Husband's birthday

I apologize for my brief vacation from blogging.

This past weekend was quite eventful. My husband and I celebrated his 26th birthday with a few friends at Big Box Karaoke. Karaoke here is a bit different, instead of a bar scene you're escorted into private rooms with plush couches and a personal stereo, TV and Karaoke machine. We all sang songs, had drinks and ordered mountainous piles of french fries. We didn't understand most of the controls or any of the TV commercials but everything was so animated we took turns trying to dub what they were saying. It was a great way to celebrate his birthday. On the day of I made him a breakfast of almond puff pastry, croissants, pear danish with vanilla custard and tropical fruit, with coffee & orange juice to drink. He opened his present and we spent most the day relaxing. For a short time we took a trip to the hospital, I had two bug bites that got a little out of hand. By the time we got to the ER one was 7x5 inches swollen and I had a fever. They gave me antibiotics and allergy medications and all has heeled considerably.

Taking care of business.

I spent Wednesday & Thursday running errands with our neighbor and taking care of my own. Wednesday evening we had Smalls again. Today I spent time in the sun, Skyped with my mom and grilled some of the Mahi Mahi we caught last weekend. Other than that there's not much to report this week :) I'll let ya'll know what adventures we have this weekend!

Dream boats and Dragons.

So this past week was a big deal in Japanese culture. It's what they call golden week, and in honor of that, the USO brought out some golden boys. This weekend I got to meet Michawl Cudiitz, Regina King (South Land), Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter of Big Bang Theory) and Ben McKenzie (South Land and THE OC). It was my first star run in that I actually remember (or was not related too) and I was a 12 year old girl. I am so glad my dear and darling husband was getting his hair cut at the time so that he did not see such an embarrassing moment for me. That was Sunday afternoon. Monday I took Rory to work, came home and Skyped with my mom and then went to my second Japanese class with Rory and learned some common words and phrases. I was so happy to have my husband with me, sharing another amazing experience with me and working hard to learn and adapt to our latest home station. The rest of my day I spent with our neighbor Denise running errands on Kadena AFB and just having some much needed girl time. She is so funny & sweet, she actually made dinner for us and her husband later that night. Today I spent the morning with Rory (up until about 645AM haha) and then Skyped with my sister Kyara and my best friend Candace. Then my new friend Bekah (from our small groups last week) picked me up and we had lunch. Now one thing you have to know is that Bekah was raised in the military and is now married into military and in total, had lived in Okinawa for 10 years. After lunch we went shopping at another Monkey Man Store. I bought a snow cone machine (it is HOT here!), coffee filters and some Japanese candy she introduced me to called "Hai-chew" (it tastes like pink Starburst). Then she took me to a place called Dragon Palace. This giant Dragon was inside, hence the name of the place. Inside there were restraunts, clothing stores, small trinket shops, an arcade and a lot of beautiful dresses. It was basically Asian ModCloth.

Here fishie, fishie, fishie.

Well it's been an eventful week's end and weekend. Wednesday we went to our new small groups and made new friends with two couples in our church. We had dinner and started the truth series. Thursday was filled with errands because Friday, from 430am to 1030pm we were out on a boat deep sea fishing. Between Rory and I, we caught 2 sharks, 13 tuna, and a 3'7" mahimahi. I also spotted 6 dolphins breaking the surface and jumping along side the boat. It was an incredible adventure and I can't wait to go again. Saturday and Sunday was mostly spent getting our land legs back again. I ran errands at the BX, post office and commissary and we did a little exploring in some of the nearby Japanese local stores. 

May flowers.

The weather has been great lately which really makes the flowers bloom. I drive a special way when I go to Camp Courtney just to see these ones. They sit atop a stone wall that spans about 30ft in front of a house; beautiful. 


