First Day of Summer Vacation

I woke up this morning around 9. My host mom told me that there was an earthquake around 3 in the morning. I didn't even notice it. I slept right through it. Haha. I emailed some people, went on facebook and then at 11 me and okāsan drove to Naha airport to wish Rina goodbye. Rina is a Japanese classmate of mine from Kitanaka hs and she's going to be an exchange student in Germany.Today was her last day in Okinawa. A bunch of her classmates Maki, Sayuri, Serika, Shiori, Ayame, Katsuumi, Norihito and myself all came along with Grey-sensei. Once the plane started boarding the girls started weeping and tearing up. I never really thought about all the tearful goodbyes that must happen in airports. Once Rina boarded, the girls started eating chocolate! I remember being told chocolate and ice cream always make you feel better when your sad. I guess that's universal!

After that we went to Ginowan to go shopping. My host brother Katsuumi is studying abroad in the Netherlands this year and leaves in August right after and he needed to do some errands for his trip. We went to the shoe store, clothes store and the eye doctors. The eye doctors is exactly the same as American ones. However, Japanese people pay out of pocket for everything. I dont think insurance covers eye wear.

We went home, showered, ate dinner, went on facebook and then went to see the last Harry Potter movie, in 3D! Japanese movie theaters are exactly the same as American movie theaters, maybe a little bit cleaner, but really the same, even down to the layout. The only difference I noticed is that Japanese people actually wait till the very end of the movie to leave. They like to read all the credits. Americans usually just get up and go as soon as the movie`s over. Most major movies in Japan are released in English with Japanese subtitles and that`s how Japanese people watch their movies in theaters.