Friday, September 18, 2009

The Swine Flu

Yes, yes. The H1N1 virus has reared its ugly head and made its way all the way to Okinawa, Japan. People here are getting sick right and left. Its kinda cool because everyone wears surgical masks here when they are sick. Its bad manners to be sick and not wear one. Audrie sneezed in public once and we got the most evil glare ever. I tried to take some pictures for you all on the sly, but I couldn't get one. Here is one that I found online. People get really creative.
On the american side of things. . . The hospital emergency room is filled with coughing feverish people of all ages. And of course my family doesn't like to be left out of anything, so the decided to join right in.
Cala, Audrie and Sam all decided to turn against me and get sick within the span of a week. Cala had the most mild case of the flu. Audrie caught it next and was sick with 104 fevers. Sam's wasn't as bad, but all the flu snot got his asthma irriated, so he ended up in the ER. Surprisingly, I stayed healthy. This was very much the result of A LOT of prayer.
Well, the only fun thing about being sick in Japan is trying new remidies. There are these fever cooling jell packs that people use on kids. We had to try it on the girls. Its really sticky and goopy, by you just stick it to their head and it helps them cool down.
Thankfully we are all doing MUCH better one week later. There are more stories to tell, so i promise to blog again soon.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Okinawa Sunsets

There is something about sunsets that drives you to deep reflection.
As some of you know, Sam and I have chosen to extend our time here in Okinawa. We are not slated to leave the island until the end of 2011. With that information in mind, all of our loved ones have been hitting us with a barrage of questions.
Everyone seems to ask us the same question lately. "What is it that you guys love so much about Japan?" There are a lot of different things we like. The peaceful lifestyle. The really polite people. The fun food. The fascinating culture. It was hard to put our finger on just what it was. then one day we sat on the sea wall and watched the sun set over the Sea of China. Then it hit us. Japan is just home.