hey-
Gosh, I can't believe that this week is just about over!! This last weekend the 4th was great! I enjoyed camping, but did come back a day sooner. The view was gorgeous and I really have never seen such blue water! We had 3 tents and we managed to get them all up as soon as we got to our site. We took a ferry boat which lasted about an hour long-It was nice to just relax and see the ocean! I experienced snorkeling for the very first time..it was absolutely the best thing ever! We were able to see sooo many different types of fish and coral. We celebrated the 4th that night and everyone had a great time all around. After one night half of us decided to head back due to all of the flying beetles, mesquitos, and spiders. We got loads of sun and one day was just long enough. Once coming back on Sunday we took it easy and just went off base to eat. Monday we went to the beach and met up with some other girls that stay at Camp Foster.
This week has been good-what a difference it makes to have a day off in the beginning of the week. Week 3 is just about over!! Hope all is well for everyone back home. Summer is half way over!!! yikes. :(-Kasey
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
miss mango..miss mango
hello-
Week 2 is just about completed with the kiddos. This week was overall pretty good. The kids are really adjusting to us and I actually know each childs name! I am really amazed some of the things that come out of their mouths...it cracks me up! They love attention and will shout out Miss Mango Miss Mango for my attention especailly at the pool. I actually love going to the pool cause that is the only time we are allowed to see sunlight during the day. It has been way to hot to be outside on the playground so we are constantly coming up with games to play inside and in the gym...not as fun as swimming! Our cook Ms. Miwa at camp is so nice to us she makes us breakfast and snack everyday..then bags the leftovers up so we can take them home with us! LOVE HER.
Yesturday, 2 girls and I took a taxi to the capital Naha to look at the shops and eat out. Here, I had the best Japanese food yet. The noodles, beef and vegetables were awesome...def. to die for! It was really cheap too and the workers are soo polite. One thing I noticed the Japanese love us here!!! They are all so kind and helpful :)
This weekend we are going camping to an island off of Okinawa. It is called the Kerma islands--From pictures and hearing about it is absolutely gorgeous. We are able to rent tents, sleeping bags, and cooking supplies super dirt cheap right on base to have for the weekend. We will be camping the Saturday & Sunday. Nothing like celebrating the 4th of July on clear blue water! We will be taking a fairry ride to the island roundtrip is about 35$. I am also excited to take snorkling supplies along with us. We are able to rent everything at a cheap cost for the weekend to bring along with us. I will be taking lots of pictures and will post them as soon as I get back. Hope all is well for everyone..If I wasn't here in Okinawa I would be enjoying this next week in Las Vegas with the Cibula's and my sister!! Thinking of you guys from Japan. Alrighty, time to get some shut eye so I can have extra energy for Friday Funday!!
goodnight, Kasey
Week 2 is just about completed with the kiddos. This week was overall pretty good. The kids are really adjusting to us and I actually know each childs name! I am really amazed some of the things that come out of their mouths...it cracks me up! They love attention and will shout out Miss Mango Miss Mango for my attention especailly at the pool. I actually love going to the pool cause that is the only time we are allowed to see sunlight during the day. It has been way to hot to be outside on the playground so we are constantly coming up with games to play inside and in the gym...not as fun as swimming! Our cook Ms. Miwa at camp is so nice to us she makes us breakfast and snack everyday..then bags the leftovers up so we can take them home with us! LOVE HER.
Yesturday, 2 girls and I took a taxi to the capital Naha to look at the shops and eat out. Here, I had the best Japanese food yet. The noodles, beef and vegetables were awesome...def. to die for! It was really cheap too and the workers are soo polite. One thing I noticed the Japanese love us here!!! They are all so kind and helpful :)
This weekend we are going camping to an island off of Okinawa. It is called the Kerma islands--From pictures and hearing about it is absolutely gorgeous. We are able to rent tents, sleeping bags, and cooking supplies super dirt cheap right on base to have for the weekend. We will be camping the Saturday & Sunday. Nothing like celebrating the 4th of July on clear blue water! We will be taking a fairry ride to the island roundtrip is about 35$. I am also excited to take snorkling supplies along with us. We are able to rent everything at a cheap cost for the weekend to bring along with us. I will be taking lots of pictures and will post them as soon as I get back. Hope all is well for everyone..If I wasn't here in Okinawa I would be enjoying this next week in Las Vegas with the Cibula's and my sister!! Thinking of you guys from Japan. Alrighty, time to get some shut eye so I can have extra energy for Friday Funday!!
