Shuri Castle

Joey and I went to Shuri Castle. It was hot, but it was fun - the castle, not the heat!

Here's a mini background on the castle: The castle is the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, which has been built and rebuilt three or four times since the 14th Century. It was destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, but reconstructed in 1992.

Shortly after Joe snapped this picture - trying to get a shot of the gate, all the locals started to crowd the two guys on the left. They made a huge commotion and took pictures of them. He probably was famous, but for all we know, he could have just had a "kick me" sign on his back.

View from the top.

The castle was much, much smaller than I expected. And half of it was under construction.

I have no idea what we're posing in front of. But everyone else was doing it!

A synthetic replica of of the King's crown for formal occasions.

We grabbed lunch at a place called Pizza House right outside Camp Kinser. It was not a plain ol' pizza house - in fact, much fancier and a little pricey. Their pizza wasn't even their specialty, it was steak and lobster. What caught us more off guard was that they served crispy pata, chicken canton, adobo, and pan de sal.

America Fest and 4th of July Theme Party

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July because we sure did!

Friday night we went to America Fest - a festival on Kadena celebrating 4th of July weekend. We got our funnel cake and turkey legs - still doesn't compare to Del Mar Fair food, but it filled the void! We also got to see the Lt. Dan Band! Ya know, Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise) from Forrest Gump.

We went back to America Fest on Saturday because Joey was volunteering at his squadron's booth. That was a long 5 hours!

Our strawberry (sauce) funnel cake. It wasn't the same as the Mexican funnel cake at the Del Mar Fair.

Our turkey legs! Had to wait in line for 30 minutes, but it was worth it.

Lt. Dan Band (from Forrest Gump)! Gary Sinise is in the blue shirt playing the guitar.

After volunteering, we rushed home to get ready for a themed 4th of July party at a friend's house. Try to guess the theme from the pictures - see the pictures for hints! Kudos to anyone (who wasn't at the party) who guesses right!

Leopard tablecloth, flowers in a water jug, pigs in a blanket, Easy Cheese (cheese in a spray can), pork rinds, chips and dip, crackers, 'nana pudding, and etc.

I dressed up as a pregnant lady with a baby on the hip, night gown, black leggings, a robe, house slippers, long red nails, big hair, hair rollers, and a lot of make-up. Joey dressed in his work boots, jeans, cut-off shirt, mullet hair, and an "I Love Beer" trucker hat with a 12-pack of beer.

The girls - with big hair and tons of make-up.

The guys - cut-off shirts, cut-off pants/jeans, and mullets.

Can anyone guess the theme?

One Year in Oki

I didn't realize it yesterday, but today marks one year and one day since I arrived in Okinawa! Where did the time go?

Can't believe it's been a year already and I'm still loving every minute of it ... minus the spiders!

Dog Tags

Joey came home today and surprised me with a gift, again! He gave me dog tags, which he had made especially for me! Ain't he the sweetest?

It reads:

LIZA (whole name)

QUEEN OF THE

WORLD

USAF SPOUSE

MARRIED TO JOEY

He said he wanted to add "Always Right", but "Queen of the World" took up two lines. Haha! I love him!

I have to add the reason behind the "Queen of the World" status. Every time Joey e-mails me from his work e-mail, he has his signature - name and rank. As a joke, I started adding "Queen of the World" as my signature!

I'm starting to wonder if there is some sort of motive behind these gifts. Hmmm?

Edit:

I just asked him if there's a motive for the gifts, and then he shows me what he's looking at on his iPhone. It's his TV he's been waiting for ... for about 7 months now! He claims that it was just a coincidence that he was looking at it when I asked him. Uh huh, sure.

A Day in Nago

On Saturday, we went up to Nago to visit the Churaumi Aquarium, again. We have annual passes and wanted to make use of it before it expires. Another reason is we never have seen the shows outside because every time we went, it rained. This time, we made it!

Joey and the turtles.

Then, we stopped by Pizza in the Sky, again! The 45 minute wait was worth it, the food was yummy, as always!

Kajinho is the actual name of the restaurant, or just Pizza in the Sky

The menu - cute, huh?

After lunch, we decided to go to Tropical Kingdom - right next door to the Pineapple Park. It has a bunch of plants, exotic fruits, a Butterfly Zone, a Bird Zone, some goats to feed, and most of all, lots of unexpected bugs! If you plan on visiting this place, especially in the summer, don't forget your bug spray! The bugs kept biting Joey and I, cutting our day in Nago short.

Entrance of the Butterfly Zone

Caterpillar cocoons

Butterfly!

Feeding the birds

These goats look like they haven't been fed and almost jumped out of the short fence when we tried to feed them.

Fantastic Friday!

So far, my Friday has been fantastic!

I had lunch with friends and had sushi. Then, went to Starbucks for more girl talk.

I came home and waited for Joey to get off work. When he came home, he surprised me with flowers! Blue hydrangeas to be exact!

He said that he wanted to get me a potted plant because they last longer. So sweet! I'm trying to remember if I'm forgetting an anniversary, but nope! He just wanted to surprise me. I love him!

Monte Carlo Night

Saturday, Joey and I had a blast at Monte Carlo Night at the NCO Club on Kadena. I think it's something we'll be doing every year here!

Monte Carlo Night is set up using fake/play money. You buy a $20 ticket and in exchange, you get $2000 or $3000 play money, depending when and who you buy the ticket from. There was craps, roulette, pai gao, poker, blackjack, and high/low dice. Also, there were raffles going on throughout the night for three different 50/50's, camera's, iPods, purses, and etc.

Every hour they changed the maximum bet from $50, to $100, to $1000, to unlimited. At the end of the night, everyone's total is tallied. The person with the most money got to choose from an assortment of prizes - a TV, BBQ grill, plate set, bicycles, DVD players, Wii, Xbox, cameras, and etc. Then the second highest winner got to choose, then the third, and so forth.

The biggest winner won $1.3 million! Of course, it was all play money.

I love pai gao! If only it were real money, I would have been up $10,000! But I wasn't even close to winning any of the grand prizes. However, we did win a bunch of consolation prizes - $20 club bucks, a jade bracelet, a beer cozy, key chain (even though it says U.S. Army), and a shirt!