Guam

Hello friends and family!  Ridge sent this to me about his port stop in Guam two weeks ago and I forgot to post it...  Sorry for the delay!

I have finished my first ever port visit as a member of the USS Fitzgerald crew!  Guam is not the most glamorous place in the world but after seeing nothing but blue for a month any land is more than appreciated!  Once we pulled in one of the fellow officers was transferring the next day so we had what is called a “hail and farewell” party where you say good-bye to those leaving and welcome those coming in.  We went to an old beach bar right on the water that served Guam style BBQ.  It wasn’t fancy but it was just the kind of place I enjoy.  The weekend was then spent trying to communicate with Brittany at every moment possible, but due to limited Wi-Fi and lots of sailors trying to Skype loved ones back home it was at times a painful process.  We persevered and came out of it alive though. 

The workweek was spent just like you think it would be, working.  We are prepping for a very high profile mission in the near future and all the preparations going into it proved to be very time consuming.  But being in port meant getting a full night sleep every night, something I haven’t had in consecutive nights in some time.  It also let me exercise and eat the way I would want; two things that are very difficult while floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  There was one specific qualification I had to finish up in Guam that was quite painful - literally.

I have been selected as a visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) officer and with that comes certain qualifications that you must receive before they can send you to VBSS School.  One of these qualifications is being authorized to carry OC spray, or in more civilian terms, military grade pepper spray.  The qualification consists of being sprayed from ear to ear and then running an obstacle course.  It was the worst.  If felt as if the devil himself had just peed into my eyeballs.  I have since decided that if someone ever charges me with a can of the stuff I will just have to shoot them in the leg and deal with the consequences later.  That stuff is horrible.  If feels like your whole face is sunburned horribly and someone is rubbing it with sandpaper, all the while your eyes feel like someone is holding a lighter to them.  Although the obstacle course was tough, one of the weirdest phenomenons with the experience happened during the decontamination process.  When you put the hose to your burning face, your lungs shut and you can’t breathe.  You quickly learn you must choose between breathing and washing your face, most people chose to breath as little as humanly possible.  After a couple of hours though it was all off my face and I was fine, but never again do I want to feel that pain!

For leisure I tried to take in everything Guam has to offer, which isn’t hard considering the size of the island.  One day I ran to the beach, and then snorkeled up and down the beach.  It was great to get in the water again and see all the wonderful life thriving in the coral reefs.  The time flew by as I swam all around the bay.   

For my last couple nights I got a room at the hotel on base to sleep in a real bed for a couple nights before getting back underway.  The plan seemed perfect.  It was a cheap room conveniently located right on base and within walking distance of the ship… or so I thought.  It turns out that the hotel has a satellite location next to where all the big wigs live to cater to their guests.  On the bright side it was the nicest standard room I have ever been in.  On the down side I had no way of getting there.  Eventually after poking and prodding I was able to get the number of a fairly sketchy shuttle service that told me I would be picked up outside the base bar by a black Toyota corolla.  I had to get to the room so I took my chances.  All worked out and for 20$ I got where I needed to be.  But once I got there I ran into another problem, what am I going to eat!  I was 4 miles away from the nearest establishment and I had no idea what to do.  Being the son of a firefighter, however, I remembered all the times when local firefighters have helped out my dad when we were in unfamiliar territory so I walked over to the local station and they gave me the number to the closest pizza hut.  Food problem solved.  All was great until I needed to find a way back to the ship.  I was too far to walk, and no taxis would pick me up.  I was about to start the long arduous trek back when I thought to myself, how did the maids get here?  After conversing with the maid she informed me that there was a van that took them to and from the two hotels and that one should be here in about 30 minutes.  She called the driver and asked if I could tag along and he agreed.  Disaster averted.

Guam is full of happy, friendly people similar to Hawaii.  Although it is covered by duty free stores, shooting ranges, and other less than classy establishments, the quality of people makes up for what it is lacking.  Overall, it’s not a bad port visit if I do say so myself!

Learning the Ropes

Hello everyone!  I’m so sorry that it’s been so long since my last post and I promise now that things are settling down a bit I’ll get a lot better!  There’s so much to catch you up on that I don’t even know where to start so I think I’ll just stick to the basics.

