Just for fun

So after reading my friend Rachel's blog, I posted a comment about it and realized that I should share it with you guys as well. Her post was regarding an annoying salesperson that came to her door and wanted to come inside to talk more of her product. Here's my response to her post:

Oh gosh! I can't stand sales people, especially the ones that have these temporary kiosks inside malls. Every time Mike and I go there, without fail, we are stalked by a salesperson who won't leave us alone. Usually starts with, "Can I ask you a question?" Mike is very funny about it and one time his response was, "Absolutely not!" and he kept walking. When we were out of earshot from the salesperson, I was totally embarrassed and was like, "Why did you say that? That was so rude?" But he justified his answer pretty well by saying, "What? They asked if they could ask me a question and I told them no. They set themselves up for that answer!" A little backstory, one time we got sucked into their selling scheme and five minutes later Mike was getting his nail filed and the sales person asked me how beautiful I thought his shiny nail was! haha.

In other fun posts, I have been meaning to post the speech that I gave at Molly and Ben's wedding last month. Enjoy! 

As most of you were at my wedding in October, coming up with an original speech was a hard thing for me to do. Molly and Ben sang and played their way through a beautiful and original song and set the stage high for me! Therefore, in ode to originality, I’ve written a memoir about Molly and me and the many adventures we had as sisters.

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Molly for the very first time. This may surprise some, but I vividly remember our first encounter. She walked in the room with a cute little bow in her stick straight hair and was quite inquisitive. “Who is that?” I overheard Molly ask my mom. “It’s your new baby sister. Isn’t she beautiful?” Molly looked over at me. “She’s okay I guess….” she stated. “But where’s her hair?...Are you sure it’s a girl?” “Yes, we’re sure it’s a girl” my mom told her with a smile.  “Great!” Molly exclaimed. “Now I have someone to play with!”

Over the next few months, Molly became quite the big sister. She changed my diapers and refilled my bottles. Sometimes my diapers were on backwards and sometimes my bottles would be filled with diet coke, but I never complained. Molly was a great big sister. By the time I was up and walking, Molly became my leader and I, the follower. We were never apart. In fact, if I awoke early in the morning, I would always wake Molly first. Now, there is a certain skill to waking your older sibling up as Molly can attest to. First, you have to climb to the top bunk ever so quietly so as not to jostle her awake. Then, you quietly lean over her and hold open one of her eyelids. Not two eyelids, just one. Here’s the tricky part. Then you must wait until her eye rolls from the back of her head and say really loud, “Are you awake?” Keep in mind you should brace the side of the bed for she will fiercely try to push you over. Then, miraculously, she will get up! Works every time!

Besides spending every minute together, Molly and I shared everything as well. I can recall the time Molly had a piece of bubble gum in her mouth and I was salivating at the thought of having a piece for myself. I hovered around Molly like a helicopter and did every favor she would ask. “Bridget, move that box over here, I’m making a fort…Bridget, get Patty and Michael (our two cabbage patch dolls) and hand them to me. They need to be tucked in. Bridget…Bridget…BRIDGET!” For every request she had, I performed them without hesitation. Then, I slipped in my little request, “Molly…um…can I have a piece of that gum you are chewing?” Keep in mind that this is ABC gum…you know, already been chewed,…so to some, this may sound a tad bit gross. But to us, it was nothing! We were sisters and we shared EVERYTHING! “Sure!” Molly said in between her bubblegum smacks and chews. She bit off a piece of the gum and handed it to me. But this wasn’t any ordinary sized already bitten of piece of chewed gum. It was merely a speck! But, being the little sister, I eagerly took the speck of gum with the tip of my pointer finger and put it in my mouth. One chew and the piece was gone. I guess I swallowed it…I’m not really sure.

Not only did Molly and I share things like specks of gum or the occasional lick of an ice cream cone, but we also made a great team. One time, while jumping on our parent’s bed, (which was a strict no-no in our house) I heard a loud thud against the wall and Molly groan “Ow my foot!” We both bounced ourselves off the bed and looked at the wall. To my shock and horror, there was huge hole in it! Then…Molly coolly slipped in, “Bridget…look what you did!” I did an immediate spin and stared her straight in the face. “What do you mean ‘Look what you did?’ You’re the one that said your foot hurt!” Realizing that I wouldn’t fall for it, Molly said, “Ok…look what WE did.” There was no arguing with her at this point because we were both jumping on the bed so a punishment was inevitable. I took one for the team and we were both sent to our rooms. 

