My list of accomplishments for today is rather long, so I thought I'd share:
1. I went to yoga. This is an accomplishment only because I haven't been able to go in about two weeks for various reasons, and I finally have my own yoga mat, now. So now I just need to motivate myself to do yoga at home. Dory should be entertained.
2. I made my first Japanese friend. Based on several books about Japanese Culture, I haven't introduce myself when I meet people because it's apparently vaguely forward if it's the first time you've met. This is good news for me because I'm shy anyway, so it's hard enough work just saying hello without bothering with introductions. Instead, I've been waiting to become familiar with faces, thereby making it easier to remember any names. Today at yoga, a girl who comes regularly, and who I've also seen at my Japanese classes, introduced herself. I feel special. Now maybe I'll introduce myself to my neighbors. I'm sure they currently think of me as "That Crazy Gaijin," and they have some good reasons, I suppose...
3. I bought a toaster oven. That's right, folks. I've gone like four months without baking anything. Usually, it was no big deal, but I finally broke down and got a toaster oven that can be set to bake and will hold a 9x9 dish. My primary reason was actually Zack. I asked him what he wants to eat when he gets home so I don't cook it now and get tired of it. He rattled off a meal that was all very stove-friendly, and then said "and chocolate chip cookies." (which is odd for him, since he doesn't usually have a sweet tooth."
"Honey," I said, "I can't do cookies. I have no oven."
"How about pie?" He asked.
"Nope."
"How about brownies?"
Clearly he needs a few more cooking lessons, huh? Anyway, we established that, short of ice cream, there were few desserts that didn't require an oven, so he suggested I go get one. Since I was craving casserole today, I bought it. The casserole is cooking while I type.
4. I filled out a withdrawal slip at the Japanese bank without supervision. The only mistake I made was that I asked for the wrong denomination of bills. No biggie. So now I've got that down.
5. I found and explored the Naafco. Naafco is a household goods store. That's the quick way to describe it anyway. It consists of three buildings, and the American version would be a Home Depot, Office Depot/Staples, Ikea, and Bed Bath and Beyond all rolled into one. If it goes in or around your house, Naafco has it. There was a garden section, lumber, furniture, matresses, rugs, pet supplies, and much much more. I went in search of new rods for the closet. I forgot to measure said closet, so I'll have to go back, but now I know. It was quite entertaining.
6. I turned on an A/C unit without consulting my directions. I've memorized the symbol, but now I think I've changed them all over so I guess it's not that big of a deal. Oh well. Dory's not sure she likes this whole A/C thing. It's too confining because I keep the room I'm cooling all shut up. She likes to be able to go sleep on my bed without asking permission first.
It's funny how little things become major accomplishments here.
Also, it has rained at least a little every day for 12 days straight now. I'm counting to see if this rainy season is everything they say it is. It hasn't rained yet today, but it's getting to look like it might, so that will be 13 days in a row.
And Zack will be home soon!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dory and the Cockroach Hotel
I appologize in advance to all of you who hate roaches. The fact of the matter is they like my house. They used to get in through a hole in the AC unit in the tatami room. That has been fixed, but a few still find their way in from time to time. (I even saw one run in the front door once. It died shortly thereafter.) To combat the litte freaks, I have been using the Japanese version of the cockroach hotels placed strategically where I tend to see the roaches.
For those of you who have never been cursed with the darn things, a roach hotel is basically a cardboard box with openings in all the walls and sticky substance on the floor to prevent the roaches from checking out. I know just how sticky it is because I've brushed my finger against it once and it was hard to de-stick. The Japanese versions have a picture of a red house on the outside, complete with windows and doors for the bugs to enter and happy roaches dancing around the outside. They also come with bait in a little plastic thing with holes in it so the roaches can smell, but not eat. You drop the bait onto the center of the sticky stuff and it takes care of itself. Much easier than stomping or Raiding them away.
Dory has been fascinated with the roach hotels since she arrived home. She's weird, and we don't deny it. So far, it's just been a general curiousity about the strange things on the floor, but then I changed them out yesterday and put down new ones, and I guess the fresh bait smell attracks more than just roaches.
I was watching TV last night when Dory came in with a piece of suspiciously red cardboard attached to her foot extremely securely. I picked her up and went out to the kitchen to find bits of roach hotel all over. Luckily, it was new and thus empty, or it would have been really unpleasant. Instead, it was just kind of funny, other than the small matter of getting Dory's front paws unstuck from what was left of the thing.
Then I found the remains of an empty bait package. Suddenly I had two problems: 1. How do I de-stick my dog? and 2. Is the stuff she just ate going to kill her or just make her very ill?
