What up Christmas?

Dude, we sure look like we're having a good time huh? I think Meredith and I wanted to beat up our photographer. Not really sure...

Take #2!

Much better this time around! Anne is on the left, then Meredith, Mai and me. These ladies all friends of mine and their husbands work with Mike also. Some friends are missing from this photo but they had already started their Christmas holiday. 

We went to Tama Hills to celebrate. There's lots of fun things to do there...actually, I've mentioned it in a previous post. Although we didn't get out and explore the grounds, we found ways to entertain ourselves, as you can see me with oven mitts and a securely wrapped present that I was supposed to open! 

Here's another pic of me and my girlfriends at the dinner table. I'm sure going to miss Mai when she leaves in February and Anne when she leaves in June : ( 
And last but not least here's a pic of my little (or rather tall) elf and Santa. Meredith's husband Trey was obviously Santa but it was SO funny because you couldn't see his face! 

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a little Christmas taste. We're back in the states now and I'm loving it!!! 

Sushi, Mt. Fuji and something Ewwie!

Sushi: Cold cooked rice dressed with vinegar that is shaped into bite-sized pieces and topped with raw or cooked fish, or formed into a roll with fish, egg, or vegetables and wrapped in seaweed.

A couple weeks ago, I had Japanese sushi for the first time. It was quite good although I did not eat anything that had raw fish in it. I can't do that yet!

Mt. Fuji: an extinct volcano in south central Honshu that is the highest peak in Japan; last erupted in 1707; famous for its symmetrical snow-capped peak; a sacred mountain and site for pilgrimages.

This picture was taken from my car on my way to work. It's so cool to see this volcano everyday and it always takes my breath away. 

Ewwie: Gross, nasty, disturbing, horrendous, in the gay form.

Recently I went with my friends for another round of karaoke. None of us were really feeling the love, especially when they brought out complementary octopus balls and clam sticks. 

Here's a picture of Mike early in the morning when the ORI was going on. For a full week, I didn't see him. Anyway, he got dressed in his full chem gear and then fell asleep on the living room floor. Poor guy. 

And lastly, here's a note Mike left me when he discovered that my Oakleys weren't put back in their proper place.

My Classroom

I sent an email to my mom yesterday with some pictures of my classroom and thought I should post them on here as well. I've got a lot of readers that have taught kids and I think you'd appreciate it. I've also got some DoDDS spawn and you'll see why DoDDS is just the best school system to work for!

Some highlights from this week:

"Um, Miss Queen?" says a soft, sad little voice.
"Yes?"
"So and so called you a poo-poo head" the child says with a frown. I in the mean time try my best not to smile.
"Oh, that makes me really sad. Can you tell him that my feelings are really hurt?"
"Yes, I'll tell him right now!" and little guy runs off.

"Ok so we made these reindeer pictures so that you can give it your moms and dads. You can decide if you want to give it to both of them or just one.'
Child #1 asks, "Miss Queen, how do you spell dad?"
"D. A. D." and I write in the board
Child #2 asks "What's your dad's name?"
"John" I answer.
"JOHN!" They exclaim and smile at the same time.
"Yeah. John."
Child #1 states matter of factly, "Well, that's not right cuz teachers don't have dads."

Happy Weekend everyone! It's already the weekend for me ; )

Random Silliness

So I've been jotting down a few funny things that I've experienced over the last week and I had to blog about it. 

1. Last week, Mike and I did some Christmas shopping at our local mall. We are lucky because malls in Japan are quite similar to ones in the states, except that Mike stands out like a sore thumb! He literally towers over everyone. In one particular store, I was browsing some Japanesey gifts and heard Mike say, "Bridget, this kid is following me!" I turned to look and discovered a petite little peanut, no taller than Mike's knee cap, standing right in front of him and looking straight at him. Mike tried to maneuver around the little girl and she quietly tapped her feet behind him. When he stopped to look at something, she again positioned herself in front of him and stared right at his face. No smiles, no nothin! I was standing on the side laughing at this scene while Mike tried awkwardly to move around the store while this tiny child followed him around. She was honestly bewildered with Mike ; ) 

2. Two days ago, Mike and I bought a dog bed for Huey at Joyful Honda. After being rung up, the sales lady took Huey's bed and wrapped it in saran wrap. I couldn't help but laugh. It's really not that silly here, but I just imagined buying  a dog bed at PetsMart and having them wrap it in saran wrap...too funny!

