An Okinawan Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We have plenty to be thankful for this year.  Our health, our friends and families, two precious babies on the way, and the opportunity we have been blessed with.

I cannot even believe we have been in Okinawa for a month already!  It has flown by, which I hope is not indicative of our whole tour here.  Needless to say, we are enjoying everything and I don't want it to be over too quickly.  What a wonderful, eye-opening experience it has been thus far.  Just tonight, I took Rosie out to potty and there were over a dozen fruit bats swirling overhead.  Normally I would have freaked out and worried that Rosie was about to be dinner - because they're as big as she is - but I read up and know that, as their name attests, they pretty much eat fruit.  They aren't aggressive.  Except maybe toward one another because I hear some pretty pissed-off sounding screeches sometimes.  Usually it's when one tries to land in a tree, because apparently they aren't good at landing and just "crash" into the tree, disturbing the others.  I think it's one of those moments when God got a little distracted.  Really, would he intend to make an animal  that could fly but not land?  Sort of like when he got distracted and forgot to give me a good singing voice...

Just in time for our one-month anniversary of living here, today was Thanksgiving.  So we celebrated, of course, with turkey and all the trimmings.  I cooked the meal and my trophy-husband cleaned the whole kitchen while I napped after stuffing myself so full that the babies couldn't even move.  Here's me having some turkey on our back patio:

Yep, I'm in a tank top and shorts :)  And those are chopsticks.  Don't be silly, of course it was just for the picture.  How could I eat sweet potato casserole wth chopsticks!?  Maybe that's why Japanese are thin...Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we spent nearly all of it outside, watching Adam jump in his bouncer (Thanks, Griffins!!).

On another note:  Last weekend we took a short drive up to Cape Zanpa to check out the lighthouse and beach.  The cape is amazing, with breathtaking views, but dangerous-looking rocky cliffs and crashing waves.  In case you aren't smart enough to take your cues from the thunderous waves, they warn you:

 

You can climb the umpteen-hundred stairs to the top of the lighthouse for 200 yen, but we opted not to on this visit.  I'm sure it's an amazing opportunity for non-pregnant-with-twins women and not-three-years-old boys.  Here are a couple of Adam & Rex (the dinosaur from Toy Story) in front of the lighthouse and then all of us:

On the way to the parking lot, we saw this sign:

Adam thought it was obviously a sign for a car wash.  Alan figured it was probably a sign warning us of robbers and not to leave valuables in the car.  He's probably right, but then why does the car have water droplets coming off of it?  Well, he says the car is "sweating" because it knows the robber is nearby.  If that's really what it means, then these are some funny people.  We really need to learn kanji.

We also took a picnic lunch and found a nice little beach to enjoy it on: 

Seriously, it was our own private beach.  I mean, there was the random snorkeler, but really nobody was there.  Some locals would come, fully-clothed in fall/winter garb (even though it was 80 degrees) and wander for a few minutes, then leave.  We aren't sure why, but they could have been frightened:

*26 weeks*

Whether we offended the locals or not, we collected shells and stuck our toes in the East China Sea and had a great day.  This is our happy little boy at the sight of yet another piece of brown sea glass or regular-looking rock: 

Memories were made, no doubt.  But I would like to leave you with one that I will likely never forget.  As we were leaving, I had to pee (of course) so I stopped at the bathrooms.  Here's what I had to use:

 

With an extra 30 pounds, mostly right on my belly, the goal is to squat and pee into this.  Imagine that, would ya'?

A Bunch of M&Ms

This one really isn't about Okinawa, but I thought it would be fun.  Yesterday I jotted down some of the random thoughts I had throughout the day.  Originally I thought I should explain some of them, but finally decided not to.  I think it's better left to your imagination.  Here is a collection of my thoughts on a normal Friday:

“158. 31 pounds in 26 weeks.  You kids better respect that!”

“Thank you, Adam, for making vacuuming just a little bit tougher.”

“(Gasp) I think my water just almost broke!...Nope. Thank you, God.”

“Hire a maid. Hire a maid. Hire a maid…”

“Wow. And it’s not even backwards.”

