Orient Adventures

During this deployment I have been quite the busy little bee. Adventures galore and being productive with my time have filled my life lately. I have befriended a lovely lady by the name of Jessica. Her husband Jimmy works with Brandon and they are friends on the ship. Jessica and Jimmy have 2 small children that keep me very entertained. Jessica and I get along very well and share a similar sense of humor. We spend most of our time laughing. Taking turns, we cook for each other, share recipes, and host girls nights at our houses. Slumber party's, movie nights, lunch dates, and lots of snacks. We have gone to the aquarium, on shopping trips, and have taken an exercise class together. Sharing laughs and inside jokes along the way. But nothing could compare to the adventure that we had last night.

I enjoy staying at Jessica's house and have done so several times since Brandon left. Staying at my own house alone is not nearly as fun. We started last nights party off with dinner and dessert, some TV watching and visiting. Jessica's neighbor, Princess, dropped by for a little girl talk. We ended up staying up late chatting. By the time Princess was ready to go home, we were all pretty tired. As we were saying our good nights and walking Princess to the door she froze staring at the wall with her mouth open. We turned to see what she was looking at. Horrified to find a giant Japanese spider walking across the wall. It's body was the size of my fist, legs were sprawled out about 4 inches long and as thick as pencils. Brandon has tried to describe these spiders to me in detail, as he has seen many of them. I never understood how very real and freakish that they were until I saw one for myself. It looked like something from a movie, like it would jump off the wall and attack us, sucking our blood like a vampire.

All 3 of us were jumping up and down, and whispering loudly about what we should do. Where were our husbands when we needed them? Joking that I could go into labor at anytime, we tried to make light of the situation. But as the spider took a few more steps, we realized what had to be done. Neither one of us would be brave enough to do it. I made a run for it, barefoot in my pajamas. Out the front door past the giant man eater, up the stairs to the neighbor's house. Our friends Paul and Jennifer live on the floor up from Jessica's. I rang the doorbell several times and waited. Paul answered the door half asleep and wondering what I could possibly want at 3 am. I told him about our plight as I shuddered from the ebbie geebies. He half smiled and sighed loudly, told me he would get dressed and be right down. And right down he came, to rescue us from the evil monster. He was just as shocked as we were when he saw it. It died with a loud thud and a crunch. Thanks to Paul we were safe once again. Or were we? This spider could have had baby spiders! There could be more in the house! How did a spider the size of a rat get into the house anyways??

Us girls spent the next half hour trying to decide what should be done. It was clear that we could no longer sleep in the house. After all, where I sleep on the couch was only about a yard away from where the spider was located. I could not bring myself to fall asleep in what could be a spider infested house. Jessica and I decided to crash at Princess's house next door. We blew up an air mattress for Jess and the kids and I slept on the couch. After a few hours of sleep we were sure that we could take care of the problem in the morning.

This morning we woke up and came back to Jessica's house. In the daylight things seemed brighter. She called the housing office and had a man come to put screens over all of the vents in the house. The entire house got cleaned and checked and we are all resting easier knowing that we should be in the clear. I will however be returning to my own house for slumber tonight. Jessica is willing to troop it out on her own alone in her home. And after a night of tossing and turning, Jackson and I could use a good nights sleep in my bed. This is my second encounter in Japan with freakishly large poisonous bugs. I'm really praying that it will be my last, but I'm not so sure that it will be. There's nothing like a terrifying adventure to bring you closer together as friends. That one was a doosey!