Worms

After finding a small tapeworm on my desk, I brought Nama to the vet to confirm that he does, indeed, have worms. :/
The veterinarian gave Nama some medicine, and told me to give him the second dose after two weeks, which is next Thursday, and hopefully, after that, the worms will be gone! Besides this small problem, Nama has been healthier than ever! He is so playful and cuddly, I think he is enjoying his life off the streets.

Ben was in Thailand for two weeks. He returned on Saturday and got very sick on Sunday-Monday, but is feeling better now. While he was gone, I spent a lot of time exploring Naha and hanging out with the other F.E.S. teachers. We spent one day at the beach from noon-8pm, which was quite the adventure! Andy, Stephen, and I were suppose to meet a friend who was going to take us to a beach party last Monday. The friend never showed up, so we decided to walk to the bus terminal and take a bus to the beach anyways! The bus schedules didn't really match the buses that showed up and the bus drivers said that they went to different places than were on the schedules we were given...so needless to say, we ended up spending a lot more time at the bus terminal than we had wanted. We finally made it to the beach a couple hours later, relaxed in the sand, and cooled off in the beautiful water. The friend that was suppose to meet us finally called and informed us that he accidentally overslept because he was out partying until 7 am! He was very apologetic, though, and eventually met up with us and we had a great time with him and his friends for the rest of the evening.
Stephen, Andy, and I also had our monthly dinner with Andy's adult class last Saturday night, which was a lot of fun. We went to an Izakaya near the school and had a lot of really good food, and I even ate sashimi for the first time!

There is a shopping center here called Jusco that can satisfy almost any consumers' needs. It is three levels, and has a huge grocery store on the 1st, many different clothing stores on the 2nd, and home appliances on the 3rd...all under the same roof and name! It is a pretty amazing place and is only a 10 minute scooter ride from my apartment. I go there for most of Nama's needs as well. Something funny happened there the other day that reminded me of my Grandma. I was standing in line getting ready to check-out and there was a sweet looking old lady standing behind me with a cart full of groceries. It was her turn to place her basket on the conveyor belt, and I have to admit I was a little worried about how a small old lady was going to be able to lift a heavy basket onto the belt. I was getting ready to help her when she turned around and started yelling, until finally this old man came and lifted the basket for her. She started hitting him in the back with a newspaper and muttering stuff under her breath at him, and continued to do so while he loaded all of her groceries on the conveyor belt! It was priceless....and even though I couldn't understand what she was saying to him, I could only imagine it wasn't very nice!

One food that I have really started to miss while I have been out here is barbecue chicken pizza from LFCC! Ben and I tried to make it two nights ago for dinner, and even though it was pretty good, it just didn't compare. I don't know if anything will ever satisfy my craving for bbq chicken pizza made by Mike in the kitchen with a side of an oring/ff combo split with Rebekah. :/

I am looking forward to this week because I have a day off on Thursday for Obon. Obon is a Japanese holiday that consists of three days when their ancestors come to visit them from heaven. I don't know too much about Obon, except that the ancestors come on the first day and leave on the third, but I bet I will learn a lot about it from my students this week at work. Ben has a 96 this weekend and luckily got Monday, Tuesday off! We are hoping to visit another island and go camping! I am very excited! If we do go to another island I will be sure to take and post plenty of pictures!

I hope everyone is doing well back in the States! Please keep me posted,

Nikki