ZIP!

Please ignore my terrible writing! I am tired. :)

Today was exhausting and so much fun! David unfortunately had to work, but Cessily took Steve and I to an awesome zip line park. We also saw a light house, climbed on the cliffs there, stopped by Cesily's school to see it and meet her awesome mentor, and had real hibachi dinner. Steve and I had a real hibachi dinner in Hawaii, but I failed to write about it. 

This was Steve's first time to zip line. This place was so awesome. We zipped on at least 10 lines and then there was an obstacle course (high ropes course) that was very difficult. This zip place was different from my zip lining experience in Costa Rica back 5 years ago. In Costa Rica, I zipped in the rain forest with amazing views and very long zip lines. I also used my gloved hands to pull down on the line behind to stop me. My group had a guide the entire time. But here in Oki the zip lines were shorter with no guide. We got to go on more for that reason and the view of the jungle, ocean and island was amazing! To stop ourselves we used our feet on the wood-chip ground at the bottom of the line. The obstacle course had one obstacle that scared me to pieces; I literally screamed bloody murder. I had to jump off the platform (free fall) in the air and then a rope would somehow guide me into a giant net that I had to grab and then climb up to the next platform. I seriously could have peed my pants had I not sweat so much from the heat.

On the way home from zip lining we stopped at a lighthouse but didn't climb it. We climbed on the coral cliffs instead. It was beautiful. We also saw the largest shisa on the island. Most Japanese believe that a shisa is something that protects from evil spirits. Next we went to Cessily's school, Okinawa Christian School International. It was so big and beautiful. And it has the best view! I can't imagine getting any work or teaching done with that view.

Afterwards, we were going to go snorkeling, but the water was too choppy. Hopefully a couple days after the typhoon hits we will be able to snorkel on the reef. So instead we went to the commissary to get some food and then went to eat at Goen aka The Strobe Light restaurant as Cess calls it. Goen is a true hibachi restaurant. You sit on the floor (although we had to sit at the table, no room in the floor area). In the center of the table is a pit like a small grill with a metal screen. We bought the buffet which means you pick your food throughout. Whenever you are ready to order you press the button so the servers do not need to bug you constantly to make sure you are doing well. You call them over. Also, I really loved that it was light the whole time. They did not dim the lights like in the U.S. Okinawa has it's very own sweet potato; it is purple. I do not like it, but Steve did. he ate it for dessert with ice cream. It is not like a normal potato.

Hopefully I did not miss anything, oh wait I did. Japanese use colored toilet paper sometimes and today I used pink TP! Makes me laugh that dye TP.