2012年6月21日木曜日

From Tornado Alley to Typhoon Alley

I have finally started my Japanese lessons. My tutor is an amazing military wife who has the patience of a saint. J We began with simple phrases that are commonly used in daily conversation the first day.  She has based her lessons on the communicative theory- where daily immersion into the culture along with application of language will build my vocabulary.  So far this has been great. I have been able to order in restaurants, shop and interact with native okinawans with minimal confusion.  Each lesson we work on grammar, culture, current Japanese events, food and arts & crafts. The second lesson we worked on creating sentences with the word “desu”. Which means “is”, for example, “ Kore wa watashi-no shujin dess.” Means this is my husband. We have also worked on pronunciation and phrasing of words, whew! It sounds like a lot but it is relatively easy since she is such a patient person. Every lesson she also brings a type of food for me to try. This week it was nata de coco (?). A flan or jello like coconut milk snack with lichee fruit in it. It was very good and her 1 year old daughter was more than happy to share it with me. Our first art project was origami, my former students would have been proud that I remembered some of it. We also read a baby book, this sounds funny but it was to illustrate how in Japanese everything has a word for a sound, from water dripping to snow falling. I’m fascinated with everything that I’m learning and loving the culture more and more with each experience.
Last weekend G and I had a daytime date at American Village. We went to a Thai restaurant where I was able to apply my “homework phrases”. I was very proud of myself when we got everything we wanted and I even got complimented on my pronunciation. Later that evening we went to a party with the international research student crew from 2 weeks ago. The Argentineans were giving tango lessons and cooking empanadas. The Brit who is visiting kept saying, “I don’t know what this is but it looks like a pasty, so that’s what I’m going to call it”. HAHA. I told her she can come over and I will make her pasty’s. Later in the evening another gent from England and the conversation wandered into American slang and British slang, before G and I knew it we were having a lesson in cockney slang. I felt like I was in a Guy Richie movie. But, I now know that the term “raspberries” came from cockney slang. It started with raspberry tart, which rhymes with fart which is why when we make the pthhh sound we call it giving raspberries.
On Sunday the typhoon warning was upgraded so we had to move all of the plants inside, thank goodness for a second bathroom- G now sings “Welcome to the Jungle” whenever he walks past it. Even though it was a pain I am grateful that we did move it all inside the winds whipped harder than I have ever heard in Oklahoma. While waiting for the storm to arrive we decided it still wasn’t too bad so we went to a yakiniku restaurant where you order the different types of meats and vegetables and then cook it at your table. Delicious! The best part is that I didn’t have any dishes afterwards. J The winds and rain finally hit here around 10 pm. All of our dehumidifiers were glugging trying to keep up, so we just snuggled down and watched in amazement how the winds whipped the rain and trees with such power.
Tuesday it was still raining quite a bit and G even had to pull a stranded motorist out of a huge puddle on the way home. The road had flooded so much that it was over his knees and soaked the floorboard of the Pajero. (It smells so great now-YUCK!) By the time we left on Wednesday for base all of the flooding had disappeared.
Wednesday morning I finally signed up for the driver’s safety briefing, took my test and got my “professional” drivers license.  I did drive a bit around base and a little off base; I was comfortable with driving on the left hand side of the road I just need to work on hugging the center line more since the roads here are so narrow. We did a bit of car shopping after I got my license, I climbed into a hot little 2 seater convertible that was in our price range then  looked more closely at the steering wheel- IT WAS COVERED IN MOLD! No wonder it was on sale, disgustingly fuzzy little car. So, needless to say, I’m still looking.

