Weekend plus MORE!

Saturday - woke up to go to kamakura, and what an adventure it was! Started the trip by taking the bus instead of the subway, then transferred to the subway. It was quite complicated, but we didn't get lost! haha We had to be at the giant buddha at 2pm, so we had some time and decided to check out some temples and shrines. The first place we visited was the Tokei-ji Temple. This temple was once a sanctuary for women who wanted to divorce their husbands but could not. In the past, if a man wanted to divorce his wife, all he needed to do was send her back to live with her family and they were considered divorced, a woman however did not have that right. So if a woman needed/wanted a divorce and could safely get to the Tokei-ji Temple, she would become a nun there for a period of 3 years (later reduced to 2 years). After that period of time, she would be considered divorced. Men were not allowed to visit or enter that temple. I thought that was a good historical place. It was also really beautiful and peaceful. There were gravestones and little shrines everywhere, and even though the weather was hot, the temple had a lot of foliage, and many places were quite cool. I loved it. We then visited the Meigetsuin Garden/Shrine. We were told the hydrangeas were in bloom, and that's the place to see it in all its beauty. We began seeing the beautiful flowers before we even arrived at the entrance. Inside it was like a whole forrest of hydrangeas! It was SOO breathtakingly beautiful, so we took advantage of it and took many many pictures. We then made our way to the Giant Buddha to meet up with other Camp Adventure Staff in the nearby sites. I was excited to meet all these different people. At the same time I realized how lucky to be where I was placed and the people I'm working with because some of these people really don't like who they work with, or where they're working. There was tension and people didn't want to hang out w/ people. Crazy, I'm glad I don't have that problem. I went inside the Giant buddha, and I didn't realize how big it really was until I was in there. You had to walk down a very narrow flight of stairs, then back up a narrow flight of stairs into the buddha, and there were people trying to go in two directions so it was quite tight. When we put our hands against the metal, or whatever it's made of, it was warm. Took more pictures, then decided to get some food. It was close to 4pm and we were all starving. Found this little family owned restaurant, where I ordered Ramen w/ Gyoza (potstickers) and egg, and it was DELICIOUS! the gyoza isn't as good as the ones at Osaka Osho (the restaurant we near our hotel, but it was still good. We had been up and walking since like 9am, but we decided to explore a bit more. It felt good to be outside of Tokyo and see the different lifestyle of another area. We found a beach, and walked around a bit more, but it was pretty windy. The water however was not cold at all. Nothing like Ocean beach where the water is always cold, ALL THE TIME. lol. Headed back, and even though we were really tired... we decided to go out of course. 

We ended up in Roppongi to go karaoke and met up with friends from davis/sac training who are placed in Zama. The place we went to this time didn't have unlimited drinks, but they had a better selection of American songs. Afterwards, the night was still young, so some of us went to check out some clubs while others went home. It was ridiculously crowded, guys are creepers, and it was just all sketch. We were at a club where asian girls were dry humping each other on the bar wearing nothing but underwear.... O.o I'm over roppongi, not my scene... I'm interested in checking out the clubs in Shibuya, I've heard the atmosphere is different, and the ratio of foreigners is... not as intense as roppongi. Took a taxi home sometime after 2 and didn't go to bed til 3 something... So much smoke, it was quite nasty... and I've discovered my talent for cock blocking. =D haha

Sunday - some people decided to go to a park in harajuku, but I had programming due on monday so I decided to stay in and work on/finish it up. My first time programming a whole week's worth of activities, games, and songs. Each counselor is assigned two weeks to program, and the program is due the monday before that week. I sat myself down and got it done. It was also nice to have that alone time, and I was able to organize and tidy up the room. Luckily I stayed in, cuz it started pouring. I'm sure the people who went had fun, but I'm also glad I had my day to chill out. 

Monday - New kids for Museum week! Most of the japanese boys are gone, and we have new kids that are majority girls. The group was much more calm, and it wasn't as hectic as last week. However, we have two new kids who could potentially be somewhere on the autism spectrum. I noticed something, and when I talked to the director about it, I found out that he actually might be on that spectrum. It'll be interesting working with them, that's for sure. We did a lot of things on improv today just because we all had a really rough week last week and didn't have time to prepare for this week, but surprisingly things worked out, and once again I'm glad to have the counselors I have to work with. =)

I'm really tired, so I'm going to call it a night early tonight... 

Get ready for a LONG BLOG!

