Hello Cultrure Shock

So you're probably wondering why this crazy blogging lady is posting back to back to back. Well, I'm trying to give y'all a feel of my AF wife life story and get it over with so we can start talking about the important stuff that can actually be useful! There is only one more post after this one then I'm done talking about myself...I promise.

So, after the initial shock of finally being in Japan and all of that fun jet lag crap wore off, Justin and I ventured off base to explore the not so wide world of Okinawa. It was nothing like I pictured it to be. Everything was so close together and some of the buildings were old and run down. I was a little disappointed but Justin reminded me that most of these places were here during World War II and the Battle of Okinawa. Don't get me wrong though, there were a lot of nice places as well. We didn't wonder far from the base...mainly because we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We went somewhere that quickly became one of my favorite places. American Village. It was all of these buildings, stores and novelty shops that had all kinds of neat American type things. It was kind of the Japanese version of what they believed America to be. Obviously, I suck at trying to explain it so just check out the pictures to get a better idea.

The longer we had been there, the more familiar we got with our surroundings and our sense of direction seemed to improve a bit as well. The beaches there were like nothing I'd ever seen before. The water is so crystal clear that you can see straight to the bottom. It's about 20 shades of blue and green and is absolutely amazing! The only thing that I didn't like about the beaches was the coral and the sea weed that was everywhere! It was in the sand, the water. Everywhere! But it was a small price to pay to be able to go to the beach anytime we wanted!

 

There were also all kinds of yummy places to eat at as well. Authentic Japanese food is so much better than America's version of Japanese food. We were always finding little hole in the wall places to eat. Those were usually the best! There was a place that we loved called Arin Krin aka the Garlic House. All things garlic. Garlic rice, garlic pizza, deep fried garlic mashed potatoes, even whole garlic cloves! Ah it was amazing! You would leave absolutely wreaking of garlic! But it was so worth it! The best place on Oki to eat, probably even the best place on the planet to eat was by far Cocos Curry House. We ate there at least twice a week. My mouth still waters to this day thinking of it! I would fly all the way back to Japan just to eat a huge plate of chicken cutlet curry, add cheese and spinach, level 3! Good memories.

Okinawa was also packed with history. Like I said before, the Battle of Okinawa happened there during WWII so you can imagine what kind of history is there. We tried to go on a historic adventure every weekend...when we weren't lounging on the beach, of course! ;) I could write an entire post just about the history! Hey, that's a good idea! Note to self...

I probably should have told you about the base(s) and the housing and whatnot, but that's another topic for another day!

Here are a few more Oki pics for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!

Bye Bye Normal...

