Kombanwa again! Two days after my last post, I signed up for Space A (a military space available flight) in order to make it home to Oregon for leave. While waiting for a flight, more lunches and dinners with friends were had and after several attempts to get on a Space A flight, I made one without much difficulty this time around. The last time I flew on a Space A flight, it was on a C-130, which was not the best way to travel. This time, I flew on the Admiral's plane. True story. I even got to check out the cockpit and of course, Snapfish pics to come. From the cockpit, I got to see the moon rise as we headed east for Honolulu. And yes, I would have to say flying in the Admiral's plane was a step up from that C-130. Whereas the C-130 had jump seats, the Admiral's plane had leather reclining seats. Just to name one of the many differences!
After getting to Honolulu at 8pm, the next flight out wasn't until 6am. Turns out there's no lodging nearby on base but at least the terminal doesn't close and there I was, spending my first night in a terminal, waiting for the next flight out. Unfortunately for me, after my night in the terminal, I didn't make it on that 6am flight. On the other hand, I was able to get a commercial flight and get to Honolulu Airport in order to make it back to Portland. I have such adventures when I travel Space A! It's true what they say, you just have to be flexible.
I made it to Portland on June 6, just in time to make a surprise entrance at my little cousin's 5th grade graduation party. I don't remember 'graduating' from 5th grade...do you?!? While at home in Portland, I tried to be good and continue with working out. Runs were ran, tennis was played, weights were lifted, yoga classes were attended and even golf was played. On June 11, I got to go to my little cousin's school to check out her Powerpoint presentation (she's 11 and working on Powerpoint presentations!), along with some other presentations from her classmates. June 12 was their last day of school. Goodbye elementary school, hello middle school!
On June 13, my parents and I found our way to Cannon Beach for the annual sandcastle festival. Funny thing is that I was expecting bigger sandcastles and instead found a lot of little ones. I think I brought a little of the less is more Okinawa attitude with me when I came home. One of the sandcastles was a Nikon camera which I thought was very cute as I took pics of it with my new Nikon camera.
Funny thing is that it's not just me that has a new camera, so does my aunt, and so does my little cousin. Which would lead to many a photography field trip, the first of which was the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge on June 19. Gotta love outdoorsy Oregon where a banana slug close to the size of my size 6 foot was spotted. I appreciated being inside the next day at my little cousin's piano recital.
The next weekend, I took my parents on a field trip to give them a slice of my every day life when I took them up to McChord Air Force Base in Washington so that I could sign up for a return Space A flight. In the end, that turned out to be just an excursion because I ended up having to fly commercial back to Okinawa. We did a lot of driving that weekend. The next day, Mom and I went cherry picking on our way to pick up Dad in order to continue west to Lincoln City and Newport. Since cherry picking wasn't enough, we also went raspberry picking the day after. There was a lot of fresh fruit, among other food, to be eaten while I/we were at home!
The next photography field trip we went on was to the Chinese Gardens on July 1. It was a nice excursion, though I could have done without the blue jay attacks to my head. Three of them. True story. The first time nobody saw. But the 2nd and 3rd time I had witnesses, so it wasn't just me going crazy thinking I was getting attacked. At least he didn't poop on my head, right?!? We enjoyed tea at the tea house and also got some Chinese artwork done for us. The trip to Saint Cupcake after our field trip made the blue jay attacks more bearable. Best cupcakes in town!
The next day, our field trip continued at the Japanese Garden. Yes, I came home to go to a Japanese Garden! LOL. We also went up the Rose Garden that day...all before going to pick up Jabbar at the airport. After training in California for a month, he finally joined me for leave in Portland. We spent the remainder of leave visiting more friends and family, eating more lunches, and even watching a movie. That was the first time in a long time since moving on island.
All in all, leave was good. Lots of food was made and eaten. My family even tried to surprise me with a birthday party/going away party. Though they weren't very sneaky because I knew something was up when Jabbar brought out the camera and I could see candles being lit on what appeared to be a cake behind a paper screen. Nice try fam! I was going to surprise them all by singing happy birthday to me...but I didn't want to spoil their surprise for me.
Before heading back to Okinawa, we got in one last photography excursion to Tillamook Forest Center on July 10. Of course, all these pics to come. And on July 12, I was on my way back home. I spent 5 weeks at home and I don't know where all that time went! On July 14, Jabbar headed back to California where he was previously training in order to catch his flight back to Okinawa.
I arrived back home in hot and humid Okinawa on July 13. And since arriving, the action has not ceased. Two days later, I spent my birthday getting more shots than I care to remember and nearly passed out as a result. I am hoping I am now all up to date and don't have to get any more for a long time to come!
Jabbar made it home on the 17 or the 18th. I can't remember any more. He then deployed on the 23rd. He was a busy bee before he left and I know he has been keeping busy on his mission. As for me, I have been keeping busy as well, but with much different kinds of things - baby showers, trying to find a jujitsu class, going to yoga class, lunches/dinners/and other activities with friends, and family unit events. Things are about to pick up for me though as I am also going on my own little 'deployment' and leaving in about 2 weeks on a volunteer project for the next 6 months where I will be living and working at a resort and eco-lodge. I will be teaching English, helping out in the office, working on marketing/photography/and tours in order to help out around the resort. I have never done anything like this before and am both excited and nervous to be doing it. Of course, there's much to be done before I leave. But to chronicle my adventures, I hope to get better at this blog thing. Wish us luck in our deployments! We hope that all is good and well in your corner of the world!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Next Episode - Part II
Kombanwa (that's good evening in Japanese), once again! I know I have been delinquent in getting this blog updated and as a result, now have lots to tell you about again. A lot has been happening since my last post. What else is new? Such is life. Since then, I mentioned that one of my new hobbies is photography. Jabbar even got me a new 'real' camera, a Nikon D90 and if you thought I took lots of pics before, there are even more now! As always, Snapfish pics to come. But now, I have to break up all the pics since Snapfish ONLY allows 500 photos per album. Yes, I have more than 500 pics to share. What can I say? I want to share it all! Whether or not you look at them all, however, is of course, completely up to you.
So, where to begin?!? From February to now, dinners/picnics/lunches were had, taxes were due, wives coffees/Easter events/volunteer appreciation events/and a traditional Japanese tea ceremony were attended, more photo contests were entered, and Japanese III was taken. Jabbar had a change of command ceremony in March and shortly thereafter, attached to his new unit while I, along with my friend, Matilda, attached ourselves to Club Med for a weekend. Club Med's tag line is 'where happiness means the world.' And I have to say, I think Club Med IS the happiest place in the world. Yes, it was that good. Despite the small beds in our room, we enjoyed our view of the beach. The food, although it was a buffet, was amazing! We spent our days being waited on hand and food by the pool. We spent our evenings being entertained by the 'village' (yes, that's what they call the resort) staff with dragon dances, a magic show, fan dancing, a comedy show, and Balinese dancing. Sure, we could have wished for no rain and nicer weather, but despite it all, Matilda and I had a fabulous time that weekend and highly recommend Club Med to everybody! When I got home and was greeted by the biggest spider, I couldn't wait to get back to Club Med.
Early in April, we visited Katsuren Castle which, as it turns out, can actually be seen from our house, along with the submarine that was hanging out that day as well. I don't know exactly what it was that we witnessed while we were visiting the castle, but it appeared to be a photo shoot with a king and queen who were dressed in traditional attire as they overlooked their kingdom.
On April 18, we went to Yoron Island by way of a two and a half hour ferry called the Queen Coral 8. Would you believe we were on a ferry with cattle? Yes, we were. We stayed at the Pricia Resort and so began my first weekend of photography with my new camera. We rented a scooter and explored the quiet island. Our intent was to find the island's Greek Village which turned out to be a Greek named road and not much else. We found a pottery place, tried our hand at night shooting (which, so far, hasn't worked out so well), and the next morning, woke up early to catch sunrise shots. We had an interesting Japanese breakfast that included something that I think is called 'nanto?' Fermented soy beans. Matilda has acquired the taste. Jabbar was brave and tried it. Me, I took one bite, and that was more than enough. We attended the event which was the reason we got to go to the island in the first place and there came a point where we had to take a group picture. The chaplain noticed that I had been shooting a lot of pics and asked if I could find a nice place to take a group shot. Which actually turned into my 'director' finding a spot. With his (Jabbar's) help, this photography thing might work out after all...
On April 26, we took another ferry. This time, only 30 minutes, to Ie Island to see the Lilly Festival. Instead of getting a scooter, we rented 2 bikes. Only later did we realize that we should have just gotten the scooter. We rode around the island looking for the Lilly Festival and finally found it. It was the second weekend of the festival. We should have gone on the first. The lillies were already dying. Guess we know for next year. Nonetheless, I think we still got some nice pics to share, even if I did realize, once again, that I need to lower my expectations for these festivals. I always expect so much more of a Cherry Blossom and Lilly Festival and forget where I am sometimes. Festivals do not exactly have the same meaning here. Abundance usually comes with my idea of a festival - abundance of cherry blossoms, abundance of lillies. But this was not the case and I really need to remember that for the next festival! Still trying to get used to another country's ideas of things.
This month, on May 1, I went to my first Jayne Wayne Day. For those that don't know, it was a day for us Marine spouses to be the Marine for the day. So there I was dressed in my camouflage trousers (complete with my last name on them) and camouflage paint courtesy of my FRO (family readiness officer), Shandra. The day started with checking out a Howitzer in addition to some other static displays. Afterwards, we went to learn about sniper training, take a ride on the Zodiac in the Pacific Ocean (after which we were all drenched), and then learn about land nav(igation). We were supposed to find this box in groups of 2 with the help of a Marine or two. We didn't find the box. But only because we were almost there and the Master Sargeant was yelling at us to get back on the bus. So you know we had to hussle back there. Come to find out if he had only given us another 2 seconds, we would have found our target, a little red box, out in the middle of the woods.
