Friday, August 31, 2012

Japanese Mexican Food

On Thursday we wanted to try out a new restaurant for dinner. We both really like Mexican food which is hard to come by on the island! We had heard and seen of one Mexican restaurant called Obbligato so we decided we would give it a try. It was a pretty nice restaurant. The menu was in English and the waitress spoke English, so that's always a plus! The menu had a range of Mexican items but they all had a Japanese twist to them. A lot of them were served with an egg which I thought was strange, but that's the Japanese for ya! We started off by ordering chips and salsa. We thought the salsa tasted a lot like tomatoes (go figure, right?), almost like tomato soup or ketchup. It didn't really have the tang that "normal" salsa has. It wasn't bad though! Chad got the Enchilada plate which came with enchiladas, white rice, hashed brown, and an egg. It was like eating dinner and breakfast all at the same time! Chad really liked his meal. I tried the Nacho Taco Rice. It was a bowl of white rice with beef, beans, cheese, and onions on top. If you know me, you know I hate onions! So when it came out and it had onions all over it, I was pretty disappointed. Chad loves onions, so I picked them off and gave them to him. My meal was pretty good. It didn't really have a lot of flavor to it so I don't know if I would get it again. Overall, we had a good experience at Obbligatos and will be back again.


We tried to go to Obbligatos at 5PM but when we got there we realized they didn't open for dinner until 5:30PM. We decided to just drive around for a half hour. We drove by a pet store called Pet Box; I heard that they had puppies there so we decided to turn around and go back to it. They had a ton of cute puppies! We wanted to take them all home, however they are really expensive! I felt bad for them, whenever the store worker would walk by their cages, every single one of them was scratching wanting to get out. There was one dog that was super crazy. She reminded us of Chad's dog Reece who is back home. Check out this video and you'll see what I mean!


Not only did they have puppies but there were also fish, snakes, spiders, lizards, turtles, bunnies, ferrets, and hamsters. Lots of interesting creatures to look at!

After we ate dinner, we went looking for a new beach to watch the sunset at. We went farther south than the last beach we found and stumbled upon a park called Seaside park. We figured with that kind of name it must be by the Sea even though we couldn't see the sea while driving into the park. We got out and walked a path lined with palm trees. At one point, we stumbled upon a hangout area for cats. There were stray cats everywhere! They weren't really afraid of humans, they let us get pretty close to them. It was kind of strange. Something about cats just kind of creeps me out! Just past where we saw all the cats was the beautiful sea! We saw a very pretty sunset that night. I love watching the sunset over the ocean, it's so pretty!


Chad has Friday through Monday off this week because of Labor Day so expect lots of pictures on Facebook and new blog posts by early next week! :)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

August Comes to an End

We survived the Typhoon! Yay! On Tuesday, things were back to normal. Chad had to go into work at 7AM; he's not back to his usual shift. He has been driving my pink car to work and getting shit from the guys, I feel bad for him. If you read this blog post of mine, you would know we were waiting until this week for Chad to be able to get his car that I previously posted about. Since the typhoon had everyone stuck inside on Monday he wasn't able to get it as planned. There is quite a bit more paperwork involved here to sell a car than back in the states where it's as easy as signing the title over. He called the lady on Monday night to set up a time to do the paperwork on Tuesday. Well come to find out, she sold the car to someone else!! Supposedly, she tried texting Chad last week asking if he still wanted the car. Chad never responded (because he never received any texts), so she sold the car to someone else. Well when Chad called her, she realized she had been texting the wrong number! Great! I was so mad after Chad told me that but I realized that it truly wasn't meant to be. That car will probably break down a month from now. So our car search began all over again! Chad found a couple more cars he liked on Okinawayardsales.com and contacted the sellers. On Tuesday night, we went to look at a black Altezza. We took it for a short test drive and Chad loved it! The owner was able to meet us this morning to do all the paperwork. It is officially ours! Chad is happy that the sale fell through on the other car. This is the same car, but a better model. It's a really nice car! The Altezza is the same as a Lexus back in the states. It just has a different name over here!


