Every year on Children's day Okinawa hosts a series of Dragon Boat Races. This year a few of my friends were on teams. Each team consists of 32 members all paddling their hearts out in an attempt to be the fastest of three boats. The photo on this page is of my friend Rachel and the Women's Navy team. This team raced against the single Marine's team and the Army women's team. They won by a huge margin showing once again the Navy team's superiority. These teams have practiced for weeks ahead of time, some getting up at 5 in the morning to stand in the frigid waters and practice their paddling. We went 2 different days to the dragon boat festival and watched a variety of teams race for their shot at glory. My personal favorite was the Orion Beer team who got ready for the race by downing shots of sake. Another memorable team was the Starbucks team who all wore their green aprons. The surrounding carnival had a huge stage which featured a variety of performers, rides and games for the kids and lots of places to buy food and beverages. Gabriella and Greg shared a huge bowl of soba while I sampled some dumplings from the Orion tent. Gabriella played a few games and won an inflatable animal of an unknown variety. The teams would walk through the crowds after their races were won celebrating their victories or brushing off their defeats. It was a wonderful experience and we are please we were able to cheer our friends to victory.
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