USA Summer Camp 2007

Konnichiwa! This is the first time I've been able to access the internet and my other travel blog won't work so I started a new one. I've been in Japan for amost 3 weeks and I love it! Right now I'm in Maebashi, Gunma, about a 2 hour train ride NW from Tokyo station.

Japanese culture is very different. I shower with about 20 other girls at a time and I get to soak in a community hot tub afterwards. I kind of like it. I change my shoes about 50 times a day since I have special indoor and outdoor shoes, and in some places I'm not allowed to wear shoes. The kids here are really pampered and are not disciplined at all, so it's tough trying to work with them and live with them. I accidently made a 200 dollar phone call because I couldn't understand Japanese and when trying to order dinner I accidently ordered 4 cokes. A lot of people know basic English which helps, but it doesn't get me very far. Not all places in Japan have western style toilets. Instead they have what we call "squatty potties", little tub things in the ground that you squat over. I actually got the hang of it because I had to, but I would never choose to own one.

I flew into Narita after about 17 hours on the plane. It was 2:30pm in Japan and we were instantly put to work and had to be up the next morning at 6am to start our day. They gave us 40 minutes as "jet lag recovery time" 3 days after we arrived. The food is good most of the time. I accidently ate octopus and squid, and I know why foreigners hate natto. Some days I live on rice, but the camp facilities so far have had a fairly good variety. So far I've had three of my nine camps. When the kids are with us we are up and working with them for 15 hours a day and then we have meetings and a few hours to sleep before doing it all over again. So far the kids have been really fun and I'm learning a lot from them, but a lot of them could care less about learning English. Kids in Japan go to school 6 days a week and only have a few weeks off in summer for a break, so when they aren't in school they are allowed to act however they want. The girls aren't as much of a problem as the boys, yet it seems that most of the teenage boys are really shy while the girls are outgoing. And high school kids who are dating won't talk or look at each other when they are in social settings. It's definitely the opposite of the U.S. The facilities we've been at for camps so far have been nice but are usually situated on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. We've been able to see Mount Fuji from all our camps so far, but if you go to see it any later than 5am the clouds begin to cover the top. We've taken a few trips into different cities, and at one facility I walked down the mountain to go into Yamanashi. The walk back up the mountain wasn't as easy. I went the the 4th station on Mount Fuji but didn't climb it. I'm hoping to be able to during one of my homestays. One of our American Counselors went back home because she was extremely sick, so it was sad to lose her but she is doing better. She had heat stroke and altitude sickness from being so high up in the mountains.

The candy in Japan is awesome. I tried lavender ice cream and it was wonderful. There's also these crepe stands everywhere that make amazing crepes. Japan has vending machines for everything in the world and they are everywhere. I tried green tea from one and it tasted like lake water, but Qoo apple juice is the best I've ever had. They also have these drinks that are part jello part juice and you shake it up and eat/drink it. They taste good but are weird. We had the night before our first homestay off, so a bunch of us went to sing karaoke in Gotenba. I didn't get a chance to play pachinko yet, but I will.

It's my second day at my first homestay. My family is really nice and they have hosted other ACs from this camp before so they understand why I am so tired. Tonight they made me pizza which was amazing and I went grocery shopping with them. Later this week I am going to one of the kid's school lunch picnic, so that will be fun. A typhoon is coming so it's been really rainy and I might not have a chance to go outside and explore much, but I know I will during my next two stays when I'm in Tokyo. Tokyo station is absolutely crazy and there is no way I'm going to find my way around it when I go back next week. Hopefully there is a map.