Faster Internet

Fiber internet has finally made its way to northern Okinawa. I don't have internet at home, so for the past 2.5 years, I have relied on the dial-up internet at my schools. When one thinks of Japan, 'high-tech' may come to mind. But in a village of 3,000 with the average age being (by my guess) 93, 'high-tech' isn't really in high demand.

But as of last week, Ogimi finally upgraded the schools! Now, answering e-mail (and blogging) is an activity that no longer tries my patience.

So to flex my new internet-muscles, here is a picture from the cherry blossom season in Okinawa last month. (uploaded in seconds!)

Digging for Potatoes

There are two big potato events at my schools every year: the planting and the harvesting. Each school has their own schedule, but the kindergarten always does it on Mondays, aligning perfectly with my schedule. Yesterday was harvesting, and I was loaned a pair of 26 cm workboots...roughly a size 8. Since I wear a 14, they were a little tight, but since I wasn't really walking in them (just standing around with a shovel), I was able to manage for an hour.

This year we dug up about 44 kg (97 lbs) worth of potatoes, which was divided up among the teachers and students to take home.

Living out in the country, each school has their own garden. The city schools, however, don't. So if they want their kids to have some gardening experience, they make a field trip out of it and drive up north.

Living to 101

Apparently some BBC documentary makers came to Ogimi a couple years ago, and now you can check out what they did on YouTube:

Tokashiki Marathon

Last Saturday, I took a 35 min boat ride from Naha to Tokashiki to run my second half-marathon (ever). It wasn't until after the race that I reflected on how I may be taking my Okinawan-life for granted. I mean, how many people get to run races on little islands like this:


I ran my first half-marathon in November with a goal of 2:30, but ran it in 2:46:57. This time, I gave myself the same goal even though I had a bigger obstacle in front of me: hills. My friend Dave told me, "Tokashiki is kinda hilly, make sure you train for it." After running the race, I realized that was like saying, "Siberia is kinda chilly, make sure you bring a jacket it."

Here is the elevation chart [stolen from Dave's blog]:


At the 3km mark, you start your climb all the way up to the top of a mountain, which ends around the 6 or 7km mark. Then you spend the next 10km running around the island at a high elevation which is constantly up and down. The race didn't flatten out until the last 2km.

But because my legs are like train pistons, I ran the race (21km/13.1mi) in 2:14:47, beating my Iheya race time by 30 minutes, and my goal by 15! At this rate, my next race should be 1:45:00, and the one after that, 1:15:00.

For comparison, Dave ran it in 1:34.57 and the world-record is 58:33, so I still have some room for improvement.


***

A couple of random updates:

-I failed JLPT Level 2, again.
-I took the Kanken Level 5 yesterday and we shall see if I pass. (I already failed it once.)
-I re-contracted for a 4th year!