Far East Daily Blog #1

13 September 2014 This is my first blog entry for my two-part trip to the Far East. The initial part of the trip is to Yokosuka, Japan to visit with Chaplain Cam and Paulette Fish. Recently Cam took up his duties as the U.S. 7th Fleet Chaplain. The second part of the trip will be in Taipei, Taiwan for the Fall 2014 House of Bishops meeting. On occasions Carolyn is able to travel with me. This is particularly appropriate when we will be visiting with the spouse of a chaplain. Hence, Carolyn came with me on this trip. We left Reagan National Airport on Thursday morning and traveled to Japan/Narita via Minneapolis. On Friday night the 12th of September we met up with Cam and Paulette and made the trek to our quarters at the Naval Station Yokosuka. After a 13 time zone trip, we have had spent the first part of our day today just catching up on sleep and getting our bearings at this sprawling naval base. One of the things that I have learned over the last 4 1/2 years is that one of the most efficient ways to overcome jet-lag is to have a significant amount of physical activity on the day after arrival. My "fit-bit" monitor tells me that we have walked over 22,000 steps today. We should sleep well tonight. The major event of the day was an afternoon of relaxed visit time with Cam and Paulette. One of the strong points that I re-learned today was just how much stress there is in an around the globe permanent change of station move. Cam, being assigned to an operational forward-deployed command, had to hit the decks running. As I understand it, he and Paulette arrived on a Friday, and he was at work bright and early on Monday morning. Shortly thereafter he went to sea with his command aboard the USS Blue Ridge. He has been maintaining the port-to-sea-to-port-to-sea schedule ever since. In the mean, time Paulette has been in Yokosuka setting up the household and accomplishing the many, mostly invisible tasks that our spouses perform. My take-away today is that we have some absolutely amazing priest/chaplain families. Bravo Zulu! +Jay