Arin Krin aka the Garlic House

Was wonderful! Everything they have on the menu has garlic in it. We got baked garlic, garlic chicken, garlic fried rice, beef and broccoli, pork kimchi, garlic and mushroom pasta and shrimp spring rolls. They also had on the menu that I will try another time fried garlic mashed potatoes with cheese. It was all wonderful, especially the baked garlic. It was a large bulb of garlic with the top cut off and you eat each little piece. Very tender and good!

I really am working!

OK, I know you are all wondering if I have spent any time working. The answer is yes, and I think there must have been a full moon over here! I have been so busy; there was one day that I had 11 interviews along with returning telephone messages and e-mails. I had one interview that lasted two hours. It was with a little 70 year old Vietnam veteran that basically told me his life story, mostly about his plight to get his Japanese wife to America to have a liver transplant. He broke down several times, it made me want to cry with him. He had to have heart bypass last year and has not been well, his main concern is that he had always said that he would take care of his wife and now he is not able to take care of her the way that he would like to. It was so sweet. I can see Stephen having to take care of me. Or Jennifer and Dusty may be taking care of both of us!

There have been three active duty deaths here in Okinawa in the past two weeks. One man was 38 and found dead in his room of a heart attack, one was on the explosive ordinance disposal team and he was disabling an old WWII bomb and it blew him up; and there was an accident on a motor scooter.

It was about an hour after we heard about the bomb accident that my next interview came in. He was a young man that has lost his eye due to a car accident. His tire blew out and he hit an orange construction barrel, the barrel was being held in place by a large rock, he calls it a boulder. The boulder went thru his windshield and crushed the entire right side of his head. He woke up 32 days later in Bethesda Naval Hospital. He says that the boulder is so large that he can barely move it, but he still has it in his Mom's yard as a reminder of how precious life really is. Before we started the interview he had to show me pictures of a car barely hanging on a concrete barrier wall to keep it from going down a deep ravine, he had just taken this picture at the shoppette here on base on his way to the appointment with me.

It wasn't more than an hour after his interview that the Retired Affairs Officer came in to talk with me about a retiree that is upset with VA about some payment issues, turns out it is the man whose car was hanging over the wall at the shoppette. So thanks to my friends at the VARO and VAMC at home and calling via Skype during the middle of my night, I am working on his issues.

Working with the public makes me remember how much I loved the old days as a Veteran's Benefits Counselor (VBC). When I am at home I am working with the public thru phone contact with the seriously injured OEF/OIF veterans. I really enjoy this and know that I have so much to offer to these heroes!

I must admit every person with the exception of one disgruntled service member has made me feel like my Dad used to make me feel when it came to the VA, which was like I could get anything done. I think that come from truly caring about your job and your purpose! From the day I started working for the VA on April 4, 1980, my motto has been I want to treat every customer the way I would want my Dad to be treated! I have wondered what he would think about me being in Japan, him being a WWII veteran that was arrived in Japan just after the bombing. I hate that I didn’t take the time to sit and talk with my Dad more about his Army experiences during WWII. My Aunt Dosie is the one that told me about him arriving in Japan just after the bombing. I am not even sure where he was over here.

I know that he would be proud of me and so would my Uncle Jerry, they both thought I could work miracles, my Dad with his medical care and Uncle Jerry with helping him complete his claim for benefits to be submitted to VARO in St. Louis. I didn’t do anything more for them that I do for every other veteran that I assist. Now that they are both gone I hope they knew how much I truly love them!

Well, I hope this gives you some idea of what my life has been like since the first of the year. I have helped so many people and I it has been so rewarding to hear how much I am appreciated here. I will carry this experience home with me and use it throughout the next six years to remind myself how I can serve those that fight for all of our freedom! Why six years??? In only six years and seven months I will be eligible to retire!
Please keep your thoughts, prayers and e-mails coming my way! I will see you all in 49 days!

Looking for a bullfight?

I spent two hours driving around today looking for a bullfight. Did I mention the maps here are terrible? They only have the major roads on the map. They have a point of interest dot to show the bullfighting arena. I even stopped and asked for directions and still didn't find it! That was a good way to save 2500 yen. By the time I got back to the base it was raining and I really didn't want to sit in the rain, so I guess it worked out alright. Of course while looking for the bullfight I found a couple of good beaches. You know I can't drive past a sign that says beach and not stop! Here is a picture of the beach, see the industry on the coast line.

Okinawa World

Saturday I went with my friends from the Air Base to Okinawa World. It was another cloudy overcast day in Okinawa! I think it has been cloudy every weekend that I have been here. Okinawa World has a cave, Eisa Dancing, working villages - pottery, bingata, and glass blowing. They have the biggest Hibiscus flowers I have ever seen!They also have a brewery to make their own beer and a distillery to make awamori (Japanese saki) with a habu in the jar. They also have a Habu museum, habu is a poison snake here on the island, that can be deadly if it bites you.

