Life’s a beach

Since I have last blogged we have had some amazing adventures. We went to Zanpa Beach, a wonderful resort area with clean beaches and a roped off swimming area. Even the drive to Zanpa is amazing. There are 3 churches’ along the road that are white stucco with large windows facing the sea. When the light hit the largest church, which is nestled in large gardens of pink, orange and yellow hibiscus complimenting the gorgeous view of the blue green of the sea it quite literally took my breath away. I told G that I wanted to renew our vows there. It was truly beautiful and quite a contrast to what we saw once we got to the beach area.  

It’s funny to see the differences between what is appropriate swim wear according to where people are from. The local’s wear long pants, shirts that cover their arms and huge bonnets, sometimes with scarves to cover their faces as well. I have been told this is because they do not want to appear dark to the mainlanders. I do not know how they can stand the heat with all of that clothing. The Europeans wear Speedo’s and postage stamp bikinis, regardless of age or body type. We had a good time people watching. While at Zanpa we rented a water trike. This was so much fun! We pedaled out to the reef against the wind and tide while the gears were slipping; it was a workout but so much fun. The water was so clear you could see very far down and it was hard to not just jump in and explore. We played a bit more until we felt the midday sun getting a bit too warm then we went and explored the outdoor shops looking for snorkeling and fishing gear. The lures cracked me up. There was one about the size of my fist that was wooden, when you flipped the packaging over you saw stickers that you can apply to make your own scale pattern. For some reason this just made me giggle. I could just picture my father playing with stickers trying to make his own lure. J

For my Japanese lessons this week we went to the local farmers market and grocery store armed with my Japanese cookbook, shopping bags and plenty of yen. I have been quite curious about several items I have seen but had no idea what they were so my tutor helped me figure it out. Since she is from Sapporo some items were new to her as well. With her help I was able to find out from the farmers how to choose the produce since I had no clue if it was ripe or not. From all of the shopping I was able to make 4 new recipes, some are way better than others but it is all part of my cultural assimilation so I’m good with it.

The following weekend G took me dancing at the officers club on base where I got to meet more of his coworkers and their wives. Everybody was so nice and fun! We enjoyed laughing and dancing the night away, something we haven’t done in a very long time. The next morning we headed to Maeda Point to go snorkeling with our dancing buddies from the night before. I was a bit apprehensive at first since I had never tried it before. To get to the beach you have to walk down a steep, narrow set of stairs to the coral reef. We bobbed in the shallow waters struggling to get our fins on all the while trying not to step on the dozens of sea urchins at our feet. We waded a bit further out and I tried to use my snorkel. This freaked me out for a moment because I wanted to exhale through my nose but G stuck by me and I got things back under control. Then I was able to lose myself in the beauty of the sea.  The colors of coral, plants, fish and other critters were beyond my wildest imagination! Aquariums may try to emulate it but they pale in comparison to the real thing. We saw angel fish, a puffer, parrot fish, clown fish, a barracuda and several others that I have no clue of how to describe. One of our friends picked up a starfish for us to touch; surprisingly it just felt like another piece of coral. I can’t wait to get my own gloves so I can explore the bottom of the sea more. We also swam into a cave where you couldn’t see what was below you until you reached the back of it where there was an opening in the rocks where the sunlight peeked through. The swim in was scary but the swim back to the open sea was phenomenal! We got to see all the schools of fish we had just past.  They were swimming in circles almost as if they were one being, perfectly choreographed in an underwater ballet.

After 3 hours of snorkeling and very pruney hands we decided to go back home. I cannot wait to go again. Hopefully our friend will send us the pictures he took so that we can share them with all of you.