In these past two weeks since being home, I feel like I've gone through emotional and physical change. Physical is eating America food, and getting used to being in a different time zone. My emotional has been a much deeper thing.
As some may know, next week my older sister Ashlee is getting married. I have watched my sister and Chad grow together over the years, and this relationship is one more reason that I am convinced that true love and companionship is still alive.
In a world where sex is casual, divorce is common, and love is heard but not meant, I have never expected to find such a companion. I don't expect it, and yet it has been one of my greatest hopes.
And so, in those moment, I would like to share my greatest congratulations with Ashlee and Chad, who against all odds, distances, fights, and inconveniences have come together to say that they love each other more than any other. I can honestly say that I am quite aghast and blessed to be able to be a part of this next week, even though I will be seeing it through a film of tears. There is something about being in the presence of such affection that gets me every time.
I wish that I had the words right now to say what I really felt. Unfortunately, my words are completely gone from my head. Since I have been back in America, I have been trying to fill the voids in my life, but I have come to realize that the voids are voids I need to fill with myself. My step mom Linda brought up a great point when she said that people only see in me what I see in myself. I have a great many shortcomings, but that makes me human. I often doubt my performance, but I always do my best, so I shouldn't. I am not perfect, because no one is. I am a force to be reckoned with and I deserve everything. I need to learn patience, because without it, I will rush my way through life and miss the beauty along the way. I have missed so much, and I refuse to miss anymore. I have love all around me, and I often forget that because I am focused on the love I don't have.
All you need is love, and that is any form. Thanks to those who love truly, and truly love all. I will be one of those people from now on.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Sand in All the Wrong Places
This has been the 8th week, which is my programming week. It was international week and my posters were pretty awesome!!
This week was particularly challenging for two reasons. Number 1: I was with the younger kids, which are definitely more of a challenge for me, but a challenge that I definitely wanted to meet. They just need a different kind of patience. In a world where I use sarcasm and humor to get things done, it doesn't work so well for little kids. They need to be more direct and cared for. I dunno. Honestly, this week has shaken how I feel about working with kids because I just keep thinking that I'm not good enough and that my life decision is the wrong decision because I'm not the most liked counselor there, and for some reason that hurts me more than I care to admit. Do I need to give up my need to keep them safe in order to be more liked? Do these kids even realize how much I really do care about them? will i always feel this defeated?
this last Wednesday we went ice skating for the field trip. Now as many of you might know, I am terrified of ice skating, as in I cry like a small child on ice, so I got to sit out with some of the kids while the rest went ice skating. Perk: being able to take pictures of people falling and having a good time. I felt like the proud mom of 60 children.
And so this week came to an end as most weeks do, and lost another batch of kids which is always super sad, but this friday was an extra special friday because me and the girls got on the train to go to the Tokyo Dome to see the Tokyo Giants play the Hiroshima Carps. This is my first baseball game ever and it was so exciting. I bought a beer outside of the dome, got a ticket for 1500 yen, walked in, got a fan and a peekachoo hat, met an attendant who opened my beer and poured it into a cup for me, and then went to take my seat that was pretty high but it was still behind home plate.
this baseball game had no announcers, and the spectators all cheered for both teams regardless of whether they were wearing giants gear or not. All in all, it was a very polite game that was very supportive of both teams. I had a really great time. I love the people that I work with.
Saturday, Brittany, Melanie, Anita and I had planned on going to the beach, but then I discovered that I had left my swimsuit at work, and then after a great many trials and tribulations I ended up with Megan's board shorts and a tank top. After an hour and 45 minutes, three trains, and many questions, we ended up at the beach.
I was so happy. Ever since I was little, water has been almost a sense of power for me and so being in this ocean was just the same, except for the waves were kind of lame, but I had fun just a same. Got a little tanner, and a lot happier just being there. I spent so much time in the water with Anita and Brittany. The day was so much fun until we met these obnoxious drunk guys and then I decided that it was time to go. It was such an amazing day and I had so much fun, and it was pretty much exactly what I needed, at least for now.
