Okinawa & Beyond

FINAL Day in Okinawa!!!

2010-06-12T17:22:00.012+09:00

FINAL DAY IN OKINAWA!!

It felt weird to wake up this morning and look around my room, knowing I have less than 24 hours remaining here. I borrowed my coworkers vacuum and finished packing last night. I borrowed Jessica's scale and finalized the weighing of my luggage. My large suitcase weights 49 pounds and my medium one weighs 35 pounds. If by chance the scale is off a little, then I can move some items around at the airport but don't think that will be needed.

After breakfast and cleaning my room, Jessica and I headed to our work bbq. We stopped at Jessica's friends house on the way to pick up some bug spray. I am so thankful we did that because there were lots of bugs out and I didn't get bit once! Luckily, the rain stopped and it was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining and a nice warm breeze was blowing. I enjoyed lunch talking with various coworkers. I filled up on fruit and some good Filipino food.

My coworkers mingling after lunch.

The food area.

The kindergarten aide and the fourth grade teacher. I never got to hang out with them outside of work but I really like them and hope to keep in touch.

Mr. Elofson gave presents to the teachers that will not be coming back next year. Lori's husband got stationed in South Dakota and they will be leaving in July, after living in Okinawa and working at New Life for four years. Mr. Mc Gee, a high school teacher (and unofficial vice principal) is not coming back next year because his daughter graduated 12th grade from our school (plus he's been at the school 13 years). Rocky got laid off because school enrollment is very low for the upcoming school year. Usually, there are around 130 students enrolled and at this time, there are only 80 students enrolled for next school year. Rocky is going to look for a job on base for next year and hopes to teach at the school my students mom owns the following year. Rocky has worked at the school for 5 years. I was the person leaving who has been here the shortest amount of time.

Mr. Elofson gave each of us Ryukyuan lacquerware pencil holders. Okinawan lacquerware is unique because of the climate conditions in Okinawa. Ryukyuan Lacquerware dries at a temperature of 80% humidity and 20 degrees centigrade. Here's some interesting information about Okinawan lacquerware that Mr. Elofson gave us with our gift: "Okinawa has ideal natural conditions for lacquer production. The distinctive features of Ryukyuan lacquer are said to be its vermilion color as well as the tsuikin applique and raden inlay techniques, but all of these qualities are intimately related to the climatic conditions in Okinawa. The strong ultraviolet rays of the sun bring out the vividness of the vermilion red pigments. Since the late 19th century pig's blood has at times been used as primer and was said to be the reason for the deep vermilion color achieved, but it is now believed the primer base has very little to do with the vivid colors of the finished lacquer."

Very interesting! I haven't opened the package yet but I'm sure it's beautiful. Mr. Elofson knows that as teachers, we will get good use out of pencil holders! He asked for us to pray for New Life when we look at the pencil holder and to let it remind us of our time here.

Here is the staff and their families at the bbq.

I enjoyed visiting with coworkers and said my goodbyes to everyone. My coworkers said they would keep in touch by email and will let me know how things are going. Mr. Elofson wrote me a nice letter of recommendation, I got my end of the year paycheck and turned in my health card and apartment key.

I'm happy to have met each person at New Life academy and know that God put them each in my life this year for a reason. My time here was an invaluable experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. This wasn't an easy experience but it was worth it. The things I've learned about myself, the teaching experience I've gained and the life lessons are irreplaceable. I am happy I took advantage of this opportunity and my memories in Okinawa will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thank you for the encouragement and support during my time in Okinawa. I couldn't have gotten through it without your prayers. I'm looking forward to arriving home and pressing the play button on my life again. I'm excited about the opportunities in my future and have faith that God will guide me in the tasks that lay ahead. Nothing in the world beats being surrounded by those you love and those that love you =)

Here is one of my favorite quotes this past year:

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." - Lance Armstrong

16 hours until take off!

XOXO

Kristen

Graduation

2010-06-11T20:13:00.011+09:00

Today was the promotion ceremony for grades 1st-12th. Before our ceremony, kindergarten and pre-school had a ceremony. I had to take some pictures of them because they were too cute to not take pictures to share with you!

The whole dress shirt paired with shorts is popular in Okinawa!

Here is Yuto, the first grader in my class.

My students all looked adorable and were very excited about the ceremony.

Mr. Mc Gee (the unofficial vice principal), Mr. Elofson and the translator Ms. Yu (a high school teacher at our school).

The speciality teachers sitting on stage; Jessica (music), Junko (Japanese), high school teacher (not sure why he was sitting there), Rocky (Japanese) and Nathan (P.E./Art).

The first graders on stage ready for their names to be called by Sarah.

Second grade on stage ready for me to call their names.

I was very proud to call out each one of my students names, to recognize them moving onto 3rd grade.

The following pictures is of each one of my students being called to receive their promotion award.

The students gave me gifts and we took pictures after the ceremony. It was much more fun than I expected.

The second grade girls and I.

The student in the kimono even had on the wooden shoes to complete her outfit! Her mom came wearing the same thing.

The ceremony went by fast but was very nice. I got a little sad saying goodbye to my students but they are so shy that they weren't saying much. I gave them my email address, in a letter I wrote to them, hopefully they will stay in touch. It would be neat to hear from some of them as they get older. All I can hope for now is that I've had a positive impact on their lives and have taught them things that will help them become better people. I will miss them but know that God has different plans for me now and I must move forward.

Staff bbq tomorrow, my LAST day in Okinawa. I will update you again then =)

XOXO

Kristen

Last Day of School

2010-06-10T13:50:00.007+09:00

The last day of school has come and gone! Yesterday, my students enjoyed a fun day of movies, popcorn and popsicles. Almost all of them said they were sad that school was ending, but about 75% of them are going to summer school, so they won't miss it for long.

Here is the last day of school class picture. They look so serious!

Movie time.

Can you tell they love pictures?

One of my 1st grade reading groups. Their reading skills improved drastically over the year. I didn't think there was much hope for them at first but they really impressed me. I am so grateful to have witnessed the success that comes along with daily reading. I let them know how proud I was of them and reminded them to continue reading each day this summer.

This video is of one of my first grade reading students, reading "The Fire Cat" during our reading center time. He is the youngest in the class (just turned 6). Everyone loves listening to him read, even the other students in my class tell him he is "so cute." I had to get this video of him reading on the last day of school.

Throughout the year, a few of my students talked about being in a hip hop dance group. They would always tell me that they would show me their dances during recess but when it came time to perform, they would get too shy. On the last day of school, I told them it was their last chance to dance for me. After a few minutes of me saying "1, 2, 3, GO" they finally danced for about half a minute. They said it was ok to share with you =)

My 2nd graders wrote me good-bye letters, most of which said "Do not forgot me, I will not forget you. Please come visit Okinawa again." I thought this letter was especially neat because of the last sentence.

She LIKED the work I gave, that makes me smile!

I tried to say goodbye at the end of the day but the students kept saying "I'll see you Friday for the promotion ceremony, so this is not goodbye." I guess I can put off goodbye for good, for one more day!

Today is Thursday and teacher cleaning day. Sarah and I have worked on our room all week, so we didn't have much to do today. I turned in my report cards and had the room done by 10 am. With only 1 hour left in the school day, I will check out with Mr. Elofson in a few minutes and then my time at this school will be completed. Lori signed all the teachers on base today so we could all eat lunch together. That was nice but now I'm feeling way too full and yucky after Subway and Baskin Robbins.

Mr. Elofson is letting me borrow the school van today, so I can return the mattress to the family that I borrowed it from in October. I'm also borrowing the school vacuum today, so I can finish packing my vacuum bags. I'm only using two out of six vacuum bags to bring my stuff home in! One jumbo bag for all my clothes and one for my bedding. A lot less than I used when coming here. I will weigh my luggage tonight to make sure I'm under the 50 pound weight limit.

Tomorrow is the promotion ceremony and the last time I will see my students. I will post pictures from that and the staff bbq on Saturday, so you are all up to date before I come home.

3 days until departure!

XOXO

Kristen

Memorial Day-Cape Hedo

2010-06-06T15:08:00.008+09:00

On Memorial Day, Rocky organized a trip to Cape Hedo, the northern most tip of the island. I have always heard great things about Cape Hedo, so I was looking forward to the trip. Rocky picked me up at 9 am and we met Lori's family, the school secretary, her daughter and friend and the kindergarten aide to caravan up north. It was another rainy, humid day but since it was our last day off before the school year ends, we decided to follow through with our day as planned.

Before arriving to Cape Hedo, we stopped at Hedo point. There was a nice ocean view.

Luckily, it stopped raining. It was humid and there were lots of mosquitos out but we had a beautiful view.

We took a group photo, then ate lunch at the lookout point.

From left to right; Junko (school secretary), Carolyn (Lori's daughter who is in my class), Junko's daughter's friend, Junko's daugther, me, kindergarten aide, Lori, Lori's daughter, Lori's husband and a third grad boy from our school that Lori babysits. Rocky took the picture.

After eating, I ended up waiting in the car for a few minutes before we left because I was getting bit by bugs, ugh!!

After lunch, we drove as far north as we could go to arrive at Cape Hedo.

Not sure what the sign on this rock said but it looked pretty against the ocean background.

Rocky and the others enjoying the beautiful view.

Luckily, the rain held off for the most part.

The view of the ocean was absolutely gorgeous, the best view I have seen on the entire island!

I am so glad I made the trip to Cape Hedo before leaving the island!

I thought that this sign against the background was so neat.

Snuck a picture of Rocky in.

The scenery was so gorgeous, I had to take lots of pictures.

The best part about living in Okinawa and the one thing I will miss (besides my students) is the breathtaking skies above the shining ocean.

After spending some time at Cape Hedo, we stopped by a small pineapple shop. They had samples of pineapple but the owner told us the pineapple was not ripe, so the pineapple was very sour. We didn't buy anything and headed to Pizza in the Sky. Again I had their delicious vegetable filled salad. There were mosquitos inside and no air conditioning. I got bit a few more times which was annoying. We took the express way the rest of the drive home and it still took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get back. I was still able to get in bed around 9 pm but it was a long, tiring day. Seeing Cape Hedo made it worth the bug bites =)

This past weekend was my last full weekend in Okinawa. I feel content with all I've done and seen here so I decided to stay in and rest. The weather was rainy and humid (nothing new) so that gave me even more reason to be lazy. I did some laundry, went to the gym and put together pictures for a class slideshow. I packed my large suitcase and will return my extra mattress and pack my bedding on Thursday. I have so much less than I came here with (thank goodness for visitors) so I'm hoping it will be a lighter trip home.

Today is Monday and we are down to two school days! I tore down everything in my classroom and my report cards are almost complete (just waiting on grades from the speciality teachers). At this time next week, I will be home! It still doesn't seem real, I don't know when it will hit me. I printed my itinerary today, picked up my last paycheck and am getting a letter of recommendation from my principal by the end of the week. Things are winding down!

I will update you with pictures from the last day of school and give you the link to my slideshow when it's completed.

Hope your all having a good week, see you in 6 days!

XOXO

Kristen

Conclusion of Wendy's Visit

2010-06-03T21:35:00.000+09:00

Sorry it's taken me a few days longer than expected, but here are the last pictures and details from Wendy's visit.

Wendy's husband Ryan lived in Okinawa for a few years when he was eight years old. His dad was in the air force and their family was stationed here 20 years ago. Last Tuesday, we met up with one of Ryan's friends who is a contracted physical therapist on Kadena air force base. Ryan met him in college and didn't remember that his friend was living here until now. We got signed on base so Wendy could look around, then went shopping at the comisarry. We had dinner at Chilli's and then went to the gym to work off our unhealthy food!

Thursday evening, I took Wendy to American Village to try soba noodles. It didn't look appealing and I told her that I threw up the last time I ate the noodles, but she wanted to try some authentic Okinawan food. We ordered and paid for our food in this vending machine (the same place I first tried soba when I got here in August).

I ordered vegetable soba and Wendy ordered pork soba. Mine was okay but Wendy hated hers. She hardly ate any of it but was glad she gave it a try.

Here we are waiting for our noodles.

Wendy also wanted to try sushi, so on another day we had sushi at the sushi go-round in the American Village area. I only had the cooked sushi this time but Wendy tried a variety of sushi and LOVED it! I guess that made up for the soba noodles.

Thursday and Friday, Sarah was not at work so Wendy helped me with the 1st grade class. She was a huge help! I was still very tired after both days but it would have been way worse without her help. She loved helping which I am so thankful for.

Random but here is a picture of the road I take to get to school each morning.

My students being silly.They have to do the peace sign in every picture, I vowed to never do that while I was here and I've accomplished that goal =)
My students performed a skit and sang a song during our last chapel.
Singing and dancing on our last chapel day.

Friday night, Wendy and I got pedicures at the famous salon everyone talks about here, "Cocok's" which is about 50 yards from my apartment. They gave us great leg massages, lemon iced tea and great pedicures. It took 2 hours just for the pedicures but was so relaxing. It was a rainy evening, so after pedicures we made a chicken salad and baked potatoes for dinner. It was the perfect ending to a tiring week.

Saturday night, we drove up north (not too far north this time). It was another rainy evening but we wanted to try a buffet dinner show at Manza Beach Hotel. Rocky told me they have a great dinner and authentic Okinawan dance show. Since I hadn't done something like that here and Wendy wanted to experience as much as the culture as possible, we decided to give it a try. We stopped at the glass factory first (which was down the street from the hotel) to pick up our finished glass from the week before. We were both happy with the way our pieces turned out.

We got to the hotel with enough time to walk around the lobby and take some pictures. It was a gorgeous, modern hotel.

An Okinawan man playing instruments in the hotel lobby.

Open view of the ocean from inside the lobby (you can tell it's rainy season here).

Bakery in the lobby. We didn't try any of the sweets but they looked tempting!

In front of the buffet, ready to try some Okinawan food and see a good show!

We were given the option of steak, chicken or lobster as a main course (we both chose lobster) and all the side dishes were served buffet style. The lobster was covered in a mango sauce that was a bit too overwhelming. It was decent though.

We enjoyed side dishes of noodles, fruit, taco rice, mochi, shrimp tempura, sushi and delicious Okinawan cookies. The side dishes weren't that great but I filled up on fruit which was good enough for me.

