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!