Driving, Sushi-Go-Rounds and Chinatown

Hi friends :-)

Life has been good.

  We've moved into our house!!  This is very exciting in 2 ways:  1.  We have a lot more space.  2.  We're actually living amongst the Japanese rather than a happy little American-filled base.  But we're only a 10 minute (I'm a leisurely biker) bike ride to said base, so when I'm overwhelmed with Japanese people and places I can escape.  So yay!  However, this is not yet fully exciting because our household goods shipment (nearly everything we own) is still not here and probably won't be til at least the end of this month.  Today is only September 7th.   We knew it would be awhile and we expected to live at the Navy Lodge a lot longer, but our housing paperwork was done super-quick.  We were fortunate to have our quick-shipment arrive, which includes the majority of our clothes and shoes (YAY!!!), our bikes, our bedding and a crockpot.   We were told that the "quick-shipment" is usually not quick at all, so we didn't take it too serious.  Clearly, we should have included more in it.   Fleet and Family Service Center is awesome and lends out a couple kitchen kits. We have borrowed dishes, silverware, glasses, a toaster, mixer and iron.    I've picked up a few things at the 100 Yen Store down the street (similar to our dollar store, but with a little more options).  Cooking is still a challenge.  We made our first meal last night and I've got dinner going in the crockpot for tonight.    

We  have purchased a car. It's a 2001 Nissan Cube (not released in the US).  

Yes, there is room for 2 visitors and maybe even their suitcases!

Lets talk about driving in Japan.  First, they drive on the left side of the road.  This is challenging to get used to.  I've been driving for over 12 years now and had definitely got to the point where a lot of times I didn't have to think about driving.  Here, though, it's very overwhelming to me.  I have the route from my house to the base down, but anything outside of that route is in the "scarey" realm still.  There are signs everywhere that are in Kanji, so I can't read them. The stop signs look different (still red, but a triangle and of course in Kanji).  There are crosswalks everywhere and people just cross them and trust that you're going to stop. And they don't hesitate at all, they'll just pop out from behind a car or around the corner and walk across.  Bikers and scooters are also everywhere, weaving in and out of traffic and hiding in your blind spot when you turn.  Children also walk to and from school un-accompanied, and of course, they're kids and don't really pay attention to traffic very well, so I'm always on the look out for them as well.   Also, fun to note:  A lot of Japanese people are much older than us when they start driving. So they look at Americans and refer to us as "Professional Drivers".  We were told that since we're here for 3 years, we will get in an accident and even if someone runs into us, we will still be partially blamed (they do %'s here for traffic accidents).   Awesome.  In good news, I have a number to call for a representative/translator from base who will help at the accident scene.  I guess that's good news.


I drove for the first time by myself today.  I did well (meaning I made it to the base and back and didn't run into anyone/thing.)  The most stressful part for me was the very beginning.  There are 2 parking spots in front of our house.  Our house is on a pretty busy road though, so I either have to back in or back out and both involve making traffic come to a stop.  That makes me nervous, very nervous. Bryan just says to start going and people will stop.  The majority of them will, but it's hard for me to trust strangers.

We went to a sushi-go round.  It's a restaurant that serves primarily sushi.  You sit at your table and there's a conveyer belt that runs alongside of your table that is full of plates of sushi.  The one we went to was extra fun because every plate was 105 yen (about $1.35).   You can also use the touchscreen by your table to request a special order and they'll make it and stick it on the belt for you.  Very fun. 

The conveyer belt of sushi.  There are also juice boxes on plates that are also 105 yen.  I'm not sure what each type of sushi is yet.  I just eat it and have been lucky enough to like everything so far. 

Jimena creeped into this pic.  At the end of the meal, a server comes around and measures your stack of plates to see how much you owe.  Green tea is complimentary, sake is not.

For you non-fish-loving peeps:  There is still hope for you!  They have a couple non-raw-fish sushi items, including this one, which is bacon (cured and smoked, but not fried) topped with green onions. They also had tempura shrimp, shrimp and cheese and few cooked fishies.

