Snowboarding

So a few weekends ago we went snowboarding with Leah and her husband Brad and some of his Marines. We were following other people in a van and had to turn around three times. The only thing is that the expressways here aren't like in the US, you have to pay to drive on them and once you get on it, there aren't very many exits. So we'd get to the toll booth area where you get your ticket to get on and then we'd play charades to tell the workers we need to turn around and they'd have to open special gates and go down little roads.

Here is one of the times the guys were trying to ask them where we need to go. The guy with the blonde high 'n tight is Brad and the other guy is the one we were following. After this (the 2nd time) of turning around we took control.

So I got in the front seat with him because I'm good at reading maps and directions. We did take one wrong exit and we couldn't turn around for like 5miles, but when we read the directions, they were so simple. It took us like 3hrs to get there and only an hour and half to get back.

Ryan on the lift up

A view from the top of the run. It was the opening weekend and there was only man made snow.

Leah on her butt. She couldn't stand up. Eventually after 2hrs right there she took her board off and took the lift down.

Me :)

This is funny, at the restaurant at the bottom you can order Humburgers. I love it when they spell things wrong!


The group that went

A view of the run from the bottom

Oh that's familiar! Me on my butt! The first run down was the hardest because I've only gone once before and that was 4yrs ago. I had an interesting bruise on my butt, when we were leaving I went to the bathroom to change and I could already see it forming. It was like a speckling of bruises.

YAY!! I got to the bottom! This was my second time down, a much better run this time





Next time I'm trying skiing, just to see what it's like

Ryan at the bottom

He was much better than me but also a little rusty too.






It's such a balancing act.

It was really fun and can't wait to go back and especially since there is actually snow up there now. Plus we have to get ready to go up to Nagano in January for Martin Luther King weekend for a big ski trip the the tourism place here on base is putting on.

Ryan's Present

So I already covered it a little in the Thanksgiving post, but here are some of the pictures from setting up Ryan's new 52" Sony Bravia LCD tv. I thought it was going to be easier putting the tv in but we had to move the shelves out and extend the bridge that goes between them, move some pictures and move the rug.

Working hard to connect his X-Box. He just got an HDMI cable and the picture was really nice before but it's even better now. The only thing that isn't nice is that AFN(Armed Forces Network) broadcasts on analog, so the picture sometimes isn't the best it should be. But his X-box looks good and movies look great too.

The finished product and yes, that is wrestling on the tv too. Except it's not Monday night Raw, it's Tuesday here.

Thanksgiving!

I know that it's been almost a month since Thanksgiving, but I finally have time to blog (I'm on vacation for the week :) ) Ryan invited his work over for Thanksgiving and I had my girlfriend Leah and her husbad over and she helped me cook. So we had about 18 people over for dinner and a 24lb turkey plus a ham. We had A LOT of turkey left over. It was really fun but really tiring! I made the guys do all the dishes and even mop my floors because Ryan got turkey and ham juices all over the ground and plus my floors are so aweful and show dirt REALLY easily, I constantly have to mop my floors.

This is a picture of the set up. We took the love seat from the wall and put the big one against the wall so we could fit two fold up tables there. There is a gear issue here and you can rent anything from snowboards/skiis, any kind of camping gear, jumpy houses, coolers, chairs, tables and a bunch of other stuff for FREE!

You can see Ryan's new baby. He got a 52" Sony Bravia LCD tv a couple days before Thanksgiving. He was lucky because I was going to have to order it through the cataloge and have it shipped by boat over, and I was on the waiting list here at the exchange and they called me to tell me it was in the day before I was going to order it.


Ryan carving the turkey

What a cutie, I'm right behind him slaving over the stove. We didn't take any pictures of me cooking but I think some other people did, so I'll have to get those.

All in all it was a great time and we're going to have them over again for Christmas and I'm looking forward to that and I'm already planning my meal.

Karaoke!

This is what we do a lot on the weekends. We go out with Leah and Brad to a place called Niagara and sing karaoke, it's really fun. I never thought that I would ever sing karaoke and like it too. But we have so much fun doing it!

I know for some reason my shirt looks wet in this picture, but it's not. Weird


(I also posted a draft that I had below the Marine Corps Ball post)

New Cat!

So Ryan and I got a new cat about 2-3weeks ago. I originally had wanted to get two kittens but the vet clinic didn't have any cats. They put us on a waiting list and call us to tell us they had a cat that was brought to them by animal control. She is about 2yrs old they say ( I think she might be 3-4yrs old), she's de-clawed, fixed and micro-chipped. It sounds like someone just didn't want to take her back to the states with them. She was supposed to be put down, so we decided to get her. We named her Mozart, keeping with the classical musicians (remember Beethoven), or Mo for short. She has been really shy and hiding under the couches and entertainment center, so I blocked them off and she goes under our bed now. But at least I can pet her there. She is so sweet, she just LOVES it when you scratch her head and belly, she also purrs really loud too (which I love). She has started to walk around if we're both just sitting around, but as soon as we get up she runs away. But she's doing a lot better. She has also started to play with her toy (that I know of), it's a string with a furry ball at the end, she first only played with the string and now the furry ball too. It's kind of weird playing with a cat with no front claws. It feel like I have to give up more when I play with her since it's not fair. She'll hook her from paw and hold on to it with her mouth.

