Cape Zanpa

This weekend Mike and I went on a Marriage Retreat with our church to Cape Zanpa Royal Hotel. We have never been to a resort style hotel here and were very surprised upon arriving in our room. It was partially Japanese style so that was cool:

In the closet were 2 pairs of house slippers to use (with a little tag on them that said sanitized...lol). A lot of Japanese people actually wore these to the breakfast buffet!

A sliding door that led to the bathroom :)

A fancy toilet with a warm toilet seat (I'm going to start wanting one of these once winter rolls around!) and other standard functions 

They had robes inside the drawers with specific instructions that they should not be worn outside the room (thank you!)

The view from our balcony- we could see the beach too but this picture looked cooler

The pool which was not in season (I'm sure they keep it cleaner when it is open)

The view from the elevator on the first floor

After the retreat was over we stayed longer to walk around the area. We walked around trying to find the lighthouse which we saw from the windows of the hotel. As we were walking down a path we saw this statue:

He guided us where to go

We weren't sure if we would be able to go all the way up until we saw people standing right by the lights! We figured it would be expensive but we walked inside anyway. It only cost 200 yen each to go up so we couldn't pass it up! We walked up a lot of stairs but it was worth the view! It was really windy but we stayed up there for quite a while taking pictures and videos. 

Just one of the amazing pictures we got while up there!

Me on the way down the lighthouse stairs...it was VERY windy!

After the lighthouse there was still more to see! We walked to a cliff area where a lot of people were taking pictures. It was really misty from the waves crashing right up the rocks. 

Wow!

Extremely powerful!

Here are a few more random pictures from today:

The obligatory animal picture (of course taken by me)

Interesting ship play area for kids

It was a wonderful and much needed 1 1/2 day break.

Matthew 7:11

So, only a week after I posted my blog about my financial worries God provides!

Mike and I both have the opportunity to tutor students 3 days a week after school. I think we are going to start next week. It will help us pay off our loans quicker. Maybe we could even use some of the money for fun! Imagine that!

I was reminded of Matthew 7:11 when I heard the news. I had been praying that God would open up another opportunity for us to make a little extra money.

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Good gifts...yes this is definitely a good gift! Thank you, God!

Oh how I hate dealing with bodily fluids!

I'll get to the title of my post in a little bit; I'm going to start at the beginning.

Today was class picture day. The students came in with their hair styled (and gelled for some of the boys) and their uniforms looking perfect.

Today was also P.E. day….we have P.E. first thing in the morning. So by the time they had changed into their P.E. uniforms they were looking not so perfect…and they hadn’t even started P.E. I went to the office to figure out when they were having their pictures taken in the hopes that they could take them before P.E. so they wouldn’t be all sweaty. I was told that they would take it last. I asked when that would be and I was told before noon. I went back to the room feeling okay about it because I figured they would have at least an hour to cool off and fix up before our pictures.

P.E. finishes and I go to ask when our pictures will be (because they looked to be taking the stands down) and they tell me now. Now I’m a bit annoyed. I go back to Kristen and let her know the bad news. We rush the girls into the hall and I start breaking them into groups to go to the bathroom or the one mirror that was in the hall.

(Here comes the bodily fluids part)

Some students couldn’t fix their hair on their own so I had to help. I had no brush…so I had to comb through their sweaty hair with my fingers. I don’t deal with sweat well…I felt really sick! As they sit down (or stand on the metal stand) then the photographer gives me a comb for a few of the students that were still disheveled (yeah…could have used that about 5 minutes ago..thanks).

I’m not sure how well the picture will turn out…at least their cheeks will be nice and rosy. They’ll also have a nice sparkly glow about them ;)

Tomorrow is individual picture day…let’s hope it doesn’t rain as they are coming in!

His Eye is on the sparrow

At school Thursday we were visited by little sparrows. The doors to the "cafeteria" are kept open through most of the day to let air flow through. I was walking back to class after dropping the kiddos off at Japanese class and I looked outside to see a pair of sparrows searching for snack leftovers right outside the door.

