Misawa City Festival

I've heard that nearly every weekend of the summer in Japan there is a festival being celebrated somewhere here.  As you've seen, right outside our base gate we've already experienced one and now here we are celebrating our second!

I don't know if I understand this festival, but I think that one of the things that it celebrates is the friendship between Japan and the US.  There were at least 4 different parades through town over a 48 hour period.  We only got to witness one of them, but it was cool.

We saw the Mikoshi parade on Saturday night while we ate meat on a stick, yakisoba, and fried chicken.

Mikoshi are basically portable Shinto shrines.  Shinto followers believe that the portable shrine acts as a vehicle for the Shinto kami (deity or sacred essence) as it moves between the main shrine and the festival or parade.

There is a park here with a replica of the Statue of Liberty.  I'm not sure what the story is behind it since when we tried to go there we got lost, but I'm guessing that's what this one representing.  It was fun watching and being surprised at what would come next!

This one was carried by a bunch of US Airmen.  One of the techs from Ethan's clinic was one of them!  That was a fun surprise!

As they come down the street they have one person pounding a drum and the rest of them are chanting/shouting.  These guys paused right in front of us and put on a little show.  It was pretty funny watching how much fun they were having!

After the parade ended we counted up our remaining Yen and decided to get some treats to share.  Jonas and I wanted ice cream, this was the cone we got.  The white in the centre was a coconut flavour and my favourite of the lot!

Everyone else got snow cones to share.  It was so refreshing on the hot evening.

Abe was starting to come down with a little cold, so he was pretty mellow all night.  I was glad we had the wagon (finally) so I didn't have to try holding him with one arm.  I know I would have ended up with him in my arms (arm) otherwise.

Since we had parked next to the BX and we learned that we have to get all the kids new shoes to have at the school for PE we decided to pop in really quickly to see if there were any good deals.  There weren't.  BUT I had to snap a picture of all these awesome Kokeshi dolls.  A good friend has started collecting them down near Tokyo and I'm thinking of doing the same.  I just love them!

Our second festival in Japan was a hit!  We even ran into some friends from church.  I think our time in Japan is going to be wonderful!

Veedol Swimming Beach

Saturday, August 13 we decided to go exploring.  My arm was still hurting a lot so I didn't feel up to doing too much, but some exploration was definitely a good thing!  We drove around and found our way to Veedol Beach.  Apparently there are a few different Veedol beaches, one is for swimming and the others are not.  You're only supposed to be in the water if you're tethered to something like a surf board or boogie board and some friends of ours had a really bad experience a couple weeks prior because they didn't know that (thankfully no one died, but it could have easily gone that way).  

Anyway, we ended up at the swimming beach.  The wind was blowing like crazy.  I tried to get a picture of the sand blowing across the beach, so see if you can spy it.  We didn't come prepared for water play... when will we ever learn that this will inevitable turn into...

...this.

Jonas and Abe were the only ones who stayed dry and I think they were glad to be dry since we didn't go home to let anyone change before doing our other activities!

Washing off all that sand.  Like I said, the wind was blowing like crazy, as we left every time I closed my teeth they would crunch with sand.  Later I found sand in my ears, in my sling, and even in my bra!  And I just stood there watching the kids play.

When we left the beach we found a nice little park to play at and eat our picnic lunch. We bought some more grilled chicken like we'd had at Miss Veedol Plaza during our city cultural tour but we also tried something new.  We had no idea what it was, some sort of ball that had a topping of Japanese mayo and a dark brown almost barbecue sauce?  When we bit into it it was like it was filled with chicken noodle soup.  It was weird.  I think I've figure out what it was since then, its a Japanese snack called Takoyaki.  Rather than chicken noodle soup, it was probably filled with chopped octopus, green onions, and pickled ginger.  The dark brown sauce is called Takoyaki sauce and is similarish to Worchestershire sauce.  No one really liked it that much.  But maybe if we went in to it knowing what it was maybe they'd change their minds.  And maybe if we ate it warm?  We bought it from some Japanese cart at the beach so it wasn't warm at all.

But the park was a hit even if the food wasn't.

There was a feral cat hanging around and Eliza was so enamoured with it.

That jungle gym is the stuff dreams are made of.  So much fun!

We fed the cat the leftover Takoyaki that Bolton spit out.  He didn't seem to mind that it had been in someone's mouth before his.

When we left the park we drove around for a while longer exploring our new town.  We decided to stop at a local electronics store to see if they had a microwave we could get.  They didn't have anything in our price range, but Levi found what he really wants for Christmas.  A personal toaster oven with egg cooker.  He talked of nothing else for a couple days.  Silly kid.

