Bus Tour with Teachers

Yesterday I went on a bus tour with some of the teachers from my base school. The cost was 5500￥. That included the bus, the tour guide (who only spoke Japanese), entrance fees, and lunch. It was a pretty good deal. The initial idea behind the trip, I think, was to go see the cherry blossoms in the northern part of the island. When we arrived in the morning we were told that we would not see the cherry blossoms as we were too late. They were finished, so instead we were going to visit the Orion brewery. Teachers + beer = happiness in any language, I've discovered--more so on an island. Islanders drink more than mainland people I've been told. I've also heard that the outer islands have an even greater drinking culture than mainland Okinawa. I don't know the truth about any of this. I'm just reporting what I've heard. To digress, the first night I met my Prefectural Advisor I was told about one tradition they have where someone at a dinner party stands and gives a toast and then everyone drinks. Then the next person stands and gives a toast and everyone drinks. And then the next and so on and so. When it gets back to the first person, they start all over again. I've read one way to leave is to say you're going to the restroom and then don't return to the table, just sneak out. And back to the tour.

Needless to say, everyone was quite all right with the slight change of plans and we all boarded the bus. The first stop was a glass making place. Okinawa is known for making Ryukyu glass and we got to try making our own glass. 

It's a little scary seeing how hot they have to make the glass in order to shape it. We all lined up and we each got to make our own glass. Then we were able to walk around the shop looking at everything. The prices were a little too high for me so I just looked. A few days after the trip we received a box with everyone's glass. 

I have to say I'm happy with how mine turned out. I may just use it for flowers, though, as I don't want it to break during the course of everyday use as a drinking glass. 

After the glass factory we went to the Orion brewery. "We're gonna make our dreams come true / Doin' it our way" kept playing in my head and I really wanted the machines to start up so I could see a pink vinyl glove go by on a beer bottle. The tour was all in Japanese so I don't really know what all was said, but it all looked very interesting. I did understand the part about free beer for half an hour, though. That was made perfectly clear by some of the teachers speeding through their beers to be sure to take full advantage of the bottomless beer glass offer. It was funny to see the teachers buying the beer nuts that they offered along with the beer. I think one of the teachers was planning on giving it as omiyage (souvenirs) when we returned to school the following week. The one thing I learned is don't drink beer before noon unless I can continue drinking all afternoon or I can take a nap right after. The beer was pretty tasty, though, I would imagine from being so fresh. I'd talked about touring the St. Arnold's brewery in Houston but never had, After this experience, I think I shall when I return. Outside the Orion Brewery is a street lined with cherry blossom trees, so we were able to take a few pictures with them. Afterward we got back on the bus and headed to the place where we would have lunch.

Lunch was not very good. There have been many times that I have been presented with food and eaten it without knowing what it was but I was able to discern what animal or vegetable it was in most cases. This time I had little luck in discerning what I was eating. I think the most curious piece of the meal was one of the three pieces of tempura. One was a banana slice, I was told. Another was sweet potato (Yea!), and the third was what looked like parsley. Fried parsley. Being from the southern part of the U.S. I have seen many things fried that took a lot of pondering to figure out, "yep, we should fry that sucker." Never before had I seen fried parsley, though. It's possible it wasn't fried parsley. It's possible it was some Okinawan vegetable. However, even the people around me couldn't figure out what it was. But yes, I still ate it. Behind this less than tasty establishment was what was worth the price of eating the meal. They had a beautiful view of jungle? forest? What is the difference? It was beautiful whatever it's called.

After lunch we were supposed to go pick tankan. Tankan is a citrus fruit. The skin is as thick as a grapefruit's. It is very hard to peel as the skin is thick and tough. The fruit itself tastes similar to a tangerine or Clementine. I know I wasn't in the mood to pick tankan, although I would have appreciated being able to take home a bunch of them to eat, and it seems the rest of the group wasn't in the mood. We passed tankan picking place one after the other until we arrived at the Ocean Expo Park in Nago. I asked if we weren't going and was told no and that we were going to the Expo Park instead. That suited me just fine and I fell in with a group of teachers and walked toward Churaumi Aquarium. We were able to see the dolphin show. They were amazing. They can jump so high. 

After the show, my teacher friend and I walked down to the beach. I found myself wishing I had more time to just relax on the beach and swim in the water. 

I'll definitely need to take advantage of being on an island paradise once the weather turns warmer. After the park we rode home. I know I dozed off a few times but I was able to take several pictures of the coast as we drove by. All in all, I had a very good time.

Adventures with a Former Cat

I have a friend who I swear was a cat in a past life. She loves cats, but she hasn't reached that crazy cat lady stage...yet, and for her sake and the sake of her future roommates, I hope she doesn't. Anyway, said cat person called me up early Saturday morning and said something to the effect of, "you are the only insane person--I mean morning person I know and due to unforeseen circumstances I, too, am awake and dressed and was wondering if you would be up for an adventure today." To which I quickly replied, "yes, please!" In half an hour I met her at the Family Mart across the street from my apartment dressed kind of cute, I must say, to see her wearing real adventure gear. I said I needed to change to match the real adventure gear look and ran back to my apartment. I returned wearing my state issued fatigues and boots (cargo pants and rubber soled shoes) and off we went.

