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Moving right along…

  • We move out of the hotel and into our apartment on Monday. As luck would have it, ALL of our belongings arrive on Tuesday. 🙂 I am so excited to have my own stuff again. I am also excited to say “bye-bye” to the food courts, cafes, and fast food joints that have made up the majority of our meals, because unfortunately, we can’t eat at a lush Japanese restaurant every time. Chuck and I are both looking forward to balanced, home-cooked food again!
  • I was accepted into the Johns Hopkins grad school program. I am happy, but this definitely presents me with a dilemma. GWU, or Hopkins? The program I like better, or the cheaper one? As you all know, I am terrible at making decisions.
  • My lovely Bean will not have to go back into caged quarantine! This is the silver lining of on-base housing. She can do the quarantine “in-home”, which – for a generally indoor cat – is actually like no quarantine at all 🙂
  • I applied to 3 jobs, and already scored an interview for one of them. How is it that it took me a year to get an interview in North Carolina but it only took a few days here in Okinawa? Of course, none of this means I will actually get the job(s) – or even more interviews – but it’s encouraging to hear something back, rather than applying countless times only to hear… absolutely nothing.

As of now, I have no real plans for the weekend. I still need a car, so maybe we can go scouting for the one I like…my only requirement being that it’s pink! Pink cars are everywhere on Okinawa, yet they are very difficult to find at the “approved” used car dealerships. Wish me luck! I can’t be without wheels for too much longer.

Here’s a little Asian food porn for ya: Today’s lunch at Transit Cafe on the Seawall, which was comprised of tuna, avocado, seaweed, rice, a quail egg, sea grapes, and some sort of delicious sauce #yum

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American Pedicures, You Lose

ImageWhen I first found out I was moving to Okinawa, the girls I knew there consoled me with the same bit of seemingly useless information: “You can get an amazing pedicure over here!” This afternoon, I visited Cocok Nail Salon with my sponsor, Kellie, and I have to admit that it was pretty much the best thing ever.  Not only do they serve you chilled green tea and the massage is lengthier and more thorough than any I’ve ever had, but you get a giant book of hundreds of intricate designs to choose from. I played it safe the first time and stuck with the pink and floral design pictured above, but it’s just a matter of time before I attempt one of the following:

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Plus, what’s not to love about a nail salon with a great view (clouds and telephone lines aside) and a resident feline? His name is Mitt, and he’s adorably grumpy 🙂

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All in all, this was an experience I will certainly repeat. I’m generally the type of girl who gets a pedicure maybe two or three times per year, but in a place where I will fairly consistently be in sandals (or cute peep-toed shoes), I think they may became a staple in my island beauty regimen. For better or for worse, there is another location near the base I on which I will live. How lucky is that?

Now, check out Kellie’s toes! They’re little minions! Too cute.

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Is this what they call “frizz”?

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I’m not quite sure what to make of my hair these days. This is generally how it looks several sweaty hours after I attack it with curling irons, a teasing comb, and hair spray – not the morning after a fresh wash. My hair is very fine and somewhat thin, so I rarely deal with frizz. I guess this means I need to find a way to condition more without making my roots overly greasy. Or maybe I can find a way to enhance it so it looks more like a sexy beach wave? Maybe Pinterest can help me out…

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Shisa Dogs & Lucky Cats

One of the first things I noticed while driving around the island was the omnipresence of the rather creepy looking “lion-dog”, or Shisa. Nearly every business, household, and restaurant has two of each – one on either side of its entrance or rooftop. One, with its mouth open in a vicious snarl, is the male shisa (despite the obnoxious assumptions made by certain males in my company), and the other is the female shisa (with its mouth firmly shut, thank you.) As it turns out, these shisas are protectors based in Okinawan and Chinese mythology, intended to shun evil spirits. The open-mouthed shisa wards off the evil, while the close-mouthed shisa keeps good spirits in (although, according to Wikipedia, these gender roles can be “variously assigned.) I am not superstitious, but in the spirit of cultural immersion, I will definitely have to get a petite pair of these guys for my new home! Besides, who doesn’t want good spirits?

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The other item I’m seeing everywhere I go – though less frequently than the shisa dogs – is the Maneki-neko, or “the beckoning cat.” Usually made of ceramic, these cats are meant to bring luck to the owner. White cats bring general good luck all ’round, black cats bring good health, and gold cats bring financial fortune. There are a series of beautiful (sometimes heartbreaking) Japanese folktales tying the cat to good luck, which – as a crazy cat lady myself – pleases me to no end. In addition to my shisa dogs, I plan on getting a few of these feline talismans in smaller form, since I find the large ones a bit tacky and overwhelming for my taste. Maybe one in each color!

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New Climate, New Lifestyle

It’s only April, and while the heat is not yet unbearable here in Oki, the sun is strong and the humidity is apparent. My body and face lotion no longer absorb into my typically dry skin – it sits in a milky-white film before I grab a tissue to dab it. My hair has this new consistency that I don’t quite understand… it’s much more dense. Heavier, kinda flat, but feels thick…?

