Hama Sushi

I know this is random but I thought it would be something different to show everyone back home so I took pictures of our lunch one day. When you sit down at a restaurant over here the first thing you receive is a cold cloth to clean your hands followed by a pitcher of water. (Which is wonderful during the summer). The other thing that is different over here is that at a lot of restaurants offer "a set". Different restaurants include different items in their sets but normal you get a drink, soup or salad and then a sample of items on the menu. David and I normally order a set when we try somewhere new because we get to sample more and ultimately have a chance of liking something that we ordered ( since most of the time we have no idea what we are ordering) lol

Housing

Here are a bunch of different pictures of different houses/apartments around where we live. They are all from inside my car because I felt funny about standing on the street taking a picture of someones house. :) A LOT of people live in apartments (some are very small).

Staying Busy

We thought these were funny because a couple years ago when we were in Gatlinburg TN they had the same exact ones there. :)
I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been busy but I'm not exactly sure what I have been doing :) David has been in training in Guam the last two weeks so I have tried to stay busy and only been home to sleep. David will be home this week and we have several Christmas parties to attend when he returns.
Our Christmas tree is up and I hope that all of our Christmas gifts make it home in time.
My parents will have skype running during their Christmas party so hopefully we will get to see a lot of you then. Everyone else we would love to see you too our skype ID is rikki.stelter.
Since David will be gone January- June of next year I am considering going to Tallahassee. Just when I think I have made up my mind one way or the other I change my mind again.
I don't really know anything but wanted to let everyone know that everything is good and that we are thinking of you all.
I have been taking pictures of different types of houses around Okinawa and will post them soon. :) I love all of you!!!

Sorry there are a couple double pictures

I accidentally posted a couple pictures twice. I am still learning how all of this works. I promise by the time we leave here I will be a pro. (I still have three years to work on it) :)

Planning....

This past week has been devoted to preparing for the holidays.I am trying to get our Christmas cards and gifts out early this year since I am not sure how long it will take to get to everyone.
The disappointment of the week started as a great idea, I made Christmas ornaments but they are too fragile to ship :( So I will be bringing them home with me next time I come. I made a bunch so everyone will get one. Here is what they look like :
They have sea glass, coral and shells in them. That way all of our loved ones will have a little piece of Okinawa.
The exchange and grocery store on base have done a wonderful job decorating and supplying the shelfs with items that people will need for the holidays.I am grateful for this not just because they have the items I desire but also because it feels like we aren't so far from home when we see Christmas stuff everywhere.
This Thursday we will be celebrating Thanksgiving at our friends Angela and Phil's house. Phil and David (along with Chris) will be separating from their current unit in December and joining a different unit for a year. The three guys will be leaving in January on a ship for 5 months. They will get to travel all over and have the opportunity to spend a week or two in several different countries. While on the ship they will be in training. They will also be the first ones called if a new conflict should arise or if there is a natural disaster in the area. I am hoping that neither occur and David has the opportunity to take online classes and see this side of the world.
We are continuing to try new things this week we went to a place called Mos Burgers. They are a chain restaurant on the island and most are located close to a base so I figured it would be easy to order, it was not :). I'm not sure who was more confused the girl that worked there or us. The food was ok (the fries were good) :)Here are some pictures from our visit to Mos.



The sign below is posted downstairs in our apartment complex. I'm not sure if you will be able to read it but David and I often smile at the grammatical errors that are made in the signs around town. After reading my posts you probably think that the Japanese are rubbing off on me. - I always have a few errors myself) :) Down the road for us there is a sign that advertises C Food. It always makes me smile.
The other picture is of a place called Jusco. There are many of these around town and are probably the closest thing to a mall that Okinawa has. There is a grocery store on the lower level and the other levels have items such as clothes,home goods, electronics, specialty shops and a food court. We haven't bought anything from Jusco but it is always fun to go inside and look around.


We hope that everyone has a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

We love you guys!!!

Naha

Last weekend we went shopping down in Naha. Naha is the largest city on Okinawa it's population is over 300,000 it is located about 45 minutes south of Yomitan Son (where we live). We enjoyed walking around on Kokusai St. Here are a few of the pictures from that day



The picture of our car shows David pulling into a parking garage with a conveyor belt system because space is limited in the city this system allows them to park multiple cars in "the same spot". Another picture is of the ladies restroom toilet. Most of the time they have normal toilets too. We aren't really sure what the purple looking thing in David's hand is. We think the purple part is some kind of potato and the bottom part is dough.( But we really don't know :) They sell them ALL OVER the island so we thought we would try one. It didn't really have any flavor to it at all. We also went to a little market where everything is already prepackaged and ready to go so the picture of the food is David's dinner that night. The rest are just random pictures.

Zakimi Castle

Yesterday I went to the Zakimi Castle. It is located 3 miles from my house and was built around 1440. It's amazing to me that it has held up so well.

Pictures !

I don't remember what order I put the pictures in but there is a picture of the beach. A dragon fruit (Very popular fruit in Okinawa the inside is white with little black seeds and people eat it like a kiwi.) It's kinda hard to tell but there is a picture of two trees blown over from the wind. David made me a welcome sign to welcome me back to Okinawa :) The final picture is of mango candy.

