Okuma

I just got back from spending two days on the northern part of the island, which is a lot less populated than where I'm staying. There are a lot more hills, it's very green, and small villages are scattered throughout. The best part...bright blue water beaches everywhere!!!

Kaylyn had scheduled us to get pedicures before we left. Unfortunately, someone rear-ended us on the way and we got there late. I did have enough time to get a foot soak and some "toe art". I love it! They have hundreds of designs to choose from and they are really good. Now, we have appts. to get full pedicures the day before I leave. I love being pampered! Me and the girls on our way to Okuma, the military resort we stayed on. It took us about an hour and a half to get there.
We had to stop on the way and check out the crystal clear water! This is paradise to me...I could spend all day and every day here! Do I have to come back?!

The lodge that we spent the night in: two rooms with a bathroom in between. It was right on the ocean.

Fun on the beach! Surprisingly, we were the only ones on the beach...there was hardly anyone there. I guess it's because we were here in the middle of the week. I'm sure it's completely packed on the weekends.

I woke up early this morning and went for a walk on the beach. The picture above is of where we went snorkeling the night before. Much of the coral was dead, but I did see a lot more fish than the last time and I found a pretty big sand dollar.
The rising sun.

Recital!

Yesterday, was the violin recital for the sensei I'm working with. He has over 70 students so had to split everyone into two seperate performances. Since he'd asked me to play two solos, I played for both recitals and we were there for over 4 hours! The first one went pretty well, but right before I went out to perform the second, my E string popped! Luckily, I had an old one in my case and it held up okay, but it was not good. Oh well, those things happen and what can you do?! I just hate that performances never go as well as I'd like, especially after months of practice!

Overall, I'm not as impressed with the method here as I thought I would be...I was expecting to be blown away, and I'm not. Most students play okay, but their tone is weak, their bow holds are tight and tense, their bodies are stiff, and many of the pieces seem too difficult for them. Unless it's all extremely bad stage fright! I did hear a 12 year old play an advanced piece flawlessly with a huge tone and that was very impressive. There were also a few more like that, but they seem to be the exception. The teacher plays very expressively and beautifully and I can tell he's a very good teacher, so I'm not sure why more of his students don't play like him. I think it's because they are such private people, it just takes a lot for them to open up. None of them moved at all when they played; they were so stiff and serious. Either way, it is interesting observing the differences and similarities between here and what I was taught. And, I will definitely be coming back with some good ideas.

Tomorrow, we are going to the northernmost point of Okinawa to stay on the beach. I'm super excited...maybe we'll get some good snorkeling in!

Yesterday was Kaylyn's birthday and after lounging around most of the morning, we went to Macaroni Grill, which is on the air force base, for lunch. After that, John took me snorkeling for the first time. I have been waiting patiently since I got here to make it to the ocean. Unfortunately, it was windy and raining slightly and we weren't out long and didn't get to see much. Where we were, there is a wall of coral that almost comes all the way up to the street. We had to walk out on that and put on our snorkel gear when we were about knee-deep in water, just before the drop off. Once we got past that, the water was 10-12 feet deep. On a clear, sunny day, I guess you can pretty much see straight to the bottom...I only saw little bits here and there because the waves were stronger than normal. I started swimming closer to the wall and did get to see a few fish, but suddenly the waves pushed me right over the coral. Luckily I floated right over the top of it and didn't get scraped at all. I just stood up when I was able to. Though it wasn't the best first snorkeling trip, I can at least say that I've been swimming in the East China Sea! Hopefully, I'll get to go again soon!

Though you can't tell from the pictures, there's all kinds of sea life in these pools: crabs, starfish, sea cucumbers, and fish.

On Friday, I went back to school with Kaylyn. She did the same thing with her classes that she'd done the previous day, but it was still fun playing with the kids and I was also able to watch some of a music class.

I really enjoyed observing the music class. I couldn't understand any of it obviously, but it's fun to see the kids singing and enjoying music just as in the states. They sang for a while, then got out their recorders and accompanied each other. Pretty good for 4th graders.

This garden is on school property. The students plant and maintain it. I really like how they are taught responsibilities like these.

Later that night, we went to dinner at this place that has fried chicken and burgers (bun-less) among traditional Japanese food. They also had a good variety of drinks. Drinks are definitely very popular here...they have all kinds of juices, teas and sodas and there are vending machines everywhere on the streets. The other day, I tried a grape drink that has bits of jello in it and another with bits of pudding. They're actually not too bad; just a little strange! My favorite so far is the mango juice.

One of the English classes singing the color song!

First Day at School

Kaylyn teaches English at the Japanese elementary school her daughters attend. They have been doing everything they can to fully experience life in Japan and the girls have pretty much become fluent in the language already. They have a Japanese tutor at school and take language and calligraphy classes after school. Most military families here rarely even get off base. They are totally missing out!

