Welcome to the Jungle

Living in Okinawa has it's ups and downs, good and bad, fun and frustrating times. One of the things we've had to do is yard work THEIR WAY. For the 12 years before moving here, we never did yard work. We either lived in an apartment or had no yard. Our yard in Okinawa is by far not large. I wouldn't even say it's small. It is tiny. But since it's tropical here, everything grows fast all the time throughout the year. We get no breaks. But I'm not complaining because I'd rather not shovel snow, been there, done that.

The Okinawans have one rule that we have to adhere by...Bag up everything; leaves, grass, branches, weeds and trees, you name it. Well we are lucky to have a yard and have trees. Most Okinawans do not have either. With all the rain we've had lately everything has grown twice as fast. The trees were getting too thick and messy (yes this can happen. They like their trees small and pruned perfectly). We never pruned anything and just let it all go crazy. Besides, it brought us shade and privacy.

This weekend I went out to cut the grass. Charlie didn't like the fact that I was doing yard work without him so he HAD to help (like I made him do it). He started cutting back the trees. Once he got started there was no stopping. Maya and Kiera saw us working and started to help without even being asked (they know that if they help on a big chore they get paid). We ended up bagging 9 trash bags of trees.

Then today I did another 6 more.

We stopped before we got to the horrendous bamboo tree. That stuff is hard to cut and it's ginormous. Do you see the 5 story apartments going up behind us? Yeah, no zoning here. Two years of noise.


I don't have any before shots because I didn't realize the job ahead of us. But here is a good after shot:

And another:

I did learn one thing today. We use to rake the rock garden to get all the leaves out or just pull them out by hand. Then we have to pick up all the rocks out of the grass. But if you sweep the rock garden with a broom the rocks stay put and the leaves can easily be picked up. Only took me 3 years and 8 months to learn.

My pretty hibiscus plant that gives me new blooms everyday:

Are You Smarter Than a 4th Grader?

I check over Kiera's homework everynight. She tends to rush things and misses problems because she just wants to get it done before getting home. She's not allowed to bring her books home from school which creates problems for homework. So Charlie and I read through all her questions and correct her when we think it's wrong. Here are the ones Charlie and I have gotten wrong:

An insect called the walking stick looks almost exactly like the object it clings to. False. The correct answer is true. (well if it's on a tree, yes but if it's on a wall, no. We received an A-)

Any harmful material added to the environment is called litter. True. The answer is False. Litter should be pollution.
Most air pollution comes from natural causes like forest fires. False. The answer is True. What about all the mess we put into the air? (We received a B-)

People are the main reason that animals and plants become extinct. True. The answer is False.
Scientists study modern dinosaurs to learn about the dinosaurs of the past. True. The answer is False (what about crocs and turtles? We received a B-).

And a math worksheet that I obviously didn't read right I received a D-.

I'm never helping Kiera with her homework again. She would have received an A+ on all the worksheets if it weren't for me.

Jump Bags

I stated in my earlier post that I packed my jump bag for the evacuation. I can grab this bag and head out the door within minutes if I have to. The girls and Charlie made a version of their own jump bags. What's in our bags?

Mom:
passports/important documents
flood/home insurance
laptop/external hard drive
camera
phone & charger
new underware (you never know how long you'll be away)
travel size toiletries
money
water

The Kids:
Nintendo DS/charger
iPod/charger
paper/pencils
water

Sandy:
kennel
food/water

Charlie:
phone
chapstick
Harley
Never-Dull

Really Charlie? The world is going to end and you take Never-Dull? Seriously he did.

Tsunamis and Aftershocks

Sunday morning we were having a regular day getting ready for church and planning on some things for the beautiful afternoon we were going to have. I had checked numerous times on the internet about tsunami warnings and watches that were going on in the Pacific. Nothing was planned for Okinawa or Japan. We went ahead to church where we felt a few small earthquakes. Once service was over Charlie received a phone call stating that it was a "Real Emergency Evacuation Recall". We had two hours to get to higher ground since we live in the red flood zone. I immediately gathered my "jump bag". I think I'm the only one on the island so prepared. It has everything we need to get through an event and get off the island. It may be silly to most but I was going to be prepared. Who knew if our house was going to be completely flooded within hours?

