Then the Relatives Came!

OK, ok, so it's been way too long since I've posted. I had a bet with myself at how long I could keep this blog active, and it looked like I'd almost lost it, but here I am to redeem myself with a newfound effort to add some more pics in the coming days, or weeks, or before the end of 2011. :) These pics are from the last few weeks of September, when we had our first official visitors to the island - Abuelo and Abuela! It felt so great to have them in our house and feel like (for a few minutes at least) that we were all back in California. Things don't seem quite so foreign with family around, which is great. We crammed a lot into their 2 weeks, and the typhoon that had been sitting off our coast for the days prior to them landing even managed to bypass us, so the weather was pretty nice the whole time! I'm missing pictures of some of our activities, but 1. I'm lazy and 2. I don't want to give everything away for those reading this that might still be coming to visit!

A. moped around the entire day after they left. We can't wait to see them on our trips back to the states!

There's this huge system of climbing nets at the aquarium that the kids all love to climb around on. She's getting so big!

This was to capture D's little legs. I think they're the perfect amount of chubby. :)

She's pointing to the sea turtle cut out of bushes at the aquarium. 

At the "Tropical Dream Center". The name sounds kind of Native American to me. It was a really nice botanical gardens with tons of different orchids and some fruits we hadn't seen before. Now I can't think of what any of them were, but it was still cool. Actually, it was pretty hot walking around a greenhouse. 

At the tip of the ferris wheel in "American Village". I guess it's kind of like America. There is a Starbucks there. 

D with some fruit. 

Playing in the sand up north at Okuma. There's a little military lodge place up north that we hadn't been to yet. 

Beautiful water. 

This is the log cabin that A. cried leaving after 2 nights here. We actually didn't spend a lot of time on Okuma. We kind of just used it as a home base to see some more things up north. All 4 adults and the 2 kids slept in this nice little wooden box. Abuela would tell you she was a little freaked out by the geckos that were sharing the walls with us, and I would say that too, but maybe sleep was calling me more. I think we'll probably be staying here again before we leave. The girls really enjoyed being out in nature. 

I liked D. in her hat. It looks like she's serious about her phone call. 

Who does she look like?

We got to see some very authentic Ryukyu dances when we went to Shuri-jo Castle. I wouldn't say it's the most expressive form of dance. Actually, it's probably the least expressive form of dance I've ever seen. I gather that part of it involves keeping your face as blank and focused as possible. There were a few sets of dancers, and they all moved very slowly and methodically, a few with fans, one with an umbrella. Okinawa was not always Japan's land, surprise, surprise. It was part of the Ryukyuan Kingdom from the 15th-19th century, so although people don't speak the Ryukyuan language much anymore, there is still quite a bit of history that relates to that time in their history. 

Shuri Castle. This was almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. They reconstructed it on the original site in 1992. 

There are all these t-shirt vendors on the main tourist street, and they put their t-shirts on stuffed animal dogs. D. really liked stopping to get down out of the stroller and move them all around for the shop owners. 

Sae and Ami

A few weeks ago we were privileged to be a part of a little exchange program here on base. 25 kids and a few adults were chosen to be flown down here from mainland for a cultural exchange. The few days were meant to be a vacation for the kids, a chance to get away from all the devastation they've been living in since March 11th. They were all from the little island of Oshima, which was hit hard with the tsunami. About half of their island was completely covered with the wave. Praise God that the kids were still in school when the wave came and that the school was on higher ground. I think only one little girl is unaccounted for still. The Marines worked closely to provide relief for this island immediately after, and so the friendship developed. 

We found out last minute about hosting them, right before we went on lockdown for the last typhoon actually. I had decided not to go to the commissary before the typhoon in case the power went out and we lost the food in the fridge. So there we were, after 36 hours of torrential rains and howling winds, with the big "American" meals I wanted to make them still sitting at the store. When we picked them up Saturday evening, we used our "greeting words" and gave hugs and smiles, using an interpreter to assure them that we were nice people and would give them whatever they wanted. :) We headed back to our place for supagetti, garlic pan, fried zucchini cakes and incredibly rich chocolate peanut butter brownies. It was kind of funny watching them politely choke down my sweets. I sent them back to the barracks with more brownies anyway. A few of the kids stayed overnight, I think with families that had wives who were Japanese, but I'm sure most of the kids were grateful to go back at night to the barracks and have sleepovers with all of their friends. They spoke no English and in practical terms I still speak no Japanese, which made our few days together quite quiet. Silence usually makes things seem "not fun", so I felt bad the whole time for not having become fluent in the last 4 months. 

