Bittersweet Goodbye.

• Our final “Thrilling Thursday” evolved into “Super Saturday” because of the 3 day typhoon that messed with our usual routine. It was definitely a bittersweet end... I had to say goodbye to some really amazing kids and parents which was really hard but everyone joined together to have a fun day filled with games and delicious food. 

• Claire and I were invited to one of my kids’ 3^rd birthday party! (Spider Man themed, complete with a Dino Jump and piñata.) For the few hours that I was there, I probably heard my name repeated more than I ever have.. Miss Jessa, Miss Jessa, MISS JESSA, MISS JESSA! … watch this, hold this, eat this.. I was cooler than Santa to those preschoolers ;) …but after being gone for 2 days now, I already miss those little tykes like crazy.

• Forest Adventure! Zip lining through the jungle was a pretty awesome way to spend my last Sunday in Japan. I defeated the Tarzan Swing and jumping onto 40ft lines with amazing views of the ocean and tropical scenery. I used a few of my Japanese phrases to help coax an Okinawan girl to jump off a ledge, so I was pretty pleased with myself about that one. It was all thanks to my preschoolers who were scared to jump from the diving board, haha..I was pretty close to singing the Alligator Song to this Japanese woman. “Alligator, alligator stand so tall, alligator, alligator jump off the wall!” (with matching hand movements that go along with it..definitely a hit with all my swim lesson kids.) I’m not so sure how she would have felt about it, however, so I simply stuck to saying “it’s okay,” and “1, 2, 3, go!” in Japanese.

• Todake Falls. One of the most gorgeous places I had seen in Okinawa. After taking a river trek up to the waterfall, the view took your breath away. Hiking through the jungle to the top of a waterfall was definitely a great way to end an amazing summer in Japan.

During our last nights, we would ride our bike down to the seawall to simply watch the sunset. It's hard to believe that I'll never see that beautiful view again. Okinawa was, with no doubt, the most outstanding place I've ever visited. I can't see Iowa, with its endless rows of cornfields, ever competing with this tropical paradise...

So after four flights, endless hours sitting awake in the plane/airport (despite taking sleeping pills,) and a two hour car drive, I’m back in  Cedar Falls ready to start my senior year at UNI.  And after a summer like the one I just had, this year has a lot to live up to!  To all my friends, parents, and children in Japan, thanks for making  the past 10 weeks an experience that I’ll never forget!

Peace.
Love.

Japan.

Sweet Freedom!

After 3 days stuck cooped up inside during Typhoon Muifa that weekend, I have never appreciated the sweet freedom of being outdoors quite as much as I do now.  I lived the pilgrim life on Saturday after the power went off late Friday night. This resulted in no air conditioning for an entire day on a tropical island where the humidity is basically 100% at all times. For those of you who have never experienced a typhoon: it reminded me of a tornado that lasted 3 days: crazy winds snapping branches off trees with trunks bending to the ground, torrents of continuous rain, flooding, ripped off shingles, and vehicles flipped over. However, for me, all it meant was a lot of movies, Rock Band, and Facebook, until we lost power for an entire day; then it was reading, napping, and board/card games. Saturday at 5:00pm when they finally announced the all clear, we were running circles outside breathing in that glorious humid air.

Saturday night we decided we needed to go out to eat to celebrate the release of cabin fever.  We ate at Jack’s Place, a restaurant on base, with a teppanyaki bar. This consists of a talented Japanese chef who cooks your food in front of you, sets things on fire, and juggles knives. It was a pretty impressive show that succeeded in distracting me while I usually wait impatiently for my meal at restaurants.

Delicious Sushi :)

Last Sunday after typhoon cleanup, we were picked up and headed to Okinawa World. Here we saw a Habu race a Mongoose in a tank of water…among a few other snake tricks. (this show was all in Japanese so we just got creative, imagining what the random snake facts were and laughing along with the Japanese people in the audience whenever they found something amusing.) We saw some glass blowing, a Dr. Fish tank, and walked through a cave with gorgeous stalactites and stalagmites. After leaving Okinawa World we headed to Delicious, a sushi restaurant that I will probably dream about when I get back to the States. The Japanese owner made us the most amazing sushi I’ve ever had, making me feel positive that nothing back home will be even close to comparison.