goodnight, Kasey
Sunday, June 26, 2011
week 1
Hiiiii-
Things have been crazy busy this last week I have had very little down time and when I do all I want to do is sleep! Last weekend was awesome. We spent Saturday at the beach right outide our gate at Foster. I got lots and lots of sun- I did put sunscreen on, but not enough! I got fried and my entire face and back peeled. No joke when they say the sun is strong in Japan. Saturday night we went to a restaurant to socialize and hang out. Omarion put on a free concert for all the marines so it was packed to say the least. Sunday we got up eary to head 2 hours north to Okuma. This is a gorgeous island/resort where you are able to explore and do a variety of things. I rented a jetski and did banana boating which was sooo fun. The water is really clear and blue and very warm. We spent all day in the sun and had a blast...all 45 of us went. As soon as we got back Sunday night we moved all of our stuff into our new home at Kinser. Our base is much smaller, but very nice to have everything near by. We live in a hotel like setting and it really is the ideal place!
Well, the first week of camp is offically over! It went well...I had a variety of emotions running through my head the first week. We have about 45 kids ages 5-9 and 7 staff. The week was spent getting to know the kids and establishing a routine for the summer. I had a difficult time adjusting the first few days as things were very stressful because many of the kiddos did not listen and just thought they could run wild all over the center. Change can be hard for everyone, but especially young children. Finally, by Thursday (pool day) things were better and the children started to listen to us and respect us more. Everyone always says that the first week is hectic...I can sure see why!! Things can only get better from here on out. :)
After a stressful week we all were ready to have a goood weekend. Unfortunately, Friday a big tropical typhoon came which brought lots of high winds and lots of rain...that didn't stop us for exploring our home bar on base called SURFSIDE. A band played so it was really a good fun time. Anddd we actually met some nice marines from New Jersey....and they wern't creepy!! We socialized with them and it was fun learning about the military lifestyle. Saturday we had plans to explore the capital-Naha, but with the high winds we wanted to wait. Instead we went to American Village where there is a lot to see and do. We went into a Japanese Forever21 and loaded up on fun jewerly. The green line is a really nice bus system that we can take from base to base for FREE-we will be taking full advantage of the system. Saturday evening we met our neighbors and they invited us to BBQ with them. They were very sweet and made sure we had enough to eat. The majority of the men that are living in our building are higher rank so they are older and have been with the military for over 5 years. We then headed back to the local bar on base to chill and meet back up with the jersey boys that we met from the night before. It was lots of fun and ended up being a successful night! :) Today we were pretty low key--we just went to the pool on base. Next weekend will be much more eventful we just kicked it pretty chill because we had such a long week.
Hope all is well for everyone back home. It is hard for me to update pictures on blogger because the main view is all in Japanese and it makes things a little difficult. I will be posting pictures on facebook--I have been taking lots of good ones so I can't wait to share them with you all :)
xoxo-kasey
Things have been crazy busy this last week I have had very little down time and when I do all I want to do is sleep! Last weekend was awesome. We spent Saturday at the beach right outide our gate at Foster. I got lots and lots of sun- I did put sunscreen on, but not enough! I got fried and my entire face and back peeled. No joke when they say the sun is strong in Japan. Saturday night we went to a restaurant to socialize and hang out. Omarion put on a free concert for all the marines so it was packed to say the least. Sunday we got up eary to head 2 hours north to Okuma. This is a gorgeous island/resort where you are able to explore and do a variety of things. I rented a jetski and did banana boating which was sooo fun. The water is really clear and blue and very warm. We spent all day in the sun and had a blast...all 45 of us went. As soon as we got back Sunday night we moved all of our stuff into our new home at Kinser. Our base is much smaller, but very nice to have everything near by. We live in a hotel like setting and it really is the ideal place!