So Shibuya... walked around, it's like the "hotspot" for the youth of tokyo, still as busy as ever. Ok, maybe a little less crowded, but still HELLA people. Found a karaoke bar that a lot of people were going into, so we went in, asked for prices, and decided we'd do it. it was 1260 yen per person per hour and we got our own little room, and we didn't find this out until later, but apparently it was unlimited drinks!!! we definitely did not take advantage of this, cuz we didn't know... but if we ever go back, we know now. We left around 1:30, I wanted to walk around a bit more, but it was starting to rain, so we got a taxi and left. My first taxi ride in japan! i don't know if i've said it before, but the doors open and close automatically controlled by the driver so people don't have to open and close the doors. it's also really clean inside.

Sunday was raining, so we all pretty much decided to stay in. It was a nice break from all the walking and I think we all needed it. Also finally got my laundry done. 3 machines for a hotel with people living on 5 floors?? that's kinda ridiculous. Had a meeting to get ready for the coming week, and I've discovered songs I hadn't known before but LOVE! 

Monday - Somehow today was a LONG day. Some of the kids were the same from last week, but we had a bunch of different kids as well. They are definitely a lot rowdier. During swimming, all the japanese boys decided to try and squirt me with the tiny water pistols. It was pretty unfair cuz they had the only two guns of the compound. But I was able to swim away, and swim under them and stuff. They would plot against me in japanese but little did they know, I understood them (tee hee) so I was always one step ahead! ugh son! haha. I also had two of the older girls put it on themselves to be my protector and help guard off the boys. It was exhausting to constantly be swimming then treading. Good workout. For clubs this week I had a dance club, so I had the kids brainstorm ideas for a dance that they would perform at the end of the week. Of course, the songs they were Camp Rock songs and Hannah Montana songs... -.- Went home that day and updated myself on what's cool in the preteen culture. Made a nice little mix for them to dance with, and came up with possible choreography for the kids. I realized doing this that I have some really young kids in my group, so it had to be as simple as possible but cute as well. It was quite fun. Didn't spend too much time on it, but enough.

Tuesday - Some kids are quite irritating... but I guess that's why they're kids. I left my locker key at the hotel (I was going to say "home" but I guess the hotel is my home for now) and couldn't get to my swimsuit, so I couldn't swim. The japanese boys were quite disappointed, they thought I was kidding. Today was a nice day though so I was bummed I couldn't swim, and to top it off, sitting at the edge of the water, I got SO many bug bites. I swear the bugs here are creepers, they're small little black bugs, not mosquitos, and you don't notice them or feel them. I think one bug bit me like a bajillion times before I finally saw it and killed it. It must've bitten me that much because by the end of swimming I had 2 new bites on my neck (NO JOKE!) two behind my left knee, one on my lower left leg, one on my right ankle, one on my left arm, and two on my right elbow -.- it sucks. 

Wednesday - Supposed to be the field trip to Tokyo Disney Sea today (equivalent to Disney California) but it was POURING, so we decided not to go like 30 mins before the kids arrived.I was SOAKED and we realized the kids would not want to do ANYTHING all day in the rain, so we decided to switch today and tomorrow.I was kind of bummed cuz I didn't bring my laptop and the song I had for the club, or more moves to teach the kids since I thought we'd be on the field trip today. But we made it work, and I pulled stuff out of my rear. Plus, I taught the older girls a bit of what I came up with, and they added stuff they wanted to do, and so it was nice. They seem to really be enjoying it and having fun with it. I'm glad.

Thursday - Much nicer day, so we went on the field trip. Miss Sprout and I had the youngest of our group and OMGOSH talk about exhausting, we had one camper that's a major space cadet and if someone wasn't holding his backpack (yes, like a leash) literally guiding him around the park, I swear he'd wander off and get lost.... >.<>

I truly believe disneyland is a magical place. Sure, they charge you an arm and a leg for magic, but it's amazing. It really is like being in another world, another place. The people are so amazing, it's just such a happy place, and the people I went with added to the magic, and it was probably the best way to end a long day worrying about losing a kid. To top it all off, Japan LOVES stitch, and I LOVE Japan for loving stitch! I have never seen SO many stitch items before.. EVER. Disneyland and even the disney store does not worship stitch as much as Japan does, and for that, Japan won me over (their decorations and set ups are also much more elaborate too). I went NUTS and I wanted to buy sooo much! But my friends cut out so much, and I only ended up with three things. I also bought some small stuff for my grandma and others. I found STITCH EARS!!!!! Instead of Mickey Mouse ones that's like everywhere in disneyland, they actually have stitch ears, which i've NEVER seen before, so I had to get it even though it was pretty pricey. I figured it's something I won't really be able to get in the states, and I've been working hard (especially today) so I deserve a treat and I got them. I wanted to get so much more though... but it's ok. One day I will find all that stuff, and if I can't, I'll just have to go back to Tokyo Disney for it.

