Hey Oki Mamas!

[treqi]

Any mamas live on Okinawa? I'm curretly living on Kadena AB and want to get off base more... and I'd love to know more abou cultural nuances. Joy

[luvmybabies]

Hi there, I just saw this... I'm here in Oki. :) How long have you been here, what have you seen? What are you interested in seeing? We've been here for 5 years... though haven't done enough site seeing for sure!

[Banana731]

Wow 5 years is a long time! How much longer are you staying, Beth?

I live in Okinawa too, we live off base in Onna. How long have you lived on island Joy? We've been here almost a year.

If you are interested in interacting with locals, there is a cultural exchange program on Friday evenings at the Maryland College campus on Foster. It's very informal and it's open to everyone. My husband goes sometimes and really enjoys it. I think it starts at 6pm. I'd be happy to ask him if you'd like more info.

Also, local moms here are usually pretty friendly! If you can speak a little Japanese, head out to an off-base park. My daughter loves to meet new little friends when we're out, and their moms will often strike up a conversation with me-and my Japanese is far from fluent!

I just noticed that this post is a few weeks old, but hopefully you'll check it!

[luvmybabies]

We'll be here until September. :)

[treqi]

Hey I've been on island for 2mo.... no i really haven't had lck with japanese everyone involved in the convo just gets confused... what is there to see we've been to the ocean expo park and aquarium and the southeast botanical gardens i'd like to go to the zoo and toys 'r us but cant figure out how to get there:lol i only ave a bike for most of my outings and so i haven't gotten off base as much as i want (i admit i'm a little scared).... peace

[luvmybabies]

The Pineapple park and the butterfly park (by Ocean Expo), Hiji falls (near Okuma), Okinawa World, Neo Park (also up north).

[letabug]

we just got orders to OKI report date Aug 1, I'm due June 16. We will have a just turned 4 year old and a 2 year old. Should the kids and I just wait to come until DH gets our house all settled? He wants me to wait but I just don't know. He will work on Futenma so we will probably live on Kindsar, Foster or Kadena (as I remember these are the closer ones) Any advice about what to bring and what not to bring, we just got orders today and I haven't gotten set up with a sponsor yet. He was there in 2001 and I visited for a month but visiting is alot different than moving ya know.

[luvmybabies]

No, I don't think you should wait until dh has the house settled. We got into housing in only a couple of weeks. Just make sure you hurry and get the baby's passport stuff together right away, they may be able to expedite the passport even with your orders. Plus I think flying with dh will be easier than without.
What to bring, no washer and dryer, you can manage with bare neccesities because you can get loaner everything. I'd bring your favorites of whatever, fav couch, bed, etc.

[Banana731]

letabug-

You guys will be able to get military passports while you are waiting for your real ones. They are just like any passport, but you can only use them to travel with military orders. We also got orders at the last possible minute, it was stressful! Our flight ended up being 20hrs all together with connections, so I would try to travel with your husband if at all possible. Your sponsor should set you guys up with reservations for temporary lodging, you should ask him or her to set you up at the West Pac on Foster. It's down the road from Futenma, maybe 15 or 20min, but it's really new and clean, which I think is important if you are going to make someplace your home for a few weeks. I have no experience with other temporary lodging facilities, but the people who my husband works with swear that the West Pac is the nicest(which is why they put us there.) They will pay for lodging until housing offers you a place, so you have to delay your appointment a bit if you want to look around at off base housing. If you are not interested in living off base I'm sure you will be able to get a house on base quickly, they are building housing like crazy here.

Don't bring anything really sensitive to moisture if you can avoid it. Mold grows fast here. You can also buy lots of stuff really cheap here in this trade paper called the Japan Update. They have a website japanupdate.com, where you can check out the stuff available in the classified section. After coming here, I wish we had left more stuff in storage.

Feel free to ask if you have anymore questions, I had lots of them and had a hard time getting the answers I wanted!

[letabug]

Thanks we stayed at the West Pac in 2001. DH went in this morning and all the guys in he S- shop are telling him that I should just make plans to go later with the kids b/c they are telling us there is no way to get all the stuff done for travel after the baby is born. They said even when they expedite things they can't get us a social security number for the baby for at least 3.5 weeks. So right now DH is pushing us buying him a ticket "home" in December and taking all of us back with him them. When I made the trip back in 2001 I made up my mind that would NOT be a fun trip with children. DH also made the flight from Oki to MO round trip 3 times when he was there and he agrees it is not a good idea for me and 3 small children...at least he supports me there!

