Thanksgiving and Hunting

Robert and I went to Montana on Wednesday. Alan drove us up to Bozemen where my mother then picked us up. We traveled to Kalispell where we had Thanksgiving dinner with my aunt Phyllis. At about 2:00 Thursday morning on our way to my aunt's we were passed by a pick up truck that could not seem to stay on the road. There was a lot of fog and the roads were a little wet, but not icy yet. When he came back over into the lane in front of us he went over the white line by several feet. All three of us in the car knew for sure that he was drunk. All of us were thinking, we wouldn't be suprise to see him off the road in a ditch after awhile. Sure enough, we saw that same truck rolled over on the opposite of the road in the ditch.

His headlights and engine were still on when we came upon him and so we think that it had only happened maybe 2-3 minutes earlier. This happened about 10 minutes after he passed us. We called 911 and Robert got out of the car to go and check on him. He was fine and said that he was not hurt or bleeding. The car was laying on the passenger side and he was suspended by his seat belt. He was only about 3-5 feet from hitting a telephone pole. Man was this guy REALLY lucky!! All he cried about after he knew that we were there was that he wanted us to get him out, however, 911 advised us to wait until someone got there. A cop came fairly quickly and then we waited around until everyone else came so that we could see how he really was. Yeah, pretty much he was just drunk. There were SO many cars that came out to the accident. We wrote a statement and then left. We got to Phyllis's house at about 4:30ish that morning and then were in bed at about 5:00 or a little after. Robert and I slept most of the day until dinner. We ate dinner and that is as exciting as Thanksgiving got for us.

Today, when Robert and I got up we decided to go hunting with my mom and dad. Tomorrow was the last day of hunting season and so mom really wanted to use the tag that she had bought. So, we drove down their road about a mile until it dead ended and then turned around. On the way back everyone was looking for deer out to the sides of the road and then I looked up in front of us and there was a young buck just starting to cross the dirt road. I said stop and that buck just stood there and looked at us. My mom got out of the car and started to get ready, and then he started to walk across the road. Robert then whistled and the deer stopped and just stared again. My mom then aimed and shot the buck down. One Shot!!

We drove the 50-100 yards to the deer that was down in the road and then my dad shot him in the head just to make sure. We weren't quite sure where my mom hit the buck until we skinned it. My mom gutted it right there on the spot and then we put it on the hood of the car and drove it back to the house. It was like a 2-3 minute drive. When we got it here at the house Robert and I then had to finish getting the vital organs out. We had to take out the heart, lungs, liver and a kidney. I think that my mom got one of the kidneys because we only took one out. I got kind of grossed out the first time that I stuck my hand in to pull out the organs because it was still warm. Every other time that I have done anything like cutting up an animal it has been really cold and so, it was a shock to me. I soon got over it and helped to take out the insides. We then went to lunch. Before lunch we hung it in the rafters of my parents garage for it to finish bleeding.

After lunch we skinned it; while skinning it we found where my mom hit it. It was just above the shoulder, but a little high for the heart and lungs. Most likely when she hit it she paralized it. My mom found the bullet just inside the skin on the other side from where she shot it. It was a pretty clean shot. Nice work, mom! I got a small amout of meat that was on the ribs in between the layers of fat and cooked that up. The meat still had quite a bit of connective tissue/fat on it and so it is really chewy, but it tastes good to me. That was our fun day today. Hunting didn't last long, but we now have some yummy young buck meat and it was a new experience.

