Friday, August 13, 2010

More and More Ketchup

Since I am so behind on my blog, I am just going to do a quick recap for right now.

July 17= Zushi Beach

July 18= Canyoning

July 24-25= Nikko (where we did not get to pet monkeys, but where we had our first onsen experience and Megan sprayed some poor Japanese lady with the shower hose on accident, which was hilarious by the way)

July 31- Aug 1= Light Festival
So, basically three counselors (Jen, Caitlin, and me) got adopted by the family of these two kids from camp, and we got to go into Tokyo on Saturday and stay at a super nice hotel overnight. The hotel was called the New Sanno, and it was specifically for military people. The family, the Gilberts, took us to lunch and then to the festival that apparently had the biggest display of fireworks out of the whole entire year. There were so many people there, and a lot of the girls were all dressed up in their yukatas and looking all Japanese and stuff. The two kids from the family we were with, Ginger and Carter, were wearing these cute little yukatas too. Unfortunately, we didn't see the fireworks very well because we apparently didn't pick a good spot to sit in, but it was still pretty awesome. Ginger about cried though when some Japanese guy bumped into her. Then the next day, we went swimming in an indoor pool and then the Gilberts treated us to this amazing breakfast buffet. They had almost everything!!! It was delicious!!!

Aug 7= Mt. Fuji
I got up at 1 in the morning (after 2 hours of sleep) to climb Fuji-yama. We got there at about 5 and started the climb at 5:30. All I can say is... it was hard. I was going to walk with Megan, but she walked too fast. So I hung back and ended up walking with Aquatics girls (Monica, Molly, Stacey, CJ to name a few). It was nice to hang out with them since I usually only hang out with day camp people. Anywho, I made it to the top at around 12:10, which wasn't too bad considering we had to start climbing down at 1. Unfortunately, though, I missed two stamps at the top (for my Fuji stick) because they were hidden away apparently... although somehow everyone else managed to find them hehe. Then I headed down with two other aquatics girls, Danielle and Beth, and so the hell began. At first it was fine, but then all that slipping and sliding (fell on my butt) and those neverending switchbacks just get to you. I was so sore and tired by the time me and Danielle got off those switchbacks (Beth was far ahead by then), and I was done with downhill... but apparently it wasn't done with me. There was still more downhill and a bunch of stairs. Somehow, we managed to make it by 5, exactly right on time, but it was tough. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I forgot to put on sunscreen??? My back is peeling like crazy now...

Aug 8= Shopping in Yokosuka
Going up and down stairs is killer, so we pretty much hang around base and go to the hundred yen store out in town. got some shopping done.

Aug 10= Date Night
Danielle, my walking buddy from Fuji, asks me out on a date!!! (Since aquatics and day camp people never really hang out, the directors devised this date night thing where we all go out together.) A big group of us went to the Officer's Mess where they were having Mongolian BBQ. We got to make up our own bowl of stuff, they fry it up, and yum!!!!

Aug 13= Eating Out
Some staff from the SAC center invited us out to eat dinner. (It was the staff from the green room, and they invited me along since I was in green room this week). It was Miss Itsuko, Miss Shige, and Mr. Jeremy who invited us, and me and Aaron and Allen who went. Miss Itsuko and Miss Shige just ordered a bunch of food and we all just shared it. It was really fun. I love the green room staff!!! Honestly, they help out a lot more than some of the red room staff. They participate in closing and blitz, and we really appreciate that. They are all super super nice... and they give me lots of extra food for snack!!!

Aug 14= Concert?
Hopefully going to a concert in Yokohama tomorrow, and it's supposed to be pretty awesome. Tokyo on Sunday, I think. Idk, we shall see!!!

I am soooo excited to go back to red room for the last week. Green room was a bit easier than red room, but my kids are cuter and therefore easier to forgive when they are naughty. I miss my kids!!!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

More Ketchup

Ah! I realized I skipped a weekend in my last entry!!! And what a bomb weekend it was!!!

Two weekends ago from now, Jen, me, Haashim, and Branden (two sports camp people) met up with a bunch of people at Zushi beach on Friday night. We actually ended up taking the wrong train, but we made it there okay. And we got to see the end of this funky little festival parade with people wearing creepy masks!!!

Then, on Saturday, me and Aaron went back to Zushi Beach and just chillaxed in the sun. Bre, Courtney, Justine, Mariah, and Kayla (all day camp people) had stayed there overnight, and they just happened to run into us on the beach. So we just hung out in the water and drank chuhais (delicious!) for the rest of the day… and got SUPER sunburned!!!

Sunday was the best, though. A bunch of camp people had all signed up to go canyoning on Sunday, so we all got up at like 4 in the morning (can you believe it!?!). We rode on the bus for like 3 or 4 hours and finally got to the canyoning place, so aptly named “Canyons.” I have no idea where it was because we booked this trip through MWR Outdoor Recreation, so we pretty much just got on the bus and let it take us where it would.

