One thing that I enjoy about living in Japan is that it doesn't take much to amuse me here. There are so many things you see just by driving down the street that you would never see in America, many of which make me (literally) laugh out loud! Over the past months, Matt and I have snapped photos of these quirky things about Okinawa that have amused us, and today, I decided to combine a bunch of my favorites to share with everyone!
Japan has a much larger market for car air fresheners than we do in the US
An obnoxious-looking government vehicle
MEN'S Pocky - women not advised to eat this candy
What is this light trying to tell me?
Dancing family...
Who doesn't want to bedazzle their dashboard?!?
In Japan, Matt is a giant
There's NO reason why everyone can't be this creative with their vehicles!
Matt assured me that he was a pet
McPork... oh, Japan and your obsession with pigs!
Completely normal
Pig shoes, anyone?
Meow! You're adorable!
No, I will NOT pay almost $20 for a magnet that says "We Will Spread Beach Clean"!
I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did! 'Till next time!
For those of you who are not familiar with the term "spelunking", it is simply a funny word for "cave exploring". Matt had wanted to go on one last dive before he went over to Thailand, so he and our friend, Jason, had attempted to go diving at a really cool area called Maeda Flats. However, they had some difficulty getting in and ended up just exploring the area outside of the water. The next day, when sea conditions were much more calm, Matt and I (along with Jason and his wife, Andrea) went out to the same spot and went snorkeling and spelunking!
The first thing we did was snorkel out to the reef, which was different than what I've seen in Okinawa so far. There were not a ton of fish, but there were A LOT of sea urchins as well as a huge, deep crevice that we followed the whole way. In fact, the previous day, our friend Jason had lost his mask and snorkel when they had trouble diving, and Matt actually found it (still intact!) at the bottom of the crevice! How often do you loose something in the ocean and find it the next day? Not often I'd like to bet!
Video clip of the Flats:
Awesome little blue fish
One of many Sea Urchins
Rainbow fish (very technical name)
The huge crevice
Video clip swimming over the crevice:
A different kind of Sea Urchin
Maeda Flats is amazing! Not only is it gorgeous and has some great diving and snorkeling, it also has countless little caves to explore. A lot of them seem to be connected, not on the surface, but underwater. So, you can swim from one to the next through openings underneath... pretty neat! In addition to this, small "pools" are created at low tide that you can hop into and swim in just like you were in a swimming pool. They go at least 15 feet deep, so we were doing cannon balls into them, and Matt even climbed up the rocks and jumped in!
Video clip of inside one of the caves:
Video clip of Matt and Jason swimming through the caves underwater:
This is one of the "pools" that we were jumping into
Video clip of Jason and I jumping into the "pool":
Video clip of Matt jumping off rocks into the "pool":
Matt jumped in off the rocks multiple times
Some coral that stops growing right at the "low tide" water level
More Sea Urchins!
Me holding one
Maeda flats is somewhere we definitely can't wait to bring our friends or family that visit us here - you've got the beach, swimming, snorkeling, diving, and spelunking! Now, who's going to be the first to visit??
The time has finally come for Matt - for him to actually be deployed for the first time in his 5 1/2 year Marine Corps career! He's been incredibly fortunate to live in such places as Florida and California, and now, he's even more fortunate to be deploying to a country like Thailand (although just for a few weeks). In fact, not only is he in Thailand, he's also staying in one of the beautiful areas that people vacation to, living for free at a gorgeous resort, and has already seen people riding elephants! Is it possible that I'm a little jealous of my husband's deployment... :)
A week or two ago, the spouses (ie. ME) were prepped for this deployment as well as the Marines themselves. Matt and I went to a briefing where they told us all about why our husbands were going to Thailand, what their mission was, how to reach them, what resources we had available to us while they were gone, etc. I really had no idea why the US Marines were going to Thailand at all, and to be honest, I still don't completely understand it and probably never will understand all military concepts, but at least now I do have a better idea of why. Apparently, Thailand is one of America's biggest allies, and we have a very good relationship with them. Marines go over on short "exercise" deployments for a few weeks (like Matt is) in order to keep up that good relationship with the Thai people and government. The Thai military actually lets our US military set up camp on their bases for those weeks. In addition to these exercises, the Marines also do community outreach throughout Thailand, almost like mission trips. This time, they are building an orphanage in a part of Thailand - these are the types of missions that the US likes to do to make a lasting positive impression on the Thai people.
So, I dropped Matt off last weekend, early in the morning, at one of the gymnasiums on the Air Force base, Kadena. It seemed like there were hundreds of Marines arriving on buses, transferring their bags into large cargo trucks, and getting in a never-ending line outside the gym. I left, not knowing when I would hear from Matt next, but sure enough, he started leaving me messages on Facebook that same night after he got into his hotel. We've been chatting on Facebook or via Skype as much as we can. He has free internet at work as well as at a free internet cafe right outside of his resort, however, he is charged by the minute for internet usage in his room, so we try to avoid that and stick to the other options. I'm sure if I were in Thailand with Matt right now, I could describe it in full detail. Since I'm not there, I'm not going to even try - I'll just share some of the photos that Matt has taken and posted online so far. He went with a different unit than his own on this deployment, and he is also in a different area of Thailand than most of the other Marines, so he didn't know what to expect. However, it seems to be turning out much better than either of us expected, and he seems to be enjoying the experience so far.
One of Matt's friends, Tony, is leaving the island soon and going back to the States. So, a bunch of us gathered together and went out for a "going away meal" at a new restaurant called Crocodile's. "New" meaning "new to us", not "new to the island". This is one of the coolest places to eat (at least in my opinion!) that we've found here so far. The place itself is very visually interesting. It has lights strung and lit up outside, an outdoor bar with pool table, indoor and outdoor seating, a tunnel as an entrance, a unique indoor "water window", a real, live crocodile, and the best part - fire dancers! I can't imagine going to Crocodile's during the day - the night just makes the place come alive.
The entrance
Inside after passing through the tunnel
The live crocodile - I think he hates his life:(
The croc's name was Coco... i guess?
Cool lights they had in the floor
The "water window" they had in the indoor dining area
A video clip of the live music and fire dancers:
Because much of their menu is seafood, the prices aren't the cheapest around, but the food was REALLY good! My favorite thing was actually our appetizer - Fried Crocodile! I'll admit, I didn't want to give it a try - I hear it's a pretty common food down south in places like Texas, but I'm from the Midwest, where we like to stick to your basic meats like beef and chicken. However, once it arrived at our table, it didn't look as scary as I had pictured in my mind. It was breaded. It didn't taste weird like I expected either. It was actually really good! I will definitely get it again! You might think Fried Crocodile was weird enough for one meal, but NO - Matt's friend Tony had to order the Scorpion. It looked just like a live scorpion sitting on a plate, and he devoured it in two bites! He says it is good. It just sounds crunchy and gross to me!
One thing that I enjoy about living in Japan is that it doesn't take much to amuse me here. There are so many things you see just by driving down the street that you would never see in America, many of which make me (literally) laugh out loud! Over the past months, Matt and I have snapped photos of these quirky things about Okinawa that have
amused us, and today, I decided to combine a bunch of my favorites to share with everyone!
