nate & laura

Sunrise @ Angkor Wat | Cambodia

2011-04-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Cambodia preview...

2011-04-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

We have been back from our amazing trip to Cambodia and Vietnam now for about a month. Well, we have both been super busy with things.... and I have been dreading uploading the insane amount of photos that I took while on vacay. I finally uploaded all 507 photos from the Cambodia part of our trip and came across this one... one of my faves.

Why wouldn't you let your young son have a pot and cruise around the floating town??

more to come later!

Nate's going to be a pediatric dentist!

2011-03-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Medical University of South Carolina Pediatric Dentistry Residency

Yes, I am very proud of him! We are both looking very forward to the move back to the states... and especially since we are moving to Charleston! It's amazing.

photos via www.city-data.com

update!

2011-03-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

so way back in December I posted a list of things left to do before we left... revisiting that list now!

TO DO:

~~Find out where we are moving.~~ Charleston, SC!! Yay! Nate's first choice for his pediatric dentistry residency... SO proud of him!

~~Deborah visits.~~ It was a wonderful visit!!

~~Sell a bunch of stuff at the flee market.~~ That was awesome!

~~Vietnam/Cambodia trip. Mar 2-9~~ This was awesome as well! LOVED Cambodia... Halong Bay in Vietnam was wonderful... Hanoi city tour could have done without. I mean, who really cares to see the pickled body of Ho Chi Minh? Not me.

~~Ishigaki Island trip aka... ClubMed. MLK weekend~~ This isnt' going to happen, I don't think :(

China trip.- this is being put on the back burner as well....

~~Ann visits?~~ YES! Ann & Craig arrive in Okinawa April 12th! woo hoo

Clean out closets one more time... I could do this weekly. I love cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, you name it!

~~Whale watching tour.~~ Was awesome! The humpbacks migrate through the waters surrounding Okinawa for a couple of months... Feb-Mar time frame.

~~Motorboat course.~~ Complete! We are pretty sure Chiaki-san taught us good things. We are taking a boat out with Ann and Craig when they come... for some snorkeling & fish spearing.

~~Advance Open Water Diver course.~~ this is not going to happen either... we were aiming high.

~~See more of the Ryukyu Golden Kings.~~

NEW LIST OF TO DO's!
~~Sell the scooter~~
Find a house in Charleston... hopefully one that is close to the beach!
Sell our cars
Order our new cars in the states!!!!
One last eye appointment so i can get some new specs and a contact prescription that doesn't make me cross my eyes (it's the little things)
Lots of paperwork/stuff to do to get Nate out of the military and move back to the lovely USA!
Get Monsy and Tootsa fly ready for the trip back!

it's official...

2011-03-30T19:04:00.001-07:00

I am the worst blogger ever.

The Countdown Has Begun!!!

2010-12-28T23:04:00.000-08:00

Well, we now have less than six, yes six months left here on our little island in the middle of the ocean. I really can't believe how quickly our time here has gone. It probably has a ton to do with how busy Nate and I have kept ourselves and also... we have really great friends here.

We were back in the states for 32 days in Nov/Dec this year, and it was great! Really makes me look forward to our move back! We spent Thanksgiving with our families, but the majority of time was spent traveling all over tarnation for Nate's residency interviews. (He's applying to pediatric dentistry residencies.)

So, Christmas has passed and new years is right around the corner. I must admit, I am really happy that this is our last year to spend the holidays so far from home! As great as everyone here is... it's just not the same.

Now it's crunch time to fit in all that we need/want to do before we head back to US soil... so perfect time to come up with a list!

TO DO:
Find out where we are moving.
Deborah visits.
Sell a bunch of stuff at the flee market.
Vietnam/Cambodia trip. Mar 2-9
Ishigaki Island trip aka... ClubMed. MLK weekend
China trip.
Ann visits?
Clean out closets one more time.
Whale watching tour.
Motorboat course.
Advance Open Water Diver course.
See more of the Ryukyu Golden Kings.

ETD from Oki... mid June. Nate's last day of military commitment is June 23, 2010! Orders should be arriving soon!

Japanese Fish Print

2010-11-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

Nate and I recently went spearfishing (where I speared my first fish)... and I also got the chance to try my first attempt at Japanese fish printing. I had done this very briefly back in high school (10 years ago) and it was with rubber fish. So... all in all it turned out ok. In the future I need to get better ink and also better cloth... not one of Nate's old white t-shirts! But it was a lot of fun and plan on giving it another shot soon!

cleaning the fish with vinegar and sea salt

inking the fish

cloth is layed over the inked fish and then you rub to transfer the ink

my finished product

Typhoon Chaba

2010-10-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Chaba is headed towards Okinawa!