On Monday night, after having cabin fever from the typhoon we made our way to the BX where we bought a nice new Canon camera! We decided to invest in a camera while we're over here since everyone back home asks for pictures! On Tuesday night, we went to go see the sunset at the beach. We found a new beach that we had never been to before. It was nice, we will for sure be back! I need to figure out how to use this camera so I can take the best pictures possible! The memories we're making over here will never be forgotten. It is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in a foreign country and we want to be able to show our kids one day all the memories we photographed!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Typhoon Bolaven

**For all my readers in the states, I am using Okinawa time in my posts. We are 13 hours ahead of the east coast. Click here for the current time in Okinawa! :)

Earlier this week, we learned that a typhoon was headed our way and would probably hit the island during the weekend. As the weekend gets closer, things start to get crazy. When someone mentions the word typhoon here, I swear all hell breaks loose. They say to be prepared for the typhoon, you should have food and water stocked up. You never know how long a typhoon will keep you indoors!

Thursday

An article was posted online that Typhoon Bolaven could be one of the worst storms to hit Okinawa in 13 years! This kind of freaks me out just because it's predicted to be really bad! But at the same time, the housing on base is built to withstand typhoons which makes me feel better. I'm excited to experience my first typhoon!
Taken from a Stars and Stripes news article
Friday 

1:45AM: Chad texts me that we just went into TCCOR 3, which means destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are possible within 48 hours

8:10AM: I was debating whether to get up and go to the commissary. We had enough food to last us through the storm but I still felt unprepared. I was laying in bed looking at Facebook on my phone when I saw that the Kadena Facebook page posted that the commissary would be open at 8AM (an hour early), I jumped out of bed. I was glad to get to the commissary just to pick up a few things before the mad crowd arrived. When a typhoon comes, people act like they have no food in their house! I feel better now that I bought some more snacky stuff to eat, just in case we lose power.

10:30AM: General Molloy sends a message through Facebook, "This is not just another typhoon."



10:00PM: This picture has been circulating around Facebook. Typhoon Bolaven can be seen from space! Okinawa is the little dot right above it! That's crazy!

Saturday

2:00AM: TCCOR 2 was declared, which means destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 24 hours.

10:00AM: We are in the outer band of Bolaven right now. There is no sign of rain yet and very little wind. Bolaven is expected to have 150 to 185 mph winds and it's nearly 700 miles across! The eye of the storm is 10 miles across! Looks like we have the remainder of the day to be out and about until we're posted up in our house for the next few days!

6:00PM: TCCOR 1 has been declared, which means destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. They predict we will go into TCCOR-1 Caution tonight and then TCCOR-1 Emergency at 5AM. The wind has picked up a little bit, but still haven't seen much of anything yet.

Sunday

4:25AM: TCCOR-1C was declared, which means destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. Actual winds are 34-49 knots. All nonessential personnel must go home.

7:00AM: I woke up to see how bad it was outside. It was just raining with a little bit of wind. No major weather yet! I guess the worst wind is suppose to come about 3PM today.

12:30PM: Winds have picked up slightly. We keep getting big gusts of winds that last about 30 seconds and then things calm down for a few. Chad and I have our air conditioning on low so that our place stays cool longer if our power were to go out. We're bundled up in hoodies to keep ourselves warm in the mean time!

4:00PM: Winds are getting stronger but still nothing major yet.


8:30PM: Winds continue to get stronger and rain continues to fall. I can tell the storm is picking up a little bit. They are now predicting us to be TCCOR-1 Emergency by 2AM. I want to stay up to watch the storm! So far it seems like the storm was more hype than what it really is. Only time will tell! I'm sad that it's dark out now because it makes it harder to see! Today has just been a relaxing day at home. We have been playing games, putting a puzzle together, and eating!


9:45PM: No later than after I updated this did we go into TCCOR-1E (so much for 2AM!). The eye of the storm is over us right now. It's windy and rainy outside but from my window, it doesn't look all that bad. I have a feeling it's cause we are kind of down low surrounded by trees and housing. I'll update if things get interesting!

Monday

3:00AM: I woke up to the sound of rain pelting against my window. The wind was blowing hard! I also heard a constant noise that sounded like a plane was flying over; I'm pretty sure it was the strong winds. Finally, we were getting the action of the typhoon! It was hard to see outside with it being dark and water being splashed up against our windows, so I just went back to bed.

8:00AM: We are still in TCCOR 1E, which means no one is allowed outside. Therefore Chad doesn't have to report to work this morning! It is still very windy outside. There are tree branches and leaves scattered throughout the yard. I'm really surprised our little trees made it through the storm; they look like they could snap so easily! If it wasn't for the posts holding these trees up, they'd be goners!


