The last day in Okinawa

We had to get ready to leave today. Everything seemed to go by so quickly that I couldn’t even grasp that I was even in Okinawa. Our schedule is jam packed and over the past few days the driving has been a lot too. We all had to get up a bit earlier today because we had breakfast earlier. Breakfast was at 7:30am, which meant that I had to get there earlier than the students so that would be around 7:15am. It was pretty much the same as it was the day before, which wasn’t very appealing, but at least I knew what to go for today and what to stay away from. I had a mixed Japanese style and western style that got some remarks from my teacher colleagues. The next thing on the agenda was to go to the beach and pool.

Today, since the beach didn’t open till 9am and neither did the pool, the students had to wait. But the teachers decided to go in first to see if there were any fishes that we could see so the students could come in and see them immediately. By this time, I had already purchased new swimming trunks, so it was much better than what I had to worry about yesterday. Today seemed a bit longer and not as interesting. There weren’t that many fishes in the sea, and it seemed cloudier than it was yesterday. I mean it was good that there wasn’t a typhoon there, since there was supposed to be. But the clouds made it much darker and it seemed very gloomy. It was just a bit weird today, and I really couldn’t put my finger on why either. The water level was much higher than it was yesterday, so we couldn’t get out as far as we were before to see the fishes because the currents were a bit stronger too. There were only a few people there and it wasn’t so exciting.

We finished about an hour later and then all got cleaned up and ready to go back to Tokyo. It was more humid than it was yesterday too, so it was really hot and sticky hot too. So when we went back into the rooms, I had the AC on full blast and just walking around without a shirt… well until some students saw me. Then I thought it would be better to put a shirt on, not that it would matter, but it’s just better. We all had to be packed up and ready to board the bus at 10:40am, so everyone was busy scrambling to pack and to get their things ready for that. We promptly left the hotel at that time and I was given a gift from the hotel, that’s a t-shirt that says Big Time resort on it.

We took about 2 hours again to get to Naha, which is the capital city of Okinawa and that’s where the airport is. It’s a very famous place and has a main downtown area called Kokusai dori, which means International Street. The bus company wasn’t too far away from there and actually is based right on the street, so the bus parked there in the company’s parking lot and the students had to get out and exit onto the street. We pretty much let them go out and play and to remember to get back in time before the bus leaves for the airport. On the way there, everyone slept, and I think I dosed in and out, but since we’ve all seen these things on the first day, I didn’t think I would have missed much today. Since no one had eaten lunch yet, they students would be on their own to get lunch and to go around shopping with their group of friends. The teachers on the other hand had lunch together.

We ate at a very nice restaurant called Heki. Website www.heki.co.jp. It was a really nice meal that I really enjoyed. KSra chose what we were going to eat since he’s the boss type on the trip. He made a really good choice too. We had a steak and shrimp kind of meal. It came with a bunch of things and the chef cooked it right in front of us too. At first when it came out raw, it didn’t look good, but when they cooked it, it looked and smelled soooooooooo goooooood. My mouth was watering at how good it looked. The taste was absolutely wonderful too. You could not even imagine, it was damn good. The shrimp was very good, and the strips of steak were perfect. The goya champulu was very good too. The shrimp osembe, was just ok though since I don’t usually like to eat the skin of shrimps. Oh and another thing, the shrimps were huge too. It wasn’t this small little prawn, it was a big one. Damn, I can’t write anymore about it because I’m just getting hungry thinking about it. But it was just damn good, remember that and when you go there someday, go there.

So after that, we all jumped onto Kokusai dori. I wasn’t really happy with the time I had left to shop because I still had a long list of people that I wanted to shop for, but couldn’t because we didn’t have much time. There was about 30 minutes before I thought I should start heading back to the bus. So I went on a mad shopping spree. I was looking for a shirt that my friend had asked for and bought a few of them so she could choose and there would be extras too. I think I could give them away to other people who were on my list too. Because I couldn’t really spend too much time, I just went ballistic and just bought a bunch of stuff and would plan who to give it to later. I was really rushed and I didn’t like that, but lunch was excellent, so I was torn at that. I had gotten a lot of snacks because Japanese people like snacks like that. The expiration dates on them seem pretty long so I could wait till I go back to school next to give it to people too. I’m not sure that I would get a chance to, but I think that it would be good gesture to give something to people who have helped me out over the past year since I’ve been in Japan. I really didn’t buy that many things for me, but I had wanted to get a bunch of stuff.

Then we went back to the bus and off to the airport. I didn’t notice it before, but some of the students were picking on a girl because of me. I’m not sure what it might be, but it could be something dangerous and I’ve got to put an end to it quickly. This was going on as we arrived back to Naha airport early and we had some time to go shopping around in the airport for some last minute gifts. I got lucky because there was a bad there that I really liked so I decided to buy it. It was for a good price and I think that in America it would have been more money and it was the exact one that I had envisioned when I came to Okinawa to buy. I couldn’t find a good one on Kokusai dori, so I was happy that I walked a little bit further at the airport to find it. IT was in another section of the airport that I wasn’t planning on going to, but since there were students on the other side; I wanted to avoid them and ran into a shop that had the bag. So that was good timing and I’m glad that I happened to stumble upon it too. It was too bad that it came at the end of the trip, but still I got what I wanted, so I’m happy about that.

The flight back was ok. Nothing special, but I had wanted to sit next to the window so I could get some awesome pictures of the sea from above. I couldn’t get that done though, which I’m pretty bummed about. I would have liked those pictures, but I’ll just have to remember them in my mind forever.

After we arrived there were 3 teachers and a couple of tour guides waiting at the gate for us. Our flight was a tad bit delayed, not sure why though. We went to a Chinese restaurant to have dinner with all the teachers and the tour guides. Then we all had to run to catch the last trains back home. I wanted to get back in time to ride the bus because I didn’t want to carry all my crap walking 40 minutes home. That really wouldn’t have been fun. I was just able to get the last train for the last bus, so I was happy about that. I came home and immediately took a shower before I started the overwhelming job of unpacking and cleaning up for YSki to come tomorrow.