So… two guesses where I am right now.
Yes, that is right. I am STILL in Okinawa… oh Okinawa, how I love you but am getting very very tired of you.
Staying today has meant that today I have been able to find flour which is not readily available in the supermarkets. It is like a return to Tahiti though, where all the packages are no bigger than 1kg. Being here today also means I was able to call my uncle Gord for his birthday, except it was just after midnight on his birthday and he was already in bed so I talked to my aunt Bev for awhile instead. In my defence, they were logged in to Skype, so I did not wake people up to call! And I tried Gord, I tried! 🙂
Today is a strange mix of weather – hot and sunny one minute, cold and raining the next. I:m wandering around with my sunglasses in one hand and my umbrella in the other. I feel like I have done everything that needs to be done in Okinawa. I can pretty much find my way around the town, I:ve downloaded learning Japanese podcasts and have added words like `please,` `I am sorry,` and `I don`t understand` to my vocabulary. Oh, and `Do you sell flour,` vital to my shopping success today. Actually, I found the flour all by myself, but when I go back to buy it later (I didn`t want to cart it around with me for the whole day, so I scouted this morning and will go back and buy later) I will confirm it is flour. Perhaps I will attempt to write down the characters to see if it matches. I have discovered all sorts of ingenious ways to do things without having to know Japanese, and I have expanded my character vocabulary as well. I have no idea what the word is for many of them, but I know what they mean. I will be an asian language machine by the time I get home… okay, wishful thinking, but here`s to hoping!
Well the weather is supposed to be coming back down, although we were hoping to be able to leave today, so maybe tomorrow? I`ve only been saying that for 8 days now though.
Tag Archives: japan
Not to be repetitive…
Good thing we didn`t go anywhere yesterday – crew on the cruise ship told us that waves were up to the break on the bow – that is 5 stories up, at least as high as the yard on our foremast. If we would have still had a foremast in 11m seas, which is what is forecast at the moment. Looks like Tuesday is the earliest we`ll get out. I would like to get to Shanghai sometime before we have to leave though!
This is getting old
So, um, we`re still here. I think its been 5 days that we have been trying to leave but have been unable to because of the weather. We thought it was dying down last night, but this morning the seas were back up. In some ways it has been a mixed blessing because there are a few trainees who have needed to visit a doctor to get various infected cuts from the south pacific checked out and a cold or two etc. But still, it would be nice to leave. Our time in Shanghai is getting cut short and I have already changed my hostel booking twice. If we stay another day, I may have to cancel it altogether which is unfortunate because it looks like a sweet hostel (in Beijing) and it may be hard to find stuff once we get there because of Spring Festival. Keep praying for us and the weather. We don`t want to make a stupid move and head out prematurely, but we have been on this small island for over a week now…
Calm the Seas!
EDIT: Feb 9, I`ve added one more ash tray at the bottom that I just found!
Bowing to popular pressure, I have taken a self-portrait showing the fauxhawk. Keep in mind that this was moments after soaking myself in the gloriousness that is the bath house and having a through scrub down so my hair is doing its thing based soley on the quality of the cut and a blow dryer at the baths. Now with proper gel, it would not be nearly as fuzzy… but I won`t get to shower again for a couple days so there is no way I`m grossing up my hair with gel.Anyway, on to more pressing business, we are still stranded in Okinawa, the seas are back up to about 4 m and we are desperately hoping to leave today, only 4 days behind schedule. If you could remember us in your prayers, that the seas will calm down enough for us to go out and not risk hurting us and the boat, that would be lovely. Okinawa is great, but it is starting to get a little old and Shanghai is beckoning!
And now I leave you with one final thing from Okinawa: I am calling it the `Ash Tray Series.` These are pictures off of the little metal ash tray things that you see outside of malls etc at home. They are all over the side of the street here and are too funny for words. I particularily enjoy the stalker and the random helicopter. Although the 200C fire is pretty good too!
