John's Travels

I arrived in Okinawa in late March, which is a good time of the year for weather. Its fairly cool and not very rainy. I immediately got an apartment on the sea wall.

Okinawa is about 60 miles long and not more than 10 miles wide in most places. To break it down, the south part of the island is where the capital city, Naha is located. Kadena Air Base, which I lived close to, is located in the South central. The north part of the island, away from the cities, is by far the prettiest.
Donnie, my roommate, and I spent most of our first few weekends traveling around the island. We first went to the aquarium grounds, which are fantastic. There are dolphin shows and a lot of sea life to see outside, all of which are free.
Once work kicked in, most of my time was spent hanging out with friends and enjoying good sushi. I know I'll never again be able to eat fresh fish at those prices again.

Later in the year, my friend Chris and I trained for and ran the Naha marathon. It was amazing. There were over 20k runners. The support from the community really kept me going. There were kids handing out drinks and giving high fives, people dressed in funny costumes, and rock concerts all along the course. After the marathon, I started doing triathlons with Chris and later with my friend Frank. I'll continue with triathlons once I get back to the states.