Camp A Presents

Today was the last day of our second week of camp! This week went a lot quicker and smoother than the very first week. The kids are all getting used to us being there, and also getting used to the Camp A routine every day. A lot of memorable things have happened these first two weeks, and I am beginning to become really close to a lot of the kids. The theme this week was Earth Friendly Extravaganza, and we focused on teaching the kids about the Earth, how to help the Earth, and the benefits of recycling. A friendly recycling competition was held between the different groups, and a lot of stuff was collected. It was a really great turn out. The kids got really competitive, because kids love competition. I never mentioned this before, but my camp name is Miss Toad. Our counselor theme all summer is the Mario Kart world, so each counselor is a different Mario character, and our direction is Mr. Mario. It's a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoy our funny little nicknames. The kids didn't know my real name at first, but after a few counselors called me Taylor, on accident.. the kids think it's so cooool that they know my real name. All of them continue to call me Miss Toad, and it's really cute. I am becoming especially close with my small group.. which is the oldest kids. There are groups 1-8 .. 1 being the youngest 1st grader kids, and my group.. 8, which are the oldest 6th graders. I really enjoy being with the older kids because we can relate to a lot of things, and they can actually talk to me and hold a conversation.. as well as listen when directions are being told. Unlike the youngest kids. Ha ha. Yesterday was my very first encounter with a kid crying because of one of their parents. I figured this would happen eventually, but it made me especially sad because it was one of the older girls in my group. Her dad is stationed in the states, and she is living in Okinawa with her Mom. It was during me and Miss Luigi's Dance Club, and the song Pray by Justin Bieber started playing, and she started getting sad. It took her awhile to open up to me when I went and asked her what was wrong.. but I think she liked having someone to talk to. Then, today.. a few of the younger girls were sitting at an art table and started crying. Both of their dads are stationed in Kuwait, and they will be returning soon. I was told they have been gone since winter time.. so I'm sure the girls were just sad because it had been so long. A few of the counselors started tearing up and had to walk away. It's really hard to see kids in that situation, and just know that you can't do anything to make them happier. Trust me, we all would if we could. 


On Fridays at camp, we do this thing called Camp A presents.. which basically is a time in the afternoon where all the small groups, and club groups share what they have been working on all week. For small groups, its a poster with their weekly theme name, (Ours was the Great White Sharks for Deep Seas & Discoveries, and this week we were the Tree Huggers) and also a chant/song that is unique and shares our group name. Last week we made an awesome repeat-after-me style chant, and this week we made a song/dance to the song Dynamite by Taio Cruz. I downloaded the background music, and we added our own words to it. It was really awesome, and everyone seemed to think it was very creative! Also at Camp A presents, the counselor that was voted for by all the campers.. gets to be soaked by campers that have been following all the expectations all week long. Of course, I was chosen to be soaked today. Ha ha. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Miss Luigi (Breanna) was soaked last week and told me the water was freezing, but it actually wasn't too bad :) The kids really enjoy this time, because they can be silly and mess around without getting in trouble. Today was a lot of fun, and next week is Breanna and I's weekly theme.. Fabulous 4th Freedom Fest, for the 4th of July of course! We get Wednesday off work.. so that means beach day most likely! I'm super pumped. 


Overall, I am really enjoying camp and I know that it is only going to go uphill from here. I am going to take a lot out of this experience, and it is already flying by crazy fast! Cant't believe after next week, it's only 6 weeks left in Okinawa. So many memories are yet to come! 


