January: Grad school, Legos, Commissary trouble, and Lysander

Hi everyone! I'm sure you've figured out by my absence that we have been very busy! I'll catch you up.

January was an interesting combination. Nathan worked a lot over the New Years holiday, even all the way to midnight. We literally rang in the new year with a giant bell as part of a service.

The big news for me was being accepted into graduate school. I'll be studying Higher Education Administration with Southern New Hampshire University, as well as taking a few Distance Education Leadership classes with my employer, UMUC (gotta love free tuition). I've been considering grad school for two years now, but moving overseas changed a lot of my plans. I've been actively applying since last summer and was turned down more than once, so this is a triumph for me. I should be able to finish the degree before I leave island.

In January, we had fun trying some new things, including a Lindy Hop swing dance lesson taught by those at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Danced with a room full of PhD candidates! We spent an afternoon messing around with Legos, cameras, and computers to make a comic book page. It was a neat combination of hobbies. 

For several weeks (that turned into months), the commissary- our word for on-base grocery store- has been struggling with stocking the shelves. There were strikes in the shipping ports, so we were unable to get a lot of fresh items. It was a little freaky, but there are always the Japanese grocery stores we shop at with translation apps. 

One amazing addition was Lysander, our ball python. His 

owner was looking for a new home for him, and I gladly brought him home. We absolutely love him. He is very calm and likes to explore.

July: Typhoon Neoguri, Sea Kayaking, Zip Lining

Hello! The summer has passed and I have barely been able to keep up! Here is a brief update from each month.

Over the July 4th, holiday, I experienced my first typhoon. Because they are huge and slow-moving, we know days in advance before it hits, which allows time for preparations. The wind picked up and the skies turned grey a day or two beforehand, hinting that some rough weather was ahead. Since this was our first typhoon in our 5th floor, ocean-front apartment, we were a little nervous. The wall facing the ocean is half windows! We taped cardboard over the sliding glass doors, charged all our electronics, put sandbags in our cars, and filled our water bottles. 

We ended up having to deal with a good bit of water coming in through the glass doors, making up tape and towel them multiple times. We lost power for about 30 hours, but our water still worked. We passed the time reading books, playing games, and taking naps. Since we have a gas stove, we were still able to cook, though we tried not to open the fridge. Growing up in a rural area with bad ice storms, I was used to dealing with power outages. The new thing for me was the noise. The wind and rain were roaring. We switched rooms as the storm changed directions to get a break from the noise. In the end, I had two days off from work and a lot of wet towels.

As for fun in July, we led two events, now deemed the Summer Island Adventure program at the chapel. The first was a day spent sea kayaking and snorkeling. Since it was through a tour group, we didn't get quite as much freedom as we would have liked while kayaking, but the snorkeling was amazing. The group was thrilled with all the fish, sea cucumbers, snakes, and coral they could see, without even having to go fully underwater. 

The other Island Adventure for the month was a trip to Forest Adventure zip lining park. That pretty much explains itself. By the end of that day, we were tired, dirty, and happy. Dinner that night was at a michi no eki, a large rest stop created by the government that has shops and food vendors. The guys got a chance to try soba, Okinawan donuts, and mango ice cream. 

Oh and one last thing. Blonde now :)

New Years, Okinawa World and Habu Museum

So, I suppose I should say Happy New Year, belated though it may be. We cheered in the year at Hansen Christian Center (the place we stayed before moving in to our apartment) with the four Marines who lived there over the holidays. Since then, we've had a fairly busy year: Chaplain Black is in the US for a month, so Nathan has had full responsibility of the chapel in his absence. On one of his days off, we acted on a bit of a whim, and ended up buying a Tv and a Wii from the island's online yard sale site. It's been fun though, and gives us something to do together when we have extra time on our hands. We entertained for the first time (the same four Marines we spent New Years with), which was fun to do together in our own place.

We also discovered New Years Day sales in Japan, which was awesome. Both of us are currently on a scarf fling, and Nathan has discovered Converse shoes, both commonly found in Japanese malls. While shopping, we learned of a Japanese New Years marketing gimmick. Many shops will put a collection of items from their store into a bag and seal it so you can't see inside. They create lots of these bags and display them on a table for a single price, which tends to be a really good deal when considering the number of items in the bag. However, since you can't see inside, you don't know what you are getting, so they call it a "Good Luck" bag, wishing you luck in the new year. We didn't actually buy any of the bags, as Japanese clothes run a lot smaller than American clothes, and we aren't totally sold on their sense of fashion. Still, it's a fun, tempting way to shop on New Years Day.

We've visited a few places this month, so I'll start with just one. Okinawa World, on the southern end of the island in Nanjo, is essentially a culture center. A collection of museums and displays set up like a village to walk through, exploring Okinawan history. We started the tour with a 30 minute walk through a cave.







It was very humid and the floor was wet in many places. It was neat to see stalagmites forming on the concrete path through the cave, and to be able to reach up and touch the stalactites dripping down on our heads. There was a stream running through parts of the cave with a few small fish in it.

Outside the cave, there was lots to see.

Glassblowing:





Local instruments:




Lots of shishi dogs on display, of course:


A garden with local plants, like this kumquat tree:


A natural dye hut:


Even some stilts to try:


But our favorite was definitely the habu section. Habu is a word used to refer to poisonous snakes in Japan. There was a museum:





A show:





Several cages and tanks of various animals:








And our favorite, snakes to interact with:









We spent a lot of time playing with and taking pictures of the snakes (There are lots more pictures on Facebook if you are interested. Just email me.). Definitely a great way to break in my new macro lens!

After Okinawa World, we headed to a Japanese mall for some dinner and shopping.





We order a lot of food without having any idea what we are about to eat. But we've ended up with some amazing dishes!