Allow myself to introduce...myself.

Hello everyone.

I guess this is where I get to put all the useless crap about me that wouldn't fit into my profile. MUHAHAH!!!
*ahem* Anyway....My name is Heather and I currently am living in Japan. I plan to be for around the next two years. I am 21 years old and married to a sailor (precisely why I get to enjoy Japan for almost three years). We have loved every moment of it here. I love the food, LOVE the people (though I have no clue what they're saying 99.99999% of the time), and love the politeness of it all. I could go on forever about my likes and my dislikes but I'll save that boredom for the unlucky person who talks to me.
Just kidding (or am I?). I look forward to meeting others interested in Japan and especially anyone that can give me help on tackling the language, manners and the HORRIBLY MASSIVE BUGS THEY HAVE HERE!!! The whole reasons I stumbled upon this site was because I saw a gargantuan centipede on my balcony after taking my trash out there...barefoot...in my robe. I shrieked like a little girl, dropped the trash bag on the nasty thing and ran inside trembling and sulking to my hubby over Yahoo Messenger. I knew there were poisonous centipedes here (the whole reason I freaked in the first place) and decided to look them up which led me to a post about the Mukade. Evil things. But not as evil as the Giant Hornet. Sorry but I don't feel like looking up its Latin name right now. You'll get over it. I'm not neurotic...just allergic to bee stings and quite possibly mutant centipede bites. I don't want to find out.
But enough rambling about that...there are plenty other mind-numbingly intersting facets about me. The things that aren't in my profile are that I love to swim and read. I'm very active in my church and currently play the piano for the congregation (albeit badly). I HATE house cleaning and do as little of it as possible. Basically that's all I can think of that holds even the slightest window into my life. Please write to know more about me. But if you're smart you'll stay far, FAR away. Oh did I say that outloud? No actually I wrote it. Ah, the beauty of first impressions. Take care.

Heather

Welcome aboard, Heather!

Very interesting introduction! Don't get them too often.

Feel free to jump right in!

Hi Casper, Hi Rori/Heather Wow, you guys really did an impressive job of first posts... kind of puts mine to shame anyhow.... enjoy your time, and make sure you make time to look around... most of your answers will be revealed! Sometimes things drop off the face of the earth.. so you need to use the little search thingee. It helps.

To kirei_na_me: Thanks for the welcome. I've spent the last half hour on a mad search for an avatar that will fix the pixel, KB requirements. I think/hope I'll really like it here.

To Casper: I'm sure, if you're anything like my parents or in-laws, this seperation is hard yet exciting, makes you proud of your son and yet makes you afraid for his safety. I'm sorry that you have to be parted from your child. I'll be more than glad to give you any info I have. I don't profess to be an expert on anything Japan but at least I can tell you about what I know from my experiences. As I type this I am eating eel sushi with my chopsticks and listening to Nickelodeon commercials dubbed into Japanese. I think I can give you a little idea about the place