Also, we visited the sea wall for the first time and watched the sunset on Sunset Beach! It was so beautiful.. :)

Weekend trip to Nago City

This weekend us girls decided to plan a trip to Nago.. a city just about an hour and a half north of Foster Camp where we live. A guy we work with volunteered to drive us, so we could save money on city bus and taxi fares. We woke up early Saturday morning, and all 6 of us packed into an 8 person van. On the way there, we had to pay toll to get on and off the expressway, which was very weird beacuse we don't have tolls like that in Iowa. When we got to Nago, we weren't exactly sure where to go. We stopped and asked directions to our hotel about six times, and after getting lost about ten times.. we finally found it.. but we couldn't check in til 3. So we left.. and after that, we went and attempted to find these castle ruins to go explore. We found where they were but it was huge and would take too long to venture through it.. and it was also like 95 degrees and we were all dying of heat. Then we visited a beach under this very pretty bridge! They were snorkels and goggles that people could rent, sooo Shelby, Sarah, and I decided to go rent some goggles and check out the coral reef nearby. The water was very shallow at first, and I almost scraped my stomach on the coral several times. We saw tons of fish like Trigger fish, sea cucumber, sea slug, sea urchent, star fish, clown fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, and some neon blue fish! It was so awesome expecially cause we weren't even very far off shore. Shelby stepped on a sea cucumber, and she got white gooey stuff all over her foot and was freaking out. It was so funny! Then, Sarah got attacked by a Trigger fish because it attacked her watch thinking it was bait. It was a really exciting experience, and we were probably out snorkeling for two hours. 

After that we went and got some food up at the shack on the beach. Everything was in Japanese so I just pointed to a picture that looked like Chicken and rice. Turns out it was curry and rice. YUCK! I hate curry, and it's very popular in Japan.. and I don't know why it's so nasty! After lunch, we went to go to this pier nearby and take pictures because the bridge was in the background so it was a really pretty picture. Then, these two Japanese boys jumped off the pier as we were taking a picture! So, obviously us girls all wanted to. The others were too scared to go first, so me and Shelby decided to go! I was a little scared to hit the bottom.. because I'm so tall. Me & Shelby held hands and I didn't hit the bottom! It was so fun, and pretty far down! We jumped off a few more times and it was a lot of fun. A couple of the girls scraped their knees on the rocks at the bottom but they were okay! We then went and looked at shells on the shore and found so many cool ones! I grabbed a lot to take home. I'm planning on grabbing shells at every beach I go to and putting them in a jar as decoration. After the beach, we traveled back into downtown Nago City to Pineapple Park. When we stepped out of the car the air smelled so delicious like pineapples.. obviously haha. It was 600 yen to take a tour and we got in this golf kart that drove itself.. bummer. I was so excited to get to drive. It took us through the pineapple fields.. from when the pineapples were the size of a quarter until they were full size. There were also lots of pretty flowers and plants, but the favorite part came after the tour! We got to sample pineapple juice, lime juice, and different berry juices. They were so good! The pineapple juice was so delicious and sweet so I got a bottle to give to Mom & Dad for 900 yen. If I don't drink it before it gets home ;) Then we got to sample pineapple cakes and they were so good also! After pineapple park Haley wasn't feeling good so we started to head back to the hotel. She thinks she might have tonsilitus for the third time... Yikes! On our way back to the hotel .. our chauffer.. Jess.. called his Japanese friend who lives in Nago. She invited us to dinner with her, which means we had to hurry and change then head back into the city. Sarah stayed home with Haley to keep her company. When we got back to our hotel we checked in.. finally! and.. we opened the door to a giant room with 6 tatami mats laying on the floor. We were all so excited! I will attach a picture at the bottom so you all can see what they look like. The room also had a low table with cusions for tradition eating. We had a toilet, sink, and no shower.. which sucked! It was still super cool! And way different than any of us had ever experienced!

Instead of eating at a Japanese restuarant like we had every other night.. Ayumi (Jess's friend) invited us to a taco restaurant which I was happy about. I ordered a few tacos and we chatted with Ayumi for awhile about things to do in Okinawa since she is a local. She told us a lot of fun activites and also taught us a little bit of the language. Like how you can say Domo which means a lot.. and Arigato means Thank you. So when you put them together it's thank you very much! You can also just say Arigato which means simply Thanks. We learned that Mosh Mosh means Hello, and Hi means Yes. When I was reserving the hotel for the weekend I had to talk to people who hardly spoke any English.. and he kept saying Hi to me when I would ask him questions. So I would say hello back. Now, I feel really stupid because he's probably wondering why when he said Yes, I said yes back. That was really helpful to know! After dinner we headed back to the hotel and crashed. We were all so exhausted!

