Holiday

Here's our version of a "white Christmas". This photo was taken Christmas morning.

I get a full 2 weeks off of school. Lately, I've been spending most of my "vacation" time at school to catch up on old work and prepare for next month. Also, I'm limited on planning time this break because Noa and I have decided to go on vacation! I think he figures it will be the only way to keep me away from school. :) Seriously though, we wanted to take advantage of living in Asia and see other parts of the world we might not ever see.

So - we're off to Thailand tomorrow! We'll be gone for about a week. We'll spend some time in Bangkok and the head to Hua Hin, a beautiful beach community about 4 hours south of Bangkok. I'll be sure to get lots of photos with my new camera too! So, I'll be back to the blog in about a week.

Christmas in Oki

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Our friends, Joe and Meg stayed at our house to celebrate with us.

We began our day with a big breakfast - compliments of Noa and his new griddle! His secret is using the chopsticks while cooking with it. How innovative.

After that, we opened stockings. We decided to stuff each other's stockings - including the dogs.
Meg and Joe put a whole bunch of crazy Japanese candy in our stockings - we've yet to sample all of it. One of the items we put in theirs was a set of wine charms made out of Mah Jong pieces. Mah Jong has become one of our new favorite games to play together. Megan, however, found another use for the charms -
Noa and I also opened up gifts from our families. Even though we are thousands of miles away from "home", my dad did not disappoint this year with the traditional "Lego set in the stocking" gift that he gives every Christmas. I got a green truck.
I think Noa was happy with his gifts this year. One of the gifts I gave him was the 3rd season of Arrested Development - one of his favorite tv series.
Noa completely surprised me this year with a new digital camera! It's a Nikon D50 - great for the novice photographer, but it has plenty of features for me to learn and take great photos. I love it!

Meanwhile, Sadie and Gunnar found a great napping place as we finished opening the gifts.

Here's some of our decorations from this year. I brought very few decorations from home and we bought our 1st fake tree this year. Joe and I made paper cranes in honor of our first Christmas in Oki.

Thanks for the wreath, mom - doesn't it look great with the nativity scene?

After lounging around for a bit, we all got ready for our big dinner party. We had about 10 people here and had a traditional feast with turkey and all the trimmings. Everything was delicious and now our fridge is bursting with leftovers.

Hope you had a fun and memorable holiday too. Noa and I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

Lights, Outlets, and Ice Skating

In the couple of days leading up to Christmas, Noa and I enjoyed some of the holiday festivities and activities on the island. One of those is the annual light decorations and show at the Botanical Gardens. The gardens get decorated with thousands of lights for and elaborate holiday display. The workers are dressed in some crazy costumes (including polka-dotted reindeer and colorful bumblebees - see photo below) and there's also a light show complete with fireworks. Here are some photos from the event.

We also saw some lights in Naha at the outlet mall here in Okinawa. It was oddly comforting to be in a shopping situation that reminded me of home. However, we didn't buy anything - mostly because the stores were still too high-end for our tastes. I did fall in love with a $5,000 Valentino dress and made Noa pose by it. We loved the food vans - old vans or trucks in the courtyard that sold snacks, like crepes or ice cream.



This sign cracked me up. I had to take a picture. Are they implying that dogs are not allowed to eat ice cream? Or maybe dogs without a leash running around may not have ice cream? Maybe it's saying no dogs with ice cream allowed. Sorry, Sadie - I gotta take that vanilla cone away from you if you want to come here.

After the outlets, we attempted to find the local skating rink. After a few turn-arounds we found it and Noa attempted to teach me how to skate. He did a great job teaching me until one point where we both crashed to the ground. Thankfully, I broke his fall (!). Like our white gloves? They won't let you skate without gloves here. You could also rent helmets and these metal walker chairs to push someone around on the ice. We especially enjoyed watching the little ones fall, uh, skate, I mean. Seriously though, we had a great time experiencing a traditional winter activity right before Christmas even though it was only 75 degrees outside.

Christmas Everywhere

Sorry I've been away from blogger for awhile, but I was having trouble signing in. Anyway, I have lots to share.

