Goodbye 2008

I have to say that 2008 has been the best and I don't know how 2009 can compete, but I'll try to make it happen! Joey and I have been truly blessed this year in so many ways, so let's recap.

January
Joey and I announce our engagement and we start planning our wedding. Joey gets his official orders to Kadena and prepares for his move. I begin peer counseling/mentoring students at school.

February
Joey redesigned and restored a Cherokee Rose 4ft. decal for a Tanker. Joey leaves Robins AFB. Joey and I get married! Joey leaves for Kadena.

March
I get my best GPA at UCSD despite the craziness during the quarter and begin my last quarter of school. Joey immediately falls in love with Okinawa. Joey gets his Nissan Skyline.

April
Joey and I web cam as much as we can during our busy schedules between California and Okinawa.

May
I started my blog. I begin my medical clearance and paperwork so Joey can get his orders amended for me to join him in Okinawa.

June
I get my orders and plane ticket for Kadena. I graduate college. I go to the San Diego County Fair (aka Del Mar Fair). I pack all my belongings to be shipped to Japan. I have a goodbye/graduation party. I go to Las Vegas with my cousins. I leave for Okinawa. I get stranded in San Francisco. Joey's sister, aunt, and mom rescue me and I got to spend a day with them before I try to leave again. Joey finds us an apartment.

July
I land in Okinawa. I immediately fall in love with Okinawa, too. It's the first time Joey and I were physically under the same roof for more than two weeks and learned how to live together smoothly. I learn what it's like to be a military spouse overseas. We encounter geckos and spiders, eek! We start to go on many food adventures

August
We go to a festival, and another festival. We go to the Churaumi Aquarium. Joey and I celebrate our 6 Month Wedding Anniversary. I learn how to drive on the right side of the car, on the left side of the road and Joey gets his promotion! I get my car. We finally go to the beach in Oki for the first time.

September
Joey and I go to the Nago Pineapple Park. I temporarily babysit for a month. We get our furniture. We start snorkeling.

October
We celebrate Joey's birthday. We get a Wii. We Pumpkin Patrol.

November
We celebrate my birthday. We finally get Vonage. We send out our Christmas gifts early. We have a fun Thanksgiving. Black Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

December
Joey teaches me how to solve the Rubik's Cube. We see the Harlem Globetrotters. We win a lot of prizes at Joey's Christmas Work Party. Joey and I made gingerbread houses and opened presents. I made a yummy Prime Rib for Christmas.

We wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!

Post-Christmas

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had an awesome past few days! This was the first time we have spent the Holiday's together, and although it was my first Christmas without my family, I loved it!

On Christmas Eve, I spent the day baking, prepping the prime rib for Christmas, and wrapping gifts, and best of all, Joey got off work earlier than expected. Our Christmas tree was sprawling with gifts - thank you everyone, we love everything we got!

Joey got a whole new wardrobe from his favorite store, Express for Men. It looked like my sisters bought the whole store! I got make-up, of course, from Sephora and a Bare Mineral's set; as well as the Jon and Kate Plus 8 DVD and book! We also got a brand new 10-piece Cuisinart pots and pans set, a 12" digital picture frame, the Life - Twists and Turns board game, and best of all, I finally have my actual college diploma (I have been waiting for my parents to send it, and now I feel like an official college graduate)!

Joey got me gifts, but I knew what it was before hand. He just wrapped them up and I pretended to be surprised when I unwrapped them - wrapping and unwrapping gifts is one of the best parts of Christmas! I got Joey SOCOM for his PS3, so if anyone wants to play with him online, let us know! And of course, he can get his 52" Sony XBR TV ... once it's in stock at the BX.

Christmas morning was taken up by making gingerbread houses! We figured that this being our first Christmas together, we should start our own traditions - one being making gingerbread houses! The day before I made the gingerbread from scratch, which turned out okay.
We assembled our Victorian style houses and decorated. But I had a lot of difficulty assembling and decorating mine, so mine just turned into a plain house with tons of frosting to recover the parts I messed up on. I'm sure you can tell which house belonged to either me or Joey - based on color and creativity.
He even made a frosted roof with smoke coming out! And a snowman! And Christmas tree! And bushes! And his looks like a Victorian style house! As you can see, my art skills are limited.

Later, we went to a friends house where we ate yummy food, played Taboo (the girls won, again), opened presents, and played the Wii.

