¡Global Nada!

We will kick this blog off with a few videos. This entry is not in a specific time line. Rather, it is a mixture of some pics and videos that I have been meaning to post. As some of you may know, Quinn is in Mississippi for a training until November 22. He will have been gone for a little over a month by the time he gets back. Since I have a little time on my hands I figured I would catch up on some of these pics.

This is a video from a Chinese lantern festival we went to in Yokohama. The dragon dances in front of all the shops that give it money. The bigger the donation the louder the music.

Quinn wanted me to take this picture for all of you motorcycle enthusiasts in the states. Here in Japan, scooters are the rides you want to pimp out. I can see a new reality tv show already.

Here is a pic of our friends at the lantern festival. Just wanted to add some faces to the names you all hear about. Heidi and Felix are standing next to me. They are married and their collective nickname is Helix. Rob is behind me and his wife Chelsea is to the right. Their collective nickname is Chob. I did not make up these nicknames. These are courtesy of our neighbors Julie and Kyle who I call Jyles or Kulie. I bet you can guess what our nickname is....Quisten. We obviously have a lot of time on our hands over here There is one other couple that you saw in the previous video and that is Candice and Drew (Drandice). That pretty much makes up the core group of people we spend most of our weekends with. There is also Steve who you will see later in Halloween pictures. His name is just Steve. There is no one else like Steve

This is kind of dark but it is a picture from when we went to the middle eastern restaurant with Japanese belly dancers.

In Japan, when you take your food home it is still called a doggy bag. Here is our doggy bag.

More beautiful flowers.

Halloween is a big thing here on the base. They let Americans sponsor about 5-10 Japanese kids onto the base for trick or treating. This picture was taken 2 hours before they are allowed to come in and already the line was getting long. I sponsored on two of our friends Ayumi and Stephen. She is Japanese and he is British. Quinn runs with Stephen sometimes. We just recently met them and they have been a lot of fun.

Onto the Halloween costumes. This is our neighbor/friend Matt and he was a hot dog vendor.

Candice was a jelly fish.

Felix was Dr. Oz and Mary was Stitch.

This is Chelsea and our friend who teaches Taiko drumming (I can't recall her name right now). They were Greek goddesses and had attended a Japanese costume parade earlier in the day.

Steve was Zohan and completely crazy all night shouting "disco disco."

The girls

Drew won best costume....although no one could agree on exactly what he was.

The boys

I was a combination Harajuku girl and little bo peep.

Kyle's family was visiting and they had a combination costume to go with Kyle's beloved Mini Cooper.

Quite a fun Halloween party this year over at Kyle's. Where in the world where we be next year?

Miss you all. Send me an e-mail or Skype me. Yes, I am talking to YOU!

I have been really bad about taking pictures so there aren't any for this blog. I am very sorry. This will be just a short update.

For those of you who heard about the typhoon, it was a big bust. (Typhoon is basically a hurricane that spins backwards) We got the day off of work and it rained and there was a little wind until about 10 am and then it was beautiful the rest of the day. It was nice to have a day off mid week to sit around and relax.

It was Oktoberfest again two weekends ago down in Yokohama. We got a really big group together this time and went down to Yokohama. The night before we went out and partied in downtown Yokohama. We went to a middle eastern restaurant and they had a Japanese belly dancer show. Of course, Quinn was the first one to get pulled up onto stage. Then we went and did Karaoke. Japanese Karaoke is funny because you don't do it in a bar. You go into your own personal Karaoke room for you and your friends and you have a personal television and sound system to sing your songs.

Last weekend was full of races. We watched a University race down at Showa Park. There were about 20 Universities represented there and it was the most I had ever heard the Japanese scream and cheer. Apparently, Japanese running is the equivalent of college football. Very lively. Then Quinn ran a 20K on Sunday.

Quinn leaves tomorrow for his training in Mississippi. He will be gone for an entire month. So I will probably be pretty lonely here. Feel free to send me e-mails or Skype me.

