Strange

We went out to eat next door at Macaroni Grill with our friend Sean (who works with Noa and is also new to the island).

All the servers and cooks were Japanese.

It's strange to go to an Italian-themed restaurant that is completely run by all Japanese workers.

Strange. Very strange indeed.

Temporary Home

Here's a photo of the front of the WestPac Lodge where we are staying. I must admit that I was surprised to find it very accomodating and updated. The room includes a bedroom (with tv), full bath, a mini-kitchen, a living room with tv and Playstation, and internet access. Oh, and the largest Macaroni Grill in the world is located next door!


I could get used to staying here!

My New Ride

So, you may be wondering what we are doing in Okinawa - Where do we live? What are we doing? How do we get around?

Here's how it has worked...we were picked up at the airport (on Kadena Air Force Base, not the airport in Naha) by our sponsors, Nathan and Irisha. They have lived here for about a year and Nathan is a family doctor like Noa. So, they have helped get us acclimated to the culture and get us set-up. They made arrangements for us to stay at a hotel called the West Pac, which is located on one of the military bases. The hotel is really nice - much nicer than I expected. In fact, we have internet access from our room - that's how I can e-mail and blog all of this.

Nathan and Irisha are also helping us get around, explore restaurants, and get settled. They take us pretty much wherever we need to go. They've been wonderful, but obviously they can't be our drivers forever, so we'll be taking a newcomer's orientation on Wednesday, which includes taking a driving test. Then, we'll be able to drive around this crazy place - oh, and yes, they do drive on the "other" side of the road here. The driver of a car is also located on the right side of the car, which will take a little getting used to.

So far, we've been able to make one big purchase - a car! We found a little car to get me around the island. It's a green Toyota Starlet (1997) and it doesn't smell like smoke, which I have found to be unusual in used cars here on the island. I looked on the internet for a picture that I'm including. Mine looks pretty similar, except it has four doors, not two. I plan on tinting the windows because it is soooo hot here - I think it may be worse than Florida!

Next on the agenda is to find an apartment, get another vehicle for Noa, contact the Department of Defense schools about my job, and have Noa check into his new post at the hospital. We are quite busy as you can imagine. More to come later....

Arrived

After a total of 21 hours of travel time, Noa and I have made it to Okinawa, Japan from Jacksonville.

More to come later - I'm not even sure where to begin - everything is so different.

Hair Today

Got my hair chopped off today - just in time for the trip to Oki - what do you think?? 

Full Day

Yesterday was my last full day with Sadie and Gunnar for awhile. They are staying with some friends until late November, when they can come to live with us in Japan. To get out of the house (M & J had an open house event going on), we all packed it up and went to the beach - dogs and all. It was a fun trip and I finally got to get some sun. Unfortunately, our outing was cut short by a severe thunderstorm. So, instead we took the dogs to get full baths and scrub all that sand out of their fur.

Also, we celebrated Kate's 21st birthday early. Noa and I won't be here for her actually birthday, which falls late in August, so we had a small celebration at the house. Check out all her goods - the Hampostles and some of her other friends hooked her up. Now she's got an iPod Nano, a cell phone, and a digital camera. It doesn't get much better than that! Happy (early) Birthday, Kate - I love all your "Kateness". Ha ha! 

Night at the Atlantic

Last night the "Hampostles" plus one (our pal Amanda) went to The Atlantic at the beach for a night of dancing. As you can see we had a great time. We showed up "early" - around 10:30 - and the club was pretty dead - there were a handful of people by the bar and music was playing, but the dance floor was empty. We sat for a little bit, had a couple of drinks, and chatted before Mike convinced us to get the party started. Even though I'm always hesitant to be the first one out on the dance floor, Mike convinced us to all go out there and get things going. Pretty soon, the dance floor was full of people and when we left it was wall-to-wall people. But - the party wasn't over. When we got back to the house, we cranked up the music and continued dancing late into the night. It was so much fun - we all had such a blast.

 

Enjoying the Last Days

 
 
 
 

I'm trying to spend most of my last days in Florida with my dogs, since I won't see them again until late November. They cannot join us until then due to pet importation restrictions/quarantine regulations in Japan. Thankfully, they'll be staying with some good friends of ours who also own IGs and have a huge, fenced in yard. I'm sure the dogs will not be too happy to go from that to a tiny, Japanese apartment in November!
 

5 Days in North Dakota

You may be wondering, "what does one do in North Dakota?"