The 30 minute show began with a shisa dog dancing on stage.

Drummers also performed.

Playing the sanshin, a traditional Okinawan instrument similar to a banjo.

These ladies taught the audience how to clap to their dance and use some of their instruments.

Pictures with the shisa dog after the show.

We stopped for a picture with the performers on the way out.

It was a fun cultural experience and we are both glad we went. We made it home in time for a good nights sleep before taking Wendy to the airport Sunday morning. She had a great time and I was so thankful that she didn't mind resting in between all the fun activities.

I am so grateful to have been able to share this experience with so many people that I love. I have an amazing set of family and friends and being so far from those that I love makes me appreciate you all even more.

Today is Friday evening, 3 school days to go! I still can't grasp the concept that I only have one week left in Okinawa. I torn down my classroom this week and started on report cards. It will be a bittersweet goodbye to my students come graduation day next Friday.

I will be posting my tour day with Rocky and a few of the other teachers from Memorial day soon. Tomorrow (Saturday) I will start packing my suitcases to see how much room I have for any extra souvenirs. Not too much planned this weekend except for sleeping in and packing. If you want any last minute items from Okinawa, let me know asap!

See you in one week =)

XOXO

Kristen

Touring Okinawa with Wendy

2010-06-01T13:08:00.039+09:00

Wendy departed Okinawa Sunday morning and has arrived back home safely. We had a great time together, it was a great surprise visit =)

The week before Wendy arrived, I joined a gym a few blocks down the street from my apartment. Rocky told me about the gym, since I was complaining about not being able to workout outside in the rain and humidly. The gym is small but has what is needed. There is a swimming pool there that some of my students take lessons at. I've seen some of my students and their parents a few times and they were very excited to see me doing something other than teaching. The workers at the gym are very friendly and I've enjoyed talking with the ones that speak English. The gym is so close and convenient, I've been able to work out 6 days a week which is nice. Generally, the monthly membership is expenive, however since I joined on 5/17, I paid only a partial amount of the monthly membership good until 5/31. Now that it's June, I paid for the next 2 weeks so I can continue working out until I leave Okinawa. Besides the benefit of a good workout, it's nice to have something to do after work each afternoon and makes time go by a whole lot faster!

My official Japan gym card:

Here are the pictures I promised I'd post from Wendy's first Saturday when we toured with Rocky. Rocky, Wendy and I headed up north (once again) for a fun tour day.

Our first stop: The glass factory, I made a tea light candle holder to match the flower candle holder I made in August. This was a different glass factory than the one I had been to previously. It was a very humid day out and the inside of the factory was very hot. We were sweating when we got near the fire!

I was hesitant to put my mouth on this but the worker insisted.

After 5 minutes and some guidance from the workers my candle holder was complete.

Rocky was so nice to wait patiently for us in the hot, humid factory!

Next, it was Wendy's turn. She made a little glass jar for her daughter to play house with.

It came out very cute!

The finished product.

After leaving the glass factory, our next stop was Pineapple Park. Wendy LOVED the park and bought some souvenirs to take home. I enjoyed sampling the fresh pineapple for the 4th time =)

Our next stop: Butterfly Garden. We were only there a few minutes since it was so humid out. This time they had yellow and purple hats to wear. I've now worn red, blue and yellow hats inside the garden. I'm starting to wonder what color really attracts butterflies.

Beautiful butterflies as always.

After Butterfly Garden we headed to Pizza in the Sky. Wendy and I shared a pizza and salad. The salad was a huge mixture of fresh greens, onions, carrots, corn, red bell peppers, cucumbers and Japanese dressing (which is an Italian based dressing). I haven't had a good salad since being here and this was by far the best salad I've had on the island. All the veggies were crisp and fresh which was refreshing on a hot day. Sorry, no pictures from Pizza in the Sky, I guess we were too tired and hungry by that point.

After lunch, Rocky brought us to a secluded beach in Nago. We parked on a dirt road an had to walk down a small hill to see the ocean. It was a beautiful, quiet place to relax.

Rocky sneaking a picture.

Wendy and I trying to get in as many pictures as we could before the rain started up again.

We arrived home around 7 pm, had dinner and called it a night. We were exhausted from the long day but got a lot in and had a blast!

Sunday, we slept in, cleaned, went to the gym, 100 yen store, Jusco (shopping mall) and Jimmy's Bakery. Wendy bought some souvenirs and enjoyed looking around various shops.

Last Monday was Wendy's birthday. She stayed home while I went to work that day and got a facial and relaxed. After work, we got massages, which we both thoroughly enjoyed so much that we almost fell asleep during them! I took her to Sam's by the Sea for dinner. The restaurant that people say has the best seafood and steak in Okinawa.

Birthday girl in front of the restaurant sign.

We thought this sign was neat!

Fresh lobster displayed in the entrance.

Live birds greeted us at the entryway.

Excited to begin our meal.

View of the ocean from our table.

Wendy ordered a fruit juice drink in a souvenir shisa cup, very cute!

The workers were all so friendly.

Our meal came with a salad, delicious soup and bread.

Wendy ordered steak and lobster.

I ordered teriyaki salmon.

Everything was absolutely delicious! The sauce on my salmon was exceptional. Wendy and I both had to save half of our meals for lunch the next day because it was way too much food. I enjoyed it the next day just as much =)

The workers sang to the birthday girl, served her strawberry ice cream and gave her a present wrapped in wrapping paper and everything! The present was a Sam's by the Sea glass cup. Very nice treat!

I heard the the coconut cream pie was delicious so we ordered a slice to share. It lived up to the hype and we enjoyed every bite!

We were both very full at the end of the meal. Wendy still said at the end of her trip here that her favorite restaurant in Okinawa is Sam's by the Sea.

We did a few fun things during the rest of the week and over the weekend before Wendy headed home. I will post another blog with that info within the next few days in order to help keep this blog from being too long.

The weather here has been going back and forth between humid, hot, rainy and beautiful. Today was a beautiful, cool day. Hopefully we will get more days like this over the next few days.

I am now down to 6 school days left and 12 days left in Okinawa! It's getting close! My students are getting excited and so am I! Tomorrow is Wednesday, so 3 more days of curriculum and hopefully my second graders will be ready to move on to third grade. I will post more adventures with Wendy before the weekend arrives.

Happy Memorial Day to you all, hope your enjoying yourselves. I'll be in touch soon.

XOXO

Kristen

Wendy Has Arrived!

2010-05-23T10:00:00.006+09:00

Wendy's first steps at the Okinawa airport.

Wendy arrived safely on Thursday night after her long, tiring flight. She arrived 45 minutes late, so we didn't get home from the airport and in bed until after midnight (and had to wake up at 6 am for work). We were both very tried but excited to see one another! Wendy did go to school with me on Friday but took a nap a few times while my class was working quietly.

Friday night, Rocky took us to the restaurant that one of the kindergartner's parents operate out of their home. They serve authentic Japanese food, so it was a perfect first Japanese meal for Wendy. I had a chicken salad, Wendy had fried fish and Rocky had vegetable stir fry. We all shared and every bite was delicious!

Here is a picture of the restaurant/house:

I asked Rocky if anyone could open up a restaurant in their home, or if there were regulations. He explained that an inspector comes to check on the restaurant and if it meets specific criteria, the owners are given a business license. They don't come and check on the restaurant periodically which I thought was weird, but at least there is some sort of standard.

Here is Wendy and I at the end of our meal=ready to sleep! The green leaf is the restaurants menu.

We were home and in bed by 8:30 for a much needed full nights sleep.

Saturday, Rocky, Wendy and I went up north to the Pineapple Factory, Butterfly Garden, the Okinawan Glass Factory and the northern beaches. Although it was very humid, we were thankful that the sun was out and that there were no clouds in the sky. I will update the blog with those pictures within the next few days. Just wanted to give a short update to let you know Wendy made it safely and that we are enjoying our time together =)

Today is Wendy's birthday so I'm taking her to what I've been told is the best seafood restaurant in Okinawa, "Sam's By the Sea." It's also known as the most romantic restaurant in Okinawa and I haven't been there so Wendy and I will enjoy it together.

My students now have less than 3 weeks of school remaining and I only have 20 days left in Okinawa. It doesn't seem real! Hope your all enjoying the nice SoCal weather I've been hearing about!

XOXO

Kristen

Spirit Week!

2010-05-15T20:24:00.014+09:00

Last week was spirit week at school, each day students and teachers dressed in the theme of the day. It was fun getting dressed up and seeing students in non uniform clothing.

We began the week with twin day. Sarah and I both wore green dresses and black tights. Sorry, we didn't get a picture that day.

The following day was Hawaiian Day. I found a pink grass skirt at the 100 yen store. The kids all looked so cute in their island attire!

The next day was Crazy Day. The theme this day was crazy hair and socks. We told our students to just be as crazy as possible. Interesting to see their view of "crazy".

Jessica and I accidently dressed similar on crazy day. I guess our view of "crazy" is similar. we came out of our rooms and laughed at how much our outfits looked alike!

My students loved my "sock-shoes" they were a bit confused as to why my socks looked like shoes. Haha.

My class on crazy day, some interesting choices!

A few kids thought I dressed a little too crazy =)

Our last day of the week was Character Day, I was Pippi Longstocking. I cut hangers and braided my hair around the wires and spray painted it a dark pink. One of my students moms gave me the pink hairspray, she told me where to buy hairspray in red but when I went to the store they said they didn't have it. I also bought knee high, striped socks which you can't see in the picture. My hair was a little too thick for the wires to hold it up all the way.

It was an exciting week that helped making learning and teaching a bit more fun. The kids were sad to be back in their uniforms on Monday.

Friday night was the spring concert at a nearby church. The students practiced very hard the past few weeks to prepare for the concert. We met at the church at 5 pm and had to wait for the preschool and kindergartners to perform and complete their concert. 1st-6th grade waited in the multipurpose room at the church. Each class waited with their teacher, we didn't end up going on stage until 7:50 pm! It was a long wait, we had our students play games and take naps if they wanted to. I was proud of the way my students played together and sat nicely, couldn't say the same for the other classes (and we were the youngest ones in the room!).

Here are my students entertaining themselves pre-concert.

A few actually chose to take naps. So cute =)

I tried to ease the tension and calm the nerves of my students who were VERY anxious. I sat on the floor and played a few games with them, had them take a few deep breaths and relax.

Class picture right before show time!

Rocky took a lot of great pictures that I will post as soon as I get them from him. The show went well, they all looked very cute and did a great job! Here is one of my blurry pictures of grades 1-6 on the stage (I was sitting in the way back because I had to walk the students to the stage).

I have to mention (once again) that the parents let their little kids run around during the entire show. There were kids running near the front of the stage, up and down the aisles and in and out of the church doors. Mr. Elofson was sitting in his seat, grabbing kids as they ran by. He was getting very annoyed. Today in our morning devotions, he mentioned that parents need to watch their kids during these events. I told him it's like that at every event we have here!

After the concert Rocky and I met Lori and her family at Yogurtland. Rocky had never had frozen yogurt. He liked it but didn't like how expensive it was. He said he would stick to ice cream. I told him that eating healthy is expensive but worth it =)

Here are two videos I took during the concert:

I didn't get home until after 11 pm Friday night. It was a long day. I slept in Saturday, did some cleaning, laundry and a lot of relaxing. I didn't leave the apartment once on Saturday, which was my goal. Sunday, Tamara (the lady that observed my class at the beginning of the year) signed me on base and into the commissary. I bought a large quantity of groceries, which I hope will hold me over for the next 4 weeks. Half of what I bought consisted of fruits and veggies, which I couldn't resist when I saw how fresh they were and how cheap the prices were (compared to off base anyway).

Today is Monday and I have less than 4 weeks left on Okinawa. It's officially rainy season here and it POURED the entire weekend! My hair, clothes, everything got soaked when bringing my groceries up to my apartment. It stopped raining today and the weather forecast calls for clear skies the next 3 days (we will see if that holds true). Luckily, it hasn't been too humid but it's getting there. I was so thankful we had three nice days last week so I was still able to exercise outdoors.

My news of the week: My good friend Wendy is coming to visit me THIS WEEK! She had been wanting to visit but was waiting to pass her physician assistant board exam. She passed the exam last Thursday and booked a flight on Saturday! She will arrive to Okinawa Thursday evening 5/20 and stay for 10 nights, leaving Sunday 5/30. It's a great surprise and I'm very excited about spending time with her. Time really is flying by and I'm sure it will go even faster once Wendy arrives. I will keep you posted on what Wendy and I are up to. In the meantime, see you in less than 4 weeks!

XOXO

Kristen

Pearl Harbor

2010-05-05T15:55:00.006+09:00

Final Hawaii posting! It's only taken 2 1/2 weeks to complete...not too much else going on here though so it gives me something to blog about.

We scheduled a Pearl Harbor tour the day before we left Hawaii. Unfortunately the night before the tour, mom was up the whole night throwing up. In the morning she didn't feel much better so she decided to stay in the room and rest.

I met a nice couple from Florida in my hotel lobby while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. We made a few stops at other hotels which took a while because the driver didn't seem to know where he was going. We then got on a larger bus with a new driver who said our first bus driver was new and very, very slow.

Our bus driver was very detailed and knowledgeable. He told us that he is entering the seminary soon seemed to know a lot about the Catholic churches and history of Hawaii.

Our first stop was Hawaii capital building. The statue in front of city hall is of Father Damien is considered a hero of Hawaii for administering the Catholic faith through caring for people with leprosy. He built homes, churches, coffins and arranged for medical service for people with leprosy in Hawaii. Father Damien later contracted the disease and died. Having a religious statue in from of the capital building was and is a huge controversy,

Our next stop was city hall. The statue in front of city hall is King Kamehameha who is famous for unifying the Hawaiian islands under one rule in the late 1700's.

Next, we arrived at Punchbowl Memorial, a burial place for those who perished during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Beautiful, bright flowers displayed at the entryway of the memorial.

We were not able to get out of the bus but drove through the memorial grounds. The memorial was built into Pu'owaina crater which is means Hill of Sacrifice.

The memorial grave sites total more than 33,000 including soldiers, their families and casualties.

