10 School Days

I have 10 school days left of this school year.  Nine of those days will be with students.  Each year it all comes to a culmination at the end, with extra long work days (including weekends), sleepless nights, and sad good-byes to the families I've bonded with over the year.  Still, as sad as I am to say good-bye to the school year, I treasure the summer break.  It always annoys me when someone comments to me, "must be nice to only work 9 months of the year" or "wish I had an 8 - 3 work day."  Thankfully, most of my friends are either teachers and understand the realities of the profession or know that I truly earn my summer break.  Lately, people have asked me what I'll be doing this summer.  Some of my plans include:

• trip to China with Herman and Traci in July
• polishing up the resume and build a teaching portfolio
• getting back in shape and participating in yoga and spin classes at the gym
• teaching my dogs a new trick or two
• reading, reading, reading, reading.....
• a short trip to the US

I was reading an article* today by an English teacher named Denise P. Fournier from Bow, New Hampshire (no, I don't know her and where did I find the time to read a journal article??).  She was talking about summer break and how she rejuvenates for the following school year.  Her article spoke of my sentiments exactly, so I had to share.  She begins the article by describing how she gets up on those first days of summer break, starts to prepare for school and then realizes it's summer break.  She then purposefully slows down and takes in all that's around her: the damp deck, her morning cup of coffee....here's more....

"In the weeks that follow, I indulge in these sensations; my life becomes a perpetual lesson in imagery.  What goes unnoticed during the rush of school mornings and the near-dark returns to home is sharp and easily discernible: The way the sun hits the flower vase on the kitchen table and shoots a hundred slivers of light onto the ceiling; the buzz and whine of the neighbor's lawn crew as they labor in the afternoon heat....I rediscover the gentle simplicity that exists around me."

I love this.  It's what I look forward to around this time of year.  I am alloted time to step back and take in the surroundings of my life.  I have permission to smell the salty ocean air, watch the sunbeams fall across Sadie's gray-peppered back, and listen to long-lost music I've missed during the busy school year.  

Only 10 school days left. 

*What Do You Do during Summer Vacation to Help You Reenter the Classroom Refreshed in the Fall? from the Teacher to Teacher section in the English Journal, 2001

Summer is Here....

....and the toes are all flowers!

White Beach Surprise

With the impending PCS (military moves) of many of our closest friends here in Oki, the days are precious and we are trying to make the most of our times together.  That's why, during a recent overnight at White Beach campground, we decided to surprise Perry and Jenn with a baby shower.  They are expecting a little boy this fall and we were running out of weekends to celebrate, so White Beach seemed like the best opportunity - and it was.  They were clearly surprised and happy.  Here's a few pics from the event:

My latest "craft" is banners.  Here's the banner I made for the shower.  Since we were at a campground we had to decorate the trees, picnic tables, and the like.

Our table full of breakfast foods (the main course, breakfast tacos made by Kent were amazing!), presents, and stuff for mimosas.  Again, I thought we did pretty good, considering this table is normally a plain, concrete picnic table.

The future mom and dad:

The night before, I was able to watch some bats in a tree up close.  Apparently the tree outside of one of the base restaurants is the hang out place for all the local fruit bats.  It seemed like a scene from National Geographic, with all the bats flying to and from the tree and their furry little bodies doing acrobatics on the branches.  Unfortunately with it being dark, I couldn't get a great picture, but this one captures one of the little guys up close.  If you look carefully, there's another one on the right side of the picture (look for the glowing eyes).

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

The Body Exhibit & Photo Opps

On Saturday Team Juloa headed to the Okinawa Prefecture Museum in Naha to view a traveling exhibit called Jintai Plastomic: Mysteries of the Human Body.  We had heard about an exibit like this from Tom and Laura had viewed one in the states, so we were curious.  Basically, the exhibit takes human bodies (cadavers) and plasticises them in order to put them on display and highlight certain anatomical features.  One body may display muscles groups whereas another body will feature the nervous system.  The place was packed, even kids were in attendance.  It was pretty creepy at first and kind of hard to swallow, but at the same time it was captivating.  Like a car accident on the road - it's a horrible thing, but you just can't help but look when you drive by.  Since all the signs were in Japanese, it was handy having Noa around to explain things to me. 

