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!!!

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...

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!

Finally, we have a break. We got tonight off because everyone was so tired that we all just said we should have our meeting and work on sunday instead of tonight. That tells u how tired we are, that we would give up part of our weekend. It's not like we can go anywhere anyway, though, because we are only allowed to do day trips the first weekend.

Today we had our scavenger hunt, and I used the trains for the first time! It was very confusing, especially when we had to ask for directions and the Japanese people were trying to tell us how to get there, but we did it!!! (Only to come back to base to find out that there was a specific flier on how to get to the place we had gone to... oops...)

My group didn't win for the scavenger hunt, but we did pretty good. We got most everything done. I even got to eat at the Chili's on the base, although it was suuuuuper expensive. Not as expensive as the off base TGI Friday's, though, because there a burger is apparently 1580 yen, which is like 16 dollars. Ridiculous.

People are planning on going bowling tonight since we all got free bowling passes for the entire summer, which is pretty cool.

Oh, and by the way, I should probably tell u a little about the base. It's huge! And they have giant birds called seahawks that swoop down and literally steal food right from your hand! One girl from camp adventure already lost a sandwich. And this base used to be a Japanese base. There are a bunch of old tunnels running underground all throughout the base and the city where the Japanese had their base headquarters and even a hospital. They would use the tunnels as an escape route and for protection in case of attack. Unfortunately, almost all the tunnels are closed up now =(

It's raining here for the first time, really. It rained before a little bit, but that was just sprinkling really. Now, it's pouring down. I walked from the gym to the TPU (where we live) and I got totally soaked!!! It's still really warm, though, so at least i didn't get cold!!!

Can't wait for camp to start on monday!!!

Made it to Japan!!!

For all y'all that don't know, I did actually make it to Japan. I am at Yokosuka Naval Base right now!

Unfortunately, the internet is a tad iffy around here, and this week has been super busy, so I won't be able to go online that much. Maybe I will more once camp starts, which is next week.

This week, we've been working hard. Getting up early everyday (UGH) and working late. It's been a lot of orientation, signing papers, getting ID cards (the sailor getting mine laughed at the picture he took of me), and making posters. We've made it off base twice so far: once to go to the 100 Yen Store (woohoo!) and once to go out to lunch. And from that experience, I can tell you that sushi here is NOTHING like sushi in the states. (Here it's a hunk of raw seafood on a hunk of cold rice).

Yesterday we visited Ikego campgrounds, which is another US base, although it apparently used to be a munitions dump for the Japanese. (They told us that if we found anything looking like an old bomb that we shouldn't touch it. Duh.). It's really pretty there, and we did some paintballing, rock climbing, archery, and hiking (just so we would know what to do when we take the kids there). Unfortunately for me, I won't be going to Ikego, because only the older two groups go there. I have the youngest kids, the first graders, i.e. the cute ones. I met a couple of them yesterday, and they were telling me all about pajama day. I am so excited to get started!

Oh, and poor Aaron finally got his bag today! It was lost in transit, but now it is found! And he also finally got his room (he and Spencer were stuck sleeping on a cot in another guy's room).

Last thing... yesterday I met one of the staff ladies I will be working with, and she is japanese. And I talked to her in japanese!!! Aren't you proud of me??? Then she bowed like three times, so i had to bow back... it was pretty funny.

Anywho, that's it. Hopefully I will be able to write more later. This weekend we will be going on board the Admiral's flagship or something, so that should be fun, and then, camp starts on monday!!!