Hmm, maybe all the luck drained out of those shirts because the embroidery machine poked too many holes. Whatever the reason, the poker gods were NOT smiling on us last night. We both walked out with lighter wallets and heavy hearts.
Today was a new day though, and we weren’t going to let our defeat bring us down. We decided to go down to Jogashima, a small island off the tip of Miura peninsula. Supposed to be nice walking trails, a lighthouse, and good beachcombing. It turned out to be as nice as we’d heard, even though we didn’t find the lighthouse. There was a beautiful park (full of some very calm, but very mangy-looking feral cats), with trails that led down the cliffs to the beach. The beachcombing was great. The shore was rocky in many places, so there were lots of tide pools to investigate (not sure whether the little kid or the scientist in me was more intrigued). In the sandy areas between the rocks, there were huge deposits of sea “stuff.” Broken china, beautiful shells, and more sea glass than I’d ever seen. I’ve collected sea glass for a while, but at my favorite beach in North Carolina, it’s not that abundant. We went to Cape Charles, Virginia, before coming to Japan last summer, and I had more luck there, but this was like striking the mother lode. The mayor of Cape Charles had been lamenting some new beach cleaning operation that would make finding sea glass nearly impossible. This was devastating for her, because she created and sold artwork made of the stuff. I’m thinking of writing her a letter and offering to collect and ship her authentic Japanese sea glass. Nothing like a 20-pound box of broken glass to make the customs inspectors scratch their heads.
Saturday, May 23--You may as well just give us your money now
While Jim was away on his last trip, he found a man who would make custom-embroidered T-shirts, so he ordered each of us our own lucky poker shirts. His has four aces adorned with a scorpion and the slogan, “Feel the Sting.” Mine has a royal flush in a rifle sight with my nickname, “The Silent Assassin” underneath. Tonight, the pair of us will be unstoppable—we have donned the shirts and are prepared to have our best night of Texas Hold ‘Em ever. Look out Daniel Negreanu, Phil Helmuth, and the rest of the WSOP field—the Bayli are coming!
Tuesday, May 19--Dinner Denied
The first section of my Tuesday night class in Atsugi has ended, and I have two weeks off before the next session begins. Tuesday happens to be Mongolian BBQ (basically build your own stir-fry) night at the Officers’ Club, and I have been seriously craving dinner there since class started in November. My arms have finally stopped aching enough that I think I can hold chopsticks without disgracing myself, so Jim and I made plans to meet at the club when he got off work. I even skimped on lunch so I’d be plenty hungry come dinner time. Jim arrived with two coworkers from out of town, and another couple was planning to meet us as well, so it was shaping up to be a very festive evening. Good company, good food—a perfect mid-week outing. So I actually felt myself deflate like a balloon when I walked into the club’s lobby to find a large sign declaring that the dining room was closed for some kind of conference. I hope they are prepared for me to raise a huge ruckus if they pull the same stunt next week, as I won’t have another chance for Mongolian BBQ until the next class ends in six months. I don't know if my taste buds can hold out that long.
Saturday, May 16--Who knew it'd be so tough?
I can hardly move my arms enough to type this.
It seems that there is a shortage of women from Jim’s office willing to play in the Captain’s Cup sporting events, so I got drafted to play co-ed water polo today. Not just water polo, but inner tube water polo. You sit in an inner tube and try to throw a ball into a net. Figured it couldn’t be too hard, so I suited up and headed to the pool.
Well, it might not be a difficult game if you have a full team. As it was, we were one woman short of having enough players, so five of us tried to do the work of six. There is a definite learning curve, and we lost the first game badly. We immediately had to play another team, but managed to pull out a victory this time. Being only three teams in a double elimination tournament, we ended up having to play each team again, for a total of four back-to-back games. At the end, even the most fit among us was exhausted. You wouldn’t think it’d be so tiring, sitting in an inner tube the whole time, but the only way to propel yourself around the pool is by paddling backwards with your arms. And if a lot of points are being scored, that means retreating to your side then sprinting back to the middle for the face-off a whole lot of times. I found shoulder muscles I didn’t know I had, and every one of them was screaming by the time the last whistle blew on our second defeat.
After posing for photos with the second place trophy and our sporty water polo headgear, I headed to the locker room for the hottest shower I could stand. It didn’t help my throbbing shoulders near enough, and I left the gym with my wet hair in a ponytail because I couldn’t hold the blow dryer up. At least I didn’t have to carry the trophy.
It seems that there is a shortage of women from Jim’s office willing to play in the Captain’s Cup sporting events, so I got drafted to play co-ed water polo today. Not just water polo, but inner tube water polo. You sit in an inner tube and try to throw a ball into a net. Figured it couldn’t be too hard, so I suited up and headed to the pool.
Well, it might not be a difficult game if you have a full team. As it was, we were one woman short of having enough players, so five of us tried to do the work of six. There is a definite learning curve, and we lost the first game badly. We immediately had to play another team, but managed to pull out a victory this time. Being only three teams in a double elimination tournament, we ended up having to play each team again, for a total of four back-to-back games. At the end, even the most fit among us was exhausted. You wouldn’t think it’d be so tiring, sitting in an inner tube the whole time, but the only way to propel yourself around the pool is by paddling backwards with your arms. And if a lot of points are being scored, that means retreating to your side then sprinting back to the middle for the face-off a whole lot of times. I found shoulder muscles I didn’t know I had, and every one of them was screaming by the time the last whistle blew on our second defeat.
After posing for photos with the second place trophy and our sporty water polo headgear, I headed to the locker room for the hottest shower I could stand. It didn’t help my throbbing shoulders near enough, and I left the gym with my wet hair in a ponytail because I couldn’t hold the blow dryer up. At least I didn’t have to carry the trophy.
