Hey everyone. I’m so sorry that it took me this long to write, but these past few days have been occupied with slightly more pressing matters. Things such as temporary housing, phones, and school. The last of which I’m not to excited for. Half of my brain is overwhelmed with the fact that it actually happened. Me and my family flew over 18 hours to arrive in Okinawa. The other half is stressed out due to not having permenant housing yet and having to start a new school. Again. But that’s for another post.

We had 3 different planes. The first was to Dallas, then another to Tokyo, and then The last to Okinawa. Let me just tell you, I’ve never been so bored in my entire life. It’s all worth it, though. It reminds me of this saying, home is where you make it. This quote makes me excited to settle in Japan and make it my home. Even if it may not be my home forever, its my home in this point in time.

When we first arrived in Tokyo, I was so excited to go to the bathrooms because I’d heard about how high tech-y they were. And man, I was not disappointed!

Okay so this post is to list all of the first impressions of Okinawa. So here goes.

1. Everyone seems really nice. The people all around you greet you with a smile and a slight bow. I feel like everyone just really has a sense of respect for the world and everything on it. It’s honestly quite beautiful.

2. Vending Machines!!! These things are everywhere. On the sides of roads, in malls, by restaurants. You name a place and I’m willing to bet that there’s a vending machine within view. I kinda love it. I haven’t tried anything yet, but I know they serve a lot of different things such as hot and cold drinks.

3. Everything around me is so pretty. The roads and landscape are so meticulously maintained. Flowers and greenery adorn many sidewalks. We passed a construction site and it was funny to see that they had a few planter boxes with flowers in them.

4. The last thing is probably my only negative. And it’s the fact that we are living on base right now. We don’t have a car yet, so it’s hard for us to have opportunities to explore the island. On base, it’s pretty isolated from the island and really all the culture. I’m very excited to find a house off base and experience Okinawan culture in it’s purest form.

PS: I’ll post some pictures I’ve taken of the island so check it out if you want!