Surfing in Japan

Another really awesome thing that had the chance to do with Braddigan was surf. Nate kind of pulled a couple of strings for me to go surfing and I was really excited to go. Let me say that the waves were far from good (tiny) and I probably wouldn't have paddled out if I was in Ventura, but I was in Japan and who wouldn't want to say that they surfed in Japan.

Surfing in Japan is a little different than what I'm used to. First, let me say that boards are incredibly expensive. I mean really expensive. Geoff, the guy who took us, said that a decent longboard can be easily $2000 and even used boards go for over $1000. There is no way that I would have taken up surfing in Japan because I simply don't have that much money. Secondly, another thing that blew my mind was the amount of people that were surfing. If you take a look at the pictures you can easily tell that the waves are about the size of the bumps you get in a bathtub and there was roughly 500 people on this little stretch of beach. Geoff also mentioned and I witnessed that about 90% of them don't surf. They just sit out there on their boards, talk and hang out. I guess they don't know any difference, but sitting out in the ocean on a surfboard is really expensive. I think a beach towel goes a lot cheaper than a surfboard.

Even though the waves were small I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As a surfer, it was weird not being in the water for a while (only like 3 weeks, but when you're a lifeguard and in the water almost everyday its kind of weird not being in the ocean) and it felt so good to be back in it. I really enjoyed tasting the salt water, feeling the sand, and riding the waves. It brought back memories of all the times I have surfed, the epic days with Jake, and the time I spent with my little brother in the water. Of course it also made me miss the beach days with my family. It felt so good when I got out and the salt water dried on my skin and salt formed under my eyebrows.

Another thing that was way cool was surfing with Braddigan. These guys travel the world, reaching people with the Word of God through music. One of the guys hadn't surfed much and had never really stood up on a wave. This day he did and the stoke that he had in his eyes when he paddled back out was indescribable. It was super cool surfing with these guys and chatting in between sets, but by far the highlight of my day was watching Rey smile after he had caught that wave. I don't know what it was, but it was so amazing and so encouraging to see someone else so pumped on riding the waves.

The Kitty Hawk

The other day I had the chance to tour the Kitty Hawk with the band Braddigan. Our tour guide was one of the guys from the Lighthouse, so that was pretty cool. It was mind-blowing to me to see this thing. For those of you who don't know the Kitty Hawk is the oldest active aircraft carrier in the Navy. It is going to be decommissioned in 2008 and is about 45 years old if I remember right. I don't know, you just need to see this thing, but it is humongous. It is just this giant floating city that is home to something like 5,000 people for a major part of the year. It’s got so many things on it and I think I only saw a small percentage of it. We were able to see and learn a little bit about some of the control rooms and got to sit in the captain's seat. I really enjoyed it and was just amazed that this thing floats. It would have been cool if there were some airplanes on the boat, but there weren't. In my lifetime though I would like to see a plane take off and land on an aircraft carrier. An interesting fact that I learned was that when the planes land on the carrier they are at full throttle just in case the clip doesn't catch the and they have to take off again. The tour was really cool and I was glad that I had a chance to see it.

Interesting Food: Round 2

I have been trying some new food lately. I really enjoy trying new stuff, but I still am always scared on that first bite or drink. I finally tried the Deeppresso drink. All I can say about it is that it was cold coffee, nothing special, just cold coffee in a can. However, it didn't have the intended effect that it says on the cover. I enjoyed a couple hours of energy from this drink and got the jump from the caffeine that I normally don't need.

I went out with Nate and Kate the other night for sushi. I had been craving it a little bit and was excited that we were going. I got the typical sushi that I am used to, but I branched out a little bit and tried some new things. One of the things that I tried was the eel sushi. I have to admit that it isn't the most beautiful sushi I have seen, but it was rather pleasing to my taste. It was really tender and had a good flavor, so for the most part I enjoyed it. However, I was eating straight eel and that still kind of freaks me out.

That last final thing that I think is worthy of sharing is my little crunch snack at this local restaurant. I am proud to say that today I tried grasshoppers. I have decided when trying new things that thinking about the new thinks doesn't help, but only makes it worse and so for this one I saw the grasshoppers that the waitress presented to us on the plate and ate them within a couple of seconds. Let me just say that they were kind of like a crunchy raisin, but had the full of legs, body, and head of a grasshopper. I can't say that I will eat them for the enjoyment of eating them, but I probably will eat them just to say that I did. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I didn't take a picture of them, but I will and you will soon see it. Lastly, I learned today that the U.S. is only 1 of 3 countries in the world that doesn't include insects in the diet.

