New Blog Location

Erin and I have moved our updates on life (now outside of Japan) to a new blog. Follow along at http://adventuresofthejordans.blogspot.com/

Back, Safe, Sound

Erin and I cannot express our thanks to the support of friends and family over these last 72 hours. I think erin and will be trying to figure out our sleep schedule for the next week after all that has happened. Speaking of which... the short of the story is that we are home, in Gig Harbor, Washington, safe and sound.

The long, well from what I can share because some of the reasons for my leaving I can't share all the details, lets start with crazy work schedules. About two days ago now, I was sleeping in the hotel room when I was woken up by a phone call from my boss state-side. Informing me that I needed to be in at work on the base in Yokosuka ASAP. From there things got crazy. I worked 24 hours out of the next 48, finally on Thursday Japan time, heading home close to noon. By then we knew or had indications we were leaving, so we finished packing our bags and set into our room waiting for the planned power outage. It happened and so we commenced with playing copious amounts of cards. Right before the power had gone out, we had talked with another coworker and he encouraged us to leave that same night, by that time we already had tickets for the next day, and a scheduled bus ride, etc. 

For some reason I decided to check again on the ability to have our tickets changed. It ended up being possible by canceling our old flight and then booking a new one  at the same cost one day earlier. I did that, called the friend from work back and in 45 minuets we were north bound on a train heading to the airport. What is crazy is that it was a different one that where we had flown in, but it had flights out and that is all that mattered. 

We flew out of Haneda International Airport, Thursday Japan Time at 11:59 pm (yep midnight) Both totally exhausted we slept, and slept hard. We landed in Honolulu for a layover without any problems. Most of the people we knew were connecting on right away but because of our last minuet ticket change our flight out of Hawaii wasn't until 10:35 pm that night, another late night flight. By the time we made it through customs, rechecked our bags and then got through security we had 8 hours still to kill before our flight. So we looked through every gift shop, buying nothing, ate at three of the restaurants (well depending on how you count a few trips to Starbucks, we ate many times). We finally board our flight, and both erin and I had crashed, when we get woken by the captain of the airplane, turns out one of the generators isn't working and we are going to have to turn around and land again. This is only 45 min after take off!

So we go back, but with fuel the plane is too heavy, and there is a lady hiding in the bathroom who won't come out so we couldn't land right away, instead we circle, and circle, and....

Well eventually the plan lands, we get off, and wait, finally 3 hours after we first took off, we take off again, and surely enough, we are out. We land in Seattle around 10:30 am, almost exactly 3 hours after we were supposed to land. 

All in all it has been a crazy last few days. We have crossed so many time zones, eaten out so much, slept in all the funny and weird positions and places, all to happily be home. I never thought I would be so happy to be doing laundry right now. Our coffee table is a mess, but erin and I are both showered and fed. 

It was strange reflecting now on the trip, as I finish typing this post it is almost exactly 1 week from when I wrote my first blog post for leaving to go to the adventure filled country I have come to know, love and miss, Japan.

Live (or semi live) Video Update

Thanks to all who are following along. To all of our friends and family here is a little video update from erin and I.

Here Safe and Sound

Just as a quick post to everyone, erin and I are safely on the ground here in Yokosuka. We met up in the airport no problem and took the bus down to the base. There was a small problem with our lodging but last night we had a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in.

More later to come and things progress...

Off Again!

To all who might be wondering or have been checking, you might have known that I am returning to Japan again! Crazy as it might seem in the midst of earthquakes, tsunamis and everything else, I get to (with my new and wonderful wife) return to the land that I am beginning to know well.

These last few hours have been some ups and downs for trying to even figure out if our planes were planned on flying at all. But after many phone calls and plenty of hours checking multiple internet sites, it was all confirmed to be okay. It leaves be in amazement that the Japanese people can recover so quickly from such a devastating quake. My prayers continue to go out to them.

There is sure to be more to come, but in 20 min I will be boarding and then off. Let everyone know when we arrive safely.

Trip coming to a close...

Well as I sit here writing it is hard to believe that 5 and a half weeks have already passed. My bag is as packed as it can be. As it is right now I don't have to ship anything home... I still have one pair of pants to squeeze in and after tonight I will know for sure if some of my gifts will be following me in the mail.



