A "Happy" Un-Birthday

Happy Un-Birthday

Have you ever had one of those days when you re-visit things you've done in your life, heard some of the voices of yesterday in your head and came away with a smile because you feel like you did something right along the way? Monday, my birthday, was one of those kind of days. Totally awesome from start to finish. On Sunday night I'd had a piece of Dove Dark Chocolate and when I looked at the writing under the wrapper it said "Happy Un-Birthday" on it. So Russ named the day my "un-birthday" since there were no plans for any of the traditional birthday things. Before leaving the states I wanted to update my laptop so I told Russ then that it would be an early birthday present and he wouldn't have to worry about buying anything for my birthday. His birthday in September was pretty much an awful day for him because of all the stress of setting up movers and preparing for the move so I wanted him to know I was content with just a simple day. I told him we would celebrate both of our un-birthdays on my birthday and so it became a pretty special day for both of us.

Russ made a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs and then while I got my shower packed a picnic lunch for us to take with us for a day of exploring. Our plan was to go to White Beach....a place we had visited almost exactly 23 years ago to the day with our three kids. Earlier in the week we watched some of our videos from our earlier White Beach Trip so we could determine how much it had changed when we saw it. What we weren't prepared for was how much it would affect us when we walked to this little gazebo area on a hill overlooking the beach. I saw this table and instantly started crying. I turned around to see where Russ was and he was coming up the stairs with tears in his eyes as well. You see, to you it might look like a simple table with a pole in the middle...which it is. But for us we were flooded with memories of our two little blond girls, 4 and 2 years old circling around that pole and singing "Ring-around-the-Rosey...pocket full of posies...ashes ashes we all fall down" as they dropped to the table and giggled then got up and did it all over again. Russ said..."and just like that 23 years has flown by us". I sent the picture to the kids with the caption "ring around the rosey" and our son was still awake and started texting back. He was so excited that we were there and wanted more pictures of all the things he remembered.

We have a picture of Cory at 6 years old sitting in a cigarette ash can that said "butt can" on the side because he thought the name on it was funny. At first I was a little disappointed because I couldn't find any butt cans...but a little later I noticed in the picnic area of the campgrounds smaller versions of them and I started smiling. Who knew a simple little "butt can" could make an old lady so happy but being the good Mom that I am, I had to sit in the "butt can" and had Russ take a picture so I could send it to my son. Cory then texted me and asked me to let him know if there are still snails on the steps leading up to the O'Club. I showed the texts to Russ and we were both amazed at all the little details Cory remembered about that trip when he was only 6 years old. That's when that feeling of "wow" came over me as I realized that although we looked at all of that as just simple little insignificant things,(things that we'd forgotten about) they were big memories for a six year old little boy and he had been soaking it all in. Russ and I have both questioned ourselves through the years wondering if we ruined our kids' childhoods by moving them all over the world versus staying in one place with lifelong friends and memories of one house but it's in moments like this one when we realize what a gift we gave them by showing them a bigger world than most kids ever see. It was an Aaaahaaa moment of sorts when you see a nagging question answered for you in such a subtle little way.

So, after eating a picnic lunch on the beach we had to go in search of those O'Club steps to answer the question for Cory as to whether the snails still climbed up those stairs. We found the O'Club was no longer open for business and the stairs were all fenced off but we did see a few snails clinging to the walls on the steps that we could climb on...and of course we took a picture of a snail on a wall for our son. He said he remembered them being bigger and maybe they were but to a six year old boy, maybe in perspective these small things were big in his eyes. It was just so cool that he remembered them when I had long forgotten.

After all our reminiscing at White Beach, we hopped in the car to go and search out several other islands we could travel to via bridges. We drove to Henza Island, Miyagi Island, and ended at Ikei Island. We hoped to find a nice beach area along the way on which to relax with our books and read but we ended up just driving through them and looking at the sites and then coming back to Henza Island where we found a park that looked like one we took the kids to 23 years ago during our White Beach vacation.

We're not sure it was the same park but all the equipment there was the same so we had to stop and play and did a little more reminiscing and picture taking. In our videos, the kids climb the ropes up to the top of the slide and then slide down at full speed falling forward at the bottom every time because they are going so fast and laughing then running back to do it all over again. So....remembering the laughter of our kids, Russ and I both climbed  the ropes up the slide hill over the rope bridge and rode down the slide at full speed tumbling forward at the bottom. I got rug type burns on the sides of my feet trying to slow down because I was going so fast but I loved every minute of it. They don't make playgrounds like these in the States anymore since we've become so regulated by safety standards. I'll be the first to admit that Japan has us beat when it comes to playgrounds with some awesome and fun parks for their kids.  We then rode the zip line and had a zip line race which he, of course, won because he transformed into monkey mode and kept his feet high enough to go the distance while my feet dragged the ground after I got to a certain point. Nonetheless it was totally fun playing like a kid on my 56th birthday while remembering doing the same things just a few days before my 33rd birthday 23 years ago. In my mind I'm still that young Mom having fun with my kids and I'm not sure how I got from there to here so quickly.

