David's School Project

The Ancient Greeks and the Spartans

David just finished his Social Studies project for the unit on the Ancient Greeks and the Spartans. That was right up David's alley! For the project they had to choose two items to make- shield, spear, sword, armor....David chose to make a shield and a spear.

The spear was a good 7 feet tall and he made it out of an old rusty pole. When he was done with it, we opted to take it in after school. I didn't think it was a good thing for him to be carrying it around school with kids there!

The shield was made out of foam board. David wanted to add tacks around the edge so he had to add another layer of cardboard on the back- the tacks were so long they stuck through the foam board...little bit of a hazard! I helped sketch out the loin for him.

All in all, I think his projects turned out pretty darn well- Great Job David!

So Far Behind!

I am so far behind in blogging, I'm not really sure where to begin!
To start, I will just say we are all doing well....just busy busy busy!
Wrestling season is long over, as is David (and Mike's!) Football season. Scouts is ongoing- David and Mike camped 2 weeks ago and "Summer camp" is coming up during Spring Break. Mike and Matt are staff and David is attending as a scout.

Matt has recently been certified as a Lifeguard and is applying for a summer job at the pools (and I cringe to think of my fair headed child out there baking in the Okinawa sun!). He is currently doing Track at school- discus, shot put, long jump, 1/2 mile and (his words) "the fat man's relay".

David is busy with the paper route, scouts and skateboarding. He's sad that Football is over. Not sure what sport he will do next- for now he is working out with Mike and skateboarding.

Mike is setting in as Division Officer of the APU- Ambulatory Care Unit. He has very nice 4th floor office complete with windows and his own bathroom (with shower!). I've been filling the office up with plants and photos.

I have been occupied with my photography- wrestling and football. Taking pictures for the Okinawa Youth Football League has definitely taken a chunk of my time. Lots of fun though, and I raised a bunch of money for the league (well over $1200).
I am working hard at wrapping up the football photos- maybe by next week I can start catching up on blogging (well, maybe after the taxes are done...)

Some recent activities I need to have separate posts for:
Mike and I went on the "Tunnel Rats" tour. (This was awesome!)
Scout camping at Torii Station
Ty and I on a Thursday wandering
Matt Wrestling Far East
David's school project
Matt and Track

Shakey's- Okinawa Style!

October 2008

Way back in October, Mike and I decided to give Shakey's Pizza a try for lunch. We haven't had Shakey's in...like, Forever! But it was a place we used to love to go way back when.

It's apparently a very popular place here- we had tried to go before, but the boys were too hungry to wait the 30 minutes plus minutes to be seated. Even today, on a week day, there was a 10 minute wait.

They do not serve salad (we were very sad!), but did have pizza, jojos, curry rice, chicken broth, drinks and dessert. One difference is that you use the same plate the entire time- no clean plate each time you go up like in American buffets. I will tell you, we did not see a single Okinawan leave any food on their plate. If they took it, they ate it. A far cry from the gross waste of food you see in stateside buffets.

The pizza was....interesting! Lets see if I can remember the kinds we they had:
Cheese
Pepperoni
Pepperoni with corn
Pepperoni with bell peppers
Salad Pizza : this had to be the funniest one- just a baked pizza crust with lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing...no sauce. It was literally a plain pizza crust with a salad dumped on top! (very popular thou!)
Wasabi Pizza with Octopus (at least that is what we THINK the white chewy rings were). Slivers of dried seaweed on top. Believe it or not, this was my favorite!
Sausage with tomatoes
Hawaiian
One we couldn't figure out- sauce was dark and it had tiny bits of broccoli, octopus, and other unidentified objects. Good, just didn't know what it was (and that may be a good thing!).

Definitely different choices then your typical American Pizza! Very little meat- the pepperoni and sausage pizzas were more cheese then meat.

The rice and curry was good- very good actually. We tried the soup just because it was there- think it was just a plain chicken broth. Tasted good, but seemed a strange thing to have with the other stuff. But then again, I wouldn't serve curry and rice with pizza either!

The desserts were typical Okinawa...as in not very sweet. One was a pizza crust with tiny bits of pineapple (cooked) then drizzled with a bit of chocolate sauce and lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Okay, but not worth seconds. They also had sweet rolls- looked like cinnamon rolls but not quite. One kind was plain (no icing), the other had a bit of chocolate syrup drizzled over the top.

