Flea Market

Since we can't really have garage sales here, the military sponsors flea markets on various bases so we can unload our stuff.  I've heard a lot about these flea markets, and when the one on Foster takes place, you see the cars backed up for half a mile down the road trying to get to it, but I've never been to one - before Saturday.

I decided about a month or so ago as I was cleaning closets and cupboards and such in preparation for the move that we had enough stuff to merit a trip to a flea market as a seller and I decided that May 5th would be our best chance.

So Friday night we loaded the van full of junk just barely leaving a spot for London and then headed out Saturday morning first for London's soccer game and then for the flea market.  Emmy was at Molly's house enjoying her first sleep over and Cannon was getting a ride to his soccer game.

Now we were warned about these flea markets.  We were told stories how the Japanese line up to come in and when the gates are open they run down the aisles.  We were told how they scoop up the American clothes and junk like it's candy.  And I can now tell you it's true.

Here we are ready with our junk.

And here are the Japanese lined up like they're waiting to get into a rock concert.

Sorry, no pictures of them running to the stands - I think I was in awe.

Lots of buyers

But it turned out to be a successful day with a nice profit and all the "leftovers" now taken to the thrift shop.  Now we're all ready for our first pack out on Tuesday!

Forest Adventure

It seems like this week I'm single handedly trying to knock out the entire bucket list, because today we crossed off another one.  Cannon's only addition to the "bucket list" was to go to Forest Adventure - a zip lining course through the wilds of Okinawa, and Friday he got to go!  He has been wanting to go for a while, but I was waiting for him to get a little bigger and a little stronger.  This is not really an easy thing to do - there's a lot of climbing up ropes and ladders and then a bit on the end where you have to do a vertical climb up a cargo net after free-falling and zipping.  Let me tell you, it's challenging!

The tarzan net

So Friday afternoon, after school, I took Cannon and his friend Marc for a go around.  Stevie stayed home with the little ones and let me have the fun.

This week is Golden Week for the Japanese - a time with three back to back holidays which translate into almost the whole country being off.  Consequently, things have been really busy around Okinawa and, unfortunately, busy around Forest Adventure.  So after waiting for a half hour to get our chance on the "training stop" we were suited up with our oh-so-attractive harnesses.

The training was a quick, slightly unintelligible safety brief by a Japanese guy whose advice about how to hook yourself onto the zip line include "this way - good, this way - bye, bye!"  We walked across a tight rope, zipped down a short line and were deemed fit to go on the course.

Surprisingly, they make the adult go first with the minors to follow.  I wasn't too comfortable with that since I would have preferred to be there to double check the boys rigging on the zip line, but instead I stood on the other side of the valley hoping Cannon wouldn't go dropping through the trees!  He did great and jumped right off the platform and above the treetops he flew!

Cannon's first zip line.

A rough first landing

We went on around the course and had a great time!

Marc and Cannon

Stevie was so funny when we got home and were telling him about our experience.  He kept saying, "There are nets underneath, right?"

See, no nets!

Cannon on the Tarzan net

These were harder than they look.

Ie Island

For three springs now I've been trying to get to one of the outlying islands off of Okinawa for their Lily Festival and I can finally say I made it!  The Ie Island Lily Festival takes place at the end of each April/beginning of May and is a celebration of over one million blooming white Easter lilies.

As the trip is kind of long, I've been waiting for the "perfect" day.  Ie. the lilies are blooming, the weather is sunny and warm and I'm not teaching.  These three things have not been willing to line up until Thursday, when I took the chance!  Of course it helped to prompt me that my neighbor, Suzy, agreed to come along.  We left at 9:00 am after dropping London at school with the intent of catching the 11:00 ferry (it's an hour and a half drive to the port).  Well, I drove to the wrong port, and then after another wrong stop, we finally found the right port and watched the ferry pull out as we were walking up!

Oh well, we caught the 12:00 ferry instead and sailed under cloudy skies to the port on Ie.  As we got off the ship, we felt sprinkles but ignoring those, we caught a bus to the lily fields.

Ten minutes later, as we stepped off the bus, the skies cleared, the sun shone strong and the beauty of the lilies and the ocean hit us full force.  Gorgeous!  I do believe I heard some angels singing.

I'm not sure which I liked better, the crashing waves on the rocks...

or the million plus Easter lilies?

After about an hour and a half touring the lilies, we reversed the process and headed home.

We had to sit in the seats in the middle of the bus!

Ie Island

Okinawa from  the sea

Beautiful end to the day.

What a beautiful way to spend a Thursday!

More 100 Yen

Today Emmy and I had one of our favorite mid-week, cheap dates - a trip to a 100 Yen store and lunch from MaxValue grocery store.  It's nothing fancy, but never fails to be fun and tasty.

Here are today's favorite products from the 100 Yen:

The "rime green" caught my attention on this, and then I noticed the saying "The lavatory is refreshing."

I think this was a mat to keep cats from walking on something, maybe your garden???

I love these little fruit shaped sponges.  I'm not sure how much cleaning you can do with them, but they're cute.

I think "Sole Sap Sheets" are supposed to detoxify your body, but I don't know how!

MaxValue is Japanese grocery store next door to the big 100 Yen store and full of fun foods to try.

I always said things are smaller in Japan...just kidding! These are kid-sized carts.

In the very back is a whole section of prepared foods to go.  Not really bento boxes, although there are some of those, but more tasty treats that you package yourself for a snack or light meal on the go.  As I look at the photos, you might get grossed out by the "open airness" of the foods, but maybe after seeing some of the food areas in countries like Thailand and China, these areas seem pretty clean to me.  Maybe it's also now being familiar with Japanese culture and how clean everything is and how clean they are.  Most of them wear masks for indeterminate reasons.

Anyways, we've now figured out what some of the things are - mainly through trial and error - and have our favorites picked out.  I like the tempura vegetables and rice balls with what looks to be bits of mushroom, carrots and seaweed in them.  Cannon, London and Emmy are lovers of the yakitori (chicken on a stick with a sauce on it).  We all love the onigiri (rice balls) - although Emmy and Cannon have to have plain salmon while London and I like tuna with mayo.  So many yummy options...

My girl with her favorite lunch!