MT. FUJI in less than 6 hours!

MT. FUJI sunrise hike, here I come! =D

A weekend out of a postcard

So this weekend has topped all previous weekend, and it was just plain amazing! During the week, Katie, Becca, Lena and I went to check out the park that’s right by our hotel. We stopped by this café and sat and talked and it was really nice. Then we went to the park and walked around. Who knew something so beautiful existed in the heart of a busy city like Tokyo. We were in the park as the sun was setting which totally added to its beauty.

Tuesday - after camp, we decided to check out this festival Ricah was telling us about. I wore the dress I bought for 1000 yen at the japanese hippie festival! To keep this blog short, I'll keep this part short. It was beautiful. Music, dancing, food, definitely not like any festival in the US. Everything was really Japanese style, instead of selling hot dog on a stick, they had octopus on a stick. The taiko drumming and dancing was mesmerizing, and people seemed to just join in, so at one point we did too. That was fun. There were a bunch of lanterns that were lit, which looked beautiful once the sun set, and it was fun just going around trying new things and eating different things. 

We went to a scare house type of thing, and I notice in Asia they don't have as many regulations about what you can do to customers. They had things popping out at you, people dressed all creepy and hid and not even jumped out at you, but like crept out and it was kinda spooky. There was a group of japanese girls in front of us that kept getting really scared and would back out, so we passed them, and somehow one of the girls latched onto my arm and followed us through the house. The creepiest part that definitely scared me the most was the last corner, I saw the dude all dressed up standing there, and he didn't move... at all... we walked past him really quickly and I thought it was odd he didn't try to scare us. There were people behind us earlier, but I didn't hear them anymore so I thought the dude scared them and they got left behind. I turn around to see, and that CREEPY dude had been following me and was literally RIGHT over my shoulder! wearing a full-on costume with mask, and it was just creepy. Since the girl was latched to my arm and walking in front of me and behind Hank, I instinctually grabbed her and turned so that I put her between me and the dude. She freaked. Oops =P

The field trip this week was to Zoorasia. Nothing too exciting, just like any other zoo. Except it was ridiculously hot and even the animals were too hot cuz they were all asleep and not moving…

Friday – Mr. Eggplant’s birthday! Everyone (including the campers) made Jeff a banner and surprised him. We also had a cake for him. And after an amazing day at camp what do we do?? GO OUT AT NIGHT! We went to dinner at TGIF’s chipped in and bought him some drinks. Then, some people headed home, others went to Kyoto, and the rest of us decided to do whatever Jeff wanted. He chose karaoke, so we went to Shibuya, found an even better place than the other two, and sang our butts off! A bunch of people are sick, so they didn’t want to stay out too late, and some of us had plans to go to Nikko, so we tried to catch the last bus home, and we made it. 

Saturday – Katie, Rachelle, Lena and I headed out to Nikko. This place is amazing beyond belief. Words and pictures will never do it justice. We got a hostel, my first time staying in a hostel, so I was pretty excited. The hostel was HELLA nice, it had a kitchen, the bedroom with 4 bunk beds, a little common room, a shrine, and bathroom. We got our stuff in and decided to explore a bit. By the time we got to where all the temples and shrines were, it was close to 4 and a lot of the places close at 5, so we didn’t feel like paying the entrance fee to walk around for only 1 hour. We explored the free temples and shrines, and then decided to hunt out an Onsen. We asked around for some places with Hot Springs, and we were directed to this one spa that was fairly inexpensive. On the way we came across a concrete block yard and decided to play on it and take pictures. Random, but fun.

We found the Onsen, and it was SO relaxing. 500 yen to get in, 250 yen for a small towel, and you can stay until it closed at 8pm. This place had an outdoor area, indoor area, sauna, and a place to just chill. We had to be completely naked, which was weird at first, but everyone was doing it and it was normal, so it didn’t seem like such a big deal. It felt really cleansing though just to be free and to relax. We stayed there for a bit, but after a while, it got too hot for me, so we set off to go back to the hostel.

Earlier, we had bought two watermelons and each got these huge sushi burritos and had that for dinner. It was very delicious. We also met two guys who were staying in the hostel as well. They were kind of weird… We all wanted to optimize our trip, so we went to bed around 10, and made plans to catch the first bus at 6:30am to head up to the lake and the waterfall that Nikko is known for.

Sunday – we got up to the Lake and it was AMAZING, I can’t even begin to describe the beauty and the fresh air, but I took LOTS of pictures. We went to the waterfall first, and then decided to go on a hike. We set off not quite sure where we’d end up.  It was uphill the ENTIRE TIME. 

