Orion Beer Festival

The Orion Beer festival was this past weekend!!! The day started off with Hisano-san and I going to her grandmother's house to have our Yukatas put on. Her Aunt met us there and after a quick lunch we got dressed for the festival.
This is Hisano-san, Chika-san and me at the Orion Beer Festival. They are my two best friends in Okinawa. There were a lot of girls dressed in their Yukatas that day.

After the festival we all went out to the bar for some Karaoke! Hisano-san stood next to me as I stuggled through my favorite Pop-Japanese song 'Hanamizuki'. The day was absolutely perfect. It was an experience I will never forget. I love this island!!!

Cousins

This past week my cousin Tara and her boyfriend Will visited us in Okinawa. I had a great time showing them around the island and having them meet our friends. This is a picture of us playing dress-up (Kachashi dancer costumes) at the Ryukyu Mura.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean!! Today I went to Naha City to see a movie with Hisano-san. Usually, there are one or two American movies at the local theatres. The Japanese prefer subtitles rather than dubbing voices, which is great because this way we are able to see movies together. Some of the accents in this movie were difficult to understand... so I think the Japanese people reading the subtitles had the advantage for those particular scenes. A few times I tried to follow along with the subtitles. (no luck..haha)

Kijimuna Festival

The Kijimuna Festival is held every year on Okinawa. It's a festival for Okinawan children. Theatre groups from around the world come to perfom plays for the kids. The festival lasts for about a week, with about 80 short plays. Dave and I were able to see three of them, all of which were creative and impressive. On Thursday, Shota-san, Hisano-san, Dave and I met some folks from Sweden. We had a great time showing them around Okinawa City. What I found most interesting about meeting all these people from around the world is that English was the common language. Dave and I were the only people who had English as a first language, however everyone used English to communicate....even if it was their 2nd or 3rd language. Hisano-san even tried her best to speak in English, she did a great job. Our new friends were quite impressed when she performed traditional Okinawan songs at karaoke. This picture is of us with our Swedish friends at an Irish bar in Okinawa City.

Hanamizuki

Hanamizuki

I found it! Hope you like it! My friend Hisano-san sings this song often. Her voice is much softer and more beautiful than the original singer... wish I had a video of that instead.. sorry!

Hana Mizuki

Ok, here's the Japanese song I have been learning. It's called Hana Mizuki. Saturday night Dave and I went up the street to a small restaurant to get some dinner. We were the only people there, so I asked if I could see their karaoke list. After assistance from the owner, we found Hana Mizuki in their karaoke system. So... I finally had the opportunity to sing my song!!! This second picture is the lyrics. Hisano-san wrote them in Hiragana for me, b/c I can't read Kanji yet.

Wake Boarding

Today I went Wake Boarding for the first time!!! It was soooo much fun! There were four of us that were supposed to go, but Hisano-san chickened-out at the last minute. So, the three of us headed for Kariyushi Beach, just below Nago, Okinawa. The water was very choppy because there is a typhoon that is supposed to come just south of the island in a few days.

Here is Shota-san waiting for the boat to pick him up.

This is Saki-san.....she always has a smile on her face! She is very good at Wake Boarding. I was impressed!

Here I am !! I was able stand up on top of the water on the first try.

I hope we go again soon!

BBQ-July 22nd

This weekend, Dave and I had a BBQ at our house. The BBQ lasted about 8 hours!!! We had an awesome time just hanging out with our friends.