10:40AM: TCCOR 1 Recovery was declared. This means that there are no longer 50 knot winds. Everyone is still suppose to stay in their quarters except emergency crews. The weather is starting to calm down, but it's still windy and wet!

3:15PM: TCCOR Storm Watch was just announced. That means that the typhoon is moving away but the base is still feeling some effects. Everything should be opening up on base within 2 hours! Yay!

4:00PM: Chad and I went to go see the ocean. On our way there it started to down pour, so we decided to stop into a store to wait for the rain to pass. After we killed some time, the rain was still coming down hard. We headed back for the base to hit up the BX. After we came out, the rain had seemed to die down. We decided to go try to see the ocean again. We went to Kadena Marina first and wow the water was so high and rough! Where there usually is a beach, it was just covered with waves. It was crazy! After that we went to the sea wall to see more rough waters. I was hoping to be able to see what had washed up shore, people say there is sea glass and stuff. That would be cool to see! Today we had no such luck seeing any though. The rain keeps coming down pretty hard and the wind makes it worse.

7:00PM: If having to worry about a typhoon wasn't enough, now the Japanese Meterological Agency has issued a Tornado Advisory until 7:40PM. Crazy!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Mid-Week Update

If you read my previous post you know that Chad's work schedule this week is 6pm-6am because of the base exercise. Chad is not liking his shift because not only is it at night but it's for 12 hours! I don't really enjoy going to bed alone at night but it really hasn't been that bad. We've been able to do things during the day that usually we wouldn't get a chance to do together.

On Monday, we went to the vehicle registration office on Camp Foster, which is a Marine base down the road. We had to pick up my road tax sticker for my car. Chad was suppose to meet up with the lady who we bought his car from on Monday to do all the paperwork to get the car in his name. Well we waited all morning for her to call us back and go to find out she needs her car until next Monday because the military changed her work schedule on her. We were bummed to hear this, but what could we do? So Chad has to wait a week to get his car. It kind of sucks because next week Chad will be back to working days and he won't have as much time to do all the running around he needs to get done to get his car. This week would have been perfect for that. Chad can't drive my car to work since it's not registered on the bomb dump. He has been driving my car to the dorms this week and getting a ride from someone in his shop there. I don't mind not having a car at night since everything on base practically closes at 8PM anyways.

This week we were also able to check out Uncle Sam's Attic, commonly referred to as the Airman's Attic on other bases. I guess it's called Uncle Sam's here since they want it to be known it's open to all branches of the military. It's also known as the Kadena Thrift Store because that's what it is. It's a thrift store where you can donate items and also buy used items. If you are an E1-E4 rank then you can sign up for Thrift Store Bucks, where you can get $40 (without children) or $80 (with children) EVERY month to spend there. It's not a huge store, but that could come in handy if you're looking for something! I purchased a printer for $6. I have one coming in our shipment but I don't really like it because if one of the color ink is out, then it won't even let you print black ink! That's dumb! So I bought this printer hoping it would work and not be the same way. I cleaned it up when we got home and it's actually really nice! It has a copier and scanner right on it. It works well!

Since Chad has been working long hours, I decided to pick up a puzzle at the BX to keep me occupied. I got one of Kinkaku-ji, which is a Zen Buddist temple in Japan. I opened it up and the pieces were TINY! I couldn't believe how small they were. I guess the words, "World's Smallest 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle" on the box should have told me that! Wow! I decided to give it a try anyways. I'm not going to lie, it sucked. It was one of those puzzles where the pieces could seem like they fit in like 5 different places if you didn't look very closely. I worked diligently at it in my spare time (I've got lots of that lately!) and completed it in only 2 days! The puzzle actually came with glue to glue it together, I thought that was cool. So we glued it together and I'm going to find a frame to hang it on our wall somewhere.
Other than straining my eyes trying to put together the world's smallest puzzle, I have also been working out everyday. I am currently on week 2 of the TurboFire program. I love working out and I'm trying to get my body addicted to it again like I was about a year ago. So far so good. I love the natural high I get from a good workout!

