Gilberto's Gundam

My hubby is a happy camper!! He finally picked out a Gundam figurine. He's putting the 300 pieces together right now.

We gave Gundams to our nephews in IL for Christmas. Berto was so excited just picking them out!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:２丁目,Misawa,Japan

Mom and Larry's visit!!

 This draft was from the end of June!  Oooops, sorry.  :(


My mom and Larry came to visit us!  Gilberto was able to take leave and had the whole week off!  Woo-hoo!! 


They ended up getting to us a day late due to delays in Chicago.  They had to spend the night near the airport.  LarrBear rented a phone so it was easy to be updated.  They got to us on June 20th, my b-day and Father's Day.  They arrived at the train station in Misawa around noon.  It had just started to rain.  Then torrential downfall!!  It was the most rain and in such a short amount of time that we had seen so far!!  Berto and I were soo surprised.


June 20th, Sunday-  Arrival.  We went directly to the house to settle in.  Nobody had eaten so I made some yakisoba.  (Noodles, pork, cabbage, veggies.  All with a sauce)  Rain did not let up, so we watched a movie.  Then we needed an indoor activity.  Went to the Shimoda Mall.  Funny tidbit:  Japanese lady wanted to rub Larry's belly!  Kept saying something that Larry recognized as Fat, fat or double fat.  It was pretty funny.  We then went to our grocery, Universe to pick up some dinner.  More yakisoba, shrimp tempura, some "Foochie" fish for Larry, and chicken.  Then it was happy hour.   Most hilarious part of the night:  Larry was telling us a long and descriptive joke, complete with funny voices.  My mom was translating in Spanish.  It was hilarious, they need to take it on the road!  :)


Monday-(Another rainy day)  We had a late start.  Nobody was feeling very well, except me, I felt great!  We went to "Cheese Roll" to get some spicy ramen.  It was wonderful!  They serve it piping hot and a huge portion.  Thankfully Rosie was able to get a fork!    She says she can't use chopsticks, hmph.   Close to this restaurant we noticed a gallery.  Just me and my mom went in.  Small place, that opens up to be a bar.  We were confused and said "Gallery?" to the old lady.  She gestured to the wall.  There were many traditional masks.  Most were dark and ominous looking.  (I've seen these at a local museum)  I pointed to my favorite and asked how much.  She said "very expensive".  I pointed to another, the same response.  Then she showed us some very small ones, and said "cheap".  We left, kinda offended.  Maybe she thought we couldn't afford?  Who knows.  We did some looking around on base at the korean woodworks and local stalls of kokeishi. 



 (MONTHS later)

 So, I forgot to finish this blog entry.  I'm sorry!    Better late than NEVER??  If you look at my pictures, they tell a better story than my words can.  I'm not a very good blogger/writer.  


Those who want to yell out for Berto to also write on this blog please COMMENT!!  (I will tell him!!)  I have no idea if anyone even reads this.  (Most friends/family can see my Facebook posts and pictures, it's easier over there!)  


Our familia and friends--we miss you guys a lot.  Don't give up on us because we suck at blogging, ha!  


Kristina & Gilberto  :)

Japanese class

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Konbanwa--Good evening!

Gilberto and I started a Japanese class at the Misawa International center. Tonight was our second class. There's about 20 people in class. Military and spouses, free child care provided.

I find it pretty helpful to have a Japanese person as a teacher. I have books that I try to learn from, but hearing and repeating is great.

For some reason half of class today was spent making origami tulips. I would have preferred more language, but oh well.

On the way home we stopped by our local conbini, or convenience store. I wanted a Japanese kit kat, got a salt and caramel flavor. Thought that was pretty funny because my sister Lisa is crazy for this flavor these days.

Gilberto volunteered to help tomorrow for the Air Show this weekend. (Performances by the Japan Air Self Defense Force's "Blue Impulse"). I think it's more like gopher work. You know, go for this, go for that. :). We tried to go to the air show last year, but the traffic was to crazy. It was backed up all the way at our house!! And the base is a few miles away. We'll see if we make it there this year.

Jaa mata, Oyasuminasai. (See you, good night)

P.S. I added a lot of pictures to my Flickr photostream. It's way easier to add there for me.

Location:２丁目,Misawa,Japan