This week was particularly challenging for two reasons. Number 1: I was with the younger kids, which are definitely more of a challenge for me, but a challenge that I definitely wanted to meet. They just need a different kind of patience. In a world where I use sarcasm and humor to get things done, it doesn't work so well for little kids. They need to be more direct and cared for. I dunno. Honestly, this week has shaken how I feel about working with kids because I just keep thinking that I'm not good enough and that my life decision is the wrong decision because I'm not the most liked counselor there, and for some reason that hurts me more than I care to admit. Do I need to give up my need to keep them safe in order to be more liked? Do these kids even realize how much I really do care about them? will i always feel this defeated?
this last Wednesday we went ice skating for the field trip. Now as many of you might know, I am terrified of ice skating, as in I cry like a small child on ice, so I got to sit out with some of the kids while the rest went ice skating. Perk: being able to take pictures of people falling and having a good time. I felt like the proud mom of 60 children.
And so this week came to an end as most weeks do, and lost another batch of kids which is always super sad, but this friday was an extra special friday because me and the girls got on the train to go to the Tokyo Dome to see the Tokyo Giants play the Hiroshima Carps. This is my first baseball game ever and it was so exciting. I bought a beer outside of the dome, got a ticket for 1500 yen, walked in, got a fan and a peekachoo hat, met an attendant who opened my beer and poured it into a cup for me, and then went to take my seat that was pretty high but it was still behind home plate.
this baseball game had no announcers, and the spectators all cheered for both teams regardless of whether they were wearing giants gear or not. All in all, it was a very polite game that was very supportive of both teams. I had a really great time. I love the people that I work with.
Saturday, Brittany, Melanie, Anita and I had planned on going to the beach, but then I discovered that I had left my swimsuit at work, and then after a great many trials and tribulations I ended up with Megan's board shorts and a tank top. After an hour and 45 minutes, three trains, and many questions, we ended up at the beach.
I was so happy. Ever since I was little, water has been almost a sense of power for me and so being in this ocean was just the same, except for the waves were kind of lame, but I had fun just a same. Got a little tanner, and a lot happier just being there. I spent so much time in the water with Anita and Brittany. The day was so much fun until we met these obnoxious drunk guys and then I decided that it was time to go. It was such an amazing day and I had so much fun, and it was pretty much exactly what I needed, at least for now.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Amazon, Birthday and FUJI
This week was Amazon week. It went really well. Here are the decorations for this week:
We went to the zoo again, and it was fine, but way too hot. The kids this week were a lot of fun. There was one little boy that just totally made my week. The most challenging part for me was that my club was drama, and a majority of the kids in my club spoke only Japanese. Makes drama a little hard when I don't have a kid to translate, so I made up my club and did the best I could. We had dance parties, played ducky wucky and just had fun together, and they freaking loved it. I am so happy that it all worked out.
I woke up on my birthday kind of bummed out because I wasn't at home, but then I opened my door and found this:
And all of a sudden my day was 100% better. Thank you so much Francie and Jen. All day was filled with so much love towards me and it made me feel so much better. Shanada and some of hte kids made me birthday cards and even Seth and Josh made me a card. After Fuji, a bunch of us went to the bar and had a good time. It was a great birthday.
BUT LETS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS: Fuji!!!
Fuji was something that I have been excited for, and absolutely dreading. I never thought that I would really be able to do it, but then all of a sudden, there we were, on our way to the fifth station of Fuji on a bus. the first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was that it was cool outside. It felt great. Everyone else was getting more clothes on and complaining and I was basking in the weather. It reminded me of home and gave me a lot of happiness.
we went to buy our walking sticks. It is so important to have one of these. I never would have made it without it, that is for sure. You can also pay to get your sticks stamped at every station on the way up. I didn't do every station because it was kind of expensive but I definitely got the one at the top. I don't know how I'm getting that stick home, but I WILL find a way to get those stamps home because they are so important to me.
