I'm home!  

I got home this afternoon, did a little unpacking then headed to church. After church we had a pie & ice cream social. I came home and started laundry & worked on a couple other things. Now it's time to get the laundry out & head to bed. I'm beat.

Hard to believe that I was in Japan just this morning. Seems like forever ago already. HopefullyI can post some pictures soon.

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On the road again....  

We headed out Saturday morning to try to get on the Navy base. (Ann has access.) Due to some paperwork problems we weren't able to. Oh well. We headed out for CostCo. I think we spent 3 hours there because Ethel only gets to go every few months.

After that we went to Queens Square in Yokohama and did a little shopping and had dinner. Around 9 pm, we headed back to Ethel's. It's a 4+ hour drive, so it was late by the time we got back. We unpacked the car then packed up our suitcases and headed to bed for a few hours shut-eye before heading out to the airport.

Ann has Elite status, so her ticket was automatically upgraded to Business Class. I wimped out & upgraded with miles. It will be worth it though! I'm pretty tired & it will be more comfortable for sleeping. Coach is pretty booked up for the return trip, so there probably wouldn't have been much chance of me snagging an extra seat for sleeping room.

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Day 2  

We drove about 4 hours to Yokohama today. We saw Mt Fuji on the drive. That was cool! We took lots of pictures in the car and stopped and took more at a rest area.

I learned a new word today - toilet. That's an important one to know! I also recognize the Kanji for Exit.

Dinner in Chinatown in Yokohama. We wandered around there for a little bit, then headed out to meet the missionaries in Yokosuka. We found out Mark & Stephanie are working with the church Leo & Rosie used to be at! It's a small world!

After dinner we went to the 100 Yen store. It's like an American dollar store. They have some really nice stuff there!

We're at Mark & Stephanie's house now. It's a traditional Japanese house. We're staying in their extra apartment off the back.

Tomorrow more shopping in Yokohama, then back to Ethel's. Sunday morning we head back.

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I took candy from a stranger!  

We SLEPT IN today! (Of course, we stayed up late, so I'm not sure I got a whole lot of extra sleep!) Ethel made waffles and bacon for breakfast. Mmm.... We stopped at the convenience store to grab lunch on the way to Ethel's community choir practice. I had a teriyaki burger and warm lemonade. (Sounds gross, but it's good!) The choir sang Strauss songs (originally in German) in Japanese. I recognized "The Laughing Song", but I know it in French. The choir members were very nice and many of them greeted us in English and we carried on some short conversations. One lady even gave us candy.

After practice, we hit the mall. I picked up a few gifts there and saw some cool stuff. (Especially in the Technology area! Japan is a great place for a geek like me!) After the mall, it was off to supper. We ate at a yakiniku restaurant (cook your own meat over a grill built into the table). I even tried cow tongue. It really wasn't bad!

I've learned a couple Japanese words - "yes" and "thank you"

I'll have to post pictures when I get back. The comptuer I'm using doesn't like my digital camera. :-(

Driving on the left hand side of the road of the road is messing with my head!

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Japan!  

We arrived in Japan last night about 7pm. Hwajeong and her mom were on the same flight as us. We were surprised to see each other! We're also flying back on the same flight on Sunday!

We went to Denny's for a late supper. Denny's in Japan is nothing like Denny's in the States. (Or even Guam) I didn't see any cheesburgers on the menu. (Come to think of it, the sign outside said they served them, but I missed that on the menu!) I wasn't very hungry, so I had a cup of corn soup and a roll. It was good!

Ethel lives in a little town outside Nagoya. Today I think we're going into Nagoya to see some sites and shop, go to choir practice with Ethel and whatever else we feel like doing! We'll eat Thanksgiving dinner out somewhere. (Dad- today is a Thanksgiving holiday here too! It's called Labor Thanksgiving Day. They give thanks for all the work done throughout the year.)

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I'm going to need my winter clothes!  

I'm going to Japan for Thanksgiving! An opportunity came up for me to go to Japan with a friend & stay with a missionary in Nagoya. I was able to get a free ticket using airline miles, which made the trip affordable! (otherwise it would have been about $450) We're going to go to Tokyo for a couple days while we're there. I can't wait!

I checked weather.com and the average temperatures there are 60/42 during that time. Brrr...

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