Our New Life in Okinawa

Wow, so much has happened! And we have been REALLY bad about taking pictures!!

Joel and I moved to Okinawa on 8 Sep of this year. We were so grateful to be able to spend two weeks in the States with our friends and family first so it was great segue way into our new life. It was bittersweet to say the least to leave Iwakuni. We have wonderful friends and a fantastic church family to whom we had to say good bye, but we truly felt called to accept our new role in Okinawa.

We went through the now more familiar rigmarole of staying in temporary lodging, buying and sharing a car for a bit, looking for homes and adjusting to new jobs. It was a whirlwind, but exciting! We knew we needed a home that would accommodate Bruce, since we had already made plans for him to arrive at the end of October! Also, we were really hoping and praying we could find a place on the beach... and that we did!!

We splurged big time one evening and bought a $50 pizza for dinner from a super great restaurant called Pizzakaya. It had lobster, truffles, caviar, asparagus, caramelized onions... DELISH. A once in a lifetime experience!

The first week we were in our new house, I saved a kitten! I heard this cat WAILING outside, ALL NIGHT but couldn't figure out where it was coming from (it kept waking me up and made me so mad!). The next day, when we got home from work, I heard it again! So I went looking, and this kitten saw me from across the street and went bounding in front of traffic to get to me, nearly getting us both killed because of course I tried to save it from moving cars! Joel tried to get me to leave her down by the beach where all the other stray cats are, but she wouldn't leave me. She had to be held or it wailed, and she would literally sit on my foot and climb up my pants leg every time I tried to set her down. I had to keep her for the night until I figured out what to do.

Long story short, I told Joel I had no intention of keeping her because Bruce was coming in a couple of weeks and I knew he would literally eat her the first chance he got, but I couldn't just abandon her. I told Joel I wouldn't name her, though, to help avoid getting attached and that I would find her a home the next day.

But, wouldn't you know Joel named her?! "Screech"! Because that's what she did all night!

I wound up taking her to work with me the next day (don't worry - I called my boss first thing to let him know I had a kitten in my office and he just laughed and laughed and pulled a prank on me later pretending I was getting into SUPER BIG TROUBLE!!) It was great to have Screech there with me in the office... she fell asleep in my lap for much of the time and would play with the cord when I was on the phone. She still screeched quite a bit and had to be held constantly!

I was able to find a home for her by the end of the day, after everyone in the office fell for her as well. I REALLY WISH we could have kept her, but Bruce is our first child and has special needs, so he is best as an only child.

**NOTE: A couple of weeks ago, I saved ANOTHER screeching kitten who had gotten trapped in our neighbor's back yard for two days!! I don't know how they could sleep with it back there! I had to hop the fence and get it the next day because they weren't home and its screeching was driving Bruce insane and me into mania! When I tried to go inside real quick to grab it some food and water, it followed me in without my knowledge and Bruce FOR REAL, LITERALLY tried to eat it. I had to use my ninja skills to save the thing and keep Bruce from chomping it to bits. I was able to feed it and pawn it off on some Japanese kids walking by, so I hope and pray it is doing OK wherever it wound up! Bruce is a BIG STINKER!! LOL. :-D

Now, enough of the cat stories and on to more food!!

Joel and I found a sushi place that we LOVE that served wonderful items like this tuna tartar over greens and avocado with a raw quail egg on top!! With a just a drizzle of sesame oil, this dish was amazing!

Pure deliciousness.

For my post-birthday weekend (the weekend of my birthday we were trapped inside for a couple of days with no power as we survived our first of what will be many typhoons!), Joel and I stayed an evening in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa. We did a lot of walking and found a neat, water walk-way to the city castle.

The weather was gorgeous and we had a super fun day!

We stumbled upon some authentic, Okinawan dancers.

We have noticed a lot more Chinese influence here than we saw on mainland. The dragon architecture at the castle was super cool!

This is definitely more Chinese inspired than the Torii gates and such we saw so much of on mainland!

Now, I have to show some Bruce pics:

What a crazy, wild ride from New Jersey to Tokyo to Okinawa! Not only was Bruce a trooper, but Mrs. Diller was our HERO for taking Bruce to the airport and Joel for making the trip up and back to Tokyo in one day and dealing with all of the crazy customs processes! Joel sent me this picture from the car on their way home to me that night. I was SO excited, I just sat outside waiting for Joel to pull in the driveway.

Bruce was manic and jet lagged and confused, but still the same ol' Bruce. He was pretty passive aggressive the whole first week as payback, we think, for making him take that looooong crazy trip, LOL. 

Getting adjusted to life at the beach!

Watching the world from our bedroom balcony... Bruce is completely normal now and we are SO HAPPY to have him here with us! He is a special dog to say the least and we love him!

We are SO grateful and blessed to be here on Okinawa! We have found a church, made great friends, and had some crazy adventures already! Bruce has settled in and is learning the language and we really like our new jobs. God is good and we will have more stories to follow for sure!