Naha

Naha was fun.

The 6 of us flew on the same flight, the Muni’s, me, Teresa, and Amy, the Ken’s Kirsty and Sam, and the German CIR David. We got there just in time for the Ken-JETs Kirsty and Sam to be just a few minutes late for the conference, but it wasn’t a big deal. Apparently we took one of the first flights out of Miyako, so they couldn’t really have been there any earlier. We also saw Kugai-san (my BIG boss) on the flight, but I don’t really know where he got to.

When we found the Kencho (some kind of office building) we Muni’s had about an hour before we had to meet the assistant governor. During the meeting we sat in a conference room and some of the guys played with the microphones in front of them until the meeting started. It was really nice to see some of them again, and I’m sure some of them felt the same way, because some of them are the only Native English speakers on their islands.

After the long long meetings (because they were meetings, they were long) we were released to check into our hotels and have a fun evening. Our hotel was soooo cute. It was the August Inn (or the オーガスト*イーン). We each had our own rooms, which was nice, but we were only there for that one night. The shower was positively claustrophobic. The sink actually overlaid the shower and I bumped my hip on it every time I tried to rinse off. But other than that it was really nice.

That night we met up with the Ishigaki people and Nick at a wonderful Indian resturant. I had lamb, which was divine. Lamb in a spinach curry sauce with the biggest nam you’ve ever seen and a samosa. After we went out to a Canadian bar for drinks and I ended up in Veronica’s hotel room just talking for a bit before crashing.

The next morning we got up again for checkout and more conferences. These weren’t so long because they started later, and had a short break in the middle. I sat in on the talks about teaching in elementary school and living on an outer island. Perhaps everyone is feeling the way I feel about Miyako right now, but I’m really happy that I was placed here. I keep on looking at other situations and going “wow, I’m lucky.” Like, wow, I’m lucky that I didn’t get placed on an island with only one ALT on it, and wow, I’m lucky I didn’t get placed in a large city like Naha.

That night was the first night we were in the new hotel, which was Japanese style (bathrooms at the end of the hall, showers downstairs, and a hard futon to sleep on, but hey, it’s not that different from western style, and the green tea in the room was free), and good for the price. We went out and met everyone at Beer Dome for an all you can eat and drink get to know you party. A Naha JET names Cadisha was hosting and she was really nice and fun. It was buffet style, which was good for the 50 or so people who showed up. The Ishigaki people had to leave that night (because the camping trip was canceled due to a typhoon that didn’t actually hit us). We had fun and socialized and played bingo and sang karaoke. It was really fun.

The following morning we got up and instead of going down to the port (we were going camping on Tokashiki Island) we rented a car and drove up to Montabu to the Aquarium. It was a really long ride, but it was really scenic (once we got out of Naha, which is huge, and the “highway” has traffic lights, and a speed limit of 50km, sometimes 60km (31 or 37mph). The fish tank was fun, we saw whale sharks, and it had a lot of neat fish in it that I had never seen before. Sam was just in ecstasy because she’s actually a marine zoology major and really enjoyed telling us what every fish in the big tanks were, and how interesting they all were. Really fun.

The Aquarium itself is in this Marine park type thing, so after we paid to go to the Aquarium part we walked around the free exhibits like giant sea turtles, manatees, and dolphins. The was suppose to be a dolphin show, but when the sky started falling we decided to leave and get dinner instead.


Jonathan, the current block head for Miyako warned us, “if you go to the Aquarium, make sure you get pizza. You don’t need to know the name of the place, everyone will know it. It’s kinda hard to get to, but you’ll be fine.” And it really was. Really hard to get to, little one lane but two way streets with no street signs and just occasionally a “ピザ->” sign. It was up at the top of this really big hill so we watched the sun go down over the ocean eating really really good pizza, pizza with actual mozzarella cheese. It was really lovely.

During this day I also had a moment with Amie, who we both looked at each other and said, “wait, don’t I know you?” We spent several minutes going over where we’d been and who we knew and couldn’t figure it out. She’s a second year JET from Canada. It makes no sense.

On the way back to Naha, I got really tired and crabby, but it wasn’t that bad. Then sleep again, and the next day we got up and went shopping. We found Uniqlo, which felt kinda like Old Navy, some really fashionable things, some really cheap things. I picked up some plain teeshirts for work, and a few tank tops, because it’s so bloody hot.

Then we met up with Nick again, and he accompanied us to the airport (had nothing better to do, and the train ride was only 230yen). We made those stupid photo stickers at the airport, they’re really cute. And we almost missed our flight because of it, it’s so easy to fall into island time. Oh, we don’t need to go through security until 10 minutes before the plane leaves, really, it’s okay. What? We only have 5 minutes to take off? Ah, it’ll be fine. Oooo, it was harrowing.

On the flight I was so relived. I really felt like it was so nice to be going back home. This really is an amazing place. It was really nice to go back home and just be home. But I really need to continue to tidy up. I need more places to put things. Like just two more pieces of furniture. I think I’m gonna stop by the used shop today or tomorrow.

Then because I didn’t have any food in my house (I was out of town for 4 days) so I decided that I really wanted niku don, but I didn’t know of any place to get it, so I decided to go to an izukaiya called San Goya, where we’d gone our first night there. But it was closed. So I went to “that place that I went for lunch with Mike that time” and it had . . . niku don. So I was very happy.

This was written this morning. Today was eventful, but I must talk about it later. Sleep now.