"The freeways there are jammed with all kind of folks on their bikes." - Beach Boys, It's a Beautiful Day

One of the first things that just amazed me when I arrived in Japan were how many bicycles there are! I think every single person must have 3 personal bicycles here in Japan to account for how many I have seen on the road, sidewalk and all over.

I thought I would dedicate a post to the Japanese bicycle culture. It's not so much a culture, I guess, as a necessity here, but still.

Parked at our train station. They all look like this!

Busy street in Tokyo

Foldable bikes. They are pretty common here and I can understand why. They can go on the train, in  a car and all over.

Business women ride bikes to work....in HEELS

Bike lane to cross the street. Not big enough. Bikes cross all over and you nearly get run over.

The guy on the left was picking up a bike that had tipped over because of the wind. Notice, none of them are locked up. Bikes don't get locked up and they don't get stolen.

Every few feet you see a bike parked on the sidewalk.

In the US, when a woman has a kid, they buy a bigger car usually. Here, they exchange their bike basket for a kid seat. I LOVE it.

Many have two seats! Having another kid?? Just add a seat in the back! Or, they will strap them on their back and ride. I think it is so awesome. i hope it's something I can do when I have kids.

There's one now! Sorry it's a bad pic. I couldn't get the camera out fast enough when one would ride by. She has the kid strapped to her back and she's riding with stuff in the basket. Just running to the store.

I have my cool Schwinn here, but it's not one I want to ride rough on with the hills, etc around our house. I need to get one that I can ride up and down hills so I can start using it to and from the train station.

There is so much going on when you're driving. Hundreds of pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters, motorcycles. It amazes me more people don't get hit.

They will ride in heels, skirts, in the rain, wind, heat. The culture here impresses me on how they just do what they need to do in order for all these thousands of people to live in harmony so close together.

Spoon sports in Japan. Naturally aspirated vs Turbo EK9.

Just to give you an idea of what our car could do..... ;)

All that I can see I steal as I fill up my garage. - Sublime, Garden Grove

I got him to smile even though he probably wanted to throw some tools at this point.

Look at him go!

Yeah, that motor mount was WAY back there!

I got my hands dirty too. Twas fun.

 A week or so ago, Cameron and I drove Walter (I'll explain his name later) up to the auto hobby shop on base. I think we are going to be frequent users of the garage while we're here. They have everything you need. Lifts, tools, paint booth, welding tools. Anything.

We went to install some motor mount inserts to help stabalize the existing motor mounts. I learned a lot about what motor mounts do and how they help. Before all of this, you could see Walter's shifter moving as we drove. That was basically the motor and everything moving around under the hood. So, we went to put inserts in to help hold them still better. The main one we needed to get to was way at the bottom and behind a lot of things under the hood.

I noticed while we were in the auto hobby garage, that a garage works much like a hospital.

-First, when we got there and started on the car, Cameron had not told me exactly what we were doing or how I could help. I was standing there, silent, not knowing what I should be doing and I thought, "We should have done a team stepps moment..." I really did. Yes, that's sad. For those of you who don't know what team stepps is, it's something all the Navy hospitals are implementing to help communication and safety for patients in the hospital. It gives power to techs and corspmen to be able to tell the doctor they don't feel comfortable with something the doctor is doing, etc. It also gets everyone on the medical team to get together and talk about the plan for that day, that patient, etc so everyone knows his/her role.

I didn't know my role. Team stepps would have been good there.

-Second, safety safety safety. That pretty much sums up point number 2.

-Third, don't EVER say, "gee, it seems quiet in here..." or even THINK it. That leads me to number 4.

-Fourth, when a disaster happens, everyone moves quickly and smoothly to react to the disaster. The radio had stopped playing and I actually thought to myself that it was particularly quiet, but I know we never say that in the hospital so I didn't say it out loud in the garage. Even thinking it caused a problem.