My friend Karen's house

My friend Karen lives in Kitanakagusuku on top of a hill, overlooking the town and ocean, she has a big yard and the houses on her little street have a big yard, there are only about 10 houses. I tease her and tell her working for the American Consulate, she is living in the rich part of town! She has a large house with three bedrooms. Her house is a typical Japanese house, it has raised floors, wooden, all the kitchen cabinets are low, like my mom's used to be. The bath tub is a soaking tub, very deep, you step down into it, but it is not long enough to stretch out. She has the fancy toilets, they have heated seat, you push a button and it basically gives you a sitz bath with warm water that can flow in a straight stream or shower. She has offered to let anyone stay with her that wants to visit. I sure wish I had some takers! She would even let you use her daughter's surf board!

They have a lot of parks here because they don't have any yards. There is no grass at the houses, just concrete yards. Cuts down on the mowing and yard work sometimes I wish that is what we had. There are a few houses that have a little patch of grass; they are usually at American style houses. But they have beautiful potted plants sitting around the yards and houses. I wonder how those plants look in the heat of the summer. (They probably actually take time to water them.) Most houses have what my grandparents in Nady had, big rain barrel things to catch the rain water, theirs is located on the top of their house. They use this water to water the plants and other things in the summertime.

The streets in Okinawa

They have one freeway they call expressway. It doesn't even go the entire length of the island. The picture shows exactly how narrow the streets are here. Some streets seem one way, because you can hardly fit two cars down them. But actually I have only seen one or two one way streets. The maps don't have all the roads on it either. I would say that 95% of the roads/streets do not have street signs or names on the street. They give directions like turn next to the McDonalds. It is like once you turn off a main road, you are in a maze of little narrow roads, with houses sitting right on the road. And Dydo machines (vending machine that has water and coffee and juice too) along the side of the streets everywhere. And people literally stop in the road, put their hazard lights on, and get out and get a drink from the machine or run into the store. They pull to the side of the street, but remember the street is so narrow it seems like they are in the middle of the road.

Is Okinawa like Hawaii - Part II

The big hotels came in and bought the beach front areas up and tried to make them private for guests only, but the government made them open the beaches up for public use, so now they charge like 500 yen - about $5 to go to the beach. There are a few nice public beaches. It is not like Hawaii in that is doesn't have that paradise/resort type feel here. There are a lot of flowers but it doesn't smell wonderful like Hawaii. It doesn't smell bad, just not like Hawaii. There are a lot of big rocks/boulders/rock cliffs, etc, here. Some of the beaches are not sand, they are just broken pieces of coral and shells instead, then of course some of the beaches are just coral, like hard coral, like concrete. My friend Karen called it volcano lava beaches, but there are no volcano's here. The island is only 64 miles long and at the narrowest about 2 miles across at the widest about 18 miles across.

They have a lot of parks here because they don't have any yards. There is no grass at the houses, just concrete yards. Cuts down on the mowing and yard work sometimes I wish that is what we had. There are a few houses that have a little patch of grass; they are usually at American style houses. But they have beautiful potted plants sitting around the yards and houses. I wonder how those plants look in the heat of the summer. (They probably actually take time to water them.) Most houses have what my grandparents in Nady had, big rain barrel things to catch the rain water, theirs is located on the top of their house. They use this water to water the plants and other things in the summertime. My friend Karen lives in Kitanakagusuku on top of a hill, overlooking the town and ocean, she has a big yard and the houses on her little street have a big yard, there are only about 10 houses. I tease her and tell her working for the American Consulate, she is living in the rich part of town! She has a large house with three bedrooms. Her house is a typical Japanese house, it has raised floors, wooden, all the kitchen cabinets are low, like my mom's used to be. The bath tub is a soaking tub, very deep, you step down into it, but it is not long enough to stretch out. She has the fancy toilets, they have heated seat, you push a button and it basically gives you a sitz bath with warm water that can flow in a straight stream or shower. She has offered to let anyone stay with her that wants to visit. I sure wish I had some takers! She would even let you use her daughter's surf board!

They have one freeway they call expressway. It doesn't even go the entire length of the island. The picture shows exactly how narrow the streets are here. Some streets seem one way, because you can hardly fit two cars down them. But actually I have only seen one or two one way streets. The maps don't have all the roads on it either. I would say that 95% of the roads/streets do not have street signs or names on the street. They give directions like turn next to the McDonalds. It is like once you turn off a main road, you are in a maze of little narrow roads, with houses sitting right on the road. And Dydo machines (vending machine that has water and coffee and juice too) along the side of the streets everywhere. And people literally stop in the road, put their hazard lights on, and get out and get a drink from the machine or run into the store. They pull to the side of the street, but remember the street is so narrow it seems like they are in the middle of the road.