To end off one of the most perfect nights, I came home and did more camp stuff! No matter how tired I get, or how much I complain about these kids, it's amazing what a smile of theirs could do. 

Friday - today, everyone was just tired. On the usual walk back to the center after picking up the kids from the gate, one of the girls said something that really shocked me. She was talking to another girl, and the other girl asked her if she spoke japanese. The girl said she didn't so the other girl asked why not, and the girl said something along the lines of "my dad's british and my mom's japanese. I speak english and not japanese because that's my mom's language and you learn your dad's language, not your mom's" I was literally like O.O the other girl then said something about "Oh, it's because you're also a girl right?" Seriously?!?! That kind of upset me. We have an african american girl at camp that speaks flawless japanese, and she was saying today how she looks like her dad, but her baby brother looks like her mom. I thought that was very cool. Siblings, but one looks african american and the other looks asian. 

Panther cubs came up once again to our blitz in the morning and then our club presentations after lunch. They are so adorable! Anyway, the campers in my club asked me to stand in the back while they're performing and do the moves so if they forget they can see me, so of course I did. They did such a GREAT JOB! It was adorable, and they all looked like they enjoyed themselves, so I will consider that a success! hehe

At the end of the day, while we were taking down decorations and putting up next week's, a camper comes back and asks if we've seen his brother (the space cadet mentioned earlier). They usually walk home together, but apparently today he left without his brother, and when he got home, his brother wasn't there. We called the lady in charge of the camp on the compound who called their mom. She didn't seem too worried and told us we don't need to look for him. But we did anyway. The nanny seemed a lot more worried than the mother. We take this kid to Tokyo Disney Sea and back without him getting lost, and he gets lost on the compound. We knew he had to be on the compound because since he was a kid, the guards at the gate would not have let him out by himself. So we looked around, and I asked the camper if he was his brother, where would he go. He said something like "I'd go home, because I don't know my way around the compound." Great. -.- So I asked if he'd go to the pool, or the park, or the pond, but the camper insisted his brother doesn't know his way around, and he's the type of person that would keep wandering and walking around if he got lost. O.o So I asked him if maybe he followed another camper home, who would he go home w/? And we went to that camper's house and asked the nanny if she's seen his brother. The nanny said he wasn't there, but later on we find out he WAS there. He had been in the other camper's room with the door closed and the nanny didn't notice... what a nanny she is. Another week over!

Random things:

- people are ARE polite here! this guy on a bike was passing a pedestrian walking towards him and he bowed on his bike. I thought that was cool

- the girls here still wear heels, even at disneysea. CRAZY huh?? As much as I love japan, I doubt I'll ever truly fit in here because they put in so much effort into their appearance, and I like wearing heels once in a while, but I wouldn't live in them like these girls seem to do. 

- It's been almost 3 weeks and I haven't had tapioca. Can you say withdrawls?? I also miss playing MJ w/ my lovers! 

- the fruits and vegetables in japan is a rare commodity. Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but it's ridiculously overpriced and if I go broke it'll be b/c of either fuits or stitch items. 

I'm LOVING it here! but I miss everyone at home... I wish the two could merge... I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks already.

On my feet nonstop

Skip Thursday, just another usual day at work.

Friday - FIELD TRIP!!!! Went to Summerland, a waterpark in Tokyo. The bus ride over, i showed some of the kids the rubik's cube i brought and they LOVED it, they couldn't figure it out though, but it kept them quite on the bus ride. then they were like "Ms. Honeydew, we're starting to feel carsick" so i told them to give me back the cube and to close their eyes, rest them, and not think about anything. they soon fell asleep, so i was able to dose off during the last hour of the bus ride =)

we arrived at the park, and the directors got off the bus to figure out the tickets and stuff, leaving me alone with 7 kids. Well, right when the directors left, one girl stood up and said "Ms. Honeydew, I don't feel good." She looked like she was about to throw up, so I told her to get off the bus and find a bush. She just stood there, and literally right after I said that, she just threw up... all over the seat and the floor. I got all the kids off the bus, cuz the smell itself made me gag, and i told the bus driver. She got a bunch of paper towels and handed it to me. -.- I got back on the bus to clean it up, but it was more than i could take, and i had to fight really hard not to gag... maybe even throw up myself. that's one thing i can't deal w/.... bleh. Not to mention the kids waiting outside the bus wanted to go inside and saw all the other groups (from the other bus) go inside, so I was trying to manage the kids and deal w/ the puke. that was a bit hard. then the other bus driver, the cooler one, Take (ta-kay) came and took over the puke cleaning, THANK GOODNESS. 

