Goodbye October!

Last week was the big base inspection and it sucked. I felt so bad for Chad. He was working 12 hour night shifts all week that usually ended up being longer than 12 hours. Wednesday night he worked for 13 hours, came home and went to bed at 7AM. I woke him up at 11AM because he wanted to go with me and Myah to her vet appointment. We got home about 12:30 and as we're making lunch, he gets a call that he needs to report to work. He was getting called in to to fill for Security Forces. He gets there and I guess after sitting around for a bit while the people are trying to make a schedule, finds out he will be working 4pm-4am. Welllll... it was about 3PM when he found this out and then he couldn't even leave to come home because the base exercise was in "high security" at that point which means nobody could go anywhere. From the sounds of it, he sat around until later that evening where then he was put out to guard the flight line. Long boring story short, he didn't get home until 9:30AM the next day! He practically worked a 20 hour shift after working the night before and only getting 4 hours of sleep. I felt so bad for him! Only in the military is it legal for them to let you work that long of a shift, especially without access to food or even a bathroom! Since he worked for so long that night, he didn't have to go into work that night which meant he got a 3 day weekend, so that was pretty nice after that horrible week! Here is a video that Kadena Air Base posted online that shows Chad working:

Myah and I had a lot of bonding time while Chad was working those long hours. I took her for a 2 mile walk every night. She enjoys going for walks! She had to go to the vet on Thursday to get her second set of shots and her microchip. She did really well at the vet. I'm glad Chad was there because he kind of bear hugged to keep her still while they were poking her. I thought from having the shots, she would act a little drowsy and tired at night but she was the same pup ready to go for her walk! I took her in the car for the first time by myself. I was kind of nervous that she would be all over the car or want to sit in my lap while driving but she was surprisingly calm. She sat in the back seat the entire time just staring out the window. I was impressed! She loves going on car rides now! We took her to the beach for the first time on Friday night. She was scared of the water! I want to take her to the dog park sometime soon because I know she's dying to play with other dogs or just get out and run.

I feel like I've been interviewing for a lot of jobs lately! I don't want to go in to a ton of detail since this is a public blog, but I feel like I've been getting better at my interviews each time I go. I did get offered one job, but the day before the offer, I had interviewed for a better position and I felt like the interview went really well. I didn't want to accept a job and then possibly give up a better opportunity for me, so I politely declined. It made me feel good that I was offered a job since all I feel like I am doing is interviewing and going no where. I am not in desperate need of a job but it would be nice to have. I hope whatever job I do end up at, that they are flexible with leave time. I'm nervous that our family will come to visit and I won't be able to take time off or I won't be able to take time off to go home. That's really the only thing holding me back from getting a job, well that and no one has offered me the "right" one yet!

Tonight is Halloween. We will be passing out candy! Hopefully we get some trick or treaters so I have something to write about in my next blog!

DIY JCI

Here in Japan, we need to have 2 types of Car Insurance. There's the normal car insurance like we have back in the states and then there is the Japanese Compulsory Insurance (JCI). The JCI is good for 2 years from the day that you get it. In order to get the insurance you have to have your car thoroughly inspected. When people are looking to buy a car on the island, how much time is left on the JCI is a major factor. Usually, you don't want to buy a car that needs its JCI renewed soon because who knows what repairs the inspectors will tell you the car needs. When you buy a car from a dealership, most come with a brand new JCI. So for my car, we won't have to renew the JCI until after 2 years of owning it since we bought it from B.C. Motors. We bought Chad's car from a private seller. When buying his car we knew the JCI would expire in November. This made me nervous. I was kind of stressing out for the past couple months thinking that something horrible was going to be wrong with Chad's car and we'd have to put a ton of money in to it. Chad knows a lot about cars so I trusted him when he told me the car would pass the inspection with no problems. Since Chad is working nights this week, he can get things done during the day that he usually doesn't have time for. Today we decided we were going to tackle the JCI. We had 2 options, we could either take it to a shop and have them do the JCI or we could try to do it ourselves. I have heard that if you take it to a shop that it could cost upwards of $800. I also read an article on Okinawa Hai about how to do the JCI yourself; it had step by step instructions and cost way less than taking it to a shop. I showed Chad these instructions and he agreed that it sounded easy enough to do it yourself, so that's the way we went!

We started out by going to ACE Insurance and buying the JCI insurance. This cost us ¥11,730 ($152).

Then we went to Camp Foster's Vehicle Registration Office to pay our weight tax. We had to pay ¥15,900 ($207).

 

After that, we had to walk around the building to pay $20 for the inspection. Since you can't have any passengers in the car when you go through the actual inspection, I waited outside while Chad did it. First they had him honk his horn, show that his windshield wipers work, turn his lights and turn signals on, etc. Then he drove through the building where they did a more thorough check of his car. He had to accelerate, brake, and pull the emergency brake. Then they put it up on a lift and tapped on things with a little hammer to make sure everything was all good.

