Christmas in Okinawa 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone! Sorry I am late with this holiday greeting but I have been quite busy lately, finding no time to sit down and have a proper blog session.

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This year, A and I stayed in Okinawa for the holidays. It is always hard being away from my family in Canada on Christmas. We made the best of it and had a pretty good time. We also were able to have a couple of fun Skype Sessions together with my Canadian Family and that made me feel squishy and good. It was nice to see everyones faces and talk a bit.

On Christmas Day, I was at work. It was the last day of school for the students before winter holidays. As soon as the final assembly was finished and the students were leaving the school, I was suddenly overcome by an overwhelming feeling of sadness and loneliness. I decided to take the afternoon off and try to medicate my lonesome feeling with some last minute SHOPPING :) Ha! I went to JUSCO and bought a few gifts, ate some soba and then went home to meet up with A to start our Christmas together. I felt a lot better being at home with A. We opened some gifts, took a nap, then started prepping for our Christmas Nabe Party.

I was lucky enough to find a Cheese Store a few days before Christmas. A Cheese Store that sells REAL cheese!!!!!! Below is a picture of the cheese, meat, pickles appy assortment we put together. It was great!

One of the kinds of Cheese I picked up looked like a delicious flowery petal of some sorts. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this cheese, but it was AWESOME! and FUN!!

For dinner we had a Seafood Nabe (hot pot) which is cooked right on the table and everyone scoops out food from the common pot. We had large prawns, and 3 different kinds of fish in this Nabe of love! I also bought a new table cloth for Christmas. It's a 3 green striped piece. I love it.

In attempts to make Christmas in Okinawa seem a little more festive, I had purchased some silly Christmas hats to wear! I think A makes a great little elf!

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We had 2 freinds join us in our Christmas celebrations. Mr. Chris and Avril Mung-Bean. They were extra fun that night and even took part in the silly Christmas Hat event!

Later that night, we had a proper Christmas Dance Party!!!! It was one of the best dance parties I've had in a while! Thanks! You can see this picture must have been taken mid-head banging. I don't think we were dancing to Jingle Bells in this one.

One of the best things to do in Japan during the Christmas season is to sing Karaoke! For real! It's the thing to do. I had a couple of pretty awesome Karaoke sessions with fellow co-workers. But one of the most memorable nights was with Kocho-Sensei (The Principal). We had last sung Karaoke together 4 and a half years ago when I first came to Okinawa. Shortly after, we were both transferred to different schools. We were lucky enough to be placed at the same school this past year. This was our first Karaoke reunion together! Here we are sharing a moment while singing Peter, Paul & Mary!

Merry Christmas to All! Wish you the best in the New Year!

Love, Julie

Weird Drinks In Japan......

I'm not sure if you can read what this product is labeled, so let me help you out. This is the label for an Energy Drink, it says "PLACENTA OTTOVIN 2000". Now I'm sure you are wondering WHY this ENERGY DRINK is called Placenta??!!!! WELL the truth of the matter is that there is IN FACT PLACENTA (usually from a pig or horse) in this drink! It is a new beauty/health craze that is all the rage here in Japan. WOWZERS right! Check out this link for Placenta-Pro 30,000 It is believed that by consuming Placenta material that it

"Promotes cellular metabolism; works from deep within to produce a firm, moist complexion; contains 30,000 mg of 100% undiluted horse-origin placenta. Realizes luxuriantly beautiful skin. Replenishes nourishment to physically fatigued or exhausted bodies. Having no overt aroma the fresh flavor is easy to drink."

EEEEW right???!!!! With that said, I did not purchase this said Placenta Beverage and am not planning to indulge anytime soon. WAIT .... maybe this could be a great gift to include in with the family Christmas Box sent to Canada??!!! Awesome.

I want a "Jesus Body" ......

I was at the local drug store the other night. This new drug store is incredible because it is stocked with sooooo many different (random) products. It is like the ULTIMATE Shoppers Drug Mart. In my shopping cart this is what you would have found...... N95 Virus Guard Masks, aluminum foil, athlete's foot powder spray (don't ask), ice, ice cream, beer and more!

As I turned down aisle number 25, something caught my eye. A red package advertising JESUS BODY!!!!!!! That's right folks, you can now buy a box of Jesus Body at the Drug Store in Japan! Here is the best part.....what exactly IS in that box of Jesus Body?????????????

Jesus Body is a weight loss product.....................................

Moving on. This is the COMPLETED application package for Canadian Immigration. A box stuffed to the max with forms, documents, pictures, plane tickets, cards, letters, bills, receipts etc. It has been quite a while since A and I started working on this. So it is pretty amazing to see it all organized, finished and ready to go.

I wrapped it up and sent it to CIC-Mississauga via Japan EMS on November 30/2009. Now we sit back and wait to hear back from them. The expected timeline for Japan applications is anywhere from 4 months - 10 months. Very exciting.

[Application Ready to go to Canada]

Some final randomness for this post.....

Last night, A was washing dishes when all of a sudden SOMETHING dropped into the sink from above. Eeek a bit surprising BUT it turned out to be this cute baby Gecko. A saved the little dude and was able to take a pic of him because he was a little bit stunned and unsure as to what exactly was happening. The little gecko was put outside and hopefully all is well for the little guy, as winter is approaching.