Arduous duty?!

OK, I hate to admit it but this trip has felt more like fun than work! Yes, I'm still doing my job, but everyone here is bending over backwards so much to accommodate us that my job has been pretty easy. I've really been able to take advantage of the snippets of time between duties and enjoy being on Okinawa.

I boasted to Mariko, one of the managers at the dining facility that I had gotten out and experienced some "real" Japanese sushi. When I told her the name of the restaurant to which we had gone, she kind of smirked and asked me what I was doing later that night. Um, I guess going with you? She and another manager, Chikara arranged for me to have dinner with them and a long-time friend of theirs at a restaurant called Uokura. It was about 15 minutes away, halfway between Kadena and Naha but so worth the drive!

They were both born and raised on Okinawa and were excited to facilitate a real dining experience for me. There wasn't another American in the restaurant! We sat at the sushi bar where a conveyor belt of dozens of sushi options continuously flowed pass us. Chikara guided me through all the options as I'd point to something passing by and ask what it was. Once he realized that there was nothing that I considered off limits, he excitedly started ordering and educating me on the different types and species of each option. Seafood salad, green tea, miso soup, cold soba noodles (purple ones!), sea urchin, eel, several types of tuna, mackerel, seaweed, fish eggs, octopus and tempeh comprised the dinner. Just about everything was raw with an amazing array of textures and tastes. I pointed to and inquired about one dish in particular. He told me that that specific sushi was considered advanced and wasn't sure if I was ready for it yet. I grinned and asked if we could order it anyway. It turned out to be raw sea urchin. I cautiously broke off a tine piece with my chopsticks to taste. The texture was similar to liver pate but my vocabulary lacks an adequate adjective to describe the taste. I actually liked it and and commenced to eat the whole bitesize portion. After sampling so many different dishes I finally had to admit that I was stuffed and to asked them politely to quit ordering!

Today Kim, Beth and I walked out the gate and over to a place called China Pete's. This is where I had bought my set of Noritake China table setting when I was here 15 years ago (which I still have and use!). Kim and Beth loved the place and purchased several sake sets and chopsticks. As I've become a minimalist over the years, I've stopped buying trinkets during my travels that will require dusting and will eventually suffer the fate of a Goodwill donation during one of my many moves. It was fun to look around though and I got some great pictures of local pottery and China. Instead of buying things to take home, I simply take pictures of subjects that I can have enlarged to hang in my home to remind me of places I've been.

Today ended with a leisurely dinner at the Kadena Marina. One of our staff members, Mark has a vehicle here so we took a couple of athletes down to the waterfront to dine at the base marina as the sun set. Robin and Mallory are a couple of track & field athletes and thoroughly enjoyed feeding the fish and the view that accompanied our dinner.

We've already started the meetings to discuss logistics for us to move from here to Beijing. Time has flown and it won't be long before we find ourselves in the midst of Paralympic competitions. As the athletes taper down to peak we have some sightseeing trips planned so I should have more to post about soon so stay tuned!