This detailed Lady Columbia statue overlooks the memorial grounds. Lady Columbia is a symbol of despairing mothers of those who perished at Pearl Harbor. The phrase "The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours To Have Laid So Costly a Sacrifice Upon the Altar of Freedom" is carved along the bottom of the statue. It was a very sobering and touching place to visit.

Our final stop was the visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, where 1,177 crewmen lost their lives. The memorial had been closed for two weeks for construction and opened up Friday, the day before we left Hawaii. The tickets we got were the first tickets since re-opening, we were told that because of such a large crowd, we were lucky to get tickets (good thing we booked ahead of time).

This memorial structure commemorates all military killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States flag on the memorial flies from a flagpole, which is attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship Arizona.

Contemplation Circle is the area you wait in before boarding the ship that takes you to the memorial site.

After a 3 minute boat ride, we arrived to the memorial, a 184-foot long structure that spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship Arizona. Another sobering environment.

The first section is an entry and assembly room.

The next section is an observation area.

The last section is the shrine room, where the names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved on a marble wall.

In the observation section, this map of the Arizona is displayed. It shows what the ship looked like before it sunk and the remaining remnants of the ship today.

Oil leaks are still clearly visible on the surface of the water. The Arizona still leaks about a quart of oil into the harbor each day.

After 15 minutes browsing the memorial, I took a boat ride back to the museum area.

Before watching a short video on the attack on Pearl Harbor, I walked around the USS Bowfin which is permanently home ported at Pearl Harbor.

I thought this picture was neat because it shows the battleships that were destroyed during the Pearl Harbor attack; Nevada, Tennessee, Arizona, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

Original USS Arizona Anchor

This concludes my Pearl Harbor visit and completes my trip to Hawaii. My flight from Hawaii to Tokyo went well, had an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me! I had to recheck my luggage during my layover in Tokyo but only had two hours, just enough time to grab a fruit platter and board myl flight to Okinawa. Now, my next trip to the airport will be when I depart Okinawa permanently. I've spent a lot of time at different airports this past year!

Last week was a long week with testing everyday. The school doesn't get the testing results until September so I won't get to see how my students performed. The talent show went well on Friday night. We had students playing the drums, dancing, playing the piano and singing. Last Saturday Kathi signed me on base to go shopping at the commissary. I was able to get a decent amount of food, most of which should last me until I leave here next month. After shopping, I went with Kathi to watch her 10 year old daughter's basketball game on base. It was a close game, I really enjoyed watching!

This has been a festive week at school, dressing up in different themes each day for spirit week. Pictures to come after the week is completed tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday and we will be down to less than 5 weeks in the school year. Not much planned for the weekend other than going on base for church. The weather is back to being humid and it will probably stay this way. I've still been enjoying my daily workouts, walking up and down the hills and stairs near my apartment, might have to adjust according to this humidity.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

XOXO

Kristen

Oahu-Diamond Head Crater Hike

2010-04-28T15:31:00.000+09:00

I had been hearing a lot of good things about Diamond Head hike in Oahu, so I made sure it was on my to-do list. I begged mom to go on the hike with me but couldn't win in convincing her.

Entering Diamond Head State Monument which was only about 10 minutes from our hotel.

We got to the gate entrance at 5 pm but were told the last hikers were allowed in at 4:30. I thought maybe I could change moms mind about the hike, but she still didn't feel like trekking the trail with me. We went back the next day and she dropped me off.

We had to drive through a tunnel to get to the trailhead.

Here is mom at the Diamond Head entrance, great view!

A little basic background info on the Diamond Head Crater: The crater Diamond Head got it's name after Western explorers mistook the calcite crystals in the rocks on the slopes of the crater for diamonds. In 1904 Diamond Head was purchased by the Federal government and designed for military use and coastal defense. The trail to the summit was build in 1908 as part of the U.S. Army Costal Artillery defense system. The switchbacks along the trail were designed for mules to haul material for the construction of the fire control station Diamond Head. The climb from the trailhead to the summit of the crater is 560 feet.

I arrived around 11 am, paid my $1.00 entrance fee and after a quick picture, began the hike.

The hike itself was about a mile, one way, through switchbacks, tunnels and steep stairs.

Here is the beginning of the hike, the top of Diamond Head crater is up there somewhere!

The beginning of the trail was the flattest part of the hike. It was a crowded hike, especially as the trail began to get more and more narrow.

There was no shade along the trail, it wasn't too hot outside but being directly in the sun made it much hotter.

Still on the look out for the top!

Some of the switchbacks on the way up.

This part of the hike reminded me of some of the trails in Azusa canyon.

Starting to get some nice views as the incline increases.

First stairway of 74 concrete stairs, leading to the tunnel.

Passage through a dark 225 foot long narrow tunnel.

The view is getting better!

Second stairway consisting of 99 steep steps. The cross beams above the stair way supported camouflaging.

Next was the spiral staircase consisting of 52 stairs, which accesses the 4 levels of the Fire Control Station.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but you can barley see the top of peoples heads. You enter this area after walking through the tunnel. It's a small, 10 foot area that you walk through before crawling under a small opening in rock to get to the top, well almost! The majority of people on the hike were not regular hikers. There were lots of elderly people as well, I don't know how some of them made it through this small area.

After getting through the above area, the last set of stairs consisted of 54 metal stairs. These stairs replaced the ladder to the summit in the 1970's for hikers.

Map with the different points on the hike and things to look for once at the top.

After climbing over 200 stairs, uphill switchbacks and crawling in tunnels, I finally made it to the top!

I was hot, sticky and sweaty but the view from the top was worth the climb =)

I bet the sunrise and sunset are amazing from up here! Too bad the park closes before sunset.

View of Oahu, I looked for our hotel but couldn't spot it.

After about 10 minutes enjoying the view from the top, I headed back down.

View when exiting the spiral stairs.

On the way back down the stairs.

I made it down the trail in about 20 minutes. Just the right time that I told mom to be back to pick me up. It was a great hike and good workout. I'm very glad I did it!

Mom and I went straight from Diamond Crater to Waikiki Beach to eat at Duke's restaurant. There is a Duke's in Malibu and Huntington Beach but the Duke's in Waikiki is the orginial, since Duke (the Hawaiian guy that made surfing famous worldwide) is from Waikiki.

It's traditional American food but the fish tacos were delicious. The restaurant is located on Waikiki Beach and the ambiance was relaxing and beautiful.

Our hotel had a free shuttle that ran every 30 minutes and dropped off in the downtown Waikiki shopping area and Waikiki Beach. It was only a 10 minute shuttle ride so mom and I took advantage of the shuttle a few times.

The Honolulu police department is directly in front of Waikiki Beach, mom had to sneak a picture in while we were waiting for the shuttle.

Later that night, mom and I ate dinner at PF Changs. She had never been there before. We had another delicious meal. Just thinking of the sea bass on ginger soy spinach makes me want to go back right now! MMM.

This concludes this part of the Hawaii trip. One more posting and the Hawaii posts will be completed. Pearl Harbor is my next and final topic.

It's Wednesday evening right now, meaning it's almost Thursday, meaning it's almost the weekend =) I am doing testing with my students this week and it's tiring for both them and me but it's going well. We are giving them the Stanford Achievement Test, which is an American standardized test. The test includes questions about American geography, currency, and past presidents! So sad that these Japanese kids are taking this particular test. The school only uses it as a guideline to see where students are, so hopefully it's not too big of a deal when they do poorly.

This Friday is the school talent show, so I'll there Friday night helping out. Not much else going on over the weekend except that I am going to try to get on base to do one last grocery shopping trip, to hold me over the next 6 weeks. Lately I've been able to find some good fruits at the Japanese grocery store, including: oranges, apples, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, kiwi and even watermelon! I was so sad to go back to the store and find they are no longer getting watermelon. Oh well, one week of watermelon was a nice treat. I also found plain yogurt with no sugar and plain soymilk at the Japanese store. All of that has been able to hold me over for a while =)

XOXO

Kristen

Hawaiian Luau

2010-04-26T15:19:00.000+09:00

Hawaii Part 2 =)

My mom had some friends that recommended going to Jermaine's Luau in Oahu. There were long lists of luau's to choose from, so we decided to trust the recommendation and go to Jermaine's Luau. The hotel tour guide gave us great information and booked the luau for us. A bus picked us up next to our hotel, which was very convenient. The tour guide provided us with some Hawaiian history and fun facts about the luau during the bus ride. Traffic is horrible in Oahu, so it took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there during rush hour (4 pm is their rush hour).

We finally arrived at a beautiful, secluded beach, ready for some fun.

Mom and I were both excited about experiencing our first Hawaiian luau.

Mom getting laid with a seashell necklace by our tour guide.

We got seats near the front of the stage.

There were a good amount of people there but it wasn't too crowded which was nice.

Mom ready for the show to start.

Using up our free drink tickets and sipping mai tai's.

Traditional dancers.

The beginning of the luau starts with the presentation of a pig, which has been cooking in the ground all day!

A fire dancer lighted torches before the pig was presented.

We left our tables and walked over to a side area for the presentation of the pig.

Here are the workers, taking the pig out of the ground so we can soon eat it!

It got a bit chilly out, we were so glad we brought jackets with us.

We went to the buffet line to choose our food as the luau began. We tried a taste of everything. We tried the Hawaiian speciality poi, yuck, tasted like glue. The marconi salad was delicious, the best I've ever had! The fried fish was dry and not very tasty. The roasted kalua pig was very good. The pineapple cole slaw was not very flavorful, the marinated teriyaki beef was good and the coconut cake was yummy. Too much food to finish for sure!

Watching the dancers perform.

The dancers performed dances of Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand and Hawaii. There was a Samoan fire knife dancer and of course hula dancing.

The whole show lasted about 2 1/2 hours. We enjoyed the food and watching various dances. It was a great evening! We got back to the hotel late and went straight to bed. This post was a little short too long to include with my other posts.

Next posting will be my Diamond Head hike =)

It's Friday night now and the week flew by! It was hot and HUMID this week. Today it got cold and rainy, the weather can't make up it's mind. I found an area near my apartment that has a steep hill and stairs, near a park. In the evenings, I've been jogging in the area, climbing stairs and stretching at the top of the hill, where I can see the ocean as the sun is setting. This is literally about 50 yards in back of my apartment and absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe I haven't found this spot until now. I am enjoying every bit of the view after dinner each night =) I'm loving the workout, great view and just getting out of the apartment in the evenings. Seven weeks left in Okinawa, crazy! Hope you all have a good weekend, I will probably do enough relaxing for everyone =)

XOXO

Kristen

Arrival in Hawaii (part 1)

2010-04-21T20:12:00.005+09:00

Since I have an ample amount of Hawaii pictures, I've decided to divide my blog entries into sections of activities we did (in order) during my trip to Oahu. This blog will has pictures from the first few days on the trip as we got settled in.

I arrived in Oahu at 10:15 am Saturday morning. I had an empty seat next to me on the plane from Okinawa to Tokyo which was nice for the two hour ride. I arrived at the new airport in Tokyo, Nagoya which was very big and clean. My 1.5 hour layover went by quickly, enough time to grab a snack and check in. My flight from Tokyo to Oahu was 7 hours and went by rather quickly. A lot faster than the 16 hour flight from L.A. to Okinawa!

A shuttle picked me up in front of the airport and took me to the rental car lot where I signed the paperwork for the rental car that came with my moms vacation package.

Our rental car, very comfortable and great gas milage (which came in handy each time we got lost for miles and miles!).

I had already written down directions from the airport to the hotel but was given a nice map by the rental company to help me find my way. I found the hotel without a problem, about a 20 minute drive from the airport.

The hotel was pretty, lots of glass windows and off of a main street. The perimeter of the hotel was busy with lots of touristy activities. Since it was only 11 am and check in time wasn't until 3 pm, the hotel told me I could pay$30.00 to check in early or come back at 3. I decided to go to the store and get some lunch then come back to check in later. I found a Safeway about 10 minutes from the hotel, had some lunch at the deli and bought some snacks.

A view of our hotel from the street

The weather was beautiful, sunny but not too hot. After lunch, I walked around the park adjacent to our hotel. Ala Moana is a huge park with lots of homeless people sleeping in tents! Not the cleanest place, but the last half of the park is along the beach and is filled with people using boats and jet skis.

I finally got checked into the hotel at 3 pm. It was a nice, big room. The entire backside of our room was floor to ceiling glass windows with a view of the marina.

We also had a view of the swimming floor from our room. The swimming pool was freezing cold and very windy on the deck since it was on the 5th floor. Nice place to lay out for some good sun though.

Each floor of the hotel had glass windows, here the the view from our floor.

We had a great view of the nearby mall from our floor window...5 minutes walking distance to the mall. I was able to visit there a few times and was SO very happy to eat American food and buy American clothes. It's been way too long!

After checking into the hotel, I changed into my swimsuit and took the hotel shuttle to Waikiki Beach which was an 10 minute shuttle ride. The beach water was very blue and warm!

There was a wedding reception at the hotel in back of where I was laying on the beach. It was a beautiful setup!

After being up for 30 hours, I knew I couldn't go to sleep before picking my mom up at the airport...that would make me even more tired. I ate dinner at the local mall and headed to the airport to pick up my mom at 9 pm. I found the airport without a problem but the airport signs were a bit confusing to say the least. I drove around in the airport for 30 minutes, parked in the wrong parking structure and was told there is only one parking structure and it's for Hawaiian airline pickup/drop off. I continued to drive by American Airlines to look for my mom but she was not there, so I parked in the Hawaiian airlines structure and walked 10 minutes to the American Airline terminal. I found a payhone on the way and called my mom. She said she has just walked out. I was happy to finally see my mom waiting with her luggage. By this time it was 10 pm, we went back to the room, unpacked, showered and went to sleep at midnight. I was up for a total of 36 hours and slept in until noon the next day!

On Sunday, we drove around the island exploring. We went to the north shore, grocery shopping to stock up our refrigerator with lunch foods and snacks and had a seafood dinner at Red Lobster which was next door to our hotel.

On Monday, we drove back to north shore and went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Not exactly like the one in Okinawa. This one had a train ride, the worlds largest maze and a gift shop. There were a lot less free samples but we did get a sample of fresh pineapple. We ate pineapple ice cream and rode the pineapple express. It was interesting to hear the story of Dole and how he started out with a single pineapple stand and now has world recognized products.