the water park is HUGE but we only stayed in one small area of the indoor section (cuz there's an indoor and an outdoor area O.O) it was all shallow water, so we didn't have to worry too much about which kids could swim and which couldn't. We also took them to a waterslide which is pretty fun. The funny thing was that there was no lifeguard at the top of the slide. there was a lifeguard chair... but nobody there. so we regulated when the kids can go down and switched off. After lunch, we went to a place called "the thunder room", which is pretty much like a cove with small waterfalls and a HUGE hot tub, more like a hot pool. And every 10-15 mins or so the lights would dim, lights would flash like lightening, we'd hear thunder, and then it'd start to rain over a portion of the room. it was pretty cool and the children LOVED it. They all knocked out on the bus ride home, PERFECT.

That night we went to dinner. Found a cute lil soba restaurant, and had AMAZING food. (Stanley, i took pix for you and will post it on facebook soon) then we were walking around and ran into two random skateboarders. We stopped to talk to them, and it came up that you can walk around the streets w/ open alcohol and it's totally legal. So we went into the corner liquor store and some of us got something to drink just so we can walk around with it. we continued walking around a bit, sat on a bench on a corner of a street for a bit just talking, and then came back to the hotel. We were hanging out when around midnight, we got a call from a friend saying she's planning to go to the fish market and leaving at 5am O.o we decided to go, but we didn't exactly sleep. We ended up talking til close to 2am.... then had a sleepover so we wouldn't oversleep! haha no joke.

Saturday - Fish market 530 am- approx. 8 am. will post pictures later, it was pretty intense. Got back and took a nap, SOOO TIRED. Met up again to go to Shibuya. Walked around there, went to the busiest intersection of the world! i swear i thought i'd get lost cuz i blend in w/ all the other asians here and if i get lost it'd be that much harder for my friends to find me... who usually stick out, but in this crowd, ANYONE could get lost. Walked around and ended up at this shopping center. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but I found this pretty dress that's dark grey, typical shirley dress for $20. I was going to get it, but then my friends had me try on another dress that's a bit more outside my comfort zone. it has color and a bit of a pattern for the skirt part. anyway, that was $15, and it didn't look bad, it's just not something I'd normally wear. My friends convinced me to get it, so i did. I also found this cute little jacket for $20 that's grey and has a removable hood. That was more of a shirley buy, so i got both =D haha I plan to find the forever 21 in harajuku just to see what kind of stuff they have, if the prices are similar, etc. I wonder if they sell more japanese style clothes, or if it's like a duplicate in america. I will find out. =P

Tonight, going out to check out the night life in Shibuya, about to leave soon, so I kinda rushed through the last part of the blog. Pictures will be up later.

CAMP ADVENTURE

Monday - My first day of camp! I was very excited to meet the kids. We ate at the breakfast buffet that morning to make sure we had enough energy and food in us for the day. At the gate to pick up the kids, we were about 30mins early and didn't really realize it, so the panther cub counselors hadn't arrived yet. Panther cubs are for the younger kids ages 3-5. A car pulled up to drop off panther cub kids, and they weren't there yet, and we didn't know we weren't supposed to check them in, so my director wrote down their names to check them in, but when he opened the car door to get the kids out (cuz the parents don't get out of their car), both girls started BALLING and just crying their eyes out. They were twins, Miho and Shiho (SOOOO CUTE). I went over to help out and I carried one girl out of the car, and then the other girl held up her arms and walked toward me, even though she was still crying. So for a brief moment I had the cutest 4 yr old asian twins in my arms!! But I put them down, and walked them into the gate, and by then they had settled down. *Heart melts* Anyway, fast forward to when we have all our kids. First day of blitz, pretty tiring, and kind of shaky, but not too bad. I can immediately tell who the attention seekers are, who the drama queens are, the good kids, the not-so-good kids, and all that stuff. Just highlighting the interesting moments. I asked the kids why they thought my name is Ms. Honeydew, and one kid made a comment about my skin or something?? hahah I told her my skin is a bit darker than honeydew... and not quite as green. LoLz -.- Then a girl in the other group (cuz we split up the kids into two groups and have two counselors in charge of each group) wrote Mr. Eggplant (another counselor) a card that said "Hello Mr. Eggplant. I don't like eggplants, but I like Honeydew. Have a great summer!" He showed it to me and I LOVED it! I like that girl already! hahah

Then at lunch, we had a kid have an allergic reaction... not to something he ate though. Apparently he's really sensitive to peanuts and just being around peanuts and his face around his mouth had hives all over it. He knew of his own allergies and had benadryl, so we called his dad and let him take his own medicine, which helped almost immediately. Unfortunately for him, he had to eat his snack in another room so he wouldn't have another reaction. That was pretty much the worst thing that happened that day. After lunch, things were pretty chill, we had club time, then swimming, then snack, then closing, and the kids leave. I'm leading the art club, and I had the kids make "rainbow fish" with tissue paper and stuff. The kids were pretty into it, and it was pretty chill. 

