My first day

I have my first day of work at the elementary school tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Information

Blogger is in Japanese right now and it took me forever to figure out how to get this far!
just wanted to give people an update who didn't know what was going on.
My grandmother had knee surgery last week. From the messages I have been getting she is doing well, but needs a lot of physical therapy.
The other news is that Julie had to make the decision to put Ted (Ted E Bear- the family dog that we've had since junior high and she was incredibly attached to) down. He had some better days in his life, like when he was attacked by a raccoon. We loved him and he was a great dog.
Please just keep those people (mostly my whole family) in your thoughts and prayers. I want to tell me grandma to get better and Julie that I understand how shes feeling and I am very sad too. He was a great loyal dog.

Finally saw it

I forgot to say that last week (Saturday-when I went to get Danny) I saw my first Japanese snow. I've been dying waiting for a real winter and although it didn't stick, I was still happy to see it. Of course if I was home I would be tired of seeing it by now!

Courtesy of Ryen

Here are more pics from Ryen's visit. They came out better than mine.

The difficult things

I have a lot of time to think as I am walking home from the train station, usually after a lesson. I don't like to think about the things I just did so I spend the 20 minutes or so letting my mind wander. Today I was thinking about why it is hard living in Japan. There many things that make it more difficult than moving to a new US city. The one I was thinking about today was standing out.
There are military bases in Spain, England, Germany, Italy and so on. The people that live there are mostly caucasian. Americans may look or act a little different, but no one may know for sure until they speak. For those living in Korea, Japan, or other majority non-caucasian countries it is a little different. You try your hardest to go about life as normal as possible, but you know you stand out like a giraffe in Antarctica! People know (or asume) that you don't speak the native language and stare at you like you are the wierdest thing they have ever seen. Some people don't like you and some people are just curious. Don't get me wrong, they are nice about it, but you know you look like a big idiot just trying to fit in. Even buying lunch is hard. Especially when you can't read the language. But that is a whole other topic!!
My point is, the next time you think life is hard, imagine being a very obvious foreigner struggling to do normal, everyday things. That should make you feel better!

Hardly made it to Jan. 17th

Things never work out quite the way you want them to. I had a decent day yesterday. Danny made it home kind of late and was so tired that he had to go to bed early. We don't usually go to bed until 9, but last night I think he was asleep before then.
My phone rang at about 10 o'clock. It was my boss for English teaching. He just wanted to tell me that my last student wanted to continue regular lessons in about two weeks. So, I was happy about that but mad he called me at 10 pm. When my phone rang, Danny sat straight up in bed. I told him it was just my boss and he laid back down. I don't even think he woke up to begin with. He is pretty scary and disoriented when he is startled while sleeping!
Anyway, we both were asleep and this time Danny's phone rang at about 11:45. Neither of us realized it was his phone ringing. I assumed it was his alarm for 430 until I heard a man's voice. Danny realized it was someone on his ship. There was a recall (everyone had to come back to the ship). I'll explain more later about why this really sucks. So, we got up and dressed and had to drive to Yokosuka at midnight last night. I drank a bunch of coffee and couldn't get back to sleep until about 330. I ignored my alarm when it went off at 830 and finally woke up at 930. I have a lesson today and my back is increadibly stiff.
Well, on the "bright" side I went to the Elementary school yesterday. Mr. Fisher (the principal) told me he wanted me to work as the school nurse while she was on maternity leave (about 6 weeks). Holy crap. I'm not qualified, but I'm doing it anyway. I can handle the little injuries so I think I will be okay. I am pretty scared and nervous, but I will get a few days of paid training before I start. I will work full 6 hour days from the beginning of February until the middle of March.

Wish I had more to tell about Danny, but most of what I want to tell I can't. He is working as Communication Officer now though I think he is technically still in the transition stage between his old job and his new one. His new job is pretty tough, but I think he will enjoy it. It is hard to say while they are in port. I'll try to see what kind of information I can pry out of him and try to share it with you.
Heres to another Wednesday...

There is no way to describe this one!