Waiting out the Weather
(Me in the Internet cafe… hat is hiding the sweet fauxhawk I got in Guam. The girl was super excited to cut one because `No one in Guam will let me`)
So here we are, still in Okinawa. Yesterday we were supposed to leave, which would have made me happy because I was not cooking and I have cooked every first day out so far this leg (and perhaps 80% of this offshore). But, there was a low all around us, so we didn:t leave. It decided to pour down rain all day instead. Katie and I did groceries in the morning and then I pretty much slept the rest of the day. Yes, we did have pancakes for Shrove Tuesday! I walked to the Internet last night and was soaked through 2 layers of pants before I even got off the pier. It was that bad. I really should have worn my foulie bottoms because my top was perfectly dry. So we were going to leave this morning, but then Skipper checked the weather and its blowing in the East China Sea – like 40 ft seas. So once again, we:ve decided to stay put another day, which makes me happy because I am cooking today, not tomorrow when we leave. Plus I am at the Internet and attempted to put on some of my movies onto my iPod. One of the guys on the boat put the tv series Firefly on, which is great!
My goal for this afternoon is to find a cheap watch to tide me over until I can get mine fixed and some mittens. I just brought gloves with me, forgetting that I love woollen mittens ever so much better. Then I:m back to the boat to see how many people I:m cooking for tonight (trainees sign up when we are at port so I don:t cook for 40 if 20 peole decide to go out for dinner) and cook dinner. Tonight, we may do an Ash Wednesday service, Jordan and I spent some time last night preparing for it.
From Neon to Public Bath Houses to Anime Characters to Castles and Dancing
Wow, Okinawa. Guam was nothing of a culture shock compared to here. The neon, the crazy Japanese-ness, the language… its fairly overwhelming. I keep wanting to speak Chinese because I know more than I do in Japanese (3 words), and my brain keeps thinking that I`m in Asia, therefore I should be able to speak Chinese. Right?!?
A major highlight has been finding the public bathhouse. Yes, that is right, a place where you get naked and walk around to various jet pools, showers, saunas, and salt exfoliating rooms (men and women separate!). For a bunch of shower-deprived sailors, it is heaven. Seriously, I can pay $10 and sit as long as I want there. I plan on going back tonight… Once you get over the initial awkwardness, it is quite fun. One of the trainees I was there with ended up having her back scrubbed down by an elderly Japanese lady. It was quite funny.
Here are some of the sights of Okinawa:
Neon, neon, and more neon…
The monorail we took yesterday to get to the castle. Public transport like this is such a joy and novelty for us!
Shurijo Castle, built 1500s (ish) for a dynasty that paid tribute to China – traditionally Okinawa is much closer to China than Japan. Much of the architecture is Chinese, though not as ornate as the Forbidden City.
It was raining… I now own an umbrella.
We happened upon live traditional dancing while we were there. They only do a few performances a week and only one of those includes live music (men playing three stringed instruments of an unidentified name) – and we managed to get there for it without even trying!
Konichiwa!
Well I`ve arrived in Okinawa, Japan. Aside from the fact that 22 degrees now causes me to wear pants and a sweater, its great! We had an insanely long wait for customs to clear us through, but finally by the time dinner was over, we could leave. So here we are! After finally finding an ATM that would accept international cards so I could get Yen, we`ve found a Net Cafe and online we go! Its very exciting to be in a big city, as big as Okinawa isn`t, its the biggest thing I:ve seen in about 6 months. From Tsoi and Palmerston, population 60 to Naha City, population half a million. I:d forgotten what neon lights look like!
The passage here from Guam was fun, although we lost the wind midway so we had to motor most of it. I did a Beijing intro en route, telling people waht there is to see/do and getting people prepared to find stuff online here and possibly book because of winter holiday. We have a bit of a pickle because we:re not sure exactly when we:ll arrive in Shanghai, but we:re aiming for around the 8th or 9th. THe plan is to be in Okinawa until the 5th. Once we leave here, I:ll be doing an intro to CHinese customs and teaching everyone the essentials in Chinese. Yay China GP training coming in handy!
I:m looking forward to exploring stuff in the next little bit and seeing what there is to do here, apparently theres an old castle in the area. Okinawa is also supposed to be known for its pottery, which is good because my mug fell off my bunk in a rather large swell last night and broke into a million pieces so I:m in the market for a new one.
gillian's island 