Welcome Briefing

I've been on the island for one month already, and I FINALLY went to the Welcome Briefing. I had five opportunities to go, so why did I wait so long? Because:

1. The day after I arrived, I wanted to go shopping, not go to a class!
2. Joey and I did all my in-processing paperwork once I arrived (which is half of the Briefing).
3. I didn't know attendance was mandatory in order to obtain a license.
4. One of the days, we woke up late.
5. Joey is my mode of transportation, and he was called into work last week, the day of the Briefing - his usual day off.

What did I learn?

1. When the upcoming festivals are being held.
2. The off-base emergency phone number is 119.
3. Can't send "knock-off" or "designer" purses through the mail, or else they can be confiscated - sorry family!
4. Chopstick etiquette and Japanese phrases.
5. A lot of legal and military information, which I'll just ask Joey in the future again if need be.

What did I get?

1. Bunch of information from various colleges for Joey so he can start some classes, or maybe I can get another degree (or even a Master's).
2. A scrapbook how-to guide - because all my scrapbook material is stowed away in a box.
3. Information about the on-base chapel.
4. Flyer's about volunteer work in my field of interest.
5. Pens, magnets, mirrors, plastic bags, pamphlets, and lots of paper!

Lizards and Spiders, Oh My!

Insects on this island are on steroids! The size of an ant in the states is the size of the ants leg here in Oki.

Back home, I could kill a teeny weenie spider, no problem. An ant? Who cares. When there is an ant trail, I bust out the Raid and spray like crazy. A bee buzzing around, I duck and go on my way.

But over here, it's another story! I could be developing insectophobia, herpetophobia, agrizoophobia, arachnephobia, and etc ... any and all things that on land (I have yet to discover creepy things in the ocean) that's alive, other than human. Yes, it's self-diagnosed. Here's why,

1. One night, I went into my bedroom and see a lizard. I call Joey to get it. But the thought of the lizards tail detaching from it's body (which does happen, for those of you who didn't know) ran a chill down my body and caused me to jump on the bed as Joey captured it and safely released it.

2. Joey and I were in the computer room. He all of a sudden says, "Babe, don't ask questions, just get out of the room." Weird, right? So, of course I ask, "Why?" "You don't want to know, just don't turn around," he said. Immediately I knew it was a spider and ran out! All I heard was *thunk thunk* and a few minutes later, Joey came out with a dead spider wrapped in a paper towel to throw in the trash. Of course, I made him throw the whole trash outside just in case the spider magically came alive and crawled out of the trash and attacked us at night!

Joey and I came to the conclusion that the only way the lizard and spider entered the apartment was when we open the front or sliding glass door because there are grates that cover the air conditioning vents and any other holes, which are small enough to keep out those steroid ants.

3. They very next day after the 1st spider incident, Joey and I were about to leave our apartment and specifically reminded each other to check the door so that insects don't enter. Just as Joey opened the door, a brown spider tried to enter from the top, so he immediately slammed the door shut! The spider got trapped between the door and squirted its juice and guts on Joey's face!

Look at those eyes! Creepy!

Look at the size of that thing! It's about the size of half my hand!

Now, EVERYWHERE I go, I look around like a mad woman for any kind of non-human life (i.e. bugs, spiders, flying insects) that are in my pathway. Three more years left. I think I should live in a bubble.

Argh to the Wii

OMG, its been 12 days since I last posted, sorry! Joey has been working a lot, sometimes being called in on his days off, so we haven't gone many places.

Yesterday, we wanted to try out a restaurant we found in the newspaper, but ended up getting lost. Instead, we found a sushi-go-round at a Jusco/Mall.

On our way out, Joey saw a one of those arcade claw games where you pick up a capsule with a key, and each key opens a different locker number filled with a prize. Joey saw the Wii in one of the lockers. He got really excited because we want a Wii, but the BX doesn't carry any Wii consoles ... just the games and accessories! Weird! So he asked me for 100 Yen to try, so I gave it to him. Then he asked for another. Then another. Soon, little boys start surrounding Joey, watching him. Joey didn't want them to play next, because they might get it. So he begged for more yen, but I didn't have any. He needed to ask for change while I stood guard.

