Life on Land

So can I just start by saying that I’m awake with the sun at 6 am on a Sunday, sitting in Jaime’s house and eating yogurt covered raisins. What is wrong with me! I think my body is in total shock when it comes to maintaining a normal routine. I think I am incapable of sleeping for a full 8 hours thanks to the crazy schedule at sea. Wei and I are staying at Jaime’s, maybe sometime this week we will actually have the time to find our own places. As of right now, we have no idea how long we will be in port, if we are going to school or another ship, everything is up in the air. If I’ve learned anything yet, it’s don’t trust what anyone tells you about the schedule until the time actually comes.

Let me go back to when we arrived back in port. Wei and I were so excited to get off the ship, sleep in a real bed, eat a good dinner, do everything we couldn’t while at sea. We packed up way too much stuff to take off the ship and then make our attempt to find Jaime’s house in Zushi via the train. Everyone I talked to, let me clarify that was mostly men, told me the train station was right past the mall that’s located next to base. So we walk for 20 minutes with all our bags until we get to the mall and start looking for the train station. I look to the left, see a train, and think, oh that must be it! We figure out once inside that it’s not the right one. Japan has two train lines just for your future reference when you come visit me. We decide to take this train anyway because I knew we could still make it to Zushi, we just would have to switch trains. Wei pulled up directions on her phone since she can actually read Japanese and we made it to the right station where we needed to change trains. Meanwhile, it was already close to 7 pm, we were eating the snacks we bought at the Nex and Family Mart. The Japanese have these great snacks that are little trianglse of rice, wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with fish or some kind of pickled vegetable. They also have every kind of dessert and pastry you can think of, you just have to watch out – what looks like chocolate is probably sweet bean paste! Back to the train station, we stood on the platform totally confused, crossed over the tracks to the other side and looked for the signs to Zushi. Then we got on the next train and immediately it announced, next stop Yokosuka Chuo. We had gotten on the express train that took us even further back than where we had just come from. At this point, we were tired, confused, sweating since Japan’s humidity is so much worse than Annapolis if you can believe it. We were thinking, ok, who can we call and just stay with? But I had too much pride to show up to work the next day and say we got lost, so we turned around, got back on the train, got to the right stop and then tackled the next challenge – how do we get to Jaime’s from the train station in the dark? I did the walk with Jaime once before, and I obviously should have paid more attention. We started walking one way and whenever a road gets darker and less crowded that’s the first sign you are headed the wrong way. We ran into a group of teenage boys and I asked them if they spoke English and could tell us how to get to the beach. One guy stepped out from the group, I’m not actually sure if he was friends with them, and told us he would walk us there. Wei was looking at me like I was crazy for following some kid, but he did walk us the right way and we made it to the main street with this bar that has a memorable tiki roof and I knew where I was! We stopped for some awesome thai food and then walked the last few blocks arriving home FINALLY around 9. We pretty much walked into a sauna since the AC had been off for a few weeks, but we were so tired it didn’t matter. The next morning, we easily walked the 15 minutes to the station, found the right train, and made it to work on time. Of course everyone still made fun of us for getting lost when we told them the story about how it took us 3 hours to get home, especially since most people live closer to base and have less of a commute. Which leads me to the fact that I’m in a total disarray over where I want to live. I love being in a house, with neighbors and a garden and being by the beach. But at the same time, it’s so easy to live closer to base where everyone else does. And I still don’t want to deal with having a car. But what will I do when it’s cold or when I go grocery shopping?! I wish I was more decisive sometimes.

Ok. Friday. Went to work, went to Chili’s for the first time since high school. There is one on base. Great Margaritas. Then I went to the Chu-Hi stand with Wei and a few guys from the ship. Chu-His are a delicious and deceptive drink that taste like juice but in reality are really strong. I tried peach, and a few other flavors out of the 31 choices. From there, we moved on to the Haunch, my first introduction to the chaos that describes the few blocks of bars right outside the base. And to top the night off, Wei and I missed the last train to Zushi and had to crash at a friend’s house in Yoko. But it was fun.

Most exciting news! Ellyn is here! I’m so happy. Yesterday we hung out and walked around Zushi, really not paying attention to anything else but conversation, catching up on every detail from the last few months. I’m so happy to have so many girl friends here, for the first time, I’m hanging out with more girls than guys! Off the ship that is. We also went to look at a few apartments. The realtors here have unbelievably good customer service. They drive you around to look at places all around Yokosuka. We weren’t in love with either of the two places we saw, but I’m glad we looked. The newer apartments are all really nice, some have an oven and a dish washer if you are lucky, but I don’t like most of the floor plans. They are a straight hallway with rooms off to the sides. So we have a lot of looking to do this week. Ellyn knows she wants to live close to base, I have no idea what I want. But if Ellyn lives close and I live far, I can crash there and she has a place to get away and we are all happy. The sad thing is that we have no idea if we will ever be in port at the same time! Last night, she got to meet a bunch of people from the ship. We watched fireworks from a friend's apartment, they were to celebrate Friendship Day. I think the Japanese really like fireworks because I see them all the time. The show was great, but the food was even better. The guys on my ship can cook! I’m so impressed, there is more to them than ship handling skills, who would have known. We had fajitas and I made guacamole…of course.

Alie, I'm starting to read Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Maybe I’ll have weird dreams too! And I’m finally going to learn how to play the guitar, I had my first lesson last night. And Ellyn and I still plan on doing yoga and learning Japanese. We have to do something to keep us sane. Now we are trying to figure out what to do today. There are so many options!