2012年6月9日土曜日

Life's a beach

Yesterday G was able to get off of work early so we went to Torii beach. The first thing I noticed was how different the beach was from US beaches. It was covered in pieces of coral and the sand was soft and clean. Since it was low tide we were able to wade out about a hundred yards without ever getting over our knees. As we waded out there wasn’t any plant life for the first 20 yards or so and it was so clear. The further we walked the more sea cucumbers we saw; initially this was a little unnerving since they are long and black with little orange/red knobs on their bodies and some were over a yard in length! (Not exactly something you see in Oklahoma lakes). But they didn’t pay us any attention so we just navigated around them. J As we continued to explore further we came across coral reefs where we could poke around tide pools. It’s amazing how much life is in each little area. I wish that we had a water proof camera so that we could share the beautiful sights. We walked the beach and picked up shells, G even found a 500 yen coin. There was very little litter on the beach and the smell was salty bliss, not stinky like the Gulf. I can hardly wait to explore other beaches.
Once we got home and cleaned up we met up with 3 other American friends and went to dinner. They wanted to go to the Italian restaurant that is around the corner, it’s where I got the fish dinner the other night. By the way I still do not know what kind of fish that was, except its native to the Okinawa area only and very tasty. Two of our friends had never been there we ordered several items that we love so that they would be able to sample quite a bit of the menu. For appetizers we had brushetta this is phenomenal here they do a variation in the ingredients compared to the states here it is a sliced baguette topped with tomatoes, capers, small slivers of garlic and fresh herbs; we also had marinated octopus topped with daikon, capers, fresh herbs and several other ingredients that I have no clue what they are except delectable. We also had smoked salmon and a cheese and fruit plate that had dried dates, kiwi and apricots along with 4 different hard cheeses. Amazingly enough we still had room for dinner. I ordered another new dish off the menu, anchovy linguine. The sauce was subtle and delicious, hints of spicy heat from small red chilies- I learned the hard way NOT to eat these! My tongue was on fire for about 5 minutes after I accidently ate one. Bellies full and the mild night air helped our conversation to flow for several hours. We discussed our experiences on the island, how warm and kind the Okinawans are and how many people on base are missing out because they are stuck on all things American, instead of exploring this wonderful opportunity. I have arranged for a Japanese tutor to come to my house this next week so that I can build my vocabulary, cultural knowledge as well as Japanese cooking techniques. I’m very excited to see how much more I will learn and be able to experience once I have a better handle on the language and culture.

2012年6月6日水曜日

The stuff that dreams are made of….

Last year at this time I was working two jobs during my summer vacation; this year I’m living on a tropical island, not working outside of the home, just enjoying quality time with my husband-wild. I never would’ve thought that this would be my reality. The longer I am here, the more I love the people, the culture, and the pace of life.  I do not think that I have been this relaxed in years, it is so nice.
For example, we went to dinner with some of G’ coworkers at a hibachi restaurant two weeks ago, we had a wonderful dinner with great conversation then walked around the area called American Village. One of his coworkers then took us to a friend’s business that was just opening. When walking in I was amazed at the difference between American lounges and Okinawan. There were only 6 stools and 2 L shaped couches, this is typical here. In fact, it is nearly impossible to get a restaurant to cater to a party of 10 or more. While we were at the lounge the owner/host was more than gracious, he tolerated my broken Japanese and was the perfect host. He offered us a snack of his mother’s homemade pickled gobo. This was delicious! The flavor was a bit like bacon bits. Bacon bit flavored vegetables, what’s not to love. After thanking our host we continued to walk the area, I have never felt as comfortable walking around at night as I do here. Everyone we passed said hello. It’s kind of like being in a country town at times.
Another evening G and I were trying to go to our local Italian restaurant but it was closed, so we ventured into a sushi restaurant across the street. Usually, the restaurants we go to have an American menu (one with pictures) this one did not, but surprisingly I wasn’t intimidated. We ordered sashimi and tempura, the fish was so fresh it melted in my mouth. I never realized sashimi could taste so good, what we’ve been eating in the states pales in comparison. Again the people here were kind and accommodating, they even smiled when I got out my Japanese phrase book to ask questions, they did not get frustrated or impatient with me at all. Because of this, I am more willing to continue to try speaking Japanese since I have been receiving such positive support from everyone.
Last Friday we went to our neighbor’s party. He is a Brit working at a local university and is also a concert flutist, which is lovely when we plays with the windows open the notes float down the hill and float into our house as well. This is so much nicer than the child who used to practice his trumpet in Dallas J
The people there were amazing. The university hires 50% Japanese researchers and 50% foreigners. As we walked in the host immediately ushered me in for pictures with the others, they were being silly and doing human pyramids. So we started off giggling and the evening continued on the same fun note. I had to step back a few times and digest that we were really discussing medical research with a Frenchman who has a patent on a new drug to treat the swelling in the brain for advanced cases of malaria. Some of the other guests were from England, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Argentina, and the Canary Islands, all over Asia and DelawareJ. Their research was just as fascinating, ranging from oceanography to physics. I was in awe that so many people are working on research that I have only read about and here I was listening to their theories and how they came to the point that they are at now. The whole evening was mesmerizing to say the least.
I am loving it here, tapping into the adventurous side that I had previously forgotten. I cannot wait to experience new things each and every day.