I'm originally from KY by the way. I don't know if that even matters but I thought I'd tell you since you told me where you're from. My husband has been to Okinawa before, twice actually. Once to pick up the Marines on the way to the Gulf and once to drop them back off. I myself have never been but I hear it's beautiful. The water is really supposed to be gorgeous. It is certianly is prettier here than anything I've seen in the states.
The weather right here is HOT and HUMIIIIIIIID. Humidity, last I checked on the internet, was at 100%. And it usually feels every bit of it. Average temps are 80's and 90s during the day, 70's or so at night. I don't keep a great check on my thermometer but I'm close. Rainy season started about 2 weeks ago and didn't kick in until last week. Today is the first day I've seen real sunshine and no rain since then. But that's just fine because at the rate we almost got put on water restrictions from lack of rain. No fun. It sounds like you're 14 hours behind us here in Sasebo, Japan. It is 12:19 AM July 13 as I write this. ALL of Japan is in the same time zone so I feel confident saying that's what time it is in Okinwawa. The people are BEYOND friendly here. People who have lived here for long and go back to the States feel upset at the lack of politeness and consideration for others. Many don't want to leave here. Prices are HIGH. Ack! Things are not cheap in Japan. But their "dollar" (100 yen) stores would put ours to shame (that doesn't take much anyway though). The exchange rate is about 109 yen to the US dollar. 100 yen here is like a dollar in the States. So if you exchange your dollars for yen you're making some money. Nice. It's as expensive as heck here but you won't go broke, especially not with the nice extra money the military pays you for living here. They know that it's more expensive here than in the States so they try to make up for that. Do you want to feel just a little bit better about gas prices in the States? I had to make an emergency stop at a Japense gas station and paid 500 yen for ONE LITER of gas. Yes. About 5 bucks for one liter. I was never good at conversions but I know that's gotta be close to $20 a gallon. Correct me if I'm wrong 'cause I wouldn't be surprised if I am. So needless to say public transportation, mopads, and walking are main modes of transportation. The cars...oh, the cars. That's another story in itself. They are tiny (because there is ZERO extra space for parking, driving, living, etc) and square is a popular shape. Mine is a Daihatsu charade if you care to look it up. The names for cars are even better, though. My personal faves are Familia, Vamos, (meaning "family" and "let's go" in Spanish in case you didn't know), That's, and...wait for it...Naked. Yes, people drive Naked here. Couldn't resist. hehe. In case you want to look THAT one up it's a Daihatsu Naked.
I don't know whether your son lives on base but we don't. We live out in town in what's called a "cho" (neighborhood). We really enjoy it. The independance from the base is great, plus you can really appreciate more of the culture this way.
Okay...my least favorite part...the bugs. I already talked about the centipedes, which I'm still sick at my stomache over. Me and my short term memory have forgotten the name but I believe it was Mukade. Apparently they will cause swelling and other bad little symptoms. I bit could cause an elderly person or young one to die. EEK! Me, I'm allergic to bee stings and read that it's possibly to get the same results from a centipede as you would a sting. Hooray for me. Where's my Epipen? Bee stings....that brings me to my worst nightmare imaginable: The giant hornet. I don't even want to think about it. Type "Hornets from Hell" in your search engine. It's the name of a National Geographic Documentary on the things. It's all you'll need to know. But for the most part I haven't seen anything too different from standard US fare. But then I don't go looking around for bugs.
This place is steeped in history and tradition. It's beautiful. If your son is open-minded and adventerous he could have an experience that will not leave him for his entire lifetime. If not then he could end up like many others that just stay on the ship claiming this place is boring and there's nothing to do and they hate it. But let's hope that's not the case.
The language is hard. Yes. But most people know some tiny little bit of English. All schoolchildren have to take courses in it. If not they are very kind and patient and appreciate any attempt at learning their language, however pitiful your skills may be. They will be quite helpful in trying to understand your message.
My mom has a long-distance plan of 15 cents per minute. Not bad. Through my internet provider I get to call the States for 6 yen a minute, or around 6 cents. Not bad at all. There are also prepaid cellphones of which I have one and don't recommend for frequent calling as it costs about a dollar a minute. But unlike Stateside cell phones, cell phones here don't charge you for calls recieved. There are also phone cards sold on and off of base so your son can use the payphones located on base and get help using them if he needs it. Contrary to what my mother-in-law thinks I have not seen ONE American payphone here. It's JAPAN.
I think I've told you more than you wanted to know and probably not enough of what you did want to know. I hope not. I tried not to. But it's almost 1 AM here and I'm not responsible for the drivel coming out of my keyboard right now. But feel free to contact me any time you think of anything you want to know. By the way I live in Sasebo. If your son ever comes here we could all try to meet up and give him a home-cooked dinner and just give him some friendship. Hope to hear from 'ya again.
Later!

Heather

Hello and welcome to you both to the forum. Have fun

Thanks for the compliment and the tip, Kara_Niri. I haven't read anyone's intros yet and probably won't until a more decent hour of the day. But am sure yours is fine. There's no need to be as ridiculously geeky and silly as me. Although it is a lot of fun.

Great intro Johnson and Rori. Welcome aboard, post often and have fun!

Im still amazed at the energy! Im sure we are sharing the same time zone... just I seem to be a zombie.

O.O do they really have big bugs there?

yes, unfortunately. The centipede is usually around 6-8 inches long. The giant hornet gets around 2 inches long, 5 times bigger than a European honeybee, with a 3 inch wingspan. It's like a bad B-grade sci-fi movie or something!