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp201016.html

Not bad... especially if you are really hungry.

2010-09-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight: Chicken Fajitas!
All of these bags of goodness came in the big one.

Get to know why MRE's are good for you!

Before the Mexican Rice was ready to add.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat!
I am not sure where our cheese or tortillas were, but Nate had mentioned something about how the cheese was not very healthy! haha

I was actually quite surprised that the meal was not that bad! Nate said the snack crackers are an even blend of Cheez-its and Cheese Nips. I had the Irish Coffee and that was pretty much spot on to your local gas station coffee/cappucino (in a good way).

Japanese Fish Prints

2010-09-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

So if you have not gotten the memo, Nate is obsessed (yes, obsessed) with spear fishing. He has developed a real love for the sport. I love it too... not the spearing of the fish, but I love watching how passionate he is about his new favorite hobby and also the fish are delicious!

Anyway, the real reason for the post... Nate has had three of his catches printed by a local Okinawan fish print artist and they have turned out really cool.

Well, when I was in high school I learned how to make fish prints with fake, rubber fish. I actually had told Nate that I would like to try and print one of his fish. Then one of our friends found a place that a "professional" could do it for us for a small fee. Needless to say, they picked the pro. Go figure.

Now I am more motivated than ever to learn how to do a proper fish print with a real-life fish. I have been reading about it on the internet and found THIS helpful website and thought that I would share it!

Here are some pics of the spearfishing to fish print process. I will be sure to document when I do my first fish print! Stay tuned...

Bringing his catch (Emperor Snapper) to the surface

At the surface and ready to put on his stringer

Flash forward a day or two... finished print of said fish!

Operation Smile

2010-09-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a little information about Operation Smile
Who We Are: Children’s Charity Organization

Healing children's smiles. Making the world a better place.

At Operation Smile, we measure ourselves by the joy we see on children's faces. We're more than a charity. More than an NGO. We're a mobilized force of medical professionals and caring hearts who provide safe, effective reconstructive surgery for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

More than 200,000 children are born with a severe cleft condition each year — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

That's where we come in. Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided free surgeries to children around the world. With a presence in over 50 countries, we are able to heal children’s smiles and bringing hope for a better future.

Thanks to the generosity and spirit of volunteerism shown by our supporters, we heal thousands of children per year and, today, more than 150,000 girls and boys have a new chance at a new life because of our work. With your help, how many lives can we change tomorrow?

Okinawa Style Party in the USA

2010-09-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

A group of local teens made this video for the Far East Drama Contest! It is really entertaining and if you have not been to Okinawa.... it gives you a peek at a lot of different parts of the island. Enjoy!

catching up with photos...

2010-09-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Tootsa doing what she does best

On the trolley on the way to Rog & Amanda's reception!

The bride and groom on their special day! May 22, 2010

June 10, 2010 - Happy Birthday, Nate!

Family vacation 2010 to Turks & Caicos

Emily came to visit Okinawa in May 2010!

Climbed Mt. Fuji - July 2010

Monsy hanging out

Tokyo March 2010 - Cherryblossoms at Ueno Park!

The Sengs visited Okinawa! July 2010

Our campsite for Nate's birthday weekend.

Typhoon Kompasu

2010-08-31T02:07:00.000-07:00

After spending the majority of the day waiting for Typhoon Kompasu to hit (currently is), I have spent plenty of time on the internet. Go figure.
I have found that I have not posted a blog post in quite some time!

Lots has been happening here in Okinawa...

I recently got back from my last buy trip to Thailand. I have one more trip to China for work and that will be my last and final buy trip! Sad... but it's time. My travels for the gift shop have included 4 trips to Thailand, 2 trips to the Philippines, 1 to Vietnam, and now 3 trips to China.

Nate was planning on deploying up to Camp Fuji today, but plans got delayed due to Kompasu's arrival. He should be heading out tomorrow or Thursday for a couple weeks. Despite the promise of having to climb Fuji for the second time this summer, he is VERY excited to head up to mainland. He has been told there will be opportunities for live fire, grenade throwing, etc... All things guys love to do!

We have about 10 months left on island! It truly has been amazing how quickly our time on our little island here has gone. We look forward to spending the last months here traveling, hosting visitors, & just enjoying this little place we call home for now!

Like I always say... I will do my best to keep up at posting!

Tootsa Turns One!

2010-04-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

Support Team Thompson

2010-03-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ann will once again be participating in the Race for the Cure Indianapolis in April!

Support Ann, Craig, Ella & Makenna!!

Back from Thailand!

