June 30, 2010

Torii Beach with the Amelia's

For our June out with the Amelia's (a Spouse's Travel Group), we had an outing to Torii Beach.  The weather was great- meaning not unbearably hot and muggy!  We did a potluck lunch which worked out well-  BBQ hot dogs, fresh sushi, delicious brownies (thanks Margy!) as well as other goodies.  This outing was for the family (since the the kids are on summer break) and we were encouraged to bring along friends as well.  Louise, Steve and kids attended, with Steve manning the grill (thank you Steve!)

David at lunch in the water after playing water football with Steve.

Louise and Emmy cooling off at water's edge. 

Margy, Queen of the Amelias, just floating around!

We tried to do some snorkeling, but there was not much to see.  I stayed our for a bit and did find a few fun things.....

This looked like a baby sea snake...not sure if it was since the sea snake are black and white as adults.  He was only about 10 inches long...just a little guy!

This thing (hint: looking in the middle, going down and to the right) looked like a cross between a sea horse (especially the head) and a fish.  

From what I looked up, this is a Synaptid Sea Cucumber.  The lumps on it are called "bobbles".  It looked like a chenille bedspread to me!  When I went to lightly touch it, it shrunk down to just a few inches long in a split second.

The Rainy Season

Still Raining...
Our view from the hill has looked like this for days and days now...It is the "Rainy Season" here in Okinawa, and rain it has! Now, coming from Pacific Northwest, we thought "Rainy Season? Big deal! We're used to rain!". Well, let me tell ya, Okinawa rain is a bit different! When it rains, it RAINS. It can go from nothing to torrential downpour in mere seconds. A downpour here is rain coming down so hard and fast you can't even see- and there is often a wind driving the wind sideways so umbrellas are next to useless.
What it means on a daily basis: walking through ankle deep water to take out the trash...having a dog who doesn't want to go out in the soggy, squishy backyard... wiping up muddy dog prints off the floors...remembering to bring umbrellas in from the car (irritating to be in the house ready to leave and realize it is POURING and all of the umbrellas are in the car)...
According to today's Stars and Stripes newspaper, we have received nearly 13 inches of rain in the last week alone. Since the start of the rainy season on May 18th almost 20 inches of rain have fallen. There had been talk of water rationing due to low reservoir levels, but those fears have eased a bit. We are still "drier than usual" and the rainy season is predicted to end next week.
The thought of water rationing while living on a subtropical island seems strange- everything is so green and lush! Since we've been here, we have not been allowed to water the lawns or wash the cars in housing areas.

I'm going to enjoy the rain while it lasts though...welcome breath of fresh air from the humidity and heat.

Happy Mother's Day 2009

I had a great Mother's Day!

Actually got to sleep in a bit and then had breakfast in bed prepared and served by David (a fantastic Breakfast Burrito- David is turning into quite a good cook). Willie and Ty stayed close by....just in case some of the breakfast fell (or was slipped to them while Mike wasn't looking!)

After breakfast we loaded up the Delica, stopped for coffee at the shoppette and hit the road headed North. The boys are not thrilled with my love for road trips (heading to "Chipmonk Rapids" as they call it), but having a DVD player in the van certainly eases their pain.

The weather was glorious and the roads clear so we made good time. Our destination- Hiji Falls towards the north end of the Island.

We tried a shortcut through Nago, taking Highway 71 instead of staying on 58. Seemed to save a bit of time, and was a nice change of scenery.
On the way up Highway 58 we saw lots of locals out on the beach and in the water. Not sure what they were collection off the beach- crabs, shell fish??

I had seen this Veggie/Fruit Stand on the way to Okuma last time we were up in this area. I jumped up and down in my seat until Mike agreed to stop (of course we had passed it by then, but he was able to back up- there was actually parking along the road)These are Daikons, or Asian Radishes. The look lovely all piled up. We tried one a while back and I wasn't too thrilled, even though I like radishes. We will have to try one again. They are very popular here.
The pineapples looked too good to pass up so we bought one (only 250 Y) and carved it up right there on the side of the road. Simply delicious!

