Okinawa-rama

If you look out the window on a clear day, you can see some islands in the distance. If it's really clear, you'll make out some buildings on the islands. I've been looking at this year for almost three years now and wondered what was going on over there. What's it look like? What are people doing?

Tomorrow, we're going to find out! Joe, Gabe and I are hopping on the ferry and joining our friend Masaki and some of his buddies for a spearfishing/guitar jam extravaganza in the Keramas! From the little information I can get out of Joe, I gather that this is a "man's weekend", but they are nice enough to "let" me come join in the fun / give Joe a guilt-free spearfishing pass. Fine with me. I'm island hopping!

Hopefully Gabriel cooperates with the vision of relaxed beach bumming I have in mind. Or we could just boil in the sand under our shade tent, crying and sweating together. We'll let you know how it goes.


Guess what? This is totally off the topic, but I've made friends! Bad friends! I've made friends with the 16 year old smoker girls who hang out behind the church down the street. I met them on a walk one day and then took them some chocolate chip cookies. That's when I interrupted them secretly smoking! (tobacco, folks) I was like, oops, sorry! quickly dropped off the bag of cookies and ran back home. Ever since then, we've been pretty friendly. They love Gabe and whenever I take him out in the evening they come out and check out the baby. Last night they even stopped by the house for a visit. We invited them in and there was a lot of awkward silence. They speak no English. Joe and I no Japanese. They are 16 (I think they lied and are 15). I'm 32. They smoke. I don't. I wondered if their parents would kill me if they knew I invited their children inside my (a stranger's) house. Hey, I took them in off the rough and tumble streets of Yomitan, right? Anyway, we all hung out and watched Gabe do his tricks on the floor until I told them I had to give him a bath. So, it was...interesting.

Okay, off to watch School of Rock. Have a good weekend!

I'm back on caffeine. Well, I've been back on caffeine, but now I am actively searching it out and dragging along Joe and Gabe in pursuit of my addiction. About two weeks ago we went to a place called "Good Company", a shop where they roast the beans up for you fresh while you wait. Not a couple days later, I heard about Hiro's Coffee Farm, a place way up in the northern countryside of the island where this guy, Hiro, lives with his family and grows beans the way he learned to on his uncle's farm in Hawaii. He's got a little coffee shop there on the farm and chickens and everything. When my friend told me that Hiro actually gave him a coffee plant, that was it. We were there.

It took a couple of hours to get up to his farm, driving on the expressway, through the mountains and up the coast. Gabe was cool and snoozing in the back. We passed scenery like this:

And this: (my artsy shot)

and took the obligatory self-portrait with own hands shot.





Actually, all that was on the way back, so I'm kind of lying. But, still, it was part of the trip.


Finally we got to Hiro's.






We poked around for a bit. Hiro's consisted of a couple little open air shacks and a picnic table or two. Still though, it somehow managed to be a magical, otherworldly place. Maybe it was the windchimes. Or maybe it was something in the coffee. Anyway, peace and tranquility just kind of melted over me there. And Joe too. It's one of the few places he wasn't ready to bolt out of after emptying his glass. So they must be doing something right.


Here's one of the chickens that was strutting around.

Here's Hiro:

Here's his coffee. (Note how you get a whole pot! There's a potwarmer by each table so your coffee stays hot. Love that.) He has 1000 trees on his farm, which has been there for about 20 years. He roasts it right there too, so the whole place smelled umm ummm good.

Here's the inside of one of the little coffee shanties. Check out the floor covered in coffee beans. Paradise....

And here is the Garcia family happily awaiting our brews. Gabe just wants to go out and play with the chickens.

After we drank our coffee, I wandered around and took pictures, watched Hiros son at the roasting machine, and wrote a little something in the guestbook. Meanwhile, Gabe and Joe stretched out under the shade of a tree and caught a cool breeze. This is Hiro's daughter and granddaughter. They were so sweet with Gabe and let him join in on their game of ball.