The trail was also 1-1.5 ft wide, and we were literally walking through tall bamboo type vegetation. It was green everywhere. I tripped a couple times of course… almost died… but in the end I was still standing and the least injured. Ironic since I was the clumsiest and tripped the most. Everyone I was with is sick, all stuffed up and slobbering. Rachelle was at the peak of her illness and had a really hard time breathing on the way up, so decided to turn back half way up. That was really unfortunate because when we made it to the top it was SOOO beautiful. I have pictures of where we started from the patch of clearing we ended up at as well as pictures of the patch of clearing we ended up at from where we started.

Instead of continuing on the hike, we decided to head back down and meet up with Rachelle so she wouldn’t be alone waiting for us. When we got back it was only like 11 am!! =D We found Rachelle, had lunch at the lake, and then walked around for a little bit. We caught the bus to the stop where all the shrines and temples were, and we bought the pass that let us into all the temples and shrines and walked around there. There were so many details and everything looked so old yet beautiful. There was even a wedding going on inside one of the shrines. Baller status! Some of the older temples didn’t allow photos to be taken inside which makes sense but it’s also a shame. We headed back to the train station, which was perfect timing cuz once we got there it started POURING. We got on the train and headed back to Tokyo. We had to transfer at Asakusa, so we decided to stop for sushi and ate at a sushi-go-round. YUM. Got back to Tokyo and that was the end of my amazing postcard weekend.

Random moments that won't be funny unless you were there, but I don't want to forget:

-whenever anyone trips or does something clumsy they said "well call me shirley" or "you just pulled a shirley"

-L: does anyone else have seaweed in their teeth? K: yea I do, it's so hard to get out. R: I think it's seaweed... (Lol, no duh)

-S: we should go get more of this sushi burrito for lunch tomorrow. L: will it be open at 6am? K: we should get it tonight (a bit of time passes) S: Oh! we should go tonight! (I was having a conversation in my head and totally missed her saying that)

-Lena almost getting run over by a car trying to cross a bridge... because she thought it was a foot bridge! (you had to be there)

-L: I don't want to cross through here... what if there are thimbles?! (she meant thistles)

-Katie goes into the onsen completely naked like the rest of us... but she's wearing her sunglasses...

highlights of the week

This past week has been amazing! Things just seem to get better and better! But it's getting late, and I don't have time to update, so I'll list the main things, and come back and update again. 

-Ginza! Toy Store!!

-Ueno museum: 2 galleries! 

-Presents from campers! =D

-CHINATOWN!!! TAPIOCA!!! FINALLY!

-Landmark tower! amazing view, romantic ambiance, hella fast elevator

-BEACH! lifeguard tower, sparklers, new japanese friends (japanese college students who play american football =D), practicing japanese! "sleeping" on the beach, watching the sunrise, getting back to the hotel at 8, CRASHING

-cute cafe, beautiful park near our hotel (pictures not uploaded)

-HALFWAY through my trip... =(

What a Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend has been AMAZING! The best weekend so far!

Friday - Just another day at work, glad it was over. When I was checking kids in at the gate, one of the kid's mother came up to talk to me, and said her son has been loving camp so far. I was glad, and I told her her son is a sweetheart and hasn't caused any problems at all, and is a very good kid. She told me she was happy to hear that, and how her son comes home and talks about "banana man, honeydew lady, and another camper's name" I immediately pulled my name tag out and was like oh, I'm Honeydew! haha banana man is the director, and the other camper her son talks about is one of the last remaining japanese kids. This past week, the camper had taken this lady's son in and had been like an older brother to him, which was very nice and sweet of him. So when I found out neither of them were returning next week, I was quite sad. We need more kids like them, and less kids like ones who cry when they get tagged out. -.-

When I got back to the hotel, I was EXHAUSTED, so I took a short nap... a nap that prevented me from getting my lazy butt to the gym. haha. Then, we decided to go clubbing in Shibuya. SO much better than Roppongi! We went to club Atom. When we arrived in Shibuya, there were these two random American guys who came up to us and asked us if we knew where "Club Scramble" was. We told them we didn't, cuz we really don't, and then they asked us where we're going cuz maybe they'd know where we want to go. We hadn't decided yet, so we told them we didn't know, and then they started recommending places for us to go. Sounded like they knew their way around Shibuya, and just asked us where club scramble was so they could start up a convo. Turns out, those guys are air force guys stationed somewhere i forget where but not in tokyo.