2010-02-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

Nate and I arrived back to Okinawa yesterday with news of an earthquake and tsunami possibly on it's way! It turned out that the tusnami didn't hit Okinawa, but a small tsunami did hit northern mainland Japan.

We had a wonderful trip to Thailand and will have many pictures to send out once they are uploaded! Some of the highlights of our trip:

Chiang Mai
-going on a trek
-laying with big tigers
-Nate bottle feeding a baby monkey
-Nate getting two suits made by a tailor:)
-eating grasshopers and worms: (

Phuket
-SCUBA diving off the coast of Phuket
-taking a speed boat trip to Phi Phi and Khai Island (we went to Maya Beach where the movie The Beach was filmed
-renting a scooter and exploring the island for a day

Bangkok
-going to seeMuay Thai fights (Thai Boxing)

It has been a while since we have been in touch with a lot of people! We hope that everyone is doing well and we look forward to catching up with everyone !!!!!!!!

Our February donation has gone to Oceana. Check out their website if you are interested!

He's a Spearfisher

2010-01-24T04:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of Nate's spearfishing adventures!

He calls these big daddy and little guy... not sure what type of fish they are.

Grouper on the left & a parrot fish on the right

up-close on the teeth

Another grouper....

Nate & Ray at Okuma with their fish.... 3 of these were Ray's.

Nate with his gun & a stringer of parrot fish.

Helping Out Where We Can

2010-01-20T23:47:00.000-08:00

So with the New Year comes resolutions ... and of course we all have/had them. I had been trying to figure out what Nate and I were going to do for other people this year as part of our resolution.

Well things got busy and my plans got pushed to the side .... until one day on Facebook (go figure) I came across a post by Kate Weikert that Susan had re-posted to her wall. It was a lovely note Kate had written about (I am doing her eloquent writing no justice) giving and donating what you can, when you can. No gift is too small. To make a long story short ... what she wrote inspired me to get back on track with my "what we can do for other people" part of my resolutions. (If you would like to read what she wrote just let me know and I will email it to you.)

After talking with Nate about this we have decided that we are going to make monthly donations to charitable organizations that benefit areas in crisis or anything that relates personally to our lives or anyone we know at that time. We decided upon a money range that we would donate each month. Then came the hard part of finding which charity to donate to (there are tons of them) and so on. In Kate's post she had mentioned Charity Navigator, so I headed to the internet and spent some time researching on http://www.charitynavigator.org/. There is so much helpful information there! Please check it out!

In the wake of the Haiti earthquake we have decided that we wanted to support the people of Haiti and the many people who are helping this tragedy for our January donation.
We finally decided upon the Save the Children organization and their "Haiti Earthquake- Children in Emergency Fund "

We plan to post each month what charity we will be donating to and also their website if you are interested in donating or just learning more about the organizations we choose.

Help out where you can! Donating blood is also a great way to give! If you have been to any "third world" countries you will be turned away. Nate and I are not qualified to donate at this time. :(

FYI... A lot of companies will match your donations! If you donate, check to see if the company you work for takes part of that specific organizations matching program.

Just a little fun fact: You can provide a family with a goat for only $30!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010!

Nate and I rang in the New Year at our apartment with friends.

We watched cool fireworks from our porch. So pretty! I love how much the Japanese love fireworks!

Happy New Year to all!

Where has the time gone....

2009-12-28T01:19:00.000-08:00

It has been over 4 months since our last blog entry... there are no excuses, just busy lives.

I have been keeping busy with buy trips for work, traveling home for Lynsey's wedding & visiting with family, and now the holidays.

Nate has been keeping very busy with his new favorite hobby... spearfishing! oh yes and also work. We have been eating a lot of very delicious, fresh fish. We eat mainly parrot fish & grouper. Nate now has a special wet suit that is "underwater camoflauge". Yes, feel free to get your laughs in.

It is never fun to spend the holidays away from your family, but we are so very lucky to have a wonderful group of friends here in Okinawa to spend Thanksgiving & Christmas with. Only one more year away from home at the holidays! We are already at our half way mark of living in Japan. It is really crazy how fast time flies.

Thanksgiving in Hiroshima with Matt, Jody, Melissa & Greg

Family photo in front of our Christmas tree before Matt & Jody's Ugly Sweater Party!

We will do our best to keep our blog a little more up-to-date in 2010!

It's Been a Year!

2009-08-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

It’s Been a Year!

We can’t believe that a year has passed already. Where does the time go?

Nate and I decided we would put together a list of things we love about Okinawa and things we miss about the states… one year in. It is really funny the things you definitely learn to live without and the things you never realized you would miss so much!

