Kadena International Wine Fest (Sounds a lot like Catalina Wine Mixer)

So this past Saturday night I had the pleasure of going to my first international wine festival. It was held at the Rocker NCO club here on Kadena Air Base.

I guess I'll start with what I wore... or rather how my outfit came about.

I didn't have anything. So I had my mom mail me a couple of dresses. Too bad I didn't get her to send a black one. All the girls I was going with were wearing black. I can't be the only one in green and white... I mean seriously.

So it's four hours until time to go... thats when I started shopping. S20 and I ventured to the Base Exchange (BX) because I can't fit into the locals clothes, therefore, town was not an option.

We spent approximately 25 minutes shopping... shoes included. In true Meredith fashion I purchased the first dress and shoes I tried on. It looked good enough I guess.

So I got all fancied up... I even wore my hair down for this. I know. Big Surprise. I had to buy a straightener to do so.

When we got there it was kind of crowded. However, we got our wine glas

ses and started tasting (I have decided that I will not grow up and become a wine conesiour). One guy had 3 Merlots. Two from Chile and one from Italy. He said, "Now we are going to start our journey in Chile...mmm...and what do you think of that? Now this is a Chilean wine made very similiar to an Italian wine...mmm...and what do you think of that? Now this one if from Italy...mmm...can you taste the similarities?"

My answer was most definitely. The first one was okay. The second one bad. The third awful. But of course I didn't actually say that... instead I waited for him to take a

nother unlucky person on the wine tour and I slipped away from the table.

Now don't get me wrong I tasted a lot and like a few. So all was not lost.

In my personal opinion all the vendors can keep their wine. The food is the reason to come. I had lump crab wrapped in back with a cream sauce on top, scallops cooked the same way, crab ragoon with real crab and minimal cream cheese, teryaki beef skewers, sushi... the list goes on and on.

So the lesson learned from the whole experience... Go hungry, leave full,

and pick up a bottle of the cheapest white wine on your way out the door.

Thats what S20 and I did. It proved to be just right.

From left to right: S20, me, cpl watson, ssgt garneau.

Reporting from AFN Okinawa, I'm LCpl Meredith Watts.

MCMAP

So this past week I did MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) and I test out and got my grey belt which is the next level up.

It was a very painful and action packed experience. I did learn how to do an arm bar from the mount and the guard which is pretty cool.

On Wednesday we boxed... which I have learned that I would rather lose the fight than beat up on someone I know. I had to fight two girls. I was so much bigger than they were. It was exactly evenly matched... and thats all I have to say about that.

Then I fought a guy. He had the reach and weight advantage on me. So my logic was... if I can't beat him standing up I will give it a shot and take him to the ground... the only problem is it is hard to fight on the ground with boxing gloves.

Needless to say it was fun and, as I said before, I advanced up a belt which is exciting.

This morning I shadowed Cpl Castillo on the radio. That was pretty fun. I even got a call in that complimented me which was exciting. I had a couple mess ups... but nothing too serious. The 9 year olds calling in and requesting songs was kind of a pain.

Anyways... I hope to head to the "city" tonight (Naha) and get some good food and good pictures. If not I promise to get some more pictures soon.

Well that is all for now... wish everyone back in the states the best.

Reporting from AFN Okinawa, I'm LCpl Meredith Watts.

Saturday Night Special

First of all I want to apologize for not having my camera with me... hopefully I will be able to catch this experience again on digital film.

So Carberry and I decided to head out to American Village which isn't to far from base to grab some chow Saturday night. We went to this little mexican place. I ordered Taco Rice which is pretty much amazing. It is yellow rice with ground beef on top and lettuce on top of that. It is served with salsa and some kind of sauce that is a lot like thousand island. Although it wasn't exactly El Cabo's ACP or mexican cheesesteak... I guess it will do.

Carberry ordered the Mexican Lunch. It was two tacos, two enchiladas, some kind of wild rice looking stuff and these little dough things. It was pretty delicious. The taco shells were nothing like what we have back in the states... it was kind of like funnel cake. Not sure how to explain it. Overall delicious.

So then we were heading out and just going to travel up to Camp Foster to visit a couple of friends when we saw a crowd gathering... so we walked over and saw a street performer setting up.

He performed some very interesting things coordinated with his ipod of course. It was sort of like interpretive dance at the beginning with these ninja looking things. Then he took out some glass ball looking things and did some really cool stuff with that. He finished his act juggling fire.

He spoke 98% Japanese the whole time. He would speak for like 5 minutes in Japanese with a one sentence English translation.

He concluded his show with "After this... I ask you for money."

I would dare to say he made at least $200 for his show... or roughly 18000 Yen. He had quite that gathering. He was very interactive with the crowd and was extremely funny. He made a Titanic reference that just about had me rolling on the floor laughing.

Anyways... Hope all is well in the states.

I start MCMAP tomorrow for my grey belt. I'm pretty excited.

Reporting from AFN Okinawa, I'm LCpl Meredith Watts.