my second home... araha beach

i went to bed early last night (school wears me out!) and woke up at the crack of dawn (8am is the crack of dawn on a saturday). since there were blue skies and weather.com says that there will be scattered t-storms on sunday and monday, i decided to go to the beach for a few hours. i arrived at around 10:30 so i easily found a parking spot, which was great. there aren't that many parking places to choose from at araha beach. at this particular beach, there are umbrellas already in the sand for you, so i sat down next to one and opened it up so my stuff could stay in the shade while i soaked up some sun. about an hour later, the lifeguard came over to me and informed me that i have to rent the umbrella. haha.. at least i got it for free for a little bit! :) as i was people watching, i noticed that the cute asian mom in front of me had on an oregon swimsuit! it was a triangle top and one of the triangles had oregon written out with a pine tree underneath.. if only we could communicate! i would have asked her where she got it and told her i was from there! i was going to take a picture to show everyone, but then she let her two year old run around naked so i decided not to haha.

after the beach i decided to go to jusco (asian target as i like to call it) to pick up some groceries and maybe a mirror. didn't get a mirror but i did get some octopus! and i bought my first pair of chopsticks :) i am definitely going to be a pro by the time i come back home. sushi is easy to eat chopsticks with, but i need to practice with everything else.. rice, salad, fruit.. you name it, i'm going to use chopsticks to eat it with! :)
while i was at jusco the huge parking lot next to it had a bunch of tents and carnival looking games. the girls and i are going to check it out tonight so i'll let you know how it was.



ship for kids to play on.. isn't it cute?!

first day of a new experience

first of all.. i'm surprised i got up so darn early and wasn't tired! my parents would be so proud :) the morning started with going to the main campus for devotions. by the time i got to my campus, some of my students were already waiting outside my door to get in. it was a little overwhelming because i had no time to myself before school officially started, but the kids were so adorable coming in with their oversize backpacks and huge smiles that it was excusable :) the parents are also very friendly which is a huge plus!
the whole day went very smoothly. i had to start the day off when the name game because some of these names are hard to pronounce! haha.. i think i'm a pro now :) the girls warmed up to me fast and i have two of the boys close to my desk so i can make sure they are on task. one great thing i've noticed is that my students love to help each other which is lovely because i don't want to help tie pieces of yarn for every child that doesn't know how.. i don't have that many hands! they are so cute helping one another.. since they are so tiny, they will share a seat and work together. so adorable! i only really have one problem child.. i just need to teach him to not comment about every little thing we talk about in class. he'll learn. i had to put his name on the board today and that helped him a little bit. he also had a minor tantrum when i had the students write out the alphabet. he is the type that will just say he can't do something, when in reality, he can do it just fine. during writing class, he wrote perfectly well and there weren't any mistakes unlike during penmanship. he's going to be my tough one!
the only stressful thing about this week is filling up all my time. there aren't any specialized classes this week so i have my students from 8:25 in the morning until 3:10 in the afternoon.. that is a lot of planning! normally they would also have japanese, pe/music, chapel on fridays, and art on mondays. today i gave them recess.. since they eat lunch in the classroom i didn't want them to be in the classroom the whole day.. that would be boring!
they seemed like they had a lot of fun today and i did too! i'm excited for next week when there will be a normal schedule. it will also be nice when i fully understand where they are academically. i found out today that they are way more advanced than the beginning of the first grade curriculum for math. they breezed through the math pages in their workbook. i added some more for tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
i am really excited for this school year and getting to know the students more. OH.. during lunch i laughed to myself because all of the cute japanese students had plastic chopsticks to eat with :) it made my heart smile. i'll hopefully have some pictures soon to show you! you will fall in love with them!
thanks for the prayers and being interested in my teaching experience! i love you all very much :)

my classroom!

i have my first day of teaching tomorrow! i am so excited to meet my little first graders!

please keep me in your prayers this week as i become settled in with the teaching routine and become acquainted with my students.

updates soon!


