Going to the Beach

Friends,

We have accepted a transfer to Okinawa, beginning in August. For most
of the year, our plan was to return to Portland next year. We felt
good about that. Around Christmas, however, we started to get
interested in a possibility for one more DoDDS assignment. We decided
that we'd try for that, or return to Portland. All worked out in the
transfer round, and I'll go back to the classroom teaching 8th grade
Language Arts.

Here are a few reasons why Okinawa makes sense to us:

1. Beach. Sunny weather. Ocean-front apartment.

2. Travel opportunities in Asia. While we loved our trips in Europe,
we often talk about returning to Vietnam, Bali, and Thailand. We'd
like to go to Laos and Cambodia, as well.

3. There is a Master's in Counseling Program that Kristie wants to
take. It makes sense to do this while I'm in DoDDS, rather than
struggling with tuition payments on our return to Portland.

4. Since the island has 13 schools and more Americans than we can
count, Kristie will have plenty of possible clients for her
photography endeavors.

5. Did I mention an ocean-front apartment? That sounds nice to us,
and Aslan relishes the idea of daily beach runs.

We will pack up an move out of our place here in Wiesbaden at the
start of June. Our summer currently looks something like this:

June 21-July 13: Portland/Seattle
July 14-21: Rhode Island
July 22-August 5: Portland
August 6: Leave for Okinawa

We hope to see you while we are in the US, or next summer in Okinawa.
It's worth looking into, right?

For future updates, check out my blog at http://www.coiablog.com.

Ron