Supply Corps Ball

So I've gotten behind again on my posting. Sorry about that. The last weekend in March was the Supply Corps Ball. Since I've been here, I've discovered that the Navy likes to have balls. They're basically prom for adults. There's a ton of them. My theory is that this is because the guys are gone so often, that they have to have 200 a year to give them a chance to appear at one. Luckily, Zack was home for the ball sponsored by the Supply guys, so we got to get all dressed up and go.

The Supply Corps Ball, like every ball in this area, was held at the Harbor View (the only upscalish restaurant on base). It began with a cocktail hour, followed by speeches by various people about how wonderful supply types are. (And I don't mean that jokingly. They really are super important to the Navy.) This was followed by an excellent dinner of either chicken, pork, fish or beef depending on what you ordered ahead of time. (Zack got us the chicken.) The featured entertainment for the night was a high school taiko drum group. Taiko drumming is a traditional Japanese version of a drum line performance and this group was really incredible:

They were as good as any professional group in the States in our opinion. This was followed by some very traditional toasts with Sake. The important folks at the ball cracked open a barrel and we toasted to everyone important to the Navy in both Japan and the US starting with the Emperor and working our way down. We drank from wooden cups and wore these lovely headbands that were provided:

Once everyone was sufficently liquored up, we were all reminded that drinking and driving is a terrible idea and that the taxis would be happy to take us home. Then the dancing began. It was the first time I ever saw anyone in a kimono do the electric slide. Highly entertaining:

So a good evening was had by all. I'll get more up to date on the posting here pretty soon, I promise.

Family Day Cruise

Last weekend, Zack's ship had its family day cruise. The wives and all kids eight and over were invited to go with the crew and see what the guys do all day. Other than having to be on the ship at 6:30 with Zack, it was quite a fun day. The weather was about as good as we could ask for: no wind and sunny. We watched Sasebo disappear from the top of the ship, along with all the excited kids:

While the ship was chugging away towards 99 islands (a scenic area near Sasebo), Zack had to do some actual work (after all, his guys were feeding us that afternoon), so I sat and read, but as soon as we dropped anchor, the crew began entertainment for the kids. First, they showed them all the firefighting gear on the ship and let them try it on:

Then they broke out the fire hose and the kids took turns aiming and adjusting the nozzle.

While the kids were having some fun with the water, Zack gave me a tour of the ship, which was really very interesting. Then it was lunchtime. The food service department served hamburgers, pizza, wings and ice cream, much to the delight of the kids of all ages on the ship. It was quite a good meal.

After lunch it was time to go home. We adults sat around and chatted with each other, and the kids were forced to entertain themselves for awhile:

And before any of us knew it, we were pulling back into Sasebo again. Over all, it was a very fun day.

Kimonos

Every once in awhile since I've lived here in Japan, a thought will run through my head that on the surface seems completely natural, but upon further reflection reminds me that I am not in Kansas anymore (so to speak). Today, that thought was "The next time I wear a kimono, I'm going to take a taxi." In the moment, it made perfect sense. After all, driving in a kimono is not so easy. Walking in one isn't a whole lot better, so a taxi would be the appropriate way to go. Then I realized that it was pretty weird 1) that I knew all this and 2) that I had more than one chance to wear a kimono in my whole life. In the States, chances to wear traditional Japanese clothes to events other than Halloween happen almost never. Here, on average, it seems to happen once a year.

This year's occasion to wear a kimono was a going away party for one of the members of OSC. She's been here three years, and in three weeks she'll be gone. The theme of the party was going to be all things Japan. The invite asked us to wear "Something Japanese." I don't have a lot of somethings Japanese, but I do have the kimono I bought last year at a festival. The question was how would I get it on. So I asked the ladies in one of my classes if they could help. They knew the lady for whom the party was being given, and two of them agreed to come to my house on the day of the party to help me get dressed.