The fruit plate thing I sketched earlier needed to be colored in, so I was working on it, and some kids asked me if they could help me color it. As reluctant as I was, I let them and just gave them basic instructions. It turned out really nicely, and after work I touched it up a bit and put it up. Some kids drew me pictures already, so I brought them back to my hotel, so I can put it up and make it more homey. It was very sweet of them, and the pictures they drew of all the counselors, we put it around the picture I drew. Everything's looking really good at the center, and I had a good day overall. =D

Tuesday - A lot smoother, getting into the rhythm of things. Swimming everyday is not so bad, but it's been kind of cold because of monsoon season or whatnot. Nothing really exciting. It was raining that night, a storm actually, there was extreme lightening, but it wasn't very cold... and it was quite pretty. Played catch phrase that night with the other counselors, which was fun. 

Wednesday - Can't believe it's already been 3 days... it feels like it went by so quickly. Today we had the panther cubs join us for blitz, so they watched us. They are soo cute. =) Anyway, we also had a bbq today. We do a bbq every week for the kids, and it's usually on friday, but since our field trip this week is friday and not wednesdays, we had the bbq today. Pretty yummy, and we get to eat the food too. Today was a much nicer day, probably because of the storm last night, so swimming was really nice. The pool has a retractable roof so that's cool too! haha. After work, I went to work out at the hotel w/ the camp director. I'm glad I have someone to work out with, maybe that'll get me to work out more often. That about wraps it up... field trip friday to a water park!! that'll be exciting! =D

FIRST WEEKEND IN JAPAN!!!!!!!!

My first weekend in JAPAN! =D

I swear I'm loving this place! Friday night a bunch of us went out to walk around and explore, and we ended up walking through roppongi, but we were all pretty tired, so we didn't really go out. i realize that updating is a lot harder after the fact, and i should probably update as soon as i can so i don't forget details and stuff. oh well, next time i will. anyway, then people went back to the hotel, but 4 of us decided to stay out and walk around a bit more. we wanted to find some bar or something to chill and talk and hang out, but there weren't any of those around our hotel =( so we walked into a 7-11 and tried to ask a guy that speaks no english to point us in the direction of the closest bar/restaurant. he said a couple things i didn't understand, then he said roppongi (we live in hiroo). so i asked him, i'm very proud of myself btw, but i asked him "are there no places in hiroo?" haha and he understood me and said a name of a place and we thanked him and walked down the block and found a place that looked like what he said cuz i couldn't make out the whole word. we went in, couldn't read a thing. it was a nice place, chill vibe, we had to take our shoes off, it was cool. we couldn't read a thing on the menu, i saw something that said "lemon" and i got excited i could read that, so we ordered two lemon juice drinks, and we pointed to some random appetizers. it was SO GOOD, the sauce was delicious. it was some kind of omelette w/ pork in it, and the sauce on top. LOVED it.

Saturday- went to the imperial palace, walked around, it's so big and beautiful. like a bit of nature in the middle of a busy city. apparently the emperor lives inside, and so we're not allowed in, but we walked around the gardens and stuff. met random missionary people, took lots of pictures, all in all, it was relaxing. the REAL fun began. we went to roppongi to check out the scene. it's crazy there btw, it's an international hotspot, and there are people on the street trying to get people to go to their clubs or their bars. anyway, so we ended up in this one place, and it was A LOT of fun, dancing, taking pictures, all that good stuff. some of us wanted to check out other places, and others of us wanted to leave. so some people left, and 6 of us stayed, cuz we need at least a group of 6 people in roppongi at night (it's a new rule b/c of an increase in "incidents" in roppongi) so we went to this irish pub bar place, and there was a rugby team there or something. they were all dressed up in crazy costumes, we saw a pumpkin, skeletons, an "elvis" and other weird looking guys. so of course we took a couple pictures (it's on facebook now) i personally wanted to stay out later, but the last train was at 1230 and everyone else wanted to leave before the last train so we wouldn't have to call a cab or whatnot. kinda wanted to stay out later, but not really disappointed cuz i had a fun night, and i got to see what i wanted to see, so we left. Plus, we had plans to go to harajuku the next day, so i wanted to be rested for that!

