Konichiwa!!!!

Time has really been flying by. I come home in less than a month. I can’t believe it
It has been a couple weeks since I last wrote. Things are still going great here in Japan. After this last weekend of league games we are 5-0!!! We are halfway through the first half of the season. We are really doing well, but we definately have some big games coming up in the next weekends. This past weekend we played in Kagoshima, which is about a 2 hour plane flight south from where we live. It’s the complete opposite from where we live, we were near water and the weather had a tropical feel!!! So it felt like a vacation destination, which was nice. Where we live is more rural and country-like. We had a neat view from our hotel of an active Volcano.

I have to admit the time last week did feel a little slow in comparison to my total time here because we had a week break in between our league play, so we had a lot of time on our hands. With 3 straight days of rain during the week, practicing indoors got old, but we were left with a lot free time on our hands, which was good. One night some of our teammates took Monica and I to Hard Rock Cafe in Nagoya. We introduced our teammates to Nachos, which was hilarious. They had never heard of nachos before, but they loved it! ( but how could you not??? lol)

Also=2 0during last week Monica and I visited one of the actual plants where the Toyota Corolla and IQ were made. We actually saw the monotony of an assembly line which was amazing to witness, probably not as cool for the workers..lol. It was neat to see how fast the men worked on each car, they have certain amount of time on each car to perform their certain task. If they don’t finish they are expected to stop the line, because Toyota is all about “quality”. We also learned that it takes about 6 hours to make a car from start to finish.

We also had a funny little story…usually on our day off Monica and I will ride our bikes to our favorite restaurant “Louisiana Mama” then we will go grocery shopping for the week. So on this particular day off I decided to change it up a little. Usually Monica wants to do a little more exploring than I do (lol) so I thought I would come out of my comfort zone and be “adventurous”…but my idea of adventurous is taking a new route to our favorite restaurant. I thought this would be a great idea because 1.we had a map, 2.we could also see what else was close to us, 3. we always go the same boring way! Little did we know that we were going to see a little more of Japan than we actually wanted. What usually takes us 10 minutes by bike the “boring” way, took us 2 hours the “shortcut” way….lol oh man once we figured where we were, we were not even remotely close to “Louisiana Mama”…..I was just trying to picture the way Monica and I looked, on our bikes, in Japan….cracks me up every time!!! Luckily the people here are so friendly they were able to help us out!

Lastly,just wanted to reassure everyone to not worry about Monica and I, today we discovered an international market, so we were able to get some tortilla chips, salsa, tortillas, taco sauce and seasoning!!! We are celebrating our Cinco De Mayo a little late!!

Well still missing everyone…take care!!
Go Bruins!! (my softball bruins in postseason)
Go Lakers!!
Go Toyota!!
Natasha

April 14,2009

So it has definitely been really eventful around here the past 2 weeks! 

Last week when I last wrote we were going start our toyota cup and see most of the teams from our league. We ended up winning 6 games and ended 1 game in a tie!!! So it was great confidence heading into our league games that started this weekend! 

We got to play in the Seibu Dome, outside of Tokyo, which is20where one of Japan Major league baseball team plays. So the set up and atmosphere was great. There were a lot of softball fans there. All 12 teams from the league were there and played their opening game there. Monica and I were able to see some of the other Americans that are on the other teams, so it was good to have conversations where people could understand us and compare notes on how or experiences were going. So far they are all enjoying their teams and the culture here!!!

Our opening game was versus Toyota Shoikki. We won 3-1!!! it was a great game!! Monica pitched great. It was a great win for our team because Shoikki has either finished 1st or 2nd the last couple years. So it was great confidence for our team heading into the rest of league!! Wish us luck for the rest of league!!

So we have had a couple fun things that we have done this far. After our Toyota cup 2 weekends ago, our teammates took us to a Cherry Blossom festival. Here in Japan when it turns spring, the Cherry Blossom trees bloom and are beautiful!!! It’s tradition where you have a picnic in the evening, under the trees and celebrate the spring. A lot of people come out and eat, sing karaoke, and enjoy the sceanery. The trees are so pretty, looks like snow in the spring time!(I have attached some pics)

 Cherry Blossum Party

Lastly,  Monica was contacted by a youth director from the US military to do a clinic on their base and she brought me along! !! So after our game in the Seibu Dome, we got to spend another night in Tokyo at a military hotel! I got to see sports center, eat Mexican food, and see Americans!!!! It was great!!! the military base is 1 hour outside of Tokyo so after spending the night in the city, the next morning we were able to do a little shopping before heading to the base. I even got to pick up a few things from Mizuno!! Once getting to the base, Camp Zama, it was great seeing the kids of amazing parents. People who protect our country miles away from home, and having to relocate family. These kids are very fortunate because they get great schooling on base, and are able to travel the world! They try to provide them with a normal lifestyle as much as possible. So it was great to see some kids that were excited and eager to learn a few things about the game! It was such an honor being on the base!!!

 I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!!

Missing you all!!

Natasha

March 30,2009

Konnichiwa!!!