every morning when i come in, at least one of those alphabet signs is on the ground haha. the wall is concrete so i can't staple and because of the humidity, the tape sometimes unsticks.



the sign to my campus

thunder and lightning.. it's about time!

last night adrienne, alison, and i went to the kadena air base to have dinner with one of our co-workers, laura. her husband is a fighter pilot. her house was adorably decorated.. she was saying that furniture and home accents will come from indonesia, china, and other asian countries (think of a better version of pier 1). i wish i had a way to take some of that kind of stuff back to the states with me.. but i guess that's a good thing because i would always be spending all my money :) dinner was fun. laura is such a sweetheart and we all shared many laughs over dinner and dessert. it felt like i was back in the states which was definitely refreshing.

during dinner there was a HUGE thunderstorm. i haven't been in a thunderstorm in quite a long time, so i thought it was fun! every minute or so the whole sky would light up and then the thunder would sometimes be right over us. i was sad that it stopped by the time we left... i was hoping to go home and watch it from my balcony. we are all hoping for a typhoon.. i want the chance to say that i've been in a typhoon at least once!

here are some pictures of her dog, barkley. he is ginormous! such an adorable dog with a fun personality. i hope the pictures do justice to how big he is.. i should have sat down next to him.. i would have looked like a little person!



he is like a big teddy bear! and he doesn't move.. you just have to walk (or should i say leap haha) over him


the wives in the squadron are known as the "bat babes" so whenever it is one of the ladies' birthdays, this sign is put in the lawn.

.beautiful.

one road (jagaru street) from my apartment twists and turns down the hill to one of the major roads i use to go to the beach, grocery shopping, the american village, and other places. mr elofson (my principal/boss) was telling me that they built the road like that back in the day because okinawans believed that ghosts traveled only in straight lines. on the way down jagaru street it overlooks part of the island where you can see the ferris wheel lit up from the American village and it is such a gorgeous cityscape. there is actually parking spots off the road to park your car and look at the scenery.

when i was coming back from the one hundred yen store (puts our dollar stores to shame!) i decided to take some pictures from the look-out spot. i'll have to take some at night too because it is simply breathtaking.

triple f

the weekend was definitely needed. i've been having in-service all week, which included meetings in the morning and working in my classroom in the afternoon. with it being so humid and hot here, i was worn out by the time the weekend arrived. the girls and i decided to go this festival that some co-workers were talking about.. there would be drummers performing and interesting food (squid on a stick!).. but unfortunately we were out of luck. apparently it didn't kick off until saturday, so we just wandered around looking very lost haha. since we didn't want to be grandmas and go back home, we decided to go to.. drum roll please.. the american village! haha.. i think we've ran out of things to see there :) but we went to A&W (they are everywhere!) to get a rootbeer float. there was an american guy behind us asking if we knew where an atm machine was. i never see people using credit cards or debit cards around here. i was debit card happy in the states! anyway.. remember this man because you haven't heard the end of him yet. the rootbeer float had ice in it.. the picture explains why. and can i just say that i applaud okinawa for having crushed ice as the ice of choice. in the states it would be like hitting the jackpot when i found a place with crushed ice!



on saturday we decided to go to the futenma flightline fair. it is an annual festival celebrating the friendship between the marine corps and japanese communities. i did not realize how huge these bases were!!! and they are very spread out.. everywhere else you go in japan is tightly packed. we had fun touring through airplanes, watching a bench press competition, listening to some hilarious music, and eating very expensive food. it was refreshing to be surrounded a lot of americans. i've missed being able to eavesdrop on conversations and understand what they're saying! :) we even saw one of our fellow teachers whose husband is in the air force. he was saying that there were chinese spies there who were disguised as tourists (but too obvious as tourists) taking pictures of all the aircraft. crazy! oh.. and remember the A&W guy? so as we were walking to look at all the food, this guy says, "i found the atm." we turned around and there was the guy from last night! adrienne asked if we stuck out that much and he replied that we did because it was the three of us again. i was surprised haha!