Where did the time go? Looking at my calendar which counted down the days for me it seems like it was just yesterday when I touched down to work. But with a few trips under my belt and some good time in at work Like my past trips, I miss family and friends the most. Last weekend I was kind of burned out from traveling so I stayed in the local area, enjoyed a talking to my fiancé' for a long while, and a coffee down at Starbucks.



Work has slowed down as well. Training is finished and things are all smoothly running along.



Thanks to everyone for the payers and support. Looking forward to being stateside soon!

Weekend Trips!

Truth be told my trips were not only on the weekend. I took advantage of the holiday on Thursday to go with a few guys from work up to Kamakura. I had been there a few times, but they never had and wanted a pseudo tour guide, so I played that role.

The trip up to Kamakura was a blast. Fun times wandering around some of the temples and shrines I have already seen. But the revisiting is always very refreshing. Kind of another look, with details I didn't notice the first or maybe second times previously. One major change we made to my normal trip was a walk down to the beach. I didn't realize how close it actually was and the walk through the sad was very enjoyable while the waves were crashing around us.

This Saturday one of the guys from Thursday and I went up to Yokohama to a garden I had never visited before. It was a little out of the way and required a fairly good walk but like so many places here it was worth the walk. The garden contains lots of older relocated buildings dating as far back as the 1400's. We had lunch there in the garden and then took the train back into Yokohama near the Landmark Tower area. I alway love that spot and my coworker and I wandered around browsing and looking at all the interesting things in stores until dinner time. I have been having so much Japanese food recently I was craving anything different and as a result, for dinner we ended up in the Hardrock Cafe. I ended up actually with a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. After dinner we made our way home.

I am not as tired as I might have been if I had ended up on some of the other offered trips I had this weekend but I really enjoyed the time. I was very happy about the fact that I was able to find a few Christmas gifts for people and can now check a few off my list. I posted some photos online, hope everyone enjoys them.

New Office

Today at work I got to enjoy a much anticipated day, office relocation day. Since I began working over here there has been this air of possibility that my desk would move again. When I first started working over here I knew that my desk was temporary and it seemed like almost everyday someone was asking when my desk would free up or if I was supposed to be there. Kind of the bummer of the limited number of spaces here. So for the last few weeks one fo the rooms has been in the remodeling phase and after the final inspection yesterday we got the all clear to move our stuff.

Now  I am happy to have a place that I can set my stuff down and claim as my own. As of now there are no new moves in the future. The space is nicely located around other people I frequently work with making the job a little easier too.

So though not the biggest work achievement of the day, but probably one of the most enjoyable one. I ended up finishing it up with an afterwork coffee at Starbucks and a very nice sunset.

Long Awaited Post

It has been a little over a week since I have posted anything online and though I could go through the longer explanation I will share the shorter less painfully reminding one; work has been busy.

Well at least the first part of this week was super busy, now followed by a nice, relaxing end to the week. I did get to go out and enjoy some Okonomiyaki with a coworker and one of the supervisors of the shop whom I work with. 

The dinner was rather fun and it was another reminder of why I love this country so much. 

Saturday was another adventure. I spent the major part of the day going up to Tokyo with one of the guys from the shop to wander a round and see some of all that is up there. The most of the time we spend wandering around the side streets of the major stops. Going to places like the Adidas store, Starbucks, and a few other major name brand kind of places. They guy who I was with is really into soccer and so it became kind of a game to see how many different sports stores we could find in Tokyo. I was looking for the Apple store, but was unsuccessful. I think I will need to get some better directions and see if I can find it another time. 

The day kind of wore me out and so by the time we made the hour or so train ride home I was ready for bed. Dinner was light and quick.

Thank you to everyone for the love and support. I will hopefully be a little more up to date this week with postings. Assuming that work doesn't get the better of me.

Windy Rainy Weekend Indoors

This last week has been fairly full at work. People coming in for some new work, audit people leaving, training going on, etc. But the end of the week surprise is the reason I am indoors today, a typhoon. So Thursday we had a good idea it was coming close to the coast here, the whole base started geting ready for its arrival. I started getting ready too. Went to the grocery to get some food that would last over the weekend and didn't need to be cooked to eat just incase power went out. I left work after only a few hours of overtime worked Friday just to make sure I wasn't caught in any heavy rain or anything like that.

