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!