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- we haven't been kicked off the island yet!! |
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Imagine starting all over again with little knowledge of the customs and culture of your new world. Week two has been just that!
The holiday is called Oban. Oban is a time when the Japanese honor their dead ancestors. They march through the streets with drums and visit the hill side graves called turtle back graves because they look like big, concrete turtle backs built into the side of the hills. You can hear the drum beat all over the military base.
When the University of Maryland found out we couldn't take the class because of the holiday they let us watch a video and issued us a temporary license so we could begin to look for a car. Thank goodness, I think we have walked about 20 miles a day just getting to the commissary, base exchange, laundry and computer lab.
We were lucky to have a sponsor who has power of attorney for the sale of a car of a former faculty member who has left for Europe. He let us borrow the car once we had the temporary license. Driving on the left side of the road is a real thrilling experience. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car so it helps, but it all feels so awkward. People know you are a new driver when you turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals and go to get in your car on the wrong side. Unfortunately the car we borrowed didn't have air conditioning so it got a little hot and we were anxious to buy one we could call our own.
The other important task on our agenda right now is finding a home. The rental system here is very strange. There are a number of housing agencies, each having their own lists of available rentals. These people have never heard of multiple listing! It is recommended that you go to several different agencies so you cover all areas. The rental that we are looking for needs to be based approved so we can get the furniture from the military. It is also recommended that you get a place with hook ups for an American washer and dryer. The Japanese dryers only make your clothes hot, they don't get them dry. Most of the Japanese have clothes lines on one of their balconies where they hang their clothes to dry.
We have had time for some fun this week. Wednesday night we went to dinner at Bill Bennett's house. He is currently on staff as a faculty member and was one of the people who picked us up at the airport the day we arrived on the island. His wife, Itzio, is Okinawan. They have a beautiful one year old daughter named Mia. They cooked pork for us on the grill that had to be cooked all day. With the pork they served Okinawan potato salad that was delicious. The potato salad was like cold mashed potatoes with cucumbers and sliced carrots in it. Sounds awful but it tasted good.
The treat of the week was today, Sunday. We had a free day and decided to go off by ourselves to the north part of the island and explore. On our way off base we stopped at the base exchange and bought two coffee mugs because we are tired of the styrofoam cups we get with our room.
Right off the beach we found a stand where they were selling ice cream and drinks. There were picnic tables with umbrellas around so we thought it would be a nice place to sit for a while in some shade. Richie went to the rest room and I walked over to the tables. A little Japanese man was sitting on one of the benches and said to me, "come sit, it is too hot". I thanked him and sat down. I remarked that he spoke English and he started up a conversation with me.
Richie came and sat with us. He was surprised to see me in conversation with this Japanese man. We discovered his name was Higa-San and he was a retired golf pro. He told us he trained Lee Trevino and that he was a friend of George Bush. Now, we weren't too sure of how much of this to believe, but the man seemed nice enough. He told us his son was a famous movie star in Tokyo and all Japanese knew him.
Higa-San insisted on buying us water and an ice cream cone. He asked where we parked our car and we told him. He said his car was in the same lot and invited us to follow him to his house and meet his family. Now we were getting a little uneasy but we have been told that the Japanese will invite strangers to their house and it is impolite not to go. So we went.
We finally stopped at a three story house (rare in these parts) about two blocks from the sea. Being told that it is proper to bring a gift when you visit someone's house we didn't know what to do. The only thing we had in the car were the two coffee mugs we had purchased earlier in the day, a hair clip and a box of Wheat Chex. We decided to give him the two coffee mugs.
Higa-San's son and daughter came in and we met them. The son is about 5'11'' and plays basketball for his high-school. Higa is about 4'11'' and very proud of his tall son. The daughter sat with us and told us she completed a junior college and was working at a stone quarry in the village. She has two black belts in Karate even though she is a small women. We talked about our children and grandchildren and what we were doing on the island. They were very interested in our teaching them English, which we thought they spoke very well.
