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!

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

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?

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!

A Whole Mess of Stuff

Well this week has been a crazy week. This week was Hip Hip Hooray Happy Birthday USA Week, which was super awkward at times. Don't get me wrong, Josh did a great job at programming and scheduling for the week, but there is definitely a problem when half of your students are from Japan and don't give a hoot about America. I didn't get any pictures of the decorations this week because Amber is a camera failure, but it was a pretty great week decoration-wise. There were just moments where the kids would be a little lost because they don't necessarily know the states in the U.S. or they don't want to sing "God Bless the U.S.A" which I completely agree is ridiculous. On a military base this may be a little more appropriate, but in an embassy where they accept people who are japanese, this way be a little overboard.

So the field trip we went on this week was to Summerland Water park, where I had to cover up my tattoo before being let into the park. This is a strange tradition about Japan, tattoos really are not accepted here at all. you can't get into bath houses and its harder for you to get health and life insurance. It's very odd how this society feels towards tattoos. Lucky that I can just cover up mine with a band aid. it just makes me feel awkward because I know that my tattoo isn't very accepted here, but its definitely part of who I am.
The kids really loved the swim park though, and I got to go down one big slide with some of them which was really really fun.

So that was Wednesday. On Thursday I get a call saying one of the counselors from Tokyo American Club is sick and I have to go and fill in at the club for the day. So I rush to get dress, get my butt to the Subway and meet Melanie the other counselor. Two trains later, and we are at work. It takes her 45 minutes to get to work every single day. All of a sudden I was feeling very thankful for my one train stop commute. The Tokyo American Club is only about 20 kids, and has two counselors and one Japanese helper (he's awesome). Well Thursday is TAC's field trip day, so off I went on ANOTHER field trip, this time to Zoorasia, the zoo in Tokyo. It was pretty cool. rather reminiscent of San Diego's Zoo in how it was set up like a jungle.

But there is one thing at Zoorasia that is super duper awesome and that is a Ukapi. Check this out:

Half Giraffe and Half Zebra. It was really really cool and the kids really liked it. Changing sites for a day was definitely an experience because it showed me how much I really loved my site. I love having four other counselors with me. I love my kids even when they misbehave. The kids at TAC come from very very privileged families, and the kids know it. They are bratty and complain a lot. Although some of them had cute moments I found myself taking out my middle school teacher humor, something I have very rarely had to do at the Embassy. it wasn't as fun with them, but the experience was a good one.

So the end of the week came, and we lost a lot more kids. It is always so sad to see them go. I already know that being a teacher will be hard for me at the end of the year because it will be so hard to say goodbye to all my students.

I have found that a really hard part about being here is finding where you belong in a group of counselors. We all come from very different places and very different backgrounds and have very different expectations of how it all should go. Camp is fine...work is work. you put on a face and you are who you are underneath your camp name. But at the end of the day, who do you become? I know that I have been trying to please everyone since I got here. Sometimes it is just easier to give in and be accomodating and try just to make friends by not really being who you are. After a couple minor freakouts and angry moments I realized that while I like making new friends, I need to be myself. If they don't like me for who I am, that's ok...because I really do like who I am. I am Amber. I have a firm hand, an opinionated voice, a dirty mind and a big heart that has trouble letting people in. I am perfectly find just the way I am and I will not compromise myself for anyone.

That being said, I went to Tokyo Disneyland yesterday!

It was a lot like the disneyland in California, but I had so much fun. There were just six of us who went, which is the perfect Disneyland number and other than being exceedingly tired and a little sun burnt, it was an AWESOME day!!! We went on all the best rides and saw two parades. I got to see my favorite princess!!!

I love disneyland. It makes me feel like I am a kid again. It is one of hte few places in the world where I can't even attempt to be sad. It is just one exciting thing after another. Thanks to my dad, Disneyland has become one of my favorite places where the magic will live on for years to come.
All in all, this week has been extremely successful. I have had a lot of fun, but now it is time to recover and get going on my Camp Adventure HW (that's right, my HW).
Love to all of you whoever you may be!

Hello Kitty Mania

OK, I have a bone to pick with Japan. What is with Hello Kitty? It is everywhere!!! and they make the most expensive merchandise, and what is worse, people actually buy it!! I mean look at this stuff:






i mean really...who would buy the wedding stuff??/ ridiculous.

okay, now that i'm done being surprised and disgusted I will talk about camp.

This last week was Toy Story Week:




poor woody is the only thing that didn't turn out well: CREEPY I would say







So anyways, this last week went really well. only 20 kids in all, and it was all pretty smooth sailing. It was actually extremely easy in a way compared to this week (38 kids) but I like it that way anyway.

So our fieldtrip last Wednesday was AWESOME! it was this park that had these giant white blobs on them that were spring loaded. look at this:






Camp is still fun. Of course I am tired some days, and sometimes it just seems like i'm not going to make it, but that's okay. It is all about powering through and doing the best you can. I know that I'm not the "nice counselor" because I don't baby the kids. I firmly believe that kids are pretty capable of doing whatever they want so I don't help them with everything. i give them their independence as long as they are safe and follow expectations. I run around and play with them just as hard as they do. Its almost like my chance to go to camp too, and be a kid again, and sing the songs and feel the joy and the love. I wish that I could touch every child, and I wish that they could all feel at home inside of Daly hall, but I will settle for a few. i will settle for making at least one child's day. I will settle for trying my best to make the biggest difference that I can.

Well that is enough about camp. This weekend, we went to Harajuku, which is the shopping district. It had all these cool stores with all of these cool things. I found heels, and somethign for one of my brothers. It was super awesome. One of the coolest parts of Harajuku is the phenomenon known as the Harajuku girls. These girls (or men sometimes) dress up in pink outfits and walk along the streets and even let you take pictures of them. This is a bad pic, but it's all I have...



Saturday night the girls and Seth and I went to Roppongi and went ot club and met up with some Marines from Okonawa. They were fun to dance with. Found myself a pretty tall marine man named Tyler who I danced with all night. Definitely helping get rid of the some of the stress of work. I forgot how much I just love to dance and laugh and have fun, even with people I don't know.

Fact #4 about Japan: Produce is hecka expensive...it is so not ok with me

Love to you all. I miss everyone from home, but at the same time I never really want to leave here. I feel like there is so much yet to see.