I got the solution to the first problem from our ombudsman, Carmen, mother of two and expert in sticky stuff. A little vegetable oil got most of the problem off, but her foot still looks like a swiffer after it's been used. She's picking up bits of fuzz and dust everywhere she goes. I intend to try again to get it all off tonight. The thing is, it hurts the poor girl, so it's hard to convince her to let me work at it.
The second problem was more complicated because the box is all in Japanese, so I had no idea what the bait was. Luckily, I live in a very Japanese neighborhood, so I broke out my dictionary, found the word for poisonous, and then took Dory and the box from the roach hotels on a walk. I had just gotten to the street level when I ran into none other than the batman. That's right, the same guy who helped me out with the bat in my house was out in the road with a buddy who promptly asked me if Dory was a min-pin. I couldn't have gotten more lucky.
So we chatted, and I managed to tell him that Dory had eaten the bait and ask if it was poisonous. He laughed and said no it was not, so Dory didn't have to visit with a vet, lucky her. My neighbors are basically convinced of my insanity now, if they weren't before, but at least they're friendly about it. :-)
For those of you who have never been cursed with the darn things, a roach hotel is basically a cardboard box with openings in all the walls and sticky substance on the floor to prevent the roaches from checking out. I know just how sticky it is because I've brushed my finger against it once and it was hard to de-stick. The Japanese versions have a picture of a red house on the outside, complete with windows and doors for the bugs to enter and happy roaches dancing around the outside. They also come with bait in a little plastic thing with holes in it so the roaches can smell, but not eat. You drop the bait onto the center of the sticky stuff and it takes care of itself. Much easier than stomping or Raiding them away.
Dory has been fascinated with the roach hotels since she arrived home. She's weird, and we don't deny it. So far, it's just been a general curiousity about the strange things on the floor, but then I changed them out yesterday and put down new ones, and I guess the fresh bait smell attracks more than just roaches.
I was watching TV last night when Dory came in with a piece of suspiciously red cardboard attached to her foot extremely securely. I picked her up and went out to the kitchen to find bits of roach hotel all over. Luckily, it was new and thus empty, or it would have been really unpleasant. Instead, it was just kind of funny, other than the small matter of getting Dory's front paws unstuck from what was left of the thing.
Then I found the remains of an empty bait package. Suddenly I had two problems: 1. How do I de-stick my dog? and 2. Is the stuff she just ate going to kill her or just make her very ill?
I got the solution to the first problem from our ombudsman, Carmen, mother of two and expert in sticky stuff. A little vegetable oil got most of the problem off, but her foot still looks like a swiffer after it's been used. She's picking up bits of fuzz and dust everywhere she goes. I intend to try again to get it all off tonight. The thing is, it hurts the poor girl, so it's hard to convince her to let me work at it.
The second problem was more complicated because the box is all in Japanese, so I had no idea what the bait was. Luckily, I live in a very Japanese neighborhood, so I broke out my dictionary, found the word for poisonous, and then took Dory and the box from the roach hotels on a walk. I had just gotten to the street level when I ran into none other than the batman. That's right, the same guy who helped me out with the bat in my house was out in the road with a buddy who promptly asked me if Dory was a min-pin. I couldn't have gotten more lucky.
So we chatted, and I managed to tell him that Dory had eaten the bait and ask if it was poisonous. He laughed and said no it was not, so Dory didn't have to visit with a vet, lucky her. My neighbors are basically convinced of my insanity now, if they weren't before, but at least they're friendly about it. :-)
Saturday, June 16, 2007
When it rains...
It's official: the rainy season is here. For about the last month, every time it rains someone has mentioned this alleged rainy season, but assured me that the current rain was not a part of it. It has now been raining (albeit off and on) for four days straight, and no one can deny that it is that time. In the last four days, I've seen one patch of blue sky and the sun has come out for an hour. Dory is not pleased. She really takes some convincing when it's time to go outside. Luckily, it does stop occasionally, and it hasn't actually poured yet. So when it stops, sometimes I'll just take her out since it's not actually going to get her wet. I don't know if this helps, but whatever.
I'm told that, though the rain can be annoying, it is absolutely vital to the water supply here. In years past, they have rationed water if there wasn't enough rain. One of the teachers over at the junior college even told us that tenish years ago they cut off the water altogether and came around every other day with trucks to dole out the rations. The good news is that these rations don't technically apply to the base. They're simply "encouraged" to go along with what the Japanese are doing. Unfortunately, I don't live on base, so rain is good. The better news is that the reservoirs are apparently at like 80% right now, so we should be okay...
