Onna Market and Boulangerie

Today was rainy, but it didn't stop us from exploring more of the island. We went to the Onna Market, which has a farmer's market, a fish market (not so much fresh, off-the-boat type fish), a French bakery, an Okinawan gift shop/market, and several food booths.

Part of the market inside.

We got some soursop fruit, but Joey's says it's something else. It's not as spiky as the soursop fruit, but the inside looks the same. We're waiting for it to ripen a little bit more to taste and see if it really is soursop. Anyone have any ideas of what it may be?

This is one of the joys of living in a foreign country. You see something that looks good and buy it (i.e. at markets, restaurants, and etc), but you don't really know what it is because the name of it is in Japanese!

I was excited about the bakery - Boulangerie de Paris. I used to work in a French pastry/cafe, so some of the items brought back memories. I was already full from eating lunch downstairs at one of the food booths, but the breads were hard to resist eating!

Some of the pastries and breads at the bakery. Yummy!

On another note, apparently we had two earthquakes this week or within the past few nights. I never felt a thing, neither did Joey.

Cape Hedo

I thought I blogged about this, but apparently, I didn't. After we left Okuma, we drove further up Okinawa to the northern tip of the island to Cape Hedo. As you can imagine, it was cold, windy, and just a whole lot of ocean. At least we can say we've been there and cross that off the list.


There wasn't much to do, except take pictures and admire the view (haha, it rhymes, I'm a poet now). As Joey went wandering around trying to improve his photography skills, I followed after him in a paranoid, nervous wreck. On one part of the cliffs, it was just jagged rocks and ocean, and on the other side, nothing but ocean. No guard rails, no coast guard, no warning signs (at least, none in English) ... nothing! I mean, look at the drop!

See those people up there? That's a 230 foot cliff drop!

Is it a bird? Is it a fish?

Murasaki Mura

Yesterday, we went to Murasaki Mura, which translates into Purple Village because of the famous sweet potatoes. It's a place filled with classes and shops of Okinawan arts and crafts in Yomitan. If we had known how close it was to our place, we would have gone sooner.

Murasaki Mura is made up of many tiny huts to do and/or buy different types of crafts.

The walkway. It's a great place to photographers.

Our first stop was painting Shisa dog ornaments. There were other clay figures to choose from, varying in size and price, but we chose the ornaments because we're starting our family Christmas tree ornament collection.

They give you an apron, paints, paint brushes, a painting palette, and a blow dryer (to dry the paint). Then, you're free to paint your work!

Our unpainted Shisa dog ornaments.

One of the workers gave us instruction cards in English because of the communication barrier. As Joey was reading up on the Shisa history, he said, "Oh, the male Shisa has an open mouth and the female Shisa has a closed mouth. I think that's how it should always be." Of course he was joking, but I made sure I gave him a mouthful of words about his comment.

Our painted Shisa dogs! Can you tell which is Joey's and which is mine?

Blown glass.

After painting, we wanted to do some glass blowing, but it was time for lunch/early dinner. Rather than eating, then coming back, we decided that we'd come back next time we're feeling crafty.

Other activities at Murasaki Mura are: glass blowing, go-carting, learning karate, wood working, Kankara Sanshin (guitar) making, pottery, costume and photography (where you dress up as a geisha), sugar making, beach crafting, lacquer painting, taking an Okinawan cooking class, traditional toy making, bingata dyeing, glass fusing, glass bead accessorizing, shisa dog making, basho thread accessorizing, Ryukyu indigo dyeing, shisa dog painting, making candle art, Hanaori weaving, and herb tea making.

Hana Hou

Last night, Joey and I wanted to find more restuarants around Yomitan, the area we live in Okinawa. We went to a Hawaiian cafe, Hana Hou, which is a few blocks away. All I can say is yummy!

It's not the fast food, type of Hawaiian restuarant I'm used to from San Diego, like Da Kine's or L&L, but it sure did give me my Hawaiian fix. (We went to another Hawaiian restuarant last summer on the island called Ono Kau Kau, and that's just as yummy!)

The place is small and intimate, with the cutest cafe dog just walking around entertaining guests - sorry, no pictures. The service is just as expected on the island, great! Japanese customer service is phenomenal compared to that in the States. There's only one place that I have been to where the service wasn't up to par, but still better than I'd get back in the US.

Joey's guava mixed drink.

Our garlic french fries. A little pricey at 450 Yen, but still good!

Pineapple and ham pizza.

I usually don't like pineapple on pizza, or any fruit as a matter of fact (it's weird), but it was good. And those were huge pineapple chunks, too.

Can't eat Hawaiian food without spam musubi!

Mochiko chicken - super juicy!

Snail Mail

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. Been lazy.

The post office has been lagging for the past three weeks! I haven't gotten my People magazine, which is the main reason I check the mail. We also barely have been getting any regular mail. And I'm expecting packages. It's irritating, really.

Other news, here's a picture from Sunday night when I went to Jess' place. Girl's night, margarita's, jello shots, Will Ferrell, and Mexican food. Fun night!

(L to R) Me, Amy D, Amy H, Jess, Amie, Charity .. and Heather H (in spirit).
I should change my name to Amy, make life simpler.

Beknownst

Joey and I don't have the best vocabulary. I can barely speak in full sentences. Sometimes we make up words, but we understand each other.

For the past couple of days, we'd bet each other on whether or not our words are real words, or just made up. Whoever was wrong would have to do something in return - i.e. cook dinner or fold the laundry.

Yesterday, Joey used "beknownst" in a sentence. I understood what he was trying to say, but called him out. Once again, we pulled out the dictionary and couldn't find it. I googled the word, and found "unbeknownst," but no "beknownst." Turns out, Joey meant the word "unbeknownst" in his sentence but forgot the "un-" part, and he swears that he initially used "unbeknownst", but changed it to "beknownst" once I pointed out the word. Do you believe him, cause I didn't?

He ended up folding the laundry that night. Lesson learned, I was right - "beknownst" isn't a defined word ... yet!