Where East Meets West

Yesterday we went for a ride. Our intentions were to head to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The aquarium here on the island was the largest one in the world until Atlanta opened its aquarium in 2005. We inadvertently put that off for a spontaneous trip to the northern cape of Okinawa. You guessed it. We got lost. How can you get lost on an island? You can. When I pulled out the map to see where we were it was closer to head on to Cape Hedo than to turn around. We stopped there for a few minutes and saw where the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. It was absolutely beautiful!

East China Sea

Pacific Ocean

Since the cape was a long drive we had to scope out "the facilities" which brings me to the introduction of a somewhat delicate topic. Bathrooms. The bathrooms here are...well...they're different. Depending where you are there is only what looks like a urinal buried in the floor of the bathroom. I don't know how else to explain it. That's what it is. It flushes...from what I've seen. Logistically speaking, I just don't get it. This is how it works with me...I walk in, see a hole in the ground, turn around and leave all the while muttering that it's just not worth the trouble. It's one of those things that I'm just not ready for yet. I've got 35 months left. Why rush? Plus, the handicapped bathrooms are normal. As long as those are around life is good. Oh yeah...and I have heard there are bathrooms like I just described in some places that are not gender specific. So, yes...men & women...in the same bathroom. If I walk up and see one sign with two people on it then there's really no need to even go in, is there? And that's your Japanese culture lesson of the day. You know what? Why stop there? I know people are going to want pictures so I took the liberty of Googling one. Here you go...

Can you say awkward?

Well, we did finally make it to the aquarium but, I'm going to save that for another day. We're going back on Jenna's 4th birthday...this Thursday. I have to devote a whole post just to the aquarium. It's pretty awesome!

The Commissary: Commodity & Oddity

An easy way to describe a commissary is that it's a military grocery store. In order to even enter the building you have to have a valid government ID or be with someone that does. Your ID is checked at the door and then it's off to the proverbial races. I say that because if you end up going on the 1st or 15th of the month (paydays) you will never make that mistake again. Nor will you decide to go after 1500 when school is out and all of the kids are in tow with frustrated mothers of four trying to steer two grocery carts filled to overflowing.

Don't get me wrong. The commissary is a wonderful commodity to take advantage of. Prices may only be a few cents cheaper but the wonderful thing about it is the commissary takes coupons up to 6 months after their expiration date. Don't throw them away! Send them this way! One time when I was on top of my game I was able to save 18% on one grocery bill. There were even a couple of items they paid ME to take away. If they had a double coupon day then it would be on! Another wonderful thing about it is that you don't pay any sales tax. If it's $2.49 then you pay $2.49.

There's a downside to the commissary here. The bread is just not good. I think they ship it frozen. There's always a weird smell to it when you open the bag and it's always a little stale. The other thing is what I thought I had been missing every time I looked for it. It's the biggest oddity since our arrival here. Our favorite thing to eat for dinner is chicken. It doesn't matter what kind. Just chicken. I went up and down the meat counter of both commissaries here and made a monumental discovery. NO FRESH CHICKEN! Can you believe it?! There is plenty of Tastybird, Tyson, & Foster Farms frozen chicken but you aren't going to find any fresh birds here. I say it's because there's not a good way to ship it here since they obviously have problems with the bread and that should be easier than chicken. Lonnie brought up avian flu. They're kinda up-in-arms about that here...in case you hadn't heard. You know, every now and then when you look around you'll still see people in surgical masks. It's apparent that they haven't just closed on a triple bypass so...there must be another reason.

The other odd thing here? You can't get a gallon of milk. Look all you want...it's not there. What could be the explanation for that? I don't know. The dates are all pretty...well, I think pretty incredible. I had to get milk this morning (27 AUG) and the expiration date is 22 SEP. I think we can go through a 1/2 gallon by then. I think it may be because the 1/2 gallon cartons ship easier and take up less space than the gallon jugs. Oh yes. And hairspray. Where do you get the stuff? It is so slim pickins over here you really wouldn't believe it. Even Lonnie was surprised when I told him that. When we were together at the exchange one day I mentioned it and he went to look saying, "they have to have hair spray!" No, apparently they don't. They do have some but it doesn't hold a candle to the shampoo and conditioner inventory.