Today as a precaution I am remaining close to home and mostly indoors. As of 05:00 this morning all we had was some gusting wind and rain. The shops across from my hotel are staying buttoned up but I can hear some of the city still moving around. From the online tracking the main part of the storm has not hit yet and will probably only be up to tropical storm strength by then. But by tomorrow morning most of it will have passed.

It is kind of nice to have a reason though to keep indoors and enjoy the peace and quiet. No work distractions, no sight seeing to rush off to, just the comfort of a room, some tea and a good book. I have just finished reading The Lost World and have a few that I am debating on reading...

For those who will check this before the storm passes you can follow along: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/101424d.html

Liquid Pancake?

So, today marks the end of my first work week here in Yokosuka. I am glad it was a short week. Only having three days helped me in adjusting to the new time zone and working over here. Work is always a little different here than when I am home. Not totally sure why, but I know that when I come over I have this feeling like I need to work more trying to finish up everything before I come home.

But today is done. I utilized the MWR gym today for the first time. Very easy process and lots of open equipment. So after about 40 minutes of bike riding, and getting cleaned up I made my way home. On my way home I stopped by one of the vending machines for a treat I had my eye on for a little while. You all can watch below.

So it is a very interesting taste, but strangely very enjoyable. The cans are a little too heavy to ship or cary home for the youth group. But it opens up my ideas of what to bring back. Not sure of my weekend plans but I will make sure to keep everyone up to date through the blog as I can.

Safe, Sound, Fed and Ready For Bed

I have made it to my hotel in one piece. I have to first give a big thanks to Bill McDonald, one of the top people at work here in Yokosuka. He had a car pre-arranged picking him up, and he offered me a ride down, rather than taking the bus or the train. Both of which would normally take me two to three hours. Instead the free car ride down took only and hour and a half. I surprised the hotel staff walking in so early and have now made it in safe and sound. My bags are unpacked (mostly) and I have a belly full of Japanese curry. Thank you Coco's.

Here is a quick video of my housing arrangements for the next few weeks. Probably the nicest place I have stayed in so far, and the biggest.

Outward Bound Again!

So, here I sit again in Seatac International Airport. Outward bound for Japan. It is crazy how quickly this trip came up and how it really didn't sink in until I am now sitting in the cafe area of the airport updating a blog that I don't touch unless I am overseas.

This trip shouldn't be too long. 5 and a half weeks. I am happy that I will be home before Thanksgiving. Literally it will be the day before the holiday. It is nice that these trips are getting easier with each one I take. Maybe now I should start learning some Japanese. Might help on the other side of the plane ride.

Not sure what else to share right now. Thanks to everyone's prayers and best wishes. I will be sure to keep you all up to date as the trip progresses.

Homeward Bound

Yep, just like the Simon & Garfunkel song, I am here waiting for the time I leave for the bus which will take me to the airport. My love lies there waiting at home. Thinking back over this trip I am still amazed at how quickly everything went. The last day of work was kind of a normal day with only minor things to take care of, last kind of loose end paperwork and a few good byes. I think the one thing I am going to miss the most is the people here, the Japanese operators who are so gracious and hospitable. I think I have a lot to learn from them in being a host. Oh, and I will miss the curry too. Thank you to everyone for the love and support this time. I am sure the flight is going to go quickly. See everyone stateside.

Last Weekend in Japan

This last weekend marked my last one that I was going to be spending in Japan. Funny how it goes, it also was the weekend that some of the more important shipyard people came to visit also. My division (Nuclear Facilities) head came, along with many of the other facility related people. Saturday involved some informal tours followed by lunch out at the Chili's on base. About half of the group I know fairly well and was able to spend the time talking about more than just work. After the day was finished I rested up for Sunday, the big trip to Tokyo...

I am glad that I got the rest because it ended up being a very full day. Starting out meeting them at one of the local hotels around 0745, we made the treck up to the train station where they picked up rail cards. After hopping on an express train up to Tokyo, we stood and chatted during the hour or so train ride it takes from Yokosuka to get up to Tokyo. I was not leading this little adventure and it was nice to just tag along with some others especially when going to a big city like Tokyo. The first stop was the New Sano Hotel. Sounds strange as a tourist location, but the hotel is probably one of the nicest I have ever seen. Lots of restaurants and cafe's and shops all packed in this very luxurious building. It is almost kind of hidden on the street. The area is not too busy and I had never been to that part of Tokyo. What makes that hotel so special is that the prices are very very low (like $90 a night) and it is only allowed to US government employees. Another perk of the job I have discovered. I am still waiting for someone to tell me that I get to stop paying taxes because I am a government employee but that hasn't happened yet.