This blog post is getting pretty long - and here I started off writing thinking I didn't have much of an update - but I have one more thing to share. Today I went to the BX and bought 4 bottles of Pantene, 2 bottles of Head and Shoulders, 1 Dial Hand Soap, and Tide Laundry Detergent... I only spent $11.60 because of all the coupons I had! I thought that was a good deal! I saved $23 and now Chad and I are stocked up on Shampoo and Conditioner for a long time! Pantene was on sale this week, so I had previously bought 4 bottles in another shopping trip. I only use Pantene, so I figured I might as well buy it while it's on sale and I have coupons to go on top of the sale price! Heck yeah!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Golden Arches


Ever since we got to Okinawa, I have been wanting to eat at McDonald's. That sounds crazy with all this new culture around me, but I had heard that McDonald's overseas were different than those in the states. I wanted to check it out first hand! It went against my whole health kick that I have been on this week, but it's something I wanted to experience. We walked into McDonald's and was greeted by a smiling Japanese female worker behind the counter. Think about the last time you walked into McDonald's back in the states. You usually you have to wait until the teenage kid gets done chatting it up with his coworkers to mosey on over to the cash register. The workers at McDonald's in Okinawa are so much more professional. It's like they actually care about their job. They were all dressed in nice clean cut uniforms. Chad just informed me that there was a worker dressed in a skirt wearing tall black socks with a McDonald's 'M' on it and heels. I wish I would have seen her! Anyways, so we walked in and I was looking up at the menu and there were only like 5 things with pictures, everything else was in Japanese with no pictures. Um.. how do you say cheeseburger in Japanese? Haha. Chad discovered that there was an English menu sitting on the counter.



I ended up getting a double cheeseburger and Chad got a Big Mac. The first thing I noticed when I got my burger was how much heavier it was compared to the ones in the states. It was a little better tasting and less greasy than the ones I have had before. Chad said his Big Mac tasted about the same, but just a little different. So overall, not a big change in the McDonald's food over here, however the customer service was totally different than what we're used to! I do see a couple items on the menu that are not found back in the states; we may have to try those out one day! The last thing I wanted to mention is that recycling is a big thing over here since we're on an island. So much so that McDonald's even has separate receptacles to put your paper and plastic in. I thought that was pretty cool and unique!




Saturday, August 18, 2012

Take me to the Ocean!

So now that we have wheels, we can go explore! I have been waiting to do this ever since we got on this island! Everyone back home wants me to tell them exciting stories but I never have any exciting news since we were always stuck at home. I hope we get to experience some pretty cool things in the near future so I can share them with everyone anxiously waiting back home.

We have been on this island now for a month and we haven't even got to see the ocean up close yet. Around the corner from our house is a very pretty view of the ocean in the distance that we get to see while driving down the road. It has been such a tease to us!


Today, we went to Kadena Marina so that we could finally see the pretty blue water! It was so pretty, we were in awe. It's awesome knowing that we live so close to such beauty! I can't wait to go to a real beach to experience more of it!

After looking at the amazing view, we decided to go to seawall. The seawall has a whole bunch of graffiti on it; it's pretty cool to look at. By the seawall there was a little shack called Sunset Beach Parlor where we got some shaved ice to help us cool down. It was hot outside! Shaved Ice is about the closest thing I have found to a slush on the island so far (mind you, I haven't got to see much). I am missing my slushes from back home; they are my guilty pleasure.

We ate lunch at Dragons, which is the Chinese restaurant that we had ate at before. It was good as usual! We also found a 100 Yen store to look around in. It's similar to a dollar store like we have back home. That's about all we could fit in our day as Chad had to go into work tonight at 6PM. The base is doing an exercise this whole next week, and Chad got assigned the night shift which is 6PM - 6AM. He wasn't too happy about it screwing up his sleep schedule but everyone in his shop says he got lucky to be on the night shift. So he will be gone all night this week and then he'll come home and sleep most of the day. That puts a damper on our sight seeing! In the mean time, I am trying to get my coupons all organized. I bought a binder and some baseball card holders to make an organized coupon binder. I love being organized!


