July 2013 Monthly Recap

Oh Man! I just realized now, nearly a month later that this never posted for you guys!  Ahhh!!! I've been recently traveling a bit, which I'll catch you up on for the August Recap, but for now, enjoy July's!

The longer we are here the faster time seems to be going.  This month was almost strangely speedy though.  I started volunteering more often, including an entire week (part-time) of organizing storage for the new USO Okinawa branch office.  It was sort of heaven for me, sorting through office supplies and putting them in order.  Although I only worked half days, by the time I drove back and forth to the other base and then did my normal daily errands and chores, the day was done!!!  No time for the beach...pffft!!! I haven't posted here at all this month, but check over at Kacey's Kitchen where I've been doing an "Eating Japan" series of everything we've been shoving in our faces...oink oink!  Now, onto the recap!

Let's start off with a smiling face... How she lays like this with her legs only an inch off the ground, I'll never understand.

I can't get enough of the beach.  Kassie, Maylee and I explored some islands on the eastern side of Okinawa and found what I think is my new favorite hidden beach.  Don't go there.  It's really horrible.

Aaron's parents sent us a Betsy Ross flag just in time for Fourth of July.  It actually looked really nice in this huge window.  Plus, Aaron is a direct descendant of Betsy Ross, so we definitely have to represent the family!  True story.

Have I mentioned you can get really cheap and really good massages here?  I'm talking $30 per hour.  Crazzzy!  This may or may not be my first one here.  But, it was my first Lomilomi, which is a Hawaiian massage.  Kacey approved for sure.

We signed up for library memberships and received this awesome pin.  Libraries remind me of a dream I had where I said "Read more books motherfuckers", and ever since, I have really wanted to make that saying a t-shirt.  You heard it here first.

Aaron finally got certified and we were able to go diving together a couple of weeks ago.  We did two dives and had tons of fun.  I forgot how hungry and tired diving makes you.  We went right off the Sunabe Seawall.  Although people dive there all the time and say how nice it is, I couldn't believe HOW nice it was. At one people I was floating around at about 45 feet and actually thought to myself "Wow, I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of coral!".  Geez.  Dumbass. Ha!!!

On our way back from returning our rental gear, we stopped for mango shaved ice at a stand run by two older gentlemen.  I pass them all the time and have never stopped before.  It's going to be hard to drive past WITHOUT stopping from now on.  Shaved ice is a huge thing here, it's like snowcone but a MILLION times better.  It's light and fluffy and they layer the toppings.  You can even get them with azuki beans (red beans)!

Breakfast is awesome and brunch with champagne and friends is even better.  A few of us in the neighborhood have been taking turns with brunch on the weekends, which is one of the most brilliant ideas EVER.  I made baked caprese egg bites one day.  My turn to host next!

 Not the most exciting picture, but it's so nice that Italian tomato chicken (which I think is supposed to be Chicken Parmesan) comes with peace!

We like to torture the cat.  On this particular day, I dressed her in the shirt I was brought home from the hospital in.  She just laid there, defeated. Muahaha!

Did I ever mention how I love going to the beach.  Another exploration day lead to Aaron and I laying in the sun on Ikei Island.  When it got too hot we floated around in the 86°F ocean.  It was rough I tell you. So. Freaking. Rough.

Penis cookies.  I'm not even going to go there...my parents read this blog.

This book was recommended to me, and I finally got around to checking it out at the bookstore.  This book is beautiful, and has so many fresh Japanese basics.  It would fit lovely in my kitchen if anyone wants to buy it for me.

I've been desperately needing a hair cut, and although a few years ago I swore off dying my hair to go all natural, I couldn't help feel like I needed a change.  I received a ton of in-town stylish recommendations and eventually made my decision based on closing my eyes and pointing to the list and made my appointment at Earth.  Armed with multiple photos and a list of English=Japanese hair style terms, I decided to go all out.  I paid extra for a higher level stylist, opted for highlights, and chose a deep conditioning treatment.  A few people came over to talk with me about options and what I wanted done, they wrote everything up and reviewed the price with me to make sure I was okay with it.  I thought that was awesome. No surprises!!!  I showed my inspiration photos and then told the colorist that he was free to use his judgement, which seemed to take him by surprise but was very happy about.  The only thing I told the stylist was "lots of LONG layers" and I want to keep my hair very long.  After 5 HOURS in the chair (not an exaggeration), multiple glasses of iced tea, my butt was sore, but I left a happy girl.  I originally requested a subtle ombre coloring, so when I took the picture below, I was a little concerned because I had foil all the way to my scalp.... But being as flexible as I am with my hair (I really don't care), I was curious what he decided to do.

