American Weekend...

I made it through week 2 of school with drastic improvements each day! yay! I was invited to a birthday party Friday night for one of my students (Izzie is the Kindergarten teacher's daughter) on Kadena Air Base. The crew went to celebrate with this cutie at her Strawberry Shortcake themed party, including pizza and funfetti cupcakes! It was really nice to get out, though a bit overwhelming, as there were TONS of adults and kids there...standing room only! :) The Chapman's have this incredibly realistic looking/acting/feeling/sounding horse. They turned it on for us to see and experience the weirdness about it. It's so big the kids like to sit on it, though I saw two children cry because of it! This horse moves and makes noises by sensor. It was creepy! So creepy in fact that Alison insisted on turning it off. She had some troubles finding the switch, but I caught her in the act lol

Then on Saturday we were invited to join Laura and her husband, Eric, at his squadron's bat passing party (yes, it is just as crazy as it sounds). We were on Kadena again at his commander's house. It's really quite amazing how cute they can make the insides look when the outside looks like a prison! Anyways, it was a Mexican/Okinawa beach party. There was yummy food and nice English speaking company. It was funny though, as Laura introduced us to her friends she would tell them that we worked with her. They all thought is was so great until she told them that we were in no way affiliated with the military and were here all on our own. My how the expressions changed...from "oh cool!" to "oh dear!" lol There was an official ceremony to say goodbye to one of the two female pilots in the group who is going to Alaska. A few of the men spoke of how great she was and how well she put up with the professional junior high boys locker room scene! lol The ceremony continued with the "passing of the bat." This was a REAL bat sitting in a jar of who-knows-what, but it was DISGUSTING! The passing of the bat meant the person receiving it was to throw the next themed party within 44 days. It was all so strange, a completely different world once you cross the gate. Oh, they also took a vote to determine whether they would continue with this "bat in a jar" or switch to a less disgusting bat in a frame (one hopefully the wives would let them hang...lol) Being the men that they are, they voted to keep the awful one! Interesting group of people those military!

With another weekend down, and preparations being made for a Thanksgiving trip to mainland Japan, I am ready to being week 3!