Oh, I forgot to add that the last picture is my favorite kind of sushi. It is the ebifura roll. Nate has this thing going where if i ask him a question about the food and he doesn't know what it means or what it tastes like, he'll give me a response along the lines of "Its Japanese for goodness." This roll definitely is Japanese for goodness or Japanese for yummy and I think you all should give it a chance.

My Home

Well this is the continuation blog about the Lighthouse. So these are pictures from the main floor of the Lighthouse. Pretty nice huh? It's my home and I feel pretty blessed to live here. Its really cool because on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and part of Sunday its packed with people and I'm able to talk to them and just get to know the sailors and everyone. Also when people come over food gets made and there are normally left-overs and left-overs are up for grabs. (And contrary to what you might all think, I sometimes don't get the left-overs and people actually eat the food before I do.) It is also way cool because on all the other days that people aren't here its really quiet and I'm able to study and spend time with God almost anywhere in the house. These pictures are of the main floor of the Lighthouse (the 2nd floor). I live on the 1st floor which is where there is a small library, a bunkroom, my room, the laundry room, and an office. The 3rd floor is where the Cassidy's live and then the 4th floor is where the school teacher Rebekah lives. So its pretty much a sweet place to live. In the kitchen I have my own refrigerator and shelve space and I wrote my name on all my food so hopefully no one will steal it.

Just a little bit about today. Today was the first day that I road my bike (well actually Nate's bike) into base. Today was also the first day that it rained and it rained pretty good. I was soaked on the way back, but for the most part the walk and/or ride to and from the base is really nice. There are also a lot of little food places that I'm going to have to stop and try sometime. Anyways it rained today and I got wet. I kind of liked it though, but I know that I need to get an umbrella to keep in my backpack.

Fujikyu

This past weekend we had a middle school retreat to Fujikyu Highland Amusement Park. I had a good time and the kids had a great time. The weekend was a success and I feel like the weekend was a good start for the fall. I got to know some of the kids better and got to talk with some quite a bit. It's really cool because almost all the kids are from different places and different religious backgrounds. Fujikyu itself, was really awesome. There were long lines, but they had some pretty cool rollercoasters that would were definately up there with some of the rollercoasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain. There was this one rollercoaster (the red one) that had just opened up three days before and has the world record for the most inversions. It was ridiculous how fast this thing went and how much you spun and flipped. I enjoyed it a lot and am excited that the high school is going to Fujikyu in a couple of weeks.

I hope you get a laugh out of the sign. It was posted on one of the fences around the rollercoaster and it made me laugh. There are a lot of signs around Yokosuka and probably all of Japan that are like this sign. The Japanese post signs with English on them (and I'm really glad they do), but some of the sentene structure is a little off or words are mispelled. For the most part you can get the meaning, but its hard not to laugh when you read them. So make sure you stay in the danger zone on the path and don't go for safetly under the rollercoaster.

Oh, and that mountain is Mt. Fuji. I missed the climbing period for it, but it was still pretty cool seeing it.

My first train ride?

The other night I was introduced to the train. Nate took me through the train station and rode the train with me so I could get familiar with it. This is cool because it is another way for me to get around and a way that I can travel relatively easy. Also it makes it easier on Nate and Louise because they don't have to take me everywhere. I'm glad Nate showed me how to buy a ticket and everything because I don't think I would have been able to figure it out on my own. Everything, for the most part, is in Japanese and there's no way I could figure it out, but now I have an idea and am planning on using it more. I'm sure at some point I am going to get lost or get off at the wrong station, but I'm looking forward to using it to my advantage. It is kind of foreign to me and probably to most of you that I see little kids riding the train without their parents. I feel so safe in Japan and it seems like everyone else does too because I saw elementary kids riding the train with a couple of their friends. The train goes pretty much everyone and so I think a lot of these kids go places after school and then ride the train home at night. So yeah, that's all I have about trains for now.

Get energized...get Deeppresso

If you haven't figured out yet Japan has a lot of drinks and a lot of vending machines. One of my favorite drinks (to look at) is this one right here. This is a coffee drink and apparently the Japanese didn't do there homework before makng this drink. It cracks me up that there is a coffee drink called Deeppresso. I don't know if its good or not because I haven't tried it yet, but I think that I am more interested in the effect than the taste. I will have to see if it makes me feel better or if it makes me feel worse. Nonetheless, I would recommend if you need a little boost in the morning that you get Deeppresso.

