Day 7 In Okinawa

Okay, so I got lost a few times.  Alright, more than a few times.  But it wasn't really an area that I had spent a lot of time in.  My destination was familiar...sort of, but not the route there.  In fact, as I was cycling from Haebaru to the Ojima area (between Gushikami and Tamagusuku) I wondered whose area Haebaru actually was.  It wasn't Itoman's.  And it wasn't Naha Higashi's.  At least, I don't think it was.

But the no man's land between Haebaru and Tamagusuku has grown.  Little villages were still little, but bigger.  The Oba stores that I had counted on for my sustenance were not as ubiquitous as I thought they might be. (As I type right now, I hear the Nishihara morning announcements being shouted out through the neighborhood loud speakers.)

But first things first.  I got my haircut by the only barber in Okinawa that I trust: Naha Higashi's Yonamine Shimai.  After just about everyone recognizing me (and surprising me in this) in the Shuri Ward, I was somewhat confident that she'd remember me.  She did not.  At least, not at first, and not in the way I thought she would.  We chatted about my time here, my hot wife, and the companions I had while in Okinawa.  The only one she really remembered was Gaskill.  (Gaskill, at one point, was on Facebook, and I was able to reach him through that.  He appears to have dropped off, so if anyone knows his e-mail address, let me know, because Yonamine shimai would like to hear from him.)

After working on my melon for a minute or two she said, true to barber form, "I remember your head."  From there, we reconstructed our history: her feeding me pig tongue on one of the first nights I was on the island (and in that, Gaskill taking me to another zone, way past 9 pm, getting back to the apartment at around 11 pm.  He was a great trainer!), and also putting on a hair cutting clinic as a Relief Society katsudo in Naha Higashi Ward.  Good times.  That woman deserves a heaping helping of blessings for all of the free haircuts she gave missionaries.

With the new streamlined haircut, I went over to Haebaru's Bridgestone bike shop to rent a bike, told them I'd kanarazu get lost, but would have fun doing it.  My destination was a beach near Ojima, and after several wrong turns, and more sets of bad directions from locals, I found the water, then found the beach.  The beach is sort of run by a tourist/boating company that takes tourists out around the reef.  I don't think they own the beach, but they acted like they did, so I shimmied down a little staircase off to the side, hid behind a rock, wrapped some clothes around my waist, changed into my mizugi, then jumped into the ocean.

As a water baby, it just about killed me that I was not able to get into the water during my mission.

Now, I must pause here and mention the weather.  It is winter here in Okinawa, which means from one hour to the next it'll be cold, cloudy and wet, then switch to warm, humid, and sun burn material. It has been really dodgy most of our time here, consistently cloudy.  A little rain, but not too much.  Today, however, was righteous.  Sunny weather, a little bit of humidity, and just the slightest of breezes.

The water, however, was pretty chilly.  Now, I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and I surf, so I'm used to bone-chilling water.  I had my board shorts on, waded in a step or two into the water, then ran back to my back pack to put on my rash guard.  That warmed me up enough to swim around for a while (until I got bored...swimming by myself), then hopped out, dried off, got on my bike, and headed back.

On the way back, I found a great little panyasan in the middle of nowhere.  Japanese bread is reallllly good. When you visit Japan, you must indulge.  I sure have.