So, all I can say about that is this...we miss Chick-Fil-A and fresh chicken. Where's the first place we're going to go when we come back? Chick-Fil-A. I'm going to go to Wal-Mart Super Center just to look at the dates on the milk cartons and pick up a fresh loaf of bread. Then I'm going to go stand in awe looking at the hairspray selection in the Health & Beauty department. After I get what I need I'll hand my expired coupons to the cashier, she'll snicker and say, "these expired 6 months ago!", then I'll pay the total PLUS SALES TAX and be on my way thinking I should've picked up that package of fresh chicken!

We're not suffering...too much.

In the fast food department we've pretty much got it made. I'm sure I can't remember everything but here are the majority of places found in the exchanges (or, as Jenna calls them AX...changes) and the shoppettes. Burger King seems to be popular. There are 3 of them on one base here. Then there's Chili's and Chili's Too. The interesting thing about Chili's is that this restaurant is the one (or one of the ones) where they do all of the "experimentation". It's where they try out new food to test its popularity and determine whether or not it makes the menu you'll be looking at back in the states. Interesting!

Continuing on...there's Subway, Taco Bell, Manchu Wok, Popeye's, Captain D's, O'Charley's, Anthony's Pizza, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut, Starbuck's (off base), a club on Kadena serves The Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. It's not the full menu and each piece is $4.50. It's cheaper here! Right outside the club there's a little coffee shop that sells the cheesecake by the slice or the whole thing. We avoid this place AT ALL COST! That is a dangerous place for two people that love cheesecake so much. There is one Wendy's here that we haven't seen yet. Something big here is A&W. Do you remember that? They're everywhere here! They have sit-down restaurants with a drive-in. It's all the rage...no kidding.

Now, out on the economy there's McDonald's. These are not the kind that you go to over there. The male employees are dressed in pants with a BELT, their shirt is a button-up that's TUCKED IN and they wear a TIE. The female employees have a button-up shirt with a short kind of ascot tie, a jumper with nylons and PUMPS! Are you hearing this? Everyone wears those paper hats you never see anymore and they all smile and talk to you politely like it's their first day on the job. When you're finished there's a girl that will carry your trash to the dustbox (that's what they're called here). We think there was an inspection of some kind going on that day but, you know, the thing about it is they're always that polite even on a normal day. When we left there were about 8 employees outside having their pictures taken. Everyone stopped what they were doing and smiled, bowed and said arigato, arigato, domo arigato gonzaimasu! I told Lonnie that felt so bizarre! It's like they were really glad we were there.

Here is what a McDonald's menu looks like:

This obviously doesn't show everything. The prices are in Yen and one of those is still almost equal to $1. They keep a laminated one on the counter that looks like this...all in Kanji. On the backside is the same thing with Kanji and Yen but there's an English description. To order you point (which is considered rude in Japan) to what you want. Oh yeah! Everything does taste almost exactly the same here. Sizes are a little different. If you get a large drink it comes in the medium-sized cup. If you get a medium it comes in the small-sized cup. Naturally, here you can get a Teriyaki burger and a McPork. Lonnie got something that must've been a McShrimp or something. It was like fried shrimp on a bun.

I at least have to tell you about the apples here. Jenna LOVES apples so when we were in the commissary last week I picked up two. When we were doing the self-checkout and I weighed them I almost passed out. Two apples were $4.95. They're good but for heaven's sake they don't have gold seeds or stems that I could see!

Bats are big, shrews are small, but geckos are the cutest of all!

The geckos really are cute here. No, they look nothing like the GEICO gecko. Last night there was a little excitement in the house with one of these guys. I was taking Jenna upstairs and saw a little baby gecko no longer than 2 inches even with his tail...on second floor. Hmm. I wonder how long he had been in here. Lonnie had a hard time chasing him down.

Just last week one hitched a ride on the leg of Lonnie's uniform. It fell on the floor so Lonnie trapped its tail under his shoe. Well...his tail CAME OFF! He got the little guy outside but, not to be outdone...he ran back in. When Lonnie finally got him back out he noticed that part of his insides were on his outside (just trying to be tactful). So...Lonnie did what he always does to creatures in distress or facing imminent death. He stomped on it. Yep. He did that when we were walking on the campus of Northwestern in Evanston. There was a pigeon laying on the sidewalk obviously dying. He looked around for something to kill it with but there wasn't anything. He told me he had to kill it because he couldn't stand to see it suffer. I walked several yards ahead. I didn't want to see that! Well, hearing the sound of tennis shoe to feathered animal isn't a sound you ever want to hear again. Yep. One day I'm going to sick and he's just going to stomp on me.

