Japanese Mystery Taste Test - Episode 1: Ice Cream

Disc Golf Comes to Okinawa!

Tired of sitting inside and wondering what to do with your weekend or want to unwind after a long day at work? Do you want something fun to do that’s not going to take a lot of prep time or travel or lugging tons of gear around? Well I have some good news! Disc golf (sometimes called Frisbee golf) has finally made its way to Okinawa. Kadena Air Base is now the proud owner of a 9-hole disc golf course, and the cost? It’s free! This course is the brainchild of MSgt Joseph F. Pasak III, USMC (retired) who decided he wanted to create something fun and free for service members and their families to enjoy.

So what, pray tell, is this disc golf thing? It’s a fun and challenging outdoor activity that is a bit like golf, but with a little less frustration and a lot less gear to haul around. According to Wikipedia, it is a flying disc game, as well as a precision and accuracy sport, in which individual players throw a flying disc at a target. The object of the game is to play the course from the first to the last target in the fewest number of throws of the disc.

The game can be played by anyone who can throw a disc and is a low-impact exercise. The only things required to play are focus, concentration, and patience – and of course you’ll need some discs to throw (it’s recommended that you have at least one of each of the three main types of golf discs - a driver, a mid range, and a putter). Some serious players have been known to carry as many as 20+ discs but if you are fairly new to the game or are just a casual player, 3 discs should be a good place to start.

There is actually another disc golf course in Okinawa, opened in 2011, called Nakijn Hibiscus Course. It is mostly flat and lightly wooded and has 9 holes. It’s located in the northwest part of the island in Nakijin (about 2 hours from Chatan). This small course is located in a sports complex and is only 100 Yen to play. From the people I’ve talked to it’s a nice small course that is great for working on your short game.

The new disc golf course on Kadena Air Base is behind the Kadena Risner gym and next to the Outdoor Recreation Center. For more details on the course search Okinawa Disc Golf on Facebook or go to: https://www.facebook.com/okinawadiscgolf

Dollar store sushi...

OK, so the idea of dollar store sushi does not by any means sound delightful or delicious or worth even picking up a pair of chopsticks for - but surprise surprise it is actually pretty darn good if my American palate does say so. This place is called Hamazushi and is apperently a popular quick and cheap sushi go-round in mainland Japan that has finally made its way to Okinawa.

I must say I was NOT expecting much when we walked in but was surprised to see a rather large crowd of people seated at the sushi go rounds first row with not a single vacant seat. They hand you a number and you wander around and find your well marked table (sort of like Walmart aisles very clearly marked with numbers).

We sat down at table #31 which happened to be in a prime spot (right next to the window where all the sushi comes out on a conveyer belt). Excitedly we sat down and gazed at the sushi passing by on colored plates from 90 - 105 yen. My husband grabbed a plate of salmon sushi and I grabbed a plate of salmon sushi with a green sauce artistically drizzled over the top and a small dot of cream cheese on top. We happily gobbled these down - the green drizzle was a yummy pesto sauce. Definitely a new way to eat salmon sushi. Then we noticed the touch screen.

"Do you think we can use that to order?" I asked my husband. "Maybe... Let's try it!" he said and began jabbing his finger at the touchscreen Japanese menu. After a while we somehow figured out where the English menu was and started ordering the many delightful dishes - some of which were completely new to us (that's saying something after 7 years in Japan). Beer (well, I'd had that before), salmon sushi (that too), shrimp sushi with Cesar salad dressing, onions, and nuts on top (new for sure), caramelized cold sweet potatoes (also new), and some others.

We were happily chowing away when we got our first ordered dish. The touch screen menu chimes and tells you your order is almost here please look for it (on the conveyer belt). This is when we realized that the dishes we'd been happily grabbing off the rotating belt when we first came in had actually been ordered by other customers - and we were brazenly grabbing them and stuffing our faces with their orders. Oops. "But how do you figure out which are ordered by others and which are there for the taking?" we wondered. Then we began to notice if there was a plate with a sign announcing the type of sushi, dessert, etc and then that item followed this sign then this was up for grabs. If, however, there was no sign AND the food was on a plate that was then set on an elevated round black pedestal with gold Japanese writing, then this was the signal that it had been ordered by someone. We felt rather embarrassed and wondered at who had been sitting there for the last 15 minutes waiting for their order when we had already unknowingly inhaled it. Well learning curve complete we finished our delicious delights (including a chocolate eclair and tasty chocolate ice cream that had a coconuty taste) we went rang the "bell" located on the touchscreen menu to get the check. We were so proud that we figured out that if you press the yellow button that calls the waiter and if you press the green button that removes your call for the waiter. I'm sure they were just thrilled that we were playing with these buttons.... So we received the check and for all of these items (14) PLUS a beer it cost only about $20 USD (or about 2000 yen). Great meal, small learning curve, some good clean hijinks, and beer. What more do you need? Life is good and we will definitely be back to the dollar store for their sushi!

That's TASTY (or Oishii desu!)

Since we've now been here for 7 years and 3 months (WOW time flies when you're on the other side of the world) I have discovered many a splendid place to satisfy my love for food. The spot pictured above is MARCO POLO Cafe and Bakery and it is like Santa's workshop - if all the gifts he gave were baked goods. This place is like heaven on a biscuit! They continually bring out fresh warm loaves of various breads: raisin bread, garlic bread, honey balsamic bread, mayo filled bread (WHAT???). The Okinawans seem to seriously love their mayonnaise. They put it on sushi (yep you heard that right), they bake it into bread, they slather it on their faces (oh wait that's me not them). Oh and the pizza - definitely not American style pizza, but sometimes that is a good thing (like this time)! The crust is a delicious pillowy bread, a light slathering of red sauce and cheese and then whatever toppings they happen to have on hand - like corn. YES, I said corn. It seems to be the Okinawan veggie of choice for pizza. Hey don't knock it until you've tried it. It actually seems to work. I can just picture the puzzled expression of the guy on the other end of the phone when I go back to the US and call Pizza Hut and ask for "extra corn."