Here are some ideas - in no specific order and not a complete list -

-visit the Dakota Zoo
-play with (almost) 3-year-old nephew
-meet and visit with relatives, especially the ones you haven't seen in at least 10 years
-walk the neighborhood
-have a barbeque
-rent a huge minivan
-go to playgrounds (at least 2)
-get lost in the middle of rural America
-eat too much at every meal
-look at old family photos
-play with nephew again and again and again
-take in the view of sprawling farmland
-learn a new accent
-find out what "Fish Eye Salad" is
-buy souvenir t-shirts
-have slide races
-check out the novelty housing of certain cousins
-befriend the biggest dog you've ever seen
-teach nephew how to say "No-a"
-eat many, many pieces of french toast
-talk about Harleys
-keep the digital camera handy
-stay in the air conditioning to avoid the hot temps outside
-plan to come back soon


It was a great trip after all - who knew North Dakota had so much to offer? Oh, and we're back in Florida for a week. The countdown to Japan is on!

Miscellaneous

Who's the little cutie in the photo with Cristyn? It's Kristofer - her nephew. I finally got to meet the handsome little guy at my party on Sunday and got to see him again yesterday morning. Noa and I went out with Anoli, Cristyn, Peter (Cristyn's brother), and Jen (Kristofer's mom) for some breakfast at a local diner in Lowell, MA. It was a fun visit - complete with my favorite breakfast item: belgium waffles! Poor little Kristofer got really warm in the diner, so he got to hang out with Auntie Cristyn near a fan without a shirt on - I love chubby babies and he sure takes the cake - love those belly rolls.

We also had a small family party for Anoli. She turns 25 in a couple of days, but since she'll be at work (Camp Berea) and we'll be gone, we decided to celebrate early. It was a fun little party - we feasted on Roadhouse ribs and Carvel ice cream cake - yum! Later, Anoli, Noa, and I wasted the night away taking goofy pictures with our digital cameras. I think the cat hates us now considering he was in like 25 of them.

Sayonara Party

My parents threw us a going away party with many of our friends from church and around New England. The house was packed. The funny thing was that some people at the party I had never actually met before! However, most that I didn't know were friends of my parents and I had heard of them, so it was nice to actually meet them and put a face with the name.

If you are wondering what is inscribed on the cake above in the photo, it says "sayonara" in kanji characters (meaning "goodbye" in Japanese). Gotta hand it to those Costco folks - they are pretty talented with their cake decorating abilities.

 

18 Going on 23

Last night we went out with Noa's family to the Hanover Street ChopHouse Restaurant to celebrate Megan's (my sister-in-law) 18th birthday. We dined on steak, wine, and delicious dessert - I chose the cheesecake, of course. I found this picture* somewhat comical because here is Megan - who just turned 18 - and myself, a little older at 27 years old. Earlier in the week we had gone to a Chinese restaurant and the girl behind the counter told Megan that she looked 22 and I looked 18.** I can never win.


Happy 18th, Megs. Love you!




*My apologies about the red eye in the photo. I'm blogging from borrowed computers and can't always figure the photo programs out. So, until I can fix it, Megan and I will continue to look a little devilish.
**And yes, I've heard it a thousand times: I know I'll appreciate that comment when I'm older. I just don't appreciate it now!

New England

We have a couple trips that we're taking before our big adventure to Okinawa. This morning we arrived in New Hampshire. New England - the six most northeast states for those of you who don't know which states constitute this category (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) - is considered my "home." I was born and raised in Massachusetts, my family moved to New Hampshire when I was in middle school, as a kid I went to summer camp every year in Maine, and I spent a summer working in Connecticut. So, I have a lot of happy memories when I visit up here. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I noticed the pleasant change in temperature. The weather is a nice break from hot, humid, and sticky Florida, where it's a mere 95-100 degrees out everyday. Here, in New Hampshire, it's warm but there's a breeze and it's not humid, thankfully. The clouds are a little overcast and I think we may get some rain. I love flying into the little Manchester airport and looking over all the hills and forests with little houses tucked about. I've definitely missed all that greenery and the pine trees.

My dad picked us up from the airport and we caught up over subway subs. I'm anxious to hang out with our families and friends knowing that we'll be separated by an ocean for some time. I know we have a lot of visiting on the agenda.

We'll be here for about a week - pictures will be posted soon! Then, we're off to North Dakota to meet and visit with some of Noa's extended family members for several days.

One Down, One to Go

Yesterday, Noa sold one of our cars. Our '95 Geo Prizm held a lot of memories and I found myself teary-eyed as Noa signed over the papers to the new owner. Thinking back, I remember some of the great times with the car. My grandfather helped purchase the car for me the summer before my sophomore year of college. I used the car to get me to and from my teaching internship, dug it out of snow many, many times, replaced the tires far too often due to puncture holes (thanks to the lovely condition of New England roads), drove it with my dad to Florida, picked up our first puppy, and shuttled many Christmas trees to our place with the Prizm. The car will definitely be missed.