I thought it was so adorable so I took some pictures (sorry can't upload them since my recent computer problems) then went inside. A few minutes later I peeked outside my classroom door to see if they were still outside. They weren't....they were inside! They were sitting on the cafeteria chairs (I'm assuming looking for more food). I grabbed my camera again and took a few pictures. One flew off but the other hid behind the curtains. I walked over and it started to flutter about pounding on the window. Luckily there are not screens on the window so I was able to easily free it and it went flying away (hopefully to find its mate).

Later in science I handed out the students new packets for the next theme: birds. We flipped it to the first page and I read the Bible verse for them...Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

I almost cried on the spot as I read it. Not only because the bird sighting I had seen earlier in the day but also because concerns I've been having lately. Mike and I are not suffering financially in the least here yet money is tight. We are living on one paycheck and saving the other paycheck to send back to our bank to pay off loans. We should be able to pay off our loans by the summer as long as we keep it up...it's just hard. I was very encouraged to be reminded of this verse in light of our situation now. I know that no matter what God will provide. In less than a year we will hopefully be able to start saving money...and make a call to Dave Ramsey with those 3 wonderful words "I'M DEBT FREE!". Jesus already paid for my spiritual debt...now just to get rid of the material debt.

Taiho Falls, Bowling, and Chapel

Last weekend we were invited to go to Taiho falls with some other teachers from school. We were excited about having a free trip to go on :)   We met up at Jusco and headed up in Lori's van (all 9 of us). About an hour and a half later we reached the river and started heading up towards the waterfall.

Me sloshing through the water (Izzie gave me the hibiscus flower)

We got there and the view was amazing. It was very secluded and peaceful. We heard what I think were cicadas the whole time we were walking. Once we got there, the mist from the waterfall was all around. 

We sat down and ate our bentos (lunches) I had 2 onigiri (rice with flavoring inside with seaweed wrapped around it). The kids finished first of course and rushed back into the water to swim. I was a bit hesitant because it was COLD! Once I got in it was nice though. It took me a while to get underneath the waterfall because I was a little freaked out by the fact that I couldn't see the bottom of the pond. I did make it though:

 

We stayed for a while until it started getting crowded then headed off..we had made plans while we were there to go bowling later so we had to get back so we could all clean up. The ride back was nice..after a potty break (I had to pee the whole time we were there) and some ice cream I fell asleep

I was quite exhausted! 

Later on, we went on base to go bowling (it was less than $3 for the game and shoes)! I started off doing well. I got a strike and a spare...about halfway through it started going downhill. I guess I was getting tired (yet it wasn't even 9 yet). Oh well, it was fun either way :)   I convinced Mike to take a picture while we were there (you'd think I wouldn't HAVE to convince him)

 

Look at those tans we have going on :) I hope to continue to build on mine...maybe build some muscle to while I'm at it.

Oh...and just a little treat for those of you who actually read this (and I wouldn't know because no one ever leaves a COMMENT). Jessica took this today while my students were singing their song for chapel...adorable!

 

 

Calvary Chapel Bacolod

Today in church there was announcement about a giving opportunity. Each year- for a few years now- Calvary Chapel Okinawa has been partnering with Calvary Chapel Bacolod in the Philippines to give gifts to the children and staff of their children's home. There are about 150 people in all that are there (both children and staff) and our church has been able to send gifts there for Christmas (though it usually got there later than Christmas). This year they are sending out the gifts early so the gifts will get there by Christmas time.

I really wanted to give so we picked a child from the baskets they had out in the hall (we may choose an additional one next week if there are still a lot of names left). So later on tonight we are going to go shopping for little Benny (who just turned 3 this month) and try to find him something for Christmas! It was very hard just to choose one name because there were so many left in the baskets still.

If you want to know more about the ministry in Bacolod, Philippeans here is their website: http://www.ccbacolod.com/

San-A: Main City

Mike and I decided to go to the food court tonight to get some dinner. We went to the Jusco food court last week so we decided to try the San-A food court (it's like a mall as well and it very close to the Jusco). I realized how many interesting places are on the road we take to get there...a lot of places I would like to go to. I only got part of the sign on this one...it says Tacos & Coffee...strange combination!