Then it was lunch time, Marine Corps style, with a Meal-Ready-To-Eat or MRE. I think that was the first time in the almost 9 years that Jabbar has been in that I actually ate an MRE. The one I had actually wasn't that bad though I can't remember which one it was. I didn't go hard core and eat the meal cold. I remember I had chicken and I had to heat it up, which wasn't as difficult as it sounds. After lunch, we wrapped up the day. We were supposed to be able to shoot real weapons, but my group didn't get to as there was a fire out in the distance. Instead, we checked out an Amphibious Assault Vehicle or AAV and even got to ride around in it, looked for hidden mines, and shot simulated weaponry at the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer or ISMT. I found the mines, but it turns out I'm not much of a shooter. I think I was more deadly with a pistol than a rifle; however, that's not saying much.
So the point of Jayne Wayne Day is to give us a better understanding and appreciation for what our Marines do on a daily basis. The thing is that Marines don't do all that in a day! They do one specific job, not all 8 things we did that day. At the end of it all, I was exhausted, but I learned a lot about a lot of Marine jobs. The funny thing is that Jabbar was coming out of the field that day, which is basically where I spent my day and I thought about staying in my cammies (camouflage) but I felt the way I think Jabbar feels every time he comes out of the field - gross. Especially after being drenched in the Zodiac and then having to go the rest of the day trying to dry out. All I wanted was a nice warm shower and to be clean. Ah, the simple things in life!
This month, we ventured over to the east side of the island and discovered Zampa Beach and Cape Zampa, a quasi-national park, whatever that is. I also learned about Kodomo-no-Hi, Children's Day, a Japanese national holiday celebrated on May 5 as part of the string of Japanese holidays called Golden Week. So the story goes that according to an ancient Chinese legend, the golden carp that swam upstream braved the numerous rapids and waterfalls of the Yellow River, and had the strength to leap over the Dragon Gate at the river's head, was rewarded for its perserverance by being transformed into a celestial dragon and spent the rest of its days flying majestically above the land. Many in Asia believe that because of this legend, the carp represents the epitome of courage, strength and perserverance. It is popularly thought that the custom of flying carp-shaped flags called koinobori during the holiday also finds its roots in this myth. During the month, I saw some of these flags and was able to...you guessed it! Get some pics. We also discovered the Butterfly Garden, returned to the Ocean Expo Park, and also revisited a photo spot where we first took pics on island in order to get sunset pics. While visiting the Butterfly Garden, a Japanese lady hit our parked car while trying to back out her rental car. Nobody was hurt. We weren't even around. But poor Jabbar's car is now back in the shop again for the second time in 8 months getting a new bumper. Last Friday, we had 'family day' at Oura Wan Beach. Saturday, we had our own not mandatory family day at Torii Beach.
All of this brings me to this week. Since Jabbar has been with his new unit, he has spent the last 2 months coming and going. Story of our life. One week home, one week in the field. Until this past Sunday when he left for a month of training back in the states. Poor guy is sick and is spending more time in the field. I know he cannot wait to get done and go on leave so he can spend time with friends and family. As for me, I am continuing to keep busy. I went to a spa workshop on Tuesday. Did some yoga and enjoyed it so much I think I need to get into class. Learned how to make bath salts and scrubs, reflexology, and goal setting. Even went to an interesting jewelry party Friday night. Seems that multi-level marketing, or at least that's what I think it is, is big business round these parts.
Seems like we have had a lot going on as usual and it shows no signs of stopping. As always, will work on Snapfish pics next and will send along as I get them done. Hope all is well in your world.
So, where to begin?!? From February to now, dinners/picnics/lunches were had, taxes were due, wives coffees/Easter events/volunteer appreciation events/and a traditional Japanese tea ceremony were attended, more photo contests were entered, and Japanese III was taken. Jabbar had a change of command ceremony in March and shortly thereafter, attached to his new unit while I, along with my friend, Matilda, attached ourselves to Club Med for a weekend. Club Med's tag line is 'where happiness means the world.' And I have to say, I think Club Med IS the happiest place in the world. Yes, it was that good. Despite the small beds in our room, we enjoyed our view of the beach. The food, although it was a buffet, was amazing! We spent our days being waited on hand and food by the pool. We spent our evenings being entertained by the 'village' (yes, that's what they call the resort) staff with dragon dances, a magic show, fan dancing, a comedy show, and Balinese dancing. Sure, we could have wished for no rain and nicer weather, but despite it all, Matilda and I had a fabulous time that weekend and highly recommend Club Med to everybody! When I got home and was greeted by the biggest spider, I couldn't wait to get back to Club Med.
Early in April, we visited Katsuren Castle which, as it turns out, can actually be seen from our house, along with the submarine that was hanging out that day as well. I don't know exactly what it was that we witnessed while we were visiting the castle, but it appeared to be a photo shoot with a king and queen who were dressed in traditional attire as they overlooked their kingdom.
On April 18, we went to Yoron Island by way of a two and a half hour ferry called the Queen Coral 8. Would you believe we were on a ferry with cattle? Yes, we were. We stayed at the Pricia Resort and so began my first weekend of photography with my new camera. We rented a scooter and explored the quiet island. Our intent was to find the island's Greek Village which turned out to be a Greek named road and not much else. We found a pottery place, tried our hand at night shooting (which, so far, hasn't worked out so well), and the next morning, woke up early to catch sunrise shots. We had an interesting Japanese breakfast that included something that I think is called 'nanto?' Fermented soy beans. Matilda has acquired the taste. Jabbar was brave and tried it. Me, I took one bite, and that was more than enough. We attended the event which was the reason we got to go to the island in the first place and there came a point where we had to take a group picture. The chaplain noticed that I had been shooting a lot of pics and asked if I could find a nice place to take a group shot. Which actually turned into my 'director' finding a spot. With his (Jabbar's) help, this photography thing might work out after all...
On April 26, we took another ferry. This time, only 30 minutes, to Ie Island to see the Lilly Festival. Instead of getting a scooter, we rented 2 bikes. Only later did we realize that we should have just gotten the scooter. We rode around the island looking for the Lilly Festival and finally found it. It was the second weekend of the festival. We should have gone on the first. The lillies were already dying. Guess we know for next year. Nonetheless, I think we still got some nice pics to share, even if I did realize, once again, that I need to lower my expectations for these festivals. I always expect so much more of a Cherry Blossom and Lilly Festival and forget where I am sometimes. Festivals do not exactly have the same meaning here. Abundance usually comes with my idea of a festival - abundance of cherry blossoms, abundance of lillies. But this was not the case and I really need to remember that for the next festival! Still trying to get used to another country's ideas of things.
This month, on May 1, I went to my first Jayne Wayne Day. For those that don't know, it was a day for us Marine spouses to be the Marine for the day. So there I was dressed in my camouflage trousers (complete with my last name on them) and camouflage paint courtesy of my FRO (family readiness officer), Shandra. The day started with checking out a Howitzer in addition to some other static displays. Afterwards, we went to learn about sniper training, take a ride on the Zodiac in the Pacific Ocean (after which we were all drenched), and then learn about land nav(igation). We were supposed to find this box in groups of 2 with the help of a Marine or two. We didn't find the box. But only because we were almost there and the Master Sargeant was yelling at us to get back on the bus. So you know we had to hussle back there. Come to find out if he had only given us another 2 seconds, we would have found our target, a little red box, out in the middle of the woods.
Then it was lunch time, Marine Corps style, with a Meal-Ready-To-Eat or MRE. I think that was the first time in the almost 9 years that Jabbar has been in that I actually ate an MRE. The one I had actually wasn't that bad though I can't remember which one it was. I didn't go hard core and eat the meal cold. I remember I had chicken and I had to heat it up, which wasn't as difficult as it sounds. After lunch, we wrapped up the day. We were supposed to be able to shoot real weapons, but my group didn't get to as there was a fire out in the distance. Instead, we checked out an Amphibious Assault Vehicle or AAV and even got to ride around in it, looked for hidden mines, and shot simulated weaponry at the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer or ISMT. I found the mines, but it turns out I'm not much of a shooter. I think I was more deadly with a pistol than a rifle; however, that's not saying much.
So the point of Jayne Wayne Day is to give us a better understanding and appreciation for what our Marines do on a daily basis. The thing is that Marines don't do all that in a day! They do one specific job, not all 8 things we did that day. At the end of it all, I was exhausted, but I learned a lot about a lot of Marine jobs. The funny thing is that Jabbar was coming out of the field that day, which is basically where I spent my day and I thought about staying in my cammies (camouflage) but I felt the way I think Jabbar feels every time he comes out of the field - gross. Especially after being drenched in the Zodiac and then having to go the rest of the day trying to dry out. All I wanted was a nice warm shower and to be clean. Ah, the simple things in life!
This month, we ventured over to the east side of the island and discovered Zampa Beach and Cape Zampa, a quasi-national park, whatever that is. I also learned about Kodomo-no-Hi, Children's Day, a Japanese national holiday celebrated on May 5 as part of the string of Japanese holidays called Golden Week. So the story goes that according to an ancient Chinese legend, the golden carp that swam upstream braved the numerous rapids and waterfalls of the Yellow River, and had the strength to leap over the Dragon Gate at the river's head, was rewarded for its perserverance by being transformed into a celestial dragon and spent the rest of its days flying majestically above the land. Many in Asia believe that because of this legend, the carp represents the epitome of courage, strength and perserverance. It is popularly thought that the custom of flying carp-shaped flags called koinobori during the holiday also finds its roots in this myth. During the month, I saw some of these flags and was able to...you guessed it! Get some pics. We also discovered the Butterfly Garden, returned to the Ocean Expo Park, and also revisited a photo spot where we first took pics on island in order to get sunset pics. While visiting the Butterfly Garden, a Japanese lady hit our parked car while trying to back out her rental car. Nobody was hurt. We weren't even around. But poor Jabbar's car is now back in the shop again for the second time in 8 months getting a new bumper. Last Friday, we had 'family day' at Oura Wan Beach. Saturday, we had our own not mandatory family day at Torii Beach.
