A Japanese Christmas

For Christmas, we went skiing in Nagano! We met up with about 30 other people from George’s squadron to carpool/caravan up and out to the mountains (a four hour drive). Nagano is where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held, and has great skiing. We arrived Thursday afternoon and to our surprise, there was no snow on the ground. Anywhere. I was pretty devastated that we wouldn’t be able to ski! It did eventually start snowing and on Friday morning when we woke up, there was about a foot and a half of snow! We took a shuttle (and by shuttle—I mean riding in the back of the owner’s van) from our bed and breakfast/hotel about 200 yards up to the ski lodge. George and some other friends of mine headed off to the beginners hill to get our ski-legs (like sea legs… get it?) acclimated and most of us made it successfully down the hill. We did that a few times then headed to the restaurant at the top of the mountain to grab lunch with the rest of the group.

The snow was incredible. I’ve never skied on such fresh powder! It was unbelievable. Because it snowed continuously, the visibility was pretty awful. Also, my goggles would not suction to my face very nicely, so they were pretty foggy. It actually wasn’t that bad knowing everyone else couldn’t see either, it kept the slopes relatively safe because most people weren’t flying down them. I don’t know what it was about my boots, but they were digging into my shins. By the end of the day I could hardly walk and both of my shins were pretty swollen. George made it without any injuries and overall it was a very successful and fun day of skiing.

That night was Christmas Eve and we and the other 30 people did a white elephant gift exchange. It was really funny seeing the types of gifts the single guys brought along compared to what the married couples brought. In the end I wound up with some Christmas socks, funny sunglasses, and some funky jewelry.

The B&B we stayed at served us breakfast and dinner, which was really nice to not have to brave the snow storm to find dinner. George and I had our own room, with two twin beds, which was great because there were other rooms with 5-8 people in them!

On Christmas morning we headed out for the slopes again, but my shins hurt SO bad that I only skied one run and quit. Poor George. I had left him to ski some more advanced slopes the first day and the second day I left him again; I just couldn’t ski another minute. I went and sat in the lodge and had hot chocolate, played on my iPhone and hung out with one couple and their 2 kids. It was a lovely day of people watching, but I was pretty bummed to not be able to ski. My shins hurt too badly though!

After a long afternoon nap I went to my first Japanese onsen!!! I have been looking forward to going to one of these since we arrived but have needed a group to go with. An onsen is a traditional Japanese bathhouse. They separate the genders, and it’s a place where you get completely naked, shower and then sit in very hot springs/bath tubs and relax. I am modest and was a little afraid and nervous to be completely nude, but it actually was alright once we all were and I knew everyone else felt the same way. And it was SO incredibly relaxing. I got a little overheated in the first tub and just wanted to get out of the water, it made me a little lightheaded and I wasn’t sure I’d last the whole hour… I’m just glad I didn’t pass out! We discovered an outdoor onsen at the back of the building and it got added to the list of things to have in my dream house. It was a stone pool, with a waterfall and the water was hot but the rocks outside of the water were cool, and the air was freezing. It was actually very lovely, and I really want one of those someday! The onsen was one of my favorite Japanese experiences so far. I just couldn’t believe that I was sitting in the mountains of Japan, naked, on Christmas night, surrounded by friends. It’s certainly not the way I’d ever imagined my life to work out, but I really am so fortunate and blessed to be able to experience all of the adventures that life here in Japan has to offer!

The next morning we got up early, dug our car out of the snow (Man I hope I never have to live somewhere that I have to dig my own car out. What a pain the butt!)

I didn’t take many pictures on this trip, but here’s a few of them! The first and third nights we walked down the street from our hotel to a bar run by Australians, and the bartenders were from the UK, they were so nice and we had a really fun time getting to know them, and I think they had an even better time hanging out with 30 crazy Americans. :)Haha!





Here's George and I on the third night!


I hope your Christmas was filled with tons of adventures, laughter, and love.

XOXO,
Chelsea

P.S. I thought this was cute. It was a painted picture in the hotel stairwell... it made me miss Cheyenne who was left at home to be cared for by our neighbors! She did get a new doggie bed for Christmas, so I think she forgave us!

Christmas Drops

Just wanted to post this link:
(Just copy and paste into your browser... I can't figure out how to make it an actual link... sorry) :)

http://www.andersen.af.mil/news/video/index.asp?cid=183&sid=17684

This is what George's unit gets to do every year for Christmas. It's a huge privilege for the air crews here at Yokota to get to participate. Since it's George's first year here, he didn't get to go this time, but we hope he'll get to next year.

