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).