3. This morning I was walking Huey when out popped a dog from his yard. He wasn't on a leash and it didn't look like his owners were aware that he was outside. After participating in the butt-sniff greeting, (what? don't the owners have to do it too?) I tugged at Huey to continue our walk. The dog started to follow us. I tried to shoo him back to his house. Told him to sit. Instructed him to stay. But the dog wouldn't listen. I started to run with Huey thinking it would disinterest him but the dog wouldn't stop. Realizing I had to get to work, I took my cup of hot tea with milk and dumped it the grass. Apparently this did the trick as the dog became suddenly distracted with licking my tea puddle off the ground. Then Huey and I made a run for it and the dog never even turned his head.

3. This afternoon, one of my students came up to me during centers with a drawing on his mini-whiteboard. 

"Miss Queen, guess what this is?" 

"I don't know..." 

"You have to guess!" 

"Okay, a barbell?" 

"What? NO!" 

"Eyes?" 

"Nope."

"Hmmm...glasses?" 

"Miss queen, you really don't know?" 

"No. What is it?" 

"It's a bra!" This is when I cracked a smile and didn't quite know what to say. 

"Oh, I see it now. The two circles with the line in the middle." 

"Yep. When I get home, I'm going to put my mom's bra on my head." And he walked away. 

Just thought these little stories would give you a laugh.

Thanksgiving

Back in the beginning of October, I had a conversation with my good friend and neighbor Kim. 

It was really weird because she was suddenly pregnant again and we were on the top floor of Landmark Tower. Oh wait...this picture was taken almost six months ago! Whoopsy. Any who, we decided that it was high time we got all of our husbands together and had our own version of a family thanksgiving.

Here was the problem. Neither Kim nor I had a dining room table large enough to fit our group of friends. That's where Hillary came in.  

We knew that she loved to entertain and she makes a mean apple pie (see picture above) so her house was the obvious choice. She is also a close friend and neighbor of ours so we got right to planning. I started with the invitations. 

By end of it, 17 people and two babies came for over to Hil-Dawgs for Thanksgiving.  Each of us ladies was tasked with bringing a few dishes. I stupidly volunteered to make the turkey. As most of you know, I don't eat Turkey, let alone meat. So it was quite scary when I had to pull out the innards and even scarier when I actually had to clean out it's cavity and stuff it. I prepared my brine, soaked it overnight, basted it with a white wine and butter mixture and...Voila!

And no Becky I did not try the turkey this year. But I did hear from all my friends that it was really good. Maybe next year? So once the turkey was unveiled, everyone took their seats to enjoy our yummy meal. 

This was the grand dessert buffet that no one really touched because there was SO much food to be eaten. Hillary made the two apple pies and the rum cake, Amanda made the pumpkin pie, and I made the pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust. Oh it was delicious ; ) 

And by the end of the meal, pretty much the whole turkey was gone. That was perfectly fine with me as I didn't plan on making a soup. I was all cooked out. 

For the rest of the night we had some drinks, played some Rock Band and passed around sweet baby Mallory. She's three months and just adorable. You can see Mike is a little nervous holding Mal. 
When I was holding Mallory, Mike told me my time was up after 5 minutes. Guess he doesn't want me to get any ideas! Here we are sucking our thumbs. I totally get why it's the cool thing to do. 

After that night of fun, a few of the girls decided to wake up at 5am and drive to Yokosuka Naval Base for some black Friday shopping. In total, we spent $1800! That's about a $400 average between each girl. 

I miss you all but can't wait to see most of you for Christmas! Mike and I are coming home on the 19th and we'll be there until the 2nd. Yay! 

Fall Firsts

Ahhh...Sunday evening. A time for me to relax and gather my thoughts. Get ready for my week. Clean my house. And finally update my blog!

Let's see, I left off where Mike talked about me not wearing spandex shorts to school. I of course did not take his advice and wore them all last week! Then came Halloween. This year was very exciting because we were able to give candy to kids from our own house. We grilled out beforehand and invited friends over. Mike set up this really cool tent and made a spiderweb and fake gravestones for the kids to walk through as they got their candy. This picture doesn't give his spiderweb justice as I was mostly focused on the pumpkin that I carved. 

We had a great time sitting outside and laughed too often when the Japanese kids said "Triko Treeto." For the next couple weeks, Mike and I watched Huey's BFF and next door dog neighbor Maverick. Aren't they so cute? You really have to look to tell them apart. Huey had a great time entertaining 8 year old Mav but you could definitely tell he was ready to go home after his two week vacation with The Quinn's came to an end! 