When we got home, we opened up Life -Twists and Turns and Monopoly - World Edition to end the night by playing boardgames.

Friday was relaxing day, spent with Joey on the web cam with his family back home (as if he spent Christmas with them, how nice!) and me playing with my new make-up! And of course, ending the night with boardgames!

Thank you to all our family and friends for the calls and web cam-ing. We miss all of you back in the States, and hope to visit soon!

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Prime Rib = Yummy!

For Thanksgiving, both Joey's family and my family raved about how they had prime rib (we prefer it over turkey), making Joey and I jealous. Don't get me wrong, the turkey we had was delicious and moist. But the holidays without prime rib isn't the same. So I was psyched that I found a 10 lb. prime rib to make for Christmas! I got the marinade recipe from my mom because I've never cooked it before, only prepped it. Hopefully it would come out great!

We're spending Christmas with some friends, the same ones from Thanksgiving. I'm also bringing lumpia, and Joey is making fruit salad. I had gone to the BX and Commissary today for last minute things, and boy was it crazy! I wonder what it'll be like tomorrow!

Oh, and I got my presents from my family! Gifts are sprawling out under our Christmas tree - but then again, they sent a 3 boxes full which included both our birthday presents from one/two months ago! Thanks!

Christmas Work Party

This past Saturday, we attended Joey's work party at the NCO Club on Kadena. Not knowing what to expect, I had a good time ... mostly due to the fact that Joey kept winning the raffle prizes, five to be exact! They weren't the big prizes, like the 42" TV or 50/50 drawing, but the best prize he won was 1 Free Day Off from work, any day of his choice! He needs a day off, he deserves it!

One of the games they played was Musical Chairs and Joey got picked. In the end of the game, it was between him and his co-worker, who was a girl ... and Joey clearly won, as the girl barely had half a butt cheek on the seat. But with Joey being the gentleman he is, he gave up his seat letting the girl win the IPod Shuffle prize. Okay, so we didn't need the IPod Shuffle anyway, but come on, Joey won! He got a handful of grunts and teases from his male colleagues when he came back to the table with his consolation prize. Sometimes, my husband is too nice!

The dinner was great, buffet style! The desserts, not so much. It would have been better if we beat the crowd who took all the brownies for the chocolate fondue fountain - there were only pretzels left once we got there. We had some drinks, unfortunately, the Japanese bartender didn't know many drink combinations, so I stuck with my Pineapple Malibu. And don't worry, we didn't drink and drive! There were designated drivers that volunteered their night to drive anyone home - which Joey did the night before for a different squadron's Christmas Party.

I love the holidays! I think I'm going to listen (and sing along with) my Mariah Carey Christmas album, make myself a peppermint mocha, watch Elf ... and hope my Christmas presents from my parents arrived at the Post Office!

Feeding the Goats

The other day, Joey and I did some quick exploring near Cape Zanpa. It's practically 2-3 minutes from our house (yes, we live that far from Kadena), but we've never been there, until now.

It was raining a bit, so we just scoped out places we would want to come back to when the weather is better. We spotted goats! Actually, there were rabbits, hens, and roosters too. We saw some people feeding the goats, some of whom brought veggies from home. Joey and I just picked up fallen leaves on the ground and fed them. And boy, can the goats eat. They eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, and etc. They're cute!

It was like a mini-free zoo. But, I still want to go to the Okinawan Zoo! Haven't been there, yet.

Jakkepoes

Every time Joey visited me in San Diego, we would go to IHOP at least once. We love breakfast food! So I was excited to find a few pancake houses here, one in particular called Jakkepoes. Yummy! Joey had the banana pancakes and I had the strawberry ones. We also made it a meat lover's breakfast, and let me tell you, anyplace that serves Spam gets a thumbs up from me!

The place only has a few tables, and looks like the owners turned their living room into a make shift restaurant. I love places like that, cause it feels ... and is home cooking!

Harlem Globetrotters

On Friday, Joey and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Risner Gym on Kadena. It was so much fun! For those of you who don't know, the Harlem Globetrotters is a basketball team who add comedic performances during the game.

Joey was recording parts of the game (I'll try to post some once I figure out how to), and at one point Big Easy took hold of our video camera! It was nonstop laughs, and nonstop fun! They played against the Washington Generals, and of course, the Harlem Globetrotters won, 87 to 82.

