Your tax dollars make me smile

Sorry for the delay in blogs. My new job has had me working a lot this week and to top it off, one of the lovely monsoon storms of Singapore knocked out our internet and we've both been too busy to call and get it fixed. So here's the blog I meant to write on Tuesday:



Thank you tax payers of America. Because of you, we not only got a lovely free flight to Japan (to merely get to a decent grocery store) but we also got enough food to feed a small country on both the flight to and from. Please read about the ridiculous amount of food we were given.



First, the lovely flight attendant came around with a basket of peanuts and pretzels. She even told us to take a couple if we wanted. Um totally. Airline peanuts are so much better than regular peanuts. I grabbed like three.



Then, she came around five minutes later to take our food order. Chicken or sea bass? Sea bass?! On a plane? Interesting...



However, I don't trust seafood from unreliable sources and I hadn't warmed up to the free flight people yet. So I got the chicken.



Look how much food they gave us:





That's two large chicken breasts, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, a dinner roll, biscuit crackers, shrimp cocktail, a brownie/cake, cheese spread and OJ. I could barely eat half. I snuck the pre-wrapped stuff into my carry-on. You can give a cheap skate money, but deep down she's still a cheap skate. :)



So then, after the smorgusboard of food, I tried to take a nap. Twenty minutes in, the same chick came around with a basket full of candy bars. Twix, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Snickers, and the list goes on. She again told us to grab a couple. This chick played dirty.



I finally get a nap in during the in-flight movie. I awake to this:

A SNACK! A friggin' snack?! Are you kidding me? I can't possibly fit anymore food into my body —or my bag for that matter. So I get the brilliant idea of just taking it off the plane with us, in plain view, and hoping no one notices. The guy working "customs" was so tired and annoyed that we got in late that he didn't mind much. We ended up taking three boxes of snack with us cuz all of us were too full. I had dinner for three nights. No joke.

And now here's the best place in Asia. It's the building that holds the commissary, BX and two food courts. It's ginormous. I love it. We went here everyday. Apparently this is the type of thing that they have on most bases, just not ours. We totally got shafted on the whole convenience thing.

So yeah our NEX doubles as our commissary and a PX, but...it's about the size of a large gas station convenience store. If they don't have what we need, which is usually the case, we must go out in town. However, that requires paying four times as much. For example, the equivalent of a gallon of milk costs about $10 in Singapore grocery stores. A small bottle of Coffee Mate coffee creamer costs as much as the milk. So yeah, it sucks. That's what happens when you live in a country that must ship everything into it. Tropical paradise it might be, but for those that live in it, it's an expensive hell at times. Needless to say, I'm ok now. I brought home some coffee creamer in a cooler. I love you Japanese commissary! Will you please come home with me?

I have a crush on Japan

It's true. I love Japan. I kinda want to move there for a minute. It's my favorite part of Asia so far.

I'm actually going to have to make several posts about my trip because we (mostly me) experienced so much in our short few days.

First of all, check this out. Holy Mother of God, it's Taco Bell! I was in burrito, quesadilla and taco heaven. Best day ever (everyday because that's how often I ate it.)



Here's me at one of the really cool temples in Tokyo. I was all psyched about it until I realized that these "temples" are really cemetaries. Oh well, I still think they're pretty.

Yep, all of the signs are in Japanese. We had no idea where we were walking or where anything was. I thought it was a fun adventure. Cold, but fun.

This picture is for my nephew Aidan. He's my Star Wars buff and he's only 5. This is the mail drop box on the base in Japan. Isn't it sweet?

This one is for my mom. Pansies are her favorite flower. I found these at a little shop in an alley in downtown Tokyo.

I promise to post more and to go into a little more detail. However, I just got back yesterday afternoon and I had to start my new job today. I'm a little too tired for stories today. I'll have to recharge first. I'll post all of our pics on facebook for those that can't wait.

Konnichiwa

I'm taking off for Japan the rest of this week. A couple of wives and I are taking a free military flight up there to visit the commissary and experience the other American luxuries we don't have in Singapore.

For example: They have an Outback Steakhouse, a Burger King, and a TACO BELL Express ALL on the FRICKIN' BASE. There's several restaurants all in a five minute drive, not to mention all of the other comforts of home they have too. It's like a little city.

So....I might be a little jealous.

You know what we have in Singapore? We don't even have a base. We have a "place". (That's what the military wives call it.) Once you get to our "place" we have diddly. We have a NEX the size of a large gas station convenience store, a Subway and The Terror Club. I'm not even sure we can claim the Terror Club either.

So I'm going to Japan to see if the grass is greener over there. I'm packing my hoodies and jeans cuz they have Fall there. Right now, I'm brushing up on my Japanese...

Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto.

Got it.

Actually, he's part human

Look what our genius dog does now.

Toga...Toga...TOGA!

Friday was the Halloween party at the Terror Club. The theme was 60s and 70s Night. Since we live in Singapore, a place that doesn't celebrate Halloween like we do in the States, we didn't have many choices of costumes. And being the big procrastinators that we are, I didn't order us some online last month, like everyone else did. So we stretched the theme a bit. We went as the toga party kids from National Lampoon's Animal House (a movie made in 1978). Yes, it was a stretch, but I loved our costumes. The best part? They were FREE!!!! Chicka chicka yeah!

So here we are in all our toga glory:

It was kinda odd going to a Halloween party in an outdoor setting and actually sweat. I'm used to freezing in whatever costume I choose to wear. It was a nice change.

Here's the rest of the guys. They actually followed the theme pretty well.
and the gals in white....

It was a good time. There were quite a few drunken Aussies at the party and they always make things interesting. Apparently, one of their ships got held up and they had to stay an extra day. They were quite thrilled to stay in Singapore another night. I kept begging one of them to teach me to speak with his accent. He was very sweet and tried to teach me for quite a while. I still can't do it.

Sorry I'm not awesome.