Also new this season is that Mike started coaching flag football to 7-8 year olds. He is really funny to watch with the kids. Don't get me wrong, he's a great coach but I definitely had to give him a few pointers after their first practice regarding behavior management. Coincidentally Mike's team name is the Tigers. Hmmm...any influence from Mike? Of course not! 

Another first for us was venturing out to Tokyo Disneyland. We had an awesome time in a weird, foreign sort of way. The rides were pretty much the same but the food and stores were very different. I mean who has heard of curry popcorn? Well the Japanese sure love it! It rained the whole day while we were there but it turned out to be the best thing because there were no lines. Next up will be to venture out to Disney Sea. 

And last of fall firsts was the Marine Ball. Mike's squadron was invited by the General because they fly him between Yokota and his various meetings. Funny thing about this General is that Mike and I knew him way back in Belgium. We both went to high school with his son. It's just funny because it's such a small world! I snapped a couple pictures at the ball. The one really important picture didn't turn out so great because someone was standing in front of Mike's face ; / Whoops! Besides the General, the head Administrator of NASA was also in this pic. Pretty distinguished group in this crowd wouldn't you say? 

This is me and my principal Mr. K. He wanted to get a picture of the oldest and the youngest in the school! 

Below are two videos of our house. Huey does most of the entertaining in them! 

Homesick

Today marks 5 months since I got on a plane and flew over here. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little homesick. It's not just the states that I miss...but my family and friends that I used to chat with on a regular basis. I miss being in the same time zone. I miss walking in Target. I miss pumpkin spice lattes. I miss the mall! Oh gosh, don't I sound vain? I know that Mike and I are meant to be here and we've seen so much. We've made great friends and have really set up a great life for ourselves. I am just having a moment where I'm allowing myself to miss where I came from : ( 

On a positive note, work is a lot of fun. I really enjoy the two other kindergarten teachers that I work so closely with. I like our little school. And I love my class! It's great to see them finally in a routine and to see the progress they've already made in two short months. I love being responsible for these little guys and making fun memories for them. It's so funny though. They think I'm like some superhero that doesn't eat or sleep. Seriously. During snack time, if I'm having a snack, they get this shocked look on their little faces and ask me why I'm eating. If I bump into them at the grocery store, they wonder why I'm there and not at school. It's hilarious. 

To end this post, I want to add what Mike said to me in his sleep while I was getting ready for work this morning. 

Mike: "Hey, Honey?" 

Me: "Yes?"

Mike: "Don't wear spandex shorts."

Me: "What?"

Mike: "Don't wear spandex shorts."

Me: "Why?"

Mike: "Because I know you will."

Ha ha! I mean seriously? Did he honestly think I was going to strap on a pair of spandex and prance my butt into work? I talked to him about our little conversation this afternoon and he has no memory of saying this. I wonder what he was dreaming about...

Our 1st Anniversary

So it's really been one year since we got married? Wow! How time flies when you're having fun...or really, when you get married, move to New Mexico the next day and then move to Japan 6 months after that. To celebrate, Mike and I stayed at The New Sanno. If I told ya once, I'm telling you again, YOU WILL STAY AT THE NEW SANNO (if you visit us of course.) We had a great room that had a perfect view of Tokyo Tower and Mori Tower. Too bad I forgot my camera at home! After exchanging gifts, we had an awesome dinner at their fancy restaurant called Wellington's. We were even lucky enough to get a polaroid picture in our own private booth. This booth was quite funny as we had curtains and every time a waiter came to refill our glasses, they'd pop their head in between and say "Wud u rike some mole wata?" When we got home, I decided to recreate our wedding cake since we couldn't eat the top tier. Our wedding cake was made by Molly and it was soo good so I tried as best as I could to replicate hers. I'll admit that I didn't have red food coloring so instead of being red velvet cake, I called it velvet cake but who really cares right? I think my cake is a close second to hers ; ) 

I also wanted to include a video that Mike made for me for our anniversary. I just love it! 

Typhoon Melor

Here are some pics of Mike and I at the Air Force Ball. If you know Mike, then I really don't need to explain why he wore those ridiculous glasses most of the night. 