We headed to the base and stopped at the food court for lunch. No one had a care in the world of what was going on. I think most didn't even know of the impending tsunami. Besides, there were no sirens going off, not even in our neighborhood. The kids wanted to go the the bx to look around. I just wanted to get to our friend's house and watch the news. But we decided to make a quick stop at the bx and pick up a game or two since it may be hours before we could return home.

We waited and waited and waited. Originally they had said the tsunami was going to hit at 3:10 pm. The time had passed and nothing happened. 4:00 came and went too. I continued to look online at updated news information and found nothing. Finally at 5:30 we were given the "all clear" to go home. A small tsunami had hit northern Japan much smaller than what they had expected. I'd rather be safe than sorry. At least we got to hang out with our friends and know that we were safe.

The Big One

This morning at 5:37 am we were violently awoken by a 7.0 earthquake. It seemed like it came out of nowhere and without warning. Everything shook...hard! for about 30 seconds. There's no way anyone could have slept through that one. Once the shaking stopped, the girls rushed into our room and got in our bed. Jas thought it was a wild ride but Kiera had been shaken up. With all the excitement, noone could get back to sleep. There was no damage around our house or our neighbor's homes. I reminded Charlie to check on his Harley to make sure it didn't fall. Everything was ok. I give credit to the Japanese, they know how to build a sturdy home.

Ear Update

So everyone has been asking what my outcome was at the ENT. I went to the appointment and just didn't get a good vibe from this guy. You know what I mean. As soon as he walked in the door he was so unpersonable and not caring. He took a look in my ear and before I knew it and without warning, he shoved a vacuum in my ear and got to work at sucking out all the gunk. This was so unpleasant to say the least. I'm not too worried about my hearing any more because I heard that vacuum loud and clear. This guy was so rough and actually said, "oh, did that hurt?" when he touch my eardrum with it. After that was done he asked if I felt better. Are you kidding me??? That hurt! He gave me the warnings of q-tips which I try so hard not to use. And told me to lather up and put soap and water actually in my ear. Whatever. I'm not doing that. My ears continue to drain. I think I need to get away from these military doctors and am looking forward to when we get stateside and I can choose my own doctor.

JCI stinks!

On Saturday we realized that our JCI (Japanese Compulsory Insurance) on Charlie's van expires the next day. Our bad for not noticing. So the following Monday Charlie took his van in to get all the paperwork and inspection done.

First, he had to go to our insurance agency and pay the JCI (this is not the regular insurance that you're thinking of. This is a separate insurance that we are required to pay to have the vehicle legal on the road. It cost about $150.). He drove to the inspection place. Since it had expired the day before, he had to sign up for temporary plates. He had to wait a day for them to come in before he could go any farther.

The next day, Charlie went back to the inspection place and picked up the temp. plates. He didn't have to actually attach the plates on the van, just put them in the window (lame, why did he have to wait a full day for this?). He also paid about $200 more dollars for their paperwork. He was told to drive around to lane 5. This is where the inspection happens. He pulls in, they check lights, signals, horn, you get the drill. Then they check the width of his tires. The back tires were too wide by 1 mm. Last time the front tires were too wide by 1 mm. So it failed. He had to get that fixed along with a new back tire before he could go on any farther.

So instead of buying new rims and tires which could easily cost $1,000, he bought some decorative finder pieces. They just fit around the bottom of the finder which pushed their string test out just millimeters (all he needed). He also had to get that back tire replaced (another $150 for everything). At this point, Charlie had called me to meet him at the inspection. He had to go to a meeting and couldn't finish the work so I had to complete the inspection. I pulled back up to the front office for a re-inspection and paid another $15. I was told to go through lane 5. A guy met me at the garage and asked for my paperwork. He looked through it. It's all in Japanese and I'm trying to explain to him that I just needed the tires looked at and nothing else because everything else passed. Believe me, they would find something else to fail if they could. Another guy came out, said something, they argued, pointed, measured and tapped the wheels. Please pass! Finally he gave me the ok to drive around to lane 4. Another look and more paperwork was completed. Drive to front office. I hand in the temp. plates (which was totally unnecessary), get some more paperwork and told to drive to lane 2. Finally I obtain the passing sticker! We are good for 2 years.

