My leg.. Ouch!

On Friday morning I had to be at work even earlier than usual. So, at about 10 am, I came home to just chill and pick up my house a bit. Or that is that I thought.

I took out the garbage and the step to the platform collapsed. Long sorry short, I ended up with 3 stitches and a super sore leg.

Photo 1- Platform to the garbage
Photo 2- Same thing different angle
Photo 3- Where I fell through
Photo 4- In my room trying to figure out if it looks bad enough to go to medical
Photo 5- Stitches
Photo 6 & 7- It is healing... check out the bruising

So, to make matters worse I woke up on Saturday with a super sore throat, Sunday my throat was even worse, I took Monday and Tuesday off ( I never take sick leave), and back to work tomorrow. I hope the rest of this week goes well.

"What doesn't kill us, makes us strong"

The power of a salute

Everyday, I think about things I want to blog about and rarely do I sit down and do it. So, today I thought of something that I really wanted to write about but I have not.

The military salute. To get on a military installation you have to show your id every time you go through the date. If someone in the car is an officer the gate guards snap to attention and salute the officer, and the officer then returns the gesture. Today, I was behind an officer and I watched it play out like many, many, times before, and I thought of how special the military is. I love this life.

It is a small gesture that means so much, respect, commitment, service, and tradition. I love to watch the different salutes, and all the different situations when soldiers salute superiors.

"If you can't get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?"
-General George S. Patton

Homesick

This picture is from the last day I was in China, I was giving Casey that look because I didn't want to leave.

I can truly say that I rarely feel homesick, but lately the feeling has kind of grabbed hold. I know it all will pass and there is light at the end of the tunnel, but I really want to go to America.

Here are some of the things I would do if I actually had an approved leave slip:

Kiss the ground
Pick fresh fruit and veggies and eat them
Hug my family and friends, especially, mom, dad, and sister
Kiss the ground
Drive 55 MPH
Stop by Gma's and bring her an extra hot hazelnut latte
Run outside without humidity
Order a double tall non-fat latte with 2 pumps of vanilla
Drive to the coast
Hop on a combine and work all day (maybe even blow it off, just to remember what it feels like to be dirty)
Hug some more people
Drink a diet Dr. Pepper fountain pop from the machine
Smell everything- summer nights, dust, hay, home... etc.
Drive with the windows open
Fly all over the country and see my friends...SC, KY, West Coast etc..
Walk 3rd street and love it
Drink wine
Have one of Dad's "steaks the size of your head" off the Tragger
Hang out
See my aunts uncles and cousins
Use a turning lane
Go on a "girl" date with the Mac town girls
Go shopping at Goodwill and the mall- probably in that order
Go to Corvallis to see Sister and whoever else is still down there
Go to LG hang with CaSandra reminisce about college days (stop by Sherman on the way home)
Just sit and talk with Corko for hours about nothing and everything
Fly to GA... Hold baby CJ, hug Allison, salute Scott. ha.
Kiss the ground
Visit, eat, and LOVE AMERICA.

Okay don't feel bad if you did not make the list, as anyone who has felt homesickness could relate too this list goes on and on.

"Good is everywhere, but home is better."

Random thoughts

As you all know, I was not raised in a military family, yet I am very comfortable living this life. I attribute that to being raised with a good work ethic and a purpose. When I was growing up I don't remember many written rules or standards in our house. Yet, there are a few things that were rules in our home. "life isn't fair", "do you best and leave the rest; it all will come right some day or night" and lastly, "can't is NOT a word" were all guiding phrases in my childhood. The first two quotes "rules" are pretty self explanatory. The third one may need a little explanation. The word "can't" was not allowed in our house. When ever we used the dirty word we were kindly reminded by our parents to ask for help, try again, or try it a different way. What a lesson.

This past week I have had a hard time with the media. I think my Facebook status over the weekend sums it all up well. On Friday, I wrote the below status:

Julia Sektnan...Is frustrated with the Media. Debbie Rowe wants her kids, OK. I am pretty sure MJ was taking white pills, he is dead, and yes it is sad. Yet, as we approach a weekend to celebrate our country's freedom, why isn't there any news about Korea launching 4 missiles? A bit dangerous. OR maybe the thousands of Marines air lifted and dropped into AFG during President Obama's first offensive of his administration. huh?

To follow up on this comment, I believe that Korea has launched 11 missiles over the last week, 33 service members died in the month of June. 5 of which have died since Micheal Jackson has taken over the media. Did we even hear about these individuals who gave their lives? Nope. Or the soldier that is missing? Nope. Or the 7 more coalition troops that have died since 1 July? Again nope.

