When in Okinawa...

This is the view outside my living room window to our backyard at dusk. We live in a fortified, cement bunker due to typhoon season, so these windows aren't the prettiest, but I think the view makes up for it. Maybe I am just so green-starved after living in the desert for so long, but I think this is gorgeous. I'm in love with all those skinny palm trees, and they are everywhere here.

I need to learn to bring my camera everywhere, because I am seeing SO much that is worth sharing. This place is incredible. Cliff and I went into Naha on Saturday morning to drop off his boss at the airport. We stopped in a little market area downtown that was straight out of a movie set...but since I didn't know we'd be going anywhere but the airport, I didn't come prepared. I'll have to share it another time...it will give us an excuse to go back. I did remember to bring it on our family outing Saturday night, so I can share some of what we saw here:



These little trucks are everywhere. Almost everything is smaller here. We have a pretty standard-sized, egg-shaped Toyota van...but even most minivans here are truly mini.



These beverage machines are literally everywhere, even in remote places. I mean, there are more of these dotting the Okinawan landscape than Dunkin' Donuts in Massachusetts. We're going to try as many of these beverages as we can. So far, our favorite is an apple drink called Qoo.


Here we are waiting to let our first culinary adventure begin. It was a recommendation by the guy at the cell phone store after we told him we were looking for authentic Okinawan fare. I would tell you the name here, if I knew Kanji, but the best I can do is tell you it is near Araha Beach off of Hwy 58 and 130, has a red roof and the last character in the name looks sort of like an airplane.




YUM! And the beauty is, Jake could slurp all he wanted...it's good manners!


Even Patrick loved it...and he hates everything! But he was most excited about sitting on a mat to eat...


Coree was a little more skeptical...but considering she almost never eats more than a few bites of anything, she did fine.


This is what I'm getting next time...but I'll leave the pork slices and just eat the fish and noodles.



This was too much fun! We were the only white people in the place, and no one else seemed to share our enthusiasm for the cultural experience. Hmmm...



Here's some more shots of the atmosphere. All 4 kids pulled out their cell phones as soon as we walked in and snapped photos the whole time. Who's the tourist now?

Afterward, we walked down to the water. It was a beautiful night. There were LOTS of other restaurants in the area...I wonder how long it will take us to try them all?

Our goal is to try someplace new at least every Saturday.

Until next time...Sionara!