Well, the first week of camp is offically over! It went well...I had a variety of emotions running through my head the first week. We have about 45 kids ages 5-9 and 7 staff. The week was spent getting to know the kids and establishing a routine for the summer. I had a difficult time adjusting the first few days as things were very stressful because many of the kiddos did not listen and just thought they could run wild all over the center. Change can be hard for everyone, but especially young children. Finally, by Thursday (pool day) things were better and the children started to listen to us and respect us more. Everyone always says that the first week is hectic...I can sure see why!! Things can only get better from here on out. :)
After a stressful week we all were ready to have a goood weekend. Unfortunately, Friday a big tropical typhoon came which brought lots of high winds and lots of rain...that didn't stop us for exploring our home bar on base called SURFSIDE. A band played so it was really a good fun time. Anddd we actually met some nice marines from New Jersey....and they wern't creepy!! We socialized with them and it was fun learning about the military lifestyle. Saturday we had plans to explore the capital-Naha, but with the high winds we wanted to wait. Instead we went to American Village where there is a lot to see and do. We went into a Japanese Forever21 and loaded up on fun jewerly. The green line is a really nice bus system that we can take from base to base for FREE-we will be taking full advantage of the system. Saturday evening we met our neighbors and they invited us to BBQ with them. They were very sweet and made sure we had enough to eat. The majority of the men that are living in our building are higher rank so they are older and have been with the military for over 5 years. We then headed back to the local bar on base to chill and meet back up with the jersey boys that we met from the night before. It was lots of fun and ended up being a successful night! :) Today we were pretty low key--we just went to the pool on base. Next weekend will be much more eventful we just kicked it pretty chill because we had such a long week.
Hope all is well for everyone back home. It is hard for me to update pictures on blogger because the main view is all in Japanese and it makes things a little difficult. I will be posting pictures on facebook--I have been taking lots of good ones so I can't wait to share them with you all :)
xoxo-kasey
Friday, June 17, 2011
Orientation Week
Orientation week is officially over. What a busy, hectic week spent of planning and preparing for the upcoming weeks. We have spent hours in classrooms listening to all sorts of speakers. We have learned about the Japanese culture and have learned a variation of words to use when we are out and about. It is so weird to be surrounded by men and women in military uniform especially in this hot humid weather. Many days are “black flag” days which mean that it is too dangerous to be in the heat unless you are submerged in the water.
Today, was the most exciting day yet!!! My group has been staying at Camp Foster which is the biggest base in Okinawa. We have been living in the barracks which are basically like dorm rooms. Foster is nice, but we are all more than ready to move to Camp Kinser which is about 15 minutes south. Today, my group and I got to visit our center and new home for the remainder of the summer. It is so AWESOME!!!! Our new location is beautiful and is much closer to the water. We first went to visit our new barrack. We each have our own room-queen size bed, kitchenette, working tv, sink, and yes, finally our own shower!!!! We are able to see the ocean perfectly from our new home. We are all ecstatic and can’t wait to move in on Sunday. Our camp is a way smaller, but there are still plenty of things to do. Working for the military you have such nice benefits. We are very fortunate that we have privileges to the PX which is like a Wal-Mart, but with designer products. The commissary is my favorite. This this the local grocery store where things are fairly reasonable. After being in ahhh about our new barrack we went to visit our site where we will be working at this summer which is right down the road from where we will be living. The kids surprised us as we walked in the site! It was awesome they had Camp A posters everywhere and jumped and screamed as we arrived. I defiantly felt like a celebrity- It was by far the cutest thing that I have ever seen. It is a camp tradition to make names up for the kids to call us by. My group decided on fruit names. I am Ms. Mango! Again, I am in shock of how the kids acted!! Camp has been coming to their site year after and It must have left a huge indent in their young heart. J The kids made many signs for each of us and begged for us to stay longer with them, but we were short time and really just had time to get familiar with the center. The kids are ages 5-9 I will be staring off by spending more time with the 5&6 year olds.
