Thanksgiving In Okinawa

I was wondering what I would end up doing for Thanksgiving this year for the last month. There were a lot of Thanksgiving meals going on around the base just so people wouldn't miss out on it. I wanted to spend Thanksgiving with the people I care about. I was really happy to hear Rachel, the Air Force staff sergeant who hosts the morning show, was throwing a Thanksgiving dinner at her house off base. She invited everyone from base. I asked if Jessica could come and she said it was more the merrier. Malta, Jessica and I took a honcho over to her house around 2PM.

Rachel was over there with Sergeant Hunter and McAdam and Candelaria preparing all the food. They were going all out.

Rachel shared her Thanksgiving tradition - Jell-o shots. Also, I learned something this weekend, my grandma didn't know what a jell-o shot was. It's okay grandma :)

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing! It was by far the best meal I've had on island. There was all the traditional food. A juicy turkey, buttered rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and of course gravy. We all went around the table (with Rachel recording) and said what we were thankful for. So for the record, I'm thankful for the great people I work with that make life here bearable - that includes my gunny.

After dinner we watched a comedy group called Flight of the Conchords. They are hilarious. You can check them out on youtube if you'd like.

Jessica and I made a new friend. Her name was Bella. She's very friendly.

After watching probably an hour of them on youtube we played "Scene It" A DVD trivia game about movies. It's a lot of fun. The Hunter/McAdam team won the longer version and Malta won the shorter version. I was surprised how many movies I hadn't seen. I've seen 743+ movies according to Netflix.

We all left Rachels. Malta, Jessica and I were heading back to base. We walked back to base. We couldn't find a honcho that was authorized on base. When we got to the gate we called a honcho and went to Tan Tans - a Japanese resturant that has phenominal soup/meat/spicy/add rice bowl. I dunno - it's fantastic though. I wrote about it on here a month or so ago. It was a great way to make a great day better.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Some of the Little Things I Notice Part 2

Some Japanese drive Hot Wheels.

JimmyDShea

Corporal Shea is better known on youtube.com as "JimmyDShea". When it comes to video of what it's like to be a Marine on Okinawa he's the go-to guy... and really the only serious video uploader. At this time he has 45 videos up that all together have received around a total of 1,400,000 views and 4,715 subscribers (people who are notified if he makes a new video) He films his passions, the Marine Corps, swimming, beatboxing, and making his administative job fun.

Many people search youtube to learn a little about the Marine Corps before they join. My Jessica found him and watched his videos before she went to boot camp. When she came to Okinawa she recognised him when he was processing her new orders.

Today I had to take care of some Marine Corps-related business so I stopped by his office to talk to him about how he goes about and gets his videos. On my way I found a Marine who said Shea had a "cult following". Shea denies that though. He's only trying to show Marines and the world that there's more to do in Okinawa than just drink.

I wanted to talk to Shea for 2 reasons. 1.) I think it would make an excellent story and 2.) I want to do what he's doing. I want to make youtube videos and gear them towards the people who are looking to be a Marine or are new or coming to Okinawa. I wanted to ask Shea for advice. Shea said his whole process is fairly simple. He has a video camera he uses to film and he mostly has uses Windows Movie Maker, a simple program found on most computers, to edit.

Shea is leaving Okinawa in a few months and Malta and I have a lot of ideas on how to improve on what Shea has started. We want to show the Okinawan-side of Okinawa. This may be a small island but I've talked to retirees who still haven't ran out of things to do. People are so quick to party - I want to show them the real Okinawa, so as a Christmas present to myself I ordered a digital video camera.

I hope Shea continues to show the positive side of military life in Okinawa until the day he leaves and continues at his next duty station.

Rug Auction

The commercials had been on for a month. It was finally time for the rug auction held at Kadena's officer's club. It was nice to get let out early on a Friday. Everyone from AFN was there to help. The auction was planning to sell 110 hand knotted Persian and eastern rugs. They sold rugs of sizes - size carpets, scatter rugs, kelims and runners.

The ladies of the station worked the front desk. They got peoples information and registered people for the door prize. It was my job to hand out the numbers they used to bid with and to tell them to register for a chance to win a door prize - a free rug.

