Last Tuesday I patiently conducted lessons but, all the while, just waiting for the last lesson of the day. At the end of the final lesson, Becky arrived to meet the students to whom she has been writing letters. Shuko met her at the train station and brought her to Amity. I had not seen her, so it set up a crazy American 'long time, no see' welcoming. In Japan, the run/scream/jump thing does not really happen and some Japanese get noticeably startled when they see it. Well, Becky and I saw each other...she ran in the building, arms up and letting out a high pitched squeal. Almost before I knew it, I had to stop her from entering the school with shoes on. It set up a pretty awkward ten second wait before we could hug and say hellos. I worry about this for the Super Friends visit in May - except that'll be at the airport and I feel I control more of the variables that might alter my dream hello sequence.
After sitting through a half awkward, half surreal meeting between Becky and my students, I finished up my work chores and left to meet Shuko and, eventually, Jacqui for dinner. Somewhere during the meal, Becky's adrenaline wore off and she got super tired so we called it a night. The next morning, my Japanese teacher, Yumi, gave Becky a Japanese lesson - with useful phrases for her trip to Tokyo. And, with that, Becky was off to fend for herself for a few days in the largest city in Japan. Thankfully she returned three days later and we were off to Okinawa. I don't know any better way to recap the trip than through the majesty of song. During the trip, Becky and I decided to write our own lyrics to the song "Strawberry Wine" to encapsulate our adventure. Here is our song, "Pineapple Wine" --
We were watching the takeoff on a video screen
Travelating through airports. We rented a car (Yeah)
Hotel was somewhere between The Art and Tifany
One random store, we stole pearls from the clerk
Oh Taco Bell of my dreams on a well-guarded base
Funny how that Taco Rice, it tastes...
Drinkin' Pineapple Wine
Gettin' Lost
Damn GPS lady wouldn't shut up
Tasting Blue Seal
Oh sugar cane
And Wave 89
Drinkin' Pineapple Wine
Old man bites tenderly on the Silent TV
Biggest fear were stalactites drippin' water on my nose
Answer to trivia was Central Texas College
They called and they called. Scotty said they were wrong
Day after day we'd visit Family Mart
and the American bars
Chorus
The fish are so big somehow
Carts drive themselves and now
Even the roads are gorgeous
Footprints in the sand
Sunset over water so grand
I think I'm gonna throw up
(Attack Scream)
Chorus
We were watching the takeoff on a video screen - We got on the plane and watched the safety information segment. Normally these are not very amusing and I pay no attention but this was Japanese and I am in the habit of listening to see how much I can pick up. It's still minimal. Anyways, after the safety instructions, it looked as if they were showing pictures of airports but we'd come to realize that the picture moved when the plane moved. Oooh, they have a camera showing the takeoff!! It was really cool to watch. It lasted from the takeoff until about five minutes into the flight. Kobe is a port city so we mainly flew over water but it was still amazing to watch things passing so fast. I can't believe this doesn't happen on American flights.
Travelating through airports - Okinawa's airports had moving walkways. It's not too newsworthy on its own until you put an Engrish spin on it. What is a regularly mundane mainstay in airports had become something of Okinawa legend, "Please enter a Travelator carefully". Not only were there travelators at the airport but also the aquarium. It takes very little to entertain us twenty-somethings.
We rented a car - It's possible to get around Okinawa by public transportation but, looking back, I am glad we made the choice to rent a car because we probably would've just been stuck staring at downtown Naha the whole time otherwise. Becky had her international driving license and took the wheel. It's important to know that the steering wheel is on the right and the traffic lanes are reversed from America. Handling those seemed to cause no real issues but the turn signal/window wiper signals were switched. There were countless times when I would hear the "duh-duh-duh" of the wiper clearing dry glass and knowing we'd be turning sometime soon. The car was also the reason for Becky's vacation nickname "Okinawa Drift" - I spent some time worrying about hitting curbs and other cars because we'd continually swerve to the left and right of the white lines.
