Pizza in the Sky & Nighttime Surprise

Over the weekend, Noa, Joe, Meg, and I finally had the opportunity to drive up north to the acclaimed Pizza in the Sky. Is it worth all the hype and the long drive? You bet!

After driving the winding, dirt roads up a mountain, we finally got there around sunset. Here's the front of the restaurant:

We were thrilled that it was still open for another hour. At this point we were all starving.

The beautiful view of northern Okinawa from the restaurant property - this view alone makes the trek up there worth it!

We were seated quickly. There are 2 areas to sit: one that is completely outside with tables and chairs and one area that has seats both inside and outside with Japanese-style tables. We went with a Japanese-style table on the porch area. Although these are fun to sit at, Noa can never quite figure out what to do with his knees.

This is the view from our table - beautiful!

Although it is a beautiful locale, the menu is slim. However, I happen to like the two foods listed: pizza and salad. Here is the salad (the Japanese salads almost always have corn in them).

There is a large selection of drinks. I ordered an ice coffee. It came on this adorable platter, complete with a miniature vase of real flowers and Okinawan brown sugar clumps.

And, finally - the pizza! They only serve one kind of pizza. It's not quite the kind of pizza that you'd find in the States. I picked off the sausage, which isn't my favorite, but it was still good and very satisfying! Between the four of us, we are 2 pizzas!

After driving home and having an impromptu game night at Meg and Joe's (Mah Jongg rocks!), Noa and I headed home. As we were walking to our car, there was a rustling in the tree above us. Come to find out, it's some of the fruit bats that inhabit this island. As soon as the sun goes down, bats are a commonplace in the trees and we got to see one up close. Next time I hope to catch a picture of one in flight!

So, if you visit us in Okinawa, we'll be certain to take you to Pizza in the Sky and you'll most likely see our nighttime creatures during your stay.

Elmo-mobile

It's not unusual to see cars in Japan "decorated" on the inside with cartoon characters, such as Hello Kitty or Mickey Mouse. You'll also see faux fur draped across the dashboard, lacy car seat covers, and marijuana leis draped over the rear view mirror (they love reggae out here and this is the ultimate I-Love-Reggae symbol).

Today, Teresa and I encountered another on of these vehicles that was so funny - I just had to capture it on film. I apologize ahead a time for the bad photos. We were in a parking garage and trying to be discreet.

This is what got our attention: an Elmo tissue dispenser!

Notice that it's settled on the dashboard.

You might also notice that there's an Elmo head hanging from the driver's side visor. Also, there are all sorts of other decorations hanging from the ceiling of the car. And, you gotta love that leopard print material.

There's another Elmo hanging down on the passenger side (where I'm standing - you can see my reflection). If you look carefully, the red thing that's near the car stereo is an Elmo ash tray. Also, notice the coordinating leopard print steering wheel cover.

Okay, so this picture is terrible, but notice that the driver's seat has something attached to it. It's a big Elmo head that faces the back seats. He's watching you, kids!!

Finally, here is the driver's seat, complete with an Elmo pillow to sit on!

A Week in Review

I know, I know...I haven't been around much. So, here are some of the highlights (and some lower points) of the week:

• Not only did I happen to catch a head cold, but I also had viral conjunctivitis this week
• Noa went to Tokyo for the weekend and hung out with his pal, Herman
• We had Pumpkin Day in Kindergarten - a whole day dedicated to pumpkins!
• I had a major "Lost in Translation" moment at the beauty salon. Somehow the hairdresser interpreted "side-sweeping bangs" to "Hi-I'm-7-and-I-have-a-forehead-full-of-blunt-cut-bangs". I'm off to go hat shopping now.

Baseball

Suddenly, I am beginning to turn into the sports fan that Noa's always dreamed of.

Teresa's son (pictured above) plays on a little league team, the Devil Dogs, who played in the championship game on Saturday. Also, her husband is the coach. Although I haven't been following the team all season, I did begin going to the playoff games to get some photos for Teresa. Suddenly, I found myself really excited the games, paying more attention to the sportscasts on the radio, and listening in to Noa and friends discuss their favorite teams. Now, not only am I thrilled that the Red Sox are going into the 7th game of the AL Championship, but I was really excited to attend the little league championship game on Saturday! The game was great, although there were moments when I was sweating it and it looked like the end of the game would bring defeat. But, the Devil Dogs ended up beating their rival, the Kings, 11-10 (I think) in a close game.