Like I said, my arm was still hurting a lot, so I didn't feel up to being out with the kids all all day.  Ethan and I went home with them for a little while and then we went out to dinner.  There is an Indian restaurant right out the main gate and Ethan LOVES Indian food, so we decided to give it a try.  I tried a new dish and it was the most edible Indian dish I've tried.  I'm not much of a fan, but at least I found something besides Naan bread that I can eat if we go there again.

Everyday Life in Japan Summer 2016 (Oh, yeah. And a broken arm)

You know how there are things about our everyday lives that are just so hum drum that we forget to snap mental photos of them?  Well, sometimes I try to get these things recorded.  These kids won't be little forever.  There will be very few times in our future life where we'll have the opportunity to live in such circumstances as we do now... in a tower apartment with none of our own furniture, not a lot of things to play with, no tv, all together.  Even though there have been some challenges, it has been a sweet time for our family.  

Sunday Aug. 7 Bolton was being silly and walking around in Eliza's shoes.  I was in my room and I heard him giggling outside in the hall as he showed his siblings his new footwear.  I had to get a picture.  Funny boy.

We have a large playground right in our parking lot and the kids have been having so much fun with their friends playing ground is lava tag.  Jonas got himself into a little bit of a pickle one afternoon.  Mean mom that I am I had to snap a picture before I helped him.

Wednesday Aug. 10 I took the kids with me to the Weasles' Den to play indoor soccer.  There is a parent group that gets together MWF to play.  I was so excited when I found out about it!  My first day there Ethan needed the car around the same time I was supposed to be there, so he dropped us off and then did what he needed to do and then dropped the van off for me to drive home and walked to the hospital for his work day.  I was going to drive for the first time without Ethan.  I was nervous about it (I have to drive on the left side of the road here, remember?)  We got there around 8:45 am and I was playing hard and having a great time.

Then around 10:30 I was going for a pass and somehow my feet didn't move but my upper body was going full force and I fell, hard.  I could tell as I went down it was going to be bad.  It hurt like crazy. I jumped up and everyone had stopped and was asking me "if I was OK?" "Did I need ice?"  "That looked bad."  One gal mentioned that it looked like I dislocated my shoulder.  I didn't know what I needed or if I was ok.  Adrenaline was coursing through my system.  I left the field and went to get a drink.  I tried bending my arm and was able to so I thought I must be OK.  I kept moving.  Looking back I can see that I was frantic.  As I moved out of the building for a minute I felt the tears stinging my eyes.  I couldn't calm myself down.  That was a bad sign.  

I got my phone and decided to call Ethan.  Earlier that week I had tried calling his office and got some weird message in Japanese.  For some reason I couldn't call a landline from my cell phone.  He thought he'd figured it out and told me what to do at that point, but when I tried it didn't work!   I walked back into the building and there was a lady there who had been playing but was getting ready to leave.  She looked at me and asked, "Are you OK?"  At this point I was pretty sure something was wrong with my arm.  I was shaking pretty badly and couldn't keep myself from crying.  "I think I busted my arm," I said, "And I can't... I don't know how to call my husband!"  I didn't think I'd be able to drive with my arm, especially since I was already so stressed about driving.  Anyway, she tried calling him with the same result.  She sent her son out to get her phone and tried calling her husband to have him page Ethan at the hospital, but was unable to reach him.

She finally just decided that she would drive me and all my kids to the hospital and her kids (who are 13 and 11) would walk to the hospital.  As we were walking out the Bishop's wife was walking up and I told her where we were going.  She lives right by the hospital and ended up getting there before we did and asked if she could take my kids back up to our house for us.  I told her that I was going to find Ethan and he could decide what to do with them.

Ethan's office is right across from the Urgent Care Clinic (we don't have an emergency room).  They got me right in, the doctor came in and started examining my arm and asking me questions.  He was moving it this way and that and finally I just said to him, "Can I please just put it back down now?" He was killing me!  So he said, "Oh, yeah, I guess we'll get an Xray before I do any more pushing and prodding."  He told me he thought maybe I'd dislocated my elbow or something, but the Xray would tell us more.

So then I went in to get the Xray and I can't tell you how much that hurt!  Torture making me try to straighten my arm.  I told the tech I might cry and she said, "just don't yell at me or I'll start crying too."  I didn't yell at her, but I certainly did cry.

