The Night Before First Grade

Going through the pictures that I haven't posted yet, I found these, which I have to share here too. It was the Sunday afternoon/night before school start. We had friends over for dinner, and we grilled up a few different things on the BBQ. It was a delicious meal, but our guests didn't stay late, as it was the night before the first day of school, therefore we had started grilling early afternoon instead.

After our friends had left, it was time for the kids to have a bath and early bedtime. They were excited to take out their special books that they had received from their sweet Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Hayden on their last day of school. They have saved the book to read just like it says on the title, "The Night Before First Grade"

Happy Birthday & Good Bye Dinner

A couple of weeks ago, my dear Australian friend Rheo had her birthday. We decided to make it a girls night out and another friend of hers came along aswell. It was also a bitter sweet dinner, as she is leaving. For the time being, she is back in Australia visiting family and friends before they make the big move back to the US in August. It will be sad to see her leave, as I don't have many friends here, making her leaving even more obvious.

We got along right away, she always says it's because we are not like the Americans, we are special and have a different mindset to things. I think I can agree on that! So this night out, wasn't just a birthday dinner, but also a good bye dinner as we don't know if we will be able to have time for another evening when she comes back in August, before the whole family is leaving.

As the restrictions were still intact on the island for the Americans, due to all the political incidents over the Spring, we were only allowed to order non-alcoholic drinks. But, I must say, the Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri that we ordered were delicious!

Seafood paella and 1/2 lobster. Not worth the money unfortunately..

Horrific News

Waking up yesterday, first to be delighted and happy and teary eyed about pictures of my new little nephew, the mood suddenly changed in an instant after seeing the news.

Another attack- this time in Nice, France. Sickened by the news, it's horrific, it's almost unthinkable that these terrorists are able to find and outdo themselves with "new" ways of killing innocent people. Instead of "just" bringing guns into the crowd and start a mass shooting, this guy rented a huge truck to drive into the crowd. Zic zac, through the street, trying to steer toward as many people as possible. The scenes and reporting from Nice has been so sad, so horrible that this happened.

It's just another wake up call that you can just never never be really safe. I feel for the families, so many children among the killed and injured. Standing there, a bit tired after a long day in the sun maybe, watching the fireworks to end the celebration of their National Holiday. How many times haven't we been standing with our kids by some parade, watching fireworks. It could have happened anywhere. That's the tragic part. It's so easy like someone reported. To rent a car, drive through the barriers and just try to kill as many as possible. No big planning needed. Just one crazy person with no heart or soul. 

It's so tragic every time these attacks happens. Living years in Europe, one would hear on the news that something had happened in some other part of the world. Often, very often these reports came from the United States. With ISIS and other terror groups, this picture has changed. There has been enough incidents in so many places in Europe the last decade and with the situation in the world, it doesn't seem to slow down any time soon. It's not "somewhere else" anymore, it's right there!

This is one of the reasons why I personally love it here in Okinawa so much. It's safe. It's far away from the rest of the world's craziness. My children are not "at risk" as so many in Europe, where you just don't know where it will happen next..People are friendly, the culture is amazing, locals let their children as young as 5-6 year olds walk to and from school on their own. Crossing many busy intersections on their way. This still makes me watch, and keep an eye over them when I'm out and about, still thinking that it's not safe for them to be roaming around the streets alone in that age - but it is.

Sure, there are other threats going on here in Asia as well, but still it's not as immediate and not that  prominent as the threats and attacks in Europe and in the US.

Still, the bad news reaches us here in our paradise too. The world is mourning and praying. I'm so saddened and feel for the families that are affected by this. My first thoughts ofcourse hearing where it was, in Nice, went to my dear friend Martina. She has lived in Nice over so many years, she could have been standing with her girls watching the fireworks there among other families! I was so relieved knowing that she and her girls were in Sweden at the time. After talking to her, they had been in touch with family and friends and as of yesterday they didn't know of any affected of the people that she knew. But as she said, "Nice isn't very big, it's more than likely that we do know people that have been killed or injured"...

Ofcourse, at this time there were also many tourists in Nice, but still, it's horrific to think that you "most likely will know someone.." Horrible, absolutely horrible!

Another thing that hit me, was that on the date yesterday, it was two years ago since I last saw her! Then we both were vacationing in Sweden, visiting families. She came down to stay with me at my brother's place for a week with her daughters and it was wonderful to spend some time together! We are not spoiled with face to face time, only over endless Skype phone calls over the years, and before that, emails and before that normal handwritten letters..

Martina & I in Vastervik July 2014
 

So happy and relieved that these three are safe and sound!

Golden Week - Dragon Boat Races

On Children's Day, May 5th, the traditional Dragon Boat Races were held in Naha Port. My good friend Amanda reached out to me to see if I wanted to come along, and I was very excited to go. She is homeschooling her kids, so she would take them along, and I had planned so Cassandra would come home straight home after school, so that she could pick up Ben and Bella from the bus stop and walk home. Chris was going to take late afternoon and evening off, as I didn't know what time I would be home.

