Our own private piece of heaven...

First off, happy birthday to me! I turned a sleek 28 this year and it was one of the best birthdays, ever. I spent it lounging on a beach in a bikini and learning to swim with the help of my trusty (and oh so handsome) instructor/buoy, Dave, and I faced my fear of water. But I'm getting ahead of myself. (Unfortunately, due to some problems I'm uploading some pics, this will be a largely photo-less post. Gomenai - a thousand apologies.)

I had booked the birthday tickets to Okinawa in March, long before I had been informed that May is the rainy season for the south of Japan. I paid attention to the weather reports for about two weeks before we were scheduled to leave and I was dismayed to learn that the cloudy and rainy pictographs far exceeded the sunny ones. Like 5 to 1. In the few days before our depature date, a typhoon hit. Rain, rain, go away. But I decided that I would go to the beach no matter what.

Dave and I left his place in the early morning of May 20th. The sky was gray and foreboding, but Dave was still sweetly optimistic. He was right to be. When we touched down in Naha, we were welcomed with hot weather, a blazing sun and sky as blue as a Crayola creation. It was gorgeous. It was everything I've wanted and needed, and the fact that it was my birthday weekend made it all the more sweet.

We walked around Naha for a few hours while we waited until we could take the ferry to a tiny island further south called Tokashiki. Let me just say this about Naha: It can be inarguably described as eastern Hawaii. You know that America still has a stronghold on this city. From signs welcoming service men/women, to the presence of the American flag, to Army surplus stores and the omnipotence of Taco restaurants, this place was super Americanized. But what they lacked in a Japanese atmosphere, they sure made up for in shops and oh-so-oishii so restaurants. Dave and I picked a good looking one and feasted on marvelous food. I don't really remember what I ate, but he chose a pork soba and it was so scrumptious. The meat literally fell off the bone. I suppose I should mention that the speciality in Okinawa is not fish but pig. Honest to goodness pig. I shit you not, it was hog heaven.

After going a little wild on the omiyage (I also bought myself a killer sarong - yellow and red), we headed to the port to catch the ferry. There was a wedding going on so we stopped and observed, totally encroaching on the sacred ocassion, but I couldn't give a fack. As usual, the bride was wearing a Japanese take on the western wedding dress and as usual, it was gaudy as hell. I think Japanese wedding dress designers try to make their dresses to look like the it came out of the 1980's, circa the late, great Dynasty era. But I bitchily digress.

We boarded the very nice, very fast ferry and in 35 minutes we were in Tokashiki being picked up by the hotel van. We got to the Sunflower Hotel, dumped our too heavy bags and headed to the beach. White sand. Clear water. Deserted. It was getting late so we walked about half the length of it, went out for dinner and headed back to the hotel , thoughts of swimming in the clear water dancing in our head.

The next day, my bday, we had breakfast and went straight to the beach. I had my first lesson with the sexy swim instructor and I thought I made excellent progress. It wasn't until the next day when we went to a different beach that I really applied everything I had learned. Let me put this in caps: I SWAM IN THE FREAKING OCEAN. I DIDN'T DOGGIE PADDLE, I DIDN'T WALK AND "SWIM" WITH MY ARMS. I SWAM FAR INTO THE OCEAN. I DIDN'T TOUCH THE BOTTOM. I SAW FISH. I actually snorkled, for the first time ever and I immensley enjoyed it. Thanks to the help of Dave, I learned how to swim properly, I learned how to tread water, I got to snorkle and for that I will be forever grateful. I felt red and hot and tingly inside. I have never been more proud of myself than learning how to swim on my 28th birtday.

To wrap up, Dave and I had an awesome time, I was actually nice in the morning, I got a tan while Dave burned, we ate amazingly well (A LOT of pork and some fried tacos - actually quite good), we didn't kill one other and found that we got along very well just the two of us and I will remember this birthday for the rest of my life.