Bali {day1}

We recently returned from the most amazing vacation of our lives {and I used to work for an airline, so I've been on quite a few vacations}.  I spent a lot of time researching and planning this trip and the only thing I would have changed was to stay longer!  This is the 1st trip I've taken where at the end I said, "I MUST return to this place".  My grandmother used to only watch movies one time, she'd refuse to watch a movie she'd already seen saying, "I already know what happens so I don't need to see it again, I'd rather watch one I haven't seen" and I have the same feelings toward most places I've visited; Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, Czech Republic, etc.  All of those places were wonderful but I've tried the food, met the people, seen the sights so I'd rather go somewhere new and try new food, meet new people and see new sights.  Until now.  I cannot wait to return to the beautiful island of Bali!

After a couple of fairly long flights {we watched Dark Knight Rises "together" on our separate tv monitors}

 and a lay over in Seoul {where I found a Smoothie King and did a mini happy dance in the middle of the airport},

 we arrived, late, late at night and we were picked up at the airport by a driver our hotel sent.  On the drive to our hotel I was surprised at how dirty and run down most things were.  I know Indonesia is a "third world" country but I was still a bit shocked.  When our driver turned off a main road onto an unpaved dirt road just a few blocks from our hotel, I started to second guess the hotel I had selected based on online reviews.  Thankfully, upon arrival and during the duration of our stay, those thoughts were put to ease and I couldn't be happier with our my "hotel" choice.  In a quite area on a small piece of land with only 12 rooms that they don't rent to families with children, it was perfect for us.  The staff was incredibly attentive and willing to go above and beyond to insure we enjoyed our stay.

Legian Guest House

our room

the view from our room

Like I said, we arrived late at night and we only had 4 days on the island so we took off early the next morning to see the sights of Ubud.  Thanks to some advice I received on Trip Advisor, we hired a driver for the day.  I was a tad nervous to have some total stranger showing up at our hotel just hours after we arrived but luckily the people on TA were reliable.  We knew we wanted to see the Ubud market and we had reservations for a silver class in the afternoon but our driver, Dedy made some recommendations and definitely made our day better that it would have been without him.

Our 1st stop was the monkey forest, something that I thought we wouldn't have time for but Dedy knew the lay of the land better than I and assured me we had plenty of time. You could purchase bananas to feed the monkeys at the entrance but we decided just to watch other people feed them.

One of the monkeys took a liking to Jason

then started picking on him, hitting him on the head and pulling his ear

then out of no where, it leaned down and bit him on the arm!

 It even broke the skin!  Now he just has a giant bruise but I was pretty concerned when it 1st happened.

After the monkey scare, we walked from the park to the Ubud market

I picked up a few paintings and a dress while practicing my bargaining skills.  Next we stopped for lunch and a place called Oops where I had the best eggplant Parmesan I've ever eaten.  Jason had soup and a beer and I also had a Coke and our total bill was about $13 US!

After lunch, Dedy drove us over to the Chez Monique silver class we had signed up for.  For about $40US we each learned a little about silver and how jewelry is created and were able to make a piece of our design/choosing to take home.

 my hot sweaty self sawing out the shape for my piece

 Our instructor started this out for me then handed it over for me to finish.  1st swipe with the saw and I broke the blade!  Luckily after he replaced it I made it through the rest of it with out breaking any more tools! {not my original idea!  I saw something similar on etsy and decided to try to make it myself}

We were pretty pleased with our finished pieces

That night we had dinner on the beach

Since this happened to be Thanksgiving day and Thanksgiving is celebrated with a feast, we decided to have a non traditional Thanksgiving feast of our own that night, seafood!  One of the staff at our hotel suggested Cafe Jukung where we had prawn, lobster, fish, squid and mussels.  I stuck to the lobster, shrimp and fish which was all just ok.  It was good, just nothing spectacular. We still stuffed ourselves silly just like we would have at home =}

Day 2  ::  Day 3  ::  Day 4

Mission Trip

This poor little blog of mine has been neglected lately but I plan to rectify that starting today!

Two weeks ago, I spent 5 days in Ishinomaki on a mission trip with our base chapel.  We took 15 people up to work in an area that was hit hard by the tsunami over the long Veterans day weekend.   This was my 2nd trip to this specific town {you can read about my first trip here} and unfortunately I think it will be my last.  The needs of the area are changing and they desperately need people who speak Japanese now which counts me out.  Over all I spent about 5 weeks in Tohoku and that area will always hold a very special place within my heart.

This trip we spent most of our time working on two projects.  Picking the tiny pieces of dry wall left in an apartment complex and putting up an enormous tent that the missionaries will use for storage.

While we were there a local fisherman donated some fresh fish, squid and crab to the missionaries so we had a BBQ our last night in town with everyone.

 rice, salad, grilled veggies and lots of grilled seafood, YUM!

After dinner, some ladies who are working on the Nozomi Project came by to sell us some of their jewelry.  

From their website

"Nozomi, translated 'hope' in Japanese, is a social enterprise organization striving to bring sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to the women in Ishinomaki, Japan by providing employment crafting unique jewelry products that can be commercially sold. Most of these women are single mothers and grandmothers who lost their livelihood when the tsunami crashed through half of their city in 2011."

We worked with some of these ladies on our 1st trip so it was great to see how much product they had created since we were last there.

We were able to purchase some of the pieces and we almost wiped them out.  I bought 3 pieces myself. 

The bracelet and necklace on the right were made by the lovely Yuri who happened to be there that night along with her daughter Moeka.