We continued to drive and I saw this adorable building!! It reminded me of my sister because my mom used to collect giraffes for her.
This one was for either a pet store or a dog grooming places...I couldn't tell but it was too cute not to take a picture of.

When we got there we walked around a little bit because it was only a little before 5 and we felt it was too early to eat dinner. Mike found some Kariyushi Wear that was on sale (some were the equivalent of $19 which is a very good price ). Kariyushi shirts look like Hawaiian style shirts. Some have flowers; some another type of decorative design. He didn't end up buying any last night...maybe some other time though. We will probably go to a used clothing store to buy clothes first before we buy anything new. We have both lost weight and our clothes are getting a little loose!

We stopped at the food court and tried our best to find something 1. We've never had before 2. We could actually explain what it was we wanted and 3. That looked tasty. I got-what they called- a cheeseburger patty. It came with cabbage salad and corn-I also bought gohan (rice) to go with it. The meat was very good...it tasted more like some sort of juicy meatloaf (which made me a little apprehensive with my wheat problems). Mike ordered some tori (chicken) that was fried. It came with soup, cabbage salad, and corn. My food was very tasty! I don't think I've regretted a food choice here yet (except for the natto that Chikako-san ordered for us to try). The natto wasn't disgusting...it just wasn't very tasty.

We walked around the rest of the mall and got a few things from the 100 yen store there. I got some nail polish remover and nail polish so I could keep up my pedicure without paying a lot of money to have someone do it for me. We stayed till about 9 pm then headed back towards the parking garage (and ice cream vending machines). There were different choices at this vending machine so Mike and I both got different ones and shared.

This one came with 6 little chocolate covered ice cream goodies :)

This one came with 2 mochi ice cream balls and a little poker to eat them with...I liked the mochi ice cream better.

It was a fun, fairly cheap, night out in wonderful Okinawa :)

Taguchi Beach

So this weekend was our no cash weekend (as far as recreation goes) so we decided to go to Taguchi Beach since Lori had taken us before and we knew that it would lead to really good pictures.

We planned to go right after lunch but the weather changed our plans. We were going to get some bentos (lunch) at Kanehede (a grocery store) but since it was raining we decided to go to Jusco (a mall) and get lunch and walk around until the rain went away. I had rice with sliced pork on top (it was yummy) with seaweed soup on the side (also yummy). For desert we got ice cream out of a vending machine.

By the time we ate and walked around the mall, most of the rain clouds were gone so we decided to go to the beach. We walked up to a cliff area above the beach (me with some apprehension after seeing signs warning that there were snakes) and Mike took some pictures.


He went a little further down the cliff but I decided to stay further up where there were more rocks to stand on and not so many bushes (I don't EVER want to come in contact with a habu snake).

We walked down from that area towards the tide pools. We saw this tree clinging to the rocks on the way there.


It started raining again so we put the camera underneath the rocky area and stood in the rain for a picture! Luckily it didn't rain for long!

See...no rain now! Behind us are some tide pools but since the tide was coming in, we didn't see much.

More photo ops :)

Off to explore! I found a few hermit crabs and a normal crab that had just molted. Nothing too interesting unfortunately.

Two of the hermit crabs I found.

These kids were jumping off the cliff that we had stood on earlier! Scary!!
Going to the beach was a nice ending to a relaxing weekend. I have the next 2 weeks of school already planned so maybe we will do some exploring during this next week :)

Obon and Okinawa World

Last night we were invited to the last day of Obon at Isau-san's (my grandma's brother) house. His grandson Mizuki (who is in first grade) actually invited us because he wanted us to go to the tug-of-war that is held in front of the village center. We weren't really sure what it was (it wasn't quite translated as tug-of-war) but we were excited to have another chance to visit with them.

We got there and got to see the traditions for the last day of Obon and got to enjoy a good meal. I learned that tuna sushi is quite yummy! I told Ojisan (uncle) that it was much better than canned tuna and he thought that was pretty funny. As we were finishing dinner we heard what sounded like people clanging pots and pans. Ojisan said that the tug-of-war would be starting at 8.

