Japanese BBQ at the beach!

We decided that spring is in the air (even though it was rainy and cool all week).  Therefore, seeing that the sun was shining on Saturday we decided to drive towards the coast and see if any plum blossoms were out.  We set our googlemaps navigation to Uminokoen Park in Yokohama. After arriving and parking our car we realized that it was mid-afternoon and we hadn't had any lunch yet.  We peeked into a small temporary structure that had the smell of charcoal smoke and saw what appeared to be a fresh market specializing in clams and shellfish.

On closer inspection it was obvious that all of the food was raw so we thought it was simply a fresh fish market.  However, when we went around the edge of the temporary structure, we realized that the structure extended for a a great length with more temporary structures and tents and that inside all of these were small tables surrounding makeshift charcoal grills.

We quickly figured out that people purchased the raw food and then were led to a grill and table where they could cook their food and eat it.  So we went back and got in the line to try it out.  We purchased a variety of things we could recognize, paid for the food, and waited to be taken to a grill and table.  The seats were made out of plastic crates and the grills were simple contraptions that were supplied with fresh, hot charcoal bricks when we were seated.  A nice young man gave us explicit instructions in perfect English and seeing that we didn't have any clams or oysters or other forms of shelled creatures, realized we didn't need any specific cooking instructions and wished us well and left.  We watched our neighbors cooking a variety of delicacies.

After feeling confident that we could do this, we donned the white gloves and placed our selections on the grill.  We had purchased some shrimp with heads attached, small sausages, bacon, and a small aluminum pan with salmon, mushrooms and butter sauce.  We also bought cooked brown rice wrapped in foil to go with the grilled items.

After a few minutes things were sizzling and smoking and we were getting ready to eat.  The shrimp was tasty but rather messy to shell.  The sausages and bacon were nice and hot.  The salmon and mushrooms were the last to be eaten since they cooked more slowly in the small aluminum pan covered with foil.  But in reality, the food was cooked and consumed in an amazingly short period of time.

After lunch we walked the wide stone pathway between the large beach and the grassy areas where many people were playing beach volleyball, soccer, kickball, jogging, strolling with their dogs, and generally enjoying the beautiful Saturday afternoon.

After we finished our park stroll, we returned to the car and decided to drop in on Doug's brother, Gary, since we were in Yokohama.  He obligingly gave up his afternoon shopping trip to host us.  We had a nice visit with him after which he took us to a wonderful Indian restaurant and gave us an evening tour of cosmopolitan Yokohama city.

Happy Valentine's Day

Occasionally our apartment is transformed into a lab prep area.  Since both of my labs are taught at high schools on two different bases, I am not able to get into the facilities until school is out and the students are gone.  Therefore, I have to put supplies together prior to leaving for the lab activity.  Most of one class has been condensed into six plastic bins with all but the perishable or disposable items ready to go.  Hopefully that will save time and frustration in the future.

What's the best way to spend a Saturday following a fairly normal week of commuting, teaching, and quilting?  A quiet Valentine's Day was planned for the weekend.  Of course, Ellen managed to find the kind of Valentine's surprise that Doug really appreciated, a Mexican restaurant.  So without anything else scheduled for the day (besides grading exams, writing quizzes, etc.) having a leisurely Mexican lunch sounded like a perfect way to spend Saturday.  (Sorry, no pictures of the food--it was devoured before pictures could be taken!)

After lunch, we decided to see what kind of afternoon drive we could find.  Rather than looking up a destination that sounded fun and interesting but then getting frustrated trying to follow directions to get there, we thought we would just drive and find something interesting and later look up where our adventures took us.  So we headed for the neighboring mountains.  After awhile we were out of the city traffic and found ourselves driving up a fairly narrow canyon with a small river.  It turned out to be the Tama River.  After about an hour of driving we arrived at a peaceful lake behind a large dam.  Lake Okutama is a major water reservoir for the Tokyo area and also a popular destination for those wanting to get closer to nature.