I went back to my little room in the UCC and before long Ethan came in to check on me, then the doctor came in and told me that it was broken but he needed to hear from the radiologist to know what to do next.  And then the radiologist showed up in my door (He's our bishop) and told us that it was broken and needed to be viewed by Ortho.  It was a radial head fracture, very common, but sometimes they need surgery.  The radiologist/bishop thought it looked like it was right on the verge of maybe needing it so we needed to talk to them before knowing what to do next.

After the doctor talked to the orthopedist he sent me home in a sling and I was supposed to follow up with ortho in 5-6 days.  I was in so much pain.  And sleep was impossible that first night.  Ethan had forgotten to get my pain meds, so Tylenol was my only reprieve.

However on Thursday Ethan brought me the meds and I took one before going to bed.  They indicated to take them every 4-6 hours and so when I woke up 5 hours later and was in so much pain I decided to take another.  That was a mistake.  I spent the rest of the night sweating with my heart racing.  When I got up in the morning I could hardly walk across the room because of dizziness.  And I was shaking.  Then I noticed not only was my heart racing but I was having a hard time getting a deep breath.  I looked at the literature the pharmacist had given me and it looked like I was having a pretty bad reaction to the pain meds.  Maybe even Serotonin Syndrome, but I'm not on any other serotonin meds.  Maybe I was just freaking out over nothing.  I decided I needed Ethan's opinion.  I actually ended up sending him emails to get his attention and he called me back.  However,  when he was finally on the phone and I was trying to tell him what was going on I could not get words out because I could not get air in!  I couldn't breathe.  It was so scary.

After a bit (who knows how long?) I finally was able to get some air and tell him what was going on. He called the pharmacist and they decided I should probably come to the hospital to have my vitals watched.  But I didn't have a car.  Jonas, who had viewed me gasping trying to get air and was in tears, went next door to see if they could give me a ride.  Unfortunately their mom wasn't home.  I figured that it just needed to get out of my system and I had only been unable to breathe at all when I was trying to talk a few times so I decided to stay home and wait it out.  I fell asleep again and when I woke up I felt lots better.   I could even smile.

My arm has been more painful than I ever imagined it would be.  But I'm sure that has a lot to do with the fact that its been unprotected aside from the sling the first 5 days and since the 15th/16th I haven't even had that.  The orthopedist wants me to move it as much as possible to get the best range of motion I can in the long run.  So every day I put myself through agony and I'm sure its only going to get worse when I start physical therapy on the 24th.  But hopefully my arm will work!!

I didn't really know what to expect our house to be like before we got here, so when I finally saw what I had to work with I ordered some organisation tools for our pantry and cupboards.  When they arrived it was like Christmas.  The kids got right to work on making some costumes out of the cardboard boxes.

And, of course, the Olympics have been a big part of our evenings.  Even though we have to crowd around the 13" screen of the laptop!

Eliza is so funny wearing the eye mask!  Jonas has become the little boys' personal jungle gym lately.  You have to look close to spy him in this picture below.

We finally made it to a Ramen House on August 18.  We only had Levi with us and he was hilarious trying to figure out how to use chopsticks!  Find me on Instagram if you want to see the video.

"OK, I can't use chopsticks!"

On Friday, August 19th we got our first tiny shipment of our belongings!"

Levi got to attend Cub Scout Day Campe Aug 18-19.  It was held at the base beach.  He had a blast!

And on Saturday August 20 we got some furniture delivered that we bought while we've been here.  We're excited to make our house our home!

And in an effort to prepare the kids for our next visit to a Ramen House we had to buy chopsticks for everyone!

Just a little of the everyday happenings in our life!

Cultural City Tour

Every Friday the base offers a Cultural City Tour for the people that have moved in.  We didn't go on ours the first Friday we were here for various reasons, but it turned out perfectly that we went on Friday, the 5th.  We started the day in a big conference room to get a briefing on some basic Japanese culture (things like appropriate flowers to give to people in specific situations, and which direction to face on a squatty potty).  We also got the agenda for our day.  It was a pretty full tour group, we divided into two buses.  I noticed a family watching us pretty closely and thought to myself, "I bet they're Mormons."  At our first stop after the base I learned that she had the same thought about us!  Funny how we can sense that in each other.

Our first stop was the Misawa International Center.  We had two cute ladies teach us a little about Misawa (such as what kind of crops are grown here, what festivals they celebrate here, and what its famous for... Americans!).  They also taught us how to count to 10 in Japanese, gave us a handy card to keep in our wallets with important greetings and phrases in Japanese, and how to order food at a restaurant which we were going to get to do that day!

From there we went to the Misawa Train Station to learn how to buy tickets for local trains as well as how to buy tickets for the Shinkansen (the bullet train) that travels farther-Like to Tokyo.  We also had to snap a quick picture with these awesome huge Kokeshi dolls.  I'm thinking of starting a collection.  Let me know if you want me to pick anything like this up for you while we're here!