Thanks for all of you're help, we are trying to get set up with a sponsor today, well I sent him in to work with a list of ? and us getting a sponsor was #2 on the list. We are on an army base so our information is pretty much limited but luckily one of my friends at Lejeune has orders for Sept so she is helping some.

[luvmybabies]

The plane tickets that you all get for flying here, paid by the military, may not be on the same airline, much less the same flight that your dh would be taking back if he comes to get you all in December. Especially since a lot of the people I know who have come here fly in through Kadena, not Naha. Though if he flew back to hget you and Space-A flew back here with you, then you could be on the same flight. But you and the kids would have tickets, and he'd be simply space A and could be bumped. Also, there are no guarantees he'd get the time off, you know?
We had my dd here and got her social security number, and passport in plenty of time to fly 8 weeks later. I forget exactly when we got it in, but I know we weren't worried because we were cutting it close, and nothing was expedited.
Anyway, my point being if you really are going to not fly with him (can he see about getting his report date pushed back?), I'd be ready in case you had to do it alone.

[treqi]

can anyone give me directions to the toys r us thats outside of Kadena Gate 2? I hate the bx and want to see what cool bebe stuff is there...

[luvmybabies]

I know where the one south of Kinser is... go down 58 towards Naha you should see a big sign saying Toys R Us is on your left.

[Banana731]

It would be misleading to say that the Toys R Us is outside of gate 2, it's in Awase, but here are the directions-

go out gate 2 and go straight until you hit 329(it's a bit of a drive.) make a right and continue on to you get to the 85 with the McDonald's on the corner and make a left(I'm sorry -there are two 85's and I can't remember if you will have bypassed the first one by going this route, since I live north of KAB I don't go this route often.) After you have been on 85 for a few minutes you will see a big plaza called Awase Shoppers Center, the Toys r Us is inside and there are big signs so it's hard to miss.

Also if you want to go the Kodomo no Kuni zoo, the small one in Goya right outside of KAB, go the same way out of gate 2. Go straight across 330 and there will be a big Baptist church(be careful, it's the 2nd church you come to) on your left and an athletic field on your right. Make a right at the light there(I belive there is an overhead sign there for the zoo.)The zoo is on your left after the next light. It's small, but the my daughter likes it and it's only about 600 yen per person.

I hope that helps

[Banana731]

Letabug-

I agree about the plane tickets, you can't be sure you will all on be on a plane together unless you are going with him the first time to report. The military has a knack for messing things up, and while one person may say that your husband can come back for you and everything will work out exactly how you plan-you know it isn't necessarily so unless you have those tickets in your hand. You should be able to get some concrete information on your own will a little leg work. Our military passports took less than 2 weeks, the travel office put in a request to expedite them because we unable to get his orders until very close to his PCS date, hopefully the same would be true for you. You can call the travel office on base yourself now, and tell them what your situation will be and find out what they will need to do the same for your baby's passport. You can also contact the Social Security Adminstration now and tell them your situation. You can find out from the horse's mouth how long it will take to get your baby's number, and see if there are any steps you can take to expedite it. It's awful that your PCS date is so out of whack with your life! Moving to another country is stressful enough, I felt much better being as proactive as possible in our move.:dizzy:

[Banana731]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know, that for anyone who is interested, La Leche League meetings are back on base! There is a new leader here on island named Tessa, she is just wonderful.

The meetings are at 10am on the first Tuesday of every month at the Lester Chapel Annex. It's right next to the gift shop, across the street from the Post Office.

[luvmybabies]

I know Tessa, and I second she is great! We're in a homeschool group together. :D

[treqi]

bump
Hey hows everone? Beachin' it up?

[treqi]

bump?

[Banana731]

Hi all,

I saw the bump. We had a great summer, I hope everyone else did too. Our new baby will be here sometime near the end of October, which seems like way too soon! Other than that, not a whole lot going on. Anyone have anything exciting going on?