Kami Sushi

Kami Sushi, a set on Flickr.

Pictures from HM3 Andrew Helfrich's Birthday Party at Kami Sushi in the American Village.

Seoul-bound!

Dragon Hill Lodge, Seoul, S. Korea

Some friends of ours told us they were planning to go to Seoul for a short visit and invited us to join them. We were planning on going to Seoul later in the year, but thought it would be a nice change to have some friends to travel with. We arrived in Seoul on a cold and wet Friday evening. After dropping off our bags at the Dragon Hill Lodge, we ventured out to see a bit of the city and to get something to eat. We took the subway to the Namdaemun Markets but because of the weather, there wasn't much to see. All the vendors were closing shop. So we headed across the street to a nice shopping mall to get a nice Korean dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.
The weather was different each day we were there. The next day was fairly warm and dry. We only needed a sweater. We explored a good part of Seoul on Saturday. Going from the craziest Fish Market (Noryangjin) we'd ever seen to Insadong to the Gyeongbokgung Palace and to Myeongdong for some intense shopping!

At Gecko's with Riley and Maria

Maria, Riley and Chris arrived late Saturday evening and were exhausted by some travel delays and hiccups. We met them early Sunday morning for a tour of the notorious DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone). The area that separates North from South Korea. The tour is a must when visiting Seoul, because of the history and the incredible tunnels that were found. These tunnels, dug by the North Korean army, were an attempt to invade Seoul. Fortunately a defector from North Korea was captured by the South and led the South Koreans to find the tunnels. After the tours, we were starving and had a great lunch in Itaewon at Gecko's Garden.
The rest of trip was filled with sightseeing of this busy city, eating at some great restaurants and hanging out with good friends. We were only in Seoul for 4 days, but had a great time. So much so, that Elyce already wants to go back when it gets warmer!

Crying Kid on Plane!

Elyce and I went to Hong Kong, China to celebrate the coming of the new year. The flight from Okinawa to Hong Kong is not bad, it's only a little over two hours and is a direct flight. Anyone who has lived on Okinawa knows that direct flights to anywhere except mainland Japan is not very common. So we were pretty excited to be able to fly directly to our destination. But, as you can hear on this short video, the kid in the back of the plane was not happy about something. Maybe he didn't like sitting so close to the bathroom...I know I don't. But I think what is really funny, is that Elyce was not even bothered by it and slept right through it. And just to let you know this is pretty much the only position I can sit in on the plane...with my shoulder serving as a makeshift pillow!

American Chamber of Commerce in Okinawa President's Ball

Once again, Elyce and I have some photos from the Butler O'Club. But this time it was a little different. We attended the American Chamber of Commerce in Okinawa (ACCO) gala. Elyce is a memeber of the ACCO. This was predominantly a Japanese event with a few American businessmen and women and a sprinkling of military officers in the crowd.

I think it's really funny that the Japanese men will order the American beers i.e. Budweiser, Sam Adams and the American guys order the Japanese beers i.e. Orion, Kirin, etc. I had a Guiness, only because Dr. OZ said that the darker beers were actually better for you than the lighter colored beers. I forgot why, but I figured I hadn't had a Guiness in a while anyway, so....

But I digress, the entertainment for the evening was a 15 member brass band that played a lot of American classics from the 40's and 50's and some Christmas songs. They were really good. Too bad no one danced...

The speakers for the evening did a great job in keeping their speeches short. Whenever you have a Japanese and American crowd you typically have the speaker and then an interpreter. So any speech that is given is inherently twice as long as you intended. But the speakers this evening, interpreted their own speech with a very smooth and uninterrupted flow. As soon as the speaker told a joke in English he very quickly said it in Japanese and everyone was able to laugh together instead of the Americans laughing and then two minutes later the Japanese audience laughs.

As always here are some pics of the evening.

Elyce during cocktail hour.

Elyce, Miki, Robin, Nicole and Tim

Quick picture before heading home.

Welcome to the world Ms. Juliana Ashley Hubbard!!

On December 6th at 1230am, my sister and brother-in-law, Regina and Isaac, welcomed a new addition to their family. Regina had been waiting long enough, going past her due date. Juliana Ashley was 7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. Here are a few pics!

I can't believe my sister is a Mother!

JAH fresh out of the oven!

Home Sweet Home!

Morning hair!

I guess that's her old man look.

Nap Time!

Afternoon hair...

Proud parents!

Is there any chance we can see those eyes open?

Hospital Christmas Party 2011!

JJ, Rosie, Doris, Bryan and Trevr enjoying the party.

Apparently the hospital Christmas Party is a big deal. The tickets sold out very quickly. People were sending emails looking for extra tickets. And a lot of folks went out to get some fresh threads for the party. I haven't seen people get this excited about anything at the hospital, well except for maybe the awesome lunch we had in the OR after passing the past Joint Commission inspection! Rumors were floating around that some of the door prizes included Apple iPads, flat screen TV's, Sony Playstations, etc. I have to admit, I was really, really hoping that I would win something.

Jessica and Elyce posing for a picture.

The Hospital Christmas Party was this past Friday. I'll let you take a guess where it was held. If you said, the Butler O'Club, you are correct. Do they have big parties anywhere else on this island?

After getting off work and mustering up the energy to get into our fancy clothes, Elyce and I made it to the party and no we were not tardy!

Perhaps this will be on Elyce and Reggie's Christmas card...

Here I am in the background pretty excited about winning an iPad

Luckily we made it there in time for the first gift giveaway of the evening, because we won a freaking Apple iPad!!! Yeah, I was pretty excited about this. Elyce and I had been talking about buying one for a few weeks. When the MC read off the winning ticket number I couldn't believe it. I was busy talking about, who knows what and Elyce stops me and says, they just called our ticket. Good thing she was paying attention while I was running my mouth!

I might have been the first to win a prize, but I wasn't the only one. Many people got gift cards, iPads, TV's, Play Stations, XBox's, and a bunch of other stuff. But it wasn't just the gift giving that made the night fun. There was plenty of laughing, dancing,  and just enjoying the time spent away from work with good people.

I can't wait til next year!

Zack and Doris!

Joe and Karen!

Lena and Rudy!

Andrew and Travis

Bryan's leaving us in a few weeks to head back to the states. We'll miss you B!