And so we began our climb from the fifth station to the tenth station. We started at about 11 PM Friday night. It was amazing how my body really didnt feel the need to sleep, even thought i did nod off when we stopped every once in awhile. It was 3,700 meters, which may not sound like much, but BELIEVE me it, it is a lot longer when you are climbing a mountain. About 45 minutes into the climb my bad knee (stupid rugby) popped out of joint, which was nothing but fun. This definitely affected my pace for the rest of climb but god bless Shanada, Megan, Francie and Melody because we became one group that supported and applauded each other through the day. It was about making it to the top, no matter what happened.
We started by just climbing uphill, and then around the 7th station, it was all about rock climbing. We were on all fours or using our sticks to maneuver our way up these rock cliffs. This was my favorite way to climb because it was so challenging. the hardest part of the climb was the last 900 meters, after we thought we had already made it to the top, but hten realized there was still a long way left. The reason this last part was so hard was because the path was gravel up hill that you kind of sank into. There was no support and this is the part of the day where the no sleeping and frustration started to get to me and I really just wanted to cry a lot. If it hadn't been for those girls, I never would have made it. I don't have enough faith in myself sometimes, but it is really nice to know that there are people who have faith in me. The last length of the climb was just a line, like we were going to disneyland. We definitely climbed with a bunch of other people last night, and in the end, we had to wait 45 minutes to go about 100 yards so that we could make it to the top. The higher we went, the more foggy it became, so there really isn't much of a view from the top, but we didn't care because WE MADE IT!
It is so unbelievable. the entire climb was a struggle, but one that was worth doing just to see the top.
This is the view from the top of mount fuji. It took me 8 hours and 45 minutes to get to the top of Fuji, but I don't even care. It was a great time, that was also one of the greatest struggles of my life. I am so proud of what I have achieved.
However, there is one part of this journey that I definitely forgot. I climbed a mountain, and now I had to climb DOWN the mountain. You know how my least favorite part of the climb up was the gravel part? well that was the entire path down. AKA: Amber falling on her butt time after time. It took only about three hours to get down, but it was the longest three hours of my life because it was just red gravel all the way down.
Megan and I were the last ones to make it off the mountain, but I don't even care. I made it to the top! I made it to the bottom! I never in my life thought I would be able to do anything like this. The fact that I made it has empowered me to believe that I can do anything.
Today, my entire body hurts. Was Fuji fun the whole time? absolutely not! was it worth it? It absolutely was!
We went to the zoo again, and it was fine, but way too hot. The kids this week were a lot of fun. There was one little boy that just totally made my week. The most challenging part for me was that my club was drama, and a majority of the kids in my club spoke only Japanese. Makes drama a little hard when I don't have a kid to translate, so I made up my club and did the best I could. We had dance parties, played ducky wucky and just had fun together, and they freaking loved it. I am so happy that it all worked out.
I woke up on my birthday kind of bummed out because I wasn't at home, but then I opened my door and found this:
And all of a sudden my day was 100% better. Thank you so much Francie and Jen. All day was filled with so much love towards me and it made me feel so much better. Shanada and some of hte kids made me birthday cards and even Seth and Josh made me a card. After Fuji, a bunch of us went to the bar and had a good time. It was a great birthday.
BUT LETS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS: Fuji!!!
Fuji was something that I have been excited for, and absolutely dreading. I never thought that I would really be able to do it, but then all of a sudden, there we were, on our way to the fifth station of Fuji on a bus. the first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was that it was cool outside. It felt great. Everyone else was getting more clothes on and complaining and I was basking in the weather. It reminded me of home and gave me a lot of happiness.
we went to buy our walking sticks. It is so important to have one of these. I never would have made it without it, that is for sure. You can also pay to get your sticks stamped at every station on the way up. I didn't do every station because it was kind of expensive but I definitely got the one at the top. I don't know how I'm getting that stick home, but I WILL find a way to get those stamps home because they are so important to me.
