Long Day

Yesterday was a long day and there is so much to write about.  Bob got off of work early and so we wanted to meet him at the train station in Yokosuka.  That is one stop away from the strain station in Taura.  I can see the station in Taura when I look out the window so it is very close.  The only problem was that I have never ridden on a train in Japan before.  It was exciting to walk over to the train station and try to figure it out.  bob had givin me a train card with money on it so all i had to do was swipe it and walk through the turn style.  I figured it out ok, but it was just weird to not be able to read most of the signs or talk to any people.  I wasn't sure which train to jump on but I looked up and luckily there was a sign with english under the Japanese that said Yokosuka ->.  It pointed me the right way. 

Once off the station we had to walk a little bit to see the stores.  We saw a mall and walk down the streets.  Everywhere were these little tiny shops with food or whatever in it.  I wanted to find a big store where we could buy things like hangars, baggies, batteries, and shampoo but no such luck.  Bob is going to look on base once he is done with work today.  I feel kinda like my first semester in college when  i didn't have all of the small things my house had that I always took for granted. 

We got hungry so we tried to eat at this little sushi place.  The sushi goes on a conveyor belt in front of the tables and you are just supposed to grab the plates you want.  the plates are different colors and different colors are different prices.  Unfortunately once we got seated it looked like all plates just had rice with raw fish on top.  Tucker surprisingly was the only one to eat one.  Bob, Penelope, and i tried a couple then we paid and left.  We then went to McDonalds because I was starting to feel stressed about not being able to talk to anyone or know what is going on and I wanted something familiar.  I just got even more frustrated when the whole menue was in Japanese and i didn't know how to order a McChicken or a McDouble.  Bob ended up pointing and getting one cheeseburger.  We gave it to Tucker.  Still starving, but now ready to go home we stopped at this bakery that someone at bob's work had recommended.  It was very good and the people were very nice and helped us.  I did notice while we were eating that about half of the people in the place were smoking.  Yuck.  I guess it is ok to smoke wherever you want in Japan.  And I am starting to notice that a lot of people smoke.  I have already passed several cigarette vending machines on the streets.  After that we were all so tired, including Tucker who has been walking way more than he is  used to so we picked up some ramen at the 100 yen store (like a tiny dollar store) and headed home.  We got home ate dinner and tried to stay awake at least until 9.

This is our apartment.  We live on the third floor.  All of the windows and the balcony on that floor our ours, just not the balcony to the right.  We also have one small window on the backside facing the building behind.

 A street in Taura.

There are tunnels everywhere.  These are two of the three about a block away from our apartment.