Tropical Paradise (Okinawa Part I)

I love planes. You could put me on a plane and just fly me in a circle and I would be thrilled. But - put a tropical island on the other end of that flight...and you get my weekend vacation.

I slept in - it was marvellous. I rarely sleep in, really. Then I met Keith and Alex at Osaka Station for some ice cream, before heading to Kansai Airport. We got some more icecream (mmm Black Sesame), met up with Thomas, and boarded the plane... Keith, Alex and I were in one row, and Thomas was a bit further up in the plane. The 2 hour flight passed quickly...at one point, the left window was completely dark, and the right window seemed perfectly light. I turned my head left-and-right-and-left-and-right until my neck started to hurt. Thomas captured a beautiful picture of the approaching night...

Then there the spoon episode. Alex decided to see if flicking me with a spoon would hurt. It did. A lot. Imprint-of-a-spoon-on-my-arm-a-lot. This was followed by me trying to flick him back and inflict an equal amount of pain, and him flicking himself with the same intent. Needless to say, this entertained us for a portion of the flight. But I did have an imprint of a spoon on my arm.

We arrived in Naha, Okinawa at around 9pm. The bus we thought we were going to take didn't exist, so we took a taxi. Keith had made reservations at the City Front Harumi Hostel, so we checked in and found our rooms. Ojisan (as we came to call him; meaning Grandpa or a respectful title for an older man) was very friendly and helpful in getting us settled and oriented in Naha.



The guys shared a room, and I (being a female and all) was in a different room. My room was shared with an older lady and a younger Down's Syndrome lady. They were very friendly and I had a short conversation with them before meeting the guys to go find some dinner. This proved more difficult than we thought, as most places were closed. But we wandered the busy highway a bit and found a family-style restaurant for some good eats. By that time, it was late, and we hit the bunkbeds for some sleep.

The next morning, I woke up feeling wonderful. I did enjoy my night at Miyajima, but I have to admit that sleeping in a real bed does top the great outdoors. The older lady in my room gave me some pretty little flowers, which I promptly put in my hair - they made me feel very tropical. We picked up some breakfast at the convenience store, and waited for our bus. A taxi driver offered to drive us up to our destination, for 1000Yen each. The bus was going to be about 900Yen each, so we took him up on his offer. And I'm so glad we did...

He was hilarious. He talked (loudly and animatedly) in broken English, for the majority of the ride. He told us about his family, and his 104 year old Mother and 108 year old Father (apparently the oldest couple in Japan), his large family, and his capabilities. He informed us that he had 8 licenses (later it was 9), and could build houses, drive cranes, scuba drive, drive motorbikes.... an all-around handy guy to know. When we asked him questions, he often paused and then went off on a tangent about something completely unrelated. My questions, he just ignored (I think he just didn't hear me...). We spent most of the trip giggling and keeping him talking - to our great amusement. When we disembarked the taxi, I asked him for a picture - he was definitely a character to remember!



When we got to our destination (a bit early), we explored a bit. We saw a sign for a steakhouse, and went 'a wandering to see if we could find it (which we couldn't).

Our destination? Snorkelling! We dressed in wetsuits and flippers and snorkelling gear, and crammed into a mini-minivan (not a Canadian sized mini-van), for a hot drive to the beach. When I say hot, I do not mean warm. I mean hot, hot, HOT! Sweat-dripping-down-your-face hot. We got stuck in traffic for a bit, and I had a short nap - that was all I could do; I couldn't move, and I was much too hot. But we finally arrived! It was a fun adventure, following our guide around the reef and the cave. We were even given some fish food and got to feed them!



After our snorkelling adventure, we decided that it was essential to find the steakhouse. It turned out to be a Movie House Steakhouse! The exterior and interior were decorated with movie posters of all genres. It was great fun to wander and look at the posters, and the steak was delicious!




In finding the steak house, we had found a small resort area, and explored it after lunch. Feeling extra tropical, I added to my hair bouquet some larger (okay, huge) flowers that I had found.



We wandered up the highway, trying to find a nice beach. We didn't find a beach, but we did find ice cream!



It was hot (did I mention that?), so we finally went back to the sort-of beach near the steakhouse. We tiptoed our way our towards the water, through the warm puddles, sharp shells, and broken coral. Getting to the water was difficult enough. Swimming in it proved even harder.

