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Success!!! I finally was able to get a pic up! Why I put it in my second entry, I have no idea...This is of me Okinawan Sumo wrestling this thiry year-old who has been doing Okinawan Sumo since he was four. It is right after a body slam; note the location of his face... ha ha ha...

I am going to regale you with a tale from last night. So the "Breese" had its one-year aniversary (sp?). It was the closest thing I have seen to a frat party in Japan. The one-room bar moved everything outside where there was a make-shift stage, and rows of tables. I would estimate that at least 350 of the island's 500 residents showed up to party. Beer and awamori flowed like water. Here were some of the funnier observations/moments during the night:

1) The band. These guys were hysterical. I have no idea where they came from and I am not sure if they were trying to be funny intentionally but they were. There was the lead singer, an older man who was either too drunk or too old to hit any of his notes quite right. He was really cool and played the sanshi really well. Then there was the drummer that I am pretty sure was cross-dressing. He totally looked like a woman in his Okinawan kimono, but when he opened his mouth to sing, Barry White took the stage... (After running into the band again at the airport, I can definitely say that this "cross dresser" was in fact... A WOMAN!!! Man talk about a Lola...) Finally, and this was my favorite, there was the back up drummer. It was a younger girl, who had her hair died in the most outrageous 80's "Rainbow Bright" combo. To compliment the wild do, she was playing a set of drum synthesizers!!! Not just any drum synthesizers, but they were konga drum synthesizers. So during the performances of all these traditional Okinawan folk songs, you would here this really out-of-place 80's drum beat in the back ground.

2) The deaf, old break-dancer. This guy was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. It started to pour in the middle of the celebration and we all found ourselves huddled under the one tent that the "Breese" had put up. As I mingled, I met this guy trying to show some of my co-workers how to break-dance. He looked like he was in his later fourties, and he was sporting two barely recognizable hearing aides. But this guy could dance. It was awesome. I have never seen anyone at age with that kind of body control. Not only could he dance but he was also a pretty accomplished mime.

3) I had made a pretty cool invention yesterday. My ghetto scooter has no headlight. This has been no problem so far. One night, I saw a locale riding around the island on his without his headlight on. I figured if he could do it, then I can do it and I have. The nights are almost always clear out here, and the moon is so bright, I find it is actually more pleasent to ride at night without a headlight. However, last night, it was totally overcast and the visibility was atrocious (sp?). What did I do? I took a flashlight and taped it to my helmet. Yes, tape. I had to laugh every foot that I drove. I was thinking, "This is one of the nuttiest things I've done."

Ok, I will try to put up a pic of my ghetto scooter....