Since my last post we moved into our new place and a couple of weeks after that all of our things arrived from the states.  I had heard horror stories of personal property shipments where entire crates fell to the bottom of the ocean or dining room tables showed up broken into a million pieces so I was a little worried but luckily not a single one of our things was lost or ruined so that was a relief!  Now I’m slowly just trying to get things put together.  Japanese houses are kind of funny when it comes to storage space – we have plenty just not where I would like it – so I’ve had to get creative.  So far though I’m pretty pleased with how things are turning out. 

Ridge and I hiked Mt. Fuji!  It’s the highest mountain in Japan at 12,389 ft.  The climbing season is only July and August and since that’s Ridge’s busiest time of year there was no guarantee that he’d get another chance to do it.  My friend Brittany Brown was in town – she stopped in on her way home from Cambodia for about 10 days – so she was with us along with Jake, a friend of Ridge’s from the Fitz.  Let me tell you, it was quite the experience.  Most people either begin the hike early in the afternoon to get there for sunset; hike later in the afternoon, sleep in one of the huts at the top of the mountain and then wake up for sunrise ; or hike throughout the night and get to the top just in time for sunrise.  We chose door number three since Japan is the “Land of the Rising Sun” and we didn’t want to spend $60 each to sleep in the crowded and smelly huts.  We started the hike at around 11pm, got to the top of the mountain at maybe 4-4:30 ish, enjoyed the sunrise, some hot chocolate and the view for a bit, and then started the grueling decent.

The saying goes, "A wise man climbs Fuji once, a fool twice."  Climbing up was difficult mainly because come 1am all of your joints were frozen but it wasn’t anything too nasty.  On the way down, however, you have to use a different trail.  It’s a switchback that they use to bring supplies up and down the mountain and it’s all really loose gravel so your feet sink every step you take.  By the time we finally got to the bottom at around 9:30 or so we all felt like we had the knees of a 90 year old.  It was totally worth it though!  The view was beautiful and it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.  Traditionally you get a walking stick at the bottom when you start and then at every station they burn a stamp into it, the prized stamp obviously being the one at the top.  We were all VERY proud of our walking sticks! 

Ridge and I at the top of Mt. Fuji

Just about a week after that on Monday, August 20^th, Ridge was supposed to leave.  My friend Brittany was still going to be here until the 22^nd so I was excited to have someone to keep my mind off of him being gone for a bit but, as always with the Navy, things changed.  I dropped him off, did the big sad goodbye, and then got a phone call shortly after stating that he would be returning later that evening due to some technical difficulties.  Then, on Wednesday, I said bye to both of them; Ridge in the morning and Brittany in the evening.  Needless to say I was a little traumatized.  At about 9pm, however, I got an email from Ridge stating that he’d most likely be back the next morning.  At 10pm I got a frantic skype call from Brittany saying that she read the military time wrong on her ticket, missed her flight, was trying to get it sorted out with the airline when her only credit card stopped working so the call dropped, before the call dropped they told her the earliest flight she could get would be in 5 days, she had no cash, and that the airport was shutting down and kicking her out.  I thought to myself, “the universe doesn’t want me to be alone!” (Un)fortunately things got worked out for Brittany and she was able to leave the next day.  The Fitz on the other hand remained broken and Ridge came home!  Every day for the next four days I dropped Ridge off thinking that I wouldn’t see him for months and every night he showed up back home.  It was partly comical and partly cruel.  On Monday the 27^th he left for good.

Since then I’ve just been working on getting our lives settled and all figured out.  I learn more and more about the Navy, the base and how to get things done here every day.  I’m meeting people, getting involved, taking classes and trying to find a job so I manage to keep pretty busy. 

Ridge works his butt off.  For the couple of weeks before deployment he was at work at 6am and home at 8pm.  Now that he’s on the ship, standing watch from 10pm-3am, working a full day, and then standing watch again from 12-5am is a normal thing and weekends are unheard of.  I have no idea how they do it.  He’s doing really well though.  When you’re an Ensign you have to be constantly working on getting your SWO pin on top of all of your normal work duties.  There’s not an exact length of time that it takes to accomplish this but it’s generally about a 2-year process and it’s not easy.  I think there are five other Ensigns that came on the ship with Ridge and he’s ahead of all of them in this process.  You can say it’s not a race but when you’re constantly being graded against others it really is, so I’m proud of him. 

Anyway, that’s a good basic update for now and like I said I promise that I’ll get better at blogging!  

