The Weekend
The rain hasn’t quite stopped - it still just comes and goes. I spent Saturday remembering how weak I am by going to the gym and then jiu jitsu with John. It’s always motivating to go to a Marine gym. Although I then begin to miss my time in the Marines. After blasting our legs with a thousand reps of front squats and deadlifts we went to John’s BJJ dojo. He’s been doing it for years and is a legit practitioner. I’ve been a couple of times and am always humbled after twenty or thirty minutes rolling with other students - mostly novices like myself. I successfully came away with sore ribs and hip, some missing skin, and a cramped quadricep. Being old and out of shape is no joke. I was fortunate enough to see John get another stripe added to his brown belt. I like being able to take part in these types of experiences and celebrate the achievements of friends.
Side note: We had an interesting talk on the way home about the importance of consistency in achieving mastery and how BJJ teaches you to focus on technique instead of relying too heavily on strength alone. Too often we want to be the best after one or two days of practice. Mastery is a long journey that takes years of dedicated training putting in the time day in and day out even when you have no desire. Sometimes it may feel like no progress is being made, but looking back after five or ten years you will be amazed at how far you have come. It also takes humility to grow and accept the teaching of one who has already made the journey. There will be many who are willing to help you along the way. However, if pride gets in the way and you think your strength or current skill is enough then the journey ends. There was much more to this - perhaps I will write a full post on this in the future.
For dinner we went out with a bunch of John and Eunice’s friends and ended up getting Thai food at the American Village. We tried to eat outside but the rains were coming sideways and some people don’t like to get wet while eating for some reason. Inside it was dry but kind of stuffy. We then ventured over to a karaoke studio and proceeded to spend a couple of hours badly singing our favorite tunes. There may have been drinking - from the others…not me - and we may have lived up to the stereotype of loud Americans. This brought back memories and felt like I was back in the Corps again hanging out with rowdy Marines. One of their friends may or may not have passed out trying to get into their house, but everyone survived so it was a successful evening.
Sunday brekky was at the American Village again. I had something that was neither Japanese nor American - Canadian Benedict with a side of an amazing ocean view. The sun was out so we could really see all the blues and greens in their various shades.
Our first stop was at the Okinawa Peace Memorial. This is a fairly large park with green fields, a museum, and rows of names on black stone walls. Hundreds of thousands of names were on these walls and it was a stark reminder of the cost of even one battle in a prolonged war. It is a beautiful memorial that sits on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There weren’t many people there and it was quiet allowing me time to reflect on what had happened here only a few decades ago. The museum inside is very well done with life-sized sets and movies and testimonials of those who endured the horror of this battle. I would definitely recommend anyone on Okinawa to take the couple of hours to go. It is a reminder of how much death, how much destructions, how much loss, and how much rebuilding comes about because people choose to hate. We must never forget the suffering caused by war especially on those innocents we are meant to protect.
There was also a peace hall with a prayer statue that looked very similar to a Buddha. There are beautiful paintings inside of Japanese nature and people in traditional garb and it all points to the message of preserving peace. Above the statue at the top of the tower are many small glass bulbs that appear as stars representing the infiniteness of space where the war dead can finally rest.
We then made our way over to the Ryukyu glass blowing museum and shop. They have an open space where we could observe their work. It was extremely hot by the furnace on top of the hot of the day. I’m not sure how the workers do it hour after hour every day. But it is amazing to watch their craft as they quickly and smoothly take molten glass and mold it into whatever shape they desire. We walked around the store where there are probably thousands of pieces to purchase and noticed much of it was actually from Vietnam. We found a place to play various games including one similar to beer pong. We all won a couple of glasses and had some fun for only ¥300 per round.
We finished up with dinner at a Japanese curry place with one of John’s work buddies. I thought it would be a good idea to order extra meat and get spice level 3 (out of 10). Both were bad ideas as it was way too much food and way too spicy for my weak tongue. But katsu always hits the spot and it was another good evening with great people.
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