Life in Japan is quite a bit different than in Saudi Arabia, but I'm adjusting...being back in the same house with Melody is obviously the best part.

We've been pretty busy over the past few days. Went to Mass on Sunday, which despite it seeming to be a normal type of activity, was a pretty unique thing for me to do. Saudi Arabia has no other religion than Islam (officially). So, going to a true Mass in a church has been a luxury that I've not been able to take advantage of. We managed ok through lay services, but let's just say that that it was not often I made it to mass over the past year.

Yesterday, we rode the train up to Camp Zama where I'll start working next week. It won't be too bad a ride, as long as I make the express train between Fujisawa and Sagami Ono. We didn't, and the local train made about 20 stops. But, it was a good way to get a feel for the ride. I met the guy that I'll be replacing, and he gave us a quick tour of the post. It's pretty small, and if I take the train up (as I'll probably do a couple of times a week), the station is close enough to post for me to walk there. Another option is to leave a bike up there at the station to ride to work, like a lot of the Japanese do.

After we got back to Kamakura, we met our landlords, Sai and Yoko at their house for supper. Supper at the landlords is always interesting. I'm learning to like sushi, fried whole fish, and a lot of other things that my typically American tastes haven't really experienced. Most of the food, though very different, is delicious. And, there's always rice and soy sauce which, when applied properly, can even make those things that aren't so tasty, OK. It's funny, though, because our hosts are always eager to have us try different things. "David, you can eat?" Sai will say, before pushing a bowl with something new in front of me. Usually, he has the same look as Hasan, my interpreter in Saudi had when he handed me a piece of sheep liver and said, "Here. Eat this and then I'll tell you what it is." That's usually a sign that it's not gonna be good.

Last night, it was "nattoo" or, fermented soy beans, and a pickled plum. The plum wasn't so bad, but the nattoo was. Very strong smelling, it was sort of like sticky, stinky, cold baked beans. Rice and two or three rinses of some ocha (green tea) were necessary to choke it all down...Sai just kind of sat there with this grin on his face...They are glad we try things, but aren't insistent that we eat a lot of it if we don't really care for it.