurt her (she went around a few times before I turned it off) before I thought it was funny. Don't worry though, she is okay. Just not very bright.

Update on car

After the car cooled down I went to go check it out. Turns out the radiator was completely empty!!! There is a bunch of dried brown goo inside the reserve and the radiator cap looks rusted. On the reserve tank it was obvious that water had been coming out the top of the tank. Danny will have to take the home-to-work for the next few days and I will have the autoport check if there is any cracks in the radiator or holes in a tube.
I learned from my honda and carrying a half gallon of water in my trunk at all times!

Car problems

I drove the car to the grocery store just an hour ago. Danny had the ac on when he was driving it home this morning and when I drove it I noticed a strange smell. I didn't think anything of it until the way back. I turned the air off and still noticed a smell. When I was stopped at a light I saw steam or smoke coming out of the engine. Not very much, but it doesn't look good and smells terrible. I checked the temp of the car and it was normal, but the oil gauge looked low. We just had the oil changed a few months ago (not long enough ago to warrant an oil change, but I think it may be leaking.) Danny has been driving it, so I haven't even seen the car long enough to notice anything. If it is leaking, where would it be leaking from? How much is that going to cost?! ... we are trying to sell the crappy thing...
If its not the oil, anyone else want to take a guess at what it could be? I am waiting a few hours and then I'll go look at it once it cools down.

Too much to say

I am two weeks behind in posting on the blog. Luckily for me, majority of our readers already know everything we did while we were in the states, but I know I'll have to post a lot of details for anyone else who doesn't know or just for journaling purposes. Mostly I guess you're all waiting for pictures. Most of the time I am at the computer is during work and although I have my camera here with me, I don't have the cables to hook it up. I also want to review them and edit them before I make them into a slideshow.
Suppose I could start with yesterday and last night. Danny was the one that was really worked up and beyond peeved so I guess I could try to make him write about it, but I don't think that would work. Checking in at Narita (Tokyo) was so easy, but the United desk in SeaTac is messed up. Their self check-in counters are a waste of time and the people don't act like they know what they're doing. All we wanted was to check our bags and get our tickets, but it couldn't be that simple. I guess the United representatives were looking for something special in Danny's passport (which I thought was a job for customs)and assumed that we had our tickets already. Checking our bags in shouldn't have been hard, but somehome it became that way. Danny and I just didn't understand what they were doing wrong and he was ready to scream at them.
It tooks us a little while to get through security and they moved the boarding gate without us knowing (no big deal, it was only 3 gates down). They guy in front of Danny on the plane kept reclining his seat too far and almost broke his computer a few times. Once we got back to Japan we had to wait about an hour for the Narita express which was about $40 each and took about 1.5 hrs to get to Yokohama. Then we had to switch trains and then grab a taxi back to the house. This prooved to be fairly difficult for me, but we were sure happy to walk in the front door. I got a nice bath last night and we finally got to sleep in our own bed. Didn't get to ask Danny this morning, but I think we both slept pretty hard.
That was majority of the bad stuff that happened to us over the last two weeks. I'll get to the good stuff when I have pics.

our return to Japan

We finally made it home! It was a VERY long day, but are now at home trying to relax. I'll fill you all in about the excitement later. For now, I am going to go take a bath.
We'll miss everyone. Thank you for being there for us.
Love, Lori and Danny

Hello :)

We are still in the states until wednesday (we'll be bck in Japan on thursday evening), but I wanted to take a moment to say hello to everyone we haven't seen recently. We are having a great time visiting. The return to Japan will come with mixed feelings. Vacation has been nice. We'll have so much to tell when we return. Please remember to check the blog often after thursday.
Happy mothers day to all the mothers out there.

yup, we made it

Well, if you haven't figured it out... we are here!!
Contact us before the 17th. Thats when we leave.

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