...I will be on a PLANE to OKINAWA with my besties kelly and ann!! It's finally spring here. Well, it's still a little cold. But it's almost April, so in my book that means spring. Ann and I went on a few shopping binges to update our wardrobes: lots of linen and cotton dresses and other flowy things! I can't wait to be WARM on the sunny sands of the beach. We will stay in Osaka tonight, and then tomorrow at 9:05 head south to paradise! I'll try to update a bit while I'm down there, but considering my recent track record... I'm not promising anything. Does anyone even read this anyway? Unlikely.
Here's the general skeleton of our trip: Days 1-3, Okinawa-honto, the biggest of the Okinawan islands. We'll kick it in Naha, the prefecture's biggest city, and drive around the island, stopping at various attractions: war memorials and museums, the best aquarium in japan, beautiful beaches, and the like. Then it's down to Miyakojima via an overnight ferry that my mother is mildly freaking out about. We will arrive on the island at 4:30am... Just in time to wait 2 hours for the sun to rise. A couple days sunbathing on Miyako (home to "Japan's Best Beach"), then even farther southward to Taketomijima, a tiny island with only 500 people or something ridiculous like that, and water-buffalo drawn carts! Ann's goal for this trip is to eat a snake - while riding a buffalo - while playing the shamisen (traditional Okinawan stringed instrument) - while being serenaded by a toothless old man. We'll try to work that into our busy schedule. THEN, for our last few days, we will head to Iriomotejima, the "last wilderness" of Japan (aside from that vast expanse called Hokkaido). There we will go on a full-day guided kayak trip, through the jungle (!!) of Iriomote! Maybe we'll glimpse one of the rare and near-extinct jungle cats... but probably not. Lol. Then we head to Ishigaki for a one-day stop over on our way back to Naha... Then it's back on April 4th to Okinawa island and upward to Osaka, and then BAM we're home! That's our trip in a nutshell. IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME.
I'm trying to keep myself busy here on my last day at work, with not-a-thing to do. Good way to get in the spring break mindset... Find my zen. Hommmm, let's meditate. Oh here's one quirky Japan fact for you: The Japanese Board of Education transfers its teachers from school to school at a whim. As in, at the end of every school year, every teacher is liable to be told to pack up and move on, buddy. TOTALLY uncool and random and nonsensical, right?! Two of my favorite teachers and one of my favorite office workers found out yesterday they will be leaving. They packed up their desks and that was it! They're gone! So crazy. I'd hate for someone to tell me where I can and cannot work. How ridiculous... OH JAPAN how silly you are.
Alright I'm out. Next time I write, it'll be from a little grass shack in Okinawaaaa...
12 years ago
