Flight Fair

Well, I officially survived the first week of reporting! In-service makes me laugh in Japan as much as it does in the States :) and I have just as much to say, it seems that my sarcastic comments came with me. My copies are made, my room is ready, I think I'm mentally prepared....well, yea, you know, for the most part :) I have my outfit, isn't that the most important part? My parent letter is being translated - I need to make an outline of what I'm talking about for Meet the Parent meeting (AKA Open House here) for my translator - that will be different to have to say a couple of sentences and wait for translation before continuing...hopefully there aren't to many questions!!! Last night Adrienne, Rachel, and I tried to go Eissa festival - apparently it didn't really start on the 22nd like the sign said so we ended up going to American Village (again!) we people watched after getting root beer floats - yum! - and telling another American, no we do not know where to use our ATM cards...or where any ATM is even...SO a cash society!! I think Adrienne and I are going to need envelopes for budgeting purposes - although I'm not sure how we pay bills here...hmmm...yet another question to ask about! After American Village (not much going on) we came home to watch a movie before Rachel went home and we went to bed. Today was a quiet day around the house - a good pj morning! It was nice to just relax and be quiet for awhile - much needed down time, I feel a little more sane after some peace. Then there was a flurry of house cleaning, got ready for the day...or afternoon I guess! We tried to go to a travel agency to look into our travel choices, but it was no longer there and had no new address - so much for being independent. I got to talk on Skype to Edith and Cheryl - SO good to hear from them! Rachel came over after that and we were off to the Friendship Futenema Flightline Festival....nice name huh? It apparently celebrates the friendship between the marines and the japanese...who knows?? We went into some of the planes - pictures below! Saw some of the other staff members, random! We watched the weight lifting competition - don't know that I've ever seen people with such huge arms in my life. SOOOOOO didn't fit with the rest of their body, but whatever floats their boat, who am I to talk about someone that can lift 300lbs?? I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of one of those guys (or girls...they only lifted around 130, not that I can do that either!) We saw the same guy that needed an ATM - he had found one he was happy to report! We ate dinner there, sitting on the ground - yummy grilled corn on the cob and BBQ chicken - nice to have something I recognized. It was also nice to be surrounded by so many English speaking people at one time. It felt like a normal day - I'm thinking Air Show in Miramar - coming up in October, somebody needs to go in my honor, such fun! Church tomorrow and maybe dinner with Laura and her husband on Kadeena Air Base (fun to see all these bases, fences don't make friends though!) All in all, a good day, felt more familiar, perhaps this is the beginning of settling in...we'll see, I'm just proud that the random bouts of crying are subsiding slowly, but at least they are subsiding ;) I don't think I expected it to be like this - I had no idea what it would be like but I do know it has been a big adjustment and a challenge to face - I appreciate the the thoughts, prayers, emails, and blog comments more then you may ever know. This little adventure is a reminder of my need to have faith, courage, and not to depend on my own understanding....and a big dose of go with the flow! Enjoy the pictures below - missing everyone - love you!

I promise I wasn't taking a picture of his butt - he had a camouflaged camera...can you find it? HA HA HA

Rachel, Adrienne, and I on the flight deck, we could so be the crew!I decided I conquered driving on the wrong side of the road so next I'll learn to drive a plane :)
Rachel and I in the middle of a plane - it was really hot and the seats are NOT comfortable

The cockpit
The outside of my new plane :)
This is not a parachuter - he had a motor on it - not sure when this come in handy but it was funny to me


SERIOUSLY, the military have their own bounce house things. I have NEVER seen a military man in a tank that was made for small children to go inside and jump up and down - so weird!