The Perfect Couple

I just received an e-mail from Joey's aunt about a Perfect Couple. Hilarious!

And I swear I did it for curiosity, not by said reason. (If you click on the link, you'll know what I mean.)

I'm a Super Geek

Joey leaves for work early and I usually go back to sleep. But when I tried to sleep, his mirror-tinted Rubik's Cube was just sitting there on the nightstand staring at me to try and solve it ... and I did! It's the same technique as if trying to solve the regular 3x3 Rubik's Cube, except that you solve by shape, not color.

So I texted Joey when I was done telling him I'm a super geek just like him!

Rubik's Cube Geeks

Joey and I had an uneventful weekend - Joey worked long hours during the week and just wanted time too relax. Saturday, we babysat for some friends while they went to their office Christmas party. I showed their 5 year old girl how to make some slime and it seemed like Joey had just as much fun as she did. I forgot to take pictures, but don't worry, I know Joey will want to make it again soon, so I'll take pictures then.

I call Joey and his co-workers Rubik's Cube Geeks because they bring in their Rubik's Cubes to work and solve them. I have no patience for them or learning how to solve them. But Joey has a fascination with them, so on Sunday he attempted to teach me how to solve it, and I'm embarrassed to say ... I'm a Rubik's Cube Geek, too!

Joey has 3 Rubik's Cubes. Two are the normal 3x3 square blocks, one regular size and one jumbo size. His third one is a bit tricky (I have yet to solve it), it has a silver mirror tint on all sides and composed of 3x3 varying rectangle sizes. So when you jumble up the cube, it creates an odd shape (see below) .

If anyone is stumped on what to get Joey for Christmas, you can get him any type of Rubik's Cube. I think he wants the 5x5 next!

Black Sunday

Yesterday I mentioned that we were going to line up early this morning to get the $20 gift cards again. Nope! We didn't hear our alarm, and I'm glad we didn't because I had a nice, comfortable sleep! And we even had our heater on, which made it better!

Well, Joey pressed something unintentionally on the AC remote (which is in Japanese) and it started blowing hot air. But he started pressing buttons again, so it's back to the regular cold air.

We put our Christmas tree and hung our stockings up last night! Joey bought the tree and decorations last year (pre-marriage), so I think I'll have to buy a few more decorations to add a girl's touch. I love the holidays, don't you?

Black Saturday

Okay, so I really don't know if they call it "Black Saturday", but you know what I mean.

We sat in line early again at the BX, and got $20 gift cards, each! WooHoo! We were #66 and #67 out of 100 people. I think we're going to be crazy again, and sit in line tomorrow morning too. I like free money! Who doesn't?

Remember how I said my dad stopped giving my sisters, my mom, and I shopping sprees on Black Friday and the day after Christmas? Well, he started them up again! I'm jealous. So dad, want to send some money our way so we can go shopping here? Remember, we are your favorites!

Black Friday

How many of you are crazy Black Friday shoppers? Before I loved Black Friday! When I was younger, my dad would spoil my sisters, my mom, and I rotten with a shopping spree on Black Friday and the day after Christmas. But we grew older, started working, and started making our own money ... and my dad soon figured out his girls are expensive! I would still go shopping, sometimes by myself because I'm cheap and I love sales!

But moving to the island and the BX/PX being the only American stores that cater to Black Friday sales, it's crazy! The 1st 100 people in line at the BX/PX get a $20 gift card. Since Joey and I are weirdos, don't have kids, and want free money, we headed over to Kadena's BX at 4:00 am ... and it didn't open until 7:00 am. But of course, there were over 100 people in line already, plus the other hundred lined up at the other entrance in the back! We live far and didn't want to drive back home, so we stayed in line, in the freezing cold ... just because!

We didn't see any items on sale that really caught our eye, so ended up just buying items regular price ONLY because they had them in stock and we never knew when they would get them again if they sold out.

After getting really grumpy and frustrated, due to the lack of sleep and hunger, and trying the move between the crowd, we headed back home after lunch ... only to take a mini nap and head back to the BX at 4:00 pm to get these scratchers that might be a $100 gift card and because there was a 25% sale off all Coach purses between 6 pm to 7 pm.

But good news ... no, GREAT news! The gas station on base finally lowered the gas prices from $4.06 to $2.43! It took about $20 to fill up my tank, that's almost half of what I normally spend!