Wednesday-Sunday, May 6-10--Globetrotting
Whoo hoo! A new stamp added to my passport! That makes four, if you count the Bahamas and Jamaica, though for some reason I feel like I’m cheating when I claim them as international travel. Anyway, five of us wives from Jim’s office took off on a four-day sightseeing/shopping trip to Seoul.
The first thing I noticed was that Korean people are physically VERY pushy. This started as soon as we hit the runway an Incheon Airport—people in the back of the plane were grabbing items from the overhead bins and scurrying up the aisles before the plane had even taxied to the gate. In fact, my seatmate leapt over me to be one of the first to deplane. This lack of consideration continued anywhere there were crowds of Koreans—at the baggage claim, on the subway, in the mall, in the line for a taxi. In Japan, people stand patiently in orderly lines, wait for others to get off the train before making their way on, and are extremely apologetic when they bump into you. Even Americans have more respect for order and personal space than the Koreans.
That’s not to say the Koreans aren’t friendly. Everyone we encountered was very pleasant. In fact, they are more outgoing than the Japanese, especially the young people. On our sightseeing jaunts, we encountered groups of school kids, and they all enthusiastically said, “Hi,” with many waves and big smiles. A few wanted to ask us questions, just to practice their English.
The sightseeing was good—except that it highlighted just how little I know about world history. We toured a temple, two palaces, a museum, and the DMZ. From the tour guides’ descriptions, it seems that for much of its history, Korea has been involved in conflict—with the Chinese, with the Japanese, with the Americans, with itself. It seemed to me a country that is always on edge, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The people of Seoul go about their daily lives, oblivious to the soldiers patrolling the capital city (every man must complete two years of compulsory military service after high school, so there is no shortage of soldiers). The river whose course we followed on the drive to the DMZ was bordered by miles of barbed wire punctuated by armed guard towers—just in case the North Koreans float down and try to enter South Korea by climbing up the river banks. So while the South Koreans technically live in freedom, I personally felt shackled by the necessary precautions they are forced to take against the “what-ifs” created by their northern neighbor.
Shopping is great in Seoul, if you are looking for designer (not) goods, especially bags and purses. I’m not really into Coach and Yves St. Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana, so I wasn’t interested in seeing the “A quality” goods in the special room upstairs. But it was fun to listen to other shoppers trying to strike a bargain—some shop owners were eager to make the sale, while others could have cared less. I walked away from the street vendors with two “mink” blankets for $20 apiece. They will be invaluable in our less-than-cozy Japanese house next winter! As for a bag, I waited till we returned to our hotel on the U.S. army base, and bought a large Kate Spade tote at the boutique there (not because of the name, but because it is the perfect size for carrying stuff to and from my English lessons—I’m tired of trying to wrangle the backpack on the train). Since it was purchased on base, I am positive it is the genuine thing (despite paying only $26), and would have sworn as much to the inspector had I been stopped at customs for trying to enter Japan with counterfeit goods!
The first thing I noticed was that Korean people are physically VERY pushy. This started as soon as we hit the runway an Incheon Airport—people in the back of the plane were grabbing items from the overhead bins and scurrying up the aisles before the plane had even taxied to the gate. In fact, my seatmate leapt over me to be one of the first to deplane. This lack of consideration continued anywhere there were crowds of Koreans—at the baggage claim, on the subway, in the mall, in the line for a taxi. In Japan, people stand patiently in orderly lines, wait for others to get off the train before making their way on, and are extremely apologetic when they bump into you. Even Americans have more respect for order and personal space than the Koreans.
That’s not to say the Koreans aren’t friendly. Everyone we encountered was very pleasant. In fact, they are more outgoing than the Japanese, especially the young people. On our sightseeing jaunts, we encountered groups of school kids, and they all enthusiastically said, “Hi,” with many waves and big smiles. A few wanted to ask us questions, just to practice their English.
The sightseeing was good—except that it highlighted just how little I know about world history. We toured a temple, two palaces, a museum, and the DMZ. From the tour guides’ descriptions, it seems that for much of its history, Korea has been involved in conflict—with the Chinese, with the Japanese, with the Americans, with itself. It seemed to me a country that is always on edge, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The people of Seoul go about their daily lives, oblivious to the soldiers patrolling the capital city (every man must complete two years of compulsory military service after high school, so there is no shortage of soldiers). The river whose course we followed on the drive to the DMZ was bordered by miles of barbed wire punctuated by armed guard towers—just in case the North Koreans float down and try to enter South Korea by climbing up the river banks. So while the South Koreans technically live in freedom, I personally felt shackled by the necessary precautions they are forced to take against the “what-ifs” created by their northern neighbor.
Shopping is great in Seoul, if you are looking for designer (not) goods, especially bags and purses. I’m not really into Coach and Yves St. Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana, so I wasn’t interested in seeing the “A quality” goods in the special room upstairs. But it was fun to listen to other shoppers trying to strike a bargain—some shop owners were eager to make the sale, while others could have cared less. I walked away from the street vendors with two “mink” blankets for $20 apiece. They will be invaluable in our less-than-cozy Japanese house next winter! As for a bag, I waited till we returned to our hotel on the U.S. army base, and bought a large Kate Spade tote at the boutique there (not because of the name, but because it is the perfect size for carrying stuff to and from my English lessons—I’m tired of trying to wrangle the backpack on the train). Since it was purchased on base, I am positive it is the genuine thing (despite paying only $26), and would have sworn as much to the inspector had I been stopped at customs for trying to enter Japan with counterfeit goods!
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