At the Car Wash

To prepare our car to sell, I brought it to a place called Mr. Wash here in Wiesbaden. It's Germany efficiency at its finest. I drive in to get it washed, then drive around and park it on a huge conveyor belt. It travels through an assembly-line cleaning that would make Henry Ford grin. They clean the mats, windows, interior, and vacuum. It's pretty fun to watch. They have a soundtrack of light classical playing, making me think of these car men as ballet dancers with rags.

The Honda come out glistening. I proudly hung a vanillaroma tree on the back window crank, then it rained.

In Prague

We arrived in Prague last night around 7 pm. We have all day today, and leave tomorrow night. It's a quick trip, but we wanted to be certain to visit here before we left Europe. I think this may be our final European trip for now.

We ate dinner on the river, walked through the old downtown area, then got a bit lost. We were walking on the highway trying to find our hotel.

Here's our hotel: http://www.miss-sophies.com

Private vs Public Faith

"Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted, Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel."

 

Pope Benedict XVI, Speaking to bishops during his visit to the U.S.

 

Belgium Crane Technique

On our last day in Belgium, we had lunch in Leuven, a city outside of

Brussels. In the downtown area, I saw this statue perched on a
building. It reminded me of Daniel LaRusso's winning move in The
Karate Kid. I think this may have been his inspiration. Or, perhaps
it was the other way around.

Of course, the perfect picture would be to have me in a similar
position next to the statue.

That's two Karate Kid-inspired blog postings in a month.

Babies in the Brugge Window

Now, there is far more to tell about our trip to Brussels and Brugge
last weekend, but this is the first thing that came to mind. I've
seen crazy kid displays in Europe before, but these were especially
weirdo. These babies look like little dead men. They were all in one
display, which added to the strange feeling.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

We spent our Sunday in this town, about two hours away from here.
People often scoff at it as too touristy (complete with an eye roll
and a flip of the hand), but there often is a reason that places like
this are frequented by tourists: they are interesting. This is the
perfect little German town with a village square, shops and cafes,
churches, and a whole mess of half-timbered houses, all within a
wall. It was very Disneyland-like, only for real.

Even Rick Steves agrees with me.

These were some strange snowball-meets-donut dessert. Nothing too exciting.

At today's rate, this stupid thing is only $1379.63. Shall I pick up two for you?

This is multi-tasking indeed!

Holy Costumed Fun, Batman!

A funny picture from a site that poses superhero toys and narrates with comic book-style speech bubbles. Playing with Spider-Man toys AND writing funny dialogue sounds like the perfect career choice for me. I wonder if the job comes with medical and dental.

 

(In case you need it: Daredevil’s Matt Murdoch is blind. I guess he couldn’t supersmell or superhear his way to face forward).

Rhining, Wining, and Dining

Lela and Vera, Kristie's mom and aunt, have been visiting us for the
past week. They went with Kristie to Amsterdam and Venice (see
Kristie's photo page for her pictures), and now we are touring around
this area.

We went on a Rhine River driving tour, stopping at Rudesheim and
Oberwesel. The weather was perhaps the best it's been this season,
and we have lunch on the river in Rudesheim, and then has a glass of
Riesling at a castle in Oberwesel. It was perfect in all respects.

This morning, we'll leave for Rothenberg for the day.

This Size Fits All

 

Bowling Repair Technician

In my ongoing attempt to find gainful and rewarding employment for my dear wife after our arrival to Okinawa, I stumbled across another winning job posting. I believe that Kristie does indeed have the “mechanical and electrical/electronic principals of bowling equipment.” I think that was her hobby in college. See the full advertisement here. If you remember correctly, there was a previous post for a Bingo Assistant.

I imagine a conversation in my head after we return home from work:

R: How was work?

K: Striking!

R: Were you busy today with the electrical principals?

K: I didn’t have a minute to spare!

R: Why all the puns?

K: Why are you a pin-head?

R: Touché, Kristie Coia. Touché.

 

 

Vernazza, Italy

I have pictures to post, but here's one from our Spring Break trip to
Cinque Terra. Kim and Susan Richardson came from Korea.

Just in Case You Have Something For Us

US Postal Service offers first-time military discount! A new flat-rate box will be available from the Postal Service after March 3 that is 50 percent larger and delivered for $10.95 to an APO/FPO address -- $2 less than for domestic destinations. The boxes can be ordered at http://www.usps.com/supplies or by calling 800-610-8734. For more information, read the Air Force Print News story at http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123085338.

You know, it's been a long time since our last care package...

Introduction to Calvinism

John Piper’s seminar on Calvinism is available to listen or watch on his site. It may be something to stuff into your iPod to listen on your next commute. It surely beats the latest Justin Timberlake or Gnarls Barkley.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Seminars/1727_TULIP/.

Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto

I know that I'm by no means the first nor last to make a Styx-song joke in relation to moving to Japan, but I want to share this video anyway. Pardon the lack of originality, but I do really like this song. Who knew that when I sang along with this in the 1970s that it would help me in my new home in 2008?

Luther Socks

I went to Luther's childhood house a few months ago, and I bought
these at the gift shop. While it seems to be outrageous selling
hosiery at the Reformer's house, I think Luther would approve of the
comedy and the exhortation to have warm feet.

Spiderman In Okinawa

Not quite Japanese, but I’m glad that the web-slinger is there waiting for me.

 

Steve's Thoughts on Microsoft

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Optical Fun

Brian sent me this. I feel like I'm in an LSD-addled state. It's not animated, and it's more intriguing than those mall 3-D posters.

My New Tie

Kristie's mom sent me this tie for Christmas. I love it.

I also love the row of knives. Threatening, ain't they?

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

Hypocrisy and Irony Are Often Related

At Ease!

Couldn't I have at least closed the dishwasher?

Still in Italy

We are continuing our Italy trip in the Chianti region, and we are currently staying in Redda in Chainti. Here's a link to our hotel: http://www.vignale.it/eng/hotel.htm. It's a beautiful place among the vineyards of Tuscany, and we almost have the place to ourselves. We have one more night here before returning to Germany on Friday.

Today, we are going to Siena and Montalcino for the day.

Pictures will be posted soon.

"B-33! I Repeat, B-33!"

As we are looking at the sites associated with our move to Okinawa, we looked at the open jobs page for Kristie. I think that Kristie would do a fine job as a Bingo Aid. She'd want to be the main bingo person, but I don't think that she's ready for it. Not yet.

Mr. Miyagi's Geography Lesson

When I first saw The Karate Kid when I was 15 years old, I learned two valuable lessons. The first is that after only a few karate lessons under the guise of slavework, I, too, could take down the meanest, toughest, and blondest karate champ of the city; I only have to believe in myself and in the crane technique. The second thing that I learned is where the island of Okinawa is. Here is the clip of that lesson: