Last weekend- Ninohe, Hachinohe, Taneichi, Misawa

Last weekend, we went to Ninohe Matsuri (Festival) on Friday night. We watched a little of the festival and then we went to House of Picnic for Ribs. We met up with the Ninohe and Kunohe ALT's there and some ALT friends. We didn't leave til almost 1 a.m. Janine stayed by my house, rather than driving back to Karumai, because Ichinohe is closer.

Saturday morning, Janine piled us all in her car and we went up to Hachinohe for a shopping trip. The best thing about Hachinohe is that you stand a better chance of getting foreigner sized stuff, because there is an Air Base in neighbouring town, Misawa. I got a pair of pink and white Adidas- happy, happy camper. I also found some nice earrings and a pink Snoopy Bag and an Engrish T-shirt. I was able to find where the movie theatre was, which means I don't need to go to Morioka to watch something on the big screen. The only problem I have with Hachinohe is that it's really spread out so it's more difficult to get around on foot. Oh well, Itll save me $10 US over going to Morioka. The cinema here is really expensive too. Up to $20 US so I can't go every weekend anyhow. Maybe every other month... We'll see.

After Cino (the first shopping centre) we went to a mall. We went to the electronics store there. I got a couple of DVD's - Xmen, the Last Stand and Anastasia- I love Anastasia. Then we went to Toys R' Us. I saw some really cool puzzles. My boyfriend loves puzzles. He's always trying to kill me for buying him a really difficult one. Oh, temptation. Then we went into the main mall block and went to a Sports store. I got a sleeping bag. Considering how cold Ichinohe gets, and the fact that the houses aren't insulated this is excellent. this is also where I actually got my Adidas. Then we had McDonalds for lunch. I am not a fan of McDonalds but I relish everything that's not Japanese. It's great to get away once in a while.

Then we went to another mall to go to Uniqlo, a clothing store. Janine and Tyler are 8 million sizes smaller thna me and they had to get larges. I don't expect to ever purchase a piece of clothing for the lower body in Japan. Then we went into the grocery to get some meat for the Nu-B-Q. I also picked up some Johnnie Walker.

We got to the beach about 6.30. There was a serious fog starting up. Obviously we weren't getting anywhere going in the sea. Oh well. I have sea at home. And it's the best sea in the world. We barbecued and hung out. Most people went to Ra's at midnight. We stayed on the beach. The rest wanted to sleep there. The fog had gotten thicker (you could take pictures of it!) and it was cold so I slept in the car. In the morning I took a picture of the tsunami wall. It's wierd to think that I am in a place where earthquakes are so prevalent they'd bother to spend millions of dollars to put up a tsunami wall.

After just a few hours of sleep, we headed to Janine's to get ready for Misawa. I saw my first accident in Japan. I took a shower and got ready. Then we set off. The traffic was horrible getting off the expressway and coming up to where the roads were closed off. It was like a half hour walk to the base. We stopped at the food court to have brunch and pigged out on Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Subway since we hadn't seen much Western food in the last month. Then we walked to the air field- another ten minutes. The first plane we saw was the F4- painted with "Last Flight 2008". Shortly after we got there they did a firefighting demo with a helicopter, then a rescue demo. We walked along the stalls and Janine and Tyler got chocolate covered bananas- ew! Then they brought out the blue angels, but they just drove around the runway and gunned their engines. We took some pictures with airmen, in an F-350 and in a helicopter, then we looked at some missiles. Then we talked to some airmen and they told us that there was lightning above the clouds and that was why the planes weren't actually flying. That we should come to the show next year. lol. Then a Japan Airlines flight came down the runway and took off. Seems the airbase shares it's runway with the Misawa Airport. The F4 came out and it actually flew. I think it had to. It would suck to have your last flight ever be cancelled.

After the F4 we went back to the food court and I got a foot long at Subway but only ate half. We tried to buy stuff at the Air Force Exchange but it turned out you had to have a military ID or be an authorised user. (Misawa airmen message me-lol.) It was getting dark when I got back to Ichinohe and I went straight to sleep.