A few minutes later, a man that had been rotating his tires on his beautiful BMW somehow messed up and the car fell down on just one jack and the back wheel/tire looked like it bent because it was only on with one lug nut at that moment. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I do know in that exact moment everyone sprung into action. It was like a code. One guy calmly yelled, "grab a jack" and the owner ran over to where the jacks were kept. They were all being used, but I realized we had one we at that moment didn't HAVE to have under the car, so I dropped it and handed it off to him.

It was so funny. No one said anything. They got the car jacked back up and I'm not sure if the car was damaged or not, but it had looked bad. It was the garage equivalent of a code. Quite interesting to see.

-Sometimes you need a second opinion. They have some guys that work in the shop in case you need help with your car or the tools, etc. They helped many times by just giving another pair of eyes to the situation.

All the motor mounts ended up being cracked and all broken! We had to order new motor mounts all together. Cameron replaced 2 of the 3 in our drive way one day.

Boo boo under the car working in the rain and his awesome coveralls.

I sat right next to him to hold the flashlight and umbrella.

It slowly started to rain. I sat outside with an umbrella and a flash light for him. We'll have to go back to the auto hobby shop this weekend to get that last mount put on. It drives SO much better now. Before, I had trouble shifting and at times couldn't even get it in gear. It's like butta now.

Our wheels arrived, but now we're waiting on tires. Cameron loves things from Japan, but actually buying them here is so expensive. Also, it's almost pointless to get nice wheels because so many of them get curbed due to the small roads, etc.

We ended up ordering some wheels and tires from the states. They are a lesser known brand, but they are made from another company that does make popular Japanese wheels. They most likely are coming from the same factory anyway, so what does it matter?

The car has been consuming most of Cameron's time. He didn't expect to have this much basic maintenance to do on it as soon as he arrived. It's good though. I really am learning a lot and I'm starting to bond with the car.

Our car is a 1998 Honda Civic Type R, or EK9 for the chassis code. You can read up on type r's here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Type_R

;)

I was not a Honda fan before we arrived in Japan, but I told the boy to show me why it was he loved these cars so much. He's doing a good job. This car impresses me daily.

The name, Walter comes from the movie The Money Pit. Walter is the name of Tom Hank's character and since this car has been needing more and more things done to it, we just joke it's like the money pit. It's really not so spendy. We just joke. It's a good name, though.

I'm a displaced person whose culture let me down, I raise my own daughters in a pornographic town. - The Pretenders, Every Mother's Son

***************WARNING. NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG EYES!************

Okay, so my friends here told me about a fertility festival that was going on today. We weren't really sure if we'd feel up to going out since Cameron just arrived in Japan Friday and is dealing with a cold and jet lag....but then I told him what the festival was going to be like and we just had to go.

You can read about the history of the "Festival of the Steel Phallus" here.

We were lucky enough to have a really nice day for the festival. It was sunny and not too cold. I showed Cameron how to walk to the train station from our house and then bought him a Passimo card. It's just like the DC Metro Pass. It makes traveling on the train around here very easy.

A couple quick shots of our house and car. Also, my handsome husband. :D

Then, we were off. We met up with a bunch of my new friends here to ride the train into Kawasaki. You will find that you can really get "close" to your new culture in Japan by riding the train. It was our first time to stop and transfer and find our way around. It is nice that we can drink and eat on the train...but no talk. Just kidding. All the Japanese are quiet, but we. We were loud.

We got to Kawasaki and made our way to the shrine. You could just follow everyone (and the people dressed up as male genitalia) to the shrine. There, you found crowds of people drinking chu-hi's and sucking on lolipops shaped like male and female genitalia.

It was an interesting festival and I was quite surprised to see Japanese, who are normally quiet and reserved, jumping around and wearing phallic symbols. 

It also was our first big group adventure here. Cameron was a good sport, despite being jet-lagged and sick.

We people watched and had some chu-hi and moved on. :D

We stopped in Yokohama to go eat at a tex-mex restaurant on the 29th floor in the Sky building. It was nice to be able to have guacamole! It was almost like we were back in the states for a couple hours.