Oh, one more thing, I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up because I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned so far is that NOTHING is ever set in stone, but Ridge and I might be in the states for all of February and March!  But like I said, don’t get your hopes up.  My friend Jamie told me some of her horror stories the other day where husbands were on their way home and so close to port that they were even able to call their wives and tell them they were on their way.  The wives rushed to the base to greet them just in time to watch the ship turn around and leave on a secret mission for another three weeks!  They didn’t get phone calls or even emails to tell them what was going on.  Their husbands just left and showed up at the door three weeks later. 

Alright, I’m really done this time :)  Ridge and I were supposed to have a facebook chat date at 9pm but it’s been an hour and I don’t think that he’s showing so I’m going to head to bed :(  Oh the joys of being a Navy wife!  

Ridge's ship, the Fitzgerald, cruising along with the Bonhomme Richard.  Ridge's is the "small" one.

Communication

I made this a separate post so it's easier to reference in the future.  The best ways to communicate with us are going to be through email, cell phones, web chatting and of course snail mail.

Email:
Me: b.a.alkonis@gmail.com
Ridge: ridgealkonis@gmail.com
Joint: alkonisclan@gmail.com

Cell Phones:
We both got iphones and downloaded a few apps that are pretty handy for free overseas communication.  You, of course, would have to download them as well in order for them to be utilized.

1. HEYTELL - it lets you send instant voice messages to people.  It's like text messaging meets a walkietalkie
2.  VOXER - kind of like HeyTell but you can also send normal text messages and picture messages along with the voice messages.
3.  SKYPE - lets you do voice chatting, video chat and instant messaging.  You'll want to download the app and then set up your account and stay logged in.  If you're not logged in then you're offline and we can't send you any messages.
4.  OOVOO - like skype it lets you do voice chatting, video chat and instant messaging.  Also, like skype, just set up your account and stay logged in on your phone.
5.  FACETIME - comes with iphones

Me: 011-81-80-4859-8870
Ridge: 011-81-80-4854-8870

Web Chatting
Web Chatting is pretty easy and it's free.  All you need is a computer with either a camera built in or a webcam; internet; and a Skype or Oovoo account.  Once you get that just search for our names and add us as your friends!

1.  Skype - this is the most popular web chatting service
2.  Oovoo - if Ridge's ship is like the Naval Academy he'll probably have to use this one when underway and on the government servers.

Snail Mail
The great thing about this is since we have an address on the base you still get to pay normal shipping prices!  The only mailing service you can use though is USPS.


Ridge and Brittany Alkonis
PSC 473 Box 259
FPO AP 96349-0003
* Do not write Japan anywhere on your package or envelope!  The base is still considered America and if you do your parcel will disappear forever.

We miss everyone so pick your poison and keep in touch!

First Week Summary

Hello everyone!  I thought for this next post the best thing to do would be to answer everyone’s questions from their emails, so here it goes…

Being here so far has been great!  Yes, we’re still in a hotel.  Yes, the ship with our stuff on it still won’t be arriving for a couple more weeks.  And yes, we still have to eat out for every meal.  Other than that though, everything has been going pretty smoothly and we’ve been able to get out and do some pretty cool stuff.

Our first week here we had what is called AOB training.  It’s five days in a classroom where we learn all about the base, it’s rules and laws, the laws of Japan, a lot about Japanese culture and how to drive on the left side of the road.  For the most part it was actually great and I was so glad that they made us go to something like that.  The only day that was a little painful was Tuesday.  They pretty much sat us down for six hours to learn how to not binge drink, drink and drive, do drugs, rape people, beat your wife, murder local taxi drivers, or do anything else that could subject you to spending life in a Japanese prison with the other 23 Americans from the base that are already there.  Needless to say I don’t think we really needed it but who knows, maybe it could come in handy one day.

Between 2-3 is when we got out of class.  Usually right after we had to spend a couple of hours running errands but once we finished we always had plenty of time in the evenings to explore by ourselves.  So far we’ve made a pretty good dent in Yokosuka (the city where we live); gone to Kamakura where we got to eat lunch with the mayor (he was trying to figure out how to make his city more “American friendly”) and see the Hachimangu Shrine; seen the Tokyo temple and seen another shrine in Tokyo that I’ll have to ask Ridge the name of. 