As we drove, my cat friend would stop to let me take pictures but I loved the ones I took while speeding by the beautiful things here in Okinawa. She said she would stop for me to take pictures, but there are so many beautiful things to see here, we never would have made it anywhere had I asked her to stop every time I saw something. Thus, I have many what I call "Speed Shots" from that day. This one is my favorite.

We did stop a few times so we could get good pictures of certain things like these orange flowers on a vine that were cascading like a waterfall down the wall in front of a house.
There was a man walking down the street who gave me a funny look as I ran by him to get this picture. It was funny. We also stopped to take picture of and with the cherry blossoms we saw. The cherry blossoms here in Okinawa are pink and very pretty. I've heard from several people that they are very different from the ones I'll see when I go to mainland Japan in late March. I was also told that it's not only the color that's different. One of the non-English teachers explained to me about them in Japanese. She used gestures and sound effects (to my amusement) to explain that on mainland Japan, the cherry blossom petals fall like a gentle rain showering viewers with soft white petals. In Okinawa when the cherry blossom falls, the flower falls as a single piece and falls quickly with a pluft--at least that was the sound she made. I have to say, though, they were still beautiful.

Our first true stop, though, was Seifa Utaki in Chinen. This is a sacred place said to be a site where many religious ceremonies were held. What I learned is that if walking sticks are offered at the foot of the "hill" you should take one. Honestly, though, it was very beautiful. At the end of the trail you come to two huge rocks/boulders/pieces of mountain that have met to form an upside down V that you can walk through.
It dead ends in a small nook. If you look to the left you can over the water to an island that is said to be the birthplace of the Ryukyus, the indigenous people of Okinawa.

The next stop was O-jima to visit my cat friend's cat friends. (I do mean literal cats in this case.) We sat on the wall while she visited with her cat friends and I alternated between watching them (not touching since I'm allergic, but I still love them) and looking out at the gorgeous Okinawan beach.
This was my first time really seeing the beach here in Okinawa, so I was very excited. I read somewhere once that the coral surrounding all the Okinawan islands is larger in size than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It was hard to believe until I walked out onto the beach. I'd never before seen a beach made up of nothing but coral. There was no sand. It was all just bits of white broken coral.
We walked further out to investigate the tide pools. Oh, but to use the verb "walked" is not quite accurate. We risked our lives crossing the treacherous expanse of razor sharp dark brown what I believe was coral or once was to reach the area near the water to investigate the tide pools. Yeah, that's better. Seriously. I am so glad I took the time to change into rubber soled shoes. It was like walking on...I have no simile for this one. Okay. Imagine a rough white water river. Now freeze it. Now imagine walking across that where the peaks of the rapids are razor sharp. Yeah, that's close. Or imagine what I thought it was at first. When I first looked out I thought it was a huge mud field that someone had gone mudding in with one of those monster trucks. Yeah, that might be closer. The peaks are still razor sharp and very few flat, dry surfaces. It was totally worth it, though.
My friend pointed out a sea cucumber and a thing what looks like a starfish but isn't because it's kinds of spindly spidery looking and black or dark brownish.
We saw lots of snails and a few fish. The tide pools closer to the water were clearer and bigger so they had a few more things in them making it worth traversing the crags to get to them. On the way back to the car I saw a half-eaten cuttlefish.
It was pretty cool. I could still see the initial bite mark and then the one bite mark cutting the cuttlefish in half. I saw several very pretty shells and a bit of red coral on some of the white coral, which my friend said is rare (to find whole pieces).

Risking life and limb can make one hungry so our next stop was getting a snack at a little tempura place.

It reminded me a bit of the little Mexican places in Houston. Those places that look like a mom n' pop place that have been there forever. We had tuna and beni imo (red sweet potato). I have to say I am a big fan of beni imo tempura now. That was the first time I had ever tried it and I loved it. I tried feeding some of the tuna to one the stray cats hanging out at the tempura shop and nearly lost a finger. I guess the cat was hungry.

Our next stop was Curcuma where there is a delicious Indian/Thai food restaurant overlooking the ocean. I took a few postcard type pictures while we waited in the beautiful gardens behind the restaurant. Although, we could have spent the time waiting perusing the dinosaur and fossil museum in front of the restaurant. It was very odd. To get to the restaurant you have to walk through this building where dinosaur bones (I don't think they're real fossils) and walls of fish fossils are on display.

I was starving when I arrived and tried to order a lot of food, but my friend stopped me saying that the portions are large. She wasn't kidding. The food was good except that the nan I ordered hadn't been baked long enough.

Afterward we browsed the gift/food shop where I found the biggest head of broccoli I have ever seen. It looked like a huge wedding bouquet. I bought that, star fruit, spinach, cherry tomatoes, a strange little postcard, and a nice hand cream.

We were pretty tired after that and headed home only stopping to get out and take a few shots of some particularly nice cherry blossom trees.