What's more, my new helpers insisted that I could not wear the kimono like I did last time: with a t-shirt underneath and no socks. No, ma'am. That would never do. Instead, they provided me with all the under-stuff necessary to wear it right. They did a test run last week with my clothes on underneath to make sure it all would fit, and today, I wore it for real. Here I am at the party with Skii, who rented her Kimono and got professionally dressed:

The thing about kimonos is they're not easy to wear. If you want to see what I mean, find a big bathrobe and try to move around without allowing it to flap open anywhere. You'll get the idea. Granted, a kimono is tied shut a great deal better than a bathrobe, but the same basic issues apply. There are no zippers or buttons, it's all tied on. Here is a picture of everything I was wearing in the picture you saw before (except the underwear):

There was the kimono, obi, and shoes, yes, but under the kimono is the white under-dress thingy which is like its own kimono, which is tied on with its own cord. then there are the two cords that go under the obi to hold the kimono together, then all the stuff required to make the obi look right. The red thing sitting up in the back goes in the front to keep the obi properly flat regardless of a woman's figure. And if you look closely, you'll see two of my face towels in the pile, and a rubber band. They wrapped the towels and a tiny little pillow in one of the ties to make the obi poof out right in the back. Don't ask me how it's all done, but it took about 20 minutes for two of them to put me all together.

And once everything's on, it's hard to keep it all together. The ladies at the party today asked me if I could breathe, and when I said yes they insisted that my kimono must not be on tight enough. I did find it impossible to sneeze for lack of breathing room, though. Then there's the small issue of sitting. The hard part isn't the actual sitting but the getting from standing to sitting and back without the bottom flapping open. "Keep your legs together." the Japanese ladies advised me, but it's easier said then done. And when you add the process of moving feet from one pedal to another in a car when you're driving it becomes really hard to retain some sense of modesty. (Hence the taxi thought.) Keep in mind, too, that part of wearing a kimono is having an obi tied elaborately in the back, making it impossible to lean back. It's really good for the posture, but not so good for the driving.

To make matters more complicated, the weather today was less than cooperative. It's really windy out there. I mean really windy. I mean I couldn't get my car door open after the party because the wind was gusting so hard and I needed one hand to keep my kimono shut. Wind and kimonos just don't mix.

All that said, I still had a great time dressing up today. I can see why ladies don't wear them often here, but it is very fun to be all decked out with the obi and the front arranged all nicely and all the little details. It feels rather exotic and I think it all looks great when it's done properly.

Opportunity Knocks

A few weeks ago, I went to a friend's house to help her with a cooking class for Japanese families. Cooking classes are apparently a big thing for women on base. Japanese women want to know what Americans cook, and how to do it, and they'll pay to see it first hand. This class was created by a group called the Japanese & American Friendly Circle, or JAFCO for short, which hopes to encourage friendly encounters between Japanese and Americans (as the title implies) and help kids get started on their English for school. The leader of JAFCO, a Japanese guy named Mike (no, really), was there and found out that I have the English degree and teach and what not, and expressed interest in hiring me as a teacher. I figured I could use a little more work, so he said he'd call me and we'd work out the details.
So a few days later, Mike called and asked if I could join him and another leader of JAFCO for dinner. We made arrangements, and I spent a few days being tickled by the fact that they were going to take me out to dinner to interview me for a part time teaching position. It's so not the kind of treatment I'd get in America. The dinner interview turned out to be an interview for one of two jobs. One was the part time job I expected, the other was full time!
The job will involve teaching very laid back and basic English classes in the afternoons for students and their parents (or grandparents). One class a week might be in my house, the rest will be at a classroom that JAFCO has rented and is in the process of decorating. If there is an interest, a few adult classes might be worked in eventually. In addition to teaching, I will also be responsible for coordinating among the American teachers to find out what's working and so on, which is pretty exciting. I would never get the chance to be a "department head" in the States at this point in my carreer, so I was really excited about the leadership opportunity. PLUS, Mike would like me to help design the curriculum for the classes! They have the first two months worked out, but they'll clearly need more, and they were looking for someone to work on it. My masters is in curriculum design (in part) so I'm totally psyched about the chance to actually try out the stuff I'm learning. And once we move back to the States, the opportunities to actually design a curriculum from the ground up will be few and far between.
So, to make a long story much shorter, I've officially taken the job as of today. I'll still be able to teach at the junior college and also my private class at my house, and I'll still be working on the masters, so I'm about to be crazy busy, but I'm so excited.
In other news, I woke up to snow on the mountains surround Sasebo this morning. It was wet, but not frozen, around the house. Since it didn't snow last year this time, I'm assuming that we're having an especially cold spring this year. Also, all the cars in Sasebo have recently gotten covered in yellow dusty stuff. I assumed that no one was washing their car because of the water shortage in town. (The water reserves are at 65% and holding this month. If they drop below like 50ish, they'll start having water hours.) I learned today that actually the yellow stuff is Mongolian sand that blows in this time every year. I don't know why I didn't notice it last year, but I thought it was interesting.