Well, here it is. The Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness (TCCOR) is now at 1 which means that Typhoon Melor is ashore and actually outside my window. For the past week, it has rained...and rained...and rained. I normally appreciate the rainy weather but now that I work with 16 5 year olds, I really don't like it anymore! Having a class full of kindergartners makes it really difficult when they don't have recess. Even if they're only outside for 15 minutes, it makes a HUGE difference in the climate of our classroom for the rest of the day. So needless to say, during recess time, I've plugged in a reliable Dr. Seuss video that keeps them preoccupied. I also have them do yoga and jumping jacks! Heck they needed to be tired and out of breath from something. Anyway, I was armed and ready for yet another rainy day where I had children running around, not listening to me, and a certain few kicking and screaming on the floor during clean-up time. It is during those times that I wonder why I do what I do! At 2 when the school bell rang, I heard my principal's voice on the intercom announcing that school would be cancelled for tomorrow because of Typhoon Melor! Oh my gosh...I was dancing and skipping as I shoved my kids out the door. This couldn't have come at a better time. I REALLY need this day. So far I've slept in (7am is sleeping in for me as I usually get up at 5!), made some tea with honey and lemon, and now I've got the sweet sounds of The View playing in the background. Oh what a glorious morning! Who cares that the tree in our backyard keeps losing its limbs or when I went into the kitchen this morning, the top of the stove and underneath it was full of water. I LOVE Typhoons ; ) 

On another note, lets talk about my brat dog Huey. Sure he's super cute and funny most of the time, but I almost died at the dinner table when I had to friends over. Here we are happily chatting and eating our meal when I get suspicious whiff of something oh so not pleasant. I look down and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a pile of s%^#@...under the table...as we're eating dinner!!! I could have killed him and probably would had my guests not been there. Lucky for me, Kristen and Quinn (side note, Kristen's last name is Hughey and her husband's name is Quinn, kinda funny right?) are super laid back and have a bad dog of their own so they were really understanding. But OH MY GOSH, Huey has NEVER done that before and I seriously thought this potty training thing was under control. I guess not. So to end this post, I have to give a shout out to my mother-in-law who sent us a package of goodies and some things for Huey. I took a few pictures of him enjoying his new presents. Don't be fooled by his cuteness. He's still an a$$hole. 

Mrs. Queen and other fun things

My life has been full of chaos and commotion these past three weeks so I have some serious catching up with my faithful friends and loved ones! That would be you! On the 8th of Sept., Kindergarten had their first day of school. I have 16 wonderful kids that are each different and hilarious in their own special way. A couple stories to make you smile: One afternoon I told my class, "Alright, I'm going to dismiss you" and one of my students raised his hand and said, "I'm going to miss you too Mrs. Queen!" Another time I was drinking a fizzy water, aka a Perrier and a kid marched right up to me and said, "Mrs. Queen, why are you drinking beer???" You see, the water comes in a green glass bottle so I can see why he got confused...but gosh, I sure hope he didn't tell his parents that! Today was the first day I came home and recalled that no one had cried : ) That's a great day in my book. However, I guess I should also add that it was a half day so the kids left at 10:30 this morning! 

Besides work, Mike and I were able to get away last weekend to a place called Tama Hills. Tama Hills is a vacation spot for military members and their families to go and it's awesome! We rented our own little cabin with a loft and explored the grounds. There's a really nice golf course there but don't ask me what par it is! Does that even make sense? You can rent bikes and other outdoorsy things and even camp there if you want. It was just nice to stay somewhere different but where people still spoke English! So now added to our list for when people come to visit Japan: You're going to The New Sanno (see previous post) and Tama Hills! Below are some pictures.

A front view of our cabin

Mike standing up in the loft

An old bunker on the grounds

A view of the golf course on Tama Hills. I have a couple golf-lovers that read this blog so I took this picture for you!

 

Here's a picture that I took while driving across the base. If you look in the far distance, you can see Mt. Fuji! This is a big deals as the days are never clear enough to see it but on this particular day it was! Mt. Fuji in the background!

On Sunday, Mike and I and a group of friends ventured down to Tokyo and watched part of a Sumo tournament. I must say it wasn't that fun for me to see obese men with their dimply butt cheeks on display but all the same it was an experience that I can say I'm glad I did ; ) 

Think this could be Mike's next career move?

I saw this T-Shirt and had to take a picture of it. See the typo?

And now you're basically caught up with my life's major events! I'm home alone tonight while Mike is flying some big cheese around Tokyo. Gosh what a tough life! 

Oh and here are some more videos from the spouse's day when Mike flew me. The first one has a cameo of Mike turning around the second one is of me after the flight.