Random Ramblings
Hi all…I’ve been slacking on the blog updates so I thought I would catch up a little while was on the train to Tokyo last Sunday. Here is what I wrote...hopefully I'll have some time to catch up more this weekend.
I’m so excited that I got a seat because that is always a toss up on the weekend.
So let’s see…I’m trying to remember where I left off last. Um…that is kind of a challenge without internet access to check. WOW!!! I just made a startling discovery! I went to the internet to see if I could see an archived version of the web page or something in my history. To my surprise the internet popped open and it works! On the train!!! Oh my goodness! Ok…so ballet…got it!
When I went to ballet class I paid for two and then the week after my first excursion, I missed the class because I was able to get an appointment to get my hair re-straightened. That was a very happy thing because it was starting to really annoy me and I couldn’t get a good straightener here…even after trying three different kinds. I went to a place in Tokyo that I found out about in my “Being a Broad in Japan” book. They people there spoke English and it was much cheaper than the last place I went to get it done. Plus, they gave me a head massage each time they washed my hair and before they cut it, they gave me a shoulder massage. It was heavenly! I didn’t like the cut they gave me, but the rest was excellent! But I did miss ballet and then found out that the teacher is PCSing (permanent change of station – I don’t know why people can’t just say moving but whatever!).
A few weeks ago I was visited by the boogie man. I was asleep and must have heard something, so I rolled over to investigate and saw a man standing in the hallway of my room. My movement must have startled him and he walked out of the room. I didn’t hear him go downstairs or anything so I laid there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. My killer dog was asleep next to me, not aware that anything was amiss. Dumb dog! So I finally decided to get up and check things out. I woke Kitty and we made lots of noise getting out of bed and stomping around upstairs checking closets and what not. No sign of anyone, so we clomped downstairs. The front door was locked and my purse was sitting right there next to my wallet. I looked around and there was no sign of anyone anywhere. I glanced at the sliding doors and checked the windows. All was well. I looked to see if anything was missing and found nothing gone. Hmmm…no way into the house and nothing was missing. I convinced myself that I must have been dreaming when I saw the boogie man…I mean c’mon – the dog wouldn’t have just laid there if there had been someone in my bedroom, right? Deciding I was just paranoid, I went back up to bed and after a while, fell asleep again.
The next morning, I got up and went about the regular routine. It was a little early, so I sat down on the couch to pet the dog and that is when I saw it…the sliding glass door had a hole in it right where the latch is. I freaked out at that point! Someone really had been in the house! So I checked everywhere again to see if anything was missing. Back in my room, right in front of where I saw the guy was a change bowl where I through yen when I was emptying my pockets. The yen was all gone! It was only about $3 worth, but it led to more freaking out because he was actually in my room
! So I called the base police and they said they would come and call the Japanese police too. While I was waiting, I had to call work to tell them I would be late. Instead of getting Judy, the regular secretary, I got Jan…the dramatic one. She immediately put me on speakerphone with her, my boss, and whoever else happened to be in the office. So I had to explain the whole goofy story. First question…what are you going to do? Get a new dog? Ahem…no! So they offered me the whole day off and I said half a day should be fine.
About that time, the cops showed up and I had to explain it all to them and show them everything. They repeatedly asked me how someone could have come in without awaking the dog. I repeatedly answered that I didn’t know why she didn’t wake up or bark. It seemed as if, despite the hole in my glass door, they did not believe it possible that the boogie man could enter without disturbing my dog. After going round and round about that, the Japanese police arrived with about 10 people who all looked through the whole house. Then a couple started dusting for fingerprints and one came to ask me questions through an interpreter. I explained the whole thing again and they asked my why my dog didn’t bark at the intruder. Hmmm…where have I heard that before? This time, I offered the dog to answer the question, but since they didn’t have a canine interpreter, that was a no go. At that point the base policeman made a very helpful statement. He said that since he arrived, the dog had been sitting next to me on the couch and had not barked or moved while the many policemen came in and walked all around. Ha! There you go! My dog really IS useless! So finally they left and I had to call my landlady. She couldn’t believe it and had to come look for herself. After the promise of a new door as soon as possible, I went to work. Through the many retellings, I realized that I must not have anything that the burglar wants, because he could have taken it already if he wanted it. That night it was a little hard to fall asleep, but it really hasn’t bothered me much since then. Peace that passes understanding…gotta love it! J
Side note – apparently, internet access only work on the train near some stops. Still impressive, but not quite the wow I thought at first!
