English Language can be weird

The English language can be a puzzle. Children (and people learning our language) often struggle with learning irregular plurals. When I was working in the schools this was an area of focus for a number of my students. Well today I came across a word that I had never thought of the plural form before so I decided to look it up. Mongoose. When I looked at it I thought "Is it like moose where the plural is the same as the singular form or is it like goose and it has an irregular plural form?" Turns out its a regular plural. Mongoose and with a plural form of mongooses. Who knew?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ahh transportation and the various noises they make. Which do you think is the most annoying to me? As you may or may not know Iwakuni is an Air station. People not used to an air station might find it a noisy environment. As I child I lived on various air stations and so I find the noises that the planes make more familiar than not. So nope not the planes. The second transportation noise I can hear are those made by the local trains. Our midrise is located between two local stations. What I often hear is the "ding ding ding" as the gates close to prevent cars from going onto the tracks, followed by the "clack, clack, clack" as the train goes by. 5 mins later it starts again as the southbound train goes by and the dings and clanks happen again. The final transportation noise I hear is the cars. Always worse in the morning and early evening as the work day ends. At home the car noise bothered me so much we had a fan on 24/7 to block out the noise. The winner: Cars. I am still most annoyed by cars driving by.

One half

Well Izac is back in the states at NJS. He will be there for 10 weeks. I don't like that he is gone. I get that its only 10 weeks and that it could be longer but right now, on a Saturday night, I cannot pretend that he is still at work. During the week and the daytime I can find things to stay busy. At night it is so quiet. I miss my best friend and my love. This is not the first time we have been separated and it will not be the last. People say it will get easier. I doubt that. I think I will adjust as all military spouses adjust. I will function as I have to but until he is home I will be missing a part of myself.

Hiroshima: A Bomb Dome

This weekend Izac, myself and two other Marines (Reggie and Samuel) went to Hiroshima. We decided to go to see the A Bomb Dome. We took the train up again and then from the Hiroshima station we took the cable cars. Once we arrived at our stop we got off, walked a block to a MAJOR intersection. I couldn't find a cross walk. Reggie took us to what looked like a subway station. Turns out for this part of Hiroshima pedestrians cross UNDER the street. As we were crossing to the exit we needed Izac said "Welcome to the Underground". I laughed and looked at all the shops. It was kinda like a round about or a wheel. Shops in the center and the sides with spokes off the center directing you to where you needed to go. After gawking for a brief moment I had to walk-run after the guys (they are all 6-6'2 in height and therefore have longer strides), up some stairs (again the tall ones took the steps 2 at a time), and then we walked another block. We emerged from typical city tall buildings and noise to the edge of Peace Park. What we saw first was the A Bomb dome. I remember seeing this building when I was a kid but I also have memories of Amanda chasing after pigeons so this was a good experience. Izac took some wonderful pictures and SHOCK we have a picture of us together. As we finished with our visit to that portion of Piece park an older Japanese man started talking to us. I was not quite sure what was going on but he whipped out a badge that said Free tour guide and a notebook. Now mind you I am still a very suspicious person so I didn't quite want to hang around but none of us wanted to be rude. The guide spent the next 30 mins or so telling us the history of the atomic bomb. It is interesting to hear his interpretation of the events. It reminds you that "history" can be written in many different ways. After the short history lesson he asked us to follow him to the hypocenter. Now at that point I was like uhhh no way (in my head), and I guess it showed on my face because four more free guides came over and suggested that we go and that it would be ok. One said "Japan is the safest country in the world". I actually feel pretty safe here but I am also pretty suspicious of people. The guys seemed fine with it so I followed them (I figure they all have training and when I am cornered I get mean). The guide took us to an old looking cemetery. About 10 mins of trying to figure out what he was saying he told us to touch the stones. I didn't want to because I felt like this would be disrespectful but he wanted us to feel what the heat blast did to the granite. Apparently there are examples of this stone in the museum but you cannot actually touch it. It was interesting. The guide then took us another block to this tiny granite slab that had a plaque. He told us to read it then proceeded to talk again for 15 mins. What he and the plaque basically said was that 580 meters up was where the bomb exploded. He ended his tour showing us a tiny antenna that was on the bomb and telling us that it was Japanese. The job of the antenna was to register when it hit 600 meters and detonate. He kept saying how ironic it was that the Japanese created the antenna that allowed the bomb to explode over their city. After that we decided to get some food, walk around some shops, and then head back to Iwakuni.

