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.