August 20, 2010 aka. Last Day IN Japan :(

Today was definitely one of the hardest days I have ever had to go through. Even like compared to break ups and stuff. These kids mean more to me than everything. Blitz this morning when we were doing songs that had our names in it, we did our real names instead of our Disney names. It was so weird, and It was all I could do to not start bawling like a baby in the middle of the songs. The kids like let out a huge gasp as we were each revealing our names. Lol. It was pretty adorable. Nikolas just had a bad day in general. I had gone to the center really early to finish our cardboard/ducttape boat, and when he got there he was already crying and nothing had even happened. He was just like I’m so tired. Blah blah blah. At least I didn’t get like a false last image of how awful he actually was lol. Gosh I love that kid so much. When we went to the theater for blitz he tried to hide under the boat tink and I built so he could sleep. Dumb kid. Speaking off building the boat, it was pretty awesome looking. But I came like really really early to finish it. We usually leave our barracks at like seven thirty and arrive at 50 after or so. I got there at like 7, so it was like almost an hour early. I was going to skype and stuff for a while, but no one was on. Oh well, it was good to try and finish it. I wore my hair down today, because my kids have literally been asking me for the entire year to do that. They wanted to as they said “make sure” I was the real Jasmine. So cute! But Paige was so happy I did it, she was playing with my hair for a while and like wouldn’t stop touching it. The kids were so rowdy today even though we told them like a zillion times it was our last day and they should be extra nice to us. I think they were probably just like too hyper with us leaving and all to be very good, which it’s odd how that works I think. But after clubs, during which we had the kids make memory books from the summer, we went to the indoor pool in ranger gym to race the boats all the classes had made. Have to say that ours and Room 5’s looked the most legit, which it makes sense that room 5’s looked so awesome because Ms. Dori has done lots of those boats before. I was the one that ended up in the boat, and it was definitely like scary getting into it, because I didn’t know if it was going to float. But it did thank goodness, and I was able to stay upright. But as soon as we actually started racing and had to paddle it was like impossible to keep the boat upright. We made it small so it would just fit me, but it just wasn’t happening. So hard to keep balance and that’s what did us in. We did super awesome with the waterproof par t though. I ended up dragging the boat behind me for a while as I swam because I just couldn’t figure out how to get back into the boat. My class was still cheering though so whatever. They loved it still. I have to say, it was still pretty fun even though it was insanity lol. After our failed attempt at boat racing The same counselors did a jumping off the diving board competition. I ended up doing a belly flop to win that. Darn my fricken competitive spirit. I just couldn’t help it. Had like the worst head ache ever afterwards. But still fun. The kids loved it, and I just wanted to go all out on my last day with them. When we got back to the center and after we ate lunch we passed out the awards for the kids. Last night Tink and I made fake awards for the kids. Like Nikolas was “Biggest Sports Fan” because he always wears sports stuff, and Robert was “Next American Idol” since he is always singing. They loved it and were all clapping for eachother. I started bawling when I gave Nikolas his. I told him how incredibly much I loved him and pulled him aside for a little bit to talk to him. The whole group, well the girls, all started crying and Nikolas was the most adorable thing ever. He went and one by one grabbed everyone who was crying a tissue with this look of pouty sadness on his face, and then started crying himself. I read them Oh The Places You’ll Go, and got myself to stop crying. But after I finished the book, Nikolas’s dad came and picked him up early. I completely lost it and started crying hysterically. But Sarah, who is one of the workers at the Youth Center, broke my camera