The Islands

Labor day we drove out to White Beach to check it out and see about potential snorkeling and then we drove out to a few islands on the East side of Okinawa.

White Beach is a naval base. It isn't very large but it has some campgrounds and cottages that you can rent. They also have some docks where there is many large boats docked. The beach was very nice and had lots and lots of shells. We gathered many shells and spent a good amount of time in sun. Long enough to get a little sun burn. The islands that you can see in the background, the water gets low enough where you can walk out to them. We figured it would be a good place for us to snorkel because it isn't very deep at all.

Next, we drove out to some islands that have bridges connecting them all. Well, the first one had a very nice bridge and then all of a sudden the nice wide paved road turned into a skinny gravel path that our giant van filled up the whole thing. It mostly looked like someones farm and private area so we turned around and went on to the next bridge. The islands were very pretty, there was many people kite surfing and wind surfing in this shallower area, and we found a few more really nice beaches that we are going to check out more in depth some time. We mostly just drove around and looked the scenery, but we were prepared to do some snorkeling if we felt like it. Overall, it was just relaxing and beautiful.

Lately, I've basically been sitting around a lot and keeping busy. Today I got a response back from the Red Cross saying that they did contact the department head in the special care unit, however, she isn't the head anymore and now I'm waiting for an answer from the actual department head. I will hopefully find out tomorrow or at least Monday for sure.

* I'm getting to be a pro with my chopsticks on some days. There are many rules to eating with them and eating out. They first give you wet towels to wipe your hands before you eat; however, they don't give you napkins and if you ask for them they are a box of tissues so you have to bring your own hankie. Also, pointing your chopsticks at some one is considered rude and passing food with them. This is frowned on because during funeral ceremonies they pass the bones around from one person to another using chopsticks. I've learned some Japanese, but i usually chicken out when i actually need to use it. But i can read most symbols of the common alphabet which helps to figure out some names of things but I'm gradually learning some food words so i can at least know what the word means once I read it.