A Masquerade Wetdown

Michael and I went to his Master Sgt's wetdown this weekend (a wetdown is a huge party when someone picks up rank). It was a blast!! His wife made it a masquerade party so everyone showed up in masks. Michael, being the eccentric that he is, showed up in a furry bear mask. They had some great food (including a white chocolate fountain and steak yakitori--yumm!), great music, and an open bar all night long! I can't remember having this much fun (or laughing as hard as we did) in a long time...
Our masks:

Mr. Nix (Chuck), Master Sgt Jordan (Najee), and Michael (they all worked together in the 3-shop)

The ice sculpture in Master Sgt chevrons all lit up:

The delicious white chocolate fountain:
Sgt Key doing the "Superman":

We caught Master Sgt Jordan stuffing his face in the remnants of the chocolate fountain (he didn't realize it was up on the big movie screen for everyone to see):

Michael and I dancing (of course Michael has his bear mask over his face):

Chuck and Michael after a loooongg night:

Matt's Rollerblading Escapades

Here is our neighbor Matt after a dinner party they held. For some reason it seemed like a good idea to have him put on all his gear and rollerblade about midnight. It sure made for some great laughs though!

Evidently I got here too late with the camera to catch him falling while coming down the stairs:

He had a great time "rocking out" a'la Chaz Michael Michael (Blades of Glory) on his skates:

All of us having a good laugh (including his wife Katie):
Heading back upstairs after a few rough falls:

Piglet's Steps

Here are Piggy's steps that we made at the hobby shop. She still thinks she needs to jump from the first step up onto the bed (and then jump off the bed instead of using them)...but we're working on it! When she gets older and her little joints cannot do it anymore at least she'll have a way to get up and down :)
This was right when we brought them home from the hobby shop (we put the blanket over them b/c they hadn't been sanded or covered yet):Michael working hard to get them carpeted:
Tacking in some of the final nails:
The Princess on her new steps!

Insomniac

As I sat in bed not sleeping at 2 am this morning, I was reminded of Liv Tyler's character on Empire Records "Corey" who said there are "24 usable hours in every day". Thus, I got up to comment on what we have been up to the past few weeks. Luckily Michael is on duty so he doesn't have to endure with my clicking away on the keyboard at this awful hour :)

I have 2 sets of pictures that I hope to post this weekend. The first being some funny ones of our neighbor Matt trying to rollerblade after a dinner with some friends the other night. He gave me some great photo ops decked out in all his safety gear. The second set will be of the last project we worked on...Piggy's steps. We headed to the wood hobby shop up at Kadena Air Base so the little princess wouldn't have to jump up on or down from the bed anymore. She is such a spoiled little dog!

Tomorrow I start my seventh day at my job! I will have to say that this is more the experience I was hoping to have over here in Japan. I work with 7 MLC (Master Labor Contract) workers...which means they are Japanese workers...and 2 other GS employees. I am actually getting to interact and be exposed to the culture over here. It is neat to see emails in my inbox where I am addressed as "Michelle-san" or "Hager-san". When I show up in the morning the greeting is "ohayō gozaimasu" instead of "good morning"! Also, there are two small vehicles that show up every morning at 0930 and they sell Bento-boxes for lunch. My co-workers took me outside and explained what was in them (generally some combination of cooked fish, taco rice, goya, regular rice, sausage patties etc. and a free bowl of soba, which is a Japanese noodle dish) and what they cost, how to pay for them etc. It is only about 300-400 yen for one of these boxes and a bowl of soba (that equates to roughly under $4)!! Where I work is considered "on-base" but we do not have to go through a gate to go to work, that is how these small vehicles can come and sell these products. Had I been working on base I wouldn't be able to see any of this! I also am learning about different little markets to find fresh veggies, fruits, fish, etc. that I would never have learned about if I hadn't been able to talk to my co-workers. I really think that getting this job has been one of the more positive things that I have had happen since we've been over here. Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera if we get to some of these markets and I'll try and take a picture of one of the Bento-boxes when I get the courage up to try one (which will be soon b/c I'm so curious about them!)
Konban wa! (Good Evening!)