Number 17

I think when I last left off, we were heading for Guam, and I know that email only got mailed this morning. So, I’ll try to get caught up now. I suppose this chronicle should bear the subtitle Japan/Guam chronicles. Guam was not exactly one of those places that I wanted to visit, but now, I can’t wait to go back!

We did have a good day in Tokyo on the way to the airport. We went to the National Science museum and checked out Ueno Park. I am anxious to see it when the cherry blossoms begin in March or April.

I guess an important detail to mention is that it is winter here in Japan and they don’t have winter in Guam! Our temperatures in Japan have ranged from –4 to 14 centigrade. The low for the temperatures in Guam was in the 70’s Fahrenheit. The conversion is a math problem for someone other than me but, in summary, it is cold here and warm there!

Providence as it were, led us to a great resort hotel. There was a water park right on the grounds. We got to snorkel in a swim through aquarium, swoosh down water slides and Dana and I tried scuba diving and wind surfing. All of the activities were included in the price of our room, which wasn’t very expensive. We only left the hotel twice, once to go on a dolphin watching trip and the other to go shopping the day we were leaving.

The hotel has many young people that work there called Clubmates. They sign up for 6 months. The hotel pays for their roundtrip airfare, gives them room and board plus a few dollars an hour. They are there as lifeguards and to help the guest have fun. We got to know several of them and they were all very nice. If I weren’t concerned about some other issues, I would think it would be a fun experience for young people.

We hired one of the Clubmates, Tina, to watch and play with the girls one afternoon so Dana and I could go scuba diving and windsurfing. The girls had a great time! The resort does have a kids club, but the children have to be four and most of the children were under six and Christina and Catherine were rather bored. Tina had lots of fun with them and she was much younger that Dana and I so she could keep up with them easier!

Scuba diving was fun. I wasn’t too sure how my ear would do, but we were only in a 15-foot pool/aquarium, so I figured it wouldn’t be much of a problem. Dana and I took to it very quickly and were approved to go on an ocean dive. We didn’t actually do the ocean dive because the next trip was when we had to be leaving for the airport. I think when we go back in March we will try the ocean dive.

As for the windsurfing, Dana took to it quite naturally and I thought it was too much like work and decided to quit. I found a chair nearby and watched. Guess I must be getting old! Dana was exhausted when he finished.

Our last night, we went to a Polynesian dinner show at the hotel. The food and show were great. The only problem was that the girls were very tired from their afternoon with Tina and so Catherine almost fell asleep before the show and Charlene slept through it! There was so much good food. We were seated at a table next to a friend that the girls had made earlier on the dolphin watch, so that was rather fun. This friend also turned out to be on our return flight home.

At the end of the show, they bring people up to dance with them. One of the guys took Christina. I was glad Charlene was asleep in my arms. Christina got to dance on stage. After the dancing, you can go up and take pictures with the dancers. Christina had been given a beautiful lei to wear in her hair, and the next thing I knew, someone put one on Catherine. They were very beautiful.

I guess I have neglected to write about the dolphin watch. It didn’t turn out to be what we had hoped for, but it was fun. We spent most of our time looking for dolphins and didn’t see any until the very end and then it was only glimpses. We had missed them in a little rainsquall that we had on our way out. Coming back in was rather fun though, we got to ride on a banana boat being towed. Dana decided not to go on it, so I went twice and one time took Christina. The water was so warm; it was tempting to fall off just to get wet.

There had been some confusion with our airline tickets that resulted in a 45 minute phone call from the airport and waking a few people up to get them straight. We didn’t have our tickets returning to Japan when we got to Guam. Dana and I were hoping they wouldn’t get the return trip correct, we could skip the phone call and stay a few extra days! In the meantime, we will look forward to returning in March.

Since we have returned home, we have been busy with classes and building friendships. Tuesday afternoon, the girls and I were invited to lunch at the home of someone we had met taking Japanese classes named Latifa. She has a daughter that is Charlene’s age, so that was fun for the girls. They are from Malaysia and she makes a great chicken curry. We also went over to their home on Sunday evening so our husbands can meet; since it turns out they work in the buildings next door to each other. It was a very nice time.

As far as classes are concerned, we have continued our weekly Japanese class and attended a few other classes that are held a couple of times a month. So far, I am learning Ikebana, that is Japanese flower arranging; Japanese calligraphy, I can’t remember the name for that; and Etegame, which is a Japanese style of drawing painting. I think we are almost learning more practical Japanese from the art classes because they speak to us first in Japanese, and if we don’t understand, then they try to help us in English. It is very good.

As far as Dana’s work, that is also good news. Their work went much smoother than anticipated and they finished the work scheduled before Christmas break a week early. He was actually off both Saturday and Sunday, which is a first since we came to Japan, outside of our trip to Guam. This week he is working more normal hours thru Friday and will be off after that until about the 6th of January. We are really looking forward to that time and it was nice to have him home for dinner last night at 6:30pm rather than 8:30pm. When he returns to work in January, there will probably be 3 weeks with the long hours again and then the installation will be finished and he will move on to training, which will have good hours again.

Over the weekend, we did some Christmas shopping for the girls, but our family gift will be our trip to Tokyo Disneyland on the 27th.

At mass on Sunday, we met a family from Slovakia who has been here for two years. They have a daughter who is Catherine’s age and the first time we saw her, we had to do a double take because she looks so much like Catherine. Her name is Christina! She has been attending Japanese schools and is now fluent in 3 languages. They are returning home for the holidays, but will be back in early January and we will get the girls together.

I am working on converting this list to onelist.com. I am setting it up as announcement only. I am the only one that can send email to this list. I have decided to do this because several people have asked for back issues of the chronicles and the way I am doing it now it is difficult to send them out. Once I have this set up, those people on the list will be able to go back and read past editions on the web whenever they want. The other advantage is that I think I will be able to include some photographs. I am not sure how that will work yet, but the possibility is intriguing. No one can subscribe to the list without my approval, so I believe security will be okay as well. I just wanted to let you know in case you get a note about the subscription.

I guess that is about all for now. We miss you and pray for you all!

Blessings and prayers,
Marion