Talking Turkey

This is a random assortment of pics to illustrate my little update. The lovely couple in the first picture is Brian and Michelle. Brian is our sponsor and the first friendly face we saw through our bleary eyes when we landed in Okinawa. Until we got our little speed demon of a Toyota he was shuttling us around everywhere. Brian and Michelle will be joining us for Thanksgiving in our new dining room pictured third. Its slightly more furnished now (drapes, rug, table cloth etc). Michelle and I will be (Lord help us) cooking said Thanksgiving feast in the kitchen pictured fourth. My thanks to all of you who gave us kitchen goodies for the wedding that I am OH SO excited to finally put to use!

Its been a little hard to believe that its already Thanksgiving! The fact that its still 75 degrees has helped it sneak up on me very stealthily. I'm sure Christmas will follow suit! Pictured last is the small beach by the Kadena Air Force Base Marina. As you can see, there are still sun worshipers out and about. However, my friends here that dive tell me that the water has turned cold already so I may take the winter to get dive certified and enter the warmer waters come spring. Okinawa is known for its tremendous dive spots so I am determined to face my claustrophobia and get in there. The pictures of whats out there would tempt anyone! My new friend Danielle, who is a Brit! (we're everywhere we are!) is making a profitable hobby out of underwater photography and promises to show me all the best spots!

I am also taking the time before I have found work to try to jump start my Japanese. Japanese is a very practical language. The months of the year are just numbered - January is month-one, Febuary month-two and so on. Its also very concentrated on respect. You may already know that its important to call all others -san when speaking with them. Mr. Smith is Smith-san. However you may not know that you never san yourself. Respect is also show by putting O- before certain words. You ask someones name by asking their Onamae and give your name as your namae. Your birthday is tanjobi but you ask someone elses otanjobi. Pronunciation is important. You must pronounce "husband", Shujin, with a short "i". A Shujiin, with long "i"is a prisoner. Coincidence?

All these rules make me wonder why interesting manglings of the English language (as shown in picture two on a T-shirt at a local mall) occur so frequently. Either they are applying Japanese rules to English or figuring we all just make it up as we go along. I'm working on figuring that one out. In the meantime I am accepting your opinions on what exactly the wearer of the above t-shirt might be trying to convey! If the image isn't loading for you it reads.."Rainbow passes emptywave for a long time to the distance". I was also fond of the sweaters in the baby section which told toddlers "do not despair, live with bower", but the security guard was standing a bit to close to that for photographing!

So with that, I wish you an "ohio gozaimasu" (good morning) or "konbanwa" (good evening) for whichever side of the international dateline you're on!