Beyond the weather, there was another Noritake sale today. I know, I know, I promised early warning. I didn't get any myself, though. So I got a few little gifts to send on home, and some things for me that match my daily stuff. Since Zack wasn't along, my deliberation process was much quicker. As a result, I got more time to watch the auction in the back of the warehouse, and I think I figured it out, mostly. So here's my interpretation of a Japanese Noritake auction: the auctioneer holds up the item in question and suggests a selling price. Everyone who would buy the item for that price raises their hands. (If no one raises their hands, the auctioneer lowers the price until someone does.) At this point, a game of rock paper scissors ensues. They even have their own rhyme to go with it, but I haven't got that yet. The goal is to beat the auctioneer, in which case, you stay in the game. So if the auctioneer has paper, and you have scissors, you're still in. This continues until one person remains, and that person gets the plate at the suggested price. If the auctioneer beats everyone in a round, they all get a do-over. Highly amusing, if a little slow.
In other news, Zack called last night at like 12:30. I thought it was my alarm and was really disoriented when I figured out it was the phone. Luckily, he had no reason to call other than to chat, and that was apparently the first chance he'd had that day. Needless to say, he's a little stressed (okay, a lot stressed). The good news is that the stress is having a positive effect on his long-term planning. He's decided to ask for a few days of leave the next time a big leave time is scheduled, so we may go see some of the rest of Japan. So that much is good. He's ready to be home, and I'm ready for him to be here. We've still got a little time to go, though.
I'm told that, though the rain can be annoying, it is absolutely vital to the water supply here. In years past, they have rationed water if there wasn't enough rain. One of the teachers over at the junior college even told us that tenish years ago they cut off the water altogether and came around every other day with trucks to dole out the rations. The good news is that these rations don't technically apply to the base. They're simply "encouraged" to go along with what the Japanese are doing. Unfortunately, I don't live on base, so rain is good. The better news is that the reservoirs are apparently at like 80% right now, so we should be okay...
Beyond the weather, there was another Noritake sale today. I know, I know, I promised early warning. I didn't get any myself, though. So I got a few little gifts to send on home, and some things for me that match my daily stuff. Since Zack wasn't along, my deliberation process was much quicker. As a result, I got more time to watch the auction in the back of the warehouse, and I think I figured it out, mostly. So here's my interpretation of a Japanese Noritake auction: the auctioneer holds up the item in question and suggests a selling price. Everyone who would buy the item for that price raises their hands. (If no one raises their hands, the auctioneer lowers the price until someone does.) At this point, a game of rock paper scissors ensues. They even have their own rhyme to go with it, but I haven't got that yet. The goal is to beat the auctioneer, in which case, you stay in the game. So if the auctioneer has paper, and you have scissors, you're still in. This continues until one person remains, and that person gets the plate at the suggested price. If the auctioneer beats everyone in a round, they all get a do-over. Highly amusing, if a little slow.
In other news, Zack called last night at like 12:30. I thought it was my alarm and was really disoriented when I figured out it was the phone. Luckily, he had no reason to call other than to chat, and that was apparently the first chance he'd had that day. Needless to say, he's a little stressed (okay, a lot stressed). The good news is that the stress is having a positive effect on his long-term planning. He's decided to ask for a few days of leave the next time a big leave time is scheduled, so we may go see some of the rest of Japan. So that much is good. He's ready to be home, and I'm ready for him to be here. We've still got a little time to go, though.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Another Busy Weekend
I'm not really sure how it got to be the weekend in the first place this week. I guess I spent all week looking forward to Thursday when Dory came home, so Friday kind of snuck up on me.
Friday night I was invited to another officer's wife's house to play Left Right Center. Since the house is on base, where gambling is officially against the rules, I promise that while this game was a game of chance, it was not, in fact, gambling... really... and I didn't win 15 bucks, either. The fun thing about this game is that it really is all chance, zero skill, so you can basically talk to everyone while you play and the game just takes care of itself. We had a lot of fun playing.
Saturday, the Family Readiness Group for Zack's ship met to start putting together the welcome back party. We all brought food and the kids colored posters and the adults attempted to make tissue paper flowers with which to decorate. I say we attempted it because it was windy in the park where we met, and that made dealing with the tissue paper a little complicated. In the end we gave up and split up the supplies to make them at home. I now have enough tissue paper squares and twist ties to make no less than 125 red flowers. So the cross-stitching I've been working on (and that's almost done, by the way) is now set aside while I work on the flowers. The funny thing is that I have no idea what we'll be doing with them when we're done. I'd heard there will be lei's, so may be they're for that? I don't know, but they are easy to make (when it's not windy) and so I don't mind.
