Nolan and I spent our Saturday at Kapiolani Park where there was a celebration going on. The 25th Okinawan Festival. I bought some scrip from Aunty Pearl so we could go and get some yummy food! It was such a blistery hot day, it made me even more sleepy than I already was. Lack of sleep from having too much fun at Wini's house the night before :) We caught the shuttle bus from Kapiolani Community College and it was perfect! No driving around in circles to find parking in Waikiki!! The first tent that we stopped off in had many displays of Okinawa and the history of the battle of Okinawa. There, we were asked if we wanted to fold paper cranes to send to the Peace Museum. Of course we did. Since I finished making my crane before Nolan, a lady who was standing next to me asked me to show her how to fold it. The way I make my cranes is different. Eric showed me a **secret** when folding the cranes. You pre-fold all of the lines and when it's time for that awkward tucking and folding, it falls right into place! Well, I ended up demoing this technique to a bunch of other ladies because it was starting to crowd. One gal even asked if I was working there. We moved on to the arts and crafts tent where this lady was doing Japanese writing on placques. Nolan wanted one to hang in his room, so we had her write out his middle name "Tadashi". She wrote it so fast and it was beautiful! Since the character for Tadashi was so smal
l, she asked him to select another word, so he selected "Long Life". Here's a pic of the placque being made.We also saw a bunch of Bonsai trees on display. They are so perfectly made. So much time and patience put into creating one of these. I know I'm not ready to do one, no patience! Maybe after I retire huh!
After all of that, of course, we were hungry, so we went to check out all of the food booths! We had to buy andagi (donuts). We even tried the andoggie...it was a hotdog on a stick. Actually, only half of the hot dog. It was yummy! We bought the special okinawan plate lunch (Champaru) to bring home to Eric to have for dinner. He said it was good. The shaved ice looked so inviting, but one look at the line and we said, never mind...next time! It was such a fun and relaxing day for us. For those of you who don't live here, it is such a blessing to be able to live in this wonderful "melting pot" where so many cultures come together.