After the hotel we made our way to Shibuya crossing, and the up one of the little side streets. We grabbed lunch and after that the main tour was headed to a brewery and then home. I wasn't so interesting the brewery so I went on my own path to Akihabara, the electronics district. My two goals was this huge 9 floor shopping centre full of electronics. The place is bigger than most malls I have been into in the states and has whole floors dedicated to one type of electronics. So one floor is computers only, then video cameras, then audio, and so on. I needed a new camera case and thought that I couldn't get a better selection of options. Also one of the floors is full of toys and I was still on the hunt for some gifts. After wandering around there and grabbing a quick donut from Donut Planet, I wandered into the vendor section near the shopping centre where the local street vendors hock cheap electronic stuff, but I knew hidden in there was this little trinket place which sells cool key chains and other figurines. I have a collection set from my last trip to Japan of Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxies on my desk at work and I was missing one out of the set. I guessed if anywhere close to me in Japan would have the missing figure it would be this store. Sure enough hidden in a corner was the last one of this little set. Happy and feeling successful I made the trip back down. Knowing I wanted to change trains in Yokohama, I took the opportunity to get out of the station and wander.

By the time I was home I was very tired and thankful that the day was done. You can see my Tokyo photos and added Yokohama photos on the links. Friday I fly home, and after this trip and being gone for so long I am happy to be flying soon.

Time Coming to a Close

Well it seems like it is almost that time again to be preparing to head home. I went to the pack and wrap today and sent out some of the things I didn't want to carry home. Priority shipping didn't cost too much and with them packaging it the total price under $20 is not anything I would complain about. This weekend should be kind of busy with some important shipyard people coming in. Their arrival means a lot of meetings this next week and a lot of people at work are kind of tense because of their arrival. As for me I am just trying to stay focused on what work I am supposed to be doing. Besides the tours and extra meetings I am trying to keep it from distracting me.

For tonight though, the weather is kind of hot and muggy so I am keeping cool and relaxing in my room. I went by the NEX today after the pack and wrap and picked up some chocolate milk and a kung fu movie. I thought that would be a nice treat for tonight.

Oh and as for the random cola, no Japanese are not confused on their colors, the cola is black, it is just an 'all natural' cola, a.k.a. 'green'.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

Today is Sunday, and usually my day that I use to relax and catch up from last week and get ready for the week to come. The weather is nice and warm, not too humid and after talking with a couple in church about local flowers I decided to grab a lunch to go and enjoy the rose park down a couple blocks from my hotel room.

The park wasn't too crowded, but I also wasn't the only one with the idea to have lunch in the park. It was filled with painters, photographers, couples young and old, some kids, and people like myself just enjoying the landscape. It is nice that most of the boxed lunch places give you everything you need, chopsticks, sauce, toothpick, etc. But most areas lack public garbage, so I had to do it hiking style, pack it in and pack it out. After I was done eating I took some time to take a few pictures. Nice roses, though I am catching them on the end of their cycle it looks like.

On my way back from lunch I stopped into a patch store I noticed a few weeks ago. Mostly military patches but they had a few state ones there too. No Washington, but I was able to grab an Idaho State flag patch. Yay for Idaho. Who would have thought I could have found an Idaho flag in Yokosuka Japan?

Long Time Post

Sorry for the long time between posts. I will try to make this as informative as possible without making it a running novel....

Work has been going well. Nothing really major to add about it. With Dave gone and most people out of the office things are fairly quiet around my area. Most days are spent on paperwork and in meetings. I like these types of seasons mostly because I can get a lot of work done with only minor distractions. I am into routine for most days and even the ladies at the place where I buy lunch have gotten used to seeing me around. 

Last weekend was a three day weekend with the Monday holiday. The nice thing about most US holidays is that they don't overlay on many Japanese holidays. So when US government workers like myself have time of we get to roam around with fewer crowds than the weekend trips. So with that in mind I decided to spend most of the time locally on Saturday and Sunday with a trip back up to Yokohama on Monday. Around town was mostly groceries and other little errands. Having saved up a little bit of energy for my Monday off I made it to the train station just after rush hour was finishing up. To this day I haven't been on a train so tight that I needed to be pushed on, and wasn't planning on making a vacation day my first.