Sunday- today, we went to harajuku, to see the people get all dressed up, go to the 3 floor 100yen store (think a GINORMOUS dollar store w/ EVERYTHING) like the daiso at serramonte! that was our first stop. there was literally a WALL of STITCH products! I WENT NUTS! so excited i filled my basket w/ stuff... NO JOKE. i was there for a LONG time. i also had picked out some other stuff, but i spent my whole time there. they had loofas, face towels, hankerchiefs, eating utensils, writing utensils, a STICKER BOOK! (i really wanted that, but realized i'm turning 21 this year, so i put it back) and just soo many other things. I'm not really sure how long i was there, but someone came up to me and told me everyone else had left -.- he then asked me if i was really going to get everything in my basket. i realized i probably shouldn't, that i don't need another stitch chopsticks (although now that i think about it, maybe i do, so i can use one pair, but keep a spare for decoration purposes, cuz the one i use would get... well... used) anyway, so he had my put A LOT of the stuff back, and i narrowed it down to three things. thinking back again though, i should've gotten that stitch coin purse. i really don't NEED it cuz i have one already, but the one i have is leopard print, totally not as cool as a stitch one. oh well, i might go back =D anways, so i narrowed down my choices then we left to catch up w/ the rest of the group. 

We went to a temple/shrine place. saw a wedding ceremony, so traditional, so beautiful. prayed at the shrine (my mommy would be proud of me=)) and then went to check out the harajuku girls at this bridge that they hang out at. OH! and i also had a crepe! SOOO YUMMY. people dress in the CRAZIEST outfits, we even saw some stores that sell the type of stuff they wear, and i was really tempted to buy some dress up clothes that i could use for halloween. if i see any sailorscout costume type things i might just have to buy it. =P A reoccurring theme here, but people were tired, and wanted to head back, but i wasn't ready yet, so me and two other girls stayed back, and we walked around some more. there are stores everywhere, but japanese fashion is interesting... so didn't really see any clothes that i like... or clothes that are affordable. just as i was about to give up hope of finding anything, i found a shoe store!!! and to top it off, it was like 2 pairs for 3000 yen so that's like $30 for 2 pairs of shoes w/ tax included (which is like 5%) so i bought two pairs of shoes! sandals that felt really comfortable on, and a pair of gold pumps =D the shoes were 1429 a pair, plus the 5% tax, made me really happy! haha. after that, it looked like it was going to rain soon, so we came back. there were HELLA girls holding forever21 bags so i swear there's a forever 21 there, and i want to check it out to see how different/same it is w/ our forever 21 stores, and see if they integrate japanese fashion w/ american. I'm assuming they do, because i don't really see japanese people wearing american fashion and if they sold just american fashion, they might not have much business. anyway, i definitely plan to return to harajuku, find forever, and walk around some more. there was so much to see, and not enough time to take it all in.

So it was a good thing we came back, cuz it did end up raining. Stayed in tonight, tired from all the walking this weekend. hung out w/ camp friends, talked a lot, bonded, laughed. It's kinda weird for me being the only asian when we hang out. there's another part asian girl, but she doesn't really hang out w/ us. Interesting experience, especially since when we go out, i can spot any of the other people cuz they just stand out, but if they lose me, i totally blend in =P hehehe. anyway, tomorrow is when camp REALLY starts and we get to meet the kids! so i'm really excited, and i should probably sleep now cuz it's almost 1 here.... alrighty then, GOOD NIGHT!

went clubbing in roppongi tonight =D too tired right now... more stories about my first weekend in tokyo.... 2m... =P

This morning it was raining on my way to work. Japanese women are amazing. They still wear heels even in the rain. Hella hard core. I've been taking a mental note or and noticing almost all women's shoes since I've been here and I've decided Japanese shoes are either incredibly cute or just plain ugly. I need to find out where the people with the cute shoes get it and go get me a pair or too. It's funny cuz almost all of them wear socks/stockings w/ shoes. I think it's funny, but maybe that keeps it more comfortable so they wear it for everything, even casually. I could never do that, but who knows, maybe Japanese shoes are different from American and it's more comfortable or something. I realize I'm rambling about shoes, so I'll stop now.