So, this is my life:
I officially start regular lessons for English starting next wednesday. I have two regular students so far, and hopefully a third one soon. I had a trial lesson with her today and although we didn't get to really "lesson stuff", we did get to know each other and I found out where she wants to improve. She is a very nice woman. The regular one I start on wednesday really surprises me. After the trial lesson, she was not sure if she wanted to continue. She was looking for an experianced teacher, but I was honest and told her she was my first student. She wants to go to nursing school in the states, so I hope I can prove to her that I am a good teacher by researching good schools for her.
This is where things get exciting though. For the last month or so, I have been getting civilian LES (leave and earning statements- you understand this if you've worked for the department of defense) in the mail. At first I thought it was for the family SGLI (servicemembers' group life insurance) Danny has for me. Then I thought maybe DODDS (Department of Defense Dependents Schools- sorry for all the "military talk") made a mistake and put me in the system as employed even though I wasn't. THEN, I checked the mail today. In there was a letter from Byrd Elementary. It said this:
"Dear Lori Kohlbeck:
Congratulations! You have been appointed to a subsitute position within DODDS Yokosuka, Japan effective Dec 11, 2006."
How nice of them to tell me this a month later!! It is a good thing they didn't try to call me because, for the last four weeks I had no idea I was employed. Its all news to me!
Dumb government.
Anyway, I am not sure how I feel about it, but I am going to accept. Since school is closed monday for holiday (and Danny FINALLY gets to spend two consecutive days at home) I'll have to wait until tuesday.
This is all weird cause I never even had to do an interview.
Well, tell me what you all are thinking...

Who doesn't love pictures?

I didn't take many while Ryen was here, but here they are anyway!
PS. A lot I took didn't come out because they were taken at night.

Yuck, wednesday

Blah. Its the middle of the week. Nothing going on. Danny has duty again, so here I am; alone.
Since there is nothing happening here now to write about, I thought I'd tell everyone about the last two weeks esp. when Ryen was here.
She came in on the 28th I believe. I told her I would meet her at baggage claim before I realized that it was before customs. I think she sat in there for a while before she realized that I couldn't get in there! :)
The train ride home was long and in the dark, so she couldn't see a whole lot, but things here can be bright and flashy at night so there were lots of signs for Pachinko parlors and whatnot. Anyway, it is quite different from the states. The next day we walked to the park near the house. It was a really clear day and the view of Mt. Fuji was great.
Well, I can't remember what we did minute-by-minute, day-by-day, but I tried to find lots of things for us to do. Danny had very few days off while she was here so we tried to do things he hadn't done before while he was available. We went to the Landmark at night, which was a beautiful view and tried to see the big Buddah in Kamakura, but didn't find it. We did visit a shrine though. I don't know if my pictures came out.
The rest of the time we went to Chinatown, a racetrack in Kawasaki, down to Yokosuka (Danny gave Ryen a tour of the ship), lunch in Yokohama, Tokyo- both the Akihabara (Electronics town) and Shibuya (the cool/hip part of Tokyo), and lots of other little places here and there. She got to ride the train a lot and even started learning the train route.
All in all, we had a great time. It was nice to get out of the house and see a few things I hadn't seen before. Of course it was sad to go back to my normal life, but its okay. I have Danny around a bit for now and even more so starting next week so I am pretty excited.
Well, that is my life...

Help me please

I can't talk to a vet about this because he is backed up and can't figure out what Mocha's problem is.
She is 6 months old and hasn't been fixed yet. Since she started adjusting to our house, she has been a vocal cat. She meows if I look at her, call her name, or if I am in the kitchen. At night it is the worst. The last few days have been especially bad. She roams around the house at about two in the morning and howls like someone is killing her. It is very load and very obnoxious. She also likes to stand right outside our door and whine.
I let her in the bedroom when I am in there, but the door is closed throughout the day and during the night. I do not let her in the bed because of Danny's allergies.
We've considered getting a second cat so she would have a companion. PAWS is full too and I would love to help out, but we can't bring two cats back to the states when we travel and we couldn't have a dog as long as we were living in military housing.
Does anyone know a lot about cats? I have done research, but I just can't understand what she does and I REALLY want it to stop.

Hey everyone

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Ryen has been here the last week, so I have been showing here around Japan and haven't spent as much time sitting at the computer. Danny is still in three section duty, so I will be home a lot and will have time to update you on everything that has been happening.
Sorry if you have been writing you email and I haven't written back. I will be better about it now, so please write to me. I don't feel like sitting at the computer tonight, so I'll update everyone later.

P.S.