Besides the savory treats, Marco Polo also has some amazing cakes, cookies, and other yummy little semi-sugary delights. Japanese desserts tend not to be very sweet. A typical Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie would cause majority of Okinawans to cringe as they tend to use about half the sugar that we Americans use to make their desserts. It is a little odd at first and took me a while to get into, but now I can appreciate a chocolate cake that tastes more like chocolate than sugar (don't get me wrong - I will NEVER turn down a super sweet German Chocolate cake BUT it's nice to change it up every now and then). The Okinawan donuts are a prime example of this. To ME the donuts here taste like dough balls with a pinch of sugar fried in fish oil (yummy right?) but to my husband (and my Rottweiler) they are to die for. Oh dear GOD, I just read him that sentence and he went downstairs and got an Okinawan doughnut (yes, he keeps these on hand in case of emergency).

Special Note: This café/bakery takes Yen and American Dollars. 098-921-1820.

Hours: Open 7 days a week. Monday – Friday they are open from 8 a.m. until 9p.m. Breakfast is served from 8a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and they will take the last pizza order at 7p.m.

Location: Awase area

Directions: Go out Kadena Gate 2, go straight and cross 330. You are on 20. You will cross 329 and start looking for the Mac House Jeans store, on the right, and then Marco Polo is right past the jeans store on the right as well. If you get to 85 you have gone to far. The restaurant is less than 5 kilometers from Kadena Gate 2. There is parking directly in the front of the restaurant and they also have a huge parking lot behind the restaurant. To get to the parking lot, pass the restaurant and take the small driveway that runs alongside the restaurant – don’t go to the signal, you’ll have gone to far.

12 more months in Okinawa!

A lot of time has slipped by since I last updated my blog... I could claim a myriad of excuses (like I needed a loooooong nap) but I won't and instead I will try to keep this thing up to date this time! The plan in this last 12 months of our 6 year tour is to see as many of the sites left on my to do list for Okinawa as I can.

Picture to the left is of Tedake Falls (great river trek adventure and only takes 20 minutes to hike to!)

Sites yet to be seen include:

1. Shuri castle - seriously tried to visit it 2x but somehow managed to get lost both times... sigh, my kingdom for a GPS system!

2. Orion Beer Factory - again my sense of navigation has failed me when it comes to finding this place... Orion is my favorite Japanese beer and finding this factory is my mission - and finding a designated driver to take me there may be the hardest part of this mission!

3. Diving the Kerama Islands - supposedly some of the best diving around. I plan to camp, dive, and soak in the scenery here. Having not strapped on a tank in 2 years I'd better flip through my SCUBA book before I dust off my fins.

4. The Naha Tug of War - I say I'm going to do this every year. Then I start thinking about the crowd. The HUGE unimaginable sweaty crowd (25,000 attendees annually). The parking. The rope burn (The rope weighs some 40 metric tons). In 1997 the event was first logged in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest tug-of-war event in the world. But honestly it's one of those things you do that you may not really want to do but you kinda have to do just so you can say "yep, of course I participated in the world's largest tug of war in the world while in Okinawa."

5. Okinawan Bull fights - no don't worry it's not some guy flipping his cape around and stabbing a poor bull, it's two bulls fighting each other. Still sounds somewhat unpleasant. I'm not sure I'm really up for this kind of violence - but again who knows what I may regret someday if I don't do it now while in Japan. Plus it may convince me to become a vegetarian...

So this is the start of my list... I'll keep you posted on what else I come up with! Onward towards adventures unknown!!!

My Favorite Okinawa Quirks

Wow, so it's been about a year and a half since my last post. Hmmmm... Guess that means I've got a LOT to catch up on here! So the topic of the day is the delightful quirks of Okinawa. Just in case you have any doubt in your mind, I want to start by saying that I absolutely LOVE this island with a passion equal only to my passion for Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. This is NOT an article slamming Okinawa, quite the opposite in fact.

Here's my list of quirks:

No trash cans in public places.

There really are almost NONE. It's strange for this American to wander for miles in search of a trash receptical to drop my random garbage (I'm American, it follows that I tend to generate garbage, just can't help it...). This is especially noticeable since there seems to be a trash can on every corner in the United States. Sometiems it's rather inconvenient (like on a scorching summer day when I've just picked up a rather large pile of my Rottweiler's excrement, tied it in 2 plastic bags to super double bag the stink, and have to put it in my vehicle and take it home with me... Not the best car freshner I've found. I've been told this lack of places to drop your trash is because Okinawa does not have extra money in their budget to pay for people to come pick up the garbage on a regular basis. Not sure if this is true, but it sounds like it has a ring of truth to it, so I'm going to choose to believe that one.

Wonderfully worded signs

Hey people, we're in Okinawa, and we're lucky they are making any effort to make signs that we can understand. They could just flip us the bird (or do whatever the Japanese consider a rude gesture) and write everying in kanji (the writing that looks like a series of scribbles and lines to the untraiined Gaijin (foreigner) eyes. But they do make a serious effort to include us and some of the results of these efforts can be quite humorous. See picture above...

Fire hydrants under manhole covers.

