LON and Shuri Castle...

Friday night Alison and I went to church for a LON (Ladies of Neighborhood) meeting and fellowship time. We had some yummy food and good fellowship...continuing to shock people with the idea that we are not military. It is really a hard concept for so many people to grasp! I'm over it! :) I earned myself a nickname though...Apparently when I met Kim, one of the ladies at church, I told her she could remember it by thinking about Rocky "Yo Adrienne!" (in my best Rocky voice of course)...Well, on Friday night when she was introducing all the new ladies she said, "We have a new lady from China her name is Yo....like Yo Adrienne!" lol it was funny and now I am Yo. Like this morning I went to get a bulletin at church and Kim handed me one and said, "Sorry we don't have any that are translated into Chinese." hehe I'm really getting a kick out of this!

Saturday, Alison and I made plans to go to Shuri Castle. It is quite the popular places for "locals." We drove to Naha and found it with little difficulty (surprise, surprise). We were definitely two of the few Americans there. The castle park consisted of several different gates to walk through, including stamps to collect on our little park brochure. Then we came to the castle part, which cost money. Now the tour book never said anything about having to pay, so Alison and I had to stand there for a bit and decide whether we would pay to go in or just skip the actual castle. Though we really didn't have the money for it we chose to go ahead and do it, after all we're in Japan and at this popular place, gotta see the whole thing! We entered the main gate of the castle to see this huge open courtyard. Come to find out it is the gathering place for a three day new years celebration and each row is designated for a certain rank official. The only people that get to walk down the middle isle are the king and other high ranking officials.

When we entered the "usual route" of the tour and entered the castle a lady greeted us with plastic bags for us to carry our shoes in. We spent a few moments giggling about that and moved on, not without a picture of course!

We were able to walk through the halls and see the many rooms that held certain activities like the tea room or the kings office area. Eventually we came into a room that had a little stage area where the king would sit and also places for kids and grandkids.
Then we saw a portion of glass floor that showed old remains under the floor. Due to fires and the Battle of Okinawa during WWII the castle had to be rebuilt 4 times and the current building was raised a bit to protect the ruins of the state hall.

Once we made it through the castle we walked around for a short while, saw a pond and some other buildings, found our car, and headed to the shopping district of Naha. We found a small parking lot and decided since we couldn't read any of the signs this one would be as good as any. We spent a few hours walking around and going into EVERY single store that had at least one piece of glass in order to satisfy Alison's glass crush. We ate dinner at Charlie's Tacos and went back to the car only to find that we owed $18 for parking! Oh my! I think I almost had a heart attack. Luckily we had a few extra bucks in our gas envelope otherwise we may have had to say goodbye to Thomas (a name given with good reason), our car, and walk home! hehe We spent our Saturday evening at the sea wall...a place of clarity and free of charge! :)

Today was a great time at church. Church Rocky, not to be mixed up with School Rocky, commented on how he was so glad we made it to Sunday School and that we must be working our way up to the early morning prayer meeting, which in fact is exactly what our thought process was! He also mentioned that he might be able to give us a chance to fly a plane simulation...how awesome is that!?!? So aside from the fact that I tweaked my back while cleaning today and can hardly move right now, it's been a great weekend! I can't really complain considering I've made it about 4 months now without my monthly chiropractor visits. Oh I also feel quite accomplished with my lesson planning progress this evening. Time is flying by...Can't believe Tokyo is right around the corner!

I am so blessed with the emails and comments I have received regarding my blogging. They always seem to come at the moment I need it most! I love you all and miss you much!