The colorist was awesome, we talked quite a bit, his English was pretty good, and I tried to speak in as much Japanese as possible, which I'm sure I butchered because they were really amused with it.  We also taught each other some words in our respective languages.  I felt like a tool being a little nervous to speak with him so much, but it got easier as the hours passed.  Gotta take advantage of speaking the language when I can!  So I was happy with the color, but I was BLOWN away (hehe) buy the stylist.  This was BY FAR the best hair cut I've ever had in my life.  Even though he was really tall, he ended up kneeling most of the time to cut the back of my hair.  He was a wizard with scissors I tell you.  He really did keep my length, which you can see on the picture on the right (I was headed to bed when I took that picture) and thinned my hair so much I swear I lost 10lbs.  I have really thick hair, and was so impressed with the way he thinned it out with scissors (not a razor), that it really showed off the layers and actually makes my hair manageable.  The picture on the right shows the color a little bit more, although it's another weird photo - I'm sure you'll see better pictures in the upcoming posts.  I have highlights on top also, but those are a little more subtle then the ones underneath, which I love.  People say there are better places to go, but I'm going to have a hard time leaving this stylist.

KayCee, Kaylee and I did a last minute beach trip to catch the sunset the other day.  Seriously, anywhere you go here the view is beautiful.

I feel like these might be floating around the US somewhere, but either way, I found them interesting.  So...it's  basically a $1.00 (¥100) converter for smaller batteries when you need a larger one.  I feel like it would melt my gadget, but if you've tried it, let me know.

I had the pleasure of dog sitting ANOTHER lab.  This is Millie, and it's not just her brown coat that reminds me so much of Bosco, but her personality as well.  She thinks shes a human and she'll do anything for your love.  Unfortunately she hurt her leg at some point, so we weren't able to play as much as we would have liked, but she did get some human cuddle time in, with both me and the elephant.

Lauryn and I dubbed this entire day amazing before it was even 1pm.  After walking the dogs we headed off to do some paddleboarding in the East China Sea at Torii Beach.  This was my first time and it definitely showed.  The ocean was a little choppy (for beginners) once we got out there, but I was able to stand up a few times and we had fun just paddling around on our knees as well.  After baking in the sun for about an hour we decided to return them ($5 an hour) and float around in the water just enjoying the day.  I couldn't believe how many different muscles it took to stay balanced, pros make it look so easy! We later grabbed some gyros at Sunabe Gyro's (I got goat, she got falafel) and sat on the seawall enjoying our delicious grub.  Picture of my view below.  It was just a really good relaxing day all around.

At the end of the month we sponsored a new guy moving to the island and joining Aaron's squadron.  We were pretty excited about this.  The new guy seemed pretty cool based on the emails and phone calls we exchanged, and we were happy we could help someone out.  At a minimum, the base requests that you pick up the new person, book lodging for them, and show them around.  When you take into consideration that no one has a car or even a drivers license when they first get here, there is lots of relying on complete strangers for help.  Seeing that we only arrived in February, our lack of freedom was fresh in our minds and we were determined to be awesome sponsors! Anyway, the new guy ended up being really cool and laid back and I'd like to think we helped him get settled in a little and have some fun.

While waiting at the airport, I had to get some shots with the mascot.  He's so happy sitting in an airport all day!

Last but not least, fancy turtle!  While browsing a pet store, I stumbled upon the store turtle.  I'm not sure where he/she was going all dressed up like that, but it was a pretty huge and cool dude.

Again, sorry for not realizing this post hadn't actually post.  In just a few days, we'll be recapping August!  Woo Woo!!!

So tell me, what have you been up to?
Do you have a blog with monthly recaps?  If so, leave me the link and I'll share them with the world!!

Click here for all of the past monthly recaps.

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Iejima (Ie Island)

After reading my last post on my adventures with Kassie on Kourijima, I know you're just dying to find out if we ever made it to Iejima, our original adventure destination.  We woke up early, drove up the oh-so-familiar-by-now highway and arrived at the ferry terminal to find a packed parking lot and long lines.  This looked much more promising!  The lines moved fast and within a few minutes, Kassie was loading her bike up in the storage area of the boat and I was wading through a sea of people to find a spot to claim for our 30 minute ride.

Be sure to check out Kassie's blog and recap of our trip here.

As soon as the ferry hit land, I hopped off to find a bike rental place.  The day before I totally forgot that I knew how to say bicycle in Japanese, but this time I took the opportunity to practice asking where they were.  They were right around the corner.  Duh.  The ferry cost about $14 round trip per person, and I think Kassie paid about $12 to bring her bike, which, if you have one is definitely the way to go.  I rented a bike for the day for $10, but being out in the salty island air, it was rusted to shit, and I had even harder of a time this day than I did the previous.  If you were to bring a car to the island, you would need to make a reservation and it costs something like $40-$50, which isn't bad if you have a car load of people and are staying for a few days.

We caught up with each other and headed off to find some cool stuff.  We ended up finding a neat little beach all to ourselves and hunted for sea glass, interesting shells, and this guy.

I played with the hermit crab for waaay to long trying to get a focused picture of him/her while Kassie went exploring along the cliff.  She was gone for a while and I thought I should go look for her, but then I dozed off for a few minutes laying on some coral.  Good friend I am, ha!!!

We biked a few kilometers to the Hibiscus Garden which housed over 1,000 different varieties.  While they had really nice walking paths and outdoor gardens, they hadn't bloomed yet, so we headed inside a giant greenhouse, which was still really fun.

There were so many, each on more beautiful than the last.

