Back to the Beach

Well summers finally fading away and fall is almost upon us. That means its a perfect time to go to the beach in Okinawa since the weather is bearable and the water still warm from the summer. On Sunday, my coworker and friend Kiyo and I took Audrey and Emma to Hamahiga Beach. He took some really nice photos that I thought I should share...

I don't mean to rub it in (well, actually yes I do) but we are 20 minutes away from this very quaint and beautiful beach. The ocean is calm, clear and feels like luke warm bath water this time of year. Only thing is the sand is not so nice because of Okinawa's coral base so its quite course.

Of course Audrey and Emma enjoy the beach very much. Maybe next year its time to take them camping up north. I need to figure out how to balance my work life better. I'm not giving myself enough time on the weekends to enjoy my family. This is something my father was very good at. Balancing work life and personal leisure. Okay, I'm getting too philisophical, back to the photos.

Here's a video of Audrey swimming in the ocean.

Eisa Matsuri

Well these days the fact that Audrey is no longer a baby is really hitting me in the face. She's only in pre-school I know, but she's talking a whole lot (bilingual now) and she has also started the phase in her life where she must wake up early in the morning and go be a member of the outside world. Welcome to real life baby, already... Damn that sucks. Recently her pre-school has her participating in the timeless Japanese tradition of Undoukai (Sports Festival) and the Okinawan revered Eisa Matsuri (Eisa Festival). I haven't downloaded the Undoukai photos yet so I'll just share some photos from the Uruma City Eisa Festival and from Audrey's first ever Eisa Matsuri debut with her pre-school classmates.

Local Koja Matsuri (Ken the flag bearer with his two daughters Audrey and Emma)

Audrey climbing all over her Mom's beautiful red kimono

Audrey and her Kirin Gumi Classmates (Giraffe Class)

Akemi says that she's glad that as a Dad, I'm able to handle both the video camera (in my left hand) and the digital camera (in my right) all at the same time with Emma climbing on my back... She said she just wished that she had an extra camera to take a photo of me being a gung ho "Japanese Dad" as she called it at Audrey's pre-school events. She said that she didn't think that American men acted that way... Also I'm contemplating doing some English lessons to Japanese students on the side for a little "stash away" cash. Because my wife has me on a measley weekly allowance, I have about 10 dollars of "fun" money all to myself per week. Therefore at 15 dollars per hour with 3 to 4 students a class at two classes a week, I may even be able to spend 100 dollars without my wife even having to know (or give me the evil beady eye). Do I have time to do this, probably not. But same as Shishimai, I'm just going to do it and see what happens later. Somehow, it will work out I'm sure. Here's a shot of me with a class I taught for the Japan Air Self Defense Force in Onna Village, Okinawa. Some of them went to place high in the JASDF annual English speech contest.
On a side note, life is quite busy for me these days. Okinawa living has really settled in my soul recently. I think I've become very normalized to this place and feel like I've lived here forever. Although still a constant source of stress is my maladaptive Japanese which gets me by just fine (in a humbling and ever so frustrating manner). I find myself really tiring of speaking in Japanese recently... I blunder with simple sentences these days it seems. I'm sure I've just arrived a low point in my life force curve and its bound to go up sooner or later. But who cares now that I have Audrey as my personal translator. She makes life easier around Grandma's house, that's for sure. Anyways, I'm rambling and its time for bed. Until next time!