Not sure why, but I think this is adorable (and takes up MUCH less space). Plus you don't see those nasty dog pee covered attrocities on every corner. And when you are stumbling home drunk, you won't smack your knee on one (not that I've ever done that...).

Soda/Coffee machines every 10 feet

Ok, what this island lacks in trash cans, it makes up for with drink machines. Honestly I've never seen so many soday machines in my life! you could be driving b y a sugar cane field and out there in the middle of nowhere is a bright red soda machine with both cold AND hot beverages (and even soup!). It's fun to put coins in and try random drinks, despite sometiems finding out you are now drinking hot corn soup instead. Oops, should've noticed the bright red sign under that item that said "HOT."

Tombs on waterfront property.

The Okinawans really revere their dead. So much so that a lot of Okinawan prime waterfront property is taken up by tombs. I guess I'm thinking like a capatilist (hmmm how many huge and obnoxiously large mansions could we fit on that piece of land?) instead of thinking like an Okinawan (hmmm I'm going to be visiting this tomb a fair amount - it would be nice if it was right on the ocean with a fabulous view, that way I can visit with my dead relatives and enjoy the beauty of nature at the same time). That would never fly in America. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying it so much here in Okinawa!

An obsession with beetles.

No, not the Beatles music group, just the bug. Now I happen to have an outrageously illogical fear of bugs. ESPECIALLY big beetle looking bugs. The Okinawans, however, will pay good money for a beetle to take home as a pet (sometimes as much as $500 and up). They have lunchboxes with pictures of beetles on them, rafts in the shape of beetles, stuffed animal beetles, and of course stickers that look like beetles. "Yuki, you did so well on your test that you get a big beetle sticker on the top of your paper!" Sort of makes a big gold star look kinda wussy.

Locked Up

Locked up, won't let me out... Yeah, that's a song by some hip hop artist named Akon, but it's also life here on Okinawa these days. Let me start by saying it's all for good reason. What's that saying about one rotten apple??? Well without going into details and getting too political or too opinionated (you can get the details on google) I must say that it's probably the right move at this point. So at this point we are on restriction and allowed to go from base to base but nowhere else (no drive through Starbucks or Udon noodles or fried rice from Yoshi's or shopping at JUSCO). Some people obviously didn't quite get it (it's rumor at this point but I do know that most of it's true) and measures have been taken (SOFA status wives, can you say "free trip back to the USA, do not pass GO do not collect $200 and oh, by the way, DON'T come back"? Also some brig time in there for the military set who flagrantly violated the command). So what is the lesson and why are we all being grounded for something our classmates did? Well in my eyes it's this: We are guests here and as such, we need to respect the people and the laws here. When one person screws up it puts us all in a bad light and reflects badly on our country, our military, and ourselves. My belief is that the "stand down" (aka "period of reflection") is not only to punish those who broke the law but to remind those of us who have gotten comfortable in our lifestyles here that we are in a foreign country and that we must ALWAYS remember that we are guests here. This is sounding opinionated isn't it? Oh well... My blog, my opinion - right? Anyway the other idea I have is that part of the stand down is also to show the Okinawans that the Americans stationed here have a serious impact on the economy (a good one!). Every time I drive by the Starbucks on my way from base to base instead of the usual 20+ people inside - I see 2-4 people. The local businesses that depend on Americans are likely taking time to reflect on how much money we pump into their economy on a regular basis (while at the same time the on-base facilities are enjoying the extra cash rolling in during the "period of reflection"). So really we all have a lot to lose by shutting down - both the Americans who enjoy their freedom on the island and the Okinawans who enjoy the money the Americans bring in. So as the over-used quote goes: "Why can't we all just get along?" Let me finish by saying that as much as I miss my friends and family, being able to speak the local language and be understood, and being within driving distance of all my favorite restaurants and stores, I really do like it here. Okinawa is a beautiful little island with some of the most gentle and kind and gracious people I have ever met. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything (well, Ok maybe a million dollars, but then I could visit whenever I wanted) and I'm hoping to get more friends and family to visit during the next year and 3 months we're here so they too can appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the island. I like to roll with the punches, look at the positive, and sing in the shower (oh wait that had nothing to do with what I was saying). In other words I'd like to take a moment to say to the Japanese people, especially the Okinwans that I regret what has happened and that I personally respect, honor, and am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to live here. Yeah not my usual blog, but I thought it was something that needed to be said...