"sumo"


could you see me being the pilot of that ginormous plane?! haha








i could not imagine sitting in those seats for long periods of time!





some guys were lifting over 300 lbs!


first of all.. where do you find a military bouncing playhouse?!
and second... i won't mention anything about the tank...

some pictures...

my apartment isn't completely finished (i need to put pictures on the wall), but some people have been asking to see what it looks like, so here you go!!! and there is a picture of my car! it's my guppy :)
i'm so close to being done with my classroom.. so sometime next week i'll put up pictures!
love you all!!!



my front door/kitchen/shoe shelves


my cute lil refrigerator!


my washing machine (in japanese.. that was fun haha)


my bed (with a lot of storage underneath!)




since there isn't a dryer i have to hang my clothes.


part of my living room


other part


guppy!


so funny story.. sometimes it gets so humid here that my camera fogs up! it is just so convenient haha

cruising :)

I finally got my car! I felt like an islander driving on the wrong side of the road, acting like I knew where I was going. luckily, I did know where I was going! but funny story… as I pull up to the gas station, I say “regular monton” (meaning fill it up) and the poor guy is trying to tell me something in japanese but of course I can’t understand him. nice soul that he is.. he opens my car door and finds the gas tank knob to open it (smiling the whole time nonetheless). I just give the cute lil naive smile and laugh as I tell him thank you. and then I went grocery shopping.. let me just tell you that once I learn how to properly cook them I’m going to buy the octopus and eel. not that I really need to cook them since I do eat them in sushi. the octopus isn’t even cut up.. reminds me of mexicali :) I swear you can find any kind of meat here. I just need to know japanese so I know what all the stuff is! I didn’t even know what kind of milk to get because I couldn’t find any cartons in english. hopefully I didn’t get whole milk!

I’m going to be completely random now because i forgot to mention this in my last blog. first.. here in okinawa, drinking and driving is not taken lightly. and when I say drinking and driving, I mean having ONE drink and driving. there is a hefty fine and jail time for being caught with .03… luckily there is a service where they will pick you up and take you home AND take your car home too!

also I just wanted to share my observation with you that I think the japanese ladies here are gorgeous and so adorable in their stylish clothes. and they are also very thin which helps me fit in :) but seriously.. sometimes I feel like the bigger person when i’m around some of them. crazy how that works out huh! now I know where to go when I get tired of all the skinny jokes from the states! here it isn’t a rare occurrence, which makes me feel at home :)

oops

so i realized i spelled balcony wrong under one of the pictures and i don't feel like reposting it, but i'm kind of a perfectionist so it is bugging me. haha.. that is all i wanted to say :)

sorry it's been a while

i've only been getting internet at school still, but i really want to update my blog, so i will do it in the little amount of time i have before the morning seminars start today.

it's been fun sight-seeing and becoming familiar with the island. the beaches are gorgeous! the water is the perfect temperature.. i have a feeling i'll be living at the beach this year :) and since this is an island.. i always see the ocean in the distance which just makes my heart smile. the only two problems with the beaches i've noticed is the sand (it's mostly coral sand which is really rough) and the amount of jellyfish in the water. luckily there are places marked with nets so there are safe swimming areas.

i remember telling some of you about the american village (the place with the ferris wheel) and i've been there a few times. i went one time with adrienne and alison (the girls from california) and we ate at a delicious mexican restaurant. there is a huge store called the american depot which, in my opinion, wasn't very american haha. but some of the brands were american and some of the toys reminded me of all the toys in the oregon coast shops. starbucks is EXPENSIVE and i'll probably only have coffee there once or twice haha. some drinks are almost six dollars! there are also a lot of live entertainment at the american village which is very amusing! we watched a band who sang in english and japanese. pictures don't do it justice! it was hilarious and very entertaining. we also watched a man perform a myriad of skills... juggling with fire and a dance with glass balls to name a couple.