We saw gardens with pineapple from various countries.

Pineapple farm.

Moms top matched some of the plants.

Red soil that the pineapples are planted in.

We couldn't resist.

Riding the pineapple express was enough for us, we didn't do the maze. It was interesting to see that it was the world's largest maze though.

I couldn't get the whole maze in a picture but here is part of it. There is a screen in front of the maze that shows the time of people who go through the maze the quickest. The top time we saw was a little over 5 minutes.

It was nice to explore the plantation and learn some history.

Since we were already in the north shore, we stopped at Hale'iwa Beach Park and took a few pictures of the gorgeous ocean. It was very windy, overcast and rainy so I decided not to go in the water.

We ate lunch at Macky's shrimp truck. In the downtown area of north shore, there are a bunch of shrimp trucks that sell fresh sprimp! Everyone said we had to try at least one meal at the shrimp truck, so we stopped at this one which had a sign saying it was the #1 shrimp truck.

Menu. You could chose from coconut, spicy or regular shrimp with sides of rice, green salad and pineapple.

Mom and I decided to share a plate since it looked like a lot of food. We had the regular shrimp which was DELICIOUS! Definitely the best meal we had during the trip. The shrimp was huge and fresh! Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want to go back already.

Here is mom ordering for us.

I forgot to take a picture before we started eating, here is our plate after a few yummy bites.

After lunch, we stopped at Matsumoto general store for some shaved ice. Apparently, this is the most popular spot on the island to get shaved ice. We had drove by the day before and the line was out the door. This time, the line wasn't as long, maybe because of the cooler weather.

There was a varitey of flavors to choose from. The whole beans in shaved ice is very popular in Okinawa and it seems to be in Hawaii too. We passed on the beans and had "regular" shaved ice.

Mom has strawberry, grape & cherry.

We got the small and it was still A LOT of shaved ice! Neither of us were able to finish all of it.

I had lemon, pineapple & coconut.

That night, we ate at Chart House for dinner. I have never hear of Chart House but my mom said it's a chain. The restaurant was walking distance from our hotel and had a great marina view.

View from our room during sunset. I can't get away from these gorgeous sunsets =)

This concludes this portion of my Oahu trip. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and were given some insight on how our trip went.

I got in at 11 pm Sunday night and had to wake up for work at 6 am Monday morning. I was just finally getting used to the time change when I arrived back to Okinawa (go figure). Monday was a long, tiring day but very much worth it! It was happy to see all of my students, I missed seeing them. It got me thinking about how in almost 7 weeks, I won't see them again. I guess it will be bittersweet =) I went to sleep at 8:30 pm Monday night and felt much better on Tuesday. We had a staff meeting yesterday and this is going to be a crazy final 7 weeks of school! Next week the students take state tests all week (we give our students the U.S. standardized test which includes questions about past presidents and states!). Next Friday night our school puts on a talent show, which the teachers will be working. The week after that is spirit week and then the spring concert! I talked to Rocky about a few last things I'd like to see on the island before leaving. We are going to look at the calendar and plan a few weekends of tour days. I sent home the last of my extra things, including my last few sets of dishes with my mom. I am down to the bare minimum here and very optimistic about packing my luggage in June. My next posting will be about our Hawaiian Luau =) Looking forward to a relaxing weekend. No more visitors are scheduled, so I plan to do a lot of resting and little exploring over the next seven weeks. Hope your all doing well!

XOXO

Kristen

P.S. My principal informed me that sayonara means that you are not coming back, like you are going for good. Most Japanese people do not use the term sayonara for that reason. Oops, guess I can't say that again until June!

Spring Break=Complete

2010-04-19T06:48:00.004+09:00

Sunset on Waikiki Beach

My mom and I had an amazing time together in Oahu. It was hard to leave such a beautiful, relaxing place! Sorry I wasn't able to post anything, we didn't get internet at our hotel and I didn't want to go out of my way to be on the computer =) My mom and I both had little colds during the trip but nothing that stopped us from having a blast!

I got in at 11 pm last night and it's 7 am now, off to work as the final 8 week countdown begins! Another post with commentary and gorgeous pictures to come asap.

XOXO

Kristen

Hawaii Bound

2010-04-09T14:53:00.005+09:00

Today I completed 3rd quarter parent-teacher conferences and ended of my first week in the 4th and final quarter of the school year. Woo hoo! The parents were very friendly and supportive which I'm always thankful for.

I rewarded my 2nd graders with a treat for not receiving any D's or F's on their report cards for the 3rd quarter. Hopefully they will be able to keep it up. A first grader was just added to the 2nd grade class in hopes she will be able to start 3rd grade next year. So far, it does not look like that is going to happen. She is great in 1st grade but not up to par with 2nd grade curriculum....not yet anyway.

I had a relaxing week last week, got a nice massage and pedicure at the famous Okinawan salon "Cocok's." It lasted two hours and was at great Easter treat to myself. Sadly, I didn't get to go to church on Easter. I waited at the gate for Lori to sign me on base and she didn't show up. I should have double checked with her beforehand considering it was Easter but she didn't answer my phone call that day. I was very disappointed but nothing I could do.

I'm finally rested and recovered from my visitors, so I started my workout routine again this week. I went jogging near my apartment and found some great sets of stairs to utilize at a nearby park. The weather was very humid for a few days this past week, then got cold and rainy, today it rained but is beautiful out now.

Many of my students were sick this week, lots of coughing and runny noses. I told them there weren't allowed to be sick until spring break =) I had at least 4 students out each day this week, with 7 students being out on Thursday alone. And these weren't sick students. These students started Japanese school this week and will continue Japanese school through next week (our spring break) then return back here when our spring break is over. Kids sure are put to work in Japan =)

One first grade student and a few students in upper grades left our school last week, to start Japanese school permanently. It's sad that the school is losing students so late in the year.

I bought my last set of dishes yesterday and am now all packed and ready for Hawaii! Rocky will drop me off at the airport for my 6 pm flight tomorrow (Saturday). I will return to Okinawa on Sunday night at 10:30 pm, meaning I'll have a very tiring Monday but it will be worth it =)

I talked to my mom today and she was at the doctor getting medicine for a bad cold. I hops she feels better before it's time for her to leave. She has two days left to go. We are both excited. I talked to my friend who lives in Oahu and she recommended some great tourist sites and restaurants. I need to exchange my yen to dollars today and then I'm officially set to go!

I most likely won't be blogging while I'm gone but I'll at least post a little something to let you know we arrived safely and that my mom is feeling better (keep her in your prayers please).

Sayonara/Aloha!

XOXO

Kristen

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T08:36:00.011+09:00

It's hard to believe that it's already April and Easter is in just a few days! It's weird that I'm really, really missing the ambiance of Easter. I didn't miss the festivities of Thanksgiving much but I am missing Easter festivities. I miss seeing kids dressed in cute, bright Easter colors, the feeling of warm spring air, seeing Easter bunnies, peanut butter and cadbury eggs and coloring Easter eggs. The stores in Okinawa do not have Easter things out and it's supposed to be raining the next week, so this definitely does not feel like Easter. On the other hand, Lent has prepared me for Easter, so hopefully when I go to church on Sunday, I'll feel more in the spirit. Since my church is mostly Americans, maybe it will feel more like a normal Easter.

Speaking of the meaning of Easter. Last week I asked my class if they celebrate Easter. They all said yes, they get Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies. I then asked, "Why do we celebrate Easter?" the response=blank stares. So, I asked "What person do we celebrate on Easter, who is the person we remember on Easter Sunday?" almost all hands up went up this time as the student I called on said "THE EASTER BUNNY!" The other students all agreed, I couldn't help but laugh. Aw, to be a kid again. Needless to say, I spent this past week teaching my students about the meaning of Easter, Jesus suffering and dying on the cross for us and rising from the dead on Easter Sunday. We were able to complete a few Easter crafts and sing some Easter songs. I've been quizzing them everyday on the true meaning of Easter, it seems to have stuck with them, we will see for how long.

Last Friday, my class went on a field trip to the aquarium in Nago. We had five parent drivers so three students went with each parent. Nice, small groups. Sarah and I each had three students in our groups, so we decided it would be best to drive one of our cars in addition to the parent drivers. Since Sarah has only driven once since being in Okinawa, she asked me to drive her car. The drive up wasn't too bad, we got there in and hour and a half. We checked in, paid and went on our way. By the time we actually got inside the aquarium, we only had 3 hours until we had to leave.

My group enjoyed themselves, they all LOVED touching the starfish and sea creatures.

The rest of the class touching sea creatures. None of them were scared!

Shark tank, a favorite of the boys in my class.

Large octopus!

Worker cleaning the glass, students thought this was amusing.

After an hour inside the aquarium, we ate lunch and watched a dolphin show from the third floor since the outside stadium was already full. After the dolphin show it was already time to head back to school.

The students all fell asleep on the way home, which was a long 2 1/2 hour drive, even on the express way. We made it back to school a few minutes after school got out.

One last picture at the aquarium.

Most of the parent drivers got back to school a few minutes before Sarah and I. When we arrived to the school parking lot, we saw our students running in between cars, standing on a small wall in front of the school and looking over the third floor balcony! A few of our students ran over to the car as I pulled up. Sarah and I weren't very happy. We told all of our students to line up in our normal spot and if their parent was there to go stand by them. On Monday, I gave a lecture on following school rules, even if a teacher is not standing there to enforce the rules. I told them that just because the parents don't say anything, does not mean it's okay to break rules and do the wrong things. I guess it really wasn't THAT big of a deal, but it's very frustrating seeing parents standing there, watching their children do dangerous things and not doing anything about it. Overall, the field trip was a success. We spent this past week writing about our visit and each student has started their "under the sea" diorama.

I spent last weekend recovering from Paul John and Philips visits. I slept in and stayed in Friday night and almost all day Saturday. I can't remember the last time I did that and it was great! I watched a few movies, caught up on my book and did a lot of nothing.

Two nights ago, Jessica's mom and sister arrived from Arizona. It's a full house with four girls but it's nice having more people around. They are excited to be here and seem like nice people. Last night Rocky and I attended a "Last Super Skit" at Jessica's church. It was a cute, hour long program portraying the last super and Holy Thursday. It helped get me in the Easter spirit a little more.

Yesterday marked the end of the 3rd quarter at school! Today was half day so teachers could prepare and submit report cards. I started working on my report cards earlier this week and just had to wait on the art/PE/Japanese teachers to send me their grades. I'm happy to report that for the first time this school year, none of my students received a D or an F on their report card! We've come a long way and I'm very proud of them all.

We had a staff potluck today, which I always love. Lori made delicious lasagna and garlic bread. Oh, how I miss having an oven! I'm coming up with a long list of things to cook in an oven when I get back to the U.S =)

I got to sample Filipino adobo and noodles, chinese chicken and even apple pie! It was a relaxing day and a good start to the weekend. I'm planning on laying low this weekend. I'm going to church on Easter and getting a pedicure at a famous Okinawa salon by my apartment.

I realized I didn't give an update about spring break on my last post. I only started planning it a few weeks ago, but since I didn't have a travel partner, I decided I would go to Hawaii for spring break. It's a 9 1/2 hour flight from Okinawa to Hawaii and I haven't been to any of the islands except for Maui. I presented the idea to my mom and she gladly said she would love to meet me in Hawaii to spend the week together. My mom was able to book a nice roundtrip flight/hotel/rental car package online. There are so many great packages coming from L.A. to Hawaii online. I booked my flight separately which was a little pricey compared to what my mom paid for everything (but I understand, I am coming from Okinawa).

I will depart Okinawa next Saturday afternoon, 4/10 and arrive to Honolulu on Saturday 4/10 in the morning. I will pick up our rental car, sleep at the hotel for a while and pick up my mom at the airport Saturday night (not looking forward to jet lag). We will be in Waikiki for 7 nights and I will arrive back to Okinawa on Sunday night, 4/18. While in Waikiki, I hope to attend a luau and see the Pearl Harbor area. Other than that, we hope to relax on the beach and enjoy ourselves.

One more thought about Easter that I just shared with my Aunt. I've been reading the book "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom. In the book, the idea that when you die, you are forgotten comes up. If you think about it, most people really don't know much about their great, great ancestors. It is kinda like you are forgotten for the most part. However, their is something that connects families....FAITH and TRADITION. Even if you think you are forgotten, you really aren't because of what you have passed on through tradition and the shared faith that connects you from generation to generation. I never thought about that before but it's so true. I am thankful for the faith and tradition that my family shares and how it connects us to those we have lost, future generations and one another presently.

I will be thinking of you all on my Monday, your Sunday, when I'm at work and your enjoying good company and good food (most of which I'm sure will be cooked in an oven). =)

Happy Easter!

XOXO

Kristen

Philip's Visit

2010-03-24T17:47:00.004+09:00

Philip has come and gone already. He arrived last Tuesday night, right on time and left yesterday afternoon.

When I picked up Philip from the airport on Tuesday evening, he was exhausted. He thought it was very weird for all of us to be driving on the "wrong" side of the road and kept getting scared thinking I was going to hit another car or go the wrong way. I had his bed ready for him (my extra mattress) so he went right to sleep when we got back to my apartment. He woke up on his own in the morning and went to school with me. He enjoyed playing with the kids at recess and watching videos on my computer all day, while I was teaching.

Arriving at the airport in Naha after 18 hours of traveling across the world.

Playing with my students at recess the day after arriving.

Happy "Green Day" I explained to my students the history of St. Patrick and traditions of St. Patrick's day. They didn't really understand it but liked learning about leprechauns, rainbows and pots of gold =)

Wednesday and Thursday night we went out to eat. I showed Phil American Village and he decided to not go to school with me Friday. Instead he walked around the main street I live on, looked around some shops and spent time at Starbucks.

Having dinner at the Italian restaurant Rose Garden

They have delicious apple pie and vanilla ice cream!

Friday afternoon, Phil and I went to my favorite place, Sunset beach.

The sun was setting and as always, the view was amazing.
Phil couldn't stop admiring the view.
We walked along the seawall for a few minutes.
This area in front of the beach has a spot to sit and put your feet in water. I've seen people at this spot before but didn't know exactly what it was.
We decided to give it a try. The water was very warm. We finally figured it must be water coming from the day spa, in back of where we were sitting.