and offered to buy me a new one, and she saw Nikolas and his dad as they were leaving. I guess the dad didn’t know it was our last day, so he brought Nikolas back and gave me their address and got mine. He invited me over for dinner too, but we are leaving at like six tomorrow morning to go to the airport. Its like, um, you had the entire summer to do that! Why wait to invite me until I can’t come! Oh well. It was nice to hear from the dad too how much I’ve meant to my Nikolas. Gosh. I feel like I am legit leaving my child by leaving him behind and most likely never seeing him again. But after that, I think the rest of the kids weren’t quite as hard to say goodbye to. Jaquin was probably second hardest. His mom came in during closing and asked to get a picture of me with Jaquin. She says he talks about me all the time and was so excited to finally get to sit next to me yesterday. Jaquin sat next to me on the field trip on the bus yesterday, and it was fricken adorable. He wanted me to put my arm around him the whole time and he ended up falling asleep on me. I let him use my jacket as like a pillow, and he ended up slobbering all over it. It was kind of gross, but so adorable. I felt so blessed that the two kids who meant the absolute world to me had parents that came up to me and shared with me what an impact I’ve made in their child’s life. Closing was so emotional. I bawled like crazy hard the entire time, and there were lots of other girls and counselors crying too. Not as many boys lol. But Sara pulled me aside and this little six year old girl was like, “You are the nicest teacher I’ve ever met in my life. I love you.” I was sobbing. I promised her I would see her again someday and gave her my address. I really hope I’m able to make good on that promise, cuz I definitely wasn’t just saying that. Ms. Sarah, who broke my camera, was like, Ms. Jasmine, you have to come back next year. There are quite a few kids that are traumatized by you leaving. Stuff like that just means so much to me. At the very end after we were saying our goodbyes and leaving Desteni’s mom gave Tink and I these fricken sweet like tea sets with a Japanese tea pot and cups and stuff. So awesome. Although it is heavy and I had to rearrange absolutely everything in my bag to even fit it in there. I told Thara’s mom when she picked Thara up and was saying thank you and goodbye about the time when she was witnessing to Nilanie and how blessed I was to see it. She almost was like crying and wanted to get a picture with me after that. She said she does devotions with Thara every night. It was just so sweet and I feel like by telling the mom that I was able to bless her. After our tearful goodbyes we walked back to our rooms and got ready to go to dinner. Sarah and Jessica prepared this like huge dinner for us and it was really sweet. Although I was so tired from crying that I wasn’t really wanting to stay long. Then we came back to the barracks and did our counselor awards and stuff. The directors and PC gave us like silly awards and mine was Most Likely to Have the “Best Life EVER!”. I did not even realize that I said “Best….Ever” Or “Cutest…..Ever” so often. They said it was adorable, but now I feel a little self conscious about it. I just get so excited about things that I exaggerate a little. Lol. Then we all went around in a circle and said warm fuzzies about people. That was nice because it helped us wrap up the summer and share memories about eachother. Plus Ryan’s slide show brought out even more tears sigh. I think I’m out of them now. But now I’m in my room and its four in the morning. I’m finishing packing and writing this blog and getting ready to go. I figure staying up all night and then sleeping on the plane will help me adjust since I am arriving in Portland at 9ish am on sat Washington time. But then I have to stay up that whole day on the stupid layover. Oh Well. It was pretty much the perfect last day through all the tears and everything!!!! Goodbye Japan. God has blessed me so much this summer, and it is overwhelming to think about how much this trip has impacted my life. I am so glad I chose to write everyday about my experiences and I hope my blogs have been entertaining or enlightening to whoever read them. God Bless, and I’ll see you in the good ol’ USA!

