Settled In

friends and family,

I am sorry that I have been MIA for such a long time, but it is official I am on shore duty now for roughly 6 months--perfect time for those visitors;) just kidding, but I am currently waiting on new orders for a short shore duty tour. I am excited to finally get the chance to actually LIVE in Japan, rather than have the ship seem like home and my house seem like an expensive storage room. In the short 2 weeks that I have already been off of the ship, I have managed to finally settle into my house (only took me 3 months) and I have made it out on a couple day trips to Tokyo and Nikko. The Tokyo trip was gorgeous because all the cherry blossom trees are starting to bloom and it was fun to get out in Tokyo during the week to see some sights so the crowds weren't unbearable.



Then this past Saturday I got up before the sun and started on a trip to Nikko, which is located in the Japan Alps. There are tons of Temples in the area along with the original see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys that protect the sacred white horse which are traditionally dedicated to the Shinto gods. It is pretty cool to get to go see all these Shrines and Temples. When I come back to the states I will have to bring a book that I got a couple months ago, but every Temple and Shrine has a special unique stamp that they use and for a couple yen they will write it for you, so i have a collection of them in the book, they are really gorgous and I love watching the Monks make them, so I will have to show you all.



well i miss you all and hope that everything is going well back in the states. I missed the family over Easter, but hopefully I will be back next year.

leavin...again

so i haven't been able to update b/c i have been underway since my last post...seeing many fabulous places (i'll add pics once i get them on my computer) and tomorrow we go back out to sea...not very exciting. so although i came out to japan in july, i have spent less than 3 wks actually here. i have yet to have the time to go find a place, so hopefully ill have time when i get back in december. maggie is coming out in december so i am excited to have a visitor...i just hope that i have a place for her to stay when she gets out here.

my job is keeping me incredibly busy even when we are in port...honestly it is a miserable job, but the people are fun and so it makes it hard to complain, especially when they are all in the same situation as i am. there are fabulous things about being out in this part of the world...it is amazingly safe and although there are so many more people always out, they are quiet...it is amazing how you are at a train packed train station where you can't move, but you could hear a pin drop. they are also some of the most polite and respectful people i have ever seen.

well ill talk more about all the fabulous other countries when i have pics to show, but thanks for all the emails and now i have my gmail fwded to my ship email so if you email me on that account ill still get it when we are underway.

guam

so we have pulled into guam for a couple days, which has been a fantastic break the ship. I have been slowly finding my way around the ship and in my new job, it is a slow process but hopefully i'll start picking it up soon. the people on my ship are fabulous--i have enjoyed hanging out w/ everybody especially here in guam and out of the ship. it is also good to go a day or two without messing up.

it has been raining here the whole time in guam, but today we went snorkling at this amazing beach...ill have to post pics once i can plug my camera into the computer...but it was so amazing. the rest of the time here we have been pretty laid back which has been just what i need. guam is a beautiful place, but just so poor in general. there is not substantial government and the only money they pretty much get is from the military. right now there are so many ships here, including a carrier, which makes this small island totally full. but i have had a great time which is what i needed from my frist couple of weeks on the ship.

hi from japan:)

okay so first and foremost, when i opened the page everything was written in japanese and it took me a solid 5 min to figure out how to get this thing back into english...haha.

anyway i made it in last night and went straight to a bbq w/ all the officers, so that was tough cause i couldn't sleep on the plane so when i got there i had been up for about 23 hrs straight and was starting to drag...but i got up this morning and put everything in my room and got settled in...kind of. we go underway on wed for a little over 2 months. we are going to stop in at several places...apparently this is one of the best deployments the ship has had for a long time so it should be kind of cool. I'm going for the whole thing and then I'll come back and go to EKMS school...which is about message sending-this is one is for my job--communitcations officer COMMO, yes it is official, that will be my job.

so I probably won't have my own place until towards the end of october, so until then i will be living on the ship, kind of stinks, but oh well. I haven't had a chance to really do or see anything so once I get the chance to explore it seems like there is just so much to see.

hope everybody is doing well!

still in diego

I am about to start my second-and final week of ammo supply school. It is probably one of the worst classes I have ever been to...it is basiclly a how-to on using this computer software that looks like the 70's called and want their program back. The software is used to order and keep track of ammo...so it is about as uncool as it could get, but it is almost over.

I've been hiking a few times, it is very different from what I am used to-there are no trees and it gets so hot, but it is very beautiful and always fun. I also saw Live Free or Die Hard, I highly reccommend seeing it, especially in the theater. Other than that I have just been visiting with friends and going to school. I am probably going to go to a Padres game this week and Nisa is looking into a horse race this weekend-I've never been to one, but it could be fabulous.

I still don't have an address and I will not have one for a while-sorry. I leave for Japan on July 25, get there the 27th which is a friday. My ship goes underway until october so once I get there I'll send out that address, but I won't have an apartment until oct/nov.

living the rough life

So I have been in San Diego for a week now and it has been very relaxing. All I had to do last week and this week is call in around 7 am and tell them I am alive, and then I don't have to do anything for the rest of the day. It has been great seeing friends, going to the beach, hiking, and just relaxing everyday.

I just found out that I am going to be the communications officer when I get to my ship, not the gunnery officer, which doesn't make going to ammunition school very logical, but I can't complain. I also found out that we are going on a short deployment the day after I get to Japan until October. I don't know the exact date when I get back, but there is nothing like throwing me right into the work.

I miss St. Louis already, but the weather here is making it a little easier to be away:)

heading out

so i am starting to get some things together seeing as i leave in a couple days. i am first off to san diego on june 25. i will be on temporary duty there until i start ammunition school on july 9-20. then i will finally be on my way to yokosuka, japan on july 25--very exciting. i am starting to get very excited and maybe a few nerves are kicking up, but for the most part just excitment to be done in annapolis and doing actual work all while living overseas. no i have no idea where i will be living, my captain still doesn't know what job he wants me to do, and i haven't learned any helpful japanese, but in my usual fashion i am not worried about it at all...it always seems to work out.

these past few weeks have consisted of a vegas overnight to see celine dion, biking trails, family visits, cardnial games, six flags, and most importantly extreme amounts of couch time.

please feel free to leave me comments or send me an email here any time as i leave i can't stress enough how much i am going to miss st louis and all that comes with it, so you all must keep me posted!