Well, off to sleep! Why? Because Joey and I are still crazy after what happened today and are going to line up earlier tomorrow morning to try to get a free $20 gift card (with no intention of buying anything in particular) after waiting in line in the freezing cold.

Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have a warm, fun-filled, loving, tummy-ache day! There are so many things that I am grateful for this year:

1. Joey - the greatest husband in the world
2. Family - they are my rock, my family - plain and simple
3. Friends - they fill me with laughter
4. I'm done with school - woohoo!
5. I get to live on the beautiful island of Okinawa, Japan - stress-free, care-free, paradise
6. Not having to work this year - maybe next year? maybe not, I'm having too much fun!

We spent the day with friends who live on base. The food was wonderful! Juicy turkey, yummy desserts! Fun games of Taboo (girls vs. guys - the girls won, of course) and Rock Band.

I brought some snacks cause our host made plenty of food - letting me take home left overs. Yay for not having to cook this weekend! I made some pecan tartlets and a chocolate/peanut butter munchie. They are not necessarily Thanksgiving food, but I wanted to make them, so I did. Want the recipe? Keep reading!

Pecan Tart

For crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
3 oz softened cream cheese

For filling:
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Directions:
Mix ingredients for crust. Make teaspoon sized round balls and mold into mini tart molds. Mix ingredients for filling and fill each tart with a teaspoon of mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. It makes about 25 tarts.

Puppy Chow

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce box of plain Chex cereal

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup smooth peanut butter

5 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

plenty of powdered sugar

Directions:

Heat chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a 1-qt. saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until melted. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and stir. Put Chex cereal in a large bowl and pour chocolate mixture over cereal. Gently mix the chocolate mixture and cereal with a spatula, and coat evenly. In a large resealable plastic bag, fill with powdered sugar and Chex mixture. Shake bag well until coated. Spread on wax paper to cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. (And yes, it does get messy!)

Jingle Bells ...

I love Christmas! The holidays just make me happy, seeing all the lights and decorations, and especially Christmas songs. I'm even happier because we're done shopping for all the presents! All I have to do is mail them.

So earlier this evening, I was in the family room playing games just singing Christmas songs out loud ... by myself. Joey was in the computer room doing whatever he was doing. 30 minutes go by, and I'm still singing - or at least trying to carry a tune while making up lyrics for parts of songs I forgot. Then Joey comes into the family room, hooks his external hard drive to the TV, and plays 15 Christmas songs he downloaded for me to sing along too!

Who has the sweetest husband in the world? I do! I love him more!

Anniversary Gifts

Liza: Hey babe, look. These are the types of gifts you're supposed to give on certain anniversaries. (Pointing to a list of traditional and modern anniverary gifts).

Joey: ...

Liza: See, for our one year, it's either a 'clock' for a modern gift, or 'paper' for a traditional gift.

Joey: Oh, so you can get me a big screen TV with a clock in it. OR you can get me a big screen TV wrapped in wrapping paper.

Liza: ...

Okinawa Hai

Okinawa Hai is a website composed by a group of military spouses on the island. I love this website! It helped answer a lot of my questions prior to moving to Oki, because Joey's answers were naturally one-worded-guy-answers. Also, all their posts gave me insights of life on the island, which made me more and more excited to start a new life here.

A few days ago, one of the posts was titled, "Top Fifteen Reasons You Know You Were Stationed in Japan (or Asia) AND in the Military".

You can read their top fifteen, but since some don't apply to me (yet), I've modified their list with some help from the comments listed from that post.

Liza and Joey's

Top Ten Reasons We Know We're Stationed in Japan and in the Military:

1. Your family has at least one ever-so-tacky but delightfully, comforting mink blanket.
Okay, this first one technically doesn't count for me and Joey, but my dad (retired Navy) did buy a few of these when he was deployed, and they are the best blankets for those winter nights. I think Joey and I will have to buy some soon, very soon!

2. You have patiently explained to those back home more than once, "You can use a regular stamp."
My mom is the only one who has actually sent us care packages. But, for those of you who would like to send us stuff, just remember, it's like sending mail stateside. Even though we're overseas, we use the military post office.

3. You find yourself bowing unconsciously instead of saying the ever trite "Hi".
I was just telling Joey the other day that I'm always bowing. And now, I always mix up "Hai" and "Hi". They're both pronounced the same, but "Hai", meaning yes or okay, is said faster and sharply. For example, I go into Family Mart (like a 7-11 store) and say "Hi = Hai" when I walk in, and when I pay, I bow and say, "Hai Hai", when they tell me how much I owe.