Anywho, we had to squeeze into these little wetsuits (ugh), put on some funny shoes and life jackets, and then we went white water rafting!!! I was only scared for my life a couple times on that particular venture, and I had lots of fun! Our guide, Jenny, was from New Zealand, and she was pretty cool…although towards the end she said she was trying to knock one of us from the boat just for kicks and giggles. Oh, and at one point, she told us we could go for a swim, and I was like “how am I supposed to get back in the boat?” Luckily, we had Hunter on our boat (an Outdoor Adventure camp guy) so he pretty much yanked me and Jen back in the boat since we couldn’t get up ourselves. We also had Allen and our MWR trip leader and her hubby (Carolyn and Dave?) on our boat. And let me tell you, we ran into a bunch of rocks.

After that was lunch, and then we went canyoning! Basically, for those of you who don’t know, canyoning is basically like going down a skinny little canyon. We had our wet suits and our life jackets and different funny little shoes and helmets, and we basically let the current take us. We would walk some parts of it, but you had to be very careful not to slip. Then our guides would tell us to get in the water and assume some position (feet first on your back, head first on your back, or head first on your stomach) and they would send us down a waterfall or down some rapids. It was pretty scary.

The biggest waterfall was 20 meters, and they lowered us down on a rope for 10 meters, and then just let us fall. I saw Justine go right before me, but then I couldn’t see her at the bottom. I ask the guy where she went, and he just shrugs and says “Oh, she’s probably down there somewhere.” I’m pretty sure he was joking, but that just wasn’t very nice. But I did it!!! (I mean, I pretty much had to. Once you start, there’s really only one direction you can go in.)

And then after that big waterfall were the scarier ones. They weren’t as big, but you had to go down them head first, and that was HORRIBLE. I have never even been able to dive in a pool, and since this kinda had the same idea, I was a bit out of my element. But anyways, there was this one waterfall where the guides said that there was a giant hole where you can get sucked under and die. (Just before this I heard one guide asking another if they thought we could do this one or not… and the answer was “why not?”). So they had two guides stationed on either side of the waterfall at the bottom to hopefully catch anyone before they get sucked under. Joy. The guide tells us over and over again to aim for the right of the waterfall, and I am thinking “well, that’s kind of hard when you are FALLING DOWN A WATERFALL!!!”

So Bre basically almost died. She did not go to the right. She ended up closer to the left, but she reached for the guide that was waiting on the right side and couldn’t reach him. The guide on the left couldn’t reach her either, and she was being sucked into the hole. She was pulled under the water, and the guide on the left dove under too. They both came up about 3 seconds later, the guide holding onto Bre and pulling her to the side. It was super scary, but Bre seemed to be fine (though after she said that she thought she was going to die). She was super lucky (especially since the guide that saved her life was suuuuuuuper hot).

When I went down that waterfall, I did okay. I made it to the right, but I had my head up when I hit the water, so that I could feel my back crack. It didn’t feel very good, let me tell you, but I was alright. Then, the very last two waterfalls were ones where we go down head first on our stomachs, and then a guide flips us onto our backs and sends us down the next one. That was scary because we couldn’t see where we were going and I had no idea when I would hit the water. Then we got to jump off this rock thing if we wanted, and I climbed up there… and I hesitated. The guide pushed me a little, as if he were going to push me off, and I freaked out and almost fell on my butt. I finally did it, though, and I was very proud. It was like a 15 foot drop!!! Okay… maybe 10. I don’t know.

Anyways, so that was my weekend!!! It was a tad scary, but loads of fun. I count Sunday as my birthday because it was just so awesome!!! (and my birthday was that Tuesday anyways).

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

KETCHUP

Well, since I’ve been super behind on my blog, I’ve decided to ketchup. (I do love ketchup!!!)

Monday of last last week was Miss Mancala’s (Jennifer’s) first day… and it was an interesting one. Overall, the kids weren’t too bad, but imagine Jennifer’s shock after being at a site that was overstaffed and didn’t not have these crazy crazy kids. The poor thing! But she handled it well.

Anyways, so the kids weren’t horrible on Monday… we just had a lot of weird incidents. For instance, as soon as me and Spencer left on our breaks during lunch (usually a calm time of the day), a kid burps in a little girl’s face, and she throws up all over herself. Then Miss Tiffany starts to throw up a little bit, too, and Miss Mancala is dealing with all the screaming grossed-out kids while Miss Uno was dealing with the one covered in throw up. Then, another kids comes up to Miss Uno and tells her that the little guy of the room (the class A clinger) had his pants down and was doing what Spencer calls “the meat spin.” …. Don’t ask…

I have no idea how Miss Uno handled all that, but let me tell you, she got an extra long break that day. But, oh, it wasn’t quite over yet. One girl comes up to me towards the end of the day and says the dreaded words: “Uh, Miss Domino, I had a accident.” Bum bum bum. I asked her what happened and she says she was going to the bathroom, she stood up, and then… “something came out.” I was like “huh?” Well, I went into the bathroom stall with her, and it was exactly like she said. There was poo on the toilet seat and on the ground. Ugh. Then, as we are walking out of the bathroom, Miss Uno is walking down the hallway with a different girl, and tells me that the girl with her had an accident, too. Sure enough, I peek in the other stall, and there is pee all over the floor, and this poor girl had pee all down her pant legs.

