Military Movie Theaters

I know it sounds like a weird subject to write about, but I just went to my first movie in a military theater last night. We took Caitlyn to see Madagascar. Not sure if it's been out in the States for long, but this is the first time its played out here (there is only 1 screen in the Bong Theater and only one movie plays every night). Therefore, everyone and their mother decided to go see this movie. More acurately, I should say, everyone sans their mother decided to go see this movie. While there were plenty of families with small screaming children, the vast majority of the audience was made up of obnoxious pre-teen kids with no parents to be found. We were surrounded on all sides! I know I must have once been that age myself, and I am sure I was just as annoying, but it is hard to fathom! I absolutely dread the idea of Caitlyn going through those awkward times. In addition to this environment, we were forced to sit in the third to last row (despite arriving 40 min early, we barely made it in) which meant that the door to the lobby was directly behind us. Normally I would say this was a good thing since I am quite pregnant and my bladder was tiny to begin with; however, pre-teens evidently don't actually watch movies, they just go to walk in and out of the lobby every 2 minutes so that the large spotlight comes flooding in on the people forced to sit in the back. Even worse than the obnoxious children and their rude behavior were the obnoxious and rude parents who stood up to yell at their kids and/or bring them popcorn and soda every five minutes. I kid you not, this went on through the entire 100 minutes of the movie. I don't think we went more than a minute without some kind of interruption. I have never had an experience like that at any theater, including some very nasty dollar theaters I used to go to in order to save money. Caitlyn, on the other hand, had a great time. Go figure.

Well, our vacation is upon us, so I may not write for a little while. We're headed to Texas and Minnesota to visit a variety of family and really soak up the sun (although I will most likely pass out from heat exhaustion at some point since today was the first day it hasn't rained and the temperature surpassed 50 degrees...it's really summer now! :) Sadly, the thing I'm most excited about returning to the States for is the food! We live in the boonies here in Japan and there are not exactly any gourmet restaurants out here (it is mostly greasy, bad Chinese or Japanese food) or anywhere nearby. Tokyo is another story, but it's way to far and way to expensive to be any kind of option. I just miss having a variety of choice. There are a few Italian places out here, but they don't really serve anything I would consider remotely Italian (except that there's pasta in it). Other then that, Chinese and Japanese are pretty much your only choices (surprising, there is nowhere that serves Western-style food) and that gets old fast. Not to mention the fact that I can't really eat sushi riht now because of the pregnancy and the idea of greasy Yakisoba (which I used to love!) absolutely makes me want to hurl. So, I'm pretty much stuck with Popeye's (which we have on base) and home cooking (while fabulous, it doesn't cut it when I get home late and just want to eat!). So I am looking forward to impressing my doctor by gaining over 20 pounds while I eat like a hog in the States, yay! Well, wish me luck on my multi-day journey back to the States. It should be even more fun now that I'm 8 months pregnant! ;) See you all when I get home!