The water wasn't very shallow, but it was filled with all kinds of sea anemones and cucumbers and other mysterious sea creatures. We tiptoed and floated our way to slightly deeper water, and decided (for safety reasons) not to try and go further. I laid out like a starfish and floated...the blue sky and the clouds, the warm salty water...it was definitely a tropical paradise. Until I tried to stop floating, and stepped on a sea anemone. Ouch. But my foot didn't go numb and my head didn't explode, so I figured I would survive. After quite a while, we realized that the tide was coming in...right towards our shoes. So we started heading back - Thomas got back first, and discovered that Keith's hiking boots were floating, and my sandal had lost it's hubby. That made for an interesting trip back to the sand - tip toeing and jumping up when I stepped on sharp points. But we made it. I ventured to a beach house and purchased a new set of flipflops, and we headed for the bus top. A taxi stopped again and offered us the same deal. Unfortunately, this driver was not near as entertaining as the last one, and we mostly kept the conversation to ourselves.

After a cool shower to rid ourselves of the sweat, sand, and salt of the day, hung out for a few minutes in the hostel's common room. Alex played the guitar a bit (as he did anytime we were around the common room), and we enjoyed the AC for a bit. I borrowed a needle from Ojisan to remove the leftover sea anemone from my still-painful foot. The piece left in me was actually quite large and painful to get out, and brought a lot of blood with it! Ojisan's wife (Obasan) gave me a bit of cleaner and a bandaid to fix it up, and we took off for another evening of adventure...to Kokusaidori - Naha's international street.

We explored the shops, had some Okinawan-style Udon, and found a guitar shop (which entertained Alex for quite a while). Alex and I shared some dragonfruit and passionfruit - neither of which I had ever eaten (yummy!). There may have been some ice cream in there too...hehe.



Temples & Shrines all over Japan are often guarded by Shishi - lionlike protectors that are said to have magical powers to ward off evil. They guard in pairs; one female, one male; one open-mouthed, one closed; one symbolizing the beginning of time, the other the end. We also found them all over Okinawa - and they are a popular tourist souvenir. Every souvenir shop has them in all kinds of colors and styles, some funny, some scary. My favorite shop was filled with these - in every shape, size, and color - but they were handmade. (The other shops were mass manufactured.) The man who made them was selling them, and was midway through painting one when we were there. I bought two gorgeous statues - quite large, actually - for only $40! I was thrilled (still am) with my purchase... a reasonable price, authentically culturally Japanese, and not made in China!

When the street and shops started to close down, we visited a Canadian-run place for some snacks and a drink. We also tried Okinawa's snake wine.


It tasted surprisingly good, but it was still a little strange to drink... after some laughs and relaxation, we headed back to the hostel for the night.

More Pictures...
A Friend's Flckr Pictures...

Part Two coming soon...

International Arrival

I met my Mom at the airport this afternoon....it is so good to see her!

The trip out to the airport was interesting because last time I made the trip (when I arrived in Japan), it was dark and 3am and I was just trying to keep my eyes open and keep up with my boss. Kansai Airport is on a (sinking) man-made island - from the train, going across the bridge to the airport, all you can see to the left and right is ocean...rippling, endless shiny ocean. It was beautiful.

While I was waiting for her flight to arrive, my mind took a bit of a trip through a wide range of emotions and thoughts. I remembered how much I like travelling, airports, planes, and hotels. I realized (again) - I am living in Japan. I am across the world from Canada, living in Japan. Wow. Some days, I have to remind myself of that - and how incredible it is! At the same time, I felt homesick. I was excited to see my Mom, and excited to show her around Japan. I was excited to be going home in a couple months, and thought about how it would feel to leave Japan and get on that plane to go home. I think I will miss Japan, when I go. But it will be good to be home again.

When she finally came out the arrival door, I ran to meet her and got a big hug. I told myself I wouldn't cry, but - I did. Just for a second.

We made the long trip back to my dorm, heavy bags and all. It reminded me of my trip back to the dormitory - how strange it all was, how exhausted I was. And look how far I've come; how long I've been here; and how much I've changed.

Now we're back at the dormitory (3am Canada time, 7pm Japan time), and after a nap, we're going out for dinner!

