MUN and Yokosuka

Chad and I had an opportunity to accompany 10 of his high school students to Yokosuka Naval Base for this years Far East MUN (Model United Nations) Conference. It was a fascinating conference, and a great experience for the students. Chad is hoping to get MUN going at Riverside when we return. We had a great time, got to see more of mainland Japan, and are very thankful for the friends who helped watch our children while we were away!!

The conference lasted 4 days and we were typically done by 3:30pm. We spent our first full afternoon in Yokohama at a fun beachside amusement park. Yokohama is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture. It is also the home of the largest ferris wheel in Japan. It takes 15 minutes to go all the way around, and is a bit un-nerving to be so high up - especially when you are hundreds of feet in the sky, in a small glass compartment and the wind starts to blow. Here are a few pictures of Yokohama . . .

Here is a picture of the ferris wheel from across the bay. . .


. . . from right underneath it.


And, Yokohama with Mt. Fuji in the background


We stayed at the TPU (Transient Personnel Units), that are used for sailors to stay in when they are between ships. It was fun to stay on Naval base, however just as were beginning to get used to the Air Force acronyms and lingo, we were faced with the language of the Navy. When we had our debriefing, before we could check-in, the man in charge introduced himself as the LPO of the TPU - huh??? We shopped at the NEX (as opposed to the BX or PX), and had to check in at the "quarter-deck" whenever we entered the building. We slept in a "rack," and our rooms were inspected each day. We received a TPU Room Inspection Report each day which let us know if our "quarters" were up to par or not. They have a great little check-list of things that need to be done, for example:

1. Floor needs swabbed/waxed
2. Rack not made
3. Locker not locked
4. Walls need scrubbed
5. No name tag on locker
6. Gear adrift

etc., etc., etc. We brought home copies of the report to show the kids and told them we were going to be making up a stack of Room Inspection Reports, and that they would be used each day to let them know what needed to be done. Needless to say they were less than thrilled :0)

We took a picture of the barber shop, because it made us laugh. They certainly don't make it easy to get a haircut in the Navy - look at the hours . . .