Phil made a few friends that were happy to say "goodbye" and "Have a good day" in the little English they knew.

Friday night, we ate at Tony Roma's in American Village and attempted to watch a movie in English at the local movie theater. We asked to see the movie "It's Complicated" but the lady didn't know what we were talking about. As we were trying to explain to her, the movie came up on a preview on the TV behind her, so we pointed to the movie and said "that one." She said "oh, okay" and gave us tickets. I made sure the movie would be in English and she assured me it would be. We ate dinner and went back to the theater. We were the only Americans and were a little unsure if the movie would actually be in English. It turns out the movie was in English but half way through the movie we realized it was not the movie we had asked to see. We were watching "Have You Heard About The Morgans?" which was a boring movie, we both struggled to stay awake. Oh well, it's a movie we can say we watched in Japan.
On the corner of American Village, heading to the movie theater.

Saturday, we got signed on base and I showed Phil the BX, a few shops and then we ate lunch at Chilli's. I had been craving a salad from Chilli's and it was delicious, I think I'm going back there after church on Sunday instead of the food court! There was a random, new vending machine in front of the BX that caught my eye:

A HOT DOG VENDING MACHINE! I would except this off base but not ON BASE....

We declined to try it out =)

After eating lunch on base, I took Philip to the WWII Peace Prayer Park. I knew he would love the history and learn a lot about Okinawa from the visit. Philip helped me navigate and find the Peace Park with only a few wrong turns. We found a museum that I didn't go to when I was at the park before. The museum had letters written from survivors of the war (they had a few in English for us to read). Their stories were graphic and horrifying. We were the only Americans in the museum and it felt a little awkward. We watched a few videos of live footage from the war and looked at artifacts, including a canteen from the war that was discovered 10 years ago, with water still in it! We read timelines and saw gruesome pictures. Phil and I were very happy that we went to the museum. We learned a lot about Okinawa's role in the war, the toll it took on their culture and economy and how the war affected the world.

Just a few of the names of Americans who died during the war.

Eternal peace flame.

Last time I was at the Peace Park, the observation deck was closed. This time, it was open, so Phil and I went up to the top floor for an amazing view.
Part of the Peace Park.

After the Peace Park, Phil and I went bowling in the American Village area. We bowled four games. Phil won two, we tied one and I won one. We had a blast drinking Coronas and bowling.

Picking up the spare.
The workers spelled my name wrong, I was "Iorsten" for the night. Haha. I had to take a picture of this game, we performed equally horrible =)
We were the only Americans in the entire bowling alley.

On Sunday we went to the 100 yen store but Phil wasn't impressed with it. We also went to a martial arts store on gate 2 street. Phil found a tee shirt he liked, so I had to buy it for him, it was the only thing he wanted for himself the whole trip! We went back on base for church Sunday evening and had dinner at Chilli's again. Phil kept saying how being on base made him feel like he was in the U.S. I told him that's part of why I like my weekly base visits =)

Over the weekend, we kept commenting on how "foggy" it seemed to be outside. I told Phil that it was never like this before. Monday at work, Mr. Elofson informed me that it wasn't "fog or smog" but in fact Yellow Dust from China! YUCK! It was really bad out on Monday, lots of people were wearing masks. I read that the dust had made it all the way to the U.S.

Here is a picture of the Yellow Dust from my apartment balcony on Monday afternoon. Good thing Phil left on Tuesday because it's still bad out and I don't think his allergies would be corporative.

Although he protested, I had to catch a picture of Phil with Mc Donald's in hand. We got it as a "snack" on Monday, but after eating, both of our stomachs were upset. So, we stayed in and watched movies on his last night in Okinawa.
I packed up the extra suitcase Phil brought for me. That is now 3 suitcases I've sent home with visitors with my "extra" things and souvenirs from Okinawa. I think I'll be okay now with the luggage weight limit come June. I decided that my souvenier to myself from Okinawa would be a set of Japanese dishes. I figure that is something I can keep forever (as long as earthquakes and/or kids don't break them). The dishes only come in sets of four and I know I'll never have meals for only four, given our large family. So, I bought double of everything. I sent home two sets of plates, two sets of bowls, one set of cups and one serving bowl with Paul John and Phil. Now, I just have to buy the last set of cups and serving plate to make the set complete.
I thought I'd take a picture of the serving bowl to show you what the dishes look like:

Phil went to school with me Tuesday morning and Mr. Elofson let me leave school to bring him to the airport. We left school at 10:45 am and got to the airport at 11:30 am, one hour before his flight. Since he was flying domestic, to Tokyo, we were told to get there one hour ahead of time. I walked with Phil to the ticket counter to find a huge line of over 50 people waiting. By 12:05 we had only moved up two feet. Everyone in line around us was American and on the same 12:30 flight. I left to go back to work and told Phil to email me when he got to Tokyo. He emailed me later that afternoon and told me the line moved quickly after I left and that he made it on the flight right as they were shutting the doors. He made it to Tokyo okay, had a 2 hour layover and was exhausted by the time he boarded his flight to LA.

At the airport, ready for takeoff

I called him this morning and it was 3 pm in L.A., he was out to lunch with my mom and said he was struggling to stay awake. He said the flight was good, he had a good seat, emergency row, so extra leg room and nobody sat next to him! I told him to stay awake at least until 7 pm but I doubt he made it that far.

Our last picture in the airport.

Philip LOVED Okinawa and kept saying how he wished he had done something like living abroad for a year. Like Paul John, Philip didn't want to do the traditional tourist type of outings so we stuck to trying new restaurants and enjoying the scenery. The weather was perfect the entire week (minus the yellow dust) it was in the high 60's and mid 70's, no rain! Philip said he loved the slow pace and friendly people. He was amazed at how great the service was everywhere we went (and the fact that they were so friendly even through there is no tipping in Japan). He wished he could have stayed longer but knew he had to get back to work. I was sad to see Phil go but take comfort in knowing I'll see him again in 2 1/2 months. We had a great time together and made great memories to look back on in the future.

After two visitors in a row, I'm ready to relax and stay in a bit until spring break in two weeks! This Friday my class goes on our field trip to the aquarium and next Friday I submit 3rd quarter report cards. I will keep you posted on my upcoming events.

XOXO

Kristen

Some of Paul John's Visit

2010-03-15T06:32:00.014+09:00

Sorry to keep those of you who check my blog often waiting. Paul John didn't want to go to the traditional tourist sites so I wasn't taking any pictures until this past weekend. Paul John left yesterday (Sunday) after 12 nights in Okinawa. I have to wait to get the bulk of pictures from him but here are a few to give you a little insight into some our adventures.

Paul John arrived last Wednesday afternoon, I picked him up at the airport and brought him back to school with me. On the way back to school, we realized he forgot the extra suitcase that I asked him to bring for me, at the airport in Naha! I was almost back to school so couldn't turn back around. We called the airport and they said they would hold the suitcase but we would need to be back by 4:30 pm to pick it up. I told them I could make it by 5 pm. It was Jessica's church night so I'd have to drop her off at church, then go to the airport and that would be cutting it close. The airport staff said they would wait until 5 pm for us. Jessica found a ride to church, so we were able to go straight to the airport after school got out. We made it there at exactly 4:30, paid 350 yen ($3.50) for a storage fee and got the suitcase back in one piece.

Since we were in the area (Naha), we decided to go to International/Kokusaidori Street. We ate at Sam's (a seafood restaurant shaped like a boat where a chef cooks food in front of you). It was definitely the best place to take a new visitor on their first night. All the shops have traditional Okinwan foods and souvenirs. Paul John loved looking at all the cars and seeing their weird names. I don't even want to know how many car pictures he took! We ate dinner, walked around and headed back home since it was a school night.

Roxy of Okinawa on Kokusaidori Street. I really wanted to buy a tee shirt that said "Roxy of Okinawa" but none of the shirts here fit me, they are all very wide and short.

Paul John and I in front of Sam's Restaurant on Kokusaidori Steet in Naha

Paul John went with me to school Thursday and Friday and the kids loved him, the boys especially liked having a male "teacher." He played with them during recess and helped teach first grade when Sarah was out for the day. The weather went from hot and humid to cold and rainy and back and forth throughout Paul John's entire visit. Luckily, he had a variety of clothes to adapt when needed.

On Saturday we ate at Jakkepoes which is known as the "IHOP" of Okinawa. I've read about it several times on various websites. Paul John read about it on his own before I could tell him about it so we decided to give it a try. It's a very small, "house turned restaurant" located down narrow, side streets. The only directions were to turn at the grocery store and follow the signs. We surprisingly found it without getting lost! The menu was basic but just what you need to satisfy a pancake craving. I had the plain pancakes with eggs and sausage. Paul John had a traditional Okinawan spice on his pancakes and the pancakes lived up to their expectations, delicious!

One of Paul John's main goals while in Okinawa was to take a karate class. Okinawa is the birth place of Karate so it's a unique experience to take Karate in Okinawa. Rocky drove us to a few different dojo's but they told us they don't offer one day/one week classes. On Monday night, we even walked to a dojo two miles from my apartment. We finally found a dojo about 20 minutes from my apartment. Paul John signed up for the class and we went back at night so he could take the class. Paul John bought a gi at a martial arts store on gate 2 street. We also found an organic bakery on gate 2 street that I think I'll be visiting often (delicious cinnamon rolls and french toast!).

Paul John was the only new person at the Karate class, four other guys who were black belts from Canada were training at the dojo. The sensei spent all 2 hours working with Paul John and another guy who was a brown belt. It was interesting to watch, I got a lot of good videos! Paul John was very happy with the class and enjoyed every moment of it!

The sensai is the one with the red belt. A red belt means you earned enough stripes to pass a black belt!

On Saturday, we went to Cape Zampa beach during the day and found a variety of full seashells! I was very excited about this =) (pics to come).

We stopped by a traditional Okinawan soba house for noodles and rice on the way home. I guess because it was so hot and humid Saturday and I hadn't been drinking much water, I got sick Saturday night and was up half the night throwing up my soba noodles. I won't be eating that again for a while! Paul John loved the 100 yen store and sushi go-round. I have lots more pictures to post of all these fun events, I just need to get them!

School is going well, two weeks until the 3rd quarter is over! I've been doing more oral language practice with my students which seems to be helping their phonics grades. We are going on a field trip to the aquarium next Friday. We have lots of parent volunteers (which means less students per adult) so I hope it's a successful event. I'm still tutoring a 4th grade girl every Monday afternoon for an hour. Before tutoring today, her teacher told me that she had no work to do but needed to practice her oral language, so to just talk with her and correct her grammar. So, todays tutoring session consisted of me asking her questions and giving her one minute per question to talk/answer as much as possible. I asked things like "describe what you ate for lunch today, describe an apple, describe the different between a cat and a dog, etc). Again, I felt bad for getting paid for such as easy task. I know that these little things do add up and make a different though. When tutoring was over and I met with the girls mother, she was very happy to hear that we "talked the whole time and practiced oral language skills."

Philip arrives tomorrow night, YAY! He will be here 7 nights. I am very wiped out from Paul John's visit but I am excited to be sharing this place I call home with so many loved ones. It's a lifetime memory and I will enjoy every moment. Spring break is less than four weeks away and I'm still trying to book a trip. I promise to keep you updated so your not waiting on me so long this time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Love and miss you all!

XOXO

Kristen

P.S.

2010-03-05T07:04:00.003+09:00

I forgot to mention the big earthquake we had in Okinawa last Saturday morning. At 5:30 am I woke up to a big jolt. It was long enough for me to completely wake up, lay in bed and think, okay, this is normal, by the time I get up it will stop. Then I actually had time to get up, walk to Jessica's room and stand under the doorway with her for a few seconds. In reality, the shaking lasted 15 seconds and was recored as a 7.o. The epicenter was located under the ocean, in Naha, about 45 miles from me. It definitely felt strong but the thing that scared me was how long it lasted. At home, I'm used to the quake stopping before I can fully react.

Everything in my apartment was fine, the dish soap fell into the sink but that was it. My principal called a few minutes after I got back in bed to tell me there was a tsunami warning and to not go by the coast. I called my mom to let her know I was okay and she already had people calling her to check on me. I went back to bed for an hour before getting ready to go to the flower show with Rocky. Not long after the earthquake, the tsunami warning was lifted. I didn't feel any after shocks which surprised me.

On Tuesday afternoon however, I was siting in bed with my laptop on my lap and felt a smooth rolling motion. I sat there waiting for it to get bigger but thankfully it didn't. I looked it up and found out it was a 5.0, not too big but big enough to feel. Hopefully that was the last of them!

That's all for my P.S. =)

Kristen

Happy March!

2010-03-02T09:17:00.010+09:00

I can't believe it's March already, yay! The weather has been beautiful which I am very thankful for. It actually started getting humid the last few days. Hopefully the rain and cold are gone for good (or for a while at least). I was able to make it to the beach a few times during the week and actually brought my camera this time.

This is Sunset beach, the area where I go running. I usually park by the hotel (near the windmill) and run around to the area where I took the picture.

As always, a beautiful sunset.

On Saturday I went with Rocky, Lori and her kids to Nago for a flower festival. I was told there are a few gardens near the aquarium that have tropical Okinawan flowers. Rocky took the kids into the aquarium and Lori and I walked around the flower gardens for a few hours. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't see any unique flowers. I enjoyed the nice, relaxing walk though =)

After the flower festival, Rocky took us to a Ryukyu event where Okinawan singers and dancers performed. They usually charge $75 a ticket for the show but since tourism is down this year, the show was free. Rocky still had to reserve tickets for us, it was packed! The show was two hours and was authentic as it can get! There were traditional Okinawan singers, Eisa drummers and a karate performance.

I was able to get a picture with some of the performers after the show.

I would have never found this show without Rocky, I am so thankful for him being my tour guide! It's definitely nice having someone who grew up in Okinawa show me things that nobody else knows about.

Today was the birthday of Dr. Seuss and my class celebrated with reading Dr. Seuss books and playing games. My students didn't recognize the name "Dr. Seuss" but most of them were familiar with his books. We made Dr. Seuss hats in which students filled in Dr. Seuss words that end in at. They all looked so cute!

