I Miss Walmart

I've decided one of the hardest parts of living overseas is not having a walmart. I went to do some grocery shopping today at the commissary. They don't have blue or purple jello. All I want to do is make a rainbow jello salad next week when I have the other spouses over for dinner. It can't be a rainbow with out blue and purple! And actually they only have like 5 different flavors of jello total. Walmart has like 20! Ok, maybe not that many, but you get the idea. So I guess it will be a fall colored jello salad with red, orange, yellow, and green. Then later I went down to the PX to get some batteries. I need a watch battery, and another one like that for a remote I have. Did they have them? Of course not! Although they do finally have the deodorant I like. It's the first time I've found it anywhere in Japan since we moved here. And even though I don't need it right now (I just bought some more a week or two ago-before they had the one I like) I bought one anyway. Knowing the PX here, they won't have it when I do need it. So yeah, I miss Walmart and being able to do all my shopping in one place. It drives me crazy having to drive all over post and off post over to the housing area just to get the things I need.

Camel Crossing

Ben sent me these pics last night. I can't say I've ever seen camels just strolling down the middle of the road.

It's common to see camels there. The Kuwaitis herd them and whatnot. It's just not very often you see them wandering down the road alone. I told Ben he should get one and send it home and we'll keep it on the back patio. He just laughed. I'm sure the dogs would LOVE that, not to mention the housing office. It could be fun though... =)

Pics from Kuwait

Just a quick update on Ben... He is doing well. They are getting settled in, and into a routine. He emailed me some pics last night, so I thought I'd share a few of them.

A really big tent.

The office where they work.

They work on the border of Kuwiat and Iraq. I know these are pics looking both ways, but I don't know which side is Iraq and which side is Kuwait.

They have a mamma kitty, some kittens, and a dog that live out ther with them. I'm assuming this is the mamma kitty.

It gets so hot there, that the birds litterally fall out of the sky dead from the heat and dehydration. So if anyone knows how we can send Ben some ice so the heat doesn't kill him too, I'm open to ideas. =)

The ceremony that officially put them in charge. That's not the whole unit, but Ben is standing in the center back right behind the flag. It's kinda hard to see his face though.

So that kinda gives everyone an idea of where he is. It's the middle of nowhere. Kinda like Ft. Irwin. =) And actually, some of the guys that he worked with are deployed to one of the check points or whatever it is near where he works. So here he thought he was getting away from the stupid people at Irwin, but he was just changing units and deserts. You gotta love the military!

Family Pictures

About a week before Ben left, we went and had family pictures taken. I was finally able to go pick them up today. I'm really glad we did them, even though I wanted to start crying right there in the middle of the store when I saw them. I had some really good days last week, but the past couple days haven't been to great. I'm really missing my hubby right now. He's only been gone two weeks, but I'm already tired of sleeping alone. As much as I hated Ft. Irwin, I wish we were still there and that he was just working down at the airport in Victorville where I could go stay the night with him. It probably doesn't help that yesterday was the first day that I haven't heard from him since he left. We've talked every other day. I haven't heard from him today yet either. I'm sure he's fine. I'm still missing him though. Anyway, here's the pics we had taken...

This is my favorite.

After 3 years, we're still in love as much as ever!

The photographer was awesome! We had so much fun!

Not my most favorite picture of me, but it works.

My better half- I miss you Ben!!!

One Week... But Whose Counting?

