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.

Abused by the Seawall

The last week went by super fast. Our only field trip was to the Commissary which was kind of random. The center split the field trip into three different group. The first day groups 1 and 2 went. Then 3 and 4 and 5. Then 6, 7, and 8. It really wasn't too exciting. We went into the Commissary and then they took us into the back. They showed us around the refrigerator and then took us through this freezing cold freezer. The lady showing us the place put on her nice warm jacket but all the kids just had on their t-shirts and were freezing! And she talked forever too. There are at least 3 kids that I know of that have had fevers within the week of going there. She showed us this dead pig that they had ordered too and for some reason she really needed to stress the point that it was dead. I really don't think the kids needed to see that. At the end of the tour though they gave us popsicles so that was nice :)
On friday one of our coworkers took my friend Keleigh (Peach) and I to get our nails done at this popular nail salon called Coco's. It was around 40 yen but so worth it. We got like a 20 min massage and they had so many options as far as designs. Plus you could change the backround color if you liked the design and not the color. They even gave you this delicious tea with refills! We were there for about an hour and a half and then our coworker, Mrs. Sondra, offered to take us to dinner. We accepted of course and we went back to pick up her husband at their house and see their dogs before going to a restaurant called the Four Seasons. It was kind of expensive but they gave you a three course meal! First there was this really good corn soup, then a salad, and then they cooked our meal right in front of us! The meal came with two sides as well. It was delicious and we took pictures with the cook that made it :)
The next day two of our coworkers Jack and Jess wanted to take us snorkeling at the seawall. Ryan from ziplining came with us too. We got there and there are these huge stone concrete steps leading down to the water. The water was kind of choppy but we were all excited to go in. I guess I wasn't thinking or something but I was just casually walking down the steps trying to get my snorkeling gear ready and near the bottom it got slippery where the slime started from the water being on the steps all the time. I was wearing my flip flops and slipped and fell hard on my butt and my right arm. I scraped my hand on a barnacle and scrapped up my arm and my legs too. There were these grates on the concrete to let the water back into the ocean that I had to grasp on to in order to not get swept out. After that I sat on the steps for a while to try and get my courage back. When I thought about getting up again to see if I wanted to get back in a wave came and knocked me off my feet again. After that there was no way I was going to get back into the water. My roommate Megan and I, who saw me fall, decided that instead of going in the water we would take a look around and see what else there was around the seawall. We ended up walking down it for a while and then sat and watched some surfers for a bit until we decided it was getting too hot and we wanted to go back for drinks and towels. We walked back but by that time the others had gotten tired and we decided to drive to this beach that wasn't too far away. It was really nice and a lot easier to get into the water. I still didn't go in. At that point I was not in the mood any more. Cari, Ryan, and I walked around for a while and then we came back and we all went to dinner at Coco's Curry. Then we split up because some people wanted to see the fireworks that were at Sunset Beach in American Village and others wanted to go to a club in Naha with some other people  from Camp who were staying there for the weekend. I went with the ones to Naha and we got ready real quick and then headed out. It was kind of expensive to get in but once you were in you could get free drinks and the atmosphere was really cool. We got there right when it opened though so there was nobody there. We ended up all dancing together and I felt like one of "those stupid Americans" but it was fun so whatever. Just as it started to get hoppin' though we had to leave because we had to be back for curfew at 1.
On Sunday I got adopted by one of the girls called "Snow White in my small group. Her mom picked up my director Trevor (Mr. Mario) and I and they signed us on to Kadena. Kadena is an Air Force base and one that we cannot get onto by ourselves. It is also the largest base on Okinawa and the only one that has these shirts that everyone wants that say "OKI ALL DAY" on them. We looked around forever at the BX and were just about to leave when we found then in a section to the side. I was so excited and got two for me and one for Megan. Before that they took us to the Chili's on base and bought both of us lunch. It was so nice of them and her mom even offered to buy us groceries after she found out all we ate were microwave meals because we didn't really have anything else. It was amazing and "Snow White" was so excited when she picked us up in the morning. We got back around 330 or 4 and I was so tired and ended up taking a much needed nap. After that was another Camp meeting full of programming for this next week...