After Justin and I got married in late October, he had one more month of tech school left. That month felt like it dragged on forever! When he finally graduated and got to come home for Thanksgiving and start his leave in route, we tried to spend as much "alone time" together as possible all while trying to squeeze in family and friend time before having to move to Okinawa. Justin was home for three weeks before he had to leave for Kadena (the base in Oki). Justin left the first week of December and I had to stay behind until I got my passport. (That's a long story that makes the US Postal Service and the Air Force sound like the bad guys...which they were. But I wont get into all of that now). Since I didn't get to leave with Justin, we spent another two weeks apart...this time over our first Christmas as husband and wife. Since the day we got married in October, we had spent all of 19 days together. What a way to start a marriage, huh? But that's just how it goes when you're married to an Airman. Anyway, I called the post office everyday from the time Justin left to see if they had gotten any registered mail. I'm sure they were getting really sick of my 7:00 a.m. calls every morning. After many early morning phone calls and getting to the postal workers nerves daily, I finally called one rainy morning and asked the question that I was sure I already knew the answer to. And much to my surprise, their answer wasn't the dreaded "no" that I had heard over and over! As soon as I hung up with them, I got in my car and drove to the post office to pick up this life changing package that I'd been waiting for for so long. I think I was still in my pajamas! After I got it, I went to the guard base and got all of my travel plans squared away and a few days later, I was on a plane headed towards my new life with my new husband. Saying goodbye to my family was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but I knew "see ya laters" were just a part of being in the military and it was yet another thing that I had to get use to. Not only that, but flying was another big thing that I needed to become familiar with. I had only ever flown once prior to this and it was only from Knoxville to San Antonio which was only about a 10 hour trip, lay overs and everything. But this was FAR from 10 hours. I flew from Knoxville to Chicago. Chicago to Seattle (where I had to spend the night in the USO) Seattle to Tokyo and then finally to Okinawa from there. All around, it was about  26 hours trip. It was so tiring. Here I was, a 19 year old newlywed, leaving my family for the first time to move to the other side of the world to be with my new husband. The entire time, I sat there second guessing my decision and wondering if this was really what I was supposed to do or if I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. But the majority of those thoughts and emotions were a product of sleep deprivation and PMS. Once we began our final descent into Tokyo, I looked out of the window at a new land that I'd never before seen and it all of a sudden hit me. "Holy crap! I'm in Japan. I'm actually IN Japan!!" The little dude sitting next to me was a Marine fresh out of Tech School and was also headed to Oki for his first assignment. I kept saying over and over "Oh my gosh! We're in Japan!" Then my little Marine friend looked over at me and said, "Are you on the right flight?" It was just so weird finally being in Japan after so much talk and anticipation of it all! It was a really strange, but exciting feeling that I can't explain. On the final leg of what I thought was a never ending journey, I boarded the plane in Tokyo to Okinawa and the giddy little girl inside of me came out. I was getting so excited to see Justin that I couldn't help but smile the whole way. People around me must have thought I was an idiot. I had been traveling for over 23 hours so as you can imagine, I looked (and smelled) pretty rough. But I went to the lavatory anyway and tried to make my terrible self look presentable. I brushed my hair and teeth and reapplied my mascara that I had cried off since I left Knoxville. And then it happened. We had finally made it to Okinawa around 10:00 p.m. Japan time. As I sat on the plane anxiously waiting for them to let us off, butterflies filled my empty, nervous stomach. I got my two 50 pound, over packed suitcases, sifted through the mass amounts of people, and finally spotted my Airman! He hugged and kissed me, and everything felt right in the world again. All the emotions, all of the airports and planes and weird people, all the bad airplane food...it was all worth it. I was so happy to see him and to finally start our lives together and begin this new journey. We went back to the hotel (we didn't have a house yet) and I slept for what felt like days. Jet lag sucks by the way...

And that's the story about leaving my normal life and beginning a new life, in a new land. with my new husband. I don't really have pictures for this post. But my next post will be all things Okinawa so they'll be plenty of pictures!

Wedding Plans, Interrupted.

So, the history of how I became an AF wife continues. As you can tell from the title of this post, it's about our wedding...sort of.