Yokosuka and the surrounding cities actually aren’t too bad to navigate.  The people here are used to having the 35k Americans from the base around so if you’re at a restaurant or at the train station you can usually figure things out, with some effort, by the few English words or pictures on the menu or map.  Tokyo was definitely a different story though.  If left by myself I would no doubt get lost and starve.  Luckily the Navy planned for such things and at the AOB brief we each got a stack of these:

At first I thought it was funny.  Now I’m holding onto them like they’re gold!

Wednesday night Ridge got to play on his ship’s softball team!  I think that’s been his highlight of Japan so far.  They stuck him in as catcher to see how he would do – to put things in perspective the other team put their 1 girl and worst player in as catcher – and he actually did pretty well!  So well in fact that the other team pulled out the rulebook and tried to make them forfeit.  Apparently you’re supposed to have played at least one regular season game to play in the playoffs.  After much bickering though the other team conceded and The Fightin’ Fitz went on to win!   Needless to say, however, Ridge is banned until next season.

Sunday we went to church.  We had met another LDS couple in AOB and they had already made it one week to the ward.  It was just like they described: a few adults and TONS of kids!  Holy smokes!  Ridge and I counted and there were 31 adults and close to forty kids.  Who knows, there could have been more.  They were running and crawling all over the place, it was hard to keep track.  Most of them were young too.  I saw 3 young women; maybe a couple of 9-10 year olds and that was it.  The best part is, apparently once the families that left for the summer are back, the ratio is going to be worse!  As a whole though the ward seems great.  I think almost everyone came up to introduce themselves and offer us help.  They all seem like really nice, awesome, solid people.   

To sum things up, life here is pretty darn cool.  I imagine I’ll have days where the culture shock is a little more hard to bear than others – probably during those months when I don’t have my translator and best friend with me :( - but it’s definitely worth it and I can’t wait for people to come and visit! 

Curry Man

Lunch with the Mayor of Kamakura

Shinto Gate to Hachimangu Shrine

Hachimangu Shrine, dedicated to the god of war

Market on the way to the Shrine in Tokyo

Me "cleansing myself" in incense before we went in 

Outside

Inside

Latter Day Saint temple in Tokyo

Home Sweet Home

I know I have a lot to update you all on but I'm tired so this is all you get for now:  WE FOUND A HOUSE TODAY!  It was the first one we looked at in person so we may be a little crazy, but it's exactly what we wanted so we're taking it.  It's close enough to base where the commute isn't a hassle but far enough away to where we don't feel like we're in little America, it's Japanese style but can have an American oven, we have a patio for a BBQ, and miraculously we have lots of storage space!  The neighborhood is the cutest thing I've ever seen but I didn't get any pictures so you'll just have to enjoy these until I get some... or until you come and see it for yourself ;)

 Lots of storage space!  Dining Room / Living Room

 Living Room

 Traditional Tatami Room

 Shoe area.

 Master bedroom (not so "master" but actually larger than 99% of other Japanese "master" bedrooms)

 2nd upstairs bedroom

 Sink in the middle of the upstairs hallway (this is normal).

Konichiwa

Well, we made the impossible happen and as of 7:15pm today (July 22) Ridge and I are both in Japan!  After two weeks of hard work, relentless nagging, constant prayers and many tender mercies we have accomplished what everyone told us was unfeasible; instead of me getting to Japan five weeks after Ridge I made it in just under five hours!  This is such a blessing.  Our past seven weeks have been pretty awesome; like Suzi (Ridge's mom) said, we definitely have had rainbows over our heads.  We’re ready to start our real lives though.

To catch everyone up, since we saw you at the wedding and open houses we have:

Partied in Park City

Driven all of our stuff to California

Spent days upon days upon days shopping to furnish and stock a house that doesn’t exist.

Shipped everything we own to Japan (pray for fair seas!)

Broken a toe.

Returned to Utah to attend Andrew and Deina’s wedding and to spend time with family.

Improved our tans on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico and seen Chizinizza

Returned to Utah again for one last goodbye.

Drank many a milkshake.

Eaten many a Sprinkles cupcake.

Run the Claremont Fourth of July 5k

Spent lots of time playing, surfing and tanning at the beach with our families.

Gone to 5 baseball games: 2 Dodgers, 2 Angels and 1 Padres (we couldn’t tip the scale)

Run into and hung out with lots of old friends

And caught a foul ball!

We love you all and can’t wait to see everyone again!  I’m not sure when our next trip the US is going to be but we’re going to make sure we have plenty of room for visitors out here ;)