Canal City

One of the big things in Fukuoka besides Tenjin is Canal City. There is a huge walkway that takes you across the highway to canal city, which is more shopping and entertainment in a cool, slightly open building.

I loved these kids, they were having so much fun. They didn't have a care in the world and didn't notice anyone and were just loving being kids. They made me smile. So much of our lives is spent running and rushing we should all have a day to play in the fountain.

Their little brother clearly thought they were crazy.

They have a water show that is set to music.

They also have bands that play there.

They reminded me of a Japanese version of a hippy band.

Yup smoking outside not allowed.
This bear was filled with bottle caps; I thought this was pretty and cool.

I have a soft spot for bears since I owned over 200 growing up!

The "CIty"

You know that there are places when you live so close to it and maybe even travel through it but never go there or visit. I grew up in Long Island but never went into the city, my parents worked there they didn't want to trek into the city on the weekends. I grew up 18 miles from the city but it took my dad about 1 1/2 hours to drive there. So though I was so close to the city my experiences with it were limited. In Japan my "city" is Fukuoka; that is where I switch trains when I go to Sasebo (vice versa and the train station is called Hakata). It is also where I took the ferry to Korea. So I decided that I couldn't leave Japan without going there; I was actually supposed to go there one of my first weekends here but plans got switched. So my last weekend in Sasebo I took the bus, about an hour and half bus ride, to Fukuoka. Japan is an extremely on time country; the bus was at 8:40 and I got on about 8:35 and I was the last person on the bus. I was also the only foreigner on the bus, which I am used to, but I still got looks/stares from the ladies on the aisle across from me.

Compared to Iwakuni and Sasebo Fukouka is the big city; in actuality it was rated the 14th World's Most Livable Cities in 2010. I was told by a coworker in Sasebo that Fukuoka was in the running for the Olympics and was also where Michael Phelps broke a World Record. Fukouka is also where people go shopping, especially people from Sasebo. The shopping area is called Tenjin and is packed with super expensive stores, department stores, and if that wasn't enough an underground shopping area that runs blocks and blocks.

Driving into the city and around the city there were big advertisements that were 3d and in the shape of the product.

Catholic Church in Sasebo

A few weeks ago I wandered around Sasebo and came across Miura-cho Catholic Church. It is right off a main road and stands high up on a hill above all the stores. Once you make it up all of the steps you get some great views of "downtown" Sasebo. The church was a lot smaller inside then I am used to but it was super quaint and even better there was a little nun setting up the flowers; I love nuns! (They are so cute!!)

Could you imagine walking into Church on a Sunday and taking off your shoes

and leaving them at the door?!?!?

The First Good Bye - Sasebo!

Tuesday, September 21st was my last day of work at the Naval base in Sasebo. Sasebo also holds the honor of being the first and last place I did my briefings. I was actually talking to one of my sailors yesterday and I commented how he sat in on my first briefing and he said "O really, I couldn't tell." O yeah, he has sat through a bunch of these briefings. I will miss Sasebo and these are the things I will miss.

• Command PT in cadence - yes, in a weird twisted way I will miss being woken up before my alarm by sailors running and chanting that they are better then the Air Force.


• Mongolian BBQ - O it took me basically half the summer to finally go to Mongolian BBQ on base and boy am I sorry it took me forever, I <3>
  
• Outside the Gates - Sasebo is different then Iwakuni because once you walk outside the gates of the base you can walk into town and go to the stores, restaurants, and Starbucks. It is nice because you can just go off base and walk around, there isn't much to do outside the gates of Iwakuni.


• Starbucks - O come on, are you surprised! My last day there my barristta knew my order, good sign or bad sign you decide! However, I loved Starbucks because it was something to do off base and a great place to people watch. I didn't have an exciting nite life here so it was a great way to kill some times and experience the culture. I loved watching the young Japanese girls and the sailors together, o the laughs ahha.

• Bishnus - O Fantastic Indian!!! A weird but cool thing about Indian in Japan is they love Nan Bread and you can get it like 12 different ways, and it is huge and everyone order there own. There is regular nan, sesame nan, cheese nan, garlic nan (you get the point).