This last Saturday Rory and I went to a BBQ with our neighbors. It felt great to be social again. Each day Okinawa feels more and more like home. Sunday we bought Rory the perfect bonsai tree (he's been looking since our first day on the island) and went exploring for dinner. We ended up at a Japanese Italian bakery & restaurant called Marco Polo. We sat by the window and played footsie until our waitress arrived and we short after realized, she didn't speak a word or understand English. Since our own Japanese is quite limited we order by pointing at pictures. I did my best to understand any words she said, however Rory was closer and felt it easier to just reply "hai" (Japanese yes) to whatever she asked. Each of us ordered soup & bread. Rory got a noodle dish and water, I had chicken parmesan over ratatouille and iced sweet tea... This is what we ended up with: two rolls, five pieces of bread, scones, a fourth type of bread, three soup dishes, two salads, a cappuccino for Rory and hot black tea for me, our main dishes and cake. Our bellies were full and we had fun through the whole experience. Thankfully I had my first Japanese class on Monday where I learned formal greetings, to say or as a name and pronunciation. Hopefully, they'll go over ordering soon ;) Rory also had his drivers class on Monday and he passed and was able to get his license for here! Now he just needs his license from the states to make him an official driver, thank God he saved his temporary paper until that gets here! Tuesday Rory drove himself to work and I stayed at home and did some picking up after our busy & lazy weekend. I learned how to make my very own Japanese creamed vegetable soup (from taste) and enjoyed some crafts for the home. Although I will definitely be making a trip to the Monkey Man store soon so I can buy some Japanese home decorations!

The Monkey Man Store.

This week has gone by pretty fast. On Monday we tried to get Rory his license here but they were missing a signature in the command chain so he has to wait and try again. I spent 5 hours on Tuesday contacting American agencies and fixing some of our personal paperworks. Wednesday I went to the "monkey man store" with Laura and her kids. This facility is one of the many chain stores on island that is run by the Japanese people. It's kind of a mix between Walmart and Home Depot. It's called the "monkey store" mainly because, like everything in Japan, the store has a mascot and he kind of looks like King Kong but in overalls. We mainly went for the garden section, I've been looking to spruce up our patio and Laura had a good project idea for her kids! We ended up wandering the store and found all kinds of areas: pets (turtles, fish, birds, ferrets and bugs mostly), home decor, lighting fixtures, clothing & sea wear, fake & real flowers, toys, etc. We went to see Wrath of the Titans on Wednesday with our neighbors which went well. Thursday I cleanup up our house and had a friend Megan and her daughter Chloe over to play. I made fantastic coffee cake & was able to share it with Laura and Amanda before I picked up Rory that day. Friday (today) I caught on some over due Skype conversations and was able to spend some time basking in the sun rays. I rather like it here :) Hoping that this weekend has weather as good as today!

Now I know how SpongeBob felt when he went jelly-fishing.

We are finished with scuba classes! We took our last dive yesterday/Sunday and had quite the adventure. We saw lion fish, sea cucumbers, sea slugs, starfish, SGT MJR, sea snakes, eels, sea centipede.. and a bunch of other little fish swimming around in the coral. Hopefully I can learn the names of some of the fish before our next dive! Our first dive took us to mini dream hole with a great visibility and a large variation of fish. The name comes from a cave that begins at 15 ft and drops down to the sea floor and opens up to the sandy bottom. At depths of 60 feet we came across a slew of stone fish and thankfully no one was poisoned. At the end of this dive is when I got stung by a jellyfish. They sure do pack a punch; whether it was wrapped around my wrists or casually floating across them I couldn't tell. However the remainder of the day my wrists were decorated with 4mm red dots that burned. I didn't let anyone pee on me. And those pretty skin bracelets were gone by this morning! :) The second dive was at clothes line where we had a visibility of 15+ feet. I could barely see the person in front of me, let alone anyone in front of them. My ear did not equalize properly and I had problems with it for the rest of the dive, and the remainder of the day. I won't be making that mistake again! Today was a day of cleaning up after the 2 pool dives and 4 sea dives from this past week and washing all the towels we used with showers at the beach, home and with equipment! I spent the evening getting to know our neighbors a little better, which made the day really great. I am so happy to be here.