It's all about perspective. The other day was annoying. The other day was emotional. The other day was... well, another day. Today is today. Tomorrow is unknown.
So later in the the evening of my horrible, no good, terrible day, things turned around a bit. My friend Josh got me connected with his former hair stylist from NYC who was now living on Okinawa. Alexandre came to my hostel at 9pm at night and went to work on a fantastic hair cut for me. Since I'm traveling and living off savings he let me pay him once i get settled again. Then after the cut he took me to a great ramen spot that had a HUGE bowl of ramen.
The next morning was hot, humid, wet, rainy. but i didn't mind.. because at 2pm I was meeting Hazel, a couchsurfer here, and we were going exploring. Hazel took me all over the north part of the Island. We even drove to a few small bridge connected islands.
Manza-mou, a highly photographed elephant shaped rock structure on okinawa.
I'm a goya! goya is a bitter melon that is local to Okinawa.
walking along a beach. it was raining and too cold to go swimming in though..
Hazel took me to her favorite soba spot which is sort of tucked away up north. WOW!!! amazing okinawan soba. It was soooo delicious.
The northern tip. At this point it was just pouring rain. we got so soaked but did walk around a little. It was amazingly beautiful.
After the north we drove down the east side of the island to explore a bit more as well as eventually drop me off with Kai and Barry, my couchsurfing hosts for that night. The drive was so perfect. It was tropical rain storming all night and we were on this road that hardly had any other cars on it. Just us, rain and tons of green nature. I found it to be beautiful and just what i needed.
We arrived at Kai and Barry's a bit late, and I was so tired that I practically fell asleep on the floor. Luckily their son sunshine was a little sick so his crying kept me awake.. heheh. I actually slept through most of his wake ups in the night. the next morning I woke early and so walked around their area a bit. It's near one of the many army bases on Okinawa and you can really see it with the people walking around. white guys with very wide shoulders and crew cuts. it sort of bothered me on a "they shouldn't be here" type level. But I don't want to get into politics and what not so let's just say I told myself to let it be what it is. Later in the day I was taken to this "viking" which is a smorgasbord, but since they can't say smorgasbord the Okinawan's call it a viking. It was a very elegant and well prepared buffet with TONS of foods. Perfect for me as I got to sample a variety of local cuisines, especially pig trotters. hoorah!
We went back home and they food coma napped while i went for a walk to digest the massive amount of food i had just put into my body. After Barry got up we headed to Tomas and Aska's housewarming party. They are a couple on couchsurfing as well and invited me to their party. A bunch of co workers of theirs and other couchsurfers were there. Of course we got lost on the way there but ended up at a castle ruins site so really we couldn't complain too much. Once arriving we had a blast, barry even stayed much longer then planned. Everyone was happy and friendly and drinks were flowing. I asked Aska if i could couchsurf there for the night because I had planned to hitchhike to the aquarium the next day and this was a lot closer. I felt bad couchsurfing on the night of their party but she was so friendly and happy to have me. I ended up emailing with another couchsurfer who also came to the party and her and her boyfriend said they had been wanting to go back to the aquarium and would be glad to take me with them.
One of the guests making takoyaki.
Everything really started to fall into place. Sure, I may not be able to go surfing or spend my days sitting on a beach doing nothing, but it's not always about getting what you want. Sometimes you just need to close your eyes and accept what you get. So off I go to put my internet away and enjoy the beautiful day on a beautiful island.
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