Brian and I spent our Christmas going to The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve, and over to a friend's house for dinner on Christmas day. It was low key, as compared to what we are used to, but it was nice. We even had our first-ever real tree! I managed to keep it alive while Brian was gone for almost 2 months! Soon after Christmas, Brian and I left to go to China for a few days. We flew into Beijing, spent 3 days there, then went to Xi'an for 2 days, and Shanghai for 2 days. It was such a great trip, we got to see the Great Wall, the Forgotten City, Tian'an Men Square, the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the Bund in Shanghai. We squeezed in as much as we possibly could, but had a great time!
Shortly after returning from China, Brian's squadron went down on a detatchment to Kadena, Okinawa for 2 weeks while I held down the fort at home. About two weeks after returning home from Kadena, Japan experienced a major 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11. Brian was at work, and I was at home. The shaking started about 2:45 and lasted for about 10 minutes. After frantically trying to call each other, I finally gave up and began the task of trying to catch things before they fell off the counters! Brian, on the other hand, went back to de-briefing his flight, almost like nothing happened! Things continued shaking off and on for the rest of the weekend, and ended up putting a damper on poor Brian's birthday on the 12th! Because of all that had just happened, Brian's squadron was working 24 hour days, and over the weekend, so poor B had to work on his birthday! We had also planned to have a party, but with the power outages, trains not running, and random shakings, we decided to hold off on the party, and just celebrate with the two of us. We had a good time, there were decorations, and Brian got a super yummy cake (if I do say so myself)-mint chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip icing! After a few more days of long hours and m
ore shaking and threats of nuclear contamination, Brian found out he was deploying, so I was ordered to purchase a ticket, and get the heck outta dodge! Brian left on March 17th, and I left one day later. I arrived safely in Annapolis on the 18th, and will return to Japan (finally) tomorrow! Brian spent his time on the boat busy with relief efforts, dropping off supplies to areas the trucks couldn't reach, and doing some search and rescue, and scouting out debris and things floating around the coasts. He has been back on dry land now for about 2 weeks, so he has been busy working 6 days a week with the squadron and keeping things in order at the house. I will be interested to see what it looks like when I get home.... =)
ore shaking and threats of nuclear contamination, Brian found out he was deploying, so I was ordered to purchase a ticket, and get the heck outta dodge! Brian left on March 17th, and I left one day later. I arrived safely in Annapolis on the 18th, and will return to Japan (finally) tomorrow! Brian spent his time on the boat busy with relief efforts, dropping off supplies to areas the trucks couldn't reach, and doing some search and rescue, and scouting out debris and things floating around the coasts. He has been back on dry land now for about 2 weeks, so he has been busy working 6 days a week with the squadron and keeping things in order at the house. I will be interested to see what it looks like when I get home.... =) I've spent the last month enjoying the comforts of America, while missing my things back home in Japan. I was able to meet up with pretty much all of my dad's side of the family, and having Easter with my mom's family. I was even able to spend about a week total with Anne in DC, enjoying the nations capital and all that it has to offer. It was great seeing so many family and friends that I haven't seen in over a year, but I can't wait to get back home!
We will definitely write more when we get back and settled into Japan. It's been a crazy couple of months for this branch of the Carnes Family, that's for sure!
