Sakura and Springtime - Okinawa, Japan
Okinawa, Japan
Hello again!
In case anyone was wondering, I am still doing well here on this beautiful little paradise I have the fortune to call home. Not a ton of stuff to report since our glorious Osaka trip-- wish I could make every weekend a grand adventure but sometimes all the adventure you need is right at home.
Here in Japan, February marked the start of sakura (cherry blossom) season and everyone got pretty obsessed. Of course when I say everyone, I include myself because I am the ultimate tourist. As such, I made it a mission to attend the Nago Sakura Festival.
This festival occurred on a weekend that I just so happened to NOT be working so I was committed to going. On Saturday, the weather was rainy and gross all around so we decided we would just go on Sunday. On Sunday, a bright and sunny day, we discovered that literally every other person in Okinawa had decided to do the same. We left immediately after church (around 1330) and jumped on the expressway for Nago. Everything seemed okay until we hit a wall of stand-still traffic just one exit shy of Nago. We were sitting in traffic to get into Nago for over an hour. By the time we reached central Nago, I was grumpy, hungry, and in desperate need of a bathroom. I parked in a San-A garage and we walked a couple of streets over where the main street of the Nago festival was being held. We came just in time for an Eisa drummer performance-- my first one since arriving in Okinawa. There were a ton of people (as expected) who had come out to enjoy the festival, however, there were not very many cherry blossoms to be found. This was back in late January when only a small handful of sakura trees were just beginning to bud. Regardless, locals and Americans alike were very excited for the start of the much anticipated sakura season.
Terence and I ate at the very first food tent we could find before exploring the rest of the festival area. There were countless food, drink, and sweets vendors along the main street. There was a stage where some artist was performing with a respectable sized (mostly Japanese) audience. There was a little park area where kids were able to play. In between the food stalls were a few emaciated little cherry blossom trees where tourists (i.e. me) and enthusiastic young locals strained to get a shot of a semi-decent branch of blossoms. At the end of the main festival area was the entrance to Nago Castle Park. The park area entrance was an impressive stairway lined by what would be numerous beautiful, sakura trees. Terence decided to sit out the stairway climb. I made the solo climb up another stairway to heaven of sorts and was totally out of breath by the time I reached the top. At the top there was a giant bell/temple type situation where locals were donating a few yen, saying a little prayer, and ringing the rope to the bell. To either side of this area were paths for which you could explore the rest of the castle park. I took a couple of photos before descending the hundreds of stairs, finding Terence, and making him climb the stairway again so we could both make a prayer and ring the giant bell together.
We left the festival just before dark, full and relatively happy. That is, before we sat in traffic for ANOTHER hour on the way home.
In February, I experienced my first Superbowl in Okinawa.
Consider, here in Okinawa, our Superbowl Sunday ends up being Superbowl Monday and instead of watching the game at night, we watch the broadcast in the morning.
Terence and I opted to attend one of the Superbowl parties being held at an officer's club nearby. This was definitely our best option because otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have even bothered to wake up if I had decided to watch the game at home. We were treated to a breakfast and then lunch buffet while we watched what was a terrible game. Another thing we missed? No Superbowl commercials are broadcasted on AFN. We get to see the game and the halftime show. That is it.
We had a relatively low-key Valentine's day. This was the first Valentine's Day we had spent together in over 2 years so we focused on just being super romantic and sweet to each other. On Saturday, we got massages together at a little place called Serenity in downtown Naha. The place was owned by two super sweet women (mother/daughter, I believe) who were very accommodating and understanding of the fact we ended up being 20 minutes late due to my inability to estimate accurate traffic times. I was able to apologize to them and let them know that this massage was much needed because of my line of work. They were mildly surprised of my childlike handle of the Japanese language. After massages, we spent the afternoon shopping at the Ashibina outlets before we went out to dinner. On Sunday, we went to church matching in pink before we hit American Village to stop at SEGA for a little purikura (Japanese photobooth). We had a quick, delicious lunch at Kami sushi before we headed home for a little relaxation before dinner reservations that evening. Dinner was at Taiyo Steakhouse and it did not disappoint. In short, we had a wonderful reunion Valentine's Day.
I wish I could say that more ended up happening in February, but I honestly was working so frequently that I had very little time for advenure.