The Okinawa Wave

I'm so excited to write in my blog that I finally got my car!!!!! Like I mentioned in my last post, we have been here a month without a car. It's crazy how we all take cars for granted. I was so tired of depending on other people to give us rides! If you know anything about me, you know that I love the color pink. Every car that I have owned has been modified to have pink on it; it helps when your husband knows how to paint cars! Before I got to Japan, I was looking at Okinawayardsales.com at cars that people were selling. I found a pink car on the site and I jokingly sent the link around to my friends saying I was going to have that car. Little did I know, pink cars are actually pretty common over here. When we went to the dealership, they actually had 2 pink cars. The same kind of car I had previously saw on the online classifieds. Chad knew that we had to get one for me, so he didn't put up a fight when I told him that is what I wanted. I think he wanted it more for me than I really wanted it. I love it though and I'm so happy I got it! We knew coming over here that we'd have to drive foreign cars; there's definitely no Chevy over here. So I decided that I wanted to drive a cute little car. I think I found the perfect one! The pink even has a sparkle to it :)


The first place that I drove to was from the dealership, which is right outside the base gate, to the BX. It was crazy! In Japan, they drive on the left side of the road and so the steering wheel is on the right. Not only are you driving on the opposite side of the vehicle, but also the stick to turn the blinkers on is also on the opposite side of the steering wheel. Do you understand how much of a habit it is to turn the blinkers on with your left hand? You don't realize it until you are constantly turning the wipers on every time you go to turn. Chad was cracking up at me because the first time I drove I kept turning the wipers on and I was in such a panic that I couldn't turn them off. Here in Okinawa, it's quite common to see wipers swipe before someone turns, it's called the "Okinawa Wave". For me the hardest part of driving is getting used to the blinkers lol. It really wasn't as weird as I thought to drive on the opposite side. I think I am just used to it now since I've been riding in others' cars. It is still a little nerve racking driving, I don't want to just be in a daze and go to what is normal for me which would be driving on the right side. That could be dangerous!


 After I drove to the BX, I let Chad behind the wheel. He acts like he has been driving here his whole life. I did have to laugh back at him when he used his wipers as a turn signal a few times. Chad was even brave enough to drive off base. The driving off base is a lot more crazy, there is so much traffic and crazy drivers. He did perfect though!


Coming over here the plan was for us to only get one car, at least for awhile. Well we found out that I wouldn't be able to drop Chad off at work since he works at the bomb dump. I didn't really want to be stuck at home all day without a car, especially since I plan on getting a job. So we decided we would just spend the extra money and get 2 cars. We hadn't really looked around a lot for a car for Chad. He knew a couple styles of cars he liked so I was looking on Okinawayardsales.com and found a few cars for him that were in our price range. The first car he called on today, the person was available to show it to him right away. We were able to test drive the car and we really liked it! We will be doing the paperwork for the car on Monday and it will officially be ours. I'm so happy we were able to find Chad a nice car at a very decent price!

So not only did we get 1 car this week... we got 2! If you're in Okinawa, I'm sure you'll see me around in my little Pink Honda Fit giving you the Okinawa Wave :)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

First Month in Review

Here is a recap of our first month in Okinawa, key points of what we have done and learned. It's a pretty random list but it pretty much sums it up.
  • We lived in a hotel for 2 weeks
  • We haven't had a car for a whole month
  • Carrying groceries a mile back to our hotel is not my idea of fun
  • It is extremely humid here
  • I have trouble breathing while I run to begin with, add in the humidity... torture!
  • The island has HUGE bats that like to fly close to your head
  • We experienced our first tropical storm, it was wimpy compared some of the typhoons that I'm sure we'll get to experience!
  • We learned quickly what all the TCCOR levels mean
  • Nothing will stop a huge creepy spider from coming in your house!
  • I learned how to say Thank you in Japanese.
  • The beds that they loan you suck! So does the couch!
  • If you walk anywhere, you take the risk of getting caught in a down pour. I know this from experience. 
  • We have watched the first 5 seasons of True Blood since we've been here
  •  I learned how to use chopsticks
  • We can use coupons 6 months past their expiration date. I have found a new hobby of couponing. Send me all your expired coupons :) Watch out world, I'm your next krazy coupon lady.
  • I miss my Mom!
  • Skype and Magic Jack are amazing technology! 
  • Add at least 15 degrees to whatever the temperature is.
  • Did I mention not having a car for a whole month... sucks?!
  • If you go to the BX looking for something specific, most likely they will all be sold out. In our case it was shower hooks and envelopes.We learned how to improvise quickly. (Tip: Zip ties work as great shower hooks!) 
 That's all I have for now! Keep reading for more updates!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Arashi

On Friday, Chad received his blue card which allows him to go off base. This whole time that we were here, Chad wasn't suppose to be going off base at all. Here we are in a new country and we can't even experience it because they have to keep him locked up? I don't like the dumb rules. This blue card allows him to go off base BUT he has a curfew. He has to be in his home by midnight. Awesome.