My roommate doing work at the Guard Games.

Okinawa Guard Games: Monday of last week, all the pools closed and all the guards and CampA aquatics headed to Camp Schwab for some friendly competition. I chose to cheer Kadena on, rather than supply less than speedy racing potential. Kadena took home 2^nd place in the Olympics. MCCS served us hotdogs and burgers and we were free to spend our Monday afternoon at Schwab’s beach.  The Kadena life guards were feeling pretty confident in their sand volleyball skills so we decided to get a Camp Adventure team together to bring them down a bit. We ended up losing the first match by 2, but managed to take home the rematch. 

It's Raining..It's Pouring..The Typhoon is Coming..

TYPHOON MUIFA! 

Swim lessons were cancelled at TCCOR 2, we typhoon-proofed the pool deck, the storm switched to TCCOR-1 early this morning and now it has finally reached TCCOR-1C (Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness-1 Caution) which means that the entire base is on lockdown. No one can enter or leave, and we’re stuck inside for the next couple of days; the perfect opportunity to catch up on movies and eat plenty of Japanese junk food. Just as long as this weather clears up before the weekend, I don’t wanna spend one of my last weekends in Japan inside a hotel room!

I am proud to say that I am now scuba certified! …newest member of the scuba squad. 1 day book work + 1 day of practicing skills in the pool + 2 amazing dives in the ocean. This makes me really not want to head back to Iowa, I’m assuming diving in the Mississippi doesn’t quite compare to the East China Sea or Pacific Ocean. Rather than seeing colorful fish and coral with great visibility, I’m assuming I would see a lot of beer cans from partying campers. After the first dive, I realized that I have dive rage…(kind of like road rage).  However, this is much worse because it’s really difficult to get your point across under water. There were quite a few instances when I could barely keep myself from showing our dive instructor the middle finger or yanking on my director’s mask when she knocked my regulator out of my mouth; all nonverbal ways of showing hostility at a depth of 40 feet.

Karaoke: Okinawan style is a little more interesting than back home. You come with a group of friends and get an entire room to yourself with a computerized karaoke system and television. Someone needs to bring this method back to the States. We spent a night out at karaoke with the Kadena lifeguards, and they're a pretty impressive group of karaoke-ers. If it was an event at the Okinawa Guard Games, I have no doubt that Kadena would take home the gold.

So..Yoko has been absent from our room for the last three days; no clean towels and my bed hasn’t been made. I'm starting to get worried about her and this is just a taste of what it’s going to be like when I get home. I’ve grown accustomed to maid service so in 3 weeks when I head back to the real world, it’s going to be a rude awakening. 1 session of swim lessons, 1 week of teaching GuardStart, and a whole lot of packing til I'll be catching the plane home. 

We can do anything, we can be anything...

Quick summary of my recent events in Okinawa:

• Visited the seawall for breakfast at Coffee Casa..home of the best homemade whip cream. 

• Experienced a Japanese movie theater..3D, Jap subtitles, Jap commericials.. the whole shebang.

Precisely 2 weeks ago I had to say goodbye to one of my favorite childhood friends….Harry Potter. Harry and I go waaaay back, and sitting in that Japanese movie theater watching the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a very bittersweet moment for me; tears were shed. Harry and friends, you will be greatly missed.

• Greenlined it to Camp Schwab to hit up the beach and barbeque with a battalion of Marines who made us awesome steak and burgers. The waves were huge due to the Typhoon that was hitting mainland Japan...However, Oki was only grazed by the edge of the storm so it stayed pretty tame in my area.

• Traveled to Naha for some shopping on Kokusai Street. The Foster boys went as well and played music on the street. A group of giggling Japanese girls wanted their picture taken with the American boys singing on the corner..new Japanese boy band?

