New Adventures

Wow. Sorry I didn't realize that I never really finished about my trip in Okinawa. I did survive the typhoon :) which is good and leaving was hard but now I'm on to my next adventure. In about 3 days I'll be starting work aboard the Disney Fantasy Cruise Liner as a Youth Activities Counselor. I'm not sure what to expect but I guess I'll find out soon! Hopefully I will start a blog about my first contract and see what kind of relationship I have with life as sea...

TCORE 1C

We have officially hit TCORE 1C which means everyone has to stay in housing an almost all activity has been stopped. Found out this morning when we woke up that our PC's and PD did not quite know what we were supposed to do yet so we had to wait around for a while. Now we won't have to go to work until it goes back to Storm Watch, to which it could change to at any point because the storm is supposed to be moving away. Basically we have to be ready the whole day in case it changes but just sit around if it doesn't :)

Typhoon Weekend

This past week we had field trips everyday. On monday groups 6-8 which are the older kids were able to go to the aquarium. It was kind of stressful because I was supposed to have help from one of the staff at my center but he kind of just wandered around and didn't pay attention to the kids at all. At one point we couldn't find him anywhere and after that I had to start counting him in my ratio when I counted the kids too. It was ridiculous. Plus there were about a thousand random other people walking around the aquarium so I was counting like every 5 seconds. We didn't lose any kids though so that was good. The next day was pool for the little kids and on wednesday was pool for the older kids. We got them all ready and on the bus and as soon as we all sat down Mr. Mario said we couldn't go anymore. Apparently some kid had pooped in the pool so they had to drain the whole thing. The older kids were so mad and trouble with listening the whole rest of the day. After that were trips to the bowling alley which were fun. One mom came to the bowling alley to pick up her child though and was almost yelling at one of the SAC staff. I don't know what happened but it was right in front of all the other kids and everything.
That night Peach (Keleigh), Bowser (Annalisa), and I wanted to go to American Village for dinner. We started walking and by the time we got off base it was pouring rain on us. We ran into this store that was right on the corner and decided to wait for Mr. Jack, one of the SAC staff that we hang out with, to come and pick us up from there. It took him a super long time though to get there for some reason. That meant that I had more time to shop, which meant I found more random things that I don't really need, which meant I spent over 6000 yen :( It was worth it though and I got a lot of good souvenirs that I needed to buy for people. Especially since our trip today got cancelled and I had planned on getting many of my souvenirs on that trip.
On Saturday we had to be up at 4 in the morning to work the Tri Kids Marathon that we were volunteered for. Basically all I did was sit on the road by some cones and make sure no cars came through and ran over any of the kids that were riding on their bikes. Only one car came up to the cones. he was kind of upset and was like, "Who authorized this. You aren't allowed to just block off a road like this. I work for Gunters (the gym on base) and you can't do this." He went away eventually and we just sat around some more. After that I came back to the barracks and took a nap. Most of the Camp people went over to Ocean Breeze which is a restaurant on base with a brunch buffet. The nap was so nice but I woke up later because Keleigh and I went out with our coworker Mrs. Sondra and her husband again. They took us on a hunt for this glass factory that they had heard of and we got a little bit lost on the way. We wond up at the Okinawa Peace Park in honor of the soldiers that died in the war. It was a nice surprise since we won't be able to go today. We walked around for a bit and bought some ice cream and took pictures. The view was amazing. You could see the waves crashing against the cliffs and the water looked so dark and you could see out forever. After that we came back towards base and drove to the Zampa point where the lighthouse is. On the way there it was raining off and on but we still wanted to check it out. When we got there it was pretty cloudy but we were able to get out and take some pictures before it started down pouring on us. Within 15 seconds we were soaked. Well, our backs were soaked but our fronts were perfectly dry :) We ran back to the car and ordered food from this place called The Sauce which kind of looks like a club from the outside but is a a super cool and small restaurant. We got bbq ribs, chicken, fish, and shrimp. It was delicious, especially the fish. It came with fries and cute drinks with straws as well! We took the food back to their house and enjoyed it while watching Independence day. They let us have some German wine they had since they were stationed in Germany before and fell asleep for half of the movie we were so tired.
Today we were supposed to wake up and go on an all Camp trip to different places around Oki. We found out in the morning though that the TCORE status had changed to TCORE 1 which means that winds from the typhoon could get really fast and dangerous within like 12 hours of something. If it changes to TCORE 1C we have half an hour to get back on base until they close the gate. There is no way they were going to take us out when the status was that high. So we aren't allowed to leave base at all but Mrs. Sondra and her husband wanted to hang out with us if we weren't going on the trip so we called them up. Mrs. Sondra took me to the Commissary first to get some water and food in case the electricity and stuff goes out but after that we picked up Keleigh and drove over to their house. Mr. Rob   cooked us some french toast and bacon which was awesome and we turned on the Olympics and sat on the couch for a while. After that Cupcake Wars was on and we decided to bake some Black Bottom cupcakes. They were delicious and now we are sitting content around the tv again :) If it hits TCORE 1C anytime soon though we have to go back to our housing. Which is kind of funny because once it hits TCORE 1C Mrs. Sondra and her husband aren't allowed to drive. Lol. Technically we would be stuck. Oh well :) It's worth it in order to have some home cooked meals!