4. Someone stateside asks if you've seen the latest episode of (blank), seen the newest commercial for (blank), seen the new music video for (blank), heard the new song of (blank), etc.
We live off-base, and haven't signed up for the American TV channels, all we have are 6 Japanese channels. We would watch them online, but some websites are "out of the local viewing area - United States", i.e. CW, ABC, NBC, and TLC. The one English radio station here plays all types of music in random order, so we would hear hip hop, punk, country, pop, rock, and R&B all within 30 minutes.

5. You find yourself standing erect at the beginning of a movie or when hearing the National Anthem played in the background.
I have never watched a movie on a base, or stayed on base long enough to hear the National Anthem play at night, until now.

6.You wish the military could insert a bar code under your skin instead of having to show your military ID card anywhere you go on base.
Back home, showing my military ID whenever I would go to the military bases wasn't a hassle. But now, I feel I should staple gun my ID to my forehead instead of having to pull it out of my wallet so often.

7. You slurp your soup, and don't need a spoon.
Even when I ate at a Japanese restaurant in the States, I would use a spoon. Here, no need.

8. You have no problem paying 4,000 Yen for dinner, but not $40.
4,000 Yen = $40, for those who don't get the joke. Since it's just Joey and I, we rarely spend so much on food for the two of us. But there's an odd feeling that paying in Yen is cheaper than paying in Dollars, even though it's the same amount.

9. You think going 80 km/hour on the expressway is fast, but its only 50 miles/hour.
The highest speed limit on the main roads are between 40 km/h (25 mph) and 60 km/h (37 mph).

10. You look for landmarks when heading somewhere new, rather than street names.
There are barely any street names (except for on base), only for main roads. For example, I know that Kadena's (AF base) Gate 1 is at the stoplight with the Esso Gas Station in the opposite corner on the 58.

Happy Birthday to Me

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and had a blast thanks to the greatest husband, Joey. There have been things I've wanted to do and places I've wanted to see for a long time, but have never gotten around to doing them. So, Joey surprised me the whole weekend by taking me to those places.

The one place I knew we were going to was Cocok's, the 'it' place on the island to get your nails done. It's an hour and a half appointment, which includes an oil leg massage and beautiful, hand painted designs on each nail. They also served Okinawan donuts (to celebrate their three year anniversary) and a nice cold drink, which was calamansi juice, making the experience even better! Although, I have to admit, it wasn't up to my full expectations. I thought we'd be sitting in the massaging chairs with a jet foot spa, like the ones back in the States, but instead leather lazy boy chairs and a foot basin.

Joey also took me to Tobaru Koen Park that has a giant roller slide! There are a few parks that have these types of slides and are fun for all ages. We took cardboard to sit on as we slid down, upon the recommendations of others, to go faster and to avoid butt burn. It helped somewhat, but Joey and I still felt warm and tingly afterwards.
I've been wanting to go to Arin Krin, a garlic restaurant, ever since I landed on Okinawa, and I finally went! Joey surprised me for dinner and took me there, and oh my goodness, the food was great! It's a good thing Joey and I are married already, because we had stinky garlic breath later, but I loved it!
For dessert, we went to Blue Seal, an ice cream parlor. I usually get frozen yogurt while Joey gets an ice cream filled crepe. Since it was my birthday, I decided to get one too. Yummy!

Joey got a Blueberry Cheesecake Crepe with Cheesecake ice cream. I got a Chocolate Banana Crepe with Chocolate ice cream.

We went to the BX, as usual, and saw that they finally received a shipment of Rock Band 2 for the PS3, so we bought it. My favorite part is the singing. And since I haven't heard most of the songs prior to Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and can't sing, I would mostly screech and yelp to match the pitch. But it's fun! I think Joey's deaf now.

We finally got a house phone number, with a California area code, so people back home can call us without the international long distance charges. And, we got new cell phones and new cell phone numbers! Joey got the black/black phone and I got the White/Turquoise phone.

To end my birthday weekend, Joey bought me a dulce de leche cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. Thanks Joey for a great weekend, I couldn't have planned it better myself!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Halloween

Halloween in Japan is like Halloween in the States, with the addition of bats flying about. Yes, you read it right, we have real live bats! Of course they only appear at night and are harmless, but I've only seen them on base flying from tree to tree.