After enjoying the beautiful scenery we studied a map posted near the parking area and decided to try driving partially around the lake and taking a southern route over the mountains.  It proved to be a good decision.  Most of the snow from previous weeks was gone except in some patches on the northern slopes covered with trees.  We saw a few monkeys along the side of the road but Sara wasn't there to yell STOP (something she learned at Denali Park in Alaska), so we didn't get any pictures! After about an hour of hairpin curves and long tunnels, it was with mixed emotions that we found ourselves back in the city.  Mixed emotions because we were always wondering if we would meet an oncoming vehicle on a road that clearly wasn't designed for two passing cars along many of the hillside passages but enjoying the beauty of the peaceful mountains.  Here's a GoogleMap picture of our drive.

Calmer life on the Kanto Plain of Japan

The first week on the job has quickly settled into a much calmer life.  As a matter of fact, an extra hour before class at the naval port allowed some prep time  in the view of some of the ships.

After the second week, we used Saturday to drive down to the area near Mt. Fuji for some sightseeing on a sunny day following a snow Friday.  As a matter of fact, the Friday lab became "optional attendance" when many of the students started inquiring about the safety of getting to the evening lab.  He decided they could do most of the sensory experiments at home, which apparently gave some of the students the opportunity to do the science with their children.

The trip to Mt. Fuji was enjoyable with a drive around one of the five lakes in the area as well as a drive along the west side of the mountain on a fairly rural road lined with snow covered trees.

We have pretty much completed all of the logistic work involved with moving.  The last task was getting new license plates for our car, which involved three trips to the registration office and a trip to the "insurance" company which took the paperwork to the Land Transportation Office for the new plates (for a pricey fee!).

Ellen also had the opportunity to take a tour to the textile area near Tokyo, Nippori.  This obviously meant that she needed to add a number of fabric samples to her growing collection.  As a matter of fact, while Doug was attending a fall workshop this weekend, held at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo, she managed to make a return trip to the area via subway and train and found more beautiful fabric.

Some of this fabric is working its way into quilts such as this wall hanging.

Life as Collegiate Traveling Faculty

One of the biggest challenges of being a Collegiate Traveling Faculty is the first week of a new session at a new location.  To give you an idea, I'm going to write of my experiences this past week as I started a new 8-week session teaching at three bases (one army and two navy) on mainland Japan.

Having spent 3 days during previous weeks learning where the three bases are located and what gates should be used to access the education centers on those bases, I thought I was somewhat prepared to begin the week.

On Monday I left our apartment at 15:00 for a class that starts at 19:30 so that I would have plenty of time to find everything and get to the Ed center in time to copy my syllabus.  Fortunately, the google maps on my brand new iphone 6 (purchased with a new 2-year contract solely for the purpose of having guidance during my drives) got me right to the front gate of the base.  Of course, once I passed onto the base, the gps went blank because no gps has any directions for the bases.  But this base is fairly small and I eventually found the Education Center at about 16:00.  Well, since it was MLK holiday, the UMUC field offices were closed and there was no access to a copier.  So I wandered down the street to McDonald's and grabbed some dinner and listened to the classical music being piped over the speakers at this obviously cultured military base.  Eventually, I made my way back to the Education Center and sat in the hallway outside of Classroom #2 waiting for a writing class to finish.  At 19:25 I was able to enter the classroom, along with all of my students who arrived and waited in the narrow hallway.  Class went well and we finished sometime between 21:45 and 22:10.  I can't divulge that we actually finished early because knowledge that we actually ended a few minutes early could jeapordize the contract my employer has with the Department of Defense.  I then set my google maps to take me back to my "home".  For some reason, Siri, or whoever runs the gps in my phone decided that it would be too easy to just back-track the straightforward path we came on and I ended up driving down many small, winding Japanese streets before entering the expressway at a completely different on ramp than I had exited on my trip in.  But once on the expressway, I was home in about an hour of total travel time (and $32 roundtrip in toll fees--reimbursable, of course).

