Local Flea Market

I'll take a hamburger, fries, and that shirt over there...

This last Saturday we finally had a chance to go out and cruise around. Matt had a car wash for track in the morning so we got a late start. By the time we stopped at the bazaar on base, picked him up, went to the PX, and had lunch (at the A&W on base) it was well after 3pm. We just headed out with vague ideas of heading to Naha.

About 15 minutes south of us, there is a HUGE A&W. One of the old fashion A&W's you rarely see in the states anymore- they have where you can park and order the food and they will bring it out on trays which hook to your open window (remember that?). Anyway, this A&W is huge with a large play area and tons of outside tables. As we drove by on Saturday we notices they were mobbed with people- on a closer look we realized they were having a flea market. We stopped nearby at an outdoor store, only to realize they were closed for remodeling. Since it was a short walk back to A&W I convinced the guys we needed to check it out (actually, I just headed over and they decided it was easier to follow me than to wait for me!). Notice the gentleman directing traffic? That's one thing we have noticed here- a lot of businesses/stores have someone to direct traffic in and out of their parking lots. When you are leaving, they will step into the road and stop traffic for you so you can pull out- A very nice feature!

It was interesting to see the local flea market items...and to realize the stuff was about the same as you would see in any American flea market. Lots of clothes, stuffed animals and toys. (in the picture you can see the two little girls playing in the tote- they were so cute! I took the shot on the sly- not even lifting up the camera) I was surprised that most of the prices were so cheap- I had heard the local FM stuff was expensive. David found a cool silver necklace for 100Yen (that made is day!), Matt bought a shirt and tie for 300 Yen (right now the exchange rate is about 100Y=$1.00) and we found a "baby" (stuffed animal) for Ty for only 10Y. We had trouble with the last one- David asked how much the moose was and we just couldn't understand her answer...then we weren't sure if she really meant it was only 10Y (.10 cents). She finally found a ten yen coin and held it up. After much laughter, she had her 10 Yen and we had a new baby for Ty.
A fun and unexpected stop.

Home Away from Home

Mike's Office

About two months ago Mike moved from the ER to the APU (Ambuatory Care Unit- where they care for patients having same day surgeries mostly). As the Division Officer there, he has a cool office. I was in taking some staff pictures for him and took these too.

Here he is pulling his hair out over paperwork...
He keeps the candy dish on his desk full of chocolate (The nurses need something to keep them going!)

It's a pretty nice office- he doesn't have to share space, it's on the 4th floor so he has a view (even if the windows are so salt encrusted it's hard to see out!) AND he has is own bathroom (complete with shower). I liked the fact that I could buy more plants and have a place to put them. :)

Boy Scout Summer Camp

Motor Boating Merit Badge

This week is Boy Scout "Summer" Camp at Torii Station. David is attending all week, Mike is staff all week, and Matt is part time staff.
One of the merit badges David is working on is "Motor Boating". Every day the scouts get to go out in the Zodiac boats with the Marines- lucky boys!! Not only do the boys get to go out, they get to drive too! David, being the way David is, had to ask the first day- "Can I get thrown in??" The Marines didn't have to think twice- they picked him up and tossed him overboard. After that, all the scouts wanted to be tossed overboard!

That's David (blue and white shorts) hanging off the side of the boat in the photo below- Matt is sitting next to him.

Today Matt went out with the other scouts. I went out to- but just to the Rescue boat so I could stay dry while taking pictures (the boys in the Zodiacs got SOAKED immediately).

Today they worked on the skill of passing other boats. When they were done with that they spent some time swerving the boats around trying to dump off the scouts. At one point, the boat Matt and David were on stopped and EVERYONE jumped off- Marines and all!


Mike ended up teaching the book portion of the class.

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!