On Holiday

Monday was another busy and strange day for me. Several exciting and less-than-exciting things were happening all at once. The most importnat less-than-exciting thing was the fact that my car is in the shop, forcing me to walk or hitch rides from friends any time I want to go anywhere. My car had a slight run-in with the concrete wall outside my house. I was the driver, and I spent a long time feeling extremely foolish, but then every person who's heard the story and knows what my driveway looks like reacted with "oh! That was bound to happen eventually..." So I'm getting over it, and now so is the car. The nice (American) man who was recommended by the many people on base who have had similar issues said it would take 3-4 days to fix. Today is day 7. Granted, two of those days were holidays, but still... I wish I could have found someone Japanese to fix it...
Not having the car was not a big deal for the first five days. The only place I had to go was base, and I walk that sometimes just for the fun of it. Other than having to carry groceries home, it didn't really have much effect on my life. But Monday, I had a Family Readiness Group meeting to go to in Hario housing, which is a solid 30 minute drive from my house. Not having a car was not such a good thing. I woke up very irritated at my unfortunate postion. Luckily, I have some very patient friends, and I was able to catch a ride for that, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Monday was a Japanese holiday. According to my handy list of Japanese holidays, it's commemorating the day that, according to historical records, the first Japanese emperor was crowned. As a result, the main shopping center in town, lovingly referred to as the Ginza by the Americans, was jam packed with people when I arrived there on my way to base Monday morning. The Ginza is a pedestrian only street in the middle of town with any type of shop you might desire. It runs for several blocks. I managed to arrive just in time to see a parade go by. It was the biggest display of Japanese nationalism I've seen in my year here. There was a marching band playing an upbeat, marchy version of the national anthem (which sounds really weird because the normal version is slow and mellow sounding), followed by a whole bunch of people who presumably represented various civic groups carrying paper flags. As I walked, I ran into a major gap in the parade. Further along, I discovered the reason for this gap: the parade was stopping at the cross walk and only proceeded when the pedestrian light was green. It made me laugh because no procession like that in the states would just stop for a light.
Anyway, if off base was a little festive, then on base was an all out party. Sasebo is currently being visited by a big ship that is apparently coming from the middle east somewhere. By big ship, I mean that it probably doubles the number of Americans in Sasebo for the time that it's here. It arrived on Monday morning. The last time this happened, I'd been living here for all of a week, and didn't understand what base is normally like. Now that I do understand what base is normally like, I can understand why the "locals" avoid base when there's a big ship in. See, the normal population of Americans here has been carefully trained to behave significantly better than the average American. We've adopted Japanese standards of politeness... almost. Most of the Japanese people we meet here base their entire opinion of Americans on us, and we want them to like us, so we play nice. When a big ship comes in, the base is flooded with not ordinary Americans, but sailors, and there's a reason sailors have the reputation they have. Some of the sailors will probably be delightful guests, but the sheer number of them makes it almost guaranteed that there will be an "incident" between an American and a Japanese person before they leave. Plus, they hang out all over base, and make it a signficantly less pleasant place to be. Also, security closes off several main streets, so driving on base becomes quite a hassle, too. So the rest of us quietly hide and wait for it to be over.
Unfortunately, I had to be on base, so I braved the crowds to get my groceries and found myself leaving base again behind a group of newcomers set on finding downtown. They were the more stereotypical sailors and I really felt uncomfortable being anywhere near them. Right as we exited base, a big black bus came by with speakers on the top. The speakers were blaring the Imperial March from Star Wars. I felt the urge to crawl into the pavement. I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly confident that the truck was a response to the ship that came in. Why? Well, Japanese people are not exactly fond of nuclear power for the most part (and can you really blame them?). I'm not sure about the ship that's currently visiting, but most of the big ships in the US Navy are nuclear powered, and it bugs the heck out of Japanese people when they're visited by those ships. So I'm guessing that the truck was a protest to that. What was really mortifying was the way the sailors reacted to this truck, as if it was privately owned and some weird quirk of Japanese society. They took pictures while shouting obseneties and jokes at each other. Hence my mortification.
On the way home, I passed a gathering that was either in honor of the Japanese holiday or another protest about the ship (it's really hard to tell since protests aren't really that loud or angry here for the most part). I also pondered just how nice it was that I didn't have a car today. If I had, I would have missed all the excitement.

