Gobble, Gobble, Ho, Ho

Thanksgiving came and went without much ado. We had a traditional dinner with a full bird but minimized fixings; leaving minimal leftovers and the need to relive that day for the next week. Vanessa put the ol' plastic tree up no later than the day after. She actually got our tree up before her Mom had hers up. Of course it helps being 13 hours ahead.

We were mostly finished with our holiday shopping before Black Friday. Fortunately, the Japanese don't suffer from the affliction that Americans seem to when it comes to a need to trample Walmart employees after a day of gluttony and thankfullness. Of course that could be due to the dearth of the ubiquitous retail giant here.

We've sent out our Christmas cards earlier than normal. We got all dressed up in kimonos because, well, we're in Japan. If you didn't get one, you probably haven't given us an updated mailing address. Try to rectify that by next year, will ya!

It's also time to use the threat of Santa not visiting to get the kids in order. While we don't make Santa a huge part of Christmas normally, we have found that Aiden has become more susceptible to the ruse. I know, we're mean parents.

We attended my office holiday party last night. It was held at the club and was open to the whole family. Santa was there and supplied the kiddies with candy canes and gifts (of course pre-provided by parents--what does he use all those elves for anyway if they're not making the presents anymore?).

You may notice a member of the family not present in the above photo. We tried many times, but Ethan didn't want anything to do with the guy with the unruly facial hair and a penchant for red.

As you can see, he would rather use his Jedi abilities to obtain a gift. When those didn't pan out, he ran over for his present and split again before the fat guy could stuff him into that red bag. Ultimately, Ethan did open up a line of communication and said bye; this was probably some innate behavior to get on the jolly fellow's good side before the 25th.

We are now looking forward to our definite white Christmas, and of course hearing from all of you.

Getting ready for the yuki,

Marty

How Bazaar

This week I celebrated my birthday (never you mind which one). It wasn't anything too exciting, but I was happy to spend time with my family.

We didn't really go anywhere this weekend either; still up to our ears in boxes. Actually, that's not entirely true. We've been working hard and are now down to our knees in boxes, but there's still all the stuff that belongs on the walls on the floor. At least we can navigate from room to room without obstruction. We even found a little room for some added furniture.

Twice each year, the Misawa Officers' Spouses Club hosts the Far East Bazaar. This weekend was the second of the year. We found lots of stuff we wanted, but we don't yet know what kind of space we have available so we mostly restrained ourselves from making impulse purchases. We did, however, find a couple of lamps we couldn't walk away from. They are actually from Hawaii, but that's kind of "Far East-ish." Right?

For now, we're looking forward to the next bazaar. Of course, we have to keep our options open, cause we'll find a lot of stuff we won't be able to live without over the next few years.

Otanjoobi omedetoo gozaimasu (to me),
Marty

Boxes, Boxes, Bed, Bed

Our stuff was finally delivered Thursday. Ness and I (at this point just Ness, cause I'm typing this) are currently digging ourselves out of stacks of boxes. Some of the boxes are like Christmas presents; they're labeled but it's a big surprise when we actually open it up to see what's inside. Movers have a funny way of grabbing something left over from one room and squeezing it in with a completely random box of wares. They also like to use lots and lots of packing paper. I really shouldn't complain cause all that packing paper keeps my precious pencils, pens, straws, and silverware from getting broken.

Many of you have seen, or heard about the bed I made Aiden a few years ago (loft, complete with slide and "stone" wall). That colossal masterpiece (if I may say so) took up most of his former bedroom. Because we didn't know what kind of space we'd have here, we opted to leave it behind in storage and buy the boys a bunk bed from Ikea. I spent a couple of hours after our household goods delivery putting together their new bed . After two nights, it seems like it's going to work out. Ethan even slept on his big boy bed last night.

When we moved out of the temporary lodging on base to our home in town for the next three years, we borrowed furniture from the base (No, I'm not using "borrowed" liberally. They actually have a Furnishings Management Office that has lots of loaner stuff). These furnishings included large appliances, living room furnishings, dressers, and beds. We quickly discovered a sticking point with the beds.

