Ice Skating

One of these past weekends, we were missing the cold weather and decided to try ice skating at a sports complex in the city. It cost about 1500 yen for each of us, including our skate rental. The ice skates were more like hockey skates than figure skates, so it took a few times around the rink to get used to them. Since we were there on the weekend, it was probably more crowded than normal, and I think Corey and I both almost ran over a small child more than once. But, it was fun to skate in circles and people watch!

Some of the rules of the rink; My favorite is "Don't Step on Your Friend"...

Holiday Concert

Tonight we had the opportunity to see some live music, and that being a rare occurrence here in Okinawa, we were excited for the chance to go. The III MEF Band (III Marine Expeditionary Force Band) was performing their annual Holiday concert, and tonight was the last show of a four night run. The show was in the theater on base that doubles as the movie theater.  We were impressed with the band, and enjoyed their performance of mostly Christmas songs (including Winter Wonderland, Feliz Navidad, Sleigh Ride,  and Frosty). Many were jazz band style, featuring solos of various instruments. They also added in a few American marches, and a medley of military anthems where members of each branch in the audience were asked to stand during their own anthem…

Off we go into the wild blue yonder, 
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder, 
At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! (Give 'er the gun now!) 
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one helluva roar! 
We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey! 
Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force!

Santa even showed up

A Day at the Park

A last minute adventure today took us someplace that I will not be visiting again- a place where I not only felt bad for the animals, but also felt ripped off… This place is advertised as a "zoo," but was mostly a park full of scummy water and hundreds of birds. After paying 600 yen a piece, we walked through several enclosures that housed different species of birds that you could feed (for an extra 200 yen). Other areas of the park cost more yen to see more birds, and ride a train. 

 Flamingos and some other water birds lived here… I felt like I could have easily contracted the bird flu had we stayed here very long

 Corey facing off with a flamingo

 Don't touch it!!! 

 An underwater observatory of the river fish… would not want to be swimming in there

 I found this caged animal… he looks dangerous

 Turkeys roamed free.. 

 the "Afurican Savanna" exhibit was unimpressive

 This sign told us what to expect up ahead...

 pay another 300 yen to pet these dogs!! poor things… You could also ride a tortoise and pet some caged guinea pigs. 

 Feed an ostrich for 100 yen! I couldn't not feed these guys, they looked hungry. They even tried to eat my hand!! 

 This one is mid swallow… You could see the bread in its esophagus.. gross

 I had to take a pic of this guy's haircut… haha

 Viewing some lemurs from the restaurant..  (we didn't eat anything, just watched for a few)

 After leaving the park feeling sad for the animals, we stopped to enjoy a nice view of Cape Manzamo, known as the "toilet bowl"

Underwater Observatory

I read about an underwater observatory recently online and thought it looked worth checking out, so we took a drive up north today and were pleasantly surprised! The observatory is ran by the Busena Terrace Beach Resort, so we walked through the beautiful property of the resort. We found a ticket booth, and paid 1000 yen a piece to get into the actual under water viewing place. There, we took a spiral stair case deep into the sea and found portholes to look through. There were hundreds of fish in the open ocean, who looked way happier than any aquarium fish i've seen. It was so cool so see so many fish; kind of like scuba diving without getting wet.

 This reminded me of Rhode Island…. 

 walking out to the observatory 

 Feeding the fish

 Corey wanted an "action shot" 

 feeding the fish

 For another 1000 yen, you could take a ride on a glass bottom boat… maybe next time

 I kept thinking that the observatory might be a good place to hide out in a tsunami, but then realized you would be trapped. Saw this sign on the way out… (it says go to higher ground in a tsunami)

 We walked past this mini golf course, and Corey decided it's the perfect course for his future home...

 Putting green mini golf course… the future of the field at Joe Sarle Road??? 

December in Okinawa

December in Okinawa does not feel like Christmas time to me, as it is still mild outside and there are  not many houses decked out with lights… But we have set up our new tree and I am trying to think like it's really cold outside by wearing sweaters and boots (while driving with the A.C on in the car…).

Fee likes to climb in the tree...

 … and eat the lights!!

 one of my favorite ornaments

my very first christmas ornament, given to me by my very first piano teacher :)