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