January 2010

. . . . I know I sound like a broken record but once again I am apologizing for the lack of posts. Too many months have passed since the last. We've been here on this beautiful island a few weeks shy a year, so I should have what... twelve entries? And counting back, let's see... one... two... three... ahhh, four. So i guess you can count of me for only one third of the time. For someone who is constantly on the computer for one reason or another, this is not a good number. Alas, I will not make another promis to 'try harder'. For now on, you'll get them when I write them. Whenever that may be.

. . . . So Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas have all passed us by, not to mention it is now a new year.

Myer's new golf set.

. . . . We have had great holidays, fun times with our little family and friends...

. . . . Well, I think that sums up last year a bit. And now onto 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYBODY!!

. . . . For a few weeks we've had some pretty cold weather; surprisingly cold. No snow like the little bit I hear they got back in Utah this winter, but some bone chilling winds blowing off the ocean. I didn't even realize Okinawa ever got this cold. Although I would take this temperature many times over before the heat of the summer here, I refused to go outside unless I absolutley had to. But the low temps only lasted a few weeks, and now we are back up, and things are just lovely. There's a little rain here and there, but mostly sunshine and comfortable temperatures. (no, I'm not at all braging... I would never do such a thing)

~NAGO CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL~

. . . . Two days ago Carl and I celebrated our first anniversary. And to do so we took a drive up to Nago for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was a relaxing hour drive along the highway 58, which for the most part boarders the East China Sea. The Festival itself was made up of many venders (mostly food and games) lining the streets. There were some ice sculptures, bouncy houses, and tons of people. We picked a booth to eat lunch from, and then headed to see the cherry blossoms.
. . . . It was beautiful. Looking up, the side of the mountain was all pink. We, along with a throng of people, started for the stairway up the mountianside. Lots of stairs, lots of people, lots of sweat... but the view was spectacular.

. . . . We climbed and climbed and climbed- cheering eachother on, taking photos, looking forward to the end of the trail- just think how much more amazing the sight would be from the top.. . . . Well, we made it to the end! And I've got to say, it was a bit of a dissapointment. Our final destination, and we were surrounded by trees... and not even of the cherry variety. We couldn't see down into the city below us. There was however a little hut thing with a single stump in the middle. ??? I'm learning not to question the Japanese, they just do weird things.

Myer was a trooper... and he was excited about the hut.

. . . . After our decent, we rewarded ourselves with two scoops of Japanese ice-cream! They have some pretty cool flavors; like sweet potato, shrimp, soy sauce, and of course fish. And although I've never seen it, I hear there is also 'raw horse hide.' Can you imagin? Myer and I had vanilla and strawberry, Carl ventured out a little and had chocolate with his strawberry. Oh, we are so origional.

~SHURIJO CASTLE~

. . . . Last weekend we took a trip south of Kadena, to the city of Naha. This is were the main airport is, so the city isn't new to us, but the sightseeing was.

. . . . We found our way to Surijo Castle. This is the largest castle on the Okinawa Island. It has burned down serveral times, and rebuilt again throughout the centuries. It was destroyed one final time during WWII. This time when rebuilt, very little of the origional castle was even left to use, and it was only restructured for tourist reasons. It was built 18 inches above the origional site to preserve what ruins were left; there are places in the building where the flooring is clear, so you can look at the broken rubble below.

. . . . It was a self guided tour, which kept you on a certain path along the exterior and then in through the castle itself. It was fun to see all the vibrant colors and gold plaiting. But if there was a place where we wanted to spend a little more time, there was always an usher standing near to hurry us along. Some of the building was under construction (I think they were painting, but I'm not sure) so we missed some of the tour, but all in all it was fun to see a little bit of the old Japanese Culture. The ushers themselves wore kimonos; and even the women around the vicinity were in their beautiful kimonos with the white makeup covering their faces.

These entryways are called Torii's.

~KOKUSAI STREET~

. . . . After spending time at the castle, we drove around a bit until we found the famous Kokusai (coco-sye) Street. This street brings us to the moders age of Okinawa, leaving emperors and castles far behind.