“Seriously, Rosie, how much can a 10 lb. dog poop? I wonder if Adam could handle searching the yard and picking it up.”

“Is it English that’s coming out of my mouth?”

“Yep. I’m huge. Stop staring.”

“What on earth could you be looking at in the middle of the aisle? Pick. A. Side.”

“No, actually, I’m not ‘about ready to pop.’ But thanks for pointing out for the tenth time today how big I must look. Note to self: Don’t ever say that to a pregnant woman again.”

“$35? That’s like half price! Sweet!”

“Oh my God, please don’t let that tip over and break!”

"Thank you, God."

“God, grant me a little more patience, please. As soon as possible would be great. I know you’re busy.”

“Oops. Wrong side. Veer left.”

"I wish I knew what that sign said."

“This looks like it will probably turn into a true Dayton project”

“Yes…and that would be my better idea”

“Can’t. Get. Up.”

"Huh.  That turned out not to be so bad.  Maybe our luck is changing."

“Anybody else wanna come in here?”

“It would be fabulous not to cook dinner”

"Thank you, God."

“Priceless. This is why we decided to have more. Try to remember this.”

"There’s that noise again. What is it?”

“A bowl of cereal would be good. Or a bunch of M&Ms.”

"Really?  Right now?"

"Seriously. What is it??”

Tourists in Our New Town

How long do we have before we aren't considered tourists anymore?  I hope we can be considered "permanent tourists," since we do reside here, but really only temporarily.  I'm going to go ahead and take the liberty to classify us as that.  I hope that means I can always take pictures of restaurant menus and funny Japanese people without feeling a little bit corny.  That being said, here are a few places we've gotten to explore in our new country.

Adam happens to be a connoisseur of aquariums so last weekend we took him to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.  This aquarium boasts several firsts:  The world's first to successfully birth a manta pup in captivity, the first in the world to house several whale sharks in one tank - maintaining the world record for the longest times kept in captivity, the world's only to hold schooling manta rays (the largest of all the rays) in captivity...the list goes on and on.  Until Atlanta opened, it was the world's largest.  The bottom line is this place is AMAZING.  If it didn't look like this,:

it might still be just as amazing...but probably not.  Honestly, this helps a lot.  Here are some highlights of the tour:

This is us near the entrance of the aquarium.  Really, I needed a break because the walk from the parking garage was a little long, so it was a good excuse to stop and take a picture.

 

At the first exhibit, Adam got to pet a starfish...

...then strangle a sea cucumber. That's Alan reaching to release the death-grip

This is a Japanese Spear Lobster.  The educational sign next to it (loosely translated into English) says it doesn't have any claws...as if that should make us feel better about a chance encounter.  Seriously - bigger than Adam.

Next came the Whale Shark exhibit.  I like this picture because it shows the whale in relation to the people standing by the glass.  There is really no relaying how big these things are.  But, if it helps to imagine it, here is also a shot of Alan and Adam standing in an open jaw:

Next, we ventured outside the main building, where the sea turtle pool, dolphin pool & theater, and manatee pool were.  Here are some sea turtle shots...of "Crush," of course:

Finally, we were just in time to catch the dolphin show at the theater, which included a "False Killer Whale."  Here's what we saw when we paid attention to the (completely Japanese-narrated) show:

Don't get me wrong - the show was really cool, like one at Sea World.  But here's what we saw if we turned our head to the left, which was way cooler:

Here is the obligatory belly shot of me outside the manatee pool, at 24 weeks:

A Few Other Firsts & Some Random Funnies

McDonalds:

American Village (think Chinatown, but for us):  There's a big ferris wheel that we haven't been on yet, but Adam insists he wants to, and a place called "Yogurtland" that's like Maggie Moos, but with frozen yogurt.

Seriously, why do they have this?

We Americans would call this "Cat Karaoke"...not sure what it really is called, but I'm pretty sure it's karaoke and it might also be a restaurant.  We also have "The Monkey Man Store" and "the Bunny Store" only because those animals are on the sign.