In addition to acting as a team, Molly liked to lead by example. I love to reminisce of the times that Molly and I played together along the canals in Holland. On every outing, I happily skipped behind Molly and followed her every which way. On one particularly rainy day, Molly and I were at a local playground. We jumped on the swings, climbed the jungle gym, and swung on the monkey bars. Then Molly got the bright idea to play on the slide. “Are you sure?” I asked, “It looks a little wet.” “It’s fine. I’ll just walk down the slide so that my butt doesn’t get wet” she reasoned. At this point, I could kind of envision where this was going and I stood to the side to act as witness. Sure enough, no more than two steps down the slide and Molly completely lost her footing and banged her head HARD on the slide. She screamed, “Bridget! Bridget! I’m dying! Go get Mom!” as she held her head with both hands. I took off running and was sobbing uncontrollably because I was sure Molly was going to die. Half-way down the block, I heard Molly yell, “Bridget! Wait! I’m okay. I think I’ll live.” I’m quite sure my actions scared her more than the actual fall itself because she didn’t think I would actually run off to go get help. Because of her example, I now never walk down wet slides.

To cram 25 years of memories into one speech would mean that I would up here for hours, so instead, I have provided you all with a few highlights of some of my favorites. Now for the hard part:

Molly, you are my absolute best friend and I love you more than anything. I am so honored to call you my big sister and in turn, be your maid of honor on this special day. I have learned so many things from you, from learning to ride my bike to roasting vegetables. I thank you for everyday that you taught me to be a better person.

Ben, I couldn’t have asked for more wonderful brother-in-law. I seriously think of you as a sibling and like Molly, I’d be more than happy to share a speck of gum or take one for the team for you as well. Together, you and Molly share so many wonderful talents and you bring out the best in each other. Ben, I am passing on all of the perks that go with Molly: freshly washed laundry, a full tummy, and an organized house!

I wish you both the very best in your marriage and a happy, healthy life filled with many laughs and fewer tears.    

Oh the toilets!

On a day when I had nothing better to do, I decided that I would venture out into the world and film a toilet. This right here is a very special toilet and I was very happy to model its many talents. However, you won't hear me talk because there were other people in this bathroom and I didn't want them to hear me talking to a commode. I couldn't figure out how to use some of the buttons as you will see but you'll get the idea of how fancy these things are! 

Yokohama

Mike and I woke up with a plan today. We got out of bed at 730 and quickly went over the days' agenda. We had to go to Ikea ONE more time for two reasons. The first was to get our couch cause we couldn't fit it in the car we had last week and second was to get a second box to a dresser we'd bought the week before. You see, we only grabbed box 1 thinking there was only one box...however looking a little closer, we saw that box 1 meant box 1 of 2. Oooooh, now we got it! Anyway, I have a futon that is about the same size as the couch so Mike and I decided to load the futon in the back of his truck to make sure we would have a enough space to fit our couch in it when we got to Ikea. While we were loading the car (keep in mind I had not showered or even brushed my teeth at this point) we saw a cute little wiener dog charging at us and a petite little pregnant lady yelling at her dog to get inside. I politely said hi and so did she and she hurried back inside scolding her dog at the same time. We both looked pretty awkward being that it was no earlier than 8 in the morning and we were loading a futon in our car. 

While we were getting ready to go, we got a call from a friend that Mike works with. He invited us to go with a couple other people to the city called Yokohama, right next to the water and south of Tokyo. Even though we had already made plans, Mike and I were really excited to go out and explore Japan and hang out with some new friends. We all gathered at the ATM to make sure we had a enough yen to get us around for the day and coincidentally our pregnant neighbor was friends with our friends so she was coming to Yokohama for the day as well. We were formally introduced and she apologized for her dog and I turn apologized for being braless and in my pajamas. She's a great girl though and I'm excited that we'll be neighbors for the next three years!

Getting on the Japanese subway felt no different than riding the ones in New York but it sure did take a while to get to Yokohama. Almost two hours in fact! And we had to switch four times so that made our trip seem even longer. To sum up our FULL day in Yokohama, we started at an Asian buffet and I ate things that I was mostly aware of. Then we went to the Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan. It was so cool to be up there and see the views. In fact, here are a few photos for you to enjoy as well!

This was a little coupon they gave us that read, "It becomes off 50 yen an item coupon of here." Okay...

