Number 11

Thoughts on Mito...

Mito is very different from Yamaguchi in some ways and yet, still the same. It is a much larger city that is divided by two rivers and somewhat by the train station. There are several big department stores, each about 6 or seven stories tall. There is much more traffic and it is much less rural of an area. There are still very old buildings right next to very new ones and patches of dense forest in what seems like the middle of the city.

I think Dana best described the differences between how Japan builds a town and how America builds. In America, we tend to build a community with roads in mind. In Japan, they tend to put roads where they fit. Perhaps, that is because this country is so old and our modern ideas of transportation were not even a thought when they began to lay the foundation. Maybe it is part of their philosophy of harmony with nature.

I laugh a little when I see people out sweeping their parking lots. Where we would use a push broom or even a blower, they are using these brooms that look like a witches broom from cartoons! The sweeping part is uneven and very coarse, yet it seems very efficient. Everyone seems to share in keeping a town clean. I have seen school children cleaning their school and very old people picking up trash along a road.

I hope I am not repeating myself, but the system of trash is rather complicated here. We sort into several categories that are picked up on different days of the week or month. There are "burnables" nearest I can figure this includes most of our general trash and is picked up twice a week. Then there are "non-burnables" which includes broken glass, light bulbs, and things like that. Finally, there are "recyclables". These also need to be separated by types like newspapers, clothing, cardboard, soda bottle and soda cans. The last two categories are picked up twice a month on a different day from burnable trash.

Banking is a different situation. In some ways they are very archaic with old ledgers to keep track of account information and in other ways things seem rather advanced. They do not use checks here. To pay your rent you make a deposit into the owners account. Utilities you can pay at the bank or at a convenience store like Seven-Eleven.

Credit cards work differently. You must pay off the first charge on your bill entirely and the rest can be held over as credit. So, when you make a large charge, the store will ask you if you want them to put the transaction through as one, two or three charges. This really confused me the first few times until I figured out why. Oh and by the way, the BEST interest rate I have seen advertised is 24% and I have seen them as high as 40%! Now wonder everyone just pays cash.

Yesterday, I went to the bank to pay our rent for November, I think. One of the bank supervisors helped me. I paid the rent through basically an ATM type machine. You enter all your information and the account number and bank that you want to deposit to and drop your money in a little slot. It counts it out, charges you a small fee and returns your change. I have a card that I am supposed to be able to use next month that will make it easier, but I doubt I can get through all the kanji on my own.

We have had to make many decisions about what to get for our apartment. We rented some things, but the rental shop here was not as large as the one in Yamaguchi, so we have had to buy some things as well. Dana and I are very happy with the way the apartment feels. I think I made the last major purchase today of a stove and a rice cooker. Boy am I glad that is over! I am looking forward to not having to do any settling in or major shopping for a long time!

Dana's hours have been very long and rather strange since we arrived. Friday morning he went to work at 8am. At 3pm there was a major problem with the system and the customer could not send a maneuver to the satellite. Things got very crazy and by the time the problem was resolved, he got home about 11am Saturday morning. Because there were still many concerns from the client about the problem, they entire team needed to be there for the next maneuver at 3am Monday. Dana went to work Sunday evening about 8pm and got home around 6:30am Monday. As of Tuesday, it seems like he is back to a more regular schedule of going in at 8am and getting home between 9 and 10pm. He said tonight they were hoping to get out of there at about 7pm which would put him home at 8pm, but I will believe it when I see it.

As far as the problem, it has made the situation rather crazy. From Raytheon's perspective it should not have happened, but was remedied and therefore no longer a problem. From the client’s perspective, they lost contact with their multi-million dollar satellite and it is a very big deal. Memo's have been flying no one is quite sure what the fallout will be! Please pray this can all be worked out smoothly. In the meantime, work continues on the project.

Monday, I went for a follow-up appointment on my ear. I ended up going to see a specialist. Doctor’s offices are like clinics here and so it is basically first come, first served. Well, what started out as a quick visit to the doctor at about 9am turned out to take until about 1pm. I was really disappointed because Dana was awake and off and there were many things I would rather be doing with that time other than sitting in a doctors office.

The infection in my ear is still pretty bad although the pain is not too bad. My major concern is that I cannot hear very well out of that ear. With the camera the doctor had, I was able to see the infection is right on the eardrum and it is pretty large. He showed me my good ear so I could compare. It was actually rather interesting. I'm on to another course of medicine, this time not antibiotics, but "antibacterial". I'm not real sure what the differences are, but I hope this one works.

Well, I mentioned my disappointment with how long things took with the doctor’s offices, but I guess God had a different plan. While I was in the doctor’s office, Dana took the girls to a nearby park. While they were playing, a lady came over and started talking to the girls and Dana. It turns out she has a daughter who is a junior in high school and will be spending her senior year as an exchange student in America. She was hoping to find an American family in Mito to stay with over winter vacation to practice her English and in exchange, help take care of the children. We are very excited about this because it will give us an opportunity to learn more Japanese, not to mention, someone to play with the girls. We will be talking with the daughter later this week and see if it can work out.

We are getting a bad rainstorm tonight so I am looking forward to staying in and having a warm dinner of grilled chicken, vegetables and rice.

Forever in the Trinity,
Marion