1300 Yen later ... we had 3 times we caught the capsule but fell in mid air! After that, we didn't have anymore Yen and didn't want to break 5000 Yen. Joey wanted to play more, but I said no. He tried to bargain with me saying,

J: "What's $20 more compared to the price of a Wii?"
L: "No."
J: "Gah, I have no will power."
L: "I know. Don't worry, I'm your will power!"

We wanted locker #4

Movie Endings

Last night, Joey and I watched "Iron Man". At the end of the movie, I was ready to leave once the credits started rolling, as I usually do. But Joey told me to stay until after the credits were done rolling. Did you know that sometimes they have an extended script at the very, very end of the credits!?! (Edit: I'm not talking about those bloopers, but the clips after all the credits are done rolling.) I feel like watching all the movies I have and fast forwarding to the end to watch all the end clips I've missed!

He Gets My F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Jokes!

I am a F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan! Back home, my older sister and I would watch all the 10 seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. on DVD, and they'd practically be on repeat mode until we fall asleep. We even had the Scene It game for F.R.I.E.N.D.S.! Call us dorks, or whatever you like, but it is a funny show and the jokes never get old! My whole family would even get in on the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. jokes and put them into conversation - i.e. I recently told my sister I had a "Ross Moment" because in the show he accidentally said 'squatternut bosh' instead of 'butternut squash'. When I was talking to Joey last week, I accidentally said 'deep shitted feets', instead of 'deep fitted sheets'!

So Joey is buying me my own set of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. DVD's so I can watch them over here in Oki and he's been watching them with me too. And now he's starting to add F.R.I.E.N.D.S. jokes into conversation and get my jokes as well. *Sigh* I feel like I'm back at home!

Anyway, I noticed that my left arm will forever be darker than my right arm. Okay, not forever. What I'm trying to say is that back in the States, I had a driver's tan - where the left arm is darker than the right because you drive on the left side of the car. Now, since I don't drive (and don't plan on driving until Joey buys me an automatic and I get over my fear of driving on the other side of the road), I still sit on the left side as a passenger, thus tanning my left arm more!

Now on to the food!

While we're on the island, Joey and I want to try as many different restaurants, therefore, we're going to try to visit each place once ... or until we've run out of places to eat! It may seen like we go out to eat everyday, but we don't. The pictures of food just accumulate over the span of a week. We actually eat at home more than you think!

Joey took me to eat at Coco Curry house! It was sooooo good! I even finished my food before Joey, and everyone knows Joey can eat his food in one minute or less! Sorry no pictures, it was just too good to take a second to take a picture! At Coco's they have a level of intensity for hotness from 1-10, 10 being the hottest. I started with a 2, upon Joey's suggestion. I could have gone a few more levels up, however, Joey was practically drenched in sweat once he finished his meal. Haha! I love hot food, I was born with a Bicol tongue - huh, Mom!

We bought a bunch of filled-breads from the bakery in Jusco. Yummy! My favorite was the top left one because it was filled with curry and reminded me of Coco's. Starting clockwise from the curry-filled bread was a ground meat and cheese, then cheese and chicken with some type of horse radish, then a sweet bread filled with a sweet melon type of custard, and then the largest bread was plain cheese with mayo in the middle.


There is another food vendor at Jusco that sells Takoyaki. Takoyaki are fried octopus balls and topped with different flavors and condiments. It was so good and fresh! They cook them right in front of you! We also tried this fish shaped waffle thing filled with sweet beans. I thought it was okay, but Joey loved it. They also had some filled with either green beans or custard.

Another vendor in Jusco sold a variety of onigiri, which are flavored rice wrapped in nori. We got the Spam onigiri with egg, otherwise known as spam musubi. It was good, like any other musubi, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We found boba! We went to Quickly, I got the Taro Shake and Joey got the Sweet Melon Shake. Honestly, I didn't think it was the best I've had, or even close. The shake had too much ice, which watered down the flavor and made it hard to mix the boba into the drink.