On Tuesday, I left the apartment with an Econ professor riding as passenger because her class starts the same time as mine.  Even though I have a 2 hour lab after our classes, she said she wanted to ride with me to see what the car commute was like and compare it with the 4-5 train commute.  My trusty google maps said it would take about 2 hours to get to the base we were going to so we left at 13:00 for classes that started at 16:40  (yes, that's nearly four hours for the two that we would probably need, but once again, we didn't know if the traffic, etc. would really get us there in 2 hours).  With only one minor error on the way, when I failed to accurately follow the instructions to take an exit, so we ended up going to the next exit 7 km down the road and doing a very sharp U-turn after exiting the toll booths to get back onto the expressway in the opposite direction, we did get to the base at about 15:20.  I went up to the UMUC offices and talked with the Field Reps and got the key to the high school lab where I would be teaching the lab portion of the class.  I was told I couldn't get into the lab until 16:00 hours which would give me 40 minutes to do lab prep and get back to the multi-storied multi-functional building where the Ed center is located for my 16:40 class.  I drove over to the high school and waited until exactly 16:00 and went looking for the lab.  The Field Rep had given very good directions to find the science lab, but the door to the lab was locked and the silver piece of metal that looked more like a dog tag than a key, wouldn't fit into the lab door lock (after all, the lock was a alphanumeric keypad!)  Eventually, a Japanese lady came and opened up the door for me and gave me many instructions in Japanese, the only part of which I understood to be "slam the door hard" because of the gestures and sounds she made.  I looked around the room and could tell it was a neglected physics/chemistry lab and began to feel somewhat frustrated about the small space I would be teaching biology lab to 19 students in.  Ok, so I began preparing the lab material which I had purchased at the 100 yen store (dollar store) and brought with me in a cardboard box, all the while thinking, that if I leave and go teach my class, how am I going to get back in the lab, especially if I have obediently slammed the door.  I emailed the Field Reps and asked 1) do they have a code for the lock and 2) is the classroom I'm teaching in available after my class (starting the think of a back-up plan).  The answer came back no to both questions, so I asked if I could hold lab in the classroom this first day (but forgot to send the message).  So I threw everything back into the box and got into my car with five minutes to go before class started.  This base isn't very big but it has many tall buildings and some huge grey ships and in the dark everything was starting to look the same--scary!  Somehow I missed a turn and was lining up in traffic to leave the base.  I know I didn't want to do that, partly because Ellen and I had driven around in circles for about an hour trying to get out of that part of the city the previous week when we came and scouted out the area.  So I quickly did a turn and drove through an area that I'm pretty sure was "restricted" and eventually came to a street that I recognized as the one leading in from the main gate I had originally entered.  So I began looking for the large parking garage that was next to the building with the Ed Center.  I pulled into the first parking garage and went up to the fourth level so I could enter the adjacent building and be right by my classroom.  Having parked the car and grabbed my computer bag, box of lab supplies, and whatever else, I ran into the building connected to the parking garage.  It had white walls instead of blue and I immediately knew I was in the wrong building.  I started asking people where the "xxxx Center" is and got five blank stares.  I thought, wow, you work on this base and you don't even know that, but it turns out many of the people were transients, only stationed there while their "unit" was in port.  Eventually someone pointed me down the street to the building I needed.  I rushed there as quickly as I could, but as I was crossing the last walkway to get into the building, the bugle started playing and I had to stop for the anthem (bringing back memories of being on BYU campus for the morning or afternoon playing of the national anthem and stopping to pay respect).  My concern, however, was that I figured the anthem probably played at 17:00 hours so I was now 15 minutes late.  Yes, it did and I was!  By then I was completely frustrated at the logistics of my teaching situation.  I had a mere 40 minutes to do any and all lab prep for that lab class before I had to miraculously be back in the classroom for lecture, and then after lecture only have 10 minutes for me and the students to go across base to the high school and get to the lab for a 2 hour lab.  How was that ever going to work?!?!  Fortunately, the rest of the evening went surprisingly well, with lecture going from when I got into the room until 19:20, followed by a makeshift lab on the scientific method in the classroom until about 21:30.  The drive home went without any errors and the Econ professor decided that she would take me up on the offer to ride with me every Tues and Thurs rather than getting an ulcer and whatever else she was afraid of getting by commuting via train.  We were home by 23:30--a short 11 hour work day!