The Watermelons they had looked good too, but not willing to shell out 1200 Y ($12) for one...

This sign for "Crab Crossing" cracks me up every time I see it.
At the junction of 58 and the turnoffs for Okuma and Hiji Falls is this sunflower field.


It was in full bloom last weekend, but still enough blooms this week to beg to stop. I had fun wandering along taking a few photos (of course, the boys opted to stay in the van and watch the movie- flowers is not exactly their cup of tea!).










Part 2- Hiji Falls

An Okinawa Favorite

New Toes!

Ask any woman living in Okinawa what one of her favorite things about living here is, and topping the list would be "Going to Cocoks! (for you trivia people, cocok is Indonesian for "harmony") I will forever remain grateful to Rebecca for introducing me to this wonderful place (thanks Rebecca!) For you non Okinawa folks, Cocoks is the local nail/spa/salon. For 3990 Yen (roughly $40) you can go have your feet soaked, filed, rubbed, and pampered (it feels so GOOD when they wrap your feet in those hot towels!). You also get a leg and foot massage with scented oil of your choice. While you relax in the big comfy recliners drinking delicious iced tea, you browse through books of artwork trying to decide what artwork you want the lovely ladies to paint on your toes. They call it "Toe Art"- and Art it truely is! The choices seem endless. It's absolutely amazing what they can paint- flowers, beach scenes, shisia, holiday themed artwork (including shamrocks, candy canes and pumpkins), abstract designs, Hello Kitty....it's so hard to decide! There are close to 100 pages of designs- and LOTS of designs on each page. And the colors! Reds, pinks, purples, oranges, greens, white, blues, gold, silver, black...between the designs and the colors the choices just boggle my mind (granted, that isn't hard to do).

Rebecca and I went on Friday- we waited until May 1st so we could take advantage of the 20% off they offer during your birthday month (and then we almost forgot to ask for the discount!). We had such a great time relaxing, drinking tea (lots and lots of tea....which meant by the time we left we really really had to go pee!). The ladies who work there are amazing- they work with tiny little paint brushes and put incredibly detailed designs on even the tinniest toes. On the design I choose, they even blended the nail polish (I didn't know you could even do that!). On Jena's latest design (picture to the left), she said the put glitter on- one flake at a time. I had a terrible time deciding on a design...when they last for a month or so it is a big commitment! A lot of the designs I would enjoy for a week or two...but a month? Maybe not...

The picture below is the first design I had done. I loved the gold accents. After pulling up the photo I realized I these done in mid February...and they removed the last of the design when I went in (so they were on my toes for over 2 months!).

So here's to Cocok's- a place I will continue to enjoy during our time here...and maybe I will be brave enough in the future to try a really funky design!

You can check here for more photos of Cocok's toes... Cocok's on Okinawa Hai

Shakey's- Okinawa Style!

October 2008

Way back in October, Mike and I decided to give Shakey's Pizza a try for lunch. We haven't had Shakey's in...like, Forever! But it was a place we used to love to go way back when.

It's apparently a very popular place here- we had tried to go before, but the boys were too hungry to wait the 30 minutes plus minutes to be seated. Even today, on a week day, there was a 10 minute wait.

They do not serve salad (we were very sad!), but did have pizza, jojos, curry rice, chicken broth, drinks and dessert. One difference is that you use the same plate the entire time- no clean plate each time you go up like in American buffets. I will tell you, we did not see a single Okinawan leave any food on their plate. If they took it, they ate it. A far cry from the gross waste of food you see in stateside buffets.

The pizza was....interesting! Lets see if I can remember the kinds we they had:
Cheese
Pepperoni
Pepperoni with corn
Pepperoni with bell peppers
Salad Pizza : this had to be the funniest one- just a baked pizza crust with lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing...no sauce. It was literally a plain pizza crust with a salad dumped on top! (very popular thou!)
Wasabi Pizza with Octopus (at least that is what we THINK the white chewy rings were). Slivers of dried seaweed on top. Believe it or not, this was my favorite!
Sausage with tomatoes
Hawaiian
One we couldn't figure out- sauce was dark and it had tiny bits of broccoli, octopus, and other unidentified objects. Good, just didn't know what it was (and that may be a good thing!).