Things we LOVE about Okinawa:
Sushi, driving on the left side of the road, SCUBA diving, traveling to other Asian countries, finding Tootsa (our new Okinawan kitty), how polite the Okinawans/Japanese are, beach camping, being surrounded by beautiful water, the plethora of restaurants, our scooter, the sea shells, the ocean view from our apartment

Things we MISS about the United States:
Our family and friends of course!, Papa John’s (don’t laugh), being able to drive home, holidays, real TV and real radio, getting a Netflix delivered in reasonable time, being able to call people at normal hours, winter (just kidding!), Target, stores that we both can buy clothes in (Nate is too big), reasonably priced produce, microbrews (Orion lost it's novelty after a couple months)

We will be back to update this list in a year!

Crazy Kitties

2009-08-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

We have a little copycat kitty on our hands. Tootsa likes to do just what big brother Monsy does. We can't leave any drawers open.... as they become comfy beds. The little stink stuck her head out for Nate to take the picture.

More of our little copycat...

Monsy loves laying on newly folded laundry... Toots was trying to get on the new laundry, too!

Tootsa likes to sleep on her back. She is a crazy little kitty!

Eating Bugs in Thailand!

2009-07-09T00:35:00.000-07:00

On my most recent Buy Trip to Thailand, I got the chance to sample some of the unique cuisine! We tried bamboo worms, crickets (we are talking large ones), minced pork innerds & parts, and pickled sausage. The bugs were surprisingly not bad! The video is of me trying my first cricket and the picture below is of the worms we tried! Bon Appetite!

She's a wild one...

2009-06-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

Nate took these pictures while I was gone... they are so hilarious! We have had Tootsa now for 3 weeks and she is a ball of energy. Her new thing she really likes to do is torment Monsy all the time. She likes to find him when he is sleeping and then pounce him... as shown above. Needless to say, Monsy does not find this too amusing. It sure did make for some funny pictures though.

SCUBA video

2009-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

We've made an addition to our family!

2009-05-17T16:19:00.001-07:00

Tootsa Necko

"Tootsa Cat" was dumped on HWY 58... along with two other siblings. We met Tootsa at a picnic yesterday where her rescuers were trying to find her a new home. We decided it would be a good time to give Monsy a playmate! She is the smallest little kitten ever!

Big brother Monsy is checking her out while she eats some food! They are getting used to eat other, and Monsy has only had to hiss at her a couple time to display his dominance. Haha!

Tootsa with her new Mommy.

Having fun playing with Monsy. She has a lot of energy and is definately keeping Mons busy.

Our latest family picture :)

Made me think of Phil...

2009-05-13T03:20:00.000-07:00

We were on our way camping this past Saturday and I saw these guys on the side of the road. I am pretty sure they are Japanese surveyors, and they made me think of Phil!

I bet Phil wishes he wore cool unis like these.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter '09 from Okinawa!

Birthday Weekend on Tokashiki Island

2009-04-07T18:06:00.001-07:00

This weekend Nate and I hopped on the ferry in Naha and took the 1 hr & 10 minute ride out Tokashiki Island in the Keramas. We loaded up the Pajero and also ferried her out there too! In the picture above she is waiting to be driven on the boat!

This was taken on some of the rocks that were close to our campsite the first night. The weather was beautiful for the first day or so... and then turned a bit rainy. We camped out the first night and then found a small bed and breakfast type of hotel in the village of Aharen. We stayed at Hotel Sunflower. The staff was so friendly and very accomodating! It is also in a great location. I definately recommed that hotel for any fellow Oki dwellers that are headed to the Keramas for a getaway.

This was the sunset the first night! So beautiful! All of the small islands around made for some amazing views & pictures.

This picture is taken from the road looking down into Aharen.

This was before our first official dive outside of our class!!! It is also about 10 minutes before we saw our first sea turtle! We dove at Tokashiku Beach. The weather wasn't the greatest and the water was a bit cold... nothing that 5mm & 8mm of wetsuit couldn't handle though! We were lucky enough to have good visibility.

It was such a fun weekend and a great way to celebrate my 26th birthday!

SCUBA Certified!

2009-04-07T00:26:00.001-07:00

Nate and I finally got our SCUBA certification. We are PADI Certified Open Water Divers! Very exciting stuff. The pictures above are from a guy in our class who took pictures while we were getting certified. There is a lion fish, an octopus and some cool coral.

We went on our first dive trip to the Keramas (islands off of Okinawa) this past weekend. We saw a ton of cool things... an eagle ray, three sea turtles, lots of sea anemones & clown fish, blow fish, sea cucumbers, trigger fish... you get the idea. We are looking for an underwater housing for our camera, so we hope to have some really cool pics to post soon!

It's been a while!

