Something Wicked This Way Comes

I'm writing to you as I await Typhoon Bolaven.  This typhoon is 630 miles wide with sustained winds of 120 mph and according to the locals, who are non-plussed by typhoons, Bolaven is a typhoon worthy of closing up shop.   That speaks volumes regarding Bolaven's size.  As one local resident said, "This is the biggest in 13 years.  We were due."   Hmmmph.  

This is the perfect time to give you an idea about the location of Okinawa, where we live on the island and information regarding the typhoon headed our way:

Okinawa Prefecture is one of the Ryukyu Islands (琉球諸島 Ryūkyū-shotō).  The Ryukyu Islands extend from the south westernmost part of Japan's mainland. The Ryukyu island chain runs about 620 miles long and consists of hundreds of small sub-tropical islands.  Okinawa (沖縄県 Okinawa-ken)  is the largest of these islands.

Large is relative here:  Okinawa is 65 miles long and at its widest point 17 miles across.  There are 1.2 million inhabitants, the majority living in the southernmost part of the island which is where the capital city, Naha, is located.  

If you look at the map below you will see the names of the military bases.  As you can see, the military bases take up a large portion of this island.  This map does not include the many training areas throughout the island.  

We live on Camp Courtney, which is just south of the "pinch" point of the island.  The northern part of the island, above the pinch  point is not very populated.  Nago is the largest city north of pinch point.  

This other map gives you a good idea about the terrain.  It is a very mountainous island covered, where not built upon, in triple canopy jungle. As you can see we live by Kin Bay, which is on the eastern side of the island, by the Philippine Sea.  The much disputed over (by China) East China Sea is on the west coast of Okinawa. 

Now that you have the geography down, lets talk typhoons:

Okinawa enjoys average temperatures of 81 degrees (Ha!  In the sun it feels like 110 degrees) from May until September.  It is hot and humid, as you might expect of a subtropical island.  The location of the island and the climate make Okinawa a giant typhoon magnet.  (Think Florida and the Caribbean Islands during hurricane season.)

The locals wouldn't mind a bit if the typhoons would pass around the island and make landfall on North Korea or China and I couldn't agree more with that sentiment.   But, alas, we are in Typhoon Alley and so we must deal with the typhoons.

The US Military is adamant about keeping the service members and family safe.  Their is a system in place that grades the severity of the conditions.  TCCOR (the military loves its acronyms):  Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness.

The military is at TCCOR 4 during the entire typhoon season (June 1st- November 30th) This means we could have destructive winds of 58mph or greater within 72 hours.

TCCOR 3 means we could have winds of the same strength as TCCOR 4 within 48 hours and everyone needs to secure their outside belongings.

As you can see things progressively get worse as the TCCOR number lowers.  There are several levels of TCCOR 1.  Everything begins to shut down when we are at TCCOR 1.  All the military offices, stores and DOD schools, for example, are closed.   I suspect the boys will have more "typhoon days" then they ever had snow days.

We are currently at TCCOR 1C (the "c" stands for caution).   As I write we are expecting the worst of the typhoon, however when we reach TCCOR 1E we are in the thick of the storm.  And, quite the storm it is.

This map, below, illustrates where we are located and you can compare, finding our tiny whit speck of an island on the map above.  It will give you a good sense of what is arriving as I type.  (Look for "Kadena" on the map.   That is the Air Force station just south of where we live.  Kadena has the weather station.)

The boys were supposed to start school on 27 August.  I don't see that happening.  As a matter of fact, I'll be surprised if they get to school very much this week as we are expecting Typhoon Tembin to travel up the East China Sea within 24 hours of Typhoon Bolaven.  Typhoon Tembin seems to be hugging the mainland coast heading north to Korea and China.  It would be fortunate if it stays that coarse, however, after Bolaven blows through, I'm pretty sure the smaller Tembin will seem like a nice breezy afternoon.