Definitely different choices then your typical American Pizza! Very little meat- the pepperoni and sausage pizzas were more cheese then meat.

The rice and curry was good- very good actually. We tried the soup just because it was there- think it was just a plain chicken broth. Tasted good, but seemed a strange thing to have with the other stuff. But then again, I wouldn't serve curry and rice with pizza either!

The desserts were typical Okinawa...as in not very sweet. One was a pizza crust with tiny bits of pineapple (cooked) then drizzled with a bit of chocolate sauce and lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Okay, but not worth seconds. They also had sweet rolls- looked like cinnamon rolls but not quite. One kind was plain (no icing), the other had a bit of chocolate syrup drizzled over the top.

They had a table set up with pitchers of oolong tea and iced tea (the oolong tea was much milder than the ice tea). The soda dispensers included a cold, very strong, coffee, hot coffee out of a machine and an orange slushie drink (these types of drinks, similar to slurpees are popular here). The soda dispensers are a bit different- there is only one dispenser spigot- no matter which soda you choose, it comes out of the one spigot. You just push the button of which soda you want. We are used to the American dispensers which have a separate spigot for each flavor of soda. No diet soda- just Grape Fanta, Root Beer, Coke, and a melon Fanta (or maybe it was green apple?)...and the cold coffee.

We enjoyed lunch, and the experience, but doubt we'll go back. A bit pricey at 950 Yen for lunch.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the pizza- I didn't take in a camera and would have felt funny taking pictures (we were the only Americans there).

A Day of Wandering with the Boys- part 3

The Churaumi Aquarium

Next stop on our day of wandering, and our original destination, the Churaumi Aquarium. The Aquarium is located about 1 1/2 hours north of us and sits right on the East China Sea. The buildings are beautiful- very striking architecture.

David and I had been to the Aquarium during a school field trip, but this was the first time for Matt (Mike has still not been...that work think just keeps getting in the way of having fun!). The indoor part of the Aquarium itself is huge and you have to pay to get in (well worth it- it is AMAZING!) . However, there is enough outside, which is free of charge, to keep you busy for hours. Since Mike was not along and it was so late in the day, we opted just to wonder outside.

Right now there is a Flower Festival going on, so there are glorious flowers everywhere! These stairs lead from the parking areas down to the main parts of the Aquarium and park. There were designs made out of the flowers, all so carefully arranged. The boarders were living flowers, but all the flowers in the middle were cut. The mama bird and baby bird were neat- the little girl in the picture loved them too. Our first order of business- lunch (it was after 3:30 and we had not eaten yet). We had packed a picnic lunch so we decided to eat while we watched the Dolphin show. While we waited for the show to start, Matt actually went back to the car for his jacket. In the sun it was nice- but in the shade, being blasted with the wind it was down right chilly.

The Dolphin show was fun and featured several different kinds of dolphins. The main feature of the show were the False Killer Whales. They did a lot of interacting with the trainers.
In this photo I'm not sure if he was sticking out his tongue at us...or playing dead! Since all the announcing was in Japanese, we weren't sure.

The stars of the show where these guys- the Common Dolphin They definitely had the WOW! factor with their incredibly high jumps (and personally, I thought the False Killer Whales looked just a tad sinister!)

After the dolphin show we saw the sea turtles. The breed several different kinds of turtles there at the aquarium and we got to see adults as well as babies. You can view them from the top, then go downstairs and see them under the water. Next best thing to diving with them.

Since I take such great delight in dragging the boys around, we had to check out this little beach. We kicked around for a bit. I made them pose for some pictures then turned them loose to play. The had a blast throwing rocks into the water (do boys EVER outgrow this??)Here is Matt putting his shoes back on as we left the beach. The story behind the photo- he was giving me a hard time about taking pictures of EVERYTHING "We're at the beach- let's take a picture. Oh, hey, he's putting on his shoes- lets take a picture!" Since he was being such a smarty pants I just stood there and took pictures the whole time he put on his shoes- me laughing and him grumbling the entire time.