As I told you before, Justin proposed to me on September 19, 2008, the day after he graduated from basic training. When we went to tech school, I started planning our wedding. The original plan was for him to graduate tech school in late November, which he did, take leave in route before going to his first duty station, and for us to get married in December before we went to wherever the Air Force told us to go. Well, plans don't always go the way you want them to now do they? About a month into the wedding planning and his schooling, he called me and told me that he had gotten his orders and knew where he was going. I could tell in his voice that he wasn't happy with his assignment. Then he told me...they were sending him to Okinawa, Japan and if I wanted to go with him, we were going to have to get married ASAP. My initial reaction was a full blown freak out. I flat out told him that there was no way that I was moving to the other side of the world and that the wedding was off, etc. Of course, I didn't mean a word I said and Justin knew that. I was so upset but I knew as soon as I got off the phone with him that I was going to go with him to the land of rice if that's what it took to be with him. The next day, Justin called me after school and said "Wanna go to Japan with me?" I had calmed down and thought through it all and my answer was "Sure". I remember that conversation so well. So, that weekend, my mom, sister, grandmother, and future mother in law rented a van and drove 16 hours to Wichita Falls so I could marry my Airman. Needless to say, my family was less than thrilled that we had to cancel the wedding and at the way we had to go about things. But eventually, they got over it. Anyway, we left late Thursday evening and drove all night. We finally got to our hotel in Wichita Falls around 8 or 9 in the morning which gave us enough time to get primped, pick up Justin, and head to the courthouse to get hitched! When we picked Justin up outside of the gate of the base and I saw him for the first time in a month, I feel in love with him all over again and the whole world, the whole mess all of a sudden felt right. We got to the courthouse, got our license and sat there waiting impatiently for the Justice of the Peace to see us. Believe it or not, I wasn't a bit nervous but I could tell that Justin was, even though he was trying to hide it. I was so afraid that we were going to have a boring, run of the mill, in and out courthouse wedding with a dull judge. But once we walked into the judges chamber, it was way better than I imagined! The judge was the sweetest, funniest woman and she had a big arch that was decorated with flowers. The vows she had us recite to one another were so personal and I don't think we could have written them better ourselves. She incorporated the military and the flag into them and it made them that much more special. And then, she finally pronounced us husband and wife and before she even got the full sentence out of her mouth, I kissed my husband for the first time! I was the happiest girl in the world. But we had no time to celebrate right then. We had to rush to the base and do all the post wedding mambo jumbo. After all of that was done, we finally got to go back to the room and relax...well, not totally relax ;) I was on my happy cloud again...this time with my husband! The next day, we had the entire day to spend together...and with my mom, sister, grandmother, and new mother in law. I never wanted that day to end but it did. I had to say goodbye to my husband of 2 days and be away from him for another month. Needless to say, I was bummed for a while after we got back. But I realized that I'm not only married to the love of my life and my best friend, but to the Air Force as well. They own him, and now they own me too. If I wanted to be with him and make my marriage work, I was going to have to suck it up and get use to being second and being away from him. Do I like the fact that we didn't get to have a wedding? No. Do I like being away from Justin a lot? No way. Do I like my family being owned by the government? No freaking way. But I knew what I was getting myself into when I married a U.S. Airman. I wouldn't change one thing about the way we did things or our crazy life together. He is amazing and I love him more now than the day we said "I do".

And that's the story of our "wedding" :)

                                                                  

How I became an Air Force Wife

Hey Y'all and welcome to my blog. I'm new at this whole blogging thing so bare with me as I learn the ins and out of it all! Let me introduce myself and tell you a little about my life and give you a little background on how I became an Air Force wife.

My name is Kayla McCullough and I've been a proud Air Force wife for almost 5 years. My husband,Justin, went to Basic Training at Lackland AFB in August of 2008, just like every soon to be Airman does. When he left, we were young and in love (19 to be exact) and had been dating for 2 years. When he graduated basic, of course I went to see him graduate and I was beyond proud of him and absolutely blown away at how handsome he looked in his Blues! After all of the graduation festivities were over, we went to the Alamo and the famous River Walk. After we had been there for a while, Justin and his mom started acting so strange. I had never see him so nervous so I knew something was up. I had no idea what was about to happen. His parents and little brother wondered off and left us alone so I was thinking that we were finally going to get a little alone time to talk and catch up. We were walking around and just enjoying each others company and the fact that we were finally reunited. But then he pulled me into this little side alley that had a beautiful fountain and flowers all around. As I stood there admiring how beautiful this little secluded part of the River Walk was, Justin grabbed my hand, pulled me close to him, and got right in my face with the ring in his hands between us. As I stood there with tears in my eyes, jaw on the floor, and totally shocked, he looked at me with the sweetest sideways grin on his face and said those 4 wonderful words that every girl dreams of hearing..."Will you marry me?" I said yes about a thousand times and he placed a beautiful ring on my finger! We hugged and I planted a huge kiss on him, then stepped back remembering the ridiculous "no touching" rule. It was so hard not to but I knew I had to so he wouldn't get in trouble. As we walked out of the alley, his parents and brother were standing a few feet from the entrance with big smiles on their faces and trying to act surprised as to what had just happened...they didn't do a very good job since they had been in on the plan the whole time! I was on cloud nine, but then was pushed off my happy cloud the next day when we had to say our "see ya laters". It was harder than I thought it would be, but I knew it wasn't for long and that I would see him in a couple of months. I tried to stay positive and tried to occupy my mind with wedding planning. Little did I know that those wedding plans would come to a screeching halt a few weeks later. But that's a different story for a different day :)