I was very excited, I really wanted to see this Okinawan tradition, something very special, and it's not that easy to fit it in. It's held during the week, so not easy to plan to go to with kids in school and Chris working, so this was something that I normally wouldn't do, which made it even more special.

Typical, as this like I said doesn't happen very often that I would be gone and do something fun like this, Isabella got sick the night before. She was coughing and having a hard time with it. It's hard sometimes here to know if the kids are having a cold or if it's allergies, as everything in the vegetation is new and we don't know when what blooms, so it's not easy and most symptoms with nasal, congestion, throat and cough is often seen as allergies when you take the kids to the Dr.

Anyway, Isabella has always had a hard time with the coughing, she coughs until her stomach turns and she vomits with every cough. It's so frustrating, and even if I give her cough suppressant she still coughs until it all comes up again. So the night before this, I was up with Isabella, helped her when she was vomiting, changed sheets and sat with her until 4am when she finally was sleeping and it seemed like she was going to finally get some rest. She had no fever, nothing but coughing. I had Vick's on chest, back, feet with warm socks, AC on so cold room, warm honey water, cold water...Trust, me, I tried about anything.

As I finally got some light sleep on her floor, it didn't take long until my alarm went off to get up at 5.30 am to see that Cassie was up and getting ready, making her school lunch and kiss her goodbye at the door at 6am when she leaves.

Chris had left early morning to go down to another base for work, and I felt like I hadn't slept a second. Isabella was sleeping, I got Ben out of bed to get him to the school bus. Quickly put some clothes on Bella and she tiredly walked with us to the bus stop. Can't leave her alone at home, and Ben has to be dropped off at the bus. Not always easy these things. Sometimes when one of them has been sick, Chris was able to work on our base, where he could take the healthy one to school, so I could stay at home with the sick one.

Now, after bringing Ben to the bus, I walked home with Bella and was just about to call Amanda to tell her that I couldn't come due to Bella, but then Chris texted me that he could be home just before 9am, he could work some from home, so that I still could go!! Wohoo!! Even if I was tired, I got myself into the shower, and got ready. Bella was feeling better, not coughing so much during the morning, but half asleep on the sofa with a movie.

So shortly after 9am, Chris came home and then Amanda picked me up. We had to wait for another of her friends that were coming with us too, made a coffee stop (not just needed by Amanda, I was very happy about this stop!)

Due to Golden Week and all the Japanese having holiday, it was very heavy traffic, and the closer to Naha we came, the more traffic we had to deal with. Took a bit longer than we thought to get there, but after finally finding a parking spot, we were soon walking down to the port.

Some history about the Dragon Boat Races:

According to legend, Naha Port was once the site of numerous sea dragon attacks. One morning, the small fishing village was devastated by a sea dragon. Despite the villagers' best efforts, Naha Port was flattened and a number of it's citizens were consumed by the sea beast. 

The king visited the village when he heard of these attacks. During his visit, the sea dragon returned. As the villagers scattered to salvage what remained of their homes, a local "noro" (priestess) recalled a dream she had - the king was to stand in front of the beast and raise his ceramic Shisa (lion dog) necklace toward the dragon. The noro passed these instructions on to a boy named Chiga, who informed the king of what he had to do. 

As the king faced the monster with the small talisman, a gift from a Chinese emissary, the figurine cracked open and a real lion dog of epic proportions sprang forth with a tremendous roar that shook the sands and seas for many miles around. Some legends state that the Shisa battled with the serpent. Others insist that it was the initial roar of the Shisa, which caused a boulder to fall onto the dragon, killing it.

As the legend of Shisa spread throughout the kingdom, other villages made caricatures of the charm an placed them at the entrances of their dwellings for protections. Since that fateful day Okinawans place them on or near their homes for protection from evil spirits.

The annual race reflects Okinawa's love for the sea and it's reverence for the ocean's ability to bring bounty or burden. The dragons are also as a reminder of the sea dragon that once destroyed the area. The event is also said to appeal to the Gods for a peaceful voyage and copious harvest as the island and it's people have relied on fishing for centuries.

The dragon boat races are held on several locations on Okinawa, but the annual one in Naha are the biggest among all the Harii (Dragon Boat) races on the island. Normally, dragon boats takes 10 rowers, however at Naha Dragon Boat Race, each boat takes up to 32 rowers! Bigger size means more speed!

Beating the drum to keep the team on the same beat

There were constantly three boats competing, and we didn't really have a team to look for, so we wandered around a bit to check out the other things on this big event that now has turned into a festival with music, dance performances, food vendors, games and fun rides for the kids.

There were different dance groups performing at a nearby stage, the kids were adorable in their costumes, and they were so good!

We happened to see the Navy (?) women team waiting for their turn.

Local team warming up!

T

This team was struggling with keeping the rhythm without the drum..

 We also walked around to get something to eat for lunch. There were so many options!

We came home around 5.30pm, just in time to start dinner. Isabella had enjoyed spending some alone time with just daddy, as it's not the norm that he can take time off work. There had been a lot of UNO playing as that is her favorite game right now! Luckily, no other symptoms, and the following night was much better, and she slept well. Good for me, as I was pretty drained after a sleepless night and a full day out in the sunshine in Naha, I was ready for an early bedtime too!