Just a cool little clip. We had a barbecue on base and Ariston and I thought it would be funny to mess with the Seahawks, small joked turned pretty bad though when about 20 seahawks showed up and were swooping down trying to grab everyones food.

tokyo

TOKYO and Kamikura!!!!

With my first weekend to do overnight travel, i instantly jumped on the train and made my

way off base and into Japan. My first stop was in kamikura where all the other camp adventure staff from all around japan met to take a huge group photo in front of the giant Buddha. The Buddha itself was my first cultural experience in japan to witness and marvel at the ancient cultures of Japan, and for 2 yen I was able to make my way inside of the Buddha itself, which wasn't really anything eye shocking but you get to see the inside of it and can see how they built it. It was composed of 30 different slabs which they meshed together like building blocks. After the big Buddha we went down the main street of kamikura and got some lunch at a local butcher shop where they made fresh deep fried foods, unfortunately we couldn't read any of the menus so we all were just blindly picking frozen patties of something that deep fried. Surprisingly i got something very good, a sort of deep fried potato pancake with beef in it. We also made a quick stop at the 7-11 there and picked up some octopus in a bag, unlike the deep fried food we ate the octopus reeked of vinegar and i can personally say that octopus tastes better raw than it does pre-packaged.

Once we finished sight seeing in kamikura we hopped back on the train and made our way to Shibuya, Tokyo. This train ride was also my first experience with rush hour train rides where you are literally packed into the train like sardines in a can and they have hired personnel at the train station whose jobs are literally to push all the riders in just enough so the door can quickly slide shut to a lock. We got to shibuya in hopes of findinga hotel but every hotel we walked into was either a love hotel which rented by the hour, or a capsule hotel that didn't allow girls to stay the night so our group wouldn't have been able to get rooms. So instead we got back on the train and went to shinjuku, an area of Tokyo littered with hotels and more touristy places. We were able to find the Shinjuku Washington hotel where we got a twin bedroom with two twin size beds that we crammed people into. U literally walked into the room and there were two beds a small space between the beds, a tv, a small fridge and little bathroom right next to the door. Once we got settled into the hotel we went out on the town, found a couple bars and then went looking for the clubs. Shinjuku not really known for its night life was kind of dull so we got back on the train and went back to shibuya and found some night life. we spent a lot of time around unfamiliar with the area and we met some locals who took us with them to this club. But this club would not allow beach sandals and some people in our group had sandals on so we were back on the hunt for something to do. Fortunately one of the locals we were with was to drunk to get admittance in so he led us a to another club that was up two flights of stairs and you thought you were walking into the closet and there was the hidden little club that could fit maybe 50 people max, but it was still a lot of fun. We partied the night away at the little club and when 3:00 am swung around we waived ourselves a taxi and got a ride back to our hotel, for not to expensive.

We checked out of our hotel at 11:00 am and made our way straight to herejuku the fashion capital of Tokyo. You get off the train and you are literally one block away from the central herejuku shopping street. So we walked down checked out all the shops and got some nice little souvenirs. I found myself a H&M where i snagged myself a pair of white linen pants (Jesus pants). After we checked out all the shops we went to this huge park in the middle of Tokyo where we just rested for couple hours, did some people watching, saw some samurais, and some dancers who resembled the cast of Grease. Then we jumped back on the train and tried to make our way to Yokosuka, until a couple stops down the way and we realized the train we were on would make 43 more stops till where we needed to go because we were on the local train like that stops at every station, so we made a relatively easy transfer and got on the quick train back to yokosuka.

First weekend

Saturday morning we got a tour of the Admirals ship the USS Blueridge of the 7th fleet, its the oldest ship in the fleet, deployed in 1967. We were lucky enough to get a private tour and we were allowed to take pictures, a privileged only given to those deserving the gratitude of the US NAVY haha.

With the first week finally to an end Marco, leo, an I went out into yokosuka and decided to roam the local mall and its different levels. On a journey to go to the arcade we ended up spending a couple hours on the 3rd floor of the mall checking out the Japanese grocery stores and all the goods it had to offer. Apparently there aren't too many Americans walking around in Japanese malls because everywhere we walked heads turned and looked up, confused as to why we were there. We ended up just walking around feeling like celebrities checking out all aisles and trying every free sample they gave out. We didn't know what 90% of the stuff was that we were eating but it all tasted good, and as a college student i have learned never to say no to free food...especially when traveling. After we made our way out of the grocery store we explored all 7 or 8 floors of the mall and checked out all the little shops. One which was a smaller arcade for kids, where we ere able to spend a couple dollars playing a game similar to guitar hero but with a giant japanese drum, needless to say we were not a good as the rest of the japanese adolescents walking around.

