We ran a race!

Friday - June 8th

Nakaguasuku was the name of the game for our morning! Very large, sprawling castle ruins here on the island. Okinawa used to be its own country under the Ryukyu Kingdom - whose castle leftovers we spent the morning exploring. This was also cool because we could see both sides of the island - the Pacific Ocean side AND the East China Sea side from the top of the ruins. Crazy thing we learned at the castle was that the parts of the stone walls still remaining are currently being restored literally stone by stone. As walls are taken down to be rebuilt, the stones are numbered so that they can be replaced EXACTLY as they were taken down. We 
all agreed none of us would want that job!

As we were leaving Nakaguasuku, 1st bonus of the day: we learned that John was given the afternoon off from work so he would be able to join our adventures for the day earlier than we had originally thought he would! So we promptly left the castle ruins and headed to run a few quick errands and meet up with John. We grabbed lunch and then it was time to head to the much anticipated [at least for me!] Kokusai Street - which is downtown in the city of Naha [south on the island]

...Kokusai Street may have been more of an adventure than Allison & John had originally thought it would be...7 people [5 of which had never been there before] ended up taking around 4 hours to visit all of the different stores and markets to be found. 2nd bonus of the day: We made a McDonalds pit stop, the quality of the french fries and coca-colas being served, at least on Kokusai Street, was up to par!

Back to the four hour part - we were all quite shopped out and walked out I think. It was a warm Okinawa day, and while many of the stores had air conditioning, there were also many that did not. Excited about our purchases, it was then DEFINITELY time for dinner. 

We have been looking forward to trying a curry place that John & Allison love called Cocos, so it did not take much deciding that it was a good night for a visit.

I'm happy to report it was just as tasty as they had advertised! You pick your dish and then pick what level of spice you want in your curry sauce on a scale of 1-10. Level 1 anyone would be able to eat - even if you don't particularly like spicy/hot food. Once you get past Level 1 however things heat up rather quickly. The restaurant will not let a customer order a hotter sauce than 5 if they have never done so before. No one from our group ordered higher than a 4. 3rd bonus of the day: Origami activity bucket at dinner!

Saturday - June 9th

As I write this, it is currently late Saturday afternoon here in Japan. So far today we have:

#1. Run a 5K on Futenma [another base here on the island]

Quite a hot morning & a hilly course but a successful start to the day nonetheless :)

After our race! :)

#2. Headed back to the beach [tried to snorkel but the water was really rough today]

#3...and now we are all getting ready for the night ahead [we are going out for sushi & a Marine Corps Band Concert]...which is why I have a little time/energy to write about our last day or so! 

[Much love to all of our family & friends stateside & everywhere else!]