We live in a Japanese-style home and things are a little more quaint than we're used too. For instance, I have to duck my head to get into the upstairs bathroom (I've only forgotten once!). The movers with the loaner furniture tried to move a queen size bed up the stairs and discovered our dilemma; it wasn't going to happen. Knowing we had our own queen size bed on a voyage across the ocean, we had to look for an alternative solution. We used the two twin beds that we originally borrowed for the boys and pushed them together, while Aiden was able to enjoy the queen size bed downstairs. Of course Ethan didn't sleep on the floor; we kept him hostage in a pack-n-play.

We shopped around some local furniture stores last week and found a couple of twin beds that, when pushed together, will make for some spacious snoozing (and a some nearly wall-to-wall furniture) for the next few years. They delivered and assembled the bed today and, although it's only 3 P.M. here, I'm ready to go try it out. Good bye unpacking, hello mid-afternoon nap!

O-yasumi nasai,
Marty

Won't you take me to Takko town

Last weekend we decided to take a trip to Takko town (pronounce TACO) for the annual Beef and Garlic Festival. Having lived in the SF Bay area of California, Ness and I have attended the sister-city garlic festival in Gilroy (not that I remember much of it besides the intense, yet delightful smell of garlic permeating the air).

Our trip down was uneventful, with the exception of this being our longest whole-family trip here to date. It was surprisingly quiet.

I purchased our lunch tickets the week before the trip, so we were assured a lunch of vegetables, garlic, and thinly sliced Takko beef. I think I forgot to read the small print, cause we soon discovered that we were afforded the opportunity to prepare our meal to our liking. We searched through the throngs of people for a grill, then hovered over a couple of folks until they "decided" they were finished eating and moved along. One of the volunteers prepared our grilling surface (I need to find one of those people for my grill), and we set to work cooking our lunch. The boys were eager to, um, help. I hesitate, cause we had a toddler meandering around a bunch of half-barrels full of fire, and a kindergartner who wanted to touch a bunch of raw food on the surface of said half-barrels of fire. We got through the hectic lunch prep and, at least Ness and I, enjoyed some wonderful food.



After fighting with Aiden to eat something, then ultimately surrendering, we ventured around the rest of the festivities. There wasn't a whole lot to do, but we did happen upon the Garlic Spitting contest. We enjoyed watching for a while, but Vanessa quickly goaded me into signing up. She's a good sport, so she didn't complain too much that I signed her up too. We ended up being the last two on the list; 79 and 80. There might have been more contestants, but it started raining; making the already cool mountain air even, colder. Fortunately, the rain let up just before it was our turn.


(can you see the clove of garlic?)

Ladies and Gentlemen, the picture above is the wife of the 3rd place world champion garlic spitter (11.678 meters). I plan to attend next year's festival to try to take 1st.

I actually relished in the spotlight with another Airman, who actually works down the hall from me and whom I shall forever refer to as Number Two. I'm not sure what that says about the Airforce.

That was the excitement of the festival. If you see me around, NO autographs!

Setting my sights on being Ichiban next year,
Marty

Ryusendo Caves

Shortly before we left San Antonio, we visited the Natural Bridge Caverns. Since then, Aiden has been asking about caves in Japan. I assured him we would find some, so I did. Monday (our Monday, not yours), Aiden was out of school, but Ness had to work. We left Ethan in daycare. It was a perfect opportunity for Aiden and I to have a father-son day. I took the two of us on a road trip about 150 Km south. We had some decent directions so it wasn't too hard to find. It just took what seemed like forever. But you know, it was ok because we didn't have the youngest boy screaming (his only efficient way of communicating at this point) in the backseat.

We stopped along the way for a second breakfast at McDonald's. Aiden needed ketchup for his hash brown, so I sent him to the counter. Keep in mind that we were quite a ways from the McD's near our house that sees Americans all the time and where they understand English rather well. Aiden asks me all the time how to say words in Japanese, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for him to use a word or two. I armed him with his vocab and away he went nervous, but rehearsing his line ... "kechapu o kudasai." Success! He was pretty proud of his accomplishment.