Fortunately, this all happened around 5, so we were all off the clock and didn’t have to clean up the messes hehehehe.

That week, we went to the water park called Summerland and it was AWESOME. Best field trip so far!!!

Last week’s Monday was also fun. In the morning, we went to the pool… and we lost a kid. A counselor’s worst fear. Fortunately, Jeremy (our PC/ the big boss) was there and so he witnessed the whole thing. Essentially, one of our relatively good kids forgot his bathing suit for the day and was pretty upset. So when I asked him not to sit where he was sitting (because he really wasn’t supposed to sit there), he got all huffy and stormed off into the boys locker room. Of course, I couldn’t go in there, so I got Mr. Hippo, and he went in there… and couldn’t find the kid. Now, the locker rooms are basically the entrance (and exit) to the pool. So when Mr. Hippo couldn’t find the kid, we both got a little worried. We told Jeremy, and basically Jeremy ran back all the way to the center looking for him while me and Spencer ran around (literally ran) area around the pool looking for him.

It ended up that he had stuffed himself into a locker and shut it completely, so neither Spencer or Jeremy thought to check the closed lockers. It was a big deal, and even though it was well-handled (or so Jeremy claims) we still had to change our pool policy because of it. Ugh.

The next day we went to the train museum… and that day also happened to be my birthday. Unfortunately, the train museum was HORRIBLE. Apparently, the staff that checked it out knew that there wasn’t much for the kids to do there, but allowed it to stay on the list anyway. Joy. And, on top of that, I was getting sick. Thankfully, I hadn’t told anyone it was my birthday and pretty much everyone who already knew forgot, so I could sleep after camp without any disturbances. But, of course, literally an hour before midnight, Jeremy sees me and somehow remembers it was my birthday. He gets this whole big group together in about ten minutes and pulls out this half of chocolate cake from who knows where. I almost made it without anyone saying happy birthday too!!!

On Wednesday, I was home sick from work for most of the day. The normal Camp A policy is that if you are sick enough to stay home, you have to go see a doctor, but the big big boss (our program director, Angie) said it was okay for me to just stay home because apparently going to the doctor here means going to the emergency room. Fun.

I tried to go back to work for part of the day, but I just got a fever again so I had to go home. But that night was a big “social” event called Holiday in summertime. We had to sing Christmas songs and stuff. That’s when they gave us our care packages from home, and when I found out how Jeremy so miraculously remembered my birthday the night before. Apparently, my mom (love you mom!) somehow got him to buy cupcakes for everybody (and yes, mom, before you ask, I already paid him back). The cupcakes were bright neon colors (oh yes, including green!) and they were DELICIOUS. Thanks, mom! =)

And then, even though I was sick, the next two days weren’t too bad. On Thursday, we got to go to the gym since it was a black flag day (meaning we can’t really go outside), and it was a lot of fun. I pretty much ran that because I had a bunch of games I wanted to play. We did some fun exercises, then we played line tag. After that, I made them do the drill from basketball where they have to get in their stance and then slide and do fire feet and stuff. I remembered hating that drill whenever we had to do it, but the kids seemed to love it. And, best of all, it tired them all out!!!

On Friday, the kids got to vote for the one counselor they wanted to cream since again we couldn’t go outside and had to do the creaming indoors. It made my day when they all picked Mr. Hippo. He was all bothered because he wanted them to pie Miss Guess Who (our director, Bre) but she was busy, so she couldn’t.

Oh, and before I forget, one of my quieter kids said today “Shake what your momma gave you!” and I thought it was HILARIOUS!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Week 4 of Camp

So this last weekend was AWESOME.

We went to Tokyo on Saturday. We went to Shibuya, then walked over to Harajuku. We saw the world's busiest crosswalk (i think), drank at a Starbucks, visited a music store and a Disney store, the C.C. Lemon Hall, a four story 100 yen store, and the H&M in Harajuku. We met up with Aaron's friend, Ken, and he was really funny. We are going to meet up with him again at Zushi Beach this weekend. He would shout stuff out to the crowd in Harajuku, then go "Shh! Public place, public place!" It was really funny.

And we got back from Tokyo just in time to catch the new Twilight movie at the theater. It wasn't bad, although I was sitting next to Megan, who doesn't really like twilight all that much. She was just there to see taylor lautner without his shirt on. So, when he first walks out with a shirt on, she says "What's he doing with his shirt on!?!?" Then later it was "Well, he's getting closer" because he was wearing a tank top. She was all excited when it came off. Then Allen, who was sitting down the row, says "Wow. Once he took his shirt off, he must have lost it, because it never comes back on."