The $90 Appetizer

In search of a new adventure in culinary delights, my husband and I ventured into town to try a new restaurant. We entering through a small and elegant shop densly packed with everything from earings to $10 Pineapples to Habu snake Awamori (like saki but with a "bite"). Wooden stairs led up to a restaurant with a view of the ocean and the small water park below. Beckoning us was a covered rooftop patio perfect for a relaxing dinner on a warmer evening. We decided instead to sit inside where it was warmer. The waitress gestured to us to remove our shoes (saying in Japanese "We want to make fun of your socks and try on your shoes, so please be a dear and leave them at the entrance"). I had gone to all the trouble of wearing a cute little pink outfit to dinner complete with pink fluffy boots but hadn't felt like searching for the matching socks. The socks I had grabbed were black (definitely not a match to my outfit) AND to make matters worse, I hadn't even bothered to turn them right side out when I put them on. I reluctantly took off my boots and set them aside thankful I wouldn't be able to understand her if she made any comments about my fashion faux pas. We followed the waitress into the restaurant and were seated behind a GIANT clay vase. This thing was huge, brown, and old looking. My husband and I both could've climbed in it and still had room for a party of 3 to join us. We stayed out of the vase (only because I wasn't sure how we'd manage to get back out once we climbed in) and realized that despite the very strange decor, we had a beautiful view of the beach. The table we sat at was a low, Japanese style table with a grill set in the middle. We ordered our drinks (pointing at the pictures on the menu and grunting seemed to work) and began to peruse our menus to see what delightful new dish we would try. The prices were all rather steep, but we were not to be deterred - we were having a nice evening out and we were willing to pay through the nose for it. We both settled on steaks of "supreme Japanese beef" (not sure if it was Kobe beef... but it sure was priced like Kobe) . We placed our order and the waitress turned on our personal table grill (George Forman could make a killing out here). When she returned she brought two slices of beef that were no thicker than 3 sheets of paper stacked together (no exageration - you could almost see through it!). Figuring this was just the beginning of our meal we happily set about grilling up our "steaks" and 5 minutes later we'd finished cooking and devouring them. We sat back happily waiting for the next course. As we sat there and the minutes clicked by, we began to realize that that WAS our meal. Our entire meal. No appetizer, no salad, no thanks a lot sucker! We had just spent $90 on a dinner smaller than a fruit roll-up and my stomach was still growling. Disgruntaled and hungry, we put our shoes back on and left the restaurant in search of a second "dinner." Next time we're going to an all-you-can eat buffet...

FRIED TARANTUALA - MY FAVORITE!!!

THE ONE THAT ALMOST GOT AWAY...

HE ATE WHAT???

Well yes, it's been awhile since my last blog (hmmm... how many hail marys for that?) - graduate school consumes most of my time these days... During the time I'm not hitting the books and filling my brain with more information than should be put in such a small space, my adventurous husband and I have been checking out the local restaurants. The last one we tried looked like a hastily nailed together shack that was about to fall to the ground - hey what better place to eat than a place where their idea of interior decorating is a deer head on the wall and cowboy memorabilia everywhere? Everything on the menu was some sort of hamburger thing. Actually it turned out to be more like meatloaf (according to Joe, who HATES meatloaf). You could have it with curry, with cheese, with pineapple, with mushrooms, or with some crazy noodles and sea creature appendages. Being one to try new things, Joe ordered the fried squid legs (yummy) as an appetizer. He said they were sort of like fried rubber bands (and who doesn't LOVE fried rubber bands?) and I'll have to take his word for it because although I like to think I'm fairly adventurous, eating something that looked like batter dipped tarantula legs didn't appeal to me. I really enjoyed the meatloaf thingy (I got mine with pineapple) until I finished mine and asked Joe why he hadn't eaten more than half of his (the crazy fried squid legs couldn't have filled him up THAT much). He told me he wanted to wait until I finished before showing me and then sort of nudged this little mini spaghetti-O looking thing toward the edge of his plate. It was a VEIN!!! I'm not sure I understand why he can eat squid legs but has a problem eating a little bitty round vein, but I have a HUGE problem with eating veins and became instantly nauseous. It took half a carton of Ben and Jerry's to get that image out of my head (though it still visits me occasionaly, sort of like post traumatic stress). I wonder what's going to be on the menu (or in the food) at the next place we try...

The $17 Haircut...

Yep, after 21 years I finally decided to change my hairstyle (who says I'm afraid of change?)! I was a little nervous when I sat down in the chair and a tiny little Japanese Mama-san (she was at least 103 years old) asked me in Japanese how I wanted my hair cut. Since the extent of my Japanese language skills are being able to count to 10, saying hello, goodbye, and where's the bathroom I began to get a little nervous. Luckily I thought about this ahead of time and had a picture picked out from a magazine. So I pointed at this and nodded my head and smiled while feeling the beginnings of panic set in. She said something in Japanese (maybe: This is going to look terrible on you, are you sure you want me to butcher your hair like this?) and I nodded hoping she had said something to the effect of "No problem!" As she began snipping away, chatting happily to me in Japanese I saw the chunks of hair falling to the floor and began to sweat like a little monkey. After some deep breathing techniques I decided my best bet was to close my eyes and picture something relaxing while she chopped off my tresses. I began to think about Naked Mole Rats, Mexican Hairless Dogs, and Mr. Bigglesworth. With a scream rising in my throat my eyes popped open and instead of the Mr. Clean look (which by the way is great for my husband - but not what I'm looking for in my own personal hairstyle), she had managed to give me a nice fresh and modern haircut. Who woulda thunk it? And it only cost $17! I'm still figuring out how to not have it become a little frizz ball when I'm at the gym or outside for any lenth of time - but I am really happy that I finally took the leap and changed my look. So let's see... First I got married, a few months later I quit my job, a few months after that I moved to Japan, then I enrolled in Graduate school in Psychology and now a new hairstyle! My God, I'm a change MACHINE (not the kind that spits money out...)! My Therapist would be so proud! 

There's A Poisonous Snake In My Drink!

 

Have A SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSip

This is the infamous Habu Awamori that I wrote about in my very first blog entry. How could you pass up a little swig of this stuff??? 

WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE FOR A PET?

CREEPY LITTLE MONKEY: $4000

OR

BIG NASTY BEETLE: $800

HOW MUCH IS THAT MONKEY IN THE WINDOW?