On Wednesday, I decided to go into my class early and stop by the other military base where the lab on Friday would be.  I had earlier asked the Regional Education manager if my lab was held at an Ed center or a high school and she, being new to the Region, assured me that since she had only signed arrangements for one high school, the one I had used the day before, that the other one must be at the Ed Center.  So when I showed up at the Ed Center and met the Field Reps, I was told they would take me "over to the high school" and show me the lab.   They gave me two keys--one for the outside door and one for the lab door so I figured we were off to a better start.  I followed the Field Rep to the high school and up to the biology lab.  The teacher came out into the hallway, her class still in session, and said, "I don't think the arrangement is going to work" and told the field rep that he needed to go talk with the Principal. It literally felt like we were being "sent to the office".  After we left, the Field Rep reassured me that the Education Officer for the base had made all of the arrangements and that it was a done deal.  But I could tell at least the teacher wasn't happy about having me and my students there as their "guests".  I left the Field Rep to deal with the administrators and drove on to the base where my Monday and Wednesday classes are held and told him to email me before Friday if anything changed.   Class went well that evening, but since I had arrived several hours early again, I found myself staring at the food options in the food court wondering if I would have to eat the same fast food for a third day in a row (it seems that the same fast food joints are found on all of these bases!)  One of my students saw me and came and asked a question about the quiz and then I asked him if there was any place else to eat on base.  He said there's a Japanese restaurant on base near the shoppette and a restaurant by the golf course.  I drove to that one first and it was closed and eventually found some good Oyako Don at the small Japanese restaurant which turned out to be a one-man show (cook, server, host, etc.)  On the way home from that class, the google map tried doing the same circuitous route it had taken me on Monday, so I stayed on a larger road to force her into making a new route.  After missing a turn and being routed around the block, I pulled up to an intersection near the expressway.  She told me to go left, but I could tell that the road I was entering was an on-ramp and I could see the cars on the other side of a barricade going to my right so I turned right onto this three lane "on-ramp".  Mistake of the greatest degree!  I immediately saw three lanes of headlights come right at me.  I swerved and tried doing a U-turn but didn't have enough space nor time and just sat there praying that all three lanes of cars would stop and not T-bone me.  Fortunately they did and I finished my Y-point turn and headed in front of them feeling like a total fool and scared out of my whits.  The rest of the ride home I was on pins and needles and overdosed on adrenalin.

So Thursday came and it was time for the long 2-hour commute to the base where I do lecture and lab back to back.  The commute went perfectly; the class went well.  I dismissed my class at 19:00 (twenty minutes early) so we could all get over to the high school.  The code worked on the keypad (well actually, one of my students who subs at the high school had to enter the code to get it to work since I couldn't manage it) but lab went well.  The students saw what they needed through the microscopes and we were back on the expressway for our return commute by 21:15 and home by 23:00, a mere 9 hr workday.

Finally, Friday arrived and I only had to commute 45 minutes to the base with the high school lab where I'm not wanted.  I parked by the football field and saw that the soccer team was working away.  I just about bagged the lab class to watch soccer, especially since I had seen someone holding the door open with a group of my students standing around.  Immediately I figured they were being told that the school couldn't be used, but when I got there, it was someone who was just irritated that she didn't know anything about the arrangement but let me in, especially when I used my key to unlock the door so she wouldn't have to keep holding it open.  We went up and unloaded everything from the box and got the students going on the two labs they had to do.  It all went well and by 21:00 I was back at home having successfully completed the first week.

And that's what teaching as a Collegiate Traveling Faculty is like!  Oh, while I was teaching that last period, I received an email--assignments for the next 8 week session.  I will teach two classes and two labs (that's the norm) but they are both at my home base with the both lectures on Monday and Wednesday and both labs on Saturday in a dedicated lab facility at the Education Center!  No long commutes, no high school labs,  and only three days with classes/labs.  It all balances out in the end.  I guess!

First week on Mainland Japan

Doug wrote this as a letter on Sunday, 1/18/15, to his family, but it is a good synopsis of our week.