Congrats Devil Dogs!

Go Red Sox!

Back!

Look who's back from Iraq!

Welcome home, Joe! We missed you!

Alternative

Gunnar really hates wearing the cone. So, I got creative and made a different kind of contraption to keep him from licking his hiney.

I emptied out a cream cheese tub and cut out the bottom. Then I sliced it down the side and put athletic socks over it. Then I place this around his neck and used a belly band to keep it in place. He seems to tolerate this a little better than the cone, however, he's still not too happy with me right now.

Not Again!

Gunnar is back in the lovely cone collar. It seems he has another swollen anal gland, so we're headed to the vet's today for some treatment and antibiotics. I feel bad for him. I know it's quite painful.

When we get home, I'm making him some special doggy bran muffins. Hopefully that will help him in the future.

In case you've never seen an abscessed anal gland before, I'm posting a pic. Beware: it's kinda graphic.

Simpsons

We went out and saw the Simpsons Movie a couple of nights ago. In honor of the movie, I went to this site and turned us into Simpsons characters. It took me a few days to actually post this because our computer was acting screwy, but I finally got it to work. I don't really think they look like us, but it was fun!

The Big 3-0

Noa celebrated his 30th birthday this past weekend and being in Japan and having a typhoon in the area didn't hinder the celebration at all. We started the night with dinner at Tony Romas.

Thirty candles on his cake*!

Then we moved the party to Big Echo - our favorite karaoke place.
Here's our reservation sign.

Noa gets the party started. Can you tell he loves to karaoke?

Noa and Tom belt it out.

Here's Mia dancing up a storm.

The karaoke machine would rate us after every song. I think our highest rating was an 89 or something like that. Interesting set of judges....

Me with the birthday boy. Happy Birthday, Noa!

Coming soon: photos of his birthday gifts; his "new" bike and gear!

*I say "his" cake, although it's actually a wedding cake. We were supposed to go to an outdoor wedding this past weekend on a nearby island, but due to the typhoon, it was cancelled. So, Noa got the cake. He was wondering about the pink flowers for a little while.

Quarter Reference

Thanks for the idea, Tara.

Here's a comparison of the Japanese carrot to an American quarter.

Veggies!

Although our produce selection is somewhat limited at the local commissary, they do offer locally grown vegetables. I like to buy them - especially because they are the same vegetables I'd normally buy, except different in size.

For example, here are the Japanese cucumbers. I like to think of them as "bite sized."

The carrots, on the other hand, are huge!! I need a bigger knife to cut them. The widest part is probably comparable to the lens on my SLR.

And, I know I've blogged about this before, but other items are just packaged so nicely - like the sprouts in the little foam square.

It's fun to eat veggies in Japan!

Super News

Last month I took 3 sections of the Praxis exam (a standardized test for educators). Today I got 2 of my scores back (the 3rd section is graded by hand, so it takes longer) and I passed! Actually, it's not a pass/fail system, but more like a scored system like the SATs. I more than met the cut-off score for DoDDS, which I'm using as a benchmark. Having this test under my belt will (hopefully) make it easier to get licensure in whatever states we move to in the future.

I still have one more section to take in January, but I'm not worried about that right now. I'm so elated! Yippee!

Educator Day

Today is Educator Day. While I don't really know if this is an "official" day, DoDDS treats it as such and subsequently dedicates this day to educating all the educators in the system. So, basically, all the DoDDS educators spend a day in overcrowded classes.

Normally I don't acquire much information from these mass seminars, but today I was fortunate enough to sit in on a class about the handling and keeping of "critters" in the classroom. The best part of the class was winning a door prize! Check out what I won:

MEALWORMS! I know there's only one pictured, but there's actually several burrowed in the oatmeal that I couldn't coerce to come out. We're going to watch and study them at school. I'm really excited about our newest class pets - the kiddos are going to love them!

After our classes, Teresa and I decided to treat ourselves to Cocoks afterwards. We had a blast. Here are the results:

Finally, we just had to stop at Starbucks <again> on our way home. I had to stop in to use the restroom while there and remembered that I always wanted to take a picture of the hand dryers in Japan for the blog. They are much better than the ones in the states. I'm used to the ones where you push a button and air comes out of a nozzle. Usually, these dryers do not adequately dry my hands and I end up wiping them on my clothes. The Japanese ones are far superior. You put your hands inside and the air blasts your hands dry. Your hands only drip into the basin, thus keeping your clothes and the floor from getting wet. Plus, the air turns off as soon as you pull your hands out, which is energy efficient. So, here's my photo from the Starbucks bathroom*:

Sorry for the random tangent - it's a topic much overdue.