After we left the mall we walked over to Moor City park, the other mall located above the train station, and found our ways up to the 8th floor where there is an assortment of world restaurants. We ended up eating at a chinese restaurant where i got beef ramen, with some dumplings (potstickers), and a pork bun. The food was amazing, although it was kind of strange having Chinese food in japan. It wasn't too weird though considering there was a mexican restaurant right next to it.

Once we finished dinner we wondered down two floors and found ourselves at the big arcade where we layed some futuristic cop game, and a machine that was mario cart the arcade version. it was awesome because they have so many different games that were different then the one next to it. They had this one game where you play soccer but instead of using controllers or a joystick you played laying cards down on a virtual board that read them and placed them on the screen in front of you so it was kind of like playing a soccer card game.
After sweating a little, we finished our gaming we headed out to a local bar and watched the Japan soccer game, which they won. It was pretty funny though because we ended up at this little whole in the wall bar that we barely found because we ere just checking every open door. We were the only people in there besides the lady who runs the bar and she didnt speak a word of english. So we sat there trying to communicate with her and the only thing we could communicate is that we wanted some beer. She ended up sitting with us the whole time, not understanding a word we spoke, but as Marco said, "A smile goes along way." so everytime she talked we just smiled at her and tried to communicate with her. If only i had my phrase book...which like an idiot i left at home the day i left for the airport.

Sunday:

Sunday was the best travel day to date. We got a huge group together and we took the train to Yokohama and went to a Yokohama Bay Stars baseball game. Once we got off the train we walked a couple blocks and we were at the stadium, bleacher tickets cost us about 1800 yen which is around 18 dollars. We got up to our seats and they all said reserved but this group of locals gave us 8 of their seats to use. The game was amazing to start off, baseball is just as popular in Japan as it is in the US if not more. They have made a couple alterations that i say i have to love. for instance the baseball teams have cheerleaders, a band in the bleachers to play songs and chants, and every baseball player that comes to bat has their own song that the crowd roars in unison to gear them up for the game.
We left the game around the bottom of the 8th because the Bay stars were winning 14 to 3. They played the Osaka Tigers, now if you are not too familiar with professional Japanese baseball teams the Osaka Tigers are like the Boston Red Sox equivalent and the Bay Stars are similar to an Oakland Athletics (Or a San Francisco Giants). So the win was huge to say the least. I made sure to take plenty of pictures with the locals, i even managed to take a picture with some of the vending ladies, and some of the band players in the bleachers (specifically the guy who play the huge drum and yelled to tart the chants).
The guys who sat behind us were hilarious, once i came back from the shops with a Bay Stars jersey repping the pitcher Shimuzu they loved me and instantly included me with their chants and shenanigans. They were handing me all their regalia and memorabilia that they throw in the air and use to chant and go with the rhythm and beat of the yells. They took some pictures with me as well, and once again did not speak a word of english but were very friendly and had no problem giving me high fives eveytime the By Stars got a hit, run, or out. It was too bad we left early though...we probably could have had a good thing going there hahaha.
After we left the game we got some food at food court in the mall, and then took the train back to Yokosuka because on monday we had to be up bright and early for the first day of camp and some of us *cough* *cough* (me) still had to prep all the materials for the week.

orientation week

This week began with all the day camp counselors getting up and meeting at the bse rec at 6:00 am for morning swim. we only had to be in the pool for 30 minutes and snce it was the first tim i had swam since i did my lifeguard certification i didnt do too mny laps. After the swim at the pool we had an hour and a half to shower and get breakfast before we had to meet and go through orientation for the base. In orientation we went through some more alchol substance abuse protocol, by an ex jarhead who currently fights in tokyo MMA leagues and had recently lost a fight that almost snapped his arm in half (so you could imagine he was somewhat in a bad mood as he talked about thing that can and will get you kicked off base and sent home).Th orientation also included a informative speech from the bases culture director who gave us a brief introduction to japanese culture which consisted of learning some everyday customs that would be important for us to know as well as learning some japanese phrases. I can now consitently say "arigto gaizomasu" which translates to, "thank you". We also learned a fun way of saying, " you re welcome" by sluring the phrase "dont touch my musstahce" really fast which in japanese would dotashimishtu. I also recived my base ecurity card today where i struck a fashionable pose that could resemble a famiiar blue steel look give by 3 time model of the year Derek
Zoolander.
As we recieved an hour lunch break after i got my security card we ventured out into yokosuka and found our way to a sush go round where the sushi dishes are served on a rottiing platform that comes across the counter you et at. The food is charged by the color of the plate and they add it up after you eat. I decided to test my stomach and actually had some squid, and my new favorite...OCtops. The octopus was pretty much just aa tenticle slopped down on a small roll of ric. The texture was not the best because it was kind of like chewing gum that had no flavor and it was real tough to chew at first. I decided
shortly afterwards i probably would not be eating too much more octopus in the ner future, it would be depending on my mood haha. The meal was also really cool because the counter you sit at hs little push button on the counter that you push your glass aginst and it gives you hot water to put tea bags in with your meal. The tea was perfect for washing down the squid and octopus that i ate rather quickly, instead of savoring the taste and textures.
After my meal it was bacck to work as usual, we recieved a tour of the base and then we were shown the rec bukdng we would b working in all summer. So we got acclamated with the buiding, raided the storagge closet and started maing posters. Ar day was finished around 10:30 pm. Unforutnatly we woke the next day to find out all our posters had been thrown out so we had to end up making new nes all over again, and the 5 hours from the day before was a waste as none of the work would end up being used during the summer. More of just a dry run i guess.