And so we began our climb from the fifth station to the tenth station. We started at about 11 PM Friday night. It was amazing how my body really didnt feel the need to sleep, even thought i did nod off when we stopped every once in awhile. It was 3,700 meters, which may not sound like much, but BELIEVE me it, it is a lot longer when you are climbing a mountain. About 45 minutes into the climb my bad knee (stupid rugby) popped out of joint, which was nothing but fun. This definitely affected my pace for the rest of climb but god bless Shanada, Megan, Francie and Melody because we became one group that supported and applauded each other through the day. It was about making it to the top, no matter what happened.
We started by just climbing uphill, and then around the 7th station, it was all about rock climbing. We were on all fours or using our sticks to maneuver our way up these rock cliffs. This was my favorite way to climb because it was so challenging. the hardest part of the climb was the last 900 meters, after we thought we had already made it to the top, but hten realized there was still a long way left. The reason this last part was so hard was because the path was gravel up hill that you kind of sank into. There was no support and this is the part of the day where the no sleeping and frustration started to get to me and I really just wanted to cry a lot. If it hadn't been for those girls, I never would have made it. I don't have enough faith in myself sometimes, but it is really nice to know that there are people who have faith in me. The last length of the climb was just a line, like we were going to disneyland. We definitely climbed with a bunch of other people last night, and in the end, we had to wait 45 minutes to go about 100 yards so that we could make it to the top. The higher we went, the more foggy it became, so there really isn't much of a view from the top, but we didn't care because WE MADE IT!
It is so unbelievable. the entire climb was a struggle, but one that was worth doing just to see the top.
This is the view from the top of mount fuji. It took me 8 hours and 45 minutes to get to the top of Fuji, but I don't even care. It was a great time, that was also one of the greatest struggles of my life. I am so proud of what I have achieved.
However, there is one part of this journey that I definitely forgot. I climbed a mountain, and now I had to climb DOWN the mountain. You know how my least favorite part of the climb up was the gravel part? well that was the entire path down. AKA: Amber falling on her butt time after time. It took only about three hours to get down, but it was the longest three hours of my life because it was just red gravel all the way down.
Megan and I were the last ones to make it off the mountain, but I don't even care. I made it to the top! I made it to the bottom! I never in my life thought I would be able to do anything like this. The fact that I made it has empowered me to believe that I can do anything.
Today, my entire body hurts. Was Fuji fun the whole time? absolutely not! was it worth it? It absolutely was!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Spaceships and Kyoto
ahhh i have so much to tell for this post. Let's start with Week 5: Space Week. 47 kids. It was crazy, but it was a great week. Learned all their names by Tuesday. One boy could only speak Japanese and he was my favorite. He ended up in art club and we were all drawing aliens. I had all the other kids hold up their aliens and even had another child say the word alien in Japanese, and the boy drew a car. When he said he was done I told him to keep drawing and then he drew a person in a car. Well, I guess a person does count as an alien. This week we went to a space museum for our field trip and it was pretty cool. Saw an IMAX movie all in Japanese and I pretty much fell asleep: bad counselor! the week was really really good. Every Monday is challenging but every Friday it is hard to see more and more kids leave. Sometimes I just want to keep them all just because they make me laugh. It is so hard to watch more and more leave and have them tell you, "I'll miss you Miss Snickers." Also this last Friday we had a water balloon fight. All of the kids got a water balloon and got to get whichever counselor they wanted. I got NAILED by some kids. It was crazy, but super fun.
Here are the decorations for this week:
This weekend has been a crazy weekend. Let's start with a bus. Let's then put a time for said bus to leave. add 10 people, two of which were lost and what do you get? well you get 10 Americans getting on a Japanese bus 20 minutes late and instantly being stamped as tourists. There was definitely comedy in it all. There was tears, running and a little bit of sweat.
Oh, lets talk about sweat. Um, you would think that my body didn't have any more sweat to produce after this weekend. Amber+100 degree weather+ 100% humidity= more sweat then even my dear father can imagine (which is a lot). After getting on the bus and riding for 7 hours during the night, we finally got to Kyoto at 6:30 AM saturday morning. It was a rough night on the bus and everyone was a little sore, a little hot, and a little cranky due to lack of sleep. well ok, i was a little cranky, but rather relieved that others were willing to decide where to go since i was kind of indifferent. I was just happy to be there. Kyoto is an old city in Japan that still has a lot of old architecture (will put pics on facebook soon). Some of you might know it because a lot of scenes in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha was filmed in Kyoto (stand by for later in this blog). Kyoto is also known for having a great many shrines and temples.