Last weekend I decided to go on a monkey-quest. I'd heard that they sell monkeys at pet stores here on the island and I'm one of those gotta see it to believe it kinda people. As it turned out, I was in luck, the very first pet store I stopped at had a little bitty strangely creepy monkey. It was about the size of a squirrel and had the strangest little tiny face. It was also $4000! I guess today wasn't going to be adopt-a-monkey day... Besides the fact that the thing would give me nightmares - he reminded me of Chucky the doll for some reason, I just know if I brought him home he'd stab me with a kitchen knife in the middle of the night. OK, it probably wasn't a homicidal maniac monkey but for some reason it gave me the willies. I swear he really wasn't a normal looking monkey (alright here's where everyone can just sort of stop, realize I must be a bit of a nutjob for harboring such feelings about a poor defenseless monkey, and move on). I really like the idea of owning a monkey, but I think the reality of it would drive be absolutely bonkers. I can just see him opening all the cupboards and throwing our expensive crystal glasses onto the floor, riding poor Sedona around like a pony (though I would sort of like to see that...), and re-programming my computer (I'm sure monkeys know more about computer programming than I do). No, it would definitely be a disaster. Another crazy pet that the Japanese seem to love is big black beetles. Yep, those nasty things that you exterminate in your house are an Asian addiction! The biggest beetle was about as big as a mouse and had some seriously scary looking pincers in front of its face. The price tag for this nasty looking bug? $800! Dear God! I can't imagine paying anything for a bug unless it involved its extermination!!! I've seen a lot of kids' toys shaped like beetles and wondered why anyone would want to float on a raft that looks like a bug or cuddle up at night with a plush bigger than life beetle. I still haven't figured out the why, but at least I know they are serious about their love of insects. Maybe it's because their houses are so small that cats would take up too much room and beetles just sort of fit perfectly. Sorry, but if that was my only choice I'd choose not to own a pet! Dog food that we buy here on base (and back in the states) for $28 was $89 for the exact same bag at this store. Rabbits were $250, Guinea pigs were $150, but Gerbils were a mere $5. I guess they feed them to their $800 bugs...

ANYONE WANT TO "C" WHERE I LIVE?

 

THE MONKEYPLEX

My little car, Jujubee, is parked right in front of our unit. Also notice the ferris wheel on the right side of the picture. See, life really is a carnival! 

My Hood...

So, you may be asking yourself, where exactly does our favorite little white girl in Okinawa live? Hey - you don't know that many people in Okinawa so I'd BETTER be your favorite girl on this island chain! Well children, we live in Government Housing on base (the base we're on is called Camp Lester and I'm sorry but that name gives me the creeps). We are living in what I refer to fondly as a monkeyplex (or for those of you who can't make the leap - multiplex) . There are four units and ours is wedged somewhere in the middle. It seems that military families really like to have babies because we are surrounded by families with young children. There are 5 children in our monkeyplex and considering the fact that we don't have any kids living with us, that's a lot! We lucked out and got unit "C" (I like it because my name starts with C - so I can always find my way home... As long as I can remember my own name, that is). It's a 2-story 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a living room and sliding glass doors, dining room, a washer and dryer, a kitchen with lots of cabinets and even a dishwasher (My other dishwasher, that would be Joe, is very pleased about this). Our house has lots of space to frolic in. What? You don't frolic in your home? Well try it sometime! We turned one room into a dressing room (a Diva has to have her dressing room dahhling) and the other room into an office (a Graduate student has to have her study space after all). Hmmm... It seems all the rooms are pretty much mine except the final one. You'll never guess what we turned the last bedroom into... Ooh you got it, a bedroom. Sedona (you remember, the not-so-vicious Golden Retreiver) demanded her own room since we have all this extra space. We told her that she could live in the shed out back if she was going to start in with that attitude. She has since become very agreeable and sleeps anywhere we tell her to. The inside of our unit is painted a not-so-lovely nicotine smoke yellow. With the price of paint on the island at $43/gallon I believe the walls will just have to stay that way (I'll just put up lots of pictures to distract from the wall color). The floors are covered with industrial grey and off-white linoleum. Luckily we have almost enough rugs to cover up the majority of the ugliness. The stairs had metal treads on the edges so that if you walked down the stairs barefoot it hurt your feet. I know you're concerned about my delicate little feet so I'll tell you how we fixed that little problem (and NO, wearing shoes to go up and down the stairs was just not an option)... Every Thursday is bulk garbage day and everyone leaves all their junk at the end of their driveways. One day on his way home from work, Joe found 2 entire still factory sealed boxes of self-stick carpet squares. No, don't worry, he hasn't become a trash picker (but we are on a budget now so never look gift carpet in the mouth). They weren't exactly pretty (think vomit and dirt mixed together) but they covered the stairs nicely so I can go back to frolicing barefoot up and down the stairs without hurting my precious little feet. I do have some major complaints here now (what and the other stuff I was rambling on about wasn't???), so if you don't want to hear me whine and bitch I suggest you just skip to the end. Here's my gripe: We paid $1000 up front for a year of cable TV (including HBO and Showtime) and internet. We figured that was a small price to pay for our entertainment and amusement. But wait, it gets better... After trying desperately to figure out what's on, we come to find out that there is no actual television schedule! The movies on the pay channels are about 2 weeks behind the states and there is no TV guide except the one on the TV that only covers up to one day ahead of time. You have to sit and watch until the hour you are looking for rolls through and if you miss it you have to sit through the whole thing again. This my friends, is not what I would call entertainment! Even this schedule is not always right and we have tried to watch several movies that turned out not to even be on at the time posted. After ripping most of my hair out of my head (my new style is now sort of punk rock meets Mr. Clean), I went back to the company to find out what was going on with the cable craziness. When we confronted the company about this they said, yeah, that's just how it is. Do we live in a third world country? I could've sworn that somebody once told me that Japan was more technologically advanced than anyone. What happened to that?! Humph! We canceled the two pay channels and instead of giving our money back they told us they'd put it towards next year's bill. What kind of back alley operation is this??? Oh well. Lesson learned. Next year we're not getting any cable and will just put the "refund" in our account towards our internet account. O.K., the whining has now ended. Also, this post has now ended. So if you skipped to the end, well let's just say you didn't get your money's worth (wait a minute, I thought this was free...)!