Gunny was doing what Gunny always does - takes care of business and made sure things ran smoothly. The suit he wore made him look like a politician. He only has a few years left in the Corps... you never know?

This was the first auction I had ever been to. The auctioneer was an Australian man named Nick. Nick and I had a conversation before the auction about traveling to Australia. I'm planning a trip to Australia for sometime next year. He told me check out a discount airline that recently starting flying out of Tokyo called JetStar - an offshoot of the airline Qantas. He and Sgt. Hunter both agreed Brisbane is the place to go. Nick also said to visit Queensland and the Gold Coast if I had the chance. Nick gave me his busness card and said if I needed any help just to ask. I appreciated it. I've been researching for a trip. It's all apart of my plan to see all 7 continents by the time I'm 25.

The auction itself was pretty interesting. It was fun to see how high the bids would go. It was like watching eBay live. Ha!

The men of the station worked the rugs. They had another group of Marines helping out. They brought the rugs to us and it was our job to fold them and organize them for an easy pick up at the end of the auction.

It was hard work but I did have fun. I don't mind dressing up anymore. I'm angry that the short part of my tie is showing. I learned later in the night that if you can't get it through the loop on the back of the tie that you can tuck it between the buttons. Of course, Malta refuses to take a normal picture...

Driving Safety Course

Anyone in the military who wants to drive a government vehicle (we call them GOVY's) has to take a driving course. Usually, it's just a short class because most people already have a drivers license. It gets tricky overseas because of the different rules. Malta, Means and I were sent to take the class on Monday, I was surprised to see Jessica was also taking the class. It was nice not to wear the charlie uniform (short sleeved tan shirt with shirt stays and green pants) like we usually do because the Marines at the station work under the Air Force which has a new policy about wearing your service uniform on Mondays.

Our class was taught by Mr. Navo, a force master sergeant. He led a 2 day class on how to drive safely. We took classes on the Japanese road signs and some situations. We also watched an old 1990 film about driving in Japan which was amusing. Someone in the class from combat camera thought they could do better.

Mr. Navo was full of interesting facts and other information about driving in Japan. So I compiled a list.

Top 15 Weird Japanese Driving Norms:
1. Okinawans think the safest place for a child is in the mother's arms - even when driving
2. No left turns on red
3. Drivers with less than 1 year on the road have a yellow/green sticker on their car and the elderly have a red/yellow sticker
4. Normally 3-4 cars blow a red light
5. The normal driving speed limit is 50KM or 31MPH
6. It costs a Japanese civilian $3,000 to get a drivers license
7. Kids raise their hand when crossing the street
8. Kids often don't wear seatbelts and around the vehicle
9. The roads are very slippery because they are partly made with crushed coral
10. Most Okinawans come to a complete stop when merging
11. Japanese drive on the left side of the road
12. The blood alchol allowance when driving is .03 which can even be triggered by mouthwash
13. Okinawans like to change lanes without signalling
14. The windor wiper control and turn signals switch sides
15. Okinawans have been known to get out of their cars on red lights and pee on their tires during red lights

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Ever since I came to Okinawa I've been wanting to visit Okinawa's Churaumi Aquarium. It's the second largest aquarium in the world behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. The main thing that I had heard about was that there were whale sharks there - and they were enormous. I was really surprised when Castillo called me in the late morning inviting me to come with her and her friend, that she knew from her DINFOS days that was in the Army, Brenden. Jessica was with me and was invited too.

The trip to the aquarium only takes about an hour but was well out of Jessica and mine's price range for the honchos (word over here for taxi's). We were also looking into Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) trips offered but this gave us something fun to do for cheap.

The aquarium was split up into a few areas on a campus with one main building. I liked the view out to the water even though the weather was a little overcast.

Surprisingly, the tickets were quite cheap. When I went to use the drinking fountain I noticed there was something VERY odd about them. One was for gargling - yes, gargling. Mouthwash came out instead of water. I love the Japanese. After going through the touch-the-sea-creatures beginning portion of the aquarium Jessica and I left them to explore on our own.

