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karadyan
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Name: Kara
Birthday: 5/20/1987
Gender: Female
Interests: praising Jesus, boating, dancing in the rain, hugs, kissing, mud sliding, road trips, singing, sleeping
Expertise: loving people, singing, writing. and math.
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  flawdperfecshun
MSN: karaholben@hotmail.com
Member Since:
9/27/2005
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| has it only been ten months since i wrote late? it seems like it has been ages. time passes in such strange patterns here. sometimes very, very quickly, when a week goes by and i hardly notice. and sometimes incredibly slow, where every moment drags on.
i'm living in Tokyo now, with my husband, Michael, and my dog, Jasper. we have been here for six months and it has been quite the adventure. living on base doesn't seem like we are actually in Japan - sometimes i completely forget we are in a different country. we have made a nice home for ourselves here. i have made numerous friends which will prove to be useful when Michael deploys in August for eight months. i am currently working as a nanny for a 6-month-old boy who is the best baby i have ever watched, and a spunky 2-year-old girl who seems to never run out of energy. i have definitely grown attached to them both, and their mother, and will be sad to see them go in three weeks.
i was voted to be Secretary of the Enlisted Spouse's Club and am thoroughly enjoying it. it is so fun to be able to interact with so many different women. i might not have met most of my friends if not for the ESC - it has been a real blessing. we also are involved with a Bible study here. there is just a small group of us, usually 8-10 people at the group and we get together twice a month and spend some time in fellowship. it's nice to be able to get together with other Christians. the leader is leaving in June and we are looking for someone else to take over.. i would definitely not be comfortable leading the group, so i hope someone steps up soon.
Michael is making friends in his shop, which has been nice for him. all the time we have been together, his only real male friend was his brother (who we both love dearly) so it's nice to have some males for him to get together with. the boys who aren't complete jerks get along with me just fine. that will be another good connection to have while he is deployed this winter. he seems to like his job well enough. as with any job he gets tired of it occasionally, but we are both happy here.
it is such a different experience being away from everyone you know. my sophomore year we moved from Kansas to Iowa, but this is different. there wasn't a friendly face around.. and six months later this place seems like home already. it is hard to have relationships sometimes, because people are coming and going all the time.. you get close to someone and a year later they are gone. i guess that is part of the military life.
we are going home in three months, and i can hardly wait. time has passed so quickly since we have been here, and life has been so hectic that it's hard to be homesick sometimes.. but every time i want to go outside the base gate, i am reminded of WHY i am so homesick to begin with =) the language barrier is incredible. and the cultural differences are hard to manage sometimes. it's easy to do things that seem natural to us that are offensive to the Japanese. where we wave, they bow. things like that.. it's just quite an experience. i think i will never learn everything in the three years i will be here.
well, i guess that's all for now. i don't even know if anyone reads this anymore. | | |
| it has been a really long time. today marks the end of week 4 michael has been at boot camp. the past 4 weeks we have talked total probably about 45 minutes. it has been really hard but i'm keeping super busy. i'm moving back in with my parents beginning of July because i can't afford this place by myself anymore, and it's just too darn lonely here. i don't really think it's healthy for me to be here anymore. physically and emotionally :) i haven't cooked for myself since michael left. i also haven't bot any groceries other than milk and chips.. my diet mostly consists of stuff from jim's and cereal. very, very healthy, let me tell you. but people have me over for a lot of meals so that's nice.
the past two weekends at least one night i have stayed up past 4 AM and its' taking a toll. last night we were up till nearly 5, woke up at 9:30. by 4 i was feeling horribly sick, so i slept till 8:30. now it's nearly 1 and i'm still awake, but fading fast. i have found it's easier to sleep if i stay up reading or watching tv or movies till i can't stand to stay awake anymore. that way i have no trouble falling asleep and i stay asleep the whole night. otherwise i'm laying in bed thinking, and my stupid mind wanders silly places.