Then as we're walking around, people handed us flyers for club Atom, which we've heard of from other people, so we decided to go there. I go to use my limited japanese skills to ask the guys where the club was, so we walked there and found it! It was really nice, there was a cover 1000 yen so approx. $10 to get in, and girls got two drink tickets and guys get none! LoLz, the only sad thing was they didn't let you take pictures inside the club, which was a bummer. Once inside, there were different floors... one floor was just a bar, and it looked like the inside of a cave or something, another floor was a rave, there was a psychadelic floor, and the top floor was the hip hop and R&B floor. Another awesome thing about this place was they had tables reserved especially for girls. There were placards on the tables that said "LADIES' SEATS" and if a guy sat at one of these tables, a bouncer would come over and flash their flashlight on that sign. SO COOL! haha guys were able to stand around the tables, but they couldn't sit there. Before midnight, it was more like a bar... people were drinking, socializing, but nobody was really dancing. 

Sometime after midnight though, they pushed all the tables and chairs to the walls, and it became a dance floor! We met some guys from England, which our director got really excited about because he was in England last summer. And I met this one guy named Will, he was pretty cute, had an English accent, and while I was talking to him, I found out he's half japanese half BURMESE! (who'd thunk it right?) grew up in LA, lives in japan, but spent almost the past 2 years in England. He spoke good english, and when he found out I was also burmese, he began talking to me in burmese, and kept saying he's never met another burmese person outside of burma. I'm pretty sure he was gay though... my gaydar kept going off, and I swear I saw him tossling another guy's hair, that kinda made me decide he must've been. He was REALLY nice, cute, and had an awesome english accent. We saw some people dancing on the bar, so we decided to go up and dance there too! So my one friend Katie and I went up there and it was SO much fun! Unlike the girls the weekend before at Gaspanic, I was sober, had all my clothes on, and there was no dry humping involved. It got really hot in there, but it was SO much fun, I gave one of my drink tickets to my director, the one guy that's always with us. We left around 2, and on our way out, we met some more cool people!

The people we met this time were students studying abroad, most of them from UCLA, and they're studying cars in japan or something?? Anyway, they were planning to stay out until 5am when the subways start running again, so after talking to them for a bit, they wanted to find another bar, but we were all ready to call a cab and head back to our hotel. Walking back to the main roads, Katie thought she might need to throw up, so she and I stopped as the rest of the group kept walking. I was standing a few feet from her, alone, waiting for her when a drunk japanese guy approached me and asked me something in japanese. I responded in japanese that I don't understand Japanese, and in a slurred heavily accented english he said "what you doin'?" I said "going home" and he walked on. Later when Katie and I rejoined the rest of our group, I notice the drunk Japanese guy had found my friends and was trying to persuade us to get a drink w/ him. We got our cabs and headed back to the hotel. This night was AMAZING. I'm sad I couldn't get any pictures though.

Saturday - Slept in a bit, then decided to go to Yokosuka for the 4th of July celebration. It was really nice walking around, it felt good to be by the water. There were families there, a bunch of festivities, a Beatles cover band named "Back B

eat" and it was really relaxing. Walked around a bit, people watched, then we went by the stage and danced and enjoyed the music. At 8pm there were fireworks, so we used the sheet we "borrowed" from our hotel, found a spot on the grass and watched the 30 min firework show. It was pretty impressive, and the sound and everything, it was so beautiful. I really started to miss everyone back home right about this time, cuz it's just something you'd do with really good friends, and the people you love, and all I could do was think about you guys. Anyway, the show was really good and after it ende

d we all met up (cuz we had gotten separated). Katie had talked to the band afterwards, and Paul McCartney (I think his real name is Jimmy or somethin

g) decided he'd hang out with us for a bit! So cool, I know. We went to this little Jazz Bar/place.

The Jazz place was soo peaceful, I loved it right when I walked in. It was small, quaint, the music was really good, and the service was just as good. I went to the bathroom and found the toilet paper was scented like roses! so after I used it, my hand smelled like roses. =P We listened and took in the music, Paul McCartney is a REALLY cool guy, and he gave Katie one of his guitar picks!!!!!! Unfortunately, our last train left at 11pm, so we had to leave to catch it. Got home around 1-ish? Not sure, but it was an amazing night, and one of the best 4th of July's I've ever had. =D

When we were heading back, we noticed two shady guys following us on the subway... they kept looking at us and whispering to each other, so when we got off at our stop and needed to transfer, we waited at the platform for them to leave before we did, but at the exit, they were standing there waiting for us! HOW CREEPY! and as we began walking towards the line we needed to transfer to, they began following us again, so someone said something about how we don't want to miss the last train home, and as soon as she said that, we all started RUNNING towards our line. Good thing about tokyo subways, where the transfers happen anyway, is there are so many different transfer lines, and depending on which stairs you take down you either go one way or the other way, so we ran to our line, then while waiting for the subway we all stood against the wall until it came. (It was kinda freaky, yet fun at the same time). We got home, the creepers didn't get on our train, they weren't even on our platform, and that was the end of another amazing night.

