Itoman- here we come!
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2005
1
72
Trip End
Jul 25, 2006
Itoman,
Japan
Sunday, August 14, 2005
After we had been settled in Okinawa for a few weeks, (I was still living with Chiye at the time), we decided it was time to adventure around the island and see if we could meet up with some of our fellow JET`s. I must clarify here, that Okinawa is actually a really small island. As you can determine from any map- it is not`t big at all. However, lack of a car, or proper knowledge of the transportation system aka- buses means getting around can be difficult to say the least.
So we made the plans, Chiye and I were going to proposition her uncle who is a taxi driver to take us to Urasoe, where we would pick up Keri and switch to the bus system
Boat
. From Keri`s apartment we were going to get into Naha so we could find the main bus station, in order to get to Elvira`s house in Kochinda. And from Kochinda, the four of us girls would make our way down to Itoman to see Chris. Hmmm...reflecting back, this all seems very simple. FOUR hours after our initial travel start, we arrived in Itoman. By way of bus, taxi and foot we were able to find Chris`s apartment, and boy was it worth the trip. There is something else I should mention about the public transportation system here, no one really uses it all that frequently, so it might be on time, it might not. Basically, I have spent a lot of time waiting for the bus when I take it. I have a theory that they take a break from their normal route and disappear on a special underwater adventure every once in a while, and that is why they are never on time. Actually, after several observations, I realized that the "flexible" schedule is caused by the cutest little old ladies who use the buses. They get on, and at every other stop try to figure out if that is the one they actually want to get off at. This occurs through a minimum five minute conversation with the bus driver in which I am sure that the little old lady is also disclosing half her life story. They finally determine that this indeed it is not the stop and we continue, only to repeat the whole scene again in another few stops
Chris and Chiye
. Sorry- I got of track. So we finally got to Itoman and we were starving, so we hit up a local soba joint. Soba is basically a noodle that is used for a beef soup type dish. Well, the broth is beef, and there are some pieces of meat in it, sometimes some kind of white piece of fish, usually some onions, radish thing, and noodles. It is really good to say the least. Then we stocked up on groceries and beverages and head back to Chris`s. It is probably six by this point, but we still want to hit the beach, so we all lather up and head down to the beach. By the way, Chris is fairly lucky. His apartment is looking right on the ocean, he has a great view, and a few minutes walk down the road brings you to a nicely developed beach area. I`I will mention that I am quite jealous as the only view I get from my apartment is other concrete apartment buildings.
This is the first time I really went to the beach and got in the ocean thus far, and let me tell you- the water is as warm as bath water, it is perfect! So we basically watch the sunset in the ocean until a man comes and tells us that we should get out because there are- I think it translated at "mysterious bugs" at night (thanks to Chiye). By the way, the sunset was one of the most beautiful I have seen thus far- it`s really not fair
Cute Kid!
! So we make our way back to Chris`s and I do my best to keep busy as Chiye, Elvira and Keri are in the kitchen cooking dinner for us, and Chris is playing guitar. I should mention that for the 1st month I was here, I was extremely spoiled by not having to cook any food for myself at all. As I said, Chiye took really good care of me. Anyway, we enjoy a really delicious dinner of Okinawa Yaki soba (basically the same noodles, fried with a brown sauce and whatever else you feel like adding for meat and veggies) and fried chicken. We caught the tail end of a small festival that was going on in Itoman, and passed the night away talking and listening to music.The next day we are up and ready to rock with a nice little breakfast cooked by Chris. We head down to the beach with the intent of spending a few hours there before heading home. I should mention that Okinawan people do not really like the sun for the most part, and a lot of them don`t go to the beach very often. There is also a nicer beach farther down from Chris`s, but we did not`t want to walk that far, and you have to pay to get in, so we stuck with what was right in front of Chris`s. So we are all down playing in the water, observant of the fact that we are the only people there in bathing suits jumping around. There are several other people walking down by this beach however, and most of them are staring at us
Fishing for gajin
. That is a fairly normal occurrence when you have five gaijin (foreigners) together though, so we do not pay much attention. After a good almost 45 minutes of this, a man comes rushing down to Keri sitting on the beach. He speaks fairly good English and explains to Keri that we need to get out of the water immediately because this area of the water tends to have a large amounts of jellyfish! Opps! So we rush out and he continues to explain to us that basically we are complete idiots because even if we could not`t read kanji, we should have been able to figure this out due to the signs placed every 30 feet or so on the beach! And that is why everyone was really staring at us! They wanted to tell us to get out, but did not`t know how! So the "mysterious bugs" that the man was trying to explain the night before were also jellyfish. And there goes the first lesson of the going in the ocean in Okinawa, always pay attention to the signs!! 
