Merry Christmas from Okinawa!

It's the night before Christmas in Okinawa and not a creature is stirring. Well, not exactly, since there are a few giant Ryukyu Fruit Bats flying around and Mongoose scurrying about outside. Nicki, originally scheduled to arrive last Friday night, finally made it to Okinawa Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday she flew from Miami to DC for her flight on Thursday to Japan. The Thursday flight from Washington-Dulles to Tokyo-Narita was overbooked by 40 people and she got bumped. United Airlines made her stand on line for 4 1/2 hours for rebooking on the next day's flight. Fortunately, she was compensated $800.00 for her troubles. The Friday flight, with Nicki on board, departed the gate on time, but encountered a problem with faulty bathrooms after it taxied out to the runway. This resulted in 1 1/2 hour delayed departure and a missed connecting flight at Narita Airport (the international airport an hour’s drive outside of Tokyo). The airline put her up in a hotel overnight and then bused her 1 1/2 hours Sunday morning to Haneda Airport (the domestic airport in Tokyo) for a 10:05 AM flight scheduled to arrive at 12:55 PM in Okinawa. That flight did arrive on time! As you can imagine, Nicki was not a happy camper, and who can blame her. Anyone would be quite upset and exhausted after being in a travel mode for 4 days straight. Nevertheless, she is here safe and sound.

Arrival at Naha Airport, Okinawa

To get us in the Christmas spirit, last night we went to the Southeast Botanical Gardens annual Christmas light display complete with a lasers and fireworks. And today we went to Ocean Expo Park, which is about an hours drive north from where we live. The park hosts the Chuarami Aquarium, which has the second largest tank in the world that contains 3 Whale Sharks, the largest fish in the world.

Although it was on the cool side yesterday evening, the weather today was absoulutely beautiful with temperatures in the low 70s. Since we still don't have our household goods, we didn't prepare a Christmas eve dinner this evening. However, we brought home a sushi and mixed platter from the local supermarket, which were not quite like pierogis, but a treat nonetheless.

Southeast Botanical Garden - Christmas Light Show

Christmas Eve Morning - Coffee on the Beach

Ocean Expo Park - Dolphin Show

Ocean Expo Park - Chuarami Aquarium

Going Native at Ocean Expo Park

Sanshin and Folk Dance Lessons

Christmas Eve Dinner - Japanese-Style

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!