Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I am SO excited about this post! Remember my post about this video here?

Well, maybe I should back up and first try to explain part of what it's like being an American attached to the military on Okinawa. There is a high concentration of Americans here. We are still a small part of the population overall, but the highest concentration of American military in Japan are stationed on Okinawa...not to mention all the civilians who are here in support of the military (contractors, school teachers, etc.)

Anyway, it would be quite easy to just live your life here going from one base to another, having a totally American experience. Truthfully, that is probably the case here for most Americans...even those who live off base. We have very little dealings with the local population, other than shopping, site-seeing, dining, etc. I don't have any real friends who are Okinawan. Even the ladies I recognize from the culture group {which I participated in last year} in the halls of our church building (we share a building with a Japanese congregation but meet at different times) I don't really know that well...just a little about them. Same with my housekeepers. They are here to do a job and we have a limited ability to communicate with each other.

What I'm trying to say is, for the most part, our daily paths are very different here. We are Americans having a mostly American experience on Okinawa, and the Okinawans are...well...living their normal Okinawan lives. Anytime our cultures come together, it is an exciting thing. I know it is for us, and appears to be for them (in my experience), too.

This is what makes this video so very exciting:


I love these kids! They are so darling. Just in case you are not familiar with the Miley Cyrus video...it has nothing to do with the song, so this video is obviously a remake of the video our kids did, not her video.

We need to arrange a meeting between the two groups this summer when Josh is home. My favorite part is the outtake reel at the end of the video. Josh had actually talked about doing one at the end of his project because there were so many funny moments. I think he should still do it. Stanford can't be taking up too much of his time, can it?



And just for fun, here's a Party in the USA mash-up which includes the video, too.

So sorry if I got that song stuck in your head. Hehe.