She is almost completely black, except for under her stomach she has grayish hair. She is a long haired cat but she doesn't really shed that much. But since she was so shy and she won't let us hold her yet, we had her shaved. So she looks like a regular short haired cat for now.

This is where she hid when we first brought her home. It was in the closet in the second bedroom.

Now this is her under the bed. She was playing with her toy :)

Mozart has really big eyes and is really sweet. She has even started to wake me up at night sometimes wanting attention and she'll lay on the bed with us for awhile as long as I'm petting her. She likes to bury her head when you pet her.

One more of her under the bed. Sorry for the things hanging down. This shows her grey belly. I was scratching her and if you keep scratching her belly she'll roll onto her back and stretch out.

Horseback Riding

I know, isn't kinda weird to think about horseback riding in Japan huh? But my friend Leah loves horses and has horses back home and she found a riding school that you can go and ride the horses. She does there all the time and invited me the last time she went out. It is on the way to chicken shack and because we already live in the mountains kinda, it's only about a 15-20 minute ride out there. It was really fun and exhausting. She kept telling me to kick the horse harder so I could get him to trot but he was being stuborn. It really got my legs tired and warmed me up, which is good because it's really started to get cold here.

Here is the horse that I rode. His name is Cha I think. It almost has an r sounding to it at the end though.





My head looks like a mushroom.






It was fun and I got to learn how to direct horses, so maybe I'll go out again and get him to run or something.

Happy 233rd Birthday Marine Corps!

This this past Wednesday was the Marine Corps Ball. It was weird going to a ball during the week but because there is only one place to have it on base and different squadrons, we had to share. This is us and Ryan's Marines in his shop.





Ryan and me with the guest of honor, Lt Gen Frederick McCorkle. He was funny and didn't talk for too long, he doesn't look too happy in this picture but I think that's just his normal expression.



Ryan and his Commanding Officer, Lt Col Gackle. He's a pretty nice guy and I'm even impressed the he knows my name aswell. :) I guess we're doing something good.


This is the place setting for all of the fallen Marines.




This is my friends Christy, Leah and me.



Leah and her husband Brad.

Me and my friend Leticia. She is 16 weeks pregnant, looking pretty good!

Leticia and her husband Ben

Ryan and me, there isn't a whole lot of pictures of us together, it's not a great one. We got our pictures taken at the ball, they are putting them on CD. We got our pictures done after we'd been dancing, so I hope they turn out good.

This is Ryan and Dunbar. He knows Dunbar from Miramar.

All in all it was a fun ball. I was worried because I had to do my hair myself because there is only one salon on base and I you have to make an appointment 30days in advance and I didn't do it. But I think it turned out nice.

Commercials

So whenever I am watching tv I am amazed at how stupid they are. If anyone has ever watched AFN (Armed Forces Network) for awhile, you realize that they play the same commercials and what is best is the ones that the local base makes. They are so aweful and have some kind of propaganda behind them. I also have some Japanese commercials, one of them is for UNI QLO, which is the best store, it's where you can find the most american kind of clothes and the best sizing. It is almost like an Old Navy. The volume might be low on some, so turn it up!

I know this can be death by video, so watch what you want!

So that is just a little bit of what I get to watch on tv. Let's just say that I can't wait to come back to the states and watch real commercials!

Iwakuni Festival

On October 18th was the Iwakuni Festival. It was held downtown and some of the Marines and Sailors were having a both open where you could get your picture taken with them. There were a lot of vendors, performances and food everywhere.

This guy was Pokemon, but he didn't want to put his hat on because it would mess up his hair. Most Japanese guys spend more time on their hair than I do!


Ryan and his friend Chris Dunbar, he knew him from back at Miramar (San Diego)


Crazy eyes! Trying to be like on Pirates of the Carribean


Guys making rice cake things that are really gross, especially since they put bean curd in them.






Some performers


Ryan tried to get pictures with all the girls!

Peace!

Some dancers

My friend Leah painting a Kanji saying on a Japanese Defense Force guy

A bunch of the other people there

Them up on the stage being recognized

The Japanese girls would try on that backpack that was half full (45lbs) that the camophlaged girl is wearing and they would fall back and giggle.

This is a Boy Scout leader who spoke english, I think he thought they were weird because they wanted their pictures taken with him.

More girls

Random Japanese guy handing out flyers

It was a fun day and it turned out to be nice outside too! Ryan of course was sweating his behind off!