Fun in the Sun

Had another field trip to the Okinawa Zoo and the kids had a blast but it was really kind of sad. All the animals had really small enclosures that is probably not even a 10th of the size they should be having. There was a monkey that would throw poop at you too if you made too much noise or stared at it too long. It was nice to get out of the center though. That weekend we took an ITT tour through the base to Expo Park which is where the aquarium is. That was a ton of fun. Megan, Cari, Trevor, Annalisa, and I were able to take a bus up there with a group and then wander all around the park. We saw a couple other Camp A people there too which was fun. There were some little exhibits along the way but the main attraction is the whale shark tank which is apparently the second larget in the whole world! They were awesome! There were two of them in the tank and they were huge! I guess they are like whales though and only eat plankton so it is safer to dive with them cause there were a couple divers in the tank with them. Along with the whale sharks were other various fish as well as these big sting rays. We ate a meal that tasted like food and then went to go see the dolphin show! It was really neat but only lasted about 20 min. It was cute because one of the instructors started dancing and the dolphins would dance with them :) After that we went with some other Camp A people to the beach which was a 5 min trollie ride away and it was beautiful! The water was perfectly clear and shallow for a long way out and warm as well. We didn't have a whole lot of time there though and had to get back on the bus. That night we went out to this club/bar on the seawall nearby called Infinity. It was really cool because it had like three different stories and was right on the water. The top floor was a bar, the middle was a restaurant with a balcony that overlooked the ocean and the bottom was a club. We were there for a while but then had to go back because of curfew. There weren't a whole lot of people there that night either for some reason. On sunday we slept in and then went to a beach called Arhuma or something. It's the closest swimming beach to base and there was a ton of people there. The water here was really murky but nice to cool off in all the same. Cari, Annalisa, Megan, and I had wanted to go out to dinner afterward but it ended up only being me and Cari. We went to this little restaurant right off base called Gem that I had heard all of the kids at our center raving about and it was delicious! At first I was angry though because when we walked in there was only one guy sitting at the little bar part they had in front of a fish tank. Then they had a bunch of Japanese style seating and one booth at the very back that was like secluded and by itself. And what does the waiter do? He sits us right in the booth! When there was nobody else there! How rude. We ended up switching out seats anyways :)

The next day was back to work. And the day after that too. Then it was the Fourth of July! One of the other counselors was "adopted" by a family and they invited us all over for a BBQ that day. They picked us up and we hung out, sang camp songs, and went to the beach. The food they made was so good especially after having microwave meals for so long. The beach was really reefy though and I didn't really go in. Especially because there were a ton of these nasty slimy gross disgusting sea slugs things that were literally everywhere! Later me and Sara, one of my other co counselors ended up trying to construct a little hut so that we could have some shade because it was like 1000 degrees! We had to go back quickly after that because the mom got part of a sea urchin spine in her finger and we had another BBQ to go to. They made us homemade cake and ice cream which was sooooo yummy and then we rushed home to take showers. Later we went to Mrs. Tammy's house for her BBQ that she invited us to. Mrs. Tammy is basically our boss at the center but I think she is a little rude. It was nice of her to invite us over I guess though. We had hoped that there would be fireworks but we waited for a while and nothing happened. The food at her house was delicious too. They made ribs and chicken and shrimp and had a ton more food. We had to rush home after that to because we had a 1030 curfew that night for work the next day. The next two days flew by because we had so much stuff to do. Thursday we went to the commissary to get more food and had to have a meeting and make more posters for the next weeks. Friday was fine and we were all so happy for the week to be over. Friday night the SAC staff at our center invited us all to go out to eat together. We went to Ocean Breeze which is a nice restaurant on base and all hung out together. After that we split up and some people started their weekend trips. Trevor, Annalisa, Keleigh and I stayed and hung out with the staff some more. We went to American Village and bought some Chu-Hi's which are like 3% alcoholic drinks and they bought a ton of fireworks and we lit them off at the beach. It was great getting to know them better.

Saturday Mr. Jess, one of the SAC center staff, offered to drive us to Forrest Adventure for zip lining. It was a blast and we only saw a couple of banana spiders :) We spent about 4 hours there going through the various zip lines. You basically got to do everything yourself after they gave you a little training lesson. It was on the big mountain that we had to get bussed up to and you zip lined through a bunch of vegetation and greenery. It was so pretty and near the end you had to climb up these big poles to zip line off of and you got a great view of the ocean and reefs. One of the zip lines was called the Tarzan and you basically dropped off the ledge of this pole and then swung into a net that you then climbed out of and continued the rest of the course. It was sooooo hot there and was kind of hard work because you had to climb up a bunch of ladders and nets and then hike up more stairs to get to other zip lines. halfway through the course though they gave you free drinks! While we were there we met this super nice couple names Lisa and JD who had been on the island for about 8 months and had been stationed at Foster. There son Ryan was there visiting too and he will be leaving a day before us. We made friends with him and his other friend Micah from Alabama and they went to karaoke with us later that night. They were super funny and we had a great time belting out hearts out for about 3 hours. Once again we had to rush back home for curfew and made it about 5 min before we would have been late.