Weekends lately have been spent in search of flowers and furniture. Even the police made fun of my empty tatami room. I have been looking for a Japanese kotatsu table to put in there but the ones I had seen were either too small or too expensive. So I went to Ikea which just opened. There were about a million Japanese people there but I did find some cute things to decorate with. On the way back from there I stopped at a Japanese furniture store that I found in an article that said this store would be Ikea’s closest competition. There I found the perfect table at a good price and TONS of other stuff to decorate with. Since I had ridden the train, I was happy to find that they deliver…then sad to find out it would take more than two weeks. Oh well! I bought it anyway and it is coming tomorrow.
In the meantime, I have been thinking about what to hang on the walls. Buying art or pictures would be too expensive, so I was looking back through my pictures to see if there were any worthy of wall space. Looking at the pictures that Josh had taken for mom on our trip to the sumo match gave me the idea of framing flower pictures. So, I have been going to gardens and taking pictures of flowers. Gazillions of flower pictures!!! Last weekend I thought I was set and went to print the pictures. I was dismayed to learn that the pictures I had cropped to 8 x 10 were being cropped by the picture printing machine even more and cutting off the edges of the prints. Waaaa!!! So basically (since I had not saved originals when I edited them) all that picture taking was basically useless. Luckily there are lots of flowers in Japan….oops Shinagawa is coming up…gotta go…more later!
Ok, so I got off at Shinagawa and took the Yamanote line to Tokyo Station. The Japanese are enthralled with the Yamanote line because it goes in a circle around Tokyo. They think this is the best thing since sliced raw fish, so I refrain from talking about the El (L?) in Chicago. I don’t know which was first, but the Japanese seem to think they have a monopoly on having four seasons and a train that goes in a circle around the city.
I’d never been to Tokyo station before and the entrance was pretty. There was supposed to be a huge information center nearby so I decided to go there and get some stuff for when my friends come. On the way there was a street festival and bazaar. There was all sorts of cool stuff, but I refrained from buying any. :) I found the information center and came away with handfuls of information that we probably won’t need, but it can’t hurt to have it…well actually it can, but more on that later.
By then it was about noon, so I was hungry. I found a little restaurant with plastic chicken outside, so I went in and ordered that. Have I mentioned that most restaurants have plastic food outside so you know what you are ordering? Many also have pictures on the menus. It’s very helpful for us gaijin! The chicken was great and it came with rice of course, so I was a happy girl. After lunch I made my way to the Imperial Palace…in search of gardens with flowers of course. Unfortunately, the emporer doesn't seem to like flowers because I haven't found a single one. :( However, the grounds are beautiful, but I am tired from two days of wandering around and a bit sunburned, so I decided to take a little break. Bringing the computer was a good idea because I am getting caught up, but the stupid thing is heavy and all of those brochures and books aren’t helping. So I’m sitting here on a bench in the Emperor’s garden relaxing and writing to you all…you should be very impressed!
It has been surprisingly sunny here this weekend. Surprising, not only because it has been raining for weeks now, but also because I’d heard that we were supposed to have a really wet weekend due to spin-offs from the typhoon that hit China recently. Whatever…it’s been a beautiful weekend! Sunny and not too hot or cold! For the first time on a weekend excursion I didn’t even bring a jacket!