As for the banana spider I've told some of you about...here's an excellent picture to describe its size.

Get ready...

It's a pretty safe bet to say that when I do see one of these...I'm going to lose it! Moving on...

Centipedes? REALLY not into those either...

Yeah...up to 6 inches long. The chair leg is a pretty good point of reference. We haven't seen one yet. Not just creepy but...POISONOUS too. Nice.

Shrews. Cute. Probably destructive. I can live with those though as long as they stay outside. They love to run all over the front yard at night when it's dark. When we pull in the driveway the headlights tell the story.

And last, but certainly NOT least...the dreadful Habu. It's a pit viper. Viper. Viper = venomous. Should you happen to come crashing through the ER doors in a panic from a snake having bitten you they will ask you this one question..."were you bitten on land or in the sea?" That'll determine the anti-venin you receive. Apparently, there is at least one venomous sea snake here. And, the jellyfish are pretty impressive too.

Still wanna come visit?

Ube, you say?

Jenna & I were out shopping at the local Japanese Home Depot. It's called Makeman's and the logo has a monkey on it. I can't get a straight answer on the pronunciation. Some people call it Makeman's, others say MOCK ay mohn and some people just call it the monkey store. We perused the plants first. They sell orchids there for almost $200! After that, we went into the back. Let me tell you...they sell toilets & toilet seats that must come with a 200 page manual and a mandatory inservice to obtain an operator's license. I have never seen so many buttons! You can even get a bun warmer! No kidding! Just like you can get car seat warmers in your SUV, you can get them on toilet seats here. Naturally, it was time to go to the 100 Yen store. Now, 100 Yen = 1 USD. Mmm hmm. Can you say Dollar Tree?

After shopping I had the worst idea you could possibly have in 90-ish deg weather and 100% humidity. I announced to Jenna that we would get ice cream. I have never in my life seen an ice cream cone melt so fast! Both of them were all over everything and the only thing to clean up with was a box of Kleenex sitting on the table. Hmm. Kleenex + ice cream = what were you thinking?

Different country. Different flavors. I had heard about ube ice cream ever since we got here. Ube = ooh bay. Ube = purple yam from the Philippines. On a whim I thought, "Why not? Let's try it". It was sooooo good! My two favorites here so far are Mango Tango and Ube. The thought of eating a purple yam made into ice cream was pretty unappealing. Who knew it would be one of the best things I've ever tried?! Hey. At least I know for sure there's no shellfish in it!

Pass the EpiPen, please!

Mmm! We had yakisoba last night. Yaki = fried and soba = noodle. This would be the 3rd time I've had it since we've been here. Here's the thing...once I find something I like I don't really venture out to anything different. I've told many of you that Japanese food is the one kind of food I just don't like. I've changed my opinion on that. The yakisoba is amazing...until last night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakisoba

I think Lonnie had this fact or fiction/Mythbusters thing going on with my shellfish allergy. Unbeknownst to me I chose the yakisoba not knowing what the future held. This dish usually has pork in it. Now, I've heard there are some places that cook the noodles in crab broth. Being the bloodhound I am (thanks to the fibro) I can usually detect things like that either by smell or taste. I don't like the seafood taste and I definitely don't like the way it tastes.

Shortly after I finished eating the roof of my mouth started itching like crazy! Then my nose was running and itching so bad I could hardly stand it. I started coughing and then my head and eyes started itching. Now, seems to me like that yakisoba must've been near some shellfish or cooked in crab broth. I don't know. What I do know is that we have leftovers and when Lonnie gets home I'm going to test it...just to see. I have EpiPen in hand and the hospital is a 5 minute walk from the house (not that we would be walking to the ER). I want to be sure that's what it was so we can go back if it's not. And yes, when the reaction is bad enough you don't have to worry about giving the shot through your clothes.

