{Understanding}

So, i am going off on a tangent(sp?) again on something that's on my mind and something i have often thought about over the years.

I believe a TOP basic need of every person is the need to be UNDERSTOOD. Think about it...when you get in an argument with your spouse, your kid, a friend, a neighbor , a stranger it's because there is a side that needs to be understood. I find that most often when i am upset at my husband its because i feel like he doesn't understand me, and VICE VERSA.  I think it can be HARD to try to understand someone else when they don't try to understand you.  I have a really hard time being the FIRST person to try and listen and understand. I have learned from my husband that when he is the bigger person and takes the time to listen and understand me FIRST, it helps me soooooo much more to then listen to him and understand him.  Everyone works different. Some couples may not have a hard time at all with just listening to each other, not having to worry about who the bigger person is going to be this time. But i struggle with being the BIGGER person when i know there's something that i feel so strongly about that if i can explain it to him then he would understand.  


Aside from that, which might not make any sense after what i just said, but i have a need to understand. I have that need with other people when they do certain things that i just don't get(understand). 

I often find myself upset inside or irritated inside and not sure why. When i think about it it's usually something that someone did or said that i don't understand WHY they did or said.  IF i could just UNDERSTAND WHY then it makes things soooo much easier. I must admit, there are lots of things i really try to understand or try to relate to or put myself in that persons shoes, BUT doesn't end up helping me.  There are some things i realize are past my understanding, but i try to move on from it and put those things behind me. :)

I am that way with anything i learn. I want to UNDERSTAND it, not just memorize or just do it becaues i am told to do it. I want to understand WHY i am doing it or WHY i am learning it. I NEED the understanding not just the general

Elder Richard G. Scott , in a conference years ago, talks about peace of mind and peace of conscience. And he says our peace of mind can be interrupted by external concerns. Then he said "Your understanding of the causes can relieve much of the pressure they generate." I took this as exactly the way i feel about most frustrations. I need to UNDERSTAND the why's, the what's, the who's, the when's, where's, etc. and then it will help me keep peace of mind.

For example, if my son were to say inappropriate things or act out in a certain way over something that to me is NOTHING, then i obviously don't understand. At first it would make me really mad. I would think "I didn't teach him that" OR "He knows better than that!" I would initially want to get mad at him and just send him to his room, BUT when i try to sit down and talk to him about it and he tells me certain things that happened earlier that day that caused him to act out, then i understand why he acted that way, then it's easier to NOT be mad at him, but rather want to help him resolve it. And it also helps me to understand that maybe i need to teach him a different way to express his feelings rather than act out that way again. Easier said than done though. But at least i understand him.  Now think, if i didn't ever try to understand his behavior then  nothing would be resolved, and i wouldn't find peace of mind because i would just feel upset that my son acted that way, OR feel guilty like i am doing something wrong as a mom and then the behavior would probably continue , making me feel worse and worse inside. SO trying to understand a situation is so very important to everyone involved.

So many people do or say things that i don't understand, but i feel i am getting to a point now where i understand without understanding. Does that make sense? I understand that they act or behave a certain way maybe because of some bad past experiences, OR maybe that's what they grew up with and that's all they know. OR i understand because it might be something i do and i know how hard it can be in that certain situation, so i understand why because ive been through it. Hence, the understanding without REALLY understanding their exact situation.

When we try to UNDERSTAND a situation, or a persons behavior, or something we are learning, or something we know it really helps us to have peace of mind. Who doesn't want peace of mind?

Understanding is a deep need of mine. I need to know that i am understood , but i also want to understand another person because in so doing i can have so much more peace in my life. It helps us to not judge others, it helps us to be more patient and loving or sympathetic. It helps us not lash out at others so quickly. And the list goes on.