All that work and we leave in three months. But it's really worth it. Next week we are cleaning it up and putting it up for sale. Everyone looks for the best JCI date. They don't want to have to pay for it or deal with it as long as they can. Plus it can put all that money we just spent on it back in our pocket because people are more willing to pay a better price for it. Anyone interested in a '96 Honda Stepwagon? It's in great condition!

One Fish

One fish.

Two fish.

Red fish.

Blue fish.

The girls and I had fun decorating cookies on Saturday. We ended up making about 3 dozen cookies. They took forever to make but only a short time to eat.

Orange You Having Fun?

Maya and her class went to a tangerine farm and picked tangerines all day.

She could eat as many tangerines as she wanted while on the farm.

Maya brought home a full bag of freshly picked tangerines for all of us to enjoy.

On a Roll With the Honor Roll

Jasmine was awarded once again for her academic achievements. She received a 4.0 and made the Principal's Honor Roll for the semester. That's all A's for two grading periods! Her principal hosted them with certificates and donuts since this was a special honor.

Awesome Deal

Charlie wants this Samsonite garment bag. He likes it so much because it's huge and has wheels. He first saw it a year ago when they put them on the shelf. He fell in love. Every time we go shopping he looks at this bag. The price was too high. But he always said he'd buy it before we moved.

He won't have to worry about it anymore. I saw it on sale and snagged it up.

That's right! Before $370. Sale price $139.97.

Welcome to our family. Hopefully we will see you often (unless you're traveling by yourself).

Changing Plans

Charlie and I have been talking about this trip for Australia for two weeks now. He tells me what he wants to do and I research the internet to find the best deals around. What we found was there are no best deals around in Australia. This trip is going to cost a fortune even with free plane tickets. Everything started adding up along with the stress of reaching deadlines. The kids don't have passports, we all need visas, hotels are outrageous, we can't forget to eat, we would be doing bare basic stuff, not really getting all out of the country we want. So we decided to nix the whole trip. I know, I know what you're thinking. Who would drop a great opportunity? We still have to remember we are buying a house, two cars and furniture when we finally do move.

So you ask, "Are you coming straight home?" Nope. We're going to Hawaii instead. We know for a fact that there will be no out-of-pocket travel expenses getting to and from there. We have a hotel already picked out right on the beach. Charlie has a few things he wants to do and I have like one thing I want to do. The kids are just happy to get away and stay in a hotel. I'll be lucky if I can get them away from the tv all day (since they've never watched American tv except a few weeks out of their lives at Grandma's house).

It will be nice to actually be on a vacation.

Making Us Proud

Jasmine received a few awards at school. They were for having a 96 or greater average in a class for the semester. She received awards for the following classes: Health, Science, Math, Language Arts and PE. She's so bright.

The ceremony was held a o' dark hundred. 7:20 am Geez! They rushed through the whole thing in 20 mins. I had never seen anyone call out names so fast. Understand now why my pictures are blurred?

BTW, I mentioned it before but the lady in red was Jasmine elementary school counselor at Sembach when we were stationed in Germany. She remembers Jasmine when she was only in kindergarten.

What a Difference a Day Makes

I'm feeling so much better today. All that sleep I had in my drug induced coma has paid off. Although I'm not 100 %, I'm up and back to my normal self. Charlie let me know how he loved taking care of me, he's happy that I'm feeling much better. And the house...well let me just say I've got my work cut out for me. Eventhough I know the girls did their chores and even overheard a few punishments for not doing chores, I can't believe the house got overturned so quickly. Everyone had a day off of school and work today and totally took advantage.

I'm looking forward to my ENT appointment next week. The infection has not cleared up yet and I still can not open my mouth because of all the swelling. I've been on a soft diet for a week now and I can't wait to eat a burger again. Cold liquids just sting my ears and throat too. It will be great to finally find out what's going on.

