Okinawa-rama

*New Year, or Oshogatsu, is a time for quiet reflection and subdued celebration with family. Throughout Japan familes celebrate the New Year with gatherings, visits to shrines or temples and calls on relatives and friends bearing gifts.

Some Traditions (old Shinto Traditions):
1. Thorough cleaning of the house.
2. Decorating with traditions ornamentation (which you'll see in a bit).
3. Buying of new clothes.
4. Clearing of all debt before the end of the year.

These and other chores are completed to give people a sense of "starting with a clean slate" and welcoming the new year with an unpolluted spirit.

Kagami-Biraki - The little snow man looking thing on the kiln. Two different sized Kagami-Mochi (rice cakes) stacked one on top of the other with an orange on top. The rice cakes are used because during the days of the Samurai, the rice cake would be eaten on January 11 and would usher in a prosperous new year. In Japanese, the color orange is pronounced dai-dai which also means "from generation to generation" and symbolized prosperity.

*Courtesy of Okinawa Living

Well, Kelly and I were having dinner in a restaurant when I needed to use the "facilities". I got directions from the waiter and when I arrived these were the choices I had on the door. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong one and entered a prestine bathroom surrounded by stalls. Luckily, I didn't give some poor Japanese woman a heart attack.

Why is it that woman's restrooms are so clean and nice? The men's restroom didn't even have a door on it!

Joe

See anything funny about this picture? How about that we're DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!! Just a few things to get used to; Stop lights go from Right to Left, the turn signal is on the right side and the windshield wiper is on the left side. I have, on numerous occasions, gotten in on the wrong side of the car to drive, turned on the windshield wipers when trying to signal, and have driven down the wrong side of the road at a high rate of speed -- scaring the crap out of the poor Japanese people because this crazy "Gaijin" is going against traffic. - Joe

We found these Shisa Lion Dogs at the fishing port near our house. The Shisa Lion Dog is usually in pairs, a female shisa's mouth is open to beckon good fortune, and a male shisa's mouth is closed in a quirky snarl-grin to keep the good luck in.

Merry Christmas everyone. We've had a busy couple of days here filled with lots of exploration and culinary adventure. Yesterday, we took "Kuma" (my hot tamale car) out for a ride. Kuma means bear in Japanese. I figured a Japanese name would suit her better than ChiChi. And Kuma is a pretty awesome name, don't you think? Anyway, the adventures. Adventure #1: Drinking coffee. Piping hot. Out of a can. From one of Okinawa's ubiquitous vending machines. (It was good.) Adventure #2: Opening the door of a department store restroom stall. Seeing nothing but a hole in the floor (!!!) Peeing into it successfully. Adventure #3: Driving downtown on streets with no names with a map with no street names. Adventure #4: Eating at a Yakitori joint!

Ummm...#4 was great! Let me describe to you this accidental meal. Joe and I were turning around in some restaurant parking lot looking for this noodle joint we'd marked on our terrible map. But, before we could finish our turn and get back down the street, a man rushed out the restaurant door to direct our parking. Guess we'll eat here. The sign above the door was in Japanese but one little part said "Yakitori". Hmmm...yakitori...it sounded familiar. But what was it? We followed the man inside. It as a small little place. Warmly lit. Intimate. Pottery bottles lined one wall. Glass bottles on another. Over the bar hung wooden paddles with Japanese writing on them and numbers. There were no Americans. Ahhh! Just what we wanted.

The man, an older gentleman, with a big friendly smile, sat us a small wooden table and handed us a couple of menus. One side was in English, but still difficult to understand. Yakatori this, yakitori that. What was yakitori? I looked in my phrase book and nothing. We both decided on the yakitori dinner which came with a combination of 10 yakitoris (whatever those were), miso soup, an appetizer, and a desert. Frankly, I didn't care what it was we were about to eat. The atmosphere was great, and I'm a sucker for a good atmosphere. Joe and I sipped on our drinks and took in the scene. Joe looked under the food section of the phrasebook and compared the Japanese characters there with the ones written on the paddles over the bar. "Look at the fourth paddle from the end," he said. "It's chicken liver." I checked the phrasebook and then looked up at the paddles. Sure enough...chicken liver. Ummm...