The next day we got up early at 8am.. and headed to the aquarium which I was super excited for!!! It's the second largest aquarium in the world, so we knew it was going to be super sweet. We got there and it was super sweet. The first thing we walked into was a main area with a touching area where there were lots of star fish, sea cucumbers, sea slugs and we got to touch them all! It was super cool and the star fish were massive! The aquariums were sweet and had lots of colorful fish. We saw sharks, whale sharks, sting rays, manta rays, huge fish, crabs, sea snakes, shrimp, devil fish, bio-luminescent fish, and a lot more! It was all very cool! After we got through the aquariums it took us outside to go to the outdoor part of the park. We saw manatees, sea turtles, and then a dolphin show! The dolphin show was amazing.. except we couldn't understand the announcer so everyone kept laughing at his jokes and we had no idea what he was saying. Ha Ha.. Oh well! We really wanted to pet/feed the dolphins but couldn't figure out how to sign up and we kept asking people and they couldn't understand us.. sad. :( After the dolphin show we decided to go check out the beach! It was so pretty! The sand was so white but there weren't any shells so I was kinda bummed out because I wanted to collect some from every beach. We swam out to a docked hard raft and Me, Shelby, Breanna, and Kenzie layed out for awhile. I got a really bad sunglasses burn on my face and I know the kids are going to make fun of me tomorrow! After the beach, we left and got some lunch then stopped at a random beach to look for shells and Jess told us he was going to take us to a different beach but we couldn't find it! We were all tired out and kinda just wanted to go home so we just told him to go home. It was a very successful weekend, and I can't wait because we are going zip lining next weekend! 

The Start to my Adventure!

My adventure has just begun in Okinawa! I arrived at the airport late on Sunday night, and was transported onto Foster Marine Base where me and my fellow Camp A counselors would be living for the summer. It was night time when we drove, so I couldn't really see much. They pulled up to a little shopette right through the base gates and we got a few snacks and breakfast foods for the next day. When we got to our barrack-style building we were paired up with roomates. I met my roomate, her name is Haley and she is from Toledo, Ohio. We somewhat unpacked our suitcases into these tight crammed rooms, and crashed for the night. We were all exhausted from a full two days of traveling. I had trouble sleeping the first night. Me and my roommate were up at 3 am wide awake since it was 1pm in the afternoon back home. The jet lag was really kicking in, and the time difference has been one of the hardest things to adjust to.


The next day, a lot of unorganized directions were being given to us.. and it was a lot of waiting to find out what we were supposed to do. In the morning, we walked to the place where we got our military base passes. They allow us to go on and off base when we want. We parted for lunch at Subway.. So American.. and the rest of the day we had lots of meetings, discussed a lot of information, and got more settled into our rooms. It was awesome to see the island during the day, and soon realized our view from our housing was beautiful! The ocean was only a few miles away, and the hill that our housing was on overlooked the small towns and American Village which included a pier, restuarants, and a giant ferris wheel! That night, a few friends and I started exploring the base and found the gym, which has wifi! We were all excited to call home and talk to family and friends. It was an early night as we were all very tired.


