Saying Good Bye

Summer time in Yokosuka is full of fun and festivities. Obons, fireworks, warm weather, public pools, and Summer BBQs. However, Summer also marks off a fairly sad event as well. PCS season. I suppose some of the sadness may depend on whether a person is an optimist or a pessimist, used to the military lifestyle or has been here for a little or a lot of time.

This Summer was definitely my hardest yet. PCS season is basically rotation season where military folks move in and out of housing. When we say goodbye to good friends and say hello to new ones. Last PCS season, I said good bye to my good friends Julie and Patrice. I always tend to pick friends based on trait's that I'd like to emulate. Julie reminded me of myself in a lot of ways but I also admired her good attitude when her husband was ALWAYS gone. Patrice I admired because she was so physically active and in tip top shape. An avid runner, she would run about a 10K every other day if not more with a double jogger.

Last month I said goodbye to my good friend Nicole who is and was always such a good mom to here 2 girls. I also said goodbye to Maria who was also a military spouse and during her time here had to overcome some difficult personal obstacles all the while her husband being away. The last of last month was my friend Corrie who with a 2 year old always managed to stay involved in the community and busy. (All the while having a kick butt bod).

Today however, I had to say good bye to a very good friend. Nathalie and I met about 2 years ago in our off base neighborhood. At the time she had 2 girls and it was also the time that we decided to form a small play group of sorts within the neighborhood. (It was Julie who made it a more solid group later on) I have to say that the fact she was French intrigued me. Being an American I already had my ideas about the French and that love hate relationship. It made me want to get to know her even more though. Later on I realized how much I admired her as a mom as well. She always had a spotless house and good food in her refrigerator. Her and I had similar ideas on how we raised our kids and unlike a lot of my friends here she was a civilian like me. After Patrice left, Nathalie and I ultimately became closer and our families as a whole became closer. We started hanging out a lot more and Mike started hanging out with her husband Thomas. She found out she was pregnant again. This time with a little boy. After she had Luc it was the motivation for us to have another baby. Our children for the most part always got along. With the typical tiff every now and then but our friendship just seemed to be comfortable. When Mike and I finally got on base housing we drifted apart a bit. Then, when we found out that they where moving to Korea we drifted a little more. I think mentally I was preparing myself for them to leave. Like maybe separating myself from our friendship would make saying goodbye easier. Although Korea is a 2 hour flight away, saying goodbye doesn't become any easier. No more will she come to my house grab a snack out and have a moment to sit and talk about her latest find at the second hand store or vent about her busy day before having to run off to her next errand. No more will I be able to let little Luc nap on the bed and watch him crawl around our house and play with the drawers. He will be running around probably when we go to visit. We won't sit together at the playground anymore after school to watch Charlotte triumphantly swinging on the monkey bars while Nathalie sews another star onto her gymnastics belt or laugh as Sophie and Joshua play house being sure to take off their shoes at the play structure. No more trips to Spasso sitting in the outdoor pool chit chatting about women stuff and looking up at the stars.

Yes, there are so many good memories that I have with them and I will miss that. I definitely thought of that today as they boarded the bus to Narita with their 9 suitcases! I just didn't know what to say. It's amazing how a person can have such strong feelings for a friend and have such sadness in their heart that they find themselves tongue tied at the moment that is most important. Even now it's hard to put into words how special her and her family are to our family. All I could muster up was a good hug and a teary good bye.

Now, I have one more good bye to say to a friendship that seemed to have been too short. My friend Bridgett will be leaving later this Summer. Because I will be leaving to have the baby before they move it might be a little easier to say goodbye however, I still believe that we discovered each other too late in the game. She will me missed.

PCS season has been difficult for me this time around. I suppose as many would tell me, I need to just start to make new friends now. After all, with all of the old people moving out there will be a ton moving in. Such is the military lifestyle.

Guys' Weekend in Tokyo

I finished the last post about Tom and Adam's weekend with our surfing trip to Chiba, which was on a Thursday. The next day, we went up to Tokyo for the weekend. We started Friday evening at the Tokyo Dome, to watch the home team, Yomiuri Giants, take on the Toyo Carp, out of Hiroshima. It was my first Japanese major league baseball game and I was impressed. The game is played like in America, but everything surrounding the game is completely different. The fans are crazy, doing cheers and banging just about anything they can to make noise. The walk-around beer vendors are 100% female and they have to carry around kegs on their backs. The concession stands are filled with all kinds of food, from traditional hot dogs and burgers to sushi and yakitori. What a great experience!

A Lone Carp Player in a Hostile Centerfield Fan Section

After the game, I took the guys to Shibuya to get their picture taken at the famous Hachiko dog statue and to show them the busy Shibuya intersection. We also walked around the area, people watching and window shopping. Eventually, we grabbed some grub and found the local Gas Panic club. After a bit of hanging out at the club, I got a feeling that the guys would get a kick out of Roppongi, a popular club area in Tokyo generally populated by foreigners. So we left Shibuya and headed for Roppongi. Several hours later, we left a club and found that the sun had risen. It was Saturday morning!

From there, we headed back to the hotel for some shut-eye. Waking up around noon, we headed over to Asakusa to see the annual Sanja Matsuri, one of the biggest festivals in Japan. We were fortunate that the guys were there that weekend to witness it, as over the weekend the matsuri festival generally is viewed by over 100,000 people each year. This year was no different - it was crowded. We spent a few hours at the festival and the guys were able to get some souvenirs at the local shops there.

