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.

Shark bait!

Well we finished our pool dives for the week! We had a few adventure inbetween that I will have to write about later! Today we went to Madeana Point for our very first sea dive. Good news, no one drowned. We saw barracuda, clown fish, batfish, neon fish, sea urchins, TONS of coral.. oh,  and a shark :) Or at least our instructors believe we did. Rory spotted a fish far far off in the distance of a massive proportion and anything that large and that visible really only can be 1 of 2 things and the whales sing :) we have another dive planed for tomorrow- this time from a boat. Sounds like a fantastic way to spend our 1st marriage anniversary to me! 

On our way to the dive site we stopped at "Family Mart" which is the Japanese equivalent of a 7/11 only they have much cooler stuff here! They had Transformer toys that I had never seen before, pastries that were divine and prepackaged coffee that made my heart swoon. It's called Mt. Rainier espresso! And it say's it's from Seattle :) I'll have to investigate that too!

Never too late to say "goodbye".

It's been about a week since I last wrote and I can't say that it was because I was too busy. Last week I had a friendship dynamic change, it was an eye opener. It has made adjusting here even harder and it brought me down. However, thanks to some encouraging words from my big sister Kyara, I've decided to move past and leave those who are negative and rude, behind.

So here are the updates for the last week!

Last blog until Sunday, I dont really remember. HA! Sunday and Monday we broke in our scuba equipment and started our open water dive. First day we learned to set up our equipment and spent hours watching our informational videos and taking quizzes on them; yesterday/Monday night we spent 5 hours in a base pool, with 25+ pounds of equipment, practicing breathing techniques and swimming. It is so exciting! And such a work out, I am so happy my husband picked such a fun & athletic activity to bring us even closer together. Honestly every day is such an amazing adventure here and I love it! The jungle foliage is never tiring, always new bugs and critters to discover and the architecture is entirely unique. I have to say that the picture I uploaded is my favorite, that one is from today. Today I was a little exhausted from yesterday pool class (they're in the evening too which means less sleep-only downside so far!) so I talked with a dear friend who gave me a very uplifting outlook on life, and tried & tweaked some new recipes that I discovered. As well as cleaning the major aspects of our home and spending time with my husband, it was a really really good day.

My life is boxes.

Not much to report today! Trying to get the last boxes done. I just started a new book called "Confessions of a Military Wife" and I love it. It's written by a Marine wife and so many of the things she's delt with I can completely understand. It's late now but I'll write more about it another time.

Easter.

Happy Easter to all those reading this! It's a day later here but it's just ended back in the states! For those who are curious Rory & I went to our sponsors house this Easter and helped their younglings find Easter eggs in the playground and then ate a marvelous feast of ham, green bean casseroles, cupcakes & potatoes for dinner. It wasn't quite Grandma's house and memories before but it was a great time :)


For those who don't know, which is a lot of you, Easter is a very special time for our relationship. Our first Easter I introduced Rory to my family (something no boyfriend had ever braved before). The second one we spent together on our honeymoon, we eloped on Good Friday last year, and this year we are making our own traditions and spending it together in Japan. Not to forget celebrating our Savior rising from the grave.

This past week has been mostly unpacking our house, finishing checking Rory in for work and spending time together eating decadent meals that I have time to make whenever I procrastinate unpacking boxes. We bought our snorkeling gear so that we can test the waters before our SCUBA classes start on April 15th. (The water is near bath water temperature for those who've been asking.) We met our neighbors next door and had an evening getting to know each other. We also went to orientation so that we can hopefully start classes at University of Maryland this upcoming summer. I guess it was a little busier looking back on it. Next weekend we're hoping to do some more exploring :)

 Above is a fun picture I took while driving the other day. Yes, on the left it is a cow and he's waiting to cross the road.  You never really know what you'll find here.

Catch up, for what you've missed.

So I havent had internet access for a week but I was still writing and saving to my computer. I'll update this to past tense when I get the time, enjoy reading!

The last three days (Monday,Tuesday&Wednesday) Rory and I have been unpacking/sorting our house. On Wednesday we also picked up our car and followed up with all the paperwork for that. Out of the two of us I'm still the only one with a license.

So naturally, on Thursday I drove him to work. And we got lost. However, trying to make a drive you have never done before (only in the reverse) and in a foreign country without even a navigation, we weren't actually too far off :) After his gear inspection and a few quick stops, I dropped him off at work. I am proud to say I drove myself home afterwards without a problem! Im feeling quite confident about my driving abilities after that, especially considering that there are some major differences in driving here. For example: opposite side of the road, opposite side of the car, no street signs, all traffic signs in Japanese, speed limits are in KPH, buses have the right of way and will run you off the road, bicycles go ON the street with traffic and every now and then the street lines fade away and you're still on a two lane road with mirrors to see around corners...

Friday I drove Rory to work again. That morning was a little bit earlier than Thursday. We didn't get lost this time, Rory had his map out and navigated the entire ride. After I dropped him off to check in for accountability we still had two hours before he had to go to work; I bought a soy vanilla latte and we sat in the car and visited while we watched the USO give free pancakes to Marines. If you like people watching, you would have loved this. After our coffee and a show I drove him to a "cultural immersion and awareness" briefing he had for work and I went to Laura's to hangout. On my way to her apartment I saw the Japanese construction workers unanimously jazzer sizing outside their site. I know that doesn't happen in the US. After Laura's I went to my dental appointment and after a clean bill of health was prescribed bottled water. Apparently there's no fluoride in the drinking water, except a bottle water called "diamond water" made by Coca-Cola. After my dental appointment I ran a couple daily errands (post office, grocery shopping, etc.) and by the time I was done had just enough time to read a chapter and have Rory be ready to be picked up from work. After work we went to the Tsunami Scuba on Camp Courtney and signed up for Scuba classes starting April 15th! Then we went home, cleaned up and then had dinner at The Four Seasons with a couple we've recently met. It was a lot like capitols where the Chef cooked in front of you on a flat grill. The only time I actually saw this before coming to Japan was in the episode of the Office when the guys go to Benny Hanna's on Christmas.

Saturday was fairly lazy. We spent the day snacking and napping. I went with Amanda for a photo shoot she did for her deployed husband and then came home and ate tuna melts and ice cream with Rory.

Today (Sunday) we went to church, Rory got his haircut and then we went exploring around the island. By 2pm we were walking along the Sea Wall (Rory's first time) and planning future scuba trips. We have to wait until his small pox shot is healed (1 more week) and then we can do a little exploration on our own! We're finishing off today with the extra baked goods I made for Laura's jewelry party tomorrow!

at the Sea Wall Sunday.