Joe at Sesoko Island - looking finer than frog fur!!!

Sesoko Island Beach

Emerald Beach - the snack bar sells Orion!

Me, running from pirrahnas at Sesoko Island

Another day, another beach!

So where were we? Oh yes, we'd just gone snorkeling, been attacked by a school of red pirrahna, and managed to forget our guilt about not taking the bad dog to the beach with us. So on with the story... We found our way across a beautiful bridge to a little place called Sesoko Island. The best beach there was near a beautiful golf course and had parking for $10. Being the budget travelers, now that I'm not pulling in a paycheck (and yes, I'm living the life of leisure - but it's leisure on a budget), we decided to do like the locals and park for free on the side of the small road. Besides, there were only 2 suckers (uh, I mean tourists) that parked in the pay lot. We made an excellent choice since we only had to walk 2 block back to the beach. When we got there the sea was the most stunning blue imaginable - almost like the ocean had swallowed the morning sky. A commercial was being made on the beach (the second commercial we've seen being filmed here on Okinawa in a week)while we were there. I know it was an ad because the models kept drinking from the same bottle of water over and over again with lots of flair. It was only a small film crew and we had the rest of the beach almost to ourselves. After cooling off in the ocean for a bit we decided to head out again. There was more of the island to discover and we were afraid that it would start raining before we finished checking out all the good beaches. We went back across the bridge, up the road and to Grandmother's house (oh wait, different story). We found cruised around and found Emerald Beach, yep another great beach (this time with lots of free parking lots). It had clean white picnic tables and shaded areas, a netted off swimming area to keep out the jellyfish and other critters that sting and bite (things that are a lot more real than the red pirrahnas I keep fibbing about)and even plastic floats that you could swim out to and hang out on. There were bathrooms and showers, a gift shop (in case you had a wardrobe malfunction with your bathing suit) and even a snack bar that served Orion beer. The best part (besides the beer - because c'mon everyone knows beer is always the best part)is that once again it was not crowded at all! The only negative is that there is no snorkeling allowed there. Hey, that's better than no beer allowed! Hmmm... I seem to be stuck on that subject - but it's only because I'm not drinking until the 4th of July since my lose 10 pounds campaign wasn't going so well when I was hitting the sauce on a regular basis... When I try to deprive myself of anything I find myself obsessing about whatever the forbidden fruit of the week is (and this week it just happens to be fermented fruit). Did I mention I'll be getting my Master's degree in Psychology? I think I'll be great at helping maladjusted people because as they say "it takes one to know one!" Anyway, on the way back to the car I was assaulted by a couple of misquitoes (and when I say assaulted I mean brutalized - it looked like they took a lead pipe to me... but I'm a sensitive girl so on a normal human being the two bites might've looked normal). Then once again, but this time a little itchier than before, we were off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of beaches!

Sedona says "Yipee! I'm going to the beach!"

  

"What do you mean I don't get to go???"

  

"Fine. I'll watch the @#%$ house."

  

The story of Itsy Bitsy Spider (or how it finally stopped raining)

Just like in itsy bitsy spider, out came the sun and dried up all the rain. Now I don't know where that spider is - but I've got the bug spray handy just in case he comes back. And yes, I've got the umbrella standing by as well, there are still 10 days left until rainy season is "officially" over. It turns out that we have had twice as much rain as normal this year - I guess that was our special "Welcome to Okinawa" gift. Not to look gift-rain in the mouth, but I was about to look into spending a few weeks in the Sahara desert just for a change of pace. Now that we finally got the sunshine we'd been craving, Joe (my husband, for those of you not up to speed yet)and I finally got to do more exploring! We slathered on our sunblock, packed a cooler full of water and snacks, got some yen out of the bank, grabbed our snorkels and fins and headed out for adventure in my new car (or as I like to call her, Jujube). Sedona (our not so vicious, badly shaved, tennis ball addicted Golden Retriever) was disgruntled, to say the least, when she learned that her job for the day was to watch the house. If she only had thumbs I'm sure she'd have given us the finger... But off we went, shaking off the dog fueled guilt by the time we started to reverse out the driveway. ~~~ Brief interlude for a serious complaint. O.K. I know that Okinawa is not a HUGE city and I know it is not a top destination for travelers (though it is known as the poor man's Hawaii), but what's up with the lack of decent maps here??? The best map we have found thus far is, check this out, in the yellow pages of the phone book! None of the many military bases here have much more than basic maps showing only a few of the main roads and highways. We looked for maps on-line but had no luck. We searched the local bookstores - still no luck. We even bought an Okinawa guide book - and though it helped a bit it was still lacking some very basic places (like military bases) and it showed the roads, but didn't show the names or numbers. If ANYONE knows where I can get a good map of this place PLEASE let me know!!! O.K., end of complaint session.~~~ We decided (with the whole map dilemma) that the best solution would be to drive by brail and wing it. After a shakey start and some mild cursing we found our first destination - Cape Maeda (one of the top snorkeling/diving spots on the island). As you can see by the picture below, this place was gorgeous! It was like walking into a postcard (but without the cramped writing space). The hot sun beat down on us and the humidity blanketed us in sweat as we happily wandered off in exactly the wrong direction. While struggling over the sharp, rocky and treacherous landscape we came to notice that not one of the 100 or more scuba divers that were all gearing up in the parking lot were anywhere to be seen. Hmmm... Now that's peculiar. Well having both served in the scouts, we were both pretty quick to put 2 and 2 together and headed back to the parking lot. At last we found what we were looking for! We found the steps to our salvation, to the holy grail, yes, we found the steps down to the ocean. The water was a perfect blue and so clear you didn't even need a mask (though saltwater can be hard on the old eyebulbs, so we wore the masks anyway). The fish were like colorful candy (though they sure didn't taste much like candy...), blue Starfish, brilliant yellow and black Angelfish, orange and white Clownfish, and a school of bright red Pirrahanas with very sharp teeth. Maybe there weren't any red Pirrahnas - but this is MY story so I'll tell it the way I want! We swam around and around until we were tired of looking at fish and then jumped back in Jujube (remember, that's my bidgy little Mitsubishi Pajero Jr.) and headed out to the next beach. To be continued...

