Where has the time gone? I’ve been here for 5 months now and some days it seems as if I’ve been here for years and then there’s the flip side…sigh, but it’s getting better :)
Without much to report or pictures to post, let me just fill you in on what’s been happening. Of course I’m still sampling the excellent cuisine of the island. But let me be truthful, I’m not sure if I could really enjoy the food as much without the hospitality of the local nationals. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m always making comments about good customer service or the lack of it when I’m out dining. But I have yet to experience any bad service here…the only drawback is that the locals consider it disrespectful to leave a tip. Their disposition of how they receive and treat customer is deserving of more than kind words and smiles. Every restaurant I’ve visited so far has something distinctive, from the way food is being served, to a favorite dish or the ambiance, but they’ve all provided the same level of care and service to the customers…I love it!
There’s this great restaurant called Torid, they serve their food one dish at a time…my dessert of sweet potato sticks came out second :) Oh yeah, the sweet potatoes are purple here…sometimes I close my eyes when I’m eating them…I do have pictures…check below. Then there's HottoMotto’s, great fast food stir fry and the vegetables are so fresh. After I finally got them to understand niku nashi (no meat), then I had to go into ee eh (no) spam, ee eh corn beef, and ee eh pork…they don’t consider these to be meats so you must be specific. They did a little laughing because of how I was pronouncing everything, but the guy dropped some tofu in for me…so sweet. And some of the restaurants aren’t smoke free…be careful! Went to this one really sweet all you can eat place that gave me the feeling of being home, the name was in kanji and I was told it’s called “Something, Somewhere”, the bottom line is I don’t the name of this place, but I can take you there :) Anyway, one area was set up with sofas and very large coffee tables and going to the buffet was just like eating at home. Very comfortable and relaxing, then someone lit a cigarette…the visit was cut really short :( I did have a chance to sample a few dishes with seaweed, that’s an acquired taste, but they did have the best vegetable tempura I’ve ever eaten. I could go on and on about food, I do try to visit at least one place a week and there’s something about every place that I love and it’s not always the food!
Typhoon season has officially started June 1st, but we’ve had a couple in May already. The first one was nothing much, it only reached a TCCOR 3 (destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are possible within 48 hours), it turned out to be a tropical storm and I still had to go to work…lol. But this past week we had a super typhoon and it reached a TCCOR 1 E (Actual winds of 50 knots or greater…all outside activity is prohibited). Super is determined by the size of the typhoon and it was a big one with winds coming in around 125 mph in some places…which equals to about a CAT 3 hurricane. Being from the South I’m no stranger to hurricanes and I’ve even had to ride a few out, but this was a little different…there was nowhere to go! The good thing about the infrastructure of the buildings and homes here is that they’re all built with cement. A few cars got tossed and large trees everywhere was pulled up from the roots, but damage to buildings were minimal. Unfortunately the mansion I was hoping to rent is very close to the beach and it sustained some damage. That’s bittersweet, I loved the area and was looking forward to living within walking distance of some great eating establishments, but I’ve had to rethink living that close to the beach and we’re just kicking off typhoon season.
I’m still in awe of the island and the views I get to see everyday…this morning I watched the sunrise from the north side of the island. It came up out of the water and I was able to see some smaller uninhibited islands right in front of it…it was so bewitching. I was afraid to blink.
With all that said…let me get busy so I get some pictures for you guys ;) Until next time…
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| Sweet Potato Pie...it was good. |
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| Sweet Potato Stick from Torid...great too! |
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