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!!!

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).