The Pits

I slept horribly last night and woke up early only to "toss my cookies" - twice. I'm definitely sick. My motto at school has always been, "I'm not taking a sick day unless I'm throwing up." Needless to say, I took a sick day today.

Something is clearly going around this island. I found out from Teresa that we had 6 kids absent from school today. I had to cancel my evening plans to go to a friend's party, only to find out that several of the attendees had also cancelled due to illness. I'm hoping that it'll only be a 24-hour bug for me - we have our class Thanksgiving Feast on Wednesday, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and the Apostles arrival Thursday night. I've got to get better! Bring on the chicken noodle soup!

On a separate note - I need to give another shout out on the blog - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! Can't wait to celebrate with you in December!

Countdown

Well, the countdown in on! Mike and Jess will be here in 4 days! We are really excited and scrambling to get everything done (especially all my lesson planning).

Sorry for lack of photos for this entry. Our lovely computer has decided that recognizing our cameras is just too much work, so it is ignoring them when I plug them in. Until I can fix it, I won't be able to post new photos. Hopefully, the problem will get fixed shortly.

Aka Wedding

Noa and I spent Saturday and Sunday on the nearby island of Aka for a beautiful wedding. Congrats to Allen and Mary Ann! It was beautiful!

The happy couple.

The other happy couple.

You could see our minshiku(the place we stayed) from the lookout where the wedding ceremony took place. There is a beautiful beach right in front of it!

The ceremony site was breathtaking.

Short Beach - Noa decided that he wants to buy that island in the distance someday.

Having fun with a hermit crab. He was huge!

And, on a random note: HI MIKE!

Pizza in the Sky & Nighttime Surprise

Over the weekend, Noa, Joe, Meg, and I finally had the opportunity to drive up north to the acclaimed Pizza in the Sky. Is it worth all the hype and the long drive? You bet!

After driving the winding, dirt roads up a mountain, we finally got there around sunset. Here's the front of the restaurant:

We were thrilled that it was still open for another hour. At this point we were all starving.

The beautiful view of northern Okinawa from the restaurant property - this view alone makes the trek up there worth it!

We were seated quickly. There are 2 areas to sit: one that is completely outside with tables and chairs and one area that has seats both inside and outside with Japanese-style tables. We went with a Japanese-style table on the porch area. Although these are fun to sit at, Noa can never quite figure out what to do with his knees.

This is the view from our table - beautiful!

Although it is a beautiful locale, the menu is slim. However, I happen to like the two foods listed: pizza and salad. Here is the salad (the Japanese salads almost always have corn in them).

There is a large selection of drinks. I ordered an ice coffee. It came on this adorable platter, complete with a miniature vase of real flowers and Okinawan brown sugar clumps.

And, finally - the pizza! They only serve one kind of pizza. It's not quite the kind of pizza that you'd find in the States. I picked off the sausage, which isn't my favorite, but it was still good and very satisfying! Between the four of us, we are 2 pizzas!

After driving home and having an impromptu game night at Meg and Joe's (Mah Jongg rocks!), Noa and I headed home. As we were walking to our car, there was a rustling in the tree above us. Come to find out, it's some of the fruit bats that inhabit this island. As soon as the sun goes down, bats are a commonplace in the trees and we got to see one up close. Next time I hope to catch a picture of one in flight!

So, if you visit us in Okinawa, we'll be certain to take you to Pizza in the Sky and you'll most likely see our nighttime creatures during your stay.