Puzzle-ing

Oh my goodness, is it really the 22nd? Obviously I haven't been living up to my promise to post everyday. I really underestimated the commitment that it would take. I also thought I was on the computer a lot more than I really am! Sorry folks!

We've been having a great time with the boys. Since the oyster festival weekend we have been busy, as usual. The boys spent the days during the week exploring around the town. They've made several trips to the hardware and auto parts stores. Luckily, that also resulted in us getting our car & door handle fixed. Thanks Jessie & Jimmy!

This weekend we ventured out to Nagasaki so the boys would have the chance to see the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Memorial Museum. We had a fun time driving down to Nagasaki, since all the times in the past Casey and I have taken a train or a bus. The country-side here is so beautiful, we just really enjoy cruising around. We were all worried that the tolls were going to be super expensive, but we were lucky, round trip we only paid about $15. Much cheaper than 4 round trip train tickets! Plus, parking was fairly cheap, too!

It's such a fun time seeing Casey and his brothers together. I didn't have brothers growing up, so this is a totally new experience for me. I make LOTS of food, and they just love to pick on each other, it's really quite hilarious because each one of them does an impression of the other, but in the end they all sound exactly the same anyway! (Think mumbling southern accents with food in their mouths) :) Silly boys! Lucky for me I still think fart jokes are hilarious, and we've even got a special nick-name for Jimmy: The Nocturnal Sharecropping Retard. I guess you had to be there...? Jessie seems to think everything in Japan is "sick". He won't try raw fish (OK, he had one TINY bite...but that didn't count), and he even thinks the temples/shrines aren't worth visiting. He seems to think they're just too anti-Christian to bother going. I hope he's still enjoying himself though, there's so many things to enjoy and appreciate here, even if it's not your cup of tea all the time. At least he likes the cars!

We were lucky to find a nice church Jessie liked going to for Sunday, so we had a pretty quiet morning while he went to service and we did some sleeping in and chatting over cups of coffee and tea. By the time he made it back we were well into lunch-time and had our tummies rumbling. I cooked up some yummy quesadillas, which were delish! We decided to make the afternoon push to go back out to Hirado and the lighthouse we had visted earlier in the year. Jessie was too pooped to make it so he stayed home and had a nap. It was a shame he missed out though because it turned out to be one of our best adventures so far. We stopped in Hirado, which Casey and I had only passed through before, and were surprised to find quite a large castle structure that was open to the public. The place was practically empty so we took our time perusing the grounds and viewing their artifacts from the times of the samurai. There was a very beautiful temple there too, which must have recently had some visitors, because there was a whole tree filled with tied papers with prayers written on them. There was also a super-giant size oyster shell, at least four feet across! Crazy! We ended up spending a lot more time in the castle than we had originally planned, but it was so interesting we really had a nice time exploring the grounds. By the time we left were were pressed for time to get out to the lighthouse by sunset. We raced through some of the rural farming areas pretty quickly, which didn't give Jimmy much of a chance to snap the drive-by pictures, but maybe we enticed him enough that he can convince Jessie to go back out with him again.

We missed the official "sunset" but we were still out there in enough time to see the twilight and the moon rise. It was quite a beautiful night, and Jimmy snapped some great pictures. I don't know if they brought their camera cords with them here, but I'm hoping to steal some of those pictures he took at the cliffs. We spent the remainder of the night having dinner and doing a puzzle, that we found along our travels (I had no idea the Burnette's were puzzle-fiends! Those boys really got into it, Casey too!). I'm pretty excited to do some more puzzle-ing together. The jury is still out though on whether we should save the puzzle (i.e. glue over it once finished and frame it) or take it apart to save it for another puzzle-ing time. Anyone care to weigh in on what to do with a finished puzzle? Art or game? Stephanie & Heidi Furst: please tell me you remember the Carmen San Diego Puzzle Board Game that we did about 10,000 times in our childhoods...?

P.S. We got SUMO TICKETS! We'll be having a big send-off weekend in Fukuoka with the boys! Woo! Also, I quit my job, but I'll write about that later...and I'm going to Singapore!

Chicken Skins and Burnt Cow

Hi friends, sorry I've been offline for a few days, this cold is still kicking my butt! With the boys here we are so busy during the days, and when we finally wind down, I just go straight to sleep! I don't know how to shake it! I'm trying to get all the rest I can, but it just keeps lingering. I lost my voice for the whole morning yesterday, so it was kind of difficult to work. :(

We had a fun little get together with the boys and a few friends on Saturday night, nothing too wild, but it was nice to introduce the boys to some of the people Casey works with and try to keep them up a little later to help with the time change! Jessie only made it to about 10:30, which wasn't too bad! Jimmy managed to stay up until about midnight, when the party-goers headed out. I made some deviled eggs for the party and they turned out quite tasty!