We spent the rest of the evening walking along a beach on Henza Island looking for shells and watching the sunset over the hills. We had dinner at a Ramen Restaurant near the base called Tenkaippen, feasting on ramen, garlic fried rice and gyozas. We then walked through the American Village and along the sea wall enjoying the cool evening air and some good conversation before heading back to the base.

After I sat down to the computer in the evening of my birthday here, I was then greeted with about 150 different facebook messages, emails and text messages from all my friends/family back in the states who were just starting their day. I got to experience the day again with each new message coming in. Each one represented different phases of my life from all my many cousins to childhood friends and college friends to Indiana friends, Japan friends, Germany friends, England friends Colorado friends, Georgia friends and new friends here. It made me realize how very blessed I've been in my life to have lived in so many places and met so many wonderful people along the way. I've had 56 amazing years filled with some fun adventures. I'm thankful for every one of them.

 It was an awesome "un-birthday" birthday...one of those days that ends with such a strong feeling of contentment with life. There was no cake, no singing, no card or present but instead a day full of memories both new and old which made for a most wonderful birthday with a most wonderful man who knew that these are the kinds of days that make me happy.

Exploring New Restaurants

After eating out on the base for the past month we were getting tired of the same ol' stuff so Russ came home from work yesterday and said let's go off base and find a soba or fried rice restaurant. I texted a friend and asked for recommendations for a good restaurant for either soba or rice and she recommended a place that serves garlic fried rice as well as a few soba shops in the same general area in case the first restaurant was too crowded. She gave us directions and told us approximate prices of each so we were sure we had enough yen with us. We found the restaurant easily and then had to figure out how to get the food ordered. It had a vending machine ordering system. You pick the items you want and put in the yen and it kicks out tickets for each item. You then find your seat and your server takes your tickets, goes in the back and cooks up your order himself and brings it back. It seemed to be a popular place for the Americans because half of the customers were Americans. I guess they know that the garlic rice is a favorite because they had taped a note on the button for the rice in English (well sort of...it said garic instead of garlic...another l and r mix-up but we knew what it meant). There are usually pictures on most of the menus so even when you can't read anything you can usually point to a picture and order without knowing the name.

Our food arrived in a cast iron skillet with no handle and was sizzling. It had egg in the bottom that was still runny and rice on top of it. They provided spoons where you could stir the egg around to finish cooking it in the sizzling skillet and then mix it into the rice. They had a tray of sauces at each table to spice it up as we wished and even provide a picture of the tray with each item written in English. The rice was wonderful and we were stuffed by the time we finished. We were both pleased with the restaurant and found it easy to navigate through the language obstacles. Russ said he wouldn't mind making it a monthly stop for a dinner out. We hope to try out the soba restaurants that were recommended on our next venture off base for food.

After a nice relaxing dinner, we decided to leave our car where it was parked and walk along the sea wall for awhile. It was a wonderful ending to the evening to enjoy the sounds of the waves as we walked and talked. We walked to the American Village area and then turned around and walked back.(maybe a little over a mile walk) We both noted that we'd like walk the sea wall again in the daytime so we can enjoy the view even more. I'm sure it would be a nice area to watch the sunset as well.

The Sauce Choices

The English Guide to the Sauces

Adding to the Collection

Meet the newest member of my collection
Japan Santa

I've been a Santa Collector since 1986. My Dad died one week before Christmas that year and was buried just a few days before the holiday. I had been to a local craft sale earlier that month and bought a tall hand painted ceramic Old World style Santa to begin my Christmas decor collection. As I returned from the funeral and attempted to enjoy our son's first Christmas after a rough week, I saw that Santa sitting on a shelf. It made me think about my Dad...not in a sad way but in a reminiscent/sentimental way...remembering all the many Christmas's that he and Mom scraped together enough money to make happy Christmases for their five children. I could still see him leaning under the tree to reach our presents and hear his voice calling out the names on the labels. The memory that this one Santa on a shelf gave to me that year gave me comfort through a sad time. So I determined that rather than mourn the loss of my Dad every year at Christmas that I would instead remember him as I purchased a new Santa each year in his honor. My collection grew through the years and with all our travels I was able to collect Santa's I never anticipated my collection ever containing.Sometimes I bought more than one within a year but I always picked one for my Dad. None of them are extravagant Santa's and many are special only to me because I know the country they came from or the story behind them. I can't look at my Santas without thinking about my Dad and that was my intention when I began the collection.