We saw a couple shrines and couple temples. We also saw the imperial palace, well just the outside because they don't open up the palace unless its the emperor's bday or new years. This is the first shrine that we saw. I liked it a lot. I like shrines. I love religious stuff.
The second shrine we went to had a silver roof, and you could take this path above the shrine and look out over the city. Kyoto also has a tower just like tokyo. There are 20 in Japan all together.
I am going to show you my favorite shrine though. It is a shrine that is all gold. It was really cool. It was across this pond full of these giant fish. I felt very cultured seeing all of these great things where all of these people come to give offerings.
As we were leaving this shrine, this lightening hit. How, let's remember, its about 100 degrees outside. The lightening actually hit the ground. I saw it hit the ground right next to where our group was standing. It was CRAZY!! And then it poured. It poured and poured and poured. We were on the bus watching people get blown around left and right. Nuts. Kyoto is nuts.
So we get back to the bus station and then get on another bus to a place called Fushima. There is a shrine there too. For thos e of you who have seen Memoirs of a Geisha you may remember a scene with a little girl running through a lot of orange posts at a shrine. well brace yourselves. I have been there...that's right be jealous. It was so cool!
Not only that, but this shrine was having a festival. Another Festival! more food, more dancing, more fun! this was great because I was starting to get a little tired and this just really picked up my spirit towards the end.
We went home on another bus, and we got back to the hotel at 7:30AM and boy was I tired and kind of cranky. I was so ready to be home but Kyoto was freaking amazing!!
This week is 61 kids in camp and it is crazy, even more crazy when kids are pooping in pools and making it so my camp can't go to the pool. NO GOOD!! Today was kind of a frustrating day because the language barrier is becoming more and more of a problem. It's not a bad thing, just a new challenge. I have yet to walk away at the end of the day thinking it was a terrible day. Of course there are difficult kids who kick other kids in the face or mock your English or talk Japanese while you are speaking, cry or get mad every time they lose. However, there are good moments for all those kids too, in those moments when they are truly having fun. I love them all. I almost like the bad moments because i know they won't last forever. They are just a challenge, and boy do I love a challenge
Here are the decorations for this week:
This weekend has been a crazy weekend. Let's start with a bus. Let's then put a time for said bus to leave. add 10 people, two of which were lost and what do you get? well you get 10 Americans getting on a Japanese bus 20 minutes late and instantly being stamped as tourists. There was definitely comedy in it all. There was tears, running and a little bit of sweat.
Oh, lets talk about sweat. Um, you would think that my body didn't have any more sweat to produce after this weekend. Amber+100 degree weather+ 100% humidity= more sweat then even my dear father can imagine (which is a lot). After getting on the bus and riding for 7 hours during the night, we finally got to Kyoto at 6:30 AM saturday morning. It was a rough night on the bus and everyone was a little sore, a little hot, and a little cranky due to lack of sleep. well ok, i was a little cranky, but rather relieved that others were willing to decide where to go since i was kind of indifferent. I was just happy to be there. Kyoto is an old city in Japan that still has a lot of old architecture (will put pics on facebook soon). Some of you might know it because a lot of scenes in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha was filmed in Kyoto (stand by for later in this blog). Kyoto is also known for having a great many shrines and temples.
We saw a couple shrines and couple temples. We also saw the imperial palace, well just the outside because they don't open up the palace unless its the emperor's bday or new years. This is the first shrine that we saw. I liked it a lot. I like shrines. I love religious stuff.
The second shrine we went to had a silver roof, and you could take this path above the shrine and look out over the city. Kyoto also has a tower just like tokyo. There are 20 in Japan all together.
I am going to show you my favorite shrine though. It is a shrine that is all gold. It was really cool. It was across this pond full of these giant fish. I felt very cultured seeing all of these great things where all of these people come to give offerings.
