Okinawa day one

Towards the end of the school year (which is in March), some teachers at the schools take a grade level trip together. I was lucky enough to be invited on the 8th grade teacher’s (from Fukko) trip to Okinawa this weekend. Yes, it was a very short trip, but they did a great job planning, so we had a very busy time. For many of us, it was our first visit to Okinawa. There was only one teacher who speaks English, so she busily translated as much as she could. I hate being left out of conversations, so I thanked her for her hard work.
The flight to Okinawa, the southern most island(s) in Japan, is about 1 hour and 50 min there, and 1 hour and 30 min back. We left bright and early on Sat morning. The weather in Okinawa is quite tropical, and in many ways Okinawa reminded me of Hawaii. The first day was beautiful and clear – absolutely perfect. Sunday was bit cooler with on and off showers throughout the day, and more humid. Because of it’s tropical climate, there are many flowers, mostly hibiscus, and lots of fruit, mostly pineapple.
We rented a car, which was a very good idea considering our limited time there. First we went to a memorial dedicated to those who died in WWII. Then to Okinawa Land where we explored some caves. It was over 20 degrees Celsius and very high humidity. As we entered there was a warning for people with heart trouble and such. I’ve never really explored a natural cave before with all the stalactites and stalagmites. It was quite damp with water dripping everywhere, including my head. They made it a little gaudy with Christmas lights in a few places, but overall it was really cool. In one spot we stopped to take a group picture, and after the flash, a small bat flew by. Two of the women teachers screamed. I was laughing until I remembered all those water droplets on my head and hoped to god it really was water.
After that we went to the castle. It was quite different than the castles in Japan, as I was reminded that Okinawa isn’t really Japan. The castle and all the buildings were red. It was very beautiful, and we just happened to go during a flower festival so there were large figures made of flowers. We didn’t go in the castle – no time! – but we walked around the grounds.
That night we went shopping in the downtown area. They have this really beautiful jewelry made of black and cobalt blue pieces of glass. I bought a bracelet and earrings. For dinner we went to a restaurant that served Okinawan food and had a couple singing Okinawan music. I was a bit afraid when someone ordered for me asking if there was anything I couldn’t eat. Trying not to be too difficult, I said “Just nothing strange,” which is actually no help because my idea of strange is different than most Japanese people. But I went in with an open mind! So the first dish was raw onions, the second was a really good pork stew, a few different salads, sashimi, tempura, a whole baked fish, noodles, sausage, an egg, tofu, and spam dish, and a few more that I can’t remember. I tried everything, except the whole fish because it was looking and waving his fin at me. Ok not really, but I don’t like whole animals served to me. The basic idea of Okinawan cooking is similar to Japan’s, but the ingredients are a little different. Many dishes included spam, and spam was sold in many of the stores. The most common vegetable in the dishes was goya. I had never had it before and it looks like a cucumber covered with bumpy growths. It was very bitter, and I didn’t really like it.
And of course I have to tell you the weird thing I ate. I knew it was a kind of vegetable, so I thought it wouldn’t be too bad, but when Hirata-sensei had to pull out the dictionary to translate, I knew I was in trouble. So it turns out I ate a loofah. Yes, the one you wash your body with. Of course this was prepared before drying it, so it was soft, but still, I ate a loofah! Didn’t like the taste of that either. And now we can add vegetables to the things that scare me in Japan.
Finally, we made it to our hotel, which was a really beautiful resort. I shared a room with one of the teachers who said she was glad I came because then she would have had to sleep by herself which would be scary. We slept with the foot light on anyway :)