Water Wheel for Lunch

Sybil, Tracy and I went on another lunch adventure (and that is what I consider it when we are eating here in Japan). We had heard of this place called the Water Wheel and decided to check it out. This restaurant serves traditional Japanese food. It was all very delicious (oishi) even if we didn't know half of the things we were eating.

Upsairs in the restaurant is a small museum that holds samurai armor.

Lunch w/ Kenji and Sumiko

Allie has the great opportunity to spend time with an amazing Japanese set of grandparents. Their names are Kenji-san and Sumiko-san. They are friends of my friend Betsy and each month we get together with them for a culture class. Usually we meet at their house and Kenji, the Ojiichan (grandpa) has a lesson with the kids and plays games and Sumiko, the obaachan (grandma) teachess Sybil, Betsy and I Japanese cooking in her kitchen.

This month we decided to have them come to my house and we did the same thing here. Kenji played with the kids and Sumiko and Betsy helped me in the kitchen prepare lunch. We then had a great picnic outside in the wonderful weather.

Bike Ride to Enoshima

My friends Tracy and Sybil and I went on a biking excursion one gorgeous Wednesday morning. Just out the East gate on the same trail that I would do my long runs on we set off for a 18 mile bike ride down to Enoshima (a small island right off the coast accessible via bridge). The ride was nice and easy and I managed OK on my 3-speed beach cruiser. We had a blast talking and laughing and enjoying the sights. It took just over 2 hours to get down there. Once we arrived we walked around and looked for a great place for lunch. And we found it!



There were some tables we noticed outside and a bunch of fresh seafood on ice ready to be grilled. The food was so delcious. We then walked up a road to this temple and chcked out the shops along the way.



I loved it here. It had a very laid back beachy feel to it. I can't wait to go back. After shopping we got back on our bikes and made it home in time to get the kids.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Here are pictures from the Japanese Tea Ceremony that I attended just last week. It was quite an experience. It is a traditional activity that is ceremonially prepared and served. It takes a long time to learn the art of tea ceremony. Inside the tea house there are tatami mats (take your shoes off before standing on one) and you kneel while being served and drink your tea. My legs where killing me and we had the abbreviated version of the ceremony. It was very interesting to see this traditional Japanese custom.


Here I am with my friend Heather. She had trouble eating the traditional "sweets" they served. Think...red bean paste.

A misconception I had was that only women serve tea, but that is not the case...many men do it as well.

Before going into the room where we had the tea we had to bow and the scoot on our knees into the room.

Sagamihara Half Marathon

I have spent the last two months training for a 1/2 marathon. I trained with several gals from base and we would do our long runs on the weekends. Jennie, Rhonda, Lori, Sybil and I loaded up in the car for the hour drive to the race. It was at an Army Base and just like the one I ran earlier this year, this one had a ton of Japanese runners. This was everyone's first 1/2 marathon except for me and I was so proud to get to experience it with them. WAY TO GO GIRLS!!!!

Sushi Making

One of my students, Ritsuko-san invited me over to her house to learn how to make a sushi roll. She had her friend Nobuko-san taught me not only sushi roll, but also tempura, and a friend chicken curry, Japanese style potato salad and an eggplant dish. There was SO much food for us to eat. She is so very gracious and hospitable. I had a wonderful day and had to get home in order to run off all the delicious food we ate.

Yokohama Baystars Baseball Game

Easter afternoon we went with some friends from our Det to see a Yokohama Baystars game. Chad has wanted to see a Japanese baseball game since we moved here. We took the train to Yokohama and it ended up being so much fun. Our seats were good and we had a great view of not only the game, but also the cheering section. All the fans had these plastic bats that they banged together and chanted a cheer. It was so funny to watch. There were also drummers and horns going on to help with the cheers. It was very organized...very Japanese.

I bought the girls some bats to hit together, but bought the wrong team. Lauren refused to cheer because she had the wrong bats. Allie on the other hand spent hours banding them together. That was a very fun game!


I don't think any of the Japanese wanted to be near us Americans. We sat with no one around us, which was kind of nice b/c we could spread out.
Rob...one of the guys in our Det.


Heather and Heather...she is our new wife that moved to Japan last month.

Easter

Easter for us was spent waking up and finding the Easter bunny had come and hid candy. Just like he did when I was a little girl. The girls had a blast going on a candy hunt. We managed to put the candy away and got ready for church. We had the neighbor kids over b/c their parents had to go to the hospital b/c of a really bad tooth infection. We were so glad to be able to help. After church we had a wonderful brunch at the club.

Spring Break 2009 - Disney Sea

So...Japan has both Disneyland and Disneysea. We had been to Disneyland last fall, but had not seen Disneysea yet. For Lauren's birthday she decided she wanted to take one friend to Disney instead of having a birthday party. That worked out great...less work for mom.

We got up really early and took the train up. We went with Laney, Lauren, Allie and her friend Rylie and Rylie's mom Jennie (my good friend). Same story...the park was empty...no kids....no lines, it was just the perfect day. It was beautiful and so nice in usual Disney fashion. It is not a water park like one might think, but just has lands with a water theme to them (i.e. Mermaid Lagoon, etc.)


We were able to see the whole park and get back in time for me to teach my English class that evening. What a fun day!

Here was the wonderful show they did on the water. It was almost like a parade, but with boats and jet skis. So cool!

One last treat before heading home!

Spring Break 2009 - Yokohama Zoorasia

On Wednesday we went with Lauren and Allie and her preschool friends to the Zoo in Yokohama. I had heard great things about this zoo, but we had yet to visit it. We loaded up with a bunch of friends and headed off. Once again it was empty b/c the Japanese had just started school. We pretty much had the zoo to ourselves.

Monkeys looking at Monkeys!

Here is Lauren, Abby, Parker and Allie trying to decide whose tongue is longer than the lion. Brody is looking at them like they are crazy.

Spring Break 2009 - Yokohama Sportsland

For Lauren's spring break, we decided not to take a trip anywhere but instead do a few day trips during the week. Our spring break coinciding with the Japanese first week of school. This was great b/c most places we went during the week were not crowded. Our first adventure was to a place in Yokohama called Sportsland. It is a big obstacle course with 50 rope obstacles and a HUGE play structure with really cool slides. I had heard you can get really dirty while here and believe me we were filthy when we left. The girls had so much fun and burned so much energy climbing over everything.

Here is obstacle number 1. Allie ended up skipping some of the ropes, but Lauren did all of them.



I don't know if you can tell by this picture, but this was a huge hole the girls were able to climb down. In order to get out of the hole they had to use those ropes to climb out. SO much fun!

The girls spent the last part of the day at the park sliding down this one slide. It was called Freefall. The drop at the top of the slide was completly verticle. It took a lot of convinving to get Allie to slide down it, but once she did, she wouldn't stop. She was in tears when we had to leave.

Sakura Walk

This time of year in Japan is amazing. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. One of my students, Ritsuko-san invited me and the girls to take a walk with her near her house to view the cherry blossoms. They were so beautiful. There is a small river and the trees line the river and hang over it. We stopped at her house first for tea and cake. The girls loved drinking sakura (cherry) juice from wine glasses. They were very impressed by her house. We had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, the trees were beautiful and the friendship is something I will treasure.