My vacation

Gosh I don't even know where to start. So much has happened in the past 3 weeks. A lot of important unanswered questions were finally answered for us, all while the Steves were out here for 2 weeks! I can't believe how fast the time went by! It's hard to believe that I go back to work tomorrow, to a totally new group of classes. I'm not going to see those familiar faces staring up at me eager to learn. Instead, I feel like I'm back in August again, starting all over at Yokosuka Sogo High School, unsure what to expect, and unsure what the students are going to expect from me. I just hope these next few months are as great as the past 8 have been! I'm sure they will be, and I hope the time continues to fly by! We recently found out where we are going to be stationed, and I'm ready to get there and get settled in! Justin's new orders are to the USS Abraham Lincoln, stationed in Everett Washington. Justin will leave here in September of this year, and has to serve a minimum of 24 months on his new ship. Since Justin's EAOS (expiration of active obligated service) is before his 24 months are up, he will have to extend for about 6 months in order to fulfill the 24 month requirement. As soon as Justin has his new orders in hand, we are going to contact the personal property office to see how soon they can ship our stuff. I am hoping they will be able to ship it sometime in June or July, that way I can come home for a few months, since Justin will be gone for the summer anyways, and can spend a few months with my friends and family before moving up to Washington. :) Needless to say, I'm really excited for the months to come and am super stoked that we finally got all the answers we wanted!

Now on to my brother (Steve) and Steve (his best friend)s trip. They came and went faster than I could have ever imagined! I think those were the fasest 2 weeks in my life. We were so busy from the day they got here though, that it doesn't surprise me the time flew by. It's like they say, time fly's when you're havin fun! The boys arrived here Saturday March 28th at 6pm. Justin and I took the Navy bus to and from the airport to pick them up. By the time we finally got back in Yokosuka it was around 10pm, and seeing that they had just gotten off of a 12 hour flight, which neither of them slept on, they were pretty tired. We did however make a quick stop at McDonalds before going back to my apartment. The boys got a good laugh out of having their first meal in Japan at Mc'D's. :) We woke up the next morning and decided to show them around base. Justin gave them a tour of the George Washington and afterwards they wanted to go to Sushi with my friend Sanae (I didn't eat anything). After filling up on raw fish and beer, they asked me if I could show them my school. I wasn't sure if the school was going to be open, since we were on spring break, but it was! (Doesn't surprise me. I think Japanese students are the only ones I know who would go to school even on vacation.) I was able to take them inside the school and even show them my office. After spending some time there, Sanae conviced everyone that it was time for karaoke! I think we spent over 3 hours singing karaoke, way more time than needed, but it was fun! We decided to finish off our night by heading to the honch (a street for bar hopping) so the boys could see our Yokosuka nightlife, and try a chu-hi! Seeing that it was a Sunday night, the honch was pretty quite and lame, so we decided to call it a night because the next day we started our travels! Here are some pics from the first day.

On the train down to base

Yuk! Sushi :-/

Beer vending machines

My office at work

My desk is in the middle

Singing their hearts out at karaoke!

On Monday, the Steves and I headed up to Yokohama to start our 4 days of traveling. Justin couldn't travel with us because they wouldn't let him take leave. :( He tried to request 72 hour special liberty, but they told him that Saturday and Sunday count as liberty so they wouldn't give him any weekdays off. When we got to Yokohama, we checked into our first hostel of the trip. It was quite interesting and very tiny! We paid about $30 per person, and had to pay 200 yen ($2.00) for a 7 minute shower, in which the 4 shower rooms were located on the first floor of the building. Also, there was no bathroom in our room, but a community bathroom on each floor. We were only in Yokohama for the day, so we quickly set out to see China town, Yokohama stadium, Landmark tower and the giant ferris wheel before going back to our mats on the floor (literally!) and catching some zzz's for our Nikko tour the next day! Here are pics of hostel #1 and our day in Yokohama.

Our room for the night!

So tiny!

My brother and I in front of Landmark tower (Japans tallest building)

The ferris wheel

On Tuesday we got up early to go on a tour to Nikko. My brother was super stoked for this tour because we were going to see the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil statue. It was pretty ironic and funny that his camera died right after he snapped a picture of it! Our tour was about 10 hours long, and when it was finished, we were off to find our hostel for the night. Our hostel this night was a lot bigger. We paid about $40 per person, had 1 shower on our floor and didnt have to pay for it this time! Amazing what 10 extra dollars will get ya! :) Here are some pictures from our tour to Nikko and hostel #2.

