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.