Pizza In the Sky

Have you ever eaten corn on your pizza? In California I learned that avocado is good on everything: burgers, sushi, mexican food, salads, etc. Maybe corn on my pizza will become one of those things I'll take back to the states with me when I leave Okinawa.

The northern part of Okinawa is mostly rural, but there's some neat things up there. There's an aquarium that I've posted about before, a pineapple winery, this restaurant, an antiques store, Okuma Beach, etc. I'm still discovering new places everyday and I think it's safe to say that it might take me 3 full years to see all of the island. It's kind of exhausting to visit new places on the island. You google whatever crappy directions you can find in English to the place you are going, you follow landmarks instead of road signs to get there, you take in all the new sights and sounds, occasionally you luck up with someone who can speak English, you navigate aisles, menus and social customs as best you can, hope you don't offend anyone and if you're feeling brave you can throw some Japanese phrases you've learned out there and see what happens. One of my goals during Jonah's deployment is just to wonder around the island aimlessly with friends and stumble on some lesser known island treasures.

One treasure we've found together is called Pizza In the Sky.  It looks like a traditional Japanese home with a gorgeous view, but as you walk up the hill you realize it's a pizza place, Okinawan style pizza. The menu is pretty neat and there's only one type of pizza made each day. The day we went the feature was pizza with corn, sausage and green peppers. It was delish.  The picture above shows the indoor Japanese-style seating but there's also outdoor picnic-style seating, which is where we sat.

We ordered a large pizza, salad [the Japanese really know how to make good salad dressing!], and tea. I put this picture up for Monica because the cute pottery plate was in the shape of a heart : ) They serve sugar here in liquid form (instead of the packets) and the brown cubes are brown sugar. The tea came with a small bouquet of flowers; the presentation was really delightful.

Jonah and our friend Brett, chowing down. 

The view from the restuarant

To battle homesickness, one thing that works for us is to find our favorite things about a new place. So while we miss restaurants like Apollo Flame, Harbor Inn, J&S, etc. we can start a list of restaurants in Okinawa that we like that aren't at home. We'll be adding Pizza In the Sky to that list!

Have a good weekend everyone! We love and miss yall!

Warrens Snorkel the Kerama Islands

Hi Friends!! Happy Friday to you all! Jonah has duty today and I'm thinking of starting a paint project on the house but before I do I thought I would update you all on life in Okinawa!! We went snorkeling over Memorial Weekend in the Kerama Islands. About 20 miles southwest of Okinawa you'll find this string of small, uninhabited (with a few exceptions) subtropical islands. We took a boat from a port in Naha early in the morning and ended up snorkeling at three different sites.

The picture above was taken from our boat, but gives you a good idea of what our boat was like. It had an upper deck that you could do cannonballs off the top of, which Jonah and I took advantage of! When we got to a good dive spot, the crew just anchored down and we would throw on our snorkel sets and fins and hop off the back. The water was so calm and clear. As soon as you looked underwater you'd see pink and purple coral and an immense variety of fish in different colors and shapes. We saw a sting ray and a sea snake which did not seem to pay us any attention as they swam by (not that I'm complaining). We did not see a sea turtle, but enjoyed looking at some pictures of them that one of the women snorkeling had captured with her underwater camera. Maybe next time we'll have an underwater camera in case we see one, or just so that you can see what we saw underneath the water! The snorkeling and diving here has been compared to the likes of the Great Barrier Reef, and is considered some of the best snorkeling/diving in the world because this part of the East China Sea supposedly contains the greatest number of corals and marine species.

 This picture shows our view from our spot on the boat. You can see some of the Japanese boat crew members as well as an American getting ready to get in the water. The islands you see in the distance are in all shapes and sizes but have similar green hills and white beaches. It is absolutely gorgeous out there.

We are wearing wetsuits here because the water was about 68 degrees, but in June the water is warmer (70-75 degrees) and feels like bath water. Jonah went diving last weekend in just his swimsuit and felt comfortable. I'll have to snorkel while he dives until I get my scuba certification.

I'll leave you with this funny picture of Jonah that I snuck (/sneaked, evidently there's a debate on the past tense of sneak)  before he realized what I was doing. On our way back to Naha pretty much everyone on the boat fell asleep. This was our "nook" on the boat, where Jonah curled up underneath all of our gear and wrapped up in a towel. The only thing not covered was his head poking out of the top. He's such a cutie!


I'll leave you with a mini Japanese lesson on the word "sayonara." I pronounced this wrong when I first got here, making the mistake of pronouncing it like most Americans do with an emphasis on the wrong syllable. The correct way to pronounce this word, which means goodbye, is (sa-yoh-nah-rah). The word has short a's and the emphasis is on the "yoh" part. Sa-yoh-nah-rah.

So, until next week,  SAYONARA! And have a good weekend!

Jane Wayne Day

About 3 weeks after we arrived on the island the Wing hosted a Jane Wayne Day. I'd never been to one of these before and wasn't sure what to expect, but this day was so much fun! We met in the hangar with our gear, were issued our MREs [meals, ready-to-eat] (which none of us ate, hello 1250 calories!), and were shuffled into 4 squads and assigned a drill instructor. Once we were yelled at to get into formation, we sort of straightened up and started participating : ) Our first station was at the Night Imaging and Threat Evaluation Lab. 