The base was open to the local Japanese as long as they had a sponsor to pass through the gates. Joey and I volunteered to be on Pumpkin Patrol, due to the fact that we are childless. Might as well help keep the kiddies safe, right? I didn't dress up, and Joey had to wear his uniform. We met up the other Pumpkin Patrollers to be assigned a neighborhood and were given reflective belts/vests and glow sticks. Receiving the glow sticks was the highlight of my night. The rest of the night consisted of walking around the neighborhood for two hours in the slightly humid weather, in jeans that didn't breath and shoes that are too small for my humidity inflated feet. Not fun. Not fun at all.

Although, I do feel good for helping kids cross the street and helping a little kid walk back home after he ran out his house looking for his brother, who apparently was already home. Next year, if we decide to be patrolling again, I'll wear a light weight kimono, slippers, and bring an Ipod.

U.S. Dollar vs. Yen

The Yen rate has gone to the pooper, along with the economy (based on the numerous companies that are downsizing and house foreclosures). But, thankfully the military takes care of us! When I arrived in July, it was 107¥ = $1, as of yesterday it was 93¥ = $1. We needed to withdraw money for our rent, so waiting for the rates to increase a little bit was not an option. I have to check Joey's paychecks to see if the military adjusts our Housing Allowance according to the current Yen rate.

Living overseas, I have two wallets. One with my U.S. dollars & coins and another with my Yen. Although, I'm trying to stop carrying as much U.S. dollars because I only use them when I go on base, where I can use my card. A word to the wise, those who are planning on visiting us, don't bring any pennies! On base, they don't accept them. When paying in cash, they either round up or down. When paying with a card, they charge the full amount.

Wii

We got a Wii! Since Joey has been on the island, the BX/PX hasn't carried Wii consoles (or they have, but they sold out fast), just games and accessories. But we heard that they were going to be in stock soon, and lo and behold, the PX has tons of them! WooHoo, I'm excited! Off to go play now! (Sisters, are you jealous? Mwhahaha!)

Maybe I should get the Wii Fit due to my lack of motivation to go to the gym during the weekdays.

Smelly House

When we went snorkeling last week, Joey collected some shells (as usual). Once we got home, he rinsed the shells off a bit and left them outside on the balcony to dry ... and forgot about them, until today.

An hour ago, I went into the kitchen and found that Joey was boiling something. That something was one of the shells! Apparently, Joey got the idea to boil the shell in water to reduce the stink, which he heard from a friend. What that friend might have forgotten to tell him was that he probably boiled his shells in water the day he got the shells because right now, my home smells like I'm living in a fish market! I don't think Joey realized the amount of stink one shell would produce. Therefore, he didn't close any of the bedroom doors, allowing the smell to creep in each room and cling to the walls and furniture.

Of course I can't get mad at him, especially after he looks at me with his puppy dog eyes and says, "Oops, I'm sorry" (with his mischievous smile). So sorry in advance if no one gets an invitation to our home in the next couple of weeks, or until the stink goes away!

Featuring the USAF

Have you noticed that recent movies have been starting to feature the US Air Force? Transformers, Iron Man, and Eagle Eye. Pretty cool, huh!

*UPDATE: A friend mentioned that in The Hulk, there's a glimpse of a USAF plane.

Cheeseburger Contest

When I arrived on the island, one of Joey's co-workers was PCSing out, and gave us so many candles and cooking spices, some of which they had three of, like paprika, nutmeg, and salt! Thankfully, Joey and I love to cook, but I tend to take over the kitchen more because he's at work and is really hungry by the time he gets home.

I try to make dinner interesting time to time and one night, I got creative. I decided to make homemade mini-cheeseburgers. I used the Hawaiian wheat rolls as buns and made six different flavors of hamburger patties: Hot Pepper, Garlic, Italian Spice, Oregano and Parsley, Steak Flavor, and Spicy Steak.

We rated each burger on tastiness, and it was a tie between the Hot Pepper and Garlic! Right now, I'm trying to figure out the best BBQ sauce. Anyone have a great recipe?

Joey's the Favorite

My sisters and I often joke that we're, "Mom and Dad's favorite, and that they love me more." And yes, we're all over the age of 18 and considered adults, but whatever, we're sisters. I'm close to both of them, including my parents, and not talking to them everyday like we used to has been limited to at least once a week.