I must admit, sometimes with wanting to understand someone else also comes along with it more frustrations. hahaha! And it's usually with the one's i love and care about the most. I expect A LOT out of the people i love and care about. When i know them, and understand them, that usually means i know what they are capable of. AND we always see MORE in our loved ones than they do in themselves. This is true with anyone i think. We are our own worst critics, right?  We rarely see what we are capable. But others can see it in us more than we do in ourselves. True? I think so. What do you think? Anyway, when i know what they are capable of, and they only give me 50% it makes me frustrated because i know they are so much better than 50%. At the same time, i can't be hard on them and expect 100% all the time. That's unrealistic.  I just have to encourage and positively push them in the right direction until they realize their full potential.

{Typhoon BOLAVEN}

Growing up most of my life in Oklahoma i was able to experience awesome thunderstorms. We often had to take cover when we heard the tornado alarms. They were the best. The cloud formations were always cool too. Since moving from Oklahoma i have had YET to experience a good thunderstorm comparable to the ones i experienced there. UNTIL NOW. :)

We knew about five days before Typhoon Bolaven hit that it was a possibility it would hit nearby.  The things is, with all the typhoons that happen around here they never seem to directly hit this island. We are a small tiny spot in this big Pacific Ocean. Most of the time it will show that it is doing to hit us, and then as the days get closer the typhoon changes direction and just misses us.

So, when we heard about this one we weren't holding our breath.  We saw it was a category 4 typhoon. At first it was going to head south of the island, not directly hitting us. And each day it got closer the typhoon kept moving closer to directly hitting our island. Before we knew it it seemed inevitable it was going to directly hit us.

Saturday was our last day to play before it hit. So we did.  Saturday night we were outside and the winds started really kicking in. And i believe that night is when we went into TCCOR-1C(caution).  Basically that means you shouldn't leave your house unless you have to.

Sunday morning we had crazy winds.  It seemed to gradually get worse, and then it would soften a little, and then pick up again. It was kind of bipolar. I remember people saying they were disappointed in the typhoon. BUT it hadn't HIT yet. As evening approached we went into TCCOR-1E(emergency). it seems like it was right after it got dark, it REALLY started picking up wildly! It started getting louder, and then louder. It seems like by 9 or 10 p.m. it was INSANE. The eye was only about 7 miles north of us.

The winds were unlike ANYTHING i have ever experienced before.  The power involved in a typhoon is unreal.  I think we had winds up to 112 with GUSTS up to 150mph.  The gusts were intense.  Our whole house was rumbling. When i say rumbling, i don't mean shaking or anything. I am just talking about the sound.  It was loud rumbling, howling, whistling, etc. There were so many times where i felt like i was in the middle of a tornado, as if a tornado just kept circling us, for hours. The rain was raining horizontal, there was nothing vertical about it.

The wind gusts were the scariest. The power of it is impossible to put into words. You can't understand it unless you experienced it.  I couldn't sleep that night.  I slept maybe a couple of hours.

The next morning was a different crazy wild.  The backside of it was crazy.  The wind by this point had switched completely opposite direction from the direction when it hit us.  At this point we are literally getting DUMPED on by rain.  And when the winds picked up, along with the huge amount of rain that was falling, it was like a complete white out. It was incredible.  The backside was crazier than the front side.

Our homes are square concrete homes. We have shatter proof windows. That's the way everything is built in Okinawa. They built it to withstand typhoon power.  THANK GOODNESS.  If Florida were to get hit by this typhoon, that place would have been obliterated. It would be destroyed.  There really wasn't any damage to any homes here. There were just branches and trees all over the place. We were built to be ready for this. I am so grateful for that.

Then when we finally were able to leave our homes last night, we really couldn't because it was pouring rain like crazy, and the winds were still a bit wild too.  Suddenly lightning starts. Then we find out we are in a tornado watch. That was a slim chance though.