Oh boy

Week went by pretty uneventfully but people had been talking all week about visiting some haunted places around the island. Some of the guys from work had offered to drive us around to them are were really excited about it. It got to be friday and we were talking about it all day. They were saying stuff about this one haunted hotel that apparently had been half built. Something about there being ghosts there and the Japanese did not want to disturb them so they quit. There is a lot of other supposedly haunted places as well especially because of all the war monuments and ruins that are in Okinawa. We got off work and DK (Donkey Kong), otherwise known as Maggie, and I changed and went straight to American Village with Peach (Keleigh) after work. There was a section that I had not explored yet that had a big store that was kind of like a Forever 21 that we really wanted to go to because it was supposed to be pretty cheap. We got there and it was awesome. There were sale signs everywhere and random nicknacks like headbands with celery and pears on them. Definitely got a picture with those :) We finished up our shopping and ate at this hamburger restaurant that had really good french fries and then started walking back. I had texted my roommate Megan and found out that she was at the 100 yen store with a couple other girls. We met up with them for a minute and found out that one of them was planning a whole seance sort of thing. She was talking about making dolls and they bought soy sauce to make a salt circle... Before that we had been talking about one girl who has a Marine friend and he was saying don't go. If you go you will hear something and it's not fun. So I was already getting freaked out. If a Marine is freaked out then I would probably pee my pants. After hearing the whole seance thing I was out. Not that I believe in ghosts, but I feel like that is just tempting the devil. I ended up walking to the shoppette with my PC and getting these things called f'reals which are like frozen smoothies and milkshakes that you stick in this machine and then they mix it more you. They are really good :)
The next day I was able to go with a family from our center who had invited some of us to go to a bbq on the beach with them and another family. They drove us up to the Torii Army station and we got on base and went to this really beautiful beach that they have there. There was a lot of coral but it was pretty shallow and you could walk kind of far out. We played in the water for a bit with the two little boys and then they rented these surfboard looking things with paddles that you are supposed to stand on and then paddle around. We ended up just sitting on them because the boys wanted to get on too and they would move around too much. We paddled them out into the ocean and then raced back for lunch. After lunch there was more paddling and we collected some really neat shells on the beach as well.
They took us back to our housing and I had like an hour and then Megan got back. They had gone to Pineapple Park and stuff and come back. I was super jealous :( We sat around for a while and then Annalisa (Bowser) got back and invited us to go bowling on base. We went and played a game before deciding to turn in for the night because we had to be up super early the next morning to go snorkeling in the Keramas. Bowser and I watched half a movie and then got too tired to finish and went to bed.
The next morning we had to wake up at like 7 to be at the Commissary by 8 for getting on the bus. We all checked in and it was about a 30 min bus ride to Naha where we got on a boat to take us out to the Keramas which took about 45 minutes. It was beautiful there. We stopped at one island first and were told that we could not swim to the island because there were habuu snakes. The water was pretty deep but there were reefs that you could swim over and it was perfectly clear. We saw so many fish that we so colorful and a bunch of schools of fish as well. We were there for a really long time and took a break for a while and then took turns jumping off of the top of the boat. We still had time after that so we did a little bit more snorkeling and I was able to see a sea turtle that was eating some of the coral almost right beneath out boat! After that we got back on the boat and it took us about 10 minutes away to another island that we could actually go on the beach at. I didn't go on the beach though because I did not have any water shoes and the coral and sea debris went all the way up to the shore. This spot was a lot neater though and more what you might see in a postcard. It was much shallower water here and the sand was perfectly white. As you got closer to shore there was more coral reefs and a ton of fish. I explored as close to the shore as I could get while still swimming over the reef and not touching my feet down. The reef was really cool and there were some fish out in the open water and sand trying to find food but the ones in the coral were really neat. There were Dori fish and Nemo and some angel fish too. At one point though I saw a sea snake really close to me though swimming up diagonally towards the top of the water and I got really freaked out and swan as fast as I could back to the boat. After that we sat out on the deck of the boat for a bit and talked and eventually moved to the bow of the boat where we lay out our towels and tanned for a bit. I burned. Bad. I have never burned this bad before and it hurt really bad. Getting dressed the next morning was a disaster. I haven't started pealing that bad though yet so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Another fun weekend