All of this brings me to this week. Since Jabbar has been with his new unit, he has spent the last 2 months coming and going. Story of our life. One week home, one week in the field. Until this past Sunday when he left for a month of training back in the states. Poor guy is sick and is spending more time in the field. I know he cannot wait to get done and go on leave so he can spend time with friends and family. As for me, I am continuing to keep busy. I went to a spa workshop on Tuesday. Did some yoga and enjoyed it so much I think I need to get into class. Learned how to make bath salts and scrubs, reflexology, and goal setting. Even went to an interesting jewelry party Friday night. Seems that multi-level marketing, or at least that's what I think it is, is big business round these parts.
Seems like we have had a lot going on as usual and it shows no signs of stopping. As always, will work on Snapfish pics next and will send along as I get them done. Hope all is well in your world.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Next Episode
Almost 2 months later, my ideas of being a tour planner are in the same place they were 2 months ago. But that's okay! More time for other activities to occupy my/our time! Since the last episode, we attended the St. Barbara's day ball which is a formal artillery event for the patron saint of artillery which just happens to be Jabbar's military occupation specialty (MOS). The thing about St. Bab's day is that while it is a formal event, it is not as formal as some of the others that we have been to and therefore, the guys are more free to cut loose. They do this by doing skits that explain how artillery is the best part of the Marine Corps and by poking fun at other MOSs and senior staff non-commissioned officers (NCO's). At one of the wives meetings, it was mentioned that all us wives should do a wives skit. The example was we should do a spoof like one that was seen titled "Artillery Girl" to the music of Madonna's "Material Girl." So there I was, finding myself involved in a wife skit that was not as well planned as I would have liked and therefore, left us on stage, floundering for a little bit during our skit. Ah, the joys of trying to support your husband's career. Pics of St. Bab's day and our other adventures to come in Snapfish so stay tuned!
The day after St. Bab's day, we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Obbligato, and a show, comedian Bill Bellamy was on island to provide a little comic relief. Though we probably wouldn't consider ourselves conniseurs of comedy, Bill Bellamy was pretty hilarious.
The next day, we hosted game day (which extended into night) at our house. It was the first time we had guests over to our house since we have been on island. We made lots of food to include veggie crudites, bruschetta, potato and vegetable soup, red chicken curry with rice, and a sweet dessert called "sweet water." We had a total of 6 adults and 4 kids over, Matt, Matilda, and their 4 kids, along with Jeremy and Mary Beth. The kids were entertained by all of Jabbar's video games and Disney movies while the adults were otherwise entertained. Good times.
One of my new hobbies since arriving on island has been photography, as you may or may not have been able to tell by the abundance of pics that I send in Snapfish. I have even started entering a photo contest or two. The first one I entered was in Islands Magazine. Winners will be published in June, I believe. So wish me luck! Jabbar has found another website where I should submit photos and now Snapfish even has a photo contest that I will be looking into just as soon as I am done with this blog. We'll see how this photography thing works out for me. =D
One weekend in January, we decided that we were going to accomplish our goal of making it all over this island - north, south, east, and west. The only direction we hadn't accomplished was north, but no longer! We have now been all over this island. We discovered cherry blossoms blooming in January, which for me, was quite weird because it was still pretty chilly and after having spent the last 8 years of my life in DC and watching the cherry blossoms bloom around the Tidal Basin in April, January seemed way too early for them to be blooming for me. But, as it turns out, cherry blossoms bloom here in Okinawa first...in January. The northernmost point of this island is called Cape Hedo and the day we were visiting, it was quite windy and brisk. It did, however, make for great wave crashing pics that will soon come to you. We also found a huge random Buddha, 2 large shisas, and several pineapple groves on our drive in the middle of nowhere.
At the end of January, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival which included a lot of street vendors selling food (to include squid wrapped in squid), candy, and a lot of junk. The trek to see cherry blossoms included approximately 450 steps up a hill to where you could overlook the city of Nago. I expected to see more cherry blossoms, but at least now we can say we have been there, done that. After the Cherry Blossom Festival, we headed to the Churaumi Acquarium and saw lots of sharks, colorful fish, shrimp, clown fish, jelly fish, sting rays and manta rays. After sitting in lots of traffic with the rest of the island trying to go home from the Cherry Blossom Festival and making a stop at Jabbar's work because he forgot his military I.D. we finally made it back home. Talk about a long, touristy day!
On February 1, Jabbar flew to Tokyo in order to participate in a week-long Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) program. Since he was going to be in Tokyo for a week, we decided that I should also fly up to play around Tokyo while he was working. So began an interesting adventure for me. As a spouse, one of the things that I can do is fly Space A (space available) on a flight. My adventures began on the 2nd when I was getting ready to catch a flight. Jabbar calls to tell me that there had been a volcanic eruption near the base I was flying into and tells me I should confirm my flight before I go to the airport. Which I proceed to do and after having been told that the flight to Yokota was still going despite the volcanic activity, I head to the airport. I arrive at 12pm for a 12:40 flight. But somehow, between 10am when I called to confirm the flight and when I arrived in person, that flight was now cancelled. Of course. There was a flight going to another base, Atsugi, later on in the afternoon they said and asked if I would like to get on that flight. The fun thing about flying space a is that, though there was a flight, and though they could put me on the list, they couldn't guarantee that I was going to get on the flight as there were no definite seats, only seats pending. They also said there was another flight to Misawa earlier than the Atsugi flight which actually had definite seats, but that I would have to take a train from Misawa to Tokyo. They said the train ride was only 2 hours...but somehow, that would later turn into 4 hours. Funny how that works. I decided I would get on the Misawa flight.
So there I was, on the tarmac, waiting for a bunch of Air Force guys to get the plane ready so that I could board. Make no mistake, this was no commercial flight as you might know it. There were no flight attendants to direct you to your seat. An Air Force guy gave me a brief. There was no carpeting, no cushy seats. This was a cargo plane that had no center seats, but jump seats that fold up or down and are positioned along the sides of the plane. There was no temperature control. That plane was cold! And oh yeah, not only was there no food and beverage service, you couldn't even pay for it even if you wanted it. Oh, and did I mention that I sat on the tarmac for a good hour or two in order to board this plane that was supposed to be leaving at 12:40? Needless to say, this plane was late and the day was dragging on for me. Making it to Tokyo by way of Misawa was seeming like I wasn't going to get into Tokyo until late that night. The time that I sat waiting on the tarmac, I could have been on the Atsugi flight that had probably already left. The only thing was that who knows if I would have gotten on that flight since seats were only pending and not definite.
In any case, a few hours late, we finally took off to Misawa. A few hours later, 7pm, I was in Misawa. Jabbar had mentioned that Tokyo was cold so I was prepared; however, I was not prepared for snow and ice when I stepped off the plane in Misawa! I was escorted off the plane by an old man who, since the plane was loud and I had to wear ear plugs the entire flight, either said, "Oh, you took this flight? You poor soul." Or did he say, "you poor fool?" Either way, I'm not sure. So, there I was. In the terminal in Misawa with only 2 other people who work there. They asked if somebody was coming to pick me up. Ummm...no. They asked if I needed a taxi. I said...I'm not sure. All I know is I am trying to make it to Tokyo and I heard that I could take a train. The guy wasn't sure if I was going to make the train, thought that I had already missed it, but called a taxi for me anyways. The taxi showed up, but apparently, I was too slow so he left me there at the terminal. So I go back into the terminal and one of the workers, Billy, took pity on me and said that he could take me to the train station. Let's just say thank goodness for Billy! Billy took me to an ATM to make sure I had enough money to pay for a train ticket. He took me to the train station, but come to find out, I had missed the train. So there I was...stuck in Misawa. Now what was I gonna do?!? Luckily for me, I had met Billy. He took me to the Navy Lodge and got me hooked up with a room. Turns out the poor guy had been working since 4am that morning and had to pull a double shift because there was 1 OFD (officer's dependent - me) on the last flight into Misawa. In any case, after he got me hooked up with a room and found out that I hadn't had dinner yet, he couldn't let me go to bed on an empty stomach so there I was...at a random American base in the way north of Japan with a random guy who happened to take pity on me and offered to take me out to dinner (no, it was not a date) and make sure that I got to Tokyo one way or another the next day.
Did I say thank goodness for Billy already? Nice guy. Really nice. Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty. We had a nice dinner and he dropped me off at the Navy Lodge, said he would pick me up the next morning to see if I could get a flight and if not, would take me to the train station. That night, I thought, what would I have done had I not met Billy? I might have ended up at the train station trying to figure out whether I should take the last train to Sendai, which would have put me closer to Tokyo, but then, where was I going to sleep? But I just happened to meet Billy who made sure that I had my head in a bed that night. The next morning, as my luck would have it on this adventure of mine, a snow storm rolled into Misawa. Billy came to pick me up just like he said he would. We went to the Navy terminal to see if there were any flights to Yokota, but there wasn't. Just my luck. So before Billy took me to the train station, he took me to breakfast. After breakfast, he took me to the train station and sat there with me until I actually got on the train. All of this reminds me that I still need to get back in touch with him so I can say thank you once again, send him an email, and most importantly, send his boss an email to sing his praises.
I got on the bullet train to Tokyo and I was on my own to make my own transfers in a country I had never been to, in a language I don't speak. Talk about travelling by the seat of my pants! I successfully made my transfer and several hours later, I was in Tokyo station. Jabbar was working and wouldn't be done til late. After all it took me to get to Tokyo, I still had to make it to Yokota in order to make sure that I was on the list for a flight back to Okinawa 4 days later. I got to know Tokyo's train stations very well that day. I made my way from Tokyo station on numerous trains and finally made it to Yokota, 2 hours later. Good thing I went because despite filling out my paperwork online to get on the list, what do you know, they didn't have my information. I was put on the list for a flight back to Okinawa on something called the Patriot Express that left every Friday and was most likely to have lots of seats. We'll see, I thought. After another 2 hour train ride back into Tokyo and being on trains and in train stations all day, I was just so done. Jabbar wasn't done with work yet and I was in no mood to be a tourist above ground so I just sat there in the Tokyo train station waiting for further instructions on how to get to my husband.