The "Red Bubble": Driving on Okinawa

It has been a little over two weeks since we arrived in Okinawa.  As you can imagine there are a few challenges when moving across the world to a foreign country.  The language barrier makes things quite difficult and the three different written forms of the language don't help matters.  I have learned one kanji symbol.  I only have 1,999 to go!

Not reading Japanese presents a problem when driving.  I like reading street signs and, of course, when in a new area, the names of the businesses that I drive past. The kanji, katakana and hiragana (the three written forms) are lovely to look at, but it is infuriating to not be able to read. So, naturally, I want to look into all the businesses to discover the nature of the business.  This is difficult while driving.

I'll get back to the language barrier in another post.  For now, though, I'd like to tell you more about the driving:

First: I am now reduced to driving a 1liter car.  I'm one step above the Flintstones car and maybe on par when going up a steep hill.  I imagine that one day I might have to get out and push the "Red Bubble" up a hill.

This is my car, a Toyota Passo.  Despite the engine size I love my car.  I affectionately call it the "Red Bubble."  It has everything I need and believe it or not, excellent leg room. 

Second: It is a jungle out on those Okinawan roads.  I think it is because of the speed limit that there aren't many accidents.  On my normal route to the food store, football field, swimming pool, etc.  I drive a maximum speed of 40kph!  (That is 24.85mph.)

At first that speed seemed intolerable until I realized I have to drive like I'm zig zagging through a maze. The roads are not wide so if I drive down a two lane "highway" and some one is parked on the left and another is turning right (remember we are reverse here) then I have to thread the needle to get through.  Waiting is not an option because I'd never get anywhere as I'm apt to do the same maneuver in 20 feet and then again in about another 10 feet.  Doing that for 10 miles is exhausting!

Third: Moped and scooter lunatics.  While it emphatically states in the Japanese driver's manual that mopeds, scooters (and motorcycles...but they are rare) should not drive between cars, on the side of cars, etc.  Yet, while sitting at a red light any number of scooters are likely to come up along side you to get to the front of the line.  One day no less then five came upon me while I was at a red light. I felt like I was in a scene from the Mad Max movies.  When driving a 1 liter car the size of a Tonka truck, scooters become threatening.

I'm going to have to embrace island life.  I've learned that I'm not getting anywhere quickly so I have to give myself time and not stress about it.  The up side to driving here is that while the Japanese drivers have some habits that make me a little nuts they are exceedingly polite.  I won't have to worry about road rage on Okinawa..unless of course it is my own.

Konnichiwa! (Hello!) 

We arrived in Okinawa, Japan very late in the evening on 3 August.   We have been here for a little over one week and what a week it has been!   We experienced our Welcome to Okinawa Typhoon.  We have bought phones and cars.  We have gone to the new comers orientation, taken the drivers test (and passed!) and registered John and Paul at Kubasaki High School (Home of the Dragons).   We have secured our housing and are moving in tomorrow, August 13th.  

It goes without saying that we were all shocked to discover that we had orders to PCS to Okinawa, Japan.  The journey really began months ago.  We either discussed the move or did something to facilitate the move each and every day and we haven’t stopped yet.  Orchestrating this move was an endeavor like nothing I've ever experienced.  I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of moving overseas, but I’ll give you some brief details and photos from the last 10 days:

1 August:  
This is the big day. We take a flight to Seattle, Washington, which is our Port of Call. This isn't a long flight and  because of the time change we have the opportunity to spend time to visit Seattle.  We decide to spend our time at Pike Place Market.  We are also there during Sea Fare, which means we were able to see naval ships in the harbor.  

The Pike Place Market Piggy.

John and I sitting by the waterfront in Seattle.  We were lucky to have tremendously good weather.  

Have computers, will travel.  John John and Pauly are enjoying some down time at the hotel in Seattle.  

2 August:

This is the day we hoped would go by quickly.   We took what is called an AMC flight to Okinawa.  This is a flight that seems like a commercial flight, but isn’t one.  The flight was comprised of military members and their families.  There were a lot of young children.  A lot of screaming children. I think a flight on a C5 Galaxy would have been more enjoyable and probably quieter.  