The waiter brought out our appetizers. "This...is...Japanese...appetizer," he said. He placed a small plate before each of us. I looked at the appetizer in wonder. It was beautiful! There on one perfect little green leaf was a gorgeous mouthful of what looked like shredded chicken and on top of that a creamy swash of pastel pink sauce. Sprinkled over the sauce were about three or four purple, blue, and pink dots, also pastel. Like tiny dots from the "Icecream of the Future" stand that you see at the mall. "Is it chicken?" I asked Joe, smelling it. "I think so," he said. Like much of the food that we would consume that evening, I wasn't sure how to eat it. I looked at Joe for a clue. (After all, he is part Asian.) "Are we supposed to eat this all at once?" "Yeah," he said and popped the whole bundle -- leaf, chicken, sprinkles and all, in his mouth with his chopsticks. So I did the same. Wow! What an awesome flavor combination! The pretty little leaf was a mint leaf! And the chicken was soft and moist and the pink sauce was plum sauce (?), tart and smooth. And I have no idea what the sprinkles were about. But man, that was probably the most overall pleasing appetizers I've ever had. The perfect morsel.

But there was more! Next we were served miso soup, fantastic with hints of ginger in it, and two rather large triangles of rice. "This," explained the waiter (who seemed to know more and more English as the night wore on) "is...salmon...and...this one...is...miso...En.Joy!..." He bowed several times and went away. Again, I wasn't how to sure how to eat the rice ball/triangle. It sat like half of a diagonally cut sandwhich atop a strip of dry seaweed. I picked up the rice/salmon/seaweed with my fingers making a little packet of it and gave it a whirl...Gummy rice. Crisp seaweed. Salmon okay (a compliment for someone who doesn't really eat fish). Good. The miso one was better though -- a brown savory paste inside the rice. We took our time carefully eating our rice balls, sipping our drinks and practicing phrases of Japanese. I looked over to the Japanese family next to us. The little girl was busy tearing her rice ball to shreds with her chopsticks and delicately picking out the good stuff inside. Hmmm...

Finally we came to the yakitori. They were little kebobs! Chicken ones. Pork ones. Green chili kebabs. Bacon wrapped around tomato and bacon wrapped around (quail) egg. As soon as we finished one plate of them, or waiter would come out with another. Shrimp. Chicken heart. All piping hot. It was awesome. And then, after the last plate came and left and the sadness of a good meal coming to an end began to set in, then came the meatball, one for each of us, replete with a plate of egg yolk/soy sauce. "Tsukune," our waiter said. "Chicken meatball..." He pointed to the egg yolk/sauce combo. "This one...you...mix." Sensing my incompetence, he bowed several times and took my chopsticks from me, and then began whisking the yolk with them. Then he went for the meatball and with the chopsticks, cut it clean in half. He placed the chopsticks back on the plate, smiled humbly (I notice he didn't cut Joe's food for him) and motioned for me to dunk my meatball into the yolk. "Ohhh!" I said, amazed at it all. I dunked my tsukune into the warm gooky liquid. Ummm...Good! Like pushing your breakfast sausage around your runny egg plate. We completed the meal with ice cream. Green tea. Yuk! (Sorry, you can't like everything.) and ...what...was it potato ice cream again? Umm...yummy!

When everything was done, I sat back. It was Christmas Eve and I felt good. The food was superb and the waiter was fantastic. And, of course, the company couldn't be beat. It was one of those food experiences you hope for when you travel to another country. Probably, when we go back there again (we got a frequent diners card, after 5 visits we get 10% off our meal) it won't be the same. The flavors won't be so surprising and the colors not so bright...but you never know. Maybe they will! There's a whole menu of stuff we haven't tried yet. Anyway, I hope that you all had a wonderful and memorable Christmas.

We love you.
Kelly

In the country, in the city, on every street corner you'll find a vending machine for soda. You could be lost in the middle of the country with nothing but fields, chickens and ox-drawn carts and the one thing you'll always find is a place to buy a coke.

Here's Kelly's new Japanese car the "Hot Tamale". The guy in the middle is Hiroshi, who places 5 yen coins in his ears. The lady is someone that Hiroshi grabbed to be in the picture.