Yesterday it was raining when I got up, so I was trying to figure out what project to tackle in my house. I had just decided that it would be the book cases in the guest room when I noticed that not only had it stopped raining but that it was starting to look sunny! Ooohhhh…time to go out and play! I’ve learned that when you get a sunny day you take advantage of it. I’ve been so tired of rainy weekends that I went in to file a complaint with my boss. It was sunny on Monday at work so I stopped in her office a said that I wanted to talk to her before I filed a grievance. She immediately stopped what she was doing and invited me in to ask what was wrong. The union here is so powerful that the threat of a grievance gets a lot of attention…even though the people here do it all the time. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! They are actually filing a group grievance because on rainy days during lunch they have no where for the kids to go so they send them back to the teachers for 20 minutes after they eat. Most teams have worked it out so they only have to do every other rainy day recess, and the admin doesn’t send kids in unless it is really raining hard. I haven’t had to do it for about a month. The whole think is retarded! Oh and another one they are filing is because the price of phone service doubled for our classrooms, so they made it so that we can only call on base phone numbers instead of numbers out in town or cell phones. You can call those numbers down in the office, but that isn’t good enough. They are filing the grievance because they think we should be able to call from our classrooms! UGH!!! I will not be in the union next year and I told them to make sure that my!!! Anyway, back to my boss…I told her that I thought DoDDS should schedule or days off better so that we work on rainy days and are off on sunny days. She laughed and suggested I take it to the big guy upstairs. I don’t think she meant the union rep though. :)
Okay…I think it’s time to keep wandering around…I’ll have to tell you about yesterday later…Sayonara!
I’m so excited that I got a seat because that is always a toss up on the weekend.
So let’s see…I’m trying to remember where I left off last. Um…that is kind of a challenge without internet access to check. WOW!!! I just made a startling discovery! I went to the internet to see if I could see an archived version of the web page or something in my history. To my surprise the internet popped open and it works! On the train!!! Oh my goodness! Ok…so ballet…got it!
When I went to ballet class I paid for two and then the week after my first excursion, I missed the class because I was able to get an appointment to get my hair re-straightened. That was a very happy thing because it was starting to really annoy me and I couldn’t get a good straightener here…even after trying three different kinds. I went to a place in Tokyo that I found out about in my “Being a Broad in Japan” book. They people there spoke English and it was much cheaper than the last place I went to get it done. Plus, they gave me a head massage each time they washed my hair and before they cut it, they gave me a shoulder massage. It was heavenly! I didn’t like the cut they gave me, but the rest was excellent! But I did miss ballet and then found out that the teacher is PCSing (permanent change of station – I don’t know why people can’t just say moving but whatever!).
A few weeks ago I was visited by the boogie man. I was asleep and must have heard something, so I rolled over to investigate and saw a man standing in the hallway of my room. My movement must have startled him and he walked out of the room. I didn’t hear him go downstairs or anything so I laid there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. My killer dog was asleep next to me, not aware that anything was amiss. Dumb dog! So I finally decided to get up and check things out. I woke Kitty and we made lots of noise getting out of bed and stomping around upstairs checking closets and what not. No sign of anyone, so we clomped downstairs. The front door was locked and my purse was sitting right there next to my wallet. I looked around and there was no sign of anyone anywhere. I glanced at the sliding doors and checked the windows. All was well. I looked to see if anything was missing and found nothing gone. Hmmm…no way into the house and nothing was missing. I convinced myself that I must have been dreaming when I saw the boogie man…I mean c’mon – the dog wouldn’t have just laid there if there had been someone in my bedroom, right? Deciding I was just paranoid, I went back up to bed and after a while, fell asleep again.