To end, I give you a picture of my first meal at Mike's Tex-Mex here on Okinawa.  It's no Alamo Cafe or el Jarro de Arturo, but it was a "happy ending" for me:

The Best-Laid Plans...

When Alan came to Kadena (which, for you non-military folks, is the Air Force base we are actually stationed at on the island of Okinawa) in August, we agreed it would be a great idea to go ahead and start looking for a car to buy.  For one, he could get his license and we could hit the ground running when we arrived, saving someone the trouble of either shuttling us around or lending us a car.  Also, he was going to be here for six weeks, so having a car would be nice.  Well, not long into the trip he found a car that was in great condition, especially compared to most of the cars you see other military people in.  We agreed it would be nice to have something smaller on this island, but still fit two carseats.  You probably see where this is going.  So here's the car we bought in August:

I was so excited!  After imagining the beater we would probably own, this was a Lexus.  It's actually called a Honda Legend - leather interior, heated seats, new tires and breaks...good stuff.

Here's where the story turns into a typical "Dayton family curse" example.   A couple of weeks after making that decision, we received some big news:  We're having twins!  Just in case you're all, "Wow, is she saying twins is a curse?"  No, I'm not.  I'm saying we put so much thought into this decision to buy a car, certain it was a good decision, only to find out it was actually a bad one.  Alan was still in Okinawa, driving this car around, when we got this news so it didn't take him long to come to the realization that three carseats were not going to fit in this car.  Japan law says you must own a car for 120 days before selling it, so we kept the car and parked it at a friend's house while Alan came home.  We would be returning in a month and we could make a decision then.

When we arrived we immediately began looking for the new family car.  There aren't many options here that fit three carseats.  Most of the cars on this island are tiny.  So we're left with a full-size van - which I was against because it's too big for the streets and also it's a full-size van, those smaller Japanese vans that could roll over at any moment and look like you chopped off the front end, or a station wagon (which is what they call a minivan here).  So, here's what I got:

It's a Nissan Bassara.  It holds three carseats and is exactly what we needed.  Plus, it has Japanese t.v.  They say it's a "station wagon," but they aren't fooling me.  I don't even want to talk about it. 

To Infinity...

Okay, so I didn't take any pictures of actual trick-or-treating because it rained here all night on Halloween and I wasn't willing to risk the camera getting ruined.  Besides, the line of kids at every door was seriously so long that the pictures wouldn't have been great anyway.  It turns out the Japanese families on Okinawa caught wind several decades ago of this strange holiday we celebrate and decided it was right up their alley.  So, military families sponsor local families and bring them on-base to dress up and trick-or-treat.  There are literally hundreds of Japanese kids that come on base and join the already hundreds of military kids.  So, with fruit bats the size of cats flying overhead and rain falling on us all night, we joined the masses.

Buzz Lightyear and his pal Woody

Buzz checking out the goods

Buzz and Mom

Happy Halloween!

On a sidenote:  I forgot to mention in the previous blog something major that happened.  The day we packed up and moved over to the house from our lodging, Adam's lovey (Doo Doo) went missing.  In case you don't have kids or you're lucky enough to have kids who don't have a lovey, this is a BIG DEAL.  It generally means lots of fits and genuine crying out of concern and very little sleep.  I mean, after all, imagine if your best friend went missing.  So, we retraced steps and even had a friend turn their house upside down looking for this teddy bear.  No luck.  So Doo Doo was missing since Thursday and on Saturday (Halloween), I opened a suitcase that we hadn't opened since leaving the hotel and, lo and behold, there sat Doo Doo, right on top of everything.  What a glorious surprise that was to Adam!  Plus, I got to be a hero and that's kinda fun too :-)

A Real Fine Place to Start

There are so many aspects of our life that I could write about right now, but I figured this would be a good place to start.  I think it will help you imagine us here, in almost paradise, while you read about our trials and triumphs and everything in between. 