Hotel was somewhere between The Art and Tifany - We used a group tour package to book our trip. Booking things a la carte in Japan gets horrifically expensive and most people use tour packages when they make vacation plans. Instead of paying $800 for a flight - we ended up paying just under $300 for a flight and three nights hotel. With the good price comes some sacrifices - like a nice hotel. To be fair to the actual hotel, the rooms were clean and that's all that was a real concern. But the Hotel Continental Special lied directly in the center of an entire neighborhood of hostess bars - but that denigrates the name of hostess bars. Hostess bars are places that men go to spend time with girls and pay them for time (whatever happens from there...who knows) but these places were just all out whorehouses. In the sea of whorehouses that was a backdrop for a majority of time, the two we identified as "our whorehouses" were The Art and Tifany. No trip to Okinawa is complete without a three toothed Filipino girl paying her way through coll..univ..high sc..I don't know.
One random store, we stole pearls from the clerk - Becky was on a concerted mission to find black pearls. I don't know anything about these things except that they are pearls, they are black and they are expensive but maybe cheaper in Japan. I suppose it worked out. Becky found earrings in a small shop for about $45. They wrapped them up and handed the bag to Becky and, noticing we were still lingering in the shop, they began the upsell. The only problem was that we hadn't paid. Two minutes of confusion resolved itself when telepathically, we told the clerk we hadn't paid. We realized just after leaving that if we had the intent, those pearls were our's without paying. But we are nice, honest people...paid the money, chatted for a bit and ate the brown sugar candy which we both dislike.
Oh Taco Bell of my dreams on a well-guarded base - I'll get to this a bit later but you should all know that I love Taco Bell, have not had it since June 20, 2008 and Okinawa has four locations. Note - the story will have a bittersweet ending.
Funny how that Taco Rice tastes - One famous food in Okinawa is taco rice. I assumed before hand that it was some octopus (tako) based rice dish. Nope, it's the ingredients of a taco mixed with rice. That's all...but it was delicious and we ate it about four times.
Drinkin Pineapple Wine - Our internet research had proven worthwhile when we discovered the Nago Pineapple Park. Among other activities (which will be covered), the place made and sold its own pineapple wine. We were able to sample sweet, dry and kids' pineapple wine. Champagne for kids in America is a sparkling white grape juice I think with no trace of alcohol. Okinawa is different. Kids' wine just has a lower concentration of alcohol than the others (5%, related to 9%). I would've loved to see a kid get a little sample-happy and start cursing out the staff in Japanese. Alas, it did not happen and we had to settle for our two bottles of pineapple wine as a memento of the pineapple journey.
Gettin' Lost - Pretty self-explanatory. We got lost going everywhere except the aquarium (which was highlighted on signs as if it was something important like Wall Drug in South Dakota). To our credit, we never really got lost returning to the hotel...must've been a tractor beam to the Tifany.
Damn GPS lady wouldn't shut up - Most every car in Japan comes with GPS and so did our rental car. We warned beforehand the car's GPS feature only came in Japanese. This was helpful at points because I can read enough to find things but, otherwise, it was a constant annoyance. We didn't know how to set locations or, more importantly, turn the GPS lady off without also turning off the radio. Every time we would pass a street, GPS lady decided we need to turn around and she would politely tell us to take a left. If Becky wasn't driving and so inclined, she could've learned more Japanese by listening to GPS lady because she said they same thing over and over. Becky could have ascertained meaning and figured out the language. But, as it stood, the damn lady would not be quiet. She became quiet the island nemesis. We defeated her by reaching our destinations in spite of her orders for us to turn around. Two stubborn foreigners 1 Programmed GPS Lady 0.
Tasting Blue Seal - oh sugar cane - Thanks to Shuko we tried Blue Seal ice cream. I guess this is an American ice cream company but is extremely popular in Japan - along with A&W. They had great ice cream with mostly standard flavors but they also had sugar cane and Okinawa Salt Cookies - two of which Becky tried and loved.
And Wave 89 - Wave 89 was the only radio station that broadcasted in English. It was operated by the military on the island. Half of the time they would have local hosts doing shows and half of the time, they took a feed from somewhere on the west coast of the US, I gathered. In between hearing that damn Pink song (about being a rock star and her husband leaving her or something), Becky and would learn about the currency exchange, weather, movie times, special social/educational programs being offered on bases...as well as PSA's about sexual harassment and military family issues...oh, and recollections of lesser known stories from American history related to boosting soldier morale. It was really interesting radio - and, not surprisingly, they would have Fox News programming piped in for news segments.
Old man bites tenderly on silent TV - If you haven't seen it, please watch -
Biggest fear were stalactites drippin' water on my nose - This came from our trip to the Gyokusendo Cave. You'll see some pictures below. Thanks to Becky, I now know that stalagmites are rock formations going upwards and stalactites are rock formations going downwards. The mnemonic used was "Boys' mites go up when girls' tites go down." I bet, if you didn't know that, you'll now remember.
