The Bakery, Sports Day Fest and Korea

I have some catching up to do on here, so this post is going to be kind of random.

Still no job :-(  But in good news, I've completed the last part of the background check, so now I wait.  I've met the art teacher at the elementary and she seems to appreciate help, so I spent some time in her room last week, taking down a bulletin board, working on some things for her website, and cutting out laminated stuff.  And it's art class, so it's fun! 

In case I haven't mentioned, Bryan really likes his job.  He works from 7am to 3:30, M-F.  He's on duty every couple of weeks, which means he just has to respond to any phone calls made to the dental clinic, but since there are few dental emergencies, that's not a big deal.  In Mayport, he only saw active duty, but since we're overseas, he also works on family members.  This means he has better stories to tell when he gets home.  There are 6 dentists at his clinic and they're good co-workers to have.  We've also gotten to know some of the other officers at the clinic, the med docs, optometrist and pharmacist.  Also very cool people.

Halloween is coming up this week!  I bought some pumpkins and put them on the front steps of my house.  Turns out I'm lucky that the commissary sells pumpkins for 36 cents per pound, because if I had to buy them out in town, I'd pay between $25 to $40!

The full size pumpkin in the middle is 3000 yen, or $40.  The mini pumpkins at right are much more reasonably prices at 200 yen, or $2.50.  I've only seen them for sale at flower shops. 

Japanese food is mostly delicious.   I learning to love some kinds of sushi, ramen, and tempura anything is usually good.   Note: I have yet to see "chicken teriyaki", despite that being the main dish at the Japanese food court stands in the States.  However, I have seen and become all too familiar with the bakeries here.  It was a pleasant surprise, but yes, Japanese people make fantastic pastries!!  Most grocery stores have a separate bakery area and there is usually one in main train stations.  The heavenly smell tempts me all too often. 

Yes, most of them do taste as delicious as they look.  And they're reasonably priced, usually between $1.50 and $2.50.

At each bakery you get a tray and a pair of tongs and just grab away at whatever you want and then they wrap it up all pretty for you.

Last week the Japanese Officers' Wives group invited the American wives to a Sports Day Fest.   Sports Day is a national holiday here and was started back in 1960s to commemorate Tokyo hosting the summer Olympics.  It's used to promote sports and having an active life style.   The day is celebrated in school in a way that is similar to our Field Day in elementary school, meaning they have lots of quick funny competitions.  We were divided into 4 teams, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green.  They had an opening and closing ceremony (it included marching in single file lines and our team leader proudly holding a sign like the country signs at the Olympic opening ceremony), many games, and of course an awards ceremony.  Then we had a nice lunch with our hostesses.  I wish I would have taken more pictures, especially with the ladies I had lunch with, but my phone was ready to die, so I only got a few.  Sadly, I didn't get any of the games.  The first was a relay, which involved each participant to first run to a container full baking flour and marshmallows and with your hands behind your back, grab a marshmallow with your mouth (Similar to bobbing for apples only the flour turns your face white, which I'm not sure if this has any references to how many ladies bleach their skin or not...), then grab a jump rope and run/jump rope to a tarp that you had to climb under, then dribble a ball to a pile of clothes, put on the costume, and then run to the finish line.  This all seems pretty normal and simple, except you're trying to chew up a marshmallow and your mouth is really dry from all the flour that you shoved your face into.   The other most memorable game was a simple one where two people held a rope tight, about at eye level.  The rope has several packaged pastries hanging from it and the participants have to run and grab the package with their mouth, and of course without using their hands.  The first to cross the finish line with a pastry in the mouth wins.  Also hilarious.  Part of me would like to think that they made up this game just to make us feel silly, but they tell us that it is a popular Sports Day game, and I'm inclined to believe them.  This is one of the many reasons I love Japanese people :-)

The ladies had the gym decorated nicely for our day of fun.  Here, some of their husbands are demonstrating kendo, a modern Japanese art of sword fighting.  It is often taught as part of their junior high school curriculum and is very popular.   It's vaguely similar to fencing, but much more serious.

After the games, we had lunch.  The tables were pretty and included a Hello Kitty gift bag of snacks and a pretty hand towel.

This was our lunch.  Lots of rice with a cherry, some pickled veggies, potato salad, veggie stir fry, and then a variety of protein, including a tempura shrimp, 2 battered pieces of chicken, a sausage patty, and a mini hot dog.  The green fake grass is just decoration.   It was very delicious!  I'm thinking this is similar to how we have boxed lunches, like at Honey Bakes Ham.

Perhaps you notice the "medal" around my neck??  That's because my team came in second place! They're made of a baked rice cake!

Jimena and I went to Korea Wedneday.  In the military, there a lot of planes flying around the world and if they have extra room on them, you can hop on and ride to the destination with them for free.  Of course it's only certain flights and it involves paperwork and you have to check online to see when flights are available, and the departure time can be changed at any moment or the flight could be cancelled, but if it works out for you, it's a very nice perk of being in the military.   This is called Space Available travel, or just simply Space A.   The military also has air service called the Patriot Express.  The PE around here makes a weekly loop from Osan, Korea to Yokota, Japan (just north of us a bit) and then to Seattle.  The majority of the seats are used by military who are PCSing (permanent change of station, moving from one station to the next) but there are often empty seats, especially between Japan and Korea, so it is also part of Space A.

 I've heard from many people that I should take advantage of  this, especially the trip to Korea.  It's popular to leave here on Wednesday afternoon, land in Korea, spend the evening shopping and eating Korean BBQ, get a room at the Lodge on base for the night, and then fly back home the next morning.   Jimena and I don't have jobs yet, so we took the train to Yokota, got on the PE at 3:00 in the afternoon, and then arrived in Korea around 5.  By the time we got through customs and got a room, we didn't get to the shopping area until 7:30 and the shops closed at either 8 or 9.  We also learned that the best shopping is during the afternoon when there are more street vendors, which we missed.  Also, I don't really fit into Korean sized clothing, just like here in Japan.   So needless to say, shopping wasn't such a hit for me.  But we did get fried calamari from a street vendor and even though there was no dipping sauce and it wasn't very tender, it was absolutely delicious and cost us about $3.  We eventually got a late dinner too.  Since it was our first trip to Korea, we went for Korean BBQ.   Afterwards we went out for some drinks at an English Pub near base.  It was almost all Americans, but it was still fun.  I had a berry slushie made with soju, distilled rice liquor. Also delicious!   We had to be back at the terminal at 7:00 the next morning, so it was a short and not as productive trip as we had hoped for, but it was still fun.   The food was definitely the highlight this time.  Next time we're going to plan for a trip where we can stay for several days and do more sightseeing, including seeing Seoul.  Sadly, I didn't get a good feel for the country at all since we were right next to base.  But no worries, there'll be a next time!

We had a fun time cooking our meal.  It's thin pieces of meat, along with veggies and sauces that you cook on a grill right at your table.  So like the Melting Pot, on a grill.  

Yummy!!  *I've gotten a lot better with chopsticks!*

A nice landmark from the plane window :-)   Must mean we're almost back home!

Last month, Book Club read The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  The month before that we read Gone Girl.  They were both good, but I'm especially excited to be reading Memoirs of  a Geisha this month.   We're planning a trip to Kyoto during cherry blossom season in the spring, so I'm excited I'll know more about this fascinating part of the area's history.  And actually, I'm going to go read a chapter now. 

Thanks for reading!!