After that, the group headed back and Cameron and I wandered on to Yodobashi Camera Store. It took a few U-turns and looks at the google maps app, but we eventually found it. It's basically a HUGE Best Buy or something, but they have a whole floor of camera goods. Digital and film. Lots of film and developing items. The first thing Cameron and I saw when we turned the corner was a large case of Leica's. In unison we both just said, "whoa....". It was impressive.

Needless to say, this was Cameron's dream store. We shopped and then headed for the train to get back to Yokosuka. It was a long day and we were both exhausted, but it was pretty fun way to get out on our first weekend together.

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. - Mary Poppins, A Spoon Full Of Sugar

I have had a rough go so far here in Japan. It has been a very difficult transition. Things are SO complicated to get done. Buying and registering a car takes going to probably 10 different offices. Renting a house is just as complicated. The paperwork is endless. I've been without my hubby. I was spoiled at my last command and had tons of time off. Here, I will be working at least twice as much because of extra things like mandatory command PT, NOD duty and training.

Here's the thing. I need to suck it up. There are huge benefits of being in the Navy. There's a reason there are added benefits to being stationed overseas. It's a lot of work.

I need to get my big girl panties on and quit bitching. This is going to be a good command. This is going to be a good command. I just have to keep repeating that. I will get a lot of experience here. As NOD, we may have to respond to emergencies all over the hospital, so I'll get more exposure to the ER and L&D. We'll be doing conscious sedation, medical transports out in Japan, after hours recoveries, med/surg patients and caring for ICU patients by ourselves with help from a corpsman.

I want to be an example. I need to drop the negativity. Watching Navy medicine videos help me remember why this is such an honor to serve in this branch. I really do love the Navy in my heart. I just have to keep tough.

I REALLY miss my coworkers back in Jacksonville. Way more than I thought I would. They were such a fun group of nurses and corpsmen. I hope to goodness that we pass paths again soon!

Taking care of myself and working out the stress helps. I just signed up with one of the trainers for personal yoga lessons once a week. I think that will help me focus and clear my head, at least for an hour. I have to teach, teach, teach the corpsmen and have them learn something from me, or else I haven't done my job. I think that really helps me feel better.

That's all really for now. More updates later. There is a lot going on these days!

No direction toward a goal of something meaningful and right. It's no wonder the kids are angry, violent, uneducated, alone, wasted, waiting, unchallenged, bored. - Grey Cell Green, Something Stupid

I want to put out there what my goals are for my time in Yokosuka.

Japan, to me, seems to be a place I really want to start fresh and create some balance to my life. It can't be Feng Shui or Chi's, because those things are from China, but for some reason just being in Japan makes me want to cleanse my body of stress, frustration and instead grow and learn from being in another culture.

Professional Goals:
-Apply to DUINS following this tour
-Study on my own time (maybe study again and actually take the CCRN? Maybeee)
-Perhaps start some graduate classes in nursing education, nutrition or study some sort of homeopathic medicine program

Navy Goals:
-Be more active in the wardroom and command
-Perhaps even try for a position with the wardroom
-Work on maintaining a positive attitude and encourage my junior sailors

Physical Goals:
-Get to the gym! Get in a routine
-I'd love to get in some classes, but with 12 hr shifts, it's so hard
-Sign up with a physical trainer in 2 weeks to get me started
-Tone up my body and lower my resting heart rate
-Try and cook more at home and look into highly nutritious meals and try some superfoods!
-Keep up with the vegetarianism as long as I can. So far, so good.
-Walk as much as possible to train, to work, etc. So far this is happening for sure! My calves are sore!!

Mental Goals:
-De-stress!
-Find some yoga or meditation I can do to relax
-Go to the gym for massages on base. They have some amazing Japanese women that perform some cool massages! (Maybe I'll do this tomorrow....)