Today is beach day and hopefully shopping and we might meet up with Ryan and Micah again too.

Field Trip and First Weekend

On Friday we were able to take the kids on a field trip to this place called Neo Park. It's basically like a mini zoo. They have birds walking around everywhere out in the open though and they get super close sometimes. It kind of goes around in a big circle and there are a few other animals in enclosures to look at like boars, ostriches, and llamas. The kids had a blast and I didn't have to do anything else except make sure they were all being safe :) It was such a nice breather for me and some of the other counselors. It was only the older kids too so that made it much easier as well.
That night I went with my roommate and another girl down to American Village which is this sort of shopping and restaurant district about a 20 minute walk away. It was super fun and we got some real Japanese food finally. The food was delicious and then we went to a 100 yen store and this little open air bar that made us some nasty Tequila Sunrises. After that we were tired and had a lot planned the next day so we took a taxi back to our housing and got some much needed rest.
The next day we took a bus to Kinser which is the closest base to Naha. When we got there we took a taxi to Shuri Castle and spent part of our day there. It was really pretty but there wasn't a whole lot to do. After that we took another taxi to this place called Kokusai Street which is the main tourist shopping street. It's like 5 miles long with some alleys that have more shopping you can go down too. Walked up and down it and stopped for lunch at this cool restaurant where we got to take our shoes off and sit on these cushions on the floor. My meal included miso soup, rice, salad, and this hamburger patty thing. It was delicious :) We took a taxi back to Kinser after that and hung out for a bit with the girls that work there for Camp. We got on the bus but the bus stops at Futenma which is a base that we do not have access for. They made us get off the bus and stand at the gate and then get back on when the base came back out. The enlisted guys that were on the bus when we got off were like swearing about of stupid civilians are and they shouldn't be allowed to ride the bus or something stupid like that. It was ridiculous. Are we seriously still in preschool here guys? Anyways, we got back and got some dinner and then sleep.
Today I woke up and walked to the commissary with some of the girls that work on McT. Then did some wash and walked to the PX with one of the same girls. We looked at a lot of neat stuff that they sold there and met a cute guy too ;) Then it was back to our barracks and my roommate and coworker and I walked to American Village again because we weren't able to see too much of it the other night. We went to the 100 yen store again and then got to ride on the ferris wheel that was there! That was really neat and we got a nice view of the ocean and our base. We walked around some more after that looking at random shops and then had dinner at this Italian restaurant which was actually delicious but they wouldn't let us take leftovers home! Luckily it was posted on the menu so we knew ahead of time but really? That's so weird, I can't believe restaurants actually do that.
Now we are all back home and Foster day camp has a meeting tonight to go over this next week of camp. We are going to have to be up super early again too to set for camp :/ Wish us luck!

Stupid No Touch Policy...

Yesterday while I was at work at the very end when we were doing closing this girl was sitting next to me and she said, “Ms Yoshi, I don’t want you to leave at the end of the summer.” And I said something along the lines of, “Well the end of the summer is a long ways away, and maybe I can write your mom letters to give to you.” After that she said one of the cutest things I have ever heard. She said, “Oh wait, I’ll see you in heaven because I’m a Christian.” I love how children can say things like that and not be ashamed of it and not get ridiculed for it. For all that I have been sick and felt miserable for the first two days of Camp it’s so uplifting to hear things like that, and that make me feel special as well :) Yesterday was the first day that we are allowed off base because we now have our phones but I didn't go out because it was pouring rain and I’m still sick and have programming left that I now need to fix.

Today was kind of fun. We were able to take the older groups to the pool which was nice because we really didn't have to do anything except sit there and watch them. The water was cold though! And it still isn't that hot out because of the storm. At the end of the day i was getting really irritated though. At the center they have a "no touch policy." And it means exactly that. No Touching! It's ridiculous. We got in trouble for holding campers hands. At the end of the day we all have this "dance party" together and just hang out with the camper. One of the ladies in charge came in and said we had to do something else because she thought that they were running around too much and she was seeing too much of them bumping into each other. We aren't supposed to touch the kids AT ALL. And they aren't allowed to touch us at all and they aren't allowed to touch each other at all. It's crazy. Apparently the campers have gotten more touchy feely since we have gotten here as well so the lady specifically asked our director to talk to us about it. 

I've been eating Campbells chicken noodle soup since I got sick and I don't know if it's because of that, but it's seriously like the best thing I have ever tasted.

