Finding our Way

Now that we've re-acclimated ourselves to driving on the left side of the road and sitting on the right side of the car, we've begun the process of learning our way around the island and all the bases. On Saturday we made arrangements to meet some new friends we will be attending church with and they came and picked us up and took us to a soba restaurant off base.  The restaurant was a traditional Japanese restaurant where we took off our shoes and sat on the floor and of course we ate with chopsticks too. The food was wonderful and way more than I could eat. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of it. We were amazed at how big the portions were for the low price we paid for the meals. They showed us around what is known as the American Village. It looked like a place we will definitely want to explore more in the coming weeks.After spending some time talking and getting to know one another at the restaurant, we then went to a nearby Starbucks where the men had coffee and women ordered Chai tea and we talked some more. I was happy to have an evening of conversation with some new friends after talking almost exclusively to Russ for the past few weeks. I'm sure we will be spending much more time with them while we're here. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

Our new friends were kind enough to pick us up for church the next morning to show us where they worship. Russ took notes on the way in so we'll be able to drive ourselves the next time. We met with several other Christians meeting in a home in Yomitan. It was refreshing to see so many younger couples still taking the time to worship God on a Sunday even when they're far from home. There is another church of Christ outside one of the base gates that we may check out next week and then we will decide where we want to meet on Sundays for worship. After a nice lunch at Chili's with William, Leslie and Javan, Russ and I decided to take our first solo drive off base and see some of the possible living areas we've been hearing about. We stayed on hwy 58 which is the main road outside of gate one and drove for about 1/2 hour. It was a perfect afternoon for a drive with the windows down. I put a music CD into the stereo and we explored until it got dark outside and sang along to some good ol' American tunes. After being cooped up in a two room apartment for close to a month we were thrilled to experience a little bit of the Island we now call home.

Monday was a holiday for Russ so after eating lunch we once again ventured off the base to find the beach at Torii Station. We located the building for the church of Christ as well as the golf course in Chibana before making the drive to Torii Beach. The beach was littered with corral and several other shells that we don't see at our East Coast beaches. I enjoyed hunting for sea glass and Russ did some skipping of stones. We sat and relaxed in our beach chairs until the tide came in and the sun began setting. Those of you who know me well know how much I love watching sunrises and sunsets so that was a perfect ending to our first beach day on Okinawa. We've always found the beach to be our peaceful retreat from the stresses of life so I'm sure we'll spend many weekends searching for our favorite Okinawa beach. Sometimes I forget that most of you are enjoying the changing leaves that come with the onset of fall while we are still experiencing warm weather and sunny days here on the Island. I'm hoping some of you will post your best fall pictures on facebook and Instagram so that we can see them just a little bit this year through you.

photo bombing the sunset