Answer to trivia was Central Texas College. They called and they called. Scotty said they were wrong - Wave 89 was trying to give away some prize and asked a trivia question covering the interview they'd just finished. There was an optional educational program being put on for the soldiers and was being provided by Central Texas College. The DJ asked what school was providing this program. He returned after the song saying that there were a few close guesses but no one one got it. He had to say the name of the school again and run the contest again. Oh low budget radio for idiots!
I will share the Taco Bell story here. On our two hours drive to the aquarium, we had the idea to request a song. Rather than thinking of a song, I daydreamed the following : I would call in and get on the air and bare my soul about how I've gone so long without eating Taco Bell. Some caring and amazing soldier or ten would call in and offer me a sponsorship and I would feel the joy Harold and Kumar must've felt when they found White Castle. So I wanted to hear the song "One Shining Moment" in honor of the NCAA Tournament pairings being just announced. We had the phone number to the station but no idea what area code. I had to resort to sending an email to Arias D (the morning DJ) requesting the song and telling him that I was here to eat Taco Bell. After making fun of me for the "Sent from my iPhone" appearing on the email, he said he couldn't find the song but would pass it along to the afternoon DJ, Scotty Mac. About ten minutes, Sergeant Scott MacAdam sent me an email promising to get "Girlfriend" (my back up choice because they didn't have my first song) on during his show and telling me there was Taco Bell at Camp Foster. This is information I already knew but it enabled me to ask if I, indeed, needed military contact to get to it. Sergeant Scotty Mac wrote back and said that I needed a sponsorship but that I should try Okinawan food. I wasn't going to get Taco Bell but I had to send him one back explaining that I wasn't some dumbass American hell-bent on only eating things I could find at home.
While this didn't end as I wanted, I made a good effort and I got some karmic intervention when Shuko told me that Camp Iwakuni (Hiroshima area) opens for an air show during Golden Week - this includes Taco Bell. It just so happens that the air show this year should fall during the Super Friends visit to Hiroshima. So, Super Friends, I'll be going to Taco Bell that day - please don't judge me..you can eat what you like but I need this.
Day after day we'd visit Family Mart - I've never gotten terribly lost or needed to find places with a map in mainland Japan so I wasn't aware of the Family Mart power. Family Mart is a convenience store and they are.....everywhere! Every place we went was met with Family Mart as a landmark - turn at the Family Mart, if you've hit Family Mart you've gone too far, pick up the hostess at Family Mart and bring her back to Tifany...whatever.
And the American bars - Kokusai Street is the main drag in Naha and it's filled with crazy Japanese trinket stores and American bars.
The fish are so big - We hit the aquarium to see large, brightly colored fish. I think aquariums are amazing and this is the best one I've ever been to - please look at pictures.
Somehow carts drive themselves - At the Nago Pineapple Park, there was a cart tour through the park but the carts moved automatically seemingly without being connected to anything. It was some crazy, robotic Japanese cart system that was half-astounding, half-frightening.
Even the roads are gorgeous - As most of the island is beautiful, so too, are the roads....Becky loved that there was not a pothole to found. Everything was so smooth - smooth enough for Okinawa Drift to earn her nickname.
Footprints in the sand/Sunset over water so grand - I slept on the plane while Becky wrote this - my guess is that she wrote these lines describing the beach where we spent a few hours but, more importantly, I think she wrote these to set up the last line...
I think I'm gonna throw up - At the beach, Becky's headache turned really bad. The ride home did not help matters at all and she ended up diving for the toilet when we got back to the hotel. She spent the remainder of St. Patrick's Day sleeping off sickness - aided by no green beer.
(Attack Scream) - While Becky slept, I went out for some food. She must have subconsciously convinced herself that our hotel and area was unsafe. It was gross and she's not wrong for thinking so. But when I opened the door, I heard what I thought was a recovered Becky trying to startle me. Initially I was surprised but nothing I would classify as scared. Apparently this primal scream that came out was intended to ward off potential intruders. I laughed - so I guess it didn't have the intended effect. Ah well, it's a great way to end our song.
Gobelfish
As close as Becky and I are gonna get to being lions.
Curtain stalactites
Becky shadow yoga pose
Something like a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger
Enjoying a giant........garlic breadstick