Yuri's story was shared with us later that evening and no one in the room had a dry eye when she was finished.  {some of my details may be a tad off here} She was with her daughter and 3 year old son when the sirens went off.  Her ex husband came by and took her son saying he would keep him safe and meet up with Yuri and Moeka once they were given the all clear.  That was the last time she ever saw her son.  She was holding him safe in her arms and let him go thinking he would be safe.  Unbeknownst to her, she was pregnant at the time of the tsunami with her new husband.  When her new son was born she was so overcome with grief that she couldn't bare to hold her newborn.  After months of working with the missionaries and the Nozomi project, she has started to overcome her grief and pain and it now a loving mother to her little boy. 

Yuri and her family are now a permanent fixture in my prayers.  If you are once who believes in the power of prayer, I ask you to pray for Yuri and the women of the Nozomi project.  These women have suffered more than most of us could imagine.  At this time, there jewelry is only available locally but as soon as it is available for purchase online y'all will be some of the 1st to know {I plan to do a giveaway and make an announcement as soon as I hear anything}.

30 while 30 {10 months}

2 months {and a few days...apparently I didn't schedule this to post like I thought I did, oops!} into my 30's and I'm chugging along on my little list.  4 out of 30 complete and many more are in progress.

Health/Fitness {0/4}

1} take a yoga class

2} do 1 unassisted pull up

3} pass the Army PT test for my gender/age group
4} complete the CZ "swim around Japan" challenge

Food {0/6}
5} eat one week strict paleo{well, almost strict, coke doesn't count}

6} make Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls 

7}learn to cook 5 Japanese dishes from scratch {1/5 1. Nikujaga}
8} master 5 go-to last minute meals
9} try 5 new foods
10} meal plan every month {2/12}

Japan/Travel {1/9}

11}visit at least 3 new sites in Japan {1/3 1.Tokyo Disney}

12}visit Tokyo Disney {DONE 23Oct12}

13} ride an elephant in Thailand
14} see the Great Wall of China
15} put my feet in the Indian Ocean-

16}volunteer somewhere outside of the US {DONE 8-12Nov12, Ishinomaki, Japan}
17} take Jason to Red River Gorge AKA my favorite place in the world

18} print, frame and display at least one photo from each of our trips

19} visit at least 3 new countries

Random {3/11}

20}watch all 100 movies off the AFI {American Film Institute} top 100 list {40/119}
there are actually 2 lists, we combined them and there are 118 different movies on the lists

21} contribute to savings every month {2/12}
22}volunteer somewhere at least once a month {2/12}
23} have new photos taken of Jason and I {DONE 16Sep12}
24} send 12 personalized "just because" gifts/cards {3/12}
25} revamp my resume

26} learn at least 50 ASL words

27} attend an Army sponsored marriage retreat {DONE 22-24Oct12}

28} get caught up on my scrapbooks and stay current

29} VOTE in the Presidential election {DONE 17Oct12}

30} blog 100 times

stuff

Nothing huge going on here lately so I thought I'd update on some of the day to day things we've been up to.

We've attended quite a few flag football games, supporting Jason's unit.  It's finally feeling a bit more like fall around here. 

Jason's super awesome co-op and friend, Hama, sent us a bag of rice from his parents field.  This has by far been the coolest gift we've received while in Japan.  I hope I can convince him to send us a bag every year.  It would be so nice to have fresh, Japanese rice even once we move back to the US.

Last week Jason and I attended our 1st military ball together {unless you count the ROTC ball we went to a couple of years ago}.  It wasn't our branch and we only knew a few people there but we still had a great time.  We {he} decided at lunch the day of the event that we were going to attend so I must give a huge shout out to my best friend here who loaned me a dress and let me borrow hairspray {yeah, I'm so ungirly that I don't own real hairspray}, Kristin, you're a life savor!

I'm so beyond thrilled to have a "formal" photo of Jason and I thanks to the AMAZING Rob of Back From Leave who came out and took some shots at the event.   

I won a super awesome prize at the ball and I'm slowly working my way through these guys

I have spent a significant amount of time at the gym this week.  My body is incredibly sore but I'll be grateful when I'm laying on the beach in Bali in 2.5 weeks.

 I had a meeting the morning of Halloween so I took clothes and showered at the gym but forgot shoes...oops!  Not the look I was going for.

My Mt Fuji pumpkin.  It's not perfect but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

I invited some of my students/friends onto base with their children to trick-or-treat.  I love sharing some of my American traditions with them

 We've spent a lot of time with this little dude and his brother recently.   His parents {my friend Kristin I mentioned above is their mom} had asked us to be babysitting plan B or C but Jason insisted on being their 1st option and I'm so glad he did.  We had breakfast for dinner, went bowling and watched hours of Sponge Bob one day and took them to Burger King and a football game another night while their parents attended work functions.  These boys are great and we always have fun with them.

This weekend we headed into Tokyo for a ramen show and I saw this on our way there.  I know there are many nights in college I would have paid top dollar for some McD's delivery!

Jason is a master ramen slurper

I could probably eat ramen 3 meals a day, especially in the winter.  I love this stuff!

On our way back to the train station we walked past an open arena of sorts and stopped in to watch some type of karate demonstration/competition.  It's the unexpected cultural experience we love most here. 

I leave in a few days for Ishinomaki.   A small group from our chapel is going to spend the long Veterans Day weekend working with the same missionaries we worked with over the summer.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they have for us this time.  About a week after I return from Ishi, Jason and I are taking off for Bali.  Bali has been high on my priority list since we moved to Japan and we're finally making it happen over Thanksgiving Day weekend.  This will be my first time traveling over a major holiday and I was kind of bummed about missing my favorite holiday until our awesome friends decided we should just celebrate a few days early.

I hope everyone is having a great November!