Now we are focused on selling our newer car, a Honda Civic, by the end of the month. Although it doesn't carry as many memories, I'm sure I'll be teary-eyed again. Now thinking about it, I realize that I was probably a bit emotional because I haven't really dealt with the products of the move. Although I know the move is imminent, I don't really face the results in the face and deal with the flood of emotions that come with them. We've moved out of our place, we're selling our cars, found a temporary home for the dogs, and are currently living out of suitcases - all this because we are moving to Japan. Japan!! It almost doesn't feel real, but it's going to happen and it's going to happen soon. Instead, I get caught up in taking care of the the things that need to get accomplished, such as packing or taking care of important paperwork, and avoid the feelings that go along with the reason for doing so. I know that what to do is deal with all of the aspects of the move. People move all the time and military families move overseas quite frequently, so it's not like it'll be the end of the world if I get sad and exited at the same time. I know that I can face this challenge head on! I am moving to Japan and I will face the flood of emotions that come with that.

Well... maybe tomorrow.


In the meantime, know anyone who wants to buy a Honda Civic??

A Dog's Day in Pictures

Wake up much too early and hang out outside. Watch the stupid boys frolick in the wet grass.






Go out to an outdoor restaurant with the humans. Look adorable in order to acquire people food. If the adorable look doesn't work (and you happen to be a trim Italian Greyhound), play the "they don't feed me" card - works every time.






Go to the dog park and spend hours chasing after the slow human. She calls this running?!






Celebrate Gunnar's first birthday with ice cream. Eat without ceasing.


















Go home. Practice breakdancing moves on the floor.



















Settle in for the night. Try to take over the couch before the humans do.

Another Graduate

Now I'm not the only graduate in the family. Over the past two days we've been celebrating Noa's graduation from his residency program with the Navy. Last night we attended an awards banquet where he was awarded Teacher of the Year. Today was the formal graduation ceremony where he was also awarded for his service as chief resident. It's hard to believe that 3 years of residency have now come and gone. Noa and I both survived and I am so proud of his accomplishments. Good job, babe!! 

Moving Out, Moving In

Noa, the dogs, and myself of course, have finally moved out of the apartment. We moved in with Mike and Jess last night. Although we love the idea of living with them, the logistics are interesting since they are in the process of selling their house - therefore it must be clean and in shape 24/7 - which calls for creativity when you are living out of 3 suitcases and have 2 dogs with you. When Kate is here (sometimes she stays at friends houses), there are 5 people and 3 dogs here, so it's pretty cozy.

We all toasted the occasion last night to some champagne. The funny thing about the champagne is that we are all trying to drink it up since both the Hammers and Apostles are moving. Somehow all of us found ourselves with several bottles and I think there are something like 10 bottles that we need to use up in the next month. I guess there will be lots of toasting going on during the month of July.

So, here's to some good times with the "Hampostles." I'm going to go crack open a bottle of bubbly. Cheers!

Empty

Well, the first ("general" meaning slow to arrive) shipment was moved out today. It didn't take the movers long to clear our place out. Now we only have two rooms with piles of stuff in them. One room is our USA storage room and the other has the "express" shipment, which will be moved out tomorrow. We'll hopefully see that stuff by the end of August. That includes our computer so until then, I'll be blogging from borrowed sources - I apologize ahead of time if there are significant time lapses between entries, but this is out of my control. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on where we are as our schedule becomes a little crazy at this point. But for now, we're still grounded in Florida and living in a mostly empty apartment.

Pack Out

The movers are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. During the next couple of days they will be taking away our things that we want shipped to Japan. So, Noa and I have been busy trying to sort through our things and decide what's going into storage here in the states and what will be heading overseas with us. Don't ya just love the look on Gunnar's face in this photo? He is so confused! "Mom, what are you doing with all our stuff?!" 

27

This weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday in between packing up our things and getting the apartment sorted (the movers come on Wednesday). Although Noa and I spent most of the time moving boxes and furniture from room to room, both he and my friends found ways to make the weekend special. On Saturday, which was my actual birthday, Noa took me out for my favorite breakfast and gave me my presents. I was completely floored by the gifts, which I was not expecting. He gave me more diving equipment: a regulator (see non-flattering photo above), octopus (or alternate air source, and a pressure gauge. I'm so excited to try out these and my BCD when we get to Oki! We also went out to dinner that night to a little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. What it lacked in appearance, it made up for in taste. The food was fabulous - especially the tiramisu and cappuccino for dessert - yum!
After working on the apartment some more on Sunday, we went to the Apostle's and joined Mike, Jess, and Kate for some BBQ in the evening. While Mike cooked up some burgers, the dogs ran around in the yard like crazy and I got to catch up with our friends. It was fun to simply hang out and catch up on things going on in each other's lives. Mike and Jess gave me a huge bag full of awesome goodies, like new headphones for my iPod. We closed the night with chocolate ice cream cake and a movie.

It was a great weekend - I wish it wasn't over so soon! Back to the grindstone...