It's not a Memorial Day BBQ, but I'll take it

I headed to Naha on Saturday to do some wandering since it wasn't beach weather. There were a few interesting moments, including being wrangled into an artistic boutique by a funny man wearing a sarong, some bobby sock dancing in front of the kencho, and an interesting exchange with a crazy old man. Basically it went like this:

Old Man (about 1/2 a block away and sitting on a bike): Teacher!
Me: (wondering how he knows that I'm a teacher...)
Old Man: Where are you going?!
Me: Ummm...Kokusaidori
OM: Straight! Up there!
Me: Yep. Through Heiwadori, I know...
OM: Good Luck! (pause) I LOVE YOU!!!! (pause) DO YOU LOVE ME?!

Naha isn't a beautiful city by any stretch of the imagination and is covered with souvenir shops. In one of them, there was a group of mainland fifteen-year-old boys looking over the omiyage selections offered (gifts particular to an area...Okinawa's is beni imo tarts). They had shopping baskets and were consulting lists, visibly counting out how many taco rice packets they need. They were really cute little shoppers. I spent hours wandering shops and reading at a coffeeshop. It was a nice relaxing day

Here are some photos from the bustling capital of Okinawa:

Heiwadori, a maze of vendors of all sorts of items... You can see some very strange food items deep in the interior of the market.


The ubiquitous shiisas that are sold everywhere in Okinawa and line every gift shop.


I don't like goya either, Strange Sculpture Man.


A typical gift shop lining Kokusaidori... notice all the goya baby.


The random dancers that were drawing quite the crowd and should spend a bit of time working on their dances. (They were really bad.)


It was supposed to rain today so imagine my surprise when I woke up to a beautiful day. After cramming in a workout, Bridgit and I headed to Araha Beach, which was packed with tons of locals and military families. It was a beautiful day, although we are definitely in the "hot season." Although some sunscreen was applied, I decided to forego it on my legs and back. I'll be paying for that in about five hours.