Around Ocean's Seven

So we've had some recent requests for more of what our daily life is like in Okinawa.  You've seen a lot of parks, food, beaches -- all things we would do with (and have done with) our visitors. 

So we thought we'd start this series where we live - literally the little neighborhood where our apartment (Ocean's Seven) is located - Awase.

Here's a rough sketch of our route (red on the way out, green on the way back):

We were heading towards the little beach by the restaurant, Sam's by the Sea.  This is our "neighbor's" house.

The road between our apartment & our neighbor's house.

Boat dock

Looking back at our apartment

Making our first right turn

Many homes in Okinawa are flanked with shisa.  These "guard dogs" welcome good spirits (with a smile) and scare away evil spirits (with a scowl).  Almost every home/apartment in the neighborhood has them.

Making left, to get out to the main roads.  I think the school signs are cute!

We've made another left turn, and are now heading to the beach.

Disney characters are very popular with Japanese kids!

Looking back into the sunset

More interesting Japanese signs

Finally at the beach!

Instead of returning the way we came, we decided to walk along the edge of the communication tower.  Between the restricted land and road, there are a bunch of smaller vegetable gardens.

It's not uncommon to see fighter planes, prop planes, commercial planes and helicopters fly by our home!

A local izakaya (pub).

Homes are addressed differently here.   The smaller roads are not named, so houses have very specific addresses.

The main road to our home (20).  Some of you might remember this intersection.  The NW corner has the King Kong Yakiniku.

Now we are pretty hot!  It's time to head back home.

Dragonfruit

Last summer, our first Okinawa summer, we kept seeing these vibrant pink fruits in all the local Japanese markets.  For some reason, we never got around to buying one.  So the first time we saw these pink fruits this summer, we made sure to get some!

What am I talking about?  Dragonfruit!

The big moment of slicing it open!  (Joe had looked it up online, so he knew what was inside).  I was quite surprised!

I didn't expect it to be white!  The inside of a dragonfruit is pretty tasty -- a very light sweetness, but in the texture of a kiwi.  Not only looks great in your fruit bowl, but also tastes great!!!

2010 Birthday Ball

Last weekend was the 98th Birthday Ball for the USN Dental Corps.  Instead of a formal ball (where the service members would wear their dress blues or whites), it was a costume party.  The theme was "your favorite movie characters".  Can you guess who we were? 

SPIDERS!

I don't feel that Lindsay did justice to the spiders we saw last weekend. I am therefore making my own post to include a few more photos! I can hear your excitement now!

Southeast Botanical Gardens

On Saturday, Joe and I returned to the Southeast Botanical Gardens.  We were there in March with my parents, but wanted to go back to see if the water lilies had grown.  Well, they had, but we were too late!  We missed most of the beautiful blooms.

In April, the lilies were barely above the water.  The plants were now as big as we were!

Even though we didn't get to see the giant lilies in bloom, there were still plenty of other flowers.

Joe was having such a great time, he even volunteered to get his picture taken!

All of the rain and sun really made the gardens lush!

From the gardens, you can see (and hear!) the Air Force Base:

I was about to relax in this nice hammock, until I saw something hanging above my head......

While Joe was taking about a million pictures of banana spiders, I went off to enjoy the flowers.