My Blue Angel Odyssey

Well, it's official! I am now co-owner and primary pilot...I mean, DRIVER...of a 1996 Honda Odyssey now previously owned by a Blue Angel. Look for Eddie, the pilot that flies Fat Albert. He's the one! When I met him today I told him that the only thing I was hoping for that the car didn't have was Jet Assisted Take-Off or JATO. He got a kick out of that. For those you that don't know what JATO means...or looks like...just check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLFB7q8tyd8

Apparently, Eddie did not know the depth of my knowledge of the Blue Angels. After we talked about it for a while he said, "Wow! You really DO know a lot about the Blue Angels." Lonnie had to drive him back to the hotel and told me Eddie said he was pretty impressed and that I must be a big fan. I figure you can't really be interested in something and not know anything about it!

This picture is from the air show at Langley AFB in June. These are the British Red Arrows. I've tried and tried to get a picture just like this and...

...it looks like I did!

Look closely now because that's not one plane...it's two!

Fortunately, with digital photography technology being what it is I was able to take OVER 1,300 pictures at 2 days at the Langley AFB air show. Taking pictures of aircraft in flight is pretty challenging. It's a passion! Daniel, you know what I'm talking about!

Subscribing to Okinawa Mama

Several people have asked me how to subscribe to my blog. Well, I just found out by subscribing to a friend's just now! I thought I had already subscribed but I didn't do it the right way. Here's how. Look for the "feed icon" on your computer. It should look something like the picture below.

Now, when you click on this it'll take you to another page that will have you click on the "subscribe" link. If you are asked about what type of feed choose RSS. That should do it! That way you don't have to keep checking to see when I've posted something new!

Street signs anyone?

Well, I did it. I drove. And it wasn't bad at all! The worst part wasn't even the fact that I was driving a mini-van (which I've never done before) or that I was driving on the wrong side of the road. Of course, maybe it's just that in America we are the ones that drive on the wrong side and every other country is right. Hmm. The worst part was trying to judge where you are in the lane when you're sitting on the other side of the car. It's different, that's for sure. It feels like I'm driving too close to the center line and Lonnie's on the other side pulling in his elbows because he says I'm over too far.

Let's talk about street signs. Street signs would be helpful. Street signs could point you in the right direction. Street signs could be an anti-hypertensive here on this island. How many times can you circle the same thing in a 10 minute period? Many of our excursions have reminded me of National Lampoon's European Vacation..."Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!"...that's what it feels like. While we had good intentions to go to church yesterday it just didn't happen. Why? Because we couldn't find it! From the time we left the house until we returned, spirits crushed and considerably less on gas, we had been gone for 90 minutes.

Whiteliners are something that's different here. You may or may not know what they are. It was easy to figure out. By the time we went to orientation and learned the "technical" term we knew what they are. Here mopeds and motorcycles do not have to drive in a lane. They can ride the...you guessed it...white line straight down the road. They materialize out of the smallest spaces between the cars. What happens if you hit them? It's YOUR FAULT!

MacGyver mentality...island ingenuity

You know me! I'll resort to anything just to save a couple hundred yen. Seems as if everyone on Oki dries their clothes courtesy of the island winds. Not to be outdone, I went to the base exchange (PX, BX, NEX, just end it with an -X) with a plan in mind. Now, if you knew me back in the 90's then you KNOW how much I adored MacGyver! There are few people that even know his first name. I do. Do you? Are you asking yourself if you really care? Well, you may laugh. You may criticize. You may scoff at the mere idea of a Swiss Army knife but that man taught me more in one hour a week than I learned in 6 weeks of shop class in the 7th grade.

So, during my exchange excursion I thought all hope was lost when all I could find for clothesline was...dental floss. And, the mint kind, no less! The only thing I could find to lash it to were those little coffee cup hooks you put in your kitchen cabinets. After realizing those hooks probably wouldn't go through cinder block I opted for other materials. Let's see...fishing line and super glue? Nah. Sewing thread and picture hangers? No good. Imagine my dismay when I walked down the laundry aisle and found...clothesline and clothespins! Yep. If only I had thought to look there first. It could've saved me a little time. Ah well. I wouldn't have been able to reminisce about one of my favorite TV shows of all time...next to the A-team, of course! Do you remember the theme song?