tuesday:

We sent the entire first half of the day at the ikego base about 20 mintues bus ride from yokosuko. The ikego base has a huge park area where we were briefed on the use of paintballing, archery, hiking, pool, frisbee golf, etc. Luckily we will be making any day trip here with the campers so we can have some outside activity. Luckily i had gone paintballing in eugene like two weeks ago so i knew how to use all the materials and some games to play. Arcchery was the highlight of my day, it was my first time shooting a bow and arrow and i had a fairly successful attempt at it. We only got to shoot a couple bows and arrows because the night before some vandals had broken into the archery storage and stole all the good bows and arrows, but with the tools available i had a pretty accurate shot and managed to get all three of my shots on the target. My last shot wa aactually pretty close to splitting my second arrow but unfortunately it didn't actually split it. I credit my archery kills to Russel Crowe and his recent role in Robin Hood.

We also went on a short hike to see some of the trails and they told us about the wildlife we need to be observant of when we are in the area bcause there are some slightly venomous snakes and spiders to worry about tht can be found commonly in the area. One snake of which is called the mamoushy which is similar to a rattlesnake but far more docile and isnt really a threat unless you are part of the rare 1 in 100 chance it decides to get aggresive and actually bite you. We also got to see some of the bees found on Japan, like the japanese wasp which is about the size of a humming bird and has a very painful sting that could leave quite the mark on a any unsuspecting individual. our day ended with more poster making and the choosing of our camp names. Are theme to choose from was board games and I decided on the name MR. Hungry Hungry Hippo. I was told that the kids love the nicknames and it kind of becomes a game as the summer progresses as they try and figure out our real names which we reveal to them on the last day. Most of the time it ends in disspointment because they expect ll of us to have extravagent names like our summer nicknames.

Wednesday:

Wednesday was pretty uneventful, we spent the day with more orienttion lectures, which inlcuded fire safety and bloodborne pathogns. We did get one interesting lecture from Dr. Amrerson a psychologist on base who gave us a talk about calming ourselves and taught us some pretty cool meditation tricks that can lower our anxiety and stress for the summer while we work with the kids. He also included some tips that he believes will lower our overall stress an anxiety for the future and ould help improve our everyday lives. After orientation we went back to work on posters and decorations to preppare for camp which will officially start next week. We were also told we would get to meet some of our campers on thrusday. During poster making time we went on our dinner break and i went to coco's with some fellow campers, which is a japanese curry restaurant. The food wa awesome, they come in big servings and have a wide selection of spicy levels, but to eat the higher spice levels you have to have eaten the spice level right before it so you could prove to them that you ould handle the heat. I got a chicken cutlet curry with 400 grams of rice and some nonbread with the spicy level 2. It was delicious but i have to say even the level 2 spicy was pretty hot.

Thursday:

So today started off with some chuck norris jokes. My favorite of which, "Much to popular disbelief there is enough of chuck norris to go around."Besides the humors of Chuck Norris and his roundhouse kick ability, today we actually got to meet some of the kids we are going to be working with over the summer. We stpped by around 2:00 and elft at 4:00, and just in thos two hours I was exhausted. The kids were so excited to have their first interactions with us thaat thye all wanted each and every counselors attention all at once. We started by doing our blitz and skit which consisted of ten of Camp Adventues fantastic camp songs and then we performed a short st for them. The Kids loved it and then we got to go around and try to meet evyer kid and introduce ourselves with our camp names for the summers. Our theme name were board games and as i stated before earlier my name is Mr. Hungry Hungry Hippo; the kids of couse immediately tr to figure out our real name but we aren;t supposed to reveal them to the end of the summer because it makes it kind of game for them. for some strang reason the kids asked if they could call me Franky, and i now have two names as they have started to refer to me as Mr. Hungry hungry Hippo and Mr. Franky. I decided it would just be easie to let them call me Franky then continuously telling them my name was Mr. Hungry hungry hippo. WE played with the kids for a couple hours, served up a whooping in the game of uno and the day was over. It was a bit overwhelming meet them the first time but it worked out in the end because i got to meet all the kids and they got to meet me. While the kids might think this guy doesnt know what he is getting himself into, i dont think they know that I am gonna give them a run for there money. Franky is top of the line and winning best bag of tricks only helps my cause.