Jessica and walked through the halls and saw some really weird fish like the Giant Wrasse that reminded me of Mick Jagger.

We saw different sharks, crabs, fish and other sea creatures along the way to the main attraction - the whale sharks.

Their tank is humungous. According to the Internet the main tank called the 'Kuroshio Sea' holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank.

There are so many people in the main room they have movie-style seating. It's really quite beautiful to see.

After seeing the whale sharks we attempted to find Castillo and Brenden but we soon gave up and went outside. We saw there was a dolphin show going on but we caught the tail-end of it... literally. When we showed up they were waving everyone goodbye. There would be another show in an hour so we saw what else was around.

We saw their sea turtle exibit. I liked their baby turtles.

We then saw their manatee exibit. The manatee's were given as a gift to Japan by the Mexican government. Their tank was fresh water and was kept warmer than the other tanks to reflect their home environment.

We ate a quick lunch - I'm glad I like noodles. We waitied for the dolphin show in the rain. When they started the rain stopped and I was surprised they were so huge. They wern't your typical dolphins, a different larger species. Their show was really fun. I wanted to swim with them. Sooner or later I will.

Castillo and Brenden were there watching too and we left with them. I had a wonderful time. The last time I was in an aqarium was many many years ago after a family reunion in Chicago. I'm sure in the next 2 years I'll come back for another visit.

Next stop - the arboretum and botanical garden.

Rug Sale 2

Here's part 2 of the rug sale commercials we did. We had to follow it up after my gunny found the accent Malta did a little too like the Pakistani who hosts the rug sale. Our director, KC, decided to have me star in it as a southern hick NASCAR lover. I got a nice mullet wig and fake mustache. I will never look like this. My southern accent wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I'm not used to doing them. I'm more of a English/Australian accent type. It was definitely a learning experience. I was supposed to be exaggerated and silly - I took over the guys rug.

This video is property of the US Government/ American Forces Network Okinawa Japan

It was a lot of fun and even though I swore I was going to crack my head open everytime I jumped off the rug, it was a good experience.

AFN Rug Commercial Part 1

Here's part 1 of our two-part commercial. It advertises AFN's rug sale that will be going on this month. We had a lot of fun making this commercial. This is a taste of what I do at AFN with the guys. I starred as a human rug.



This video is property of the US Government/ American Forces Network Okinawa Japan

Smashmouth

Working at AFN has its perks. The talent that comes in from the US usually stops by our radio studio for an interview. This time around we had Smashmouth's lead singer Steve Harwell come in to talk to RachH during her morning show. Their back and forth was pretty amusing. After his show Staff Sgt. Woolston and I both got pictures with him. He was going to perform at the White Beach Festival that day with his band. Pretty nice guy and from what I've seen of him growing up it looks like he lost weight too. Smashmouth is a band people know of.. but don't know of. You know their songs like "Walking On The Sun" and "All Star" and their covers like "I'm A Believer" have been featured in films like Shrek.

New Commercial

We did another commercial because the other commercial might offend the man who sells the rug who is from Pakistan and sounded just like Malta's Indian accent.

KC came up with an idea to have another character steal Malta's character's clothes and do the rug sale pitch and then having a clothless Malta run across the screen trying to catch the thief.

KC wanted me to the thief.

I wore Malta's tight shirt which was super tight on me, they put a mullet wig on me and a mustache and had me do my lines in a southern hick accent. After telling people when and where the rug sale would be the camera would zoom in on my face and I'd yell "It'll be as neat as NASCAR!"

The commercial involved more work with the green screens and some help from Staff Sergeant Woolston. Even RachH chimed in. She had been watching us film it when she realized the camera was centered on my, eh, shorts. So we lifted the camera up and reshot it all.

We did plenty of takes and everytime I jumped off the table that the rug was on I swore I was going to slip and fall.

Now it's on television all the time and I'm already be recogized as the "Neat as NASCAR" guy.