When he finally got done for the evening, my adventure continued in trying to make it from Tokyo station to the station that was nearest his hotel. Turns out Tokyo has no less than 5 different train companies running trains throughout Tokyo. He was telling me which train station, but when I asked in my broken Japanese about this train station, the Japanese attendants just looked at me like I was a crazy American. Eventually, I figured out I wasn't at the right line. Of course not. I finally figured out which line I needed to be on and after asking, again in my broken Japanese, a guy about which train I should be getting on in order to make it to my station and him pointing to the other side of the train tracks, I'm standing there, still looking at the signs to make sure that I really am going the right way. I had to have had that lost look on my face because this little Japanese man asked me in English where I was going. He ensured me that I was on the right side and when the train came and it got to my stop, he made sure I got off. My adventures on the train in Tokyo were interesting. Sometimes, I would say sumimasen - excuse me - and they would immediately start speaking to me in English. But then other times, I would say sumimasen, ask a question in my broken Japanese, and somehow, they answered me all in Japanese. To which I would have to say wakarimasen - I don't understand and eigo o hanashimaska? Do you speak English?
After 33 hours of planes, trains, and automobiles, I finally made it to the right train station and Jabbar came to find me. Turns out Jabbar had gotten into trouble for having me come to Tokyo as they were supposed to have roommates. Jabbar asked for an additional room for us and that was apparently very rude. Whoops. It all turned out though. We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel that was more like a hostel. You got a room, a very small room, with 2 traditional Japanese style mattreses on the floor, but the bathrooms and showers were communal. At the entrance to the hotel you had to take off your shoes and wear the slippers that they provided. Very traditionally Japanese.
The next day, the only day that I could really be a tourist in Tokyo, I met up with another wife that had ironically taken the Atsugi flight and arrived the same day she started flying. Come to find out there were 60 seats on that flight! But that's the fun of space A, you just never know if I had waited, whether I would have gotten on that flight because at the time I asked about seats on that flight, they were not definite, just pending. In any case, the other wife, Heather, an Air Force wife, and I spent the day visiting the Imperial Palace, the Harajuku (shopping) District, and the Meiji Shrine.
The next day, I was back on trains by myself, trying to make my way to see an old friend of mine that I had met about 11 years ago as a study abroad student in France, Yukari. Funny thing is that she's Japanese, we met in France, and the best way we can communicate is in French, though now, we throw in a little more Japanese and English in order to communicate with each other. It was an hour long train ride out to the station closest to Yukari and she and her daughter met me there. We spent the next 7 hours together talking, having lunch, and talking some more about the past, the present, the future, and the fact that I would have never said 11 years ago, that I would have met her 11 years later at her home in Tokyo. Funny how life goes.
And then it was Friday. Though I knew it should have taken me only 2 hours to get to Yokota, I decided to leave an an extra hour to get up just to be safe. Though Japanese trains seem to run constantly, it's a good thing I took an extra hour that day. It took me 3 hours to get to Yokota instead of 2. I made it to the terminal 2 minutes before roll call. A little too close in timing if you ask me. My flight back to Okinawa was much less dramatic than my flight to Yokota. Turns out the Patriot Express is actually a Northwest Airlines commercial flight, complete with flight attendants, actual cushy chairs, food and beverage service, and temperature controls! We even flew directly over Mt. Fuji.
After recovering from my adventures in Tokyo, we went on a tour on Jabbar's birthday to Shuri Castle, which was the traditional seat of power of the king of the Ryukyu kingdom. The castle was completely demolished in WWII and then reconstructed to 2/5 of its original size in the 70's. We got to see the king's throne and traditional Japanese dancing. We then made our way to Kokosai (international) Street for lunch (we chose Indian), sightseeing, and more traditional Japanese Eisa drum dancing. Afterwards, our next stop was the Chinese Gardens. Our last stop on the tour was a shrine whose name I have since forgotten, but translated into English, it was Shrine Above the Waves.
Last weekend, we went to Okinawa World with Mary Beth. Okinawa World is advertised as an amusement park, but if you're imagining Six Flags, you would be sorely disappointed. Instead, it is an educational walking park of all things Okinawa to include glass blowing, pottery, traditional buildings, a large cave, a traditional brown sugar making display, a fruit orchard (where we spent approximately $18USD for imported mangosteen), buka buka tea, Eisa drum dancers (which included a huge drum on wheels), a brewery, sea snakes, Habu snakes, pythons, mongooses, and tortoises.
I started to say that last week was pretty mellow compared with everything else I have written in this novel of a blog post; however, that's only because I had blocked out our 8.63 mile run earlier in the week. Compared to that, the rest of the week was pretty mellow. I saw a military wife motivational speaker that was quite good and spent yesterday with Matilda having lunch and shopping. We, along with Mary Beth, then attended an ice cream and coffee social. After which, we also had dinner. After a late night last night, and the craziness of the last few weeks, this weekend, we are content to be home and do nothing, except write this blog to keep you all informed and post pictures so you can see all our newest adventures. Stay tuned for our upcoming adventures and keep your eyes open for more pics!
The day after St. Bab's day, we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Obbligato, and a show, comedian Bill Bellamy was on island to provide a little comic relief. Though we probably wouldn't consider ourselves conniseurs of comedy, Bill Bellamy was pretty hilarious.
The next day, we hosted game day (which extended into night) at our house. It was the first time we had guests over to our house since we have been on island. We made lots of food to include veggie crudites, bruschetta, potato and vegetable soup, red chicken curry with rice, and a sweet dessert called "sweet water." We had a total of 6 adults and 4 kids over, Matt, Matilda, and their 4 kids, along with Jeremy and Mary Beth. The kids were entertained by all of Jabbar's video games and Disney movies while the adults were otherwise entertained. Good times.
One of my new hobbies since arriving on island has been photography, as you may or may not have been able to tell by the abundance of pics that I send in Snapfish. I have even started entering a photo contest or two. The first one I entered was in Islands Magazine. Winners will be published in June, I believe. So wish me luck! Jabbar has found another website where I should submit photos and now Snapfish even has a photo contest that I will be looking into just as soon as I am done with this blog. We'll see how this photography thing works out for me. =D
One weekend in January, we decided that we were going to accomplish our goal of making it all over this island - north, south, east, and west. The only direction we hadn't accomplished was north, but no longer! We have now been all over this island. We discovered cherry blossoms blooming in January, which for me, was quite weird because it was still pretty chilly and after having spent the last 8 years of my life in DC and watching the cherry blossoms bloom around the Tidal Basin in April, January seemed way too early for them to be blooming for me. But, as it turns out, cherry blossoms bloom here in Okinawa first...in January. The northernmost point of this island is called Cape Hedo and the day we were visiting, it was quite windy and brisk. It did, however, make for great wave crashing pics that will soon come to you. We also found a huge random Buddha, 2 large shisas, and several pineapple groves on our drive in the middle of nowhere.
At the end of January, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival which included a lot of street vendors selling food (to include squid wrapped in squid), candy, and a lot of junk. The trek to see cherry blossoms included approximately 450 steps up a hill to where you could overlook the city of Nago. I expected to see more cherry blossoms, but at least now we can say we have been there, done that. After the Cherry Blossom Festival, we headed to the Churaumi Acquarium and saw lots of sharks, colorful fish, shrimp, clown fish, jelly fish, sting rays and manta rays. After sitting in lots of traffic with the rest of the island trying to go home from the Cherry Blossom Festival and making a stop at Jabbar's work because he forgot his military I.D. we finally made it back home. Talk about a long, touristy day!
On February 1, Jabbar flew to Tokyo in order to participate in a week-long Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) program. Since he was going to be in Tokyo for a week, we decided that I should also fly up to play around Tokyo while he was working. So began an interesting adventure for me. As a spouse, one of the things that I can do is fly Space A (space available) on a flight. My adventures began on the 2nd when I was getting ready to catch a flight. Jabbar calls to tell me that there had been a volcanic eruption near the base I was flying into and tells me I should confirm my flight before I go to the airport. Which I proceed to do and after having been told that the flight to Yokota was still going despite the volcanic activity, I head to the airport. I arrive at 12pm for a 12:40 flight. But somehow, between 10am when I called to confirm the flight and when I arrived in person, that flight was now cancelled. Of course. There was a flight going to another base, Atsugi, later on in the afternoon they said and asked if I would like to get on that flight. The fun thing about flying space a is that, though there was a flight, and though they could put me on the list, they couldn't guarantee that I was going to get on the flight as there were no definite seats, only seats pending. They also said there was another flight to Misawa earlier than the Atsugi flight which actually had definite seats, but that I would have to take a train from Misawa to Tokyo. They said the train ride was only 2 hours...but somehow, that would later turn into 4 hours. Funny how that works. I decided I would get on the Misawa flight.
So there I was, on the tarmac, waiting for a bunch of Air Force guys to get the plane ready so that I could board. Make no mistake, this was no commercial flight as you might know it. There were no flight attendants to direct you to your seat. An Air Force guy gave me a brief. There was no carpeting, no cushy seats. This was a cargo plane that had no center seats, but jump seats that fold up or down and are positioned along the sides of the plane. There was no temperature control. That plane was cold! And oh yeah, not only was there no food and beverage service, you couldn't even pay for it even if you wanted it. Oh, and did I mention that I sat on the tarmac for a good hour or two in order to board this plane that was supposed to be leaving at 12:40? Needless to say, this plane was late and the day was dragging on for me. Making it to Tokyo by way of Misawa was seeming like I wasn't going to get into Tokyo until late that night. The time that I sat waiting on the tarmac, I could have been on the Atsugi flight that had probably already left. The only thing was that who knows if I would have gotten on that flight since seats were only pending and not definite.