CAPE MAEDA - snorkeling site

How Not to Eat at a Japanese Restaurant...

My dear husband (Joe) and I decided that it was time to go for another nice meal out. Although I am becoming quite the little chef (and, no, DON'T YOU DARE call me a good little housewife... But then don't call me a bad one either... LOL)I needed a night off from cooking. I checked the sparse reviews of restaurants in Okinawa and found one that got rave reviews. Happily it was just across the way from us so off we went to discover new yumminess. The stairs leading up to the place were lined with plants and lanterns, romantic and inviting. The restaurant had just opened and we were the first ones there. The inside was small with wooden floors and only 6 normal tables (if you can call a table with a flat tepenyaki style grill in the center of it normal) and 2 low tables (the kind where you must first take your shoes off then sit cross legged or kneel at the table)also with tepanyaki grills (think Benihana for midgets). The waitress brought us hand written menus in English. The only problem was that though they do a fair job of it (as compared to how we would do trying to write their language in their characters, which trust me would be a nightmare for them to decipher)there were many words spelled completely wrong and phrases put together that made no sense. Lemon was Remon (though that is how they say it...) and Strong was Stong and phrases like "original syle most you will find popular" were sprinkled liberally throughout. Joe was a bit put off by the whole thing. "I can't understand what's on the menu and don't see anything I want and I don't feel like cooking my own meal!" he said exhaling with frustration, closing his menu and looking up at me with a furrowed brow. I convinced him that this would be a fun new, and perhaps a little bit of a crazy experience... And if we didn't like it we could always have some sushi somewhere else afterwards. He relented and we finally chose a couple things off the menu and the waitress scurried over (she was standing nearby and peering around the corner furtively to see if we were ready the whole time we were perusing the menus) and started to take our order. She told us in broken English that we needed to choose two of the dishes from the next page to go in our order. We told her (gesturing, with our own style of sign language that we seem to be using a lot these days when speaking to locals) that we'd need another minute to figure that part out. We randomly picked a couple things and she appeared magically at the table to finish taking our order and then turned up the grill. A bit later she came over with several bowls and plates full of various meats and egg and veggies and noodles and 2 small spatulas and 2 large spatulas. She set one bowl filled with different ingredients in front of each of us and 2 spatulas in front of each of us. She also set a bowl of oil on the edge of the table and then left. We grabbed the oil and started slathering it on the grill. We each mixed up our bowl of raw stuff and poured them on the grill. Not sure how to proceed we went about creating and cooking our meal as best we could. The waitress appeared back and quickly began removing all the empty dishes and bowls from table and gave us each a plate. She kind of gave us a funny look - but everyone here does that... We're Americans so I guess we stand out. While we were busy making the first part (sort of unremarkable egg foo young tasting stuff with noodles on the side), she brought over a plate of thinly sliced beef and onions in sauce. Once we finished eating the first lump of food, we immediately grabbed the plate of beef and dumped it on the grill. The beef was delicious! When we were all finished with that she brought over two fabulous salads with Japanese dressing. As we were sitting there eating our salads two more tables of people came in. I suddenly noticed that the waitress was mixing and preparing all the food and then cooking it on the grill at each table for the customers. No wonder she looked at us like we were crazy! We completely misunderstood what we were (or in this case weren't) supposed to do!!! Once Joe looked over and saw that she was cooking for everyone we both started laughing hysterically. What we did was the equivalent of going to Benihana, standing behind the grill and slicing, dicing and cooking your own food. While trying to stop laughing he remarked how much better (and how completely different) what she made looked. Instead of being lumps of globby food she made two pancake sort of things and put the noodles and meat between them. As we left (and yes, I was still laughing and shaking my head at our little faux pas) she gave us a smile that indicated she knew that we suddenly "got it" and that she thought it was pretty amusing as well. Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back and try that again - this time we'll let her do the cooking...

Christine's new ride - it has a 4 hamster engine!

