Dispatch from Okinawa

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Hi Tom - Sounds like things are winding down at your end! The pictures of the house were sad - lots of memories there. I was happy to see a nice sunny day for the packing - hope it's the same next week. Would be a real shame to put wet stuff in storage for 2 years! Sounds like you and I had the same dinner/lunch the other day - hamburgers. But I had water, no beer. As I told you, everyone is very careful about drinking and driving. I went to the Chapel this morning around 10:30, to see if I could catch a mass. Thought I'd say a few prayers for the people in my life! It was a non-denominational mass (no Communion) and there was lots of singing. Actually, I liked the sermon, but thought there was a little too much singing. As I was leaving, I saw Dori. She invited me out to lunch with her daughter, so we went to the Big Noodle house a few block away from base. Very tasty (Yokisoba), with soup (excellent) seaweed (good), rice (didn't eat it), and a cabbage salad (very good). It cost only 750 Y.

Yakisoba Noodles

The dollar has dropped, so it's pretty much 1 to 1. I hope it goes up soon. Then Dori showed me a short cut to our new house, from base - it took no more than 15 minutes, but then it's about a 5 minute ride on base. I showed them the house and they thought it was great, especially being so close to the beach. The 2 spare bedrooms are small, but it's only going to be the two of us for most of the time. I went to Torii Beach yesterday on Torii Station. A few families were there and they were in the water. I hadn't planned on ending up there, so I didn't

Tori Beach on the East China Sea

have my suit with me. I stayed there for about an hour, just sitting, walking, AND picking up sea glass!!! I called Dave & Lynn this morning to tell them about it. My two pockets were stuffed with glass - white, brown, blue, & green of varying shades. And some of the pieces were at least 2-3 "

Beach Glass

now have them in my hotel room in a take-out plastic container. I also found pieces of pottery, with the design and glazing still on. I actually felt like I was on vacation! I've got to get some work done. I am already so far behind on the evals that I am starting to panic a little. But I will do the best I can. On top of arranging our domestic stuff, I need to learn and relearn many of the assessment tools. This takes a lot of time.