Sanja Matsuri, Asakusa

Saturday night, I took the guys to Shinjuku. I walked them through Kabukicho, a ward in Shinjuku that's generally run by the yakuza (mafia)... where anything goes. But we didn't make it more than a few steps before the on-the-street salesmen started harassing us trying to get us to check out their clubs. We opted out, and instead ended up drinking at a British style pub down the road. From there, we ventured over to the Park Hyatt, which was made famous in the film, Lost in Translation. We had a drink at the lounge in the Hyatt and took in the excellent view of downtown Tokyo. By the time we finished our drinks, it was around midnight and we were all exhausted... mostly from the activities of the night before. So we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we went over to Harajuku to see the artistically dressed "Harajuku Girls" and to do some more shopping. Tom went on a crazy sock shopping mission and the guys picked up a few things for themselves and the people they care about back in the States. After a few hours in Harajuku, we were ready to hit the rails back to Yokosuka.

Adam and Tom with the "Free Hug" girls in Harajuku

All in all, it was a fun weekend. The guys seemed pretty jazzed about the trip as a whole, and I definitely enjoyed seeing them again. It was a much needed vacation for me as well. All of the pictures are up in our Gallery, dated 06/10/2008.

Nicki 's Post

Our blog after getting a slew of new entries is slowing down a bit but not because we aren't busy. I've added a couple of new ones to my side blogs: http://nickiskitchen.blogspot.com/ and http://preggonicki.blogspot.com/

Stop on by when you have a moment. I'll be leaving soon for home (home being California). I'm getting pressure to keep on putting pictures up and blogging during that time.....we shall see. I have to somehow get a cheapy camera to bring because well, since I'm taking the original baby with me (AKA Joshua) I doubt that Mike will let me take the second baby out of the house (AKA his camera) plus, I'm technologically challenged when it comes to the whole downloading photos thing. However, I'll definitely try to keep typing.

The Mother Ship

Ok, it's not really like a "ship" closer to a farm. Last week, Mike, Joshua and I took a trip to the Chiba Mother Farm. Ever since his buddies came to visit, Mike has been itching to take us to Chiba via the ferry. From here, there are 3 ways to get to Chiba. Driving around the peninsula through Tokyo taking the toll roads, using the Aqua line, or taking the ferry across the bay. I think the Aqua line toll is about 3000-4000 (one way) yen along with toll road tolls taking the peninsula can be pretty pricey as well and the drive ends up being about 2 hours. The ferry is pretty pricey as well but well worth the trip. For 2 adults, 1 child and a car, it cost about 8000 yen round trip. This is a fantastic way to go if there are children in tow. From Yokosuka base, the Kurihama ferry port is about a 15 minute or less drive away. After driving our car on the ferry, we parked and walked up for a fantastic bay view with an array of snacks and vending machines. The Chiba Mother Farm was about a 20 minute drive from the Chiba ferry port. It broke up the trip so for Joshua he was sitting in a car for 2 hours. Instead the journey there became part of the days adventure. There are special package tickets that can be purchased for the farm that include ferry tickets. We found this out later of course but next time we may take advantage because we could save a little money.
Once in Chiba there are many many things to do. Mike did a little drive on the more rural side with his buddies. This is a great place to see visions of "old Japan" the coastal route was freckled with older farm house and rice patties. The busier side of Chiba is just as fun. The two large attractions are Chiba Mother Farm and Kamogawa Sea World. We haven't been to the sea park yet but it looks like it would be similar to an American sea park with bottle nose dolphins and orcas as some of their main attractions.
This trip we decided to do Chiba Mother Farm. We had a late start and didn't end up making it to the farm until about 12:00. Even though it was a weekend, the farm wasn't too crowded. For adults and children a like this place is a lot of fun. Attractions include a sheep herding show, pig racing (children are picked out of the crowd to chase and spank their pigs way to the finish line), being able to milk a cow, and sheep shearing as well. The first stop that we made was food (Hello....I'm pregnant and it was lunch time!). There are many many places to eat there. We stopped first at the Mother Factory Restaurant. We were served up cafeteria style. I had the "mix grill" plate consisting of potato salad, hand made sausage and lamb hamburger steak. I also got what I thought was fresh yogurt but I think turned out to be top cream with sweet blueberries on top. Really good. Mike got a Ribeye steak served up Pepper Lunch style. Joshua got the children's plate which consisted of french fries, rice, small lamb burger, handmade sausage, flan, and a cow lollipop. Everything was fresh from the farm and delicious. If we had bigger bellies and bigger wallets we may have wanted to try more however, we were pretty full and ready to check out some of the attractions. Joshua fed some lambs, rode the rides, watched the pig race, and did the walking maze with Daddy. Then in typical America fashion we could resist sampling the fresh ice cream. We tried the typical sweet cream and later the seasonal flavor which just happened to be blueberry. The farm area of the park is themed a little bit after New Zealand with the New Zealand flag flying in the livestock area. They also have fruit and vegetable picking including tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, strawberries, kiwis, & blue berries. Along with fruit and veggies they have seasonal flower displays as well. Other attractions include and Auto Camp Site and cottages to rents, craft shop, and jam & butter making. On the right season, one could definitely spend all day here. A side note the the canine member of the family can join as well. Dogs are admitted into the park and there is a large dog run area in the farm area. As souvenirs we bought some sausage to take home but there is a wide assortment of fresh foods that can be bought like fresh milk, home-made ham, ice cream, sausages, lamb, jam, butter, lamb jerky, cheese cake, mousse, truffles, and fresh cheese. We stayed until closing (about 5:00PM) then took the ferry home. We were pooped but we may end up going back again because of all the great attractions. What a great adventure!