In any case, a few hours late, we finally took off to Misawa. A few hours later, 7pm, I was in Misawa. Jabbar had mentioned that Tokyo was cold so I was prepared; however, I was not prepared for snow and ice when I stepped off the plane in Misawa! I was escorted off the plane by an old man who, since the plane was loud and I had to wear ear plugs the entire flight, either said, "Oh, you took this flight? You poor soul." Or did he say, "you poor fool?" Either way, I'm not sure. So, there I was. In the terminal in Misawa with only 2 other people who work there. They asked if somebody was coming to pick me up. Ummm...no. They asked if I needed a taxi. I said...I'm not sure. All I know is I am trying to make it to Tokyo and I heard that I could take a train. The guy wasn't sure if I was going to make the train, thought that I had already missed it, but called a taxi for me anyways. The taxi showed up, but apparently, I was too slow so he left me there at the terminal. So I go back into the terminal and one of the workers, Billy, took pity on me and said that he could take me to the train station. Let's just say thank goodness for Billy! Billy took me to an ATM to make sure I had enough money to pay for a train ticket. He took me to the train station, but come to find out, I had missed the train. So there I was...stuck in Misawa. Now what was I gonna do?!? Luckily for me, I had met Billy. He took me to the Navy Lodge and got me hooked up with a room. Turns out the poor guy had been working since 4am that morning and had to pull a double shift because there was 1 OFD (officer's dependent - me) on the last flight into Misawa. In any case, after he got me hooked up with a room and found out that I hadn't had dinner yet, he couldn't let me go to bed on an empty stomach so there I was...at a random American base in the way north of Japan with a random guy who happened to take pity on me and offered to take me out to dinner (no, it was not a date) and make sure that I got to Tokyo one way or another the next day.
Did I say thank goodness for Billy already? Nice guy. Really nice. Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty. We had a nice dinner and he dropped me off at the Navy Lodge, said he would pick me up the next morning to see if I could get a flight and if not, would take me to the train station. That night, I thought, what would I have done had I not met Billy? I might have ended up at the train station trying to figure out whether I should take the last train to Sendai, which would have put me closer to Tokyo, but then, where was I going to sleep? But I just happened to meet Billy who made sure that I had my head in a bed that night. The next morning, as my luck would have it on this adventure of mine, a snow storm rolled into Misawa. Billy came to pick me up just like he said he would. We went to the Navy terminal to see if there were any flights to Yokota, but there wasn't. Just my luck. So before Billy took me to the train station, he took me to breakfast. After breakfast, he took me to the train station and sat there with me until I actually got on the train. All of this reminds me that I still need to get back in touch with him so I can say thank you once again, send him an email, and most importantly, send his boss an email to sing his praises.
I got on the bullet train to Tokyo and I was on my own to make my own transfers in a country I had never been to, in a language I don't speak. Talk about travelling by the seat of my pants! I successfully made my transfer and several hours later, I was in Tokyo station. Jabbar was working and wouldn't be done til late. After all it took me to get to Tokyo, I still had to make it to Yokota in order to make sure that I was on the list for a flight back to Okinawa 4 days later. I got to know Tokyo's train stations very well that day. I made my way from Tokyo station on numerous trains and finally made it to Yokota, 2 hours later. Good thing I went because despite filling out my paperwork online to get on the list, what do you know, they didn't have my information. I was put on the list for a flight back to Okinawa on something called the Patriot Express that left every Friday and was most likely to have lots of seats. We'll see, I thought. After another 2 hour train ride back into Tokyo and being on trains and in train stations all day, I was just so done. Jabbar wasn't done with work yet and I was in no mood to be a tourist above ground so I just sat there in the Tokyo train station waiting for further instructions on how to get to my husband.
When he finally got done for the evening, my adventure continued in trying to make it from Tokyo station to the station that was nearest his hotel. Turns out Tokyo has no less than 5 different train companies running trains throughout Tokyo. He was telling me which train station, but when I asked in my broken Japanese about this train station, the Japanese attendants just looked at me like I was a crazy American. Eventually, I figured out I wasn't at the right line. Of course not. I finally figured out which line I needed to be on and after asking, again in my broken Japanese, a guy about which train I should be getting on in order to make it to my station and him pointing to the other side of the train tracks, I'm standing there, still looking at the signs to make sure that I really am going the right way. I had to have had that lost look on my face because this little Japanese man asked me in English where I was going. He ensured me that I was on the right side and when the train came and it got to my stop, he made sure I got off. My adventures on the train in Tokyo were interesting. Sometimes, I would say sumimasen - excuse me - and they would immediately start speaking to me in English. But then other times, I would say sumimasen, ask a question in my broken Japanese, and somehow, they answered me all in Japanese. To which I would have to say wakarimasen - I don't understand and eigo o hanashimaska? Do you speak English?
After 33 hours of planes, trains, and automobiles, I finally made it to the right train station and Jabbar came to find me. Turns out Jabbar had gotten into trouble for having me come to Tokyo as they were supposed to have roommates. Jabbar asked for an additional room for us and that was apparently very rude. Whoops. It all turned out though. We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel that was more like a hostel. You got a room, a very small room, with 2 traditional Japanese style mattreses on the floor, but the bathrooms and showers were communal. At the entrance to the hotel you had to take off your shoes and wear the slippers that they provided. Very traditionally Japanese.
The next day, the only day that I could really be a tourist in Tokyo, I met up with another wife that had ironically taken the Atsugi flight and arrived the same day she started flying. Come to find out there were 60 seats on that flight! But that's the fun of space A, you just never know if I had waited, whether I would have gotten on that flight because at the time I asked about seats on that flight, they were not definite, just pending. In any case, the other wife, Heather, an Air Force wife, and I spent the day visiting the Imperial Palace, the Harajuku (shopping) District, and the Meiji Shrine.
The next day, I was back on trains by myself, trying to make my way to see an old friend of mine that I had met about 11 years ago as a study abroad student in France, Yukari. Funny thing is that she's Japanese, we met in France, and the best way we can communicate is in French, though now, we throw in a little more Japanese and English in order to communicate with each other. It was an hour long train ride out to the station closest to Yukari and she and her daughter met me there. We spent the next 7 hours together talking, having lunch, and talking some more about the past, the present, the future, and the fact that I would have never said 11 years ago, that I would have met her 11 years later at her home in Tokyo. Funny how life goes.
And then it was Friday. Though I knew it should have taken me only 2 hours to get to Yokota, I decided to leave an an extra hour to get up just to be safe. Though Japanese trains seem to run constantly, it's a good thing I took an extra hour that day. It took me 3 hours to get to Yokota instead of 2. I made it to the terminal 2 minutes before roll call. A little too close in timing if you ask me. My flight back to Okinawa was much less dramatic than my flight to Yokota. Turns out the Patriot Express is actually a Northwest Airlines commercial flight, complete with flight attendants, actual cushy chairs, food and beverage service, and temperature controls! We even flew directly over Mt. Fuji.
After recovering from my adventures in Tokyo, we went on a tour on Jabbar's birthday to Shuri Castle, which was the traditional seat of power of the king of the Ryukyu kingdom. The castle was completely demolished in WWII and then reconstructed to 2/5 of its original size in the 70's. We got to see the king's throne and traditional Japanese dancing. We then made our way to Kokosai (international) Street for lunch (we chose Indian), sightseeing, and more traditional Japanese Eisa drum dancing. Afterwards, our next stop was the Chinese Gardens. Our last stop on the tour was a shrine whose name I have since forgotten, but translated into English, it was Shrine Above the Waves.
Last weekend, we went to Okinawa World with Mary Beth. Okinawa World is advertised as an amusement park, but if you're imagining Six Flags, you would be sorely disappointed. Instead, it is an educational walking park of all things Okinawa to include glass blowing, pottery, traditional buildings, a large cave, a traditional brown sugar making display, a fruit orchard (where we spent approximately $18USD for imported mangosteen), buka buka tea, Eisa drum dancers (which included a huge drum on wheels), a brewery, sea snakes, Habu snakes, pythons, mongooses, and tortoises.
I started to say that last week was pretty mellow compared with everything else I have written in this novel of a blog post; however, that's only because I had blocked out our 8.63 mile run earlier in the week. Compared to that, the rest of the week was pretty mellow. I saw a military wife motivational speaker that was quite good and spent yesterday with Matilda having lunch and shopping. We, along with Mary Beth, then attended an ice cream and coffee social. After which, we also had dinner. After a late night last night, and the craziness of the last few weeks, this weekend, we are content to be home and do nothing, except write this blog to keep you all informed and post pictures so you can see all our newest adventures. Stay tuned for our upcoming adventures and keep your eyes open for more pics!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!
Hi, all!
Since the last episode, I (and/or we) have taken Basic Japanese Language Class (part II), gone to the Southeast Botanical Gardens Christmas Paradise laser and light show, had Christmas linner (lunch/dinner) at our Family Readiness Officer's (yes, the acronym for that is FRO) house, and last, but not least, gone to Australia and back again. Yes, we are some busy bees around here.
The most exciting thing we did was definitely Australia. We departed on the 26th, flew to Taipei, and then boarded a 10 hour flight to Sydney. We arrived in Sydney on the 27th and then boarded another flight to Brisbane, pronounced Brisbun. =D Let's just say Australia wasn't as close as we thought it was! After all that travel, we were met by our local tour guide and that's when we knew we were in trouble. He had no idea what was going on with our group, didn't know which hotel we were staying in, and handed everything off to Jabbar who had volunteered to hold onto vouchers. Jabbar (and me, by the end of it) got more than what we bargained for! We were dropped off at our hotel and our so-called 'tour guide' told us that would be the last we would see of him, but that we would see our driver the next day for our city tour. So there we were, 14 of us in a city we didn't know, checking into our hotel, and figuring out for ourselves what to do for the rest of the day before our city tour the next day. There were grumbles of 'isn't it ironic we're on a tour with no tour guide?!?' amongst the group.
Jabbar and I went out walking and found a cathedral and well, pretty much nothing else. Come to find out the next day that we walked the opposite way of all the activities. Go figure.
The next day, we were to meet with our group of 14 in order to be picked up by our driver for our city tour. The only problem was that at the appointed time, we had no driver, no bus. Since Jabbar was 'in charge,' he had to make phone calls and well, the comedy ensues. The driver, nor the bus company are aware that we were to have a city tour, much less transportation to our activity for the day, the Lone Pine Sanctuary. After some discussion, a driver and bus were on the way. Kyall (we would spell it Kyle) showed up in a t-shirt and jeans with our bus apologetic about his looks and the miscommunication. Since we were late, we would have a short city tour on our way to the Lone Pine Sanctuary and then would have a more detailed city tour afterwards.