 We've been busy apt hunting and then adventuring on the ferry.  We had a rental car (reimbursable for 7 days, but we only used 5) for the time before we went back to Okinawa.

We were quite the sight pulling out of the Nissan rental facility at Haneda trying to get the built in navigation system to find Yokota air base and finally resorting to our Garmin which decided to avoid the expressways giving us a 2 hr drive to the Kanto Lodge in the dark evening hours.  The next day we tried finding NAF Atsugi but didn't know which way to go on the Chuo expressway and ended up in Kawasaki so we skipped Atsugi and headed for Yokosuka.  After following the navi system to the dead center of Yokusuka instead of the part of town by the base, and then being turned away at a Japanese naval base, we finally found the right gate and saw the location of my class.  We then picked up our ETC card from the company we signed up with and headed back to find Atsugi.  After several more failed attempts but great exposure to the expressway system, we decided to just return to Yokota.

The next morning we started off again towards Camp Zama and NAF Atsugi.  We liked the quiet, peaceful feel of Camp Zama but found the lodge there to be too expensive with too-little space even though we could have gotten a long-term room.  Next, to the elusive NAF Atsugi.  After many wrong turns and narrow streets we finally found the main gate temporarily closed with a detour to the other side of the base.  At that gate the guard didn't want to let our rental vehicle in without a pass, and sent us back to the gate that we had just tried.  They decided my ID needed to be registered with DBIDS with two more pictures and two additional finger prints before the car pass could be issued.  After finally getting into the base, we struck out at both the Navy Lodge and the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites.  Since it was Saturday evening we decided to head back before it got dark.  By then we at least knew the fastest way to get back to Yokota.

The next morning, while getting ready for church we decided to attend the Zama Military Ward with hopes that we could drive by an apartment I had seen listed among those that were short-term furnished.  It was interesting in that ward, the counselor who conducted and his wife were both in my singles ward at BYUH.  He is a contractor with Army Intelligence.  After church we drove by the apartment and decided to pursue it later in the week when we could get back with the listing agent.

Monday morning we decided to forego any adventures and headed straight for Narita.  Ellen was exhausted after navigating us on the expressways through Tokyo and then about 15 kilometers from Narita we discovered that the instructions for the rental return had a location code for the navigation system and we could have had clear, concise instructions about getting through Tokyo.  We have decided any future trips into Tokyo will be by train/subway!  But we successfully made it to Narita with several hours to spare and were picking our car up in Okinawa as the sun went down that day. We spent the night in Naha at a Comfort Inn hotel near the ferry terminal since we had to have the car there by 6am.  We had an interesting experience with the small parking garage that the hotel contracts with watching our car rotate around a Ferris wheel-type devise and hoping that we had successfully communicated that we needed the car at 5:30am even though they didn't open until 7am.  With lots of hand gestures, we left assured that the car would be parked in front and the keys at the hotel desk.  Of course, I didn't sleep much worrying about the car, the ferry, and everything in between.  But at 5:30 am I retrieved the keys from the hotel desk and walked to the garage and found the car sitting out front.  We then drove the five blocks to the ferry terminal and waited to purchase our tickets and then drive the car onto the ferry!

The ferry trip was very uneventful.  We were the only Americans on the ferry.  The weather was cool and partly cloudy but I enjoyed the sea air much better than the two "seats" we were assigned, which were actually two sleeping mats in a room with about 30 other mats.  We were the only two in the room until the second to last stop when about 10 more people were added to our room.  The night passage went well but neither of us slept much since the electrical plug we had our cpap machines plugged in to went out when the lights went off!.  I enjoyed watching every stop.  The precision and organization of the dock crews were really impressive.

Wednesday morning after just over 24 hrs on the ferry, we docked at Kagoshima and we drove the car off the boat and began our lengthy drive up the mainland.  Ellen did an amazing job getting us through the cities out to the expressways.  Once on the expressways we found it much more convenient to eat and fill up at the rest areas.  We did venture into Hiroshima late on Wednesday and walked around the Peace Memorial.  We then drove on as far as Okayama where we stayed at a Comfort Inn Hotel and had a delicious dinner at a small Indian restaurant.  Parking at that hotel was much simpler even though it likewise was several blocks down the street.

