bye bye saitama hello ohhhkinawa

Our last night in Tokyo was spent at a concert containing a piece my friend Seiko composed for a local percussion group. Also in the line up was a percussion group from Bulgaria called Via Nova, four mighty talented young men playing vibraphones and bass drums.

After the show we went out for Indian food in Shinjuku then watched some drunken salary men on the Shonan-Shinjuku platform as we waited for the train. When the train pulled up we found ourselves standing in front of the “women only” car so we decided to play stupid along with some other couple of men and hopped on anyways. All of the other cars were jam packed so we thought we’d take our chances. We all got busted by an attended about 2 minutes into the ride who motioned for us to go to the next car. We all walked to the other end of the ‘women only’ car, the two other men squeezed into the next car and we decided to take our chances again and stay. Matt was the only man in the car. There were a few evil stares but nothing too threatening. We got a little paranoid whenever the train stopped at stations. Luckily due to the ever changing summer to fall season I had a trusty scarf around my neck so I put it on Matt’s head and it was smooth sailing from there.
Yesterdays travel went quite smoothly and I was so impressed with security. The past couple of times I’ve traveled to through security I’ve had to take my shoes off and stand bare feet on cold ceramic tile flooring while security guards inspect my shoes. It’s very uncomfortable and a little rude in my opinion. In Japan the guard gives you little slippers to wear while you wait!! It’s true, I saw it with my own eyes. Also near the end of our 2.5 hr flight we viewed a 15 minute video on stretching exercises you can do while sitting down with your seat belt firmly fastened. The three cute flight attendants in the video looked like synchronized swimmers on a plane….oh I hear a new block buster Hollywood hit.

So here we are in sunny Okinawa. The temperature is about 28 degrees and our apartment and its location are simply wonderful. We live two steps away from Naha’s version of Queen St. There are many restaurants and shops and there’s a huge market nearby (Lewis! like the one in Kyoto).

We haven’t had much time to explore yet. Last night was spent chilling out, doing some laundry and watching The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Today we tried to find a dollar store for some household goodies but instead we found not one, not two but five Mexican taco restaurants within a five block radius! Also, our neighbourhood is riddled with second hand clothing shops. So far so good.

We received our boxes from Japan post this evening which by the way absolutely rocks! It’s cheap and you can set a time for delivery and they tell you which day it will arrive. Wow! None of that 3-5 day rubbish…it’s true, I just wrote the word rubbish. I’m also saying words like reckon (think) and summat (something). Matt’s been saying ‘eh’ and he’s trying to perfect ‘give’r like you stole’r’and my personal favorite ‘keep r outta the rubarb’ and also ‘beauty night for the sleds eh?’ Jenny will give him a few tips on pronunciation when she comes to visit in the new year…eh?

Tomorrow we’re going to scout out our new work places so we don’t get lost on Sunday then on Monday our plan is to head for the beach.

Here's a pic of Matt and I with my two roommates Shaggy, Mikala and our friend Shelley with her mama Michelle...

This is a pic of my Saturday class, don't let their cuteness fool you...

My Tuesday senior kid class...

These were my Saturday seniors, we had some good times...

Listening to The Album Leaf Into The Blue Again