A "good time was had by all". I kind of recall hearing that in smaller towns, years ago, news paper articles would detail the smaller happenings of a town. One article I read talked about so-and-so pouring the tea and that a "good time was had by all." I don't know why I'm sharing that, but it what popped into my head when I think back on my weekend.
Saturday -
I did end up going North to the Japanese bath house with a friend. I was able to swim laps in a salt water pool, then enjoy numerous different "healing" tubs of water. They even had a waterslide that I was informed I needed to experience. O.K., I've done that now. The slide was nothing to write home about, but everything else was very enjoyable.
On the way home, we stopped at some fruit, vegetable, and flea market stands. This may be a tropical island, but I tend to forget how expensive tropical fruit can be here; truthfully, fruit of any kind. Apples are about $2 - $3 each. A watermellon in the grocery stores is about $15 (and people, they are the SMALL ones we get in the states). A single mango at a good price is $8.00. Forget even finding berries to buy. I mention this because at these markets I was able to buy a watermellon for $8.00 and wound up getting 4 pineapples for a total of $6.00 - the pineapples were very little compared to US standards, but so much tastier than anything we can get. I considered that day a huge success! I also got my first taste of Okinawan purple sweet potato when I bought a "zen zai" treat: sweet adzuki beans, fresh cream ice cream, sweet potato puree, whipped cream, (no mochi in this one), a cookie stick, and some sweet potato powder. I had a belly ache when I had finished all I could eat, but it was fun. I love the Okinawan purple sweet potato (beni imo).
After getting home, I wound up going to an evening church service with some fellow missionaries and then going out for supper at Co-Co Curry.
Sunday - I was able to play a saxophone with the worship service at Central Baptist Church. I had brought my own mouthpiece and some reeds along over here, and borrowed a horn from a friend over here. While I cannot play it as well as I can my own, I was richly blessed by getting to participate in the worship experience. Through that,I was able to connect with more people. The pianist and her husband are the ones who saved me last week by purchasing me some Benadryl and delivering it to my home. That immediately endeared them to me, but I have to say that the heart of the people at Central . . . well, it is a sweet taste of "home" for me. Really, they make me feel like my church family at Palisade (in Silver Bay) makes me feel: important, like I belong, and above all welcome!
It is "PCS season" over here, so there are may people (military related) that are making the transition to leave island. One such family at Central had their last Sunday this week. Almost the entire church family went out for lunch together to celebrate this family and send them off.
After church, I learned that there was going to be a Hawaiian Festival and fireworks display up at a resort about 15 minutes North of the school. My friend, Jess, invited me to go back to her house that she is house-sitting and paddleboard before we made our way to the festival. We managed to paddle almost all the way to Maeda Point and then turned back towards home. I was feeling quite confident in my abilities and kept scooting backwards on the board (making it harder to balance.) Unfortunately, I was over-confident in my abilities (which really are rather laughable at that) and I flipped right over. Jess heard my saying, "Oooh, well, I guess I'm going in" right as I flipped off the board and into the ocean. I managed to lose my ever-so-expensive $1 sunglasses in the process. I learned I know how to climb back onto a paddle board after falling in this way.
Some other friends from school, Brad and Heidi Jernberg, drove up to meet us before we all went up to the fireworks show. The Hawaiian music was supposed to start at 6:30 and the fireworks at 9. We were there around 7. We had great spots on the beach to watch the fireworks. We stayed there for about an hour until ALL of us got restless. We then moved up to an outdoor pool area where we had great lounge chairs to recline on. We listened to the music, explored the resort, and watched the huge fruit bats fly from tree to tree until about 9:30. At that time, we were all very tired. They didn't look like they were anywhere close to fireworks time (in actuality, I learned the next day that the fireworks interrupted the show and just started in the midst of an act). Anyway, we stopped about half-way home and watched the fireworks from the road. Probably beat a ton of traffic that way, however.
Monday: Independence Day here on Okinawa was celebrated with a day off from school. While we are an International School, we run on an American calendar, so we could have the day off. Max took Brad, Heidi, Linda and I out on his boat. We snorkeled around Sand Island and Mai Jima (about an hour boat ride out into the ocean). The water was crystal clear and it felt as though we were swimming right inside an aquarium. The corals were vibrant and alive; the fish abundant and varied, and the water cool and refreshing. I went ashore on both islands to claim some shells/coral to bring home. My snorkeling bag was so full of "stuff" that Heidi said it looked like I was swimming with an anchor. The freedom and relaxation that being on Max's boat gives pretty much surpasses almost anything else I can say. I love it out on the boat!
That evening, I was invited back to my new friends from Central's home for an Independence Day party. Several families/couples from church were in attendance and we had a traditional 4th of July menu. We ended the evening with a game of Settlers of Catan, at which point I was defeated. :( I'll blame it on the incredibly full days that I had before that night.
Today- Tuesday: I just finished school and the prep work I needed to do to get ready for tomorrow. The kids were pretty wound up today and it was hard to settle them into routine. Eventually we got on track and had a great day. One of the 5th graders just got back from Greece and brought the class treats from there. That was pretty exciting for them.
On a different - perhaps deeper - note. I just finished a Bible Study on the book of Nehemiah today. The last two days have been very near and dear to my heart. One of the things I was asked to do today was to compare the city of Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day (and his descriptions) to that of the "New Jerusalem" in the New Testament. I guess I have spent quite a bit of time this weekend wondering about how I can feel so "at home" here on Okinawa and with people here; some I have known for 20 years, some that I have only known for 2 weeks! I guess I'm being reminded that my citizenship is not here on Earth. It isn't in MN, or Silver Bay, or Fergus Falls, or Yomitan, Okinawa... I am a child of the King! I am a citizen of Heaven - "This world is not my home; I'm just passing through . . ." Because of Jesus, I am at home with fellow citizens of the "New Jerusalem!" The family of God. I am blessed, indeed, to be a part of that family.
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