Laura & Greg in Okinawa

So I'm taking a break from packing (yes, there's always more packing!) to write about our most recent visitors (and yes, peer out the patio window on this stunning day!)  Joe's sister Laura and her new husband Greg came to visit us.  We spent the first part of their vacation in Okinawa, then traveled to mainland Japan.

We visited Peace Prayer Park on a national holiday - Children's Day.  The park was decorated with flying koinobori (fish flags).  It was beautiful and unique!

We were blessed with beautiful weather while Greg & Laura were in Okinawa.  Normally May is rainy season - rainy & grey every day.  Joe took them snorkeling at one of his favorite places on Miyagi Island.

Since I'm not such a fan of snorkeling, I had a great day to read on the beach!

No trip to Okinawa is complete without a stop at Pineapple Park!

We made friends with a sweet Okinawan lady at the Ryukyu Village (Ocean Expo Park).  She thought Greg was very young and cute!

At the Tropical Dream Center (Ocean Expo Park), they finally put a camera stand at this photo op!

And finally, the Churaumi Aquarium!  We had a fantastic time in Okinawa!

Our next stop was Hiroshima!

Moving!

Well, it's that time.  I can't believe we are at the end of our three year tour in Okinawa.  On Wednesday, May 2, 2012, we packed up our household goods shipment and said goodbye to 95% of our things.

As Colonel Henry Blake once said in M*A*S*H, "I mean, I'm speaking to you from deep inside a real big empty"


That's where we are right now.

Of course, the most "exciting" thing we had to move was the baby grand piano.  Piano movers came to pack it up and get it into the shipping crates.

Packing it inside......

....packing it for shipping outside!

Now it's time to get the piano crate into the big crate!

Itoman Charity Recital

The recital mentioned in the last post was a great success!  Joe, myself and friend Julie performed in Itoman, Okinawa.  It was a great challenge to prepare for a recital again, but even more fun to perform!  I am so glad that we had this opportunity to share our musical talents here.

Recital

Joe and I have been working on new music recently.  One of my students (an adult Okinawan) had asked us to give a recital here.  We were able to make time for this, and on Sunday, April 22 we will be giving a Charity Recital (benefit recital) for the victims of the March 2011 tsunami & earthquake in mainland Japan.

I'm not entirely sure where it is still (Itoman, I believe).  Here's our announcement:

Noboribetsu - Part 2

I really meant to keep Noboribetsu to one post, but as I was selecting photos of the food, I realized it really should be split into dinner and breakfast!

So we awoke the next morning (the last day of our trip) and headed to the public onsen on the 1st floor.  This was delightful, because the onsen was in the middle of a beautiful snowy garden.  (I preferred the public onsen on the 5th floor, which was an "infinity pool" style, looking at the mountainside).  The public onsen are divided into men's and women's, since it is tradition to go in the onsen in the buff.  For the men, I guess it is kind of like golf -- social time for businessmen.  Joe actually was in there with another Japanese gentleman who wanted to chew the fat.... unfortunately Joe doesn't know enough Japanese!!!

After our public onsen moment, we headed back to the room for breakfast.  Usually, I dislike Japanese breakfasts on the run, because they don't always do granola, oatmeal, eggs, etc.  They eat rice and salad and sushi for breakfast.  Not exactly my style.  However, if you are being served a full (or perhaps traditional) Japanese breakfast, that is another story!

There were so many little dishes to try!

Green tea & salmon

Here we have salad, Hokkaido youghurt, sesame spinach, gohan (rice), some sort of porridge, tamago (egg), tuna roe (not my favorite) and pickled vegetables.

In the center, we had a hot water bath with tofu cooking.  The mini teapot was a warm sauce to pour over the tofu.

We ended breakfast with coffee and our magnificent view.

Now it was really time to pack up and make our trip back to the airport (well, with one more trip in our private onsen!)  I was terribly sad to go.  This was a luxurious and decadent spot to spend the night!