On Sunday, we got up super early to get to Disneyland (and by "we" I mean Sarah, Aaron, Megan, Allen, Jennifer, and me). We were originally going to go to Disney Sea, but a bunch of girls who went there the day before said we should go to Disneyland instead (but now I am hearing the opposite from everyone else, so I may just have to go back to Disney Sea). But we got there... somehow... and got inside. We went on a ton of rides. Luckily, Sarah knew a bunch of tricks, and we got on Splash Mountain super fast as single riders, which was pretty awesome. We hit up Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates, and It's a Small World. Allen and Sarah also almost made me puke on the teacups. I felt super sick after that. But it was so much fun!

This week at camp hasn't been too bad either. I have Jennifer (Miss Mancala) in our group now, and Allen is actually working at camp, too, now. He's in green room, though, and only for two weeks (because sadly Ikego didn't need him for these 2 weeks). So, Jennifer is sharing my group with me, and she's really awesome. Today, the kids were SO well-behaved... I was a little scared. Wednesday is usually their crazy day. I think they are saving it for Friday....

More later. Bre and Courtney are making me leave, the meanies.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara (Continued)



After the Kinkakuji Shrine, we walked on over to the Rock Garden, which was in Ryoanji Temple, and everyone was all snappish at me because we could have taken the bus instead of walking and I was the only one with the bus map... oops hehe. It really wasn't that great as rock gardens go (there were only like 2 rocks), but the scenery was gorgeous! The picture with the umbrellas is with the Dr. Seuss-like trees.

























After the Rock Garden, we took the bus back toward our hotel and stopped off at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Sadly, it was closed for lunch hour, and we didn't want to wait around, so we just got some pics of the outside.































We really wanted to get over to Osaka by this time, but we still wanted to see Toji Temple. So we went over there, found out it was 500 yen to get in, and decided we could just get pics outside of it. Megan and Spencer both tried to get these mini good luck charms thingies, but I think they jinxed themselves because they put in yennies instead of 100 yen coins like they were supposed to. They just bought themselves some bad luck.




































This was a super creep pawn shop we tried to go into on our way from Toji Temple to Kyoto Station. The storeowner basically told us to leave. And Spencer got pooped on by birds. haha












We finally made it to Osaka. We checked into our hotel, which was pretty nice, and the person at the desk eyed us and was like "Can I see your voucher?" He was very suspicious when we didn't have one, it was kinda funny. Then we went right over to Osaka Castle using the subway, and this is a picture of us trying to figure out where we're going. Then there's us in front of Osaka Castle, all lit up at night.



























We were starving and looking for a place to eat, walking down these super sketch streets. We finally ended up trying this little place on the second floor of a building, and tried out some legit Japanese cuisine.... corn dogs!













And yes, of course, we just had to do some karaoke!!!!



















We got up early Monday morning, and went straight over to Nara. Luckily, we found a Mr. Donut right outside the Nara Station. Spencer tried some green donut things, and said they tasted like grass. I got me a melon soda, and it was delicious (and also a fabulous color)!!!























This is Spencer trying to "get in the map." Apparently, it is some obscure Friends reference, but at the time, he just looked like a complete idiot. So, of course, i got a picture. =)




















And, finally, bring on the reindeer of Nara Park!!! These things were like dogs!!! They followed you around and loooooooved to be pet. If you had deer cookies in your hand (they sold them at the park), you would be molested by deer. I do have quite a few pics of the deer and other things at Nara Park (like a giant Buddha and devil-looking statues) but unfortunately my camera ran out of battery after these two pics, so all my other pics are on my phone.





















But anyway, after Nara, we headed back. We just barely caught our 1:40 train (Sports camp ran in order to catch it) and made it back on base by six, just in time for our 7:00 and 9:00 meetings for camp. Fun fun, i know. But it was an awesome weekend, and I am soooooo glad we went... even if bank account suffered a bit!

Today, Saturday, we went to Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo, and tomorrow we are going to Tokyo Disney. So I best go get some sleep!!!





Friday, July 9, 2010

Pics of Kyoto/Osaka/Nara Trip



This is us on the bullet train on the way to Kyoto. Spencer and Megan got to put their seats back.... it was soooo unfair. But we made it on the right train even though we were suuuuper tired since we had to get up at 5 in the morning.










It was POURING all day Saturday. So Spencer bought the first umbrellas they found (for 200 yen), and I waited and got a super cute umbrella at the 100 yen store. But anyways, this is in front of the first shrine we went to, Higashi Honganji. My favorite part of this building was the rain gutters coming off the roof, because they were made to look like decorative fountains or something.










