Audrey Goes to School!

(Audrey putting her shoes on and getting ready to leave for school!)

Well I promised some more photos of Audrey so here you go. She's starting to get used to going to school everyday. She typically hesitates leaving the house, then hesitates steeping onto school grounds but then once she's in, she goes crazy with excitement and forgets herself. Today its Saturday and so I got to be the one to walk her to school.

Today she seemed okay throughout the entire walk which is unusual for her. Usually she's worrying about which teacher is going to come greet her that morning or worrying about nap time. Apparently, she loves her main teacher and if she sees her first thing in the morning, everything usually goes pretty smoothly.

(Contemplating the tough road ahead...)

(Action shot - Audrey dashes to school)

(In front of school - the day prior)

(Emma truly enjoying herself alone at home in her favorite chair)

Here's a little video of today's walk to school -

Until next time!

You Load 16 tons and what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt right? Well, I've been doing my fair share of work these days. But the good thing is, I'm really learning a lot everyday. Unfortunately for me, I'm all on my own. No teammates, no mentors... It's funny what that does to your mind. Well anyways that situation may change in a few weeks. A co-worker of mine out of the Tokyo office may come down and assist me with some of this testing work in a few short weeks. That will be somewhat of a relief having someone else around. It's really quite interesting this project. I don't think I'm at liberty to say too much but I will say that its been a strange roller coaster ride. But this project just might pave the way for me into future endeavors here in Okinawa. It seems that at the end of this I should have a pretty unique skill-set for this island. I guess we'll just wait and see how things pan out.

Well Audrey started pre-school about two weeks ago. She seems to like it okay but absolutely hates nap time. Oh what child of mine could hate nap time? She sometimes cries for Mommy during that 90 minutes of hellish boredom. But otherwise, she is making friends and learning Japanese. I'll have to post a photo of the school here maybe tomorrow. It's kinda of a relaxed, kinda WWII era-esk type place where kids run around with dirty feet and runny noses. But the teachers seem friendly and Audrey is playing with all kinds of kids her age.

That and Emma is in absolute heaven when Audrey is not around. She really enjoys having the house (and ALL THOSE TOYS) to herself with no one to answer to. Actually I think Emma has finally found the happiness she has been seeking this whole time... I feel happy for the both of them. You know, I need to take more photos to illustrate these things. I will work on that.

As for now, I'm tired and ready for bed. Here I am turning in at 9 pm at night. Am I becoming an old fart already?

Busy, busy, busy

It's getting warm outside in Okinawa. You know what that means? It's time to go to the beach again!!!

It's been awhile since my last post and there is a perfectly good reason. I've been working too much and have had little time to myself. Good news is though, I've secured myself a relatively large scale 2-3 year project (I can say that with 99% certainty - not 100). Its big enough to cover my salary plus overhead and maybe even some profit on the side for the next few years. The main point is, the Okinawa office is making it and I feel secure. The Okinawa office is actually doing too well as I am working on 3 to 4 projects at one time. I currently have some people from Tokyo down here helping me out on my work load.
Enough about work though, right now life is too stressful and busy. But in just three weeks, I've managed to get used to my new environment and adapt to my new work requirements. Things should get easier from here (I'm hoping anyways). I told my boss that I can do this for awhile but I can't sacrifice my life over my job. Like I said, I think things will get more manageable once I finish a few little side projects that are taking up time that I don't have.

(Beautiful Little Hamahiga Beach - 20 minutes away by car)

The kids and Akemi are doing well. We received our household goods finally from our move from California. So Akemi has been reunited with her valuable books and sewing equipment, Audrey and Emma with their numerous toys and princess tent, and me with my reclining chair (a gift from my father). We did manage to get ripped off by our international mover. Actual costs were about twice what they quoted us. We had to take care of all costs for transport within Japan. They avoided making any reinbursements despite the fact that I paid for "door-to-door" transport. The money isn't a big deal, I'm just happy all our stuff arrived and in one piece. Especially those items that have sentimental value like my Dad's blue Miyata road bike and all those photo albums.

(Audrey, Emma, and new friend Ari at Manta Park)

Let's see what else. A lot has happened, too much to remember. All I know is I've been working like crazy and trying to get my company in a good place. So far, I think I'm suceeding. Audrey will be starting school in about two weeks. Her pre-school is a five minute walk from the house. She's very very excited. That and we recently met up with Aunt Hiroko and family. She was quite sick for a month or so but she feels better now. She invited us to come over and eat with the Matsuda Family. Audrey and Emma have a second cousin that's about Audrey's age named Kankichi. Here they are posing together. Kankichi and Audrey are exactly the same height. Every time we eat dinner at Hiroko's house, we mark their respective heights on the column you see behind them.

(Kankichi, Emma, Audrey)

Well, I'll keep trying to post on this thing regularly. And I'll try to work on involving myself in something in life other than work. Until next time, sayonara and otsukare sama desu!