The Lone Pine Sanctuary is the only place in the world where non-licenced koala people can hold a koala bear and where they are allowed to roam free. The stink of the place you just thought was the stink of a variety of animals in the sanctuary. Come to find out after holding our koala bears that those guys are pretty stinky! Check out our professional pics at: http://photo.koala.net/2812004257en.htm and http://photo.koala.net/2812004455en.htm. My little guy was clawing into my arm and I think he was trying to poo while I was holding him! Turns out he was, cause as soon as I gave him back to the handler, he did his business...and then Jabbar got to hold him. Ha! And just in case you were worried that those would be the only pics you would see of our time in the sanctuary and Australia...no worries! Snapfish pics to come! We also saw wombats, lizards, dingos (Australian for wild dogs), tasmanian devils, kookaburras, bats, gray and red kangaroos (we also got to feed them!), emus, and wallabies.
After all that excitement, we were picked up by the same driver that had picked us up at the airport the previous day, John, who then took us for our city tour. He had no idea what we were supposed to see on this city tour, so he took us on his own version of it. We saw the Brisbane skyline from up high and from Kangroo Point, after which he dropped us off at our hotel and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Once again, Jabbar and I went out walking. This time, we went the right way and found South Bank (or maybe it was Beach?) with its new ferris wheel that cost $15AUD (Australian dollars) which equaled approximately $10USD to ride. We decided not to spend the money as we had heard that it wasn't that great. We also found the Nepalese Pagoda, a man made beach right next to the river (did I mention that Brisbane is experiencing a drought?), and the Old Botanic Gardens. After all that walking, we finally sat down to dinner at a little place on the river called Venice. Have I mentioned that Australia is expensive? We spent $26AUD (approximately $18USD) on a dessert that had cotton candy on top. Jabbar was quite put out! But what could you do?
The next day, we flew back to Sydney and checked into a hotel that was much closer to the heart of the city compared to Brisbane. After checking in, more walking. We went to Darling Harbour to find dinner. But along the way, we found the worlds biggest IMAX screen and the Maritime Museum before finding dinner at a Japanese place called Kobe Jone's. I know what you are thinking. You live in Japan, you go to Australia, and get Japanese for dinner? We were told it was good! And I have yet to find good sushi here in Okinawa! At the end of the night, Kobe Jone's is nothing to write home about.
The next day, the 30th, we were picked up for a city sights tour that took us to Bondi Beach (the water was cold! I don't know how those Aussies were in that water!), several places overlooking Sydney Harbour, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which also overlooks the Sydney Opera House. We were then dropped off for our lunch cruise which gave us even more opportunity to take more pics of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. After disembarking from the boat, we listened to some aboriginees play their didgeridoos before more walking! This time in the Botanic Gardens, where we found Mrs. Macquarie's chair. You are supposed to be able to photograph the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together from her chair, but one catch, it's facing the wrong way. Nonetheless, it is an interesting chair that is actually a carved rock ledge where Elizabeth Macquarie, the Governor's wife, liked to sit and admire the view of the harbour. After all that walking, we had to walk all the way back to our hotel and then down to the Harbour once again for dinner at the Meat and Wine Company where Jabbar had kangaroo. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad and was much better than my over done fillet.
On New Year's Eve day, we went on a wine tour. We stopped in a little town called Woolombi in order to visit the local tavern for mid-morning coffee, tea, and scones that were more like biscuits. And I must not forget the local specialty, Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice, so named because it can't be called port because it doesn't come from where port comes from. Let's just say we are not fans of port. Our wine tour continued with a stop at Lindeman's which turned out to have the best wines out of all the wineries we visited that day. At the Hunter Valley winery, we learned about how wine was made but only after donning our hard hats. Yes, we had to wear hard hats in the winery. After we became educated in wine making, we sat down to a lunch in which we were supposed to try different wines with different dishes. They say that you should have certain wines with certain foods. I tend to disagree as I know what I like, whether or not it is supposed to go with a certain food or not. And taking a wine tour did not change my palette at all. We visited another winery in which our sommelier, if you could even call him that because he pronounced semillon wrong, was quick to serve our tasting and then usher us quickly out because, well, after all, it was New Year's Eve day and I'm sure he had big plans. We headed back to Hunter Valley winery in order to spend our last hour there. We thought we could visit the gardens, but it turned out you had to pay extra for that so we passed. After a long drive back to Sydney and a short stop to change, we were back out looking for a new year's eve dinner. As we were sure everything on the Harbour was going to be packed, we headed to a Mongolian buffet restaurant just a short distance from the Harbour that was not at all packed. After dinner, we caught the tail end of the 9pm fireworks show at Darling Harbour after which we proceeded to find a good spot for the real fireworks show at Sydney Harbour. We avoided the masses near the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House by going to the other side of Darling Harbour which has a view of the back side of the Harbour Bridge which turned out to be not that bad of a viewing spot. From our vantage point, the fireworks went off in 3 places in addition to the Harbour Bridge and off of several skyscraper buildings. And at the end of it all, we had to fight the masses to get back to our room in order to catch our driver at 10am New Year's day who would take us to the airport for our long journey back home.
Despite being right there and because I was taping the fireworks, I didn't feel like I had actually seen the show so I had to come home and google it. Ah, the marvels of youtube!
On our journey back home, we had to stay overnight in Taipei which was an interesting experience. We thought we would be able to get into Taipei in order to see something before we left, but we arrived when it was dark, and left the next morning at dawn. We were shuttled to a golf and country club about 30 minutes from the airport. Upon arrival, we were hungry but found out that the restaurant was closed. Room service, however, was available, which we ordered, but were not that satisfied with. Our room, well, it had non-potable water. As Jabbar would say, Taiwan did not touch his heart. That was the campaign slogan for Taiwan tourism - Taiwan will touch your heart. The next morning, we were shuttled back to the airport where we encountered another hiccup. Our tour package did not apparently include the Taiwan airport tax which equaled about $9USD per person. As the 'tour leader,' we agreed that we would pay for everybody and that we would fight with the tour company upon our return to Okinawa.
As for the rest of the journey home, which consisted of an hour long flight back to Okinawa, it was uneventful, except for Jabbar getting stuck at immigration into Okinawa and being the last to get out of immigration. After all the drama, we were happy to arrive home and well, being an event planner myself, I now have visions of approaching the tour company and offering my services as their new 'tour planner.' Though Jabbar volunteered, he/we had no idea what we were getting into and therefore, our services are no longer complimentary. I now have wild ideas of being a tour planner, of being a tour planning consultant, of opening my own tour franchise, or perhaps my own tour company. Only, I have encountered on very big road block. Tour franchise companies want a pretty penny for their name and we don't exactly have the resources for me to go it on my own.
Which is where you find me now. Knowing full well that there is a market here and, as of yet, not being able to tap into the opportunity. So if you know of any ideas, I would be interested to hear them! Oh, and did I mention that at the end of the tour, the other tour participants sent around an envelope amongst themselves to give to us? Yes, we weren't even technically working and we got tipped! Which further reinforces my idea that my services as a tour planner are much needed on this island!
Since the last episode, I (and/or we) have taken Basic Japanese Language Class (part II), gone to the Southeast Botanical Gardens Christmas Paradise laser and light show, had Christmas linner (lunch/dinner) at our Family Readiness Officer's (yes, the acronym for that is FRO) house, and last, but not least, gone to Australia and back again. Yes, we are some busy bees around here.
The most exciting thing we did was definitely Australia. We departed on the 26th, flew to Taipei, and then boarded a 10 hour flight to Sydney. We arrived in Sydney on the 27th and then boarded another flight to Brisbane, pronounced Brisbun. =D Let's just say Australia wasn't as close as we thought it was! After all that travel, we were met by our local tour guide and that's when we knew we were in trouble. He had no idea what was going on with our group, didn't know which hotel we were staying in, and handed everything off to Jabbar who had volunteered to hold onto vouchers. Jabbar (and me, by the end of it) got more than what we bargained for! We were dropped off at our hotel and our so-called 'tour guide' told us that would be the last we would see of him, but that we would see our driver the next day for our city tour. So there we were, 14 of us in a city we didn't know, checking into our hotel, and figuring out for ourselves what to do for the rest of the day before our city tour the next day. There were grumbles of 'isn't it ironic we're on a tour with no tour guide?!?' amongst the group.
Jabbar and I went out walking and found a cathedral and well, pretty much nothing else. Come to find out the next day that we walked the opposite way of all the activities. Go figure.
The next day, we were to meet with our group of 14 in order to be picked up by our driver for our city tour. The only problem was that at the appointed time, we had no driver, no bus. Since Jabbar was 'in charge,' he had to make phone calls and well, the comedy ensues. The driver, nor the bus company are aware that we were to have a city tour, much less transportation to our activity for the day, the Lone Pine Sanctuary. After some discussion, a driver and bus were on the way. Kyall (we would spell it Kyle) showed up in a t-shirt and jeans with our bus apologetic about his looks and the miscommunication. Since we were late, we would have a short city tour on our way to the Lone Pine Sanctuary and then would have a more detailed city tour afterwards.
The Lone Pine Sanctuary is the only place in the world where non-licenced koala people can hold a koala bear and where they are allowed to roam free. The stink of the place you just thought was the stink of a variety of animals in the sanctuary. Come to find out after holding our koala bears that those guys are pretty stinky! Check out our professional pics at: http://photo.koala.net/2812004257en.htm and http://photo.koala.net/2812004455en.htm. My little guy was clawing into my arm and I think he was trying to poo while I was holding him! Turns out he was, cause as soon as I gave him back to the handler, he did his business...and then Jabbar got to hold him. Ha! And just in case you were worried that those would be the only pics you would see of our time in the sanctuary and Australia...no worries! Snapfish pics to come! We also saw wombats, lizards, dingos (Australian for wild dogs), tasmanian devils, kookaburras, bats, gray and red kangaroos (we also got to feed them!), emus, and wallabies.
