June 6th

Today is the day! I left home at 6 AM with my step mom , and headed to the Des Moines airport. We wanted to make sure that I got some real food in my stomach before leaving, so we stopped at McDonalds before of course. Then, I got to the airport, and instead of waiting in the long line for American Airlines, a nice man that worked there asked me where I was going and then he helped me check in at the kiosk; so I got to skip the whole line! Then I walked over to my gate and sat down. It didn’t take long for two other girls to recognize my Camp Adventure t-shirt, and so I went over to them. Soon there was a group of 5 of us. Three of them are headed to Yukoska, Japan, and the other is actually the director for Okinawa, where I’m stationed! How cool! This flight to Chicago O’hare was only 52 minutes long, but man did I feel the motion sickness. Right when we launched my head felt light and y stomach turned. Next, I had a three-hour layover in Chicago. Ironically enough, I saw a boy from my high school waiting at the same terminal as us, so I went up to say hello. It's not every day you find a friend you haven't seen in two years at the same airport as you heading to a foreign country! He was headed to the Philippines to do research on structural engineering. After waiting patiently and finding many more camp friends, we boarded our 13-hour flight to Tokyo, Japan. The plane was HUGE, a 747! They were surprisingly very uncomfortable and small seats, and there was not much of an entertainment offered for us. Not to mention I had my firs airplane meal..... not the best. I sat between two of the most interesting people I have ever met, a Chinese man name Gao, and a young man named Jake. Goa was headed to Bangkok for work, he is a scientist the resides in West Virginia. He gave me an immense amount of life advice, and he was very intrigued when he found out I was going to school to be an educator. He also told me out of the hundreds of places he had seen, his favorite was Easter Island. I have made it a goal of mine to go there some day, since I promised him I would. Jake sat by the window, and let me take pictures and stare out of it since I was so intrigued. He goes to a small college in Northern Ohio, and is headed to Bangkok to work on a village to help with their medical needs. He said he will be the only Caucasian person there, and has access to his own ambulance. What an amazing thing to do, he will someday be a doctor in the United States. When we arrived to Tokyo, I had a tad bit of culture shock. The average height happened to be a LOT smaller than me... the food all looked weird and so did the shoes. I tried a Shrimp dish, and it was NASTY. I let others in my group try it, and most agreed. On my last flight to Okinawa, I had my own window seat, and an empty seat next to me. I looked out the window at the beautiful sunset as I dosed of to sleep. Three hours later the flight attendant woke me to tell me we had arrived. After I picked up my luggage, I stepped out into the most humid and warm night air I had ever felt. We were driving to Camp Futemna, and dropped off to our hotel, which happens to be PHENOMINAL! I have my own room, with a huge shower, an amazing view to timber that looks like it could have a gorilla inside, and a stove. Not to mention the most interesting women all around me to make my trip even more amazing. It took a while to find out how to get Internet, but hey, being disconnected is a great time. We were warned to steer clear of the men, and why go near them when we have friends right by our sides to keep us entertained. Tomorrow we finally get to leave base; YAY! Time to explore. This week is time for preparation, programming, and getting ready to see the kids next Monday! Can't wait! 

May 31

Hello all! Of course the first part of a long trip is a detailed packing list. I wanted to make sure that I could avoid overpacking, so I decided to start with a list. I began my preparations with a list provided to me by Camp headquarters, but of course I tailored it to fit my needs and to fit the climate of Oki (hot and rainy). I ended up creating my own, very speific packingl list. Some aspects of my packing list include my bag of tricks, my rain gear since Oki is supposed to be quite rainy for the first few weeks, my hair care products, some speakers for my room, a fuzzy blanket, summertime clothes, some towletries that might not be available on the base, and of course my several Camp Adventure Uniforms. We are allowed two 50lb bags, and one carry on for our international flight... and I have only filled one bag so far; amounting too about 40lbs. I honestly don't think I will need anything more, but maybe throughout the next week I will come across some more things I want to take with me!

Also, I realize many of you may not know what my bag or tricks consists of, so there is descriptions to the left if you would like to find out!