Visitors!

Chad's parents came to visit us on June 29th for two whole weeks! We did a lot of sightseeing around the island and even did some things that Chad and I hadn't experienced yet. One of those being, going to the Tadake waterfall. It's about a 20 minute hike through water and rough terrain to get to the actual waterfall. Once you get to the waterfall, you can actually get in the water and swim. It was pretty cool and super pretty! While I was taking pictures and admiring the waterfall, Chad had started hiking up a huge hill. We decided to follow him, but he was so far ahead of us that we actually lost him for a second. This hill was so steep and rough that someone once upon a time had put ropes up to help people climb up it. Once we got to the top, we still didn't see Chad but there was a little trail to go down the other side of the hill, so we decided to hike down it. So after getting all the way down, it brought us to a little creek and we weren't sure which way to go. We thought if we went one way, it would bring us to the top of the waterfall. After calling for Chad a few times, we finally found him! He was out exploring the top of the waterfall. He had us hike back up the mountain and then hike up even more and then back down to get to the top. We did a lot of hiking, it was a lot of work but so worth it! We enjoyed our time at the waterfall. The only down fall was there was huge horse flies flying around our heads the whole time!

Another adventure that Chad and I hadn't done yet is go to one of the surrounding islands. We had heard that the Kerama Islands were surrounded by beautiful blue clear water and was a great place to snorkel! We figured out how to get reservations on a ferry to go there (not a very easy task when you're in a foreign country) so we were all set to sail on Tuesday! The Kerama Islands are about 20 miles southwest of Okinawa. Four of the islands are inhabited, but there are a total of 22 islands that make up the Keramas. We took a ferry to Zamani Island, which was about an hour ferry ride. I was pretty impressed by the ferry. Seating wise, it looked like an airplane on the inside. On the way there, we decided we would enjoy the scenery from the top of the boat, which was pretty neat! Even though we were just on a short boat ride, it was kind of cool to step off from the rock that we live on and go explore another island. So we get to the island and we start making the hike to the beach to go snorkeling. It was so hot outside, we didn't make it very far and were already starting to wonder how much farther the beach was. Lucky for us, a shuttle stopped and picked us up. If we were in any other country (say.. Mexico), I would have not stepped in a foot in a strange man's van who doesn't speak a lick of English. We realized how thankful we were for the shuttle because the walk there was very hilly and a lot farther than we imagined. So once we got to the beach, we geared up in our snorkel gear and headed into the beautiful blue water. The snorkeling there was amazing! The corral was so pretty and we so lots of neat fish as well. We even saw a reef shark! I was freaking out when we first saw it and then I wanted to chase it to take a picture of it. That thing is fast! It was pretty cool though! Chad and I just got an underwater camera so I've got lots of pictures of our snorkeling experience! Our time at Zamani Island was short during this trip. Chad and I would like to go back again and maybe rent scooters or something to actually explore the island or go to one of the other islands.

Other than that, we took his parents to see all of this beautiful island that we live on. We even had them try sushi for the first time! While I still don't think they are fans, they admitted it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. Here are some pictures just recapping their visit.

Today marks 1 year for us here in Okinawa. This time last year was probably one of the most stressful times in my life. Living in a hotel, not having a car for a month, not having any of our belongings for 2 months after we moved into housing... all of that was not fun! I'm glad we are now settled here in Okinawa. We love it here, the island is beautiful! We do miss a lot of the conveniences of home such as American malls/shopping, being able to order something online and not having to worry about it taking 2 months to get here, American food, etc. However, in 2 years, we will have all those conveniences again, so in the mean time we're just soaking up all the Japanese culture that we can!