The following day, Tuesday, we began our orientation! It was a short walk up the hill to the classroom building, and of course it was raining. The weather was extremely hot and humid, yet constantly raining. We hadn't seen the sun yet since arriving on the island, and I was a little bummed out. We sat through morning lectures briefing us on the SAC Center we would be working at, and just basic rules. While we were sitting there, an announcer came over the intercom saying that the Roach Coach was available for lunch. We had no idea what that was, but our teacher dismissed us to go get some food. We walked outside, and it was a a smaller truck that had been turned into a little restuarant on wheels. It was kinda a cool experience, and a lot of the marines were gathered around getting food. It had burritos, breakfast sandwiches, pb and j sandwiches, chips and an assortment of drinks! We all enjoyed that, even though it was pouring. The vender told us that a typhoon would be coming near the end of the week and into the weekend. We all freaked out, but he told us that we were in a typhoon safe zone.. as long as we stayed inside. I got excited because we definitely don't have tropical storms back home in Iowa. :) We finished the remaider of our classes, and were dismissed in the afternoon around 2. Next began poster making, which is my favorite part of the day! Each week we have different themes, and Camp Adventure tries to make the theme come to life in the Children's centers. We made about ten posters and spent about three hours perfecting them. I drew an underwater Scuba diving panther to represent UNI. It was very neat! The rest of the night we all just relaxed.


Wednesday was military briefing day! We woke up early, and walked to the base community center. Continental breakfast was provided, it was delicious! Different speakers gave announcements about a variety of topics. We were briefed on military base rules, the customs of the Okinawan people, and were also informed about what Camp Foster had to offer! We were given a lunch break, and all of us Camp A counselors walked to a nearby Japanese restaurant called Ocean Breeze. It was buffet style serving, and even had a chef making homemade shrimp and chicken fried rice. The restuarant also has wifi, which was awesome so we all called home and chatted with friends. After lunch, we returned for a few more lectures and then returned to our housing where we finished up posters for our week two theme "Earth Friendly Extravaganza!" I finished painting my panther, and he turned out good! After painting a few of the girls and I decided to go on the hunt for wifi. Because we had not been given a base tour.. we weren't really sure where to go. We began walking, and after a few miles and a few wrong turns we made it to a place called Mediodi. We rented a cable modem and it was very cheap! We walked back and after two hours and a few very early phone calls to Dad.. we had internet! 


On Thursday, it was another day of training. We woke up early and walked to the classroom up the hill, again. We sat through morning lectures about different sicknesses and diseases that we might come in contact with over the summer. We were advised not to sit in the sand when visiting the beach, because you may get worms. Nasty! We finished afternoon lectures around four, and were dismissed back to our barracks. Nothing was on the agenda for the night, so we just hung out, ordered a pizza, and watched movies. 


Friday morning, I woke up and it was incredibly sunny. First time we had seen the sun since we arrived! Everyone was so excited. The skies were blue, and it looked so pretty outside. How a tropical island should look! We headed to our last training classes, and met with the Foster SAC technicians who would be our supervisors for the summer. They answered tons of questions, and we were told we would be meeting the kids and visiting the center in the afternoon! So excited.. We were dismissed at 9:45 for lunch. Hah. Which meant it was time to be productive and get a head start on the rest of the posters and misc. things that needed to be finished up. I drew lots of sea creatures such as fish, crabs, starfish, and whales! They looked really good. Then, all the girls painted them! After we were done with lunch and posters, Mr. Glen transported us to the Foster SAC childcare center where we would be working. As we walked inside all the kids started screaming in excitement. It was a crazy good feeling to know the excitement was because of us. The directors gathered all the kids in the back gym as we were given a tour and then we got the chance to introduce ourselves to all 150 kids. We did a mini blitz with only three songs to get the kids pumped up! Then went one by one and said our "camp" names. It is a tradition of Camp Adventure to use fake names to create excitement for the children. This summer we all have mario kart names, and mine is Ms. Toad! The kids all loved it, and then we got some free time to go around and play with them and get to know a few of them better. It was a lot of fun, and I personally didn't want to leave the center for the day. That night almost all of us went to Ocean Breeze for the danceclub night. We sat and ate dinner, then the DJ started playing music. It was really fun. I played a few games of pool and met a few of the marines. They were wayyy better at pool than any of us girls. We danced a lot and it was a lot of fun! We had to be home by 11 because tomorrow morning we have to get up early for a full day trip to the northern part of the island. Sooooo excited!