Marriage Goals:
-Maintain good communication with Cameron
-Try and be supportive and not questioning or frustrating with him
-Explore and take trips as much as we can in Japan
-Remember every day how much I appreciate him and value him as a husband
-Every day write down one thing that I love about him or that I appreciate he did or does for me (once we get a house, I think I'll get a whiteboard or some place I can put this up)
-Make sure not to bother Cameron during times he is working, so he can stay focused

Other Personal Goals:
-Study my Japanese. Rosetta Stone, my hiragana and katakana flashcards and Japanese books.
-Try and speak Japanese as much as possible outside and learn from the Japanese people
-Start sewing and scrapbooking (as soon as I get in my house and get my things delivered. I'll have my own room for this!)

Looking at all of that is overwhelming, but I think this is possible. If you don't have goals, then you won't get anything accomplished. It will be easier when I move out of the BOQ with cable and into a home with no TV. I'll have to occupy my time with something else.

Tonight, I have already looked at online graduate programs, worked with my flashcards and rosetta stone. I also made a good meal from food I bought at the commissary.

Coming back and re-reading this post will be beneficial as well. I hope that all of you can ask how these goals are going down the road and encourage me as well.

Set yourself the bolder course. Keep your heart an open shrine. - Bob Seger, In Your Time

This past week I was attending AOB/ICR, which included a few days of orientation to the base and all of its services and then an introduction to the culture and experiences we can see here in Japan.

Yesterday, our class took a field trip on the JR train to Kamakura. Kamakura is a city about 20 min on train from Yokosuka and it's full of history. At one point, it was the capitol of Japan during the Shogunate power.

Anyway, they showed us how to get a train ticket and ride the train there. It's very similar to the metro and I bought one of the plastic re-loadable cards at the station, just like the metro in DC. We all got on and rode in silence to Kamakura. They don't talk at all on public transportation for respect to others, so it's always awkwardly silent.

After we arrived, they dismissed us to break up and eat. My small group, of me, Maurice and Heather (2 peeps I met during the class) ventured out to find Ramen. We kept finding dead ends and all of a sudden we didn't see any other people from our class. We eventually ran into one of our teachers and asked where a ramen place was. They told us, "where the flag is" and pointed back to a few stores that had flags. We saw several stores and poked our heads in. We ended up in this small restaurant of about 6 seats with a bar window to the kitchen. The menus were in Japanese and the people working there didn't really speak english. I pulled out the iphone and used my google translate and asked if there was anything vegetarian.

He mentioned noodles and vegetable tempura and the other two people I were with agreed and ate the same thing.

I've used chopsticks for sushi, etc....but I've never had to cut food with it or eat noodles with it. We had just watched a video about how to eat properly with chopsticks in Japan. There are many rules. We were so paranoid to offend anyone, so we were very careful about eating. My hand cramped up a bit and most of my food was cold by the time I ate it all, but we got through it and I'm sure entertained everyone else in the room!

Then, we headed with our group down to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. It was founded in 1063 and moved to it's current location in 1180. 

 Before you entered the temple, you could perform a water purification and pour water into one hand and then the other and then put some in your mouth and spit it out outside of the water fountain area. 

yeah...I don't think Heather was feeling putting the water in her mouth.

We also got bombarded by an elderly Japanese man who secretly, we think, wanted to feel up Heather. Many times he "accidentally" touched her on her backside, etc. Anyway, he was trying to show us something about how if you fell backward there was a grave or something and this man's wife was buried there and she would stop you from falling or something? He was crazy and just kept having us stand and fall backward and trying to show us something by that. It really didn't make sense, but we all just kept nodding and saying, "ohhh, wow. thanks!" and trying to walk away and he kept talking to us. He also carried around a stick and would point it at a tree and fall back. It was very odd and Maurice happened to catch a few photos of this encounter. 

Here are more of the shrine. It was awesome to get out and look around Japan finally. I've been so busy with stuff for orientation, checking in, housing, etc. We found our way back to the train and made it to Yokosuka. Here's to more trips out in the country!