So on Friday, we went with another couple to Arashi. This is a "ticket restaurant". As soon as you walk in the door, there is a vending machine with all the food options on it. You pick what you want to eat and it spits out a ticket. You give the ticket to a worker and then go pick your seat. As soon as your food is ready, they bring it out to you. I like the concept because then I'm not trying to communicate with the Japanese workers what I want for dinner. But on the other hand, all there were was pictures, there wasn't any English, so I had no idea what I was ordering for dinner. I literally just picked a button that looked somewhat good and prayed that it wasn't seafood! My dish ended up having noodles, pork, egg, and seaweed. It tasted like chicken, it was good! Chad also got some pork and noodle dish. I didn't really like his as much. Overall, it was a good experience and I would go back again! I think I will try one of the rice dishes next time.


Thursday, August 9, 2012

This is the way we live...

Chad and I have been recently addicted to the TV series True Blood. We've been renting the episodes from the shopette on base. In the last week and half, we've watched the first 3 seasons. I love spending my nights cuddled up with Chad on the couch watching TV. It's one of our favorite things to do! The only down side is that I haven't had a good night's sleep since we've moved into our house because every night I have vampire nightmares! One night someone bit a chunk of my skin off and then last night one of my friends was on V (vampire blood, which is used as a drug in the show). It's crazy!

Yesterday, I went to a Heartlink class on base. Heartlink is a class for military spouses who want to learn more about the Air Force and the resources that are on base. It was very informative and fun! I had a good time. I'm glad that my friend Krista invited me to go with her. We were suppose to have lunch at the General's house but they were out of town or something! I think that would have been cool to have lunch at the General's house with the General's wife. I told my Mom that and she told me it reminded her of Army Wives! lol

Heartlink was held at the Airman Family Readiness Center, which is the same place that the loan closet is at. So before we left, I asked if they had anything in their loan closet and they did! We now have pots and pans to cook with. It makes me happy that we don't have to go out and buy new ones while we wait for ours to come. It makes cooking easier!

The only other thing that I have really been doing is collecting coupons. Being overseas, we are allowed to use expired coupons up to 6 months past the expiration date. I found this group on Facebook of other couponers in Okinawa. People will send big boxes of coupons over here and they distribute any coupons that they don't need. We can send mail to other people's boxes on the island for free so that makes it easy to distribute the coupons. I've gotten quite a few envelopes full of coupons in my mailbox. Chad laughs every time I get one in the mail, but he won't be laughing when I save us a bunch of money! I'm going to get a binder to put all my coupons on in so I can be all organized when I go to the store. I'm going to be a crazy couponer! ;)

Weathering the Storm

On the island there are Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness (better known as TCCOR) levels that notify the base how close the typhoon is and what to expect. If you're interested you can check out the different levels, as well as what TCCOR we are in here: http://weather.kadenaforcesupport.com/update/tccor.htm We are usually in TCCOR 4 from June to November since that is considered typhoon season. Last Saturday, there were warnings of a tropical storm headed toward the island. A couple down the street took us to the commissary (because we still don't have a car) to buy some supplies to be prepared for the typhoon. The commissary was fricken crazy! From now on, I'm stocking up on typhoon food & water all the time just so we're prepared and don't have to go fight the storm of people at the commissary. We bought a couple jugs of water and some food that we could prepare if our power were to go out.

The storm was predicted to hit us on Sunday afternoon. Chad and I were excited to experience our first tropical storm! Well, Sunday afternoon came and went and left us with just a little bit of rain but nothing really. It wasn't until we went to bed that night, when the real storm hit. It was funny too because the commander had put us in to TCCOR Storm Watch before we went to bed, which pretty much means that the storm is moving away from the area and soon we will be in the clear. Well, turns out the storm's back end hit us during the night. It kept waking me up, the wind was throwing rain up against our window! On Monday morning, Chad got all ready to go work and then he got a call that he didn't have to go in because we were in TCCOR-1C which means that all nonessential personnel must go or stay home. It reminded me of a child, when we would get all ready for school and then find out that it was a snow day. Loved when that happened! By Monday afternoon, the storm had cleared up and the sun starting to shine again! We survived our first tropical storm, technically it wasn't a typhoon when it hit us, it did turn into a typhoon as it moved away though! I've been told this was just a baby storm, they can get a lot worse! I'm kind of excited to experience a real typhoon! As long as we're prepared and inside :)