Below the Landmark Tower, there are tons of amusement rides and stores. We got on a huge ferris wheel and then the guys rode a roller coaster. Afterwards, we took a stroll into a Japanese shopping center where there happened to be a Cold Stone Creamery. Now, if I were in the states, I'd drive by one of these places like it was no big deal, but being that we're in Japan, we had to get ice cream from there. The whole look of Cold Stone was exactly the same, except for the fact that Japanese serve you your ice cream and when you tip them, they sing some Japanese version of "It's a small world"...or more like "Eeets a smarr warrrd!" While Mike and I were standing in line, the guy that was making my ice cream asked me where I was from. Now most of you know that this is a hard question for me to answer because I've lived so many places, so I just made it simple and said I was from Philadelphia. He said "aaoooh, that is cooorr" and then he asked me, "Aw you twaveling heeere?" and I said we were here for the military. Without hesitation he said, "Awww, you so stwong!" (meaning that he thought I was strong ; ) I thought this was very funny because Mike was standing right next to me AND what does me being strong have anything to do with the military? Maybe he meant I was so brave??? Who knows. 

Enjoy the pics! And oh yes, that is Mike levitating off the ground. Believe it or not, he has developed these new super hero powers that give him the ability to float mid-air and make weird expressions simultaneously. It must be all the rice he's eating! 

I just saw this note and had to take a picture of it! 

Here are Kim (my neighbor) and Amanda pretending to pose for a picture while I took one of this crazy lady and her outfit!

Riding on the subway with Mike, Matt, and Anders. 

And lastly, here's a video of me waiting for the train.

Weekend Events

On Friday, Mike's squadron had a family picnic and I made a yummy greek orzo salad. For some reason when I really want to impress people, whether it be a speech or my cooking skills, I have a really hard time coming up with ideas. I talked to Molly (my family expert) on what to make but finally I decided on a greek orzo salad. Here is the recipe:

Dijon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large clove garlic, minced
Big pinch of salt
Black pepper, to taste
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

One box of Orzo pasta noodles
3 Bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange)
1 large cucumber
1 large tomato
1 container of crumbled feta cheese
1 container of kalamatta olives

Cook the pasta the day before and refrigerate overnight. Then cut up all the veggies into small pieces, toss in the vinaigrette and your done! Sooo easy and good! And healthy too : )

At the picnic, I made some new friends with the other wives. Later that night we went to the movies and saw "The Hangover." Seriously, it was one of the funniest movies I have EVER seen! Go see it!

Then on Saturday, Mike and I drove to Ikea to buy some furniture for our house! Before moving here, we were advised not to pack a lot because the houses were small. Well we didn't know we'd be lucky enough to get a three bedroom house and therefore, we needed more furniture. We tried to get a few people together to drive with us to Ikea since we'd never driven that far off base before but no one was interested. That left this monumental task up to Mike and I and let me just say we are so totally proud of ourselves! You may think it was a nice little Saturday...driving to Ikea and spending lots of money on new things. Now picture the Saturday we had. Milage-wise, Ikea wasn't very far away, maybe about 40 miles. However, it took us over two hours each way because of all the insane traffic. With Mike driving on the LEFT side of the road and me trying to point out signs in Japanese characters, you'd understand why we say we're so proud of ourselves. I'd say to Mike, "Okay, now turn left onto to Hajiochi" and Mike would respond, "Turn left on what? Hajiochi or Hachioju? How do you say it?" Then I'd say a little louder, "Hajiochi" to which Mike would respond, "Which way do I turn?" "LEFT!" I'd shriek. "Okay, turning left on Hachioju." Neither one of us could ever pronounce the word the same. We were so burnt out when we got to Ikea and it didn't help that every Japanese inhabitant was there as well. After navigating our way around and filling our shopping cart, we were able to buy everything that we had on our list, except for our couch. By the time we loaded our car with all our goodies, we were both hungry and decided to get a snack from the store. While Mike was in the bathroom, I waited in line in front of this weird machine with pictures of all the food that they served there. I was really in the mood for a green tea ice cream cone and Mike wanted the biggest coke possible. I pushed the green tea button and the coke button and inserted my yen. I waited for my tickets to print out...and nothing happened. Meanwhile, there was this huge line behind me and the damn machine wouldn't work. I tried again and same thing. Then I turned around and asked the Japanese man behind me for some help. He blinked at me a few times which I guess meant 'Get the hell out of line you stupid American' so I did and waited for Mike. When Mike came up and saw that I couldn't figure out the machine, he teased me a little bit and took me to the machine again. "What kind of ice cream do you want?" he asked, "Green tea!" I said. He pressed the vanilla button. "NO! I wanted green tea!" Out came my ticket for a vanilla ice cream cone. "Oops!" was Mike's defense. Then he pushed the button for a coke. When we got to the counter that actually served the food, I was given the worlds smallest vanilla ice cream cone while Mike was given a thimble with Coke inside. Very satisfying indeed. After our snack, we both headed to the bathrooms since we knew we had a long drive back. While waiting patiently for our turn, a woman casually walked right in front of me and stood her place in line. I almost punched her I was so mad! And when that bathroom door opened up, you better believe I ran ahead of her and took that stall first! Oh man, what a nice little Saturday.