Marine Corps Ball

November 10th marks the 233rd birthday of the Marine Corps. It's celebrated every year at parties all around the world. I was Jessica's date to her company's ball because KC and Malta didn't want to go to ours. Oh well. It started off with a ceremony inside the building. There was marching, a few band members were playing music, and the General Legeune's birthday message is read (a document that dates back to 1921). We also watched a video from out commandant General Conway and Sergeant Major Kent talking about the enemies we face. All really motivating stuff. What could be any more motivating? Food. I had some very delicious chicken.

After eating there was dancing. Everyone was looking like they were having a good time, everyone was drinking and having fun. I had to work the next day, they didn't. By the time the dancing had started was when I usually lay my head down to sleep. So unfortunately, I wasn't a lot of fun for Jessica but I did dance some slow songs with her. She looked very beautiful in her blues. I even got to show off my new ribbon and rank.

Chilli's Fest

I called Jessica after I got back from the radio show and promotion. I invited her to Chilli's Fest. I knew it was supposed to be big and I knew a singer with a few hits a few years ago, Ashanti was going to be performing.

That night it did really get big.











We walked around and saw this crazy, impossible game. You're trying to stand the bottle up with a fishing pole. I didn't even bother trying.











We watched some Okinawans doing hip hop dances. It was really quite good. I loved the young ones. They were very well choreographed.


We saw Malta who had a camera because he was filming for AFN. He didn't feel like getting interviews he said. Jessica and I had some cheese sticks inside the restaurant while Ashanti took the stage. There was a large crowd at first but after we ate we watched from my room as people slowly started leaving her concert. I wasn't impressed.

Promotion

First of all, I'm not allowing Malta to take anymore pictures. He just cannot take a good picture with my camera. Grr.

When I got home after winning the concert I had to get the blue off. I was being promoted that day in about 8 hours. I had time to sleep a little and get my make up off. In the shower I got most of it off. It turned all my body hair blue but after a lot of scrubbing I got that off. When I got out of the shower I looked in the mirror and my ears and top of my head were still quite blue. I had taken a long shower too! I knew I had to q-tip my ears so I did that for awhile and got the paint off. I then scrubbed and scrubbed my head but it was taking too long. By this point, I was pretty scared. My gunnery sergeant hadn't been so happy with me that week and I would be promoted by my first sergeant (my gunny's boss) and my captain (the officer of my company) - in other words - I COULDN'T BE BLUE! I did the desperate and unthinkable. I called the people I work with. No one was picking up. I stopped by Castillo's room but she and KC couldn't help. I took the emergency number out of my wallet and called the new corporal, McAdam who would be promoted the same day as me. I woke him up at 2am. He was pretty angry and after explaining everything he seemed to understand but told me there was nothing he could do. He didn't know of any magic cures for de-bluing. So basically, I made the new guy mad and wasn't anywhere closer to normal. I kept scrubbing for an hour and eventually just went to sleep.

I woke up and looked in the mirror and I still kinda looked blue. I took a long shower and I think I got most of all the blue off. KC had a radio show he had to do because there's always someone who does the radio show on Saturday so he was my ride. Malta came too. They didn't think I looked blue. I guess I got it all. Castillo came by with doughnuts and drinks.

We did the radio show for awhile and then Corporal McAdam and Corporal Hunter came in. They noticed I didn't look blue and said I was stupid for calling. I just told them I was scared and desperate. We drove to the officers club and the party for the Marine Corps ball was set up. It was a very small and unspecial ceremony. I didn't have any of my friends around. I was the first to be promoted. I had gunny promote me.

I now am a lance corporal in the US Marine Corps.

Sergeant Hunter made a lot of sense when he said this driving back, I never feel any different when I have a birthday, but everytime I get promoted I do.

True words.

Halloween Part 2

After I dropped off Jessica I went to the Airmens club, the Banyan Tree. I figured they'd be doing the same things as the Globe and Anchor. The place was quite busy because this was the place where Ashanti was doing her first concert. She'd be doing another concert the next day at Chilli's Fest. As soon as I walked through the door I saw many people in costumes and everyone loved my costumes. I got a lot of great comments and weird looks. I made it a point to be like a real blue man and not talk.

I started taking pictures of all the good costumes.