Aiden managed to stay awake all the way to the last 20 minutes of our trip to the caves. He was enjoying the wind on his hand but couldn't resist the call for a catnap.


The Caves were small, but had some interesting features (clear, deep water for one) that we hadn't seen in previous caves in both New Mexico and Texas. They were also quite damp and cold. Aiden was all to happy to get back outside where it was warmer and no possibility for a bat to come swooping down on him (not that that was likely).


After a lot of walking, Aiden wanted to enjoy some of the refreshing spring water from the caves. He is a bit of a germaphobe sometimes, so he refused to use the community cups provided.


Getting Aiden to eat Japanese food isn't going so well ... yet. We did find some ice cream to have for lunch. It wasn't the most nutritious of lunches, but hey, it was a special day.


Since we have GPS coordinates back to our house, we were able to take a faster route home using the handy-dandy Garmin. I knocked off about 30 Km and an hour from my return trip (partly because we didn't stop at McDonald's again). The map software we have is a little old and doesn't have all the finished roads, so I did have to navigate a little on my own. All in all, it was enjoyable, but I think we'll find something closer to home next time.

Living the adventure,
Marty

The Gersts in Nippon, er, Japan

You read that correctly, we're in Japan. After I returned from my deployment to the not so fabulous desert, we packed our bags and headed east (actually west, but to the Far East). We now reside in Misawa, Japan. My assignment here is supposed to last until August 2011, but as fickle as the Force is, we could leave here in a year or 10. It seems that every assignment I'm at the rules change. Of course I'll keep you posted on any changes.

I know what you're thinking, "Gerst, you're a slacker about keeping us posted." Well you're right, but you'll have to trust me on this one. We're a long way from home and we have a lot of people to keep in the loop. As was the original intent of this blog, this is the best way for us to update everyone with the same info.

As for what you've missed, well, you missed it. Let's stop living in the past, shall we. Let's start fresh (and any other cliches you can think of). And let's do that with the next update.

Hajimemashite,
Marty

Don't fall over

I know ...

I've been here, I just haven't been much about the blogging. There's lots of news, but I'm sure you've gotten it from other sources by now (CNN, Fox, President Bush). I have most certainly left you hanging.

Most of you know where I am, but if you don't, well, I can't tell you. Due to host nation sensitivities we can't say. Oh, everyone knows we're here, but our gracious hosts don't like to rub it in the faces of their Arabic brothers.

So quick update ... I'm here for another month, I haven't done anything nearly as exciting as my last deployment, I've been to a couple of places around the area that I'm sure I'll fill you in about later (I say that, but don't hold your breath), my kids are growing like weeds (the youngest like a fat weed, but I'm sure he'll grow more vertical soon enough), and we're all moving to Japan in August.

So there it is. More updates later.

Maybe much later,
Marty

I'm here ... Wherever here is

It was a long trip, but I finally made it here Wednesday afternoon. I'm getting settled into both my living situation (not horrendous) and my job (possibly fun -- we'll see). I'm currently hanging onto a ledge with my laptop at arms length trying to get a wi-fi signal so I can post this before my battery runs out.

There! Done!

I'll try to put something more informative together offline, then I can just post it when I finally get that elusive connection.

Hope everyone is doing well,
Marty

Slight delay; it's for real now

I was scheduled to leave early on the 6th, but turns out I had strep throat. I spent most of the Saturday before in the the emergency room waiting to be seen by a doctor. As luck would have it, I was placed on 48 hours quarters so I couldn't leave. This wasn't lucky for my gaining station as they're quite irate that I didn't show up.

I've spent the last week recovering and doing some of those things I didn't have a chance to do earlier; I still haven't finished them. It's too late now cause I'm at BWI airport waiting for my late night flight to the wonderful world of sand. Since my sponsorship on that end of my deployment has been quite lacking, I don't have a clue as to when I'll be able to contact anyone. Hopefully, I'll be once again engaged in regular updates of my blog, but as I don't know the finer details of my deployment, I can't make any promises. I know you'll all be on the edge of your seat waiting.

Dangling the carrot,

Marty