It has been silent because I have been trying to spend and enjoy as much time with Danny as possible. There are certainly been enough happening to write about, I just haven't. :) I know you all understand.

The Car

I said there were a lot of updates to make, so here is another. Danny and I went through a week long fiasco trying to get new tires on the car. The autoport here or in Yokosuka wouldn't do it, so we tried to find a place in town. The first place we went to was call Eneos. They are a gas station and tire place. The put brand new tires on the front, but the back is what really needed it. After being there for over an hour and a half, we had to go find another place. They said there was a rusty bold and it could only be removed by a tire place. So we drove up and down 16 (that is the road that connects Yokohama to Yokosuka) trying to find one. We went to one and they said they didn't have the tires we needed so we kept driving. Stopped by another tire place and they told us the same thing, so we went home.
Later we saw one that did tires and they ordered our tires for us. I took the car in for an appointment a few days later. They also said they couldn't remove the bolt (we had been told by Eneos that a tire place would have the right tools to remove it). Finally I just bought the tires and went down to Yokosuka to talk to some people who spoke English. That is what made this whole fiasco so much more difficult- we don't speak Japanese!
Anyway, the autoport said they could remove it, but they couldn't put our tires on. After Danny talked to them again they said they would take it off and replace it with a new one. THEN, they found out their bolts were the wrong size and refered us to a place in town in Yokosuka called Kanagawa Tire. We went there and the guy told us the bolt had been rounded off by people trying to remove it and that it was a special bolt that only the dealership could remove. By then it was 5 pm and we just wanted to go home.
I don't remember exactly when we went at it again, but Danny found a location of an English speaking Nissan dealership in Yokohama. We found it and talked to them. They said they could take it off but our car wouldn't be done until 4 pm (it was 11 or 1130), but they said if we went to the dealership near our house it could be quicker. So we drove back to Negishi and to the dealership. They got our car in as soon as they could and worked very hard to remove the bolt. They finally got it off and didn't have to bust it. In the process of putting the new tires on they replaced 8 bolts. They aren't the exact ones that were on the car before, but they were good enough.
So after a week of much frustration and spending as much money on new tires as we spent on the car to begin with, we finally got new tires on the car. We wanted to drive to Yokota, but couldn't drive on the freeway with the bad tires and, well, couldn't find it. One day, we got so lost we were in Tokyo. That was a frustrating time, but that is a story for another day!

Our Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all had a great one. It was sad being away from home, but Danny and I enjoyed having our first Christmas together and making our own traditions and memories. The tree was in the house and very bare for a while, so it was great when Danny came home so we could decorate. I am putting pictures at the end for you to see. We exchanged gifts to each other on the 23rd. Wanted to do it on Christmas eve, but Danny had watch so I went to go pick him up at 8 on Christmas. When we got home we opened presents while sitting on the floor. We tried to get Mocha to unwrap (attack) stuff, but she just wouldn't do it no matter how much catnip was involved. That night I made my very first all-Lori Christmas dinner. I bake two pre-smoked Turkey drumsticks, as well as making greenbean casserole, potatoes (from box) and gravy (from package), stuffing (from box), rolls (from roll) and apple pie (from can). So, despite all the "premade-ness" it turned out well. I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen, so it worked out perfect for the two of us. We still have turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole in the fridge. Oh, and half an apple pie.
There are many, many other things to write about, but I am trying to keep this post on topic. I will write more again soon. Ryen is flying in to Japan tomorrow afternoon, so I will have to take an insanely long and lonely train ride to Narita to pick her up.
Here is the pictures:

English lessons

I had my second trial lesson today at one o'clock. It is now three and Kosuke (the owner of the school) just called and told me that she wants to continue lessons because she really liked me. The other woman is still thinking because she was looking for a older teacher and I told her that one was my first time, so she is a little nervous about it. I had to be honest with her. Anyway, I get to start regular lessons with Chihiro after Christmas. Yay!

