green feather

green feather or quill pen?

these are locally grown winged beans we purchased from KAITO+ on campus. we ate it fresh in salad and sauteed with cabbage for dinner. a bit bitter and pretty crispy and there are little seeds inside. 

"shikaku-mame" in japanese.

"urizun" in okinawan dialect.

driving school in uruma

 

where we live is up on the hill so we can see far far faar away.

  

 walking down the hill to get to the route 58 to catch a free shuttle bus to my driving school.

this is kitaoka driving school in uruma city, okinawa. i'm taking driving classes here. i just started yesterday so i have 16 more days to go before completing their special 'speedy' course. this course supposedly lets you get your license in 18 days (you still need to go take a final written test at DMV in naha). 

let me give you a brief summary of what happened. my lisence had gotton expired 2.5 years ago and i didn't know until right before we were moving to oki....

in tokyo, trains and buses take you everywhere you wanna go. thanks to the great public transportations, you don't need to drive. so i never checked my driver's license, really. 

things are little different in okinawa. cars take you everywhere, not buses or trains. in particular, if you live in a place like onna-son, yes you need a car.

 

i got my first driver's license in san jose, california. so this is my first to go through the entire steps of getting a driver's license in japan, which sadly cost me the entire bank account.

this will be a life lesson for me.... well, let me wet my pillow now. 

churaumi aquarium

here, recommended by a local bus driver, we stopped by an authentic okinawan teishoku-ya (set-meal restaurant) in front of the nago bus terminal. 

 

i had okinawan hechima (sponge cucumber) cooked with miso.

and here's okinawa soba. i like my okinawa soba with red ginger, which gives a zing to its flavor. this one didn't have red ginger.but still so yum!

here, at churaumi aquarium after more than a 2 hour-bus ride:

 

definitely flying. the sky or the outerspace.

he reeeaaaaally has a big mouth. bigger than mine fo sho.

 

so lucky we saw a rainbow on our way home at the nago bus terminal. or maybe it's just an everyday thing in okinawa?

the view from our apartment & naha trip

here are some views from our apartment window. i truly enjoy the act of opening curtains in the morning.

here, on our way to naha on saturday, august 24th. since we don't have a car yet, we take a bus. 

after 1.5 hrs, we arrived at kokusai-dori in naha.

 

 

heiwa-dori market street. felt like i was somewhere outside of japan!

by yachimun street (yachimun = pottery in okinawan dialect).

on yachimun street.

saw a rainbow on our way home.

at the beach near by our apartment. so peaceful.

About me and this blog

hello. my name is aya. i was born in miyagi, attended high school and university in california (lived there for about 10 years), and worked in tokyo for the past 7.5 years. 

i like eating chocolates, fruits and veggies. anything mushy or crunchy is also my favorite. i enjoy riding my bicycle and cooking simple food. when i was little, i was a very shy and stubborn girl. i loved drawing, playing dolls, and anything creative and fun. anyway...

just today, my fiance kazuto and i moved to onna village, okinawa, where he will be attending a grad school. my fiance loves cats and nicely toasted baguettes with melted cheese. he also likes to add vinegar in a bowl of ramen noodles.

i started this blog to record our footsteps in okinawa for the next five years that we will be living here. since this is the place where my parents came for their honeymoon 30 some years ago, i already feel a warm welcome from the island:) hello to okinawa and cheers to okinawa! ah, so excited!!!

@ naha airport

reminds me of the californian sky!