It's been one week since Ben left. It was probably one of the hardest weeks of my life, but I survived. Not by much some days, but I made it through nonetheless. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. They are really appreciated. Ben finally made it to Kuwait yesterday. Yeah, I know, a week after he left. I don't know why they had to leave so early. They left Monday morning and flew down to Okinawa. They were in Okinawa until Friday night, basically just playing around. Friday night they flew to Thailand, and ended up being stuck there until late Sunday night. The plane was having problems, so they had to have a part and mechanic flown in to fix it. They finally left Thailand Sunday and after about an 8 hour flight flew in to Kuwait City. Then it was a couple more hours on a bus to the camp where they will be living. So it was a long day for him. I got to talk to him last night for a couple hours. He has internet in his room so we were able to instant message each other. His connection really isn't the best, but it's better than nothing. He's going to work on getting internet from the local people instead of the military, and that should be a better connection. We're just not sure when he'll be able to get it. I told him even with a crappy connection at least we get to talk. 50 years ago we'd still be waiting on snail mail. But other than that, he seemed to be in good spirits for the most part. He was just really tired and exhausted. It had been a long couple days, and trying to adjust to the time change probably wasn't helping much. He is 6 hours behind me. So where it's noon here now, it's only 6am there. Hopefully he ends up with a decent work schedule so we can talk at a decent time. I was up until almost 1 this morning talking to him. Not that I mind. I love the times I get to talk to him. I think we've talked at least once every day since he left. Might not have always been the longest time, but we got to talk. So that has helped too. As for me, I'm doing alright. Some days are better than others, but that is to be expected. I try to find ways to keep myself busy. I've gone out shopping a few times, gone out with friends, had dinner with friends, just things to keep my mind occupied. I've been going to work out most days too. That really helps. It feels good to be getting myself into a workout routine again. My goal is to lose about a hundred pounds by the time this deployment is over. And at 2 pounds a week it shouldn't be a problem. The scale has already started going down. Yay!!! If I've got it figured out right, I should be the size I was when we got married when he comes home for R&R in 6 months or so. Then I'll be even less than that next September when he's home for good. I can't wait to see the look on his face! I think that's what motivates me the most. Anyway... I haven't found a job, but I'm thinking about it. They need substitute teachers at the schools and pay about $100/day. I could pretty much pick and choose the days I want to work, and if nothing else it would be money for me to spend when I go out and play with my friends or save it for a plane ticket home to visit. I haven't decided though. I don't know how comfortable I would be doing that. Even though there was a time when I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I don't know though. I guess I could give it a try, and if I really don't like it I don't have to do it. We'll see though. So that's what's going on in our lives right now. We made it through the first week, and am now counting the days until he comes home. 354 days... but whose counting? =)

Yokohama Baystars

Saturday night I got out of the house and went out with some friends. We went down to Yokohama and went to a baseball game. Probably wasn't the smartest idea since it had been raining off and on all day. The only reason we went was because my friends had company in town and they wanted to go. So we went. The weather was alright to start, but after about the 2nd inning it started pouring. So they called a rain delay and we sat there for about 45 minutes getting soaked. We had our umbrellas and everything, but they didn't really do much good. We were still sopping wet. At first we just sat there laughing. Not sure why, but we did. My friend's son didn't like getting wet though. He was mad and just screaming and crying. It was actually really cute. Anyway, we waited around for a little bit, but then decided to leave. We were wet, the kids weren't happy, and in all honesty I just wanted to get home and talk to my hubby. So it really wasn't worth the $18 for the ticket plus all the train tickets, but oh well. At least I got out of the house for a while.

It kinda reminded me of going to a Boise State Football game. Granted the football games are much better. (Yes I saw the BSU game over the weekend) The Japanese really get into the baseball games. I have no idea what they were saying while they were cheering, but they got into it. They even have young men who are "cheer leaders". Plus they have a "band". Ok, so it's just trumpets and a drum, but you get the idea. Once the rain started, right on que, everyone got out their ponchos and umbrellas. It was like one second everyone's enjoying the game, the next it's a sea of blue and white ponchos. I thought it was kinda funny. I think the best part though was as soon as they called the rain delay, the first song they played over the PA system was "Raindrops keep falling on my head..." You gotta love the Japanese!

"New" Car

Ok, so we've actually had the car for over 2 weeks now, but I just finally got around to taking some pics of it to post. It's a '91 Toyota Cresta, which is basically the Japanese version of the Camry. It's nothing spectacular, but gets me where I need to go. Plus we only had to pay $250 for it. Heck, the insurance and everything cost more than the car did. But hey, we have a car now. No more walking up and down the hill. (I still need to take pics or make a video of that just so y'all can see what we're talking about when we say "the hill")
There she is! I need to wash it. Maybe if tomorrow is nice like today was, I'll do it then.


Yes, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. It would throw me off when we first got here, but now it throws me off to see the steering wheel on the left side. I joke with Ben that he'll have to do all the driving back in the states so I'm not driving on the wrong side of the road. =)

I think we mostly just payed for the stereo. It's got a fairly new radio/cd player in it. Definately worth more that what we payed for the car.

And there's the license plate. The kanji means "Sagamihara" which is the area we live in. The "500" is for the type of engine it has. The "Y" means we are American. Then the numbers are just numbers. I know, so much info in such a little space.

All in all though, I miss driving my sportage. This one is nice, but it's not my kia. I can't wait to go back to the states so I can drive my car again.