"puchi"

Last weekend I went on a puchi (short) trip to Okinawa. I didn't have a lot of time to spare so I could only go for 4 days - but it was still fun fun fun! Some highlights of my puchi trip include :

• having a gorgeous thanksgiving lunch with friends and former co-workers
• hearing my voice on Okinawa radio while driving in the car (i did a jingle you know! "Typhonn FM, 78.0")
• having drinks with the colonel at the officers club on Futenma base
• meeting a rodeo clown
• spilling a drink on some guy and having HIM buy me a new one. Isn't that great?!
  

My puchi trip was fantastic! Cannot wait to go back for another visit next year...

"oashisu"

Oasis is Oashisu in Japanese. Really hard, eh?

I went to an Oashisu concert last night with my Lituanian friend. I wouldn't have even thought to go but she invited me, and I thought it would be a good experience. Hey, I know a couple of Oashisu songs, my favorite involving a girl named Sally.

Well, the concert was really good. And after a few beers, it was amazing! And they even sang about Sally for me. One thing I didn't get though was that Liam kept touching himself the whole night like he was Micheal Jackson.

"engeki"

I enjoy watching engeki, or theater, especially when they are adapted from great screen films.
My wonderful mom informed me she got tickets for the engeki "A Christmas Story", based on the absolute best holiday movie ever made (thanks mom!)

I grew up watching this movie as a child, and will never forget Ralphie and his desperate attempts at acquiring a red rider bee bee gun from Santa for Christmas. Never seen it? Well, if you have the TNT channel you can watch a full 24 hours of this movie back to back during the "Christmas Story" marathon starting on New Years Eve. If you don't have TNT, rent it - and you, too will be singing the famous line "You'll shoot your eye out!" and perhaps even try to persuade a friend or two to stick their tongues on a flag pole in the freezing cold.

Anyways, my friend from New Zealand will also be attending the engeki. I wonder if they know "A Christmas Story" over there?

In case you're wondering, "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas" comes in a close second! Wonder if they'll ever make an engeki out of this one? If so, I am there!

"fune"

I have recently found out that starting next year in April I will have a new home on a fune, or ship, for three months. I will once again join my favorite NGO PECAEBOAT to travel around the world and visit many many countries. My last voyage was three years ago on the 39th cruise, and I thought living on a big fune was kinda fun. I never got seasick, even when we collided into a typhoon on our way to the Philippines. The fune had seven bars, so I never went thirsty either. There a theater on the fune, so I could watch some movies when I needed some relax time. The fune crew members were all from the Ukraine, so I even got to learn a few Russian words such as "supeseeeba!" The only thing I didn't really like about the fune was my room and its close proximity to the loud club that would play annoying music until the wee hours - especially on nights when I needed to get up and work the next day. Well, I heard there is a new fune that PEACEBOAT is using now and it is much larger and newer, so I am pretty excited (although I will kind of miss the fuzzy orange rugs and 70s decor that went along with the older fune.)

Here is a photo of my soon-to-be home. Want to check out more about PECAEBOAT? Go to the link below and click on English if needed...

http://www.peaceboat.org/