Let the Lessons Begin (10-28)

Wednesday afternoon was the start of our family Japanese Language Lessons with Akiko. She relates well with the children. I had hoped she would. They loved the interaction with her. She followed their lead to teach them words to say what they wanted to tell her.

She has told Arielle, Jared and I to get busy and learn Hiragana so that we can read the text book she brought. ::snort:: The littles have picture books and a Japanese Children dictionary to work with. Jared took notes of the words we learned and typed them up into a review sheet for us.

We'll continue with our Pimsleur CD's and I'll probably buy a few more things, but having an expert to correct our pronunciation and answer all our questions is invaluable. I had expected to pay Y5,000 a week for our lessons. She gave us the first one free and said that she'll only take Y3,000 a week.

I'm going to venture to Hachinohe this week in search of a keyboard so that Piano lessons can begin next week.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Hawaii!!!!

I doubt that I can do justice to our trip - but photos will go along way. By the time we left Japan, I knew that my life was about to make some big changes in Hawaii. I was hit with NERVES big time and Windy had to pray me out the door and on to the plane. Poor thing, she must have wondered what sort of psycho she was traveling with. ::snort::

Here we are - looking refreshed and excited to begin our really BIG ADVENTURE - bigger than our night out at the library! ::snort:: BTW - that's me on the left.
Two plane trips, one bus ride and a day later we were well welcomed in Honolulu.

Windy and I shared a room. Here's the view from our room.



Our group - and the brunette behind us on the left is from our first assignment. A highlight for me was seeing Julie and Sarah (both from Malmstrom AFB) again.
Sunday Morning, Brenda Marlin, PWOCI President, prayed for the next generation of women.


After the conference our group went out on a Catamaran. This couple touched a deep chord in me.
Ah - sailing....
Windy enjoys the ride....

and then....I got "violently ill"! Really. I threw up seven times on the Catamaran. The conference had concluded on a high point for me (and I'll blog that later), and this was a low point! ::snort:: I told God if he really loved me, He'd calm the waves like He did for the disciples...but He didn't.....Windy got ill too. Susane felt ill but held it together. I wasn't sure I'd make it back to the hotel when we landed. I figured God was helping me face my fear of motion sickness....afterall it can't get much more humiliating than what I went through on this trip. I'll spare you lots of the details. I was thankful that He was showing me that I could handle the worse and not fear flying and motion sickness. We made it back to the hotel. I slept. Everyone slept. We got up and went in search of a baked potatoe. I got sick again.

We got up early to fly back to Japan....I was sick. I got sick a couple of times before boarding the plane....slept most the way home....Susane had to go to the hospital in Hawaii. We chatted yesterday and I discovered that six women from Hickam and she and I seem to have contacted some sort of food poisioning...so it wasn't all motion sickness.

It really was a great trip. My traveling companions were precious. The time away was about right. I was able to see old friends.....the very ladies who introduced me to PWOC. There will be lots more photos as they are sent to me...but these give you the idea.

I'll have more to say in the next day or so. I need time to write it well. LOL If a picture is worth a thousand words, THIS one is worth a few million.

For those who recognize some of the ladies, yes, I'm the new PWOC Asia Region President...and I'm more humbled and more exhilerated than I can remember being in a very long time.

Time to run....Prot News is done and I'd like to get home to my babies.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

This can only mean one thing!

INTERNET....

Mike met me at the airport with the news that we will have Interent installed next Tuesday (3rd). This is way before DECEMBER and I'm thankful! It's also on a day when both Mike and I have meetings. Mike, however, is determined that we are getting Internet on the 3rd. LOL

No, I've not been continually griping...but he knows that life will be normal, easier and such with communication at home. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Today's Adventure

On base AGAIN and must get home.

I needed to check email and will send a quick blog post.

Had a dr appt today. I think I'm going to like our doc. He's a Mormon and LISTENED to me. I will have bunch of labs done when I get home from Hawaii. It appears that many of my strange symptoms could be the diabetes back again...We shall see. I also had my first EKG. MUCH better than a mammogram, that. They said that things are fine. I'll see the doc again in a month. He had lots to say about lots of things...and now we have lots to consider and pray about. ::snort::

THEN I had my beauty adventure. I knew it was time to do something about my hair and my eyebrows.

Hair - I'm going to go gray...but the blonde highlights and the brunette/gray was driving me nuts. I decided to go back to my "original" and then let the gray grow in from there. SO....I went to a local shop I'd heard about. As they applied the color I remember being warned NOT to let them color my hair...but all is well. They are so NICE and relaxing and CAREFUL...wow. It took 20 minutes to wash my hair and the massage was oh so nice. My hair is dark...but it's the lightest of the two that they said were my "original".