It was around 10 am when I made it up to the area where I had planned to go in Yokohama. The mission was the the Mitsubishi Industrial Museum. It was in a newer area where I had never been before, but I was not too worried. So camera ready and kind of geared up for a day at the museum I made it to the front doors.... to find that that the place is closed only on Mondays! Yep my whole big trip busted by their normal schedule. I guess in the future I am going to have to check online next time I want to make a trip like that. I was not totally lost. I did take some time to wander around that area. Found a birthday gift for my nephew in July and enjoyed the nice weather while reading a book at one of the coffee shops in the area. I added a few photos of my wanderings to this gallery.

Through the week my normal routine is into work usually between 6 am and 6:30 am, days filled with mostly phone meetings/updates, paperwork and some scheduling for work to be done. I am home some time around 4 pm and recently have been enjoying cooking in my room. I actually have been finding that I save a lot more money cooking in my room and it lets me relax after the work day in the comfy chair in my room.  Wednesday I get to go to a men's group, kind of like a Bible Study but recently there has been a lot of talk about sharing our faith and some practical skills for doing so. Really encouraging times. 

So that kind of catches up to this weekend. I will do my best to give another update soon. Thanks to everyone for the warm support.

Weekend Adventures

Friday was Dave's last day, well at least he was there in the morning for a few hours before catching the bus on base up to the airport. It has almost become a joke that when ever someone leaves or is out of the office all the problems come up and work on Friday wasn't full of problems but it did have its full share of meetings, questions, which lead to more questions and a lot of running around. When the day was over I had to admit I was very ready to do nothing this weekend. But I did make a run by the grocery store, to attempt cooking in my hotel room for the first time. Shopping here is always way fun. There are so many rondom things I have just never seen before in the store and if it wasn't for the people looking at me funny there would be more photos of food up on my blog. But I had a recipe from off the web in mind and so with some improvising I ended up roughly with the ingredients and a whole bunch of snacks that I didn't need also. 

Cooking is always relaxing for me. Not sure why it is for me, but I am glad to have the capability here. The dish tasted something close to food I have here, but I wouldn't call it Japanese cooking yet. I did start a collection of Japanese food, both that I cook and also those that I find out and around town. You can see the photos here. 

Having such a full work day I wasn't very energized to get going early on Saturday. So after talking with my wonderful fiance and father I took the train up to Yokohama. It is the bigger city north of here and thought that with the day as nice as it was and looking at a week of rain ahead of me I didn't want to waste the whole day inside. 

Yokohama was booming with people. I was attempting to get to Queen's Plaza where Landmark Tower is located. I had forgotten that there was one extra train I needed to take so after much wandering around in the main Yokohama train station (which is bigger than most malls in the US, filled with stores like Louis Viton and Gucci, yeah in train station?) I did find my way to subway and ended up where I had planned. I didn't mind the wandering and with limited maps it was kind of a safe little challenge to me in getting around all alone. I wandered through the area for maybe 3 or 4 hours, some of the photos are uploaded here, some very similar to ones of the past. 

With all my long and filled days, Sunday was nice to just relax. The church service here in Yokosuka was great, and after service I grabbed a meal at a bento place. Essentially it is like a fast food restaurant that fixes common Japanese meals to go. I picked up a menu too because I pass the place going home from church every Sunday and for about 300 to 700 yen the prices are really good. Maybe a nice little Sunday tradition to pick up lunch from there. The evening was relaxing, more cooking up what I had bought at the store before it goes bad and reading while I listened to the rain fall outside my hotel room.

One Full Night

And actually I am not talking about my schedule but rather my stomach. After work today Dave, two of my other coworkers and myself went to this all you can eat restaurant. For about $25 bucks, you had 90 minuets to eat as much as possible. The fun part is that the place had a combination of different Japanese meals and some you got to cook on the little grill in the middle of the table. Needless to say we worked out a system and always had something grilling and something entering out mouths. There was little talking but I do have to say that I got my money's worth from the experience.

Now I am home and thinking that sleep really is the only viable option for what to do... and it is only 19:30! The time was very fun, and with Dave's last day being tomorrow, I was also glad to spend the last evening with him before his Friday flight. More updates to come as the weeks progress.