January 14th

My clock tells me it’s 4:30am Nihon (Japan) time, on Monday morning – but my head tells me it’s 1:30pm on Sunday.
Throughout my seventeen hours of travel (both flying and waiting included), my head carefully controlled a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. I arrived at YVR just after 5am, and soon had to say goodbye to my parents before entering the ‘Passengers Only’ area. I’ll be honest – as I said goodbye to my parents, my only thoughts were those of blind panic. I have flown on my own before, and I have travelled to a different country before. But I have never flown on my own to a different country, where I will live for 7 months, on my own! Fortunately, I had a decent handle on my panic and focused on getting through the customs & security checkpoints and checking my baggage.
Once I hit the terminal, I still had two hours to wait – my flight was delayed by half an hour. I took a nap, got some breakfast, and purchased some ‘Canadian’ chocolates for my Japanese supervisor & coworkers. Once my flight finally boarded, we had to wait another half hour. Due to bad weather at San Francisco, my first destination, they were requesting that all flights delay takeoff. I had my own personal TV which provided me with a variety of music, movie, and TV options, so I listened to some country and watched some Grey’s Anatomy and Without a Trace. According to my itinerary, I had an hour and a half in the San Francisco airport, but due to the flight delay, I knew it would be tight to get to my connecting flight. The thought of having to deal with finding the next flight to Osaka (which I think was the next day, at the same time), did not thrill me. Fortunately, once we got close to San Fran, they announced that an agent would escort the five people who were heading to Osaka to their flight. This ended up being myself, one other guy, and a family with two small children, running through the airport, following an agent through back doors and onto shuttles. We did arrive in time; there was even still a lineup to board when we arrived. Even though it wasn’t my doing that I got there on time, I felt a sort of accomplishment, having got this far on my trip by myself.
The flight to Osaka was also delayed while they cleared some debris off of the runway. We left almost 45 minutes late. I was sitting in the middle seat. To my right was an Asian guy who slept the entire flight (and I do mean almost the entire flight – I don’t know how he did it!). To my left was a guy named Scott who I chatted with a bit. For this 11 hour flight (as opposed to the 2.5 hour flight to San Fran), I did not have a personal TV. I was also starving, since I hadn’t had a chance to pick up some lunch in San Francisco as I planned. An hour into the flight, they served a meal. Between the meal, cat naps, magazines, and a book, I wasn’t too bored for the first half of the flight. At one point, Scott opened the window and tapped my leg and pointed outside. It was beautiful! You could see the ocean below with some small islands or perhaps just collections of dirt created by waves, and a quilt of clouds that never ended. I remember thinking that it reminded me of Saskatchewan, because it just went on and on until the earth dropped off. It made me want to jump out of the plane and go bounce from one to another. It was an amazing sight. The second half of the flight, I alternated between being nervous about my new experience, very excited about my new experience, and wondering if I was going to go insane from sitting so long. If you know me at all, you probably know that I don’t do well with that. I watched a movie, read some more, dropped my boxes of chocolates on some poor man in front of me when I opened the overhead bin (oops! Scott thought that was pretty funny). Finally, we reached Osaka – an hour late, which isn’t too bad, I suppose. I collected my things and deplaned into the Great Unknown…