I still keep thinking about the power i saw in that storm and still can't believe it. It's like it wasn't real.  I realize that we will probably never experience something that powerful again in our lifetime.  AND i also realized that was the coolest thing i have ever experienced in my life. hands down. It was WILD.
If i could compare it to anything, i would compare it to being caught in a tornado for hours. The sounds i experienced are the most creepy and most amazing and powerful thing i have ever heard. Really, i can't get over it. AND i really can't put into good enough words exactly what it was like, and what i saw and what i heard. Just that there is nothing like it.

I am grateful we were safe in our typhoon ready homes, and grateful we didn't lose power when so many thousands on the island did. WHAT A RIDE!!!

{Beach, Friends and Japanese Food}

We had FHE the other night with our Friends from Case Western University. It's soooo crazy when i think about it.  We moved here the same summer as our friends the Bjarnasons. They were just a year behind us in Dental School. We leave a 10 minute drive from there. A guy, also a year behind us at school, Camron, also moved here that same summer.  Now we just had the Heatons move here, who were also one year behind us, and then we have one more family, the Hursts, who will be here in a few days who were also a year behind us. It's crazy! It's really cool though.  The Heatons, whom we are sponsoring, just found out that they are going to be living right behind us, a 1 minute walk away.  Who knew that friends from Case Western would end up all the way across the world in the same spot as us? So, we met at the beach on Monday night just to hang out and chat and let the kids play. ThE kids had lots of fun and they all play really good together.  Gavin is the only one who is a couple years older than the rest and he asked me "do any of them have kids my age?"  He was bummed that there aren't any his age, but i had to remind him he has quite a few church friends and he is going to make all new friends in 2nd grade. He is really good with the younger kids. I like watching him trying to help out.  Here we all are at the beach....

 And when the Hurst's get here we will have a big ole Case reunion. :) This place already felt like home to me, and with the addition of our friends from a place we called home, it now feels even more like home. :)

JAPANESE COOKING:

I learned how to make Goya Champuru and Somen Noodles.  Our Champuru contained lots of Goya, Tofu, egg, spam, and fish cake.  For our somen noodles we added a soup base in a little bowl, put somen(sp?) noodles in it and then topped it with cucumber and crumbled up chicken and plum. It was sooooo yummy! Honestly, i was nervous to try it. I've had goya, and its a very very bitter vegetable that the Okinawans love to eat. It's FULL of vitamin C...tons more than a lemon, and they said if you eat it that your skin will be beautiful. :) But it didn't end up being as bitter as ive had before. Okinawans LOVE spam.  Tofu didn't have much taste to it, but it was good. AND the fish cake wasn't too bad. Fish cake isn't a cake. Although i don't really know how to describe the texture of it. I thought it would taste fishy, but it didn't. Either that OR i am getting used to the fishy taste. Honestly, it was really good food and i can't wait to make it for my family next week!  Next month, Yukari(the lady who is teaching us how to cook japanese) will be teaching us how to make Udon Noodles. I think i spelled that right. ?  That and Gyoza.  I have made gyoza already, but i will be interested to see what she does different that i should have done. And i know people like Udon noodles, so i am excited to learn how to make it. Yukari goes to a japanese ward here, and grew up here in Okinawa. She can speak english pretty well...well enough to carry on a conversation.  She said she has been studying cooking for 13 years. She knows how to cook Thai and Korean food and Indian Food. I am so excited for her to teach us some more japanese cooking.

{Tokyo Temple}

Shane and I had the opportunity to go to the temple.  It was so nice to be able to get to the temple, since it has been over a year since we've been. The temple grounds are not big like you see most places, but they sure did make it pretty with lots of japanese flowers and plants. It was so cute.  And it is in such a nice area of Tokyo.  From our hotel room at night we could see the Angel Moroni shining brightly. It is so cool. We listened to the temple session in english translation with headphones. It was nice experiencing the session in a different country!

{Our last day in Tokyo}

Our last day in Tokyo we didn't really do anything. We left our hotel at about 10:30 a.m. and drove on the subway for awhile until we reached the skyliner and rode on the skyliner for about 45 minutes until it reached the airport.

