Where is the week going? - Friday morning

I find myself wondering where the week has gone!?! I have been enjoying my first week without administrative duties at school. This means, that I go to school to teach my 3rd graders each morning and then I am free at 11:40 to go my own way for the rest of the day. It has been very nice.

At school this week my students are working on "How To" presentations. They are trying to teach us all how to do something. The important part of the presentations for them is just ensuring that they can include all of the needed steps in the right order. It is good training at picking out important details and it is also good english practice for them.

Tuesday after school (since I was on Max's boat Monday) I found myself locked in my apartment for a while. Actually Tuesday morning before school I went for a walk and when I came into my apartment the doorknob came off in my hand. The problem was that it was the inside doorknob that came off. This meant that I was officially stuck in my apartment. I am not on the first floor, so I had no other way out of the place. We have typhoon bars on the windows, so I couldn't even crawl through a window to get out. I tried calling all of my neighbors to see if someone could release me so I could go to school. Nobody answered their phones! I decided to get dressed and ready and then call people again. To make a long story short, none - too - early, I was able to reach Gail Anderson who released me so I could get to school.

When I came home from school (after running into a friend and finding myself delayed an hour and a half from when I was planning to get home to start afternoon plans) my plan was to hold the door open with a snorkeling fin. It would have worked great, but the suction of the wind pulled the door shut on me before I could fix it. Alas, I was stuck again. It really helps you to appreciate freedom. At Bible Study that evening, they joked that since I wouldn't hand over my passport to them (so they could keep me here on island) they rigged my door so they could keep me here. Very funny.

I did, however spend the afternoon enjoying some of the local attractions: Okinawan Weaving, a teaching facility just up the road from school

Kokutou Factory - at the OkiHam plant. This is a place where they turn sugar cane into a natural sugar or into a "healthy and good for you" candy. Apparently the health benefits are amazing. It tastes good anyway.

We ended the evening with another meal of bentos from Jusco. Actually, I ordered curry udon while the Fagan family got bentos.

A squatty potty!


Wednesday was my day for big adventure. After school, I rode with my friend Alyssa down to Naha. She was going to take her Japanese Driving Test (oh, do I remember those days - and it isn't with fondness). I got out at a southern monorail station and rode around Naha for the day.

First I got off at a huge Jusco Mall area to shop at a UniClo and grab something for lunch.

Next, I took the monorail all the way to Shuri - Jo Castle Park. They are doing some construction on the building so it was "closed" for the week. I was able to walk around and get into the courtyard without paying extra admission. I couldn't go into the buildings, but I could enjoy the grounds. I walked everywhere and was very sticky and drippy (for lack of a better word) when I got back to the monorail.

Then, I took the monorail to an old pottery villiage near Kokusai Dori. While there I found some back passages of Heiwa Dori that I hadn't been on in ages - perhaps since 1999! I managed to get so lost that I had to ask people three times for directions back to Kokusai. I wasn't worried about being lost, but I never did get back to the monorail. I just walked over to RyuBo department store where I was supposed to meet up with Alyssa again.

We did meet up - she passed - and we celebrated with dinner at an Indian restaurant on Kokusai.

Yesterday, Thursday, I was picked up from school at 11:45 by Meg Ishikawa. We went to have lunch at a fancy Japanese Buffet down in Mihama. After much visiting and catching up, we went to my very first Japanese bath house ever. We went to one where we could leave our bathing suits on, thank goodness!!! The weirdest part of the whole adventure for me was these "doctor fish" that they had in a pool at the end of the experience. You put your feet in the water and then these fish come over and eat all the dead skin off of them! It is a very odd sensation and when you are slightly squeemish with your feet it is all the harder. I did it, however, and I lived to tell about it.

Best of all, at 10:30 last night Pastor Joslin and Miss Kathy flew into the Naha Airport. A whole group of us from Central Baptist Church were there to greet them as they landed. Tears were shed, hugs were given, and memories were shared. It was a very blessed evening and my heard is still overflowing with praise for them and for the Lord's bringing them to the island so I could share a little time with them before I have to leave. I treasure them and thank the Lord for bringing amazing people like them into my life. They are living in Yomitan for the next month too, so I hope to see them some more than when they lived on the other side of the island.

Well, it is time to get to school to teach today. One week from now, I will be at the airport preparing to leave this beautiful island (assuming I have a doorknob on my door that works. HA!) I plan to fill each day to the fullest and savor my time here!