Why is my house shaking?

Oh it's just another 5.1 earthquake... that's 2 in 24 hours... ugh! You can see on the map how close it was to Yokosuka. The past 2 months we haven't had any really worth mentioning or that we really felt, but the one last night shook for what felt like forever. Also, now that I actually have stuff in my house, things were rattling! Again, it doesn't help that I live on the 8th floor of an apartment tower and you definitely feel it more up here! This afternoon I was taking a nap.... yup a nap because I'm 5 years old again... and another 5.1 woke me from my slumber! There are certain things in the house that I can rely on as to if we are actually having an earthquake or if I am just having a little bit of vertigo or phantom quake syndrome... one of those things is the light in the "dining area"... it swings... also if I can hear things rattling it is also a good indicator, and if there is a glass of water or any other liquid and it looks like ocean waves inside of it. I hope that is it for another few months.

It is officially the holiday season here... "Seasons Greetings" banners hang on light poles around base and there is a huge "Happy Holidays" sign made out of garland hanging over the entrance to the exchange... I think everyone forgot about Thanksgiving this year... Everyone except for the commissary here that has all the Thanksgiving fixings out and ready to go... I saw people hoarding stuff into their grocery carts the other day... and I really mean hoarding! I wonder what the Pilgrims would think of that...

This weekend in the "quad" they are having a big toy sale for the holidays... I'm not sure if I am going to go over their to see some of the madness or not. I think they have other stuff too... we'll see! Backing up a few holidays, Halloween came and went here on base and I was not here for the madness.... they had over 2500 Japanese locals come onto base for trick or treating... and add that to the already thousands of military children running around and I am sure I would have run out of candy early on! Tokyo was much more fun anyway!

I signed up for another trip today and I actually got to reserve 2 spots because Damian should be home by then. The trip isn't for awhile, but it is to go to Nagano and see the snow monkeys and a really old castle. I am very excited for this one! Nothing else to report here... another week has come and gone. I am looking forward to an upcoming vacation to meet my hubby in a port though... it sucks that he is gone but at least we are kind of seeing the world together!

Japanese word of the day:
Kichi (key-chee): Base
*although this can also be a name for a Japanese girl and means "fortunate"