2009-03-08T16:41:00.001-07:00

It is amazing how fast time flies. It is time to get back in the swing of blogging! Nate and I started off '09 with a trip home to Indiana. It was so wonderful to spend time with our friends and family. After our whirlwind trip back to Jasper, Nate and I split ways for about two weeks. He headed to San Diego for Continuing Education classes and I came back to Okinawa to get ready for my first Buy Trip to Thailand. After 10 very busy days in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, it was so nice to get back home with Nate and Monsy. Nate had a good time in San Diego and Thailand was amazing! I can't wait to back with Nate on a trip!

As most of our family and friends know.... Nate is going to be leaving this summer on a humanitarian mission called the "Pacific Partnership". He will be gone from mid to late May until early to mid September.

This is a link to an article about the 2009 mission:

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=43115

Monsy and I are not the happiest of campers to have Nate gone... but we know it is going to be an amazing experience for him and we will keep busy here in Okinawa! I have started my new position at work and will be gone on 3 Buy Trips while Nate is out to sea this summer. I will be heading back to the Philippines in early June, back to Thailand in mid-late June, and China in August.

This picture was taken during the Cherry Blossom Festival on Okinawa right before our trip home. We took our trusty scooter on the hour drive up North to check out the amazing sites.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

2008-12-23T15:29:00.001-08:00

Monsy was posing in front of our Christmas tree! We didn't bring along any ornaments to Japan, so we made our own from seashells that we have found on the beaches. We had a hot glue gun session to make them all! We also used our pieces of rope from the tug-of-war we went to as our tinsel!

Since Nathan and I first started dating we have had the annual tradition of a day filled with making a gingerbread house, decorating our place, watching Christmas Vacation, and drinking cider. This year was no different, but we were not able to find an actual gingerbread house... so we made a gingerbread tree this year!

Our finished product!

Merry Christmas from Japan!!!

Navy Fleet Gift Shop Volunteer Christmas Party!

2008-12-23T15:25:00.001-08:00

Last week we had our Navy Fleet Gift Shop Volunteer Christmas Party! It was held at Kelly Varner's home. We had lots of yummy food and an ornament exchange... we are holding our ornaments in the pic! We love our volunteers and couldn't run the store without them!

Gion District: Thanksgiving in Kyoto

2008-12-10T03:06:00.001-08:00

We spent our Thanksgiving weekend in Kyoto with John and Angela. We had an amazing time! In the pictures below we are in the Gion District of Kyoto. This is one of the areas where the Geiko (Geisha) culture is still practiced. We went "Geisha Hunting" two nights and I have put a couple of the pictures below. Angela was a great geisha paparazzi! In the picture below, Nate and I are outside of the place were we saw the most maikos/geikos (geisha are called that in Kyoto) coming out of... heading to the tea houses where they would be entertaining.

Okinawa City Festival & Tug of War

2008-12-10T02:40:00.000-08:00

One of two ropes that they use for the tug of war. They connect them and then everyone at the festival joins in on the tug of war! This is not near as big as the tug of war in Naha (biggest in the world), but I was in the Philippines during that one. Hopefully we will make it next year!

Here is how they connect the two ropes. Then the mayor of the town said something as well as a representative from Kadena. The festival was really great. They had all sorts of food for sale up and down Gate 2 street.

These people are displaying their skills.... I am not sure what type of skills, but it was really cool. There were also groups doing different Eisa dances, which are traditional Okinawan dances.

That is me pulling the rope during the tug of war. My side lost.

There is Nate during his round. His side lost too.

There were three rounds of pulling. The first one was for kids and it was so cute... I am not sure if the rope moved or not.

Scooter Practice!

2008-12-10T02:22:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday we headed out to the "Motorcycle Course" on Kadena for some practicing! I thought people would get a kick out of our pictures. I am officially a licensed motor scooter driver! I completed my two-day safety class yesterday. Nathan will take his class next Monday and Tuesday. We could not take the class together because we both have to have our own bikes to ride! I did miss 5 points on my driving skills test for not going fast enough on one of the courses! I didn't trust myself to go any faster and still make it through the cones... better safe than sorry! I will post how Nate does next week!

Weekend of Beach Camping

2008-11-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

We headed out of town on Saturday when I got done with work... Nate had the Pajero ready to go! We drove up to the northern most point of Okinawa called Cape Hedo. By the time we arrived at Hedo Beach it was dark... so we set up camp in the dark, which we have become pros at by now! The picture above shows our campsite the next morning. After we made breakfast we headed out for a day of exploring.

This post was out on the point of Cape Hedo.

It also said the same thing in Spanish on the other side, but I couldn't see the 4th side.

From the top looking down into the water at Cape Hedo... the reef looks awesome!