Japanese Repairmen

So were two things around the house that needed fixing beyond our repair. First, paper in one of the doors on our tatami room was ripped. I would have continued to ignore this, but we also had a major crack in a glass sliding door in the room where I spend most of time, and it's cold in there without extra leakage. As a result, I reluctantly visited my bill paying service (they take care of pretty much anything related to the house that might involve talking to a Japanese person) to get a repair guy. I was prepared for a hassle. I forgot I was in Japan.
The lady at the bill pay service patiently listened to my concerns then called the repair service. They said they could fix both doors on Saturday, but they'd like to come see the glass one to figure out what needed to be done. They promised to stop by sometime after two yesterday. So I figured it would be late afternoon. I forgot I was in Japan.
At 3:00 a kind Japanese repair man was standing on my doorway. He spoke zero English. If I was in America and didn't speak English, a repair guy who spoke only English would pretty much be useless to me, but I'm in Japan. So I grabbed Dory, answered the door, and said "Chotto mate kudasai" which means "just a moment." I meant "I'll be back in a second after I put my insane dog somewhere where she can't kill you." He thought I meant "stay here until I get back." So when I arrived downstairs again, he was patiently waiting in my entryway. I appologized immediately. He took his shoes off and came in to check out the various damages.
The repair guy spent some time measuring the glass door, and actually appologized when he needed help holding the measuring tape. Then I showed him to the tatami room to check out the paper door and left him entirely alone without the slightest concern for my belongings in there. When he returned, he had a question. I appologized for having no clue what the question was, at which point he appologized to me and reverted to sign language. He had the materials with him to fix the paper door, which he proceeded to do for free. So the same day I expressed concern about the door, it was fixed. I love Japan.
Next my new best friend wanted to let me know when he'd be back to fix the other door. He went nice and slow and we successfully agreed that he could come back the next day (no, really) after 3:00 (because I wouldn't be home until then). I am very proud that I could get all that in Japanese. I even learned a new word (after) in the process. I tried to ask him how much it would cost and met with less luck, but he didn't seem concerned about getting paid (no, really) so I didn't let that worry me.
So today my bill service company called to ask me if it was okay if the repair guy came at 3:00. (Remember, originally the company had told me the earliest this would happen was Saturday.) Apparently he called them to make sure we were clear. He also gave them an estimate, and I arranged for them to pay that bill too. I told them after 3:00 would be fine, and they called back to say he'd be here at 4:00 and the repair would take about an hour. Then I forgot I was in Japan again and began to worry. In America, 4:00 in repair man time is 5:00 or 6:00 and one hour is two. Since I had to leave the house again at 5:30, that was a little unsettling. Thankfully, I didn't cancel. At 4:01, my favorite repairman was back. He indicated that he just needed me to unlock the glass door in question, so I did that. The one hour repair job took 20 minutes.
I absolutely love Japan.

Big Day

Lots of super cool things happened today, so I thought I'd share. Here they are in no particular order:
1) I successfully got my car into its parking spot despite the fact that there were cars parked in two of the spots I normally would use as room to turn around. I'd done it before with one or the other spot full, but never both.
2) Zack and I both got brand new ID's that reflect his promotion. He is now a Lt. JG, or O2, and that information is not only on his military ID, but also mine. The ID making process was not nearly as annoying as I'd been lead to believe, either.
3) I got my brand new laptop! Now, not only am I able to write a whole paper for my grad school classes without worrying that the computer might freeze at any moment, destroying all my hard work, I can also sit ina giant arm chair watching a movie while I write. I don't have to deal with error messages the moment my computer opens. AND it has a built in video camera. So I've spent all afternoon playing with my new toy. Life is very good.