First, here are classroom photos of our Christmas/Holiday decorations. Although the month was so busy at school, I really enjoyed all the holiday projects and activities.

Our stockings were hung by the "chimney" with care.

Our bulletin board - there are little beds at the bottom with all the kids posing on a pillow, pretending to be sleeping.

Elf portraits

Our Christmas tree and stained glass ornaments in the windows.

The students made these Christmas tree hats and in the background is a holiday pattern quilt.

Triangle trees

On the last day of school, the students made gingerbread houses. Notice how some of the houses became huts.

I have a lot more holiday blogs to come, so stay tuned.

And Merry Christmas to everyone - we're thinking of you!

Convenience

There is no reason that the universe should be designed for our convenience.
John D. Barrow


Today the universe surely wasn't designed for my convenience. I'm trying to finish up a hundred little things before school closes down for the winter break. I needed two very holiday-themed items: candy canes and peppermint extract. The grocery stores here, on our bases, are called commissaries and they carry pretty much the same things as you would find in the states. However, I do find that there is sometimes a limited selection (for instance, they don't carry many brands of yogurt) and they don't carry many specialty items (not much of a whole foods section). Around the holidays, the commissaries ship in tons of the items needed for holiday merriment, such as turkeys,all the fixings, baking items, etc. The huge stock that arrives usually gets placed in front of the store where the throngs of shoppers can easily grab and go.

So, one would think that something like candy canes would be a big seller around Christmastime, right? Well, apparently they underestimated the need for these confections because they are plum out. There are no candy canes to be found on this island, at least none that I can find. Frustrated, I tried to shrug off this little inconvenience, but I also found out today that they don't carry peppermint extract, which is a necessary ingredient for my peppermint play dough that I'm making my students. Now that I'm out, I'll need to find a substitute and I don't think they'll be pleased with the other options: almond, rum, or anise extract. Guess I'll be making glittery, unscented play dough this time around.

Play

This past weekend, the dogs got to have their first playdate in Okinawa. Our friends, Rob and Liz own 2 IGs, Fiona and Gamine. They also have a fenced in yard. The iggies had a great time getting to know each other.

Here's the group: Gunnar (back), Gamine, Sadie (in front with red collar) and Fiona (right side).

Sadie and Gamine look a lot alike. I call this the "twins" picture. In reality, Gamine is darker and a little bigger than Sadie, although their faces are strickingly similar.


On the lookout (for what - I don't know....) - Fiona, Gunnar, and Gamine.

Sadie playing one of her favorite games.


A cute shot of Fiona -


Finally, Gunnar always finds a stick although it looks like Fiona and Gamine are plotting a way to steal it from him.

Sad Trees

Christmas is not a big holiday in Japan. From my understanding, it's treated more like a child's holiday and the gifts usually consist of cash. I've also read about how Christmas in Japan is equated to the American Valentine's Day. Still, driving around town, it's apparent that the holiday season is upon us - lights decorate buildings, images of Santa appear, and the nurseries sell poinsettias. I'm told that most of the decorations are actually for the Americans on the island. I credit the Okinawans for putting up decorations and dealing with the crazy Americans during our hectic holiday season.

However, I do have a bit of an issue with one aspect of Okinawan holiday decorating: the Christmas trees. The Christmas trees that I see around town in restaurants and businesses are so sad. They look like they've been pulled out of storage, with the branches all mashed up and the decorations haphazardly strew about. They are so sad, that it's actually funny. I'll try to get some more photos of these trees to really capture the "look", but for now, here's one from Mos Burger - a restaurant that serves burgers and coffee (interesting combo, huh?).

ARRIVED!

The dogs finally made it! After crisscrossing the airport several times and finalizing oodles of paperwork, the dogs are now "home." They were a little shaken at first, but have settled in pretty quickly.

