Awesome Aquarium trip and Country Roads!

Johnny is back from California so now I can post some videos from our trip to the aquarium!!  I had a good week with the car while he was gone and I was able to get a lot of stuff done around the house (I'm not going to post any more pictures until our shipment arrives so you'll just have to wait)! 

Poor Johnny is back to work after a very exhausting quick trip to the states...and I am here without transportation again! We do have serious intentions of getting another car...we just have to find the time. So until then I am happy to be consumed by the Royal wedding coming up!!! I have really enjoyed watching different shows about the Prince and his lovely bride. It is just all so romantic :)

Easter here was very un-easter-like. I did, however, hard boil some eggs and eat some deli ham before I went to pick Johnny up at the airport. I should have microwaved a can of baked beans. Oh well, next year will be better :)

Anyway - without too much interesting to report on I will just post some pictures and videos of our fun trip. It really made me appreciate the island a little more. I know that as we adjust a little more I am sure to fall in love with this place.

This is obviously the ocean....I just wanted everyone to see how BEAUTIFUL the water is here. It is spring right now and I am told that it only gets more clear and more amazing as summer comes. I can't imagine!

This was what we saw immediately after walking into the aquarium. I never even imagined holding a sea cucumber but I definitely fell in love :) Johnny enjoyed the face I made when I saw the guys next to me handling the cucumbers in a harsh way. I should have filmed Johnny's attempt at holding the cucumber because our oh-so-adventurous man dropped it instantly and squealed. :) maybe he would have preferred the sea cucumber rolled in rice and seaweed.

We stood at this big tank FOREVER. The whale sharks were incredible to watch. We did go down closer but this video gives you a much better idea of the size.

 We noticed that the most common picture pose is smiling with a peace sign very close to your face. This picture got a good laugh out of the Japanese families standing nearby.

Finally, I leave you with a short video of my favorite drive. It is right next to our house and it is away from all of the buildings. Not to mention, it smells like farm. There is much more to it but the roads get very windy. Enjoy my Sunday stroll :)

I hope everyone is surviving all of the nasty weather back home - I know that gets very depressing. You are all invited to come visit the Island and get away!! 

All of our love.

Pictures!!

Here are a few pictures since I know everyone is DYING to see how we are living. I promise more will come once all of our stuff arrives in May (thats why the house looks so empty) and I apologize for the quality..these were all taken with my iphone.

The living room

The dining room

kitchen and breakfast table

upstairs hallway

Johnny's office - I've told him he can decorate however he wants :)

The third bedroom (currently occupied by all of the boxes of furniture I have assembled)

master bedroom

view of our cove from the bedroom window

back of the house

view of backyard from the office - and Japan on the other side of the military gate lol

And just because....

we went out to our favorite restaurant last night. It's a Thai restaurant and the owner knows us already :)

I hope y'all enjoy! More to come as I take them :) All of our love!

Just a couple quick videos...

Johnny is FAR more brave than I am when it comes to the local cuisine :)

The first time to drive on the WRONG side of the car and on the WRONG side of the street!

We Meet Again!

Hello friends and family! This website is still in Japanese but I clicked around until I found the right buttons :)

Where to begin....SO much has been going on since we left the states. The plane ride was very long. VERY LONG. I hated it. I think Johnny did alright and probably would have done better if I had not been there pulling my hair out and getting up to stretch every 4 minutes. We were up for over 24 hours when we landed here on the beautiful island of Okinawa. It was shockingly cold. It has warmed up since we've been here thankfully but for the first week we had to wear jackets (which completely threw me off since I was prepared for a tropical island?!!?). The first week we woke up early and did all kinds of fun newcomers orientation type things...got our japanese drivers license, bought a car and got a pretty cool house :) We went to bed early every night after eating Anthony's Pizza and Taco Bell way more than we should. We did go on a little adventure to get sushi one night....Johnny enjoyed that. He decided we should go on an adventure out on the island to find food and I said "no, I think we should have a plan of where to go before we head out..." so he finds a restaurant that looks good and writes down what he thinks is the address. We get in our taxi and tell the driver where we want to go. He has no idea what we are saying and calls all of his taxi friends (Japanese taxi drivers are really nice like this) to find out what these Americans are trying to say. To no avail. We throw the plan out the window (not literally) and just say "sushi, please?" So off we go through the winding roads of our little island, far away from any signs that are translated into english, and arrive at a little place on a very quiet street. The taxi driver says he will pick us up in 2 hours...I look around and say "how about one hour". We walk in and the waitress hands us a menu which we proceed to "read" upside down at which point she motions us to go sit at the bar where we can look at the raw morsels of fish and meat. The chef is very nice and patient with us as we try to communicate what we want to eat. He gave us pieces of raw salmon, octopus, shrimp rolled in wasabi (that sure wakes you up) and finally a bowl of very peculiar green plants. They are a stem with little translucent green beads. I muster up every ounce of adventure I have in me after the raw salmon and octopus and chop stick a big mouthful of green things in my mouth. As I'm smiling and thumbs upping the chef I bite down to my horror of exploding sea water flavored mucus. After I tell Johnny that it's not fish eggs he quite enjoys the little sea plant. I, on the other hand, had just about enough adventure to last me awhile.

There is one little place I really like called Mos Burger. It's a fancier version of a Japanese McDonalds but their burgers are not like ours. I really can't tell you much about what is in them or what they are except that they are really yummy and that's all that I care to know :)

We moved into our house on Saturday and have been trying to make it cozy. I painted three rooms the other day (which took me all day because the store was out of painters tape) and I am VERY happy with the results. Our new furniture arrived yesterday and we are both very excited about it all. We need to get some area rugs because the floors here are tile. Not very cozy. Hopefully our shipment will arrive before May 20th because I have been cooking with my one pot and plastic spoons. I need to go to the store today.

As you know we have internet know, thank goodness. But we are still waiting on our phone service. It could take another ten days but we will have free calling between here and there so it will be a good day :) Thank you all for being patient as we've tried to get settled and get connected. It has been a bit of a frustrating process and I know you are all curious about what life is like here and how we are. Just a little bit longer and communication will be easy and frequent!

ALL of our love. (oh and pictures to come soon)