 Our yummy drink...

 This is a picture of the SKYTREE tower, the tallest tower in the world. It is so high! Apparently they close it down on a windy day. Thats scary.

 We wanted a picture of the traditional japanese roofs. The nice thing about Mainland is that they have ALL KINDS of traditional japanese homes and roofs all over. Here in okinawa you don't see much of the traditional one's. It's lots of cement block homes and buildings, i think because of the typhoons. Every once in awhile you will see the traditional home or building though.

Another thing we noticed is that here in Okinawa you see SHISA's everywhere. Almost every home or building has them placed in front. On mainland i think we only saw shisa's one time. If i remember correctly, Shisa's were kind of adopted from the Chinese during a time when Okinawa was it's own kingdom, and during a time when they did TONS of trading with the Chinese. Because of that , Okinawa adopted many chinese traditions, etc. and maybe changed it a bit to make it their own okinawa style.

We really enjoyed our trip in Tokyo. It was a good experience. We will be going back at least one more time before we move from here, and hopefully we can fit Kyoto into that trip.

I still need to post about our very first night here, the day before our Fuji climb. We went to this awesome Ninja restaurant and i will have plenty of pictures from there. Plus, i need to post temple pictures. I will do that tonight or tomorrow.

{Our Third Day in Tokyo}

The day before we had to leave Tokyo we went to the Temple and to Disney Sea. It was a different experience going to a temple in Japan. It was a good experience though.  I saw a couple Americans that were workers there. One lady came up and talked to me afterwards and she and her husband are on a two year mission there. They both served missions in Japan when they were younger so they were so excited to be back in Japan to serve for two years. She said it was like a dream come true to be back in Japan. The whole session was obviously in Japanese, but we wore a headset for english translation. It was kind of distracting with the Japanese in the background because i kept wanting to listen to the Japanese, but then again i wanted to pay attention to what was being said. I was back and forth. :) I am really glad we were able to go to the temple together. :) It had been well over a year since we had been together. I have a couple better pictures of the temple that i took with my DSLR. I will post those tomorrow. Oh, did i mention that the temple was only a ten minute walk from our hotel?! NICE!!!

Eating....

 After the temple session we went to Disney Sea. We rode the subway straight to the front of Disney. It was very very convenient.  I must say, if we had known it was going to be sooooo crowded we probably wouldn't have gone, BUT at the same time we were glad to go because now we know what Disney Sea is like and it also made me feel a piece of home within me. We at least know that we want to save our kids first Disney Experience for the one in America. It was extremely crowded. I have been to Disney World and Disney Land a few times and they were never this crowded. The rides were all 2 hour waiting times. AND Disney usually does a fairly good job at keeping the lines moving so the waits aren't too bad, but like i said, it was really crowded.  I even heard someone else say that Disney Tokyo is always crowded like that. We only got to ride on THREE rides in 7 hours. Oh well. You live , you learn. We are still glad we went.

Here's the monorail we took to get to Disney Sea from the subway.

 My silly peace signs. All the japanese do peace signs for their pictures, so i have adopted that tradition.

 And so has shane...

 Waiting in line for the TOWER OF TERROR(one of our favorites)...

 The monorail had mickey ears for the handles you hold onto! I thought it was so cute!

Just a random picture.  About 75% of the people walking around at Disney wear hooded towels. Disney sells them in their shops and they are POPULAR. It's like a mini hooded towel. They cover themselves up, i am guessing from the sun, but it seems like it would make them extra hot.

 My strange and weird peace signs. I look like a dork...

This was a fun day. After we got home we went and got in the hot tub and then listened to a guy talk our ears off for about 45 minutes about how he is an actor and how we should really try getting ourselves into it and our kids. hahahaha!

