Happy Thanksgiving!

This must be why the sign for Koryo Park is adorned with Japanese maple leaves. Chris and I took a delightful afternoon stroll here after the annual squadron family Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. We waited and prayed for orders to Japan for months--years??--before we got here, and I'm so thankful to be here still. I'm thankful for the American and Japanese friends we celebrated Thanksgiving with yesterday and today; I'm thankful for the base resources that allow us to recreate the traditions I love upholding with my family in Texas out here in Japan! I'm thankful Chris is home; I'm thankful we can look forward to another two years here. I'm thankful my fam is finally going to get hip and come visit. My thankful list goes on but I will cut it short before I wax philosophical about giving thanks for good health (root canal notwithstanding), kitties, etc.

Deployments as a Language Exercise: What Goes Around Comes Around

My pre-deployment terror of deployments, like most anticipation, over-estimated how difficult/tragic/different life would be. The best analogy I can come up with is that deployments are like a foreign language. Learning a new language is difficult and feels unnatural at first. It's annoying to be slightly out of your element all the time. It's inconvenient when you can't get things done in a timely fashion or as smoothly as you would prefer. It can be difficult to relate to people who aren't struggling with language lessons. But while it's challenging, it's exciting to finally successfully communicate with people speaking that language. These are people I could not speak with in my native language, yet here we are talking! Ok, so it's only about the weather. Small victories! Eventually--and more quickly than you thought--you get used to hearing the different language all around you, even if you don't understand it all. You still think and dream in your native language, but it's a pleasant surprise to hear it. And then, at the end of the deployment, finally! Speaking the same language again! Surprising in its ease, comfort and simplicity!

I'd gotten used to being alone, and that was ok because it's a necessity sometimes for us. Then this weekend I woke up in the middle of the night wondering, "Why am I stuck in this tiny section of the bed, and what is all that racket!?!??!.....whoa, CHRIS IS STILL HERE!!! NEAT!"

We celebrated Chris' homecoming by doing our favorite things---poking around the Yamato Open Market, getting sushi from everybody's favorite 100 yen sushi go-round, watching campy end-of-times movies, and going to church together instead of alone. Fun weekend!

Jesus Body

Not sure what this is but I figured I'd better show everyone in case it's historically and spiritually important, right?! Each box gets you 180 tablets! ...of...what exactly!?
"New discovery to be kept secret from others. This discovery is a secret. I can lay it down because I am correct. We will not make you sorry. Pleasure to have the real thing. I really longed for this."

My Husband is Dangerous and Hot

...and home from fall deployment! The rest is classified. Note: sadly, I did not take these photos.

Torpedo Drop

This is a practice torpedo drop that Chris can't say anything else about. The dummy torpedo was successfully dropped and recovered, plus Chris dropped a smoke bomb to signal its location for pickup as part of the process. This, along with his missile shoot this summer, means he's an official badass.

No. 53 Regular Fortune

Your life under so many troubles during long period, will be over and it may get better day by day. By the help of the noble and mayor person, you can get permit and recommendation, your future will be improved to much better. As the last flower can make the best fruit, the fortune smiles and comes to you finally. The income and wealth will be in your hand free, and it last long. *Your request will be granted. *The patient will get well soon. *The lost articles will be found but late. *The person you wait for will come but late. *Build a new house and removal are both well. *To start a trip is well. *Marriage and employment are both well.

I don't know about any of that, especially since I got No. 53 Regular Fortune in September, but here's what I do know:

CHRIS IS COMING HOME TODAY!!!!

Nobody Will be Permitted to Leave or Enter During 4th Act of Enya Hangan's Suicide

It is good to have the translation headphones when attending kabuki performances at Kabukiza. This provides not only a dialogue translation but also commentary on what the heck is going on. All this month the matinee performance is "Kanadehon Chushingura---The Treasure of 47 Loyal Retainers," part of the special Sayounara Performances playing until April 2010 when Kabukiza will be torn down because of its unstable, cracked foundation. Chris and I came also here together last Presidents Day. The sets were gorgeous mock ups of Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine---only about the prettiest area this side of Tokyo! My favorite! So what happens is all the lords are gathering for an important ceremony honoring the shogun's younger brother and trying to unite the people by honoring the shogun's recently defeated rival by dedicating his samurai helmet to this shrine. Well how do we even know which is the real helmet? Asks a naysayer. Enter someone's beautiful wife with a "face like a jewel," even though she's played by a more stone-like dude (as are all kabuki women). An important guy falls in love with her and dramatically crosses his arms over his lap during her speech, at which point I expected the very full audience to chuckle but heard not even the crack of a smile. The important guy goes on to write her a love letter, which she refuses. Then her husband comes back onto the scene, correctly suspects what's going, gets yelled at by the important guy, and decides to kill him. That's the act I saw. The rest of the five-hour play is how the husband tries to kill the important guy, fails, is commanded to commit suicide, and how his household is disbanded but then rebands to kill the important guy in the end. It has nice symmetry because there were 47 helmets of defeated bad guys to sift through to find the helmet they want in the beginning, and in the end the important guy (not the shogun or his bro, just an official) is attacked by 47 of the husband's men. Beautiful. I like Ginza. What had been a very rainy morning cleared into a beautiful, clear afternoon with Chuo Street turned into a huge pedestrian thoroughfare and already lined with Christmas trees. A man was working his way down the street wrapping the pines in lights, and crowds were already gathering around the famous Mikimoto tree (look at that plaid kimono in front!). It's weird, because it feels like fall, and there are leaves changing color everywhere, but Japan doesn't really have Thanksgiving to check the start of Christmas cheer. I say it doesn't really have a Thanksgiving, but my English students told me today they get November 23 off for Labour Thanksgiving Day, which was taken from American Thanksgiving and gives them the day off to thank gods for the fall harvest. I kind of feel like Christmas should be in late January so Christmas season can be December and January, and that way Thanksgiving has plenty of time to be smack in the middle of fall. This also works because Chinese New Year is usually in early February, so the only conflict would be the Superbowl. And that can shift to mid December. There! All solved. Except my January siblings (one in particular) would whine about birthday takeover. Oh well, can't please everyone.