The "move that never ends" has finally ended!  We have arrived in Okinawa!  We left Omaha on the 21st to head to Honolulu to visit a friend for a couple of days.  That meant an almost 9-hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu.  I should mention that we brought our dog, Rosie, who had never flown before.  I was literally in tears at the Omaha airport, when we checked her at the counter, and again on the plane, when they brought us the little slip saying she was on-board.  Anyway, we got to Honolulu and I couldn't wait to see her and know she was okay...except that I had to wait...hours.  While waiting at the kennel, I heard her unmistakable little bark.  She was a champ.  We spent 3 nights in Hawaii visiting and, of course, hitting the beach:

We left on the 24th for Okinawa, with a layover in Osaka.  Another 9 hour flight, plus a time change got us there Sunday evening.  This one was a different story for Rosie and I was met in baggage claim by an agent telling me to "come get her, something might be wrong."  What gave you that idea?  The foul smell or the brown shit running out of the crate?  Thankfully, she was fine, but had crapped all over the place.  Unfortunately, Osaka was not the end of the road for us, so Alan (who deserves a trophy for this) cleaned out the crate while I dealt with the Animal Quarantine paperwork.  We cleared customs and made our Okinawa flight with 20 mins. to spare.  Here's Adam having his first Japanese snack - we all know how much he loves his snacks :)

Needless to say, we were beat.  So we claimed our dog and 9 bags and met our sponsors for a lift to lodging.  Monday we bought some groceries and just rested.  Alan had bought a car and gotten his license when he was here TDY in August, so we were ready to go.  Tuesday we had a housing appointment, where they assigned us our house.  There was no back-up option or turn-down option, so we accepted (obviously).  When we picked Adam up from the friend he was staying with, he said he had a headache...he had a 100.5 fever.  Great.  Gave him Motrin and it went down.  Six hours later, the Motrin wore off.  102.  Crap.  More Motrin.  He's asking for a snack and running around so he must feel good.  Let's go look at some furniture.  "Yeah, this bed is ni...Adam, what's wrong?"  Vomit.  More good news.  We haven't even in-processed yet - can we even go to the clinic?  We go back to our room and he says he feels better after some dinner so we go to bed.  Thursday, Alan and I are supposed to be in a brief (gotta love the military) all day so a friend is supposed to watch Adam again.  Except that this morning his fever is 103.  We call and get approved to bring him in to the clinic, which means we'll be late for the brief.  We take him in and they rule out flu but decide it's a virus so continue Motrin and give it 3 days.  Alan and I drop him off at the friend's house (who agrees to keep him even though he's sick = Saint) and head to the brief.  Thankfully, they bend the rules and let us in late.  At the end of the day, I have my Japanese drivers license and we've learned all the ways we can be killed on Okinawa while enjoying the island.  Seriously.  "We encourage you to scuba dive...but you'll probably get hurt or die doing it."  "We encourage you to drive and explore the island...but you'll probably get hurt or die doing it."  "Surfing is great...but..."  How can a place that looks this great be so dangerous?  Here are some scenery shots:

That night I broke in my drivers license and was the DD for Alan.  Let me tell you, it's tough!  Every time I went for the blinker, I turned on the windshield wipers.  EVERYTHING is on the opposite side from where you are used to it being.  But, I'm happy to say that today I drove perfectly.  It didn't take long to get adjusted.   

Thursday morning we moved in to our house, and are feeling like we have a home again.  Here it is from the front:

It's base housing.  It looks exactly like half the other houses in the neighborhood.  It has a great yard, which is nice...except for mowing.  But that's only going to suck for the local national we hire to mow, edge and trim shrubs.  Not for me.  The amazingly efficient movers showed up at about 9:30 on Thursday morning with all of our stuff and had it unloaded AND unpacked - everything out of boxes - and took away the boxes and paper by about 12:30.  Seriously, we need these people in the States.  It would have taken them all day just to unload the stuff.  And they would have complained while doing it.  I guess, to be fair, these Japanese guys could have been complainng, but I just couldn't understand them.  So we are slowly getting settled in and finding places for everything.  I bought some candles today so it can start to smell like home.

I think I'll leave it at that for now.  That pretty much covers our first week here, except for Halloween, which I'll post separately.  Forgive me for the length and the rookie mistakes - first blog ever.  I'll get better. 

Sayonara!