i've really enjoyed the food here, which is great! i was scared authentic food wouldn't be as good as american-japanese food, but i'm in love with it. mr. elofson and chikaka (my boss and his wife) took me to sushi and it was delicious! it was the conveyor belt style restaurant which was fun since i've only been to one at home. at this restaurant it wasn't roll style (which i'm obsessed with), but the kind with the fat piece of meat on top of rice. i had some octopus, tuna, and even tried smoked duck! it was soooo delicious! it was weird because the duck had mayo drizzled on top of it (sounds strange but actually quite tasty). charles and chikako took me to a japanese restaurant last night and i had the rainbow roll (SO MUCH BETTER than all the sushi places i've been to in california and oregon.. all of you need to visit just to try the sushi!). green tea is also always served with dinner which i love!

and mom… you would be happy to know that I found some stores that are ten times better than target! i feel like I’m at home :) these stores have a whole grocery section on one floor, and then on the next floor everything else.. electronics, clothes (gorgeous clothes… I’m going to be buying a lot I’m sure!) and accessories (cute purses as well!), and everything else imaginable.

so yeah.. I’ve been having fun and meeting a lot of amazing people. the staff has been very sweet to me and i’ve enjoyed learning more about them over lunches and dinners.

and you are probably curious about my apartment. It is small, but i’m living by myself so it isn’t too bad. i have a rice cooker which is fun to use.. i’m turning japanese! :) it’s funny because i have a washer, but dryers aren’t used here. I have a rope on my balcony to hang my clothes. It rains periodically since this is a tropical climate, so i have to plan accordingly when i need to do laundry. also, all my appliances are in japanese which has been fun to figure out haha.

OH! and mr. elofson was telling me about the television stations (there is only one english station) BUT the station has all the best shows on it! i will be able to watch house, er, law and order, lost, the office, as well as other great shows. the lord has blessed me :)

i think this is enough information about the past week i’ve been here. I’m excited to finally get internet in my apartment so I can video chat with some of you! I miss all your faces :)

.peace and love.

view from my baloncy



ferris wheel at american village


band performing.. nice afro! :)

i'm here!

i'm not getting internet in my apartment until the 21st so i haven't been able to update as much as i would like to. just know, though, that as each day comes, i'm loving this place more and more. i've had some interesting experiences grocery shopping, hanging out at the gorgeous beaches, and even got to experience authentic sushi :) i'll describe them in more detail later AND add pictures!
i miss you all very much!!!

at the airport

the flight wasn't too bad from la to taipei.. i slept most the time haha. i've never been in an airplane that big so it was a fun experience. the seats were sooo comfortable!

i'm at taipei right now waiting for my flight to okinawa. i should be boarding in the next half hour or so. there are mostly americans waiting for this flight which is a big difference from my earlier flight. one lady was trying to communicate with me on the plane but she didn't speak english so she tried using hand gestures... i still don't know what she was trying to tell me haha.

thanks for the prayers and i'll be in contact soon once i finally arrive in okinawa. i love you all!!

.peace and love.

one day and counting!

so here i am.. sitting on michelle's couch watching the olympics (shout-out to gymnastics!) and realizing how much closer i'll be to the olympics in a couple days. in case you are interested in my flight itinerary.. i leave from LAX at 1:15 in the morning on tuesday to taipei, taiwan. then from taipei i will fly into okinawa at around 10:45 in the morning on wednesday... i think around a sixteen flight altogether! i think i suffer from airplane ADD because i always get fidgety going to california and that is only a two hour flight, so prayers would be greatly appreciated!

tomorrow is the last day you'll be able to contact me on my cell phone... i can't afford an international plan! haha.. but i do have skype (rachel.pentecost), facebook, and myspace, so no excuses! i'll show a picture of my japanese cell phone when i get it.. i'm so excited for all the japanese technology i'm going to see!

well.. i'll sign off for now. i still can't believe it's almost time to leave for japan... it's been on my mind since last december! i love all of you very much and i'm so glad you'll be able to share this experience with me through my blog :)

.peace and love.