There is also a cave that you can SCUBA dive in.

We we to the peak of some neighboring cliffs and this is the view of Cape Hedo from the top. The weather was really rainy and dreary all weekend unfortunately.

After driving up the west coast of the island on Saturday we started to head

down the east coast on Sunday to our next camping spot at Uppama Beach.

This beach was beautiful and was more of a sandy beach in comparison

to a lot of the rocky and coral beaches that are very common here.

We had a great time exploring the upper portion of Okinawa this weekend...

so much different from down in the middle/south where we live.

It is a beautiful island everywhere, but the north is spectacular!

Our Scooter!

2008-11-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

We are finally the proud owners of our very own scooter!

We are so excited and can't wait to hit the streets with our new wheels.

We still have to get it registered, licensed and insured. We also have to take a motorcycle saftey course in order to get our motorcycle license. Yes, we have to get a license to drive a scooter :)

Marine Corps Ball

2008-11-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Monday night was the Marine Corps 233rd Birthday Ball.

Another Trip to the Dentist!

2008-10-23T01:14:00.001-07:00

I had my root canal appointment on Monday of this week!

I have the best dentist ever... no pain! We even went to eat Mexican afterwards.

Fishing Trip

2008-09-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Nate and I ... along with 11 other people... went on a deep sea fishing adventure! We meet up with everyone around 3am and hit the high seas. The boat ride out to where the fish were biting was about 3 hours! We got to see the beautiful sunrise over the East China Sea while we were heading out.
We caught all Yellowfin Tuna.
Osamu was a huge help on the boat with our fish. Some of the fish were really big! Captain Billy didn't think we caught any big ones.... but since I am used to Blue Gill these seemed like monsters.

Captain Billy and First Mate Osamu getting all of the fish out of the cooler at the end of the day. Nate and I ended up taking home about 5 one-gallon bags of cut tuna fillets! We did cut some sashimi when we got home... which was really fun and good!

2008-09-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our friends Jeremy & Julie had a Yukata Party at their place. Yukatas are the summer version of a kimono. It was so fun to get dressed up in them! Both of our shoes were too small, so our feet hung over the ends! We are a little sunburned from our 12 hour fishing trip that we had taken that day.

This is the sushi platter that we had for lunch on Friday at work! It was so amazing and pretty... just thought that I would share it!

This is Megumi and Erina, two of the ladies that I work with. They are in front of our Kokeshi Doll display. Kokeshi's are a traditional Japanese wooden doll that a lot of people collect now. Megumi is from mainland Japan and Erina is a local Okinawan.

This is one of Monsy's "Senior Pictures"!!! Just thought I would show everyone how handsome he still is here in Japan! Monsy will turn three next month :)

A Delicious Weekend!

2008-09-17T04:56:00.001-07:00

This weekend we were able to try out three new restaurants! The amount of restaurants here truly amazes us!

Friday night we went out to eat with Matt and Jody to a Do-It-Yourself type of restaurant called An An. You order your meats and veggies, then you cook it yourself over a grill type of contraption in the middle of the table. The food was great, but the grill is definitely very hot and can cause some dinner-time sweating!

On Saturday afternoon Nate and I tried out Japanese style Mexican food at Obbligato. The food was great... but definitely different from American Mexican food. Our meals came with sticky rice, hash browns, potato salad and dippy eggs! All and all it was a great dining experience and we plan to go back! Nate has told me that we aren't supposed to be eating at the same place more than once because there are too many that we want to try.

Saturday night we had some friends over for a BBQ at our apartment. Nate was manning the grill, making burgers, brats, and chicken.

Sunday afternoon we tried out an Indian restaurant called Kebab's. We decided to go with a "Set". The meal came with soup, a puff pastry thing with potato in it, our curry main dish, nan (one was garlic and the other herb) that was AMAZING, and ice cream dessert!

We are looking forward to this coming weekend... weather permitting, we are headed out with 10 other folks for a deep sea fishing adventure!

http://www.saltwater-fishing-okinawa.com/

Since there are 12 of us in our group, I am pretty sure that we get the boat and the captain to ourselves! I am so excited, and I will be sure to take a ton of pictures! We get to keep all of the fish that we catch, so that should be great! An Okinawan fish-fry will hopefully be in order.

A Visit to Dr. Seng

2008-09-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

Well... I had my dentist appointment this morning. It was just your regular routine cleaning and exam. It turns out that I am going to need a root canal! It is NOT because of poor oral hygiene, it is because my canine (tooth #11) has a crack in it (from either grinding my teeth or something) that is deep and is causing the tooth to die! Needless to say, I was a little unhappy to hear that news. I knew that something was wrong with the tooth, because it had been giving me problems for almost a year now!
I tried to take a picture of Nate while he was being my dentist, but he refused... quite adamantly. I then thought maybe I could take one with my cell phone camera. But under no condition was I allowed to take pictures :) Nate is such the professional dentist!!