Saturday night the group that runs my Japanese lessons had an outing, too. We went to a firefly festival just outside of Sasebo. I say it was just outside of Sasebo because it was literally a few tents set up on the side of the road. We left at about sunset and arrived with just enough time for those who hadn't ate to grab some yakitori from the tents before the sun went down all the way. Once this happened, we were herded across the highway and down a hill to a small river, and on the other side, hiding in the underbrush were the fireflies. Our position made it very easy to watch them. It was really quite lovely. As it got darker, they got more and more bright, and there were tons of them. They were like little blinking Christmas lights. Occasionally, a few would float across the river and we'd get to try to catch them, but there were so many people that this was not an easy thing to attempt. There were lots of little Japanese kids around, and it was fun to see their reactions, but the group I was with agreed that it seemed a little weird to be watching fireflies in such a large crowd. In the States, you'd be sitting with family in your back yard, and that's about it. Add it to the list of cultural differences, I guess. Anyway, it was a lovely evening.
In between the two events on Saturday, I used Dory as an excuse to further explore my neighborhood. She wasn't too excited about going very far from the house, but she got me far enough to explore the Shrine that I'd heard was near me. It turns out that it's right at the end of the street, and it's the coolest one I've seen so far because it's not a tourist site by any stretch. It's just the normal buildings built right into the mountain, very natural and pretty. When the camera comes home, Zack and I will have to go back and take some pictures.
Dory's stay in the kennel really did make her a much more sociable creature. She's not nearly so barky, and she doesn't attack every person she doesn't recognize. She's not always nice, but I'll take a dog who ignores everyone over a dog who attacks everyone. The kids around here really love her, so I'm glad she's not so yappy anymore. I don't want her to scare anyone. I walked her all the way to base today (she hated it until we got to Nimitz which she knows), and she did very well wandering through the Ginza. So life is good.
Friday night I was invited to another officer's wife's house to play Left Right Center. Since the house is on base, where gambling is officially against the rules, I promise that while this game was a game of chance, it was not, in fact, gambling... really... and I didn't win 15 bucks, either. The fun thing about this game is that it really is all chance, zero skill, so you can basically talk to everyone while you play and the game just takes care of itself. We had a lot of fun playing.
Saturday, the Family Readiness Group for Zack's ship met to start putting together the welcome back party. We all brought food and the kids colored posters and the adults attempted to make tissue paper flowers with which to decorate. I say we attempted it because it was windy in the park where we met, and that made dealing with the tissue paper a little complicated. In the end we gave up and split up the supplies to make them at home. I now have enough tissue paper squares and twist ties to make no less than 125 red flowers. So the cross-stitching I've been working on (and that's almost done, by the way) is now set aside while I work on the flowers. The funny thing is that I have no idea what we'll be doing with them when we're done. I'd heard there will be lei's, so may be they're for that? I don't know, but they are easy to make (when it's not windy) and so I don't mind.
Saturday night the group that runs my Japanese lessons had an outing, too. We went to a firefly festival just outside of Sasebo. I say it was just outside of Sasebo because it was literally a few tents set up on the side of the road. We left at about sunset and arrived with just enough time for those who hadn't ate to grab some yakitori from the tents before the sun went down all the way. Once this happened, we were herded across the highway and down a hill to a small river, and on the other side, hiding in the underbrush were the fireflies. Our position made it very easy to watch them. It was really quite lovely. As it got darker, they got more and more bright, and there were tons of them. They were like little blinking Christmas lights. Occasionally, a few would float across the river and we'd get to try to catch them, but there were so many people that this was not an easy thing to attempt. There were lots of little Japanese kids around, and it was fun to see their reactions, but the group I was with agreed that it seemed a little weird to be watching fireflies in such a large crowd. In the States, you'd be sitting with family in your back yard, and that's about it. Add it to the list of cultural differences, I guess. Anyway, it was a lovely evening.
In between the two events on Saturday, I used Dory as an excuse to further explore my neighborhood. She wasn't too excited about going very far from the house, but she got me far enough to explore the Shrine that I'd heard was near me. It turns out that it's right at the end of the street, and it's the coolest one I've seen so far because it's not a tourist site by any stretch. It's just the normal buildings built right into the mountain, very natural and pretty. When the camera comes home, Zack and I will have to go back and take some pictures.
Dory's stay in the kennel really did make her a much more sociable creature. She's not nearly so barky, and she doesn't attack every person she doesn't recognize. She's not always nice, but I'll take a dog who ignores everyone over a dog who attacks everyone. The kids around here really love her, so I'm glad she's not so yappy anymore. I don't want her to scare anyone. I walked her all the way to base today (she hated it until we got to Nimitz which she knows), and she did very well wandering through the Ginza. So life is good.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Homecoming I
Dory came home today! Her quarantine is over. She is highly confused.