• Finished session 2 of swim lessons, ending it with another fantastic Thrilling Thursday. I probably coaxed about 20 preschoolers off the diving board for the first time and ate enough delicious pot luck food to last me a lifetime; LOVE my Kadena moms.

• Took up one of my swim lessons moms’ offer to go snorkeling at Maeda Point. She rented us gear and took my roommate and I to the best reef I’ve seen so far. I felt as if I was swimming in an aquarium, it was amazing and we even got to snorkel deep into a cave off the coast.

• Ferried to Tokashiki Island from the Tomari Port in Naha. We camped in a jungle-like area right off the beach and it was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life. The Annual Tokashiki Festival happened to be the same weekend so we were able to see Taiko drumming, a Shisha dance, and an incredible fireworks display which including flames and a laser show. While hiking here at the Keramas, I had a near death experience. I literally ran underneath a BANANA SPIDER! Yes, that’s right, a full blown, black and yellow, massive arachnid that was just dying to jump off its web to bite me and inject me with its deadly venom. However, I successfully survived the encounter and am able to tell the tale.

Ferry  from Naha to Tokashiki.

Paradise :)

Taiko Drumming at the Tokashiki Festival

Shisha

• Tropic Thunder 2011. All the CampA on Oki gathered together on Kinser for a little friendly competition. We were split off into teams and got down and dirty while fighting for a victory. 

Okinawa Camp Adventure Crew 2011

4 weeks, 3 weekends and 4 plane rides until I’m back to Iowa. I’ll have to trade in my swim suit for text books and the beach for classrooms and lecture halls..can’t say that I’m really ready for that life change. Therefore, this is me making a request to all my family and friends: COME TO OKINAWA!

Live Free. Play Hard.

My summer in Okinawa has reached its halfway point. 

I’ve spent a good portion of my living stipend and have basically nothing to show for it, 

thanks to taxis and delicious Japanese food. I’m proud to say my Japanese vocabulary has 

increased to about 10 words/phrases which basically only allow me to thank the Okinawans, and often apologize for my lack of understanding and general American-ness.

I wonder how many people can say that they've
ridden in a pineapple shaped golf cart?

Throughout the last couple of weeks we’ve gotten braver on our bikes and have allowed ourselves to get lost in downtown Japan a few more times, always feeling extremely accomplished and pleased with ourselves when we make it back safely. Via the Greenline (the MCCS bus system) and taxis, we traveled north to Pineapple Park and Expo Park, which holds the world’s 2^nd largest aquarium. During this trip I was able to see dolphins jumping 30 feet out of a pool, successfully used my small vocabulary to argue with the crankiest cab driver in all of Okinawa, and tried every possible type of pineapple baked goods in existence after cruising through the pineapple field in our sweet pineapple cart. 

This was the first 4^th of July that I spend out of Iowa, so Independence Day in Okinawa was definitely out of the ordinary. Rather than riding a Jet Ski or tubing down the Mississippi, I went to Kadena’s Americafest, a festival similar to a county fair that could be found back in the States. Huge planes and fighter jets were lined up along the air base’s flight line for everyone to see and tour. Carnival booths filled the air with scents of corndogs and funnel cake, the Jessie James concert could be heard from miles around, and gorgeous fireworks filled the night sky. The next day was spent relaxing on Araha Beach, playing sand volleyball and swimming in the beautiful ocean.

I may be in Japan, but Okinawa is one of the most tourist centered places I’ve ever seen. They strive to make everything as Americanized as they can, but their “American” merchandise isn’t very impressive. They literally pick out random English words and stamp them on a t-shirt, not worrying about if they make sense of not. However, I really want to experience some actual Japanese culture while I’m here, so we decided to hit up the Peaceful Love Rock Festival last weekend. Although I couldn’t understand the lyrics, the 10 Japanese bands I heard were awesome, and it was a blast to see both Japanese and Americans rocking out together at this concert. Also, I never realized how vertically challenged  Japanese people are until I was about 10 rows back and noticed that every single person (male or female) in front of my group was shorter than me. For the first time at a concert, I had NO problem seeing the stage. Needless to say, it was fantastic.