Our second day of driving was through rain and drizzle all day.  Google Maps said it was about the same distance going through Nagano or the coastal route. Having enjoyed the mountainous terrain in Kyushu the previous day we opted for the mountains again.  After about 80 km out of Kyoto towards Nagano, we were detoured off the expressway.  Several times we saw electric signs with red kanji but no indication that the road was closed.  So we tried entering back on to the freeway but this time a highway worker explained in Japanese that the expressway to "Nagano... closed... snow". So we back-tracked and came up the other expressway.  We arrived at the Kanto Lodge late in the evening after two full days of driving and over $300 in toll fees.

Friday was spent registering at the base pass office, at the post office, at the hospital, and at Bonzai Burritos!  Yesterday we rode the train into an area in north Tokyo to meet with the rental agent.  We found out that the apartment we saw earlier wasn't "furnished" and then found out that "furnished" really only means "appliances".  Since we really don't want to deal with buying or renting all of the "furniture" it looks like the closest truly furnished, short-term lease apartments (mansions) are in Yokohama, and are considerably higher than what we will pay here at the Kanto.  We actually find the 1bedroom suite room quite sufficient and are happy enough to stay here.

So that's a much more detailed account of our latest adventures than I intended to give.  Tomorrow classes start and I will begin the 8 week session with Monday and Wednesday evenings at NAF Atsugi, Tuesday and Thursday evenings at CFA Yokosuka, and Friday evening at Camp Zama.  After all the practice at expressway driving, I should be able to do it without Ellen's navigation!  We did decide to invest in a smartphone (Au) to help with getting around.  It was great yesterday having precise directions for the trains into Tokyo.  I will take that phone with me while I travel. 

We drove from southern Japan: Kagoshima, to Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Osaka,
Kyoto, Nagoya then arrived at Fussa (Yokota AFB) about an hour out of Tokyo.  From Nagoya we tried to take the green expressway to Naporo, but it was closed due to snow.  We took the blue expressway and went by Mt Fuji - but it was so rainy we didn't see anything.

Queen Coral 8 - Ferry Ride from Naha, Okinawa, Japan to Kagoshima, Japan

Early Tuesday morning, 0600, on Tuesday 1/14/15 we were at the Naha Port with our little pink Honda Fit to load it on the Queen Coral 8 ferry.   Let me share some pictures with you.  Doug spent almost the whole time on the top deck enjoying the sea breeze and taking pictures.  We did see a couple of whale spouts and a small surface, but it was too far away to get any pictures.

Pushing away from the port.

Goodbye Naha!

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Okinawa mountains prior to the sunrise.

Sunrise over Okinawa.

At one port we kept hearing cattle calling.


They loaded 13 of these containers of cattle onto the
bow of the ship.  Doug said there were more cattle than
people on the ferry.

Pretty lighthouse along the way.

 Main sleeping room on the ferry.  Could fit up to 150 people.

There were others that held 75, 28, 12, 8, and private that housed 2 people.

We were in one made for 28, but there were only about half that many.

We don't think this would every go over in the US.

Our little Honda Fit parked way in the back of the 2nd Deck.

The bottom deck had containers and larger vehicles like tanker trucks.

There weren't too many private vehicles on this ferry.

We left Naha at 0700 on Tuesday 1/14/15

and disembarked at Kagoshima at 0800 on

Wednesday 1/15/15.  We climbed in the Pink Honda

and started our road trip through Japan. 

New Adventures in Japan

At present I am waiting for a plane to take us back to Okinawa to retrieve our car. Early tomorrow morning we will board a transport ferry with our car and 24 hours later we will dock in southern Japan, Kagoshima. We will then take 2-3 days driving back to our home base.. Yakota air force base.

We have a one bedroom hotel suite right now and are looking for an apartment closer to the bases where Doug will be teaching. We are finding mainland Japan to be more difficult to navigate. But we will figure it out. We have been so busy I haven't even checked out fabric stores yet!!!

We can see Mt Fugi from Yakota AFB. It has been very clear.