I filled out and sent in my 3rd quarter progress reports. I had three students with D's and F's. All three received progress reports for their Bible grades and one of them for both Bible and language. They are my three lowest students, two to of which are boys and have really gone downhill since the beginning of the year. Luckily, one of the boys has parents who speak English, so he can get extra help at home. I'm trying to find ways to help them improve as soon as possible!

Paul John is on his plane ride to Okinawa right now. He arrives tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 11:30 am. He will be here until March 14th, hopefully the weather stays nice. Oh, Philip just booked his ticket to see me too! He will arrive on my birthday, March 16th and be here until March 23rd. Fun month full of visitors =)

My cough has continued to get worse over the past week, for some reason it's really bad in the morning and at night. The past few days though, I had to quit reading to students for a few minutes because of cough attacks. I got directions to the doctors office, now I just have to go, UGH!

Happy March! XOXO

Kristen

Gymkhana Races & Family Fun Day

2010-02-21T11:28:00.011+09:00

Last Sunday my friend Charles (who I met through Rocky) invited me to a racing event called Gymkhana. Gymhana is similar to an autocross event in the states. He warned me that it was a long drive and an all day event. I told him I didn't mind (I didn't want to sit home alone all day on Valentine's day) plus it sounded similar to drag races at Irwindale speedway which I always enjoy going to. Charles told me to pack snacks, water and bring sunscreen. I filled up my backpack, Charles picked me up and we headed up north to Nago. Charles picked up another friend on the way and we hit some bad traffic, two hours later we arrived to the race track.

It wasn't exactly a race track but a huge empty lot. The drifting event was still going on when we arrived so I got some cool videos!

The weather was cold and it drizzled for a while. Luckily, Charles brought towels which I covered up with. I didn't know what to expect from the races and didn't realize until I got there that Charles was racing his car. I basically sat and watched all the events for five hours. I had my Ipod and I was staying warm so I was content.

There were about 20 cars racing in the event Charles was in.

Here is Charles in his Subaru.

Each car had a number assigned to it. The cars went on the track in numerical order, when one car was half way around the track, the next car would start. The point was to see which car could get around the entire track in the shortest time. They had about 4 hours to take turns going around the same track. Whoever had the best time, at any point in the 4 hours, would be the winner.

This is where the cars would park in between runs (right next to where I was sitting).

This entire car had stickers of cartoon characters on it! The driver of the car was even wearing a cartoon character shirt!

I got this video of fire coming out of this car!

Here is Charles in his car, ready to race.

Charles told me that this group of racers get together once every other month. The track changes every time. Here is a picture of the track on the day I went. Notice the heart shape for Valentine's day =)

The black dots are where cones are set up, the cars have to go around them.

Charles going around some cones. If you hit one they add five seconds to your time.

I rode in the car with Charles on his last run. It was SO much fun! I started laughing when we took off because it felt like I was on a roller coaster! I didn't want to distract the driver though so I tried to stay quiet. I guess I was good luck because it was his quickest run of the day!

Here is the video I took from inside the car.

Charles ended up coming in 5th place, not bad. After the race, a few of the cars did a mini-drag race (just for fun). Since Charles has a car that is all wheel drive so he smoked the other cars!

Overall, it was a fun day. I was glad I was able to experience the Japanese car scene. I got home at about 8pm that evening, bought some Yoshinoya for my Valentine's dinner. It was not very good at all! It was the first time I had it while in Japan, so it's a good memory to have.

I had this past Monday off for President's day. I Skyped some people, bought some fresh veggies and fruit at the fruit stand, went to the beach and ate Yogurtland while reading a book. It was a relaxing, much needed day off (but still cold out!).

This week, one of my students turned this in with her President's day homework packet. I get what she did but most of her answers were still wrong!

This past Friday, we had family fun day. We didn't have go to school that day. Instead, the entire school (grades pre-k thru 12) went to a nearby park where we played games. Teachers arrived to the park at 9 am (we got there at 9:15 after getting a little lost) and students came to the park with their parents at 10 am. It was a HUGE park that had beautiful bridges, fountains, running paths and flowers. Our school had reserved an inclosed dome at the park.

Thankfully, parents were responsible for their child so I didn't have to worry about watching my students all day. The teams each had a mixture of grade levels. Each classroom had to pick two games and teams would rotate through.

Here is the high school teacher who was running the event and my principal.

My student Yuto looked as adorable as always.

A group of my students, ready to play!

The first game Sarah and I planned consisted of teams holding hands while putting a hula hoop under their legs and over their heads. They couldn't let go of each other's hands while passing the hula hoop. It wasn't the best game but it was fun.

Another teacher had these cool baskets for her game.

A couple of my students attempting to pass the hula hoop.

For our second game, students had to put a stuffed animal between their legs, run to the hula hoop, drop the stuffed animal in the hula hoop, pick the stuffed animal up and run it back to their team. This game was very cute to watch and the students enjoyed it.

Family Fun day ended by 1:30 so we were able to leave work early. It was nice to see my students out of their uniform and in regular clothes. The day went well and everyone seemed to have a good time. We won't have another day off until spring break in April which seems so far away right now!

I had an uneventful weekend. Rocky and I went to dinner at Mike's Tex Mex Friday night. I was craving chips and salsa and satisfied my craving. Saturday, Rocky drove me around to a few Karate dojos to try and find a karate class. All the dojo's were closed and are only open during weekdays so I'll have to try again. Karate was founded in Okinawa so I'd like to take at least few classes while I'm here =) Rocky also took me to a stand that sells tomatoes on the side of the road. I bought a bag of seven, beefsteak tomatoes for only 500 yen (about $5.00). They are absolutely delicious, I've been eating them like apples!

I was able to get a Little Black Book at church on Sunday, so I can read scripture and reflections from now until Easter. I'm going through a children's Bible with one of my reading groups at school and it's neat to see that the stories I'm reading with them are the same stories that are being read in mass on Sundays right now. Cool correlation.

The week before last, I started tutoring on Monday afternoons.. A girl in fourth grade came to our school after Christmas and is way behind in her school work. The fourth grade teacher tutors her a few days a week but the parents wanted her tutored everyday, so the principal asked me if I could tutor her for an hour on Mondays. The fourth grade teacher talked to me and said the student would just bring in her work that needs to be completed. Last week, the girl only had one worksheet to do and then read to me for the remaining 45 minutes. She read very well and didn't really need much help. I told her teacher the book was too low and she needed a higher book. So, this week, she had a harder book but still didn't need too much assistance. I feel bad that the parents are paying me and I'm not doing much.

I'm thankful this is the last week of February. It has still been raining off and on and if it's not raining, it's very cold outside! I'm ready for the weather to heat up so I can get out and explore.

Paul John arrives one week from Wednesday so that is something to look forward to! Not much else going on over the next few weeks. I'll keep you updated when something exciting happens =) By the way, it just started POURING outside, ugh. Rain rain go away!

XOXO

Kristen

Valentine's Party & Dragon Baseball

2010-02-13T16:56:00.045+09:00

The rest of the week went well. My cold got better after lots of soup, Gatorade and orange juice. Tuesday evening is my regular running night but I thought I'd just walk since I was not feeling 100% yet. When I got to the beach it was very windy, more than I have ever seen in Okinawa. It was foggy, the sand was blowing in the air and there were actually waves in the ocean (a very rare sight). It was beautiful. I started walking and realized I couldn't just walk, I began running. I usually step up on a little two foot, concrete wall to run. The wall separates the sand from the running path along the beach and is only about two feet wide. I like jumping up and down on the wall while I'm running, keeps me from getting bored and gives me more of a workout. I must have underestimated the wind, right when I got one foot up on the wall, my other foot slipped and I fell! The wind literally knocked me down. I saw that my hand was bleeding and could see blood on knee, through my pants. I didn't look back or stop, I just keep running (off the wall). I completed my run and then stopped to cool down and inspect the damage, not bad but there were definitely some cuts that needed to be cleaned. I watched the sunset and headed home. My cuts are now scabbing but a bruise came up around my knee. I just hope for no scars. Maybe now I'll stay off the wall for a while =)

It was a busy rest of the week in class. We celebrated Valentine's day on Friday with fun activities and a party. My students were supposed to have P.E. first thing in the morning but the P.E. teacher was absent. My students got exited when I told them I would lead them in P.E. It was very cold out so we did some exercises and played games inside.

Our school had a "Bento Contest" to celebrate Valentine's day. The principal sent letters home informing parents that one student from each grade would win a prize for having the most creative bento. My students didn't seem excited about this until Friday morning when they brought their bentos in. They were VERY detailed!

Heart shaped sandwiches in a heart box.

The Mickey face and ears are rice balls (called onigiri in Okinawa) which is rice in the shape of a ball, wrapped in seaweed. Sometimes, there is salmon or other fish pieces in the middle of the rice ball. This was the 2nd grade winning bento!

My personal favorite, rice balls with seaweed decorated like a baseball and soccer ball. So cute!

Pink, heart shaped rice. I'm not sure what the little ghost things are made of.

Guess who brought heart shaped pizzas.....my American student! With chocolate covered strawberries and grapes =)

Heart shaped egg and meat with flower shaped carrots.

I'm not exactly sure what this is but it looks cute.

It's a little blurry but if you look closely at the hot dog, there are Hello Kitty stamps on it!

I made heart shaped Jello for my students =)

This student came up to my desk, slipped me a note and ran away.

The note said "Thank you for awas (always) thech (teach) and thank you four awas (always) reed (read) the Bible." It was SO incredibly cute, I had to get a picture of him with it! I now have the letter in my room as a reminder to smile =)

My students did Chapel Friday morning and read a little skit about how God made us unique and for a specific purpose. I really stressed that we each need to use the gifts and talents God has given us to inspire and help others. Funny thing is that in Church on Sunday the homily was about the same thing! God is trying to tell me something =)

After P.E. and Chapel, we played a math game in which each table received a group of candy hearts. Each table then answered groups of questions such as "How many ways can you group these hearts?" and "How many hearts will it take to be the length of one ruler?"

It was a fun game, of course my students favorite part was that they got to eat the hearts after!

Second grade was in charge of sorting and delivering Valentine cards from the school mailbox to different classrooms. After we finished that, we had our own party. Each student brought in not only cards but lots of candy! I gave each student 2 gallon size ziplock bags to keep there candy in and that was still not enough!

Here they are with their bags overflowing with chocolates and candy. We only had 30 minutes left in the school day but I allowed them to each pick out ONE piece of candy and eat it.

I came home with a large paper bag full of gifts. Gourmet Japanese chocolates, donuts, lotions, soaps, cards, etc. I'm not a chocolate fan and I try not to eat sweets so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all this...I guess one piece every once in a while won't be too bad, right?

This little note from one of my students made me smile, I have it posted up in my room now =)

Saturday, I went to Chatan Stadium to watch a spring training baseball game. The teams were the Dragons and Lions, both are from mainland, Okinawa does not have a team. The game was at 1 pm but I got there at noon, just to make sure I got a seat.

Here is the outside of the stadium.

The only food there was this lunch truck outside the stadium. They sold hot dogs and rice balls, nothing looked appealing.

I wasn't sure which team to root for but the signs around the stadium all promote the Dragons.

Here are the Dragons warming up on a field next to the stadium. There were a good amount of people taking pictures. It was funny to see the players practicing on an open field with no security around.

View of the players warming up from the stadium.

I was surprised to find the stadium fairly empty with only 40 minutes before game time. More people did show up but it was still only about 50% full.

The windmill in the back is along the path where I go running.

The Lions warming up on the field.

The Dragons with their mascot (not sure what it is exactly).

The only non Japanese player came in as a relief pitcher.

I guess it's universal, kids still love watching baseball from the fence (and putting their fingers in it!).

It looked funny to see 122 written on the centerfield wall, 122 feet is nothing....except it's not measured in feet here, it's measured in meters which makes much more sense.

I loved how the umpire would yell "Out!" and "Strike!" in Japanese. Even though it's a different language, you still knew what he was saying!

The biggest difference in the game was that there were no food vendors walking around, yelling and selling items. Also, the crowd was very quiet! They clapped a few times but were not loud at all. Something I thought was really funny, people would move away from foul balls instead of trying to catch them! You just don't see that in America. It was a fun game, I'm planning on going back next Saturday. Apparently it's a more important game because this time you have to buy tickets.

It was a good game.

The Lions were leading 1-0 until the 8th inning. Dragons ended up winning 2-1. I recorded the big play of the game:

Today is Tuesday and I am back at work after a long, 3 day weekend. On Sunday, I went to some Okinawan drag races. I have a few really good videos to post from the races (in another post). It will be a short week because we don't have school on Friday either. It's family fun day so the entire school goes to the park with their parents to play games. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, hopefully I get on base for mass. Hope you all enjoyed Valentine's day, I was thinking of you =)

XOXO

Kristen

Day 100 & Cherry Blossoms

2010-02-08T20:27:00.009+09:00

Today was our 100th day of school! We celebrated by reading a 100 day book, doing 100 different exercises, writing about how to spend $100, making jello with 100 gummy bears swimming inside of the bowl, creating a trail mix of 100 different snacks and adding up dice to see who could get to 100 first. Overall, it was a fun day! I love being a teacher on days like today when the students are excited to learn =)

On saturday, I went with Jessica and a few of her church friends up north to Nago to see the cherry blossoms. Saturday was the closing ceremony for the cherry blossom festival, so even though it was raining, I didn't want to miss my last chance to see the blossoms. The cherry blossom "season" and festivals are only three weeks long. There are various cherry blossom festivals up north, all of which had their closing ceremonies on Saturday. I have been seeing cherry blossoms all around the island, some in the streets in front of my apartment and some along the beach where I go running. The cherry blossoms in Okinawa are all pink, I have not seen any white ones.
The area we went to was different then where I had been a few weeks ago. This festival had food and shops but no games or playground area for kids. Most of the trees were bloomed and looked gorgeous! A lot different than the first time I went to see them. There weren't as many trees as I had imagined but it was still a sight worth seeing. We when first arrived, we went inside a building to watch a traditional Japanese singing and dance show. We then paid to walk through the Nakijin-Jo castle ruins where the cherry blossoms were located. Luckil,y the rain lightened up while we were watching the show, I didn't have an umbrella and had to use my jacket hood as protection. The castle ruins area was small but had a great view of the ocean. After strolling around and taking a few pictures, we went into the castle ruins museum. Everything was in Japanese so it was a bit frustrating not being able to read anything. There was some neat photos of Okinawa in the 50's and 60's along with Okinawan tools and artifacts. It was a fun day, I'm glad I was able to see the cherry blossoms on more than one occasion.

