Cousin Carolie Visits Okinawa

This week my cousin Carolie is visiting Okinawa. She lives in Sasebo, Japan, so the trip down here was only about an hour and a half plane ride. After picking her up from the airport on Tuesday, we hit the laquerware and glass factories in Itoman. This pic is of me playing the ping-pong ball game at the glass factory. I "won" 2 glasses!!! I can't go to the glass factory without playing this game. hehe...

今週　私の　いとこは　沖縄に　来ました。　かのじょは　させぼに　すんで

います。　火曜日に　こうくうに　会いました、それから　いとまんに　行きました。グラスと　りゅうきゅう　しっきの　店に　行きました。グラスの店で　ゲームを　しました!　かちました!

On Wednesday Carolie and I went to the Ryukyu Mura. The Ryukyu Mura is a good place to learn about pre-war Okinawan culture. Here is a picture of me with Carolie and our new friend. This old woman poured tea for us. She was very excited to be talking to us, especially after we asked if we could have a picture with her. She kept hugging us... and what a death grip!!! She was soooooo incredibly happy! I love Okinawa!

水曜日　カロリちゃんと　りゅうきゅう村に　行きました。沖縄の　ぶんかを　ならう　ところ　です。私たちは　とても　しんせつな　おばあさんと　話しました。楽しかった！沖縄が　大好きです！

Curry Cooking Lesson

Today Chika-Mata came over to teach me how to make curry.

今日　ちかーまたは　私の家に　りょうりのじゅぎょう　するに　来ました。Here is the katsu-curry we made! It was sooooo delicious!!! I hope that next time I will be able to make it taste as good.
かつカレです!　おいしかった!　こんど、じぶん　がんばります。

Here are Chika-mata and Emi-Deibi.....

Next time is my gyoza lesson!

Thank you for teaching me, Chika-san!　

ちかさん,　カレを　つくる　ことが　おしえて　くれて　ありがとう! :)

Tsubohachi/Karaoke

This is my favorite izakaya, Tsubohachi, it just re-opened after being closed for about 3 months.
お久しぶり！

I love gyoza!　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

ぎょうざが　大好きです!

After going to Tsubohachi, we all went out for an hour of karaoke. Here is Chika-san singing a Japanese style song. She sounded great! 　
つぼ八に　行く　あとに　カラオケに　行きました。ちかさんは　日本語の　うたを　うたいました!　うたう　ことが　上手です!

Rock on, Saki-san!
サキさん!　

Hisano-san and I did a Madonna medley!

ヒサノさんと　マドンナの　うたを　うたいました。

Nada sou sou

Today I went to see my first movie in Japanese! Nada sou sou is a drama that was filmed in Okinawa. I didn't understand as much as I had hoped to, but I was able to grasp a good bulk of the story. I went with Hisano-san and afterwards she explained the parts of the movie that were a bit confusing to me.

今日は　日本語の　えいがを　見ました。 はじめて。
この　えいがは　沖縄で　つくりました。　話しが　わかれました　でも　ときどき　とうわく　して　いました。久乃さんは　えいがを　見た　あとに　せつめいしました。

Toothpaste Wars

Yet another round of the "toothpaste war" has come to an end... this time the winner is.........Dave Proulx!

ディビットさんは　かちました!!!!

Construction.....and cute things

For the past month and a half we have had construction right outside our house. I'm not exactly sure what they are doing, but I have been told it will unfortunately last until the end of the year. Here's an example of the cute signs that the Japanese use in construction zones. Ducks with umbrellas, Puppies with balloons... these are just a few examples of 'cute' signs around Japan.

I plan to start taking more pictures of all the "cute" things I see here on a daily basis. Here's a pic of a pokeman plane! The second pic is of some sort of bus/transportation vehicle for kids. I see this "train" often because it picks up and drops off kids near our house. More cute pics to come.....

Tempura Party!

Last night was the Tempura party at Hisano-san's family's home in Yomitan. Hisano-san's mother made 6 different kinds of tempura....an onion/pepper/carrot mix, broccoli, mushroom, sweet potato, "mountain"potato, and shrimp!!!! She also made a delicious soup and melon rice. I really liked the ginger taste of the soup...although I wasn't able to eat much of it because I stuffed myself so quickly with all the tempura. What a feast!!! As expected, everything was delicious!!!

おいしかった!!!!

Dave and Hisano-san's father had a great time drinking all sorts of alcohol. At one point, Dave had three different drinks in front of him and somehow couldn't put a dent in any of them. It seemed as though as soon as he took a sip someone was filling his glass back up to the top. Hahahaha!!!

Hisano-san's nephew Ryoga was so adorable the entire night! Dave really enjoyed playing with him. Here he is with Dave's hat on.... what a ham!

かわいい　ですね

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Here's Ryoga!! What wonderful entertainment!

いつも　楽しい!

Hisano LIVE, Chika/Hisano's Birthday, Saki Returns!!!

Last night was Hisano-san's first solo LIVE performance!!! MOD'S LiveHouse was full of people who came to cheer her on. She was full of energy the entire night, not that that's different from any other night, but it was great to see her use her "genkiness" on stage. She only performed a few covers... all the rest were her original tunes, which was totally awesome!!! I was really impressed!!

This is Hisano's nephew, Ryoga! He is two and a half and tons of fun. Here's a picture of him and his mom (Hisano's sister-Yukino-san) after the show last night. As many Japanese do when having their picture taken, Ryoga is giving the "peace" sign. Well, he's working on it....lol

Here are Chika-san and Hisano-san as they get ready to blow out their Birthday candles at the afterparty. Chika-san's Birthday was Nov. 1st and Hisano's was Nov.2nd.

Saki-san returned to Okinawa (she now lives in Tokyo) on Wednesday, just in time for her best friend's show. They met a few years back when they were on the same Okinawan TV program. They are both in show-biz, can you tell??? hahaha

Here we are .... the four gals...