Cook Clan: Day 1

I think we saw more of the island the week that Zac's parents and sister visited than we have the entire 9 months we've lived here. It was a whirlwind week, but soo so fun to see stuff that we hadn't seen yet and get to share our little slice of life with family.

Saturday morning, after the Cooks (and by Cooks, I mean the visitors, as we are Cooks too) survived the ~20 hour flight and managed to fight jet lag until 5:30 am, we decided to dive in to show the island. We started by going east, I suppose, to some small islands just off the east coast of Okinawa. Ikei and Miyagi islands are tiny and connected by bridges to the big(ger) island of Okinawa. There are some pretty beautiful views , and where Zac and I made our first Okinawan snorkeling plunge.

We swung by our favorite local Thai restaurant (literally across the street from base) for lunch. The restaurant is actually run by a few Thai women that are married to US Marines. MMMmmmm. I've never had Thai food before we moved here, but it is so absolutely delicious. Their pad thai is like crack on a plate...addicting. We had to go on a Saturday because they make thier fresh spring rolls on Saturdays only (and if you don't get there early, they'll be out, so lunch is the best bet!)

Then we headed south...all the way south...to Kokasai Street in Naha (the main city in Okinawa). Kokasai Street is a market area with about a mile of shops, market booths, fresh fish, and fruit. I think it was a good first glance at the city and a little bit of the culture.

We came back home and then walked to a local restaurant, Goen Yakiniku, which is a Korean BBQ restaurant down the street.

The Cooks posing for a "typical/peace sign" Japanese picture at Goen

 We love it...you basically order as much (raw) meat as you want, then you have a little grill in the middle of the table to grill it.

Just a peek at some of the food we made. The Cooks did great with their chopsticks the whole trip! We have gotten so used to them, but forget that it's the only option most places!

You can also order veggies, fish, etc. to grill too. It's all you can eat, so ya just have to press a button and they bring you whatever.

The little grill and naan.

Happy (and probably pretty tired)

My favorite part by far is naan bread (an Indian flatbread) dipped in garlic & soy sauce. Jet lag creeped up by about 7 or 8, so we walked back, and it was time for bed.

Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get some comments/feedback/backstories from the Cooks themselves!

Tit for Tat

Definition of our happy marriage:

Last night we had chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and beer.

Then we watched Pride and Prejudice.

Just a little tit for tat.

Whoops

So I just realized that I haven't posted in a whole month. Whoops. It seems like life has just happened around here too fast for me to keep up.

We're having a great time with Zac's parents and sister this week. Once things get back to normal, hopefully I'll catch up and tell you about all of our exploring and adventures from the week. Maybe I can get them to write something from an "outsiders" point of view, too!

In other news, we're preparing for some big changes in the near future, and I guess you could say we'll both be doing some major travelling soon...though not together.

Oh, ps, the dog's ok...fully recovered from the needle incident. Phew.