All of these service members did not use the word "can't" They DID as many will continue to do. Their families are left with the "life isn't fair" feeling. Yet, I believe if you ask most who serve our country they would agree with the rule mentioned above, "do your best ans leave the rest; it all will come right someday or night." Thank-you to all those who serve OUR country!

In closing, thanks dad and mom for the wonderful lessons! I am a very lucky person, thanks to all who love and support me. You all are the reason I continue to grow as a person, dream and persevere.

This song is old, but it says it so well.


"Roots and Wings, who says you can't have both"

Super size me... Yuck

It is amazing how in over a year and a half my view of portion sizes has changed drastically. I will never forget when I got here to Japan, everything looked so small. A large coke was the size of an American child sized coke. Today, I had a very strange moment that brought this all back to me in a hurry.

Most of you know I workout 6 days a week and have one free day, my free day usually falls on Friday, but today (Saturday), I was craving some Taco Bell. I went to Atsugi and got Taco Bell. First the women in front of me ordered 5 items and ate them all herself. In my opinion quite a task for one person, she made light work of it. Since, I was on a bit of a junk food bender, I decided to go to the "America" McDonald's across the street and get a milkshake. I went through the drive thru and ordered a strawberry milkshake. The lady said, a medium?, I said yes, medium sounded like a good option. I pulled forward and picked up my shake. IT WAS HUGE!! Well, not really, but that was my first thought, holy cow, who needs that much milkshake. I drank it until I was full. Then I opened the top, because it still felt heavy. I had only drank about 1/4 of the milkshake and I was DONE!! Stuffed and full.

All I could think was... man, I have gotten use to Japanese portions.

Below is are some pictures comparing the differences in portion sizes.

I am now thankful, for small portions.

America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail it knocks over a chair.
-Arnold J. Toynbee,

China Pictures

If you would like to see my China pictures, please click on the link below and proceed to the China album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/julia.sektnan

The nice slideshow I made failed to post, so I figured this would suffice.

Have a wonderful day.

J

Finally- China update

I absolutely LOVED China. I did not think I would say that. When I left Japan to go there on vacation, I was a little bit of a skeptic. I spent a vast majority of my time getting pampered, because your money goes so much further in China than it does in Japan. The other thing that made my trip so much fun, is my friend Casey has been teaching there for the last year, so it was great to hang out and have a tour guide.

Casey flew up and met me in Beijing. We stayed in a hostel on the "food street". It was a pretty nice hostel with a very nice staff. The front desk lady was very intense, yet very helpful. We swore she was nocturnal, she was always up at night and we never saw her in the day time. While in Beijing we ate A LOT!! It was a ton of fun. The only negative thing about Beijing was I got a bad sinus infection. The good thing is in China you can get medicines from about every corner pharmacy without going to the doctor.

Casey's friends and fellow teachers, Ruthann and Cort met up with us on Saturday and we did the Great Wall. It was absolutely phenomenal. It was a good workout, but nothing like Mt. Fuji. The Great Wall, was like a never ending stair stepper. To get down from the wall we did the toboggan run. It was so much fun, we paid again and did it twice.

On Sunday, we flew to Shanghai. We arrived to Casey's great apartment and to her friendly roommate Kay. I swear the theme of China was "EAT". That night we ordered in Pizza, the following nights, we ate Korean twice and great food throughout every day. I spent my days getting massages and shopping. I LOVED the market, bartering is so much fun. The massages, waxing, nails, and general pampering filled my days while everyone else worked. I got "cupping" twice. It is when they heat up glass dome things and stick them to your back to suck out the poisons. Below is a picture of the end result of cupping treatment #1.
Cupping was so relaxing. I did it twice dispute the large hickeys it left behind. As I told my co-workers, it felt so good, it is good thing I have never done hard drugs, because I would most likely have a problem. :)

On Thursday, we flew to central Chengu. It is the home of the largest panda reserve in the world. The panda's were so cute. It was a great experience. There we stayed in the Dragon House Hostel again it was really nice and in a historic alley district, with a Starbucks very near. :) Chengdu is in the Sichuan province famous for their spicy food. They were not messing around.

We got home from Chengdu late Saturday, Casey and I went straight to the massage place and I got my second cupping treatment.

The next morning, I got in a taxi at 7am and headed back to Japan.

I have been swamped with work since i got back.

I made a slideshow, but it is having issues load, I will try to post it tomorrow.




J

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." ~Helen Keller