Philip's Visit

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