Working Hard in NH

I've been in NH for a little over 2 weeks now and working my tail off! The first week here, I taught the 4s & 5s class for Vacation Bible School at my parents church in addition to helping with some home projects and planning a baby shower for Cristyn. This past week, my mom and I overhauled the living room (painted it, cleaned the carpets and furniture, changed the furniture layout, etc) and did more shower preparation. Yesterday, we held the baby shower, which was a success and I started to pack to head out to my next destination: Colorado.

Thankfully, it hasn't been all work and no play. I've was able to fit in some other activities, like visiting my sister up at Camp Berea, taking a shopping trip at Ikea, and riding with my dad on his ride.

Celebrating Anoli's 27th birthday:

Taking a ride on my dad's Gold Wing:

Spending time with my grandparents:

And finally, throwing my pal, Cristyn, a baby shower:

Here she is opening her Japanese-patterned baby sling from yours truly.
Some of the decorations I made - cute, huh?
Measuring Cristyn for the ribbon game
The girls (L to R): Anoli, my mom, me, Cristyn, and Nancy, Cristyn's mom
The proud parents-to-be: Aaron and Cristyn

More travel photos to come!

Down by the Bay

With Noa deployed and my summer break still in full swing, it was high time I take a pilgrimage to the states. First stop: San Francisco to see our dear friends, Herman and Traci.

Traci took me to a bunch of fun, downtown boutiques in the Mission and Haight neighborhoods of SF.  We also ate at a fun little joint called Frjtz (yeah, who knows how to pronounce that?!).  Frjtz is famous for their fries and exotic dipping sauces (I got spicy Thai ketchup) and huge crepes. These were delicious. And even though the temperatures decided to shoot up, we enjoyed our time immensely (photos courtesy of Traci).

Check out the decor at Fritz:

Big, heaping cups of fries:

Yummy, fruity crepes:

Chilling with a Coke:

More travel updates to come!

One More

In between frantic packing, cleaning, and last minute computer updating, Noa and I were able to step out on the balcony and watch the sunset one more time before he leaves for his deployment for the next 6 - 7 months. 

Beautiful.

Conversation

While waiting in line at Taco Bell 

(yes, we have a Taco Bell on the base):

N: What's a fiesta burrito?

J: It's a burrito with a party in it.

N: Oh....

Olé!

Spare Change & Yennies!

Noa and I keep 2 jars on our kitchen counter for spare change: one is for American coins, the other is for Yen.  Since the jars were filled and my trip to the US is fast approaching (read: SHOPPING!), I decided that it was time to cash it in.  Unfortunately we don't have Coinstar machines here, so I have to roll the coins.  As I was separating out the American coins, I realized that we have a slightly different coin system than that of the states: we don't use pennies!  That's right, no pennies.  None.  Nada.  If we buy something on base, the cashier simply rounds up or down.  That's also how we are given change.  It actually made it kind of difficult when I introduced money to my Kindergarten students because I had trouble finding real pennies to show them.

Anyway, I ended up getting $82 out of my jar.  Woohoo!

However, my pockets, my car, and the chair cushions are still plagued with "useless" coins hanging around.  The Japanese coin that is similar to the value of a penny is pictured above.  It is smaller and very lightweight (I swear it is made out of layers of aluminum foil).  And, it is used out in town.  So, I have a second jar with many of these mixed in. This year, I overheard several of my students refer to these coins as "yennies" and I thought it was so cute.  so now I'm not as bothered by these coins hanging around.  At least they have a cute name and don't weigh that much.