After all that excitement, we were picked up by the same driver that had picked us up at the airport the previous day, John, who then took us for our city tour. He had no idea what we were supposed to see on this city tour, so he took us on his own version of it. We saw the Brisbane skyline from up high and from Kangroo Point, after which he dropped us off at our hotel and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Once again, Jabbar and I went out walking. This time, we went the right way and found South Bank (or maybe it was Beach?) with its new ferris wheel that cost $15AUD (Australian dollars) which equaled approximately $10USD to ride. We decided not to spend the money as we had heard that it wasn't that great. We also found the Nepalese Pagoda, a man made beach right next to the river (did I mention that Brisbane is experiencing a drought?), and the Old Botanic Gardens. After all that walking, we finally sat down to dinner at a little place on the river called Venice. Have I mentioned that Australia is expensive? We spent $26AUD (approximately $18USD) on a dessert that had cotton candy on top. Jabbar was quite put out! But what could you do?
The next day, we flew back to Sydney and checked into a hotel that was much closer to the heart of the city compared to Brisbane. After checking in, more walking. We went to Darling Harbour to find dinner. But along the way, we found the worlds biggest IMAX screen and the Maritime Museum before finding dinner at a Japanese place called Kobe Jone's. I know what you are thinking. You live in Japan, you go to Australia, and get Japanese for dinner? We were told it was good! And I have yet to find good sushi here in Okinawa! At the end of the night, Kobe Jone's is nothing to write home about.
The next day, the 30th, we were picked up for a city sights tour that took us to Bondi Beach (the water was cold! I don't know how those Aussies were in that water!), several places overlooking Sydney Harbour, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which also overlooks the Sydney Opera House. We were then dropped off for our lunch cruise which gave us even more opportunity to take more pics of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. After disembarking from the boat, we listened to some aboriginees play their didgeridoos before more walking! This time in the Botanic Gardens, where we found Mrs. Macquarie's chair. You are supposed to be able to photograph the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together from her chair, but one catch, it's facing the wrong way. Nonetheless, it is an interesting chair that is actually a carved rock ledge where Elizabeth Macquarie, the Governor's wife, liked to sit and admire the view of the harbour. After all that walking, we had to walk all the way back to our hotel and then down to the Harbour once again for dinner at the Meat and Wine Company where Jabbar had kangaroo. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad and was much better than my over done fillet.
On New Year's Eve day, we went on a wine tour. We stopped in a little town called Woolombi in order to visit the local tavern for mid-morning coffee, tea, and scones that were more like biscuits. And I must not forget the local specialty, Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice, so named because it can't be called port because it doesn't come from where port comes from. Let's just say we are not fans of port. Our wine tour continued with a stop at Lindeman's which turned out to have the best wines out of all the wineries we visited that day. At the Hunter Valley winery, we learned about how wine was made but only after donning our hard hats. Yes, we had to wear hard hats in the winery. After we became educated in wine making, we sat down to a lunch in which we were supposed to try different wines with different dishes. They say that you should have certain wines with certain foods. I tend to disagree as I know what I like, whether or not it is supposed to go with a certain food or not. And taking a wine tour did not change my palette at all. We visited another winery in which our sommelier, if you could even call him that because he pronounced semillon wrong, was quick to serve our tasting and then usher us quickly out because, well, after all, it was New Year's Eve day and I'm sure he had big plans. We headed back to Hunter Valley winery in order to spend our last hour there. We thought we could visit the gardens, but it turned out you had to pay extra for that so we passed. After a long drive back to Sydney and a short stop to change, we were back out looking for a new year's eve dinner. As we were sure everything on the Harbour was going to be packed, we headed to a Mongolian buffet restaurant just a short distance from the Harbour that was not at all packed. After dinner, we caught the tail end of the 9pm fireworks show at Darling Harbour after which we proceeded to find a good spot for the real fireworks show at Sydney Harbour. We avoided the masses near the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House by going to the other side of Darling Harbour which has a view of the back side of the Harbour Bridge which turned out to be not that bad of a viewing spot. From our vantage point, the fireworks went off in 3 places in addition to the Harbour Bridge and off of several skyscraper buildings. And at the end of it all, we had to fight the masses to get back to our room in order to catch our driver at 10am New Year's day who would take us to the airport for our long journey back home.
Despite being right there and because I was taping the fireworks, I didn't feel like I had actually seen the show so I had to come home and google it. Ah, the marvels of youtube!
On our journey back home, we had to stay overnight in Taipei which was an interesting experience. We thought we would be able to get into Taipei in order to see something before we left, but we arrived when it was dark, and left the next morning at dawn. We were shuttled to a golf and country club about 30 minutes from the airport. Upon arrival, we were hungry but found out that the restaurant was closed. Room service, however, was available, which we ordered, but were not that satisfied with. Our room, well, it had non-potable water. As Jabbar would say, Taiwan did not touch his heart. That was the campaign slogan for Taiwan tourism - Taiwan will touch your heart. The next morning, we were shuttled back to the airport where we encountered another hiccup. Our tour package did not apparently include the Taiwan airport tax which equaled about $9USD per person. As the 'tour leader,' we agreed that we would pay for everybody and that we would fight with the tour company upon our return to Okinawa.
As for the rest of the journey home, which consisted of an hour long flight back to Okinawa, it was uneventful, except for Jabbar getting stuck at immigration into Okinawa and being the last to get out of immigration. After all the drama, we were happy to arrive home and well, being an event planner myself, I now have visions of approaching the tour company and offering my services as their new 'tour planner.' Though Jabbar volunteered, he/we had no idea what we were getting into and therefore, our services are no longer complimentary. I now have wild ideas of being a tour planner, of being a tour planning consultant, of opening my own tour franchise, or perhaps my own tour company. Only, I have encountered on very big road block. Tour franchise companies want a pretty penny for their name and we don't exactly have the resources for me to go it on my own.
Which is where you find me now. Knowing full well that there is a market here and, as of yet, not being able to tap into the opportunity. So if you know of any ideas, I would be interested to hear them! Oh, and did I mention that at the end of the tour, the other tour participants sent around an envelope amongst themselves to give to us? Yes, we weren't even technically working and we got tipped! Which further reinforces my idea that my services as a tour planner are much needed on this island!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
When the Marines are away...
the wives will play! Yes, I know it has been a while since I updated this blog. Blame national security - I couldn't tell you what Jabbar had been up to until he got home.
As you may or may not know, Jabbar went up to the northern most island of Japan, Hokkaido, for a training exercise last month, leaving me home, alone, in a 3 story house for 3 weeks and 2 days. But, no worries! I found many a way to keep myself busy. To include attending a basic Japanese language class. It was much more helpful than the survival Japanese class I attended so, I guess I learned a thing or two and yes, I am proud to say, I have used a little bit more Japanese since the class. When I wasn't in Japanese class, I also became a member of the Southeast Botanical Gardens. So, in case you were wondering what happened to my promises of more pictures, don't worry! They are on the way!
I celebrated an early Thanksgiving with the single Marines that were left behind when the other Marines went up north, got a new pedi with snowflakes (probably about the only snowflakes I will see here on island considering it is December and still 70 degrees!), celebrated the real Thanksgiving with new friends, made plans for spending new year's in Sydney, found out that I passed my CMP (certified meeting planner) exam, visited a tourist spot called Ryukyu Mura (where I came face to face with a Habu snake! Yikes!), attended a "Spouses Roundtable" (which I will never again attend), and volunteered (or volun-told, depending on how you look at it) to help with what is called "mandatory fun" (otherwise known as Jabbar's regiment's holiday party).
Whew! Yes, while my Marine was away, this wife was definintely out playing around! And after all that, Jabbar finally came home. We attended one of his lieutenant's birthday parties that was also simultaneously a going away party for another lieutenant (Service Alpha's Schmidt, if you have been keeping up with this blog).
A new phenonmenon in this new marine wife life that I am leading is the increase in volunteering that I am doing. The interesting new term that I have learned is that more than a few times, I have been volun-told to do something. For example, I am finding myself more and more involved with Jabbar's unit. From stuffing goodie bags for kids for the holiday party, I also found myself baking over 150 cookies and decorating for it. Today was the big holiday party and yes, it is exactly as it sounds - mandatory...fun?
Jabbar is back and back to work as usual. However, to find out more about what he was up to the last few weeks, check out these links:
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081205-weapons.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-yausu.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-comrel.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-invite.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081205-med.html
As for me, I continue with my second stage of Japanese classes tomorrow. We are also attending an Australia tour briefing this week in preparation for our travels the day after Christmas. We are quite excited to spend new year's in the first place in the world (that is televised) to ring it in and never fret! Many pics to come!
Happy holidays!
As you may or may not know, Jabbar went up to the northern most island of Japan, Hokkaido, for a training exercise last month, leaving me home, alone, in a 3 story house for 3 weeks and 2 days. But, no worries! I found many a way to keep myself busy. To include attending a basic Japanese language class. It was much more helpful than the survival Japanese class I attended so, I guess I learned a thing or two and yes, I am proud to say, I have used a little bit more Japanese since the class. When I wasn't in Japanese class, I also became a member of the Southeast Botanical Gardens. So, in case you were wondering what happened to my promises of more pictures, don't worry! They are on the way!
I celebrated an early Thanksgiving with the single Marines that were left behind when the other Marines went up north, got a new pedi with snowflakes (probably about the only snowflakes I will see here on island considering it is December and still 70 degrees!), celebrated the real Thanksgiving with new friends, made plans for spending new year's in Sydney, found out that I passed my CMP (certified meeting planner) exam, visited a tourist spot called Ryukyu Mura (where I came face to face with a Habu snake! Yikes!), attended a "Spouses Roundtable" (which I will never again attend), and volunteered (or volun-told, depending on how you look at it) to help with what is called "mandatory fun" (otherwise known as Jabbar's regiment's holiday party).