. . . . This is a pure shopping district... I will try to explain, but I'm not sure if I can. The main street is Kokusai. It's kind of like an ourdoor mall, with venders and stores on both sides of the busy street. Most sores, side by side has instead of a regular door, something which resembles a small garage door, which of course are all opened (come on in). They bring out merchandise onto the sidewalks, or you can venture in farther. Some stores were small and you could barley fit two people in them, other stores had an upstairs/downstairs; there were quirky novelty stores, clothing stores, and fine silver stores; restaurants and food markets. This street has a little bit of everything.

. . . . And just as every street will turn off onto yet other roads, Kokusai did as well. Some were regular roads which cars could drive down, and some were more like alleyways, blocked off from cars; but if you were on a bicycle or a motorcycle, it's yours for the taking. Most alleyways had a tarp like contraption covering the walk way, so it is almost as if you were inside. it seems as if you could walk through the mazes of streets and shops for days on end, but after about two house our parking meter was up... and i think my 'dodging the crowd' meter was looking pretty low as well.

This is a vew of one of the many alleyways.

These were taken at some of the markets.

Above: thoes are dried snakes. They use them for soups.

Below: yes that is a pigs head- it's not real,

but they do sell pig face and legs, like the ones hanging just above the head.

This was a cuter pig I saw out on Kokusi Street.

~PINEAPPLE PARK~

. . . . A few weeks back, we were once again packed into our van... Pineapple Park here we come!
. . . . Pretty self explanatory, a park with lots of pineapples. It was easy to spot by the huge whimsical pineapples out in front of the building.

. . . . I had an image of walking through pineapple fields, and I thought I heard at one time that we were able to pick a pineapple for ourselves... but maybe this was for another palce. Oh-well, it's not the season for picking anyway; the pineapples right now are so small and cute. The tour was a ride in an self driving, electric, golfcart with a pineapple roof. They had I-pods in each one which told us in broken English all about the park and it's pineapples.

. . . . I would love to tell you all about it, but like I said, it was broken English, with lots of static. But it's nice that they try to make things convenient for us. It's funny when they post signs in English... the icecream booth at the Cherry Blossom Festival said 'ice crean'; and then of course theres the 'no smorking' signs. They word their sentences funny as well, they have t-shirts that just crack me up, they make abslutly no sence at all. There is always something to giggle about here in Japan. Anyway back to the park...

. . . . When the ride was done we were herded into a gift shop where we had the chance to purchas many of the items they make with the pineapples. There was wine, juice, cookies, cakes, vinegar, and more. The best part about this was all the free samples. Each item for sale had a sample... and after tasting almost one of each, we were all full before leaving the park. The cakes and cookies were excelent! The viniger? Well this was my first time trying viniger strait... and I don't really have anything nice to say, so I won't say anything at all.

. . . . So there you have our major trips lately. And other than the occasional trip to the beach, we are just living our life day to day. Carl has work, Myer has school. In school, Myer is in the Tyco Drum Club. They meet each Friday after school in the music room. He is learning the art of the Japanese Drum. Myer is enjoying it so much, and at the end of the school year they will put on a performance for all us parents. Also Myer as well as myself are getting the hang of the whole chopstick thing. It's kindof fun, but I'm still not sure why they havn't switched over to forks yet, they are soooo much easier. I guess some customs just don't die... maybe that's not such a bad thing.

. . . . There has been a slight change in plans, as for picking up Carl's children from Utah. Daryl, 15 and a freshman this year has been acepted into the Upward Bound program at Weber State. We are so proud of him and his efforts in school. He is living with his Grandma and Grandpa Sablan in Ogden, we are so grateful for all the help and suport they provide.
. . . . Victoria and Sidney have joined their mother, and are living in Texas. We miss them all very much, and long for the time when we can see them again. It is hard being so far away, as life continues back in the states.
. . . . Well, it is late, I should head off to bed. Thanks so much for listening to me ramble on and on. I know if I wrote more often, my entries would be shorter... but o-well, too bad. We miss you all and wish you a wonderful 2010 year! Love, the Canlas Family.
. . . . One more thing: Myer wanted to send a picture of our church house. So here it is, down in Awase, and there is our little Myer so proud to go every week.