The Sound of Okinawa (Kind of)

This is a clip of me playing the sanshin (a traditional Okinawa banjo like instrument). I'm just learning this song called "Ume no Kaori" loosely translated to - The Smell of Plum (Tree?). This is a famous Eisa song that traditionally only women dance to. You can see the real Eisa dance at the video bar located on this website on the right side of the screen. The videos rotate every few days but its the one where the guy has a purple bandana on with a light blue vest. You can see a megaphone in the center top portion of the screen. Anyways, I'm a little embarrased by posting this but I thought it would give people an impression of what the Ryukyu Shamisen or "Sanshin" sounds like and also what I sound like too. Be advised, this video is kinda long so it will take some time to get through the initial video buffering. And its important that you let the buffering process finish or else the video gets screwed up forever and you can't play the whole thing. I hope you enjoy it!

PS. Just FYI, I'm no weirdo. It is embarrassing to look at myself.

Girl, you'll be a woman soon

So Emma turned two years old yesterday. It was actually the first time I ever attended a birthday party for Emma. Last year I was stuck in the middle of the jungle working like a Japanese salary-man slave. As a matter of fact, it was the first time Akemi's family was able to attend a birthday for any of our children. So it was very special. The only thing missing was Kristine and her family. Man I miss you guys more than you know! And Emma and Audrey

do too!

Here's Emma blowing the candles out on her birthday cake!

Also, Audrey and Emma have been recently reunited with their cousin Takuma. I think Takuma was doing fine by himself, but Audrey is sure happy to have him around! Here's a picture of the two of them on the swings at a park in Akemi's neighborhood. The poor guy is going to have childhood emotion scars once my daughters are done with him.

It's great to see the kids together. They really have fun together. I never really had any brothers, sisters, or cousins that were close to my age growing up. I think I probably missed out on something that many people have experienced. I'm glad to see my kids able to grow up with together with their Okinawan relatives. It makes me feel like I made the right decision.

The Most Awesome Freakin Slide in the World!!

Can you believe this freakin slide? Is it not the "S"!? Speaking of "S", the park' management asks that you please take home with you any pet excretions you might come across.

This is Manta Park and its down the street from our new place. I didn't even think about parks when we found our house, but you know it really does add to quality of life when you have little ones like we do. And did I mention it has a really cool slide?

I'm not going to bore you with more dialogue about my overall sense of happiness with the place we got. I'll just put some videos and pictures up on this thing and then shut up.



The kids love this park. Audrey is starting to get a little more adventurous with the playground equipment and I'm glad to see that. She's always been very cautious. Emma on the other hand could care less. She shows an unhealthy lack of concern for the physical well being of her body. I respect her carefree courageousness but everyday I am filled with fatherly concern for her welfare.

And for those fans of the video of Audrey and Emma dancing to Soldier Boy (by the way, I was amazed at your ability to detemine that song from their rambling dance - amazing baby talk skills you have!), I have attached another video of Emma after landing at Narita Airport. She's in a good mood and decides to dance to "Hey Baby (pronounced Hay Baybay)". Enjoy.

Anti-Base Sentiment

So we screwed up again. A 38 year old Marine based at Camp Courtney allegedley attempted to rape a junior high school girl in Kitanaka City last Sunday night. Obviously, this is causing a big stir among the Okinawan people and causing some political strife in this poorest of Japan's prefectures. The Marine (whom I worked with at Camp Fuji a few years ago apparently) is saying that although he did force the girl to stay in his vehicle after she pleaded to get out, all he did was try to kiss her. The girl finally got out of the car and reported to the police.
What is interesting is that there is a lot of controversy right now regarding the relocation of US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to northern Okinawa (which is much less populated) where they intend to build a large landing strip on top of the coral reef (a very sensitive ecosystem and one of the world's few refuges for the Dugong (looks like a Mantatee). This recent crime by a US Marine will strengthen the hand of those in Okinawa who oppose the relocation, I think, maybe. I don't know.
Everyday in the newspapers discussions about US base issues with the locals make the top spots. I see it on the news everyday. But nothings really changes I guess. Life still goes on as usual here in Okinawa. I'm trying to keep this business of mine surviving and the military are my one and only client. And lots of Okinawan people make a good living from base related work. So economically, its a very difficult and complicated issue for a lot of people. The best jobs on island are on base or relate to working for the base somehow.
But after suffering so much during the Battle of Okinawa during WWII, the Okinawan's have a VERY strong sense of the horrible costs of war. Those who actually remember those days really have some incredibly horrific stories to tell. So despite the economical benefits of the base, for a lot of Okinawans, the very fact of having such a large military presence in their midst is like harboring a great big evil machine. Many are pushing everyday, protesting and pushing to rid Okinawa of the powerful military presence. But this will not happen anytime soon. It will just keep going the way it has since 1945.
If you sit and think about it. I am a small but direct result of the events that led to WWII and to the following US occupation of Okinawa. Without the war, how else in the world would a poor Okinawan farm girl named Yoshiko meet a young GI named Joe Bull? It wouldn't have happened in a million years. Anyways, I'm rambling. The world isn't perfect. Sure we'd all love to sing songs of peace and put down our guns so to speak. But it is what it is and I'm here in Okinawwa with a job to do. But it is fascinating this clash of two cultures here. Both the good, bad and the ugly.