We got through dinner and began dessert (mixed fruit with mochi balls) when they started walking through the streets trying to get everyones attention. They had young men in camoflauge walking through the streets holding a HUGE rope. We followed them to a big grassy area where we saw another group of men with another rope --making it extremely long! We waited for a while (for what we aren't sure) and then they finally "began". They didn't actually begin tugging but some taunting between the two groups. They picked up the ropes and would walk towards each other and shake it around. Finally they connected the ropes and the tug-of-war started...and ended in no time. I guess they had to add a lot of stuff in so it is more momentous. They did this twice that night as well as some dancing, drum playing, and running back and forth.

While there we somehow grabbed the attention of a news reporter (ok...I think it was probably because we were the ONLY white people there...I'm white enough to stand out in a crowd) who asked us to stay afterwards so he could interview us. He knew enough English to talk to us but did use Ojisan to help translate. He basically asked us what we thought of the show and whether we would join in next year- to which I pointed to my flip flops and said "Yes, with different shoes maybe" which got a laugh. Hopefully everything will be translated the right way because he asked about where we work and got our names.

It was a fun night and we were invited to call again whenever we want to visit.

Today we got up for another day of sightseeing with Rocky and the other new teachers. We went to Okinawa World and the cave today. Mike and I went last year but wanted to go again to see everything at a relaxed pace.

I'm not sure what this sign says...maybe something about Okinawa World or the cave.

Posing in the hall to the cave (see the Shisa dogs on the wall?)

We didn't see this one last time! I thought it was cute how it was resting on it's tail.

All the way down the slippery stairs (glad I wore my better flip flops!)

These are all glass! You can buy them at Okinawa World.

Something I would never have enough expendable money to buy. Extremely pretty though.

Cute glass Stitch (again very pricy-over $100)

When in Okinawa, do as the Okinawans do (not for the rain but for the sun)

So glad I had the umbrella over my head when I saw this!! It had made its web in the banyan tree. You can't tell from the picture but it was about the size of my hand!!

We got this picture for free with the admission price to the Habu Museum at Okinawa World. I was holding it far away because right before she took the picture it was facing me!

Goodbye Okinawa World!! I am by the female shisa dog and Mike by the male.

I would post more and go in detail about today but I am exhausted and I think you probably are too after my long post! We plan on splurging for sightseeing only every other week so I may not post for a couple weeks :)

Futenma Flightline Fair

Yesterday we went to the Futenma Flightline Fair. I really didn't know what to expect because what I had seen online just sounded like it would be a whole lot of planes and maybe some little huts where the Air Force would be sitting- it was free so I didn't expect too much. I was quite surprised and pleased with everything they had.

We got there and drove on part of the actual flightline to get to the festivities. We got there and they had to check our bags (and were suspicious of Mike's nice camera). We walked around and check out some of the planes but it was very sunny and hot! We also started watching a hot dog eating contest and were thrilled to see the clouds start to cover up the sun...and this:


After watching part of the hot dog eatinc contest I started to get a little hungry so we walked around to try and find something yummy. It was a little hard finding something that I wanted since there were a lot of things with breading but finally (after circling the tents) I picked a thing of french fries with part of a hot dog and a chicken nugget. I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought because I only ate half of it. While eating I saw an older Okinawan man eating a hamburger with chopsticks by taking tiny bits off of it! I guess you can eat pretty much anything while using chopsticks!

After eating we walked around some until we heard the drumming of the Eisa dancers. We quickly walked over to watch the show. Most of the drummers were children (soooo adorable). I got a lot of video while Mike took pictures. There was also a Shisa and a dragon as part of the show.


The Shisa dog is well respected in Okinawa as a protector of the home. There are different folk tales about a dragon who was terrorizing the island and no one could get it to leave. Many of the stories have different story lines but basically the shisa dog was able to get the dragon to leave and never return again (you can Google it to read a more exciting story than my small summary)

Afterwards we tried out an iced coffee (should have known it wouldn't be American style) it was bitter! We met back up with Lori's family for a little bit to rest our feet....

..and Mike became the entertainment for a little bit...





























....but don't worry he turned out okay :)

We stayed long enough to watch the fireworks! I don't think I would have made it if the sun had been shining all day.