I had a really weird dream last night, and I'm going to post it so I don't forget about it. I was part of a friend's wedding so I had to be home for it. There was a wedding tradition where the bridal party is in like a maze of some sort and the bride has to give directions to the bridal party to get them all out, but there's a time limit and as it gets closer to the end walls begin to lower, blocking off paths and ultimately trapping whoever is still inside within the walls of the maze. Kind of freaky, I know. Anyway, I was trying to get out, and she was giving me hints and clues and stuff, and I remember I had to almost army-crawl under a partition that was being lowered, and I finally got out. But as I was walking around the maze, I could hear and I realized there were still 2-3 people inside! O.o I can't really remember what happened then, but I remember that I needed to get back to Japan cuz I start work monday. So I was trying to catch my flight, but something came up that I had to do with Julley I believe, so I pushed back my flight and extended my stay. Then when it came down to it, I really needed to go, but I remember Julley wasn't able to help me. Then I looked at the time and saw that it was 11, but my flight was at 10! So I was freaking out a bit, wondering how I'm going to get back now, and  I have work on monday, but I'm stuck in the states. I vaguely remember asking Justin to drive me to the airport, and I think I had some other people try to drive me too. It was almost as if things kept coming up that prevented me from getting to the airport to leave. Ironically, I'm already in Japan. At least I don't have to worry about missing my flight to Japan then. heh.

Today was so much more painting, I took LOTS of pictures, and they should all be up at the end of the week.  I'm so proud of what I've accomplished, and the other counselors in my group are AMAZING. Together, we make a pretty cool team. I'm excited to see the kids cuz I feel we're a pretty strong team, we've been working really well together, being incredibly productive, and everything looks so great so far I'm really excited about monday.

I'm so exhausted... I need food... I need cute shoes

Painting Parties

It's hard coming up with titles for these entries...

Today was just all painting and decorating the place. Everything's finally starting to come together, I totally fell asleep earlier, and just woke up, so this will be a short entry, so I can go back to sleep. My inner creativity/artistic side surfaced and things just turned out really nice! I'm excited to post pictures of the place where I'll be working all summer, and I might do that tomorrow if I remember... have time... or isn't too tired. So yea, nothing too exciting, just painting, painting and more painting! Ok, back to bed for me.

First Night of Exploring

So tonight I did NOT fall asleep! =) But before I talk about my night, let's recap my day. Nothing too exciting, moved a lot of camp stuff from storage... A LOT of boxes and a lot of supplies. Sorted through all of them and just began organizing and setting up the different areas for camp. Maybe I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. Pretty tiring work, but it was fun when I was able to sort through and organize all the arts and crafts stuff and clean it all up in my OCD way =)

For lunch, we all made mac n cheese and ate together, so that was nice. We got a lot done, went over some songs, and that was pretty much our workday. After work, I got a phone. Apparently you can rent a phone here. You pay a deposit of $60, which you get back at the end when you return the phone, and you pay 3,000 yen for 30mins of talk time. We're not sure if it's unlimited texting within the plan (softbank) so we have to check, but it's free for me to get incoming calls, meaning it doesn't go into my minutes. When the lady helped me activate my phone, she said I had over 7,000 yen worth of minutes, which means someone probably didn't use up all the minutes they bought and now I have them! Sweet! Too bad there's nobody I really need to call or talk to. But anyway, if anyone in the states wants to call me, you just need a calling card, which shouldn't cost too much for minutes, and I'll give you my number and we can set up a time or something ! OR..... we can just set up a time and webcam! But the days are completely opposite and you would either have to stay up pretty late, or get up pretty early.... 

Anyway, so we went out to eat today, everyone except the three directors =(. We all took a picture in front of the fountain in front of our hotel, which is my profile picture. We went to Roppongi and had dinner at a sushi bar. It was interesting.... LoLz and LOTS of fun. Our chef kept trying to talk to us in japanese, so I decided to practice what I know, and I asked him some questions, and he said a lot, but the only things I understood was that he's not japanese, he's from arabia/iraq or something like that, and he asked if I was japanese, and I said no, then he asked if my friends and I are American and I said yes. He was cool though.

After dinner we walked around and for a 100yen store, which is equivalent to our dollar stores. I found something that TOTALLY made my trip! haha, I found a STITCH RUBIK'S CUBE!!!!! I was sooo excited! =D hehe especially also since it was almost equivalent to $1 yAy!! THEN we went to a place called "Vortex" which is like a huge arcade/casino. Surprisingly, there were quite a bit of older men there playing games and stuff as well as the younger people. There were those photo booth things, so of course we had to do one, and once we can scan it or something I'm sure it will get posted somewhere. There was a crane machine game thing with a bunch of keychain type things, which I love playing, so I tried it and I GOT A STITCH KEY CHAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D I definitely jumped and screamed for joy and excitement when I won it!

Walking around a bit more, we ran into a DRUNK japanese guy who was HILARIOUS, and also asked me if I was japanese. I said no, then he responded that he was japanese... in japanese... duh? Lolz. Then we ran into him a little later down the street, and it looked like his friend came to get him and was trying to get him home, but he was just rambling talking to us, saying we're his friends and stuff, and he bonked one of the Camp A people on the head. It was soo funny, I understood his friend yelling at him saying "dame!" hahah and he responded that we're his "friends so it's ok". Then his friend dragged him away apologizing profusely. I love understanding bits and pieces of the language. 