Hey, anyone want a soda?? Pick a machine, any machine! (just a note here- Matt does not have his hand on David just being nice...he is actually pushing him away from the soda machines so he can't check out what kinds there are).
The boys discovered their new favorite drink- Melon Cream Soda. I am not much of a melon person, but it is surprisingly good.

Matt was uncooperative for pictures after the shoe incident, so David was the only one agreeable to pose in the pictures of this cool dragon like guy (Thank you David!).

Another fantastic feature at the Aquarium is the net play area. This statue is right outside the entrance to the nets.The nets cover a huge area and are very popular (and definitely not something you will find in the states since the potential for injury- ie: lawsuit- is there).Unfortunately, the play area is for children 12 and under...although Matt tried to play, but I made him get off. No way he can pass for 12- especially around all those little Okinawan kids. David had a blast jumping from net to net- we had to drag him away. I will admit to being jealous- looked like ton of fun and I would have been out there in a heart beat!

For some obscure reason, David was really taken with the walking escalator ramp and wanted his picture taken as he came up.

Last stop of the day: The Beach at Sunset

A Day of Wandering with the Boys- part 1

Sunday, January 15, 2008

Today I drug the boys out and about. Of course, they couldn't wait to go! (yeah, right!)

The final destination I had in mind was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It took us a bit to get on the road and going. We had to stop and exchange American money for Yen and got waylaid at the little clothing store next to the Exchange. Little shop, but lots of cool clothes, hats and belts (for the boys). Then onto Kadena to top off the gas tank and, finally, we were off!

We only made it about 5 minutes up the road before I had to pull over. After seeing the hearse parked along the side of 58 I just had to stop and take a picture. The Japanese Hearses are a bit different than their American counter parts...as you can see here. Quite the work of art! Believe it or not, this is not one of the more ornate ones (the picture at the top is the very front of the hearse).
Here is some information on funerals in Okinawa that was posted on Okinawa Hai:

Having been to a few Okinawan funerals, there are a few other differences I observed.

Firstly, public signs are put up on the streets to `advertise` that there was a death and give directions to the deceased home for people to come pay their respects.
At the funeral, as with weddings, it is customary to offer money in a special envelope to the deceased persons family (usually 1000yen, in old notes to show you were unprepared for the death, new notes are for weddings). In return you will usually receive a token gift (a towel, candy, cake, rice).
All the mourners wishing to pay their respects will complete a brief ritual at a alter of sorts (at the cremation center) which contains incense, and picture of the deceased. The family is usually seated and you pay your respects to them too. In my experience there isn't a service/reading that people attend like western funerals.
The family of the deceased are obliged to carry out many other rituals when a person in their house dies; some of these are repeated for up to 12 months or more. Furthermore, people in mourning usually refrain from attending joyous events such as weddings and parties for the next 12 months.
These are just things that i`ve observed so I'm sure some are wrong or incorrect, but that's the basic premise. Posted by: Kate

We made it another 5 or 10 minutes down the road before I was again compelled to stop. This time the stop was a parking lot alongside a bridge. I have always admired the sign along the side of the bridge (photo on the right with the cherry tree behind it), so what better time to stop and take a look? (especially since i had to stop for a red light- it was meant to be!) The sign on the left was one of two in the parking lot- I have no idea what it says, but thought it was beautiful!

I was pleased to find that there is a wonderful path that runs along the stream. There were some shires on the far side. David walked down a ways with me before going back to the van. Matt decided to stay at the van (fuddy duddy that he is!). While they waited for me to get back, he and David played football.

Up on the hill side, deep in the trees, was a man-made shelter. It looked to be a cave that someone walled off by weaving palm fronds- it was complete with a door and everything (the black area in the middle is where the door was). Looked very cozy! There was a man up there- but I hesitated too long to take a picture so he isn't in it.

Part II- Manzamo Point

Part III- Churaumi Aquarium

Part IV- A Glorious Sunset to End the Day