Jody's Birthday

2008-09-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

Last night we celebrated Jody's 27th Birthday... with KARAOKE!! We all had such a blast singing the night away.

This was our second time to this karaoke bar (Kuganea sp?), and needless to say... we love it!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY

Friday we had our household goods delivered, which kept us very busy. We did venture out to eat to a place called Izakaya Genki with Matt & Jody. They have very large and delicious sushi rolls. We also dined on a staple dish here… Yakitori, which are kebabs.

SATURDAY

We ventured to our first secluded beach on Okinawa! We went with Josh, Suzanne & their two boys, Max & Brand; Ray, Cat and their daughter Lauren; Soon (who is a dentist for the Navy) and his girlfriend Kiko; and Tran (who is also a dentist for the Navy). We had such an amazing time! Not only was the beach beautiful, Nathan was very excited to try spear fishing for the first time! He came up empty handed, but Josh and Ray both speared a couple of fish and also an octopus. I snorkeled, but didn’t stay too long for the spear fishing adventure… but I did see Ray come back to the surface with his octopus still alive. You have to free-dive down to where the fish are, so Nate is going to have to work on how long he can hold his breath.

SUNDAY

We went to church on Camp Foster, and the priest is one of Nate’s patients. He is a really nice, funny guy. After church we decided we were going to have an adventurous day!

We first had lunch at a restaurant Nate has been wanting to try. It is called FAB. It is a curry restaurant in Sunabe. Sunabe is a very short drive or bike ride north of where we live. The food was delicious and our view was even more amazing! We were outside looking directly at the East China Sea.

After lunch we started driving north with the intention of going to the Ocean Expo Park… which is the 2nd largest aquarium in the world behind Atlanta. We actually didn’t ever make it there because we stopped at so many places along the way! Our first stop was Todoroki Waterfall. It is located in the village of Sukuta. The waterfall was a short walk back in the woods, which was so great to be out in nature… away from the cities. It wasn’t a huge waterfall, but it was so peaceful and pretty.

Moving more north, we thought that it would be fun to stop next at the Nago Pineapple Park! The pineapple park is a very popular tourist spot for Japanese. The park is situated near a pineapple field. You get to tour the park in a very cool Pineapple Golf Cart! After the tour is over we got to sample 3 different types of pineapple wine (very good) and also sample all types of pineapple foods and normal pineapple. We were definitely stuffed with sweets by the time we left!
By this time we had driven over an hour and thought we would head back south, but we did stop at a glass blowing factory along the way! The glass factory is called Mori Gurasu Kobo (Forest Glass Factory). We watched the guys working for a while. It is a really neat process, and they work very quickly!
On Sunday night we went out with Matt and Jody. We ate at a place by Araha Beach (where we both live) called Jet City Burgers. They have the most innovative burgers I have seen! I had a Hawaiian Burger that had the burger, cheese, avocado, pineapple and some other things I can’t recall.

MONDAY

We decided we should do some final organizing in our apartment. Then we explored the local 100Yen store (Dollar Store). The 100Yen stores are so great here! They have everything!! We also checked out a store called UniGlo. People have told us that UniGlo is the Japanese Gap. It turned out to be a great store… we didn’t get anything yet since Nate is bigger than most of the clothes.

We had Matt and Jody over for dinner and grilled chicken. Nate loves to grill now (which I love too)!

Furniture!

2008-08-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

It was a very exciting day yesterday at the Seng apartment!
We finally had our household goods shipment delivered. We have been living in our apartment with very little furniture for the past month.
Monsy was very happy to have more places to lounge. He made himself right at home again at his usual old spot on the couch. He is so funny.

Things are still going great here! Nate really likes his clinic and is getting to do a lot of different dental procedures/things. I am going to have my first dental appointment with him since he was in dental school! I go in on Sept 8th, so I will be sure to report back on how that goes! haha
I really like my new job as well! The people who I work with are really great... and that makes it all the better!

More to come later... time to get packing up to head to a beach on the Northeast side of the island. It is a secluded beach that we hear is awesome... pictures to come later!

Internet, Beer Festival, Karaoke

2008-08-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

We FINALLY got our internet set up today! It seems like we have been living without internet for ages, but it really has only been about 3 weeks. It is amazing how disconnected you feel from everyone!

We don't have our Vonage line set up quite yet... but we hope to have it up and running within a day!

We are so excited to be able to call & receive calls from everyone. It has been so long!