Chad driving through the inside of the building to have a more thorough inspection

The only thing they found wrong with Chad's car was that one of his parking lights was burnt out. Thank god that is an easy and cheap fix! We drove over to the Shoppette on base and bought a light bulb. Chad installed it and not even 5 minutes later we were back for them to check it out and tell us we passed the inspection! If you come back the same day with the repair fixed then you don't have to pay any of the fees again but if you failed the inspection and couldn't fix whatever made your car fail the same day then you have to pay some more fees. I'm glad we had an easy fix, it could have been so much worse!

After they cleared us for the inspection, we had to go back in the Vehicle Registration office for them to update some paperwork. We then drove around to the side of the building and got a new sticker for his car. We are so thankful that is done and over with! It could have been a lot more stressful than it was but I'm glad it wasn't. So total we paid $379 for the JCI which in my book is a DEAL! Plus it only took about an hour and half of our time total, it was quick and easy! Now it's done for 2 years and we don't have to worry about it! I hope more people take advantage of doing the JCI themselves because it's not worth it to take it to a shop for them to do it! I'm glad we have the experience of doing this once so now in 2 years when both of our vehicles need a new JCI we know just what to do :)

Snapshots

This week is the big base inspection so Chad has to work 12 hour night shifts for the week. He started today, Saturday, going in to work at 6pm and he'll come home at 6am. It makes for lonely nights and lots of complaints from the husband! I'm hoping this is the last week for awhile that he'll have to change up his shift, but you never know with the military! I don't really have much to write about so I thought I would do something a little different. I have a few pictures from my phone that I have taken but have never uploaded them to Facebook (where most of my blog readers come from). I may have uploaded them to Instagram - so if you're not following me on there, you're missing out! I thought I would post them here to clear out my phone and not clog up my Facebook wall :)


These first pictures were our dinner at Mike's Tex Mex. We tried this Mexican place out a few weeks ago. It's making me hungry just looking at the pictures. I had the sour cream chicken enchiladas, they were really good! I didn't like the beans, I think they tasted like perfume as weird as that may be! I actually read a review before going that said someone thought they tasted like perfume and that's the first thing that came to my mind when I tasted them too! Bleh! I don't remember what Chad got but whatever he had, he liked it as well. A great thing about this restaurant is their yen rate is extremely high. The yen rate is always changing but usually when we withdraw from an ATM, it's 77¥ = $1. Well at this place, they have an exchange rate off 90¥ = $1, so that means our dollar is worth more here! We haven't gone back here since we went but I'm sure we'll go back one day!

These are some Sprite bottles that we saw in a Japanese grocery store. I thought they were cool so I snapped a picture! The first bottle shows one side and the other bottles show the opposite side of the bottles. I like them! In case you're wondering, it tastes the same as the Sprite we all know.

 

One day, Chad I went to this restaurant called Pizza In. We've seen it several times as it is right outside of the base. It's a pizza buffet (they have a menu of other food items but we opted for the buffet). The pizza was actually pretty decent. They kept bringing out all different kinds. Chad brought me a slice of what we thought was broccoli and ranch pizza but after biting it we discovered it had some kind of seafood on it and probably tarter sauce. Ick! On the right is a slice of what Chad and I called "Hamburger & French Fries Pizza". We think it's what the Japanese think Americans eat on our pizza because it had ketchup, mustard, beef, ham, and potatoes on it. I had a bite of Chad's piece and it really wasn't that bad! What a crazy pizza though!

This picture is actually from today. We went to a Japanese grocery store and we found these. We think it's Pokemon sushi but we're not sure! It was kind of cool and unique though!

I wish Myah didn't have Alien eyes in this picture because it would be a good one! At times she can be a big cuddle monster. Sometimes all she wants you to do is rub her belly, if she doesn't get what she wants then she'll start biting your hands. It can be annoying! She now knows the meaning of NO though, so as soon as we say it, she stops biting... for a few minutes at least lol. She has caught on fairly quickly to learning some tricks. She knows how to sit, lay, and shake! I want to teach her how to roll over next. She's done a pretty good job at potty training. I know I am going to say this and she'll have an accident tonight but lets pray that she doesn't. It has been kind of annoying though because she has gotten up at like 2AM and is scratching at our bedroom door because she has to go potty. I guess I rather her wake me up than go in the house but I'm hoping she doesn't make this a nightly habit!

I literally just took this picture because it makes me laugh. At one time this was Myah's toy chicken. Now it's a murdered chicken. She keeps tearing it to pieces. Each time I see it, more of it has been demolished. Poor chicken! I'm glad she chews on her toys and not our furniture though! We're going to have to find her a new favorite toy soon!

Well that's all the pictures I have for tonight. I think this was a good idea and a great way to get those random pictures off my phone. I'll have to do it again in the future! I take pictures of the most random funny things we see but only half of them actually make it on my Facebook. Good Night!

