Itoman Tug-Of-War
On Monday, September 12, there was an Okinawa Tug-of-War down in Itoman. Chris and I have been wanting to attend a tug-of-war, but they are usually on Sunday or we have something going on. Since this one was actually occurring on a Monday, I really wanted to go, but Chris had to work and I don’t like exploring Okinawa by myself. I decided to ask my friend Karlyn if she was interested on going on this adventure with me and she was all for it! The Itoman Tug-of-War “is held to wish for a large, bountiful, harvest, and the safety and good health of the residents of Itoman, and uses a rope that is 1.5 meters in diameter and 180 meters long.” – Okinawa Living Magazine. So, the big tug-of-war is held down in Naha and is probably a little more English friendly. Karlyn and I were probably 2 out of maybe 5 Americans there, so we really didn’t understand what was going on. We got there, found parking, ate some yakisoba and waited for the parade to begin.
Here is one end of the giant tug-of-war rope (left) and a picture of me standing by one of the two ends of the rope they connect together to create one really long rope (right).
During the parade and before the tug-of-war, they had these teams carrying around these pole things. Occasionally, you’d have a guy try to show his strength by lifting the pole on his own and balancing it on this pillow thing he wore around his waist. There were a few close calls of the poles falling over (left). When it was time for the big event, everyone grabs a hold of the rope and moves it to the center of the road (right).
I decided I would try to help move it, but it was a little to heavy for me!
Then they tie the two round edges together and we are ready to begin.
But first, they had these warriors hover over the rope. I’m not really sure what this was for, but it was cool to see them pass over the rope.
Finally, the tug-of-war begins. The side Karlyn and I were standing on was definitely dominating. Since we really didn’t understand what was going on and were tired of standing, we decided to beat the traffic and leave a bit early. We were glad we did because as we were in our car leaving, we saw the huge crowd walking to their cars.
Our Biggest Adventure Yet!
We are making the Mortensen family grow from 2 to 3. On September 13th, we had our first ultrasound. The baby is due to join our family sometime around March 23rd and we are really excited. I was suppose to find out the gender of our baby at around 18 to 22 weeks, but they couldn’t get me in until November and I was planning on being in Arizona for the month of November. So we went to a Japanese clinic and had a 3D ultrasound. It’s a boy! I would post that picture, but Chris wasn’t very fond of it, so I will save the rest of you from seeing it.
Kentucky Fried Chicken
In October, there was a new KFC opening and we decided we would finally give it a try. There are other KFC restaurants off-base, as well as A&W and McDonald’s, we just haven’t gotten around to trying them out yet. It was grand opening weekend, so we figured now was a better time than ever.
I got the “chicken strip meal” and Chris got the “chicken flat bread sandwich.” My meal came with 2 tiny strips that tasted nothing like the KFC strips from the states. There were no choices for the side; just about 5 french fries and no buscuit. Chris said the sandwich was good, but we both left still feeling hungry. We ended up stopping at Subway on-base to fill us up. So it’s something we’ve crossed off our list of things to do and we probably won’t be going back.
Our prize for coming on Opening Weekend was The Colonel cell phone accessory. I’m not even sure if I know where these are anymore…
