My mini-vacation

So this week was actually relatively slow, which was nice for me. Monday and Tuesday I had no classes and one of my Wednesday classes was also canceled for Obon. Obon is a buddist festival held in the summer in Japan celebrating the ancestors. It's vaguely equivalent to Halloween in the States, minus the candy and costumes, plus fireworks and lanterns. The Japanese believe that their ancestors can come back and pay a visit during obon, so they set out lanterns to help them find their way home, and have festivals to celebrate. On the 15th in Sasebo, they parade around with floats in honor of relatives who have passed away, setting off firecrackers. They also buy paper lanterns (biodegradable and not dangerous to water life) on which they write messages to their loved ones in the beyond. These they float down the river and out to the ocean in the evening, which is really a lovely sight. This year, though, I was invited to hang out at the pool all afternoon, and I went because I was promised the opportunity to "test drive" other people's kids. Luckily, it was cloudy and not so hot, but by evening I was ready to sit quietly inside and comfort my dog when the firecrackers went off. So I had a relatively uneventful birthday, with some nice socializing followed by a whole lot of doing nothing. The baby even let me eat a slice of pepperoni pizza.
Zack worked most of the weekend, but after dinner Sunday night expressed interest again in putting together the crib (he's totally nesting and it's really cute). So before I left for my Sunday night class, I helped him get started on the rather tricky task of determining which instructions where already followed by the former owners of the crib (since they didn't totally dismantle every single screw) and which needed to be done still. As I worked, I commented that I thought we should move our rocker into the baby's room eventually and replace it with the futon in front of our TV. Zack also noted that the crib was rather dirty and nasty looking and considered the idea of refinishing it before the baby comes (which assumes that we'll be able to find baby-safe finish somewhere on base). When I left, he was just starting to put all the sides together.
When I got home, the crib was together, the rocker was upstairs and the futon was down. I was super impressed. Zack also had cleaned the crib, and though he didn't mention refinishing it again, I'm not sure he's entirely ruled out the idea. We had been joking about testing the crib using the ultimate pretend baby: Dory. So I asked Zack if he had put her in it. He didn't answer right away, but he shot me a mischevious smile, which told me everything I needed to know. Apparently, Dory did not like the crib. She thought she was in trouble or something. When I tried to repeat the experiment later that evening, she ran away. She still goes into what we not always call the "baby's room" every day though to sniff around. Clearly, she knows that something is up, she just isn't sure what. In the mean time, she's sticking close and investigating cautiously.
And today I had another doctor's appointment. This one was much shorter. It was determined that I'm doing what I should and the baby is too. It has a lovely heartbeat that can, so far, only be seen on ultrasound, not heard with the doppler thingy. Everything's growing just like it should, so we'll just keep plugging along until the next appointment next month. Oddly enough, my doctor will be moving (PSCing as the navy calls it) within the next month, so I will more than likely see a new doctor for the next 1-2 visits before being referred to the Japanese doctor who won't see me until 20 weeks. So this will be a three doctor minimum process.
This week we have the OSC kickoff meeting, which will mostly be an exercise in cheerleading about how great the club is and why everyone should join again this year. So there will probably not be much to report. I am, however, collecting a set of Japanese advice to pregnant women that I will post soon. Then I swear I'll get back to talking about something else... really... may be...