I arrived to pick her up at about 3:40 this afternoon because ILC (International Lady's Club) ran long. We went to Omura to see the remains of a castle and an Iris garden. It was really very beautiful. It was also supposed to be over about an hour before it was, so I kind of had to book it over to get the girl because the kennel closes at 4:00.
Dory got a bath before she came home with some nice shampoo for dogs with dry skin. I cleaned her kennel one more time, and she was delighted to get a car ride.
The first place I showed her when we got to our neighborhood was the park. This was reduce the chances of any accidents in the house. It served that purpose very well, though she was too nervous to really explore and was quite happy when we turned back to the car. Dory doesn't always handle change so well, and it took her a month to be willing to go out of sight of the kennel, so I wasn't too surprised about this.
Back at the house, Dory got busy smelling everything. I had prepared by closing off the rooms I didn't want her investigating alone. She still hasn't seen the tatami room, but I gave her a tour of the rest of the house. Her reaction to her crate looked like the dog version of "I remember this." She got really excited about our bed, though. That was when the tail started really wagging.
Dory also liked the patios. She doesn't really want to be outside alone, but she did a good bit of sniffing on the second floor one before realizing I had gone inside. So we may spend a bit more time out there together sometime if it isn't too hot. She handles the heat worse than I do, surprisingly enough. There will have to be A/C for us both soon.
Back downstairs, we had our first game of monkeyball in three months. Monkeyball is the first toy I got Dory. It's a brown tennisball that used to have four legs and a monkey head. Now it just has three legs, but it's still a fun toy. Dory doesn't like playing outside, though, and the kennel was too small for fetch, so we hadn't played in awhile. She got so excited about the game that she tried to run laps (another typical Dory expression of joy). However, Dory doesn't deal with hard floors well. She's used to carpet. So she didn't want to run on the hard wood the way she would have to for laps, and instead she just ran tiny little circles on the one rug in the house. Poor baby. I found it hysterical.
She's spent the rest of the evening flopped out on the rug. We just had a vistor (Japanese person who I couldn't understand so she left quickly), and Dory's already barking at people, so I guess that's her way of taking over. Now she's on my lap just listening intently to the outside noises, but I can tell she's tired.
I'm so happy to have her back! I don't think I'd realized how much I miss having her around.
I arrived to pick her up at about 3:40 this afternoon because ILC (International Lady's Club) ran long. We went to Omura to see the remains of a castle and an Iris garden. It was really very beautiful. It was also supposed to be over about an hour before it was, so I kind of had to book it over to get the girl because the kennel closes at 4:00.
Dory got a bath before she came home with some nice shampoo for dogs with dry skin. I cleaned her kennel one more time, and she was delighted to get a car ride.
The first place I showed her when we got to our neighborhood was the park. This was reduce the chances of any accidents in the house. It served that purpose very well, though she was too nervous to really explore and was quite happy when we turned back to the car. Dory doesn't always handle change so well, and it took her a month to be willing to go out of sight of the kennel, so I wasn't too surprised about this.
Back at the house, Dory got busy smelling everything. I had prepared by closing off the rooms I didn't want her investigating alone. She still hasn't seen the tatami room, but I gave her a tour of the rest of the house. Her reaction to her crate looked like the dog version of "I remember this." She got really excited about our bed, though. That was when the tail started really wagging.
Dory also liked the patios. She doesn't really want to be outside alone, but she did a good bit of sniffing on the second floor one before realizing I had gone inside. So we may spend a bit more time out there together sometime if it isn't too hot. She handles the heat worse than I do, surprisingly enough. There will have to be A/C for us both soon.
Back downstairs, we had our first game of monkeyball in three months. Monkeyball is the first toy I got Dory. It's a brown tennisball that used to have four legs and a monkey head. Now it just has three legs, but it's still a fun toy. Dory doesn't like playing outside, though, and the kennel was too small for fetch, so we hadn't played in awhile. She got so excited about the game that she tried to run laps (another typical Dory expression of joy). However, Dory doesn't deal with hard floors well. She's used to carpet. So she didn't want to run on the hard wood the way she would have to for laps, and instead she just ran tiny little circles on the one rug in the house. Poor baby. I found it hysterical.
She's spent the rest of the evening flopped out on the rug. We just had a vistor (Japanese person who I couldn't understand so she left quickly), and Dory's already barking at people, so I guess that's her way of taking over. Now she's on my lap just listening intently to the outside noises, but I can tell she's tired.
I'm so happy to have her back! I don't think I'd realized how much I miss having her around.
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