My favorite picture of the night: The Blue Man with the Blues Brothers. Turned out the Blues Brothers were Marines and had spent the last month going to every corner or Okinawa to try and find the pieces to their costumes:














Okinawan Witches:














Panda:














Osama Bin Laden - made with actual clothing from Afghanistan:



















Granny with baby on back:














Met a guy from boot camp:














Mario and Space Ghost, sorry blurry picture for whatever reason:














Best couple contestants: Won by the Blues Brothers














Most creative costume: Tied with the guy with the store bought costume - creative, pfft:














Most scariest costume contestants:














The winners!:

Halloween At Work

How could I forget? My coworkers brought in their costumes on Halloween.

Castillo was planning as going as a bee (which she went as last year - laaaame)

KC went as some combination blue man (he took the mask that wouldn't fit me right) and a scream costume.

Malta went as a ghoul. He did a pretty good with make up that night but I can't find the picture to post here.

Halloween Part 1

Halloween was on a Friday this year so I worked that day. I had to go on a video shoot with KC in Naha, the capital of Okinawa. We drove for hours but couldn't find city hall. We found a place called "city offices" but when we asked the lady at the information desk about the conference she made calls and said it was in another building. There must have been a translation issue or something because when KC went back to Naha a week later for a similar shoot it turned out that was the correct building. Oh well.

I got home that day and put on my black dress pants, black long sleeved shirt and grabbed my make up and left with my roommate to Foster. He dropped me and off I went to Jessica's room. Of course, there is this whole signing in process and all these rules that don't exist in my barracks (and base) like keeping the door open and all the girls living on the first floor so they can basically be watched.

Jessica and I took some before pictures (which are posted) and then put on the make up together. She got the back of my head and neck and I did my face. It was pretty thick make up. Means had told me to put a coat on, let it dry and then put another coat on. The thing is, after I put the first coat on there wasn't a problem with patches.

I did wait for it to dry. I let her get into her costume while I walked around. I came across a group of guys dressed up. The one I thought was the best costume of the night was the teenage mutant ninja turtle costume made out of Marine Corps clothing and cammy paint. Awesome.

I went back to Jessica and she had her costume on. She went as Princess Leia from Star Wars. She said her wig didn't fit quite right. Her hair stuck out in the back instead of being all in the wig. I told her just to have fun.

We went to Taco Bell for dinner and my make up was coming off my mouth and lips. There were some cute kids in costume and after their mother took a picture of me I took a picture of them. Thankfully, I thought ahead and brought extra make up and gloves.

After Taco Bell we went to the Globe and Anchor, the bar for the enlisted on base. I had heard they were having a costume contest at work and games etc. We showed up early and no one was really there. We ran into a Spock without the pointy ears and met Darth Vader sitting at the bar. The geeks were out in full force. I talked to the man who was in charge of checking IDs what time the costume contest was. Midnight. I couldn't do it. I had to be on base at Kadena by midnight. There wern't many people around and most everyone wasn't in costume so we left and got a taxi (or honcho as they call it here) to take us to American Village.

There were many more people dressed up at American Village. The funny thing was most were Okinawan! A lot of the kids and teenagers were dressed up. I saw a lot of the store workers were dressed up too. We suddenly became very popular. They knew who I was and of course knew who Jessica was. Many many many Okinawans asked to take our pictures. I took a lot of pictures too. I'll post a few of them that I liked. Peace signs a plenty.

A lot of the Okinawan girls just wore their school uniforms out and went as "Sexy Schoolgirl". You know what the difference between normal schoolgirl and sexy schoolgirl? Pigtails. That simple.

Here are some ninjas and other scary kids.

Some of the local store workers. There had apparently had been a costume contest a couple hours earlier I had missed. The guy in the white coat with all the make up did a really good job. I don't know how he placed in the contest.

Finally, I loved these kids. I love the Superman pose. I think the girls were twins?

It started raining so we got a cab and headed to Gate 2 Street to see if we could see any Marines and Airmen in costume. Jessica had been complaining she was tired most of the night. Her roommate had a room inspection that kept her up. Instead of hanging around Gate 2 Street I took her back so she could sleep. It was still "early" in the night for me though. I had other plans...