Then, because after that shrine, we were practically right next to Kyoto Tower, we ended up going there, and I am really glad we did. It was really awesome to see Kyoto from so high up, and we also got to take tons of pics with Tower-chan (the figure in the picture). Also, on the way to the tower, we randomly met up with Sports camp people at the Starbucks there, the first of our many encounters (after the initial train ride, that is).


































So, when we went up in Kyoto Tower, Aaron saw this garden, called the Shosei-en Garden, that he wanted to go to, so we went. It was beautiful there, and we got tons of crazy pictures there (but they would take too long to upload, sorry). I also got thirteen bug bites there, but that's unimportant. The best part was at the end, there was this strange little teahouse thing, and the Japanese people in there beckoned us in. We had to sign our names, and then we just went in, sat down, and they gave us really yummy tea (and I don't even like tea!). Spencer said it was kinda like joining a cult because it was so quiet in there and all the other Japanese people were giving us strange looks. We still have no idea what exactly we signed up to do, but there's the pic of Spencer and Megan at the table drinking tea.























After the garden, we went back to the hotel to put on some dry clothes, and then we went to the Gion district, aka Geisha District, and we saw a Geisha show with Sports camp people, which was pretty cool. It was a little expensive though... oh, well. Then we went straight to bed (after ice cream at Baskin Robbins of course!)





This is the Golden Pavilion, or Golden Shrine, or whatever, but it's the main attraction of Kyoto. It was pretty awesome-looking, but there were so many people there I felt kind of rushed. Anyway, it is called Kinkakuji Shrine, and there I got some charms. A good luck charm... and also a charm to hang in my car for safe driving... What?!? I figure I might need it!


























Wednesday, July 7, 2010

3rd Week of Camp

Well, today was interesting.

I had this one kid choke another kid (and by "choke" I just mean hands around the neck, not really squeezing) at the bowling alley. I pulled him aside and talked to him, and since I never usually have problems with him, I let him go back to bowl after making sure he understood that choking was BAD. 15 minutes later, can you guess what he did??? Yes, he choked another kid. And then when I told him he couldn't bowl anymore, he threw a full-blown tantrum.

So, that added up to three incident reports (two for the kids being choked, and one for the choker), and one accident report (because when the choker was throwing his tantrum, he banged his head on the ground repeatedly and got a bump on his head).

Other than that, though, the day went all right. The kids were a tad crazier than usual, but I think that's just because it was Wednesday. I swear, the kids here have issues with Wednesdays. The kids from Spain had trouble with Mondays, but these kids chose Wednesday as their crazy day. I shall dub it "Wacky Wednesday," in honor of my second favorite Dr. Seuss book (first is "Go Dog Go" because it's awesome, and you know it!).

I got in trouble a bit last week for not taking my breaks (and so did Aaron, btw), so now everyone is being forced to take a break. Honestly, I didn't mind too much today.

Oh, and yesterday, we took the kids to these auditions for the play Princess and the Pea that this children's theater is putting on, and something...uh... interesting happened. The kids were all standing in a giant circle (there were a 100 or so kids there, about a third from Yokosuka Day camp, another third from Ikego and Negishi day camps, and a third just random kids from base). I was walking around outside the circle, keeping the kids quiet, when I hear a voice behind me saying, "Hey, counselor-lady. Counselor lady!" I turn around, and it's one of the kids' dad sitting there. He says, "Do you see that little girl standing by my daughter? See how she has her hands all the way inside her pants?" She really did, btw. I could see her butt, literally. "Well, she keeps rubbing her poopy hands all over my daughter, so could you tell her to keep her poopy hands to herself and to get them out of her butt."

I was like "Well, I'm not sure that girl's part of camp, but I will talk to her anyway." She ended up being from Ikego camp, and as soon as I said something to her, she immediately took her hands out of her pants (thankfully). I just thought that was a funny little story.

I know I said I will tell you more about our trip to Kyoto and Osaka, but I've run out of time (and battery). So, you will just have to wait.

Monday, July 5, 2010

I had an AMAZING weekend!!!

We left base at 5 in the morning on Saturday and didn't get back until 1800 today. Needless to say, i am tired. But I had soooo much fun!!!

There were four of us that went: Aaron, Megan, Spencer, and me. Some sports camp people also went (Krystal, Amanda, and Marcus), but they were in different hotels and in different cars on the trains.

On Saturday, we took the bullet train, the Shinkansen, to Kyoto. We walked around, went up in Kyoto Tower and took pictures with the figure called Tower-chan (you will see when I upload pictures... if i can find my camera cord). Then we saw some shrines and ate some good Japanese food. YUM! At night, we went to Gion (the part of Kyoto that is super old-fashioned, aka Geisha District) and saw a Geisha show. It was pretty awesome.

Sunday we slept in a bit, ate breakfast at Starbucks, and then went to see the Golden Shrine, since that was one of the main attractions in Kyoto. We met some Aussies as well as some high schoolers from DC, randomly ran into sports camp people for the second of many times (the first time was at Kyoto tower). We visited a Rock Garden, Toji Tower, and then we caught the train to Osaka.