Mister Donut is another place we tried. It's set up is like a buffet of donuts. You hand pick each donut and bring them to the register. Here is the variety that we chose. We got an old-fashioned chocolate dipped, strawberry dipped, chocolate topped, honey churro, and chocolate sprinkled-with-some-kind-of-crumbs donuts. The chocolate isn't as sugar-y or icing-y as they are in the states. And, I think because we went to Mister Donut at night, the churro donut tasted a bit stale.

It's been two weeks since I've been in Oki, and I still have so much to do and see, but I love it already!

Food Adventures

This week, me and Joey went around the island some more. I kind of, sort of, know the streets to turn on to get from our place to the different bases. But as for me driving anytime soon, NO! For those of you who know me, stop laughing. For those of you who don't know me, trust me, you don't want me to drive yet!

Went to the BX/PX to buy some little things and the commissary to feed us. I'm so glad both me and Joey know how to cook - rather than having sandwiches for dinner. But, we still want to enjoy the food on the island, so we went to American Village, which is a place on the island that is marked by a huge Ferris wheel. I want to go on it, but it's hot and I'd rather stay on the ground rather than closer to the sun!

The American Village sign.

The other day, I went to my first sushi-go-round at Ichiban Tei! It's one of those places, where you sit, and there are sushi plates rotating around, and you just grab and eat, or you can special order anything. On the way home later, we passed by a bakery close to our place called Michel's Bakery and got a bunch of treats, some were "hopia" like - a Filipino dessert. Yummy stuff!

My favorites were the square one - a potato dessert, the cake slice, and the round puff pastry in foil.

Another day, we went to a farmer's market called Chanpuru Ichiba, cause the veggies at the commissary are pitiful - limp, bruised, rotten, or just plain ugly! We also got some more desserts (the triangular things in the picture), they're kind of like sapin-sapin, another Filipino dessert. Then we wanted to get green onions, so I grabbed some, but Joey picked up another batch cause he said, "Oh, just get these cause they don't have the bulbs at the bottom, and they're cheaper!" So, I put my batch down and Joey puts his in the cart. When we got home, I look at it, and it's NOT even green onions!!! I think it's lemon grass! Neither me or Joey know how to cook with lemon grass! Well, whatever we make with it will be an interesting dish!

Look at the middle Mom and Dad, it's those sesame balls we love! We got it at one of the food vendors outside the Farmer's Market.

Then, we went to a place called Ichigenya, in American Village. They're food was pretty good, and they cook in front of you if you sit at the bar, or you have a hot plate at your own table. I had a beef yakisoba and fried rice mix, wrapped in an egg! Joey had the same thing, except he had octopus and chicken in his yakisoba, without the rice.

For dessert, we went next door to Farmer's Ice for Okinawa Gelato. Not sure how they make the gelato Okinawan, but it tasted good to me!

That's all for my Japanese food adventures, but I'm sure there are many more to come!

Earthquake!

We had an earthquake today! I was sitting on the couch and felt it rock back and forth. I immediately think it's Joey shaking the chair trying to scare me, so I turn around and see he's not there, but in the kitchen. Silly me, I start to think it's a GHOST! Growing up in California, you would think I would know better! Why do I automatically think it's a ghost? I don't know, I'm weird! After the shaking stopped, Joey said, "Did you feel that ... it was an earthquake!" I swear, you could have heard me sigh all the way back in the U.S.!

The earthquake registered at a 6.0 about 100 miles away, meaning we felt a ~2.0 around where we live in Oki - Yomitan.

I'm FINALLY in Okinawa

*WARNING: This blog is super long, so grab your pillow, blanket, and a cup of hot chocolate as you try to read this novel!

This past weekend, on Saturday, I had a Graduation & Farewell Party at a buffet in San Diego with some family and friends. It was good food in great company! I miss everyone already! But don't worry, I'll be back!

My friends who came to lunch: Lei, Ming, Cat, and Cat's boyfriend

Steve - who's leaving next month for Oki too!

My sisters and cousins! I miss them so much!

Here I am with Joey's family. They lived in Okinawa for a total of six years! Before I arrived, they'd tell me and Joey so many stories and places to go, and each time I got more excited to leave!