Sunday we picked them up and brought them home to eat omelettes before wisking them off to church for a good half hour before taking them to a scheduled buffet lunch. Our pastor asked them if they had ever been to church before and they said no, and it just happened to be bilingual Sunday, so we can pray a little seed was planted there. The extravagant buffet after church was another chance to see their eating habits. Their last course consisted of a few leaves of lettuce and some veggies, putting us to shame once again as Jose let Addie start her meal with ice cream "for being such a good kid", haha. We took them to our aquarium (which has the 2nd largest tank in the world), bowling with pizza, pool party with hamburgers and hot dogs, and they ended their trip Tuesday with a little tour of our TV and radio station studios. They warmed up more to Addie as the days went on. It was cute watching them hold her hand and hold her up to the windows at the aquarium. The language barrier really was getting me down, but as the bus was getting ready to leave and the kids were all lined up, there were tears in the Japanese kids' eyes and tears in ours too. Addison actually sobbed the whole rest of the day that they were gone, and now her bedtime story every night involves talking about going to see Ami and Sae in Oshima. It was great to be part of the exchange and I hope the girls benefited too. What struck me most was the importance of language and how much we take it for granted. Yes, we could smile at each other and act warmly and gesture, but there was still a void. It made me conscious of every word that comes out of my mouth to another English speaker, and whether the words are helpful or necessary, as well as how quickly I can find out the information I need through common language. Have you ever pre-planned every single thing you thought you might say in a day? I did it - twice, and man, that sure got me thinking about how many of my words were really necessary! I pray that God can use my words for good whenever something leaves my mouth. In my feelings of inadequacy at not being able to reach the entire Japanese population with my words, I was reminded of how many people in the world speak MY language, people who still need to hear God's words of love and grace. I'll guess I'll start there, and in the meantime, our Japanese neighbors won't be short on smiles and large gestures from their American friend. 

Sae, a sweet 10 year old

Ami. Her house was destroyed in the tsunami. 

Enthralled with the very un-Sea World-like dolphin show. 

This picture is to show everyone my daughter's gorgeous hair. The humidity here helps. I'm never cutting it. :)

I hid the grandiose-ness of the tank so that people coming to visit will still be impressed. Trust me, it's huge. 

Do you see her dropping the hermit crab because it wiggled on her hand? 

More fun at the bowling alley.

Dishing out the High 5's. 

They were on air while the DJ talked. We told Addison we heard her breathing. 

Got to watch the TV Marines silently freak out while 50 kids explored their studio. 

The whole group of Japanese kids with the American host kids. I think Addison and Davenie were the youngest hosts. 

Cinderella Park

We really went out of our way to find this supposedly awesome park. When I bought the Funcargo, the lady left a park book in it that another military wife had written, and I've been using that to find new parks to explore. The only problem is the book is probably 10 years old, and the directions seem to be a little outdated or just plain wrong. We never did find the ambiguous white wall that marked our turn, but we somehow ended up in the right parking lot. On top of that, lots of the parks seem to be in a state of disrepair, so they're never quite as cool as I think they will be! I wanted to find this castle for Addie, and it was a great view of both the oceans, but not much more than that. There was supposed to be another cool looking tunnel structure here as well, but it was long since gone. We walked along lots of nice, woodsy, paved trails trying to find it though. 

Jose pushed her up here to play Rapunzel. It wasn't as high as it looks. :0

Jose gets stuck in the doorway. 

English Grammar

There is, surprisingly or not, a fair bit of English on signs and stores here. As I start to learn a little more Japanese, it has become apparent to me just how confusing the English language really is to master. I am nothing but thankful when shops or restaurants have gone out on a limb to try their hand at writing English for their English-speaking neighbors, but it still makes me smile to see their interpretations. 

I had to buy them these shirts at "The Bunny Store". It's the children's clothing store that has a huge pink bunny on the sign. I'm sure that's not what the Japanese call it. :)  D's says, "Jamm Strawberry Cute" and A's says, "I love heart very very much".

This sign is from one of the first restaurants we ate at. We thought the burger pictures looked very American. . . turned out they're not trained in making burgers here. I had to think for a minute what "retauce" was, and "painapple". I smiled at their catchphrase too - "Good Enough to Eat!" Well, I hope it is. :)

These were some of the displays for school uniforms. Most of the kids I've seen are wearing a little more low-key uniform, though. 

I just wanted to throw this picture in here. We went into the family restroom at Jusco and there was this extremely low potty for kids. Maybe it's supposed to be a training potty for their squat toilets. How low can you go?

Geta

A's been complaining about Mommy's trouble with keeping the floor crumb-free for every hour of the day at our house, so I decided she needed some inside shoes to curb the complaints. (I think I should get Daddy some too. :) She also hates walking on the small tiles in the bathroom barefoot and stands at the doorway to the bathroom refusing to walk the 2 steps to the toilet unless I lift her. Enter her geta, which she was very proud to get after reading the book Suki's Kimono many times. I asked a lady from church if people really wear geta anymore, and she said they would normally just be worn with their kimonos or their yukata (summer cotton kimonos). A. still likes clopping around in them, although they're not the easiest shoe for her to walk in. I think they're cute though!

More Park

After she spent some time getting rejected by her little friends :) she finally gave up and found her way to the little water feature in the park and had fun dipping her fingers in and sitting on the rocks. The high temperatures are starting to dominate our days here, so our outdoor outings might be few and far between very soon. The humidity is starting to remind me of San Antonio and Pensacola. It's not unbearable, but coming from dry SoCal, it's definitely sticky and makes for awesome hair days. ;)