The flight from Seattle to mainland Japan took 14 hours.  Then, our flight turned into a commuter flight as we made stops at various air bases to let service members off.  Of course, Okinawa was the last stop and, of course, the child that literally screamed for the entire journey, was on the plane until Okinawa.  

The child that screamed, Tyler... yes every passenger knew his name... deserves a special mention:  He screamed for the entire 24 hour journey.  You and I would have been physically and emotionally drained, but not Tyler.  He deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.  As I sit in my comfy (and quiet) room I can say I am in genuine awe of that child’s ability to scream for that many hours. 

3 August: 

We finally arrive in Okinawa at 9pm.  We are welcomed by torrential rains (not the typhoon yet).   It is important to note at this point that we are supposed to have a sponsor who communicates with us throughout the moving process and then serves as a guide upon arrival to Okinawa.  The sponsor should pick us up at the airport and bring us to our lodging as well as also take us to run our errands until we are independently mobile.  We did not have said sponsor. But, we did have a ride from the airport, albeit, late in picking us up.  We arrive at our lodging  at 11pm.  

4 August:

We depart our lodging at 11am to buy phones and car and we are successful!  We have iphones and two Okinawan sized cars.  I picked out a Toyota Passo and John picked out a Honda HRV.  We bought cars, but have a lot to do in order to drive them.  We will not be independently mobile for 5 more days.

This is the view from our lodging, which is quite literally around the corner from our house. It is hard to imagine that during the next two days we enjoyed our first Okinawan Typhoon. 

5 and 6 August:

A typhoon decides to stall over Okinawa, which sits in what is known as “typhoon alley”.  This typhoon is like a tropical storm.  (More on typhoons another time.)  Normally, being slowed down by a typhoon would annoy us, but we were quite grateful because jet lag exhaustion creeped up on all of us and we all slept for 24 hours straight.  We spent any awake time studying for our drivers license.

7 August:

We are fortunate to have a Marine offer to drive John and I around, completing many check-in tasks.  We took our driver’s license test and passed, but cannot get the license until we go to New Comers Orientation.  We  enrolled John and Paul at Kubasaki High School and we met with the housing officials and secured our housing.

This is our house.  It is huge!   More photos to come in the future.   

8 August:

New Comers Orientation is a day long event.  We all attended and at the end of the event we were given our drivers licenses.  Now all we need is our cars!  The car dealer is handling all the Japanese paper work and the inspection.  Our cars will be ready on 9 August.

9 August:  

We take the Green Line Bus (a free bus service that goes between all the military bases) to Camp Foster, where Kubasaki High School is located.  We took a tour of the high school and Pauly began football practice.  We picked up our cars in the afternoon and I drove on the left side of the road for the first time in my life!!

10 August:  

More checking-in chores and a bit of free time.  Pool, darts and appetizers at the O-club.  

11 August:

Shopping!  Our advanced baggage has not arrived as we were told it would.  We might not see it until September.  Advanced baggage contains our linens and basic items to stand up a house.  We will have loaner furniture until ours arrives in October as that shipment is on the slow boat.  Apparently our advanced baggage is on the slow air plane.  So, we went shopping for linens, kitchen items and whatever else we will need to stand up the house.   

I also found a nail salon!  While this doesn’t sound like an amazing thing, it is when you don’t know how to read Kanji or speak Japanese.  I found a nail salon in town, made an appointment and went to my appointment.  I was met by the two most polite women who wanted to learn English as much as I want to learn Japanese. Not only did I get my nails done, but I learned a few new words.  I also learned that Snooki is entirely too popular when my Okinawan nail technician knows more about Snooki than me.  

12 August:

I’ve been driving for a few days.  I get behind the wheel again as we head out to do a little more shopping.  The weather was good and I’m getting used to the driving.  It was a good day, but tomorrow will be better as we are moving out of the hotel and into our house!

I have so much to tell everyone, but there is plenty of time to share. I’ll be off the net for a few days...until it is hooked up at our new home.  Until then, I will say...

Sayounara