Eyebrows....when she came at me with scissors and a razor I decided we'd had enough cultural exchange for the day. ::snort:: She said, "De'Ettasan, waxing hurts!"

I stopped at the BX and got my eyebrows waxed...but she used scissors and a razor too...and she kept apologizing for the pain of waxing. ::snort::

Now - time to run home and pack. I really do need to find all my paperwork and pack for Hawaii.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Amusing Car Makes

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Random Things of Some Significance

I can't find my camera battery charger.

I can't take photos until I find a new battery charger somewhere.

I can't buy printer ink for my printer here.

I can't find computer paper or file folders.

I'm surprised to enjoy serving our local PWOC as an Interim Children's Ministry Coordinator….I'm gleaning lots of great new teaching illustrations for down the road. ::snort:: Yes, gals who've served with me in the past, you read that right. It's not ME - it's GOT TO BE a work of GOD in my life, as teaching groups of others' little children has not been my thing in the past.

There are big birds that honk like geese flying over our home. This happened last night and this a.m. They always head in the same direction - away from this northern tip of Honshu. Can this be a sign that winter is coming? I wonder what the birds are….big ducks, geese, cranes….

FIVE women from our base are flying to Hawaii on Friday (We are also flying away from the Northern tip of Honshu ::snort::). Please pray for our travels, our relationships, our families at home, and our time away with Jesus. We will be attending the Pacific Region's PWOC (women's ministry) conference. The new Asia Region of PWOC will be birthed at this conference. God is moving.

I put a roast and veggies in my crock pot on low at 6:40 a.m. At 6:00 p.m., the veggies were still crunchy. I suspect voltage and the low setting….maybe I need to use the high setting while we are here - what will that do to yogurt making?

I can't find a live yogurt culture, but Deja reminded me of yogamet or some such thing.

I've been blessed with good friends….both in TX, in Japan, in cyber land and all over the world.

However, calling good friends at 1 a.m. is not advisable. ::snort:: Sorry, Deja, Beth, and Julie….I can only rejoice that no one picked up the phone and I'm being much more careful this week.

I plan to order a "few" things I NEED from the TX co-op and have them shipped here….my way of working around a commissary that seems content to say, "We're the end of the AFES line, we get what the other bases don't want". Humph….

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Misawa Air Show 2009 (Sunday)

This is a HUGE gathering. The estimates from yesterday are nearly 1/2 a million spectators. Folks drive from all over Northern Japan to attend. There were even visitors from other islands and Tokyo.

We ended up with a strange dynamic at this Air Show - we divided. We had trouble finding info on times, routes etc….Mike went in at 6 a.m. His HOPE was to beat the crowds and then call us with the time for the Thunderbirds. He didn't beat the traffic.

The traffic was WILD. When the kids and I drove in it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to drive about 2 miles. ::snort:: Jared tried to find wifi connections while the rest occupied themselves playing the alphabet game…which is challenging in Japan. ::snort:: I occupied myself with driving.

We did finally meet up with Mike. I loved this air show. What I have least liked at recent air shows is HEAT, long lines, the inability to bring our own food and drinks….I was shocked that there was NO checkpoint to get on to the base or the flight line. BUT I was happy. The weather was gorgeous. No chance of heat stroke (Jared at the San Antonio Air Show). AND everyone had coolers and had brought food in. I'll remember this for next year.

There was only one big demo team - the Thunderbirds. What fun to watch them with a Japanese audience who isn't jaded about such things. They ohed and ahhed…and clapped….and WOW the cameras they pulled out. Jared especially loved being able to see over the crowd to the flight line. ::snort::

The food was eclectic. Many Japanese families stocked up on "American Pizzas", baked good and hotdogs. We enjoyed yakiniku, yakisoba, "French fries", and Cadinimun (????). This latest was ALMOST Sio Pao (childhood favorite from the Philippine Islands). I discovered it by stalking a nice Japanese gentleman who had some. It took a bit of pantomime to explain that I'd like to know where he got it and what it was called. LOL I was thrilled. It's the same dough/dumpling thing….with meat in the middle (not sure what type). Instead of an enclosed dumpling, it looked like a folded taco on steroids…but tasted oh so good.



This view cracked us up.



Can you tell what it is? Whenever the planes flew over all eyes and hands went up. Here's a closer view.



Here’s a great view.




A few shots of other spectators and eating offerings.







After the air show we had dinner at the Mokuteki (or the kids did), then a joint chapel service (the last before we move in to our new chapel YeHAW!), and headed home.

Jared was thrilled that he got about an hour online. All in all it was a splendid day.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...