Alice and the Typhoon

Typhoon Sanba has come and gone.  There was no school today.  We had a fair amount of wind and lots and lots of rain.  It was heavier than a drizzle but not so hard it was bouncing of the pavement.  Because of the wind, it came down diagonally and it looked like something you would see on a movie set.  Overall other than being cooped up in our apartment for two days it was no big deal.  We had a lot of pretend play, TV viewing and Angry Birds on the iPhone.

Transformers Rescue Bots is a new favorite.

One of the interesting things I learned from this whole experience was the whole pre- and post-typhoon experience.  Here you don't get the 72-hr straight hurricane coverage like you do in FL when a hurricane is close.  That is both a plus and a minus.  While I've found the "extended" news coverage to be too much in the past, it was definitely easy to find out all the information you need to know in terms of storm strength, location and things like school closings, etc.  Here they have a DEFCON-like countdown system called TCCOR (Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness).  TCCOR 4 means destructive winds are coming within 72 hrs and it goes down to TCCOR 1 which basically means the storm is there now.  (BTW, a typhoon is the same as a hurricane, just in the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic Ocean.)  I found out about all this TCCOR business on Saturday morning when, and I am not exaggerating, an air raid siren went off followed by an announcement over a loudspeaker that could be heard throughout all of Hario.  There were announcements in both English and Japanese of the TCCOR level.  It kind of freaked me out the first time I heard it, especially the siren.  I mean, we are closer here to Pyongyang than we are to Tokyo and there are no espionage laws in Japan so you never know, really.  Also, it sounded like the tsunami sirens they have in HI.  (Luckily I only heard it once as a test.).  A tsunami is a more likely scenario but honestly, I don't want the siren to go off for either.  Anyway, the siren went off for the last time today at 4:05pm with an "All clear."  Having time around the house here gave me an opportunity to put Alice together. 

Alice is a wooden giraffe that my godfather, Uncle Judd, made for Leah when she was born.  When I was Leah's age, I remember having an Alice of my own that Uncle Judd made for me.  He made them entirely from scratch--cutting, painting, everything--not from a kit.  (Apparently Uncle Judd also made a few Ralph giraffes, which is the boy version with blue spots and horns instead of ears.)  I don't remember what happened to my Alice, if she got broken or if we ended up giving her away when I got older but my godsister Kelli (my godparents' daughter who is also my parents' godchild) still has her Alice.  I hope Leah's can last that long.  It's awesome that Uncle Judd made Alice with lots of love. Being a Navy vet himself Uncle Judd knows we are a Navy family and Navy families move frequently so he packed Alice in such a way that she will be both safe from damage and included a detailed list of instructions for her assembly.  Leah loves her Alice.

I put Alice together when Leah was a baby in HI and I had Alice up for a short time when Leah was a toddler in FL but after a few knock-downs running around in her room, I packed her away and didn't bring her out when we were in VA.  Leah didn't even remember Alice but she is thrilled to have her now.  The purpose of Alice is to hold belts, necklaces, hair ribbons, jammies, etc.  Leah has done that but she has also found another thing Alice can do:  have tea parties!

"Alice, would you like one lump or two?"

I've always known I've had the best godparents ever and now Leah loves them too--and she's never even met them.  Hopefully one day soon....