I will tell the rest later because I need to go to bed. I just want to say that I love the group I travelled with! Spencer was absolutely ridiculous. He's like a little kid and he kept us laughing the entire time. Megan pretty much went along with all his antics, while me and Aaron just watched and laughed. Megan and Spencer's favorite thing to do was doorbell ditch at the hotel. Oh, and then to press all the buttons in the elevator right before we got off. Like I said, ridiculous.

More later. For now, i'm gonna get some sleep!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Yesterday and today were kind of hard. Today was a little better because we had less kids, but the kids are still just not listening and not paying attention.

This weekend we are going to Kyoto and Osaka, and now that it's getting closer and closer to Saturday, I am getting really excited. The transportation and hotels are already planned/reserved, compliments of ITT. I actually didn't go talk to ITT, but Aaron and Megan did, so hopefully they know what's going on.

My weeks been a little better for a few reasons. My programming is now done, so I have more time to just chillax. Also, I feel like I am getting back into the flow of camp, and it's getting a little easier to deal with the kids, even though some of them are still being little- um... nevermind. Oh, and my week got ten times better yesterday when I went to the Commissary and found the kind of apple juice that I drank all last summer. I looked for it in the States and couldn't find it, so I was super excited to find it here. Yay!

This week was Happy Birthday USA week. So, in the mornings, we've been having the kids vote. Monday was song day, meaning the counselors picked a song and the kids voted on whose was the best. Spencer won. Wednesday was a dance-off, and I got to dance to Cotton-Eye Joe. I got my hick on!!! Spencer won again, though. Today was a hula hoop contest. Can you guess who won??? Spencer. I am beginning to think these kids are biased...

There is this one kid that i seriously want to put in his place. He needs to know that he is not "all that." He's not even "some of that." He is just plain "none of that." He starts fights all the time, and when we played basketball today, he had some serious attitude issues. I had literally just gotten through a whole lecture on sportsmanship ("what is that?" one kid asked), and this little... darling child... goes and hits/pushes someone for taking the ball from him. Let me tell you, he was sitting on the bench two seconds later. OH, and btw, these kids have no idea how to play basketball. RIDICULOUS.

Some things I had to say today during basketball time: "Hey, Dodger, get off that pole and get in the game!" "Call for the ball and they will pass it to you." "Dodger, do you want to play basketball? Because the game is not over at the fence." "If you want them to pass it to you, go to the side of the court that the ball is on!" "No, if you hit the ball out it's the other teams ball." "Pass the ball!!!!" "DODGER EITHER GET OFF THAT POLE AND IN THE GAME, OR SIT ON THE BENCH!"

So, that was just a little taste of my day. =D
I wrote this two nights ago, I was just too lazy to go downstairs and get internet. =)

29 June 2010, Tuesday night

I have been soooooo busy that I haven’t really had time to do much of anything. For the most part, during my “free time” I’ve been programming. My programming was due on Thursday (haha) but I finished it on Sunday morning… oops hehe. And then my PC sent it back to me with corrections to make… ugh. Yesterday (Monday), they told me I had to edit my programming and get it back to them. But we also had two meetings after camp and a lot of prep. So I didn’t finish till like 2 in the morning, but whatever. At least it’s done.

On Friday night after camp, I did absolutely nothing but catch up on sleep and then some programming. On Saturday, all of Camp Adventure Japan went to Kamakura to take a picture in front of the giant Buddha. (Side story: Our PC has been telling us about this trip for a long time, and while it’s not mandatory, most everybody went. When I asked my roommate, though, if she was going, she had no idea what I was talking about. I had to explain the whole thing to her, and she just goes “No, I think I’m going to Tokyo instead.” I asked her who she was going with, cuz we have to have buddies to travel, and she said she didn’t know yet. I was like “uhhhhh… okay.”)

Anyways, so we went to Kamakura, took some pictures, and walked around a bit. It was a cute little town, but it was FULL of people. There were tons of tourists. But the shops were all really cute. Unfortunately, though, I was walking around with the fitness people (there are a bunch of camp A programs here in Yokosuka: day camp, outdoor adventure, fitness, sport, and aquatics). The two fitness girls, Ellen and Laura, are pretty hard core, and we were walking quite a bit. They are go-go-go people, so we didn’t really get much time to linger in the shops. But that was okay, because we made it a lot of places that no one else did. Megan and Brooke (Ikego Day Camp) were walking with us, too. We went to a beach (it was okay as far as beaches go, not great, partly because it was rainy and overcast), and then to this temple that was pretty out of the way. In Kamakura, the main attractions are the many shrines and temples, but this one temple was kind of apart from the others, so there was like no one there. We saw a Japanese cemetery there and even went up on the walkway (which required that you take off your shoes and put on the slippers provided by the temple). It was pretty cool.

