tug-of-war?

i don't even really know what to say about today haha. so many things happened.. so many different emotions :) the naha matsuri festival was today, so the girls and i went in the afternoon. i haven't been to naha since i got picked up from the airport in august, so i was excited to spend the day there. when we got there, the parade of flags had just started. the parade of flags conists of fourteen flags.. each flag represents a community in okinawa. seven are from the east-side and seven from the west.. so the tug-of-war is basically east-side vs. west-side. the parade was really cool.. the men balanced the flags on their hands and stomachs. it was a little scary when they would start to fall towards me! luckily the other men had y-shaped sticks to catch the flags before they hit the parade watchers :)

that takes some serious skill

a kid sized flag :) he's practicing


i also really enjoyed the watching them perform karate with different weapons.. sai, nunchucks, swords, and bo staffs. they are VERY talented!!!



then came the tug-of-war. oh goodness.. i don't even know how to describe it. first of all... it happens on the street. the rope is eighteen tons and two meters in diameter... it is in the guiness book of world records as the largest tug-of-war in the world. before it began, adrienne, alison, and i waited on the sidewalk for the street to be closed off and it was a mad house. people were EVERYWHERE around us and didn't know a thing about personal space.. we were cracking up because of how awkward it had become haha... it was like a mosh pit at a concert.. but no concert. lots of things were happening to prepare for the tug-of-war.. but everything was in japanese so i'm not really sure what was happening. from reading about the festival before going, the east-side and west-side had to challenge each other to the tug-of-war.. so i'm assuming it had something to do with that haha. then came the fun part. we were able to make our way to the front to hold on to the a little rope to help move the big rope to connect the two. a drunk old asian guy was behind me as we were holding on to the rope saying something in japanese.. it was creepy. it was too crowded for anyone to move so i was stuck with him behind me until we started pulling the rope. what fun haha. it was COMPLETE CHAOS when it was our turn to pull the rope to connect the two. i almost lost my flip flops, a woman fell with her child and had to be carried away because she couldn't move and was crying, alison and i were almost trampled on, and the actual tug-of-war hadn't even started yet!! haha.. quite the experience. i was literally scared during that moment.. my heart was beating fast! i seriously thought i was going to be squished and trampled on. all that to say.. we decided to just watch the actual tug-of-war :)

us holding the rope before the chaos began.. we were so naive :)

the rope finally connected and the competitors accepting the challenge


opening ceremony before tug-of-war

the winning side is supposed to cut the rope to take home because it is supposed to bring good luck and a good harvest for the next year. it was crazy to see people take our their knives and razors to cut the rope after the tug-of-war was over!!! seriously.. only in japan. the girls and i were laughing saying that could NEVER happen in the states.. someone would have gotten stabbed! a nice man cut some rope for us, so we have some rope to bring us good luck this year :)

alison and me next to the rope after the victory

i had to get a picture with one of the men!

moving the rope at the end of the ceremony.. crazy huh?!

we ended the night eating at charlie's tacos for dinner.. delicious!!
i wish you all could have experienced today with me.. writing about it does not truly convey how crazy it was!

gotta love free stuff

friday night the girls and i went to sauce, a jazz restaurant, for dinner. the seating consisted of leather couches and chairs.. very comfortable! the lights were dimmed and candles were lit on every table.. add that to the smooth jazz playing and it's easy to tell that it was a very relaxing dinner :) we were the only ones there for a while, so the waitress gave me free coleslaw (by the by... not coleslaw.. more like cabbage with caesar dressing) and we got chicken wings on the house! my lips were burning after eating them but they were really tasty!
we then went on a little adventure trying to find western world, a line dancing club. it took us a while to get there haha but it's okay because i finally saw a statue of godzilla!! he was on top of a building holding a marquee.. i'm sure i'll see more godzillas in tokyo :) all that i can really say about western world is that it makes me appreciate montana's (a line dancing club in california) so much more!!! :) western world was a little ghetto and there were definitely some very special people there haha.
yesterday i relaxed at the beach for a couple hours. the ocean felt really good and i'm still in awe of its gorgeous color... i already know i'm going to miss it when i come back to the states :) right before i left i was fortunate to see a man wearing a thong.. running to the ocean. a speedo is bad enough BUT A THONG?! i know you all probably wanted to see a picture but i didn't take one.. sorry! ;)

another week in okinawa

this week was picture day (class and individual) so i had to take pictures of the kids in their non-uniform clothes.. they are so adorable!


