Ohana

For the most part, I have accepted the fact that I am a military wife now and I just have to go along with everything that entails. Sure, I'm not one of those overly-involved wives and I'm pretty sure I will never be. But I fully support my husband and am really proud of what he does. And because of the life we've chosen, we've been able to live in places I probably would otherwise never choose to live.

The one and only thing I can't get over, is being apart from my family and friends. It's especially hard this time of year--with holidays and birthdays going on. It's going to be my first Christmas away from home. It was my second year not at home for my birthday. It's all still new to me and it's hard for me to get over.

So this year, on my birthday, I thought it was for sure going to be a bummer--not only am I away from home, but I just moved here and don't have any friends close enough to go and celebrate with. Jerome had to work (at least he wasn't on 24 hour duty!) and I thought I'd be completely alone. I didn't even tell anyone at my work (although Crystal told me I should've have worn a "It's my birthday!" shirt...) so it was no big deal. I continued to tell myself, "it's fine." But it wasn't so bad. In fact, it was a great day. My email box was bombarded with birthday wishes. I received text messages all day long. My phone was ringing nonstop and eventually ran out of battery life. I talked on the phone practically all day from the time I got off work. I receieved comments on my Facebook & Myspace pages from friends and some family members I've never even met! I received cards and presents in the mail. It was all overwhelming, but I was so happy. Jerome ended up having to stay at work late due to a stupid incident, so we just got some takeout that night and called it a day. We had a good time on the weekend, though, exploring more shops and enjoying the (finally) good weather. It was a great birthday--because althought I was techinically by myself, I was really surrounded by love.

Here are some pictures from various days. The first one is from Thanksgiving--we had turkey, chicken and ham sandwiches on the beach. This is Bellows Beach, a military owned beach opened to the public only on weekends.

Julie gave us steaks for my birthday and Christmas. Jerome was more excited about the dry ice it came in. This is him with the spray hose from the sink! On the right is a picture of what our freezer looks like after all those steaks are jammed in! Thanks, Julie!

Here's Bella in front of our tree! Doesn't she look like she's in the Christmas spirit? hahah..

My In-Laws are coming in on Monday. I can't wait! It's going to be so nice to see family again.

Keikis

i'm at work now and I have some down time since it's an early day for the kids. So far, I'm really enjoying my time here at this school. My groups (reminder: 3rd grade Language Arts and 6th grade Math) are really good keikis and so far, it seems that I'm really going to be helpful to them. Especially in the 6th grade math class...they're starting to open up to me and aren't afraid to say, "can you please slow down?" or "I don't understand..." Usually, I don't find out that they "don't get it" until their homework comes back completely wrong.

So I'm starting feel more comfortable here. I'm starting to throw around Hawaiian words like "keikis". (kids, students, child) I've also learned to say "Merry Christmas!" Ready.... "Mele Kalikimaka!" I'm currently working on "Happy New Year"...haha..it's all too much to remember. "Hou'oli Makahiki Hou!" geez...the keikis like to teach me new words...so we're learning from each other!

Not much going on here. Jerome ended up not having to work on Thanksgiving, so we met up with his crew (the few that didn't have to work) at Bellows Beach. Bellows Beach is owned by the military (you have to show your military i.d. prior to entering) and is closed to the public during the week. It's opened to the public on the weekends and is really popular for camping. (not roughing it though--there are cabins!) It was a beautiful day and we had turkey, chicken, and ham at the beach. The chief and his wife made all the food--I felt bad that I didn't bring anything, but we didn't know that Jerome didn't have to work until 8am that morning...so yeah. I had a reletively stress free Thanksgiving. We went shopping on Friday--just a little bit. We went to the NEX and Jerome got me a purse for my birthday. Afterwards, we wanted to go out to Kailua for breakfast (macadamia nut pancakes!!) but we got a Christmas tree instead. :) We then we to the Ala Moana mall later in the day--there was a big UH game that day, so we figured that most of the crowds would either be at the game or watching it. Although the mall was crowded (it always is!) it was not as bad as it could have been.

Jerome is also settling at work nicely. He basically works from 6am - 6pm everyday. Every third day, however, he has a 24 hour shift (he's on "duty") and so his work day is 36 hours. Today is his duty day...he left this morning at 6am and won't be coming home until 6pm tomorrow. 'Tis the life of the military. The reason for the 24 hour shift is b/c his part of the boat always needs to be manned by someone...you can't just turn off the reactor or leave it unattended. (the chinese will steal the secrets, apparently...haha!) So yeah--it's me and Bella when he's gone. Sometimes I think Bella misses him more than I do because she is SO SAD when he's not home. She's always looking at the door to see if he's coming in. Such a cutie!

That's all for now. I really wish other people like Crystal or Gloria or Fina would update their blogs. It's not fun reading your own blog everyday. haha!!

ps--no pictures because I'm at work--maybe I'll upload some from home....MAYBE