Obon

So, I'm peacefully minding my own business and cleaning up dinner when I hear what sounds like a mob shouting outside my door.



Of course this is no mob! The procession was celebrating Obon, a festival apparently of Buddhist tradition, that honors the ancestors.

Just one more fascinating part of living in another culture!

Awase Meadows Golf Course

Well, Lindsay has safely arrived back in the US to help celebrate the wedding of two of our good Cleveland friends. Since I'm new in the working world, and therefore lacking in these thing called "vacation days," I had to stay behind. That doesn't mean I can't have a little fun on my own though!

On my first Saturday alone in Okinawa, I hit the links for the first time since I've been here. Awase Meadows Golf Course was the first course ever built on Okinawa, constructed in 1948. It shows its age, but it's a nice course - especially if you're paying $15 (walking) for 18 holes on a Saturday! It's actually scheduled to close in about a year. They are building a new golf course for the Marines a little bit further north, and this one will give up its space to a gigantic mall and a hospital.

The first tee... And the first tee shot!

The halfway house.

Ocean views and beautiful flowers while playing golf for $15?

Ah, well there would have to be some bugs in the system. (Click on this guy for full appreciation!)

But come on! $15!

Ugh. Did I mention I was walking 18 for that $15? There were some pretty serious elevation changes that wore me out.

But the views were indeed spectacular. From this view...

you can even see our apartment! (Tallest sandy white building in the center of the picture, on the water just this side of the little inlet.)

But don't worry about me and my sore feet, because this makes it all better - made with fresh mint we're growing on the patio, fresh limes and our own home-made simple syrup for extra sweetness.

Sushi Go-Round

On Tuesday, Lindsay and I went to try some sushi with a slightly different presentation.

Aside from the whole conveyor-belt factory thing going on (I'm not sure if that gave me a good or a bad vibe about my sushi experience, but it sure was entertaining!), they used several different sauces to complement their preparations. It was really quite delicious! I think my favorite was octopus with a little bit of a horseradish/onion sort of sauce over it, very lightly grilled with some very fine slices of pineapple.

The way this works is very simple. You grab whatever you like that comes in front of you, and when you're done, you end up with stacks of plates. Each pattern of plate has a different value, and that's how they total your bill.

Cocok!

Monday, I had my first experience at Cocok's, a local salon/spa. It's VERY popular with the American here on the island. Their "claim to fame" is nail art. (It's one of those good "everybody's doing it" things!) I'm all ready for Becky's wedding with my new pedicure!

Check out the new slideshow on the right!

Joe and I went to a few off the islands off the White Beach Peninsula on Sunday. Check out the new slideshow for Hamahiga, Henze, Miyagi and Ikei Islands!

USN Dental Corps Birthday Ball

As many of you know, Joe and I have been hunting for "Western/Saloon" wear for the 97th Birthday Ball. Each year, each military unit, celebrates it's birthday with a Ball. The Dental Corps had its on Saturday.


With the help from both Moms in Cleveland and Indianapolis, here we are getting ready to go to the Ball.

We didn't win best dressed, but we looked very nice!

The ball itself was fun! It was held at the Butler Officers Club (on Camp Foster). Since no one was in uniform I don't think it was quite as formal and ceremonial. Nevertheless, we still had the Marine Corps Military Band there to play the National Anthem. We had a guest speaker and many toasts. The toasts were quite special. Various members of the Dental Corps raised their Champagne glass with gratitude to (for example) the members of the United States Navy and their service [which was followed by "Anchors Aweigh"]. One of the final toasts was for the fallen; the lights dimmed and there was a moment of silence to remember all that had gone before in service to our great Country.

Joe had a very special part in this year's Birthday Ball. Being the youngest member of the command, he was to cut the Birthday cake (with the oldest member). I have a video, but it's too big for here, so I'll try to get it up on YouTube in awhile. In the meantime......

Let's see if I can link this post to the video on YouTube now.....

White Beach from a different perspective

White Beach, a US Naval Facility can be viewed pretty clearly from our balcony. You've seen pictures of us at the beach, but it's also pretty interesting to see the Navy boats that dock there for awhile.

This was the largest one we've seen so far............but it was leaving.
We also get to see other kinds of boats come into Nakagusku Bay.I thought this little tugboat was pretty unusual.

Bluebarred Parrotfish

Disclaimer: If you don't like the sight of fish, this post might not be for you.

As some of you have already heard, Joe and I went to the Awase Fish Market on Saturday. I forgot to bring the camera to the market, but we do have some photos of our "catch".

The Awase Fish Market is about a 10 minute walk from our Apartment. They open at 10:30 everyday -- and we were there right at 10:30 on Saturday. We were the only Americans there, and I'm pretty sure we might have also been the only people purchasing fish for personal use. There are so many local restaurants in the area -- I have a feeling most people purchase the fish for the restaurant. At least, they were choosing / picking up the fish with a bit more determination than we were.