Sorry

I know, I know. Its been a long time since I've posted. With Danny just being home I hope you all understand. We both have been a little under the weather and quite lazy.
Yesterday, I slept from noon to three after we got home and Danny slept til between 4 and 5. It was his day off, but we had to go to the hospital because he was getting the lump removed from his head. (They call it a wen) It only took about 30 minutes and didn't seem to hurt him, but the thing was on a blood vessel so he bled a bit and they wrapped his head so he looked like a injured soldier from the civil war. It was really quite funny. He also got two stiches. The doctor shaved his hair off where he cut, so last night I shaved all his hair off so he didn't look too funny. At least he won't have the bump anymore. It was small, but easier to have it off.
The ship Christmas party was wednesday. Danny made a big fuss at first about going, but it wasn't bad. Buffet style food and a gift raffle. Danny was like the 4th person drawn, but he picked the 72 hour liberty and put it back. Someone else can use it more and the officers are encouraged to leave it for other people anyway. I wanted the television. Maybe next year!
Speaking of Christmas, and to answer all your questions Grandma, we did get the tree decorated. We did it on monday night after dinner. We put the first ornament on together, which was the "first christmas" one Tracy sent us (thank you Tracy). It was really cute. So he put on the ornaments from his childhood and I put on the ones I bought at a store here. The tree is full and we didn't even put them all on, but the back is empty. Danny really crammed them on there too. It looks beautiful though and I took lots of pictures. I will put those up later. We also took pictures with Mocha and, no, she hasn't knocked over the tree. She just wraps her toy around the branches 30 million times. Danny says she just wants to decorate the tree, but I take the toy away for a while.
Our tree has presents under it and looks very festive now. Of course, Danny hasn't wrapped my present yet, but I already know what it is 'cause I picked it out in Hong Kong. I think we are being pretty frugal with Christmas and that is a good thing. I just can't wait for Christmas day.
PS. I wanted to let Cheryl know (if Dad or Grandma read this, please pass it on) that we got both packages-theirs and the one from Julie- and I cried when Danny opened it. He was perplexed why we got marshmellows, a sweet potato, canned green beans and french fried onions, but I understood pretty quickly and it made me cry. Thank you for that. I am excited to make at least the green bean casserole.
Other news: I had my first English lesson today. In fact, I just got home about half an hour ago. We met at Starbucks, which wasn't the best place because it was so noisy. I hope the lesson went well. I was so nervous and there was definitely a communication barrier there, but I hope that she will continue having lessons with me and I will get better at this. It was just a trial lesson, so she may decide that she needs a different and more experianced teacher, but now that I've met her it may be better next time. I have another lesson on monday (I try to plan these for Danny's duty days). I feel a little more prepared, but still extremely nervous. Wish me luck.
We hope to have Kana and Yuichi over for dinner this weekend. She just told me she is sick and her voice sounds like a man. Yes, those were her words. I couldn't help but laugh, but I feel bad for her too. Hopefully she will be better before sunday. I want to make dinner and have a nice evening.
Danny is home early morning tomorrow. I am alone tonight. Sad, but I am getting used to it. Goodnight everyone.

Guess what!!

For those of you who didn't know, Danny is home. Yay!! I am so excited about spending our first Christmas together.
I'll try to post again soon.

Video

Okay, so following the conversation about what our cat will eat and talking with my mother-in-law about Japanese food, I had to post this for all who hadn't seen it yet. It is really funny.

Car problems

The back two tires on our new car are pretty bad and I have been told on multiple occasions that they need to be replaced. The back left tire has a slow leak, so everytime I want to drive it, I have to go to the autoport and get more air in the tire. Of course I can only do this when they are open, which is very limited hours on tuesday and friday. They told me that they can't replace my tires because their machines are not right for the tires I need. I don't know what it is all about, but the point is they can't/won't do it. So when I went to Yokosuka today to get groceries (their commissary is much larger than ours) I stopped by the Autoport there. Turns out they won't do them either!
It is a real big pain. Now we will have to go into town to get them done which isn't (hopefully) a huge hassle, but it will probably be more expensive. Everything in Japan is expensive. Just kinda frustrated by this whole thing. I am waiting til Danny gets home to get this taken care of, but when he comes in I have to pick him up and he will have to take the car everyday (once he gets his license) because the home-to-work bus doesn't run on holiday standdown because most people don't have to go to work everyday but Danny does. I am concerned about the car because I don't know how much longer this is going to work and how soon we can get it fixed. Of course I am worried about our safety cause the tire could blow at any moment while driving down the road at 60 km/h!

Funny

We have a truely Japanese cat. I just found out tonight that she likes miso soup paste. How weird is that?