As soon as I came home today (yeah, um, I tried not to speed), I opened the door and dropped my stuff and was completly engulfed in puppy kisses. It was pure joy. Both dogs look great. Gunnar has really grown! He is taller and longer. He's kinda like a 15-year old boy who just hit a growth spurt. We're planning on trying to get him to bulk up a little more, but they are completely themselves. Sadie has already found the favorite lounging spot on top of the big armchair and Gunnar has established the location of the toybox. Now we have to go get him more stuffies.

Here are some photos from the day.

Sadie (notice she's wearing her new "Ho Ho Ho" Christmas collar)


Gunnar (sorry about the pet eye - I haven't figured out how to get that out of the photos yet)


On our walk - Sadie and Gunnar on the sea wall


With me (do I look happy to you?)


Up the steps with Noa - they weren't too keen on checking out the water


What they do best - sleep (on their favorite lounging spot again!)

Doggy Update

The dogs were supposed to arrive and spend the day with me today, but they got held up in San Francisco and had to spend an extra night there. So, they will be picked up tomorrow morning - Noa will get them - at Naha International Airport. Since I took the day off of work (thinking I'd be with the dogs all day today) I'm getting the apartment ready for them and trying to stay occupied until then.

Also, if you ever have pet transportation needs or know anyone who might, we've been working with the most wonderful people in pet travel. Here are their websites - I highly recommend them.

http://www.puppytravel.com/
http://animaltransportation.com/index.htm

Bark

I got the recent issue of Bark magazine in the mail over the weekend. I may be biased, but this looks like the best cover yet!

Holiday Weekend Fun

It's been a wonderful holiday weekend so far and it's not even over yet!

We spent Thanksgiving day with some old friends from Jacksonville, Sean and Beth. They had invited some other friends over so we got to meet some new people who are spending Thanksgiving in Okinawa as well. It was a fun mix of people and we are already planning another get-together. We're thinking a progressive dinner would be cool. It's always fun to see what kind of living arrangement people have over here. Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, we do have a regular Thanksgiving meal here with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. Our commissaries offer the traditional foods. We don't have a Thanksgiving Day parade to watch and no football - at least during our regular daytime.


We decided to participate in black Friday over here. It's not as wild and crazy as it gets in the states, but the PX/BX do offer coupons on that day. We used ours for a much needed vacuum cleaner - woohoo. Actually, most of our shopping entailed going to all the scuba shops on the bases to compare prices and gear. One of the shops has a big sale at this time of year and we waited on Noa's gear, which is his birthday gift, in order to take advantage of the sale. He got a Sherwood Magnum BCD, a dive bag, and he'll most likely be purchasing an Apex regulator and second stage this week. Now, we're cookin'!

We did purchase gifts at a bazaar that was being held at Foster. It was basically a bunch of vendors selling goods from all over this area: Japan, China, India, Thailand, the Philippines, etc. We also found some great underwater shots of a sea turtle and clown fish for our guest room (slowly, but surely our apartment will look finished!), but the best thing I saw were the signs for the neighboring vendor. It was a rug vendor with Persian rugs, which normally I don't really pay attention to because it's not really my style. However, the sign for the vendor totally caught my eye. Check it out:

You'd think they could have thought of a better name. Anyway....

Today was our diving day. It was a perfect day for diving - sunny, warm, and the water was not too cool. We dove the Kadena steps (north) and had a blast seeing all kinds of fun creatures, including sea snakes, a moray eel, a lion fish, a cuttlefish (looks kinda like a little squid), and lots of other assorted fish. The coral was beautiful. However, by the end of the second dive I was ready to head out with a splitting headache. I learned that my mask was probably on a little too tight (the "mask face" is just now starting to disappear). Here's a look at the sight and if you look closely in the second photo you'll see some cute crabs sunning on the jacks.

Finally, the BIG countdown is on - 5 days until the dogs come home!!

Feast Day

Today at school, we had our Thanksgiving Feast with my class and their parents. The feast was held in one of the all-purpose rooms in one of the towers (apartment buildings). It started to rain as we headed over. By the time we had to leave, there were major storm conditions, in fact, I had heard that we were on a tornado watch. It sure looked like a tornado outside. This photo collage doesn't quite capture it, but you can imagine it wasn't fun to lug tables, chairs, and escort children in this.