Last weekend nothing too excited happened on friday. We all just kind of stayed in and hung out. The next day though we set out to go beach camping! We had planned on leaving around 12 but didn't actually get on the road until like 2. I guess that there was a lot of unplanned stuff to do that people hadn't thought about before. We went to the commissary to get food and then came back and people still weren't ready. The drivers decided to go to the marina to get ice but it took them forever for some reason and they came back like 30 min later. We got everybody ready and then didn't have enough cars to drive everybody. We then proceed to cart people in trips to the shopette were another car was meeting us. But it took him like 20 min to get there because he hadn't set an alarm and had just woken up. It started raining on us at the shopette but that lasted like 10 minutes and then it was fine. Then we got everybody in cars but had to go get gas and fill us tires with air. Then we had the chocolate for s'mores but had forgotten to pick up the marshmellows and graham crackers so we had to go back to the commissary for that. Finally, after so many set backs we were on our way :) After rockin' out during the car ride to plenty of dubstep we got to our destination of IE island. We actually went to a kind of smaller island off of that one but it was beautiful and had hardly any people. We stopped for a while at the marina there and lay on the beach while some of the other went out to check on a good spot to set up all of our stuff. It took them like an hour and by that time we had mastered the squaty potties, eaten half a bag of chilps, and had crabs climbing on our feet. We then loaded the cars again and went to a place closer to where we would camp where we could park the cars and carry tents and coolers down to the beach. We had set up of tents on the main part of the beach but the tide was coming up fast and we ended up having to pick them up and move them higher up. We basically had our own private beach because no one else was there. If you went around this huge rock mountain thing though there was another part of the beach that was gorgeous though. When we got there though there were more people on that side so we set up camp on the other. There was less debris like sticks and seaweed on the other side of the rock but more beach area to camp on on our side so it worked out nice. We went to the other side when we wanted to play in the water but our bonfire and stuff was where the tents were. After setting up camp we searched around for some wood for the fire and it took a while because there wasn't a whole lot for us to pick from. We got the wood mostly ready and then hung out in the water while the boys took some axes and hacked up some roots of trees that were sticking out of the ground. We got the fire started and ate some burned marshmellows before we did anything else. Hot dogs were next on the list and it took a really long time to cook them over our moderately sized fire. I don't even really know if mine was cooked all the way through. We ate our food and then played some truth or dare as well as midnight mafia before one of our other friends, Ryan from zip lining, joined us later that night. Eventually we got tired and went to bed. The tents were slightly on a hill so we all ended up cramped at the bottom the tent by the morning. It felt like a was sleeping on rocks and it got chilly at night which I was not expecting and hadn't prepared for. The next morning we woke with the sun at like 530 and sat by the fire. As it got warmer we ended up taking a little nap out in the sun before getting ready to have some more fun in the water on the other side of the rocks. We were the only ones camping on the beach that night. Everyone else had left. Mr. Jess and Mr. Jack though said that some fishermen had come in the middle of the night and were shining their lights everywhere. We stayed in the water until like 11 and then started packing up and were on our way by 1230. The boys drove us to White Beach Naval Base (which does not, in fact, have a white beach) about 15 min away. We ate at this restaurant called Naps which is a southern style american burger restaurant. It was really good. I ordered a salad and Peach/Keleigh got a burger and we split them both. We then went back to Foster and I took a nap and woke up later for our weekly camp meeting that night before going straight back to bed.

