Fourth of July Weekend

Of course my first big holiday out of the States would be the holiday that celebrates everything about the States. Of course. That crankiness said, it was a pretty good holiday weekend -- four days off for Matt. Woohoo!

We spent Thursday doodling around and snorkeling. We learned that I am not a good swimmer and thus not a good snorkeler. When I wasn't afraid of dying in the East China Sea, I did observe some very lovely fish. The colors on those guys are amazing. At the end of the snorkel adventure, we decided it was best to purchase a life vest to prevent the whole Andrea dying and being eaten by pretty fish scenario.

On July Fourth, we gathered our dear friends and took a trip north to the Okinawa Ocean Expo. We were surprised to find most of the Sea World-like park was free. We watched a couple dolphin shows and saw sea turtles, manatees and a gargle fountain. Much like a water fountain, the gargle fountain dispensed Listerine and was used by all six Americans with much enthusiasm. As always, photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/never.dexter/IndependenceDay

Matt and I took Molly over to Kadena Air Force Base that evening for the fireworks show. She wasn't scared one bit, but was more interested in the kids around us than the fireworks. One little guy spotted a bat flying around and when his mom told him it was "bat-san," he got super excited that he was seeing "Batman" flying around. It was way cute.

Saturday, Matt and I went down to American Village for some shopping and my first Starbucks since Tucson. There are Okinawa mugs and tumblers for sale that have little Shisa dogs on them. I will have to get one before we leave. For lunch, I had the very Okinawan meal of Taco Rice: taco meat and fix'ns on rice. It's pretty good, actually. And it's served at almost every restaurant.

Well... I'm not sure how to wrap this up smoothly, so I will just say that I love hearing from you and I hope you all have lovely days today. Fin.