• The people -my coworkers were great. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the military wives I worked with, as well, as Phil who is a retired chief and is in charge of those sailors who are deployed without their units (he is also in charge of the intermural sport leagues for the sailors), Eriko, and Kaori. I loved learning about them and hearing their stories. Everyone had a different life story and it was interesting to see all of these people brought together.

• Billy - he was in charge of TAP for Sasebo and honestly, he rocks. He was in the military for 24 years and has been working as a civilian for over 5 years on base. He has 2 older children who live in the US and then three younger kids (who are Japanese American). His son used to come into work and is a funny but sweet kid; he just transferred to the American school. Billy is a workaholic who cannot say no to people and is so full of life. He cares so much about his sailors and helping people that sometimes he sacrifices himself; I had to remind him to grab lunch and physically dragged him out of the office once to get it. I am truly impressed by Billy; he is scattered brained and I know how that is but also has a heart of gold. Billy also has cannabalistic fish; I do not have a picture of them because I am truly scared of them. One looks like an aligator and Billy put it in a tank with a beta fish; the fighting fish was no match for this thing and was killed. So what did Billy do he bought more fish; a total of 4 aligator fish, 3 of these black and blue fish that swim sideways and all different versions, and a few others. By the time I left those aligator fish killed 14 fish and 2 snails!! One time they had one of the black fish in its mouth - O I screamed and freaked out like a little girl. Kaori rescued a few of them and put them in her tank.
  
  
  

I will NOT miss the weather; ugh it rains all the time there and more than once I walked into work looking like a drowned rat! This week I had to be taken home because you could wring out my skirt.

Good Bye Sasebo and thank you for the memories and an enjoyable 4 1/2 months!

PUG LOVE!!!!!!!!!!

So did you seriously think I would go 5 months, okay a little bit more than 4 months, without a (second) pug posting. This is just not any pug, this is a NY pug!!! My coworker Kaori in Sasebo, she is Japanese and the receptionist, went to college in NJ and bought this adorable pug 6 years ago from a pet shop in Brooklyn from some Hacidic Jews. Micah is trilingual, well he doesn't really understand english but he does understand Japanese and some Russian (Kaori's husband is Russian). After my last day of work Kaori and I took Micah for a walk and had a great time.

Bird's Eye View

Holly and Ryan left on Sunday nite, well I should say they had a mad dash to the bus station to get the last bus home. So that gave me Sunday nite and Monday morning to entertain myself. Word to the wise, the tour bus around Busan does not operate on Mondays?!?!!? Seriously, I don't get that.......don't people do long weekends and want to sightsee on Mondays!!!! Don't worry I can have fun in a paper bag so I walked around a little bit on Sunday nite and then on Monday went to Busan tower. Busan tower is 120 meters high standing on a 69-meter high hilltop, don't worry there is an esclator that goes up the hill. Thank the dear lord cause boy was I done with the heat!!! There is a little park area in front of the tower so I hung out there (in the shade ofcourse) for a little bit. Here are some pics from the tower!

Kim Yu-Na, South Korea's Ice Skating Super Star!


Busan loves their sculptures! I don't know why or what this first one was for but it was just hanging out on the ground by itself!

Convenience Store Sparklers!

After the baseball game Ryan, Holly and I went down to Gwangalli Beach to meet one of their friends for dinner. Gwangali Beach is a popular area in Busan and it is 82,000 square meters and 1.5km. The weird thing about the beach is it is right across from a busy road, like right on the road. You can see Grand Gwangan Bridge from there, which is all lit up with changing lights.

We stopped by this cool bar that serves their beers with little hats and they also have tables that have a tub built into it and beers there so you just grab one when you are ready. I think it could be a bad idea, imagine how quickly you could drink if you didn't have to wait for a beer at all.

I bought these sparklers at a convenience store;

imagine walking into a 7-11 and picking up a sparkler as you leave.

Of course, I couldn't resist!!