Here's the stretching out bit:



I have so much admiration for people who, out of little more than sheer creativity, can create these special little pockets of beauty that make the world just a little bit better. Thank God for them. Hiro and his family and their little oasis gave our family the gift of a sweet little Sunday.

Tonight after dinner I took Gabe out for an evening stroll. Usually we walk in the morning, but now with the heat being so intense, I’ve changed up my routine. As it turns out it’s much better now. During the day it’s pretty quiet. But in the evening it’s all action. The neighborhood is alive.

Tonight we left pretty late. It was about 7:30 and getting dark, but I wanted to take Gabe out to my favorite spot, a little lookout point where you can see all the way past Kadena and down to those two red, white and blue towers that look like rocket pops. In the evening it’s really lovely, with the twinkling city lights and all. So, off we went, walking our way through the tiny little alleys. Those huge fruit bats were swooping around. I’m sure Gabe was like, what the hell mom?…It’s dark, there are big-ass bats out everywhere. But hey, I’m exposing him to Japanese culture – enriching his young life. So he can’t complain.

We passed the church, hung a right down a small lane, bid “konbanwa” to a couple of kids biking by in baseball uniforms, and then passed a house with several cars out in front. Hmmm…something was happening. I looked into the window of another house and saw a large-ish family gathered together in their tatami room. Behind them was their family shrine with what looked like food in front of it. That’s when I remembered that today was the first day of Obon, holiday in which families pay respect to their dead ancestors and welcome them for a three day visit from the spirit world.

Since it’s so hot out, practically everyone keeps their windows open and because of the dark you can see right inside everyone’s homes. You can hear everything inside too. Pots clanging, fans whirring, people chatting. Okay, so this is probably terrible, but I was totally slowing as I walked by people’s windows and peeking (staring) inside. I’ve read about Obon, sure, but what really happened? What was going on in these houses, down the street from mine, but a world apart? Houses where people sat on pillows on the floor at their low tables and pictures of ancestors hung at an angle from the wall. Where rice cookers and pineapples sat on kitchen counters and little kids chatted comfortably with their grandparents. Or maybe great-grandparents?

Gabe and I kept on walking and I kept trying to play cool as I peeped into people’s homes to find Obon evidence. In some houses there were family gatherings. In some, nothing. (Usually, the eldest son has the family shrine in his home, so during Obon the family members come together at his house to pay their respects.) A few homes had electric candles at the foot of the front door or real candles lit inside and food set out. Here and there I caught whiffs of incense. Not as much doing as I thought I might see, more just a feeling. A feeling of preparation and family. Kind of like the day before Thanksgiving.

So, we just walked around and took in the neighborhood and before you know it we found ourselves back on our street. It was dark and time to head back inside. I walked the stroller up the steps and through the gate, opened the front door and a blast of air-conditioned air hit me. Joe was sitting at the computer. The Olympics was on TV. And just like that, Japan was gone and I was back in the U.S. again.

Lately Gabriel seems to be taking a liking to gymnastics. (Maybe we've been watching a little too much Olympics?)

Surprisingly, Joe is cool with that. He says gymnastics will help him in his mixed martial arts career.

And just so you don't think it's all work and no play around here. Some smiles...

Here's Gabe at our favorite (and only) Pancake Restaurant:

Sometimes I'm really happy to be in Okinawa. Sometimes I'm not. But today I am. It's 8:45am and Gabe and I are already back from a children's birthday party. Which probably doesn't sound so fun and exciting, especially being that it began at 6:30am. But it was at the beach. And 6:30am at the the beach, at least this beach, it was all shady and cool. And no sunscreen was needed. And kids were playing in the water, grass and sand. And the woman, Shyla, who gave the party took guitar lessons especially for that day, so she could sing Happy Birthday to her son. And it was a sweet and tender moment. So, maybe it's not really being in Okinawa that's making me feel happy today, but moments like these that could happen anywhere.

Here are some pics of Gabriel with his friend, Liam. I guess Gabe has no idea yet that Liam is his friend. But, anyway, here they are: