沖縄と祭り

Welll it has been a while since my last post- mostly because uploading pictures takes a long time.

As you can guess I had a great time in Okinawa. I had to get up pretty early to take the hour long train to the airport, got there too early and had to wait for a while, then took the slightly over 2 hour flight and took a 2 hour bus ride to the hotel from the airport, so I was kind of tired when I got there. BUT when we checked in the hotel said that since they were so crowded for Golden Week they asked if the six of us would mind being in together in the same (but bigger) room for at least one day. We thought it sounded like fun so we said that we would do it for all four nights, and were soon introduced to... the biggest room in the hotel!! It was great, there were two floors, with two beds on the top floor (which the girls claimed naturally) and four beds set up on the bottom floor. There was a huge balcony with an awesome view of the ocean and even a table and chairs set up. It was really nice to sit out there and watch she sun set over the ocean. *side note* While we were on the bus to the hotel we passed the US Air Force base, and saw a couple jets land. From what we saw it looked really huge.

The first night we explored the surrounding area a little bit and then ate a free meal at the hotel with coupons that we had. When I say hotel I really mean resort, as the place had several restaurants and lots of beach chairs and activities outside. The first full day was devoted solely to beach time! It was kind of chilly outside, especially because there was a strong wind, and the water was cold but that didn't stop me from swimming and getting a good tan! We found a school of fugu (blowfish) floating under a bridge that was pretty neat. For dinner we went to a Yakiniku place nearby and ate tons of food.

The next day we decided to get a little culture and went to Ryukyu Mura, a place set up to look like a traditional Okinawan town.

(Room in Ryukyu Mura)

There were some pretty neat things, like some water buffalo that were used to help make sugar in a sugar mill, and we even got to drink some cocunut milk straight out of a coconut. That night we decided to use our free meal ticket for one of the really nice hotel restaurants that we received for 'accommodating' the hotel with our awesome room. The buffet was amazing! There was sushi, tempura, shabu-shabu, and more that was all-you-can-eat. I definitely ate way too much.

The third day was really my last day since the flight the next day took off at 11am. We had gotten coupons for free snorkeling with the booking of our hotel so we decided to use them today. It turns out that the free portion was only 10 minutes and if we wanted to do the cool cave tour it was $20 more, but it was more than worth it! I got to wear a cool wet suit too! In order to get to the cave we had to climb over rocks at the bottom of a cliff that were getting pounded by waves. It was tough but really fun. Then we climbed down into the cave and started from there. It was really really cool, there were lots of colorful fish and lots of coral and other sea-life. It was definitely worth the experience even though it took most of the day. After snorkeling we picked up some late lunch hamburgers from a tiny place that was everything a beachside burger joint should be. It was really small with only a couple tables but the decor and laidback wicker chairs were perfect. After that it was time for some beach volleyball (provided by the hotel) and relaxing on the beach. By the time everyone came inside and showered it was dinnertime, so we went to an Okinawan Taco place that we drove past earlier in the day. The tacos were delicious and nobody got sick which is the best part ;)

(Sunset as seen from our balcony)

I had to get up really early to make the flight the next day, and then spent most of the day relaxing when I got back. It was really hot in Nagoya when I returned- even hotter than Okinawa. In summary, everone's general impression of Okinawa is that it was a kind of odd mix of Japan, United States, and somehow a little bit of Mexico/Cancun. And, of course, lots of fun.

Since then I have been hitting up some festivals and famous sites in Nagoya. Sunday I went to a kind of traditional dance competition or exhibition. All of the performers had traditional outfits and help wooden clickers in each hand that they used as part of the dance. Monday I went to a MisoKatsu restaurant that is very famous in Nagoya. Going during Golden Week probably wasn't the best idea, as we had to wait for over an hour, but the food was delicious and I'm glad that I went. Yesterday I went to a festival in neighboring Mie Prefecture where guys tried to ride horses up a huge slope and then make about a two meter jump at the top. It looked really tough, and I'm sure the rain didn't help. I think 6 people attempted and only 2 made it. It looked really dangerous for both horse and rider but no one was hurt. It was really exciting whenever they made their runs! It reminded me that I'll have to try to go out and see my aunt, uncle, and cousins in a rodeo this summer!

(I cropped this picture in an effort to make it comprehendable. It was hard to see with all of the people but still fun. This horse definitely did not make it...)

Well, after today I only have 3 more days of class and only 1 final, so the tough part is almost over. I'm getting pretty burnt out on class so I'm ready for school to be over. The nice thing is that I still have a couple weeks left in Japan so I can still have fun even though school is almost done. I'm getting excited to see my family in a couple weeks!

Meg

Fact of the Day: Now that TVs are around it is disappearing, but older Okinawans still speak a language almost completely different from Japanese. The younger generations speak normal Japanese, but can probably understand Okinawan. We heard some older women on the bus speaking Okinawan and had no idea what they were saying.