We're not in Kansas anymore!: September Fun and CupNoodles Museum

Where has the time gone?? It's been 2 months since I last updated. I have not been terribly busy, just regular life stuff. And what is "regular life stuff"?? You know, working, hanging out at home with the hubs, hanging out with friends, cooking, cleaning, some base activities, some exercise, some Grey's Anatomy (we're pretty committed to going through the whole series so that we can catch up to the current episodes). I'll elaborate a smidge:

Work is good! I'm not sure how much I've wrote about my job. First, I bike to work, and that takes about 25 minutes, one way. Mondays are my super short days. I leave my house at 9 and I'm back shortly after noon. Tuesdays and Thursday are a later start, so I try to get in some Facetime calls and workout before work, then I'm gone from 11-3:45. Wednesday, 9-12 and Friday 9-3. I teach 2 or 3 classes each day, sometimes with lunch or other classes between. I work with 5 different Japanese English teachers and I only see each class once a week, except for my one class, Oral Communication. I see them twice per week. My co-workers are all very nice and super easy to work with. In some classes, I read the story, have them repeat vocabulary words and phrases and have them practice reading from the book. My co-workers work on the actual translation with the kids. Sometimes we do vocabulary worksheets and games, sometimes I ask them questions about what they've been reading in English. The main goal is to get the kids to speak more English. I love my job, as it gives me structure for my days, but it's only part time so I still have plenty of time and energy for other things. I also have large breaks from school, like the whole month of March (between school years here), the majority of July and August, and the whole month of December. It's pretty much the ideal job for me here.

Bryan's work is still good. I don't want to write a lot about it, but he's quite happy. When the ship is out, the majority of the active duty here go with it, so sometimes work is slow. Then when the ship gets back and is getting ready to go back out, they're pretty busy.

I still love cooking. Pinterest is my source of motivation. In an effort to save money and calories, we try to eat in a lot. I also try to make at least one new dinner each week. For me, it's more fun than making the same old thing. Perhaps when I have more responsibilities I'll feel different, but for now, it's fun! I also enjoy baking, especially since I have a brand new hot pink ("Raspberry Ice") KitchenAid mixer. I keep a couple of servings at the house for us, but then either share the rest with my co-workers or with Bryan's co-workers. It's nice that I can pawn off the calories on others.

I try to go for a jog a couple times a week. Now I've been doing about 3 miles, at the same slow pace, for the longest time now. In an effort to improve my speed and distance, I started using MapMyRun. So far, so good. I love when the lady interrupts my music and tells me how far I've gone and my pace. So far, I've improved my mile pace by about 40 seconds in just the first week. I guess all the years of teaching and sitting through meetings telling me to set "data driven goals" has rubbed off on my personal life as well.

Here's some photo proof of our September activities:

A lot of the commands get spouse pictures. So here are some of the clinic spouses, left to right: Kristin, Allie, Jimena, Kain, James, Me, Ashley, and Dawn. Such a fun group! This was actually taken back in the summer, but I didn't post it until now.

I went out to dinner with my co-workers and friend, Nami and Ayako, for okonomiyaki. All of the ingredients (cabbage, green onions, ginger, and egg and then your choice of protein and cheese) are mixed together and then you make it into a pancake-like-goodness at the griddle at your table. Because it's delicious and fun to make, it's pretty popular here.

Say, "Okonomiyaki!!"

Kazuka-San teaches ikebana class on base. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. There are so many different types of arrangements and Kazuka says "Space is golden!" And that's Desiree on the left. She's a fun gal and a dedicated member of Book Club with me.

Bryan and I spent a Saturday down at Enoshima Island. We had been there once already, soon after we arrived to Japan, but this time we went further up into the island. At the very top is the Sea Candle, a tower that has a great view of the area.

After we were at the very top, we took the long trek down to the ocean to check out some caves. The caves weren't impressive, but we enjoyed playing in the ocean along the way.

You can tell this picture is taken on the weekend because the majority of the people are not wearing black and white or school uniforms, like they do during the week for work. This was taken at the station by us, Sagamino.

One Saturday we went to Yokohama to celebrate a birthday. We started at the Cup Noodles museum and then had lunch and drinks at a British pub. In case you're not familiar, CupNoodles are available at the grocery store, probably right beside the ramen noodles. They're served in a styrofoam cup and you simply add hot water, let it sit 3 minutes, and ta-da!!, noodles! I'm usually not a big fan of such salty and processed food, but I find the curry flavored ones to be quite delicious.

The museum is a very western-looking building. It's extremely open and spacious inside, which is not all that common in Japan.

The main attraction to the whole museum is the part where you get to decorate your own Cup. As with anything in Japan, it is a very organized step-by-step process. First, we had to buy an empty cup at the vending machine (of course it was a vending machine!) Then you found a spot to sit and decorate your cup.

That's my cup to the left and the example in the middle of the table.

Left to right, Kristin and Meredith, Amanda, Feliz, Michael, and Bryan. We felt like elementary school kids, sitting around a little table and coloring. The people in the room behind them are learning how to make the actual noodles.

After a machine put noodles into our cups, we got to pick out what all we wanted. You had to choose a seasoning and 4 toppings. I choose seafood seasoning, and then shrimp, krab, egg and green onions.

Our friendly toppings gal.

Our CupNoodles! Other toppings include cheese, bacon bits, corn, pork, and those cute little chick wafers.

The Noodles Bazaar is the restaurant section of the museum. It's set up to look like an outdoor night-time food market, with each stall serving up ramen from a different country.

After a couple other stations where the vacuum seal your cup shut, plastic wrap it, and then give you a clear bag and send you to the air pump station, this is your final product! You can carry your CupNoodles around town with you all day, but that little bubble of a bag will protect your noodles from being broken.