Pacific Odyssey - Leg 5

It has been another cold and windy day.  This evening the rain has
started.  We celebrated Chris´ 20th birthday today with breakfast, lunch an=
d
supper chosen by him and Valentine cookies baked by Amanda and Kara for
dessert.  Tonight everyone went bowling after supper.  There are just a
handful of us left on the ship.  Skipper has gone into town to check the
weather sites. We keep the stoves in the after cabin and in the galley on
all day and it is quite cozy below.  We find it hard to imagine that just 2
weeks ago we were so hot.  Joel lies comfortably in his sleeping bag in the
bunk nearest the galley with the stove on! Just two weeks ago we would wait
until the last minute to file down the companionway to grab a plate of food=
;
now, we climb down and squeeze into the warmth of the hold as soon as we
can. Yesterday Skipper shaved off his beard; it is getting very bushy and
provides interesting comments and looks from the Japanese.  We were in the
park with the kids when the school bell went and immediately 7 or 8 young
Japanese boys ran over to us holding their chins, saying ´ah, ah, ah,´ and
staring intently at Skipper.  They were wondering what happened to Santa.
We imitated cutting and shaving and they laughed, exclaiming in their
language, over and over.  At the bathhouse, both the women working at the
front desk and in the bathhouse itself were surprised to see Skipper withou=
t
his beard.  One of them raised her eyebrows and said, ´look handsome!´
Another older man whistled from behind us in the parking lot near the
grocery store to get our attention and then opened and closed his hands by
his chin, pointed to Skipper and gave the thumbs up sign.  We didn´t know
who he was but he must have recognized us from another day when Skipper had
his beard.  And part of Skipper´s reason to get rid of it was to be less
noticeable . . . good luck.
Many of us have had another chance to return to the bathhouse; it´s just th=
e
nicest thing to do on these cold, windy and rainy days.  Here there is the
chance to get completely clean and warm and with the different jet pools yo=
u
can get a pretty good massage on all parts of your body.  It is a chance to
be quiet and to reflect, to try and read all the Japanese signs
unsuccessfully. Sometimes there is an attempt to be social, to try to
exchange small bits of information, and an offer to have your back rubbed
with salt or the gift of a massage.  It really is one of the most wonderful
experiences here in Okinawa.  We as a family have also loved our daily
visits to the school playground. The kids have come to know us and enjoy
being close to us, nodding respectfully their ´hello, how are you´ and any
other bit of English they know.  They know much more English than I know
Japanese; it´s frustrating, all these wonderful kids to chat with and I
can´t.  We have communicated via pictures; they seem to enjoy that. They
understand now that we live on a boat and have sailed to Okinawa from
Canada; they were quite excited about that.  The Japanese kids are great in
that they continue to come to us and say hello or wave, they try to tell us
things, and best of all, they play with my kids without the need of a
complicated and common vocabulary, they create their own.  I look forward t=
o
these afternoons.  One little girl came up to me on her own, I was reading,
and shyly nodded her head in greeting to me, then said ´hello´ and ´how are
you´ and then nodded respectfully again and said ´good-bye.´  It was
priceless; perhaps I was a chance to practice her English, but she was very
beautiful about it and I will remember her.  This is it for today; hopefull=
y
tomorrow night I will be sending the log from out at sea. Gillian would lik=
e
to wish her Uncle Gord a Happy Birthday for February 13th.  Happy Birthday
Uncle Gord, from Gillian.  Good night, Bonice.(EL)