Mi Suitcasa

One week ago today, almost to the hour, I arrived at Yokosuka Harbor hotel, arms overflowing in baggage and nary an amigo in sight.

This a far cry from the 12 greatest people in the whole world who showed up at the Bremerton Azteca on the Friday night before my departure for a surprise fiesta for me! For those home players, you can mark your score card with 6 points for the margaritas and a whopping 20 points for the de-lish GERMAN CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES that Chelsea and Aaron brought to the party. Truly, I was a little misty before the evening ended; it's great to have such great friends and I'm already missing them. Thank you so very much to Lisa and her man Charles, Tonya, Greg, Chuck, Curt, Aaron, Chelsie, Jeff, Char, Connor, and Jonah. There needs to be a little extra special thanks to Lilah and Charles who planned this whole rendevous. You want a great suprise party, these are your peeps.

Back in Japan I've made it through a whole week without too many problems. Don't get me wrong, the challenge of keeping the mush-factor at proper levels with Lilah, given the limbo we have to do with the international date line, is fully frustrating. I've taken to wondering that if I can get a house soon enough if perhaps we could find a dog(s) sitter (hey Charles, you like dogs, right?) and if our housing goods shipment could be scheduled earlier. It's a good thought.

In fact, tomorrow morning bright and early I have an appointment with a Realtor to look at a house that actually accepts pets. I'm pretty excited. Of course, you're not supposed to get your hopes up and you shouldn't jump into the first place that comes along, but this house is in a good location and is only 17 minutes by car to the Naval base.

Did you catch that? Seventeen minutes. So yes, the Japanese are a very precise people. Their train systems are legendary and they do tend to be a punctual and exacting people. But 17 minutes? What if the stop lights are all red... will it still be 17 minutes? Is that 17 minutes during rush hour or at midnight? I won't even get into the comment on the flyer that states: "30 seconds walk to bus stop". What I will tell you about is that this is a 5LDK. That means 5 rooms, with a living room, dining room, and kitchen. I saw many houses listed as 2DK or 3DK. I'm still trying to get it in my head what a house without a living room would look like... well, small obviously, but that just seems weird. Anyway, one of the 5 rooms is the living room, so that makes this a four bedroom place. But, one of those rooms is basically an in-law apartment accessible only from the outside of the home. Still, it's 1750 square feet; and that's a lot of space in Japanese terms.

Right beside the prominent "PETS OKAY!" posted on the flyer is the equally sized "7 Air conditioners Close to Beach!!" Well, I'm a big fan of the beach, and given the humidity that everyone talks about here, I guess that I'm a big fan of air conditioners, too. There is also parking for two cars, which is HUGE in this country. I mean, there are national celebrities who have to timeshare one parking space evenings and holidays--although they do get to swap for a parking space in Europe or Brazil one week each year.

Work has been challenging. I'm fighting to get a team together to meet the goals that have been set for me. My biggest challenge? Currently there are 7 of 9 people in my office who will NOT be there in one and a half years; the two people remaining who will be there when the 1st GW project starts are the Japanese work brokers. These two are very essential, but they do not plan any work, they only broker it to the Japanese workforce. The seven people who are there right now are triple employed; the current availability that is underway, the 08 availability and upkeep that are coming up, and the preparations for the GW, are all fighting for this minuscule staff's attention. I'm betting you can guess how much attention I get on the workload that is farthest in the future. So, I'm off trying to beg, borrow, or steal people to fill the interim between now and when I can get some permanents in these positions. I've had to barter hard, a large frustration when everyone knows that this project has the world's attention; so far I'm swinging for the fences to get two people to call my own. We'll see how well I do.

Anyway, here's some random pictures from my first week in Japan. Some of you will recognize Jeff, he was here for a business meeting this first week. Too bad he's gone home already.

An interesting "electric" guitar in front of a store; I might go back and take a video of this little gadget. It plays a number of tunes non-stop. A small motorized pick plucks the strings while neumatic looking plungers push the frets. An engineering wonder of the world, right here in Yokosuka at a 100 yen store. Who'da thought.

Kyle, my boss, at dinner at his house

Same dinner, this cute dog was in company. LOVED to play fetch.

The Hotel I'm staying at: Hotel Harbor

The picture above and below are of Japanese politicians. I'm not familiar with the laws regarding their campaigning, but there are no television commercials, no spam in your mailbox, no signs posted in people's yards. Nope, what you get is a guy on a microphone filling the air with speeches about the politician of his or her choice. Below there was an entourage to greet each and every member of the shipyard who happened to exit by this gate. They simply stood there and said hello and have a nice day next to the one fancy dressed up guy who was wearing a sash (not pictured). Now that is campaigning!

This is Ray. He's leaving me in less than 30 days. He's the guy who's job I'm filling... and after all is said and done, I'll have about 2 weeks of turn over with him. Ack!

This is the Kitty Hawk. Something about a lady with a flat-top makes me all gushy inside.

Dinner with the guys

Nine out of ten meals in Japan will be some variation on this: water, noodles, onions. Mix in one ounce meat or a fish and voila!