Ummm...no thanks!

The other day I decided to do a little exploring. I was walking home from church (its a nice walk) and I went into a big shopping place called More's City. It's kind of like a mall, well I think it is a mall, but its like 9 stories high and there are a bunch of stores. I was actually looking for an electronic store because I needed to get a couple of things, but I also just wanted to look around. Its was pretty neat walking around and looking at the different stores and hearing all the different noises and smelling all the different smells and I eventually found the electronic store. After I got what I needed I went down the 8 or so stories to what I thought was the bottom level.

I walked out of the elevator and started looking for an exit. I was in this Japanese supermarket and figured there has to be an exit somewhere, but I couldn't find one. Being that it was about lunch time I was pretty hungry and ran across what you see here. Lovely isn't it. Don't those little suction cups make you want to just suck those tentacles right in. I have tried tako which is octupus (sushi), but I have never tried this. I would like to say that I tried it and it was delicious, but I didn't even want to pick the package up. Shortly after I took a picture of this delicious looking snack I figured out that I was on the underground floor and that I needed to go up one level. I did and left my little suction cup friend behind.

There has been a lot people asking me about where I live and what my room looks like. So here is a little taste. The Lighthouse is my home. Its a hospitality house that many girls and guys come to from the base. The people in the Navy can spend the night here and hang out here. On Wednesday nights they have Bible Study, which I am unable to attend because I have youth group. Then on Friday nights they have a service here and on Saturdays they usually have events. I really enjoy it here.

I have my own space as you can see and its really nice. I didn't expect such a nice room and I feel blessed to be living in The Lighthouse. Its really cool because I have my own space, but there are people here constantly so I can always talk to people and hang out. I will show some Lighthouse pictures later, but for now I will tell you that they have a library, a bookstore, a really big kitchen and a huge place to hang out. I really enjoy it here and it was totally God's work in allowing me to live here.

Oh, the last picture of me is of me in front of the Tokyo Bay. This was taken on base. As you can see I am really close to the ocean, but not close to the beach. This was a beautiful day though! Go Dodgers!

Random Transportation

I don't have much to say about one particular thing so I am combining three topics into one blog. First as you can see on top is the freeway system. I hope you understand it because I surely don't. The little boxes show the traffic areas and then its got the roads. I haven't driven yet, which I am glad because I wouldn't know where to go or how to get there and I probably couldn't read any of the signs either because they are all in Japanese. Looking at the next picture, I see a reason why I wouldn't want to drive. It cost 123 yen per liter. It's about 4 liters to a gallon which means that its about 492 yen per gallon. So in all, a gallon of gas here is about $4.30. That is a lot and it makes $3.00 a gallon sound pretty good, huh?

My last thing, which is still related to the roads and gas, is the amount of bicycles. Take a look at the picture and tell me how many you can count. This was taken in front of one of the malls and is only one of the many bike racks I've seen here. I've seen a lot of bicycles and a lot of little motorized bikes. Apparently a lot of the the motorized riders don't think they are going to be in an accident because they'll ride them with their helmet unlatched and will be wearing flip flops and shorts. Anyways, I don't really have an opinion on the bikes, but I thought that you might like seeing that picture.

Hot or cold?

I find it very interesting and advanced to see soda machines here in Japan like this. If you look closely at the bottom row you will see that the labels are all red. If you look at the other two labels you will see that they are blue. If you haven't guessed it already, this machine sells drinks that come out cold and drinks that come out hot. I haven't tried any of them yet, but I think that it is pretty dang cool that they are able to do this. I also ran into a cooler/heater at a store that had hot drinks on one level and cold drinks on the other and really the hot drinks were hot and the cold drinks were cold.

3% Unemployment

So I've come to learn that there is a 3% unemployment rate in Japan, which means that everyone has a job. I think the job that has cracked me up the most is the traffic directors. Not because it is not a good job, but because of the intensity that the guys carry on the job. Honestly, I think that their job is necessary because driving in Japan can be kind of crazy sometimes. For example, its okay to change lanes in the middle of a turn or park on the side of the road for about five minutes while taking out half of a lane. But anyways, these guys are there everyday at the same exits out of the parking lot or the same intersections directing traffic. Some guys twirl their baton and some guys like to point it and wave it, but there is just something about them that cracks me up. Sorry that the picture is not the best. We are always wizzing by them, but I will try to get a good picture or two that shows their enthusiasm.