boys will be boys :)


in science class we are learning how water, wind, and air can affect their toys and how they play with them. they made paper airplanes and yesterday we were going to have a flying contest outside, but it rained the whole afternoon :( so tuesday (no school monday woohoo!) will have to be the contest now.. it better not rain! yesterday was also the first time we did reading buddies. the fourth graders are paired up with one of the first graders to read to.. my kids were so excited! it was cute to watch :) for our afternoon friday party, i set up stations for them to play cards.. uno, old maid, slap jack, and go fish. i had a girl cry because she had to draw too many cards in uno and a boy cry because he was the old maid.. they can be so dramatic sometimes! :)

victory!!

praise the lord! i managed to knock the gecko off of the couch (thank you swiffer!) and luckily it scurried into my slipper that was under the couch and then i quickly pushed the slipper on my balcony and shook it until the nuisance fell out and ran under the wall to the next balcony.. sorry neighbors! :) hopefully i won't have anymore of these experiences.. they get me too worked up! haha.. if they didn't move so fast it wouldn't be as scary!!

.gecko.

so last week when i was washing dishes i noticed a gecko run across the wall and hide behind my box of tea on the counter. i went into the living room to get something and when i came back it was gone. WELL.. tonight i moved my little spiral staircase to my bed because i wanted to open the other door to my storage area and there was the gecko!!! i grabbed a plastic bowl so i could catch it and release it outside, but it ran under the couch and now i can't find it! wish me luck.. i don't want this little reptile crawling on me while i sleep so i NEED to find it before i go to bed. dad.. do you want to hurry up and fly here to help me?? :)

.aquarium.

today was full of fun and new adventures. laura and her husband, eric, wanted to show us an amazing pizza restaurant called pizza in the sky, so we went there for lunch. GORGEOUS view and a fun tropical atmosphere. if anyone comes to visit me we will definitely go there for lunch! i'm trying to persuade you if you can't tell ;)

our next stop was the churaumi aquarium. the free exhibits were the sea turtles, dolphin show, and manatees. eric and laura brought a friend’s annual passport, so i used that to get in for free at the main aquarium. there were a lot of awesome exhibits. at one, you walk through a curtain to look at deep sea creatures.. in one tank all you could see were lights from the fish swimming all over the place.. in another there were black lights on the coral to see how they vibrantly glow.. very pretty! there were also exhibits of eels, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, HUGE crabs (not even close to the ones in the states.. so creepy looking!!), and all the fish from finding nemo and the ones i saw on the glass bottom boat ride.

view from the aquarium.. gorgeous

alison took a picture of eric with his coconut drink.. they literally broke it open in front of him.. now that's what i call fresh!

my favorite part was seeing the ginormous aquarium. it is one of the biggest in the world and holds three whale sharks, manta rays, sting rays, barracudas, reef sharks, and other fish. i’ve been fascinated with whale sharks ever since i was in elementary school, so it was amazing to finally see one up close! laura, eric, and i sat in the café (the walls are part of the tank which was cool) and chatted while waiting for the whale shark feeding. during the feeding, buckets of shrimp were dumped into the tank and the whale sharks opened their huge mouths and devoured the shrimp in seconds.. it was crazy to see how much water they swallowed to get all the shrimp! i'm hoping to take my kids here on a fieldtrip.. they LOVE sea creatures, so this would be perfect for them.. and fun for me too! :)

another week down

i can't believe how fast this week flew by! all in all, it was a good week. during story time one of the days, i had a child fall asleep while i was reading. and i mean a deep sleep.. i lifted her head from the table and she didn't even flinch! i even had her stand up and walk around with me hoping that it would wake her up.. she stood up and was walking around with me but i realized that she was still asleep! she was sleep walking with me! so i took her back to her seat and she stayed asleep for about a half hour haha.. she had extra homework since she slept through writing :) the kids thought it was hilarious.. i just thought it was crazy! i also realized how much my children love sign language which makes my heart happy! a couple fridays ago i read "if you give a pig a pancake" and started teaching them how to sign the story. today i reviewed the signs with them and they remembered a lot of them! i'll definitely have to think of more things to incorporate with sign.. they just love it!

other things this week..
i found out that some parents of the new life students want to learn conversation english and requested for me to be their teacher.. don't really know the details yet but i'm really excited about it! i don't know how many are the parents of my kids.. hopefully a few because the ones i've met so far are really nice and seem to have fun personalities. i'll definitely keep you all updated!
and also.. i found really good shampoo here. i know.. random.. but i love trying new beauty products and i can literally spend an hour looking at all the japanese products! some of the shelves even have little televisions to show the commercials of the shampoo, mascara, etc. when i was looking at the shampoos, i probably heard the commercial about ten or so times. i found the commercial on youtube.. just imagine hearing the music from this commercial for five minutes straight.. the tune can easily get stuck in your head!


i'll close for now. laura and her husband, eric, are taking the girls and me to a great pizza place with a spectacular view and then to the aquarium. i'll most likely have pictures to post tomorrow about it :) love you all and MISS YOU!