It's November!! (The edited version I wrote the other one in the middle of the night and did a horrible job)

It has been two weeks since I arrived back in Okinawa and I am behind on updating our blog but I have been too busy to sit down and type. So this post is going to be a long one.
The night I flew back into Okinawa the pilot in Tokyo announced to the passengers that if anyone was interested in getting off the plane the airline would refund their ticket or guarantee to have them on the first flight on Saturday. The pilot explained that a typhoon would be making landfall in Okinawa the following day and the island was already feeling the effects. This is when I should have stood up and exited the plane. Halloween party on Saturday or not. However none of the 20 passengers stood up so neither did I. Thirty minutes out of Okinawa I was saying prayers and mumbling about being an idiot and then the most amazing thing happened. I saw the runway. WE LANDED!!! I was so excited I hugged the man in the seat in front of me. I have been on some rough flights but NOTHING has ever compared to that last 30 minutes of that flight. Next time a pilot asks if anyone is interested in getting off the plane due to weather I will stand up and walk off.
I was so excited to be home I didn't care that my luggage was lost. Until the next morning when I realized our Halloween costumes and my ball dress were in my luggage.
The typhoon kept us in doors for two days. Literally the island shut down no stores were open and no one was allowed outside until the storm was over and the authorities had checked out the damage. So on Saturday morning David and I got up early with a list of things to do to prepare for our Halloween party that night. My luggage arrived at 9am and even though there was a miscommunication with the man who brought it (I said " Oh you have my luggage thank you" and he said "No sorry". I was confused then he said "I only have suitcase" Ok - luggage or suitcase you have my stuff YAY!!! LOL
Our Halloween party was a blast. 48 people attended, which is pretty good when you tell a bunch of Marines they are invited but they have to wear a costume. Everyone had fun and we will continue our Halloween tradition here in Okinawa.
The next week was a crazy work week for David. He had duty so he had to spend a few nights up at work. I spent the week applying for jobs and getting registered for the Spring semester of school.
The following weekend we attended the Marine Corps. Birthday Ball. It is always fun to dress up and spend an evening with friends dancing, drinking and celebrating something that at times makes our lives complicated and takes us away from our loved ones. This year was no exception we had a wonderful time.
Side note : The thing I find the most amazing about the birthday ball is that for one night a year everyone seems to forget the struggles and the sacrifices they have gone through. The Marines who attend the ball are filled with honor and pride to be serving the country they love. No one complains about deployments,long hours, PT or being in a foreign country for one night everyone is proud to be there and to belong to such an amazing "fraternity" - as the guys like to call it.
Ok sorry about the side note. Anyways I have a bunch of random pictures to post and a lot of ball and party pictures. I will post the random pictures tonight and hopefully the other pictures later in the week.
This evening we are going to a homecoming celebration. We will be welcoming Marines back that have been gone to Afghanistan since February. Their families can hardly stand it but in four hours they will be together again.
Although I am not allowed to give details. I will ask that everyone keep the Marines in Davids unit in their thoughts and prayers there have been several close calls lately. :(
David doesn't have to work the rest of the week. We are going to explore the island and hopefully do some Christmas shopping. It was wonderful to see everyone while I was home last month and for those of you I didn't see I am SO SO sorry. You all will be my top priority next time. Going home made me miss it more. I have a feeling it will be that way every time. I asked David if we could be stationed in Albany GA next. :) He said we just got here. Oh well what can I say I am a planner.
Have a wonderful weekend! Love you guys!

TYPHOON!!!

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamircolor.html

This is a link that shows the storm. This one is going to hit us it's a category four!!! We live in a very safe building and have plenty of supplies but it's still very scary. Last night I was on the last flight into Okinawa until the storm passes. I will be attending church this Sunday because I made it to the ground alive :) Next week I will post pictures from my trip home and our Halloween party. I will keep everyone updated on the storm, hopefully it moves quickly and with little damage. Please keep us and everyone on the island in your thoughts and prayers!!!

Weekend Pictures

The first picture is of David at the festival Saturday night.
Then there is a picture of David's first pedicure and of his second. :)
The ferris wheel is in an area called American Village. It is a shopping area close to three military bases. The ferris wheel is an important landmark because the streets here are numbered instead of named. So you could live on S-3986. Very few streets have signs that identify the street, because of this Americans use landmarks to give directions: go to the ferris wheel make a left look for the tall pink building turn right at the second coke machine. :)

Rikki's Rambling Weekend

We had a very uneventful week this week. I was sick from another MRSA infection and spent most of the week in bed and at the doctors office. The good news is by Friday my temperature was down and I was ready to get out and have fun.
Friday evening David and I enjoyed dinner at a Mongolian Bar-B-Que place and then went to a movie on base. We had an hour to kill before the movie so we went into a local grocery store to look around. They had Prego Spaghetti Sauce right next to fish flakes on the shelf. :)Speaking of fish flakes they serve pizza here with fish flakes on top. It has a very interesting flavor. By interesting I mean disgusting. :)
Saturday David and a bunch of guys from work went to a zip line park. David enjoyed flying through the air. (Someone took pictures so hopefully I will be able to post them soon.) Saturday morning while David pretended to be Spiderman I went to local markets and walked around with a girlfriend. That afternoon we enjoyed time with our friends at a festival. David played games and we watched the local entertainment. (There are some phenomenal dancers over here.)
Sunday brought about a normal day fill with errands. I took David to get his first fish pedicure, he enjoyed it so much he made his buddies go with him to get one after we finished dinner. Dinner consisted of a delicious curry meal. The people here eat curry an average of 185 days a year,so there are a lot of curry restaurants around.
We are enjoying living over here and getting to experience new things even the things that are less than enjoyable ( fish flakes LOL) we still love the experience. A group of guys that David has become close to are getting ready to deploy soon. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Random Pictures

The picture of the feet is of me getting a fish pedicure. The little fish bite the dead skin off of your feet. It feels super funny and is amazing how well it works. I've had three in the last couple weeks :) The other pictures are of this odd drink that is sealed with a marble.(What can I say i'm easily assumed).

Walk on Torii Beach

These are pictures from a walk on the beach. If you look really close you can see the things that live inside of the shells. I know the sea glass is just broken bottles but I love it... so I brought some home. The picture of the sky is for my mom(made me think of Mike.. thought you might want to see)