Yokosuka Gazette, 11/22/13
This is MY Friday, mine, mine, MINE. I have nothing scheduled for today. No meetings. No volunteer time. No get-togethers, nothing.
OK, there IS flag football this evening, but the day is mine. And I am guarding it like the damn crown jewels. People have been trying to lure me out for meetings and drinks.
I guess this is my own fault for saying "yes" to so many things...and it's partly my husband's fault for being so super-cool so that everyone finally notices us as the glamorous Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt type couple that we are.
I feel like I've had at least three weeks of solid crazy. Department store shopping with the Japanese ladies. Meetings for the new sponsor organization that has finally flapped it's little wings and taken off. Volunteering to sit at said organization's table at the Navy Lodge and greet jetlagged, confused couples coming off the shuttle from Narita or wandering down into the lobby, bleary.
What else have I done? First FRG board meeting for CDW, during which I vowed to just "sit and observe". As you can all imagine, no such thing happened because I am unable to sit in meetings without giving suggestions, so before long, I had planned the kid's Christmas party and helped them figure out how to decorate the ship's Christmas tree at the Festival of Trees. What? They needed help and I like Pinterest. So much for staying in the wings.
First real FRG meeting was this week. For those of you who have forgotten amongst the million ridiculous military acronyms, FRG is "Family Readiness Group". We get together, eat and drink coffee, yak, talk about Navy life and the ship and the crazy-ass ladies in Yokosuka. Oh, and a little actual ship's business too. For the first time, I introduced myself as the "new CO's wife".
Yeah, I still smile like a dork when I say that. It's getting REAL, folks! We got our special stickers this week that allow us to park in the CO parking space...and here's a great example of how small this community is: another CO's wife saw my van last night at flag football and said "Oh, is that YOUR van? We were wondering whose van that was. We get to know whose cars are parked there and we were confused that someone new was in town".
There are, suddenly a glut of red Mazda MPVs in Yoko--I totally started a trend. But mine, I explained to Cherie, has my kickass "This is how I roll" sticker on the back (thanks again, Michele--I stand out from the crowd).
I get that a lot...as in "Oh, Rachel, we were just saying about you the other day...blah, blah, blah".
Um, OK? Slightly weird. I picture this great cabal of Navy wives in some dark room, clad in robes and chanting and then discussing everyone on base. I hope they don't put any curses on me.
Fun highlights of suddenly being a cheerleader/prom queen: I played Bunco this week, conveniently two doors down in our cell block. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of chat, lots of laughter. In positive proof that my Navy world is slowly but surely shutting in on me, like the garbage compactor in Star Wars, one of the wives there was at a CUH-RAZY dining out that we went to in San Diego in 2003. Very bizarre, but I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. We bonded instantly over that event, during which I narrowly avoided getting barfed on, junior officers got into fistfights, etc. It is still THE weirdest dining out I've ever attended.
And I won $10 for having the most Bunco(s) or something.
In other news, midterms were this week and I'm so WWI'd out, but must push on now, slogging through 1916, zeppelins and naval battles and the role of aircraft in WWI. German is more work than I thought it was and even so, all I really know how to do now is describe my home, how many windows it has and what hobbies and interests I have. Just so you know, I have acht Fenstern in meine Haus. Oh, I did learn how to describe myself (because Germans are just SO fond of putting themselves out there): Ich habe blonde Haar and blaue Augen und ich habe drei kinder. Ich komme aus Minnesota aber jetzt wohne in Japan.
So anyway. Today I need to catch up on all my homework and bid my husband adieu as he flies out to meet the ship tomorrow to begin turnover. Eeek.
Wish us luck. Here we go...
OK, there IS flag football this evening, but the day is mine. And I am guarding it like the damn crown jewels. People have been trying to lure me out for meetings and drinks.
I guess this is my own fault for saying "yes" to so many things...and it's partly my husband's fault for being so super-cool so that everyone finally notices us as the glamorous Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt type couple that we are.
I feel like I've had at least three weeks of solid crazy. Department store shopping with the Japanese ladies. Meetings for the new sponsor organization that has finally flapped it's little wings and taken off. Volunteering to sit at said organization's table at the Navy Lodge and greet jetlagged, confused couples coming off the shuttle from Narita or wandering down into the lobby, bleary.
What else have I done? First FRG board meeting for CDW, during which I vowed to just "sit and observe". As you can all imagine, no such thing happened because I am unable to sit in meetings without giving suggestions, so before long, I had planned the kid's Christmas party and helped them figure out how to decorate the ship's Christmas tree at the Festival of Trees. What? They needed help and I like Pinterest. So much for staying in the wings.
First real FRG meeting was this week. For those of you who have forgotten amongst the million ridiculous military acronyms, FRG is "Family Readiness Group". We get together, eat and drink coffee, yak, talk about Navy life and the ship and the crazy-ass ladies in Yokosuka. Oh, and a little actual ship's business too. For the first time, I introduced myself as the "new CO's wife".
Yeah, I still smile like a dork when I say that. It's getting REAL, folks! We got our special stickers this week that allow us to park in the CO parking space...and here's a great example of how small this community is: another CO's wife saw my van last night at flag football and said "Oh, is that YOUR van? We were wondering whose van that was. We get to know whose cars are parked there and we were confused that someone new was in town".
There are, suddenly a glut of red Mazda MPVs in Yoko--I totally started a trend. But mine, I explained to Cherie, has my kickass "This is how I roll" sticker on the back (thanks again, Michele--I stand out from the crowd).
I get that a lot...as in "Oh, Rachel, we were just saying about you the other day...blah, blah, blah".
Um, OK? Slightly weird. I picture this great cabal of Navy wives in some dark room, clad in robes and chanting and then discussing everyone on base. I hope they don't put any curses on me.
Fun highlights of suddenly being a cheerleader/prom queen: I played Bunco this week, conveniently two doors down in our cell block. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of chat, lots of laughter. In positive proof that my Navy world is slowly but surely shutting in on me, like the garbage compactor in Star Wars, one of the wives there was at a CUH-RAZY dining out that we went to in San Diego in 2003. Very bizarre, but I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. We bonded instantly over that event, during which I narrowly avoided getting barfed on, junior officers got into fistfights, etc. It is still THE weirdest dining out I've ever attended.
And I won $10 for having the most Bunco(s) or something.
In other news, midterms were this week and I'm so WWI'd out, but must push on now, slogging through 1916, zeppelins and naval battles and the role of aircraft in WWI. German is more work than I thought it was and even so, all I really know how to do now is describe my home, how many windows it has and what hobbies and interests I have. Just so you know, I have acht Fenstern in meine Haus. Oh, I did learn how to describe myself (because Germans are just SO fond of putting themselves out there): Ich habe blonde Haar and blaue Augen und ich habe drei kinder. Ich komme aus Minnesota aber jetzt wohne in Japan.
So anyway. Today I need to catch up on all my homework and bid my husband adieu as he flies out to meet the ship tomorrow to begin turnover. Eeek.
Wish us luck. Here we go...
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Michele