It's cold and rainy today. I can see a big ferris wheel from the window lighting up in different neon colors right now. (Funny, I think I wrote about that in Mongolia too.) It's night and I'm tired. Joe is playing his computer game. Today was pretty busy. Newcomers orientation required for all DoD employees and dependants. Basically consisted of this: Swim carefully. Be respectful. Don't drink. Don't do drugs. Don't drink and drive. Learn about the culture. Separate your garbage. Drive on the left side of the road. And if you don't like it, you can go back to the States. Hooah!
We got our driver's licenses today. And you know what else we got? My hot tamale!!!! I wish I had a picture of it to show y'all. It's so cute and Japanese. And, we did more house hunting. It's funny, cause every single house we go to has some little idiosyncrasy to it. For example, the house that had the word "Blue" etched into the entirety of the bathroom mirror with a picture of a 1940s guy next to it. Or, the one with the oven the size of a toaster. Or the ever-present first floor bathtub. Next to the kitchen. I wonder why? Anyway, I like these things. Especially the places that have tatami mat floors. I'm really into this one Japanese style house that is this giant open space almost like a studio style apartment. One wall is made of windows, which you can pull open to walk into the ornate garden. Back inside, in the center of the space, a hole, surrounded by tatami matting is built into the floor. A table rests upon grooves inside of the hole. So, when you eat your meal, you can eat at the short table in comfort, without need of a chair! The the master bedroom, which is quite small, has paper screen doors like you see in Japanese movies and the whole floor is made of tatami mats. A window on one side of it looks onto a tiny patio with windy stairs that go up to the enormous white rooftop. There are two other rooms that could fit maybe a bed each. Maybe a small desk. One has a ladder in it, which goes up to this little bitty loft. (Like one small child could lay there!) It's cute. The only problem is, those rooms are so tiny and dark. They make me think of the movie "The Grudge" a little bit. The Japanese version. Very scary! Also, on the right there is a construction company with huge cranes and stuff. No zoning laws here! (But next to that is a pottery factory!)
Okay, well gotta go eat now. Hungry! More later.
-Kelly

I wanted to add my $0.02 to this blog, so I thought I would put photo's of things that you would only find in Japan. A conveyer belt that circles the sushi bar. You grab what you want as it comes by you and they charge you by the different plates. The wall on the back has plates and corresponding prices. This is Kelly with our new friends (and sponsors) Pete and Karen. (Look, real Japanese People!!)

Hey! I'm so freakin' excited right now that I can hardly stand it. Why? 'Cause we went house and car shopping! We haven't gotten anything yet, but we looked and that in itself was just fantabulous. I found an AWESOME car!!! It's red. It's hot. It's my little Japanese hot tamale. 1999 Nissan Cube Car. Hells yeah! But, we only went to two car joints and we wanna shop around more, so it's still not actually my hot tamale. But if I do get her, maybe I'll call her Chi Chi, like Julie's dog.
But, here's the really exciting part. House hunting! Joe gets a freakin' sweet 'ole housing allowance from his job. And if we don't use it up, it's gone. Only for housing. So, we wanna use it up on a view. And the views we saw today at some of the houses we looked at were Phat with a capital P. Or Delicious with a capital D or FANTASTIC GUEST ROOM with a capital FANTASTIC GUEST ROOM. Okay, so, we didn't actually get the awesome view fantastic guest room place (yet!). But it's there waiting for us only a phone call away!
Plus today I ate sushi off of a conveyor belt and found a really awesome Japanese clothing/decorating shop that reminds me of that store in Bruningerland that Tori Ingles used to work at. I bought those teensy index cards that go on your key ring for just 70 yen so I can put Japanese words on them. Yeah!

It's morning now. About 5am or so. I've been up since probably about 2 o'clock thinking and dozing in and out of sleep. But finally, the fumes emanating from Joe's butt forced me out of bed.

Yesterday I woke up at about 2 am too and kept trying to get back to sleep. Finally at 4am, I just couldn't do it anymore. I rolled over and looked at Joe and he was wide awake. He looked at me. "I'm all sleeped out," he said. So we got up.

