I really should just move here. The food is great, awesome scenery, and I’m considered tall for the first time in...ever. That is of course until I go on the air force base; then its back to being short. Me feeling like I could kick Godzilla’s arse aside, this place rocks.
The island itself is, well, a mixture of many things. The southern half feels like one big tightly-packed cement city. You see, the Japanese are very smart when it comes to dealing with their yearly Katrinas. Instead of insisting on nice large wooden houses like we Americans, they build everything out of cement. Doesn’t fill the drive to work with many "ooh"s and "aahhh"s (aside from when they use odd combinations of bright paint), but it does save them a lot of flattened houses and money.
This savings translates to every car having some form of DVD player with GPS system, and every kid having a Gameboy DS – leaving very little room for caring about pretty houses. They know what’s important – the toys.
The northern half of the island isn’t that populated. It is however home to many of the cooler tourist attractions (aquarium, beaches, water falls, and parks). I didn’t get to see all of the stuff up north; it’s a bit of a drive. I did see the aquarium though, and damn it puts anything we’ve got state-side to shame. Only 15 bucks to get in and you get a dolphin show too, one with cute Geishas none-the-less. Eat that SeaWorld. The zoo wasn’t as impressive in terms of size, but they did have a wider variety of monkies then I’ve seen back home. And hey, you can’t go wrong with more monkeys.
Another highlight to the trip, aside from the many touristy-things I did, is the fact that I made the time to get Scuba certified and go diving. The water here as you would expect is much cleaner then what we call water back home, making the coral-reef just that much cooler. The classes were a bit annoying, such as making you constantly practice taking off your mask underwater (while the teacher grins smuggly at us), but well worth it.
Getting around the island is a lot easier then I expected. Surprisingly I never had any issues adjusting to the "driving on the wrong side of the road" concept. Only thing I did have problems with is that they also switch the side the turn signal and windshield wipers are on.
For the first few weeks anyone new gets here the windshield is always very clean.
We can’t forget the food; oh how I love the food. Most importantly it is amazingly cheap here. Going out to dinner costs me around $15 for what would run me at least $25 state-side. This means most tasties for less! My favorite sushi dishes from back home even taste better here. Of course it almost goes without saying that they have a much wider selection too. Many things I have never seen before, most of which I’m still playing "name that meat" with –
I do regret getting that question answered a few times.
Pig-snout aside, the food here is just so much tastier than the fried lard we call food back home. I went to dinner at Chili’s on-base with one of the other people here from Lockheed (one of the only times I’ve eaten American food here) and I found myself not liking what used to be my favorite dish there (cajun chicken burger).
I am so screwed when I get back to the states. I think its time to invest in a rice-cooker.
Work was very laid back; there wasn’t much that needed to be done around the building. As such this has been a great time to catch up on all the things I never seem to have time for back home: books, dvds, learning more Java, hell I’m even running 5k a day and working out.
Alas though my time here is coming to an end. At the end of the week I’m done with work. I’ll be heading to Tokyo on my way back though, Mike will be joining me there. Figure a nice six-day vacation on the mainland will be a great way to top this whole thing off. I’m still open for any suggestions on what to see while I’m there. We have come up with quite a few, Mt. Fuji and going to the city of Kyoto among them, but we do have six whole days to fill so keep those ideas coming.