Driving Miss Daisy-san

You know, you may complain "over there in the U.S." about how much your driver's license costs or how much that speeding ticket set you back. Let me just say this...if you have any problems speeding...do NOT come here!

Just to get a Japanese driver's license it costs $3,000 USD or ¥ 30,000. No, that is NOT a typo. Naturally, for the government folk with SOFA-status (that's State-Of-Forces Agreement) it doesn't cost a dime...or ¥10. If you get caught for speeding (which you will) or think you didn't get caught (which you did) you'll be paying $740 USD or ¥74,000. Here's how they do it. With a maximum island-wide speed of a breezy 60 KPH...translate that into MPH and you're going a NASCAR-worthy 37 MPH on the not-so-expressway...it's easier than you think it is to speed. Now, there are these little cameras on the traffic lights like they have "over there". Not only do these nifty gadgets take pictures of your license plate...they take Olan Mills-esque pictures of YOU. Yep. I'm guessing it's a lot harder to get a ticket fixed here than it is in Louisiana! There's nothing like getting a ticket in the mail with your mug shot on it.

Basically, you have to have a valid U.S. driver's license and have to sit for a test before you get this little piece of laminated paper that gives you the authority to drive a death-trap around the island. I'm looking for the perfect bumper sticker but I just can't seem to find: "Accident Waiting to Happen" anywhere!


Here are some fun rules of the road:

Buses, taxis and pedestrians have the right-of-way...at all times.

If a Yankee (that's an American whether you're from the South or not) is in an accident with an Okinawan. It's their fault. Period. Here it doesn't matter if someone pulled out in front of you. It's your fault. Got rear-ended? Your fault. Bicycle rode out in front of you? YOUR FAULT!

When Japanese school children wish to cross the street, they will hold their hand up, palm toward the traffic, and proceed to cross the street. If you hit one? Your fault.

Drivers with less than 1 year of driving experience have a green and yellow sticker on their car. Drivers 65 and older have a red and yellow sticker on their car.

If you're in an accident with either of the aforementioned?

Yes, you're getting it!

It's YOUR FAULT!

Oh yeah, did I mention the steering wheel is on the right side, the controls are reversed and we drive on the left side of the road?

It's gonna be a long three years...

We want a real pizza!

Last night we had our first pizza on Okinawa. Wah! We want to come home!! This place is called Pizza House. One would think upon entering that one would see pizza on the menu. Is that too far off? Well, sure they had pizza. It was a tiny little menu on the wall to the right. We went with the large "everything" pizza to find that large was the size of a dinner plate and "everything" meant a piece of pepperoni, 3 canned mushrooms, a sliver of salami, several tiny onion pieces and 6 little things they called bell peppers. What?! It's not like they don't have at least 2 Pizza Huts on the island but we thought (our first mistake) that we would try something different. My advice? Stick with what you know.

After the appetizer-sized pizza we went in search of the perfect dairy dessert. Well, I had forgotten that one little ice cream place was a good mile walk down from the hotel. Ixnay that trip. We ended up going to Lawson Station which is basically a 7-Eleven. Of course, everything in it is Japanese. The only thing that wasn't in Japanese was Haagen-Dazs and that's just some nonsensical word that's supposed to look Scandinavian they came up with to sell ice cream that doesn't even mean anything! After perusing the little store where you can get your fireworks on the stand next to the ice cream freezer we decided to look around a little more. Do you know you can get squid tentacles in a plastic package? Just like beef jerky! I'm not saying that's what it tastes like. I'm just saying that's how it's packaged.

My pick for the trip was "Royal Milk Tea". Hmm. I figured since it had "Coca-Cola Company" and PET on it that it couldn't be all that bad. And...it's not. It's different. It does have 100% on the front. For all that means there could be 100% Okinawan alcohol in it! I hope not. I'd have to send Lonnie out for some Okinawan aspirin. No tellin' what he'd come back with. At least this stuff tastes better than that dead cow water they have in Tennessee. Whoo! You leave the table for one minute and when you come back? Well...it's bad. Just ask my uncle Glenn. Haha!

Hey you! We've got Au!