Besides cutting back on my moisturizing and conditioning habits, I am going to have to invest in a hat. I hate sunscreen, and will definitely have to find a brand that agrees with my skin better than the cheap stuff I usually use, but at least I can protect the more fragile skin on my face with a cute beach hat of sorts, that will go with most anything. This will be quite the search, because I’m not a hat gal. And I don’t think I’m quite up for the Japanese approach of toting an umbrella around like an early 20th-century parasol, even if it is pink!

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Happy Easter from Japan!

ImageChuck and I spent Easter weekend gallivanting with new friends and exploring two of the beaches the island has to offer – Torii Beach, and Zampa Beach. Both visits were during low tide, so I’m not sure we experienced them at peak beauty (unless you find exposed seaweed and miscellaneous gooey stuff particularly attractive.) However, it was ultimately apparent that the water is clear, blue, and warm. I have already determined that I will keep a bikini in my car at all times, so that on any particularly hot, sweaty day, I can take a dip in the Pacific blue any time I would like (even though this is actually the East China Sea!)

I did have a preference for Zampa Beach, clearly more frequented by locals than Torii, which was mostly military. Since the tide was so low, we spent a good bit of time walking over the exposed reef, poking at odd critters and speculating at the more bizarre of them. We were especially fascinated (and somewhat disgusted) by what we dubbed “sea poops”, which were scattered literally every few feet across the reef. I can only assume they are some sort of sea slug – if that is actually a thing – but they seem relatively harmless.

Our Newcomer’s Brief did warn us of all the dangers these waters have to offer – box jellyfish, rockfish, fire coral, and more – but overall, I think it will be perfectly fun and safe, if we are smart. Chuck is the one who is more reckless with Nature – I’m gonna have to reel him in!!

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… SEA POOPS!!!

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Mizu shite kudasai?

So, remember the post I wrote earlier about our first authentic Japanese meal? Scratch that. We experienced it today, in the town of Uruma-shi.

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We found this little spot after we accepted our housing offer, mildly depressed and famished. There was not a hint of English anywhere – not on the signage, the menus, and surely not spoken by the staff. I wish I could tell you the name of it, if only I read kanji. We removed our shoes and sat Indian-style on the bamboo mats, and the waitress brought us a strange beverage that I can only describe as really, really watered down coffee. Parched, I remembered I had downloaded my Babel Fish translator to my iPhone, and I hastily typed out a request for water. I also used it to ask for a meal recommendation, since we were hopeless in understanding the menu, and there were no pictures to guide us (as we had seen in other restaurants in the more Americanized areas of the island.)

The meal and the experience did not disappoint, though I had no idea what to do with the raw egg included on my tray. I REALLY need to learn some Japanese. I hate being that fool American. But seriously, thank goodness for smartphone technology!

“The most special times in a person’s life are not meant to last forever. They’re like bubbles rising from a plastic ring dipped into a soapy solution. The soap bubbles rise, with the sun flashing brilliant colors, then bursts into a showery memory mist.” — Julius Thompson, A Brownstone in Brooklyn

I actually stole this from my friend Wendy’s lovely blog, At | Home | Brooklyn. You can follow her here!

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Home is where the Heart is

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Today, the military offered us an apartment on our assigned base pictured above, near a town called Urumua-shi on the northeastern side of the island. It is a bittersweet moment in the process of getting settled. On one hand, it’s wonderful that we have a place and the ball is rolling. On the other, it’s disappointing that we were essentially forced to take it, and not granted the option to live off-base as we had hoped.

Earlier this week, we inadvertently tortured ourselves by visiting a few rentals off base, in the scenic and lively Yomitan-son area of the island that I have decided to fall in love with. Since we don’t have children and I am generally not involved in traditional military spouse activities, I figured we would enjoy the more independent lifestyle and cultural immersion that living off base would offer. Blissfully unaware of the intensity of the mandate to live on-base, I booked an appointment with an adorable agent named Reiko. My expectations were low, but I was blown away by the places she showed us that day. There was one apartment in particular that was just beautiful – and you could walk out on the balcony from every room!

The best I can say about our apartment on base is that it is recently renovated and reasonably spacious. Otherwise, it’s the same dull, no-personality utilitarian fare that I have come to expect of military housing (with a little extra mold I asked the Housing Office to take care of.) I am concerned that I will find base living rather suffocating, but it may not be so bad. We are right near the gate, outside of which a lovely Japanese residential area with a river walk begs to be explored. I have decided to purchase a bike and see what Uruma-shi has to offer. It doesn’t look as dynamic and cross-cultural as Yomitan-son, but it is more authentically Japanese! And really… Yomitan is only about a 20-25 minute drive west 🙂

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 Disclaimer: Photos are not my own. I will take far better ones of the area and of the beach… just wait 🙂