We weren't allowed to take photos, but I scanned the flyer from the event to try to show what we saw.  It's hard to tell, but those pictures on the flyer aren't drawings, but photos.

Here's a link about the exhibit: Body Exhibit

Later, at home, I played around with the camera this weekend and got some great photos of the dogs hanging out in the Okinawa sun.  First, here's Gunnar:

Sadie recently turned 6 years old.  It's hard to believe she's reached doggie "middle age," although I guess the gray is a give-away she's getting older.

Happy belated birthday, pretty girl!

Update on the Kinder Kids

We recently began a new unit in school on insects.  The kids LOVE it.  Today's project was three-fold: make a unique insect using the supplies provided, then draw a picture of your insect, and finally write two sentences about your insect.  The students did a great job and I just had to share some of the results.  I'm very proud of their hard work.   

Here are some of the critters:

Here are their pictures and sentences.  The first one reads: My bug's name is master dragon.  My bug likes to fly.

This one reads: This is my crazy walking stick.  It is eating leaves.

My bug is colorful.  It has backwards legs.

Aren't they great?!  Tomorrow is our school's Field Day (organized by my pal, Tom, who teaches PE at the same school).  With the help of a parent volunteer and my friend Sara, I made some tie dye hammer t-shirt for the kids.  This way I can look out across the field and know who "belongs" to me.  

Beautiful Weekend Excursions

We had a great weekend enjoying beautiful Okinawa.  Noa started the weekend early with the annual "Man Day" trip with the guys.  They traveled out to Ie Island, which is up north.  Kenny's dog, Yuri, wishes them luck (isn't she a cutie?!)

Here's the mandatory* group shot of the guys on the ferry on the the way to Ie Island:

Noa and I spent Sunday exploring a new piece of the island....actually another island. We drove about an hour to Ikei Island, which is located on the eastern side of the island. The drive was beautiful and I couldn't help but take pics along the way.

First, we spotted carp kites from last week's Boy's Day/Golden Week on the way there:

I really want to purchase one of these large carp kites.  I don't know what I'd do with it, but they are so fun!  I'm sure I can tie it in to my decor somehow.

Once we got to the island, we kept going under these cement structures.  We're guessing that they are preventing falling rocks from damaging the roads.  Whatever their purpose, they were fun to drive through.

The island seemed to be primarily fields, cliffs, and beach.  It was a beautiful, scenic drive.

On the way to the beach we stumbled upon an Ikei Okinawa Circuit.  

I like this sea wall much better than the one near our place.  This one had murals and dolphins painted all over it.  It was so cheerful!

We found this *gem* in the parking lot of the beach.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it was very sparkly and said TRUST in the back window.  I guess they trust a lot of people because if you look carefully, you'll see the keys in the lock of the front door.

The beach was cute!  There was a small fee, but there was lots of space, tables, rental equipment, and food.

Here's the beach!  I'm sure we'll be back.

*I got the idea from Jess to always send a camera with the spouse.  She's fond of saying, "don't come back if you don't take a picture."  All in good fun, of course!

Menu Fun

We went out to dinner last night and ate some AMAZING Indian food (I just love curry!).  We couldn't help but laugh at the menu, however.  The Engrish was screaming at us.  

When it was time to order our drinks, we were thinking of ordering a "Haney Ken beer."  

Guess they were out of Heineken.

Well, there's always the "Karona."

Then again, we could have ordered a "Rum and Cook."

Although we always get curry when we eat Indian food, the rest of the menu intrigued us, especially the "speer rev" and the "lamb chub."

Even though the menu made us laugh, the food really was scrumptious.  But, the best part is the naan bread.  Check out how huge it is!