Friday, August 31st, the Air Force gave us a "Family Day", so Dan didn't have to go into work. I'm sure he greatly appreciated getting to sleep in! We decided to go to the Okinawa Zoo and see how it compares to the States. Well, I don't think I will put it on our list of places to bring visitors! :) They did have hippos, giraffes, lions, a tiger, monkeys, some snakes, and other random things. I think we only saw 5 other families there though.
Not a very popular place to go! It was also pretty sunny that day and felt like it was 100 degrees out, so that didn't make it more enjoyable. Overall, I am glad we went just to experience it and see what our little island had to offer, but I don't think we'll be going back anytime soon.
After a hot afternoon at the zoo, we headed to our BX to buy a grill. We have been checking them out for a while now, and finally decided on a portable one that we can take to the beach or park. Sadly, our BX didn't have one, so they called over to Camp Foster and held one for us there. We also checked out our commissary's "Case Lot" which is just a chance to buy in bulk for cheaper. I found a few things I was interested in, but the line was way too long, so we left. After a little break at home, we headed to Foster to find our grill, and it was a success. We also found the little propane tanks we needed that we didn't see at our base. So then we headed back to our base to get some grill supplies. This basically took up the whole afternoon/evening because traffic was a little insane. I only had 4 near heart attacks on these crazy roads! Finally, we finished up around 6:30 and decided it was too late to try to put the grill together and get our food ready, so we just grabbed a bite to eat before we went home. It was actually a busy day full of running around, so it was nice to be home to enjoy the evening. Dan applied some puzzle glue to our typhoon puzzle, so we can save it forever! We just have to figure out what to do with it now that it is all in one piece...
Saturday, we ended up going back to the Case Lot to buy a few things to grill out as well as the bulk items I wanted (such as a pack of 6 Lysol wipes that each have 80 wipes for like $10 with coupons!) Once we got home, Dan fired up the grill.
Before....
After.... so they stuck to the grill a bit, but the middle was delicious! Great job Dan :D
After relaxing for a bit, we got ready for our dinner cruise! It was for our 1st anniversary since Dan was crazy busy with the Exercise the weekend before our anniversary. We found it and booked it through our base's ITT (Information, tickets, & travel). We left our house around 3:30 to drive down to the Naha Port. Once we parked and found the right spot in the building, we gave them our little ticket and they gave us our dinner ticket.
Then, we took a bus to the boat (which was like a 30 second bus ride) and loaded the boat! We were on the top floor because we chose the BBQ menu. Of course, we booked it thinking of American BBQ, but oh no, this is Okinawa BBQ where you cook your own food! There was quite the variety of meats and a few veggies. Personally, my favorite thing was the hot dog. A lot of the meat was pretty fatty, so it is pretty different than what you get in the States. We were also served a salad and a little cup of ice cream. For the actual cruise part, I was disappointed because we didn't really go very far! I was hoping we'd get to see a lot and travel a ways down the island, but we could still see the port the whole time I think. We did see a pretty good sunset though (It was called the Sunset Cruise). Overall, I am glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't do it again!
Sunday after church, we headed home to grill again! This time was just hot dogs though, a little easier than the chicken. :) That night, our small group decided to do a guys/girls night, so Dan headed to the theater to see a movie with the guys, and a few girls came over to our house for pizza. It was a great relaxing day!
We headed back to our house to clean up and unload the grill stuff, and then went out to their house to hang out a little more and enjoy some Coco's Curry. Overall, great way to end the weekend!
Tuesday, Dan was back to work, but I got to enjoy the day out of the house with a few other ladies. One of them is wanting to renew her vows at a resort on island, so I thoroughly enjoyed getting the tour of the chapel and resort with her! I felt like I was back in Cancun on our honeymoon with the view of the pool overlooking the water! And the chapel had an incredible view so that when the bride walks down the aisle, she gets to see the incredible blue water! Not that her focus would be on that anyways... haha. Anyways, it was beautiful and I'm so ready to have another ceremony over here. Who's with me??
We ended with lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Arashi's and then headed home! I spent the afternoon cleaning our house after neglecting to do any housework the majority of the weekend. Then, I went to check my phone and noticed I had a missed call. Turns out it was one of the elementary schools wanting to interview me for a kindergarten aid position! I was THRILLED!!! All this time, I had been waiting to hear anything because everyone warned me that they do things last minute here depending on the enrollment for the year. Well, school already started so I was about to go fill out a volunteer form this week just to start getting involved. I applied for this job back in June before even putting my paperwork in to teach, so I wasn't even sure if everything went through and principals could see my name on the list. We decided on Wednesday at 3:30 for the interview! Tuesday night, Dan and I went to the Uniform store to buy his Mess Dress uniform for the Ball which is in about 2 weeks. Thankfully, they are going to pay for his alterations, so he dropped me off at home, grabbed the pieces he needed, and went to the alterations store while I started peeling potatoes. We had steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob for dinner. YUM. But we are not experts yet, so any grilling advice is more than welcomed!
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| Sleepy kitties :) Almost 5 months old! |
That night, we watched our wedding/reception dvds for the first time! It was so precious and wonderful to re-live that day. I couldn't have wished for a better day, and am so glad we have a video to remember it. Watching everyone dance at the reception was a plus too...good times!
Wednesday morning, I was woken up with another call from a different school. So now today, I have 2 interviews at two of the elementary schools on base both for the kindergarten aid position. I am VERY excited and hopefully one of them wants me and I can start working asap! This would a perfect way to get involved in the schools, but not be overwhelmed with lesson planning our first year in Oki. I'm not sure when I will hear back about anything, so watch facebook for more updates on that.
Sorry this was so lengthy, but I'm sure you enjoyed reading about our adventures right?? Time to post some pics on Facebook since I took way too many this weekend to put in the blog.
God is good, life is great!
Very nice blog. I want to go to the beach in the pics! Grilling advice - spray the surface of the grill with Pam (or other spray) first to keep it from sticking. Do that before you start it. Medium to medium high heat and turn every 1-2 minutes. Remove when the meat is still a bit soft to the press of the the spatula (or whatever you turn the meat with) but not if red juice is still flowing obviously. You take off when it is soft to the touch because it will cook a bit longer after it is removed. There, grill tips from Dad! Thanks for the nice blog! Love you!
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