We ventured over to Yamato, the city to our east for dinner one night this week.  We had found a restaurant that looked really good, but we were looking in the windows to see if they had any English menus.  Apparently we stood outside debating too long because one of the waiters opened the door for us and insisted we come in.  Immediately every head in the restaurant (it was a small restaurant, but pretty full, so about 30 people) turned and stared at us.  I would like to think it's out of curiosity.   There was no menu, everything was just written on the wall, of course in Kanji.  It took several minutes, lots of hand motions and a few attempts at the Google translator app, but we eventually got dinner ordered.  While we were waiting for our meal, the 3 old men next too us offered us sake.   Here, it is really rude to turn down a drink.  And once you are offered a drink, you should pour them a drink as well.  So before dinner arrived, I had several glasses of some really strong sake.  They just kept saying "Kanpai!" which means "Cheers!".    They, of course, spoke no English, but we still had a good time with them.  We also attempted conversation with 2 other tables, and one was a cute older lady who just wanted to practice her English and know where we were from.  She was so nice and cute!   The restaurant served mostly yakatori, skewered and grilled chicken. We also had the pork, but the chicken was definitely the highlight.  We're hoping to make this one of our usual places here. 


Over the long weekend, we went to the Chinatown area of Yokohama.  Very cool!   

Yes, they really are having their feet nibbled at by fish!!!   We thought about it, but since we still have some feet issues from Fuji, we decided to wait til next time.  There WILL be a next time!

 Japan has so much to offer, but almost everything that people told us to do/see is outside.  It's still 90* and super humid here, so we had to find some fun indoor activities too. Bryan's co-worker, Chia, wanted to go to a trick-art museum, which is the reason we went to Chinatown.  I wasn't familiar with this kind of place. I would try to explain it, but I think pictures work best and are highly encouraged here.

This is just a painted floor. No hole, just paint.

Just a painted wall.   The cat doesn't look as real as the door and beam.

The giant/dwarf room. We're standing right beside each other, but whoa!!!

Cool, huh?

Another wall/floor that looks 3D, but isn't.

After that we went to another area nearby, Motomachi. It's known for it's higher-end shopping.  No purchases, but fun to stroll around.

On our way home we stopped at an American-style brewery/smokehouse.  Very American menu.   

 

Have I wrote about getting a job?   Of course I would love to be teaching full time, like I have for 6 years.  But I did not get hired.  I'm pretty okay with that because I would have started working pretty much the day we arrived.  I'm enjoying free time to transition.  I applied to be a substitute teacher at the elementary school here on base and the middle/high school at Camp Zama, the Army base nearby.  They're Department of Defense schools, so American kids are taught American standards.   I thought I could start right away, but no!  I have to wait at least 6 to 8 weeks to get a federal background check run on me.  Really?!?!?  I think I'll start to volunteer in a couple of classrooms so that I can get familiar with the schools until my background check is done (yes, I can volunteer, but not work).   I also might teach English.  I need to work on making flyers to hang up as well as make a profile on a website that connects tutors to students.  I found out that there will be a job opening in a month or so that I would really, really like.  It's a position at the base, working for the Navy College.  Basically, I would encourage sailors and their dependents to use the scholarship money that is available to them to take college courses while they're in the Navy.  I would also go around to different classes and commands to tell them about the opportunities and get them signed up for testing.  The lady who currently has the position is quitting since she is having a baby and she was kind enough to tell me all about it.  I'm hoping that I'm at least considered for the position since I do have a background in education and a Master's degree, which is required.  I'm hoping that there isn't a very big pool of candidates here. So if you're a praying person, send one up for me!

Bryan is on duty this weekend, meaning he has to stay within 30 minutes of base. In case someone has a tooth emergency, he has to go deal with them and save the day.  Therefore we don't have any big plans, just hang out around here and explore the area around our house.  Should be fun.

Take care!