Today has been a mad, crazy day. It started with Maxx getting up and still having an earache. We took her to the ER on Sunday evening where she was diagnosed with an outer ear infection and given antibiotic and pain-relieving drops. But she was still experiencing quite a bit of pain, so I took her in to see her primary care physician this morning. That took up the majority of the morning, but we at least got new drops that will hopefully work better. After that, lunch with Mike, trip to the post office, then to the commissary, and then home to finish up documenting a certain Gingerbread Man's visit to Okinawa.
So I did write today. I wrote quite a bit actually. It was just all for Gingy, and that's a good thing. He was sent to visit us by a little boy in North Dakota named Macen, who is the son of one of my 46 Mommas teammates. Unfortunately Gingy arrived right in the middle of the busy holiday season, so it took me a while to get out and show him around Okinawa. But we finally did, and today I got him, his story, and a few postcards mailed back to Macen. Now I need to go check on the sick daughter, pick up the house a bit, and get ready for starting dinner. So here is my writing for the day - Gingy's Visit to Okinawa.
Oh, and my theme song for the day is a no-brainer. I may not be a maniac on the dance floor, but today I have definitely felt like a maniac.
Maniac - Michael Sembello
January 3, 2012
Konnichiwa (koh-nee-chee-wah, hello in Japanese)!
My name is Gingy and I have been on a great adventure! I left my friend Macen in Rugby, North Dakota and traveled all the way to Okinawa, Japan to visit the Barry family. Mr. Barry - well, technically, Lt Colonel Barry - is in the United States Air Force and is stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. He works for the 18th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. The 18 AES’s job is to help Americans all around the Pacific Rim - specifically, Guam, Korea, Okinawa and Mainland Japan - to get back to hospitals in the United States when they get sick or are injured.
Mr. Barry’s family includes Mrs. Barry and Miss Maxx, who is 17-years-old. Here is a picture of Maxx and I when I first arrived in Okinawa. How do you like the kimono they made for me?
During my stay in Okinawa I experienced many new and interesting things. We went out for an authentic sushi dinner at a place called Yoshihachi Sushi House. The food was brought to us on big, wooden boats!
We also visited a place called American Village which is a shopping center with lots of different types of shops. There was a big movie theater that shows movies in English and in Japanese, clothing stores, souvenir shops, arcades, and lots of restaurants. At American Village you can eat Japanese food, Thai food, Chinese food, Mexican food and American food. They even have an A&W and a Nathan’s Hot Dogs there! One of my favorite things was the huge ferris wheel though - check it out!
We went inside a place called Dragon Palace so that Maxx could buy a new backpack for school. Can you see the cars in the picture? In Japan, they drive on the left side of the road instead of the right!
Before we left American Village, Maxx took me to a place called Mister Donut. Here they had donuts in many different flavors, some that I have heard of before, and then some that were totally new to me. Mrs. Barry says her favorite are the green tea - called matcha (maht-cha) - and the beni imo (beh-nee ee-moh) donuts. Beni imo means “purple sweet potato” in Japanese, and there are lots of foods made with it in Okinawa, even ice cream! Mister Donut even has donuts that look like teddy bear heads!
For our last outing the Barrys thought I might like to see some traditional Okinawan dancing and drumming, so on New Year’s Eve we attended a dinner theater performance at the Yotsutake (yoh-tsu-tah-keh) Restaurant in the city of Naha. As a dinner of steak and lobster was served, we watched dancing and drumming on stage. There was a big Shisa Dog also! The people of Okinawa believe that shisa dogs ward off evil spirits, so they place them outside the entrances to buildings. The dog in the performance was huge, and it came out into the crowd. It was a little scary, but very cool!
After the performance was over, Maxx and I got our picture taken with all of the performers. We were all making scary shisa faces, although I don’t think we look very scary at all!
The dinner theater was a really great experience and everyone there seemed happy to welcome me to Okinawa. The people of this small island are so nice, and they love it when foreigners try to learn about their culture. I wish you all could have been here with me!
The Yotsutake Restaurant was on Kokusai (koh-koo-sah-ee) Street, also known as International Street, in Naha. We walked around for a little while before heading home just to look at all the bright lights and souvenir shops. We even took a few silly pictures, just for fun.
Maxx thought it would be funny to stick me in this shisa dog’s mouth!
See how bright the lights on Kokusai Street are?
Overall, my trip to Okinawa was incredible! I really enjoyed my time with the Barrys, but I can’t wait to get back to my buddy Macen. It is a ten-hour flight just to get from Japan to the United States, so it will take me a while to get there, but I’m really looking forward to getting home. So, as they say here in Okinawa - sayonara!
Gingy
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