We went to the Orion Beer Festival this weekend, which was our Japanese version of Strassenfest this year. After the festival we had our first experience at a Japanese Karaoke Bar! It was SUCH a good time! We are definately not microphone shy!!

Awesome Sunset

2008-08-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last night we were out grilling & saw the coolest sunset from our place!

We have not seen a sunset like it since we have been here & wanted to share it!!

3 Weeks In!

2008-08-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

We have been in Japan for a little over 3 weeks now! We apologize for not updating our site & emailing as much as we would like. As you can imagine... we have been very busy getting settled. Finding a new place to live, getting Japanese driver's licenses, getting new cars, moving in to the new place, Nate checking in to his new command.... and so on.... have kept our days very full.

We also do not have internet in our apartment yet. We thought it was going to get installed yesterday... but that was just our "inspection" for internet. Our new date for internet installation is Aug 26th. We should also have our Vonage phone line up and running that day. Once that is installed we will be able to call and receive calls from the US like a normal stateside number! We can't wait for that!!

We have been snorkeling and are getting ready to do a SCUBA certification. The coral reefs here are beautiful and can't wait to get in the water more! We got full-body wetsuits today. I need mine to keep warm & we both need them to protect from jellyfish. We have been told they are the worst they have been in years. Yikes.

We are really enjoying the Japanese cuisine! We love going out to eat with new friends & trying all sorts of interesting dishes. The price of going out to eat here is much more reasonable than what we were used to in South Carolina, so that is very nice! We were at one restaurant where no one spoke English... I am pretty sure we ended up eating a small bird egg, liver and some cartilage.

Monsy is a very happy kitty here in Japan... he really likes our new place and has his favorite spots to hide already. We have tile and hardwood floors so he slides around a lot when he is playing, but he is getting used to that! He is having some allergy problems, the vet said it has to do with the coral dust in the air. We are going to take him in next week to get checked out, just to make sure all is ok.

We will be sure to post pictures soon!

5 Days!

2008-07-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

We are 5 days away from our big move!!!

We are pretty well squared away after a long road of jumping through hoops & loads of paperwork.

We took a road trip to Fort Stewart, GA yesterday to get Monsy's health certification... he is set to fly! We have also done a "test run" of giving Monsy Benadryl so he will sleep on our flight... which was VERY interesting! He will be flying in the cabin with us from Savannah to Seattle on Tuesday. That should be a trip!

We are getting very anxious for the move now... really ready to go. It is amazing how quickly you get tired of having only an airbed and a laptop!

More exciting news to come very soon!!!

MEXICO

2008-07-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a WONDERFUL trip to Mexico!

Here is one of the family shots that we had taken on the beach.

TWO WEEKS and TWO DAYS until we move!

Monsy, Move Day #1

2008-06-25T13:44:00.001-07:00

Monsy likes it up there, he was not allowed up there when we had all of our pottery out.

The kitchen is completely empty!

On top of the bed in the spare bedroom.

Leigh & Derrick's Wedding

2008-06-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Leigh, Diane, Me, Deborah, & Jill

Nate and I headed back to Jasper/Huntingburg this past weekend for Leigh and Derrick's wedding. We had such a great time seeing & hanging out with everyone!

Commercial

2008-06-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/omechina

When Nate and I were in Wilmington we were walking around and these people asked us to be in their commercial for a British pub. If you go to the link we are in the first of the two commercials that are on the YouTube video. The guy who shot it, just sent it to us!

It's pretty funny... we are running down the street!

Good Bye Cars!

2008-06-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

As some of you have heard.... the Explorer has new owners! We sold it on Sunday evening (in the pouring down rain) at the local Walmart parking lot. The lucky new owners are a nice group of hispanic men who are planning on driving it to Mexico this week!!
We will have my car until Friday. A couple from north of Atlanta are going to buy mine! He is flying down to the Hilton Head airport where I will pick him up.
We are still trying to figure out the logistics of having only one car... which will be a rental that we are still looking for.

t-w-e-n-t-y s-e-v-e-n

2008-06-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 27th Birthday, Nate!!

Our New Hobby

2008-06-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

At the beach on Hilton Head.

On our one year anniversary trip to Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, we decided it was the perfect time to purchase our very first surfboards!!!

We have gone surfing two times and we have already come a very long way... with lots of bruises to show for it! We are really excited to practice more!!!

We are headed to Myrtle Beach this coming weekend to hit the waves there.

We have been told that Okinawa has really good surfing :)

New Website!

2008-06-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hello All! Nate and I have decided that with our move to Japan getting closer and closer... 44 days... that we wanted to start a blog to keep our family and friends up to date with what is going on in our lives!
Welcome to our new website!!!