In March, I was naively hoping that the weather would start getting warmer but if anything, it has continued to be cold and rainy. Despite the current trend in the weather, I optimistically decided to go on my first MCCS Tour. I signed up for whale watching and shelled out 50 bucks to do so. I woke up annoyingly early in the morning, dressed in a cute, impractical outfit, packed a bag with NONE of the tour's recommended items, and met the bus at our designated meeting spot. For reference, I was dressed in a thin long sleeved shirt, a scarf, ankle length khakis, and flip flops. Everyone else were clothed in waterproof Northfaces, jeans, and boots or athletic shoes. I knew as soon as I arrived that it was going to be a long day. On the bus ride over to the Naha wharf, I sweet lady in front of me offered motion-sickness pills to the rest of the bas. Stubborn and naive, I declined.
Once on the boat, I donned my life jacket, picked a seat near the back (for the view and mistake #2) and prepared for what I was hopping would be an awesome day of watching whales. My optimism had dimmed from the moment we left the port as the sky was overcome with ominous grey clouds in the same direction we were heading. The temperature dropped several degrees once we were out, speeding away on open water. As the boat sped along the churning sea, I grew cold and nauseated. Somewhere behind me, a kid threw up into a little baggie that we were handed once we were on the boat. The waves began to crash up higher and higher until those who had chosen to sit in the back of the boat (i.e. me) were beginning to get soaked with sea spray. We were speeding away for what probably was an hour before we came to a stop just as the rain was starting to come down. With the boat sitting still, we all stood up on shaky legs to peer out from the side of the boat to see if we could spot a whale. The boat lazily floated around the area as we all gazed eagerly at the water's surface. Mind you, the wind and rain had really started to pick up at this point and we had been stationary for a good 30 minutes just hoping to see a sliver of a whale. After perhaps 15 disappointing minutes later, our guide apologized and announced that we would be heading back. At that point, drenched and freezing, I was more than ready to return to dry land. We were speeding on our way back when someone yelled out "WHALE!" The boat decelerated and everyone ran to the left side of the boat. After a beat, someone pointed "Look!" and I glanced in the pointer's direction and saw a bit of whale back before I was able to pull out my phone and snap a quick shot in the general area. Luckily, I managed to capture the last fleeting glimpse of the whale's tail. We waited around for a little bit longer just in case any whales had decided to come out and play, but after a couple of minutes we resumed our journey back to the wharf.
Once we were back, the tour continued on to Kokusai street where I wasn't very excited about wandering around for two more hours. It was still raining and not very warm outside so myself and a wonderful lady I met earlier that morning went out for coffee and strolled around a couple of stores before we returned to our bus.
As soon as I walked in the door I abandoned my sodden clothing, exchanged them for warm PJs, and nestled in for a 12-hour nap.
After this mostly disappointing trip, I have been working nights where time just slips away. When I am not working, I am either completely passed out or I torture myself and make myself revert back to day shift schedule which sends my body for a loop. It's the only way I can have some semblance of a social life while being on the night shift.
One weekend, Terence and I decided to take the entire weekend and explore. On a gloomy Saturday, we took the scenic route to the Ryukyu Glass Factory. We were initially one of the very few people who were checking out the factory on a Saturday morning. The Ryukyu glass museum was located in the back of the entire complex. There, we carefully admired stunning large and small pieces of Ryukyu glass. Some pieces were for sale for upwards of $5,000 dollars. We made sure not to touch anything, and we left the museum intact. We then browsed around the gift shop where there was a wide array of Ryukyu glass souvenirs to buy. Outside the gift shop was an open area where we could see expert artisans blowing glass. Normally, you can pay a fee to learn to blow glass and take home your creation. However, being a Saturday, the glass-blowing tours were already entirely sold out. Bummed, we were on our way out when Terence spotted a table where you could try your luck tossing ping-pong balls into little Ryukyu glass cups for 300 yen. Just as we were beginning to play, at least two tour buses pulled up and these sweet old Japanese women walked up to observe us. Armed with 5 ping pong balls, Terence and I collectively managed to win 4 cute little glasses! We were congratulated by the sweet onlookers who wanted to see what we had won. We then said our goodbyes and ran to our car just as it began to rain.