Finally, I leave you with a beautiful sunset from the balcony.

Happy Educator Day!

*Teresa: I know you are just going to die when you read that I was taking photos in the bathroom today!

In-Between

We're in-between typhoons right now. Typhoon Nari hit us this weekend (a minor storm, however, the students did get dismissed early on Friday!). Another one in headed to the west of Oki, but we are feeling the effects. It is super windy and rainy today. Over the weekend, I tried to capture the "raging" seas outside our building. Usually, it's calm, but not now.

Adventures at Chinuman

We went out to eat last night with Rob and Kim. We decided to try a local restaurant that had been featured in one of the military publications called Chinuman. It was definitely a unique place. We sat in a tatami style "room" surrounded by bamboo bars. The funny thing about dining this way is that Noa always has trouble sitting "criss cross applesauce" (as we say in Kindergarten), so he's always looking for new ways to sit. Here we are in our booth.

Kim decided to order umibudo, or sea grapes, an Okinawan specialty. These were described in the article has giving a "splash of exotic flavor" when you bit into them. We all decided to try it.

I didn't care for them.

Here are some random photos from the evening:

more food: buttered asparagus

Red tuna sushi (left) and eel sushi (right)

Strange menu items

Finally, an amusing Engrish sign on our way out.

Our Peaches

This blog entry is sort of in response in Jess' peach bake-off. I won't be baking many peach cobblers in the near future with prices like these!

It's tough to get seasonal fruits at good prices here. I miss peaches, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and raspberries. I have had watermelon....after paying $10.00 for it.

Okinapa and Eyeballs

This weekend was the semi-annual Okinapa event here in Okinawa. It's a wine tasting event held at one of the Officer Clubs with music, food, and an array of wines. We went last year not knowing too many folks since we were new to the island. This year, however, we had our own crew with which to socialize.
Overall, the wine was good, the food was tasty, but really I'm just happy to get dressed up and have a night to spend with good friends. I did manage to get a few shots of some of the friends there that night (sadly, I didn't get to get a photo of Megs, but she was there too, as were some of my teacher friends from Kinser).

The Guys:

The Girls:

The following day, I developed some sort of allergic reaction to my eye makeup from the previous night* and woke up to some seriously swollen eyelids! It looked like I had been punched in the eye(think of the scene in Hitch when he eats shellfish and has a reaction - it was the same thing, but just on my eyes). However, our fridge and cupboards were very empty and Noa and I simply HAD to make a commissary run regardless of my "golf ball eyes." So, I stuck on my sunglasses at 5:00 pm on a rainy day and headed into the commissary with Noa. I played the diva role and acted like everything was perfectly normal - I even ran into a friend from church! I continued to wear them into the shoppette and Taco Bell. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but it was necessary. Sorry, but I didn't take a picture. I was too focused on trying to reduce the swelling and then coming up with a plan to hide the scary sight.

Today, they are still slightly puffy, but almost back to normal.

*Yes, I did take off my makeup upon returning home that evening(for those of you who were wondering).

Done, Mostly

Well, almost 3 weeks of work has proven to become an almost complete classroom. I think it's not completely finished because of my it-just-has-to-be-perfect-even-if-it-is-labels-for-extra-clothespins-type of mentality. Still, I'm pleased with the "almost finished" results. The kids start tomorrow and I'm SUPER nervous. I have a much tougher crowd this year in terms of behavioral and learning difficulties.

Since there are so many photos and I'm part of an online teacher forum, I created a Picasa web album to view all the classroom shots. Warning: those of you non-teachers may get bored to tears.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/juliehammer

One Man's Trash

There are a lot of stores here on the island that sell used American goods. My guess is that they are popular, but I haven't actually been in one yet (I have visited one that sold reupholstered/repainted government furniture). While walking in American village, I noticed this sign for what I think is one of these stores - or it sells goods that didn't quite make the cut in the US. We didn't go in, but I had to take a picture of the sign for it.

Overloaded

We celebrated our friend Rob's birthday recently at Tony Roma's. The goal here was to fit all the birthday candles onto the brownie. As you can see, we were sucessful!

Happy Birthday, Rob!