After the train station we visited Veedol Plaza which is a little shopping centre here in Misawa.  This is where we opted to get lunch.  We had some delicious foods, including some grilled chicken, fried chicken strips, fried fish, and some interesting pastries.  They were kind of luck donuts, but the dough was a little thicker and tougher.  They were yummy!  Even the ones with bean paste filling!

I had to snap some pictures of this little vending machine set up... vending machines are everywhere in Japan!!!

The plaza also has a little arcade section in the back.  The kids were so excited when we saw it!

I laugh every time I see this one because Ethan's first reaction to it was that Levi looked like a creepy old man leering around the arcade.

We bought some water bottles at the grocery while we were in the plaza and when we opened them we realised they were flavoured.  The kids were eager to drink up... just before a long bus ride.  Whoops.  Bolton was in tears by the time we were halfway through our drive he needed to pee so badly.

We've visited a few Japanese gardens in the states and I've always thought they were lovely, but didn't really understand that those destinations were really special but in Japan they would be common.  I can't tell you how many of these manicured gardens we've seen in our drives.  They are beautiful.

Our long drive ended after an hour at a Shinto Shrine, Kushihiki Hachiman-gu Shrine in Hachinohe.  Shinto is recognised as the largest religion in Japan in practice, although not very many are part of an organised or institutionalised "Shinto" religion.  According to Wikipedia around 80% of the population practice the religion by visiting the 81,000 shrines in the country.

There is a cleansing ritual that they do before entering the shrine (since this in the only one we've visited so far, I'm not sure if the cleansing is the same at each shrine or if they vary).  Jonas was concerned that it might not be good for us to participate in the cleansing ritual but we assured him that it would be OK, so we all got right to it.

You pick up the vessel (I can't remember the name they told us for this long handled cup) with your right hand and pour a little into your left hand, then move the vessel to your left hand and pour a little into your right hand...

...then, change hands again and pour a little into your left hand and put a little water into your mouth and let it fall out, and finally tip the remaining water out and down the handle of the vessel.

And we were all ready to enter the shrine!  Its important that you enter through the actual gate and not to either side of it.

Family Photo!

After entering through the gate the kids were beyond excited to watch the Koi fish.

A Shinto Shrine generally has a structure that is believed to house (or enshrine) one or more Shinto kami (divinity or sacred essence).  This honden-the most sacred structure that is what actually enshrines the kami- was built many centuries ago.  It has a history of at least 800 years!  Although it has had things added to it over the years, you can definitely see that there is a lot of history here!

Bolton decided to learn how to pray at the main honden-there were several smaller hondens throughout the grounds.

From what I understand the purpose of the prayer at each honden is different because you're praying to a different kami.  Some of for good health, others for a good harvest, some as war memorials, etc.

The prayer includes bowing, throwing a yen into this box thing as an offering (I think), bowing again, clapping, and ringing a bell.  The ropes are attached to the bells up above.

Abraham couldn't get the bell to ring on his own and, believe me, he kept trying!

These plaques that line the upper eaves of the honden were really neat.  They made me think of the Chinese zodiac but I have no idea what their significance here was.  Asking questions is really difficult here.  Its so different to be totally unable to communicate with a majority of the people around.  And to be illiterate!

Another smaller honden. Another family photo.

You can enlarge this photo and read about this gourd prayer.

It was beautiful and peaceful.  At least as peaceful as can be expected with Abraham in tow.

Another visit to the Koi fish before we said farewell to the shrine and onto the final destination of our tour...

The final destination was the Fish Market in Hachinohe.

Our tour guide told us we had to try the Squid Ink Cakes, so we did what we were told.  Even though we were a little nervous.  They were actually really good.

We also tried some ice cream which was more icy and less creamy than we're used to in the states.  But it was good.  They had some new flavours for us to try as well.  That family behind Abe in the bottom left picture was totally enamoured with watching him.  They were giggling so much at his messy face.

Never have I seen so much variety from the sea in one place.

Look at all those crabs!  A friend had told us that Misawa smells like fish and I was kind of worried that it would be stinky on base, but I hadn't smelled anything fishy until we walked into this market!

We also had to try the fish cakes.  They are a little like a fish shaped waffle that is stuffed with either custard or bean paste.  I have a friend who has seen them filled with savoury fillings as well, but I haven't seen them anywhere yet.

We made it back to base and ended the day with a perfect sky!  It was an awesome day.  We even made some new friends who ended up being our neighbours!