I usually talk to them via web cam (it's free!) on Monday mornings (Japan time), which would be their Sunday night. But lately, it's just been me and my younger sister, with my mom stopping whatever she's doing to talk for a short while. My dad would talk to me for a millisecond to ask how I am doing and if I'm okay, then leave to watch TV/football, do laundry, or sleep. My older sister is always too busy with school or work, that we often have to schedule a time to catch up ... every two to three weeks.

Well, Joey had the day off on Monday, so therefore was home during the time that I talk to my family. And guess what, my dad stayed MUCH longer talking to us than he usually does when it's just me! Later, I remembered the last time Joey was home on a Monday (Labor Day weekend), my dad did the same thing! Also, I realized both parents seem more lively than usual whenever Joey's home during our chats.

Hmm ... maybe Joey's the favorite? Maybe because he's their only son (in-law) and the son they never had, but wished for. Wait. What am I thinking? For my sisters reading this, Nanie and Frenchie, just always remember, I AM MOM AND DAD'S FAVORITE!

Happy Birthday Joey!

Little did he know, I put trick candles on the cake!

Happy Birthday Joey! We celebrated Joey's birthday, and lucky for him, it was a three day weekend! Saturday, he went out snorkeling with a bunch of friends. I stayed at the apartment to cook lunch for them afterwards. I made some of Joey's faves, like Filipino spaghetti (the sweet kind), lumpia, and leche flan for dessert, along with some cheese & garlic biscuits, potato salad, sweet BBQ spare ribs, and an ice cream cake.

Because it was his birthday weekend, I gave him one present per day. And because I had to hide the presents all over the house so Joey wouldn't find it, I had a hard time relocating them once it was time to give it to him! Friday, I gave him swimming trunks to wear on Saturday. Saturday, I gave him an underwater writing tablet to use when snorkeling and a goggle anti-fogger. Later that night, I gave him the game Rock Band for him PS3, with Rock Band 2 to come later once it gets released. Then Sunday, I gave him shoes.

On his actual birthday, I made sure we went out to lunch where he would eat noodles! Ever since I was little, my mom always made sure we had noodles to eat on our birthday to signify long life. I'm not sure if it's a Filipino superstition or just my moms, and even though I'm not really superstitious, I plan on carrying out the tradition.

Snorkeling at Maeda Flats

Joey had gone snorkeling a few weekends ago with a friend to Maeda Flats and was so excited when he came home because of all the fishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and coral he saw. So we went out and bought me a snorkel set, as well as an underwater camera, for our next adventure.

Saturday, we went back to Maeda Flats with the same friend Joey went with earlier, and two other friends who were newbies to snorkeling like me. What an experience! Despite the fact that I would freak out because I didn't know how to use my fins properly, and I hated when my feet couldn't reach the floor, I loved it! I got better towards the end, but only because I decided to ditch the fins. The two newbies went a bit farther out than I did, while Joey and his friend went out past the waves, where the coral dropped off. They even saw a jellyfish, eek!

These fish were a beautiful, bright blue color.
You can see some sea urchins underneath the coral with white tips.

The next day, Joey and I went back by ourselves later in the evening when it was a higher tide than the day before and were able to catch some videos. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time loading the videos, sorry! But the videos don't do justice of what you actually see and experience anyway ... and it's way better than what I learned in Biology class!

A cute blue starfish peeking out of the coral!

Next on the list of things to do on the island, get certified to go Scuba diving ... or maybe after I learn how to use my fins.

Typhoon Sinlaku

Okinawa hasn't had any typhoons this summer, with some just sending us rain. However, it's been a pretty dry season with about 16 days of rain, making officials send out water conservation notices. I read in an article last week that our water level was at 64%, where the average usually is at 95%!

Last week, Joey's work called mentioning that Typhoon Sinlaku was headed our way, and to expect it by Friday and Saturday. We really didn't know how to prepare, and I didn't dare go to the Commissary because we heard it was packed and everything was sold out. If anything, the typhoon wouldn't last more than 2 days, I assumed. We had enough food, water, flashlights, candles, and etc. So, I just went to the shoppette at Torii Station (the closest base), and bought some milk, 2 cup o'noodles, canned corn, and a magazine. Then, I went to Family Mart and bought lunch for me and Joey (he was home because it was the day we received our shipment).