We found a fruit/grocery store, walked around and found some other cool little stores, then headed back to the hotel. Tonight was fun. I can barely believe I'm actually here. I'm so happy I get to try and use what little japanese I remember, and I love that I found stitch here! Today was a good day, and this is just a dream come true. I can't wait for camp to actually start so I get to meet the kids too. 

I do have pictures, but I think I'll post all my pictures at the end of the week or something and go from there.... haven't decided yet. Sleepy.... it's like 10:30pm... haha I've been waking up at 7 and going through my whole day, and I need so much sleep. I've never been so relaxed before. I've been getting enough sleep, in the two days I've been in Japan, my eyes feel completely better, it's pretty amazing. I'm surprised I've been updating everyday too... but we'll see how long this lasts. =D

-SHY

First Day of Orientation

Not much to say about today, I totally FAILED

Woke up around 7am, tried to buy poptarts from the vending machine for breakfast only to have the machine eat my money -.-

After I showered, I tried using the hairdryer, but it started smelling like a fire, and there was smoke coming out of the hairdryer.... -.- x2

Wanted to go out to eat with Camp A people and maybe even walk around Japan for a bit tonight, but took a "nap" and didn't wake up for 4 hours...... -.- x3

I realized I left some stuff at home... when I re-packed, I must've forgotten to check all the pockets, because one of the things I left at home is my connector thing that'll allow me to move my pictures from my camera to my laptop. -.- x4

Luckily, someone else here has a canon and is willing to let me use her adapter thing... so maybe it's just -.-  x3.5 LoLz

Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Went to the U.S. Embassy today to get my ID badge, and my subway pass, and a lot of information. It was almost too much to take in at once. It didn't really hit me that I was actually here until I had to take the subway home from the compound where I'll be working for the next 10 weeks. The subways are so much nicer, and apparently Japanese people who take the subway home don't talk at all, and it's more like a winding down time and they fall asleep or they kind of just sit there, so when 11 Americans got on the subway, it was kind of hard for all of us to be completely silent. We made a good effort, and it wasn't too bad, so that was nice. The subways are much cleaner, and the crowd size just reminds me of SF Muni, but then again we didn't ride it during the rush, which might be worse. Apparently there are some perverted Japanese men out there that would cop a feel during rush time, so as a result there are female only cars during specific rush hour times. Go figure.

Luckily, we have access to the commissary at the compound, which is like a grocery store that carries American products and what not, and we even get a store credit for $200 to buy food. So we stocked up on a bit of breakfast/lunch foods for the next couple of days. That $200 will help out quite a bit.

Had meetings, talked about expectations, logistical stuff for the next 10 weeks, started planning stuff out, and tomorrow I guess we're going to start preparing and setting up for the kids, so that'll be exciting.

Ok, it's past midnight, and I should probably try to get to bed... so hopefully there will be more exciting posts and pictures next time!

-SHY (tee-hee I just realized it spells out "shy" something I'm totally not ^.^)

JAPAN

I am officially in Japan!!!

My flight was not too bad, I was able to switch my seat from a middle seat to an aisle seat in the middle section of the plane, and luckily the seat next to me was empty so I had space to move around and stuff. There were a couple of other Camp Adventure people on my flight, and we all found each other right away because of our awesome uniforms. Didn't run into any problems at all, so that was good. 

For all the LOWELL people out there: this is how you know it's a small world, I ran into Mr. Shimmon and Mr. Schwarz on the same flight as me to Japan... CRAZY. They were on some school-related trip fro econ or something to interview various people on all the islands of Japan?? Something like that.

My eyes are still bothering me, but they seem better. Maybe because I finally got sleep? Hopefully they'll get better soon. 

MORE cool stuff: I saw Lady Gaga!!!!!!! yepp apparently she was flying to Japan and I got a picture!! haha, she's really soft spoken. It was kind of cool. I wanted her to sign something, but I realized I had nothing.

After I got off my flight and met up with people going to my site, we had to wait another couple of hours to collect all the people staying at the New Sanno Hotel, so we were there for a bit. The drive to the hotel is about an hour or so, and we arrived at the hotel around 8:30pm here... not sure what time it is back home. Anyway, I'm so tired, and should get some sleep, just wanted to give an update that I made it and all is well. The hotel is AMAZING and I can't wait to explore it and take pictures of it all tomorrow!! Until then...

-Shirley Honey Yang