Anyways, I let Joe pick the fish this time. He chose a beautiful blue fish, which we figured out was the Bluebarred Parrotfish. (When you see photos of the fish's head, you'll know why). As we were waiting in line to have the fish cleaned and filleted, many local ladies kept coming up to Joe and his fish-in-the-basket and smiling, poking the fish and looking at him with either (a) amusement or (b) happiness at his choice. (We found out while waiting in line, that we made a good choice -- a local Okinawa man was trying to tell Joe how to cook the fish and that it makes good sushi).

Anyways, we got the fish home and decided we would make a fish head soup , poached parrotfish fillets and a vegetable couscous for dinner. After some online research, we figured out the best way to make a fish head soup would be:

- Lightly fry the fish in sesame oil, garlic and ginger

- After the fish is browned, transfer into a pot of boiling water. Boil for about a hour, to make a broth. Add vegetables (greens, leek, green onion, carrot, mushroom) for additional flavor.

This made for a lovely dinner. The fish head soup was great and the poached fillets were delicious!

Family Fun Day!

Last Friday was the 3rd Dental Battalion's "Family Fun Day" (also known as, the Company Picnic). Family Fun Day was held at the one Army installation, Torii Station. Torii is on the west side of the island, facing the East China Sea.

Friday was a beautiful day -- perfect for a day on the beach. I liked that there were "activities" (like basketball, volleyball, a "bouncy" and water slide for all the kids, a dunk tank), but that it was also perfectly acceptable to just sit and chill out on the beach! Next time we go to Torii Beach, Joe and I are renting chairs and a umbrella to sit and relax and enjoy the beautiful view!

Sorry UWCI friends, but Torii Beach had Garfield Park beat hands-down! It was a great day!

Apartment, part 2

Here's another video tour of the remainder our apartment.....

We also receive local mail (Japanese) in our apartment's mailbox. We have received:

Japanese Election materials (I think, pictures of this guy are all around town)

Restaurants (FIRE is a restaurant within walking distance to us)

but today's really took the cake. Can you guess what this piece of mail is?

........a 440 page baby catalogue! I wonder if all off-base Americans get these?

Saturday's Adventures - Ocean Expo Park

Today Joe and I went on an adventure to a northern part of the island. As you might have already guessed, we took the Expressway to get there. We went to Ocean Expo Park to see the Churaumi Aquarium. I think our first adventure north was a success!

The drive itself was very beautiful -- mountains and ocean.

The Expressway does not end at the northern-most tip of the island. It actually ends well before it, in Kyoda. From there we drove through Nago, then followed the coastline to Ocean Expo Park.

The Aquarium was wonderful! A "must-see" for any of our visitors. They have a fantastic collection of local sea life (kind of like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but with Okinawa creatures). I'll post most of the pictures in a slide show to the right, but here are some of our favorites: (If you wish to see the slide show pictures a bit larger, just click on the slide show and it will take you to my Picassa Album).

Giant Squid

Kuroshio Sea Tank (this was my favorite!)

Spiny Lobster

Spider Crab

We weren't able to see the rest of Ocean Expo Park, but it's definitely worth another trip. There are some beautiful gardens and walking paths. On our way out, Joe and I did find this to be really cool: (Aren't those Japanese clever? They've invented the green escalator!)

At the end of our day, Joe and I went to a restaurant right across from Sam's by the Sea --- the Korean Barbecue. It was delicious, but a lot of work (and quite a hazard) to eat dinner! You grill your meat/fish/vegetables on a tiny grill on your table. All was good until we put the duck on the grill and it caused everything to flame a bit. This was all fine, until you had to get your wooden chopsticks in there to pull your cooked meat out!

Driving in Okinawa

Many of you have probably wondered.....

how did Lindsay & Joe figure out how to drive on the left side of the road?

Well, it really is like driving on the right side. Minus that whole winshield-wiper/turn signal switch.

As you might notice, we are getting onto the Okinawa Expressway..... which is much faster! ;-)

Morakot 2

This is how our Thursday ended..... Morakot + Sunset = Purple Sky



This morning (Friday) it was a little less windy, but still very rainy and totally clouded over. You could barely see White Beach again.



On a totally unrelated subject: While I was getting ready this morning, I noticed something for the first time. We had to move my bike (and the grill) inside off the patio, due to the weather. I am sitting at my vanity when I look over and see....
This is probably the closest my bicycle (brought from Strongsville, OH) will ever be to it's "homeland". Taiwan is only about 125 miles away. It's back where it started!!

Morakot

I don't think that we will be officialy hit by the typhoon Morakot as it seems to be passing to the South of us for Taiwan (though, you never know); but it certainly has been a stormy day. I have never been in such high winds for an entire day.


Here are some photos from yesterday......

And here's what it's like to experience a typhoon near-miss...