This is where our husbands go to be trained on flying at night. Our instructor talked to us about the history of night-vision goggles, how they worked and gave us each a pair to try on. We walked into another room where we were able to see a mock-up of the island and after turning off the lights, used the goggles to see what our husbands might see while flying around the island at night. 

 In our next station we maneuvered huge humvees in sharp turns around cones that made up an obstacle course. The above picture is proof that I did this : ) We were in a sort of competition based on whoever knocked down the fewest cones. I did not win.

After the humvee obstacle course we jogged to our next station singing cadences led by our drill instructor. Am I so corny to admit that I felt very motivated at this point?! That's really a rhetorical question, no answers needed, thanks. Right: My friend Maggie at the humvee obstacle course.

 

"Momma and Poppa sittin on the bed, (repeat)

Momma laid over and this is what she said, (repeat)

I appreciate you and all the things you do, (repeat)

 No better life than a Marine Corps Wife!" (repeat)

Above: My friend Megan in the humvee.

So, when we caught our breaths we started dishing out our best self-defense moves at the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, otherwise known as MCMAP. This was one of my favorite stations because it was really funny and I got to lift ammo cans over my head, which is always a good time. After this station we went to the indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer. It was sort of like a really expensive video game where we used M-2 .50 caliber machine guns, the M-16A2 service rifle and the AT-4 rocket launcher to shoot the bad guys. Ohhhh yeah.

Afterwards we headed to our last station of the day: the flight simulators. I tried my hand at the CH-46 simulator for obvious reasons, but there were also opportunities to try out the CH-53 and KC-130 simulators. At the end of the day we met again in the hangar for a group picture. In the picture below are some of the spouses of 262 and 265 (the Phrog squadrons) with our drill instructor. 

And here's a picture of some of my wonderful tiger lady friends with the CO's helicopter!

Come back next week!!Click to read the Article from Okinawa Marine

Dragon Boat Race and Children's Day

Hey Guys! I was looking forward to this update because this whole blogging thing is pretty fun! I really like when I get an email or comment from you all about whatever I've posted- it makes me feel closer to you all when I know you know a little about what's going on in our lives! By the way, please let me know if any of you have a blog out there because I'd love to follow it!

So, cinco de mayo got a run for it's money this year. In fact, I guess it's safe to say that no one (Japanese anyway) celebrates cinco de mayo here, but luckily for me there's another holiday celebrated on May 5th, and that's Children's Day. In fact there's a whole slew of holidays called Golden Week that Japanese businesses close for.
 I'm copying this from Wikipedia...

The national holidays making up the Golden Week are:

• April 29
  Showa Day (Showa no hi):
  April 29 is the birthday of former Emperor Showa, who died in the year 1989. Until 2006, Greenery Day (see May 4) used to be celebrated on this day.
• May 3
  Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi):
  On this day in 1947, the new post war constitution was put into effect.
• May 4
  Greenery Day (Midori no hi):
  Until 2006, Greenery Day used to be celebrated on April 29, the birthday of former Emperor Showa. The day is dedicated to the environment and nature, because the emperor loved plants and nature. Before being declared Greenery Day, May 4 used to be a national holiday due to a law, which declares a day, that falls between two national holidays, a national holiday. [I completely agree with the Japanese on this rule, ha]
• May 5
  Children's Day (Kodomo no hi):
  The Boy's Festival (Tango no Sekku) is celebrated on this day. Families pray for the health and future success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls, both symbolizing strength, power and success in life. The Girl's Festival, by the way, is celebrated on March 3. 

The best part is that families hang up these carp streamers outside their homes; the government even hangs them from poles on the highways. You can click the enclosure link provided to see a picture of these carp streamers and more information on Children's Day.

My friend Viva and I went to Naha to see a Dragon Boat Race that was taking place during Golden Week. The picture above is in the Port where the race took place and it cracks me up. It looks like something out of a storybook, teaching kids about different modes of transportation.

 
The cool thing is that in this annual race, Americans and Japanese both participate in the competition. There were Japanese teams, as well as teams from the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and Army.

The teams were comprised of the team manager, a drummer and around 25 paddlers. The drummer set the rhythm for the pace and the team manager walked up and down the canoes encouraging the team. The race pictured here was a close one!

Inbetween races we walked around the festival and got some food. One interesting thing we tried was Japanese ice cream flakes. I wish I could remember the name of it so that I could google it and tell you what it was, but it was the weirdest consistency of ice cream I've ever had. It was a ton of thin, individual flakes. Very delicate and airy. They were not very sweet, but you ate them with a topping, like strawberries or blueberries. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

We realized a pageant was taking place on the stage near the festival and decide to stop and watch. Kind of contrasts with the mental picture a pageant brings to mind, huh? Everyone is definitely more conservative in Japan, which is a nice change from some of the over-the-top glitz and glam of America.

 Well, that's it from me this week. I'll leave you with a little Japanese lesson! (Hopefully I've learned this correctly!)

Watashi wa America-jin desu.

Literally translated as: I American am. Japanese verbs always come last.



Watashi wa= subject and subject marker, in this case "I"
America-jin= American
desu (pronounced "des" like decimal) = am/is.