3 more weeks!

On monday it was a normal work day and then a couple of us ended up going ou to this restaurant called Dragons. It was kind of a hole in the wall place a couple blocks off base but it was surprisingly good. Not as good as the Garlic House of course but really yummy all the same. The rest of the week seemed to go by pretty slow for some reason, which hasn't happened to me at all since we got here. Wednesday was my director's (Trevor/Mr. Mario) birthday and all the kids sang him Happy Birthday and one of the heads of our center got him a cake that we all ate. The kids birthday song is so funny. I love it and got some of them to teach it to me. The beginning starts out the same but words are added to the end. It goes, "Happy birthday to you, cha cha cha. Happy birthday to you, cha cha cha. Happy birthday mr. mario, happy birthday to you, cha cha cha, konbanwa, stick your head in hot lava, I'm your friend so ha ha ha." LOL I think it's hilarious :)

Some Campers

Since I'm not really doing anything else right now I thought I might say a little bit about my kids. But not their names of course :) We aren't allowed to have favorites but there are def some that I love seeing everyday no matter what kind of day I'm having. One such camper who has definitely captured my heart is called "Prince Charming." He's a little stinker and never likes to follow directions and is stubborn and always says that he hates everything and everyone, but he's so funny and he has the prettiest eyes and he likes me too and always says "hi" whenever he sees me. And I'm pretty sure he knows he's one of my favorites too because he definitely pushes a lot to try and get away with things that he knows SAC staff would not tolerate at all. He's knows me too though, and when I'm serious he'll stop which I appreciate. His sister goes to camp too and she has started to hang around me sometimes but she is a little bit of a crybaby.
Another "non-favorite" is "Buzz Lightyear."He's not in my group but he's so funny and another stinker as well. He likes to cause trouble and already has a huge sense of sarcasm. One day in the morning when I was just getting in to work he calls me over to the doors of the front gym where all our pictures and bios are posted. I ask him what he's doing and he tapes this piece of construction paper on mine that says "kiss me." Oh boy... I was laughing and I just told him to take it off. The next time I walked by the bios it wan't there.
Then there's "Mulan." She is so funny but not in my group either. She is Japanese and we call her and her other three friends the Charlie's Angels because they are always together. They switch off between Japanese and English all the time and she is like their little ringleader. For some reason she was attracted to me from the very beginning and still likes to hang out all the time.
And of course there is "Snow White." She is an only child but really does not have the "only child syndrome." She is the sweetest little girl I was ever met and is always happy and smiling and trying to do the right thing. Her parents both speak at least two languages and are trying to push her to do the same. She's a little bit shy but loves just dancing and singing all over. I'm so happy I was able to get to know her and her mom better over the weekend.