Peaceful Love Rock Festival

A few fun facts: 

• To anyone who may have forgotten, my half birthday was July 12^th which means that I have precisely 6 months until I turn 21.
• I completely biffed it on a huge boulder-like-rock at Sunset Beach the other day, and as I saw my life flash before my eyes, it reminded to tell everyone back home that I love them. ;) haha, but seriously, I couldn’t sit on my butt without wincing for about 2 days, my poor, poor tailbone…
• Claire and I FINALLY met Yoko. After 4 weeks of talking about our maid like she was a long time friend, we actually set eyes on her for the first time. She was an intimidating older Japanese lady, and honesty, she inspires me to keep my room clean because I have no desire to face that woman’s wrath. 

the campA lifestyle.

Konichiwa from Okinawa!

So another week has passed by and I’m getting more and more used to my daily routine. I’ll give you all a run-down:

Wake up at 7 am.
Eat some breakie. 
Pedal my little bicycle to the pool, wearing my protective head gear of course.
Teach swim lesson until 5:45. (I have the lives of about 80 kids in my hands, no big deal.)
Shower. Eat Dinner. Annnnd finally, pass out in my bed… usually before 10 o’clock.

On the Camp Adventure Aquatics front:

Today was the last day of our first session of swim lessons. I like to think that I’m a rockstar swim instructor and created the next Michael Phelps… I told one of my kids that, but I was highly disappointed when they didn’t even know who I was talking about. However, one thing I love about teaching lessons to military kids: their parents definitely know how to cook delicious food AND they assume that we are the typical poor college students that don’t eat correctly.  Many of my kids’ moms have taken it upon themselves to feed me. So far I’ve been graced with: A bag of Oreos that were covered in chocolate chip cookie dough AND BAKED! (possibly one of the most delicious cookie inventions ever discovered.) Starbucks, twice. Patai, a phenomenal Tai cuisine. And last but not least, a piece of gum from one of my preschoolers. Keep it coming kids! Feel free to bribe your teacher. 

Room Service Update: My roommate and I are still having silent fights with our maid. I have the habit of taking my hotel towels to the pool and forgetting them there, so Yoko is punishing me by no longer giving me fresh large towels; I’m stuck with the little midget towels that aren’t good for anything. Not cool, Yoko. Not cool at all. On the bright side, one day I decided to make my side of the apartment absolutely spotless, while on the other hand, my roommate Claire’s side wasn’t quite in the best of shape. Guess who got a mint on her pillow the next morning…me. Guess who didn’t…Claire.

Weekends in Okinawa are a little more unconventional than the weekly regimen. The mini typhoon that hit the island cramped our style on Saturday, so any plans of hitting the beach definitely weren’t happening. However, Sunday included a tour bus to Shuri Castle with a stop along the way at Kokusai Street to do a little shopping. We ate at a place called Charlie’s Tacos only to discover that Japan is secretly hiding the world’s greatest taco recipe (who knew, right?)…and we even explored the museum in Naha. I saw some fake Banana Spiders and Habu Snakes, and I’m really hoping that’s the most I see of those 2 creatures. I will literally have a heart attack if I see a Banana Spider. They’ll be shipping me back over to the US in an urn if that’s the case, and I’m only exaggerating a little on this. We’re definitely planning on making another trip to Naha. The city is too big and hiding way too many little shops and cultured restaurants to uncover in merely one afternoon. 4^th of July weekend has already arrived and the Kadena CampA Aquatics Staff is graced with a FOUR DAY WEEKEND!..which means, as of tomorrow, I’m ready to get some more things checked off on my Okinawa Summer11 Bucketlist!

My first 2 weeks in the foreign country of Japan..

Top 10 Biggest Adjustments:

1.       Driving on the other side of the road.  Steering wheel on the right…driving on the right...and LEFT turns on red are 3 things that are definitely unnatural to us US drivers.  During the first couple of days in Okinawa, I was terrified of a head on collision...the idea of another car crashing into us wasn’t appealing to me at all.  I also have the habit of going to the driver’s seat whenever I call shotgun which everyone from Okinawa finds amusing.

