Today marks the end of our first week in Okinawa and I can't believe how much we have done and seen already. On our first day here we had to get passes for the military bases that we would be frequenting and my sister (Dawn) confiscated our passports. She has to show them at the guard gate every time we return to Kadena Air Base from an outing or any time we are in the commissary or BX. After we got that sorted out we were off to the 100 yen store with the kids. Dawn mentioned that it was similar to the dollar stores in the states but I have to say, I think they have a much better selection of crazy junk. My favorite things were all of the bento box paraphernalia and the school supplies, I have an odd obsession for school and stationary supplies!
The weather here is hot and humid, just what one would expect from the tropics and this summer they have been getting quite a bit of rain. One the second day we were here, the power went out right before we headed out for the day, I guess this happens frequently. We weren't too concerned about it since we were leaving for the day but I was relieved to find it back on by the time we got home. It was so hot out I actually could feel parts of me melting, ok I was probably just hoping that parts of me were melting away but it was hot!
On our second day we went up to Ocean Expo Park in Motobu Penninsula. The drive on the expressway was quite interesting. First, they drive on the left hand side of the road here. I'm glad I am not the one driving, the motorcycles are able to weave in and out of traffic to pass by slower moving cars, which is a little crazy when you aren't expecting it. There are tons of tiny little cars here, which is good because the roads and parking areas are quite narrow. It took us close to an hour to drive up to Ocean Expo Park, 4 adults, 6 kids, a cooler and beach toys, all packed into two Toyota mini-vans.
Ocean Expo park is huge and amazingly most of it is free. They have an Ocean Culture museum, a Native Okinawan village, several
arboretums, three different play areas including Kids Adventure land and the Churaumi Aquarium. It was beautiful and we didn't even go inside the aquarium. We watched the sea turtles and the manatees and the headed to the dolphin show, which is actually dolphins and false killer whales. The animals were beautiful and I felt a little guilty that they were performing for our pleasure. After our dolphin show, we headed to Emerald Beach to cool off a bit in the warm China Sea. The beach was gorgeous but it was missing sunbathers. Evidently Okinawan and Japanese women don't lay out in the sun, no wonder they never look old! In fact, when they weren't in the water, they were under umbrellas or wearing huge hats, sleevelets (like long gloves that reach above the elbow) and long skirts or sarongs. Definitely different than the american ideal of a bronze beauty.
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