As we were leaving this shrine, this lightening hit. How, let's remember, its about 100 degrees outside. The lightening actually hit the ground. I saw it hit the ground right next to where our group was standing. It was CRAZY!! And then it poured. It poured and poured and poured. We were on the bus watching people get blown around left and right. Nuts. Kyoto is nuts.
So we get back to the bus station and then get on another bus to a place called Fushima. There is a shrine there too. For thos e of you who have seen Memoirs of a Geisha you may remember a scene with a little girl running through a lot of orange posts at a shrine. well brace yourselves. I have been there...that's right be jealous. It was so cool!
Not only that, but this shrine was having a festival. Another Festival! more food, more dancing, more fun! this was great because I was starting to get a little tired and this just really picked up my spirit towards the end.
We went home on another bus, and we got back to the hotel at 7:30AM and boy was I tired and kind of cranky. I was so ready to be home but Kyoto was freaking amazing!!
This week is 61 kids in camp and it is crazy, even more crazy when kids are pooping in pools and making it so my camp can't go to the pool. NO GOOD!! Today was kind of a frustrating day because the language barrier is becoming more and more of a problem. It's not a bad thing, just a new challenge. I have yet to walk away at the end of the day thinking it was a terrible day. Of course there are difficult kids who kick other kids in the face or mock your English or talk Japanese while you are speaking, cry or get mad every time they lose. However, there are good moments for all those kids too, in those moments when they are truly having fun. I love them all. I almost like the bad moments because i know they won't last forever. They are just a challenge, and boy do I love a challenge
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wanted: Hugs in Japan
So I have been in a funk the last couple of days, and I finally realized why. I am a very physical person (haha very funny, not necessarily sexual). i am used to hugging most of my friends on a semi-daily basis. This is how I feel appreciated and loved. I have realized that I have received no hugs since being in japan, and this may sound stupid, but it kind of affects my mood a little bit. I have been extremely out of sorts lately and its really not good for me. I was talking to my dad the other day and got kind of upset and then after that I haven't been able to get out of this mood.
moral of the story...who's flying to japan to give me a hug?
moral of the story...who's flying to japan to give me a hug?
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Did you bring your nudity today?
So this week was week four of camp. It was Alice and Wonderland week...it was my week. it went pretty well I think. I was super nervous but it seemed to turn out okay. We also had midterm evaluations, which I think I did really well on. it was good to get feedback and know that I am a doing a good job. I needed that this week. I feel like this week was a hard week just because I am starting to get pretty tired, but that is to be expected. I still love it here. Japan is so fantastic, even if it is expensive. I am starting to think of all the things that I want to bring home for people and I just don't know how i'm going to do it.
So here are my pictures of Alice and Wonderland Week Decorations:
This week I was in charge of cooking club. Cooking club is one of those things that all the kids like to do, and just by chance I ended up with the BEST group ever. Even though have of them were older boys they were all still perfectly content making cheerio necklaces and tea sandwiches. It amazes me how great these kids are and how much fun they can have doing the strangest things. This week I definitely found that game I like: Capture hte Flag. I didn't really like it as a child, but playing it at camp is super fun and the kids seem to like it a lot too.
How field trip this week was to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was pretty awesome let me tell you. The movie theater was really cool. There are assigned seats in movie theaters in japan and before the movie starts there are a bunch of rules like: no kicking, no talking, no cellphones etc. It was kind of ridiculous. It is hard to watch previews when they are all in Japanese. The movie was pretty good though. The whole concept was pretty sad though. A lot of kids cried. A little boy next to me cried through the whole movie because he was convinced the toys would never make it home. I kept telling him that it was okay so that I didn't have to leave the movie...bad counselor.
The week ended like it always does, and the camp is changing once again. Every week I feel like I say good bye to more and more kids that I have grown to love. It's hard, and yet kind of satisfying to know that so many will come to take their places.
