Our first Typhoon experience
Posted on May 29, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Around 3pm yesterday the winds began to pickup on the island. Initially, the winds were fairly light. Maggie wanted to go outside to play with our neighbor’s children so I went with her and took Wyatt as well. After dinner, around 6pm the storm quickly moved in. At 7pm we experienced sustained winds probably around […]
Read More..>>Typhoon
Posted on May 27, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Well, there is always a first for everything. We are in the process of preparing for our first Typhoon experience here in Okinawa. Based on the current information we should see Typhoon Songda hit us on early Sunday morning. It is currently called a super-typhoon and by Western hurricane standards it’s a Category 3 with […]
Read More..>>Kids gone wild!
Posted on May 26, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
The first couple times driving in Okinawa I would be curious and look into the car next to me at a stop light. Okay, I still do that. Anyway, most of the time it was just an adult driving alone in the car probably going to work or maybe running errands. But one time (and […]
Read More..>>How to pay - Okinawan style
Posted on May 23, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
The purchasing of items is done differently here in Okinawa than in the states. Whether cash or card, it is customary to place your currency on a small tray, not by hand to hand contact. The cashier takes your payment off the tray and at the end of the transaction, your card is actually presented […]
Read More..>>“I don’t like myself”
Posted on May 22, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Maggie is, apparently, at a really hard age right now. Or, and this is probably the truth of it, she’s showing that we weren’t ‘hard’ enough on her earlier. Anyway, the problem is disobedience. We tell her to do something or not do something and she does the opposite. One way I see it is […]
Read More..>>Honest Pizza in the Sky
Posted on May 20, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
About a month ago, Jason’s co-workers put together a Saturday outing that involved a trip to a Japanese restaurant called Pizza in the Sky. Around 5 families joined together and caravaned to a northern peninsula of the island to the restaurant high above sea level. The restaurant is situated on top of a mountain, […]
Read More..>>Cars for sale, love and never surrendering
Posted on May 17, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
When we arrived on the island, one of our first purchases was a car. Most cars here are used and around 10 years old. While buying an ten year old car in the states seems unheard of, it’s the norm here. In fact, if you buy a new car on the island you stand to […]
Read More..>>Toilets, what the…???
Posted on May 15, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
As new residents of the island, our curiosity of what’s here has sent us out to local parks, stores and tourist destinations. As a part of life and leaving the home it is inevitable that someone would have to use the bathroom while we are out. That first someone was Maggie. On our first trip […]
Read More..>>Drinks, Drinks, Drinks …everywhere!
Posted on May 13, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
I love to drink. No not alcoholic drinks, but coffee and soda. Fortunately for me, the Okinawans do too! On almost ever corner (not exaggerating) there is a vending machine. Drink machines are everywhere, on street corners, in the front of stores, and even on the side of the road where there is nothing but […]
Read More..>>The Okinawa Wave
Posted on May 12, 2011 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
After 36 hours of eating, sleeping and sitting in airports and airplanes we finally landed in Okinawa, Japan. Strangely, for me at least, everything looked the same as the country we left until I got into a car. My friend D, who I met through Maggie’s friendship with her daughter, moved to […]
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