So, in order to keep up with the rest of the world...we now have cell phones! It's not like it matters to any of you reading this. You all have access to the Vonage number; thereby saving you many, many yen. Cell phone service here is different than in "the States". Believe it or not, all incoming calls are FREE. I still don't understand that. We didn't get the basic plan which gives you 25 (that's TWENTY-FIVE) minutes. We went one step above that and we each have 62 minutes per phone. We're paying about $ 24/month for both phones. Yeah. I said...it's different!

There are 3 cell phone services that we've seen here on the island. Our cell service is Au...pronounced A-U. I think instead of copying Verizon's catchy line, "can you hear me now?" they went with Au since it sounds like "hey you!". Seemed plausible to me. At least I can come up with something for that. If you think you can do better then please...let me know what you come up with for SoftBank and DoCoMo.

There's a new angel in heaven!

Upon returning for the day I checked my inbox to find a shocking email. A good friend from Mosaic Hampton Roads, Conrad Porter, died Saturday morning apparently from a massive heart attack. He just turned 50 this year. He leaves behind his wife Esther, son Remy and daughter Mia. Conrad was an elder of the church and a wonderful Christian man. No news could have shocked us more. If you have a moment, please remember the Porter family.

This was June 29, 2008 at the commissioning ceremony Mosaic had for us on our last Sunday. An elder of the church prayed over each one of us. Conrad prayed over Jenna.

To our Mosaic family - We know there's nothing we can do from such a great distance but prayer is everything! If there is anything we could do to help from here, please let us know. We miss each and every one of you.

More things I know for sure...

1) It didn't take as long as I thought for us to be in an accident! I saw the whole thing! We were in the parking lot backing out and this orange van (neatly parked in its own space and stationary as the Statue of Liberty) just jumped right out and rammed into the back of us. True story. Any further elaboration on the subject may result in familial tension lasting up to 3 years. But, shhh!...I wasn't the one driving.

2) If you don't have flip flops or sandals...you don't need to be here.

3) It's really not necessary to wear 6 inch heels to the beach. Seen it at a festival dozens of times. Enough said.

4) It's best to keep your eyes and mouth shut when you're on the beach and the winds kick up. Sand does not discriminate what orifices it wishes to inhabit.

5) It's unreasonable to wear a jacket, gloves, hat, and jeans when it's pushing 90 degrees. Seen it. Still don't believe it.

6) You really can get the gist of a Japanese children's show even when you don't know what they're saying.

7) If you bow and smile a lot...everything will be okay.

8) Pasta dishes are the only good things that come out of a hotel kitchenette. There'll be no gumbo-making day during this stay! Spaghetti with Ragu...Hamburger Helper... The only thing that would make cooking more difficult in this room is if I had to make my own fire with flint rock and a hatchet. I feel like I'm taking Pioneer Cooking 101: Kitchenette Kuisine - no prerequisite required. During this course you will learn to feed your family...one noodle at a time.

9) I'm glad we got out of L.A. before the earthquakes hit. Whew!

10) When we're awake...you're SLEEPING!

Blue Angel: A Honda Odyssey

A few days ago we looked at Vehicle #2, a 1996 Honda Odyssey which, heretofore, shall be called MY car. Unlike the minivan version today the 1996 looks much more like a car. It drives a lot like a car. Well, who am I to say? I haven't driven anything here yet. It is in outstanding shape! The cars here are unbelievable. If you didn't know it was a 1996 you would swear it's a 2006. It's in such great shape.

The owners are leaving Okinawa after a 3 year tour cut short. The woman we spoke with said they were leaving this month after being here just one year. Her husband just got picked up for the Blue Angels. HELLO?! Do any of you know how much I LOVE the Blue Angels?! And, if you don't have you not been paying attention?! I asked if he is a Marine...he is. The Blue Angels are the U.S. Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron but there are also Marines on the team. Am I smart, or what? Actually, he would've had to be a Marine since there's no naval air station here. He's going to be flying Fat Albert...the Blue Angels' C-130. You can check that out at http://www.blueangels.com/. It's a pretty impressive plane. The only thing cooler than this would be if the guy was the opposing solo or the Boss. Hey...I'll take what I can get!

It's a funny thing. Lonnie's Honda Accord was previously owned by NLU's basketball coach, Mike Vining and now MY car from one of the Blue Angels! Ooh-rah!