On Sunday, me, Megan, and Aaron were supposed to go to Tokyo Disney, but Aaron said he was too tired. Then me and Megan realized we had no idea how to get there, and ITT wasn’t open (which is the travel information place) so we decided not to do anything for Sunday. But that lasted only a few hours, cuz at 10:30 in the morning, Megan comes knocking on my door saying she’s bored and wants to go to Yokohama.

So, me, Megan, and Tama (my roommate) end up going to Yokohama. Me and Megan had been there for the baseball game the weekend before, so we kinda knew where we were going. We realized it was a mistake to bring Tama along, though, because we had completely different agendas. Me and Megan wanted to shop, and so did Tama, but by “shop,” we meant souvenir shopping. Tama apparently meant shoe shopping. She wanted to go to all these expensive looking mall places, and Megan and I were like… no. We walked around in an underground mall for a while, but Tama said it was too expensive, so we went to another train station, and walked by this one mall with all these American stores in it. And guess who wanted to go in? Megan and I tried to make a deal with her, saying that first we could all go ride on the giant ferris wheel, and then we’d shop at Chinatown, but she chose to split up with us and go to the mall. Me and Megan were a tad bit worried because we weren’t supposed to be splitting up… and Tama is the worldliest of people, but what could we do?

So we rode the ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and had some crepes, while Tama was shopping… or so we thought. Apparently, all she actually did was find a bathroom and glance at the shops, she didn’t actually get to shop. Then, when we went to Chinatown, she thought we were mad at her because we wouldn’t go in the mall with her. It was absolutely ridiculous, and megan and I agreed that was the last time we traveled anywhere with her. She was obliviously rude to the Japanese people, and blatantly rude to Megan, and that was it. No more.

I’m glad I got to go on the ferris wheel, but other than that, I didn’t get any shopping done. Bleh. But it was nice to at least get off base for a bit.

Camp on Monday wasn’t too bad, mainly because we got to pick which kids were in our groups. We had some trouble getting the kids’ attention because there were just so many of them (50 in one room) and it was so loud. But other than that, it wasn’t bad. Spencer and Courtney didn’t agree, but I think that’s just because they got some of my kids from last week. My group is soooooo much better this week.

The field trip today was AMAZING, and by that I mean it kept the kids fairly entertained. It was to Fuji Safari Park (so we passed right by Mt. Fuji). First, we sat on the bus and drove through the park and saw a bunch of animals. Then we had lunch, and walked around and saw more animals. There were two extra hours at the end when the kids really had nothing to do, but we took them to the shop to buy things, and then just took them to have snack and played games until it was time to leave. I had a great staff of two people for just my group: Miss Helen and Miss Dawn. (Megan got stuck with Mr. Scott now, which is the MWR staff that I had last week, and he didn’t do anything). I love my staff… they bought me ice cream! Another thing that made my day ten times better was that we got to watch movies on the bus. Woot woot!!! (We watched Cars on the way back, and I just LOVE Mater. Git-r-done!!!!)

I should probably sleep now, but I just wanted to get all caught up on my blog. This next weekend should be interesting, though, because I am going to Kyoto and Osaka with Megan and Aaron. We shall see how it goes…

Friday, June 25, 2010

Thank god for weekends!!!

First week of camp is over. *giant sigh of relief*

It was tough. I don't have a voice right now because I was yelling at the kids so much. I seriously sound like a man right now, just saying.

Anyways, on Wednesday we were supposed to go bowling, but didn't. So Miss Sandi just went and got a movie for them to watch and we had free time. On Thursday, we had no little field trips planned, but it wasn't raining, so we got to take the kids outside a bunch, which seemed to run off a little bit of their extra energy.... for a while. Yesterday (Friday) we had swimming, parents BBQ, and cream the counselor.

Swimming was okay once we got there. But getting there and getting back was a trial. The BBQ with the kids parents started out very nicely. The kids were behaving for the most part. But, of course, that wouldn't last. I went through my whole list of attention getters for that thing.

Then, cream the counselor. Well, the kids loved it, at least. I got whipped cream in my eye!!!!

Haha but yesterday, the little tiny kid in our room that's the class A clinger, he wore this little wet suit thing for swimming, this swimming mask, and a little red swim cap. He looked like the little kid version of Scuba Steve!!! Oh, and a little girl came up to me, looking like she was about to cry, and she goes "ummm.... ummm... ummm.... ummm... ummmm..." and i was like WHAT!?!? And she says "I forgot what I was going to say."

Kids. Jeez.

Our PC and director are telling us that we shouldn't be having free time because that's not why camp adventure is there. But during lunch and snack, i swear there is really nothing else to do because the kids are so used to just doing whatever they want, and its impossible to hold their attention for very long. They just go play whatever things they want until snack's over, then we start up activities again. i think it's just good that they have (for the most part) stopped complaining about the pool table, air hockey, and video games not being open.

