I am so bad at this....

My adventures in Japan are quickly coming to an end. I know that I have been awful at updating my blog, but the internet connection in my building is awful. So I figured I could give everyone a quick update as to where I have been.

This past weekend I climbed Mt. Fuji...what an experience (it was pretty)...that I will never do again!

I went Canyoning. This consisted of repelling/free falling down a 20 meter waterfall, jumping off rocks into water, or whirpools, going down smaller waterfalls. All of this was done with gear on, I was not in a boat or anything.


















heres the 20 meter waterfall!


Traveling and hiking in the beautiful Nikko, Japan (the prettiest site I have been to in Japan)





(5 story pagoda near Ishidorii)


(above is the very beginning of our hiking trip)

Visited Tokyo a few times, but never actually feeling as if I were in Japan; since there are so many different districts of Tokyo.


Yoyogi Park(above) and entrance to the Meiji Shrine (left)





(above:the crazy intersection in Shibuya..a few movies have been filmed here!)



I got to see the great giant Buddha of Japan in Kamakura!




and lastly what I have been doing my whole summer...teaching swim lessons. My kids are amazing and so enjoyable to teach. here are a few of them :)

Happy 6th Birthday Joseph Parker! and Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

(happy father's day in japanese!)

Dad!
I hope that you have a relaxing Fathers Day, wish I could enjoy it with you :) You are an awesome father!

Love you!
Pumpkin Monkey




Joe, I hope that you have an awesome birthday and you are enjoying being 6 years old! You can now start using both hands to count your age, that's so exciting for you...kinda sad for all of us that want you to stay a little kid. But its okay we love watching you grow up and seeing you learn new and exciting things :)

I wish I could be there and share your special day, you will have to have your mom help you type an email to me and let me know how your birthday went and what presents you got! And watch for the mail I will be sending you your present :)

Happy Birthday I love you!

Aunt Janelle "nell"

Photos!

follow our pictures of japan by this link pictures :)

Chopsticks: Success.

Tonight we ate our first real meal off base using chopsticks. Great success! We went to a ramen bar. Everyone is seated at individual seats all around the restaurant on a table similar to sitting at a bar. Each seat has a call button that you press when you are ready to order and a waitress comes to help you. The menu was completely in Japanese, but luckily almost all restaurants around here have picture menus so foreigners can point to what they would like to order. Janelle got fried rice and I got some sort of ramen with cabbage, carrots, beansprouts, and meat. We also got these fried dumplings that were delicious. A social norm in Japan is to not bother others in public, so almost everywhere you go is unnaturally quiet according to American standards. While our Japanese is definitely rusty, we know enough to be polite and say thank you very much (Arigatō gozai masu.)
More to follow!














Janelle's food.















Delaney's food.















The guessing game.

We made it finally!

Finally here! A quick synopsis of our separate flights:
(right: first sighting of Japan)


Delaney We were told to be at the airport at least two hours early, so of course it only took about 15 minutes from the time I walked in the door to get through security. I flew into Chicago for my 7 hour layover with no problems; there I met up with two other people going to Japan, and had a burger that would later prove to be a poor choice. About an hour into our 13 hour flight I got a terrible stomach ache that lasted til about 20 minutes before we landed: AWESOME. Our airline from Chicago was actually a Japanese airline, so that was quite an experience. All of the announcements were first made in Japanese followed by a nearly incomprehensible English translation. Additionally, we were served Japanese food for our meals: some noodles, scallops, and mysterious things that my flight buddy and I couldn't figure out but tasted a little like pineapples; apparently, a chicken burrito is great for breakfast served with yogurt and melon. Thankfully the dude I sat next to had traveled overseas before and helped me with all the customs papers we had to fill out on the plane. Getting through the airport in Narita was pretty easy, nothing like the horror stories I hear about going through Customs other places. Here I met up with JaneCain and we took a bus to Yokosuka, about and hour and a half from the airport. After roughly 25 hours of travel, I was exhausted. But we made it!

Janelle My flight was a little bit more relaxed compared to Delaney's. Aside from the man who sat infront of me that clearly needed his own room on the plane. First, there were two other camp adventure counselors traveling on my flight with me but their seats were way in the back of the plan. But somehow we finagled people to switch seats with all of us so we could sit together. The flight clearly was mainly Japanese people, who are extremely introverted and quiet. Marcus, CJ, and I were not even that loud and were the loudest people on the plane. Within our 13 hour direct flight to Narita-Tokyo we were fed about 5 times(a little bit excessive for just sitting there), and offered drinks constantly. I took advantage of the free wine they were serving hoping that a little glass would make me sleepy...that did not work, so later on I took some tylenol pm and that also did not work. The man who should have had his own section on the plane that sat in front of me was a hoot, but very annoying. First, he slept with a surgical mask and an sleeping eye mask a blanket wrapped totally around him and his arms locked in his seat belt...while constantly shaking and his seat totally back the entire ride...made it very difficult for me to fall asleep or enjoy sitting in my seat. About three hours before we landed Marcus, CJ, and I changed into our awesome camp uniforms. Once we arrived in Narita we had to wait around for two other flights to arrive which was about a 2 hour wait, and then another hour and a half drive to the base.