They had a table set up with pitchers of oolong tea and iced tea (the oolong tea was much milder than the ice tea). The soda dispensers included a cold, very strong, coffee, hot coffee out of a machine and an orange slushie drink (these types of drinks, similar to slurpees are popular here). The soda dispensers are a bit different- there is only one dispenser spigot- no matter which soda you choose, it comes out of the one spigot. You just push the button of which soda you want. We are used to the American dispensers which have a separate spigot for each flavor of soda. No diet soda- just Grape Fanta, Root Beer, Coke, and a melon Fanta (or maybe it was green apple?)...and the cold coffee.

We enjoyed lunch, and the experience, but doubt we'll go back. A bit pricey at 950 Yen for lunch.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the pizza- I didn't take in a camera and would have felt funny taking pictures (we were the only Americans there).

Close Encounter

We had a close encounter up here on the hill....a close encounter with a very large helicopter! We heard the racket and went out to take a look. Half the neighborhood also came out. Hoovering close by was a very large helicopter- I won't guess as to what kind of helicopter it was (I am sure many of you know, but not me!).

It hoovered in one spot for several minutes then moved over so it was directly over the middle of housing hoovered some more. No clue as to why it was so low over a housing area since it was not a medical helicopter landing at the hospital. In all, it hung out for close to 10 minutes.The Helicopters brought back memories of when the helicopters flew through Tierrasanta while we lived in San Diego- we had them come over housing when they were looking for lost children or looking for fugitives. When we lived El Cajon, the helicopters came through spraying for some type of bug...it's been so long I've forgotten exactly what it was for. I remember everyone covering their cars so the stuff wouldn't get all over it- and of course we had to be inside when they were spraying. It was pretty eerie, especially since they did it at night (lots of noise and lights).

Anyway, the helicopters on the hill added a bit of excitement to our day!

Happy Birthday Willie

Our dearest William is turning 18 years old! Can you believe it? Our kitty has pretty much traveled the world at this point. He has had health issues these last few years, but as you can see he is looking pretty good these days! He is certainly using his old age to his advantage- he meows to be lifted on the couch, meows to be lifted onto our laps, meows to eat, meows to be lifted onto the bed....and lately to even go up or down the stairs. Of course, if we aren't around he manages to get up and down the stairs, and even onto the bed (which is high) just fine on his own!

I do cater to his whims- he's earned it. And at 18 years old, who am I to deny him anything? He still gets his digs in with Mike- it is Mike's side of the bed he goes to for a lift up- even if I am still awake and he is on my side of the room...he goes over to Mike's side to meow. I usually start laughing when he does this, so I am never sure if it is me laughing or Willie meowing which wakes Mike up (bless his heart, Mike's a good sport about it even at 3 am!)

You'll notice from the pictures- Willie takes full advantage of Mike sitting still for any length of time. (and as I am writing this, Willie is laying in my lap after meowing at me until I picked him up). I'm over choosing to overlook the fact that he is shedding all over my keyboard as I type....

So Happy Birthday William!
We love ya, Kitty Cat.

A Little Bit of Rain Today....

Today's weather was a bit strange! Some very early morning rain, lots of wind, then some blue sky, and back to rain. We had some periods of torrential downpours...the kind that soaks you within a second of stepping outside (I learned my lesson about leaving all THREE umbrellas in the van!).

I was just leaving the hospital after taking Mike some lunch when the one rain storm hit. After seeing how the water was flowing down the streets, I grabbed my camera and headed back out. Below are some pictures taken right down the street.
For those of you who don't live there, you may not realize that these water culverts are about 2 1/2 feet wide by 4 feet deep...there was A LOT of water moving through...FAST! Pretty cool to watch.

Further down the road, the whole road was completely flooded. You can see how deep the water is by the white car- it was up past the undercarriage. There was 4 or 5 vans parked next to me- with lots of Okinawa workers wondering what they were going to do (I think the leaves must have blocked some of the drains). the picture on the right (behind the chain link fence) shows how high up the water was gushing.







After just 5 minutes the rain tapered off and the water rapidly went down- amazing how quickly actually.