Sometimes its good to Complain...

So the old me would never complain. I would accept the cold food, the broken stove, the bad living conditions and just let it go. Now I have learned that sometimes you need to speak up. I'm not saying complain all the time about everything (that is VERY annoying) but when you want to cook and the large front burner of the stove doesn't work and the the oven alternates between burning your food to a crisp and not cooking it at all then there is something wrong. The same thing applies to food. We purchased a 12 pack of soda made by a certain company and the first soda I opened tasted funny. I thought well that was a bad one. I later opened another can and tried it. It too tasted funny. When Izac came home I had him try a third one. When he said it tasted funny (with no prompting from me) I knew something was wrong. So in both cases I contacted the people who deal with difficulties. In the case of the soda I contacted the company and had a favorable response. In the case of the stove I contacted housing. The end results of these encounters was a coupon for a 12 pack of soda and a new (new to me) oven/stove from housing. Im REALLY glad I can now cook without risking food poisoning. SO sometimes its good to complain, just don't take it overboard.

The Wonders of Technology

We live in a wonderful time. Technology has definitely improved from the telegraphs my Mom sent to my Dad while he was on the ship ( Dear Mike Bought House Love Sheryl). In comparison Izac and I are much luckier. You know that technology provided Izac and I with the opportunity to have a long distance courtship. Let me tell you now why I love technology more than I did then. Last night and this morning I was able to talk to my Mother and my friend Jessica via Skype. If you are not familiar with it look it up. Its AWESOME. So much better than a phone call once every few weeks. On top of that we have social networking sites (Facebook)and email that allow me to communicate with my Aunt Jane in CA as well as my sisters in laws in CO and WA state respectively. So as long as I have an Internet connection I can better handle the separation from my husband and family.

Necessity is the mother of invention or at least creativity

As you may or may not know our household goods have been misplaced as has our express shipment. This means that we have been without many of the things that we use daily. We do not want to re-purchase these items. This means that Izac and I have gotten very creative. We have been plagued by some serious static electricity and there are no humidifiers available. So you might ask what we have done. I remembered my parents putting loaf pans full of water on our heaters when we lived in Japan as kids and guess what? It still works. What else have we done you might ask? Well I was making mashed potatoes and realized I did not have a potato masher. I tried all the loaner spoons and spatulas and all of them were too flimsy to appropriately mash the potatoes. Did I give up? NO. I took a can of tomato sauce, wrapped it with foil and mashed away. In all the loaner things we received there are no bowls bigger than cereal bowl and no baking sheets/pans. We did end up purchasing the baking sheets. I do not like the mixing bowls that are offered here so to bake a cake I mixed the ingredients in the pot that we were provided with. It certainly is not a unitasker any longer. Another difficulty during the holiday season was dealing with a dearth of holiday wrapping, boxes, and bows. Did Izac and I give up? Nope. We used shopping bags, left over wrapping paper, and various boxes that had purposes prior to their use as gift wrap. For example a coke 12 pack box works very well for holding clothing and a reusable shopping bag for the commissary when tied is a nice gift bag. Until we get our things I do look forward to seeing the creativity Izac and I must use to live in our new home.

New Years Wishes

It is now 2010. This is often a time for reflection and renewal of goals and expectations for oneself. I find that having moved to another country and spending the holidays here that I am more able to reflect and appreciate all the wonderful people, traditions, events, and experiences that helped make me who I am. I look forward to this new year and all experiences to come. I wish everyone a happy, healthy and peaceful year. Happy New Year!