2.       Chopsticks! I bought a toddler chopstick from the 100 Yen Store. It’s the same kind that parents purchase  for their kids so they can learn them to hold them correctly…I plan on being a professional chopstick user by the end of summer J

3.       Eating sushi and Okinawan Soba.  I’ve had at least 7 of my swim lesson kids tell me that their favorite food is sushi; that’s definitely not something I’m used to hearing from 5 year olds! My first experience with raw food went well. I stuck with some generic crab, shrimp, and some sticky white rice. The Soba was delicious and I successfully maneuvered the chopsticks.

4.       JAPANESE. My vocabulary has expanded to about 5 words. Give me about a month and I’m sure I’ll be fluent ;) However, we LOVE Japanese junk food. The nutrition label isn’t in English so as far as we know, there aren’t any calories.

5.       No shoes, no chairs, good service. I can honestly say that until this week I have never walked into a restaurant and had to take my shoes off at the door…. then proceed to sit on the floor at a child’s size table. The waiter only spoke Japanese but every Okinawan I’ve met so far has been remarkably friendly and helpful.  I feel like Okinawans take much more pride in polite customer service than most places in the US. My experience at the Japanese Starbucks was phenomenal; American Starbucks employees should take note from my man Gjen.

6.       100 SPF sunscreen applied between every 45 minute swim lesson AND still get a sunburn. Needless to say, I’m gonna have some wicked tan lines when I get back to the states. The other day, an Air Force dad came up to me and my extremely fried roommate with a bottle of sunscreen, and the sarcastic greeting of ‘Welcome to Oki.’

7.       Yen. The exchange rate isn’t great but Yen seems more fun to spend than US money. A lot of places in Kadena accept both forms of payment but many off base stores and restaurants only take Yen…I find myself spending Yen much faster than dollars because 100 Yen coins are equal to a little more than a dollar BUT they look like a nickel. It’s very deceiving.

8.       Aquarius and Georgia = my two new favorite drinks. 1 is similar to Gatorade and the other is a canned coffee drink found in all the Japanese soda machines. The rumor is that Georgia puts nicotine in their drinks; I thought it was a myth when I first heard it but now I’m not so sure…

9.       Daily maid service. My roommate and I share a suit at the Shogun Inn and we’ve really become accustomed to our beds getting made and our bathroom towels changed on a daily basis. However, we think Yoko (our maid) get upset with us if we leave our apartment messy because on those days our beds aren’t made when we get back at night. Plus we don’t get mints on our pillows anymore… Slightly disappointing.

10.   Sexy bike helmets. I’m one of those rebel Americans who has never in my entire life used a bike helmet on a regular basis. Obviously my parents didn’t care about my safety but here on Kadena everyone HAS to wear them.  (Police can pull you over for not wearing proper protective head gear.)..watch out Oki, we look goooood in those helmets.

So far my trip to Okinawa has been AMAZING. I’ve explored Kadena Air Base, some beautiful, white sand beaches, downtown Mihama, and even made it up to Okuma for a day. My two co-CampA’s on Kadena and I have ventured far enough on our bikes to cause us enough physical pain to require a day off the pedals, and felt the burn at a kickboxing class while being shown up by all the military wives. I put on flippers and rocked some goggles while snorkeling off a boat in the Pacific Ocean, and even got whipped off of a banana boat into the salty water at Okuma Beach. I jumped off a kayak into an ocean scenery that looked like something out of Gilligan’s Island. My diet has included some items that I never dreamed I would try…sushi doesn’t seem quite so foreign now, and I even tried some Japanese Mexican food which I didn’t even think existed. We celebrated a 21st birthday in a place where the legal drinking age is 20 by breakfasting at dunkin' donuts, dining on delicious seafood, and heading to Yogurtland for icecream rather than a bar for drinks. I have bought groceries at the Commissary, shopped at the BX, and entertained some military kids at Kadena’s ‘Splash-tacular.’  The last 2 weeks have been incredible, and I can’t wait to find out what else Okinawa has in store for me! Sayonara for now!