Train Travel

On Sunday August 10 we took the train for the first time out to what seems to be the countryside. We walked along the river and saw people swimming, fishing with REALLY long fishing poles, kayaking, and bouldering (look closely in the picture and you can see the chaulk marks and someone trying to make it a up a pretty difficult route). The train is pretty easy to use but required a few transfers. We almost got on the express train to Tokyo which could have been disasterous. The countryside is beautiful and there is going to be some pretty good hiking routes relatively close to our house.

We finally got ID cards on Monday August 11! We are real people again. It only took 2 1/2 hours for our cards and we were the second people in line. When we left there were about 40 people waiting. Since it takes about 30 minutes per person those people had a LONG wait ahead of them. We showed up to the office about 30 minutes before it even opened. Basically, getting anything done around here is like going to the motor vehicles department over and over again.... a lot of waiting.

We ventured out into Fussa for dinner last night on the bikes. It was harder than I thought it would be to find a restuarant. Not many signs or menus in English. We finally settled on a place and pointed to pictures on the menu. We ended up with a dish with bamboo shoots, onions, and spam with a black pepper sauce which was very good. Also, eggrolls with meat inside that tasted like sloppy joes and quesadilla looking rice powder paddies with onion and mystery meat baked in. All in all it was quite tasty. We also had ice cream for dessert with an unknown fruit flavor and some type of possible purple root mushed up in the shape of a ball and covered with sesame seeds with chocolate on top. It was yummy but we couldn't really identify what it was made of. Eating out in Japan is going ot be more challenging than originally anticipated. Looks like we will need to make some Japanese friends quick. Also, prior to your meal you have to wash your hands with a wet washcloth that they give you, but I am not sure what you are supposed to do with the washcloth once you are finished so it hung out with us on the table.

Today we will run some more errands and try to get all the details settled so we can hopefully head out this afternoon for a day trip. Hope all is well. Keep us updated on what you all are doing! 2008-08-10