My home for the next month

I have been in Okinawa a few days now and finally feel like I can completely function as a normal person. I've never experienced jet lag like that and didn't know it could be so bad! Though I've taken it a little more easy than I usually do when I travel, I have still done quite a few things. Today was the first day, I've really gotten out to be a tourist and now I'm really feeling like I'm in Japan. First, I wanted to post a few pictures of the apartment I'm staying in. The the family is military, they chose to stay off-base in a Japanese style apartment. They still have many of the luxuries that other Americans do; it's just a little different. Their apt. is also quite a bit bigger than most Japanese apts. It has 3 bedrooms, 3 toilet rooms, 1 shower room, the kitchen, tutami room, dining room, and living area on two floors.

This is the bedroom I'm staying in. I absolute love that all the floors here are a beautiful, dark solid wood. They have to be, because the wood adapts to all of the humidity. Anything else would grow mold and mildew.

This is one of the toilet rooms: just a toilet and miniature sink. It's just big enough for one person to fit comfortably inside. The shower room is completely seperate. It's a little bigger and contains a shower and bathtub. I don't have a picture of it right now but will try and get one later.

And, here is the miniature sink in the toilet room! They sure don't give you too much space!

The tutami room is a traditional Japanese room with mats on the floor, a low table, and Japanese screens. I love it...I'll try and get a picture of that on here, too. It truly gives the apartment a traditional Japanese feel.

This is the view from my bedroom! The buildings here aren't too attractive, which really suprised me. Even the schools look like factories or prisons. However, they are built extremely well in order to withstand the weather. The humidity wears away the paint and causes tons of mold and mildew. Believe me, it's humid here!!! (Worse than Houston!) Anyway, the insides of the buildings are very nice: clean, simple, and well maintained. They really utilize as much land as possible. All the green space is farmland. The small green square in the left center is a grove of banana trees. Just in the last few days, I've become even more aware of how wasteful Americans are! The Japanese are extremely environmentally aware.

Different views from around the patio:

The following video is the sound I woke up to my first morning here! I was warned but was still pretty much scared to death! They don't use television or radio for political advertising so they drive around in minivans with loudspeakers. This one lasted a good 30 minutes. I think I'd determine who to vote for by who I heard from the least! It can get pretty annoying! I was sure I'd have that little song stuck in my head for the rest of the day!