And finally we get to Sunday, which was spent putting together furniture and Mike carpeting his man cave. He is so serious about this room that whenever I am at the door and he is inside, he tells me I must knock and ask permission to enter! Right now he's at work and I'm happily typing away on his computer, lounging on his couch, and rearranging his 'manly' collectibles. I wonder if he'll notice...

Little Tegan

Dear Friends and Family,

I know that I have many followers and readers on my blog and wanted to post this link about little Tegan and her battle with cancer. Although I have never met this brave little girl, I have had the pleasure to know and love this family. Please take the time to read their blog. Any support will be of huge help to them! 

Driver's License and New Job!

This morning I flew out of bed. The reason I flew out of bed is because my alarm didn't go off. And the reason my alarm didn't go off is because Japan is not equipped to handle American alarm clocks. Seriously. It's hard to explain but I'll try. You see, we are able to use all of our American appliances which is a huge advantage when living overseas. However, because of the different wattage in the Japanese outlets, regular alarm clocks aren't able to keep accurate time. They somehow become delayed. So now Mike and I use a battery operated alarm clock. And this little "friend" of ours has forced us to sleep in at really bad times (no pun intended : ) 

But in any case, I was still able to make it to my driving course held on base. Everyone who PCS's here has to take the course in order to get a Japanese driver's license. The day before, Mike made me very nervous and told me that I needed to study because if I failed the test, I'd have to wait a whole week before I could take the test again. When I woke up a half hour later than expected, that nixed the studying time for me so I was left to fly by the seat of my pants. When I got to the room, it was packed with other newcomers who all looked as stupid and dumbfounded as I do most of the time. There was a schedule posted on the wall with the order of events for the days class; Two videos, Take Test, and Grade Test. One knucklehead raised his hand and asked if the "Take Test" was the practice test and the "Grade Test" was the real one...Guess I was smarter than some in this room! After that little shenanigan, the instructor talked to us for about two and half hours about different driving rules in Japan. "Use your face!" he screamed aloud and smacked his hands together so that I would stay awake. "Trust your eyeballs!" Now, being that is broken English, I assumed he was telling me to "Use my head" and "Trust my own eyes" but he still got his point across! Needless to say, he was a very good instructor because I scored 100% on my test and will pick up my license tomorrow! 

In other news, I just accepted a part-time Reading Specialist position at Yokota West Elementary School. The reason some may not have heard from me about this news is because I only found out about it on Tuesday and I had until Thursday to make my decision. There were a lot of different factors that swayed my decision from one way to the other. The first being that I wanted to teach full time, and the second being that I wanted to be a regular classroom teacher and not a Reading Specialist right away. I explained it to Mike as being a pilot who flies planes versus a pilot who works at a desk job. That's what it felt like to me since I'd be pulling kids from their classrooms and just doing one on one time with them. However, after visiting the school and meeting the principal and different faculty members, I was pleasantly surprised! The school is really cute and everyone was so friendly to me. I found out that I will get my own classroom and in addition to pulling kids for reading interventions, I will also be teaching from the Read 180 program. I haven't worked with that program before but essentially I will have a classroom of kids for an hour and a half per session. That's a new approach that most Reading Specialist don't get to experience. Kind of nice huh? Also, there is still a possibility that I will be moved to be a Kindergarten teacher depending on enrollment before the school year. So we'll see. If I'm part-time this year, maybe they'll bump me up to full-time next year. It's a good start.

In a few minutes, our commander's wife and her kids will be coming over to drop off a few goodies. I met her for the first time yesterday and she's really nice. It's so fun to feel welcomed and I've only been here 6 days! Hopefully she won't judge me by the appearance of our house!