It is amazing that I have been in Japan for a month and a half already and haven't been able to post anything online. Maybe that has to do with Japan's extreme lack of WiFi! I was expecting WiFi networks to be everywhere - but they're definitely not. We have spent most of our time at Global Arena, a facility on the outskirts of a small town. GA only has three computers with Windows 98 and very slow internet. Additionally, the "library" is only open from 11-7 each day. To give you and idea of the boredom we feel at Global Arena, here is a little story: The highlight of our day yesterday was a 2km walk (in between rice paddys) to the convenience store 7-11. We bought some snacks and then began the 2km hike back.
We are currently in the middle of our 8th camp. Only one more to go. Each camp consists of 3 days - about 72 straight hours with the kids. We do different English activities, play lots of different games (like frogger, zoomie zoomie, bang bang, screaming feet and others) and do some fun activities like American Carnival. The second day is definitely the most difficult. We begin the day at 630 AM, sometimes with wake up music played over the sound system. We have radio exercies at 7 AM (everyone in Japan knows this 3 minutes of exercises!). After that is clean up and then breakfast at 8. Throughout the day we work on My Story and Camp Skit (junior high groups) and Activity Stations (elementary groups). At night we have a campfire with s'mores and campfire songs (like baby shark, the frog song, boom chica boom and la tush).
There are 20 ACs (American counselors - I am one of them), 4 JCs (Japanese counselors), 1 AD (American Director - Ben) and 1 JD (Japanese Director - Tomo) on each team. We were all together for the first six camps but have recently been split up into two groups (sometimes at different locations). We were 26 very different people throw into one crazy situation and we've all become quite good friends. We are an extroverted but low drama (stable) team that works very well together. We are one of two teams in the running for the Jim Healy award (given to the best team every summer). I think we deserve the award but we will have to wait until the end of the summer to find out.
After talking with many ACs, I have decided that this camp really isn't about teaching English. Most kids don't dramatically increase their vocabulary or suddenly correct their grammar or pronunciation. It is about teaching them that English is fun. The kids' favorite times are game time, My Town, American Carnival, dance party and campfire. The ACs serve more as entertainers/babysitters than what we would think of in America as "teachers".
Japan in general has been great. It is a gorgeous, mountainous country. Our group (Team 2) has been able to go to the beach twice and went to the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki. As a team we've traveled to several different locations outside of Global Arena (Fukuoka) including Obama and Isahaya (Nagasaki prefecture) and Oita (Oita prefecture). Cole and I spent three days in Nagasaki and had a great time. We spent a whole day at the beach on the island Ioujima, went to the Nagasaki History & Culture Museum and the Dejima Museum, and rode a cable car to the top of Mt. Inasa for a beautiful view of the city at night.
It is already August 24th and crazy to think that I'll be home in exactly one week. Although it's been an amazing experience, "camp" has become very tiring and I'm excited to see my family and Stevens Point friends and begin a great semester of school and work! Until then....
