Its amazing how a catchy title will reel you in. Last weekend, we had our high school camp. Prior to the earthquakes and the Nuclear catastrophy, the camp would have been relatively close to Fukushima. However, based on parental fears of children growing extra appendage,s we had camp at Hanayama Park about 2 hours away from here. Quick side note...its crazy to think about timing. Had the earthquakes waited we might have been in some trouble, especially where our 3rd grade camp was supposed to be held. That campground was completely immersed in water from the tsunami and there was nowhere to go. Someone the other day bluntly put it... "if the tsunami was a few months later we would have all... (I cant really bring my self to be that blunt on here so fill in the blank). Tragedies seem so distant until you stop to think about it.
Anyway, on to the point of my story and the more fun part. Last weekend we went to Hanayama for high school camp. For those of you that dont know, I teach a high school course 2 days a week for an hour to graduates of the original program. Generally, their English abilities are no where near those of my 3rd graders whom I see 6 days a week, which makes for an awkward conversation with them. They are also allowed to talk in Japanese outside of class time.
Outside of some the language issue camp was awesome. We pulled up and had set up our bunks and played some ultimate frisbee on the side of a hill which was interesting. Sadly, this place didn't really have a field. it was surrounded by mountains. We were also there with a 5th grade school group. They were so excited to say "Hello" in English. We even taught them how to fist bump. I wish I could get my students as excited as those kids. Also there were people relocated from the Tsunami which is a common occurrence at parks around Japan. There are thousands that are still displaced so they have been relocated to camps because they have nowhere to go.
That night, we roasted hot dogs and s'mores by the campfire. It was many of the Japanese students first experience with S'mores which was pretty interesting. After that, I got the chance to catch up with my boys and learn about Japanese music. They love the beatles here by the way.
The next day, we were getting ready for the morning with some awesome Japanese stretches before breakfast. Apparently all Japanese kids are taught them, here's an example: Japanese Office. Its about 2:47 into the video. I was cracking up that everyone was doing this in unison like its normal but maybe that's also why I can't touch my toes. After breakfast, we found out if we were going to go on the river hike or to a water park. I was totally for the water park. A river hike sounded more like exercise than fun. Fortunately, we went on the river hike. We had to dress in long sleeves, a helmet, pants, shoes, and a life jacket. The weather was about as hot as the surface of the sun at the time so I was feeling pretty great. As we commenced the mile hike up and down mountains, I kept looking for excuses to just run back to the camp. Finally, we got to the river and it was just plain awesome.
Its one of those things that you'd never get to do with high schoolers in the US because of law suits. We basically were walking some places that only had a flimsy rope to keep us from sliding to a painful fall. On top of that there were signs to watch out for poisonous snakes. As we hiked through the river I felt like kid again, jumping from stone to stone. Some places we would be in water deeper than I couldn't stand in and others were really shallow filled with rocks. The coolest part was climbing a waterfall. I had never been mountain climbing but it was just like climbing one of those rock walls at the local county fair if they had a fire hose shooting you in the face the whole time. After that, there was a 15 ft cliff that I got to jump off into the water. You had to be careful to jump out because straight down from the cliff was a bunch of rocks. One teacher nearly broke her neck both times she jumped because she didnt actually jump. I think all the danger of everything is what made it so awesome. When I finished I felt like I accomplished something. It was one of those moments that I could look at and go wow, I'm in Japan walking through a river, climbing waterfalls and jumping off cliffs. Its crazy where life's adventure takes you when you allow it to.
Anyway, on to the point of my story and the more fun part. Last weekend we went to Hanayama for high school camp. For those of you that dont know, I teach a high school course 2 days a week for an hour to graduates of the original program. Generally, their English abilities are no where near those of my 3rd graders whom I see 6 days a week, which makes for an awkward conversation with them. They are also allowed to talk in Japanese outside of class time.
Outside of some the language issue camp was awesome. We pulled up and had set up our bunks and played some ultimate frisbee on the side of a hill which was interesting. Sadly, this place didn't really have a field. it was surrounded by mountains. We were also there with a 5th grade school group. They were so excited to say "Hello" in English. We even taught them how to fist bump. I wish I could get my students as excited as those kids. Also there were people relocated from the Tsunami which is a common occurrence at parks around Japan. There are thousands that are still displaced so they have been relocated to camps because they have nowhere to go.
That night, we roasted hot dogs and s'mores by the campfire. It was many of the Japanese students first experience with S'mores which was pretty interesting. After that, I got the chance to catch up with my boys and learn about Japanese music. They love the beatles here by the way.
The next day, we were getting ready for the morning with some awesome Japanese stretches before breakfast. Apparently all Japanese kids are taught them, here's an example: Japanese Office. Its about 2:47 into the video. I was cracking up that everyone was doing this in unison like its normal but maybe that's also why I can't touch my toes. After breakfast, we found out if we were going to go on the river hike or to a water park. I was totally for the water park. A river hike sounded more like exercise than fun. Fortunately, we went on the river hike. We had to dress in long sleeves, a helmet, pants, shoes, and a life jacket. The weather was about as hot as the surface of the sun at the time so I was feeling pretty great. As we commenced the mile hike up and down mountains, I kept looking for excuses to just run back to the camp. Finally, we got to the river and it was just plain awesome.
Its one of those things that you'd never get to do with high schoolers in the US because of law suits. We basically were walking some places that only had a flimsy rope to keep us from sliding to a painful fall. On top of that there were signs to watch out for poisonous snakes. As we hiked through the river I felt like kid again, jumping from stone to stone. Some places we would be in water deeper than I couldn't stand in and others were really shallow filled with rocks. The coolest part was climbing a waterfall. I had never been mountain climbing but it was just like climbing one of those rock walls at the local county fair if they had a fire hose shooting you in the face the whole time. After that, there was a 15 ft cliff that I got to jump off into the water. You had to be careful to jump out because straight down from the cliff was a bunch of rocks. One teacher nearly broke her neck both times she jumped because she didnt actually jump. I think all the danger of everything is what made it so awesome. When I finished I felt like I accomplished something. It was one of those moments that I could look at and go wow, I'm in Japan walking through a river, climbing waterfalls and jumping off cliffs. Its crazy where life's adventure takes you when you allow it to.
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