For those of you who have been asking, we finally booked our tickets for our Christmas trip. We will be going to Taiwan for 5 days and then to Central and Northern Thailand for 7 days. We didn't feel like we really saw a lot of Thailand on our last trip since we went to that Peninsula in the south and spent most of our time in a beach town. So, we hope to get more of a taste of the culture this time around.

Countries still on the list of things to visit: China, Borneo, Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand. Don't know how we will fit it all in, but hopefully it will work out!

There is a train line near our house called the Seibu Chichibu line that I have been really wanting to take to check out the Chichibu national forest. Well, I found an organic market off that line and I thought we should make the trek out there to check it out. On the way, we kept seeing posters with pictures of big forests of what looked like fairy duster flowers. Low and behold, the stop we got off at was happening to have a festival for these flowers. All the locals had little stands set up in front of their houses and you took a little path around the town looking at crafts and various autumn related goods until you came upon a forest full of Japanese fair dusters. Gotta love Japan.

Here are what we thought to be some type of tomato which we later discovered is a decorative plant. Good thing we asked someone what is was before we tasted it. It is now decorating our kitchen countertop until we can figure out what the heck to do with it.

This was a cute little corner garden of someone's house.

They had a bunch of little decorative baskets filled with ornamental gourds.

Here we are in front of some of the fairy dusters.

They planted about 4 acres worth of these flowers in this forest area that follows along the river.

They had another area planted with these wild flowers.

If you recall, I hiked Mt Mitake in the first month or so that I was here. It is a very steep incline the whole way up. There are many beautiful hikes when you get to the top but last time I was too tired to do any of them because of the hike up the hill. So this time, we decided to take the cable car up to the top and then hike around the mountain. There is a small village at the top of the mountain as well as a shrine. This was one of the buildings at the top with a traditional thatched roof. The village was very dog friendly and we brought Ethan along. He was allowed to sit next to our table in the restaurant where we ate.

There were two waterfalls that we hiked to and a beautiful natural rock garden along the way. Everything was covered with moss and we hiked next to a stream the whole way. There were many hikers out but it was not too crowded.

This gum vending machine cracked me up. It was 100 yen for 9 pieces of gum. That is about a dollar. They had many different flavors including: blueberry, black black, caramel and green tea.

You may be wondering how we got to Mt. Mitake with the dog. You can bring your dog on the train but they have to be in a little carrying case or bag. So, Ethan has been learning to ride in a bag and he is not thrilled about it. He does however like to go on adventures so I think he is beginning to realize that the trade off works to his advantage. He is a big hit among the Japanese people and a real conversation starter. People are constantly saying how cute he is and asking what type of dog he is. Sometimes people just start talking to me in Japanese and it is quite embarrassing to tell them I don't understand.

Last weekend we went to another Japanese baseball game. This time we went to the stadium that is really close to our house. Sometimes Quinn and I ride our bikes up and around the stadium and back home. It is a beautiful ride and the stadium is a dome that is open around the middle. Kind of hard to explain. If you go to this link it will show you some good pictures of it http://www.seibu-group.co.jp/rec/dome/index.html. The game was an exciting one and the score final score was 10 to 6. This time we were smart and brought our own snacks and drinks so we didn't need to buy anything. We made friends with the people around us by giving them "American snacks." This is always a big hit among the Japanese. Now we have another week of work until more exploring. Hope you all have a great week.

That's it for now. Miss you all. Send some emails. I would love to hear from you!

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I completed a blog entry. I will give you a synopsis of the last month. I spent the last few weeks of summer lounging around and being a "house wife." Wow is that a great job! I have decided that working is overrated and I would like to be a house wife forever. It is fabulous. But enough about that.

We have been going out many birthday parties and dinners out in Tokyo. We have been to Spanish Tapas, Brazilian all you can eat meat, and Japanese Karoke. Have put on a few pounds in the last few months but I am working on that at the moment.

