Japonisme

When I was little Kate had a book of that name on the shelves and I used to take it down from time to time, I think it was about the influence of Japanese culture on French art, and I'd think that Japan sure would be a crazy place to visit. Well, as of yesterday evening, I live in Okinawa Japan. So far it's pretty military. We've seen two airports and been around a base, but the Pacific Ocean looks pretty wonderful and Margaret and I got some shells and things from the beach at the base we're staying at, so it's a start.

A little background, we got on a flight out of Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon, the 2nd of January, 2008. Our flight was supposed to be at 1:44 in the afternoon, but we got to the airport around 10AM, just to be sure that we got our rental car in on time and so on. (You ought to have seen me trying to navigate my 100+ pound seabag from the rental car to the rental car counter, in the snow and ice, wearing cowboy boots. For that matter, you ought to have seen Margaret trying to walk and drag two rolling suitcases, with the snow and ice, wearing cowboy boots. We were a little worse for the wear by the time we got on the shuttle to Hopkins.)

The flight was delayed out of Cleveland, due to the snow at O'Hare, so we sat around for a LONG time, talking to random people, and then, randomly, Joe Bromley, who was waiting for a flight out as well. When we got to Chicago it turned out that our connecting flight, to Seattle, had left already, so we waited a long time to get on the next one, maybe. We met a really nice guy who had just come in from Frankfurt Germany, he said that 8 days ago they'd told him there were lots of seats on the plane, so we were a little hopeful, and then there were seats, we even got to sit together. (Thanks guy from Frankfurt! Leonard Szymborski, by the way, if you ever run into him in the airport, say hi!)

In Seattle we got our luggage, got to a hotel and then got hold of Joe and Lisa Park. We went to this great place right by the airport called Roasters, which was super nice and had GREAT beer selection. Joe and Lisa, by the way, have matching tattoos that no one in their family will comment on. They are nice tattoos, though. They say something like, "If lost, please return to Yahweh," but in Hebrew. Joe and Lisa are well, and lots of fun. They look great, too. Really well and happy.

We got up super early the next morning and got a shuttle to the Seattle Airport, which was actually just right around the corner, and the really knowledgeable shuttle driver told us where to go for our flight. Then we haggled with the flight folks, so we could get our really heavy bags on the flight. Then we waited at the Seattle Airport for a LONG time. Thank God for Hudson News stores. Seriously, Hudson, your News stores are a life saver! Good work, Hudson!

The flight to Japan was LONG, very, very, very LONG. It wasn't bad, we had a pretty good time, and we hadn't really slept much for the previous few days, so we avoided most of the jet-lag, but it was a LONG flight. I read all of C.S. Lewis's Horse and His Boy, to Margaret. We also listened to a lot of The Godfather, on her iPod.

Arriving in Japan was nice. There was a sponsor there to help us out, HM3 Phillips, she is cool. She took us to the Commisary this morning, to help us get started and get some juice and things. Margaret and I have walked all over the base we're at, Camp Courtney, but I think that we'll try to live at Camp Foster and then I'll work at Camp Something With An H.

But we're well, and this blog, for so long neglected, should show some renewed signs of life, so check it out.