Adventures Across the Pacific: Futenma Flightline Fair

Sunday was a very busy but fun day. We started off by going to church with Lori (the Kindergarten teacher who's husband is stationed here in the Air Force) and her family. The church was very inviting and I met a lot of wonderful Christian people. Everyone is so friendly and loving here, its hard to explain but it is very different from the States. Most of the families at the church were military families and because they all have the "away from home" factor in common, their bond is stronger. They lean on each other more as a body... which is really neat to see.

After church Lori and Daniel took us on base for lunch, we had Pizza Hut and enjoyed a little bit of home with just the surroundings on base. It was our first time on a military base... it is amazing how different everything is the second you drive through that gate. It felt like American soil... and I never thought I'd be so happy to see a familiar item such as a blue USPS drop box. It hasn't even been a week and we're already missing the familiar things.

After lunch on base went back to our apartment to change and drop off our left over pizza and then went and picked up Michael and Sarah. With every seat taken in their van and adults tripling the number of kids, it was a very full car. Futenma, the Marine Corps Air Station was having a flightline fair open to the public, so we all went together. We got to see all the planes and helicopters and much more. There was a "main street" that had food and games and a kids area with the typical bounce house and giant blow up slides. It was a fair, American style... they even had a hot dog eating contest. We stayed until the fireworks were about to start and then watched them from the car as we got out of there before the mad rush of cars (all 5 of us teachers had to be to work early the next morning). It was a great time to just walk around and see a lot of the military represented on the island... it was surprising how many Americans were there (mostly military and their families I'm sure).

I'll post a few pictures here but if you would like to see more from the several hundred I took of the day, go to the "more pictures" link on the side column and click on the "Futenma Flightline Fair" link. There are also links to more pictures from my last two posts that you can look at.

Overall the weekend was super busy but I can't believe how much I have seen and experienced in less than a week of being here. This week I will just be working at the school every day setting up for the first day of school next week... there is a lot to do and plan for!

Hope you all have a great week!