Not Out of the Woods Yet

Today is the first day that I'm feeling a little better. Every day before I was feeling worse. Once I came home on Thursday from the ER, I just assumed I'd be better in a day or two. Nope. I actually felt so much worse. I did learn one thing - I am never taking Vicodin again in my life. That stuff messed me up. I itched all over, felt so nauseous and threw-up a few times. My stomach hurts so much from that and all the Motrin I took in-between doses. I pulled out the ear wick today. I couldn't stand it anymore. Four days was pretty good. The last time I had an ear wick it only lasted a few hours before I pulled it out. I think it caused most of my pain and discomfort. I still can't open my mouth. I've been on a soft diet for five days now. I'm hating it. While I'm having applesauce and soup, Charlie brings pizza or McDonald's home and eats it right in front of me. The clinic is not open again until Tuesday since Monday is President's Day. So I'll have to wait until then to be seen again. There's no reason that I should still be sick. I'm looking forward to my appointment with the ENT in a week and I'll let you know how it goes.

Feeling Worse

Two sleepless nights and terrible pain sent me to the ER today. I wouldn't normally go to the ER for an ear infection but my clinic was closed today for training. The staff wasn't too happy about this not knowing ahead of time that they may be hammered by people coming in with silly-not-such an emergency-kind of stuff. I must have been the first one in today because I got brushed off initially. Thankfully, a nice, understanding and helpful nurse sailor guy (forgive me on how I'm putting my words, I'm high at the moment and probably shouldn't be working any high tech machinery) listened to what I was complaining about. The whole left side of my face hurts and now I can't open my mouth. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I just hurt a lot. His face changed, eyes lit and realized I may have a real problem that needs real treatment. I soon realized they were blowing me off at first because they thought I was 20 years old and was being a whiny baby. Once they found out I was a mature mother of three, they all of the sudden listened. Crazy how that works. Soon, everyone was listening and I had four different nurses and doctors asking me questions and digging into my oh so tender ear. Did I mention I was in a lot of pain? Yes that hurts when you touch it and dig around so stop it! They were shocked to hear that I had been suffering so long and had been put off for years. In the end, I had a wick shoved in my ear along with more drops (this really doesn't feel good. It actually hurts worse because of all the swelling and pressure I already have). But I know it's good for the healing. I also got some Vicoden for the pain. Finally I can sleep. I thought I wouldn't feel any pain after taking the Vicoden but I still do, I just don't care about it now. I'm hoping to fall asleep soon. Charlie is helping me out by picking up the girls from school ('cause I really can't drive). He's a great husband and is always there for me. Also, I forgot to mention, instead of waiting for a month to see the ENT, I have already been referred today. So tomorrow I can call there and get my first appointment. That's really great news. I'm hoping this infection will clear up soon and I'll be back to feeling good again.

Again With My Ear

My ear is going to be the death of me, I swear! This left ear drains ALL the time and now I have a blown out ear infection. I feel like gouging out my ear and ripping it off. It's not the worse pain I have ever had. No, having Maya was the worse pain ever but we won't go into that in this post. But this ear infection is becoming a 5 out of 10 (that's how we measure pain in the military). I have become used to getting ear infections in the same ear over and over for about 15 years now. And I've started to notice a pattern in the doctors' excuses to why I'm getting them. Their stories are all their own opinion and none of them match. Here are some of them:

1. you are getting water in your ear from the shower
2. you need to use a hair dryer to dry out your ears
3. there is a lot of bacteria in the water here
4. you have a rash, put some Prell shampoo in it (NEVER, NEVER do this!)
5. you have swimmer's ear and there's nothing we can do
6. put alcohol in your ear (NEVER, NEVER do this!)
7. flying causes infections

So, this time when I went in to see the doctor, he let me know they were out of ear drops. What? He gave me eye drops instead. What, What? I understand it. They work the same way. It's just antibiotic drops. But the ear drops have a numbing medication in it that the eye drops do not have. And for the pain, I get vitamin M. You may know this as Motrin. It's what the military uses for everything. Oh, you have pain, take some Motrin. Oh you had surgery, take some Motrin. Oh, your foot fell off, take some Motrin. Oh, your heart stopped beating and you're dead, take some Motrin. I've gotten so use to taking Motrin that my little body needs 800 milligrams every three hours (now, I know I'm not suppose to take that much but it's waring off too quickly).