When I finally got through Immigration, Security, Customs, and picked up my baggage, Takemori-san found me immediately. He helped me carry my suitcase (which, by the way, was very heavy), and said we would be taking the train to my dormitory. Once we boarded the first train, there were several awkward conversations where he tried to say something in Nihongo (Japanese), and I replied with ‘Wakarimasen’, which means, “I don’t understand”. So he would go through it word by word, some of which I did understand. I was carrying my laptop case, purse, and hiking backpack. He was dragging my suitcase and smaller carryon suitcase. We went from that train, to another, to another, and then to a fourth train. I found myself wondering how I could possibly need enough stuff to make my bags as heavy as they were. I got to purchase a train ticket, and received my first Nihon change. Someone (I can’t remember who) asked if it had holes in it – yes it does.  Takemori-san and I continued to have random awkward conversations. When we finally got off the last train (about an hour and a half after leaving the airport), he showed me where I would meet him on Tuesday morning. Then we left the building (me hoping that I could remember how to get to where I had to meet him)….he had said something earlier about a 5-6 minute walk from the dorm, so I figured this was it. Lo and behold, no, it wasn’t. We walked a bit longer, and I thought I was going to die. It was about 2am my time, I had been up since 3:30am my time, I hadn’t eaten as much as I wanted, and what I was carrying was heavy. Finally we stopped at a taxi stand and got in. I tried to pay attention the where we were going, as I thought I would have to walk from our destination back to the train station. I soon figured out that couldn’t be true, it would have been a long walk! Takemori-san told me a little bit about the dorm. There is a woman’s only section, which houses 4 other women, and a men’s section which houses 95 men. One of the women was an exchange student at UBC for a year, and speaks English. I didn’t realize until later how happy that made me.
We arrived at the dorm and a lady came to meet us. We removed our shoes and put on slippers that she gave us. Then the dorm manager came out as well. Me, Takemori-san, and the dorm manager (Yoshida-san), lugged my luggage up a flight and a half of stairs to my room. My room is larger than I expected, and has lots of closet space. Then I got the tour…the bathroom at the end of the hall, and then down a flight to a kitchen area with tatami mats and a low table, another kitchen area with two North-American style tables, another kitchen area with no tables, an area with a TV and couches, a laundry room (all in Japanese…I may ruin my clothes trying to use it!  ), and a bath area, which was very pretty with a pink curtain and big tub. All the areas were common areas that I share with the other women. Then we went downstairs and I was shown the cafeteria that is shared by the men and the women. If I won’t be eating here, I stamp a card and leave it in the cafeteria. The tour was winding up, and I met a guy who works in R&D at Osaka Gas (where I will be working). I didn’t catch his name (he said it too fast. But I think it started with an M.). I bowed and he bowed and we both kind of laughed. We were standing near the entrance (me, Takemori-san, Yoshida-san, the woman, and M). They were having a conversation, I was doing the ‘smile-and-nod’. Takemori-san threw bits of information my way, but mostly, I was just completely lost as to what was going on. I realized how little Japanese I understand, and how out of place a person feels when they don’t understand what the conversation around them is, especially when you think it’s about you! Takemori-san asked if I was tired (yes!!), or hungry (no). Takemori-san left after some awkward bowing (I do know how to say thank you – “arigato” – and I said it a lot and bowed a lot). Then I stood for a minute with the lady Yoshida-san, and M before bowing and saying ‘arigato’ and motioning back towards the women’s dorm to indicate that I was going to go to bed. None of the three spoke English, and I had no idea what they were talking about, or if it was rude for me to leave. I got back up to my room, pulled out my sleeping bag, put the sheets and blankets on the floor, unrolled the sleeping bag, and climbed into bed, thrilled to rest my head on the nice, puffy, soft…beanbag pillow. Not so soft, not so puffy. Literally a nice, pretty hard beanbag pillow. But I didn’t care, and once I managed to quell the infinite thoughts running through my tired mind, I was out. Until now, 4:30am, when I am wide awake. However, the best antidote for jet lag is keeping the new schedule, so I am going to head back to my beanbag pillow and sleeping bag, and try to sleep for at least another four hours or so. I need to be well-rested for my party tomorrow. I forgot to mention that – they’re throwing me a welcome party tomorrow. Very nice, kind of exciting, but I’ll definitely have to learn as much Nihongo tomorrow before the party as I can. So goodnight, and arigato!

-Picture: This is the welcome sign the posted in the lobby for me...I have no idea what it says except I know that the first line of blue writing is my name. :)

T minus 9 days...

I don't have my visa. My flight isn't booked. I'm not completely packed.

Stress? What stress? Actually, it's not all that bad. I am mostly packed, I just have to clean up and pack away what I'm not bringing. The visa and the flight may be causing a small amount of anxiety, though.

I went to Vancouver on Wednesday of last week to apply for my visa. I picked up what I needed from the coop office on Wednesday, but didn't have time to get to the Japanese Consulate. That's okay, though, because I was planning to stay the night anyway. In the morning, I got to the Japanese Consulate only to discover that it was very closed. Apparently the 2nd and 3rd are national holidays in Japan. So my trip to Vancouver was extended by a day. I was more than a little frustrated and stressed out, so I found a downtown coffee shop and made a list of the infinite things I had to do, and picked out which I could do in Vancouver. I spent a lovely four hours at Metrotown, shopping and picking things up. It was actually quite successful, and I accomplished a lot. The next morning, I applied for my visa with no problems. It should be ready to pick up on Tuesday.

My flight is an entirely different matter. The 14th is also a holiday in Japan. (I'm quite excited about the amount of holidays they seem to have....travel!!). My coop coordinator wants to check with my supervisor which day (13th, 14th, 15th) is best for him to pick me up and for me to get to the dormitory. Unfortunately, Japan is a day ahead, so this has to wait until Sunday night (Monday's work day in Japan). As soon as I hear from my supervisor, I am going to book my flight. I also still need to get health insurance, which I plan to do tomorrow.

All in all, things are coming together, but there's still a lot to be worked out. I am sad about leaving Canada & everyone I know here, but I'm not nervous about Japan (is that wierd?) - just excited. Thanks to anyone & everyone who keeps reading my ramblings... I'll post again when I have a flight and a visa!