We recently went to a Brazilian Carnival down in Tokyo. Both Japanese and Brazilian women were dressed up in the typical Brazillian Carnival outfits. (if you can call a few pieces of cloth and a ton of feathers outfits) It was really fun but there were so many people we ended up in a bottle neck of people and almost got trampled. It was a very unJapanese situation. Normally, in big crowds people will just shuffle along but someone must have gotten aggresive and all of the suddden everyone was pushing. Don't worry, we are both okay and Quinn even managed to pick up some elderly people and children along the way.

School has started again and that means work has started again. This year is going well so far and I am already planning our next trip. We are deciding between New Zealand, the Philippines, or Malaysian Borneo. If you have any input on these countries please send me an e-mail. Part of the decision will depend on price of tickets.

We also had our one year anniversary of living in Japan. So that means, some of the annual events are cycling through again. We went to the friendship festival again this year and had a different perspective by knowing a bit more about Japanese culture. We saw a lot of cool planes this year including the F22 and people parachuting from planes. We also took Ethan to the pool again for dog days of summer. He enjoys playing the pool but he likes the river better. Ehtan is still doing well for those of you wondering about him. He has turned into quite the cuddle bug and is now allowed to sleep in the bed.

Here we have some pictures of a neat event we went to a few weekends ago. Here is some background information: a yukata is a type of Japanese robe that in the past was traditionally worn around the home and at Japanese Inns to go to the onsens (Japanese bath). In recenet years the Yukata has been worn outside the home for different Japanese events. The Japanese continue to embrace their history and culture while being forward thinking on technology and development. Hence the idea of a Yukata boat cruise. This is an event where for $30 per person you take a cruise around Tokyo bay (viewing all the light up skyscrapers) and have all you can drink alcohol while wearing a Yukata. Additionally the people working on the boat are wearing hats that have megaphone and microphones attached to give directions and whatnot. It was kind of like being on a floating night club. It was great.

Jenny and Dave are brave souls to make a transpacific flight with a 13 month old. Evan (their son) was unfazed by this amazing feat and did not even appear to notice that he had changed time zones by 15 or so hours. After one night he was right back on track with his schedule.

We kicked off the trip with a visit to Yoyogi Park. We were racing against the clouds and lost. Unfortunately we weren't able to bounce on the sea of clouds but we did have a joyous 20 minute walk in the rain. It was warm outside so no one minded being drenched by the time we got to the car.

We spent the next day at Joyful Honda buying goodies and eating in the food court. No picture for the blog on this one.

Andrea arrived that night and was tired and ready for bed. I think she slept most of the way on the bus and was not to thrilled to have her picture taken.

We drove to Downtown Tokyo the next day to spend the night at a hotel in the area. This was my first time driving to Tokyo and it was quite hectic. The lanes are very small and there are many turns off he highway but Dave was a good navigator.

We ate lunch in Shibuya and wandered the streets causing trouble. I introduced the group to Chu-Hi and that became our staple drink for the next few days.

Here we are ordering our Ramen noodles from a machine

Beloved Chu-Hi.

Us in the noodle shop. Apparently they don't care if you bring in your own drink ( I asked)

Shibuya Crossing was not that busy today.

We hung out in Yoyogi Park for a couple of hours doing some people watching and letting Evan run around. Gotta love Yoyogi Park. The following picture of Hydrangeas is for Andrea's mom who loves them. We have been seeing them everywhere for the last few months and Quinn is really tired of hearing me say, "Andrea's mom would love this."

The next morning, Andrea and I woke up early to check out the Tsukijii fish market. I am always impressed by how many types of sea creature exist that I have never seen before.

Then we wnet to Asakasa to see Sensoji temple. This is a replica since the original one was bombed during the war.

Any one know what this building is? It is in Asakasa and is very large but we have no clue what it is about.

We met up with Jenny, Dave and Evan in the afternoon to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings. This is a must do for all visitors. Therefore, I have been up in this thing about 8 times by now. It is still awe-inspiring.

We attempted to cover Evan up so that he would fall asleep but we just created an awesome hide and go seek game instead.

The cicadas during the summer are LOUD and HUGE.

This is a little Japanese style garden in the Roppongi area. Great spot for a little photo shoot.