The only good thing that happened this time is that the doctor wants to see me again in a couple of weeks and he's going to refer me to the ENT and an audiologist because I may have some hearing loss. Thank goodness (not that I may have hearing loss but that someone is finally doing their job)! No other doctor has ever said that before even when I asked. He said there's got to be an underlying reason why I'm getting infections. I made sure I got a follow-up appointment with the same doctor because that never happens either. I'll keep him to his word. I may not be able to get a clear diagnosis here but at least I'll have it in my records for after we move.

This Little Piggy

I've been racking my brain lately trying to get our trip to Australia set up. I mentioned it earlier but I didn't say much about it, just that we were thinking about going there on our way to the states. Since Charlie received his paperwork we had one week to check on how much our tickets would be to get there, where we'd stay and what we wanted to do there. If it was going to cost us too much, we'd just fly on home. Well....Charlie went to the ticket agency where we have to get our plane tickets through. The military allows so much to get to our next destination. If we decide to take an alternate route, whatever the amount is above our allotted amount, we would have to pay. Makes sense. Did you know that flying from here to Australia, back to Japan and then onto Georgia will actually save the military $500 for our family? That part does not make sense but I'm not going to question it. So now I've been looking for cheap hotels in Sydney. This is where I've been running into problems. Hotels in Sydney are outrageous. My goodness it's just impossible to put three little girls in one bed. That would be ridiculous! I remember one vacation in Germany when the girls were 3 and under and the manager insisted on us getting two rooms. What made it worse was that they were on different floors. Impossible people! I've seen a few in our price range but they are farther from everything and a little iffy. So I think we'll just have to pay a little extra for comfort and peace of mind. We are still deciding on what all we want to see and do while we are there. We have a couple of things in mind like seeing the Opera House and scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef. Other than that, we have nothing.

To take a break from all the researching, we played a little game called "Pass the Pigs" with the girls and our friends that came over the other night. It's cute. You don't have to think too much so it was perfect for the night.


Basicly, you have two little piggies that you toss like dice.



However they land is how you make points.

You can decide to keep your points made and pass the pigs to the next player, or gamble them all on another roll. But if you get two piggies on their side with one dot, you loose all your points collected in that round.

And if you roll the piggies and they land touching, you loose all your points gained in that game and you have to start over.

It was fun for all of us to just hang out together for the night. It will be a good game to get once our stuff is picked up. We'll be homeless for about two months and some little piggies will look really fun.

-sing- Georgia, oh sweet Georgia

Charlie called me on Monday morning as I was driving the kids to the bus stop. I did not use my cell phone while driving - no, not me! He was singing those sweet words we had been waiting to hear. Yep, we got orders to Georgia! We are so happy. What's great too is that we and the kids already have friends there. We spent every Friday night together our last 3 years in Germany.

I've been emailing my friend there about homes, schools, locations and everything else in between. It's soooooo wonderful to have that connection and friendship. She's given me some great advice that is invaluable and so I'm not wasting my time tying to figure it all out on my own without getting to see it all for myself. That's going to be the hardest part about living here and needing to get things done over there.

We've been looking at a ton of houses. I'm so thankful there are lots to choose from. I do have one house that I've been going back to every day. It gorgeous and it will fit us so well. We have lots of time until we move to settle on a house. While I'd like to get everything done before we move, I tell myself it's best to do a walk through of the houses and neighborhoods before we get too involved on one particular house. We know of some that have bought houses while still living overseas and never stepped in it before signing the papers. I don't know if I could be so trusting.

So for the next few months we will be narrowing our housing search down, getting ALL of our paperwork done, passports renewed, pet vaccinations, medical and dental check-ups, school appointments, selling two vans, returning government furniture, having our whole life packed up into a couple of crates and waiting for some awesome airline tickets.

Sometimes She Surprises Me

Jasmine. She's not your typical teen. She doesn't mouth off or roll her eyes. She doesn't break curfew or try to stretch the truth.

She takes hugs from daddy.

Which turns into being carried.

She still wants piggy back rides.

She helps me out when I need it most. She watches out for her sisters and guides them to do what's right. She does things when she's asked and even when noone is looking. She's sweet and bright and has the whole world ahead of her. She never looks back.