Today (saturday) all of camp adventure Japan is going to meet in front of the Big Buddha for a picture (it's apparently a tradition). Our PC has told us about this like 20 times since we got here from the states, but somehow, my roommate had NO IDEA about the trip. Yeah. She's a little oblivious. She's not going, though, because she wants to go to Tokyo, but she doesn't have a buddy to go with because everybodys going to kamakura. Sheesh. And she says she's thinking about joining the navy, and she asked me what officers do. i didn't laugh, i swear.

Tomorrow, me, aaron, and megan are hopefully going to Tokyo Disney. I am suuuuuuper excited. But i seriously need to finish my programming tonight then, or i can't go.... I already stayed up SUPER late on thursday night, and at camp the next day, I was crashing towards the end there. I got a nap, though, but i still have two rooms to program for. Ugh.

Okay, well, I better go. We are leaving soon, i think. I'm not really sure.... hehe.

I miss you guys!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Yesterday we went to the aquarium, and that was... uh... interesting. It was nice because it was a field trip and we got to get out of the SAC center. But literally in the first five minutes of getting into the aquarium, two girls ran into each other, and i had to fill out two accident reports AND call their parents. Luckily, my director was there with me, so she actually called the parents while I wrote up the reports. Then it was crazy cuz we finished with the aquarium at like noon, and the bus left at 4. So then we walked the kids up this tiny little street and all the Japanese people were smiling and saying "kawaii!!!" (which means cute).

Then, on the bus back, one kid wrote "I love sex" in my notebook, and I then had to write another report up. Luckily I had the presence of mind to tear out the page and keep it, because when i had to talk to the kid's dad later, he asked for it. He said he wanted to "make sure it was his kid's handwriting." I was like, yeah. I know who it was. That was hard, though, because you could tell the dad was trying to defend his kid.

But yesterday wasn't too bad because it was a field trip day. Today was CRAZY. It was pouring all day, so we didn't go outside AT ALL, meaning we didn't even get to go bowling. But even before that, the kids were not listening at all. They were being ridiculously obnoxious, and the MWR staff had to talk to them like 5 times because they weren't listening to the Camp A staff at all. Miss Sandi and Miss Tiffani seriously saved our butts today. Ugh.

Haha and we played dodgeball tonight. By we, i mean the camp a staff. These guys are seriously competitive, and they were chucking balls hecka hard. (Btw, a lot of the guys are from sports camp and outdoor adventure camp). After a while, I said I wanted to play Medic Ball, and Brian got everyone to agree to it (thank you brian!!!). But then the west coasters were beating the midwesters BAD, and Jeremy (our PC from Iowa) decided to change the rules to the midwesters advantage. Sheesh. It was very rude.

I am super tired... but i am supposed to be doing programming right now because my programming week is the week after next. so i should go...

Monday, June 21, 2010

First Day of Camp

Whew! First day of camp is over....

No major incidents to speak of (thank god!). There were quite a few problems but nothing big. The programming didn't really work out very well. In the morning we had a bunch of extra time to fill in, and I feel like I used up all my emergency store of games and songs. And it started raining literally right when we were supposed to go outside. Oh, and my club was a major failure because only five kids wanted to do it... ugh.

But other than that, it wasn't bad. I didn't have to fill out any incident or accident reports, which was good. I didn't get super annoyed with any kids either, which was also good, and I only made a couple of them cry (hehe). I really like the people I am working with, Spencer and Courtney, or Mr. Hungry Hungry Hippo and Miss Uno. (I am Miss Domino by the way). Hippo's a big goofball, and Uno is responsible, organized, and does her share. I am glad to be working with them.

There's this one kid who is suuuuper cute, but he's also a Class A clinger. The first time I met him, he randomly came up to me and just stuck his hand up my sleeve all the way to my shoulder. I jumped about a foot in that air and was like "What in the world!?!?" but then that made him cry. So i told him that he had just scared me, and he was like "okay". Then he stuck his hand right back up my sleeve, and we had a long talk about personal bubbles...

We had a few minor incidents of a stolen pencil and a picture being called ugly, and then one kid threw a tantrum when he couldn't play video games (unfortunately there are video games in practically every room).

Haha then I got in trouble for taking yarn that was supposed to be used for "sewing club", but the lady was really nice about it. I have to say, the staff we work with are so far very helpful. Miss Sandi is particularly interesting. She is blunt, no-nonsense lady with a slight southern accent, and she is hilarious (i can't tell if it's on purpose or not, though). Today, one kid shouted out something while she was talking, and she immediately turned to him and said "You are now on my hit list. Watch out."

HA!

Anyways, tomorrow we are going to the aquarium, so we shall see how well it goes. It should go fairly smoothly as long as we are able to keep track of the 40 something kids in our room.... wish me luck!!! I am going to go get some sleep!

Friday, June 18, 2010