Explorin'

I will not break the first rule of blogging (which is to apologize for being a delinquent blogger)...I will simply say that I have had a busy week. After a hard-fought battle with notecards, audiotapes, Hirigana charts and my own will, I took my Japanese final and got an "A" and a smiley face from Miyagi-Sensei. Can't remember the last time I got a smiley face on the top of a test, but the Japanese are good like that. This IS the land of Hello Kitty. John scored an A as well, after only studying for ONE HOUR. Mr. Smarty pants and I have enjoyed this week off from school, but next quarter's class commences at the beginning of April.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and we hopped on our bikes for a little ride up the island.


Once we got off the main road (past at least two Starbuck's), I felt like we were really in a foreign country. The land is plush with thick greenery. There are these small plots of land that local farmers plow, and you can see them hand-pruning the fields.





The only reason this photo is impressive is that it is a self-portrait and I was going about 45 mph downhill.


There are tombs peppered around the island. Large marble and cement tombs of Okinawans passed. You can see them off to the side of the highway, or even on army bases, or like this one, on a hill next to fields of vegetables. The are usually guarded by shisa dogs, but this one had a nice pair of lions and an awesome view. Not a bad place to spend eternity.


These guys were just hanging out by the side of the road.


I don't know if you can tell by the photos, but his eyeball was the size of a golfball.


I was actually about 5 feet from this guy, or else he wouldn't have ventured out.


Enjoy your Easter!