So, today I went to school with them and observed some Engligh classes. I loved it and am now completely fascinated by the schools here. Several things are the same, but there are also major differences. The biggest one is that the kids are given a lot more responsibilities and independence. They are responsible for cleaning the schools (no custodians!), serving lunches in the classrooms (no cafeterias or lunch ladies!), and are unsupervised during break times. They were running around, climbing on things, and could pretty much go wherever they wanted. However, when the bell rang, they got right back into what they were supposed to be doing. That is completely different than what I thought it would be like.

All students clean the entire school every Friday: hallways, classrooms, bathrooms, you name it. I think they have about 45 minutes to do everything. Sounds kind of crazy, but it teaches them respect for the school. They are a lot more careful when they know they'll be the ones cleaning the messes.

Lunch is brought to the school every day in big trucks. Students from each classroom take turns getting the food and bringing up to their classrooms in carts. They then serve their classmates and everyone eats at their desks. When everyone's done, the same students take the leftover food back to the trucks. Kaylyn told me that they measure the leftovers from each class and make adjustments of how much to give them the next day. As a result, very little food is wasted!

The girls' school is brand new and absolutely amazing! (apparently, it's very unique for here though; most schools here are old and decrepit like mine). All the teachers at my school would be in heaven if they taught here!

The outside and main entrance to the school...it is huge!

The main entrance. Every morning, students come in and change into their "school shoes". It's a sign of respect and help keeps the building nice and clean. No outside shoes are ever worn inside.

The library! The whole school is like this: extremely natural, simple, and clean. It's also very energy efficient. There are solar panels in the ceiling and sensors that turn lights off when no one is in a room. In the pictures here, there are very few lights that are actually on. Most of the light comes from outside.

The girls bathroom. The red shoes are bathroom slippers. Yes, you have to change shoes again in order to use the bathroom!

This is a hall of classrooms. It is all very open.

A hallway of artwork...just like at my school!

The courtyard right outside Kaylyn's classroom.

Across from the music room!

Music class!

Kaylyn teaching one of her English classes. They learned their shapes today and made each shape out of clay. It's funny to hear them speak English. They have a really hard time making sounds such as "th, r, and v". So, the whole day, I was known as "Bess sun". They also can't help but adding a vowel to every consonant ending we have. For example, "red" becomes "red-o". I also observed the other English teacher a little bit; he is absolutely crazy and the kids love him! In both classes, two volunteers come up at the beginning to start the class and the same two help end the class. Everyone answers with a loud: "Okay!" It is really cute...I need to get it on video!

2nd graders making their shapes: so cute! Needless to say, I did feel a little out of place today; I don't think I've ever been looked at so much before. It's definitely not a normal thing to have an American at their school aside from the 2 English teachers and a couple students!

My school shoes...Kaylyn let me borrow them.

Serving lunch. The girls I'm staying with are in this picture. Kiera is on the right and Payton on the left.

Shopping!!!

Yesterday, Kaylyn took me to some of their regular shopping places. First, we went to the "1oo yen" store, whch is comparable to our dollar store, only better. They have everything there...toys, chopsticks, dishes, chips, candy, garden and craft things, etc. And it's cheap; the perfect souvenir shop. I got tons of stuff- it adds up quickly! We also went to Jusco, which is similar to Target, and the BX. I'd never been on a military base before I came here, so that's a new experience for me.

Kokusai Street

The entrance. It reminds me of a street in a china town; tons of shops with food, little trinkets, and just plain weird stuff. There are several recurring themes here: pineapple, goya, seaweed, purple sweet potato, hello kitty, cupie dolls, and Okinawan star sand. By the way, the blue hello kitty umbrella is no more. We left it outside one of the shops when we went it and when we came back it wasn't there. This whole time Kaylyn's been telling me how trustful the people are here. Hmmmm!

Cupie dolls are everywhere, dressed in all sorts of things. The one on the right is a goya, a spiny, bitter melon that is unique to Okinawa. Some people give it credit for Okinawans long lives. I just read that 5 times more Okinawans live to be 100 than those on mainland Japan and Japanese people have the longest average lifespan in the world! I haven't tried goya yet, but I've heard it's not too good.

Steps with US license plates.



Below, are their potatoes. The purple one, the sweet potato, is everywhere! It's sweet, of course, but has a slightly different flavor than ours, and they use it in a lot of desserts. I like it; it's just something to get used to. I guess they'd be probably just as surprised to see ours orange!

This is habu-habu: liquor with poisonous snakes inside!

People actually drink it and apparently it is most popular

with Americans. No thank you!