{Our second day in Tokyo}

We woke up and decided to go to Skytree. It's a new tower in Tokyo and is the tallest tower in the world.  When we went down to talk to one of the japanese tour guides she shy'd us away from going to skytree. She said there is a 3 hour wait.  And she encouraged us to go to Tokyo Tower.  She said that Skytree is a new big tower, but that the japanese like Tokyo Tower more.  She made it sound like they enjoy it more because of the history and it's been there longer. So, we went to Tokyo Tower. It was a cool tower. Unfortunately when we got our tickets we bought the combination tickets. It involved seeing the wax museum, space wax, and a magical dungeon. They didn't tell us that they are all geared toward children. We were sad we wasted money on those, especially when they were completely silly, and cheesy. Waste. It was fun seeing the scene from the observation deck though. 

If the japanese can't drive in style then they will ride a bike in style. There are TONS of bikers. And we thought it was so funny when we saw the brand names on some of these bikes!

 There was also a ferrari. Funny huh?! Speaking of lamborghini and ferrari's...we saw quite a few of those cars driving around. It was a really nice area.

Here's Shibuya. I went into FOREVER21 and found some clothes! Just 3 shirts, but i was so excited to actually have been able to find something. There's lots of shopping here and lots of restaurants. It's a fun spot. The intersection here STOPS all 4 lanes at the intersection so that people can cross the street, and there are LOTS of people crossing the street! It's so crowded in Tokyo.

There were TONS of little eating places and shops like this everywhere. They are all soooo cute. We saw quite a few french restaurants and cafes like this.  It is very clean here, except for the random smells of sewage you would get when walking along. And we also noticed that when we spotted a white person they were usually from Europe, not America.

Gas panic is a dance club and it's fairly popular i guess. BUT when we saw it, of course shane had to take a picture with the word GAS. :)

AND of course we had to get some Cold Stone to help us feel we were in America. :) The portions are not like America. They gave shane the smallest scoop he has ever had from Cold Stone and he paid 8 bucks for it. haha!! We also went to Roppongi, which is where we got our ice cream. Roppongi was a really cool spot. And i guess Roppongi is where the night life is at. So many places about Tokyo is so totally cool and neat. I don't even know how to describe it.

Watching the Space Wax movie. This is one of those SILLY things we paid for in Tokyo Tower. We had 3D glasses, but the movie was completely dorky and we were in this teeny room. AND i don't understand how "space wax" has anything to do with a 3d movie about  dinosaurs?

The picture under this one is of shane standing on a glass window looking down at the world. This was at the observation deck in the Tower. It was kind of freaky standing on it!

The grave spots here are completely different than the one's in Okinawa. They are completely crowded here, just like the city is crowded. In fact, extremely over crowded is a better word.

I really really liked so many things about Tokyo, but i also got irritated by the constant crowding of people. There's so many people. And i got irritated that i couldn't understand anything anyone said and that i didn't know the language. And i got irritated that we kept getting stared at. I was so tired of being stared at by the end of the trip. Man it got annoying. Some looks were looks of "Is that a famous person?" OR staring and laughing like they were making fun of us, OR looking at us with curiosity, or looking at us like they DON'T like us. Many varieties of stares. :) When you are the only white person among 100, no wonder.

Shibuya....

{Our Mt. Fuji climb} TONS of pics

Our first full day in Tokyo we climbed Mt. Fuji. We woke at 2 a.m. and the bus left at 2:30 a.m. to head for Mt. Fuji. We arrived at about 5 a.m.  We didn't really start climbing until 6 a.m.  This picture below is us at the beginning. These are our hiking sticks.  We bought the sticks and we get them stamped with some cool japanese design at each station...each are different designs depending on each station. They are burned into the stick. Our whole stick was stamped from the bottom all the way to the top by the end of the hike. And a couple stamps extra  on the other side of the stick.

 You can't really see, but looking out we could see mountains in the distance, a big lake, and fields and fields. We hadn't even started yet, and i already felt like i was on top of the world. There were tons of clouds under us and it was really cool seeing that.

