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!)

Fun Times...

These were the directions we were given to Michael's battalion's Christmas party. Notice that there are only 2 words in English. There are A&W's everywhere in Okinawa. Neither of us can read (or speak much) Kanji. We had to meet up with a guy that Michael works with who has lived on island for a long time (and has a Japanese wife who told him where it was) to be able to find it. Just another new experience on island :)

Another funny thing that happened during this Christmas time is that in church we sang Christmas songs...first in English...and then in Japanese (with the Kanji spelled out phonetically up on the projector). I'm beginning to "get" the vowel sounds now though! Who knew Silent Night could be so informative!?

Our First Okinawan Christmas

It was a different type of Christmas this year...much more laid back. We went to a Christmas Eve candlight service at church and then came home to enjoy the festive movies on AFN. Santa came and filled the kids' stockings and did a very good job at guessing at what they would like.

Here is Pigdog "helping" me wrap presents that had to be shipped back to the states.A couple of days before Christmas they snuggled together..neither willing to relent control of the blanky on the couch.
This is how Christmas Eve ended...me waking up Michael and Piglet to make them come to bed :)

The tree before we opened presents:
Piggy and her stocking (she got biscuits and some special treats):Bailey and her stocking (she got a small mouse with a microchip so it squeaks every time she touches it...it kept her interest and that was the main thing):Michael and his new grill scraper from his stocking:
Bailey all wrapped up in some ribbon...she actually did this herself and we couldn't get her out of the mound of trash for a good while b/c she was having such a good time (she was actually social and we didn't want to ruin it):Piggy snooping around all the boxes:Me and Piglet amidst the Christmas Carnage:
The new purse Michael picked out for me :) He's a definite keeper and he can pick out a purse for me anyday!!
One of the Japanese Shisa that I bought Michael back in September and kept hidden until he opened them!! They go in the front of our house and help keep evil spirits from entering...lets hope they work!

I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas too!

Gainfully Employed...almost.

I finally found a job!! I start in January working on base for the US Gov't. So...I have a job...I just haven't started yet (that's where the "almost" comes into play). I didn't feel so bad about it taking 2 months either after I heard that the average is just over 8 months!! I told y'all it was ridiculous trying to find someplace to work over here!

I do feel the need to mention that the funniest package we have received thus far for Christmas was from Michael's dad and stepmom---for Piglet and Bailey. I was about rolling out the post office door (from laughing)after seeing the look on the poor Marine's face when he was trying to determine whether or not the package should really come to me. Too funny...

December 11th??

It is over 80 degrees (F) outside, our air conditioner just kicked on, and the ice-cream man just came down our street. Yet our Christmas tree is lit up, the garland is sparkling, our "hooker" lights are doing their best to annoy me to death (our outside lights that blink), and I' m enjoying a small glass of eggnog. What a strange Christmas this is going to be!

It is a great day though. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (numero 5 in the series) came out on dvd today! The PX actually had it for sale too! I really don't care about the ridicule I get from my family about seeing it in the theater 3 times either (twice in the Las Vegas IMAX and it was amazing). I enjoy it and Michael endulges my obsession with the series. What a great husband :)

It truly is a wonderful day. No cold weather in sight and a new HP movie to fall asleep with Michael to(because he isn't deployed this year!) Thank God for all that is good and please remember all those that have to go through this season without their loved ones because they are in harms way overseas.

**Updated** House Video

Enjoy!

Our "Landscaping" Project

This was our big project for the weekend. It seemed a lot easier on paper than it actually ended up being. It was a beautiful day to be outside so it was worth the hard work! We'll see if my tulips actually come up though. The soil over here is textbook clay. I swear you could mold it just like play-dough! If the bulbs can get through an inch of regular soil then they have a chance b/c it is all potting soil on top. Michael actually got really into it--even after he broke our first hoe while getting the weeds/grass out--he then had to go back to the PX to get another one (and some Roundup...b/c I wouldn't be me if I didn't have some Roundup in our shed). At least we have a distinguishable walkway now!

What it looked like before we started:

These were some of the tulip bulbs that I planted. I've never seen each bulb individually wrapped according to the color that they are! I'm glad that they are finally out of our fridge--they've been in there for almost 1.5 months!

Here is the finished project! When the 30+ tulips start to bloom it should be really pretty! (some of the rocks still had some moisture from the bag, but when they dried they were all one color)