O.O >.< oh my I hope you don't get scared out of your mind.I know I would if a giant hornet came flying in my window right in my face.*gets goosebumps just thinking about it*

Greetings and welcome! Nice intro btw. If you think the hornets are bad... have you seen the Japanese equivalent of the giant horsefly yet? Heh... those things give me the heebie-jeebies. About the size of my thumb, they have beady little eyes and bulbous heads covered in bristly black spines with thin membrane wings...

Iron Chef said:

Greetings and welcome! Nice intro btw. If you think the hornets are bad... have you seen the Japanese equivalent of the giant horsefly yet? Heh... those things give me the heebie-jeebies. About the size of my thumb, they have beady little eyes and bulbous heads covered in bristly black spines with thin membrane wings...

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what?!.....Hmm I hope Rori can handle those.I know I couldn't.Big bugs scare me soooooo much

Wow. That was probably the most detailed and longest intro I've ever seen here. It's always nice to come across details. How long did it take you to write all of that?

I hope you can learn to live with the bugs, and good luck with the language (we welcome questions in the learning Japanese section ) Anyway, welcome, and enjoy your stay!

Hi Rori ! Welcome To The Forum !!

WOW, we can use prolific writers like you here! Great intro! I bet you will show us a different side to living in Japan. Glad you found JREF, I'll watch for your future posts with baited breath!

Frank

Do I really need a title?

Tsukasagirl: I just try not to think of the horrible mutant bugs. My hubby got home yesterday so he's my squasher. I gotta have a bodyguard against bugs. I'm pitiful.

Iron Chef: No, but thanks for feeding my nightmares with another garish creature. You're off my Christmas card list. So do you live in Fukuoka? That's actually pretty close to where I live. About 2 hours away. And are there communities like yours for Sasebo?

Glenn: I hope my intro wasn't ridiculously long. I feel like I get to be crowned Queen of Long-Windedness for writing the longest intro you've ever seen on the site. Gimme my crown.Disco I don't remember how long it took me to write the intro. It was around 1 AM and so some of my memory goes bye-bye at those unholy hours of the morning. I'll definetly be checking out the section on learning Japense. Maybe soon I'll be able to impress my friend Kiyoko.

Frank D. White: Thanks for the compliments. *blush* You know you're just feeding my madness, right?

Thanks for making me feel so welcome, everyone.

Rori said:

Glenn: I hope my intro wasn't ridiculously long. I feel like I get to be crowned Queen of Long-Windedness for writing the longest intro you've ever seen on the site. Gimme my crown.Disco I don't remember how long it took me to write the intro. It was around 1 AM and so some of my memory goes bye-bye at those unholy hours of the morning. I'll definetly be checking out the section on learning Japense. Maybe soon I'll be able to impress my friend Kiyoko.

Click to expand...

It wasn't ridiculously long; it was a refreshing change from the status quo. Please stop by with all of your language learning questions -- we like the challenge and the chance to keep our skills sharp. ;-)

Oh, and disco crown granted.

Bienvenidos Rori!

Im very new myself to the forum, but id still like to extend my greetings to you Rori! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your intro, especially the part about the bugs, now i dont feel so bad about living in Florida with these wierd *** bugs ive never seen before not even on tv that never die no matter how many times you swat them with a rolled up newspaper! Well have fun on the forum and bienvenidos once again ! :joyful:

Man i hate bugs!

Welcome to JREF!

Peace

Welcome to JREF I hope you enjoy your time here!

Mutant centipede! Ah, I'm afraid I like bugs, so I'm usually unable to relate to this fear, but I can see how being allergic could make you nervous about things. lol.

Hi, Rori, Casper !~
Anyway, about the centipedes, the chicken/roosters just love those centipedes, so if they keep coming to your balcony, you might want to consider hiring a rooster for protection.
Great intro by the way. Without a fear in the world except for them centipedes, eh ?
btw: Those centipedes are supposedly used in some potent Asian herbal medicine to cure skin problems... they might be sold for a high price... not sure though. Getting a screened sliding chassis door might kelp keep them bugs out.

Konnichiwa Rori-san!

Welcome and Hajimemashite. Please enjoy the forum!

NANGI

On the second thought, accordinng to Ang Cit Kong, in the legend of the condor hero, centipedes are just as tasty as lobster. Is your kitchen fire still burning?

ax