Our Trip Home to the USA

Well, on October 30 Robert and I left Japan to come back to the united States to get our working visas. We had been working in Japan since September without our visas. We were told by our employer and also the lady that hired us here (in Utah) that it was done all the time in Japan and that the government doesn't really care about it. Anyway... We were leaving for the U.S. on Sunday and it was on the Thursday before when, out of my own curosity, I decided to ask what exactly it was that we had to do to obtain a visa. So, then the "head teacher" told me that we needed to go to the American consulate while we were in America. So, I guess that it was a good thing that I asked, because I had assumed that when we came back into Japan that they would issue us our visas. Boy was I worng and so was the "head teacher". The "head teacher" also told me that I needed to talk to my big sister to find out how to do things. However, this is not her job and I told him that. I told him that it was my boss, Miyuki's, job but he disagreed with me and then told me that it was the contact in Utah, Anne-Marie's, job to tell me/us what it is that I/we needed to do to obtain a visa. So, we leave Japan and fly into Salt Lake City on Sunday October 30, 2005. Our friends Alan and Shelley pick us up at the airport and take us back to Rexburg, where we were trying to go. We needed to go back to Rexburg to take care of some personal things that had gotten screwed up because we left way sooner than expected to go to Japan in September. (Robert and I had previously talked and arranged with Miyuki for us to have 5 business days to take care of personal business while in the United States, which was an exception that she told us she would make. Normally we would have gone to Korea like any other teacher.) On Monday we slept most of the day because of jet lag. However, I did try to look up on-line what it was that I/we needed to do to get our visas. So right there is when we put our Visas in higher priority than our own business. I was looking at the UNITED STATES consulate sites as instructed by the "head teacher" and this is why I couldn't find anything. So, when I could find nothing at these sites, I wrote an email to my brother who has previously been to Japan a number of times and also my sister Kira, who is working for the same company, asking how to obtain our visas. My brother is the one who emailed me back with the website and information that I needed to find the information that I/we would need for a visa online. Robert and I are staying with friends because we are trying to save Miyuki money by not staying in a hotel. Well, Alan and Shelley do not have a house phone, all they have are cell phones and so we had no access to a phone for most of the day when they are at school/work. Tuesday we went to my sister Cheri's house about 100 miles away. She let me use her phone and also her computer to find some things out. I called to JAPANESE consulate and they informed me that we would need a certified marriage certificate for Robert to obtain a dependant visa. Miyuki still had our only certified copy of our marriage certificate back in Japan. So, then right away I looked up the town that we were married in and gave them a call to obtain a certified marriage certificate. They informed me that I would have to mail everything, because they need the money for it up front and they do not accept credit or debit cards. So, then the next day I sent a written request to get a certified marriage certificate, as instructed by the County Clerk's office. That day (Tuesday) we emailed Miyuki and let her know what was going on and that it would most likely take longer than expected. We told her what the problem was and that we were not sure how long it would take, but ESTIMATED a time frame for her. We also asked her if she would want us to try to go to the consulate and save time, or to do our visas by mail and save money. She told us to do it the less expensive away, so we stayed here in Rexburg and waited for our marriage certificate. Robert and I had all of our personal business taken care of within those days that we were initally given. Well, it took longer than expected to get our marriage certificate. When we got our certificates we mailed them into the consulate. Then the next day, Friday November 15, 2005, after we informed our boss of where we were in the process, she fired us that next day. She did not and has not told us why we are fired. We have asked her for information two times, concerning our termination, and she has not responded. We are hearing that there are rumors that are untrue about us going around with other workers and owners in Japan and we hope to clear all of those rumors up. This is a breif story of what happened and I did not write some of the rude emails that we recieved or how long it took us to get a reply from Miyuki on many things that we need(ed) and have requested.
One more thing that I want to mention is that she did email us and asked us for a phone number where she could reach us. So, Robert and I decided that the best way for her to get a hold of us according to her schedule and make sure that she had plenty of opportunities throughout the day and night to call us was for us to check into a hotel. So we did. We never recieved a phone call from her and we stayed in that hotel for 2 nights. Within those two nights, we were out of our hotel room for less than 4 hours total. There was voicemail available so we know that there was no call from her during that time. I contacted my parents and they told me that Anne-Marie(the English School Recruiter) was trying to get a hold of us as well. So, we called her and left a voice message with the hotel # and our room # and she never called us either.
We tried to communicate and make ourselves available to talk with those who were trying to contact us, however, we are being accused of not explaining or informing people of what was going on. We also were limited on resources because we were staying with friends. I hope this helps everyone understand a little better now that they know our side of the story. So, please if you hear rumors or gossip about us correct those spreading the rumors on what is true and false, or just refer them to this website. Or, have them email me asking questions because I am not afraid to share the truth of what has happened.

Robert's Birthday

Happy Birthday Robert! We didn't do anything really specail. At our friends Toni and Enrique's house I made him a birthday dinner and invited Alan and Shelley over. He requested teriyaki chicken and rice. That is what I made for him. Then later we had three more couples over and ate chocolate peanut torte. It was a lot of fun, but something very low key like Robert wanted. It was good. He talked to most of his family and was able to explain to them what was going on with out job in Japan.