On Sunday we made an attempt to find this fish market, where they have a tuna-cleaning demonstration and then after they let you sample the sashimi, but we couldn't find the market! That was kind of a bummer, but instead we found a little "flea market" at a nearby university. The flea market portion was not that interesting, mostly just very small women's clothes, so we perused the food booths instead. It was a little bit overwhelming, because the university kids got excited every time we walked past one of the booths. We took some pictures with a few of them, but mostly we had to turn down their offerings, most of which were hot dogs. We stopped at the far end of the market to see a band perform, and boy, they were terrible. I have a video somewhere around here, but I can't seem to find my cords right now. I promise I will update later! By the time we made our way back to the beginning of the food stands, the boys were feeling adventurous enough to try something. They both selected these little chicken skewers that were bbq-ed. Turns out, they were little pieces of chicken skins that were all stacked together. Jessie was done after one bite, but Jimmy managed to eat a few skewers full before he gave up.

After that we decided to try to find this hotel that was at the very top of the mountain we live on, we've tried before with little success. This time, we found it, and it was definitely worth it. There were 360 degree views of the entire city, the ports, the outlying islands. It was really a beautiful scenery. My camera wouldn't take many pictures because the sun was too strong, but I'll post what I have later.

After that little excursion we went back to the oyster festival for lunch and met up with some more friends. It was a good time. Since we were a little more experienced this time, I didn't get sprayed with any oyster juice. We even bought some scallops, which were still alive when purchased. Their shells were snapping open and closed vigorously, it was kind of creepy. It was a nice warm fall day, so we all enjoyed being outside.

With the day still only half-over we were all feeling a little pooped, so we headed back to the house and all took some much needed naps. I was barely making it with my cold at this point so it was either nap or die for me.

For dinner we were invited to a cool place downtown where you grill your own food at the table. The boys really enjoyed this, and Jessie made sure all of our food was burnt. Thanks. But all in all the food was great and the boys were not at all worried they were eating anything raw. We grilled up all kinds of steak cuts and veggies, and they had lots of different sauces you could dip the food in, very yummy!

It was a really long Sunday!

I think if I keep up this pace, I will have this cold the entire time the boys are here! :(

We're Big in Japan

We made a successful trip to and from the airport in Fukuoka, so I feel really proud Casey and I navigated the Japanese highway system without any major incidents! Not surprisingly, the boys were really easy to pick out of the crowd coming out of the terminal. They were tired from their travels, but in good spirits! Mostly the drive back was uneventful, but the boys kept us laughing with their commentary. "Casey, keep your eyes on the road!", Casey was in the passengers' seat, which is where the drivers seat is in the states, so there was no danger. Luckily, we found out that by renting a government vehicle we would get the tolls (about $80 round trip to the airport) paid for. So we saved a little money by renting a vehicle for $50, plus we had nice trunk and leg room for the longer trip for the boys.

Once we made it home and had them settled in we headed out in town to the main shopping district to see the local wares and get some dinner. We perused the shops for a little while, and finally settled in to eat at a nice little noodle place on the ginza. We got ramen and fried rice with some little won ton like things called goyza. So tasty! Jessie made it clear he was not ready for raw food, so the noodles were a safe bet. After our bellies were full we thought a good welcoming activity would be to take the boys to karaoke. After singing all the Hank Williams and Johhny Cash the bar had to offer, the jet-lagged song birds were ready to hit the hay.

We lucked out that the next day (today), there was an oyster festival going on just down the road from our house. We took the boys on a quick tour of the ship yard where Casey's ship is getting fixed, and then headed over to the park for some oysters. It was a new experience for all of us! We bought a bag of freshly harvested oysters with all the necessary extras (soy sauce and a shucking knife) and found a spot at one of the many pre-set up mini grills with even mini-er seats! So while we all tried to not-sketchily stare at everyone else to figure out what the heck we were doing, a very nice older man came over with a wok full of burning coals and filled up our grill. OK! In business. We spend the next few minutes cooking and eating the 15 or soy oysters we bought, and as more people started to shuffle in as lunch time approached, we started noticing that lots of people had other goodies on their grills. Corn and hot dogs seemed to be the most popular non-oyster items on the grills, so we got a little more adventurous and went to the other booths to get some tasty treats and some drinks. It turned out to be a pretty good lunch! I haven't put any of the pictures up on facebook yet, but as soon as I do, I will put the link up here as well.