August 19, 2010

Well today was the last field trip day ever for Camp Adventure Atsugi this summer. I can’t really say that this is part of the summer that I’m going to really miss as much as the others. It is pretty lame. They thought it was going to rain, so we got sent to an aquarium. When we got there one of my kids, Justin, who is like pretty lame anyways, got really sick and threw up a couple of times. It was gross, but I felt sorry for the poor kid, because he didn’t look that good. At least it was like a legitimate reason that he was upset and crying, and not like his other fricken fits this summer. But I am definitely going to miss that kid. The rest of the field trip was lame. My kids were absolutely insane this week. Ah my kids. The aquarium was lame and there wasn’t much to do, plus Justin was so sick, so it was just like eh, lets go home. Not worth it. We didn’t have any sound on our bus, so that was kind of lame. Although watching Cars without sound is just as lame as watching cars with sound I have to say. I’m not going to be able to watch that show for a while this summer lol. All in all though, pretty ok time. Tomorrow is going to be so hard.

August 18, 2010 aka Dessert Fest

Today was a really good day. I had so much fun with my kids, although most of the day was spent rehearsing for Dessert Fest. Tink and I also started construction for our boat today. On Friday, every room is going to put our boats into the water and the counselors are going to paddle the boats. That will be really interesting, so we’ll see how that goes. Lol. I am probably going to end up sinking our boat or something, but ya never know. I did really good the whole day not crying also. We didn’t do closing, since we were rehearsing, so that probably had something to do with how good I did not crying. Today was our very last day at the pool. It is so incredibly weird. Although the pool is a hassle two times a week, I have loved taking the kids there. They are just so cute. Today I played with them all as much as possible and took some pictures. End of an era as Mr. Prince Charming would say. After work that day we all scurried and got ready for dessert fest, which started at six. Dessert Fest is where all of the parents of our kids come bearing awesome desserts and watch the kids perform songs and skits they learned throughout the summer. It was so incredibly awesome. Our kids in our room 2 performed Peanut Butter Recees Cup and the Chewing Gum Skit. They did such a good job, and I was so proud. But Sara, who was the main part in the Chewing Gum Skit unfortunately got there like two minutes after we had started and so we had replaced her. The poor thing was like bawling and couldn’t even do the rest of the skit. We got her added to another room’s skit, but I felt so bad. At the end of dessert fest, all the kids lined up onto the stage and we sang The World’s Greatest. It was so cute when all the kids were doing the sign language to it, but the stupid cd kept skipping. That’s the first time I’ve had to do that acappella since we had to turn off the cd eventually. After everything, all the parents, kids, and us watched a slide show of our summer. I started bawling during it. I’m going to miss my kids so much. After the slide show while everyone was getting dessert, Nikolas’s mom pulled me aside and told me how much I meant to Nikolas. How he talks about me all the time and always wants me to come over and be with him, and how much he is going to miss me. She thanked me for meaning so much to him this summer and asked if I was going to come back to this site next summer. I told her no, but I said how much I loved having Nikolas in class and how much I would miss him. I completely lost it after that and had to leave the room. I love him so much, and hearing that from his mom meant more to me than I can say. Out of all the kids, Nikolas is the one that has meant the most to me this summer, so to know for sure that I have impacted him that much made me bawl. I want to keep him and take him with me, and it absolutely kills me to know that I will never ever see him again. Maybe one day I will look him up on facebook or something. I say his full name so many times a day its not like any amount of time passing is going to make me forget it lol. The magnitude of the fact that I will really never see them again is like too much for me to think about. I just love Nikolas and Jaquin ( and others) so much.

August 17, 2010

Today was a really good day. We don’t have as many kids this week, which is nice. Like seven less than our average last week. It is kind of nice, but I miss the ones that aren’t there. It is still weird without Aaron, but at least I still have my Nikolas and Jaquin. Nikolas today was kissing my arm. I have no idea why, but it was the most adorable thing ever. I love that kid so much, like more than I can express. I would adopt him in one second if I could. Kids like him and Jaquin make me want my own kid so bad. Now I know, the best way to get over a broken heart is to fall in love with some kids. Although my heart is just gunna be broken all over again when I have to leave them. Especially Nikolas and Jaquin. Today was our second to last swimming day, which was weird. Gosh, sigh. So close to leaving my adorable kids. I notice myself holding their hands a little tighter, and hugging them a little bit longer. Because I know I’m never going to be able to again.

August 16, 2010 aka last monday

Well today was the last Monday of Japan. Very sad. Although in all it was a very good day. Today I cried two times, which is better than I did on Friday, although both times I cried longer than last week. I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m a basket case, but I can’t help it for reals. I don’t like it cuz I feel lame. Lol. Oh well. Just who I am. The first time was when they tried moving two of my kids into another room for the week, which doesn’t make sense since they’ve been with us the entire time. So I lost it for quite a while. Thankfully Kenga and Buzz helped me out and got them back into my room. The next time I cried was when we were doing closing and Mr. Buzz came up and did a song, and it was friends and he said how much he enjoying becoming friends with all of us counselors. I completely lost it, and all the kids from the other rooms were like is she really crying. Yep. The rest of the day we were preparing for dessert fest and talking about building our cardboard boat. Good times. Imma miss these kids.