The next morning, I got up and went about the regular routine. It was a little early, so I sat down on the couch to pet the dog and that is when I saw it…the sliding glass door had a hole in it right where the latch is. I freaked out at that point! Someone really had been in the house! So I checked everywhere again to see if anything was missing. Back in my room, right in front of where I saw the guy was a change bowl where I through yen when I was emptying my pockets. The yen was all gone! It was only about $3 worth, but it led to more freaking out because he was actually in my room! So I called the base police and they said they would come and call the Japanese police too. While I was waiting, I had to call work to tell them I would be late. Instead of getting Judy, the regular secretary, I got Jan…the dramatic one. She immediately put me on speakerphone with her, my boss, and whoever else happened to be in the office. So I had to explain the whole goofy story. First question…what are you going to do? Get a new dog? Ahem…no! So they offered me the whole day off and I said half a day should be fine.About that time, the cops showed up and I had to explain it all to them and show them everything. They repeatedly asked me how someone could have come in without awaking the dog. I repeatedly answered that I didn’t know why she didn’t wake up or bark. It seemed as if, despite the hole in my glass door, they did not believe it possible that the boogie man could enter without disturbing my dog. After going round and round about that, the Japanese police arrived with about 10 people who all looked through the whole house. Then a couple started dusting for fingerprints and one came to ask me questions through an interpreter. I explained the whole thing again and they asked my why my dog didn’t bark at the intruder. Hmmm…where have I heard that before? This time, I offered the dog to answer the question, but since they didn’t have a canine interpreter, that was a no go. At that point the base policeman made a very helpful statement. He said that since he arrived, the dog had been sitting next to me on the couch and had not barked or moved while the many policemen came in and walked all around. Ha! There you go! My dog really IS useless! So finally they left and I had to call my landlady. She couldn’t believe it and had to come look for herself. After the promise of a new door as soon as possible, I went to work. Through the many retellings, I realized that I must not have anything that the burglar wants, because he could have taken it already if he wanted it. That night it was a little hard to fall asleep, but it really hasn’t bothered me much since then. Peace that passes understanding…gotta love it! J
Side note – apparently, internet access only work on the train near some stops. Still impressive, but not quite the wow I thought at first!
Weekends lately have been spent in search of flowers and furniture. Even the police made fun of my empty tatami room. I have been looking for a Japanese kotatsu table to put in there but the ones I had seen were either too small or too expensive. So I went to Ikea which just opened. There were about a million Japanese people there but I did find some cute things to decorate with. On the way back from there I stopped at a Japanese furniture store that I found in an article that said this store would be Ikea’s closest competition. There I found the perfect table at a good price and TONS of other stuff to decorate with. Since I had ridden the train, I was happy to find that they deliver…then sad to find out it would take more than two weeks. Oh well! I bought it anyway and it is coming tomorrow.
In the meantime, I have been thinking about what to hang on the walls. Buying art or pictures would be too expensive, so I was looking back through my pictures to see if there were any worthy of wall space. Looking at the pictures that Josh had taken for mom on our trip to the sumo match gave me the idea of framing flower pictures. So, I have been going to gardens and taking pictures of flowers. Gazillions of flower pictures!!! Last weekend I thought I was set and went to print the pictures. I was dismayed to learn that the pictures I had cropped to 8 x 10 were being cropped by the picture printing machine even more and cutting off the edges of the prints. Waaaa!!! So basically (since I had not saved originals when I edited them) all that picture taking was basically useless. Luckily there are lots of flowers in Japan….oops Shinagawa is coming up…gotta go…more later!Ok, so I got off at Shinagawa and took the Yamanote line to Tokyo Station. The Japanese are enthralled with the Yamanote line because it goes in a circle around Tokyo. They think this is the best thing since sliced raw fish, so I refrain from talking about the El (L?) in Chicago. I don’t know which was first, but the Japanese seem to think they have a monopoly on having four seasons and a train that goes in a circle around the city.