Things are going great here in Japan!! The two weeks that we have been here,have just whizzed right by! The time has flown by! I have been super busy between, practice and practice games…We played a couple college teams and did really well and then played a practice game vs a team that is in our league and lost =(…but it’s not how you start it’s how you finish..right???? We start league games in two weeks, we have our toyota cup tournament this weekend. We will see all the teams that are in our league before the league starts.

Now that we have had a couple practice games under our belt I feel a little more adjusted.It feels great to be back on the field again in full swing. I’m truly enjoying my time here. Just getting used to our team and the way they do things was an adjustment but an easy one! The girls on the team are awesome, they definitely take care of Monica and I and make sure that we know what’s going on. It can be a little crazy with the language barrier, but all in all we are doing great! Sometimes I think they forget that there is a language barrier…one of our teammates is a little talker(she is so funny!) and she just comes up to me and starts going and then halfway through she’ll forget that I can’t understand her.

The food has been fine. We have been experimenting with Japanese food here and there and stick to our basics of pasta, chicken, cereal, oatmeal and toast.  We have a little mini kitchen in our rooms so Monica and I will make dinner on nights that we don’t go out eat. We have made chicken, pasta, steak,rice. We are little Martha Stewarts!!

Since we have been here we have had 2 days off. We haven’t done anything too exciting yet, but we have gone to dinner a couple of times with our teammates. We went to a great sushi restaurant and a seafood restaurant!

I have attached some picture from our company party and Monica and I’s welcoming party

Here is a web site to follow but unfortunately it’s in Japanese and trying to figure if there is another way to follow…lol…sorry

www.softball.or.jp/

Thats it for now!!!

I miss you all!!

Talk to you Soon

Sayonara

Natasha

Maech 15,2009

Ohayo Gozaimasu from Japan!

(Good Morning from Japan!)

Not sure if most of you know, but I’m playing professional in Japan for 6 months. I play for team Toyota. USA teammate Monica Abbottt and I are on the same team. So we are real excited for what the future holds for us in Japan!!

So I’m finally situated here in Japan. The first couple days my sleeping patterns were a little off, but now I’m good to go! Monica and I have been having fun so far. I’m writing this email on Monday morning, we are 16 hours ahead of west coast time. The trick we figured for you guys at home(west coast) is you would add 4 to your time, then flip the time of day. Monica and I are living in Toyota city! The place that we are living in is really nice. It is a forign dorm where foriegn employees can stay. Everything that we need is in our rooms. The rooms are like the size of a typical college dorm but there is really a lot of space for the actual size of the room. The Japanese really utilize space, we have a washer/dryer combo unit, refrigerator,microwave,hot stove/plate, kitchen sink,rice cooker, bathroom, tv with vcr/dvd combo and plenty of storage space!!!

So, Yesterday (sunday) was our first practice and our first time meeting the girls. Monica and I were real nervous to meet the team but the girls are so friendly and made sure that we were fitting in. Although Monica kind of stick out like sore thumbs …lol. The girls are real inquisitive and ask lots of questions (through our interpreter), they want to know how we do things, they are real funny. After practice when we got back to our rooms, Monica and I went on a bike ride through are city. Was so much fun!!!!!! They supply us with bikes, which is really neat. There is a shopping center that is about a 5-10 min ride. It has a grocery store, clothing store, Mc Donalds, tully’s coffee shop!

Today Monica and I are headed to the Toyota Coporate office to me some of the head people, so should be exciting! Then we have practice, the right after practice the team is giving us our official welcoming party. We are having Shabu, Shabu for dinner!!! I’m really looking forward to that, it’s one of my favorite Japanese meals!

Other than that, things are so far so good! I’m already missing everyone, so please feel free to write me and check in. I will try and continue to keep everyone updated.

I’m looking into finding the website for the team so everyone can follow. Below I have some contact information if any of you are ever online and catch me!

Hope you all are doing well!!!

Next time hopefully I will have some pictures to share. Talk to you soon!!!

Sayonara!!!

Wow!! It has definately been awhile since I last wrote. I have been doing everything and been everywhere in the last couple months. My New year was great! I spent it with some USA teammates. Its always great seeing my sisters after seeing them everyday, to not seeing them at all. In January I started a masters program online. I’m in pursuit to obtain an MBA with a concentration in sport business. With this degree I hope to follow in the footsteps of someone like Magic Johnson of being and entrepreneur and a philanthropist.  Along with school, I am still a volunteer assistant at UCLA! which truly has been a blasts! I love working and being around the girls. Being there is like being at my second home! While coaching I still have been doing my regular appearaces and clinics on the side. I just returned last month from doing a clinic in Spain! It was amazing! I travled to Barcelona which was beautiful! Together with school,coaching and appearences I’m back to training again! I signed a contract in October to play professionall in Japan. I will be playing for the Toyota Motor Corporation! I’m very excited to play the game I love professionally. I leave in March and return just in time for Team USA tryouts in June. So my next couple of months are going to be packed with a lot of softball!!!! Wouldn’t have it any other way!I will be checking in occasionally while in Japan, so please tune in and check in with me.  I love hearing from you all.Natasha #29