 This is something the japanese do, but i can't remember why they do it. It was a bunch of little rocks piled on top of each other and placed on top of a huge rock.  Maybe my friend Hatsuho can explain it to us.

 Darn, the picture is blurry.  This was still just as the beginning. When i think of hiking through mounttains this is what i expect when i hike. But this only lasted about 30 minutes. :)

 Can you see the lake out their in the distance?

 This is just the beginning. We climbed lots of zig zag paths to get to this point.  It doesn't look too tough or steep, but pictures can be deceiving, as is the case here. This was fairly steep and lots of work.

 Hmmm, i am not sure what station this is. I think it must be station six. We started at station five. It took a little while to make it to station six.

 The temperature....

 We got our sticks stamped here. It was either 200 yen or 300 yen for each stamp. All the stamps that we got really added up. It was PRICEY.

 Another station...

 Still climbing. I remember looking down and it seemed like we hadn't gone that far at all, and it felt like we had climbed so much farther. It was crazy. The first zig zag part that we climbed was full of thick dirt and some rocks. But by this point in the picture we reached the huge lava rocks that we had to climb. I was usually climbing with my hands and feet by this point.

 Climbing the steep lava rocks... As you can see, the weather is still decent here.

 They had lodging so you could sleep...it's mainly for the night climbers.

 At each station we snacked as much as we could for a few minutes. I was so hungry when we actually sat down. We snacked on power bars and a trailmix.

 We had to pay to use the bathrooms....

 Getting higher! We can still see and the weather looks nice...

 The higher we got the steeper it got and the more nervous it made me. i just tried not to pay attention to the height.

 Tori gate....

 3.2 k doesn't seem that far at all, does it? It is far when you are climbing steep rocks. Who knew.

 As we got higher the wind really started picking up.  The black tiny pieces of lava rock would blow in the wind and plaster us. It hurt at times because it would whip in your face so hard it would sting.

 3 more hours to the top?!?!? That's what i thought. :)

 Lots of people gathering at the station. It was so funny watching peoples reaction when they came upon the rocks they had to keep climbing after their rest. They all would yell "woah!" OR "Oh my gosh"! It was in a tone like, "Holy cow, more?!" And listening to guys do it made me feel like maybe it was hard. :)

 At this point we are getting higher and higher....the huge lava rocks weren't too bad right here. But the lack of oxygen started hitting and my muscles in my legs were exhausted.

 I think the lack of oxygen was getting to us here. :) We both look like we are breathing heavy.

 The last 2 hours of climbing felt like forever.

 There were many stations in the 7th and 8th and 9th stations. Such as 7.2, 7.5, 7.6.  So, this was just another station for the 8th station. At this point we are starting to climb into the clouds. The wind has really picked up. Visibility started diminishing.

 This is a picture we took at the top of the stairs looking down at one of the stations.

 Here's the fujisan hotel. We had to reach this point by 12:30. If we had not reached it by 12:30, we were supposed to turn around and go back. It really wasn't a hotel hotel. It was a small little area with bunkbeds.

 We reached it by 9:58. We were doing real good on time.

 Put the poncho on because their was a heavy misty rain that started.

 This was our visibility towards the top. it was very limited, plus the wind gusts had to be up to 50 mph. It was really scary to me. When the wind gust came i would just drop myself to the ground because the wind would push me if i was standing and i was afraid of losing my footing when a gust came and i would get blown off the side. SO, because of that i would drop to the ground when the gust came and then get back up and push on FAST until the next one came.

 We were almost there. At this point i was really tired. I was so ready to be done. I couldn't catch my breath very well, my legs were exhausted, and the winds were scary.

 Almost there!!! and still smiling!!! A nice young japanese couple took this picture for us and then we walked with them the rest of the way to the top.

 We made it! We just had to go pass the Tori Gate and climb a few stairs and then we reached the summit! And we have the shisa dogs guarding our way!! The wind was even stronger here.

