Holiday!

It's summer, and OIST gives me more vacation days than I know what to do with. So I took two days off — today, Thursday and tomorrow Friday — for a four-day long summer weekend. And we decided to visit beautiful, scenic Kumejima island west of Okinawa island, just a quick half-hour plane ride away.

Except we didn't go. A weak typhoon passed by over last weekend, and the weather forecast on Wednesday was rainstorms, heavy winds, high seas and thunderstorms. The Wednesday flights to Kumejima were cancelled — Kumejima airport is tiny — so we didn't even know if our flight this morning would even leave. And Kumejima itself is drenched, with all beaches closed, mudslides and general flooding and wetness all around.

So we cancelled the trip last night. The guesthouse was very understanding and didn't even ask for the deposit (we'll definitely book there the next time), and the airline only charged a small fee, so we didn't lose much. Instead we're doing an impromptu rain-themed vacation in Naha. We're taking the opportunity to visit shops and restaurants we normally couldn't on a weekday, and just generally taking it easy. I have a backlog of film I want to scan, and this will be a good opportunity.

Today we went to a steak house for lunch; to a shopping mall, then to a farmer's market for food, and Ritsuko got some solid experience driving in rain and wind while I was busy surfing the web on my phone. We'll definitely visit Kumejima sometime soon; meanwhile this is shaping up to become a decent at-home vacation in its own right.