After puttering around for a few hours, we went for an exploratory jog around the base. I was very proud of myself, I must say, for jogging at like 7am on a marine base when I had jet lag. I could just imagine marines watching me jiggle by like, "Damn that woman's slow!" But I wanted to see stuff! Unfortunately, after seeing many an identical family home, and not one Dunkin' Donuts in site, we learned that Camp Foster was split in two by a highway. All the good stuff - the furniture store, the PX and and yes the Dunkin' Donuts, was on the other, exciting, side. We were in residential Camp Foster. But it was pretty. Unexpectedly lush and hilly. And it was nice to see the young families waking up and packing their kids in the car for weekend excursions. I got nostalgic for my military brat days.

By the way, before you think I'm a putz for not going out to see "the real Japan", I don't have my ID card yet, so I can't get on and off base unless I'm in a car with a sticker. Luckily, this happened later in the day. Karen and Pete picked us up to take us to the other part of Camp Foster and out for ice cream and Mongolian BBQ.

I've gotta say, Pete and Karen are some bad ass sponsors. For those of you not in the military know, when a soldier or a family get stationed at a new base they are assigned a sponsor. The sponsors job is to basically help you get adjusted to your new post, show you where things are, help you get an ID, a car, a house, etc. Some sponsors suck. Maybe they just pick you up at the airport and hand you a phone list and you're on your own. Others rock. For example, they might stock your hotel refrigerator with groceries, bake you cookies, invite you to spend Christmas with them and offer to teach you to sew...like Karen and Pete. (Well, he didn't offer to teach me to sew...but whatever.)

Anyway, we went to the PX (Post Exchange) and the furniture mart and the little bookstore. They were all mediocre in that special AAFES kind of way. (AAFES is the American Armed Forces Exchange Service. It manages the retail outfits on a military base like the PX. The PX is the main place to shop on a post. It's like a very eclectic department store selling everything from Coach bags, to Wal-mart quality items. Near the entrance of just about any PX in the world there is an area devoted to native crafts. Here it's Asian furniture, swords, lots of kitschy items, some really nice pottery and these weird wooden dolls. What was unique about this particular PX, was that there was an auction room! $15 for a Buddha belly sculpture. I'm in!

In any event, we did finally make it off post. The roads twisted and turned and the buildings were tightly packed. There were little groceries, restaurants from all over the world, a SPAR, lots of places that I couldn't identify 'cause I can't understand the writing, a Benetton (!), pubs, pachinko joints, a gigantic ferris wheel, little apartments with clothes hanging out on the line, surf shops. Loads and loads of vending machines. I found myself reading every sign aloud. We stopped at the sea wall and watched the surfers for a while but it was cold (yes, cold) so we finally headed to the BBQ joint.

We met another couple there from Joe's work. The food was good. I got an Orion beer and good Mongolian BBQ which doesn't actually have anything to do with Mongolian food at all. I felt weird not speaking in Japanese. The place was very popular with American. I did say "arigato" once, shy and quietly. I hate not speaking the language of wherever I'm at. It's like there's this wall there between me and the culture. At the ice cream joint though, I got a little more courageous. The staff spoke a little English and I asked them how to say some things. After I sampled the purple, potato flavored ice cream (which tasted oddly like caramel) I learned how to say good, "oshoi" (I think) which I said to the staff loudly and with a dorky thumbs up gesture. They smiled and giggled at me.

Anyway, that's that. Hope all is well for y'all. Miss you! Besos,

Kelly

http://www.japanupdate.com/

On-line version of English language newspaper with Okinawa news

Me and Kelly on the plane to Okinawa.








View from our temporary home at the Westpac Lodge on Camp Foster.

So, I'm sitting at the computer looking out over the Okinawa night to the East China Sea. Cars are whizzing by. Tiny Japanese ones. It's night time and if it weren't dark yet, I would be able to see the buildings of Camp Foster (including the Macaroni Grill which is now under construction). But now all I see are loads of lights. I'm very very tired. It's 6:30 pm.