Okuma and first day of Camp

For our first weekend one of POC's was able to take us and get us in to a resort owned by the Air Force . It was called Okuma and it was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been too. The sand was white and the were many pieces of coral scattered everywhere. We had to be up at 6 so that we could be on our way by 7 and then were able to spend the rest of the day there until about 5. It was a lot of fun and I was able to go jet skiing and banana boating which were both super fun. I got thrown off the banana boat once and at first it was kind of fun until I stated freaking out and thinking "Shark attack! shark attack! shark attack!" lol. There was one restaurant open when we were there but it wasn't badly priced and the food was great! After a long day about every single one of us came back sunburnt and some worse than others. It was worth it though until the next day...
The next day I woke up feeling slightly sluggish and just laying around all day. I thought that it might have been because of the heat but I took some airborne and vitamins anyways. That night was horrible. I felt like the sheets were as corse as possible and were rubbing against all of my sunburns and I could hardly sleep at all. Today I woke up with a running nose and my entire body felt hot and I was exhausted. It didn't help that today was the start of Camp as well. My nose was running all day and I kept having to leave to go get kleenex. I was also operating on like 4 hours of sleep and then crazy kids on top of that. I programming was all over the place as well because we were trying to merge both the Camp programming and the programming that the Center wants to be added as well. Today was super unorganized and we had to do a lot of improvising but it seemed to go well for the most part. I am so excited to get to know my kids and start having the real Camp Adventure experience. Although we may not even be having Camp tomorrow because of the typhoon that is supposed to be coming in. We were able to get phones today and while walking back from the PX one of my coworkers and I were having a very hard time trying to keep our umbrellas from turning inside out. It felt like we were in one of those funny movies trying desperately not to fly away but without success. Hopefully my cold clears up soon because I hate being miserable and sick. Well, ta ta for now.

First few days on base :)

Okay this is probably going to be very long because I haven’t been able to get a lot of access to internet since we have been here. But here everything is now :) And hopefully I’ll be able to write a little bit more frequently so posts don’t get this long.

The airplane ride to Oki was pretty fun actually. Had to get there at 5 in morning though so I had to be up super early. Met a bunch of Camp people and then had a pretty uneventful ride to the Seattle Tacoma airport. Hung out for about 5 hours there and met up with some more Camp people as well. When we were able to board I got a window seat! Yay! Next to me was this girl and I was excited because I thought she was Japanese and I would be able to talk to her about Japan. After about 10 min I found out she was actually an exchange student from China who had been staying in Spokane. She told me her name was Crystal and we were able to talk a lot during the plane ride which was fun :) She was funny and very sarcastic and seemed like a typical teenager. I also found out she was only a junior in high school. I thought it was really brave of her to go off on her own for 10 months but she kept talking about how much she wanted to be independent from her parents lol.

After we got off the plane we had to catch another one in Tokyo to Okinawa. I sat next to this middle-aged guy names Mitch who was in the Navy and flying to Okinawa so that he could catch another plane to get onto his ship. He was super nice and he told me all about the different stuff he does and some good places to go in Japan because he had been stationed here for 15 years! It was really neat, he even had videos of airplanes landing on a ship that he showed me. Turns out he was from the Bay Area! Fresno I think :)

Today apparently we got in trouble for being too loud and messy. For Camp we have to make a bunch of posters and stuff and the only place we have to do it right now is in the hallway of our housing. There are some air force guys staying here too right now though and I guess one of them complained about the noise we make and stuff being all over the hallways that we should be cleaning up. I understand them not liking all the mess but they are only going to be here a few more days anyways. I guess a guy was upstairs using our laundry room too and there aren’t supposed to be any men on this floor so our PD got in a little tiff with him. An MP ended up coming over and talking to one of our PC’s so we’ll see what happens.

Since we got here we have just basically been going to a lot of meetings and painting a lot of posters. I’m on the list for potentially driving in Okinawa for this summer so me and about 10 others have to take this driving course today and tomorrow. I’m super nervous cause we actually have to drive these huge vans around for our test and my site might not even have a car. We still have not been able to go off base because we don’t have any phones yet and our PC’s want to have a way to be able to contact us. I just got internet today too and I didn’t realize how convenient it would be. That’s all for now. Hopefully nothing super bad happens to us after the MP incident.

Pre-Departure

Nothing special to say because nothing has happened yet :) everything is ready except for my suitcase which is about half full. Exactly 2 days 20 hours 12 minutes and 21 seconds until my flight. Exciting!