More on Okinawa landscape

The big hotels came in and bought the beach front areas up and tried to make them private for guests only, but the government made them open the beaches up for public use, so now they charge like 500 yen - about $5 to go to the beach. There are a few nice public beaches. It is not like Hawaii in that is doesn't have that paradise/resort type feel here. There are a lot of flowers but it doesn't smell wonderful like Hawaii. It doesn't smell bad, just not great. There are a lot of big rocks/boulders/rock cliffs, etc, here. Some of the beaches are not sand, they are just broken pieces of coral and shells instead, then of course some of the beaches are just coral, like hard coral, like concrete. My friend Karen called it volcano lava beaches, but there are no volcano's here. The island is only 64 miles long and at the narrowest about 2 miles across at the widest about 18 miles across.

Is Okinawa like Hawaii

It is really pretty here, but it is not really like Hawaii. The beaches are not near as nice, although the water is beautiful blue and green. When you are at some places looking off the cliffs, it is like tidy bowl blue. Other places you look across and it is green then aqua then blue then deep blue. There are a lot of things on the shores of water, like power plants, Japanese saki brewery, some resorts, industry, military bases, apartment houses, etc. They have a lot of farming industry here also. They grow a lot of sugar cane. They also supply most of the chrysanthemums for mainland Japan. There are chrysanthemum fields everywhere.

Seashells

Check out some of my treasures from my latest beach adventure! NO, I didn't keep the one with that crab in it!

Kokeshi Doll Making

Karen and I went to a craft class to make a Kokeshi Doll. It was fun, and even with no artistic ability mine looks pretty good!

Sunshine

It is Thursday afternoon and the sunshine has finally returned! It was sunny Wednesday and today. I had a service member come in today and tell me that he received a phone call on his cell phone last night from a man that said he was a contractor with the DOD and he was supposed to drop off a VA benefits book to him. Anyway, he made an appointment to meet with the man today at his house at 5:00 p.m. He said he got to thinking about it and decided that it was strange to get that phone call. I assured him that I am the only VA representative on the island! He called security and they told him that companies get military retirees to work for them because they have base access. The military retiree calls and sets an appointment to see someone and then tries to sell them something. It is not considered soliciting because they have an appointment. We decided that I would go to his house this afternoon to be there at 5:00 to see what the man has to say. When I arrived I thought this is crazy, I can't go in that man's house. I had decided that I wouldn't actually go in, I would tell him I would wait outside. Luckily when I knocked on his door, his wife was there also, which made me feel much better. Anyway, I sat there and visited with them until 5:45 p.m. this was a really nice young couple. He is a flight medic. He was a paramedic, and then became a thoracic trauma nurse in an ER in Winchester, MA. Darn, the other man never showed up, I was anxious to introduce myself as the real VA rep! He and his wife were concerned with how this man got his cell phone number. I told him to call me and let me know if he hears from him again.

Rain, Rain go away!

Hey everyone! It is Saturday night and it is raining here! It has been cloudy and raining all week long! Thursday has been the first day here that it has really rained. There have been showers and off and on rain, but not Thursday - it poured down just about all day long! When I got to work Friday morning there were limbs down where I usually park. When I went in my co-workers were talking about how it had stormed, lighting, thunder, wind and hard rain about 3:00 a.m. I slept thru it all!

I have been spending a great deal of my time reading, but last night I decided I wanted to watch TV. I downloaded all my TV shows, so I am current on Brothers and Sisters, next I will catch up on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives. About the only current TV show I have found here is American Idol. I have watched it a few times. I saw Kris Allen that is who I am voting for!

Take me out to the ball game!

I heard that Japanese baseball games were very exciting. We went to see the Dragons play the Swallows on Saturday. Both of these teams are from mainland Japan. There are several teams from the mainland that come here for their spring training. Anyway, most of the souvenir items that were for sale were for the Dragons. I guess the Dragons are more popular? Anyway, the ballgame started and it was dead silence. I mean every time the pitcher threw the ball it was just quiet. There was no organ and no hot dog and beer vendors walking around. It got a little livelier toward the end, but not much. It ended up being a really close game and if there would have been one more inning, I think the Dragons could have caught up! Let's see, what do you think the mascot for the Dragon's is? Wrong, it is not a Dragon, it is a mouse, that's right a mouse. I don't understand that one! But he was really cute; he had a baseball for his tail! Something else very interesting, there were a lot of American players on these teams! Another interesting tidbit, the team captains, or some special players on the teams get flowers before the game. Maybe that was just a welcome and thanks for playing this exhibition game?

Fish for dinner

Friday night I went with my friends Sue and Patty to eat butter fish. I have heard that this fish is wonderful. I really don't eat fish with bones, I am spoiled, Stephen always makes filets, or he picks the bones out for me. But, I decided I needed to give it a try. I got my plate and there was a whole fish and the head half of another fish laying on my plate looking at me! It was served on a sizzling type plate like fajitas are served on, and there was butter and garlic all over it! I very carefully got the fish off the bones and ate it. It was wonderful. It is baked crispy and then has the butter and garlic. Very good!

They have these wonderful purple sweet potatoes over here. They are very good, and they are purple, my favorite color. With my fish dinner they served tempura sweet potatoes that were great! They also make ice cream out of these sweet potatoes, it is called Benni Mo, of course it is purple and also very good!