I’d never been to Tokyo station before and the entrance was pretty. There was supposed to be a huge information center nearby so I decided to go there and get some stuff for when my friends come. On the way there was a street festival and bazaar. There was all sorts of cool stuff, but I refrained from buying any. :) I found the information center and came away with handfuls of information that we probably won’t need, but it can’t hurt to have it…well actually it can, but more on that later.By then it was about noon, so I was hungry. I found a little restaurant with plastic chicken outside, so I went in and ordered that. Have I mentioned that most restaurants have plastic food outside so you know what you are ordering? Many also have pictures on the menus. It’s very helpful for us gaijin! The chicken was great and it came with rice of course, so I was a happy girl. After lunch I made my way to the Imperial Palace…in search of gardens with flowers of course. Unfortunately, the emporer doesn't seem to like flowers because I haven't found a single one. :( However, the grounds are beautiful, but I am tired from two days of wandering around and a bit sunburned, so I decided to take a little break. Bringing the computer was a good idea because I am getting caught up, but the stupid thing is heavy and all of those brochures and books aren’t helping. So I’m sitting here on a bench in the Emperor’s garden relaxing and writing to you all…you should be very impressed!
It has been surprisingly sunny here this weekend. Surprising, not only because it has been raining for weeks now, but also because I’d heard that we were supposed to have a really wet weekend due to spin-offs from the typhoon that hit China recently. Whatever…it’s been a beautiful weekend! Sunny and not too hot or cold! For the first time on a weekend excursion I didn’t even bring a jacket!
Yesterday it was raining when I got up, so I was trying to figure out what project to tackle in my house. I had just decided that it would be the book cases in the guest room when I noticed that not only had it stopped raining but that it was starting to look sunny! Ooohhhh…time to go out and play! I’ve learned that when you get a sunny day you take advantage of it. I’ve been so tired of rainy weekends that I went in to file a complaint with my boss. It was sunny on Monday at work so I stopped in her office a said that I wanted to talk to her before I filed a grievance. She immediately stopped what she was doing and invited me in to ask what was wrong. The union here is so powerful that the threat of a grievance gets a lot of attention…even though the people here do it all the time. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! They are actually filing a group grievance because on rainy days during lunch they have no where for the kids to go so they send them back to the teachers for 20 minutes after they eat. Most teams have worked it out so they only have to do every other rainy day recess, and the admin doesn’t send kids in unless it is really raining hard. I haven’t had to do it for about a month. The whole think is retarded! Oh and another one they are filing is because the price of phone service doubled for our classrooms, so they made it so that we can only call on base phone numbers instead of numbers out in town or cell phones. You can call those numbers down in the office, but that isn’t good enough. They are filing the grievance because they think we should be able to call from our classrooms! UGH!!! I will not be in the union next year and I told them to make sure that my!!! Anyway, back to my boss…I told her that I thought DoDDS should schedule or days off better so that we work on rainy days and are off on sunny days. She laughed and suggested I take it to the big guy upstairs. I don’t think she meant the union rep though. :)
Okay…I think it’s time to keep wandering around…I’ll have to tell you about yesterday later…Sayonara!
3 Comments:
Wow!! sorry about your loss, and the feeling of being invaded. But I understand Kitty and her reluctance to bark at someone. She is a good dog.
Mybe she does not bark in Japaneeze and there-by saved her breath! When she stayed here and the door bell rang, she tore it up like she wanted blood. You must make here feel like all is under control. Well that settles it, Josh will return.
I love the suspense piece in the rhetoric, Jennell, because I was sure you were going to find out it was a dream, or an angel, or something really mystical and romantic, and instead it was a real story, real fright on my part just thinking about it, and then, in real time, your real father noodling in on the opportunity to have you pseudo-adopt your own brother again! What an opportunist! But then, he's good with the suspense, too, b/c he tells Gram and me about the blog message from you, and then doesn't reveal what it is, so we are forced to run home at this late hour and try to remember 1)our blog user name,and 2)the password. Thankfully, we are back in business and hoping that you never have to go through that again. I'm glad GOD protected you, and I hope the guy enjoyed his 35 cents' worth of rice, or whatever.
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