Joy and Brian

Hello!!!

Some of you may know that my friends, Brian and Joy, have moved out here to Japan. Currently they live in Zushi which is near the Yokosuka Base where Brian works for the Navy.

I went down last night (Friday, which was also Thanksgiving day for America)and we all got to go out the dinner. Afterward we walked to their house which is a good 30 minute walk from their house. Pretty crazy. What was even weirder was that right before I got to their station some random person gave them a Fugu which is a type of blow fish. . .in a 1liter bottle. It was a baby so it was tiny but they had NO idea what it was or what really to do with it. Joy said we should toss it out into the river on our way back but Brian and I thought they should try and keep it. Maybe Joy's idea would have been better because by morning it was dead. . . sleeping at the bottom of the bottle all upside down. It was kind of sad actually.

Today, Joy and I headed to the Navy base since I've never really been on a base much. Once at the Fussa base in Tokyo but just to go to a house for lunch but never to walk around really. It was interesting. We went and got a piece of American pizza for lunch and we got to go on Brian's boat and he gave us a tour. Oh, he had to work that day. We also got some rootbeer floats at A and W which was weird. It was weird to basically be back in America essentially. Really weird. And there were no stop signs or lights. I saw one light on the base and that was about it. weird.

but here are some pics for our day.

Brian has issues with smiling. . . he has to make himself laugh. Weird huh? :)

Take 2 :)

The poor Fugu. . .

Joy and their house!!!!

Walking to the station.

The leaves are changing. . . a bit late but still beautiful

That is the river JOy wanted to toss the Fugu in . . .

Koi in the river! Huge koi

Us at the station

Brian's boat

Brian trying to smile again :) hahahhahahha

ghahhahahhahhaha

The Washington. . a huge aircraft carrier

With Brian we always take two pics. . .the first one was nice. .

It's the second one that came out odd. . .ggggrrrrrreat.

good ol American pizza

Disney Sea

Hello Everyone,

Sorry it has been awhile again. Today I went to Disney Sea with my friend, Mai, from work. We had a lot of fun. It rained from the middle of the day but it was okay since a lot of people left after that.

Disney Sea was pretty cool since I'd never been there before. I liked it ALOT more then California Adventure!!! 100 x's better. It had more of the Disney feel to me and it has some pretty fun rides in it. Indiana Jones is in this one and so is Journey to the center of the earth, Tower of Terror, etc. There are different lands like there is an American land which is pretty cool but a change since we were in Japan. We went and saw a Broadway performance while we were there too. It was a Christmas Jazz performance.

I do have to say that the shopping is better in America and I think that some of the food is much better in America. . .like dinner type meals are better in America BUT snacky type foods are better here in Japan. But in America all the lines are very short compared to JApan. . .I had to wait for 2 hours for the Broadway show and even the line for food is extremely long.

If you come to Japan I definetely recommend going to Disney Sea. I haven't been to Land since I'm sure it's very similar but I hope to go before heading back to the States but we'll see. Maybe I'll get to go when my folks come out to see me.

Here are some pics.




Everything was set up for Christmas



my ticket



How cute is the monorail!!!!





I wanted one of these handles



More Christmas decorations. . .tinkerbell



Travel to the center of the earth mountain



A little cute boat.



People




The World :)



Mai



Me



cool area near the Center of the Earth



Us



Me eating a black sesame churro!!!




Mai eating one too



Funny sign for a ride



snake head


thought of Aubs



Us on the train inside Disney Sea



Cool toilet sign



The Titanic



Christmas



Triton's World



Coolllll



Dang it!



at night



The world at night

So I just uploaded all those pictures and for some reason they came in thumbsize and I'm too tired to upload bigger ones.. . sorry. :(


Melody

Sports Day

Sorry for not posting anything recently. I've been having computer and internet problems but as of now both those issues are nonexistent so here we go :)

About 1 month ago my school had its Sports Day which is like a Sports Festival where all the classes compete against each other But only within their year. It was really interesting to watch. Here are some pictures from it.

IT was a beautiful day

At the beginning most of the races were normal ones.

But they soon became odd ;)

Here the different clubs are racing (if you can see. . . the swimming team is running in speedos, goggles, and a cap)

THere was a tug of war. . . school vs. parents

All the students cheered on their teams.

Each team made a poster too.

Two legged race

This is called "Hurricane" where the 3rd year students had 4 people running with a rod. Once they got to a cone they spun around it and then came back and had to run the rod under their teams feet as they jumped up and then over their heads as they ducked and pass it onto the next group.

Here the 2nd year students had to do like a group/ team 3 legged race. . .interesting. . some of them could run REALLY Fast.

Here the 1st year students are jump roping as a class!!! Soooo. . . 28-32 students!!!!!!!

I liked this part the most. . .the 2nd and 3rd year boys had to make different shapes with their bodies. . .it was really fun to watch.

Well, that is a nice little picture summery of my school's Sports day. Hope you are all doing well this fine Autumn day. Love you all.

Melody

Major Update. . .

Hey Friends and Family,


I am sorry that it has been ages since I updated. First my internet wasn't working and we had to get it fixed which took about a week and a half and then my computer completely died which really sucked and . . . still sucks!!!!! I love and hate technology. Ya know? Love and hate relationship.

Where to start. . .where to start. . .

I'm not sure if I've told you personally or not but I will be returning home next year in April. I'm really at peace and actually excited about this new change. :) My teaching job here will finish March 26th or something like that, my parents (maybe Anna) will come around April 1st (depending on Wendee's due date ;) ) and will stay for a about 2 weeks. I'm really excited about them coming to Japan. I haven't had any guests come and stay with me which is a bit sad but I understand. BUT I AM thrilled to have guests come and to be able to show them around and what not. After that I will head home 5days to 1 week later. I will want a bit of time to say goodbye and pack up some last stuff. When I told a friend of mine here she began to cry!!!! Wow! I was really surprised. I will miss Japan but I feel ready to come home. . . though the declining economy kind of frightens me. . .when I came to Japan the yen to dollar ratio was 100 yen to 1.45 dollars. ..now it's 100 yen to 1.00007 dollars or something like that. . .basically it's 1 to 1 . . wait I'm going to check today. . .it's not out yet . . I get the currency rates sent to me daily :)

Oh, something new. . my roommate, Charlene, has moved back to Australia. She moved out in September. I've been her roommate since the second month I moved to Japan which seems like forever. I'm happy for her though. . .a little jealous but happy. :) Here are some pics of our last supper. hahahha

Me and Charlene

Michelle and Bernice (Michelle is a friend from Australia who happens to live in Japan too)

Bernice opening her gift from Charlene

Bernice eating her gift from Charlene :)


Well, there were 3 little monkeys living in Japan. . . 1 returned home . . . now there are 2 little monkeys living in Japan.

I hope you are all well and that life is going smoothly and not too fast for you. I'm already getting head spins from how fast this year is going. It's already Fall and it just feels like I was in Oregon for summer vacation. Phew! I love the Fall though. . it's by far my favorite season I've decided. The air is crisp, the mornings are nice and cool and the afternoons are sunny and warm. I love it. It has been a little rainy but nothing like Oregon :) I miss Oregon Autumns. I love that bit of rain and the smell of the leaves and grass after a Autumn rain. Here it's nice too. Especially out in the countryside. Yes, there is a countryside. :)

I hope that you all feel more up to date with what is going on with me :)

Love you all!!!!



Melody