Northern Okinawa

Chad had to work on Saturday, so we didn't have much of a weekend. We wanted to make the most of Sunday, so we decided we would head north and go see some waterfalls. If you recall, we've tried to go to the waterfalls once before but we couldn't find water shoes. This particular waterfall has you hiking through a stream the whole time, so we wanted water shoes. Well we finally found some and found the time to go check it out! We took the expressway to Nago hoping to avoid any possible traffic. We were following directions that we got off from Okinawa Hai. We got so close but the road that we needed to turn down was blocked off! There were trees down on the road from the typhoon a few weekends ago and I guess they hadn't got to pick up that area yet. That was kind of a bummer! Well we had drove all that way so we needed to find something to do while we were up north! We saw signs for Cape Hedo on our way up. I looked on the map and saw that it was the most northern point of Okinawa. That was our new game plan! The farther north we drove, the less cars we started to see. It is a lot less inhabitable up there than it is down south, but it's oh so pretty! There are mountains and beautiful views!

On our way to Cape Hedo, we saw a sign for Kayauchibanta Viewpoint. It sounded cool, so we decided to follow the signs there. It took us up a mountain to a beautiful look out point. It would have been a ton more pretty if it wasn't such a gloomy day! It had been raining off and on and it was really foggy. The pictures on Okinawa Hai look so much better than the ones I took. We're going to have to head back up there on a clear day, just to see how much prettier it is!

After getting back in the car we continued to follow the signs for Cape Hedo. It wasn't much further and we finally arrived. Cape Hedo reminded me a lot of Cape Zanpa, where we visited last weekend. I personally liked Zanpa better though. That may have been because it was such a gloomy day that the water wasn't as pretty as when we went to Zanpa on a sunny day. It's just a bunch of cliffs that drop right off into the water. It was so windy! Overall, it was pretty sweet to see and to say we've been all the way north! 


On the way home, I told Chad to drive back on the other side of the island since we haven't been on the east side too much. Big mistake. It was so boring! On the way back, it was curvy mountain roads with nothing to see but trees. At first it was a nice little break from the hustle and bustle of the towns but after awhile, it was quite boring. Every once and awhile we would drive through a tiny village, but that was about it. I'm glad we took that route just to say we did it but I don't think we'll be going back that way ever again. We will definitely be making a trip all the way north again on a more pretty day!

Naha Tug of War Festival

I was so excited when I learned that the Naha Tug of War Festival was this weekend! I had seen pictures of it when researching Okinawa before we came here and it looked like it would be a cool experience! This event made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1995 for the having the biggest rope made by rice straw in the world. The rope was huge! They said it weighed approximately 90,000 pounds. My question is, where do they store this thing?

We made our way to Naha to catch the end of the parade that was going on before the main event. This is the first parade we have seen in Okinawa, so I was looking forward to it! During this parade, each town had their own (huge) flag and they took turns balancing it on their waist. It was quite the site to see! Sometimes they would lose balance of the flag, so there were people with sticks surrounding them to push it back up. That's the best way I can explain it! lol

After the parade had ended, we walked up and down Kokusai street looking at all the different shops. We then headed up to 58 where the tug of war was going to be happening. I wish we would have been there when the rope was being brought out, so that I could of got better pictures of it. Oh well, there's always next year! We got pretty close to the main part of the rope. Longer smaller strands of the rope came off from the main rope for everyone in the crowd to pull on. Once the contest began, it was seriously crazy! Chad and I both got a part of the rope to pull but it was hard to pull when I was getting smooshed the whole time. There was seriously too many people there for comfort! They stunk too! Haha! The tug of war lasted for 30 minutes, but Chad I left after like 20 because we were tired of being in the crowd of people. It was a fun experience! I told Chad to bring a knife so that we could cut off a piece of rope to bring home with us. It is said to bring good luck if you do! Unfortunately he left his knife in the car so we weren't able to get a piece this year. Bummer!

We got a dog!

Meet Myah!

She is our new dog that we rescued from the kill shelter in town. She is a lab mix who is predicted to be about 1-2 years old. We're definitely thinking she is more toward 1 years old than 2, by the way she acts. She still has some puppy left in her. She is very small for a lab, so she must have been mixed with a small dog or she's just the runt! She was picked up off the streets of Okinawa and brought to the pound in town. There is an organization called Doggies Inc. that rescues dog from the shelter in town and places them in foster homes. We went through that organization to get Myah. So when we got her, she had been in her foster home for a week. She is a very well behaved dog for being a stray. We're thinking she had to of lived in a house when she was younger because she seems domesticated. She's not fully potty trained yet, but we're working on it. She's only had a few accidents and knows that she did something wrong when she goes in the house.

Chad has wanted a dog ever since we got here. He's a huge dog person, where I'm kinda just on the fence about dogs. Yeah, they're cute but they can be a big responsibility! We've been looking at the dogs at the Kennel and on the online yard sale page for awhile now. Chad finally talked me into getting a dog. I just hate how we're on the second floor, since it makes it 10 times harder to potty train her when we have to take her downstairs every time. She LOVES being outside! She'll sit by the door all day until we let her out. We ended up getting a cable to tie around a pole in our yard so she can just sit out there without us. We've only had her for a couple days now and each day she opens up a little more. Last night she started playing with her toys and running around a bit. She is a huge baby! She loves to cuddle up on our laps. We have been taking her for walks. She's not horrible on a leash, she just loves to stop and smell every tree and every pole and every patch of grass she sees. I think she'll get better once she's used to all the new smells!

I'm sure you'll be hearing more about her as time goes on. She goes in for her second set of shots and microchip later this month!