Temples and shrines in Nikko









Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil

The lake

Goobers

Kegon waterfall

Hostel #2

Our beds

On Wednesday we had a free day in Tokyo. Sanae came up early that morning so we could go to the famous tsukiji fish market. Pretty funny that we went to a fish market and didn't see a single fish! I guess we got there too late (who knew 8am was late?) to see any fish. After the market we decided to go find our hostel for that night (which actually had beds!) and then went to Shibuya to see the worlds most crowded intersection.

Riding in the Women only train car!

A lot of umbrellas!

Sanae calls me her "Barbie girl"

Sanae and I in front of a famous statue.

On Thursday we went on a tour to Mt. Fuji, Japan's largest mountain. We took a cruise on Lake Ashi and a cable car ride up a different mountain to see awesome views of Mt Fuji. We also got to ride the Shinkansen, or bullet train, Japan's fastest train which goes more than 180 mph! We went back to my apartment after our tour to rest up and save some money so we could go out in Tokyo Friday night.


Mt. Fuji

Steve and I in front of Mt. Fuji

This kid tried to bring his snow back on the bus with us!

The hole in the mountain is where it last erupted 300 years ago!

The bullet train!

Friday Justin got off work early and we went back up to Tokyo to experience Friday night nightlife in Tokyo. We ended up at a place called Club Pure. There was a 3500 yen ($35) charge for guys and 2500 yen ($25) charge for girls, but it was all you can drink! It was quite the experience and definitely a fun night :)

We left Tokyo Saturday morning and went to Kamakura to see the famous Daibutsu or Big Buddha and Hase-dera temple. My brother ended up saying that this was his favorite part of the trip. Whats really funny is Justin and I visited this exact spot last year when I came out to visit in April. Go figure that some how I managed to wear the exact same outfit to the exact same place exactly one year later! Justin said I need new clothes ;)

In front of Hase-dera temple

What an awesome view!

Justin and I in a cave

so cute!

Big Buddha!!

On Sunday we went down to a cherry blossom festival on base and hung out around Yokosuka. We went back to my apartment early that night because we were going to spend the next 3 days traveling Kyoto. Monday morning we woke up at 430am to catch a train to Kyoto. We ended up taking the bullet train again, which was more expensive than we had planned, but well worth it! We explored Kyoto on our own, finding imperial palace and a bunch of other temples and shrines during our adventures that day. That night we stayed in a traditional Japanese Ryokan.








The Steves in their Yukatas!

Tuesday we took a bus ride to see Kinkaku-ji or the Golden Pavilion. I think this was my favorite place in Kyoto. After visiting there, we took another bus ride to go to a Monkey park. The monkey park was totally awesome, but the monkeys were a little mean! I was feeding one monkey an apple and for some reason it got mad at me and smacked me! My brother was also feeding one and he went to touch its hand and it got mad and threw the apple at him, hissed at him and showed his teeth. We were able to walk amongst the monkeys, which was fun, but a little scary at times! By the time we finished at the monkey park, it was too late to go do anything else, so we went back to our Ryokan that we were staying at for this night.

The golden temple




At the monkey park








Our Ryokan for the night



On Wednesday, we woke up early to try and squeeze in a few more sites before heading back to my apartment that afternoon. Steve had a kick boxing class he wanted to go to that evening so we had to catch the bullet train back to Yokosuka. During the morning we went to the Gion district in search of a Geisha girl. :) With no such luck, we headed to the train station to catch our Shinkansen back home!


The shinkansen again!
Thursday was their last day here before they went back to the states. We hung around my apartment most of the day, and decided to check out Costco that afternoon. I was stoked because I got a berry sundae and it was delicious! I was in heaven! Costco was pretty much the same as it is in the states, except it was much cleaner (as Steve said) and a bit more expensive. I couldn't believe it was Friday when I woke up the next morning, and that their trip here had quickly come to an end. I took them down to base so they could ride the Navy bus to the airport. It was weird coming home to my apartment again and not having them here. I miss my 2 sidekicks, but am happy to have time with Justin again before he goes out in a few weeks. All in all it was an adventerous and exciting vacation! I'm really glad that the Steves were able to come out when they did, otherwise who knows if they ever would have had the chance, seeing that Justin and I are headed home soon! (I'm excited about that in case you can't tell) :)