They invited us back next Saturday to meet the rest of their family and to join them in a cook out on their third floor roof. We exchanged phone numbers and they said they would call us. When we were leaving, Higa-San asked me where I got the coffee mugs? He said I just invited you to my house and you didn't have time to buy us a gift. I told him I just knew we were going to get invited to his house today, the spirits told me so. He thinks I am magic.
What a wonder Japanese experience!!!
When we got back on base we ran into a colleague from the University who has been here for several years. We asked him about Higa-San, still not sure that all his tales were true. He said they are true and that he would love to be invited to his house. He couldn't believe that it happened to us. We feel pretty special. Maybe we can get some golf lessons from a professional.
Map of Japan - provided by the CIA
Note: The pictures were not taken by my mom. Pictures were found on the internet. |
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The first thing you have to do when you get settled in your billeting on the military base is get a drivers license. You can only apply for a license on Mondays so it is important to go the first Monday you are here. Well the first Monday we were here just happened to be a Japanese holiday. The man who teaches the driving class, which you have to take to obtain a license, happens to be Japanese and canceled the class.
They have a parking lot on Kadena Air Force base where people park their cars for sale. They call this lot the "lemon lot". I wonder if the name is significant. Your take names and phone numbers off the signs taped to the cars and call the owners to look at the cars. Most of the cars are late eighties or early nineties models. We copied down about 8 names and numbers and went back to our billeting to call the owners. We scheduled appointments every 15 minutes and test drove the cars, asked a few questions and bought ourselves a car in about an hour. We decided on a 89 
We visited five or six housing agencies and have seen only two places we would consider living in. One is up on a hill with a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean and a village below. The other is a block from the Pacific Ocean, doesn't have a view but is larger than most we have seen and has beautiful wood floors and cabinets. The hill house, as we are calling it, is over priced so our sponsor says. We have been trying to negotiate the rent but the process is very difficult. You see, these housing agents really don't care if they rent to you or not. They never call you back or even pitch the place. You want it or you don't. When you call them back they put you on hold and you listen to "Home on The Range" played with some tin instrument. Next week we are looking at another place that is on the eighth floor of a high rise (a rare sight in Okinawa). We are hopeful something that feels like home will come along soon.
Saturday night we went with several other faculty members to the Orion (Japanese Beer) festival. It was like an American October fest only with fire works. There were booths all around a big field selling lots of Japanese food and Orion beer. In another section of the park Japanese dancers were doing a local dance called Eisa dancing. The dancing took place in a field which looked like a football field with stadium seats around one side of it. Seating in the stadium was by invitation only and we didn't have an invitation. We did get to stand on the sidelines and watch the dancing.
We started driving north and noticed a sign for Cape Zanpa. The name sounded nice so we turned off the main road and followed a narrow road that was headed in the direction of the China Sea. About 6 miles down the road we came upon a beautiful beach. We parked the car and walked down to the sea. There were lots of families (no Americans) on the beach and a place where you could rent umbrellas and chairs. We finally got to put our feet in the China Sea. The water is beautiful but the waves are small. We sat on the beach for a while and then decided to go for something to drink.
On the way out of the parking lot Higa-San stopped and talked to a tour bus driver who was parked on the side of the road. We were following in our car and thought that he probably knew the bus driver and just wanted to say Hello. He got back in his car and we followed him down a small road with sugar cane growing on both sides. We were talking about how crazy this was and how it would never happen in America. We wondered if this guy would hold us for ransom and nobody would pay the price to set us free. We wondered if we were doing a really stupid thing to follow him home.
He went into the house and closed the door while we were walking up his front side walk. When we got to the door we questioned ourselves again about this crazy thing we were doing. Finally I knocked on the door and he said "dozo" meaning come in. We entered and took off our shoes. We were really vulnerable then. His wife was there and I gave her the coffee mugs. Higa-San told us that he stopped at the bus to ask the driver to call his wife and tell her he was bringing us home with him. We were shown to the tatami room and sat on the floor at a low table. His wife served rice cookies and juice and jello in a little container that looked like the container you get jelly in at the IHOP.