Picture from the Ad so you can see what
the Okinawa Santas looked like.

Leslie had no idea about my Santa collection when she invited me to go with her yesterday to an Okinawa Santa sale at one of the "Marine Wives Gift shops" at a nearby base. She told me that the Okinawa Santas are a very popular collectible among the women on base. I knew from past experience what that meant. It became the item that everyone had to have just to say they have one. Since I hadn't purchased this year's Santa yet, I was intrigued and said I'd love to go to see them and get one if I liked it. I drove to the base by myself (my first time driving off base) to meet her and we got in line about 1 1/2 hours before the doors were set to open. There were already maybe 15 women ahead of us. They said this year that they were limiting the Okinawa Santas to two per person because last year some of the women in the front of the line came in and bought five and ten santas and those in the back were left with none. They wanted to make it fairer for all those waiting in line. They also had nutcrackers dressed in military attire from each of the branches of the military and a few other styles of Santas. We enjoyed conversation with all the women around us and so the wait flew by quickly. The doors opened at 5:00 p.m. They had Okinawa Santas in either red, blue or yellow robes and you were to get a ticket for the one you wanted. When I first entered I got a ticket for a red Okinawa one but then after looking at all of them more closely, I saw the Japan Santa sitting on the shelf next to the others and I was drawn to him more than the Okinawa style. I took my ticket for the Okinawa Santa back and exchanged it for the Japan style Santa and now I have this year's Santa purchased. He will be a great addition to my collection. 

The Humor in Language Differences

Russ was reading one of the free base papers over the weekend and ran across this ad for an upcoming concert. Many of the Japanese have a hard time with L's and R's and many times they will reverse them. For instance Fried Rice can become Flied Lice. So I hear him laughing as he's scanning through the paper and he shows me the ad that caught his eye. I'm not sure if Eric Clapton will appreciate his new name but we had to laugh at the mistake and thought you might enjoy the story.

Finding our Way

Now that we've re-acclimated ourselves to driving on the left side of the road and sitting on the right side of the car, we've begun the process of learning our way around the island and all the bases. On Saturday we made arrangements to meet some new friends we will be attending church with and they came and picked us up and took us to a soba restaurant off base.  The restaurant was a traditional Japanese restaurant where we took off our shoes and sat on the floor and of course we ate with chopsticks too. The food was wonderful and way more than I could eat. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of it. We were amazed at how big the portions were for the low price we paid for the meals. They showed us around what is known as the American Village. It looked like a place we will definitely want to explore more in the coming weeks.After spending some time talking and getting to know one another at the restaurant, we then went to a nearby Starbucks where the men had coffee and women ordered Chai tea and we talked some more. I was happy to have an evening of conversation with some new friends after talking almost exclusively to Russ for the past few weeks. I'm sure we will be spending much more time with them while we're here. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

Our new friends were kind enough to pick us up for church the next morning to show us where they worship. Russ took notes on the way in so we'll be able to drive ourselves the next time. We met with several other Christians meeting in a home in Yomitan. It was refreshing to see so many younger couples still taking the time to worship God on a Sunday even when they're far from home. There is another church of Christ outside one of the base gates that we may check out next week and then we will decide where we want to meet on Sundays for worship. After a nice lunch at Chili's with William, Leslie and Javan, Russ and I decided to take our first solo drive off base and see some of the possible living areas we've been hearing about. We stayed on hwy 58 which is the main road outside of gate one and drove for about 1/2 hour. It was a perfect afternoon for a drive with the windows down. I put a music CD into the stereo and we explored until it got dark outside and sang along to some good ol' American tunes. After being cooped up in a two room apartment for close to a month we were thrilled to experience a little bit of the Island we now call home.

Monday was a holiday for Russ so after eating lunch we once again ventured off the base to find the beach at Torii Station. We located the building for the church of Christ as well as the golf course in Chibana before making the drive to Torii Beach. The beach was littered with corral and several other shells that we don't see at our East Coast beaches. I enjoyed hunting for sea glass and Russ did some skipping of stones. We sat and relaxed in our beach chairs until the tide came in and the sun began setting. Those of you who know me well know how much I love watching sunrises and sunsets so that was a perfect ending to our first beach day on Okinawa. We've always found the beach to be our peaceful retreat from the stresses of life so I'm sure we'll spend many weekends searching for our favorite Okinawa beach. Sometimes I forget that most of you are enjoying the changing leaves that come with the onset of fall while we are still experiencing warm weather and sunny days here on the Island. I'm hoping some of you will post your best fall pictures on facebook and Instagram so that we can see them just a little bit this year through you.