Sunday it rained all day, as soon as it stopped, I went out running in the cold. Probably not a good idea because now I am blowing my nose and sneezing every few minutes. Tonight I bought some soup and orange juice and have been drinking lots of gatorade. Hopefully I will get better within the next few days, before my long weekend begins!

Monday at 7 am was the super bowl for us here, the radio kept making announcements "Super Bowl Party, Monday at 7 am." HAHA, military stationed here actually had the day off for the super bowl!
The weather was in the 70's today and tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 80's! I hope the cold weather is gone for good. We will be celebrating Valentine's day on Friday, more pictures to come =)
If I don't get to talk to you, happy Valentine's day to you all. My life is blessed by your love =)

XOXO
Kristen

P.S. I couldn't even finish this blog before it started raining outside, thunder, lightening and all! So much for being hopeful about the nice weather tomorrow.

The 3rd Quarter Begins

2010-02-03T19:58:00.000+09:00

I know this is kind of off subject but here is a picture I took of Mt. Fuji on the plane ride from Okinawa to Tokyo, when I was going home for Christmas. I was very impressed with the view.

Exciting news of the week: I completed my 2nd quarter of teaching and am now into the 3rd quarter! Friday was a half day so teachers could stay and work on their report cards. Since I use an electronic grading book online, I had all my grades ready, I just had to enter them and add my comments (which took no time at all). The grades of my students went down slightly the 2nd quarter but nothing extreme. My student who had a few F's in the 1st quarter was able to bring her grades up a bit. She had no F's this time and only one D. Overall, the language/phonics grades were still the lowest. We continue to work on that everyday. I feel like we still have so much to work on with only 4 months left in the school year. It feels unreal that we are in the 3rd quarter already!

On half days, the staff usually has a potluck. I love the potlucks because I get to sample various Japanese dishes. Although I tried to fill up on salad and veggies, I sampled Japanese apple pie (a little sweeter than America's version), a Korean egg dish (spicy) and Filipino meat sticks, which were my favorite! During lunch, I was able to talk to a few of my coworkers that I don't get to see very often. It was nice visiting with them and getting a different perspective about Okinawan living.

Friday night I joined a rosary group at church. It was a small group of 4 but they were all very friendly and welcoming. I enjoyed praying with them, if I could just get on base more easily, I could join them more often. They all offered to buy me food at the commissary if I'm ever craving something special.

After church, I went to Kathi's for dinner (American military family from San Diego that Jessica's friend was a nanny for). Kathi baked homemade veggie lasagna and peanut butter cupcakes. I very much appreciate any food cooked in an oven, so it was a nice treat.

Saturday, I went running at the beach. I'm so happy to have gotten back into my regular workout routine. There is a baseball field in the area where I run and I had been seeing signs for Japan's professional baseball team posted at the stadium. After running, I stopped by the stadium, eventually found a person who spoke English and found out that Japan's professional baseball teams are playing their spring training games there. The teams are from mainland Japan, Okinawa does not have a professional team. I had been asking local Okinawan people about professional sports and where I could watch a game and none of them knew or seemed interested in knowing. I was very excited to find the information about the games (and I did it all on my own, without tips from the locals)! I will be going to two games next weekend and one game the following weekend =)

More news that made me smile: On Saturday, I found a fresh vegetable and fruit shop! It's a little shop that sells veggies and fruit for a fairly cheap price (even cheaper than on base). One of the things I've been missing in Okinawa is fresh veggies and fruit, so I was thrilled about finding this shop. It's only about 10 minutes from my apartment and has a great selection. I bought bananas, oranges, potatoes, fresh spinach, tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, eggs and green peppers. I've been cooking veggies with every meal this week, a few times I just had a big plate of veggies for dinner. I'm planing on going back to the shop every weekend to stock up for the week.

I babysat for Lori Saturday night. Lori dropped the girls (Izzy is 5 and Carolyn is 8 and in my class) off at my apartment at 4 pm. I called Lindsay and we video chatted. She was able to talk/see Izzy and Carolyn which they thought was very cool.

I took the girls to American Village. I planned on meeting Kathi there for dinner but we couldn't find her, we ended up eating sushi at a sushi go-round and playing games at an arcade. Kathi later showed up at the arcade with her kids, come to find out she was at a different sushi restaurant. I took the girls to YogurtLand and dropped them off at home later that night. It was a fun night out.

The girls in front of the American Village sign

They even found a ride on the roof of the arcade!

American Village is known for it's ferris wheel. I haven't been on it yet.

On Sunday I took a book to the beach and read for a few hours. It was a beautiful day but started to sprinkle a bit. I finished reading in the car before going to church. I signed up for Holy Adoration from 10-11 pm this Friday night, I've never done it before so I'm anxious to see how it goes.

This week, it has been raining off and on and been cold (in the 40's and 50's). My class has been a little better as far as behavior this week. Of course now I'm making them sit out during recess if they move their clip too much. This week, I've been planning activities for the 100th day of school. Day 100 will be on Tuesday February 9th. Since the first day of school, we have been counting up to the 100th day. I've made it a really big deal so my students are excited. I found some fun activities and am anxious to see how they turn out. Three more days and we will be at day 100, wow!

Today it rained all day so I couldn't go on my run. I'll have to make up for it this weekend. Saturday I'm going back to see the cherry blossoms, hopefully they are fully bloomed! Happy February =)

XOXO

Kristen

The Completion of Anita's Visit

2010-01-27T15:26:00.000+09:00

I don't have any interesting stories to begin this blog with, so I'll get right to the last few days I explored Okinawa with Anita.

Since the Monday we got back to Okinawa was a holiday, we went out salsa dancing again on Sunday night. When Monday's are a holiday, there are usually big salsa dancing parties on Sunday nights. Rocky and Charles took us back to Naha to try a different salsa club. I finally found out where all the military people hang out! It was a fun night. It was nice to practice salsa with Rocky and Charles, good practice.

We left the salsa club around 1 am and went to a pool hall in Naha to get some food. Mmmm, nothing like Japanese pool hall food, haha, NOT! Charles and I played a game of ping pong .We didn't stay out until 7 am this time, we got home and in bed by 4 am.

We slept in on Monday and decided to do some sightseeing. There are thousands of castle ruins in Okinawa and I'm still not sure which ones are the "best" to see. I found a sight with castle ruins in my guidebook, so I thought it was worth a try. At one point, we had to stop and ask a lady on the street which way to go. Luckily, we were not too far off track. The only information in English that I found about the castle is that it was constructed in the 15th century.

It smelled like camping which made me very happy.

A few minutes after arriving to the park, it got very cloudy and overcast, made for a great picture!

Nice view from the top!

We asked a couple walking by to take a picture of us...we weren't quite ready but good candid shot.

There were benches placed throughout the park, quiet and relaxing spots to rest.

After the castle ruins, we ate at an all you can eat pizza buffet. The pizza here is a lot different, super thin crust, not a lot of sauce and almost always has corn as a topping! I mostly stuck with the salad.

That Tuesday I went back to work. It was nice to see the students but they are so shy, only a couple of them ran up to give me hugs. The others smiled and started at me, waiting for me to hug them. As the week went on, the students had a harder and harder time following directions and staying on task. By Friday I was getting really annoyed.

Tuesday night I took Anita to sushi in American Village and Thursday night we went to karaoke with Rocky, Jessica and the kindergarten aide. We paid 300 yen each to sing in a private room for one hour. Anita and I had fun attempting to sing but I'm not sure if the rest of them had fun listening to us =) Karaoke is huge in Okinawa so it nice try it out.

Friday night, I took Anita to my favorite restaurant in Okinawa, Capital Steakhouse. It's within walking distance of my apartment and has the best food I've had here so far. A chef cooks your order on a grill in front of you. I've always had the shrimp dinner. All meals come with grilled veggies, soup, salad, rice, tea/coffee.

After dinner, Anita agreed that Capital is the best place to eat in Okinawa.

Anita and I explored the area around my apartment later that night. Our friend picked us up and drove us to the beach area 2 miles from my apartment. We hung out at a few bars, one karaoke bar and one martini bar. I had no ideas these bars existed, I'm glad I found them. Good spots for future visitors! One interesting thing that happened while we were out; military commanders, sergeants or some high up rank (they had fancy, pointy hats and were in uniform) would come into the bars, walk around a few minutes and leave. Someone in the bar told us that they are high ranking (something or others) who browse around the bars on weekends, making sure the military people that are out, are allowed to be out. I guess depending on your status/rank, you cannot be out past a certain time or be certain places. Interesting.

Sampling some authentic Japanese sake, the worker at the store told me this sake was good and that Americans loved it. It wasn't as good as I expected but decent enough.

We entertained ourselves with bubbles in the karaoke bar.

The next day (Saturday), we drove up to Nago to see the cherry blossoms. I invited Rocky and he came along for the ride and helped navigate. I wanted to eat at a restaurant called Pizza in the Sky. I was told it's a restaurant with a great view, that serves pizza. What more could you ask for? We decided to eat first, then see the cherry blossoms. Luckily, Rocky had been to the restaurant before, I would have NEVER found it. We went up windy, narrow dirt roads. It felt like we were in a scary movie at some points. After a few wrong turns, we finally found Pizza in the Sky, only to discover that they didn't open for another 45 minutes. We saw a little house turned coffee shop next to the restaurant and decided to get some tea while waiting. Anita and I shared a tea and Okinawan fruit drink. Rocky said the fruit drink is very healthy and is loaded with vitamin C.

Here's Anita getting her daily dose of vitamins.

We shared tea and the fruit drink, both were delicious.

The owners gave us this Okinawan appetizer. It's leaf's that are filled with a sweet, sticky potatoes. Good to try but I wasn't a big fan. You eat it by unwrapping the leaf and biting the potato part on the inside.

Rocky and Anita enjoying drinks while waiting for Pizza in the Sky to open.

View outside the coffee shop.

We walked over to Pizza in the Sky about 15 minutes after they opened and were told that it was full, so we'd have to wait a few minutes. UGH! We chose to avoid the wait by sitting outside to eat. It was surprisingly a small building but was very crowded

The famous view from the restaurant, I guess the drive and wait were worth it =)

This is the menu, a fan! Japanese on one side and English on the other. We each ordered a personal sized pizza. Each pizza came with corn, pepperoni, sausage and green peppers.

Rocky eating his pizza with chop sticks! *He didn't didn't eat the whole pizza with them. The pizza was good, the view topped it off. We left satisfied.

After eating, we drove up a rode lined with cherry blossom trees. This was the first official weekend of the cherry blossom festival and there were only a few tress that were fully bloomed.

The festival had lots of games, food and activities for kids.

We got a few good pictures.

The kids walking around were so cute and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

A worker tried to talk us into buying these huge cotton candies, no thank you! Anita told him that she would get way too hyper.

Mochi dipped in powdered sugar and filled with fruit, yum!

Okinawan donuts and pancakes filled with red beans. They looked just like the ones I had with my family in Little Tokyo.

Anita decided to go down the slide with the rest of the kids =)

After exploring the festival, we rested at home for a bit then went out to dinner. The parents of a student at my school run a restaurant out of their house. The mom grew up in Tokyo and doesn't like Okinwan food, so she cooks authenitic "Japanese" food. She opened up her restaurant to the teachers and a few parents from school. I was surprised to find that all the parents at the dinner were parents of my students!

Here are the kids playing outside before dinner. Five of them are my students, they were surprised but excited to see me. They looked adorable out of their uniform and in "regular" clothes.

This dish is teppanyaki. Teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using an iron plate. This particular dish had cabbage, squid, soy sauce and a few other unknown items in it =) You eat it in small portions so it stays warm. The taste wasn't bad.

We also sampled yaki soba (fried noodles) and onigiri rice balls (rice in the shape of a ball, mixed with meat or veggies, this one was mixed with pieces of carrot). The noodles were my favorite, very light but bursting with flavor! We also had pickled ginger.

One of the moms gave us the same sweet potato dish that we had tried earlier in the day. I think this one is filled with yams.

It was fun getting to interact with some of my students and their parents on a more personal level. The parents were all so friendly and drinking, A LOT! Maybe thats why there were being so friendly =)

I drove Anita to the airport the next morning. We were both sad to say our goodbyes but know that we will see each other again soon. We created memories that will last a lifetime and I'm so thankful for her friendship.

XOXO

Kristen

Anita's First Weekend in Okinawa

2010-01-24T20:08:00.000+09:00

Before I get to the details of my fun times with Anita;

I "officially" became a teacher today......one of my students threw up in my lap this afternoon!!!!! YUCK YUCK YUCK!

With 30 minutes left in the school day, I had my reading group go back to their seats because one girl started crying while she was reading. I had to ask her to focus a few times while reading, so I thought she was just upset about getting in trouble, which is very typical for this student. When she started crying I had her come next to me, put my arm around her and asked what was wrong. Before she could say a word, she leaned over and threw up, all over my jacket, down my pants, in her hair, on the carpet and all over the tile. Luckily, it was clean up time, so Sarah took over as my student and I headed to the bathroom. After cleaning up, my student said she felt better. Meanwhile, I had to mop up the throw up (how much I now appreciate public school janitors!). I was able to come right home and wash my pants. I forgot my jacket at school so that will be waiting for me tomorrow =(

To top things off, when I finished cleaning, my class was walking outside for dismissal, when passing the same student, I asked her how she felt, she stopped and threw up AGAIN! This time it didn't land on me and there was a trash can nearby. Poor thing. I was sick to my stomach on the ride home from work, smelling the throw up on my clothes the whole way home. Now that I'm all cleaned up, I can laugh at the story and truly feel that I've been welcomed into the teacher-hood! =)

Anita's First Few Days in Okinawa:

Anita left Okinawa on Sunday afternoon, it was a sad goodbye but we had a wonderful time together. After a good nights sleep Friday night (1/15) we woke up Saturday morning ready to explore the island. We headed up north to Nago. Our agenda; The Aquarium, Pineapple Factory and the Butterfly Garden. Since I've already been to these places a few times, I felt like a pro not getting lost on the drive up!

