Saying "See You Later" to the Castillos

Our time in Sasebo has been made significantly better because of the great friends we have made here. And with making great military friends comes the hardest part- saying "see you later" to those friends as they PCS.

The first true friend I made in Sasebo was Kaiti Castillo when she invited me to tag along for a beach day with her and her two girls last June. Little did I know that stepping out of my comfort zone and joining a stranger for a beach day would turn into a lasting friendship! As we prepared to say goodbye-for-now, we made sure to knock out the last few "must dos" and final goodbye dinners with the Castillo family!

The first on this list was to visit Tanaka Kama Industry, where we were able to purchase hand-forged knives from a local artisan workshop! After picking out our blades and handles, the shop owner and his wife welded the handles to the blades and then hammered our names in Kanji on the blade! It was a really unique experience and one we hope to visit again!

Here's a video of him carving "Johnson" in Kanji along the blade!

With Kaiti's departure quickly arriving, it was time to celebrate her "bail" with the fellow wardroom spouses. When new sailors arrive to the ship, they are normally welcomed with a "hail" event, and when sailors leave the ship for the last time, its called a "bail." Our spouse group has adopted this mindset and we try to "hail and bail" the spouses as they come and leave the USS America family.

We went to dinner at Huis Ten Bosch, where we were able to enjoy a few drinks, an amazing dinner and watch the Halloween performance, while laughing and visiting with each other!

Kaiti and Alex's last request was to eat at Lisa's place one last time together. We had reservations for the entire gang to sit down for one last dinner together...and then the Navy changed our plans. Hours before the dinner, the guys were told to report to the ship for a week-long deployment in order to avoid a typhoon...throwing a wrench at our entire plan. This left poor Alex with the girl gang for dinner! While the guys were missed, we made sure to eat plenty of local cuisine for everyone!

Kaiti and Alex's departure was quite a bumpy one. They were told their commercial flights had their two dog's booked on the same flights as them, but when they called 24 hours before their flight to confirm, they were told they no longer had pet spots. Murph's kennel was too big, so they ended up borrowing Reynolds' kennel the night before their flight. After much headache, they ended up paying out of pocket for Alex to fly on a different airline with the dogs, so they could all get home. It sounded like a nightmare and is another reminder that, no matter how much planning, and calling, and confirming you do, there is always a chance flying home with pets will go horribly wrong.

Luckily their family made it back safe to New Mexico and we continue to stay in touch.

Go ahead and start saying prayers for when we have to travel next summer with our pups to our next duty station... Whew. I am already stressing!

-'til next time,

Katie