It feels good to know they're spreading Christmas cheer!

Merry Christmas,
Chelsea

December to Remember

Well since we’ve been back in Japan, there’s been a lot going on! We attended George’s squadron’s Christmas party which was BIG fun. They gave away a couple thousand dollars worth of prizes, but George and I didn’t win anything! George somehow or another wound up on the stage, pulling the ticket numbers out of the bag—so it’s probably good we didn’t win anything, that may have looked suspicious. I particularly enjoyed getting dolled up, and seeing George in a suit. What a handsome guy!
This is us at our friends house with their tree before the party



What else has been going on this month? The following weekend we went to downtown Tokyo with some friends of ours for a birthday celebration. We had dinner at a delicious “Mediterranean-fusion” restaurant. It was an 8 course meal and was fabulous. We walked around downtown afterwards and had a drink at a British pub. There were 14 of us for dinner, and it’s really difficult to find a bar in Tokyo (that doesn’t have a cover) that will hold/accept 14 Americans! We were successful though! Our friends were so gracious and drove us both to and home from Tokyo, give or take a couple of hours each way. The traffic was pretty atrocious!


The next weekend George went down to Okinawa to run a few missions. He always enjoys getting off the base and exploring the world! While he did that, I finished up my statistics course that I was taking here on the base. Math is by far the subject I excel the least in, and I am pleased as punch with the “B” I got in it!!!
The same day I took my final for that course, I also attended the Christmas party for the school I teach at. The women who run the school did a great job planning the event; there was food, Christmas song singing, a visit from Santa Claus, and gifts for all of the children who attended. It was a great time, and the parents and children were all very sweet.

This past weekend while George was off in southern Japan, my friend Lacey and I decided to have an ‘adventure’ day. We took off from the base around 11am and made it into Tokyo (Ryogoku) around 12:15. We had lunch at a café near the train station, along with coffee and hot cocoa, and then we walked over to the Sumo museum! It was actually pretty small, and there really aren’t that many artifacts to look at in a Sumo museum. We did get a kick out of the pictures on the wall of the 69 different champions from the beginning of Sumo. We are both looking forward to attending a Sumo match next month! The sport only lasts a few months, and there aren’t many events, so we hope to get tickets! Oh! The best part…! The facility that the museum is in is also the training facility for the Sumo wrestlers! We passed 2 different Sumo guys before I got up the courage to ask the third one to take a picture with him! He very reluctantly agreed! We have no idea what his name was, but Lacey and I enjoyed pretending he was the most famous Sumo wrestler of all time.



We found a fireworks museum to hit up next. The museum was the size of my bedroom, very teeny, but the gentleman working in there was just as precious as he could be. He was passionate about fireworks and was very excited to tell us about them, but his very little English and our even less Japanese didn’t allow him to share too much of his knowledge. There was a lot of pointing at pictures, gestures and saying “Wakarimasen, Gomen Nasai!” (I don’t understand, I’m sorry!) It was very interesting to see the inside of a large firework. We spent about half an hour in there with him trying to learn what we could!

The inside of a Hello Kitty firework. Pretty neat, huh?




After the fireworks, we walked over to the Edo museum. Edo was the time period from 1600-1800ish here in Japan. The admission sign said it would take a few hours to get through the whole museum, and we were running short on time, so we chose to just see the special exhibit that was advertised all over Ryogoku. It was about $12 USD to see, but there was nothing at all in English. I mean… not even a sign. Occasionally there would be a year on a photograph, but even that was rare. From what we could gather, it was an exhibit of small painted sculptures, depicting everyday life of the people of Japan throughout the Edo period to present day. It was interesting, but we couldn’t read anything, so we don’t really know what it was. We did enjoy making up our own stories about the dolls, what they were doing, and why.
We took the train home, had a quick bite to eat at a good Chinese restaurant near the base, then I went and had a full and delicious dinner at my friend/neighbor Caitlin’s. I’m so thankful for her and all of our other neighbors who really help make Japan feel like home.

Christmas is this week and it’s the first one we’ll be away from family for. Even if it’s split up between his family and mine, we’ve always been with some sort of family for Christmas. George and I are so thankful we are together for this holiday season, we know there are many who are not with any loved ones for Christmas, and who are serving all over the world. We also know that we may not always get to be together for Christmas, so we’ll cherish this one and try to make memories that will get us through future ones, should we have to be apart. I hope you find yourselves surrounded with lots of Christmas cheer, laughter and love!

Merry Christmas,
Chelsea