On a beautiful, sunny Sunday, we decided to explore the Yomitan Pottery Village and Cape Zanpa after church. Yomitan Pottery Village was tucked away off of the main road and not terribly far away from central Okinawa. We were able to walk around the little village of clay roofed homes which offered hundreds of carefully crafted pieces of pottery for sale. There were at least over a dozen of shops to buy from so we decided to go inside about half, walk around the rest of the village, and head back from where we came. We then drove out to Cape Zanpa which was only a couple of minutes up the road. Our first stop was the Giant Shisa Dog guarding the entrance to the cape. We snapped a couple of touristy photos before making our way on foot to the Cape Zanpa lighthouse. The lighthouse itself was nothing out of the ordinary. The views from the top of the lighthouse, however, were indescribably amazing. We stayed up there for some time before descending and trekking out on to the jagged cape where we were so close to the sea the ocean sprays were kissing our necks. I convinced a group of cute Japanese girls to take our picture and we took a couple of photos of each other near the edge so I could send them to my mother and raise her blood pressure. Utterly exhilarated by the fresh ocean air and gorgeous views, we made our way back home only stopping at the seawall for dessert. We went to The Shack, a semi-famous little place known for their "freak shakes" aka a direct rip-off of NY's Blacktap shakes. I paid 900 yen for an impressive looking Oreo freak shake. As amazing as my shake appeared, the actual milkshake itself (not the cheesecake and Oreo topping) was pretty mediocre. I pretty much consumed the shake on my own with little help from Terence and we finally drove home.
The last thing we did in the month of March was celebrate Easter and our Anniversary.
If you haven't noticed, Terence and I celebrate a total of three anniversaries:
1.) Our actual wedding anniversary 6/2/14
2.) Our second wedding anniversary 12/13/14 aka our "fake" anniversary
3.) Our dating anniversary 3/28/09
For our anniversary weekend, we went on a sunset dinner cruise out of Naha. We pulled into Naha Wharf (running late as usual) and were greeted by our friendly crew who showed us where to park. The boat was named the Moby Dick and was painted with a cute little happy pink whale. We boarded our boat and we were seated at a table for two next to a window. Upon quick survey, we noticed only one other American couple setting sail with us. Our waitress greeted us and offered our dinner service either immediately, or just as the boat was setting sail. We opted for the latter and admired our table view. There was a salad and soup buffet as well as live entertainment to keep us placated before the boat set sail. Our meal consisted of ginormous 500g steaks and a couple of sides. After we were more than full, we decided to explore the upper deck as we leisurely cruised around the wharf. The sunset was so beautiful that day but the weather was still pretty nippy, even when the sun was out. After a few photos, we went back to our seats to warm up and enjoy the cruise singer. We were brought dessert (which was cute) and as soon as we (I) was warm again, we went back up to the top deck. We were only outside for a couple of minutes when our waitress summoned us back to our seats for an important "announcement". Our announcement turned out to be a special shout out to those celebrating either a birthday, or an anniversary in our case. They brought us a tropical little drink with a lit sparkler and we were wished a happy anniversary by the boat crew and surrounding tables. At the end of the cruise, we were presented with a framed picture of us with our little drink. All in all, the cruise was a positive, relaxing experience.
On Easter Sunday, I presented Terence with the Easter basket that I had made (Chu-Hi and candy!) and we made our way to church. The Easter service was especially wonderful and we got out just in time to make it to our massage appointments that I had booked. We went to Coran, a thai massage parlor near American Village and we received a 90 minute thai-style massage. Unlike traditional oil massages, thai massages consist of a masseuse who massages and stretches you out fully-clothed on a cushioned, heated mat. Our massage outfits were a two-piece soft pajama like garments that allowed us full range of motion and maximal comfort. Terence and I were treated side by side in a dark, warm room. At one point, Terence got so relaxed he started snoring. After our massages, thoroughly loose and limber, we went to Sega for our traditional holiday Purikura. We took super kawaii Easter themed photos before heading home to get ready for our anniversary dinner.
Dinner was at Corrente, a restaurant within the Okinawa Hilton. We both got dressed and an enjoyed a gourmet style meal with minuscule Japanese-sized portions. With that, our anniversary weekend was over.
And there it is, a recap of just about everything that has happened since our Osaka trip in January. Mind you, I have been working at least 5 shifts a week every other week and I'm still taking Japanese classes on my off days! I plan on updating my blog again in April so the next entry doesn't have to be so ridiculously long. We are scheming a trip to Kyoto soon, so stay tuned!
Until then, Happy Spring and thanks for reading!