As the weekend approached, and the typhoon conditions constantly changed. With that, we opted to go out and avoid unpacking boxes and organizing our place. As of today, from the looks of it, it seems that Typhoon Sinlaku might just miss our tiny island.

Typhoon Sinlaku at 9/15/08 at 8:00 a.m.

We Have Furniture!

We finally got Joey's shipment from Georgia! He left GA before the weight restriction for the AF was lifted, so he was forced to leave some things in storage. But after he amended his orders with me on them, he was allowed to ship more items because of the increased weight allowance for AD (active duty) with dependents - but was only allowed to ship them once the paperwork and itinerary showed that I was actually arriving on the island. It's been almost three months since he filed the paperwork, and we are so glad that they're finally here! We still have some things in GA, but at least we have our couches! Bye bye ugly green, uncomfortable government issued couches!

Once we get everything organized, we can finally post pictures of our place!

Babies

A little while ago, Joey sent out an email to our family that said something like this:

TITLE: GREAT NEWS! Liza and I are expecting ...
EMAIL: ..... you to be really excited, because I got promoted!

Of course, at the end we put a disclaimer that we are NOT expecting a baby. We got a lot of replies back, the funniest being from one of Joey's sisters where she starts her email off with, "You stupid ass!"

Although I am not ready to have babies of my own anytime soon, I have had some practice recently of what it would be like, sort of. Our friends have asked me to babysit their 10 month old son, being that they are dual active duty, until they find a more suitable caretaker (not that I am unfit or anything). Never having changed a diaper, the first day went great since he had only wet diapers. However, the second day, he had three poopie diapers! Three?!?! Everyone who knows me, knows that I have the most sensitive nose! Just thinking about a foul smell would send me running and gagging, not kidding! Embarrassing as it is to admit, the head wrap used to cover my nose while I changed him didn't stop me from throwing up a little bit in my mouth, and that was before I removed the diaper! I'm getting better though. Now, I only gag once and I'm good. Maybe next time I can do without the make-shift nose wrap. Maybe.


Other baby news, our other friend just gave birth to a baby boy, her second! We just had dinner with them, and I tried to have Joey change the baby's diaper, because he's never changed one either! But, he pretended not to hear me and watched TV instead.

Cars

Okay, people have been asking to see what our cars look like, so ta-da! Joey got the car that he wanted, but of course, wants to upgrade it. Oh, men! I got my box car, that seats 5! So we're just waiting for some visitors from the States to fill them up *hint hint*.

Joey's Skyline

My Dingo

Nago Pineapple Park

Saturday, we took a trip to visit the Nago Pineapple Park with a couple of friends. Despite getting us lost a little bit, due to my excellent directions, we had fun!

The entrance of the park. Cheese!

First, you hop in this pineapple cart and take a mini tour of the pineapples.

The air smelled like sweet, sweet pineapple!

Can you tell when a pineapple is ripe?

At the park, they sell three different pineapple wines and have an all-you-can-drink taste test section of the wines. Joey was the only one to taste the wines because I was driving, and the other two were underage. Before we left, we were sure to buy all three wines, so I could try them too!

The 3 different wines! 'Sweet', 'Dry', and 'Sweet Kiss' which is much smoother.

After the wine section, there is another all-you-can-eat section of pineapple cookies, cakes, pies, and of course, pineapples! Other than the fresh, sweet pineapples, my favorites dessert was the pineapple wine cake! Yummy!

Then of course, a huge gift shop of anything pineapple and more!

This is Habushu, otherwise known as Habu liqueur!
They drown the poisonous habu snake in the wine,
which is supposed to have medicinal purposes
... and very, very expensive!

Torii Beach

Joey and I went to the beach here for the first time, with a friend and her son. I know what you're thinking. 'You haven't been to the beach yet, and you've lived in Oki how long?' I don't know why Joey waited this long, but as for me, I hate baking in the sun! So we went in the evening to Torii Beach, which is located within an Army base, the closest base to our apartment. Surprisingly, for a weekend (Sunday), there was no one! Maybe because they were all at the Eisa Festival or the Beer Fest ... or they were at the BX shopping for their kids because the school year started this week for most schools.

Joey's trying to be the next Michael Phelps.
(Ahh, my picture isn't straight, sorry!)

Our beach shoes. Flattering huh? They're the only colors available at the BX.
The sand over here is mixed with coral, which sometimes doesn't feel too nice on your feet.