Whew! Yes, while my Marine was away, this wife was definintely out playing around! And after all that, Jabbar finally came home. We attended one of his lieutenant's birthday parties that was also simultaneously a going away party for another lieutenant (Service Alpha's Schmidt, if you have been keeping up with this blog).
A new phenonmenon in this new marine wife life that I am leading is the increase in volunteering that I am doing. The interesting new term that I have learned is that more than a few times, I have been volun-told to do something. For example, I am finding myself more and more involved with Jabbar's unit. From stuffing goodie bags for kids for the holiday party, I also found myself baking over 150 cookies and decorating for it. Today was the big holiday party and yes, it is exactly as it sounds - mandatory...fun?
Jabbar is back and back to work as usual. However, to find out more about what he was up to the last few weeks, check out these links:
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081205-weapons.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-yausu.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-comrel.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081212-invite.html
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2008/081205-med.html
As for me, I continue with my second stage of Japanese classes tomorrow. We are also attending an Australia tour briefing this week in preparation for our travels the day after Christmas. We are quite excited to spend new year's in the first place in the world (that is televised) to ring it in and never fret! Many pics to come!
Happy holidays!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thank goodness we are done with balls for the year!
I cannot tell you how happy I am that there are no more balls to attend this year! Let's just say that they are formal events for which I was not prepared to go to 2 a year. That's 2 dresses in 1 week that I had to wear because you know a girl cannot show up in the same dress!
Anyways, our division ball was this past Wednesday night and though obligatory, was slightly more fun than the regiment ball we attended last Friday night. After much pomp and circumstance to include sounding attention, order arms, playing the National Anthem, presentation of the birthday cake (because the whole reason we are at the ball is because it is the Marine Corps birthday), the reading of LeJeune's birthday message, and 2 other speeches, the guys were finally able to carry swords out of the ceremony. Talk about a lot of pomp and circumstance! If you're familiar with the ball, you will recall that there is a certain uniform that the guys wear, called Dress Blues, the most formal of all Marine Corps uniforms. All the guys are supposed to know that the official uniform for the ball are your Blues. One 2nd Lt unfortunately did not get that memo. And in Snapfish pics to come, you will see the lone guy in Service Alphas (the ugly green on the left when all the guys in the unit are posing for a pic). This 2nd Lt is now known as Service Alphas, which is not a nickname that anyone should want.
After dinner was served, the dance floor picked up starting off with the Electric Slide and then moving on to more contemporary urban classics from artists such as Soulja Boy and Flo-Rida. This was a dancing division! Lots of junior enlisted guys and girls were out on the dance floor doing the Superman, among other dances. A sight to see for sure! Unfortunately, our night had to end early as Jabbar had to actually go to work the next morning. Such a good captain setting an example that was not followed when Jabbar went to work the next day to find out that all the Communication (COMM) guys had overslept and were late for their exercise the next morning. As the Commanding Officer (CO), Jabbar was not too happy with his guys as I'm sure you could imagine.
The next day, while Jabbar was upset with the COMM guys, I went to go pick up Jabbar's car that had been at the shop getting a makeover due to an incident with a guard rail. If I hadn't told you anything had happened to it, you might not be able to tell from the pics.
The day after that was Friday and there we were, at another ball. This time for the regiment. Funny thing...Jabbar paid $150 for both of us to go to both balls only to find out that he had paid for the same memento at both balls. So there we all were...the same people at yet another ball 2 days after the first one, commenting that this seemed like deja vu. The only difference was the wives in different dresses. More pomp and circumstance to include, in the same order, as what I mentioned for the first ball. Only the regiment ball wasn't nearly as 'fun' as the division ball without the junior enlisted out on the dance floor.
Which brings us to this weekend and yesterday, Saturday, and Jabbar's herculean efforts to get our queen box spring up 3 stories on the outside of the house up to the master bedroom. After a stop at the local Home Depot store, which is called Make Man out here, and purchasing 50 meters of rope (way more than he needed), there he was, harnessing the box spring for its 3 story flight up to the roof. All I did was help push the box spring from the 1st floor away from the side of the house so that it wouldn't encounter much in its way. After that I went back up to the 3rd floor only to find that Jabbar had hauled the box spring up 3 stories and over the rooftop fence onto the rooftop terrace. All that Marine training came in handy! What with knowing how to harness a box spring (of all things!), making secure knots, and all that physical training in order to haul the thing up 3 stories! And after all that, he still had to haul the old mattress and box spring down to the 2nd floor for storage. Needless to say, after all that exerted strength, he was pretty much done for the day. Ha!
So now it's Sunday and I was hoping to be able to play today - snorkeling in November to be exact. But Mother Nature had different ideas with her downpour since last night through this morning. Although the rain has stopped for now, it is still a cloudy day which means no snorkeling for us. Instead, I think the day holds sugar cookies in my near future along with possibly another visit to Make Man in order to get my rooftop terrace herb garden started (now that there is no threat of needing to pull up any more box springs onto the terrace! Ha!).
Anyways, our division ball was this past Wednesday night and though obligatory, was slightly more fun than the regiment ball we attended last Friday night. After much pomp and circumstance to include sounding attention, order arms, playing the National Anthem, presentation of the birthday cake (because the whole reason we are at the ball is because it is the Marine Corps birthday), the reading of LeJeune's birthday message, and 2 other speeches, the guys were finally able to carry swords out of the ceremony. Talk about a lot of pomp and circumstance! If you're familiar with the ball, you will recall that there is a certain uniform that the guys wear, called Dress Blues, the most formal of all Marine Corps uniforms. All the guys are supposed to know that the official uniform for the ball are your Blues. One 2nd Lt unfortunately did not get that memo. And in Snapfish pics to come, you will see the lone guy in Service Alphas (the ugly green on the left when all the guys in the unit are posing for a pic). This 2nd Lt is now known as Service Alphas, which is not a nickname that anyone should want.
After dinner was served, the dance floor picked up starting off with the Electric Slide and then moving on to more contemporary urban classics from artists such as Soulja Boy and Flo-Rida. This was a dancing division! Lots of junior enlisted guys and girls were out on the dance floor doing the Superman, among other dances. A sight to see for sure! Unfortunately, our night had to end early as Jabbar had to actually go to work the next morning. Such a good captain setting an example that was not followed when Jabbar went to work the next day to find out that all the Communication (COMM) guys had overslept and were late for their exercise the next morning. As the Commanding Officer (CO), Jabbar was not too happy with his guys as I'm sure you could imagine.
The next day, while Jabbar was upset with the COMM guys, I went to go pick up Jabbar's car that had been at the shop getting a makeover due to an incident with a guard rail. If I hadn't told you anything had happened to it, you might not be able to tell from the pics.
The day after that was Friday and there we were, at another ball. This time for the regiment. Funny thing...Jabbar paid $150 for both of us to go to both balls only to find out that he had paid for the same memento at both balls. So there we all were...the same people at yet another ball 2 days after the first one, commenting that this seemed like deja vu. The only difference was the wives in different dresses. More pomp and circumstance to include, in the same order, as what I mentioned for the first ball. Only the regiment ball wasn't nearly as 'fun' as the division ball without the junior enlisted out on the dance floor.
Which brings us to this weekend and yesterday, Saturday, and Jabbar's herculean efforts to get our queen box spring up 3 stories on the outside of the house up to the master bedroom. After a stop at the local Home Depot store, which is called Make Man out here, and purchasing 50 meters of rope (way more than he needed), there he was, harnessing the box spring for its 3 story flight up to the roof. All I did was help push the box spring from the 1st floor away from the side of the house so that it wouldn't encounter much in its way. After that I went back up to the 3rd floor only to find that Jabbar had hauled the box spring up 3 stories and over the rooftop fence onto the rooftop terrace. All that Marine training came in handy! What with knowing how to harness a box spring (of all things!), making secure knots, and all that physical training in order to haul the thing up 3 stories! And after all that, he still had to haul the old mattress and box spring down to the 2nd floor for storage. Needless to say, after all that exerted strength, he was pretty much done for the day. Ha!
So now it's Sunday and I was hoping to be able to play today - snorkeling in November to be exact. But Mother Nature had different ideas with her downpour since last night through this morning. Although the rain has stopped for now, it is still a cloudy day which means no snorkeling for us. Instead, I think the day holds sugar cookies in my near future along with possibly another visit to Make Man in order to get my rooftop terrace herb garden started (now that there is no threat of needing to pull up any more box springs onto the terrace! Ha!).
Friday, November 7, 2008
Getting ready to go to the Ball...again...
Hi, everybody!
You might be wondering if we made it to the Yomitan Village Festival last Sunday. No, we didn't. Because it was at the Yomitan Village Field, which was nowhere to be found on the map!
This week has been the week of Marine Corps Balls to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday which is November 10. This week has been very interesting as we don't know where the time went! We knew we had not only one ball to go to this week, but two. However, we had forgotten our dresses and uniforms had been in transit for the last 3 months and needed pressing. Which led to a very interesting Tuesday for me trying to get dresses and uniforms pressed. I was lucky but Jabbar's uniform could have used more work. But, as he says, it was good enough for government work. Ha! Anyways, we went to our division ball Wednesday night and are getting ready to go to our regiment ball tonight after I get done writing this for you all. Fun obligatory times! Pics to come on Snapfish.
You might be wondering if we made it to the Yomitan Village Festival last Sunday. No, we didn't. Because it was at the Yomitan Village Field, which was nowhere to be found on the map!
This week has been the week of Marine Corps Balls to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday which is November 10. This week has been very interesting as we don't know where the time went! We knew we had not only one ball to go to this week, but two. However, we had forgotten our dresses and uniforms had been in transit for the last 3 months and needed pressing. Which led to a very interesting Tuesday for me trying to get dresses and uniforms pressed. I was lucky but Jabbar's uniform could have used more work. But, as he says, it was good enough for government work. Ha! Anyways, we went to our division ball Wednesday night and are getting ready to go to our regiment ball tonight after I get done writing this for you all. Fun obligatory times! Pics to come on Snapfish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