We're planning on throwing a little welcoming party for them this evening, so we're looking forward to that too! I think it's going to be an awesome time with them here, they're a lot of fun, and always willing to go out and explore whatever we've got. More adventures to come!

The Mountain Men Have Landed

Happy Veterans Day :) Casey was able to work a half day today in order to take Friday off so he can drive with me to pick up his brothers in Fukuoka. So excited I don't have to make the 2 hour trip alone. I'm still feeling rather sick and I think a navigator in the car would definitely increase my chances of actually making it to the airport to pick up the boys.

Sadly, I still haven't heard from work about their decision on me staying or not, so I'm just going to enjoy my 4 day weekend without worrying about it. I'm feeling less and less convinced I should stay there, the longer I stay there. Also, it didn't help that the keys I have for work are on this lanyard, and it has one of those scrunchy things on the end so it stretches. I was digging around in my bag for them on my way to work (while already waking up sick and achy, so the morning was off to a bad start already), and when I felt the lanyard I just pulled up, but the scrunchy part was caught on something and when it loosened up it went straight into my face! The keys chipped some of the paint on the frames of my glasses. I think it was a sign that the bank and I are not meant to be.

I'm making it through the days on green tea with honey, grape nuts, and layers of blankets. Luckily, I'm starting to feel better, just need to keep resting! I've been putting off cleaning up the house for so long now, and since the boys get here tomorrow, it's my last chance! Unluckily for Casey, he's home with me today, so I'm putting him to work too, since I'm so ill. :)

Casey and I ran out to do a quick couple of errands today, and decided we were going to try to find this hotel that is at the very top of the mountain that we live on. We thought we were continually heading up and toward the hotel, but somehow we came out behind the place that we started at. I'm feeling like that is not good foreboding for our trip to the airport tomorrow, but we'll just leave a little early!

We did get a phone call from the boys during dinner, they made it to the Tokyo airport and even found their hotel for the night. Success! Now all they have to do is catch their flight in the morning, and we'll pick them up! We're having some set backs with getting Sumo tickets. Seems to be that several of the days are sold out. :( We're currently pursuing additional ticket aquisition avenues. Hopefully, their whole trip will be a great success! I know I'm looking forward to it!

P.S. When your husband is making homemade hot sauce and he asks you to taste test, just refuse. My mouth is still partially numb, and the tingling is not going away....

A Quickie...

Not much to report for today...no word from the bosses on the schedule situation, and my sore throat is getting worse, now congested and achy too. Went to bed at 6:45 PM. I have the best husband in the world; he wrapped me up in blankets, because I was so cold and put me to bed right away, which really helped my fever, and I'm definitely improved from all the rest. That doesn't leave much excitement from the day though, sorry! I did talk with Jimmy (Casey's brother) this morning while Casey was getting ready for work. They are getting packed up to come see us! They leave Wednesday in the States, and get here to us on Friday. Long journey for them! Hopefully all will go smoothly. Wish I had more to tell you about, but perhaps my cold will shake itself off today and there will be better stories on the morrow (although, I did accidentally hit myself in the face with my keys on my way to work, but maybe I can elaborate on that later).

Putting my Cards on the Table

After my post yesterday about what I really want from work, I was feeling very motivated. I found that writing my thoughts down really helped me to solidify my reasonings and gave me a sort-of preparation for speaking with my boss at work. I wrote down my main points and laid it all out there for my boss and let her know that I need more from them, and I need them to need less from me. I felt like I explained all my issues and made it very clear that this was a serious need for me and my family. Thankfully, being that everyone who works at the bank are also Navy families, my boss was very understanding of where I was coming from. We agreed she would take some time to think/talk it over with the other manager, and let me know. I also let them know that I would be willing to hear if they had any other arrangement ideas that I might consider. So either I will be quitting my new job in the next few days or I will get a week off in December to go to Singapore with Casey, a flexible, 3 day work week, and more freedom and say in my scheduling. We shall see! Either way though, I see it as a big win for me. I feel proud of myself that I stood up for what was best for our family, and either I'll have a job that works for me, or I will have the chance to find that knitting class I've been looking for! :)

That was really the biggest event of yesterday, but Casey is FINALLY of duty, after about 5 days, and we got Drifter fixed! So we're just about ready for Jessie and Jimmy to come out and visit us! Luckily, I have Thurday off (Veteran's day) so I can finish cleaning up and getting some extra sheets washed. I'm so excited for their visit, I'm just hoping now I can get those Sumo tickets! Sayonara!

