Today's itinerary was shopping on International Street and seeing Marty's apartment.
Okinawa was the first area he served in and he was there for seven months.
He transferred once during that time, but remained in the same district -- still meeting in the same building, just the other ward. He even had a baptism in Okinawa, but unfortunately he hasn't been responding to Marty's texts. Sounds like he's become inactive.
We ate breakfast at the hotel's buffet. This was our best bet for getting more familiar food to start the day. In Japan, a typical breakfast can be miso soup, fish or other more salty or pickled foods.
The bigger hotels offer buffets with both Japanese and American options.
Made for happy, satisfied kids and a good way to start our long days!
First stop was shopping at the Arcade.
I bought some Okinawan lions. Courtney got a skirt. Marty found a place to make a beaded
bracelet with a blue bead that glows in the dark that's typical to Okinawa.
It was fun to see him in his element and excited to be back in a place he loved!
The Arcade opens onto International Street with more souvenir shops.
Marty was also excited about buying Hawaiian shirts -- actually Okinawan shirts --
that all the businessman here wear to work. Dan got one too.
They wear them well!
Photo of Marty in his Okinawan shirt:
We continued to the end of the street to find Marty's favorite Chinese food restaurant, ChinaQuicka.
Unfortunately it was out of business! So sad!
Lots of cool architecture and more lions wherever we were.
Burger restaurant the missionaries liked to eat at.
More great English translations!
Marty knew the missionaries would be meeting for District Conference. He thought it would be fun to catch them at the end and see if he knew anyone and if they wanted to join us for lunch.
He caught them just as they were leaving to lunch and a couple of them were old friends.
It was so fun to meet up with them.
They let us join them at the restaurant for lunch and we treated.
Six of them were sister missionaries. Courtney and I had fun chatting with them and getting to know each of them! Then I sent photos to their families.
I loved getting random photos of Marty while he was out!
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| So this is what it was like! |
The restaurant had us remove our shoes. The table was inset into the floor. So there weren't any chairs. We sat on the floor, but our feet hung down beneath the table in the inset.
This sister was from Japan. She let Courtney push the button that summoned our server!
Cute Elders!
After lunch we walked back to the church so Marty could show us and then over to Marty's apartment.
This sign was for the women's bathroom at the church. Any thoughts?
This was the man's.
After lunch we visited Castle Shurijo.
Some familiar sights in Japan are:
The 7-11 ATM machines. Dan gets cash at every opportunity.
Drink vending machines on every street, in every town.
Happy to always have access to water and drinks.
EVERY street had lines running down the sidewalks and dots when you come to the corner
to aid blind people in getting around.
It was so consistent. EVERY sidewalk, stairs, subway, trains, etc. in EVERY town.
Train, monorail, subway, Shinkansen (bullet train), taxi, ferry, plane, walking, biking.
We did it all every day.
Tonight we flew from Okinawa to Kagoshima. We got in late to our hotel.
Every day we're exhausted. But Marty and Chris still visited the Onsen before bed.
More on that tomorrow.
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