Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 8:51AM | Post a Comment 
The ferris wheel at American Village! A great landmark for all the landmark navigation you have to do on Okinawa. "Turn at the ferris wheel." "Go two stop lights past the ferris wheel." etc. It's pretty lit up at night, too.
Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 8:50AM | Post a Comment Here's some great questions we got by email and figured if one of you had 'em, more of you were probably wondering, as well. Sometimes we're not sure what's of interest to people, so keep those questions coming!
Q: Because the ocean is so close, should I worry about hurricane season? Seems to me that might be a worry?
A: They call hurricanes “typhoons” here. There are approximately three to four that come close to Okinawa every year, but we have reliable data that supports the fact that they haven’t had a big one through here in years (they haven’t had a “typhoon day” at work in several years.) While we can see the sea from our apartment, the Sea Wall is about 2 blocks walk. We may get pelted by rain and wind, but that’s about it. (And just to take away any further worry, the glass windows/sliding glass doors in our bedroom and several other rooms are reinforced glass. As they say in Jamaica, “No worries, mon!”)
Q: Even though you're not in what "feels" like Japan to you, will you get to see any of your friends from there? Is it close enough to catch them?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 8:53AM | Post a Comment 
We've been thoroughly enjoying walking the two blocks between our house and the Sea Wall each night so we can sit on the Sea Wall and watch the sun set over the Sea of China. What a spectacular sight! Check out some of our photos in the "Sea Wall" photo gallery. Photos just don't do it justice, but we tried to capture some of it. Note: the photos are from several different sunsets.
---Arielle
Monday, February 16, 2009 at 8:56AM | Post a Comment 
We have moved into the apartment and now have my SMX. As for the internet it will be 4-6 WEEKS! That's right I have to go in search for internet if I want to check email until then. That said I will have fiber internet when it does arrive. The reason it will take so long is, because they will have to run fiber to the building.
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 8:58AM | Post a Comment 
We ate lunch with one of Brandon's coworkers at a very nice Japanese place Friday. Brandon ordered a "set" and got this wonderful presentation of a number of fun foods to try! From the top left: not-sweet custard-like substance with meat and mushrooms (he wasn't too keen on that), variety of tempura (yummy!), tempura dipping sauce. Second row: pickled seaweed, mackerol sashimi (raw tuna), bean sprouts. Third row: Rice, pickled shredded veggies (to clear the palate), and miso soup (with seaweed and tofu).