Jay-Bug; Work-Bug

Surprise! My friend Jason (nickname: Jay-Bug, but only to me) was in Nagasaki for work (randomly), and he took the train up for a quick visit! It was such a treat! He's getting married to my college roommate this May, so excited for them! I gave him a little tour of our lovely town of Sasebo, or at least I tried to, but I was thrice cut off by my work's "on-call" phone. Yes, my part time job, called me 3 times on Sunday, to check on jammed ATM's. It was totally ridiculous, but more on that later. We thought about trying to make an appearance at the hot air balloon festival, but all the trips back to the base for the ATM's nixed that option. So instead we just grabbed some fruits at the local store to bring to Casey on the ship, did a little mini tour of the house, and stopped in on the USS Patriot, while it has some repairs done. Casey gave us a neat tour of the ship, since it was Sunday and no one was working on board. It was neat! (If anyone is interested in some Navy-approved pictures of the ship under construction, here is a link to their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-Patriot-MCM-7/359718106353).

After our ship tour we decided to sample some local specialties, and went to "Big Man", for the famous, Sasebo Burger. I'd had another version before Jay's visit, but this one was much better than my first. It was a nice filling lunch, on our way to the restaurant we perused the arcade, or shopping street, and we picked out Megan a little present! Only to get another call about the ATM and have to head back to the base again. RIDICULOUS. Luckily, Jay busied himself shopping tax-free at the NEX while I tended the ATM again. We also popped in on a small oyster festival, where people were buying bags of oysters and grilling them on hundreds of little bar-b-que sets out in a field. It was very fun to see (I will bug Jay-Bug for his picture of that!).

Sasebo is a really neat town, but it's just a normal small city where people live normal lives and go to work and go to the park. So we exhausted most of our neat places to visit rather quickly, so after a quick drive around the downtown, we drove through some rice patties, and saw a little of the country side, and Jay headed back to Nagasaki on a train before dinner, since he was going to be working bright and early the next day on a Japanese Navy ship. It was so fun to have a little impromptu visit! Very refreshing, the day was absolutely amazing, sunny, but just the right coolness in the air. Fall here is wonderful, I definitely recommend visiting this time of year!

So after I dropped Jay off at the train station, I stopped at the local grocery again to pick up some sushi for Casey's dinner (he's still on duty on the ship). This is when we got to talking about work and the silly ATM calls all day. We finally landed on a very important point. As the employee, I need to be honest and firm with my employers about my realistic commitment to this "part-time" job. Being on-call on the weekend doesn't seem that part time, if you ask me. Also, a huge part of the reason Casey and I selected Japan for our station was for the opportunities to travel and explore together. Casey found out he will be going to a conference in Singapore, and originally I told him I couldn't go with him because I have to work. Now let's think about that for a moment. I was turning down a trip to Singapore with my husband, because of a 20-hour a week, part time job, that I'm doing "for fun". It's just not adding up. There's really no reason I should be putting this job (or any job) ahead of my husband and family, and the plans that are truly important to us. I've decided that the best thing to do is to lay out what I want from this job, not what they want from me. I think for employment to be worth your time you and your employer need to be on the same page, and right now I don't believe we are. Here is what I want:

-to work 0-20 a week, which implies that there may be times when my life schedule doesn't permit me to be scheduled for work.

-to work only a maximum of 3 days a week.

-to have the flexibility to seize opportunities, like the Singapore trip, that come up, often with little notice.

-to spend time with my husband, my family, and my friends when there are important events happening (and sometimes Casey being not-out-to-sea is important enough for me).

I know this all may sound a little selfish, but I'm OK with that. There's no reason an employer should be getting the most valuable pieces of me. Ideally, this would have been a discussion for before I applied for this job, however, I think I also needed this job to help me get my priorities straight. My position would obviously be different if this were an income-necessity situation, or if this was a serious career move, in order to better some greater goal in my life, but being a part-time bank teller is none of these. It's a way for me to get out of the house during the day, meet people, and make "fun-money" for those spontaneous trips we plan to go on.

So, I think by letting my job know what I need from them, we can come to a mutual decision about whether working there is really a benefit to both sides, and if it's not, then it's not an arrangement I should be in, is it?

I welcome thoughts and comments!