We ate lunch in Roppongi at my favorite Chinese food spot. All our visitors come to Japan and we take them out for so many different types of food available in Japan. We have to remember to bring them to Japanese restaurants too.

Our favorite restaurant near hour house is called Bistro Muku. It is a French restaurant with Japanese infusion and the cutest chef you have ever seen. He bows at least 8-9 times every time we leave and they even walk you to the door to see you out. I love it here.

We spent a girls morning along the Tama River near Mitake. It was so hot that we went for a swim with our clothes on. Thanks Dave for watching Evan and giving us some girls time. It was a really nice day. We saw people fishing, kayaking, and painting. We had a little picnic lunch and meandered along the path and sometimes off the path.

That night we went out to Korean style BBQ and grilled up our food. We had quite the group and it took two grills to cook all of our food.

The next day we made another trip to Joyful Honda to show Andrea and to buy some gifts. Plus, Evan had to slurp down a few more Udon noodles.

Friday night was our last night with Jenny, Dave and Evan and it also happened to be the night of my friend Drew's Birthday party. His wife, Candice, planned a surprise Karaoke birthday party. In Japan you don't Karaoke in front of people you don't know like in a restaurant or bar. You rent your own Karaoke room for you and your friends. We had an exceptionally large room this time since there were about 20 people or so at the event. We all had such an awesome time. I can't wait to go back.

Jenny, Dave, and Evan went up to Nagano the next day for the their friend's wedding and we were sad that our time had gone by so quickly. Thanks for coming!

Mt Fuji is the largest volcano and highest point in Japan and stands at 3776 meters tall. Climbing season is from July to August and it is said to be the most climbed mountain in the world. Andrea and Quinn decided that they would like to do this hike and I was happy to stay home! The started the hike at 11pm and it took 6 hours to summit. This was mostly due to the mass amounts of foot traffic and being unable to pass in many areas. Apparently, there are a lot of bottlenecks and one is forced to wait in line as the hords of slow climbers slowly inch their way to the top. Quinn and Andrea are confident they could have made this hike in under 4 hours had they not had to wait in line. The saw the sunrise on the mountain top and proceeded to get rained on the entire climb down. They had a blast and neither of them wants to do it again.

After a day of rest we decided that we would do an easy walking tour of Yokohama. We rode the big ferris wheel, walked around China town, and saw the district where foreigners first settled when the port of Yokohama was first opened 150 years ago.

We stopped at the Red Brick Warehouses to have a snack and drink some wine. Gotta love a sushi roll with Kobe beef! The restaurant is inside the restored brick warehouses seen below.

We are sitting on beds which are the "tables" for the restaurant.

Us walking along the waterfront.

A lot of pigeons.

Really cute shopping street.

Shrine in China Town.

The next day we set out for Hakone. This is a big trip and we decided to stay overnight in a campground I found online. I was worried we wouldn't be able to find it but it is conveniently located near the bus station right along lake Ashinoko. Here we are in Gora Park in Hakone

This is a really weird flower.

As I showed in earlier posts, Hakone is known for its various modes of transportation. Here Andrea and I took the ropeway to the sulfurous area.

Hakone is known for boiling eggs in the sulfur water which turns them black. We ate the black eggs of course but the smell of the sulfur from the mountain was worse than I remember.

Here people are hiking to the top of the mountain to see the sulfurous pools

Here they are sending the black eggs down the mountain so people can buy them, eat them, and extend their life by seven years.

This is the view from the edge of the campground. It is literally right on the lake. At night they had a fireworks show that was great. They have fireworks all around Japan in the months of July and August. Some of the shows have 12,000 fireworks and last more than an hour. There were ships out on the water all lit up and there were people playing Taiko drums to accompany the fireworks display. Awesome.

Our campsite.

In front of the pirate ship that took us across the lake.

Our walk amongst the cedar trees.

We made it back from Hakone and were absolutely exhausted. We at pizza the night before Andrea left and I was sad that Andrea would be leaving the next day.

Thanks for coming friends....we miss you already!