Dear readers - well, those of you that still exist - I am sincerely sorry for abandoning you.
That being said, I have officially been in Okinawa, Japan for over a month! Time has been flying by.
I am posting now from the School Age Care center on Camp McTureous, where I've been working. I have a half an hour break before I get back to the kids. Soon I'll resume playing mancala, doing arts and crafts, reading, drawing, playing flag football and octopus tag. My time at the center is absolutely exhausing but amazing.
I'm "Miss Lily" to the kids here. All seven of us have camp names - flower themed. Lilac, Daisy, Sunflower, Honeysuckle and Poppy are my coworkers and Mr. Snapdragon is our director. I'm the leader of Group 2 and please forgive me but I have to brag about my kids. They're not only hilarious but incredibly talented and strong little people. All eight of them have memorized our awesome Group 2 handshake and are the best at standing in a straight and quiet line.
I lose my voice at blitz every day where we all meet in the morning with our 30-50 kids (depending on the day) and sing camp songs at the tops of our lungs. The kids will join in when they like and watch our dances and hand gestures until they've memorized them too. Sometimes the campers know the songs better than the counselors, but hey, you can't blame us. It is 8:30 a.m. when we're doing this.
Okinawa on the weekends has been unbelieveable as well. Last Saturday we took an MCCS tour called the "Battle Sites Tour." It took us around the southern part of the island to key museums, battle fields and caves that played major parts in the fight for this tiny island during WWII.
We took a beach trip on Sunday and enjoyed some of the first actual waves we've seen all summer. The ocean is very calm here from what I've seen so far. It's also breathtakingly crystal clear and turquoise along the beaches. Where the white sand meets the tropical jungle on the beach that we visited Sunday there are hermit crabs in every kind of shell imagineable. They scamper around when you get close, but they're harmless and you can pick them up and watch them tumble off your fingers onto the sand inches below.
I'm about as tan as I'll ever be from the sun over here. The sky is always beautiful, whether it's blazing hot or in the middle of a typhoon. I've seen some of the best sunsets.
Well, break's over. Hopefully I'll write again soon. Until then, I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!