August 15, 2010 aka last sunday of Japan aka BEACH

Today was my very last weekend day in Japan, since next Saturday we are all flying back home. I am getting really emotional thinking about this right now, just so ya’ll know. I mean this is my very first last day of this week. Today was my very last Sunday in Japan. I don’t know. I’m excited to see my family again, but this whole preparing to leave and knowing I’m going to leave thing just plain sucks. Like hardcore. Gosh. Lol, I’m crying while I’m writing this. Anyways, today us girls spent the day at Atami beach. I was worried this morning because it didn’t look nice out outside, but it turned out to be a beautiful day! Atami beach was like two hours away, but it was the closest white sand beach to where we were, so it was totally worth it. It was so nice to just lay out on the beach, cool off in the water, and then lay in the sun. That was the first time I’ve been able to do that since spring break in Hawaii, which was like forever ago! It was so relaxing, and the absolute perfect way to end my summer in Japan. I had so much fun with everyone. It was really cute on the beach that a lot of the Japanese people brought tents to the beach so that they wouldn’t get out in the sun too much and tan. I didn’t know before I came here that in both the Japanese and Chinese culture it is more beautiful to be whiter. I guess being tan is a sign of being the lower working classes who are out in the fields and stuff. Interesting. When we were done we walked off the Sotetsu line for the last time and walked back through the entrance of our gates for the first time. It was very sad. But altogether an incredibly amazing day!!!!!!!!!

August 14, 2010 aka Exploring Yokohama for the last time

So, today was the start of the last weekend in Japan. SAD !!!!! I can't believe that this was the second last day I had to ride the trains and subways, and to see all the sights and stuff. Craziness times like a zillion. Although my pocketbook is definitely smiling and ready to kick me back to America. Lol. Today Julie and I headed to Yokohama and explored a little bit. We first went to the Ramen Museum, which ended up being in Shin- Yokohama, so despite earlier vows to never return after the backwards train incident, I went back if only to experience more of the awesomeness that is Ramen. This museum was pretty awesome, and the whole inside of it was themed to like Tokyo in the 1950's or something, and so the whole thing looked like an old city, and they even had like traditional candy and toy shops set up on the street looking thing with all of the ramen restaurants. We unfortunately didn't end up trying any of the ramen mostly because the wait was like fricken an hour at each restaurant. Way too much time. The history of Ramen was cool too although we just had to gather it from the pictures and dates since the actual writing was in Japanese. Interestingly, cup of noodles was introduced the same year that we went to the moon, so pretty much that was the coolest year ever. After the museum, we went to the Kirin brewery in Yokohama called Kirin Beer Village. It was pretty much plain awesome. We got a free tour and then got to see how all the beer was brewed and made. The other best part of it is that we got two free drinks at the end. Me, being the responsible person I am got alcohol-free beer and juice as my two drinks. Not really in the mood for a beer, just wanted the taste. We looked around the Yokohama station mall before heading back home, but everything was too expensive. At least none of our trains went backwards while we were traveling today. Every time the train stopped and even like one person got off Julie and I grew very anxious. When we got back to the Sagamino station, we went to the 100 yen store inside this building on the way home. I only got a couple of things, since I've already finished souvenier shopping, but I couldn't help but buy this printed toilet paper. Its blue and has flowers on it. You can't get that anywhere in the states, and I can't wait to see the looks on peoples' faces when they walk into my bathroom in the duplex. Or even just Bethy and Livy's faces ha ha. We then walked to the Bonodori festival on base, which is like the annual festival including both the NAF people and the Japanese in the town. It was so incredibly awesome because there was traditional music and dancing , Which is something I had not yet gotten to experience. There were people up on stage leading the crowd in different dances while the traditional singing and drumming was going on. Just plain awesome. I danced for a while and felt immersed in the culture. Plus I got to eat a hot dog. Holla! I tried Julie's Okonomiyaki (which is like a Japanese pizza / pancake with all kinds of stuff inside), but it was nasty. Glad I didn't get any to try meself. Tomorrow is the beach, that should be fun.