Getting married

Yeah...there's no ring.  But there has been so much talk of this in my life lately--not by a perspective partner, but by random people that I am meeting through my work here.  Seriously.  It's one of the first 3 questions I get asked on any given day---"are you married?".  And the responses to my "no", or "not yet" range from a) the 20 year old (married at 19) who stated with conviction "you've got about 5 years left to do that" b) you're way too beautiful to need to be married (a personal favorite) and c) "that's how I like em!"  I think that the seemingly intense fascination with this stems from the fact that, in my limited experience, so many military couples get married SO young.  Maybe I'm seen as this weird anomaly...still single and over 24.  Well, he better hurry up...apparently the 5 year clock is ticking.

Spanish, French, or Japanese?

Have you ever noticed that when you're put on the spot to speak a language other than your own, ALL of the languages that you've ever learned start busting out of your mouth?  I've tried Spanish and French since I've been here.  Now, it's not like I am fluent in either of these...very far from it.  However, when I'm pressed to begin speaking in a language other than English, somewhere, from the far depths of my brain come the French words that I could not for the life of me recall for my French exams, and that Spanish that I learned while traveling through Costa Rica.

I've given up trying to verify with complete certainty that something in a restaurant is completely vegetarian.  Just too hard.  I walked into the town of Fussa all on my own tonight, and had my first official Japanese dinner.  Delightful!  I don't really know what I ate, but it was a combination of veggies and fish, and mmmmm....SO good.  I forgot to get Yen before I left the base, and most restaurants in Fussa do not accept dollars or credit cards.  Luckily, I had 2,000 Yen, and my dinner was 1,400.  This is the equivalent of $17.

Things are not cheap here in Japan...I went into the Japanese market in town, and found a melon...for $25.  No joke.  One apple, was $14.

Okay...as promised, here is the Japanese toilet that I'm infatuated with.  The buttons on the side allow you to play a fake flushing noise to drown out the sounds that you make while you're in the bathroom.  And...people use them.  There is also a button for "extreme deodorant", "bidet" and "splash".  I think you can also heat the seat.  Entertaining.

Lost in Translation

Went into the city of Fussa yesterday.  It was my first adventure off-base, and into the community.  My friend Jc took me to a 100 Yen store (think dollar store but MUCH cooler because everything is Japanese).  We laughed and laughed and laughed until I was crying at the notebooks with English sayings that didn't really make it through translation.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Other highlights were: AMAZING Indian food (who knew?)  toilets with buttons to make fake flushing sounds while you go to the bathroom so that your business isn't overheard by others (!)--look for a picture of this to follow.

Three mischievous rats is my fave.

Indian food in Japan.

You can eat Indian food with chopsticks in Japan

the cars in japan

I cannot believe that they've given me a car here...driving is terrifying.  It's kind of like being 15 again, just out of driver's training, and having to think really hard about each move that you make.  Notice that I'm sitting on the right side of the car, and, driving on the left side of the road.  I can't tell you the number of times that I've reached over my left shoulder for my seatbelt, or used my windshield wipers as a turn signal.  Multiple times throughout the day, I am driving down the street, laughing out loud with windshield wipers wiping back and forth over a dry windshield as I turn without a signal.  Crazy american drivers...think I'll be spending a lot of time on foot and trains.

The journey

So...after an 11 hour flight, a 3 hour bus ride, and a day of jet-lagged induced half consciousness, I'm here in Japan!!

Flight was loooong!  And...guess who won a seat in the last row on the plane?  I believe that the space in between my seat and the back of the seat in front of me got smaller with each passing hour.  Seriously.  It felt somewhat cramped when I first sat down, but bordered on Closter phobic by the 5th hour.  The gift from God was when the two women sitting next to me decided to upgrade their seats, leaving the 2 seats between me and another gentleman unoccupied.  I may have lost my mind during the 11 hour flight without that. 

Remember airplane food?  You actually get this on international flights.  I think it would border on torture to only serve mini pretzels for 11 hours.  The moral of the story is always order the vegan meal.  First of all, when you order a “special meal”, your name is announced over the loudspeaker.  Initially, I kind of freaked out, immediately thinking that something bad had happened.  Secondly, you get served first.  And, it was actually “good”.  It was an eggplant, chickpea, couscous delight.  

I survived my first day, mostly because I think everyone "gets it"...they took one look at my glassy eyes, and said "oh...you just flew in, huh?"  

Here's to day number 2!