This Week

This week was pretty normal, for Japan. I found out I can run to base in the same amount of time it takes the drive there and in less time than it takes to drive home from there. And I run REALLY SLOW. I found it interesting that it is not at all unusual to anyone here that 8 women took a bath together (actually a couple more, but we didn't know them). On Friday night some of us went to a near-by onsen to relax after our "short" week. I love onsens, sitting around in a bathtub with very hot steamy water is great, especially when that tub is outside under the stars. It was pretty cold outside so it felt even better to in that water and then step out and see our skin steaming. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, if you can call those two things events.

Sailing

Saturday was a great day! I began the day on the phone as usual. Then I met Davia for lunch. Then. . .

I WENT SAILING!!! For the first time in my whole life I went sailing. I was a little afraid at first. Once I was on the little boat after not falling into ocean I got excited. Stefan is a great teacher and taught me to how to steer. And I am the BEST STEERER EVER! I didn't run into anything and was able to find the wind. I got to steer for almost an hour, probably because the wind was so light. The whole day was beautiful, the sun was shining and I was with some great friends.

Lost

So I got lost today. I wanted to find out what would happen if I took a turn I had never taken before. At first all was well, I completely recognized the area from my runs and previous life in Yokosuka. But then it got very . . . circley. . . I was trying to take logical turns but that never seems to work here in Japan. I found a Japanese army base (?), it was a base of some sort with lots of guards and fences and security. Past that I got to tour some of the country side, who knew it was so close. I found a lake, a strawberry farm, someplace I can't seem to describe but you had to pay to park there and there were A LOT of people there, bunches of schools, and a really good view of Mt. Fuji (I think that's what it was). Basically I spent 2hrs driving randomly. Finally I found a sign the the name of my neighborhood on it, drove through a reeeaaaalllly looooong tunnel and was suddenly home. A little strange but not at all unlike Japan.