photo bombing the sunset

The Okinawa Wave

Driving the car for the first time

We picked up our car yesterday and Russ was the brave one to drive it first. He had to drive from the car dealership back onto the base and then we drove around the base a little to get used to driving on the left side of the road. They say you can always tell the new drivers because they are driving around on a perfectly sunny day with their windshield wipers going. You see, not only is the steering wheel on the right side of the car but also the windshield wipers and blinkers are switched. I remember going through this adjustment in Iwakuni too, but here they call it the Okinawa wave. I had to laugh at Russ and how frustrated he got every time he hit the windshield wipers. No matter how much he concentrated on not doing it, he would still hit the wiper out of habit. He tried different techniques like keeping his hands on the lower part of the steering wheel but still kept turning the wipers on when he wanted the blinker. He finally determined that if he only kept one hand on the wheel then he was less likely to do the wiper wave. I'm still working on my technique for mastering it.

Doing the Okinawa Wave

Today we drove off base to one of the nearby bases to get the car registered and our road tax sticker for the windshield. He seemed to have mastered the blinker overnight in his sleep because he hit it correctly every time today. After we returned to Kadena we drove to Russ's office so he could go back to work and I took the car from there to run some errands. It was my first time behind the wheel. The above selfie expresses the feeling of getting behind the wheel for the first time. There are so many more things to think about. The stop signs and traffic lights are different. The road markings are different and you have to remember which lane you are pulling into. It helps to remember that you as the driver need to be closest to the center line. If you are driving next to a curb then you know you're not where you need to be. I think parking lots are especially difficult because they usually don't have the center lines. I have to say though that the base does a good job of putting arrows to mark the direction in all their lanes in the parking lots and they help to reassure you that you are in the correct lane. I did fairly well on my first trip out. I was fortunate that it was drizzling out when I was driving so I could pretend like I wanted to turn that wiper on to clear the windshield. I managed to make it to the post office, the BX and the library without scaring the other drivers. I'm sure I entertained them just a little with all the "waving" I was doing.

Driving in town. 

I'm very happy with the car so far. I love the smaller size for navigating through these skinny roads and parking in these small parking lots. I'm sure it will take some of the stress out of driving in the city. We plan to get ourselves a little lost this weekend trying to navigate around. Google maps shows everything in kanji so we'll have to figure things out as we go along. That's all part of the fun of the adventure.

Interior of the car

Japanese Stop Sign

Our Quick Shipment Arrived!!!

We were so excited to get an email yesterday that our first shipment (quick shipment) has arrived and that they were available to deliver it today. Russ went into work thinking it would arrive after lunch but they were at the door by 9:30 ready to unload.He walked back to the apartment when he got my text message that they were there. It's always a happy day when you start seeing some of your belongings again. I now have my scrapbooking supplies so I can start working on my scrapbooks while in the TLF. Those of you that know me well know how much that means to me.

I spent my day opening up boxes and trying to find a place to stash everything in this tiny apartment. I have to say I wasn't very impressed with the company that packed this shipment. First off, the day they were packing we had showed them the items to go into the shipment and I sat nearby while they packed. I happened to look up and saw one of the packers packing items that were set aside for the longer shipment. I stopped him and he unloaded a few things but as I unpacked today I realized he had packed a whole box of wall pictures that I definitely didn't want this early. Once we get the car we will try to take them to Russ's office to store them until we get our house.  Then, as I'm unpacking I see that they had

just put my desktop computer into a box with no packing or padding around it and stuffed a few scrapbook albums around it. I made sure to hook it up this afternoon to make sure it still worked. My monitor was haphazardly thrown in as well with just a small amount of paper around it. I had also put in two ceramic mugs for tea and coffee and they were sitting on top of the picture frames (that I didn't want) with no paper wrapped around them at all. It's a miracle that they weren't shattered into a million pieces along with the glass on the frames. I'm thinking these boys need to be retrained in the art of packing a shipment for overseas delivery. Amazingly enough, the only damage I've seen so far was to the outside of an album. The faux leather cover was ripped and the interior padding was hanging out. I'm not sure it's worth claiming but it was obviously another item that was forced into a spot that was too tight to fit it.  It's hard to explain but just having these few items show up at our door left me with a more settled feeling. Gradually we're getting back to a little bit of normalcy. This shipment arrived two weeks earlier than they estimated so we're hopeful that our longer shipment will also arrive early. Tomorrow we pick up the car which will also allow us a second storage area for anything we don't need to keep in the apartment. Next item of business is to begin our search for a house. We'll need to sign up with the housing office and they will assign a Japanese realtor to us to show us around to all the available houses.