Memory Lane

We departed Osaka from Kansai airport on Sunday.  Beautiful airport built on a man-made island in the Osaka Bay.  Kristie was able to snap this shot at take-off.

We arrived to Naha on Sunday and were met at the airport by a couple of old friends from my Naha Nishi days.  Nobu helped us get to the hotel and checked in then we headed for lunch.  Afterwards we met up with Mariko (and her boys) and Saemi for a visit to our old highschool.  What a trip!  Despite it being the last day of Spring Break, the school was open and many sports clubs were having practice.  It gave us the opportunity to see our old classroom and tour the campus.  Was quite nostalgic.

A view of my classroom from my old seat.  The desks, cupboards, etc haven't changed in over 20 years!  In our school, the students had their own classroom and the class stayed together for all classes.  The teachers would rotate in and out.  The only times that we went to other parts of the building was classes such as PE, Chemistry/Biology, and Language Lab.

The outdoor hallway that led to our classroom.  The entire structure is made of concrete in order to withstand typhoons during certain times of the year.  Similar to how we have snow days in the Midwest where school is closed, Naha would experience typhoons and I recall a time when we were out of school for 3 days.

The main entrance of the school.

From the main entrance of the school you can see the athletic field.  Various sports would be held here.  Everthing from track to soccer, to baseball. 

This is Mariko and her 3 boys (11, 8, and 7).  They have each been studying English since the 1st grade.   The eldest was a bit shy with his English at first but eventually didn't mind trying.  Especially when Marc would talk back in Japanese.  The kids played hide and seek...they actually played rock, paper, scissors to see who was 'seeker'.  Too funny how those games know little boundaries.

This is Saemi.  Robyn will be happy to hear that she hasn't changed one bit in all these years!

This is Nobutaka Kotani.  We have kept in touch all of these years and it has been absolutely great to return to where we all hung out together so long ago.