Japanese People are Helpful

So Adam departed yesterday for about a month at sea. To non-military people this sounds like a long time. To military people this doesn't even count as a deployment. This pales in comparison to the 9 months my friend went without her mate last year. Or the 15 months army spouses have routinely endured since 2003. Oy. However, it's the first one for me, so it is kind of a big deal, at least in my own head. It also marks the beginning of an almost nonstop in-and-out path Adam's ship will take over the next 6 months. The longest he will be gone at a time is 3 months, but prior to that there are 2 one-monthers with little time between.

ANYWAY, I have been dreading this for obvious reasons. I am terribly sad that he is gone, and I am also overwhelmed by the prospect of being the only parent in this house for that long. I spent part of yesterday crying and feeling sorry for myself. (Especially during my work-out group when I was cleaning up a pee accident with one kid while the other one apparently touched a girl's crotch as soon as my back was turned. Nice.)

However, I have also been looking forward to it in a way, and here's why: first, once they leave, you can go ahead and start counting down the days till they get back. Prior to that, it's all counting down till they leave, which is depressing. At least after they go you have something to look forward to. Also, the laundry gets cut in half! And I don't have to cook everyday, praise the lord! I guess what I am saying is that if I have to do it I better just go ahead and look at the bright side.

But, back to the last 2 days. OK, so yesterday I spent being mad, so this morning I decided to try to be a little more positive. First thing I did was take the kids outside to the beach to fly a kite I just bought on Amazon for them. We have seen a bunch of kids and parents flying kites on the beach, and I thought that would be something great I could do with the boys. Also, being outside wears them out, which is pretty much my goal for each and everyday of my life right now.

FAIL!

I guess the fact that the kite was $10 should have warned me, but I thought I was getting a deal so I plowed forward with my online order feeling smug that I have Amazon Prime and can get free shipping. (Thank you, mom April!) (Side note: Amazon is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread for me here. Whenever I can't find something at the commissary or I need something for the kids I can't find at the NEX or in town - Amazon. It has everything, and I don't pay for shipping. Rock.)

Long story short the kite would sort of flail around for a minute and then nose dive right away. I kept thinking I just needed to throw it higher or run faster right away, but no. Anthony kept saying, "We need dad to do this." To which I responded, "Yep." But kept trying anyway.

Finally, after about a dozen attempts, I noticed a Japanese man with a cute dog sort of lurking around the perimeter of where we were flailing about. He clearly knew what needed to be done, but I am sure he was afraid he might get hit with a kite or a flying limb. Finally, he came over and basically took the kite out of my hand and started doing stuff to the string and hooks and things.

He tried really hard to make it work, but he only partially succeeded.

Of course he pat the boys on the head and kindly said he was sorry he couldn't help. The boys bowed properly, and we all said, "Arigato" politely. And we did try a few more times after he left, but to no avail. Mostly I was just happy someone was kind enough to try to help, especially because we looked like lunatics doing interpretive dances all over the beach before he arrived.

Japanese people are really helpful in that way. If they see you looking lost they will come right up to you and offer assistance. I have also seen a lot of youngish kids walking grandmothers across the street, which is just sweet. It's reassuring. I feel like, even though I only know a few of my neighbors I could definitely ask them for help if I needed it. So, there's that.

Anyway, cheers to getting the first part of deployments over with!

I Took a Cooking Class. And a Bus!

One of the great resources for me here is a group of Japanese women who have married American sailors stationed here. Apparently this happens with some frequency, so yay for me! People who can answer my endless questions!

One of these women started a facebook group called "Saori's Kitchen." Not only does she post all kinds of useful info about shopping for ingredients here when you can't read the label, but she also hosts cooking classes in her house. I signed up for Shabu Shabu and got to to take that last week.

Shabu Shabu is basically "hot pot." You set up a communal pot of boiling broth in the middle of your table and everyone cooks their own veggies and meats in it. Then you have dipping sauces for when you dig all your stuff out of the pot. I have experienced Shabu Shabu before, but it was the Taiwanese version - basically just boiling water, rather than a broth to start; and shellfish were included. This Japanese version used only pork for the protein, and you have to make the broth ahead of time.

Veggies & Broth

 Dipping Sauces

Ingredients! Now I know what I am looking for when I go to the store!

 
After we had stuffed ourselves she brought out some homemade green tea mousse of some kind with a cherry blossom on top. Hello, pretty. And yum!

Next up: I decided to brave the BUS. OK, so the train system, while confusing at first, is not too hard to get the hang of. The trains are all very reliable, on-time, the signs usually have a Romanji section (Japanese words spelled out phonetically using western letters, rather than the Kanji or Kana, their written language), and announcements are occasionally in English. So if you have time to scrutinize the signs, and you have a good map, eventually you can probably figure out where you are going.

The bus, on the other hand, is something entirely different. First, there is nothing in English, which is to be expected. But there isn't even Romanji. There is only Kanji. Second, the signs are confusing, so even if you can figure out the Kanji you are looking for, you also have to figure out how they are telling you what time the bus will be arriving. (I finally learned that the weekday times are on the left and the weekend times are on the right. Unless there is a holiday listed. Then the weekend times are in the middle and the holidays are on the right. See? Confusing.)

 
Third, and probably most important, the bus is NOT on time. I didn't know this when I set out last Saturday in the rain to try to go to the boys' preschool for the "Art Festival." I figured the buses would be like everything else in Japan - precise, user-friendly, and on-time! Wrong.

Anyway, the school isn't far from where we live. It is about halfway between our house and the naval base on the same road going to the naval base. I have driven by it a million times. When the school sent home a note last week saying that there would be no parking at the school for the art festival, I thought, "OK, no prob. I am just going to take the bus I have seen go down that street before. I haven't taken the bus before, but surely I can figure it out."

Nonetheless, the night before the art festival I looked up all the info I could find about taking the bus:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2015.html
The fact that that web page exists should tell you something about how complicated the bus is!

I studied that carefully. I also used my google maps app and figured out which exact bus I should take - it even shows you the Kanji so you can double-check the signs - and what time it would depart the bus stop. The boys and I set out in our rain gear to the bus stop. They were very stalwart and didn't complain.

We got to the bus stop and waited around for awhile. About 1 minute after the appointed time the bus should have been there, a bus came to the stop. I was so excited, and, assuming it was like the trains, I didn't even really check the Kanji. I just hopped on. Mistake! Then, when the boys and I were seated, I realized the number on the bus didn't match what I had in my maps app on my phone. You know where this is going... after two stops and showing my phone to the person next to me, I realized we were on the wrong bus. OK, boys, let's get out of this one!

Long story short we ended up at another bus stop and found the correct bus, but it arrived about 10 minutes later than the sign said it should have gotten there, etc. Yadda yadda yadda, an hour and a half after we orignally left the house and we finally made it to the school (a 15 minute drive from the house, by the way.)

And I got to see these AMAZING art projects made by the tiny terrors:

You will be pleased to know that I got on the correct bus to go home and made it in 20 minutes. Take that, bus system of Japan!

This is the wrong bus:

Anthony, on the wrong bus, asking the universe why his mom is such a dumb ass:

Side note: since making this trek, I found these 2 other pages devoted to riding the bus in Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEO32tc323o
http://www.survivingnjapan.com/2010/09/how-to-find-bus-timesschedule-online.html

I am so sure.