 Here's the japanese couple we talked to a bit. They are P.E. teachers and they are getting married in October.  We took a picture with them before departing from them. :) The wind was insane here.

 Taking a rest at the top in a small hut area.

 We ate our MRE lunch here. It was packed full of hikers. It was sooooo nice knowing we made it to the top and it was sooooo nice resting!

 We took a one hour break at the top.  On our way down it was pretty scary. I wish you could have see the wind gusts and heard the sound of the wind blowing. It was so scary. About half way down the mountain the weather started clearing. Thank goodness. We ran into this little old lady and her son.  She is 82 years old and they reached the summit and were descending. AMAZING.  There are lots of elderly japanese people that were climbing. I was impressed because you wouldn't see that in America. There were also lots of young japanese kids climbing. As young as 4.  That's very impressive. This isn't any easy climb people.

 Finally at the end!! It took us a little over 5 hours to reach the summit and about 3 hours to descend. The bad weather was chasing us the whole climb down the mountain. It finally reached us at the bottom. The wind picked up even more and it started pouring rain. i was so glad we finished when we did.  The hike down was on a different trail. There wasn't any of the huge lava rocks. It was just thick dirt and small rocks. I can't decide if the climb up or down was harder. The climb down really started killing my feet and knees about half way down. By the end my big toes were all completely blistered and my toenail might end up falling off. It hurts to touch it. The hike down was very painful on the knees. I thought i wasn't going to be able to walk the next day. BUT i ended up being fine. The only painful part the next day was my blisters and toenail.

 Also, at the bottom we saw all the people who were starting the NIGHT hike. It was CROWDED. Everyone was bumper to bumper on the way up. It was insane. PLUS the weather was as bad at the bottom as it was at the top by that point. i can't imagine how much worse it would get by the time they reached the top. We were sooooooo glad we didn't do the night hike. Plus, our tour guide said it's dangerous and scary. phew.... The day we were there is one of the busiest days of the climbing season. it is the Japanese holiday, Obon. They welcome the spirits to the earth and a few days later they send them back. It's something like that. It's a very big holiday for them, almost like christmas is for us. So, during that time it's extremely busy! Particularly the night hike, which we saw first hand. yikes.

Here's shanes foot after the hike.  Our drive back to the hotel took twice as long as the drive there. We kept getting caught in traffic on the expressway....because of the holiday. It was insane. Anyway, shane's foot was so wrinkled and whiter than he has ever seen his foot. Still to this day, his big toe doesn't have full sensation back. After he took his rain gear off he realized his clothes were soaking wet from all the sweating he did. So, it was very cold for him.

We had lots of fun doing the hike. I am so glad we did this together.  I remember right after we finished we said we would never do it again. That's what everyone seems to say. We are glad we did it, but won't do it again. :)  It was a fun experience though! It's a wonderful memory and we had fun doing it together. :) And we really enjoyed talking to the japanese on our way up, usually saying "Ganbatte!"  Shane opens up and becomes quite a talker when surrounded by japanese. He soaks it in like a sponge. I have never seen him so talkative. The japanese wouldn't really say anything to us UNTIL we said "ganbatte" or "o haiyo gozaimasu"(don't think i am spelling that right)....the first means "good luck" and the other means "good morning". When we were the first to initiate it it almost took them by surprise or caught them off guard. But then they take it and run with it. They will start a conversation with you or just respond back just as nice. :) It's so fun. They are so interested in Americans, something we discovered while we were there.

Since being here in Okinawa Shane and I have conquered Mt. Fuji together, we have conquered scuba diving together, and we have conquered a half marathon together! I am already brainstorming about the next thing we should conquer together. I am thinking a vacation to Thailand WITH the kids. :) That will be a big accomplishment.

I found these too late. This is the beginning of our hike. Well, before our hike.  This is the store where everyone congregated to after the hike. It provided warmth and food. :)

 You can see the clouds resting on top of the mountain.

I will post another post tomorrow about our next day at Tokyo. :)