This weekend, I went out with everyone to Shibuya on Friday night to go to a club, but some of us turned back because it was a 3,000 yen cover charge (30 bucks). But we ended up having an adventure of our own to get back to the hotel. We barely caught hte last train, and then realized it was going the wrong direction...and then we barely caught the right train coming back. All in all an excellent evening. The next day, Megan, Brit, Zoe and I went to Shibuya during the day. It was cool: a lot of shopping, but it was a pretty cool place to see. I didn't buy anything though. I haven't been buying a lot of stuff since I got to Japan. I mostly just take a lot of pictures and gain a lot of experiences. I don't really buy a lot of stuff for myself. I guess I buy food for myself...but that's more of a life or death situation. I also spend a lot of money to travel on the train and such.
Saturday night...was the best night this weekend though. Melanie, Megan, Brittany and I went to this all naked spa. We took this really cool monorail and saw some pretty things.
My favorite is the bridge and the little tiny statue of liberty. It is so small...probably like only 12 feet.
So we get to this spa, and by the way I had to talk brittany into coming. Well we get there and find out that tattoos weren't allowed. GAH. Silly Japan. Well, actually, Megan told me that the reason they don't allow tattoos because a lot of Japanese tattoos have to do with gangs, and fights break out and that is why they don't allow them.
So, anyways, off we go to a Sunkus and we buy bandaids, stick them on my tattoo, call it a neck injury and head back to the spa to wait in line to be let it. It was like an amusement park ride. It was actually kind of funny to see. After paying 1670 yet (only about 17 dollars) we are given yukatas (cool robes) and go into the changing room to get naked. The instructions said to leave your underwear on but i just threw caution to the wind and just went commando under my yukata. woo hoo, party in japan.
So then off we trumped and we found this foodcourt between the dressing room and the baths. it was so weird. There were food and games and gift shops. It was like a whole world in this bath house, and there we were, all in our yukatas, surrounded by other people in yukatas and all i kept thinking is "we are all naked right now underneath."
Once we got to the women's changing room, we received two towels, a hand towel and a bath towel. We read a sign that told us only the hand towel was allowed in the bath house. so the dreams of covering up even a little were gone. we put our yukatas in our lockers and found ourselves nude among other people who were nude.
but let me tell you. nudity is totally worth it in this bath house. There were so many different baths, some were hot, some were cold, some were luke warm, some had jets, some were in barrels and some were OUTSIDE. I was outside in japan naked. Bet you can't top that. We spent two hours in those tubs just relaxing and talking about all types of exciting things. Then we showered off and dried off, put our yukatas on, walked back to our regular clothes and went home.
nude experience in japan = amazing!
Sunday I stayed in for most of the day to finish my programming, which I did. At 7, a group of us trumped off to a summer festival at a shrine nearby. Shrines have festivals to raise money. It was so cool. There was music, dancing (I danced with the Japanese: be jealous) and lots of traditional dress. the dancing was really fun and hard. There was a giant tower in the middle with a drummer on top, and dancers underneath, and then there were outer rings of dancers, and some of us joined the outer ring. One woman even made a point of telling us we were doing a good job.
see, look at the drummer and the dancers.
Let me tell you. Japanese festival food is weird and cool all at the same time. We are talking octopus balls (weird but okay), noodles (excellent), chocolate covered bananas (thumbs down), meat on a stick (always a great idea) and sweet ice (which kicks American snow cones' ass). It was a great festival. I love that I get to see and experience the Japanese culture and they are so open to just letting me try everything.
Good-bye for now!
So here are my pictures of Alice and Wonderland Week Decorations:
This week I was in charge of cooking club. Cooking club is one of those things that all the kids like to do, and just by chance I ended up with the BEST group ever. Even though have of them were older boys they were all still perfectly content making cheerio necklaces and tea sandwiches. It amazes me how great these kids are and how much fun they can have doing the strangest things. This week I definitely found that game I like: Capture hte Flag. I didn't really like it as a child, but playing it at camp is super fun and the kids seem to like it a lot too.