people are always saying distance makes the heart grow fonder. that's definitely proved itself to be true with michael this past month. i wonder if it holds true with in laws :) michael's sister and i have been getting really, really close since michael left. it's ironic because the past 3 years we haven't gotten along really at all... now it's weird if i go a whole day without seeing her. so at least one good thing has come from michael being gone. i'd like to say i won't take him for granted anymore and blah blah blah, but i'll feel like that for a while and then things will go back to normal. so i'm not going to make any promises other than to try. i love him more now than a year ago when we got married... i love him better now. i think that's a pretty good accomplishment. it's not every relationship that love grows with time. anyway. i should probably get to sleep. i'm pretty tired, so this post might make no sense. oh. i have a chigger on my foot and it hurts like a B. i tried clear nail polish and it hasn't worked. any other suggestions?
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| the holidays are over (finally). it wasn't the same this year. not like i had hoped. of course, i'm a holben now, that's holben luck. michael lost both of his grandparents on his dad's side within 6 weeks, one near thanksgiving, one near Christmas. which threw a wrench in our plans to go to wichita to see my grandmother who probably won't remember me next year. i was really sad about that. but such is life.
Christmas eve day we were at Christy's house. it was stressful as usual. then we went to my parent's for our Christmas which was a good time. being a Holben has really made me appreciate our family that much more. i have a really good family, more than a girl could ask for. i'm pretty lucky there. Christmas morning Michael and I had our Christmas... he bought himself a $100 golf set so he didn't have anything to open. i got a toaster and an iron... just what every 21 year old female wnats for Christmas :) no we really did need an iron and i got a cool iron board cover too. so now i just need to find stuff to iron. i got a number of gift cards, and clothing that didn't fit or that didn't interest me that i took back, so it's like getting a gift card. i also got lots of other cool things. gps, ipod car adapter thing. super sweet pyrex tupperware.
michael and i decided that he is going to join the air force if he is able to. he has had some heart conditions in the past so we aren't sure if they will accept him or not, but we will find out. plus it's been years since he has had issues, so our fingers are crossed. everyone is worried that we are rushing into this. and maybe we are. but we are asking all the right questions. taking precautions. and we're excited. nervous. but no doubts. we think this is what's best for us for now. and if we hate it, it's only temporary. it will get us through right now. and who knows, maybe we will love military life and choose to stay in it. we will deal with that when the time comes :) mom and dad have graciously opened their home to me for while michael is at basic and tech school. he takes his asvab tomorrow (armed forces vocational aptitude battery - and i didn't even have to cheat) that will tell him what jobs he can do. then he takes a physical, which will narrow those jobs down. then he chooses a job from a list, and they tell him which bases are available. then we pick a base. i told him if we have to stay in the states, i want to go somewhere warm. but i would rather be over seas - see the world while we still can. anyway, more to come on that i'm sure.
my job is stupid. i'm looking for a new one. i'm hardly getting enough hours, and my back and tendonitis problems are getting worse and worse. so if anyone knows anything that's available let me know. hopefully if/when michael gets in the air force and we get stationed somewhere i can get a job on base. the recruiter said i can definitely get a job on base. so. anyway that's all i guess.
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| i got a new job today. i'm very, very excited about it. the hours are m-f 9-2, no lunch. which yes, is only 5 hours a day, but she said there is ample opportunity to get 30 or even 40 hours a week. no mandatory over time though. so i can work more than my assigned shift there, or i can get a part time job doing something fun :) i'm very, very happy. she wanted me to start monday, but i told her i needed to put in my two weeks. i figured she would get me started two weeks from monday. nope.. i start thursday the 9th. haha i thot it was funny. anyway.. DC had her beautiful, perfectly healthy baby girl yesterday. i will post picture when i get some. she is very happy :) i think that's pretty much it for now. i'm very tired. and happy about my new job. i hope it's good for me. i guess we will find out :) this department is screwed though. 2 of it's 4 1/2 people are quitting haha. oh well. uh... ohkay. time to go. | | |
| it's ohkay to dream. not to pretend. | | |
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