I Have My Assignment!

I now know I will be teaching in Ehime, Japan - specifially in the town of Uchiko.

It looks like a beautiful place and I am so happy because they have mountains! Where there's mountains, there's rock, and where there's rock... :D

I have been emailing back and forth with my RA and PA (regional and prefectural advisors) trying to understand my position and what I should prepare for. I have been sent a packet of information for JET's living in Ehime (thank you!!) and while all the information is overwhelming, I am very thankful for it because - from what I've heard from other friends in the program - the amount of helpful information participants receive before arriving varies greatly.

So excited!! (and very very nervous...)

Videos!

K, I lied: I'm posting again, but I thought I should share some of our video clips. Alex took a couple short videos during our trip and I knew some folks wanted to see them. The first is from a nifty sushi restaurant that served food conveyor belt-style. The second was a guy at the arcade in downtown Naha. Last clip is from our trip to Churaumi - check out the whale shark in the back!

Home

So. After a total of 8 hours of sorting, editing, loading, and organizing, all of my photos from Okinawa are up...and my first day back, what do I do? I go take more pictures. Hahahaha. It was such a gorgeous day out I camped at the waterfront for the afternoon.

Anyway, this will most likely be my last post until I move back to Japan in August. Thanks for checking out my site and a big thanks to those who kept in touch. Two weeks wasn't bad, but I'm gonna get lonely during my year overseas. Til then I guess! Cheers.

Day #14 (Saturday 5th)

Well, we’re about three hours into our thirteen hour flight across the Pacific and I decided I had to whip out my laptop: staring off into space, music or no, just wasn’t doing it for me. Hmmm, battery power at 70%. That should last me through a few solid solitaire games…

…The last few days here have gone by so quickly. On Tuesday, Meg and Dov flew in from China. I’m so glad their break lined up with our trip because they get back from China only one week before I’m shipped out and after not seeing them for almost a year, I want all the time with them I can get! I brought Dov’s climbing shoes over with me and begged him to be my bouldering buddy for old-time’s sake. Year off or not, the guy’s still a spider and puts me to shame. The five of us also made sure to squeeze in cards and Green Day (it was just our luck that Friday was a Japanese national holiday called ‘Green Day’ in honor of the environment and we decided to acknowledge it in proper musical fashion). Man I miss folks who sing just as much as I do!!

I suppose I should offer a few closing comments about our visit to Okinawa, but it’s really hard to sum up. Of course it was an amazing experience but besides just being an awesome adventure, I think it really helped me get my head around the fact that I will actually be LIVING in this country for a year come August – and I’m so psyched!! Part of me was worried that I’d leave thinking, boy that was fun but I’d rather not stay. Yeah, that would suck. I’m not gonna lie: there are some unique features about living in Japan that I am not looking forward to, like that bloody key money (key money is like a security deposit with the very minor difference being that you never see it again and I’m told it usually ranges between 90,000 and 150,000 Yen – read about $900 - $1,500). Overall, though, I’m really happy and think that once I get settled it could easily become a second home.

What will I miss about Okinawa/Japan for the three months I’m back in the States? A vast abundance of cane sugar for one, hehe. Almost everywhere we went there were cane sugar flavored creemees and candies. I hope the rest of Japan is at least a bit like that just because it reminds me so much of VT and our maple sugar. I’m also going to miss the little kids that scream ‘hallo!!’ from across streets and out car windows. Mochi ice cream, streets lined with orchids and hibiscus, the extreme merchandizing of goya, and bright pink cube-like cars will also be deeply missed. :D

Well, cheers for now I guess. Wish me luck driving on the right side of the road!

Day #7 (Sunday 29th)

So I figured I should write about today since I’ve been slacking off and haven’t shared any of our recent trips (Shuri Castle, limestone cave, etc.), although - connection permitting - you’ll hopefully see pictures from them.

After the torrential rains we experienced yesterday, we thought today would be the perfect day to make the 2 hour drive up to northern Okinawa and visit the aquarium. Churaumi is famous for being (I’m quite sure) the only aquarium in the world to host whale sharks. Well, not one hour into our trip the clouds broke up enough to give us the most sunshine we’ve seen all week and, while we were very thankful for the nice weather, we arrived in Motobu facing a decent walk with no sunscreen. Not only are we all VTers, but those of you who know us also know we are all so pale we practically glow in the dark, so sunscreen is not an option – it’s a necessity. Unfortunately, sunscreen also costs about $12 for 60 mL (about 4 oz.)!! We bit the bullet and bought the damn stuff…grrrrrrr.

Anyway, Churaumi itself was amazing! Their central tank (which was roughly 5 stories high) held TWO whale sharks as well as devil rays (my favorite), sting rays (…sorry Steve. worst. luck. ever….), manta rays, lemon sharks, black tip reef sharks, puffer fish, eels, and dozens of other gigantic so-ugly-their-cute ocean dwellers. Their shark tank also rocked. As a kid, I was one of those who checked out every single shark book from the kids’ section of the library and am still a fan (woot for Shark Week!!). In the shark section they have, all in one tank mind you: bull sharks, tiger sharks, white tip reef sharks, sand sharks, and several more I can't recall. They also said that their next goal is to be the first aquarium in the world to host a megamouth shark. Now, considering there have been only 4 megamouth specimens found in the world, that’s a pretty tall order. If they do actually acquire one, you’ll be sure I’m finding my way back here to check it out.

After the aquarium, we made our way to Pineapple Park for basically a free lunch. See, at this park, you meander through three or four large rooms filled with every conceivable treat made from – you guessed it: pineapple. And every single item on display has free samples *wink wink*. We filled up on varieties of pineapple pie, cookies, chocolate, cake, jelly, and juice. My favorite was my pineapple wine creemee. Mmmmmm.

Last, but not least, we decided to take the rest of the day to finish the drive north and end at Cape Hedo: the northern most tip of Okinawa. By the time we got there, the clouds had returned, but the water was still breathtaking!! I have never seen water that blue in all my life, not even in the Caribbean. I can’t imagine what it must be like with the sun out.

So, considering Gushikami is less than 10 km from the southern tip of Okinawa, we can now say we basically drove the entire length of the island (and back) in a day. Sweet.