After the lunch, I went back to my house, rented movies, some relatives came over, and then my cousin Cheryl (my other 'sister') came over to sleep over. You know what I realized Che (if you're reading this), we should have gone to Great Moon one last time together, and of course Rei de Gado's! Haha, next time!

The next morning, Sunday, was when I had to leave. My parents stayed at home, because 1. it would be to hard to say goodbye to them during the ride to the airport, and 2. we had some other relatives sleeping over. My goodbyes to my Mom and Dad were quick, just cause I didn't want to cry - but I did end up tearing up. It would have been much harder to leave if they dropped me off. But they know I love them so much! My sisters and Cheryl dropped me off at the airport. They're goodbye was short and sweet too.

Now on to the DRAMA! My flight to Okinawa was supposed to go as follows: San Diego > San Francisco > Narita (Tokyo) > Okinawa. But, I guess because of all the fires in Northen California, the air quality was bad, therefore all flights to San Francisco were delayed! But since I have connecting flights, they put me on an earlier flight out, which was delayed, but would still leave earlier than my original flight. As I was waiting, the delayed time went from 9:22 am to 10:00 to 10:30 am to 10:45 am to 11:30 am, and with an hour and a half flight, I was definitely not going to make my 1:00 pm flight to Narita.

I had my itinerary rerouted for the next day. I decided to just fly out to San Francisco, just in case there were more delays out from San Diego on Monday. Joey's family lives nearby in SF, and were so kind to pick me up, feed me, give me a bed, and drop me back at the airport the next day. In a way, I'm kind of glad my flight schedule was messed up, because it gave me a chance to hang out with Joey's sister, her kids, and Joey's aunt and mom.

I also was able to see a lot of Joey's artwork he did back in high school, and they are GOOD! I knew he was an artist, but since I've known him, he's only painted three paintings. Right now, he's more into fixing cars and any DIY project. I'm glad I have a handyman husband!

So, my flights changed to San Diego > San Francisco > Osaka > Okinawa. I landed in Okinawa on Monday, July 1 and saw Joey holding up a huge sign with my name and other things written in Japanese saying "Welcome" and "Congratulations on your Graduation" (I think). Isn't he great!

Right when we exited the airport, the humidity hit me. Joey made me laugh when he said, "It's like the Philippines, except it doesn't stink!" It's true! The weather isn't bad as I thought. You only realize it when you walk from your car to your house or store. Besides, me complaining for three years wouldn't help, I just have to suck it up.

I was pretty hungry, but tired, when I arrived, so we went to McDonald's. Yes, I know! What am I thinking, why didn't I go somewhere else? Well, it was 24 hours, on the way, and I just needed some kind of food. The menu is kind of the same, except they have Teriyaki burgers and a Mega Mac, which is a Big Mac, except with two extra patties!

Got to our apartment and I love it! The computer room is smaller than I thought, but still good. The view from our bedroom is BEAUTIFUL! I'll show pictures soon! And even though we're on the second floor, it seems like the third floor because you have to climb some stairs just to get to the first floor! It's okay though - it's exercise I need.

On Wednesday, we went shopping! There were still a bunch of things the apartment needed, and Joey waited so I can help him decorate. We also desperately needed to go grocery shopping because I can't live off of Joey's bachelor ways. In his fridge, he had water, beer, a couple of soda's, eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, and a lot of TV dinners. I bet the people on Wednesday that saw us with a cart full of home decor and/or groceries knew we were newbies! I don't care, cause I love it! I've never had my own place before, so it was exciting for me!

Thursday, we were supposed to go shopping again for more storage units, but Joey was called into work. Boo, I know! So I stayed, unpacked my luggage and cleaned up a bit. But at night, we went out to eat sushi at "Yoshi (Something)". It was yummy!

Today is July 4th! Joey's on call for today, but later we were invited over for dinner at his coworkers place. We might bring some firecrackers/sparklers that we bought the other day! If they sell them in a store, they must be legal here right?

The End.
You've reached the end of this post! Great job!