How field trip this week was to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was pretty awesome let me tell you. The movie theater was really cool. There are assigned seats in movie theaters in japan and before the movie starts there are a bunch of rules like: no kicking, no talking, no cellphones etc. It was kind of ridiculous. It is hard to watch previews when they are all in Japanese. The movie was pretty good though. The whole concept was pretty sad though. A lot of kids cried. A little boy next to me cried through the whole movie because he was convinced the toys would never make it home. I kept telling him that it was okay so that I didn't have to leave the movie...bad counselor.
The week ended like it always does, and the camp is changing once again. Every week I feel like I say good bye to more and more kids that I have grown to love. It's hard, and yet kind of satisfying to know that so many will come to take their places.
This weekend, I went out with everyone to Shibuya on Friday night to go to a club, but some of us turned back because it was a 3,000 yen cover charge (30 bucks). But we ended up having an adventure of our own to get back to the hotel. We barely caught hte last train, and then realized it was going the wrong direction...and then we barely caught the right train coming back. All in all an excellent evening. The next day, Megan, Brit, Zoe and I went to Shibuya during the day. It was cool: a lot of shopping, but it was a pretty cool place to see. I didn't buy anything though. I haven't been buying a lot of stuff since I got to Japan. I mostly just take a lot of pictures and gain a lot of experiences. I don't really buy a lot of stuff for myself. I guess I buy food for myself...but that's more of a life or death situation. I also spend a lot of money to travel on the train and such.
Saturday night...was the best night this weekend though. Melanie, Megan, Brittany and I went to this all naked spa. We took this really cool monorail and saw some pretty things.
My favorite is the bridge and the little tiny statue of liberty. It is so small...probably like only 12 feet.
So we get to this spa, and by the way I had to talk brittany into coming. Well we get there and find out that tattoos weren't allowed. GAH. Silly Japan. Well, actually, Megan told me that the reason they don't allow tattoos because a lot of Japanese tattoos have to do with gangs, and fights break out and that is why they don't allow them.
So, anyways, off we go to a Sunkus and we buy bandaids, stick them on my tattoo, call it a neck injury and head back to the spa to wait in line to be let it. It was like an amusement park ride. It was actually kind of funny to see. After paying 1670 yet (only about 17 dollars) we are given yukatas (cool robes) and go into the changing room to get naked. The instructions said to leave your underwear on but i just threw caution to the wind and just went commando under my yukata. woo hoo, party in japan.
So then off we trumped and we found this foodcourt between the dressing room and the baths. it was so weird. There were food and games and gift shops. It was like a whole world in this bath house, and there we were, all in our yukatas, surrounded by other people in yukatas and all i kept thinking is "we are all naked right now underneath."
Once we got to the women's changing room, we received two towels, a hand towel and a bath towel. We read a sign that told us only the hand towel was allowed in the bath house. so the dreams of covering up even a little were gone. we put our yukatas in our lockers and found ourselves nude among other people who were nude.
but let me tell you. nudity is totally worth it in this bath house. There were so many different baths, some were hot, some were cold, some were luke warm, some had jets, some were in barrels and some were OUTSIDE. I was outside in japan naked. Bet you can't top that. We spent two hours in those tubs just relaxing and talking about all types of exciting things. Then we showered off and dried off, put our yukatas on, walked back to our regular clothes and went home.
nude experience in japan = amazing!
Sunday I stayed in for most of the day to finish my programming, which I did. At 7, a group of us trumped off to a summer festival at a shrine nearby. Shrines have festivals to raise money. It was so cool. There was music, dancing (I danced with the Japanese: be jealous) and lots of traditional dress. the dancing was really fun and hard. There was a giant tower in the middle with a drummer on top, and dancers underneath, and then there were outer rings of dancers, and some of us joined the outer ring. One woman even made a point of telling us we were doing a good job.
see, look at the drummer and the dancers.
Let me tell you. Japanese festival food is weird and cool all at the same time. We are talking octopus balls (weird but okay), noodles (excellent), chocolate covered bananas (thumbs down), meat on a stick (always a great idea) and sweet ice (which kicks American snow cones' ass). It was a great festival. I love that I get to see and experience the Japanese culture and they are so open to just letting me try everything.
Good-bye for now!
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