Mr & Mrs

There used to be gorgeous wedding pics in this post but they kept popping up in search engines so I deleted them! If you really need to see them again just ask. ;)

It's all on now!

The first wedding guests, Solon and Andrew, arrived at the crack of dawn Friday and were followed in the afternoon by my wonderful grandparents, aunt & uncle from the States.


There have already been quite a few memorable occasions and many many more are predicted!


It has been far too many years since I have gathered together with my relatives and we are all definitely feeling the love. I couldn't ask for a nicer family!


Kentaro, Grandma and I were good sports tonight when asked to get up and bellydance at the local Persian restaurant...

Countdown

Well, this wedding of ours is finally just around the corner.

We have been so busy settling in to our new lifestyle here in Guam that I've had little time to cultivate my inner Bridezilla.

Our first guests (Grandma & Grandpa Brown, Aunt Mickey & Uncle Wayne from the States and Solon and Andrew from Oz) arrive on Friday morning. Gary from Hawaii flies in Sunday, leaving Jess, Jen, Mike, Nhu, Phillip, Alex, Toshiko, Yoshiko, Miho, Yuki, Mayu, Soichiro, Marcia & Ross flying in Monday, the day of the BIG FIESTA. On different flights of course.

Tuesday is the main event with the ceremony kicking off at 5pm, at the Hilton.

Then the rest of the week will be spent snorkeling, shopping, eating, swimming, drinking, touring, relaxing and more eating.

Good times and exhaustion for all.

On a work-related note:

I will continue my part-time roles as English Teacher at the Japan Club of Guam and Japan School of Guam and pick up a third FULL-TIME position at DFS as a Personal Shopper/Concierge in their VIP lounge. It will be a rough transition back to the world of full-time work after this extended period of early retirement, but I am happy knowing that I'll be speaking lots of Japanese because I don't want to lose it.

Wish me luck!

卒業おめでとう！！！

ワンさん、やった～～！最初から最後までよく頑張りました。尊敬します！

My wonderful friend Wan Lu graduated from her Post Grad International Education degree after 2 years of hard slog! Congratulations!!!

She's half my size and looks half my age but is in fact 4 years older. Check out these gorgeous graduation pics:

Mahi Burgers

We are getting used to this tropical lifestyle and taking advantage of what it has to offer.

Sometimes we like to stop at the local fish shops to see what the professionals bring in.

For $20 this delectable dolphin was ours (and no, it's not a real dolphin):




Fish enough for the whole week! What a luxury it is to have a fish burger, with extra fish.

Pity I ate a few fish burgers before going to my neighbor's poolside fiesta, which was full of fiesta delights such as red rice, barbecued chicken and ribs, chicken kelaguen, velvet cake, coconut pie and Dottie's famous choc-chip brownies. Of course I didn't let a mere busting gut prevent me from feasting. As I was told by one of the young fiesta-goers, "This is a fiesta! We come here to eat!"


Um yeah must think about that wedding dress I need to fit in a few weeks...

We love-a fishy...

Kentaro's latest theme song is this, by Rather Good, which he hums whilst slicing and dicing his latest catch.

He has also proven himself to be quite the Gatherer, locating bounties of breadfruit, calamansi, papaya.

Our Catch & Snatch of the Day looked like this:

It was very tasty, and free.

Glad I don't need to worry about doing THIS on my wedding day...

I'll be doing my own make-up, but not this.

ME LOVE COOKIE!!!

It must be sorrowfully admitted at this point that our beloved cockatiels and the namesakes of this blog are not with us in Guam.

Had we known we would be moving to Guam I would have left them in Florida for a few months, as it is possible to import pet birds from the US to Guam, but not from Japan to Guam. And had we moved to Australia, customs there wouldn't have taken them either. So all that paperwork and hassle not to mention dollars to get them to Japan, for diddly.

But we have learned many things the hard way, sigh, and our little feathered babes are enjoying themselves at the German-themed village in the mountains of Akaiwa, Okayama Prefecture. Say hi to them if you're ever in the neighbourhood! They are surrounded by hamsters and guinea pigs in the air-conditioned comfort of the barnyard staff room. *sniff*

On a happier note, we decided to invest in a pet that is international-move friendly. Welcome Cookie to our clan!! It's a shame, she would have looooved Salt & Sesame I'm sure.

Guam shots

I used to collect shells on this beach with this old guy when I was a wee widdle one.

Kentaro's introduction to the art of palm tree sprout collecting (we planted it in front of our townhouse, see below).

Home sweet home.

Pool, SWEET pool.My man, the sushi chef.
Walking off the margaritas on Hagatna Bay.

Happy Valentines...

Oh man, does it get better than Ferrero Rochers, pink champagne, strawberries and teddy bears?? (Thanks Mom).

Happy Australia Day!!!

(we got a new camera, yippee!!!)

First Blog of 2007

Happy Bleated New Year, here are some fainting goats!

Kentaro and I have officially lost our camera.

The last picture we took with it was on New Year's Eve when his whole family was gathered around making mochi balls. It's a Japanese thing. Whether it got mushed into the mochi and gobbled up with the rest of the food we're not sure, but that was the last time we saw it.

We braved the cold that night and headed to Saijo Inari Jinja where 60,000 other residents of Okayama decided to take in their hatsumode, or first shrine visit of the new year. Thinking we could beat the crowds we left the house at 10pm, only to get stuck in some very uncelebratory traffic. It took us 3 hours to drive 15km, and we would have walked had it not been zero degrees outside.

We made use of the time by creating all kinds of resolutions for 2007. Ours are rather broad this year, along the lines of: Get a job, find a place to live, get married, settle down, etc.

It was definitely worth braving the cold, crowds and fatigue once we clamped our chattering mouths around a hot taiyaki and prayed to the fox gods for a healthy and prosperous 2007.

Wish us luck, and best of luck to you too!

Guam Guam Guam

There could not have been a better place to be this year for Christmas, for us.

Thanks to Mom & Dad, the most hospitable and generous people on the planet. Loving your work! And thanks to the Butthead & Jess, for getting your butts (and your heads) to Guam in the nick of time.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Kentaro and I are doing our best to eat up and create more physical insulation to combat the chilly temperatures. Japanese houses, unlike my ex-house in Sydney, are the same temperature inside as outside. They only prevent drafts, and some aren't even too good at that.

Here are some glimpses into our first week of December...

Salt and Sesame learn their Japanese names

Salt = Shio
Sesame = Goma

Shio-chan and Goma-chan have been a right pain in the oshiri for the past few weeks. Getting them from Florida to Japan was an effort far more difficult and costly than I could have imagined, but thankfully they withstood their tough journey and have arrived on the other side genkier than ever.

It is cuter than words can describe to see them perched on the maple tree in the backyard of Kentaro's mother's house in Okayama. They have never until now been able to get in touch with their wild birdy roots, and they are revelling in bark-biting and grass-grabbing to their hearts content.

Kentaro and I are also pleased to be in contact with real nature again after 9 months living next to Mt Refuji.

Five Things we have done since coming back to Japan:

1. Had some kind of nabe (hot pot) every night.
2. Bicycled around Okayama soaking up the atmosphere and slurping up the noodles.
3. Taken a business trip to Tokyo and (hopefully) established some contacts that will provide us with an opportunity to work. We need jobs. Desperately.
4. Spent quality time with Kentaro's mother.
5. Frozen our butts off. It's cooooold!

Allow me another wee proud sister moment...

and read this article. (I particularly liked the description of family background in his interview).

Finally have the memory card...

of the pictures we took in Guam this September. Here's a few!!