Friday:

With the week finally coming to an end it is pretty easy to say i am already exhausted. Unfortunately on this last day we would probably have our longest day because we were going on a scavenger hunt to get better acclimated with the navy base and yokosuka. we were broken up into teams of four and then given the scavenger hunt clues. The hunt consisted of us finding all the questions asked, taking some pictures, and then having to put a presentation together at the end to present to the rest of the scavenger hunters. The winners, voted on by military staff, got a free pizza dinner and bowling. My group instantly decided we would split up, one group would do the on base scavenging and then the other group would go off base. Taking the first chance i could to go off base and explore i was in the off base group. Our main scavenger hunt item included us taking the train to the Ikego base station and taking a picture that was worth more points than any of the other items. Having never taken the train in japan you think i would be at a disadvantage but all i had to do was stand in the middle of the train station and look confused and i would instantly have 3 or 4 japanese people to walk up and assist. Some spoke fragmented english, and some didnt speak any but they love to help people out and with the assistance of some locals i found my way on my first train voyage and on my way to Ikego.

After the pieces of the scavenger hunt were collected and i found my way back to base after getting lost for a little bit, our group met up and worked on our presentation. Luckily our group was pretty smart and we all had taken some short videos (one i had taken where we were waiting for the train and hoping we got on the right one was pretty funny)during the hunt to include in the presentation so we put it all together in Imovie and made a short film to present. Included with our film we re wrote five camp songs to sing to the group. Well i am sure you all can figure it out, but our groups presentation was a huge success and we actually won, so my self and the rest of the group get free pizza upon our request from the military staff.

after the presentations we had to meet once more with our staff director and we held a contest to see who won best bag of tricks and best costume. And i am sure you can guess that with my winning trend so far at camp I won best bag of tricks. Winning that got me a free camp adventure youth services shirt which is pretty sweet.

With the weekend soon arriving i was prepared to do some of my first travelling of the trip which i planned on spending Saturday exploring Yokosuka and Sunday in Yokohama at a Yokohama bay Stars baseball game (spoiler alert the bay stars destroyed the Osaka Tigers).

Finally Made It

SO i arrived in Tokyo airports round 4:15, and once i picked up my luggage and got through customs I met my director for Yokosuka Naval base. We then boarded a bus with about 15 other counselors and enjoyed a 2 hour bus ride from tokyo to yokosuka, allowing us to catch some of the tokyo scenery (including tokyo disney)on the way back. Once we got on base we were given our room assignments, unfortunately my roommate aaron and I did not get to move into our room yet because its not even assembled yet and have to wait till monday till we can move in. We were told we would probably wake up round 2 or 3 due to the jet lag and were meeting at 7:30 am the next morning to get a tour of the base, fortunately i was able to sleep until my alarm awoke me at 7:15. No trouble with sleeping made my day of walking around the base a lot easier. The base is pretty big and there are a lot of people around, but that will all change in about a couple days when the George Washington nuclear aircraft carrier ships out in a couple days with about 5000+ sailors on it. In the mean time after we got our tour of the base we went offsite and caught some of the local yokosuka scenery. I checked out the 100 yen store, the equivalent to a dollar store, and got some little things for my room. We then headed back to base where we went to the NEX, essentially a target, and got some things we would need for the summer like a phone and a watch. If you want to call me i get free incoming calls but the international rates apply to those who call from the states, my number is 09017925946 it also includes an email address for my phone which is noble17@softbank.ne.jp. SO feel free to email me if you dont want to call. My day has not been to much exploration, more so just getting acclimated with the base.
We are under a pretty close watch on the base since everyone knows that camp adventure has arrived. The sailors get even more excited because there are new girls on base that come with the camp and they love to look around trying to see all the camp counselors. We have been told some horror stories about naval men crossing the line with some camp girls so there is a very strict buddy system rule for all camp counselors on base. Luckily i wont have to worry about it too much being one of the few guys with Camp Adventure. It has been awesome just in the first day being here how close we all have become because we know we will be working with each other the entire summer and depending on each other to have the camp run smoothly.

Tomorrow my day starts at 6:00 am with a swim to wake us up and then we work till round 8 or 9 because we only have a week to set up the camp for the kids, starting next week. So this week will be quite draining s we prepare for camp. This will be the first post of my summer trip and will hopefully be able to post more soon including some pictures. Our internet is down in our living situation but it will be back up and running by monday, as will my room hopefully. I am loving what little japan i have already experienced and cannot wait for whats to come.