Tonight, we are finally going off base!!! We have been so tide up and busy planning we haven’t had time to venture out of the gates. Tonight my group plans on going out for sushi and exploring what off base has to offer. I am very excited to be able to wear clothes other than camp A uniform! Tomorrow is a day full of exploring and seeing things as well. Sunday, as an entire group we are going to Akuma Beach which is a beach wayyyy north to hang out and experience water sports such as banana boating, jet skiing, snorkeling and hiking. This should be a fun filled day of being in the sun and then Sunday night we are moving in our new home!! J Exciting first weekend ahead of me! I have adjusted to the time change---finally!! When I move I will take pictures and post them right away. This week I haven’t had Wi-Fi so it has been very hard to update and talk to family and friends. However, my new home will have Wi-Fi so It should be much easier to update. Hope all is well for everyone back in the states! Sayonara (the easiest word for me to use) more will come with time I am sure!
Xoxo Kasey
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Made it!
Hiiii-
After 2 long days of travel we finally have made it to the island! Flying went smoothly...the 12 hour flight to Tokyo was long-but I survived. :) We arrived late Sunday night and went to the the grocery store to get a few things before heading to our room. All 45 of us will be doing orrientation this week and planning for the entire summer! After this week I will be moving to a different marine base called camp Kinser with 3 other girls!:) It is sooo neat to meet people from all around the US. I have spent a lot of time with the girls who will be moving with me. One is from Seattle and other is from Portland!
Alrighty, well I just wanted to touch base as I am not sure when the next time I will have internet...we are picking it up from the gym that is on base! Things are good and I have adjusted well to the 14 hour time change--so I think at least!
Love, Kasey
After 2 long days of travel we finally have made it to the island! Flying went smoothly...the 12 hour flight to Tokyo was long-but I survived. :) We arrived late Sunday night and went to the the grocery store to get a few things before heading to our room. All 45 of us will be doing orrientation this week and planning for the entire summer! After this week I will be moving to a different marine base called camp Kinser with 3 other girls!:) It is sooo neat to meet people from all around the US. I have spent a lot of time with the girls who will be moving with me. One is from Seattle and other is from Portland!
Alrighty, well I just wanted to touch base as I am not sure when the next time I will have internet...we are picking it up from the gym that is on base! Things are good and I have adjusted well to the 14 hour time change--so I think at least!
Love, Kasey
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Single Digits
Hi family & friends-
Welcome to my blog!! I will be using this site frequently throughout my journey in Okinawa this summer. This site will allow me to share my experiences with each and everyone of you during my 10 full weeks in Okinawa, Japan. Finally, yesterday I received my airline tickets. :) Things are finally starting to hit me and that I will be leaving very soon. I will be flying out of CR 6am June 11th. My connecting flights will be in Denver, LA and Tokyo. With all the time changes and all I will be arriving in Okinawa Sunday night. Talk about a long day of traveling! I am starting to pack and get things together. How does a girl who adores clothes and accessories pack for 10 weeks? This should be interesting! This last week in Iowa will fly by as I will be busy moving into my new house in CF and working a couple days at the golf course. Oh, how I will miss my members that I have gotten to know over the last 5 years. :) Please feel free to comment on my posts---it is nice to here from everyone!
Love, Kasey
Welcome to my blog!! I will be using this site frequently throughout my journey in Okinawa this summer. This site will allow me to share my experiences with each and everyone of you during my 10 full weeks in Okinawa, Japan. Finally, yesterday I received my airline tickets. :) Things are finally starting to hit me and that I will be leaving very soon. I will be flying out of CR 6am June 11th. My connecting flights will be in Denver, LA and Tokyo. With all the time changes and all I will be arriving in Okinawa Sunday night. Talk about a long day of traveling! I am starting to pack and get things together. How does a girl who adores clothes and accessories pack for 10 weeks? This should be interesting! This last week in Iowa will fly by as I will be busy moving into my new house in CF and working a couple days at the golf course. Oh, how I will miss my members that I have gotten to know over the last 5 years. :) Please feel free to comment on my posts---it is nice to here from everyone!
Love, Kasey
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