Sunday - We decided to go to Yoyogi Park in Harajuku, and it turns out they were having a festival there! Apparently it only happens 4 times a year, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon it today! The park itself was so beautiful, and the festival was like our whole earth festival back at davis! We listened to the music, walked around. We met up with Jordan and her boyfriend (he's doing camp at yokosuka) and some of their friends. Found a place in the park to slackline, which I tried and LOVED. It's a lot harder than it looks... but it was loads of fun... until a park policeman came and told us we couldn't wrap anything around the trees. So we had to take it down. There were old men sketching and painting pictures (I thought of Nanase RIGHT AWAY) and there were people playing badminton, whiffle ball, frisbee, a group of people playing random games, kind of reminded me of IM cuz they all had colored shirts on and it looked like a lot of fun. People were blowing bubbles, and it was just awesome. We walked past this group of japanese people jumping rope... so we joined them! People are so nice, and I loved it! I bought a dress for 1000 yen, and another dress for 1750 yen. One is more my type of dress, the other is more... not really me... but I like it. As we were leaving the park, we saw greasers and poodle skirt people (two separate groups) just doing their thing, dancing to their jams, and it looked like they were having a lot of fun. I notice the performers and people who play music, dance, sketch, perform, etc, don't do it for money cuz they don't have anything collecting money, it seems like they come out every weekend and do it just because they enjoy it. It just makes everything that much more... AMAZING. We saw a guy making animal balloons wearing an Obama mask... no joke, and he was also smoking! He made this cute balloon heart with a pink poodle and a blue poodle on the heart and gave it to this couple! <3>

Afterwards, my roommate Becca and I went to Shibuya cuz we've been seeing signs about a 5 day bargain sale! So we went to check it out! We ended up in 109, where I got SILVER HEELS! After the sale, it came out to 1795 yen! =D I'm so happy! I was really happy that I found silver heels, cuz I've been looking for them forever, and I've decided Japanese shoes are magically comfortable! That's probably how these women can walk in them forever, all the time, even casually when shopping.

Got home, and I'm beat, but I had to upload my pictures and update.

-Kristen aka Ginger is teaching me how to put on makeup! So I did my own makeup Friday night when we went out, and I like how I can control the colors I put on and how much of it I put on! Maybe I'll know a thing or two about make up when I get back!

-I'm TOTALLY in love w/ Japan right now, and I definitely I need to come back!

-I've been here for a month and I'm not sick of it yet!

-My friend found tapioca in Chinatown in Yokohama, so I must go there one day to get some!!!

This Week So Far...

Today we went on a field trip to a science museum, and it was pretty cool, but it was WAY too advanced for some of these children to comprehend. That kind of sucked cuz I really wanted to walk around and really take in all the exhibits and stuff, but the kids didn't know what was going on, what it all meant, and they just wanted to run around, push buttons, see things happen and move on -.- we had WAY too much time there, and the kids ran out of things to mess around with. At least they were trying things out? I'm really glad today was a field trip day because everyone just seemed to be moving a bit slower. I feel like this week the kids aren't as rowdy as last week, but they're just as taxing... especially since it seems we have more kids who may not be developing normally. We got a new kid today, and he's a really sweet kid, but he seems to have ADHD to the max, no joke. He's extremely hyperactive, short attention, cannot sit still, and does not seem to be able to focus. It's pretty interesting watching him sometimes. Anyway, the week is almost over, then my program will be implemented, and I hope that turns out well.

I just wanted to blog about some random things that I've been meaning to mention:

-Sunday night, my roommate and I went to bed with our blinds open, so I woke up to the sun rising Monday Morning. I realized I still had 2 more hours before I had to actually get up, but it was a BEAUTIFUL site regardless.

-One of the kids a little while ago, told me I look like his weekend babysitter who he claims is really nice. The other day, at the pool, he came up to me with another lady and said "Miss Honeydew, remember when I told you that you looked like my weekend babysitter? I want you to meet her, she's here!" So she came up to say hi and we look NOTHING alike other than the fact that we're both asian -.- LOLZ oh children!

-100 yen stores are amazing! I got some stationary stuff and I found out that I can send and receive mail for regular US postage! Isn't that cool?! If you want to mail or send me something feel free please! everyone else has been getting packages and letters and I'm feeling a bit left out... >.<

To send me stuff, please mail it to:

EWA

Shirley Yang

Unit 9800 Box 300

APO AP 96303-0300

This has been the shortest blog in a while... 

Much Love from Tokyo,

Honey