The flight was uneventful. Lots and lots of kids and young people. It's weird 'cause the military has definitely changed from what I remember it to be. I mean, I remember lots of skinhead dudes with tight t-shirts with sleeves rolled up and peg legged pants. Now, everyone looks cool and fashionable. Anyway, we saw a couple of crappy movies. Ate food, yaddah yaddah. My seat companion was 2 years old and we had a lot of deep conversation about her dog Jada (Joe was on the other side, but he was in full crossword mode.)

We stopped at Yakota Air Force Base for a couple of hours doing...I have no idea what. We got off the plane, walked in a line, showed our orders and passports waited an hour watching basketball on Armed Forces Network and then got back on. On the next leg of the trip I started thinking about what would be in store for us in Okinawa. Where would I work? Who would we hang out with? Where would we live? Would people be friendly? I've thought of this stuff before, of course, but now it was for real!

We landed at Kadena AFB in Okinawa and it took a while to "deplane". (" The soldiers behind us yelled in mock drill Sergeant, "You've got 60 seconds to de-ass yourself from this goddam aircraft!" which I thought was funny. Joe thought is was uncouth.) Finally we got off though, got our nifty red luggage, went through customs My heart started racing when I saw my first real Japanese guy in the terminal! I was so excited. Joe told me to go talk to him in my one phrase of Japanese, but I didn't think he cared that my name is Kelly so we just kept on.

Goodness, I'm writing a lot. I didn't realize I had so much to say!

Anyway, our sponsors were supposed to meet us and I asked Joe how we'd know who they were. Well, the fine military had thought that all out for us.. As we left the baggage claim area this woman asked for our last name and then shouted out "Sponsors for Garcia, Joe". I scanned the room, ready to be disappointed and find our own way to wherever we were staying. But then one, two, three hands raised and then this herd of people ushered us out the door. Women and men were sticking out their hands. "Hi I'm Sonya!" "I'm Pete, nice to meet you!" "Karen O'Connor." "Michelle." My mind was whirling. Half of Joe's office came out to meet us!!! We were the most popular family in the whole daggum place!

After everyone got done greeting us, our real sponsors, Karen and Pete whisked us into a tiny van with the steering wheel on the wrong side and off to our TLQ (Temporary Living Quarters. Military/gov't folks are put up in them till we find housing) on Camp Foster. Dude...this ain't the TLQ that I remember being in as a kid. The military is movin' on up apparently. Let me describe our room. First of all, I'm working on the Dell computer that's in it. Nice and new looking. Joe is at this moment playing on our play station. We have a small Aiwa bedside stereo. TV with, no not just AFN, but BBC, CNN and TBS and a bunch of Japanese stations. Actually, now AFN is many channels: AFN News, AFN Sports, AFN Movies... Who knew! Our awesome sponsors stocked our pantry with groceries and we have a beautiful new microwave and fridge and stove top. There's a sweet gym down the hall with up-to-date looking equipment. And to top it off Santa Claus is stopping by on Monday.

Whew! Karen and Pete gave us the lowdown on everything from driving to real estate to pottery class to Sunday brunch. Tomorrow we've got a date for Mongolian BBQ.

So. I think my fingers are worn out. I meant this to be a quick, "Hello, we're safe." But, I'm excited now and I feel good and weirdly energetic (despite my exhaustion). After the sponsors left, Joe was like, "Isn't it amazing how cool everything is just 'cause you are in another country... .like those kids walking down the street in their uniforms and the crazy signs and the cars?" Yes! So, now I'm gonna look at some maps and browse through the goodie bag Karen and Pete gave us (maps, work cell phone for Joe -- already charged! with numbers programmed in!, magazines, etc.)


Take care y'all. Love you! Write us!

-Kelly and Joe

So, we officially begin our journey tomorrow. ABQ to Salt Lake to SeaTac. A night in Seattle. Then. Finally. Thursday morning at 8:20 am we will be leaving the USA on a military flight. Arriving at Kadena AFB Japan at 1600 16 December. We will be met by our sponsor there. Temporary housing has been arranged for us on one of the bases on the island. We'll have our mandatory orientation Dec. 21st.
The time difference is 14 hours ahead of EST.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=775
I'll write more later and add more to the site soon. Just wanted to make sure I got something up and started for the time being.
Love,

Kelly