Our first stop was the aquarium. We decided to skip the inside of the aquarium and stuck to exploring the outside area (which is free). I saw a group of Japanese men standing around so I asked them if they would like me to take a picture of them. They happily accepted, then this gentlemen asked Anita and I to take a picture with him. His friends all laughed as they took pictures of us with several cameras.

We watched a really cool dolphin show. The backdrop of the ocean and Japanese music during the show made it even better!

It was a chilly day out so we made sure to sit in the no splash zone.

The ocean water was actually still warm.

You probably recognize this photo spot from my pictures at the aquarium with Rachel. Even though it was not sunny and warm like the last time, it still made for a beautiful picture spot!

After about an hour at the aquarium, we drove a few miles down the road to the Butterfly Garden. The sun was hidden in the clouds and the sky was gorgeous!

This time, in addition to red hats, they had blue hats for us to wear. I didn't know that blue attracted butterflies too, hmmm.

Since I was wearing long pants, tennis shoes and long sleeves, I was much less scared of the butterflies crawling on me this time around!

We spend a few minutes at the garden then traveled a few more miles to the Pineapple Factory! My personal favorite =) We sampled the wines and food, Anita bought a few things. This was the first time I didn't buy anything! The pineapple champagne is hands down my favorite, I will definitely be buying a few bottles to take home again =)

This Pineapple Factory worker had a full on mullet! We had to get a picture!

On the way back from Pineapple Factory, I had to stop by the Busena resort to show Anita my favorite spot to watch the sunset. By this point, it was almost 5 pm and was very cold (well, in the 50's anyway). We stayed about a half hour and took a few pictures. The sun ended up hiding behind clouds before setting, so we didn't get to experience the full sunset. Still beautiful nonetheless.

We arrived back to my apartment around 7pm, took a nap from 8-10pm then headed out to a salsa bar. Rocky was helping work in his friends salsa bar that night, so we met up with him around midnight. In Okinawa, people don't start getting to salsa clubs until after 11 pm and the clubs stay open until 7 am! We stayed at the first bar for an hour, then Rocky took us to a different bar in Naha (about 30 minutes away). Rocky brought his friend Charles who grew up in L.A. but moved to Okinawa for work, four years ago. Rocky and Charles are both very good salsa dancers so it was nice to have them teach us some moves.

Anita, Charles and I at the salsa club

We got back to my apartment from the salsa club at 7 am, just as Jessica was getting up for church! It was a fun, tiring night out!

We had a few more adventures the during the rest of the week. I'll post those pictures within the next few days. I just got in from running and I'm sore, tried and ready for bed and it's not even 9 pm! Ugh, old age (or maybe it's the throw up) =)

XOXO

Kristen

The Last Half of My Adventure

2010-01-20T15:30:00.000+09:00

The last half of my adventure in Okinawa has begun! I am back safe and sound after over 3 weeks of visiting home for the holidays. I enjoyed every moment of being with family and friends and am now ready to take on the last leg of my challenge.

It was so nice to have a travel buddy, Anita has helped me ease back into my "normal" routine. Our flights went well. I packed my two suitcases full of American food and was over the weight limit when checking my bags in. I had a backpack as a carry on that I was able to stuff with extra items and had Anita check in, since she only had one bag. It all worked out so I didn't have to pay for being over the weight limit. Our flights went smoothly. I didn't sleep at all from LAX to Tokyo. I watched a few movies and TV shows, read a little and tried not to get too bored. We were served some decent pizza and chicken and rice during the flight. We arrived to Tokyo with 2 hours to spare before taking off again.

After 15 hours of traveling, here we are ready to take off for our final flight from Tokyo to Okinawa. We both slept all 3 hours of this flight.

Anita's first view of Japan from the air.

We made it!

It was nice to go back to school and see my students, they were surprised and happy to see me. They had to be reminded of the rules more than once but they weren't too unruly. I enjoyed the warm welcome from my principal and coworkers, they were all very excited for me to be back.

Anita has been keeping me busy and I already have lots of pictures to post. She is only here until Sunday, so I'll blog again next week when I have more free time.

It's so weird being back in this routine again. Spring semester is definitely going to be busier than last semester, so I'm sure the time will fly by. I'm going to start planning my spring break trip next week...I'm looking for a travel buddy, if your interested let me know!

I miss you all and can't wait to see you again!

XOXO

Kristen

The Christmas Season

2009-12-15T18:11:00.000+09:00

Everyday, I'm realizing how much I especially love being a teacher during the Christmas season! It's a hectic time but there is an array of creative Christmas activities to do with students in primary grades. The fact that I can talk to my students about God and the true meaning of Christmas, makes my job even better!

With the Christmas program, Polar Express Day and Christmas parties this week, Sarah and I decided to not teach our regular curriculum. Instead, we planned Christmas activities.

A few weeks ago, I sent home a gingerbread man to be decorated and brought back to class. Students practiced their oral language skills by sharing their gingerbread man with the class and explaining how they decorated it. I was very impressed with most of them. All of my students are very artsy! The gingerbread men are now displayed in the windows of my classroom. Students in other classes love walking by and admiring the 1st/2nd grade work!

Monday night was the 1st-3rd grade Christmas program. My students have been working very hard to prepare for the program. The past two weeks, they have had music class for 45 minutes, every single day! Sarah and I got them dressed in their gowns and halos.

Here they are walking up the stairs, about to walk on stage.

Some of them were a little nervous.

They all looked adorable!

Here they are when they first walked on stage...letting out their jitters.

The entire program lasted about 50 minutes. They did very well, I was so proud!

The day after the Christmas program, we had Polar Express day in class. Students came in their pajamas, we read the book Polar Express, watched the movie, drank hot chocolate with marshmallows and ate candy canes and popcorn. It was a fun, relaxing day and a nice reward to students after working so hard for their Christmas program.

They all looked adorable!

Class pajama photo.

While watching the movie at the end of the day, almost half of the students fell asleep! A few of them wouldn't wake up when it was intermission (snack time), so I let them keep sleeping.

I think this student got new shoes to wear for the Christmas program...then wanted to wear them the next day with his pajamas...too cute!

Last Saturday I went with Omar to a haunted hotel in Okinawa! I had been hearing about the hotel since moving here, so I thought I should brave it and check it out while I had the chance of going with a navy coreman.

The hotel was built in the 70's by a businessman, with no blueprints. He was warned by locals not to build on the grounds because it was a sacred site. He went on building anyway, until a number of workers had fatal accidents. They stopped building and the businessman went bankrupt, he is supposedly now in a mental hospital on the island. It is now said that a monk who built an alter to keep the spirits calm, lives in the abandoned hotel. Creepy! I didn't know this story before I went! We had to drive up a dark, windy road to reach the hotel. The parking lot was abandoned and dark...no lights! I thought we would just be walking around the outside of the hotel, but Omar informed me that we had to walk through it to get to a good picture spot. We had to hike up a steep hill for about 50 yards. The branches and plants were so thick, it was hard to see in front of us. Since there was no lighting, we had to use a flashlight.

Here we are in the parking lot, about to hike back to the hotel.

When we reached the hotel, we had to climb though a window to get inside...it was dark and I didn't want to be in there alone, so I let Omar go first. Once inside, we had to walk through various rooms full of old, rusty, metal scraps that the workers left behind when working on the hotel. There was even an old car inside! It was quiet, except for the sound of water drops and frogs from a nearby pond. Very creepy, I didn't get nervous until we were actually inside.

Since I was there at night, I didn't get any pictures inside but I found this one online.

We walked inside the hotel for about 5 minutes, which seemed like a lot longer at the time. The entire building is concrete and many of the walls are not completely finished. We couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of us, luckily Omar had been there before, so he knew where we were going. We finally reached the outside area and walked up 2 flights of stairs, which led us to an outside, panoramic view of Okinawa. It was beautiful! In the above picture, you can see the outside area where we took pictures. We were on the top floor, along the ledge.

The ferris wheel in the picture below is at American Village, the little area two miles from my apartment that has cute shops and yummy restaurants.

Trying not to look scared!

We stayed at the top taking pictures for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to go back through the hotel to exit since I now knew how creepy it was. We made our way out of the hotel, climbed back out the window and hiked down the hill. We heard movement in the bushes at one point, when we shined the flashlight in that direction, we both saw what looked like two eyes in the bushes. I told myself I was seeing things and we hurried out. We safely made it back to the car. It was a unique experience that I am glad I did once but will not do again!

Last night, I went on base to watch a Christmas program that had choirs from various churches singing. My church had their choir sing a few songs and the kindergarten students from my school performed. It was a nice little gathering to help celebrate the Christmas season.

Today is Friday and was my last day of teaching for the year! We had a busy/crazy day of reading Christmas books, watching a movie, eating tons of snacks and doing a gift exchange. I got to sample lots of Japanese candy, some of which was very good! Most of my students are sad that they won't be coming back to school for two whole weeks! I turned in my progress reports for the 2nd quarter today and I only have one student getting a D/F. The end of the 2nd quarter will be a few weeks after Christmas break! Time is flying by now.

I will miss my students over the next few weeks but am looking forward to a relaxing, long vacation.

Tomorrow I will finalize my packing and get ready to head home for Christmas =)

Jessica will drop me off at the airport Sunday at 6:15 am for my 8 am flight. I'll then fly to Tokyo where I will ride 1.5 hours in a shuttle limo to switch airports. Luckily, I have time to do this since I have a six hour layover in Tokyo. From Tokyo I fly directly to LAX, arriving at 9:15 Sunday morning. The flight from Okinawa to Tokyo is two hours. The flight from Tokyo to LAX is 9 hours...it's not 16 hours, so it shouldn't be too bad, right?

I'll be daydreaming about seeing you all while I'm in the air.

See you at home!

XOXO

Kristen

Imperial Palace & Harajuku Street

2009-12-12T16:00:00.000+09:00

On our last day in Tokyo, we slept in, checked out of our hotel and headed to Imperial Palace on the subway. It was a short 15 minute ride but once we got off the subway, we had to walk around a bit trying to find where to go. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining and I was actually able to take my jacket off for a while. Our flight was not until 8 pm so I was excited to have a full day of exploring, without a planned schedule.

We followed the posted signs to Kokyo, where Imperial Palace is located and entered a large park area with beautiful trees, fountains and gardens.

The gorgeous colors and quiet ambiance made for a relaxing walk.

After a short stroll, we found the palace which is the residence of Japan's Imperial family.

Unfortunately, this is as close as we could get to seeing the palace. The palace buildings are only open to the public twice a year, on new years greeting-January 2nd and the emperor's birthday-December 23rd. On these two days, visitors enter the inner palace grounds and see members of the imperial family, who make public appearances on a balcony. This stone bridge is called Meganebashi, meaning "glass bridge." You can see the roof of the Imperial Palace in the upper right corner of the picture.

The castle was rebuild after being destroyed in WWII.

Business center in downtown Tokyo.

From Imperial Palace, we took the subway to Harajuku Street. Harajuku is a large shopping district with Japanese and Western clothing stores. Harajuku has stores that blend everything from Hello Kitty to Hip Hop to British Punk. We were told Harajuku is a popular spot for Japanese teenagers.

The streets were packed and people were a bit pushy. Jessica and I decided to split up and meet back up in a few hours, I was taking a little long shopping, making up for lost time =) I shopped in H&M and looked in Forever 21 but quickly left because I was not able to walk without being surrounded by pushy people.

Japanese teenagers near Harajuku street, trying to bring back mullets and baggy pants!

While walking along Harajuku Street, looking for a sushi restaurant, we spotted this sadium. It's called National Yoyogi Stadium, which hosted the 1964 olympic swimming competitions.

We walked up and down Harajuku Street and the surrounding area for what seemed like forever, trying to find a sushi restaurant. I walked in several stores and asked "Sushi?" while motioning to eat. Everyone said "Not here" or made an X with their hands. I was starving but determined to eat sushi before heading back to Okinawa. After about 45 minutes, I figured my best bet would be finding sushi around our hotel. We took the subway back to Shinagawa. As we were entering our hotel courtyard area, I spotted a sign that said "sushi!" among a list of restaurants. I walked downstairs and found this cute little sushi bar. Jessica doesn't like sushi so she ate at a American food restaurant while I ate at the sushi bar.

There were only a few other people in the small restaurant. I ordered salmon, tuna and crab rolls with a large glass of Orion beer. The chef made the rolls right in front of me and they were deliciously fresh! Two older ladies came in and sat next to me, they spoke a little English and told me they were studying "how to wear komonos." I didn't know there was such a thing. They were very nice and wanted to hear all about the United States.

Sushi chef preparing my food.

I was thrilled to finally have authentic sushi! It was a perfect ending to a fun packed weekend. After eating, we picked up our bags at our hotel and headed to the airport.

One last picture in our hotel lobby.

When we arrived to the airport, it was very crowded. A big change from when we arrived to Tokyo. After waiting in a long line, we were told we needed to check in at the self automated machines. The lady at the counter told us we didn't have to wait in line again, we could come right back to her. So, we checked in on the self automated machines but when we went back to the counter, a different worker was there. A lady waiting in line thought we were cutting, so she got angry and started yelling at the worker in Japanese. I laughed, I guess I would get mad too if I thought someone was cutting. haha. Needless to say, we checked in and had two hours to spare. Our flight got delayed from 8 pm to 845 pm. It was a packed flight and by the time we got in the air, it was after 9 pm. On the flight, they served haagan dazs ice cream again! What an upgrade from peanuts and pretzels! We made it back to Okinawa after 11 pm, Rocky was waiting for us and we filled him in on the trip during the 30 minute ride home. It felt weird coming back to Okinawa after being in Tokyo. I felt like I should be going back home, to the U.S. after being "away."

It was an amazing vacation, I am so glad I was able to experience the many adventures Tokyo has to offer. I am now officially done posting my Tokyo pictures! It only took a few weeks =)

Now on to the Christmas update.

XOXO

Kristen