  

Well, now that I'm an Okinawa "expert"... After living here in Okinawa for a month, I have more interesting and entertaining* info about this crazy little island. First some actual facts: Japan experiences more earthquakes than any other country on earth. If you include tremors detectable by only the most sensitive seismographs (and really, how could you NOT include those???), about 7,500 earthquakes may occur in any given year in Japan and its surrounding areas. Of these, about 1,500 can be felt by humans. I guess that means the rest are only felt by Mongoose (or would that be Mongeese?) and very high strung little yappy dogs. So far I haven't felt any shaking here yet, but I'm on high alert. It figures that I move from California,the earthquake zone of the USA, to the biggest earthquake zone on the whole other side of the world. I do have my surfboard at the ready though - it just may take a tsunami for me to finally catch a good wave here... O.K., now on to the trivial little everyday weird things I've come across in my travels around the island: Nearly every building here looks like it could use a fresh coat of paint. It looks almost ghetto in fact. This disturbed me to no end when I got here. Why not just go out, get a few cans of paint and make it all look nice again? Well I finally decided that I was going to paint the town red, when I noticed the price of paint. I stood in the Japanese version of Home Depot (Makeman) searching for the proper shade of red when I noticed the price of paint. Hold on to your lower jaw, 'cause mine nearly dropped right off my face when I saw that house paint was, get this... $43 a gallon (and that was the cheap stuff). NOW I understand why no one paints out here! Dear God! The typhoons wreak havok on the buildings (making it hard for even the newly painted ones to stay "new" for very long) and the "MAN"** sticks it to the people so that can't afford to re-paint. It all sounds like quite the conspiracy to me... When driving around on the wrong side of the road (otherwise known as the left side) one must always watch for Japanese children. They are squirrely little things and legally only have to raise their hand before they run into oncoming traffic. This hand in the air (sort of like the kindergarten hand in the air signal for "I need to go to the bathroom")signals all drivers that they must skreech to a halt and let the children pass safely. So far my brakes seem to be holding up... So speaking of driving, I finally got a vehicle!!! It's a Mitsubishi Pajero Jr., a cute skinny little Suzuki Samarai looking thing. Over here, on base, they have these parking lots called "Lemon Lots" where everyone who is leaving the island parks their car with For Sale signs in the windows. Most people are pretty desperate to unload their vehicles (since if they don't sell it by the time they leave they have to pay a "junk fee") so you can get a heck of a good deal. We had one guy offer us a free car, but it sort of looked (and sounded) like an old Transam and I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things (unless of course it had an 8-track with AC/DC already loaded and ready to rock)! So, since we're not adverse to looking a gift car in the mouth, we turned it down but found a sassy little car that had just been marked down from $1500 to $500. After paying all the taxes and fees (good for two years) and insurance for one year it all came out to $1200. Not bad considering I used to pay $1200 just for insurance back in the states!!! Plus the thing runs for ever on just a thimble full of gas. All in all I'm very pleased. It seems that we arrived just in time for the rainy season. In fact, I believe it's just about time to build an ark. Since I can only imagine what the cost of wood is here on the island I guess I'll have to build it out of recycled cans (they LOVE recycling here and encourage it like crazy). So while I'm building the sistership to the Titanic, I'll keep praying for something other than this "liquid sunshine." Not to complain (meaning: get ready because I'm about to complain) but I think we've only had 6 days in the last month without rain. That's all right though because rainy season is over at the end of June (and then we go right into Typhoon season). That's all for now. Stay dry and please send umbrellas and galloshes! * the "entertainment" factor of this info is purely subjective - one woman's entertainment is another woman's sleeping pill... ** the "MAN" in this case happens to be the Japanese government (you see, it turns out that there is a "the MAN" in every country, not just the good ole' USA)

I Think I'm Turning Japanese...

So, you may be asking, what's happening on the other side of the planet? Well I'll tell you... Things are getting curiouser and curiouser as Alice in Wonderland would say. Let's see here are the latest things I've found in Okinawa that either amuse or confuse me: Japanese men like to get drunk. Now I'm not talking "American style" drunk, I'm talking cross eyed, hair askew, spinning, sloppy, barely able to stand DRUNK. Often late at night in the big city (Naha) you will find a fair number of men stumbling drunkenly down the street. Two steps forward, one step to the left, a slight swaying, a step backward and a near collapse, then two steps forward and a desperate grab for a light post before near collision between his face and the sidewalk. Bars have no set "last call" laws, so some stay open until 11 am the next morning (though generally those don't open until around 11pm - since the employees have to catch up on their sleep sometime). You know how they sell tequila with a worm in it in Mexico? Well the Japanese take it to a level waaaayyyy beyond that. They sell Sake with an intact poisonous snake (Habu) coiled and with fangs bared seemingly ready to strike at the bottom of the jar of alcohol. Don't worry, the snake is dead but you might be too if you finish off the bottle full of snake venom and Sake. There are all sizes of these jars of Habu Sake with the snake proportional to the jar and sometimes costing over a thousand dollars (with prices generally running around $500 for a medium jar). One of the nice things about restaurants out in town is the fact that they display much of their menu by using realistic looking plastic food. You will see window displays of gyoza, taco rice (yes, it's just what it sounds like - taco meat on top of a bed of rice), pigs feet (oh how they seem to love their pig feet), noodle dishes, etc. In this way you can get a good idea of what they serve and if communication is impossible (because you forgot your handy little Japanese/English dictionary) then you can just point at what you want. Some of the places here in Okinawa are sort of a throwback to the 50's way of thinking when it comes to discrimination. There are places in town that you may wander into where you are definitely NOT welcome and the only reason for this is because you are not Japanese. There are no laws keeping this from happening and all business owners have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. Finally, the Japanese LOVE little cute bobbles. They have everything from little cartoon characters to plastic fruit to the playboy bunny symbol on a string that they attach to their cell phones to personalize them. This applies to both men AND women. Everyone seems to embrace the "cuteness factor" of it all. Sometimes you'll see someone with 8 different charms all attached to their phone at once. I must admit it does seem sort of fun to go out in search of the perfect little plastic representation of your personality so that you can make a statement before even turning your phone on. Mine is little colorful plastic pieces of tropical fruit and came with my phone (I bought it from someone about to leave the island) but it's cute enough that I'll keep it until I find something that expresses my "true" personality (until then I guess I'm just tropical and a bit fruity). Until next time.... Siagnara!