Tic-Toc

Well I have been back stateside since Tuesday, I can't believe that I have just 3 days to pack for Jordan! I haven't even finished UNpacking from Japan, much less started planning what i need for a year abroad. I think it'll be fairly straightforward, just mostly electronics. :) got my laptop, camera, ipod, rice cooker, wireless router, voice recorder, chargers, transformers, and plugs all set. Clothes, shoes, toiletries...bah, not so critical :)
I dont think I've mentally adjusted to the idea of spending a year in the middle east yet. My summer has flown by so fast, I'm not quite sure where it went or what I did in the last 3 months. My brother's off to gainesville tomorrow, and I'm so sad at not being able to see him for a year, we hung out a lot this summer. Just 3 more days of my mom's wonderful cooking as well! I'm sure that everyone's right in that I'll be JUST FINE once i arrive in Amman, but I have anxiety nonetheless :P
I suppose that there's nothing I can do except go along with things and see what suprises are in store for me in the next 10-11 months. :) thanks to all of you who've been such great support :D

some more pics..., a random photo of our main highway, a cute shot of my baby brother eating his blanky, and a few from the convention center beach near my house.

new toy

Well, I simply couldn't resist :P at half off I bought my new little baby and i'm just waiting for the batteries to charge so i can test it out...hehehe..

Okinawa

Just some photos from the last few days. The chic with the shades is my 4 yr old sister Alyssa and the baby is Patrick my new baby brother. The first photo is from "club red" :) Gate 2 Street club full of your usual mix of locals and marines. I went with 2 old OCS classmates, Nana and Roshni. We had a nice time, no table dancing this time, but we ended up staying out til almost 5am, LOL, we topped off the evening with a visit at a local Yakitori food stand where I had my first Okinawa Corn Dog in 3 yrs :P *sigh* life's good :D

Well I can hardly believe I'm back home after my 3 yr hiatus, but it's like I never left :) Everything about Okinawa feels so famliar and so comforting, guess it's truly home for me. It's been an exhausting 24 hrs between airports. It's interesting getting to know my sisters, they're wonderful. hehe and little baby patrick is adorable, he's the most content and smiley baby I've ever met. All he does is smile and stick things in his mouth. and Alyssa, the 4 yr old, is ADORAbLE, such a quiet little chinese girl and very smart. I've never seen 4 yr olds log into laptops and click on links to game pages to do online puzzles and games. And she's so organized!! puts her stuff away so neatly without being told...why couldn't I be like that :P She's amazing and speaks in 3 languages, I'm not sure she knows which one is which yet. The others are the same, they all speak a gradient of english, tagalog, and japanese, I have to try all three or combinations of each usually to get a point across. :)

So I'm just prepping to hit the streets, i'm in electronic heaven, the food is UNBELIEVABLE (i think it's what i've missed most about okinawa, even teh convenience store Onigiris look appetizing), and pens pens pens are on my shopping list :P

Will post photos soon.