We couldn't get over how tall the plants were and how large each flower was.  I had never seen anything like it before.  Some were literally bigger than my head!!!

Next up was the feature of the week.  The Lily Festival!!!  We followed tour buses and the crowds through the windy streets until we found a place to park our bikes unchained next to about 2034982349 other bikes.    Walking just a little ways down a path, we came across this view!

Here we grabbed some lunch from some food vendors, listened to music playing from the stage and people watched.

I think we both expected something a little different from this.  For some reason I was thinking that all these lilies would be growing wild, but it made total sense that they are maintained and cared for.  There were people working in nearly every patch of lilies picking off dead petals and fallen leaves to keep everything looking pristine.  I thought that was pretty impressive.

Don't get me wrong, we both loved the Lily Festival, and I would definitely recommend anyone who lives here to go to it.  I mean, come on, how could you not love being in a field next to the ocean in a middle of these gorgeous flowers.  The whole island as a whole was awesome, and definitely go exploring outside of the 'festival'.

Mandatory Japanese pose of the day.

We strayed off the beaten path, not far at all from the festival and climbed over a ton of coral (that stuff is SHARP!  It ripped through my sneaker!) to spy on some fisherman on the cliff.  While we were standing there, some water shot up through a little tiny crack in the coral, so we had fun getting as close as we could to it without being blasted and taking a ton of pictures.  Check out Kassie's blog for a hilarious but mega unflattering picture of me posing 'terrified' of it.  Hehe.

We knew it was about time to get back on our bikes and check out at least one more place before we had to catch the ferry.  Ugh...there were hills, and my rusty bike didn't want to peddle and we were tired and my butt hurt.  But then....we arrived at Wajee View Point, which was worth every second.  Seriously, check out this view!!!

Time to head back.  We had only seen a fraction of the island, and thought we had missed all of the historical sites until we passed this building which had been destroyed during WWII.  It was too bad we couldn't read about it, all we knew was that it was a historic site.

Iejima played a major role in Japan surrendering to the US during the war.  There are 3 runways that still exist, one which is still used for civilian aircraft.  The US Marines use the island as a training facility, and we were able to watch some paratroopers jump out of an Osprey!!! Farming is huge on the island (as is most of Okinawa), well, as huge as could be on a 9 square mile plot of land, and raise tons of things including ducks, cattle, flowers, tobacco, potatoes, fish, and probably tons others I don't know about.  There is even a rum distillery.  We got the impression that you cannot tour the factory, but we did bring some home to try!

We headed back and returned my bike, and as we were walking away, we were yelled at in Japanese to come back and get a free snowcone!  We each got one and enjoyed our surprise treat sitting in the shade.  It was very appreciated after being in the blazing sun for hours!

After buying some treats for the boys back home, and some lilies for ourselves, we headed back.  The ferry ride back was uneventful and quiet.  We plopped down in our hidden little spot on the top deck and relaxed, uploaded photos of the day, and talked about how awesome our island adventures were.  We'd love to go back, maybe bringing the guys and check out the other side of the island, some of the historic stuff, climb the mountain and go into the caves.  Maybe we could stay at the resort of even camp in the winter.

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Toguchi Beach - Okinawa, Japan

It didn't take us too long to find a beach to explore.  Actually, it took us about a week, which really surprised me I didn't insist on going to one much, much sooner, but we were really so busy.  I guess that's what happens when you move to another country.  

Toguchi beach isn't too far away from our house, only about 6 miles, it still takes about 20 minutes due to traffic, slow speed limits, and insanely tiny roads to navigate and squeeze multiple cars through.  When you first arrive at the parking lot, there is a cafe (which we haven't tried yet) and a playground.  The playgrounds are different here, with cement slides and roller slides!  There were a bunch of families playing the day we went, so of course we avoided them and photos.  But I do want to go down the roller slide, so you'll get photos eventually.  Just past the playground are walking paths to the beach and some really nice picnic pavilions.

And something that made my day...seeing 2 cats playing on the beach.  You can see this guy running off with something in his mouth.  Cats are everywhere in Japan.  Literally, everywhere.  Some of them are in rough condition, but others are pretty cute and it's hard to remember that they are wild.

The tide was low when we arrived, and we saw many fishermen standing waaay out in the water, and families out harvesting seaweed.

There are numerous caves here, like on most of the island, and the rock formations are beautiful.

 

This beach is on the west side of the island, the East China Sea.

This photo doesn't show it, but the island is also COVERED in coral. Coral, coral EVERYWHERE!!!

Shrines and large tombs can be found everywhere on the island, on business property, on the side of the road, in peoples yards, and on base.  It'll be interesting to learn more about them.

Along the path are multiple places to stop and rest, and small yet beautiful picnic pavilions. This one here is way out on a point overlooking the sea.

On the other side of the parking lot, there is another walking path, stairs to the water, and different levels of grass to sit on and enjoy the outdoors.  See that big rock way in the back in the photo below?  Just past there is a quiet beach with finer sand and places to enjoy the water.

Here's some families out in the tidal pools collection sea weed and other things.

Oh, and don't take the hermit crabs!!!

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